Born of Courage, page 12
Steel green eyes assessed carefully, looking for the motives, too many years of being baited by false pretenses for her to accept the offer so openly. She patted Lil’s check faintly.
“You’re a nice girl, her ladyship would have been proud.”
Lil blinked rapidly, the words ringing false against her ears, startling her out of the illusion she had been creating of one big happy family connection. Her smile faded as Meesa slid her hand down to clasp the gently warmed key, moving off back to her work humming. Lil’s startled eyes swept wide, catching Merrick watching her intently, caught in a lie she didn’t know how to get out of.
Her mask came up abruptly, her hands automatically tucking behind her back out of habit. Her body bending stiffly to bow her out of the room.
“I need to go organize the armory, excuse me,” she mumbled, fleeing as quickly as she could.
Everett milled about the hall as Lil barreled through, fire flaming from her heels as she zipped from the kitchen. He watched quizzically as she ducked into the armory, the space with a magnanimous name that grandly over compensated for its size, wondering what trouble she could possibly have gotten into now. The armory was little more than a small room stacked floor to ceiling with gleaming shields, battle tested swords, sleek arrows, sturdy curved bows, and weighty bolas.
Lillanya flicked her fingers carelessly, casting fire flickering to life in the wall sconces. Light reflecting off every buffed and polished surface, dancing twinkling reflections onto the ceiling in a starry array.
Everett silently toed in behind her, watching as she moved through small straight cut aisles fingering two shiny short staffs, beautifully carved at the tips with the symbols of WindWalkers. She picked one up, grasping it tightly in her hand, the compressed staff the length of her forearm.
“Careful,” Everett murmured just as her fingertips touched the top two symbols, releasing the hidden catch. Both tips of the staff whooshed sleekly out, tripling the length of the weapon in a deadly heartbeat. The abrupt motion catching Lil off guard.
Her eyebrows went up in surprise.
“Very nice,” she commented gleefully, appreciating the fine craftsmanship of a well balanced weapon. “How do you…” she trailed off looking for the mechanism to recompress it. As Everett started forward to help, she tightened her fist around the bar, the metal staying unusually cool under her grasp. The ends retracted back towards the center, as silent and deadly as they first streaked out.
“Someone did beautiful work,” she noted, more to herself than him. She traced the patterns, doodling on the staff while she thought.
“Everett,” she said after some time, “do you remember the woman I was traveling with when you first met me?” Lil mentally kicked herself at her tactless segue. “Do you know what happened to her?” she finished as nonchalantly as possible. Lil had been through every book in this keep twice and now people were starting to appear who actually knew the person who owned this house before her. She could feel time running out on this pretense that had been built around the illusion of her being family.
“The Wild Witch?,” he watched her closely, unsure of where this was going. “She left shortly after you were carried off the field. I expect to return home to her keep, if it still stands.”
Lil prayed silently with what she was about to ask, hoping he wouldn’t refuse her. “Can you take me there?”
“It’s about half a day’s ride over the eastern hill,” he said, debating whether to even bother asking about the intent of her journey. Her initial arrival that night was odd to be certain especially in the company of the Wild Witch, but at the time he had overlooked that in favor of the fortuitous nature of her ending the Great War. But he didn’t for a minute miss the hidden emotion she tried to hide behind her words.
“I can take you,” he said quietly, watching as the relief poured out of her, like water rushing forth from a pent up spigot that was finally uncorked. He wasn’t even sure that she noticed how much of a tell she had. Interesting that she hadn’t asked Rourke, or maybe she had. There was a story there that he had only ever heard bits and pieces of that led him to believe Rourke and the Wild Witch had a history and not a pretty one.
She flashed him a quick smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I’ll go saddle my horse.” The sooner they were off, the better for her. She wanted done with this place and the dread that had started to plague her that didn’t want to let go. Maybe Aurelia knew a way back. She had certainly gotten her here, so there had to be some two way transit. Her heart beat with a hopeful skip at her reasoning, too bad her brain wasn’t convinced that it was actually true.
Lil sprinted to her room, changing back into the same outfit she wore the first day she arrived. The subtle smells of the vanilla from the cafe soothing her anxiety at this venture, reminding her of who she really was. A princess swore to duty, a wayward daughter trying to honor her family. Her heart broke a little at the thought of the friends she had left behind.
“Courage,” she chided herself. She tugged on the lapels of her overcoat and flipped her multi-way sheath seamlessly into place, catching herself in the mirror. A ghost of a woman looked back at her. Torn between helping the people in the here and now, and returning to her family, if they even still existed. She looked exhausted even to her own eyes, dark circles making her look sullen, her hair limp from lack of care. Hell with it, she thought. She rammed her fingers through her hair aggressively pulling it back into a bun, her coat pockets always containing at least one hair stick or another. She bumped against her shades, forgotten inside a deep well in her coat. She bit out a smile and snapped them out, sliding them to sit primly on her nose and hide half her face. The delicate gold wire rims providing a stark contrast to the amber tainted glass. Her reflection approved, a quirky smile turning up at the corners. Now she was ready.
