Astril didn’t move.
Zerae lifted her up and hugged her, “please… don’t leave alone… please wake up.”
Astril didn’t react. Zerae started crying.
“I’m sorry I was mean… I’m sorry… just… wake up… I beg you.”
“HA! So, you can say you are sorry! I knew it!” Astril exclaimed as if nothing happened.
“What?”
“Are those tears? Awwww,” Astril hugged her.
“Are you… alright?” Zerae breathed.
“Sure!” Astril released the hug and leaped to her feet. She was covered by dust, had multiple ugly bruises and a few nasty gnashes, but she seemed to be perfectly alright otherwise. “Let’s go check on the others,” she smiled as she picked up her swords. “Oh come on, of course I’m alright,” she messed up Zerae’s hair and headed to the fortress square.
How… how is she alright? I saw her get caught up in the blast that exploded the entire keep. No being in this world has the right to survive that. Yet Astril just did. On top of that, she is barely harmed. Just… how strong is she? I will get to that later… now… I have no idea what I would have done were I to lose her.
Zerae got up, wiped off her tears, rearranged her hair and headed back to the Darkscreams. The Voidwalkers have already joined them and were tending to the wounded.
“Status!” Zerae ordered.
“Eight dead, forty-six seriously wounded, about three hundred lightly wounded,” Hilmeria summarized.
“I am sorry, we fucked up with the spell strength, sorry,” Chloe apologized sadly.
“It’s alright. You told me the strength might vary greatly, so it was a risk we were counting with,” Zerae rejected, “anyway, are the dead even from the blast?”
“No, from the arrows,” Hilmeria replied.
It’s still downright astonishing. This was a fortress manned by about five hundred men. We took it with under ten dead. Our push and Astril’s rush forced them to the keep, Chloe’s blast killed them all in an instant. Come to think of it, did Astril rush in first knowing the arrows are the biggest threat? I guess she isn’t as stupid as she makes herself look… because if I add the fact that she can survive a blast like this one, then her going after the archers in advance of our charge was the best strategy to take.
“JUST IN!” one of the Voidwalker scouts shouted as she got to them. “There is an army leaving the city; they will be here soon.”
“Hilmeria! Get your unit and go, we proceed as planned!” Zerae ordered. Hilmeria grabbed half of her women and headed off toward the secret passage into the city. From the rest, the healthy picked up the wounded and they all headed quickly to the forest. The army of Kaeby was as large as Zerae feared. Four and half thousand men, mostly on foot but all armored.
Zerae led her army into the forest. It was a goosechase for the rest of the day. The Kaeby army was trying to find them while Zerae was maneuvering hers to not be caught. They ended up facing the eastern fortress while half of the Kaeby army was around it and the other half was somewhere she didnt know. They had lost them though. She figured they went back to the city to be able to reinforce the northern fortress or the city itself, should it come under attack.
The Faye broke camp and set in for the night.
“You sure have arranged your hair nicely,” Astril observed as she met Elizabeth outside of the camp.
“I want to look good as I claim my victory,” Elizabeth announced and activated her puppets. The twins elegantly slid out from the cloth and stood by her sides.
Astril smirked and stretched her neck. Without warning, Elizabeth made her puppet shoot a couple of poisoned needles at Astril. She caught them in her hand like it was nothing.
“Are you kidding me?” Elizabeth exclaimed. “This is unfair! This was my fastest attack; I used it when you weren’t even in a stance and you could just catch it? How am I ever supposed to hit you?”
“It would be boring if it were easy,” Astril remarked.
“Easy? EASY? How many people from the Faye can land a hit on you? Because I’m absolutely sure even most warriors can’t!” Elizabeth shouted. She was clearly exasperated.
“Awww,” Astril teleported to her and messed her hair up with her hand.
“Stop messing up my hair! Do you know how much effort it takes to arrange them?!” Elizabeth dodged backward.
Astril teleported behind her and hugged her. “I wish one day I will have a daughter like you.”
Elizabeth melted in her arms.
“My tent, now!” Zerae shouted at Astril as she found them.
