“Then you don’t think she wants to go home?” Lia asked. “Is that why she’s so upset? Does she think with the war ending we’ll turn her out?”
“All I know is that she’s happy here. Probably this is the first time in years she’s felt that way,” I replied. “It would be cruel to tear her away from the only happiness she’s likely to find for a long time.”
“I don’t understand,” Lia said. “What happiness has she found here?”
“Pay attention to your sister this evening at dinner,” I suggested. “Watch her, with all of your senses, and you’ll realize what I’m talking about.”
“With all of my senses?” Lia asked, lifting her head and appraising me skeptically. “So cryptic, Pet, and spiritual. Are you remembering your Fae roots?” she teased.
“We’ve been around Vilkerlings too long, my darling. While it’s good to understand them, I won’t allow them to alter me,” I replied. “Their cloudy connection to the world is not something I wish to adopt. I remember a time when you schooled me on attending not only with my ears, but also with my nose, and my eyes. You had me taste the air, and feel the forest with my skin,” I added. “You reminded me of what sensitive creatures we Fae truly are,” I said.
“I was a peculiar girl,” she replied, smiling sheepishly. “No wonder Ania always picked on me.”
“I never found you peculiar, Lia. I adored you,” I replied.
“And now that I’m cloudier and older, and more commanding as Ania puts it?” she asked, a trace of insecurity in her voice.
“You know I adore you, Lia. You never need to doubt that,” I replied. A grin spread across her face and she leaned forward to kiss me.
“You could never love me as much as I love you,” she replied against my lips.
“Not true,” I argued, earning another kiss.
-CH 21-
We were home and both in one piece, but I was not unscathed, either by what I’d witnessed or by what I’d done. I felt mentally battered, as nightmares began plaguing me with the images of brutal battles I’d fought, and the tortured faces of savages I’d killed. While our lives settled into a new, quiet balance, I took time to myself to try to reorder the chaos in my mind. I rode out alone often, and spent hours in my office sketching images from the battles. These activities offered some relief from the horror plaguing my sleep and threatening to unravel my mind.
As I battled my demons, Astrid was suddenly full of energy, and seemed to be everywhere at once, causing chaos among the servants, and terrorizing the entire household, stealing objects, and randomly devastating rooms, occasionally even destroying valued artifacts belonging to Lia and me. My child was angry, suddenly, and no amount of cajoling on my part could calm her. Lia was at a loss as well, so we simply tried to ignore the behavior, and hope it would cease.
Meanwhile, Emma was the perfect guest, particularly self-sufficient, but available to provide conversation at dinner. Ania was so extremely taken with the countess that I hardly saw her unless Emma was near. As for Jestine, the child behaved as any infant, I suppose, crying a normal amount, and showing naïve fascination for the world around her. I couldn’t help gazing into her extraordinary dark eyes whenever I was near her. She held a strange mysticism in her preternatural gaze.
We had rooted out the Head Takers from Baneland in less than a year, but M’Tek and Lore were still fighting off the invasion efforts in Faeland and Nogeland. It was during this well-earned lull for the Vilkerlings that I received a request from M’Tek for assistance along the Wasteland Pass. Kieran was guarding the pass, and the southeastern coast. I knew M’Tek would react badly if I sent my army to her with Kieran at the helm, but I dreaded leaving home again, wondering if I was quite strong enough to return to a violent and bloody battle zone with my mental wounds still fresh.
A few days after M’Tek’s request arrived I received another from Lore. The Noge Queen wrote that while she could not condone my actions in raising a Vilken army, without her sanction, she found herself in the bewildering position of needing assistance from that army. M’Tek clearly was unable to lend support, so she begged that I might bring the Vilken soldiers to her aid. As much as I loathed the idea of returning to the war, I couldn’t refuse assistance to either Queen.
I was in my office, rereading Lore’s request for the hundredth time, and trying to find justification for refusing her, when Lia came in and sank into the chair opposite me.
“You look stressed, Pet,” Lia observed, offering a half-smile.
