Chapter 2 - the first move

Toby shot out of bed as a loud scream echoed throughout the air. He immediately jumped to alert, his brain pumping wildly with adrenaline. He quickly rushed outside, making sure to grab his sword on the way out. 

Rushing out his house he noticed Eliza staring horrified at something over the walls that surrounded their nation.

It took Toby a second to spot it but his face grew pale once he did. There was a plume of smoke coming from the forest. It was little to begin with but grew bigger and darker every minute, it was turning into a deathly black cloud.

Leo and another citizen Samuel went running towards the gate to go see what was happening. Toby hadn't even noticed they were out here, but he soon followed after them.

It didn't take long to find where the smoke was coming from, there was a medium sized fire burning in the middle of the forest, luckily it had only set a few trees on fire and hadn't spread that much. It should be somewhat easy to deal with, which was surprising considering the amount of smoke it was letting out. 

Toby drew closer, wondering who had set it, he had his suspicions but wanted to see if there was any evidence to back his thoughts up.

There was a note attached to one of the trees that had only just set on fire so it wasn't too damaged. The words on it were as clear as day. 'surrender now or watch your nation burn'. 

It was pretty clear who had written it and the threat on it was even clearer. Caleb cursed under his breath as he read the note once he arrived, instructing everyone who had come out to help put the fire out before it spread any further. 

Maya who had also arrived with Caleb began to help put the fire out. Once the fire was out and all that was left was the blackened bodies of the trees everything was silent. The words on the note had haunted all those who read it.

"What's the plan now then?" Maya asked, breaking the silence that had fallen around them.

It took a second for anyone to reply to her question, everyone knowing they had to tread carefully from here on in. Caleb looked unsure for a second but then he became determined.

"If they want to play dirty-" He began, looking everyone in the eye. His voice loud and strong, reflecting his leader status

"-then we play dirty back"

---

Rowan was watching the Rika citizens prepare for war. It was always fascinating to her to see the difference between the two nations' tactics.

She had witnessed Alexa start a fire in the forest near Lamarie this morning and as Alexa sauntered back to the safety of Rika she went to wake up one of the Lamarians. 

To go unnoticed but to insure someone would wake up Rowan snuck into the undefended nation before banging on Eliza's window, she knew exactly who was in which house and who would possibly be the lightest sleeper.

She was right to have woken Eliza as she left her house to see who could've knocked on her window but was quickly distracted by the smoke starting to appear in the distance. 

Once Rowan was certain the fire would be taken care of before it got too extreme she headed back towards Rika and that's how she got here now. She watched as a hooded figure left Rika, she couldn't tell who it was but she was intrigued by where they were going while looking so secretive. 

She stayed far enough away as she followed the stranger, not wanting to be seen. The person walked to a small clearing in the forest which had a small pool of water in before stopping and just standing there. It was like they were waiting for someone. 

Rowan's suspicions were correct as she noticed another hooded figure slid into the clearing, she almost didn't notice them coming due to how quiet they were.

Her eyes widened as she noticed a Lamarie uniform under the person's cloak who had just entered the clearing. Why would someone from Lamarie be talking to someone from Rika? The two sides usually never got on. 

Knowing one of the people were from Rika and the other was from Lamarie Rowan began a guessing game on what was happening. Was one of them being traitorous towards their nation? Giving out secretive details on their war plans? Or was it a lot less sinister than that and it was a Romeo and Juliet situation. 

She had no idea. Unfortunately she couldn't hear anything they were saying due to the distance she had to keep but whatever the exchange was about was quick and short as the two turned away from each other and disappeared just as quickly as they had come. 

This time Rowan followed the Lamarie citizen back, she had grown bored of watching the Rika soldiers train all morning and she wanted to know who this Lamarian was.

Once they had both made it to Lamarie Rowan observed as the stranger went straight towards the town hall where all the meetings were held, maybe the Rikan had given information that would be useful in their war efforts. She didn't have long to think about it as she noticed Eliza come running through the gate

"Caleb!" Eliza yelled happily, obviously whatever she had just found out was something good. 

Caleb immediately came out of the town hall at her call, the strangers however did not much to Rowan's disappointment. She couldn't hear anything else of the conversation but they both seemed pretty happy which was a nice change compared to the solemn looks they usually gave each other.

It was only when the sun began to set that Rowan decided to leave Lamarie and head back to her own home. The walk wasn't far, her home was further into the forest, hidden well into the side of a hill.

When she had first discovered this area, before she decided to call it home she found a large cave system ran underneath the majority of the forest, it was an easy way to traverse the area without having to worry about being seen. 

Usually she'd head back home through the caves but today she decided she wanted to go to the beach, it had once been a daily thing for her to do but for some reason she hadn't been there in a while. Deciding to try and make it a habit once again she made her way towards the beach.