Stars' Light, page 41
“I also didn’t mean that you should be hanging out with prostitutes, or those were the only girls that you could get,” Sarannya spoke softly. She was staring down at her coffee, too embarrassed to look directly at Kiril.
Kiril laughed. “At least with them, I would know exactly what it was all about. There would be no hidden agendas. Many of these girls just want to make enough money to live in a proper city, or to survive in this one. They don’t have aspirations of becoming anything other than a land owner, business owner, a wife, a mother, a regular soul. But the one thing they do all have in common is they all wish to live life according to their own ideas. Something you and I were not really given the opportunity for until now.”
Sarannya nodded in agreement. “The first week I was here, it was shocking to me how nice they were, and how regular they were. I always thought prostitutes would be a different breed of woman, from listening to my brothers.
“They used to go to dance halls, and I have no idea if they played with prostitutes or not. That, they would never talk about around me, or if they thought I was anywhere close, so I always tried to stay up and to be sneaky enough to catch them coming home. Which I was not.”
Kiril just listened to her, smiling from time to time. Her memories of family and home were so much more inviting than his. It made him wish that he had a different life. A life with a family that he had loved and that had loved him.
Sarannya laughed to herself. “There was this one time I used the ‘secret passage’ from my room to my brother’s. That would be Bran, my youngest brother. We used to play together at night when we were little, even after we were supposed to be in bed. But anyway, I knew he was out, and had gone down into town. So, when I heard that he had come home, I went through the passage and came out as quietly as I could to scare him, but the surprise was on me.
“He was having sex with a girl. They were not under the covers.” Sarannya’s cheeks turned red, remembering her brother’s and Samantha’s faces as she burst out from behind the tapestry. “It was the most embarrassing moment of my life. Girls really like him, and he likes them.” Her voice trailed off. “I don’t even know if my brothers are still alive.” She looked up at Kiril.
“I’m sure they are worried about you, knowing that you are here with the General, while the city is under attack with a civil war erupting. They know the General will be in the middle of it, and that means you will be in the middle of it. You should be happy that you have a family that cares and is worth caring about.” He exhaled a short breath. “My family…” He pursed his lips and shook his head. “…are not like yours. You left a home where you were loved. I left a home in which I was a piece on a board to be used for the future of the family. There was no consideration of my happiness or what was actually best for me.” Kiril got up and walked towards the empty bar, placing his cup on the counter.
He turned back around to Sarannya and tried to smile, but it came out as a sad parody of a smile. “We should get to the wall. The attacks will begin at first light.”
Sarannya took a large drink and finished most of her cup. Her mind was not on the coffee, but on her parents. Her mother, to be specific. She was thinking of their conversation around her getting betrothed, and looking back on it, how much it had hurt her mother. Not only her words towards her mother, but her mother’s words to her about what was best for the family. She realized now, it had probably been a moment her mother had hated, and she had been hurtful to her mother about it. What parent would ever sell their child, she thought to herself, remembering the sharp words she had said to her mother. They had been words spoken in frustration and anger. So much had changed since then. Now, her words would be spoken from a perspective of being a warrior, and having seen battle. They would be different.
Sarannya smiled back at Kiril, noting his sadness. She did not say anything, getting up from the table and placing her cup on the bar beside Kiril’s. She pulled on her cloak, and together they walked out into the cold.
As they moved down the street to the lower levels of the pass, soldiers would stop and salute. Both of them saluted back or nodded, always acknowledging the display of respect. They made the wall shortly before first light. Masamiria was standing in the middle, a lone figure, staring out at the tree line where the enemy was camped.
The blacksmith turned and then climbed down to meet them on the main road. In the old days, a gate house and a large gate would have been here, but Kiril had made a solid wall across the pass, sealing it. Masamiria smiled at the two in the dark of the early morning. He noted how tired Sarannya looked. “Today will be a rough day. They will be sending the demons against us. Don’t know if the wall will hold, but we need to be ready to retreat to the second choke point. I have already placed our reserves there.” Masamiria drew them in close, his hand on each of their shoulders. “The Defiant will not be back until late tonight. We have to hold for today. Late tonight, we can begin the final retreat to the docks. We, of course, will stay behind to harry and slow the enemy down, for the rest of our troops to make it to the docks and escape.”
Kiril nodded in understanding.
Sarannya looked at the wall and the troops atop it. “Is there no way for us to win? Is there no way for us to defeat the enemy?”
“There is a way, but we don’t have enough knights or troops to do it,” Masamiria said.
Sarannya just turned back to the wall, studying it with concentration on her face. “I just don’t like admitting defeat until we have actually been defeated.”
“This isn’t about winning and losing. It’s about surviving and helping those that are caught up in this mess.” Masamiria was watching her closely. She appeared to be better, but he had given her shadow. He was watching for the early signs of shadow sickness. He leaned in to see her eyes. “Look at me.” He was looking for the black veins that would appear near the irises of the eyes. He turned her head and looked behind her ear to see if the black veins had appeared there. Nothing.
