I grinned, that was becoming her signature move.
Then he shared sheepishly, “I admit that I still believed these were the Great Wizards of the Before Times, even though you insisted they were not. But after seeing how ill-equipped they were to deal with magic, I see the folly of that. I mean, they didn't even try to ground it, any Knight standing against magic knows that at least. It was a two-minute engagement.” He shook his head.
Celeste stood there eyebrow cocked, the man caught sight of that, and he bowed out chuckling, “Sorry, Sora. It's your show.”
She kept her eyebrow cocked then smiled and looked around like she hadn't been interrupted. “As our illustrious Captain said...” This got chuckles from all around, then she continued, “After the explosion of the tanks on the enemy's backs, we were all knocked to the ground, stunned. I noted the tank was starting to move toward the ravine for a better shot at our dear loquacious Captain, and its attention was not on the field. It was a novice mistake. So I showed them the folly of their ways.”
If the lethal finality in which she chose to illustrate the point to the Avalonians wasn't so chilling, then the statement would have been humorous.
Then she concluded, “Once the Condor landed, we took Stein and the only other surviving Avalonian into custody.”
The captain snorted and looked around and said, “She took the man kicking and screaming as she had said she would.”
Then he bowed out again as she gave him a pointed look.
I smiled anyway. Speaking of folly – it was folly to not take my redheaded Knight at her word. She was a force unto herself.
Then she said, “Then we made haste to the north battle, but it was over by the time we arrived. As fast as these wondrous airships are, it felt as though we were moving through molasses as we watched smoke rising and explosions on the horizon.”
I nodded slowly and said, “Sora Elaineia of the Cristea and three brave Grevas solved our problem here.”
Verna narrowed her eyes in accusation at me then said straight to my Lady, “You should have seen Laney. I have only seen her do small things with her magic but this... it must have been what it was like at the battle of the Monolith.”
Elaine spoke up, her eyes on me and I saw awe and that shadow of fear that made my heart sink. “It was terrifying to see the magik of the people unleashed. I feared for Laney when she tore the sky itself open to unleash nature's fury upon the tanks. It made me feel so very... small. I was but a woman with a blade on the field of battle alongside a true Gypsy warrior who could call the wrath of Father Stone down upon the enemy like that.”
My eyes widened when I realized I was misreading what I saw in her eyes, it wasn't fear, it was shame. I reached a hand out, and she hesitantly put hers in mine. I gave it a little squeeze as I rasped out as loudly as I could, for her people to hear, “A true warrior was born upon the field of battle today, your Sora Elaineia, Femeie de Sabie of the Cristea, wielder of Sabie Acasa, avenged the women of New Home, and fought to free her people. I witnessed her take on a tank of Avalon, alone, and without fear.”
Between Verna, Elaine and I, we told the story of the battle of Aratreya. I believe that more than Lady Gen was idolizing Verna after the almost breathless recounting of her jousting the two-wheeled conveyance by Elaine. I almost chuckled as I saw Gen puffing up with pride when she heard, her arm in a sling. I don't think I'd be far off in speculating that had Verna not been married to Kristof, that she may have found herself pursued by the young lady knight.
Then we were told the cost of the day's freedom. Ten knights of realm dead. As were thirty-five villagers of Aartreya. I still cannot believe they had fired upon civilians. What kind of morality did the people of Avalon set their internal compasses to? I swallowed as they added the fifteen from the three Grevas who rode into battle with me. And a lump formed in my throat and I found it hard to breathe – I swear I could smell the acrid smoke from the tanks, the burning of the fields around us and the cloying smell of copper of blood in the air as she added, “And Sir Bowyn of Wexbury, Knight of the Realm, and my friend.”
After a moment she went on when she was sure her voice wouldn't break. “Seventy wounded.”
Sylvia growled as she stepped behind me after attending to another man, her magiks falling upon me to finish what her daughter had started. Her sheets of silken magik were weaker than normal, she was exhausting herself here. “Seventy-one.”
