White Angel

by R A Oakes

  “A present, a rather large present.”

  “That’s not from my castle is it?” Chen asked.

  “Yes, my lady, I’m afraid it is.”

  “You broke it off Crystal Castle?”

  “Not me, my lady. It was done by someone who insisted on coming along.”

  “And who would that be?” Chen asked, anger rising in her voice. The thought of someone taking a sledgehammer to her castle, which was an artistic masterpiece, looking more like a cathedral than a fortress, was extremely upsetting.

  “Jewel, my lady.”

  “Jewel! Come out here!” Chen commanded.

  Immediately, a woman stepped out of the black crystal. But she wasn’t an ordinary woman, in fact she wasn’t even human. And she was red. A deep, rich red. Jewel was one big ruby in humanoid form.

  “You broke this off?”

  “Yes, from a back room in the basement. Hardly anyone ever goes there.”

  Jewel was one of Chen’s allies. At Crystal Castle, when Chen’s uncle had tried to conquer the fortress, the ruby-red woman had proven to be a valuable and resourceful warrior.

  “How many of you are there?” Chen asked, knowing that Jewel could multiply into dozens of versions of herself, all identical.

  “Just me. I can’t multiply unless I have a lot of black crystal to draw upon. I only brought a piece large enough to allow me to come along and help. Anyway, you should have taken me with you when you first came up here.”

  “I should have done a lot of things. But we didn’t have any advance warning that Skybrook Castle was about to plunge into civil war over who’d be Lord Stallington’s heir, Genevieve or her moronic, older brother, Rathlor.”

  “I’m glad Genevieve gained control.”

  “We all are.”

  “It seems Jewel might not be our only unexpected visitor,” Lord Pensgraft said pointing to a large barrel filled with smoldering coals.

  “Jewel, is that what I think it is?” Chen demanded.

  “It’s not my fault. She refused to stay behind when she heard you were in danger.”

  “By the time you heard what happened, the danger was already over.”

  “I tried to tell her, but she wouldn’t listen.”

  “Flame, come out here now!” Chen commanded.

  Immediately, a woman made totally of fire stepped out of the barrel of smoldering coals.

  “Nice day, don’t you think?” Flame said, trying to deflect her master’s wrath. “You know how much I hate rain, especially a heavy thunderstorm.”

  “A big bucket of water could douse you just as easily.”

  “My lady, I was upset when I heard about Dylancia, and I needed to come along and be sure you were okay. I’m sorry if my devotion has upset you. My apologies for loving you to the point that I’d leave my comfortable hearth at Crystal Castle and spend days crammed into that barrel. But please don’t let my feelings inconvenience you, I’ll just go down to the nearest stream and throw myself into the water.”

  “Flame’s always so emotional,” Jewel said to Chen, “and she doesn’t handle rejection very well.”

  “Don’t mind me,” Flame sniffed. “I’ll just walk home. Hopefully I won’t run out of wood to fuel myself with along the way. But who would care if my fire went out?”

  “Okay, okay!” Chen said in exasperation. “How many of you are in that barrel?”

  “There are only enough hot coals from Crystal Castle’s hearth for me, my lady. And if one of me is unwelcome, I’m glad I didn’t bring more so I could multiply. Being unwanted is bad enough, but to be rejected in front of other versions of myself would have been humiliating. However, if I’m not wanted, I guess I’ll go home,” Flame said, and her shoulders slumped, and tears began flowing down her cheeks as she wept quietly. The fire woman turned away and began shuffling back down the trail.

  “Oh, great, let’s all cry whenever we don’t get what we want,” Chen said in frustration. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry. You can stay.”

  “Oh, master, thank you,” Flame said as she smiled and ran to give Chen a big hug.

  “Don’t touch me! Do you want to give me third-degree burns like the last time you got all touchy feely?”

  “No one loves me,” Flame lamented.

  “I love you. I just don’t want to be incinerated.”

  “Sorry. How about if I throw you a kiss?”

  “Fine.”