“What’re you doing?” Sarannya pulled back from him in confusion.
“You’re feeling okay?”
“Yes. I feel quite fine, actually. After you gave me that drink, everything healed up, mostly.” She was still a bit sore, but the bruises had almost all gone away.
“You’re with the plan?” Masamiria asked her.
“Of course.”
An old memory hit him. He remembered being in Marpesia with Ilenka, trying to instruct her in the surface use of shadow as they tracked some criminals, because unlike him, she actually had a shadow well. And she’d just done the exact opposite of what he’d asked her. The criminals died, but so did some of the Marpesian soldiers. Ilenka lost control of shadow, and people paid the price.
He wished that he had spent more time with her. Maybe the relationship they’d had could have been strengthened, and she might not have gone down the path she ultimately went down.
He stared at Sarannya for a moment. She was so much like Ilenka. It was unbelievable that he had not seen it before. “You’re sure?” He stressed his words.
Sarannya scoffed at him. “Yes.”
“Then make sure you follow it.” He turned and started back up the ladder.
Sarannya looked over at Kiril, who was watching the whole interaction with a questioning expression on his face. “What was that about?”
“No idea.” He motioned for Sarannya to start up the ladder.
The sun was directly overhead. It was still cold, but the chill in the air from the morning was gone. Sarannya wiped the sweat from her forehead. A black smudge stained both of her forearms from wiping away her sweat and the ash that stuck to it. She looked down towards Kiril as another wave of the enemy were driven from the wall. It had been one wave after another for hours.
Sarannya had killed many of the demon dogs and the eaters of human flesh, which had long, hooked talons on each of their hands. They were fast and tough. She had faced them in the tunnels, but this time she had fared much better. Her top was only marred by half a dozen cuts today. Unfortunately, the day was only half over. She was reviewing the last wave in her mind, when Lubos interrupted her thoughts.
“Colonel, here is some water.” He handed her a canteen, and she drank from it deeply.
“Thank you,” she answered in a distracted way, and handed the canteen back. She was thinking how she could have moved a bit more fluidly and taken out both of the last enemies without sustaining a cut on her armor.
“Don’t be distracted. Just ride the flow. You will improve as you go. You will gain a better feeling for how things work and flow with experience,” Masamira sent to her, via the connection of War Blades with the Essences. “Rest while you can.”
She nodded her head, and did not even look down the length of the wall to where Masamiria was. She took a look around her, taking in the state of her troops. Damn. Her unit looked tired and worn out. Over half of them were either wounded or dead.
“Where are we at?”
Lubos looked at her and scratched his scar. “We will fold on the next wave. We need to rotate this unit out and bring in the reserves.”
“Make it happen.” She was thinking back to when General Kohler had taught her Ten Stones and Five Knights. She could feel the noose tightening around them. This was a delaying action, not a checkmate action like in Five Knights. She looked along the wall and began to think about how to best capture the space her enemy wanted to fight in, like in Ten Stones.
Lubos moved closer to her. “You also need to rotate out and rest. I know that you have been protecting as many of us as you can, but if you go down, we all go down. This entire section of the wall will fall.” Lubos leaned in close and spoke softly enough so only she could hear.
Sarannya stopped looking out at the field, where hundreds of bodies littered the ground. Patches of black ichor stained the dirt and ran down both sides of the wall, and then she looked at her Sergeant. Her grey eyes looked into his brown. She was always amazed at how much warmth was contained in his eyes, for a man who had a hard past.
His thoughts did not dwell on the unit, but on worry for her. He was really concerned that something would happen to her. He is learning to love and to trust. It is small, but it is there, where it was not before. The thought hit her hard. She was changing this man. This war and this conflict was having a positive effect on him.
This was something that she never thought was possible, remembering the visions she had seen with Zorian, and from what she had seen in the library receiving her War Blades. Asenath had given her hope, but she had thought that was because of the General, but now here she was, witnessing it with Lubos. He was changing, even in the worst environment, because of her.
“You know that I must remain on the wall. I must be here for all our people.” Sarannya put her hand on his arm.
Lubos scowled and looked away. “I mean no disrespect, Colonel. But you have only been training for a month. All warriors must rest from time to time. You cannot keep up this pace.” He frowned and scratched at his scar again, thinking if he wanted to continue with his comments. “You are just one girl, and a young one at that.” His voice was hard, and he was trying to be respectful, but he clearly thought she was pushing it too hard.
Sarannya just stared back at him for a moment without responding. A light breeze tugged at her braids. The snow had mostly melted off again, but clouds were rolling in. It would snow again later in the day. She could hear the barest whisper of his thoughts. She smiled at him and let her hands come to rest on the hilts of her War Blades. “I appreciate your concern, but I will remain on the wall. Is there any food to eat? I’m starving.”
