The young Ash Makers were put into another deeper sleep, it would be easier to guard them unconscious. Niae called up a Corpine Van and had it rushed to the hotel. The hope was that if they couldn’t defend the building anymore, then the children would be driven off to somewhere else. The Corpine temple was near the docks and they could hopefully make it out of the city in time. Niae also called the docks, having some sailors loyal to her watch the Pirate’s ship. According to the official request, the Pirate was only buying fuel for her ship. That didn’t ease Diana’s worries, as she knew Angelina was all too eager to lie.
Sitting in the room with the sleeping Ash Makers, Diana, Jonah, and Kalyah waited. Niae waited with them, dressed in her white metal armor with a band across her head, this was a magical helm. Diana joined her, fully dressed in her Ironwood armor. The Psyin Cleric, Eutace and Warren waited outside, armed and ready. Rosetta had tried to come with them, but could hardly fly or even move because she was so sore. It wasn’t until this morning that she heard what was going on, but Diana told her to rest. By the Sorceress’s pouting face, she doubted the woman could.
Thirty minutes passed, then thirty more. The stone walls reflected their panicked breathing at first, then as the second hour came on Diana and the others were mostly confused. It was still morning. The lack of breakfast was dragging on the two human’s stomachs. The once prowling Aiko laid down beside its master and slept. Kalyah broke out biscuits and heated up a stew, handing them a bowl and plate to Jonah and Diana. Quietly they ate as Kalyah made up more for the guards outside.
Niae focused, moving about the Dove she had sent to the docks. “The three Heroes, the Pirate, Witch, and Guardian have not left the ship. They are still breakfasting with the Harbormaster,” she said, her blonde brow knit together. “Same as the last time I checked. Ooh, this is so terribly vexing.”
“Well, now we know for sure who sold out the kids,” Jonah said with a shake of his head. He soon stuffed his mouth with his own breakfast.
“Yes, they seem quite jovial,” the High elf said with a sigh.
“Perhaps this was a coincidence,” Diana remarked. “My father has been raising the price of their fuel, it only makes sense for them to come here. Why wouldn’t they try to talk to us though?”
“Maybe they will, they're just waiting,” Jonah said, looking to the door. “They’re all old, they know how to wait us out.”
The room turned glum as they agreed with him. It quickly returned to silence, but Jonah couldn't stand it anymore. Without hesitation he put on his headphones. In the hush, Diana could hear the music playing from them. She had denied him before, but now regretted that choice. She looked at him hopefully and from his jacket he brought out her headphones, the black wood and pink padded ones. With a smile he plugged it into his arm and handed them to her. They settled down on the couch, now full of food and listened to some calming music. It calmed their frayed nerves somewhat.
It was in this peaceful time that the phone rang. Since Diana and Jonah couldn't hear it, cuddling as they were with the music up, Niae answered it. The headphones came off and Diana now watched the High elf intently.
"One of the Pirate's crew mates is down stairs, she wishes to meet with you," Niae said, turning to Kalyah.
"Lucy?" Kalyah said, rising from the chair beside the bed.
Niae nodded. "I suppose that is who has come. They say she is a demonkin."
“Yes, that’s Lucy. Oh Goddess, I've missed her so much…" A tear came to the Pixie elf's eye, and she deftly wiped it away.
"There are Clerics waiting in the lobby for you, be careful, dear girl," Niae said firmly.
"No one else?" Diana wondered, standing up from the couch.
"They are all still on the ship, sweetie," Niae said with a shrug.
"Could it be a trap?" Diana said, folding her arms in thought. Her armor pieces scraped against each other.
"Easily," Kalyah said plainly. "But I want to see her. I won't say anything about the children, I swear. It shouldn’t be dangerous…"
"That is why the Clerics are there for you," Niae said, blinking slowly and looming over the small elf. She leaned down and kissed the Priestess on the mouth. "May the Goddess watch over you."
"Thank you, great mother." She left the room, the door shutting loudly behind her.
“Maybe I should go with her,” Diana said, eyes lingering on the door.
“Kalyah is strong enough,” Niae countered. “Rest while you can, my dear girl, I fear you may need it.”
Down stairs the wide open lobby of the Twinklings hotel was mostly empty, like the room Kalyah had left, but twice the size. The twenty foot ceiling soared above her like some spanning gray cave. The two of Niae’s children that watched over the place kept the lights down low, so that natural light came through the tinted window wall around the door and illuminated everything with a shadowy tinge. There was little to sit on and little to do, so like the last owners, these two mostly read behind the counter. They looked up from books they had clutched as the Pixie elf passed them. The Wood and Sea elf, golden and blue skinned respectively, were both armored and flanked by two Clerics of Psyin, High elves themselves.
The demonkin clopped across the stone work, her crimson skin dark from the backlighting of the door's own untinted window. Her burgundy lips curled into a smile and her hooves clicked fast as she ran into Kalyah’s arms. They were both smiling as they kissed openly and passionately. Lucy picked up the stocky legged Pixie elf, crushing her to her slender body and ample bust. It had been a month since the two had last seen each other, but it felt more like a year. In this glittering city where the sun never rose or set, time had struggled past them. Even though Kalyah had known others in her time here, she still loved the smokey smell of her demon blooded lover.