  Chen turned to her husband and asked, “Did you know about these two wanting to come up here?”

  “Not me,” Lord Pensgraft laughed. “But I’m not surprised to see them, given how devoted they are to you.”

  “Great. Loved by a ruby woman who’s harder than rock and a fire woman who’s prone to tears.” Looking at Flame’s face, Chen added, “Quit crying. You’re putting out the flames and getting dark circles under your eyes.”

  “Water wreaks havoc on my complexion.”

  “Well, do you want to know the good news?” Jewel asked smiling.

  “And what would that be?” Chen asked cautiously.

  “We’re here to protect you. We’re your new bodyguards.”

  “I don’t need protecting,” Chen said, a hard edge to her voice. “I can take care of myself just fine.”

  “Of course you can,” Jewel said unfazed. “With us, you’ll just be even safer.”

  “I don’t always like feeling safe. Sometimes I like a little danger.”

  “A little?” Lord Pensgraft said. “A lot’s more like it.”

  “Not to worry. You can get into danger, and Jewel and I will come rescue you,” Flame said smiling.

  Chen looked at Lord Pensgraft.

  “I’m staying out of it. They’re you’re servants. They came with Crystal Castle. If you didn’t want them, you shouldn’t have kicked your Aunt Glenitant out an upper-story window,” the giant said. Lord Pensgraft was six feet, five inches tall and 275 pounds of solid muscle. But he was devoted and deferential to his wife and was as sensitive and intuitive as he was strong.

  “Glenitant deserved it,” Chen said.

  “And now you have us,” Flame said with enthusiasm. “Isn’t it nice how things worked out?”

  “Wonderful,” Chen said.

  “We can help patrol Skybrook Castle or whatever. I’m handy on a dark night,” Flame smiled.

  “Unless we don’t want to be seen,” Chen said.

  “No one’s perfect,” Flame huffed. “Some people are never satisfied.”

  “You can say that again,” Lord Pensgraft smiled, thinking how it seemed like his wife wanted to cram 500 years of living into one lifetime.

  “I’m good at serving as a nighttime diversion,” Flame said, trying to justify her usefulness. “Let people see me with you frequently, then, later, they’ll assume we’re together even when we’re not.”

  “That could prove useful,” Chen agreed, always one for being pragmatic.

  Jewel came over and gave Flame a hug. The hug lingered. “All right you two, we have work to do. Break it up,” Chen said firmly.

  “Well, you won’t let me hug you,” Flame said, a bit annoyed. “At least a woman made of rubies doesn’t complain about being touched by fire.”

  “That’s true,” Chen agreed. “Better her than me.”

  “General Tark,” Lord Pensgraft said.

  “Yes, my lord?”

  “Make camp, and then meet me in the great hall of the castle.”

  “Yes, my lord,” General Tark said. Immediately he shouted, “Kirnochak!”

  After his oldest son, Marcheto’s brother, rode up to him, General Tark said, “Make camp on that little knoll and post sentries.”

  “Yes, father.”

  “So where are we going?” Flame asked.

  “To Dominion Castle. We’re going to take it back from Swarenth. And we’ll have to face down Balzekior as well,” Chen said.

  “She has such a contentious personality,” Flame said.

  “The entire castle is surrounded by ri
vers of lava,” Chen informed her.

  Flame’s eyes went up at that. Jewel looked over at her and smiled.

  “The rivers ring Dominion Castle, surrounding it with flaming lava and searing heat,” Chen added.

  “How thoughtful of her,” Flame reflected.

  “Balzekior wasn’t being nice,” Chen said in exasperation. “She did it to make the castle impenetrable.”

  “That’s silly. It makes the whole place like home instead.”

  “It looks a lot like hell.”

  “Exactly.”

  “You never told me where you came from originally,” Chen pointed out.

  “Don’t ask. It wasn’t a nice neighborhood. But I could walk all around Dominion Castle if it’s surrounded with lava. I might even have a nice hot-lava facial.”

