About a week later, Rainbow hadn't come to a decision. She thought about that letter whenever she got the chance, and she looked at the letter after Castus left and her son went to bed. Most of the time she spent thinking of it was spent on her morning flies over the city. It was on one such day that things changed.

It started out as a standard day, with her doing her flyby. The early risers looked up expectantly, spying her spectral flight trail. A few waves, greetings of "Ave!" from the on-duty guards and a few scripts for a bit of bread from a vendor greeted her. The rising sun casted her fur with a bright light, soaking into her fur as thoroughly as water. Normally, she would've waved back, or at least glanced downward at them. However, today she was lost in thought about the letter.

Ever since she had gotten the crackers out of her system, she had started to suspect that the Caesar wasn't exactly someone who she would've worked for normally. She was condescending, always figured that she knew the answer to everything, and wasn't exactly polite. The letter she got from this 'Princeps Diocletian' only seemed to confirm these suspicions of hers. And some of what the letter said did seem to make sense when taking in the Caesar's behavior and hatred of dissent into account. Plus, it filled in holes she had started to think of in how she came into the Caesars service.

Still, she wasn't so quick to trust everything he said. She had fallen for that one too many times and wasn't about to go headfirst into another bear-trap. It did seem suspicious how he had gotten his paws on this info, especially since it seemed that he wasn't in the Empire. Maybe he had connections or something, but she was still wary. Better safe than sorry, especially now that she had her son on the line.

Speaking of her son, he had begun to dig into his breakfast by the time she was back. She took off her helmet and joined him, ripping through the bread, cold ham, figs, and cheese like a starved bear. Soon, both had finished with their breakfast, and Rainbow went back to grab her helmet. She quickly ruffled her son's mane, then trotted off down the hall to go see the if the Caesar needed her to do anything.

When she arrived, she immediately figured something was wrong. Normally, the Parliament Chamber was empty at this time of day, and only the Caesar was present to give her orders. However, all the Parliamentarians, about fifteen of them, were present, yelling back and forth. Caesar Drusilla sat on her throne at the far end of the room, head slouched down to the point it looked like she was bowing. Standing in the center of the room, surrounded by the bickering Parliamentarians, was a Pryhan officer, stiff in posture as if awaiting orders. In other words, it was the exact opposite of what she normally saw when she entered.

Her opening of the doors had drawn the attention of the room, with suddenly sixteen sets of eyes upon her. Before she could say anything, one of the Parliamentarians she recognized as Drusus said, "Remember. We have the Sky Daemon! She can turn the tide of whole battles! We can't lose!"

Another one yelled back, "And how do you propose we use her, Drusus? We only have one of her, and we now have TWO problems we need to solve."

"So we just send an extra regiment to deal with the Mainlander Warlord," A third barked. "It's just a bunch of desperate vagabonds and foreign mercenaries. We're Pryhans; One of our Pedes is the equal of at least four of theirs!"

The officer, who she had now identified as her friend Dorus, said, "All due respect, Parliamentarian. However, these 'Vagabonds and Mercenaries' are far more of a serious threat. They are surprisingly well-armed for mainlanders, and the mercenaries include Minotaur Pikebulls. Our men are on par with them, if not outmatched. And that is to say nothing of the Princeps troops."

A fourth Parliamentarian said, "Why are we acting like this is a one-solution issue? We can make a deal with the Princeps! Even if he was exiled, he still holds great love for this nation. Surely, he wouldn't stand by and let it's citizens be butchered like wheat to the sickle. And if he has demands afterward, I'm sure we can meet them!"

"Are you stark raving mad!?," yet another one shouted. "If we give him an inch, he'll take the whole bloody Empire! And with how much the commoners adored him back in the day, he could do it! This is an utter disaster!"

"Calm down, you old coot! Servius is right! We have other options available to us besides fighting! We could pay off the mainlanders, then focus all our efforts on the would-be usurper."

"And what kind of precedent would that set, Argentum? That if you just waltz into the Empire with any serious force, you can walk away with a massive sum of money? We all know they won't leave for less. We would become the laughing stock of the planet! We would lose the new Zebrican holdings!"

"To hell with the Zebricans! We should focus on our people. I say we pull the regiments in Zebrica back to defend the homefront. What good would they do us if the empire was sacked, anyway?"

By that point, the room had devolved into a torrent of yelling, with ideas, counter-ideas, objections, and arguments that were hurled around the room like crossbow bolts. It reminded her of the point where two armies clashed; a disorganized, loud mess. Finally, the voices were silenced instantly when the Caesar yelled, "SILENCE!"

She stood, eyes scanning the room and the people within. She let out a heavy sigh, then said, "We must stop bickering amongst ourselves. We will work this out." Turning to both Rainbow and Dorus, she said, "You two. Leave us; we have much to discuss. You'll be sent for when we decide on how to handle the situation."

"Yes, Caesar!," both of them said almost at the same time. Dorus then walked up the stairs, shutting the large mahogany doors as he left the room. Even from this side of the door, the two could hear loud yelling pick back up on the other side almost as soon as it shut. The two then looked somewhat awkwardly at one another before Rainbow said, "Pusca at my place? It's just up in the apartments here."

"Heh. Why not? Lead the way." The two began heading down the hall. As speed wasn't really a concern, Rainbow chose to walk alongside the Praetor.

"So, what was all that about, anyway," she asked.

"You didn't hear?" When she shook her head, he said, "Well, as of a few days ago, the Empire is being invaded. Making his way down from the north side of Damocrasis is the Caesars brother, Diocletian. He was exiled about ten years ago by the Caesar. Supposedly, he had committed treason, though most people just think she felt threatened. He's coming toward the capital with an army. At the same time, some mainland warlord got it in his head to invade us. He's somehow managed to get enough script or gold to hire Minotaur mercenaries, some of the highest quality in the world. Both are coming to the capital."

"Well, fuck me right in the ass," she said. "I take it this is a problem the two of us are gonna have to solve?"

"'War is the politicians whining, and the soldiers dying.' Of course we will."

Next Chapter: 56~Battle of Pryha (Pt.1) Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 10 Minutes