A string of questions shot out of Kalyah as she held Lucy down to her level with a playful grip of the woman’s curled horns. “What about Stephan, has he been taking care of himself? Did you try to please him? You know he sleeps better with someone besides him, the poor man needs his sleep,” Kalyah was saying.
“Stop, stop,” Lucy said, peeling Kalyah’s small fingers from her ridged horns.
Kalyah pecked Lucy’s lush lips. “No, I want to keep kissing you, but also answer my questions,” she said.
“You’re hurting me, bitch,” the demon woman grumbled.
The healer let go at that, she prayed for the removal of whatever pain she may have caused and held onto Lucy’s arms. As always the holy magic struggled to heal her friend and her body that still held traces of the Hells and the abyss. Lucy smiled at her joylessly and Kalyah’s heart sank.
“I have hardly been awake this last month,” Lucy admitted an unknown sadness spreading across her face.
“What?” Kalyah asked. Ice ran through her veins and she knew the answer to her question. She didn’t want to hear it confirmed and thought about turning off her hearing to avoid it being spoken aloud.
In her black eyes and red pupils was grief that the healer had previously been sure she was incapable of expressing. “Angelina got so mad after the princess,” she said quietly. “Fia gave her the perfect way to punish us and take out that fucking anger…” She usually swore with such gusto, but now the profanity came with sorrow.
“The captain would have our awareness turned off for hours at a time. I’d find myself doing things that I didn’t remember fucking starting. It’s awful… That bitch is so fucking spiteful.” She started to tear up and Kalyah was already there.
The priestess had never seen the woman cry in ten whole years and she held her now as her body was wracked with sobs. She petted her short red curls and pressed her face against the curled rams horn. Lucy was on her knees and her sobbing filled the empty room. Her heart beat in such unsteady and mournful beats. Try as she might to gently shush and soothe her, Kalyah was unable to calm her down for several long minutes.
Faintly Kalyah heard the elevator and footsteps behind her. She turned to see Diana, Jonah, and Warren passing the desk at the edge of the room. In the Druid’s hand was a bundle of wolfsbane, the purple flowers and gray twisted stems made perfect long darts. Stunned by the sight of them and confused by the deadly plants, Kalyah stayed focused on them. It wasn’t until a moment of silence passed that she realized that Lucy had stopped crying. She stood still on her knees, face buried in Kalyah’s bosom.
“Why…? What’s happening?” Kalyah asked.
Diana handed a sprig of wolfsbane to the nearest Cleric, who looked at it in equal confusion. Not knowing who or what they were already guarding, they were surprised to see the human princess and more so by the extremely specific flower. “If you see a man, a human with short gray facial hair and a long scar by his eye, strike first, do not hesitate,” the Druid said, referencing the scar by a point to her left eye.
“You are under threat by lycans?” the High elf Cleric asked, standing some two feet taller than the princess at over seven feet.
“Yes, you all are,” Warren replied back, closing the man’s gloved hand around the flower. He turned to Kalyah, frowning. “We just spotted someone on the opposite roof sniffing around. He popped up as soon as ya came down stairs. She was a distraction it seems,” he said, gesturing to Lucy.
Kalyah shook her head fervently. “No, no, the Witch is too far away to control her directly,” she said loudly.
“Niae checked, it’s the Mimic on deck,” Diana said, staring down Lucy as she set down the wolfsbane on the counter. The two hosts stared at the flowers with fear in their eyes. “Fia is in the city somewhere…”
All was silent for a moment. Kalyah’s focus returned to the lover in her arms. All that she had said in the last few moments played over again in her mind. She worried that she had given something away, but knew that she had not.
“I am across the street, where you can’t see me,” came a voice from Lucy’s throat that was not her own. The red woman pushed herself up on her hooves and away from Kalyah. The healer’s heart broke a second time.
Using Lucy’s ability to shapeshift, the figure of the Witch stood before them, dressed the same as before. Her lavender eyes looked over them, putting one pale hand to her porcelain doll-like face. Carrying over the makeup to this new form, her darkened violet lips now curled into a devilish grin. Lucy was a bit shorter than the famed Hero, so now her shirt was untucked and standing flat on the floor were the Witch’s long and narrow feet. Kalyah had never known someone more cruel than Fia and swore that she should have the devilish features, not Lucy. The demonkin had a compulsion to lie and play tricks, but Fia was evil.
“Don’t bother sending anyone, I’ll sense them a mile away,” Fia went on, gaze still fixed on the crying Kalyah. “We know you have the deserters, and you will give them up.”
“We will do no such thing!” Diana shouted across the room. Jonah tugged her back as she tried to lunge forward.
Fia tilted her head back and laughed. “Good, because Boris couldn’t smell a thing, it’s been far too long. Thank you princess for confirming what we could not,” she said joyously.
“Fuck!” Diana said, pounding her booted foot.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“We won’t give them up!” Jonah said, his voice trembling.
