by Philip Read
Is this why I’ve made no lasting attachments? Is this why no one really knows me?
“No I’ve never killed a man, nor a woman for that matter.” I say avoiding eye contact.
He nods and we stop by one of the walls which he leans against with his back. The way he moves and carries himself is very beautiful, I’m not even sure what I’m seeing but he moves like he is dancing. There are no wasted movements or exaggerated gestures, he hardly raises his voice even in the hall with all the noise yet he had captivated my attention.
Even the way he just casually leaned on the wall was smooth. The man has a sword or spear almost as long as I am tall wrapped in clothe on his back but he didn’t need to adjust it once this evening, nor the one on his waist. He either has really good harnesses or both his weapons are spirit-bound, a great display of wealth.
But surely if they were spirit bound grandmother would have felt it and set me next to the man from the start. Who knows how badly Queen botched the first impression, or maybe that was the intention from the start. Maybe it was a way to undermine the mages in his eyes whilst the two masters focused on the fae.
“How good of a warrior are you?” He asks and I think before giving the first evasive thought that comes to mind.
I eventually shrug. “I don’t really know, I’ve been training since I was a little girl and I feel strong and competent. But my older sister who was better than me in combat never came home from the tundra so I really have no yardstick to judge what you considered a ‘good’ warrior.”
He nods, “Did she enjoy fighting?”
I smile as I think of her, “Yes, very much so. She was very close to the princesses which is why her Highness doesn’t like your people much.”
“At least she died in battle then but I feel she died young, and I’m sorry for lose. What was her name?”
“Aaliyah, her name was Aaliyah.”
“Its a beautiful name, is it common in this kingdom?”
“Not as far as I can tell, why do ask?”
“No reason, just a story one of my friends told me once has a beautiful warrior Aaliyah from a prominent family in it.” He says whimsically then remains silent looking up at the sky.
I give him his moment of private thought as its clear that’s what he’s doing. “Let’s go to this big meeting.” He says pushing off the wall.
We walk in silence for a while but I just burn with curiosity in a way I haven’t in a while. “Who is this friend of yours that spoke of an Aaliyah?” I finally ask though I’m sure there are millions of Aaliyahs in the world.
He has a little secret grin as he thinks of something, “Brand, his name is Brand.”
Chapter 99
Sachihiro
Our group has divided with Wagner leading most of our people through Sandoria still while a split away group of us go on a hunt for these sorcerers. The Sandies want us to do their dirty work for them but ma has also negotiated better concessions for our people to be confirmed in their House of Lords. Convoluted politics and archaic ways of doing things are preventing the mages loyal to the Crown from acting.
But to be honest I hold the Sandies in even lower regard than I ever have now that I know they don’t act even when children are involved. That Cynthia Alvalon is a sly fox and she knew she had us the moment she mentioned some of our children brought back from slavery have been in the tender care of one of these sorcerers.
Children so broken in spirit and sexuality that they were taken away by the fae as soon as we recovered them. To have a child begging to be molested is a very disturbing and sick sight and there are several that have been brought to us in such a state. Now this woman points us at a target and then tells us one of her own grandchildren has been taken.
I hated her the moment she said that and I think she felt it somehow because her eyes immediately sought mine out. But I’m not surprised because I’ve figured out she is some sort of psion and the loathing I had for her was palpable even to mundane bystanders.
To have your granddaughter taken from you with the knowledge of what vile things will be done to her and still not acting because of politics?! I found myself spiting and leaving the room, the greatest sign of disrespect that my people have come up with after a thousand years of developing our culture.
I remember being followed by Mira who tried to comfort me but all I wanted was to be with my little girls. I will never raise any of my children in Sandoria, not if I have any choice in the matter.
* *
And so here we are, 60 of us traveling in a completely different direction out for blood. Some of the very best warriors in our traveling group for we don’t know much about the enemy we are to face except he is old and formidable. It is said that sorcerers are immortal regardless of whether or not they Awaken to the upper tiers, so these sorcerers could be ancient and bursting with accumulated power.
But to have seen those children is to want to have a target to chop into pieces. And so we rush through the Sandoria Kingdom with an escort of 13 House guards and 1 Royal guard on horses. Mira also having chosen to ride not straying far from me both for my comfort and hers I think. She acts tough but I know the reunion with one of her former owners has rattled her a bit.
We mostly jog through the villages between town between long stretches of no human habitation. Not everyone here is an Awakened so the pace is relatively tame for me, case in point being Ava.
Ava has been mad at me since the dungeon in Eldritch almost two years ago now. She is convinced that had I not convinced her not to go into that dungeon she would also be an Awakened now and she has been wanting to fight me ever since I came out of that time chamber. She really doesn’t realise that there is a very large gulf between a mundane and an Awakened and I can’t blame her for not understanding cause we’ve killed Awakened Mages before.
But really those mages were very very stupid, or scared, or just limited in their understanding I guess. Awakening to only one thing is the height of folly because it leaves so many other glaring weaknesses as well. So really the entire Awakening philosophy of Sandoria is really stupid, and the poor fools don’t even realise it yet.