“Gotta go,” Astril whispered and detached. She followed Zerae, leaving the speechless Elizabeth behind. She took a minute to recover her thoughts, then packed up her puppets and headed off to the advanced camp where was stationed.
Zerae led Astril to her tent. Once in, she went to sit on an armchair she had prepared.
“Wash yourself,” she ordered her and motioned to the barrel with water, “and make a show out of it!”
Astril started sexily stripping down. Zerae thoroughly enjoyed the show.
It’s just as I thought. The bruises and gnashes look ugly, but they are all superficial. Now when she has washed them, it’s clear they don’t even need a bandage. What a monster. Now I understand why she has been lying about her strength; she is completely out of what we Faye consider possible. Does Mathilde hate her so much because she suspects it and sees her as a threat? She hates Leena too… is she also this impossibly strong?
I might have to admit that the silver-haired asshole was right. My collar puts me a league below Astril and likely even Leena. I cannot even sense the magic of others, which I’m supposed to if the other person is strong enough. Is this why everyone loves Astril and Leena so much? Do they more or less consciously realize how insanely strong Astril is? Do they do everything she wants because they know she will help them if she likes them? That would explain everything, even why people make things for Astril without asking for any payment. Is this why I feel so safe around her? Right now, she is being my bitch and I feel like I am the queen of the world. I feel like all the kings, queens, demons, matrons and everyone fucking else can kiss my ass and beg me for mercy. This is how being around Astril has been making me feel for as long as I remember. I always thought it’s love… but what if it’s not? What if, instead, I am getting intoxicated by her power?
“Enough washing, dry up,” Zerae interrupted Astril as she was taking a bath. Astril smiled, got up and dried herself.
“Crawl to me,” Zerae ordered.
Astril crawled to her on all fours like a good little puppy.
Zerae grabbed her, lift her up and slammed her to the bed while pinning her under herself. She grabbed her head and engaged into a long kiss, chasing around Astril’s tongue until she got tired of it.
“We shall talk about today later, now I just want to have you,” Zerae remarked and started undressing. Astril helped her undress with a sheepish smile. They entwined into each other. To Zerae, it felt like the rest of the world stopped mattering. It was like it wasn’t there. There was just Astril and she was basking in the heat of her body, sucking it all up like a divine essence itself.
“Tomorrow, we have to win,” Zerae broke the silent cuddling after a long while.
“We will; don’t worry,” Astril reassured her.
“Seriously, Astril, tomorrow we crush their army and conquer the city or the matron shall make me give up my name and exile me,” Zerae revealed.
“Oh… meh, don’t worry. It will be fine,” Astril smiled and stroked her hair.
“I promise I won’t hold against you or investigate anything I see you do tomorrow. I know you are hiding things from me, lots of things. I am pissed about it, but for tomorrow I shall give you the slip… so please just do what you can so we win,” Zerae pressed.
“Are you sure you won’t be mad if I go a little wild?” Astril asked carefully.
“Go as wild as you can, I won’t mind at
all,” Zerae confirmed.
“Plus, if it doesn’t work out, exile isn’t so bad; you might even meet the queen,” Astril smirked, “whoops,” she added quickly.
“What the hell do you mean that I might meet the queen?” Zerae narrowed her eyes.
“Nothing.”
“ANSWER ME!”
“Well, when she was exiled and we went after her, we didn’t exactly kill her as we said,” Astril smiled awkwardly.
“I was there; I saw the head,” Zerae exhaled in disbelief.
“Well, I ran across a group of adventurers and one had a hair really similar to the queen’s, so I killed them and messed up her face to be unrecognizable,” Astril admitted.
“There is no way that would have gotten past Elaine or Sibyl, they were way too close to her,” Zerae contested.
“It was Sibyl’s idea and I’m pretty sure Elaine was happy with the outcome, so she covered for us without needing a word,” Astril explained.
“But… there was the Dream World investigation that confirmed it,” Zerae still didn’t believe it.
“Leena can make fake dreams, we just fed them those,” Astril smiled sweetly.
