...

The following day, the whole of the Rosemarble army was gathered on Roselily Fields. Roselily Fields, despite its name, was a massive patch of grass plains where only lilies grew, white, red, purple, yellow, pink, and sometimes black. The "rose" portion of the name came from the redundant need to name almost everything in Rosemarble after the flower. Thousands of knights and soldiers, as well as hundreds horses, all stood in formation. Jimmus, Reginald, Marcella, Reine, and James were all in attendance, toward the front of the crowd, mounted on cavalry horses.

As cavalry knights, the five "friends" all now wore their full suit of grey armor and mail. In front of them was a large wooden platform, made portable by removable carriage wheels, where General Carden, commander of the Army of Rosemarble was expected to make a speech. Carden was a large man with long flowing brown hair and beard, and round chestnut eyes. He wore a thick suit of blue armor with a pink cloak.

"Citizens of Rosemarble, lend me your ears!" Carden shouted in a booming voice as he stepped onto the platform, "Today we march to liberate our human brethern from the unholy nation of Bloodmarble! Today we march to annihilate the vampelle and orc! Today we cleanse the land in the name of Our Lady and take it as our own! Today we march to victory and glory!"

The army erupted into a deafening cheer at the end of the short, simple speech as Carden impatiently waited for their cheering to cease.

"There are a few other matters I must discuss!" Carden continued, "We shall be traveling two days east to the Grey Plains where we will encounter the heathen armies of Kotaria, our...allies. But fear not, Our Lady shall still be with us. From there we will rest a day due to the...blood moon. After two more days of travel, we shall reach the Bloodmarble border. I am certain they have been preparing. Their fortifications will be strong. But fear not their numbers. We shall be victorious. Our Lady be with us!!"

"OUR LADY BE WITH US!!" the crowd shouted in response.

"Also, if anyone here is the owner of a large brown mule, it appears to have wandered off and is eating the decorative roses off the bush maze at Stonehill." Carden announced.

Somewhere in the crowd, a soldier shuffled off to find his lost mule.

"If anyone else needs a few moments to say make some last minute adjustments or relieve themselves, now is the time!" Carden concluded.

"Now is the time!!" responded portions of the crowd who had not been fully attentive.

After final preparations, the whole of the army marched out; Carden at the lead on his white stallion, the banner knights following behind wielding the pink banner of Rosemarble, the cavalry knights following them, as well as the rest of the knights and thousands of soldiers. By the evening, the army had already reached the edge of the Grey Plains, so named because it was an empty stretch of grey sand with sparse patches of grass. It was the first sign that Bloodmarble was near.

As the Rosemarble soldiers broke up into units and set up tents and encampments, an army of equal size advanced toward them from the south. The Kotarians had arrived. Dozens of elephants marched in formation, carrying litters of elite soldiers, some of them wearing cuffs and breastplates plated with gold. Other soldiers wore bronze armor while the lowest ranking wore no armor at all. Most of them wielded long spears and large wooden shields.

The leader of the Kotarian army was War Chieftess Kasseri. She was a tall, stocky, muscular woman with bright golden eyes and hair kept in a long, thick weave tied behind her with a gold band. She wore gold plated armor and at her side was a large wooden war club laden with thick metal spikes.

"GENERAL CARDEN!!" Kasseri called out in a voice even louder than what Carden usually managed.

"KOTARIAN!!" Carden shouted in return.

"My name is Kasseri!!" the chieftess corrected.

"So it is!!" the general remarked.

The two war leaders met each other after climbing up opposite sides of a large, flat boulder, using it as a makeshift platform.

"People of Rosemarble!" Carden announced, "I present to you our Kotarian allies!"

The Rosemarblians stared blankly at the Kotarians, many of them scoffing at the idea of working alongside dark skinned foreigners. The Kotarians stared down the paleskins in return.

"Warriors of Kotaria!" Kasseri chided, "For better or worse, these paleskins are are sisters and brothers in arms!"

"You fight with wooden spears and wear little in the way of armor." Carden assessed, "Do you expect to fare well on the battlefield?"

"Let me show you, pale one." Kasseri replied.

Kasseri advanded upon the general, raising her club as Carden drew out his silver-glazed longsword in defense. One blow of the war club left Carden's sword clattering on the ground. Kasseri then struck the man in the chest with her arm brace, knocking him to the ground. Many of the Rosemarble knights started advancing to defend their leader until Kasseri reached out a hand to help Carden up. Carden brushed the woman's hand away and slowly rose to his feet.

"You have humiliated me in front of mine own, woman." Carden warned.

