"But you already know," she said, "I told you, I never really fit in with them. There was always this line of separation."
"So why'd you continue?" Sean asked, "Eight years is a long time to dedicate to something you didn't enjoy doing."
Janice looked at him, "No," she said, "It wasn't that. I enjoyed healing. I enjoyed investigations, I enjoyed penance. It came to mean a lot to me, even when I didn't get along with the others. That's why I stayed. I felt like I was doing something right, something I was meant to do."
Sean nodded. "I know how you feel," he said.
"That's right," Janice said, "You were teaching yourself, I nearly forgot. Was it hard? Learning by yourself?"
"It was difficult," Sean said, "But my sister..." He paused for a moment, closing his eyes. It took a moment to compose himself. "She was supportive," he said. "She knew how much I wanted to learn."
"Why didn't you join the Chapel?" Janice asked.
Sean shrugged a shoulder, "We were poor," he said.
"It doesn't take money to become a Priest," Janice said. "Just dedication."
"I know," Sean said, "But I grew up with my sister. She and my uncle, they needed the help with the bakery. There wasn't time for me to go learn."
Janice started to reply but suddenly Sean put a hand over her mouth, and shoved her to the ground. When she gave him a strange look, he gestured forward.
There were two soldiers walking nearby, obviously Lamonte by their colors.
"Did you see something?" one of them asked the other. The other man shook his head.
"Aren't there supposed to be troops out here?" the first one asked. "I thought they had people on the perimeter."
"I'm not sure," the second admitted. "If there are, we'll take them out tomorrow. Let's just get through tonight first."
"How close are we to taking Teirford?" the first asked.
"We've broken down the gates," said the second.
Janice and Sean exchanged a long, troubled look. Janice reached for Sean's hand, and give it a comforting squeeze. The two soldiers were moving away now, still talking about the attack on Teirford. The moment they were out of sight, Sean and Janice leapt to their feet.
"Let's go," Sean said. Janice followed.
To Sean and Janice's surprise, there was already a lot of commotion happening inside the camp when they arrived. At the center of it was Eldrin and a man named Darren Thius.
Darren through a punch at Eldrin, but Eldrin easily dodged it.
"It's your fault," Darren said, "All your fault! We're stuck here, because of you!"
"It could be worse," Eldrin said, "We could look like you guys."
Darren scowled, running and attempting to hit Eldrin again. Eldrin knocked away the fist as though it were nothing, "Keep trying," he taunted, "Aren't you supposed to be good at fighting. Or was combat charge another word for can't do anything?"
Sean and Janice ran up to where Matilyn was. She was arguing with Ryan, "This is why we can't let them drink," she told him, "Look at Darren."
"We can't ban all liquor," Ryan said in return, "If we do, we're going to have a huge amount of angry soldiers."
"We can," Matilyn said, "We're the top officers here. They shouldn't be drinking anyway. We're at war, not at some party."
"Well, we're not actually at war," Ryan said, "We're stuck out here with nothing to do."
Matilyn gestured to where Eldrin was still dodging blows from Darren, "So this is the solution?"
Ryan shook his head, "No," He said, "Darren's out of line right now but we both know that Captain Eldrin antagonized him into the fight."
Matilyn couldn't argue with that, so instead she whipped around to face the two again, "Knock it off," she called out. Both of them ignored her. Ryan sighed.
"Lieutenants," Sean said, "We have bigger problems right now."
"Bigger problems than a fist fight between a drunk man and an idiot?" Ryan snapped.
"He's not an idiot--"
"Yes," Sean said, "Bigger problems than that. Teirford is under attack."
"What?" Ryan demanded.
"Teirford is under attack," Sean said, "Janice and I were out for a walk and we heard a few soldiers talking about it. They've already got the gates down."
He saw Ryan's face whiten and remembered red that most of his family lived in Teirford. Most of Stoneheart had a family member or two inside the city.
Darren and Eldrin stopped their fighting and came to join the forming crowd.
"What do we do?" Janice asked.