“Can she? She is like you, isn’t she? Today, were she to be in your place, she would have survived the explosion as well, wouldn’t she?” Zerae pried.
“You also would have if you didn’t wear that stupid collar,” Astril stated.
“I can’t stop wearing it; I have to keep the curse in,” Zerae sighed.
“That’s what Mathilde says, isn’t it?” Astril asked meanly.
“That’s what I say. I have no way to control it and I slaughtered an entire kindergarten when I lost control the last time,” Zerae breathed. Tears filled her eyes just from remembering it.
“You were four years old; you would manage now,” Astril contested.
“And what if I wouldn’t? I killed my twin sister because she didn’t want to borrow me a crayon. The cursed flame is too dangerous, I can’t let it leave my body, ever again,” Zerae stated resolutely, “plus I don’t need it. I have you. You are all the power I shall ever need.”
Zerae saw how her words melted Astril down.
“I might… not be around forever,” Astril breathed.
“What do you mean?” Zerae instantly asked with a shaking voice.
“I fight a lot… more than a lot, really lot… anyway, out there in the world, there are some really strong people. One day, my luck might run out and I can get in a fight I can’t win,” Astril explained, “I’m fine with that, I’m not important. But you are. You are the one our people need to lead them; you need to survive even if I can’t.”
“Don’t say that Astril, I can’t do this without you… I, I can’t do anything by myself,” Zerae sighed.
Astril grabbed her head for a kiss. “You don’t need to do things by yourself; we are all here for you.”
“I… I don’t deserve this, I’m a failure.”
“No, you’re not,” Astril refused, “I wouldn’t be here if you were.”
“I killed my twin sister. For all my life, I have lived with that. Lived with the anger and hatred of my mother and sister… I had lived with it because I had hoped I could overcome it. I believed that if I bring life out of myself, I could make up for it. For that I wanted to depart for ten years, to get pregnant and raise the child, to make up for the life I had taken, to redeem myself in front of my family,” Zerae said softly, “but I couldn’t do it. No matter with who I tried, how much I tried, what elixirs, spells, balms and medicine I used, I couldn’t conceive. I’m infertile. Infertile to the point where no magic or medicine can help me. I’m worthless.”
“No, you’re not. You just haven’t met the right man,” Astril stated as she stroked Zerae’s hair.
“That’s not how it works, Astril, I’ve tried with so many men… so, so, so many men… there is no knight in shining armor for me, no family, no children, no future. All I have is my position… or the memory of it,” Zerae refused.
“You have me. And you will have your knight in shining armor. Eventually, he just isn’t here yet,” Astril announced.
“Thank you; I can’t express how much this means to me,” Zerae smiled, “but it’s alright. I have made peace with it. I’m just a worthless waste of a life… I wanted to kill myself, so many times. But even that I never managed. I’m just… nothing.”
DING! DING! DING! DING! DING!
The alarm bell thundered through the camp.
Astril wiped off Zerae’s tears. “Time to go kill some people.”
They both got to their feet and started dressing up. Chloe burst into their tent a second later.
“We are surrounded!” she shouted.
“Form a defense line, get Leena to shield off arrows, I will be there in a minute. Any word from the advance camp?” Zerae demanded back.
“Okay, no word. Do you think they are alright?” Chloe asked in a worried voice.
“I will see, now go!” Zerae commanded. Chloe nodded and left.
“Astril, can you make it to the advance camp?” Zerae turned to her.
“Sure.”
“Go there, make sure they are alright. We will hold here; if they didn’t find the camp, then the attack from behind will save us. If they did, they only started fighting now and it doesn’t matter where you fight… it probably doesn’t matter anyway,” Zerae sighed as the reality hit her.
It’s over. Our strategy was based on outmaneuvering them in a straight up fight; we are outnumbered more than five to one. We will all die here. Even if we somehow outfight them and some of us survive, we will not be able to do anything about the city.
Astril’s hug from behind woke her up from her thoughts. “Don’t worry, it will be alright,” she whispered into her ear, “because we are Faye. No fear. No pain. No weakness.”