Celeste gave me a pleased look and crinkled her nose at me. “Seventy and one half.”
I shook a fist at her as the crowd chuckled.
Then she rattled off the casualty report of the enemy. Besides the two men taken at the Battle of Domed Mountain, one injured man survived our battle, and the two guards taken at the base, the rest of the enemy lay dead.
I rasped out as she shared that, “They deserve a proper burial. Though evil in life, they still deserve dignity in death.” The part of me that tasted like poison believed that for all but the woman who had taken Bowyn from us and I hated myself for that. I mourned yet another part of myself that I could never get back.
How many more pieces could be chipped away from me before there was nothing left of Laney Herder? I looked at Celeste, knowing she battled this same feeling all the time, yet she still stood up to do what was right. I felt the sense of loss of self a bit less with her at my side. Maybe that was the answer I searched for. Maybe we needed to surround ourselves with the people who love us to remind ourselves of who we are. Maybe that was enough.
Sylvia patted my shoulder and whispered in my ear, “See me tomorrow and I can finish. For once you are intact, and won't have any scars this time.”
I thought of Bowyn and amended her statement in my head. No physical scars anyway.
Then we all turned as Alexandru staggered into the doorway and people parted for him. He was carrying a huge chunk of metal, and my heart started racing. Anadele jutted from the metal I realized was part of the tube of the tank. The leather binding on the hilt had been burnt away, but my sword looked pristine as she gleamed in the light.
He gave me a swarthy grin, wiggled his eyebrows, and sat it on the table with a solid thud that shook the floor. “It was found embedded in a stone cottage a quarter mile from the battle, my Sora. Though it will take some doing to get it free of the debris.”
He yanked at Anadele to demonstrate, and she didn't budge. Celeste and I moved over, and Celeste tugged too, then prompted in question after the sword refused to move, “A blacksmith maybe?”
I was so happy to see my blade, I didn't care how long it took to free her. I thought I had lost her, but I should have known, as the magical fire she was annealed in at the Monolith had rendered her neigh unbreakable. I reached out and caressed her hilt, feeling the familiar song of magic hardened metal under my touch, then grasped it. To my surprise, she pulled free smoothly with no resistance at all. I blinked, smiling lovingly as slid her into the uncomfortably empty scabbard on my hip. It was so strange how naked I felt without her comforting weight there.
Alexandru explained to everyone, “Of course I loosened it up for her.”
There was a chuckle from the crowd.
I glanced up to see my wife studying me. My cheeks heated and I muttered, “What?”
She just shook her head as she smiled then she looked around and got serious. “Mother Corrine, we need to discuss the prisoners.”
The Mother of the newly freed Cristea clan inclined her head, and then more planning ensued.
***
We gathered the next day after the Falcon shadowed the huge transport conveyance from the enemy base to Aratreya. A knight rode with one of the captured Avalonians to be sure he did exactly what was asked of him. They had left behind all the pilfered resources after filling large tanks on the vehicle with some foul smelling fuel from some metal barrels.
We spoke with the Commander earlier, he was made aware that we were allowing his people to go free to inform Avalon of what had transpired. And to
deliver a message, that if Avalon refused to engage in peace, that the Westlands were protected.
He was resigned to the fact that someone had to answer for Avalon's war crimes in the Westlands, and he would be brought back to Sparo to answer to our justice. Celeste would have ended him right there had she not thought he would be more valuable in the coming months alive. There was a storm on the horizon, and we needed to be prepared to lean into it when Avalon returned.
When pressed to ensure the safety of his people, he shared that it was a three-week journey to Southpoint, another small pocket of civilization they had subjugated, where there was an outpost and supplies, before the final two-week journey to Avalon. Though he would not disclose Avalon's location.
So we ensured the Avalonians had sufficient food, water, and fuel to get them to Southpoint. The Falcon shadowed them out the Gateway and past the Ribbon of Life where they turned north. Once the airship was back with us, we planned our return to Sparo to report.