There was a moment of silence. Ryan cleared his throat. He seemed hesitant but he forced the words out anyway, "Our orders were clear," he said, "We're not to be involved."
"They'll come after us next," Janice said.
"We have orders," Ryan said, though he didn't sound as though he liked that thought very much. His hands were closed into tight fists at his sides.
Matilyn hesitated. "Well," she said, "These are dire circumstances..."
"No," Ryan said, "The commander was very clear about it, he doesn't want us in the city."
"He just doesn't want priests fighting," Matilyn burst out angrily.
Ryan nodded, "I know," he said, "But orders are orders."
"We're not letting Teirford fall," Matilyn said.
"Damn right we're not," Eldrin said. He wiped some sweat from his brow. Darren, still drunk, but a lot more cooperative nodded his agreement, "We can't let them get a hold on Teirford. It's one of the best ports in Arinford."
Ryan hesitated.
Matilyn shook her head, "Get your captains, and your men," she told Ryan, "We're going in."
"Are you sure about this?" Ryan asked.
"We're going in with or without you," Matilyn said. "If you come though, we're going to do a lot better. I'll take whatever repercussions come from disobeying orders."
"No," Ryan said, "We stand together. That's what we were taught, right? We're a family. If you're punished for this, I'll be right there with you. Get your men, Malevus. Let's go."
Matilyn counted down and when she reached one, the soldiers flowed into the city as one large, cohesive unit. All but the archers, who were scaling the walls to shoot from higher up.
There was already a lot of fighting happening when they arrived. Bodies were everywhere, and a few fires had been lit. Matilyn was immediately teleported back in time to Valishna. The smoke billowed up, making it difficult to see, and for a moment, she felt panic threatening to overwhelm her.
Then Eldrin grabbed her arm, "There's children," he screamed in her ear.
Matilyn blinked, "What? I thought they evacuated Teirford of all citizens!"
"There were some who chose to stay," Eldrin said. Matilyn looked around. Just as he'd said, there were children cowering together on the streets, trying to stay out of the way of the battle.
Matilyn started to say something, but Eldrin had already rushed towards them. She watched him for a moment. He knelt down in the street and started speaking to them. She couldn't hear what he was saying, but after a moment, the children linked hands and stood up.
Eldrin headed for the back gate. A Lamonte soldier saw them moving and went after one of the little girls in the back. Before he could reach the parade, though, Darren Thius shoved his sword into his back. The man fell face forward on the ground. Some of the children screamed. Darren rushed forward, picking up the smallest child.
Darren and Eldrin exchanged a few words, and then Darren led the way out of the city, keeping the children corralled. Eldrin drew his sword and started to rush for Matilyn.
Matilyn blinked. She realized she'd been standing there for several minutes, watching them, sword and shield held loosely at her sides. She felt immediately ashamed. She looked around at the fighting, but it was hard to tell who was who in the mass of bodies.
Out of nowhere, a man flew at her, sword held high. Matilyn just barely got her shield up in time, and the strength of the blow shook her entire body. She met the next attack with
her sword and winced at the sound of metal against metal. Sparks flew as they both yanked their blades back.
Matilyn turned slightly to the side, feigning a strike towards his left side. At he last minute, she switched and cut to his right. Her sword slid into him easily.
She stumbled backwards, surprised. She watched him fall, every second seeming to last hours upon hours. The noise from the battle faded to a dull background noise as her attacker hit the ground. He was still alive, clutching at his chest with both hands, as if to hold the blood in.
Red bubbles formed at the corners of his lips, threatening to spill over. He twitched, and moaned. Matilyn glanced briefly at her bloody sword, took a deep breath, and drove it straight into his chest, just above his heart. He went silent, his eyes glazing over as death took him.
While part of her wanted to be sick at the death, another, larger part of her screamed out for more blood. She quickly looked around.
Eldrin was engaged in a sword fight with a tall woman. Their skills seemed fairly matched. Then Matilyn saw a soldier running at Eldrin from the back. Matilyn opened her mouth to scream a warning, but it was lost in the sounds of fighting.