  “It would be difficult to detect a woman of fire exploring a castle ringed in flames,” Lord Pensgraft agreed. “You’d be a very effective spy.”

  “Oh, I hate invading other people’s privacy,” Flame said.

  Chen glared at her.

  “But I guess I can make an exception.”

  Lord Pensgraft just shook his head and smiled. “General, get the men situated and meet me in the castle in an hour.”

  “Yes, my lord.”

  With that, Lord Pensgraft, Chen and her warrior women spun their horses around and rode off. Not wanting to be left behind, Jewel quickly stood in back of Flame, wrapped her arms around her friend’s neck and pressed up against her. Flame gripped one of Jewel’s wrists to help her hang on, and then leapt into the air, looking like a bonfire flying through the heavens.

  Glancing up into the sky, Chen said to Gwendylln, her second-in-command, “Flame might prove useful after all.”

  “Yes, sometimes you have to fight fire with fire,”

  Gwendylln agreed.

  Chapter 7

  Coldstream Village, two miles south of Dominion Castle. A few weeks later, after dark.

  As half-starved humans swarmed around them, Chen and Aerylln led several wagons packed with food into the village. The warrior women were implementing Captain Polaris’ earlier suggestion that people in surrounding villages be fed properly, helping them to become stronger and join in the fight against Swarenth.

  “We have plenty of fresh bread but be careful not to gorge yourselves. After not having eaten for so long, getting too full will just make you sick,” Chen cautioned the villagers.

  A desperate but very determined mother forced her way through the crowd and cried out, “I’ve no breast milk for my baby.”

  “Let me take the child,” a farmwoman from Hawthorn Village said. Several women from that village had come with Chen and Aerylln to serve as wet nurses for those too young to eat solid food.

  The Coldstream Village mother watched on in relief as her baby girl’s mouth latched onto the wet nurse’s nipple and started sucking furiously. However, as the desperate mother saw the other woman’s full breast, seemingly overflowing with milk, she felt ashamed of her inability to take care of her own child. “I’m worthless. I don’t deserve this child.”

  Leaping off Zorya, Aerylln put her arm around the woman’s shoulders and said, “You’re not a bad mother. It’s not your fault you’re undernourished and can’t produce milk.”

  “But how is it that this woman has so much?”

  “She and the other wet nurses are from a village 40 miles north. Things aren’t quite as bad up there.”

  “If there had been any hope of escape, I’d have left this god-forsaken land with my family long ago. Not only are the roads patrolled, the gargoyles chop off the front half of anyone’s left foot if they attempt to run away, and that applies not just to men but to women and children as well.”

  Aerylln looked up at Chen, who was still mounted on her warhorse, and saw the anger in her stepmother’s eyes.

  “Not long ago, my baby was kidnapped by forces allied to Swarenth, so I know something about being desperate myself. Fortunately, I got her back,” Chen said.

  “How?”

  “I fought for her life.”

  “You fought gargoyles?” the mother asked in amazement.

  “I went to the gates of hell to rescue my child, and we’re going to help you do whatever it takes to protect your children. And I mean anything.”

  The half-starved mother wanted to believe Chen’s encouraging words and, overwhelmed with past regrets, lowered her eyes in shame as tears began streaming down her cheeks. “Up until now, I’ve done nothing to protect my loved ones. Nothing.”

  “I’m sure that’s not true,” Aerylln said, trying to comfort her.

  “Women in other villages trade sex for food. They go into the castle, service the hairy beasts, get fed a meal afterwards and sneak out what food they can for their families. Those women have plenty of milk for their babies.”

  “Gargoyles can get humans pregnant?” Aerylln asked horrified.

  “No, humans and gargoyles are two different species, thankfully. So at least they don’t have to bear their young. However, the women here in Coldstream Village have made a pact with each other not to participate in such a degrading experience.”

  “That’s very courageous of you,” Aerylln said.

  “Maybe, but I don’t know. We suffer for our defiance. Gargoyles treat humans from Coldstream Village much more harshly. If we submitted like women in other villages do, life would be easier.”