Everett waited with both horses and watched the woman he met that day on the battlefield storm from the keep. Snow white leathers flowing around strong features and a face that was hell bent on a mission. The hair rose on his arms, foreboding creeping over him like a second skin.
A second figure appeared behind her, meandering towards the stables as he took the sight of them both in, his swords already strapped to his back, a bundle slung over his shoulders. Everett had seen Merrick practicing every morning, his routine punishing with his swords. There was a lethality to his swordsmanship Everett admired and respected enough to study, just in case they ever had to face off one day. Knowing your enemy was just as important as knowing your friends, not that he would claim they were either currently.
Lil came to halt in front of Everett, her manner brisk, ready to be on the road. He nodded in the direction of the stables as another horse was led from its depths. Merrick tossed on a well worn saddle and efficiently cinched it into place, preparing the tan warhorse for a long journey. Her old friend from the orchard happy to be out and about, snorting and prancing in his anxiety to run free.
“Going somewhere?” she asked politely as he finished the last of his adjustments.
“Thought it was a nice day for a ride,” he replied as he swung into the saddle, waiting expectantly on her.
She peered at him over the tops of her shades, a delicate eyebrow arching at him. She shook her head in disbelief, not bothering to debate with him. Like it would do any good, he would just follow them anyway. She would. Lil mounted Tempest, her horse dwarfed by the two beasts next to her, both formidable in their own rights. Their masters, equally battle tested and just as ferocious looking. Everett turned towards the gates, leading their little party out. Lil glanced up as she passed under the resilient stone arch, her painted enchantment standing strong and true.
Chapter 7
They rode for hours in silence past the foothills and through the eastern forests. The dense pockets of trees were broken only by serene glens and open meadows dotted with slumbering boulders. The trails they followed were barely more than deer paths and yet Everett knew every turn, rock, and stray tree in these woods to guide their way. The suns crested high overhead, marking the hours counting by, the canopies thankfully keeping the heat at bay. Their party broke through another wall of trees for what felt like the hundredth time that day. The land opened before them at last in a gentle slope of wistful swaying grasses tipped with pale purples. A slight tinge of salt mixed sharply into the air, the ocean itself still hiding from view but revealing the small keep before them standing serenely alone in a glen.
“We’re here,” Everett breathed, glancing back, his expression wary as he surveyed the landscape looking for traps of any kind. The keep was small with pale gold limestone walls standing tranquilly in a meadow surrounded by fields of swaying lavender. The picturesque beauty was deceptive if you didn’t know the wickedness that lay within those walls. His eyes searched furiously looking for signs of life. The Wild Witch would not leave her home so unguarded.
The muscles between Everett’s shoulder blades tensed, his senses on edge as they approached her walls that could use repair, the single tower starting to crumble slightly from lack of care. The main gates stood wide open, battered in places by intruders who were dumb enough to try to invade such a place. The ominous feeling grew in the pit of his stomach. Everett could feel the eyes watching. The scars on his freckled face tightened with his scowl. He didn’t like this, it was too open, too exposed, everything about the picture before him was wrong. There was deception afoot, he could smell it. His hand itched to grab a knife.
The horses pranced with tension as Lillanya swung down off her horse, the soft earth cushioning her landing. Merrick and Everett poised at the ready atop their horses to maintain stronger positions for defense.
“I should probably go alone,” she said calmly. Her heart beat furiously in her chest, not from fear of being attacked, but from the suppressed anxiety of finally getting some answers. She hoped. She handed her reins to Everett, his look at her choice mutinous.
“This is unwise,” he warned, his gravelly tone low, his eyes challenging her.
“She owes me a debt. I’ll be fine,” Lil returned lightly, catching the dark looks he exchanged with Merrick.
Lillanya walked slowly up to the gate, stopping just short of the entrance. She listened as one horse pranced down the length of the wall, the other remaining vigilantly at her back, a welcome feeling of security as she stared at the space before her. Lil could feel the magic sitting like an unseen barrier before her as the hair rose on the backs of her arms. The slight shimmer off the walls were more than just a reflection of light from crushed flecks of quartz. If the eerie presence of this place didn’t ward off uninvited guests, then the protections would surely prevent the more daring from getting in.
Lil pulled her shades off her face hesitantly and tossed them gingerly through the open gate, watching curiously as they vanished. They weren’t burst apart by flame or frozen in ice, they just weren’t there at all. A barrier, it seemed, that hid what was inside.
“Interesting,” she said to softly herself as she placed a hand up in the air testing the resolve of the barrier, the other hand gripping the knife at her back. The shield rippled softly like a pebble being dropped in a pond. The resistance melted away as she stepped through to an empty courtyard, barren except for her glasses. She glanced back but the visage of Everett had disappeared. Odd that it would let her through…
Lillanya surveyed the keep and caught wind of activity drifting down from the upper floors of the singular tower. A tower that looked in remarkably better shape from this side of the barrier. Interesting, she thought of the lengths the Aurelia had gone through to stay hidden.
