“So you’re telling me you want me to go north with your daughter, and keep her from dying due to a scheme?’ Knight captain Zogard asks the duke. He was tall with short black hair and black eyes. His clean-shaven face held no clues to the choice. Both men were standing in a small courtyard of a fortress, meant for training knights.

“Yes. I know this is ridiculous and extreme, but if you could help keep my daughter alive…” The duke replies.

“I’ll do it. If it’s a battlefield there’s got to be some strong opponents to fight. I’ve been restless ever since you lost your strength.” Zogard replied. The duke was hoping for this. He knew Zogard was a battle maniac, and most of his men were deeply loyal and slightly insane in their own way. This is why they were considered to be the fighting force in the kingdom, having little regard in my own life to achieve a goal. “So where is the little mistress?” The duke yells for Ivana, who swiftly appears out a door.

“I’m here.” She said running up. “Who’s this?” she asked, looking up at Zogard.

“I’m the knight captain Zogard. I run the 3rd order, the Bee Knights.”

Carpio

I named them that because they are suicidal like bees. Plus I don’t think bees have been used that much in stories.

“Ivana, from tomorrow, I would like you to come here and train with the knights. Up to now you’ve been fighting independently, but in a war, you can’t be killing your allies,” her father said.

“But...” Ivana wanted to spend the month before she had to go with her father. She let out a sigh. “Fine.”

***

“Zogard I need a favor,” Ivana asked him after a month. This was the final day she was allowed to stay. She had spent a month learning with the knight and could work in tandem with them. The month law was originally meant to settle everything before a lord had left, but Ivana used this month to get stronger. Her father had managed to talk his way into making the duchess believe that he sent Ivana to the frontline to “gain experience as a knight” keeping his weakness a secret still.

“Yes, mistress?” He asked. Originally thinking she would be snobbish and snotty, his opinion had changed on her vastly. She was viewed as a member of the knights now and he felt she could go far. But unlike many of the other knights, she could do something weird. She could use her swords as a medium to wield magic. Mages often had to cast lines of a spell, which was hard to do as close up as the body was in constant motion. Thus they coated their swords or armor in mana. Besides that, they couldn’t utilize mana. But the mistress was different. She could still launch spells with ease while swinging a sword.

“I need you to check in the nearby areas for a person who’ll be executed soon and has, preferably, no family.”

“How come?” Zogard was confused about what their mistress would want with a soon-to-be-dead man. 

“Just get them for me.” Hearing this Zogard asks his knights to go to nearby towns and look for someone like the person Ivana had described. A few hours later, they found a man and brought him back. He was set to kneel in the courtyard. Ivana walked out of a door, with her swords on her hips.

“We have found a man like what you asked for, mistress.”

“Tell me his name and crimes.” Suddenly Zogard, the man, and the two knights that brought him realized this was an execution. Zogard tried to get her to stop.

“Mistress, I don’t think this is the best idea.”

“Zogard shut up. If I’m going to war, I need to learn how to kill someone. Now tell me his name and crimes.” Her hands were shaking as she said this, knowing that once this was over, there was no going back. Zogard didn’t want to do this. He wanted the mistress to not have her hands bloodied. But he knew she was correct.

“Name, Wilkstone. He has no current living relatives. His crime is murdering and raping 3 women. When asked the reason he stated, ‘women are meant to please men, so I can use them as I like.’” Hearing this, Ivana's eyes filled with rage. She walked towards Wilkstone, who had begun to plead.

“Misses, please spare me. I swear I won’t do it again,” he looked fearful for his life. Ivana looked at him and asked.

“Do you regret it?”

“No,” came out before he realized it. He tried to amend his statement. “Wait, wait I mean no I don’t wan-”

“Cover his mouth.” Hearing this, the two soldiers holding him down stuffed his mouth with a cloth. Ivana pulled the blade to his still screaming and now crying head, then lowered it to his neck. She pulled it up and hesitated once more, afraid to kill. But then she swung. The head rolled off and Ivana’s face splattered with blood. She stood there in silence before running to a bush and puking. Zogard ran after her to check if she was okay, but she held an arm to stop him from coming closer. She fell afterward, breathing heavily.

“Clean up, please. And don’t tell father about this. I would prefer him not to know.”

***

“Will you be okay there Ivana?” Her father asked worriedly. He had noticed that Ivana’s eyes had large bags under them as if she hadn’t slept. He didn’t know the reason why and as a father he was disappointed with himself.

“I’ll be fine, father.” Saying this she got on her horse, a common brown one. Having anything noticeable was one of the easiest ways to get yourself killed on the battlefield. On its side hung packs holding food and materials for the journey. They both stared at each other in awkwardness before finally, the duke broke the silence.

“I’ve never told you about your mother did I? She was a strong-headed woman, who did things her way. She was the daughter of a small but successful merchant. I met her one day when we were both 15. She was running her father’s shop. I was captivated by her at first sight.”

“Father, why are you telling me this now?” Ivana was slightly confused and sorrowful. She had asked about this for years but he was only telling her now.

“I’m worried. Before you leave I just wanted to tell you this.” He didn’t mention that he wanted to tell her in case this was a final goodbye. “Back to the story, I immediately asked her for a date. She looked disgusted with me. But we kept meeting everywhere and soon began to talk. I managed to convince her to come to Adelmann Academy in the capital, and she did. We began dating. Then on the night of our graduation, she got down on a knee and proposed. I can’t tell you how shocked I was. She said she had wanted to be a knight but her father hoped she would take over the company.” Ivana began to feel guilty. It was her fault her mother died. “Then you came into our lives. You weren’t born but we were at our happiest. Then she was dying after giving birth to you. She said that you were the most important thing to her, that she was happy that she gave up her life that you could live.” At this point, tears started streaming from the duke’s eyes. “I’m a failure of a father. I’m staying here while you go to a warzone.” Dropping from her horse, Ivana hugged her father. She stood like that until she heard Zogard outside.

"I guess this is where we part ways Father. I swear that I'll return alive and well." With this, she jumped on her horse and rode away. Looking back she could see her father praying that she came back alive. She didn't know that her father failed to tell her the reason her mother died.