Lieutenant Mordred. At the age of twenty-seven, she was already Queen Morgana's most trusted and loyal soldier of Witch Heart's Huntsmen Garrison. A perfect balance of short red hair, fierce green eyes on a freckled face with a thin scar on the left cheek to give attention to her thin lips, and a tall and toned body in full leather armor with a greatsword sheathed snugly at her back.

  Mordred had fought, seen, and lived through many harsh battles and times; from killing a dragon to wiping out an entire squad of Chancealot's male soldiers in a single fight. A woman of sheer will and focus, who could achieve anything.

  Until now.

  Her queen had given her the terrible task of babysitting Princess Guenever (Guevera for short and the name the girl insisted everyone call her by) on her first mission out of Witch Heart Kingdom. She had to shadow the girl's movements and ensure she was making people fear and tremble at the name of Witch Heart everywhere she went. So, yes, it was a diplomatic mission.

  There were a few things that would make the task a bit hard. First, Guevera was only twenty. So trying to get the old folk to fear her would amount to them chattering their rotten teeth with a burst of laughter at the absurdity. A youngun comes to take them to death's door, sounded like life insurance paid out early. Secondly, the girl wasn't interested in doing the whole 'quake in boots' and 'fear the evil of the witch' thing.

  Despite it all, babysitting was a much better deal than going after some holey cup. Besides, she felt certain her queen had some world-conquering plan cooking with Guevera's release into the Chancealot Kingdom. So, she had no place to complain.

  "But." Mordred groaned when the girl was having a bubbly conversation with a muddy farmer in the fields.

  "Is that so? So do you receive any uniform allowances if your tunics get too muddy and torn?" Guevera sweetly asked the elderly farmer, who had been grumbling about working the harsh fields for little pay these days.

  "Lass, this is Chancealot. They ain't no uniform allowance." He disclosed to her.

  "That's terrible!" Guevera responded with a horrified expression.

  "That's how it is." The old farmer sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

  Mordred had had enough and thanked the man for his troubles. She grabbed the princess by her cloak and dragged her away.

  "Honestly. Sire, you've spoken too politely with people since we've left!" She scolded the girl.

  "You've spoken too little. Besides, people won't open their mouths if they're afraid of you. Much better this way. I get to learn more about Chancealot and the peoples' weakness." Guevera gave her reasons.

  Mordred sighed. The girl had a point. "Fine."

  The forest trekking was pleasant and too quiet that Mordred decided it was time to cause a bit of mayhem. She said the spell from her pocket edition magic book to release her shadow birds and ghost cats.

  "Go scout the area ahead. I want to know the locations of bandits and mercenaries," she said to the hovering line of animal specters before her.

  The ghost and shadow animals disappeared to do her bidding.

  A while later, they returned with the location details of the nearby bandit hold. It hadn't taken her long to waltz into their sad village stronghold, kill a few and their boss to guarantee the surviving bandits' loyalty via fear. It was there that she gave them a task to complete her other mission the Queen had given her. The bandits had to kidnap Chancealot's youngest prince, who was rumored to be trekking the kingdom.

  After a week, Mordred and her bandits were facing off with Arthur and his party in the forest, at a stone bridge over a deep ravine.

  "Get the blondie. Kill the others." She pointed at Arthur and hung back with Guevera to let the bandits do their thing.

  She groaned at the bandits' poor fighting skills. It was the first time she witnessed two men and a horse easily eliminate twelve armed men, sending them flying into the ravine's bottomless depths. Looks like she had to do the job herself.

  With her pocket-sized magic book opened before her, she called up a spell for mini tornadoes to send the men and horse flying off the bridge. Except for Arthur, who would have a different tornado to pin him to the ground.

  However, the stupid princess got caught in the deadly tornado with Arthur's party. So, she had to readjust the directions or see the girl face the same death as the others.

  The tornados sent her, Arthur, and his entire party flying miles away and deeper into the dense, mountain forest.

  "Seriously." Mordred smacked her forehead at the sight of the empty bridge and no sign of the princess. She wondered how much of her life insurance policy she could claim for the moment she had to tell the queen.

  "I'm dead."

  Regardless, she faced her fears and pulled out a pocket mirror to make a call.

  -- ?? --

  "Stupid Mordred!" Guevera cried out when she landed hard on her ass; fortunately on soft moss ground.

  She checked her dark tunic, travel belt, pants, and boots. All seemed fine, and her dark cloak was still over her shoulders. But her sword had slipped out of her sheath and went flying into a void, so wherever she was, she hoped she didn't have to fight her way through. Not that she could use a sword to begin with, anyway. The weapon had been more for show.

  Light struggled to shine between dense clumps of giant elms and pine trees. She felt the freshness of nature and unspoiled ground. Wherever she had landed was leagues away from human civilization and closer to raw sources of magic.