She ran as fast as she could, intercepting the attacking soldier before they could reach Eldrin. Sh slammed her shield as hard as she could into his left shoulder and lower jaw. He let out a cry of pain and whipped around to face her.
For the second time, Matilyn raised her sword to defend herself. Before she could start fighting, the man fell over. She stared at him in surprise. Then she saw the arrow protruding from his back. She looked around. Janice stood nearby, her bow in hand. She gave Matilyn a fleeting smile before drawing another arrow to fire.
"Matilyn!"
Matilyn turned slightly to see Sean running for her. "They're blocking manipulation," he called out.
"What?"
When Sean reached her, he was out of breath. The sword he was carrying was bloody too. "Manipulation," he said, "They've got people blocking our manipulation attempts on the soldiers."
Matilyn rocked back on her heels surprised. For a moment, she forgot the battle raging on beside her, "How do you know this?" she asked.
"I tried to manipulate, but couldn't," he explained. "Then I overheard one of the soldiers talking about their protectors. They've got people hidden somewhere, making our manipulation attempts fruitless."
"How can they do that?" Matilyn asked, surprised. "I didn't know it was possible."
Sean held out his hand, "Imagine this is your mind," he told her, gesturing at the palm. "Now when we manipulate other people, even just to heal, we're actually diving into the mind, commanding their bodies to work for us."
Matilyn made a hurry it up motion with her hand.
"Now, imagine this," Sean said, "Someone else--one of the protectors--they go into their minds too, and they do this." He folded his hand and made a fist. "Now we can't get into them to manipulate."
Despite herself, Matilyn felt a sense of curiosity. She was about to ask Sean more when an arrow whizzed over their heads. "We've got to find them," she said, "And get rid of them."
"Take Eldrin," Sean said. "I've got to help Janice."
Matilyn looked back to where Janice was. A few soldiers were approaching her. She nodded, "Be careful."
Sean took off in a run. Matilyn looked around for Eldrin. He was fighting with one of the Lamonte soldiers. He looked as though he was losing ground though.
Matilyn rushed to his side, helping with the fight. The soldier managed to parry both their blows, but could no longer be on the offensive. Matilyn and Eldrin both kept up the pressure until Matilyn's sword finally pierced his abdomen. She finished him the same way she'd finished the other soldier.
"We need to find the person, or people, who are blocking manipulation," Matilyn told him. When Eldrin only stared at her, confused, she explained what Sean had told her.
"So we're looking for somewhere high," Eldrin said, "Somewhere they'd be set apart from the battle but able to look down on it easily."
The two of them glanced upwards at the buildings. "There's so many," Matilyn said.
"But," Eldrin said, "Not all of them overlook the city. Look at that one." He pointed at the post office. "The flat above there, it'd be a perfect spot."
"Let's go then," Matilyn said. Together, they quickly headed in that direction. Another arrow whizzed near them, and Eldrin shoved Matilyn onto the ground. "Shit," Matilyn said. "Thanks, Eldrin."
Eldrin nodded, and stood back up. He held out a hand, which Matilyn took, and helped her to her feet.
"Let's hurry," he said. They both broke into a run. When they reached the door of the post office, neither of them were surprised to see that it was locked.
"One," Matilyn said. "Two..."
On three, they both kicked the door. The combination of their weight was enough to break the door open. "There's the stairs to the flat," Matilyn said, pointing at a spiraling staircase.
They went to it. "Let me go first," Eldrin said.
"No way," Matilyn said. "I'll go first."
"Matilyn," Eldrin said, "No. If they're up there, they're going to attack as soon as we go in."
Matilyn hefted up her shield, "I'm more prepared for that than you are," she pointed out. Eldrin ignored her.
"Eldrin," Matilyn said, "I'm ordering you to come in behind me."
Eldrin rolled his eyes. "Nice try."
"I'm serious," Matilyn said, "We don't have time to argue about this."
That much was true. Already soldiers were heading towards the post office. "Come on," Matilyn said, shoving the door shut and running to the stairs. Eldrin swore but followed.