Astril softly kissed her on the neck, detached and disappeared.
Zerae shook her head and looked around. Astril wasn’t there. She grabbed her blade and headed out.
53
Elizabeth
That’s the alarm bell!
Elizabeth leaped up from her bed and went to put on her armor.
I still hate Elaine’s drills of putting on armor as fast as possible! I’m doing it right now… but I still hate it! She was done in under a minute. Elizabeth grabbed her spear, activated her puppets to walk alongside her and left her tent. Outside was a total chaos. Their camp was under attack; soldiers were pouring in from the forest. A man tried to cut her down. Elizabeth made the blade twin draw its blades and slice his neck. She rearranged her puppets into her favorite formation. The six-handed defensive twin at her back, protecting her sides and read, while she moved the blade twin to be ahead of her to use it to attack. For the gap in between, she had her spear. The black spear was still a bit too heavy to be comfortable, but she could use it. She plunged into the carnage. The blade twin was cutting the path ahead and she followed up on it. She was heading to their leader’s tent where Andia Darkscream was. Since Hilmeria was away on some mission with half of their force, Andia was in charge. Her worlds soon turned into a red haze of blood. Elizabeth was undisturbed. It was just like at the drills, both with Astril and with Elaine. She felt pain burst in her body from time to time, but her armor was holding. Being small had its advantages. She didn’t know how long it took, but she made it to the camp. Andia was organizing a retreat.
“How can I help?” Elizabeth shouted at her.
“Cover us!” Andia commanded.
Elizabeth dove back into the fray. She kept an eye on the rest of her unit. Twenty other warriors formed the rear guard with her. The rest of their forward camp was behind them, retreating into the caverns nearby. Elizabeth kept cutting down one soldier after another. She lost track of the others. She just knew they weren’t in behind her. It was better that way, for she knew she doesn’t risk hurting her friends with her puppets. The air was filled with screams, pain and blood. So, so, so much blood. She was covered
by it; her puppets were covered by it; the ground was covered by it. Her body was hurting from more and more spots, undoubtedly the spots where she got hit.
Mountain! That means we are close!
Elizabeth focused on the blade twin and made it release the flames from its mouth. She spun it around slowly, creating a wall of fire before she ran out of oil. Elizabeth turned to run into the caverns where the others were. She saw the rear guard less than hundred feet away. They were blocking the entrance to the cavern. There was no one else outside the cavern. Only her. Pain burst from her leg. Elizabeth shrieked and fell. An arrow hit her straight above the knee. She spun over and blocked the axe with the shield twin. She made it shoot needles into the man’s face. Only one needle came out.
I’m out of needles!
Elizabeth got up on her knee and forced the blade twin to rotate like a top, moving to her. A blast wind hit it and blew it into a rock. She lost control over it. Elizabeth gripped her spear tight and ran it through the man in front of her. More men were coming. She spun around and made the shield twin cut her a path. Pain burst from her shoulder as an arrow hit her into it. She grit her teeth slit the throat of the man next to her with her spear. Another blast of wind came, this time it hit her. Elizabeth withstood it and launched the shield twin int he direction it came from. She saw the man, the magician who was shooting the blasts of wind. He shot a blast at the charging puppet. She made it slide, then leap up and spin. He hit it with another blast of wind, but one of its blades found his knee. Her last puppet was blasted away. He fell to the ground but instantly started trying to stand up. Elizabeth limped to him. Five more men were rushing to them. Before the arrived, the mage got up and threw a blast of force at Elizabeth. She ducked under it and crushed his instep with her spear. The man shouted and dropped to a knee. She ran her spear through his skull. She turned just in time to block the blade which was descending upon her. The five men had arrived. The impact made her hands feel numb. A heavy boot kicked her in the chest. It struck the breath out of her lungs and sent her flying to the ground. In a second, another man was above her. Elizabeth gritted her teeth and rolled to the side, powering through the pain inside her. He was much faster and stronger than the others. She caught his leg with her tail and whirled. It tripped him. She stabbed his head from the side.
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