“Do I?” I asked, focusing on her gentle face and exhaling the tension building in my neck.
“The last time you appeared so stern you were telling me you wanted to go to war and leave me behind,” she said, trying to make light of my mood. “I saw the courier arrive from Faeland three days ago. I’ve been waiting for you to talk to me about it,” she added. “And then this morning there was a Noge courier. Was their news so awful?”
I opened my letterbox and retrieved M’Tek’s letter and handed it across my desk to Lia. I waited the few minutes for her to read the contents, before handing her Lore’s letter. Lia read feverishly through both, her brow furrowing more tightly with each word she read. After Lia had finished studying the letters, she stared up at me, her jaw opening slightly and then closing as if she couldn’t find words to express her astonishment. She appeared almost frightened for a moment, but then her expression cleared.
“Pet, they’re losing ground,” Lia whispered. “How can they be losing ground?”
“Maybe the Head Takers have greater numbers in the east,” I observed. “Their homeland may lie across the Sapphire Sea.”
“I always assumed they were from the south, beyond the Murky Ocean,” Lia replied. “Baneland was attacked first.”
“We can’t refuse them,” I said, not bothering to contemplate from where this scourge of savages had arrived. It made little difference in our current predicament.
“Mata is fighting closer to our border,” Lia observed. “We’ll go to her first, and then ride north.” I shook my head.
“There’s no time, Lia. You’re a seasoned general now. You’ll take half of our army and go to M’Tek,” I replied. “I’m the Prime of Nogeland. I have a duty to both Lore and the Noge people. I’ll ride north with the other half immediately, to assist Lore.”
“No. You’ll come with me. We can send Kieran into Nogeland to help Lore,” Lia argued. I started laughing and shook my head.
“I can’t do that, my darling,” I said gently. “You may not realize exactly how intensely Lore dislikes our scruffy little Vilken general. Kieran will stay in Baneland, with Kashun. I’ll give them each a small division so they can continue to protect the coast. Baneland will be safe.”
“But Pet, I can’t do this without you,” Lia said. “You’re my strength.”
“Lia, you’re every bit as brave, cunning, and powerful as either of your mothers.” Lia’s eyes were turning red, but she didn’t allow a tear to escape as she watched me. “M’Tek needs you. You won’t fail her. I have absolute faith in you.”
“She wrote asking for your help, Pet, not mine,” Lia pointed out. “You’re the brave one. I’ve only been playing a part so I could remain at your side,” she added.
“It was your strategy that won the western coast,” I replied. “You foresaw the danger to all three nations, to all of Pangia. You have both the mind, and the knowledge. You were born to be a great general.”
“And yet you’ve said repeatedly that I don’t belong on a battlefield,” Lia argued. “Let me stay with you. We’ll keep each other safe. Send Kieran to Mata.”
I shook my head and Lia closed her eyes, tipping her head foreword into her hands. I thought she might cry, but she only took a deep breath, her shoulders squaring before she raised her head again to meet my gaze. “You’re right, of course,” she said firmly. “When do we part?”
“I sent orders out yesterday to bring our divisions along the western coast eastward. I’
ll ride out to meet them tomorrow, with orders for Kieran and Kashun. You should head southward as soon as possible. My cousin would never have asked for help from Vilken soldiers unless she was in desperate need. As it is, she’ll get less than half of our army. I think she was counting on all of it.”
“Then I’ll leave when you set out,” Lia replied. “I want this evening to prepare myself,” she whispered.
“You’re ready,” I assured her.
“You’re right. I’m ready for the battlefield, Pet. But before I go, I will have one more evening with you,” she said firmly. “We haven’t been apart for more than a few hours since we were joined. I need this evening with you.” I nodded, and she stood up from her chair, extending her hand to me. “Come with me,” she commanded.
“I need to send out letters to both of your mothers advising them of our intentions,” I replied.
“We’ll do that together, later. Right now, I want to ride into the woods with you,” she said. “Come with me.”
