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I appreciated her optimism, even if I thought it misguided, as I returned to my post. After a complete review of what was happening and where, I called out to Kira. “Where are my armies?”

“Coming soon.”

“Soon better benow,” I said.

“They’re on the move.” She typed madly on the keyboard. “Stand by.”

Hala called out to me. “Angel, the first group of soldiers is almost at our border. Do we fire on them?”

“Not yet,” I said, maneuvering more forces into place. “We don’t have unlimited ammunition, and I need to get a division of archers to the eastern flank first. Wait for my order.”

“Okay. I’ll wait.”

Four minutes later, Wally’s forces hit. “Fire!” I shouted.

The battle raged hard. I kept up with Wally’s initial attack, but it was clear that it was only a matter of time before we would be overrun.

“We’re getting killed to the east,” Hala yelled.

“Kira, where is my Illragorn army?” I said.

“Almost there,” Kira called out.

“They aren’t going to make it in time,” Hala said. “Collapse on the eastern side is imminent.”

She was right. I was busy holding off Wally on the northern and western borders. I would never get enough conscripts there in time—not that I had them anyway.

“Collapse isn’t imminent,” Frankie said in a quiet voice. “We have a secret weapon.”

We all whirled around to face her. “We do?” I said.

“Herman.”

I looked at her, completely lost. “Herman? Who’s Herman?”

“Herman the dragon.”

My mouth fell open. “We have a dragon?”

She pointed to the large green dragon now positioned behind the church. “The box. There was a really pretty egg inside and it hatched. What do you want Herman to do? I think he’ll only respond to me.”

I didn’t have the luxury of being surprised or grateful. “Attack Wally’s east flank immediately. Tell Herman to rain fire and destruction or something like that.”

“I’m on it.”

Moments later, a giant green dragon swooped over Wally’s eastern flank, breathing fire and taking out a fourth of his force with one pass. The rest of his force scattered just as Illragorn’s army arrived, finishing off the rest of them.

We cheered. Kira and Hala exchanged a high five with Frankie, while I directed Draycott’s army, which had just arrived, to reinforce us in the west. Slowly but surely, we began pushing the boys back into a defensive position. Herman flew over the opposing forces, breathing fire and causing them to flee periodically. However, he required a lot of food in between missions, so Frankie had her hands full.

I imagined Wally was cursing me at this very moment.

The armies fought hard, the battles were bloody and tough, but we eventually beat them into submission. Exactly seven hours and four minutes from the moment the game started, we won.

Exhausted, but exhilarated, we shouted wildly and hugged each other.

Mr. Donovan walked in, bringing the boys with him. We all shook hands and showed good sportsmanship before Wally gave me a clap on the shoulder. “Dang, girl, I wouldn’t have figured you for the diplomatic solution. You took a huge risk with that, but it paid off. The dragon thing was sheer genius.”

I pointed over my shoulder. “The dragon was all Frankie.”