  “But then we wouldn’t be here to help you,” Chen said sternly. “Coldstream Village was selected as our top priority when it comes to distributing food because you do act defiantly.”

  “Yes, even though it’s hopeless.”

  “It’s never hopeless while you can still draw breath,” Chen said.

  “We deeply appreciate your assistance. Yet even with this food, we won’t be able to effectively resist Swarenth’s might.”

  “Maybe not, but you might find this encouraging,” Chen said as she waved to Gwendylln, her second-in-command, who had remained several hundred yards behind guarding a crossroads.

  Fifty warrior women charged into the village on huge black stallions with Gwendylln in the lead. Dismounting, they strode over to their master who told them to draw their swords. Weapons leapt from their scabbards and were held aloft, moonlight glinting off their blades.

  The half-starved mother looked up at the warrior women around her and asked in a stunned tone of voice, “Women wielding weapons?”

  “I like being in control,” Chen said, putting it bluntly.

  “I don’t think I’ve been in control of my life for even a day,” the distraught mother said. “What I wouldn’t give to live even one day with some self-respect.”

  Chen pulled a knife from her boot and handed it to her. “From this day forward, you will fight to the death before being disrespected by a gargoyle.”

  The village woman looked at the blade like it was her salvation. “But you know, it’s punishable by death for a human to carry so much as a sharp farm implement when unsupervised.”

  “Somehow I think you’re beyond caring at this point.”

  “That’s true. Plus, what will I be teaching my daughter if she grows up seeing her mother being humiliated and physically abused?”

  “That women are less than dirt.”

  “I won’t teach my daughter that lesson. I won’t do it!”

  “Then fight by my side,” Chen invited her.

  “I don’t even know how to best use this knife.”

  “Join me and I’ll teach you how.”

  “I’m nothing but skin and bones. Why would you want me?”

  “You’ve got heart.”

  The desperate mother looked at the knife in her hand with affection. “I can gain my freedom with this, can’t I?”

  “Yes.”

  “In life or in death, I will be free from this moment onward.”

  “That’s what I like to hear. Now kneel before me,” Chen said as she drew her sword. Not her magic sword, Crystal, but
another she had with her.

  The Coldstream mother obeyed, and Chen touched the sword’s blade to the woman’s left shoulder, then her right and said, “Arise, my sister, welcome to your new family.”

  Chen’s warrior women sheathed their swords and approached the newest member of their sisterhood, kissing her on the cheek and gently patting her on the back.

  “Henceforth, your name will be Tenacity, for surely that’s what’s kept you alive up until now.”

  “How soon will you begin teaching me the ways of a warrior?”

  “Eat first and rest,” Chen advised her.

  “Teach me something now,” Tenacity pleaded.

  “All right, before you fight an opponent, let him feel your anger. Look at him unflinchingly and let him see you have no fear.”

  Tenacity remained silent.

  “Show me your anger,” Chen commanded.

  Tenacity looked at her leader, and the veil of servitude dropped from her eyes. In them were a rage and a longing for vengeance that burned with savage brightness. Tenacity’s willpower leapt out of her, slamming into Chen and covering her new master with such a desire to kill gargoyles that the warrior women nearby opened their eyes wider in surprise.

  “That’s a lot of anger to have been repressing for all these years,” Chen smiled.

  “I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

  “Don’t apologize. Do you think you can do that again?”

  Tenacity looked Chen right in the eye and said, “I will be dead before I suffer another insult at the hand of a gargoyle.”

  “What do you think, Gwendylln? Has she got what it takes?”

  “That and then some,” the warrior woman said, smiling with approval.

  “If you eat well, get some rest and apply yourself, you could end up as leader of this village’s defense force.”

  “The men might not like that,” Tenacity said quietly.

  “Do you care if they object?”

  “No, I’m just stating a fact.”

  “I recently helped a woman named Genevieve take over the leadership of Skybrook Castle up north. So, I think I can help you assume leadership of this village.”

  “That won’t be a problem,” a man said as he stepped forward.