Matilyn held a finger up to her lips, and gestured at the door at the top of the stairs. She edged closer to it until she was close enough to put her ear on the door. From inside, she could hear noises. She nodded at Eldrin, then tried the door. Like the one downstairs, it was locked.
Keeping their weapons ready, the two of them moved together once more to kick down the door. Matilyn dove left as they entered, and Eldrin dove to the right.
There were two soldiers in front of the window, in some sort of trance, but there were two more that had been guarding them. One of them lunged at Matilyn. She dropped and rolled away from his grip. She came up on a knee as he brought his sword down towards her. She managed to get her shield up just in time. The clash echoed loudly through the small room.
Pushing his blade off her shield, Matilyn leaped back to her feet, aiming her own blow at the soldier. He twisted away from the blade, swearing at her. Matilyn pushed her advantage, driving her shield towards his face. He barely avoided the bash, using her proximity to duck down and jab his sword towards his calf. She twisted at the last second, feeling the blade rip through her pants and into her skin.
Feel blood trickling down her leg, she let out a hiss of pain and swiveled her sword around, slashing out at the man. He brought his own sword up to parry it. Sparks flew as the blades bit into each others' surface. With their blades locked, the Lamonte soldier spit out in Matilyn's face. She grimaced in disgust.
"Give up, Arinford pig," the man said in a thick, accented voice. It didn't sound like Lamonte and this distracted her for a moment. He used this time to yank his blade back and duck away, straightening.
"Never," Matilyn said as she straightened as well. She dropped her shield and clasped her hilt with both hands. The two circled each other, swords high. Matilyn struck first, and the soldier parried the blow. Pulling his sword back, he drove it towards her, forcing her to take a step backwards.
She waited for him to aim a blow at her again, before ducking down and diving forward. He tripped as she slammed into his body, both of them crashing to the floor. He lost his sword in the fall.
Scrambling back to her feet, Matilyn pushed the tip of her blade to the soldier's neck. He went for his weaponry but Matilyn kicked it out of his way, "Ready to die?"
The soldier glared up at her, spitting again. He went
for her ankle and Matilyn slammed the sword down into his throat. The blade ripped through the delicate skin and blood poured out, drenching his uniform and the ground around him.
Yanking her sword free, Matilyn looked away, trying to swallow the bile in her throat. She saw Eldrin standing against the other wall. He was holding a soldier there, repeated stabbing him in the abdomen. HIs clothing was drenched in blood.
"He's dead," Matilyn said, "Eldrin, enough. Enough." Matilyn grabbed his shoulder and pulled him away. The dead man slid to the floor, leaving a smear of blood on the wall behind him.
"I... he's dead," Eldrin said, "I killed someone." His hands shook.
"Yes," Matilyn agreed, "And you're going to have time to deal with that later. Right now, we need to get those men or all those soldiers are going to die."
Eldrin nodded, gaining some semblance of self-control as he and Matilyn approached the soldiers at the window. They appeared to be in a trance-like state, completely focused on what was happening below.
"How do they do that?" Matilyn said, tilting her head, "Look, they're not even blinking."
"Must be a technique they're taught," Eldrin said, "We need to learn that. It'd sure be helpful."
"Let's kill them," Matilyn said.
"I don't know," Eldrin said, "It's one thing to kill a man who's fighting back, but this feels more like a slaughter.""
"They are fighting back," Matilyn said, "Look outside."
Both of them turned the window. It overlooked the main street of Teirford, where the bulk of the fighting was happening. Multitudes of soldiers were lying on the ground, dead or injured. The priests were trying to retreat while fending off soldiers. The archers were unable to fire for fear of hitting their own men, so entangled they were with Lamonte.
"See?" Matilyn said.
She grabbed one of the man's tunics and shoved him forward, towards the window. He hit the glass, shattering it and going through. He landed below with a thud.
"Alright," Eldrin said. His face was chalky, but he grabbed the other soldier, slitting his throat.
"Disgusting," he muttered.
"Necessary," Matilyn corrected.
Eldrin nodded, tossing the man aside.
The Warriors of Valishna (Cartharia Book 1) Page 13