After verifying we had sufficient power in the containment vessels to make the return trip, replacing a couple with spares, then securing the bodies of our fallen in the hold, we prepared our temporary departure from the Westlands. We had ten weeks before Avalon could possibly return, and we hoped it would be in peace this time.
Any Cristea who wanted was welcome to come with us if they wished to leave a possible war zone. To my surprise, only a handful did. But I understood, the Westlands were their home even though we were now effectively at war with Avalon. The Falcon would be left with a full Squad to guard the Gateway in our absence, and most of our horses would be left, except Goliath and Canter to make room for the intact scout conveyance and the surviving two wheeler.
Bex was fascinated to no end by the remaining tank and the scout vehicle and had already started telling us how easy it would be to adapt them to electric motors with spark containment vessels to power them.
We were all queasy about the surviving one-man tank and the moralities of the sheer indiscriminate killing it was capable of. Bex and Sara cataloged and sketched it in painstaking detail, including the three remaining projectiles it had on board, which were loaded by a complicated track and pulley system inside – in forty seconds as we were reminded by Celeste.
We made the decision to disable the iron beast and its armaments along with all the guns found on the battlefields and the Avalon base by Lupei. Nobody needed that kind of killing power if they weren't willing to look into the eyes of their enemy.
And then there we were saying our temporary goodbyes to the people of this beautiful land. It was just stupid how much I had bonded with these people that it was so hard to say goodbye. Celeste was explaining something about comrades in arms to me that only peripherally made sense to me, but I know I will understand in time.
We looked around at our three important passengers who would be joining us to discuss the future contingencies if Avalon decides to send a larger force to the Westlands, to New Home.
My heart soared over how protectively Alexandru was with his arm around Sora Elaineia as she leaned into him for the contact. They were so cute together, just don't tell Dru I said that. And I wondered how their relationship would work out with his asinine sense of duty being our Garda Personala. Perhaps now he could be convinced that we didn't need his protection or that someone else could be passed the mantle. A silly tiny voice in my head was noting the beautiful babies they could have together.
Then there was Mother Corrine and Angelus, they were key to representing their people when we spoke with Rain and George. Heather would serve as acting Mother of the Cristea for a short time they would be away from Journey's End and in Sparo.
We had just turned to walk up the massive ramp into the gaping hold of the airship when a little boy came running through the crowd. I watched as he handed something to Jace and they exchanged words, and then the little boy disappeared back into the crowd.
I cocked an eyebrow as my brother stepped up to Celeste and said, “Their craftsmen finished it just in time,” and handed her what he had been given. What were they up to now? The tips of Celeste's ears were red, and her cheeks were burning as she held up toward me, a pretty silver chain and a little pebble encased in a silver cage.
It was my turn to blush as I instinctively held up my long hair, giving her access to my neck. What was this all about?
Her fingers brushed the sides of my neck, sending excited electric shivers down my spine as she whispered while she clasped the necklace behind me. “A piece of Mother Luna. I took it from the Domed Mountain during the battle for you.” Then she stood and said, “Make a wish.” And strode past me onto the Condor.
I blinked then smiled and pulled the caged pebble up to look at in fascination. A piece of Mother Luna. The heat on my cheeks spread. Only my girl could give me an actual piece of the sky. Then my eyes widened when I realized I was standing alone on the ramp, half of Aratreya watching me. I gave a toothy grin and waved lamely from my hip and ran up the ramp to join the others to the chuckling and cheering of the crowd. Could I be any more awkward? Don't answer that.
I sat grumpily beside my evil, smiling wife on the utilitarian metal benches attached to the floor. Then broke and smiled as I hugged onto her arm. “Thank you. I love it.” It amazed me that a woman in the middle of a fraught battle, energized by the bloodlust she experiences as she fights, had the presence of mind to think of me and pocket the pebble as she fought. It made me feel... I don't know, like I mattered?
