Tranquility's Grief

by Krista D. Ball

  “There is no way I’m letting Jud take either of you to the city,” Bethany said firmly.

  “How long has it been since the last attack?” Jovan asked.

  Kiner shrugged. “A week, maybe?”

  “But I want to go,” Lendra protested.

  “No,” Bethany said. “I’ll go speak to Jud. I’m not putting my sisters in danger.”

  ****

  Bethany sat on her horse and fumed. Drea insisted on going to Orchard Park with Jud, under the pretense that she required first-hand knowledge of the devastation to properly care for the sick and injured. Bethany knew better. She was doing it to be stubborn and willful.

  A family trait.

  And, wherever Drea went, so too went Lendra, who tried her best to keep her older sister happy. Drea would never be happy again, but Lendra pressed on nonetheless in her relentless, futile objective.

  Since Drea and Lendra were going, Torius decided to join them. He’d not seen the reconstruction for nearly a month and wanted to offer blessings to those working and on the new houses.

  And, since the three remaining daughters of Apexia, plus the head of the Faith, were all travelling together, and as reconstruction of the city fell under her responsibility, Bethany went and brought forty fully-vowed Knights to escort them. Eve and Kiner came with them, leaving Jovan and Allric back at the temple.

  Even Amber asked to come with them. She had been working with the civilian laborers whenever the sick room didn’t need her. Why not? Half of the temple was coming on this little trip of Jud and Drea’s already. At this rate, the temple would be less safe than Orchard Park.

  Bethany sat atop her horse and led the way to Orchard Park, Jud’s horse trotting close to her side. Her assignment to the rehabilitation of the city at her rank mostly meant waving at workers and high-level administration…also known as paperwork, the bane of her existence. It wasn’t that she was afraid of hard labor; on the contrary, she longed to take an axe to one of the partially-burned buildings and beat her frustrations out on it. But, the others seemed upset that she was working beside them. She left them be and organized everything from the side. Allric used to say sitting back was the hardest part of command. How true that was.

  There was also the practical issue of keeping her eye out for looters and Magi. Some did not head north to Taftlin to heed King Daniel’s call for them. Some decided to stay and wreak havoc. While none had caused any real damage, it was good to have well-armed troops in the city.

  Bethany assigned seven hundred soldiers to guard different areas of the city, plus the outskirts. Several thousand more soldiers guarded the outlying villages and towns within a two day ride of the temple, to serve as a buffer against Magi attacks. More were dispatched to farming villages as well as seventeen fishing villages along the cost. Food supplies were critical and all land-based trade routes from those villages were now guarded by the Elven Service.

  Entourage or not, Bethany insisted they begin the tour of the city the way she always did, by starting at the burned sections near the oceanfront. They were hardest hit. The first business had been to knock down and clear away the rubble, ash, and partially-burned tinder. Those were chopped up and used as firewood. Unburned lumber was either reused if large enough; smaller pieces were set aside for charcoal creation, for the ironmongers, or for the kilns for all manner of pottery.

  They trotted along, looking at burned buildings, ash, and refuge. Those who had been cleaning up had a mountainous task but had made great progress. They still found the occasional charred body in the rubble. At least it wasn’t like the first few days, where they had to roll the bodies to the sides of the roads to get the carts through. The nightmares would haunt her for a long time, being covered in the ash of the dead.

  “Good morning, Lady Bethany,” a soot-faced elf waved at her, a pensive expression on his face as he stared at the group.

  She smiled even before she recognized him. “I didn’t notice you, Erem. Working isn’t something I’m used to seeing you do.”

  “Someone’s gotta work these days. Not like you’re able to keep up.” He surveyed the group. “An afternoon jaunt?”

  She dismounted her horse, ignoring the scowl on Jud’s face. She shook Erem’s soot-stained hand. In times of war, she always made a point to greet her friends. Apexia only knew if they’d ever meet again. “Aren’t you supposed to be protecting the fields near Little Bheakom tomorrow?”