The keep was otherwise deserted and surprisingly bypassed by the ravages of the war. The lack of life though made the space seem sad, like it had been left alone for too long. Lil trailed her hand along the smooth walls as she climbed the spiraling stairs, her steps soft against the stone, resounding in the stillness. The stairs ended at the top of the spire filled with a long work table and framed with walls of books, highlighted by the afternoon light that streamed from several squat windows marching up the far wall at a diagonal. Aurelia’s startled ruby mouth dropped open as Lillanya emerged from the stairwell to lean nonchalantly against the door frame. The book she was holding slammed smartly closed.
“Hey,” Lil remarked, crossing her arms as she evaluated her quarry.
Aurelia’s teeth snapped audibly shut, a sneer forming to mar her prim features. “Shouldn’t you be off enjoying your new castle?” she asked sourly, not pleased to find Lil standing in her home. She shouldn’t have been able to even get through the barrier, clearly an oversight in the protection spell that she would need to work on.
“Well I thought I would just drop by and see how you were. The last time we met, we didn’t have a chance to really chit chat, you know about where we were, the latest news, or how the grace I get home?” Lil returned sweetly, refusing to let Aurelia’s prickly edge get under her skin.
Aurelia’s smile widened sarcastically. “The great and powerful daughter of Erium hasn’t figured it out?” She rolled her eyes at Lil’s blank stare. “The Oren gates still exist in your time, we just…” she waved her fingers in the air, “amped them up a bit.” Aurelia shook her head at the brainless girl her sister had her collect to solve their problems. All that power and no idea how to use it.
Aurelia sauntered over to the wall, pulling a deep red leather bound book bound by a gold clasp from its shelves. “You know,” she continued, throwing the book on the table, “cute little stone arches etched with runes.” She rolled her eyes irately.
In all the books that Lillanya had searched, there wasn’t a single reference to Oren or Aren or whatever the heck Aurelia kept saying. No stone gates that bridged time and space. She would have remembered that. Lil bit the inside of her cheek, chewing on it as she tried to remember patience. This was the only lead she had and she needed information, not to just throttle Aurelia to death.
“Not sure why you are bothering to try going home though - not like it’s the same place anyways.” She bridged through the pages as Lil watched her carefully.
“And why not?” Lil inquired, her tone dangerously soft.
Aurelia halted her activity, eyeing Lil like a hawk evaluating whether to pounce on dinner or let the prey squirm a little more. “You can’t be this dumb…” She flipped her hair carelessly off her shoulder as she warmed to the tale.
“During the height of the Dark War, the council met to come up with a plan against the darkness. It was decided that containing the darkness stood the best chance of success and they asked the great Lady Moira to do it. But my sister started having odd visions, one of a future at peace and one lost to devastation and ruin. She told me about a world brutalized by raining fire and the stars themselves threatened by another war with the darkness. Sound familiar?” her lilt irritatingly smooth as she waited annoyingly for an answer that she already knew.
Lil’s jaw ground tightly shut as long buried memories flashed to the surface. Snapshots of people screaming for each other in the streets. Running for transport ships as fire burned the sky, setting flame to anything it touched. The remnants of fear and terror clawing over her like a dense fog as she relived things that still haunted her. Her life, like so many others, had been ruined because of that one singular event as a child. A chill went down Lil’s neck from the looming sense of an uncontrolled fate as she realized that the darkness had been shaping her life for longer than she cared to admit. She knew logically that there were likely ramifications for defeating the darkness. She wanted there to be. Her world and everyone she knew, had depended on it. But if what Aurelia was saying was true, then the darkness hadn’t just impacted her immediate life, it had derailed the whole thing, and everything she had done since arriving would have unpredictable changes on the course of her future.
Her brain whispered to her that she had done the right thing, stopping the darkness had saved everyone she knew and cared for, but she just hadn’t realized how connected she was. If her actions prevented the catastrophe when she was eight, would her life even still be her life? Lil bent over taking in deep breaths, barely hearing Aurelia as she rattled on.
“My sister Moira was powerful, but she knew she wasn’t enough to destroy the darkness. So she asked for my help to go around the council and find someone who could. You, as it turns out,” nodding in Lil’s direction. “Even knowing that, she still tried to stop the darkness, to buy time to find you.” Aurelia gripped the book hard, her knuckles straining white as she stared at her hands, lost in her own memories of the past. She laughed harshly. “My noble sister, always trying to save people.” She looked up, the pain etched on her features. “I think you have that in common,” she noted.
Aurelia grabbed a piece of linen paper and scribbled something down. “This is the spell Moira applied to the gate which she combined with magic she stored in my bracelet. You can use it, but I doubt the future will be the same place you came from,” she whispered.
Lillanya’s butt hit the floor, the strength to stand completely gone out of her. Her eyes settled on the paper. The strong writing taunting her with a way home that was no longer home.
Aurelia watched her for long moments, knowing too well the loss Lil suffered. Moira was the only family Aurelia really had and she had loved her deeply, even if Moira was a do-gooder that got herself killed for people who weren’t worth it. Her face softened just a little.
“I think my sister would have wanted you to have her home. You are family, after all. Albeit ten generations removed, give or take.”
Lil felt like she had just run a race, unsure what to believe and where to go from here.
“Why do they call you the Wild Witch?” Lil asked, catching Aurelia off guard.