Lubos swore, and grunted. “Of course, Colonel.” He turned to find her some food before the next wave started.
“And Lubos, maybe some coffee.” Sarannya laughed at him when his profanity moved into blushing territory. She turned back to the field as she began to think how best to position the reserves that would be coming in. She also made her way further down the wall to see how Kiril was doing.
Kiril was organizing a group of spear wielders, who would be behind the wall. He was standing atop the wall directing them into formations.
“You don’t think we are going to hold for the next wave?”
Kiril shook his head no. “We have too many wounded, and not enough troops to push the enemy off. I’m getting everything ready for our retreat up the pass. When the enemy breaks the wall, and they will, you must make all speed to me. You and I will hold the center as Masamiria moves our people up the pass.” He was completely focused on what was happening.
“Would you like some food?”
“No, I’m fine.” He shook his head ‘no’ again and went back to his work.
Sarannya glanced down the wall to where Masamiria was looking back at her.
“You know, you can communicate with the connection. You don’t have to come down the wall.”
“I know, but I like actually talking to people. This talking in our heads is new to me, and I don’t know if I like it,” she sent back to him.
Masamiria laughed where he was at. “You will. Now, get back to your troops. The enemy isn’t going to give us too much rest. They can feel the wall is about to break.”
Sarannya turned and headed back up the wall.
Markos watched as the enemy prepared for another assault. This battle felt much like the battles of old. Most of his demons were dead, but he still had the giants of the first coil. They would break the wall. He was prepping his own unit, and had given leave for Chenda to prepare hers once replacements had been made.
He walked back into his command tent and looked at the dark projection crystal. Asenath was supposed to have arranged a break in the wall for tonight, but it might not matter. He would speak with her once the city was his. He would then ascertain whether she was still with them or not; then things would get interesting.
“General, everything is ready,” Chenda said, coming to stand by him as they watched the preparations on the wall in front of them.
Markos did not even look at her. “You have found suitable replacements?”
“Yes. They will do well. I pulled them from the fifth, and I should have no problem in hunting the girl down. She should be suffering from shadow sickness by now. This may be easier than we think.”
Markos turned to her with a disbelieving expression. His voice was laced with anger. “No, it will not be easy. She is not going to be suffering from shadow sickness. The spy is here with them. He used shadow against us in the Great War. He will have made sure that she is well and ready to fight.” He let a small amount of silence exist between them before he spoke again.
“I shall be joining in the battle. I shall take my unit and the giants up the middle, and crush the boy. That will draw the spy to me, where I shall kill him. You, of course, will attack the right end of the wall and take the girl captive. Do not kill her. The master wants her alive.” Markos spoke quietly, his words unyielding.
Chenda turned back to the wall and nodded her head in understanding. “Why do we not wait for Asenath’s people to help us bring the wall down?”
“I do not think Asenath is with us anymore.”
“You think Asenath has been killed?” Chenda asked in surprise. Asenath was the best infiltrator of the Fallen people.
“No, she is not dead. She may have sided with the General for redemption,” Markos said softly. He did not speak of redemption often, but it had been on his mind more of late, and she had seemed different; she had seemed changed, not only in personality, but in form as well.
“We can…she can do that?” Chenda had never heard of such a thing. “Is that possible?” She blinked her glowing yellow eyes in surprise and disbelief. “Surely…”
Markos looked back at her with a grave expression and interrupted her. “Some believe that it is.”
Chenda continued to stare at him for a moment. “How will you know about Asenath?”
“We shall see when we speak with her. It will not be long, and we shall take the city. But what really concerns me is that we have not seen the General yet. It feels like he is not even here.”
“Could he have been the golden warrior in Marpesia Pass?”
“No. That would have been his wife. He may be at the Forges deeper in the pass. We must be cautious. I do not want us to walk into a trap, like I did in Marpesia, long ago.” Markos frowned, remembering his greatest defeat.
Chenda put her hand on his shoulder in a rare display of familiarity. “This shall be the start of our greatest victory. I have confidence in you, General.”
Markos glanced at her hand where it touched him, but he could not quite help his thoughts drifting back to his greatest defeat. “Let us be sure that you are right.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Sarannya was finishing her sandwich when her heart fluttered. She took a sip of water, but it would not go down, and she spit it up. She put her head down, as she thought she might pass out.
Lubos came over to her immediately. “Are you all right?”
“I don’t know,” she gasped, pain rippling through her chest.
Masamiria was next to her in a moment, having come down the wall in a blur. He had felt her pain through the connection of the War Blades. “What are you feeling?”
“It’s hard to breath, and my chest hurts.” Sarannya laid down on her side, with her head cradled in her hands. “Something is wrong. Something is wrong with the General. He’s in pain, great pain, and…sorrow.”
He just looked at her for a moment, his face scrunched up. “You can feel the General? You can feel what is happening to him?”