  He shook his head. “After…” he gave Jud a pointed look, “Jovan wanted me closer to home. I’m in charge of the docks for the next month. Since I was down here, thought I’d give folks a hand.” He motioned to the pit behind him. “All of the root cellars in this lane survived the fire. We’ve been getting the supplies out of them.”

  “Any food?” she said hopefully.

  He shook his head. “No. The heat destroyed it all. But we’ve found a fair bit of iron, cookware and the like.”

  Bethany nodded automatically. “I suppose the chances of finding any food was false hope.”

  “The workers got another oven working last night, so we’ll have a bit more bread now.”

  “That is good news,” she said. Many of the city’s bakeries were towards the market district and worst hit. But some of the largest houses towards the outskirts had ovens, plus a girls’ school and a boys’ school both survived, along with their ovens. The temple’s entire kitchen was buried under rubble and granite. It would take years to dig it all out, decades to rebuild it.

  Her home was dead.

  She twitched, and focused on Erem’s report.

  “It’ll be better once this area is cleaned. We can get started on rebuilding the houses and moving people back in.”

  What was not spoken was that there wasn’t need for many houses now, with only a couple thousand alive, from the city’s glorious five digit census count two years before.

  “Lady Bethany, I would like to say a blessing over this area,” Torius said. He motioned to Kiner. “Give an old elf a hand.”

  Kiner dismounted from his horse to help Torius down from his. Bethany motioned for her sisters to do the same and, soon, they all stood next to their horses. Blessings and prayers were what priests did, after all, and if the people heard that Torius had done this, it would instill some kind of false hope that Apexia actually gave a care about them.

  Bethany gasped when she saw Apexia’s faded figure standing next to them.

  Must you scare me when I’m criticizing you?

  Apexia stood in a traditional human gown from old paintings, flowing skirts, ribbons in her hair. She was barefoot, though; not that her feet actually touched the ground. Apexia, the Gentle Goddess who lived on the wind, did not need to worry about cold feet.

  Bethany stopped listening to Torius’ prayer and instead watched her mother’s long, sorrowful expression. Mama?

  Apexia turned away from staring at Torius and met her daughter’s gaze. Gone were the usual witty quips. Instead, silence and tearful eyes.

  What’s wrong?

  Apexia gave her a cold glare and the words came to Bethany. Sacrifice. Learn the lesson, my daughter, and learn it well.

  Something whistled in the air and, a breath later, Erem yelped. Bethany stumbled backwards at the sight of an arrow sticking out of Erem’s groin. She dropped to the ground in a crouch. Erem collapsed next to her, screaming in agony, his bloody hands clasped tight around his nether regions.

  Three arrows whizzed past her face. Lendra screamed and Bethany grabbed Lendra’s dress hem, yanking her to the ground. Erem’s screams of shameless, unabashed agony drowned out even Lendra’s high-pitched shrieks.

  Blood sprayed Bethany’s face.

  Chapter Seven

  The Viper will not waver from her task.

  -Prophecy of the Diamond, Second Tablet

  With Sarissa’s arms outstretched to steady herself, Robert’s strong arms wrapped around her knees and lifted her off the rocking boat. He jostled her and tossed her, before she fell
limp, bringing her down to carry her body over his shoulder like a butchered pig. Ocean sprayed against her arms, face, and calves and she shook violently from the surprise of cold against exposed flesh.

  Useless bastard didn’t even tug my skirts down, the idiot.

  As Robert carried Sarissa through the crashing waves, she could make out the faint outlines of green, perhaps of evergreen shrubs, what were in fact ancient trees that could not grow higher than her knees against the pervasive winds.

  Or, perhaps it’s a green tarp, she thought bitterly. With her blurry vision, it was impossible to tell.

  When Robert exited the water, he crouched down and helped her back to her feet. She could see the blurred images of her companions moving around her.

  “How does it look?” Sarissa asked.

  Robert grunted and it was a moment before he answered. She could hear him rubbing his hands together. “Not bad. There’s a small woodland further in the distance. We can build shelters there.” He grew silent again. “We’ll need to rebuild the wharf.”