We take another break outside a small quiet farming village, I’m not surprised these people have the concept of farming. There are just too many mouths to feed and so few Awakenings that its necessary for most of the kingdom to eat on a daily basis.
“How are doing?” Mira asks jumping off her horse and patting the side of its head.
“I’m okey.” I say pulling her into my chest. “How are you doing?” I ask her as she snuggles into me.
“I’m okey, just didn’t expect to see anyone I knew when I came here nor did I know how I’d react if I did.”
“How do you feel for the young man?” I ask breathing in her hair.
“Young man?” She says with amusement looking up at me. “You do realise that even Rigdris is older than you right?” She asks tickling my sides.
I groan, “he seems so young though.”
She laughs at me, the first genuine laugh I’ve heard from her in days, I missed that sound.
“You just feel old but really you’re a baby. How old are you now 32, 33?” She asks with a smile.
“I’m 32 still, and Rigdris is 33 isn’t he?”
“Yes, do you realise that your first wife is double your age?” She asks.
I snort, “the culture of Awakening makes age almost meaningless when these things are concerned.”
“I know, I’m just saying. Speaking of age what have you thought about what Gaia proposed about his sister?”
“What?! Wait, how do you know about that?” I ask startled.
She giggles at me pulling herself into my arms again. “Kuyoki tells me everything you know.”
“Everything?” I ask with raised brows.
“Of course, who do you think her closest friend is? And yes I know all about your guys sex life, and I wanted to ask whilst I still have the nerve. Can she and Ingwe watch us when we ha
ve sex?” She says in a lower voice, I think she is embarrassed but I can feel my loins stirring at the thought.
“I think that’s an interesting idea.” I say, my own voice getting low and husky.
“Can Rigs watch too?” She asks and my heart flatters out of rhythm before beating coolly again.
I am not a very possessive person I have learnt through the years. Mira sleeping with Kei Watanabe didn’t bother me much though to be honest with myself I felt intimidated. How can any man compare after experiencing sex with a half vampire half succubi immortal?
But after my experience with Henrietta and Om, then later time at the Compound and at the Brothel. I just realised I was secure in my own sexuality one day and I didn’t even realise when that had happened. I love my women and if they want a partner other than me I want to understand why and how I could change so they don’t feel the need to supplement our relationship.
But I also know that with Mira it is almost a need for her, not just for the physicality of sex but for the independence of being free to choose. Kuyoki was a virgin at such a late stage in her life and her personality doesn’t accommodate a partner outside our marriage. Ingwe I’m not yet sure about, but she always seems eager for me to take more mates which is disconcerting a bit.
I also know within myself that all my mates will be Awakened and keep Awakening so we should all be alive and still partners for hundreds more years barring any complications. Which means monogamy is a pipe dream. There are people that aren’t even born yet that my mates could take a fancy to and I understand that. I have an excitement within me at the prospect of seeing Shea again and I keep thinking about Isis, occasionally about Abigail and other people.
By the time Mira is 100 years old she will probably have a harem of young eager men servicing her every whim. I have also realised that I don’t stay home for a very long time which makes it a bit unreasonable to expect capable powerful women to stay celibate in my times of absence, especially when I’m not.
I did not expect to get along with one of the peripheral people in my marriage bonds though. Rigdris reminds me a bit of myself when I was younger and I mean that without being patronising. The man is determined to close the gap in ability between himself and Mira and he doesn’t really see me as a rival but someone to aspire to.
He may not actually admit that even to himself but its something I’ve noticed, something Mira has noticed. I think I could genuinely become friends with the man; and as Mira once mentioned he will make a great addition to the defense of my family when I’m away.
“Would he open to that? Watching the woman he loves being pleased by another man in ways he may never be able to replicate? Its one think to know you are sharing a woman with a man that has more claim on her than you do, it’s quite another to see it.”
She relaxes a bit in my arms, I had taken too long deliberating over the choice and she had been worried of how I’d think of her. Despite her seemly infallible persona she is still a very fragile person when it comes to the people she loves.
“I’ll ask him.” Is all she says and we stay like that, comfortably in each others arms till its time to go again.
Chapter 100
Sachihiro
We circle the property as carefully as possible following the path I have layed out. It seems I am the sole ‘expert’ on spirits and sorcery we have on this mission and have been assigned the Battle Chief without even realising it. My awareness is making spirit traps and triggers easier for me to spot and plan against as they ‘shine’ brightly at the spiritual vibrational spectrum.
The property is big and heavily warded but thankfully the wards are all spirit based and though they are too complicated for me who has only spent 2 years learning at Spiritus. My natural affinity for spirit plus my Awakening in whatever it is I’ve Awakened in has given me much greater sensitivity even to hidden spirit based energies if I look closely enough.
But even with me circling the property with the team leaders and marking out safe paths I can only get us maybe a half kilometer into the property line before even I can’t make heads or tails of the defenses. The team leaders are proven strategic warriors not necessarily the most powerful or skilled, but each attack will be spearheaded by an Awakened with a artifact shield bearer at his/her side.