****
The time to part had arrived. Lia held Astrid tightly in her arms as the horses waited. We were riding with only three guards each, as we needed to leave enough at Lauderdam to protect our family and guests, should disaster find Lauderdam. Lia pressed a kiss to Astrid’s forehead and glanced anxiously toward the waiting guards before looking back at me. She looked gallant in her military garb, her golden hair again plaited closely to her head. She placed Astrid down and took three long strides to reach me, wrapping her arms around me, pressing her lips to mine, kissing me almost frantically. I was breathless when she drew back to meet my eyes.
“I don’t like this. I don’t like it at all, Pet,” she whispered. “I don’t want to leave you.”
“I know,” I agreed, waiting for my heart to stop battering my chest. “Be careful.”
“I’ll command from the rear, and stay out of the thickest fighting,” she assured me. “Promise me you’ll do the same. You must protect yourself. Your life is more important than anything else.”
“I promise, Lia,” I agreed.
We couldn’t delay our departure any longer, still neither of us moved from our embrace. Astrid wrapped her arms around my leg and I released Lia so that I could pick up my daughter. Lia turned her back to me and approached Khol. I watched as she mounted and offered one last wave to her sister and Emma. She turned her attention to me as I held Astrid, nodding once before she set off. She and her small contingency of three guards galloped down the drive and out through the gates as I stood motionless, watching.
Once Lia had rounded a corner and disappeared from my view I pressed a kiss to Astrid’s forehead and placed her down on her feet. Astrid started crying as she realized I was about to leave her as well.
“No! Mamma stay!” she cried out, wrapping her arms around my leg again with a surprisingly strong grip for one so small, and planting her little feet, in attempt to keep me there. I gave Ania a pleading glance, and she hurried down the stairs to collect her niece.
Astrid was having a full-blown tantrum by the time I was on Reika’s back. I waved to my daughter as she kicked and struggled to escape Ania’s arms. I looked to the countess and she placed a hand on her chest, a Vilken gesture for wishing me well. I turned from them, and led my guards at a trot away from Lauderdam, turning west at the gate.
I met up with my elite infantry division only a day’s ride west of Lauderdam. The remainder of my half of the army was already moving north under Lieutenant Tissane, and about a day ahead of us toward the Nogeland Border. We moved quickly to catch up, cutting across the northern range of the Baneland Territory, before heading due north across the border, toward Saranedam. Within five days, we passed barely a few miles southeast of Saranedam Village, and I was able to see the brilliant, turquoise blue of Sweet Lake in the distance, a sight that made me far more nostalgic for the glittering parties, and turbulent scandals of the past than I expected.
We rode on, taking an extreme northern route to avoid the Abyss Canyon, skirting it to the west, and camping in some very unforgiving territory. We reached Lore nearly three weeks after our departure from Lauderdam. We found her army holding worthless rocky terrain in the far north, her once mighty military, in tatters.
The Head Takers had managed to divide her force just before she wrote to me, seeking help. Since that time, she’d had no word on the whereabouts of nearly twenty thousand soldiers and two of her top generals. Lore hoped they had ridden south toward Faeland in an attempt to shore up M’Tek and the Fae forces, but she was uncertain. The Head Takers held all of the land between the Abyss Canyon and the coast, effectively cutting the Noge Queen off from three of her divisions.
When I arrived it was an hour before dusk, and Lore rode out to greet me on an unfamiliar bay mare. I dismounted when she dropped from the animal’s back, and hurried to embrace me.
“Thank Deus!” she said next to my ear as she held to me tightly. “You’re our salvation, Pet.”
“I’m only twenty thousand strong,” I replied before she released me.
“Then you’ve brought far more than I expected. We’ll make do,” Lore said, stepping back from me. She glanced at my three personal guards and actually smiled at them, offering a perfect and graceful Vilken bow. Obviously surprised, they offered stiff, formal bows in return. “I’ve never been so happy to see Vilkerlings in my life,” Lore whispered next to my ear in Fae. “These painted beasts make your Vilkerlings appear absolutely civilized,” she added. “What did you call these creatures we’re fighting? Was it Head Takers?” Lore asked. I nodded.