  “There is a wharf?” She looked around, but couldn’t make out anything other than blurring color. She wrapped her arms around her body.

  “Too far gone. We can repair it, though. Snow’s going to be here, soon. Best we start sooner.”

  She nodded, envisioning what her new island home in the middle of the ocean might look like. Oh, to have her eyes again!

  “Send word to the mainland. The trainees can begin crossing.”

  Robert grunted again. “I’ll need bodies.”

  A smile spread across Sarissa’s face. “So will I.”

  She could imagine his slumped shoulders and scowling expression. “I didn’t mean literal bodies. I need mine breathing, you wench.”

  She smiled, her spirit recharging as the salty, chilled air blew on her face. Though colder than her half-blooded body preferred, the salt air reminded her of home.

  Home.

  She scowled. The memories of Wyllow curdled like spoiled cream in the hot, elven sun. She could not see her paradise because of Bethany. After decades of starving and frozen exile, Sarissa had finally won the cutting blow. This was her celebration territory.

  “Shit, woman, loosen your grip,” Robert growled, shaking her from her thoughts.

  Sarissa looked up at him. His blurry, ugly face stared back. She smiled at him, pushing aside the self-pity. It was unbecoming of her new station: King Daniel’s Magi trainer.

  He leaned close enough that she could see a hazy smile stretch across his face. “You’re brooding. Stop it. We’re here. You got your island to train new Magi.” His tone turned wistful. “All you had to do was bribe a king. You got bigger balls than I got.” He snorted.

  He lead her a few more steps, taking it slow and easy. She stumbled on the jagged rocks, feeling the harsh edges dig into her cheaply-soled boots. Daniel had given her funds for supplies, but she needed footwear more than houses.

  “Looking at the place, we should keep most of the outer trees up and cut down some of the center. It would make it easier to defend and we wouldn’t need to haul as much lumber from the mainland.” Moments later, he added, “There’s a lot of driftwood, too. We can use that for building.”

  Sarissa remained silent, enjoying this side of her husband. Though dumber than a stick in winter when compared against her, he did possess common sense for staying alive.

  Another cool breeze twisted itself under her cloak. Boots and warm clothes. I need warm clothes. She let the lapping tide drown out the ache in her soul. She had been out of sorts since the attack on Orchard Park. She had originally blamed it on being nearly killed. That would take the sunshine and butterflies out of anyone’s sails.

  Deep down the voice said that wasn’t the problem. Not even her lack of sight, which improved daily at a slow, steady pace.

  “You’re thinking about her again, aren’t you?” Sarissa did not need her vision to tell Robert disapproved. He growled the word “her.”

  Sarissa grunted and stared off into the hazy green world ahead of her. She wondered if she’d ever get to see a real tree again. All Bethany’s fault. And, it was.

  “I can’t believe that bitch stabbed you.”

  A swelling pride rose in Sarissa, growing and pressing against the anger. Bethany had warned her: she’d do anything to stop Magic. She did everything she could to stop Sarissa. The bitch had stabbed her in the chest. Twice. With Sarissa’s own Apexia-whoring swords!

  And yet, that still wasn’t what dug at her. Somewhere, in those last moments when death tugged at Sarissa’s spirit, when Bethany spoke to her, Sarissa’s words of love had done more damage to her than to their intended target. The words were meant to cut Bethany, haunt her. They were meant to be her lasting revenge.

  Yet, it was those words, those simple words of sisterly “I love you” that refused to leave Sarissa’s heart. She had not meant them when she whispered them on the battlefield.

  “Sarissa, are you listening?”

  No, she wasn’t listening. There were more important things than listening to fortification plans. Let the grunts deal with the details.

  Sarissa did not answer, instead turning to face the sea, assuming it did not surround her. The wind blew off the water, cutting through her clothes and sending chills through her body. In the end, Bethany was never the real enemy. Bethany was merely the pawn of the elves who banished Sarissa and of a mother who’d forsaken them all for power.

  Apexia was always the true enemy.