We now number 73 Tundrans as we were joined on this expedition by several of our countrymen we met exploring the Sandie kingdom. The Ministry of Information spies watching the manor have been unable to tell us what to expect since they are unfamiliar with sorcery and have been wary of getting closer. Which turns out to have been the smart decision since the wards start well before the actual property line markings.
The initial attack group is made of 30 people who will rush in from all sides as quickly as possible trying to limit the enemy’s response time, so the fastest of us are in that group. The second group is either going to help if the is a need for a fighting retreat or assist in the most pressed areas of counter attack but if all goes well they won’t be needed. The last group is to lay back and do nothing unless the second group is also failing and they need to rush in as a concentrated attack or ambush any pursuit if we can only get the children out but can’t exterminate the threat.
Only a decade ago no one with Barbarian blood would have even entertained the possibility of a retreat. But now after facing the fae then the Sandies and their allies we have learnt quickly to try and preserve our lives as much as possible. Which I’m glad for, but to be honest we are still very much a suicidally stubborn people and though plans for retreat may be layed out they may not be followed.
Especially by the tribesmen that are yet to go thought the academy. The Proelium trainers just have ways of knocking in discipline and the following of fluid battle plans even in the most stubborn of skulls. I look at the manor a last time as everyone gets into position around the wooded area. The ready signal comes and I immediately send the execute signal.
*
I move left swing right to the imperceptible impact against a pseudo flesh, armoured to resist the force and the sharpness of my Razor. The thing slashes at me with the thick extended ethereal tiger claws and I dodge back leaving the air screaming where it is retched by the creature. The is a resilience to the creatures that bellies their incorporeal forms.
Even to my awareness they seem to be barely here and I can barely keep sight of them. They seem to be changing forms at will, moving from a tiger to a snake to a hawk with each and every attack. Defending against them is confusing and needs concentration due to their polymorphic forms.
More flow out of the manor still like blood crazed night hounds rushing at bleeding prey. They come rushing out mostly in fleet footed four legged forms that seem to be all teeth and ripping strength ready to rend flesh apart. But they are met with shields hammers and blades without even the slightest of hesitation and my own heart rate increases as already some are going into the Rage so as to stand a chance.
I’m hurting these spirit creatures, we are all hurting them to some extent but these are very resilient summons. And they are smart too, way smarter than any I have ever come across summoned into incorporated form this way and they keep everyone from the manor, which I fear is the point so I signal the second group to ignore us and attack the house directly through mental communication with da.
Twenty Tundrans flow like an avalanche from the trees, mostly moving straight for the house but some stopping long enough to help a fallen or overwhelmed fighter with the spirit creatures. The fighting quickly deteriorates into an all out slug fest of axes, hammers and swords as we try to keep the creatures back as much as possible.
People are dying, actual people that have names, homes and dreams they had aspired to as the things rip into us with claws, fands, spikes hands depending on what shape they come at an individual in. Very little of any type of plan survives first contact with the enemy and neither does our strategy for dealing with these sorcerers.
With my awareness as accute as it i
s it actually becomes more potent in a fight. I’m receiving information about things happening all around me even as I focus on my own opponents and keeping them off me. Ceza bellows as he goes into the Rage and begins hacking away at a creature with his axe with a thick aura cladding his body even as he is being shredded apart.
Ford is swinging his hammer around as he runs through them as best he can moving from fight to fight, releaving the pressure from some of the most pressed fighters. Alvida goes down in a spray of blood as a sprit creature the shape of a bat with the tail of a snake sinks it’s fangs into her shoulder and changing into a form with claws to rip into her.
Ava actually goes down on one knew but resurfaces again with a load roar and a burst of chakra as she swings her poleaxe to and fro at speeds trying to do as much damage as possible. I take it all in periphery even as I focus keeping at bay the increasing number of creatures circling me. Their strategy is simply to swarm all the Awakened in large groups forcing us to defend more as much as possible while the other’s face the resilient creatures without the advantage we can provide.
It’s a simple strategy but its working as there seems to be no end to the swarming around everyone Awakened on the field that was in the initial group of attack. Some of the most damaged pulling back while the fresh ones flow forward trying to find an opening in my defenses. But with my new senses, with my now inate blessing of tanghes that allows me to understand body language body, with my experience as a warrior I know we are losing this fight.
The flow and ebb of the fighting is being cartalogued at the back of my mind even as I eventually hurt one enough for it to disappear from this realm like smoke to wherever such creatures reside. Ase the orc goes down with a tortured scream as they overwelhm her and I feel the rising bile at the back of my through at the distaste I have for these creatures and their masters.
This is actually my first fight aince ive Awakened and clinically I realise i am twice as fast as I was and I hit twice as hard with much more situational awareness and time to think and plan every single stroke, move, slash, stab and again I banish another one of these creatures. Everything seems to be moving at a slightly delayed motion including myself, and though the delay doesn’t mean I’m fast enough to dodge and defend against every coming attack. I does mean I see them all coming and I decide which to take in order to give greater counters and which would be too debilitating for me as of yet.