  But she soon realized she wasn't the only human in the area. Pointy weapons surrounded her dainty round head. A mild gust played with tufts of her long, brown, ponytail as she leaned back to avoid the sword tips.

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  "A bandit witch!" Galahad hissed as he nudged the tip of his weapon closer to her view to make her gray-blue eyes go cross-eyed.

  "Your point is?" Guevera gulped and nervously added. "Actually, I see your point. It's quite sharp and shiny, isn't it?"

  Chifton snorted with his laugh. San frowned and asked Galahad to put his daggers away.

  "She could charm us or turn us into toads!" Galahad snapped back with a slight shiver to his shoulders.

  Arthur sighed and stowed his sword. He calmly asked Galahad to sheath his weapons.

  He sat down before Guevera.

  The girl's features were soft and held a friendliness, and he didn't feel like she was the type to pull sneak attacks or even wield a blade. Her soft hands and skinny arms didn't show the signs of experienced swordplay.

  "You don't seem like a bandit. Who are you?"

  She continued to stare at Galahad's dagger tips. "Wow, your blacksmith is amazing to have used 1060 high carbon steel. He must've spent a fortune to acquire the materials. That's not a cheap pair of blades. I can imagine they can swing at a flexible range. But you would need to wield it at a slant to avoid shattering."

  "You're a blacksmith's daughter?" Galahad gasped, unable to hide his fascination with her insight. He lowered his daggers.

  "No. I used to pester them a lot to learn their art when I was a kid. I've always been fascinated by human innovation and scientific possibilities." She sat up better and faced them with a hearty grin. "I'm Guevera, princess from Witch Heart."

  Naturally, this had Galahad's daggers in her face again.

  Chifton's eyes sparkled. A high-ranking chick from the Witch Heart Kingdom was a lucky find indeed. No doubt she could lead him to greener pastures within that country.

  "You boldly give away your identity." Arthur coolly noted.

  "Well, I'm sure you would've found out sooner or later, better you find out now. And besides, this is my first time touring Chancealot. I would imagine you guys know it well." She wasn't showing signs of being afraid.

  Her grin became more friendly when she added, "You're Prince Arthur, aren't you? I was sent to find you. As two royalties, we should establish diplomatic relations."

  Galahad sighed and lowered his weapons again, but not his guard. "I suggest we tie her up."

  "I may be the Witch Queen's daughter, but I only know one spell." Guevera looked crestfallen. "According to my mother, it's a useless one, which is why she sent me away to learn more about myself."

  "What makes you think we're not bandits and not going to kill you? And this blondie is Arthur?" Galahad threw in a scenario.

  Guevera laughed. "What bandit wields a pair of 1060 daggers? If you were, I'd been stripped naked from all my goods by now. Besides, his slicked-back hair is way too stylish. He has to be princely."

  The men and horse nodded. But the thought of her stripping to her skivvies made Galahad gasp with horror. So unabashed!

  She sighed when she added, "Besides, bandits are just unfortunate souls, surviving by devious means. They don't even have a workers' union."

  Galahad cursed his racing heart at the girl's response. No. He wasn't going to be charmed by her.

  "Look. Tie me up if it makes you feel better." She flashed Galahad a saucy wink. "You naughty boy."

  He responded with a nonplus expression. Tears squeezed out of Arthur and Chifton's eyes from their laughter.

  "I'm sure if you're here to destroy the world, I'd be fighting you instead of talking." Arthur held his hand to her. "I'm indeed Arthur."

  "Nice to meet you." Guevera shook his hand and faced Galahad. "See? Who said two country representatives need to be shedding each other's blood. Much better to forge global consortiums and have forum debates about tariffs instead."

  I couldn't agree more. Chifton thought as he dreamed of frolicking in a meadow abundant with lush Honey Mountain Dew grass.

  "Your issue to deal with," Galahad said to Arthur as he sheathed his weapons and left to check out more of the area.

  He stopped at a small clearing and pulled out a compass watch.

  "You can go your way," Arthur said to Guevera.

  "Actually, do you mind if I tag along with you? Seeing as I'm a stranger to these lands, and this forest is really creepy." She shivered.

  "Fine. But no funny business."

  "See I'm unarmed." She rose to show him her belt and inside of her cloak.

  San nodded. "She indeed looks more like an innocent to protect."

  "Well okay." Arthur rose to join Galahad's examination of the compass.

  Chifton introduced himself and began pestering her with questions about Honey Mountain Dew grass locations.

  "That tornado flight might have placed us where we need to be," Galahad said to Arthur when the man had joined his side. He raised his eyebrows at the unexpected stroke of good luck.

  After a while of checking bearings, they decided the direction they would need to take to pick up the enchanted sword from a mythical beast.

  Arthur remembered the wacky conversation his father had given him about speaking to the snake at the lake called Lakeness. It would be good if he could get that part of the mission over and done with soon.

  He got everyone up and moving. The three men, horse, and tag-along princess trekked into the deepest and darkest parts of the forest.