We started walking toward her tent, which was a makeshift structure, haphazardly sewn from the remains of about twelve different, partially burned, tents. Once inside, I noticed she was living sparsely, her bedroll was even burned slightly, and the maps had holes burned through them. She led me over to a chair, at her command table, and went for a bottle of berrywine. I sat and waited as she brought two dented metal cups and placed them down between us. She opened the berrywine and poured a generous amount in my cup.
“It’s one of yours,” she said, raising the bottle so I could see the label. “I’d offer you torppa, but there’s none to be had. This was in my saddlebag, or it would have gone the way of the rest. Still, it’s quite good.”
“Anything wet is welcome,” I replied. Lore smiled and raised her metal cup to me with an elegance that felt both slightly out of place, and exactly correct.
“Thank you for coming to my rescue, old friend,” she said, before sipping from her cup. “I feared you’d refuse me.”
“An unfounded fear,” I replied. “I’d never abandon you.”
“Well, I was worried you might. After all, I didn’t even try to protect the Baneland Territory,” she said, diverting her gaze for a moment.
“You offered my family shelter,” I replied.
“You know I would have helped the Vilkerlings if I could have. Anyway, I really have had my hands full with these savages. M’Tek calls them the Painted Ones, because of the way they decorate themselves,” she said. “To me they’re simply savages. Why should I give them an impressive name?” she asked with an air of contempt. “They’re unlike any foe I’ve met before, I’ll give them that,” she added with grudging respect. “They seem to fight without structure or rules, in pure chaos, but then suddenly the structure appears. By that point all is lost, and I’m forced to retreat. At first, I thought we were doing well against their shapeless attempts, but then another six boats landed on the eastern Noge coast. These savages painted themselves to match the landscape, and camouflaged their boats to blend with the sea, so we were taken completely by surprise when they attacked us, in the night if you can imagine.”
“Deus!” I replied.
“They set our tents afire, and slaughtered as many soldiers and horses as they could lay hands on, even my own personal mount was lost. We killed thousands of them when we fought back, but there were more attacking us the next day. It was in that confusion that
my army was divided,” she explained. “I’ve not had word from M’Tek in nearly two months, and I can’t hear her at this great distance. I’ve been truly desperate for news of her. Do you know how she’s managing in Faeland?”
“I’m sorry. My news is not good,” I replied, waiting to give her the blow that her daughter was in southern Faeland also, fighting alongside M’Tek.
“And the Baneland Territory?” I nodded.
“We’re free of them, for now,” I replied.
“How were you able to chase them off?”
“We didn’t chase them off, Lore,” I said quietly. “We killed every last one of them and burned their corpses, as well as their boats.”
Lore’s eyes grew wide. “How many boats landed on your shores?” she asked.
“In all, we burned nineteen,” I said quietly.
“You destroyed an army of fifty thousand savages with only twenty thousand Vilkerlings?” she asked, astonished. “Are you so great a general, Pet?”
“Of course not. I started with about fifty thousand soldiers,” I corrected her.
“You’re losses were even greater than mine, then,” she said, looking down at her cup.
“No. My casualty numbers came in at around eleven thousand. Since then I’ve trained and recruited more peasants.”
“Then why have you only brought me twenty thousand? I need as many boots as possible,” she snapped. “You must realize how desperate I am. I never would have asked for Vilken soldiers if I wasn’t on the point of losing Nogeland to these savages.”
“I’ve only brought you half of our army,” I confessed.
“But I asked for your entire military might,” she said, clearly dumbfounded. “Have you left the rest to defend Baneland?”
“I left three thousand of my best cavalry soldiers to guard the coasts,” I admitted.
“Where are the other twenty thousand?” she snapped, growing even more incensed as I explained.
“In Faeland. I sent the rest to aid M’Tek,” I admitted. Lore stared at me without blinking for a moment, and then she broke eye contact and stood from her chair, pacing nervously. “M’Tek basically begged for any help we could offer her.”
A Fortunate Woman Page 36