"I was demonstrating my skill and power, man." Kasseri explained.

"My lord, the blood moon is upon us!" a soldier shouted to Carden.

"Oh yes, the blood moon..." Carden fretted, "Dame Marcella!!"

The blood moon was the name for the ominous red full moon that appeared over Bloodmarble due to its air. Every so often, the moon would shine crimson even in the Rosemarble sky.

Marcella awkwardly ran up to the boulder, still in her armor, and struggled to pull herself up. Kasseri eventually helped pull the woman up and Marcella flung off her helmet.

"Fair maidens of Rosemarble!" Marcella spoke up.

"No one can hear you." Carden whispered.

"I said...FAIR MAIDENS OF ROSEMARBLE!!" Marcella repeated, almost losing her voice, "The crimson moon is upon us! Queen Blaine in her wisdom taught us how to measure our red tide according to the moon! So for all of our sakes may we have the women separate from the men!"

Most of the males of Rosemarbles quickly shuffled away from the females who cloistered in their tents. Those who could gathered as many rags and parchments as they could find to soak the issue of blood. The Kotarians performed their ceremonial cleansing by sprinkling water over their own heads and bowing down to worship the moon.

"Kotarians..." Carden said to himself, "It's as if their worshipping Bloodmarble."

"May Lun, mother moon, protect us at this time." Kasseri prayed.

Jimmus, James, and Reginald were all seated together on a rock, smoking clay pipes. All of the men regularly carried shredded tar leaves, although James smoked a good deal more than the other two men. He took a long draw on his pipe and smirked.

"Hey Reggie, what's the difference between a woman and a vampelle?" James asked.

"I don't know." Reggie said.

"The vampelle doesn't waste as much blood as it drinks." James joked.

Reginald could not help but chuckle and even Jimmus cracked a smile.

"Don't let Reine hear you say that." he warned.

"She loves my wit and wisdom." James said, "Both in and out of the bedchambers."

"I doubt that there will be any bedding tonight." Reginald observed.

"You underestimate my prowess." James corrected, "The river ran red more than a few times while I was still in the boat."

"Can we please talk about something else?" Jimmus asked.

"Of course, Jim." James said with a cruel smile, "Since we're all going to probably die anyway, I've been meaning to ask you...you are missing an eye, just an empty socket, correct?"

"What of it?" Jimmus asked.

"Does Mariot ever play with it?" James asked, "I mean, do you two get any use out of it?"

"What are you...?" Jimmus started as he thought for a moment, "I ought to sever your head just for saying that!"

James broke into boisterous laughter as Jimmus threw his pipe on the ground and walked away.

"Now you've done it." Reginald said.

"He'll be fine." James assured him.

The following morning, having gone to bed early, Jimmus woke up at what he thought to be earlier than any of his tentmates. He decided to gather some kindling and flint and start a small fire. He then found a small cave with fresh water and collected it in a kettle. He then cut up some bagged onions and potatoes and began to make breakfast.

Jimmus watched the pot come to a boil and gasped as he heard footsteps behind him. He spun around only to see Marcella standing directly in front of him.

"Good morning, Sir Jimmus." the knightess announced, "I have brought squirrel meat."

"Squirrel meat?" Jimmus asked

The knight looked down and saw Marcella's gloved hands holding out the bloodied remains of a squirrel that had been punctured several times.

"Dame Reine insulted me and said I could not slay a squirrel." Marcella explained, "I proved her wrong."

"That needs to be shredded properly." Jimmus advised.

Jimmus took what was left of the squirrel and skinned it with his knife, separating the meat and adding it to the pot.

"Thank you, Sir Jimmus." Marcella said, "Lady Mariot is lucky to have you."

"Mariot..." Jimmus mused, "Will I ever see her again?"

"Do you think we shall perish?" Marcella asked.

"I don't know." Jimmus said.

"To die before I am married..." Marcella pondered, "I have always thought that if I should have a husband then he should be like you, Sir Jimmus."

Jimmus looked away and blushed but then found himself looking to Marcella's eyes.

"You are so kind and brave..." Marcella continued, "And handsome..."

Marcella blushed and stepped forward. Jimmus put a hand on her shoulder. They soon embraced and locked lips in a passionate kiss.

"Jimmus, I scrounged up some edible roo-" Reginald started to say as he stumbled across the scene and dropped the roots he was clutching.

All three knights stared at each other in disbelief. Marcella's entire body flushed pink as she hurried away from the two men.

"Reggie..." Jimmus began.

"You don't have to explain yourself." Reginald said, "I have almost been tempted by many a knightess."