The giggles on either side of us pulled my attention from her almost hypnotic emerald eyes. I looked over, and Misty flopped down beside me, then bounced her butt until she was sitting against me. Ingr on the other side of Celeste did the same, then they hugged our arms and prepared for liftoff. Ingr scrunched her lips to one side as she looked around and said, “It's not the Outrider.”
I glanced around again at the knights all sitting on the cold metal benches in the industrial looking gondola. Again, it seemed so very utilitarian and didn't have the warm and welcoming feeling the Outrider had before her demise.
That reminded me, I looked to the next row of seats and said to our brainy blonde freckle-faced Templar, “I'm so sorry about the Outrider Bex.”
He turned to give me a genuine smile as he shrugged. “You were facing off against a tank, and you looked dead on your feet Laney. I had to do something. The Outrider is just a thing, a tool that can be replaced. It would be a little harder to replace you.”
I smiled fondly at the man, and I could still see the wide-eyed gangly boy I first met so long ago, who was so full of ideas and wonder. I inclined my head and shared the truth, “Thank you. I love you Sir Bexington.”
He blushed and inclined his head back.
Great, I'd embarrassed a Templar of Sparo. Go me.
Celeste grinned at the exchange and hugged me tightly. Then the sound of chains being retracted echoed in the cavernous space. I wrapped my face in my scarves and reached over to do the same to Misty, the Condor was not sealed to the wind and dust of the Uninhabitable Lands like the Outrider had been.
Captain Thomas called out, “Hoisting anchors, secure doors.”
Another knight called out, “Door secure!”
Then I looked forward at the seats facing us to see Angelus looking pale and anxious. I smiled, it was to be his first flight. I assured him, “It is just like a balloon at Carnival.”
Angelus' voice was almost as hoarse as mine as he whispered out, “We don't have Carnival.”
I tried not to chuckle at how apprehensive he was, and I grinned at Dru's wide eyes as Elaineia's white-knuckled grip on his hand looked quite painful. What was she apprehensive about? She had flown once. But ever the gentleman, Alexandru didn't say a word, instead opting to shoot me a “help me” look which turned into a smug, cocky smile. The poor man was smitten, and there wasn't any magic in this world which could help him now.
Then with the feeling of our stomachs falling, we were airborne, and my heart started
beating faster as we turned east, toward... home.
We stopped at that tiny oasis to overnight, and as we sat around a campfire we made from wood from a fallen tree in the tiny copse that surrounded the pool of water. I found it strange to think that we would be arriving back at Templar Hall the next day, just a week since our departure. So much had happened in such a short time, and I felt a different person for the experience.
The girls were off chasing these cute little birds who didn't take flight, they just ran around on their long legs and couldn't have been bigger than a sparrow. Besides them and some annoying insects, there wasn't any other life at the oasis except the plant life.
I had looked at Mother Corrine, not imagining what she was thinking. Her people had been alone for centuries now, for longer than the Altii had been in the Lower Ten, then to be thrust into servitude from a parasitic people and be freed by ancestors long thought just story and legend.
They had been through so much the past five years, yet the Cristea endured, and now it was hope and apprehension I saw in her eyes. She must worry so about her people's future, but she need not worry, Sparo would ensure their safety, the People would ensure their safety. She had to know that right? I felt the need to alleviate her fears.
I stood, Celeste rising to trail behind me, curiosity painting her face in the light of the three sisters and the flickering campfire.
I stopped in front of the rulers of New Home, and when Corrine raised her eyes to me in curiosity I drew Anadele and laid her across my arm and before I could speak, Celeste started to warn me of something, “Laney be care...”
I waved her off with my gloved hand, misty magic leaving afterimages as I did. Then I said, “Mother Corrine of the Cristea, I pledge my blade to you. Be at peace in the knowledge that we will not abandon you and you are under our protection. We will not fail you. And I pledge the blade of Sparo too, our people will stand with you against Avalon. New Home will be protected.”
Celeste was dragging a hand down her face as I heard gasps from the knights all around the campsite. There was silence all around, only the crackling of the fire and the sound of crickets by the water could be heard. What? What did I say?
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