  Apexia was nothing more than a false god, a receiver of Power she’d never been born into. Apexia had not allowed her darling Bethany and precious elves to come north because it was in the north that laid the truth. Apexia was a false goddess. She had not been anointed by the Creator Gods. She, and she alone, had made herself into Power.

  And even if Apexia would allow Bethany to drag the Knights to war, the elves would never allow it. Bethany would have been here with her armies to destroy Daniel otherwise.

  Without Bethany and the avenging armies of the angry, oppressed elves, Sarissa could achieve her own ascension.

  Goddess Sarissa. It had a ring to it.

  “The plan,” she said finally, “has not changed.”

  Sarissa’s lips curled. She needed to focus on that. The elves had not come north. If they were not here by now, they were not going to arrive.

  She hoped not. Killing her sister might not be as easy as she thought it would be.

  Chapter Eight

  The Viper will bathe in the blood of innocents.

  -Prophecy of the Diamond, First Tablet

  Lendra screamed and fought against Bethany’s pinning arm.

  “Stay down!” Bethany shouted over the commotion. She wiped the blood from her eyes and stared. No wonder Lendra screamed.

  Torius sprawled on the ground, face up, an arrow sticking out of his throat. Two more were embedded in his chest. Blood bubbled and spurted. Knights scrambled to ready bows and crossbows. Swords scraped against sheaths. Kiner and a regular soldier grabbed the priest’s boots to pull him back.

  Jud still sat on top of his horse, pale and wide-eyed. Bethany shouted at him, “Jud! Get down! Down!”

  A bolt skimmed Jud’s chest and he startled so much that his horse bucked and threw him. Jud tumbled to the ground. Bethany looked at the dazed man. New commander or not, he was useless to them all.

  She pointed at a female Knight. “Protect the priest!”

  The Knight lifted her shield and jumped in front of Kiner and the other man to protect them as they dragged Torius’s gasping, draining body back to be in the fold. Several regulars raised their shields against the incoming arrows, protecting themselves and the laborers around them.

  Fight now. Grieve later.

  Eve aimed her bow and shot at an archer in the distance. Three other Knights joined her and volleys came from both sides. As a ring of Knights formed a semi-circle shield wall around Torius, Bethany grabbed up her sister by the thighs and dragg
ed her inside the protective wall. Lendra whimpered as her dress was pulled over her body and her bare torso skid on the gravel. Pieces of her silk dress littered the ground.

  Bethany tossed Lendra’s cloak in there and her sister bundled it up and pressed it against Torius’s throat and chest, her tears running as fast as the blood. She used her spare hand to tug her dress down over her knees.

  Dread filled her as Bethany screamed, “Drea!”

  Horses bucked and danced and died. Eventually they scattered, leaving the soldiers alone with no fast means of attack. The attackers had waited until they’d dismounted for prayers.

  Bloody Torius and his prayers!

  “Drea!” Bethany shouted again, still crouched behind a regular’s shield. Arrows continued to rain on them. At least six archers, more likely a dozen. All in different positions, pinning them down. They were too exposed. “Drea! Drea!”

  Bethany caught sight of a shield on the ground, with four legs dangling out from it and a puddle of blue silk. “Cover me!” she ordered and three regulars surrounded her, their shields forming an arc. Together, they moved swiftly to the limbs.

  She didn’t need to speak because the others had seen the girls, too. More Knights rushed forward to protect two of Apexia’s daughters, while the remainder stayed back to protect the remaining daughter of Apexia and the dying leader of the faith…Apexia’s Mercy, they’d killed Torius.

  Torius.

  Kill them now. Cry later.

  Bethany yanked the shield up and let out a breath of relief. Amber lay on top of Drea, using her own frail body as a protective shield. She’d risked her life to protect Drea. Pride filled Bethany.

  But there was no time for kind words. “Get behind us!” Bethany shouted.

  Amber stumbled over the body of a bleeding civilian. Bethany grabbed her thin arm and pushed her forward. An arrow skidded along the ground and she jumped instinctively to miss being hit. Once the girls were behind the shield wall, she added, “Stay down! Follow Kiner’s orders.”