“You’ll have to take them from us and soon, because we’re leaving,” said Warren in a low growl, stepping forward. “They’re under protection of the city guard and royal house of the Magi kingdom.” The Paladin drew his sword. “Come on then, bring your Night Crew here, I’ll cut them down to size.”
The Witch still held her smile, glancing from one of the Clerics flanking the desk to the other. “Do they know they guard Ash Makers?” she asked.
The two Clerics in their golden coats looked at each other now, muttering under their breath in elvish. Kalyah knew by their bodies they were older than the war. High elves rarely forget anything and by their growing glares these ones had not forgotten the horrors.
“Why are we here?” the one holding the wolfsbane, a grayish haired male, asked the Paladin.
“What she said, guarding youngins caught up in a war that’s not their own,” Warren said over his shoulder to the man.
“An Ash Maker is an Ash Maker,” the Witch said tiredly. “It’s in their name, they will eventually bring destruction, one way or another. A young one is just a bear waiting to grow into its paws. One tantrum and the air explodes around them. Another fit of anger and they disenchant the magic of this city.”
“Shut up, you miserable bitch!” Diana cried, whirling on the Cleric. He held the wolfsbane with further confusion, trying to link the two things. “The living Heroes, the Guardian and the Rider are Werewolves, beasts that eat the hearts of others to sustain themselves. I thought they were right at first, but now I know who they are, Child murderers and monsters.”
The Cleric, whose name tag read as “Cre’ven” looked up from the flower. “An Ash Maker is not a child, they are accursed beasts,” he said simply.
The Druid’s mouth opened to speak, but just hung there in shock at what was said.
“They’re only here because of her!” Jonah cried, pointing a metal finger at the Witch. “She had their camp killed, dozens of people slaughtered for nothing!”
Cre’ven’s eyebrows knit together. “They were stationed outside our city?” he said, crushing the flower in his fist.
His fellow spoke to him elvish, “How did we miss them? What were they doing?”
“They were gathering leaves from the trees,” Kalyah said, moving away from the thing that wasn't her friend. “Nothing more than that. They bought supplies from the docks and--”
Warren sliced his hand through the air, hissing for silence. He glared at the Witch thing as two Clerics jabbered on in elvish. The Witch was listening intently, head tilted in their direction. When all was quiet save the elves, she gestured for them to continue speaking.
“Go on, go on, maybe this will help us catch other roaches,” the Witch said with a grin. “I can’t believe that this nest went without detection for so long. Their loud machines that froze people in place and their stock of guns might have helped with that.”
“Guns?” asked Cre’ven.
The Witch looked at the two with an almost sincere look of concern. “Oh yes, they have guns that can shoot straight through steel, even enchanted steel. In our attack on their base one went straight through the Guardian’s armor, he was quite upset at having to have it repaired. You two know how hard his armor is,” she said, shaking her head of black hair in disbelief.
Cre’ven and his fellow looked at each other in shock. “We saw him on the fields of Alvon L’er,” the High elf said. “We thought him and his armor were invincible…”
The Druid slammed her staff on the floor, her familiar’s roar filled the room. “He is nearly invincible! He’s a bloody Werewolf, I’ve seen the proof with my own eyes. You’re speaking to the Witch, who transformed in front of your very eyes using a Slave Star brew. You two fucking gits should be finding her and killing her!”
The funny thing about a High elf is they remember a lot, but they take a long time to process certain information. As an Arch Priestess, Niae was a master at multitasking and processing, she didn’t show much delay at all. These two were Psyin Clerics, who also were famous for considering all sides of a problem before making a judgment. The war had ingrained a long hatred into these two, one that Warren was trying to glower out of them, but the older elves didn’t seem to see him at all.
“I can show y’all the information as well,” Warren said calmly after a moment. “All three of us here saw proof of the Guardian’s lycanthropy.” He gestured to himself, Jonah, and the furious princess.
“He is no longer one, he has been cured, not that it helped him try to wrangle up those savages,” the Witch said simply. “I am only here in this form as a jest. The princess would have had me attacked if I showed up in my real form. I don’t know anything about this Slave Star brew, I’ve never made it, it sounds difficult.”
That was too much for the healer who had spent days trying to rid her friend’s bodies of the wretched brew. She couldn’t take anymore lies. Kalyah glared at the imposter before her, eyes blazing with holy magic. Rising up on her tip toes she grabbed the Witch’s head, forcing a wave of white fire into her skull. The prayer washed over the body that wasn’t hers, the shapeshifting shuddering pale then a dark red as Lucy’s body fought to stay conscious.
“Sleep!” Kalyah commanded, holding onto hair that straightened and curled one second to the next. The magic was so strong the Priestess knew that the Witch herself was fighting to stay awake. Lucy’s hands, then Fia’s pale ones as the battle for shape and awareness continued, went around Kalyah’s throat. The Pixie elf had the muscle density of a dwarf and the strength, her spare hand fighting to keep the hold from cutting off her air supply. Harm to save one’s life wasn’t the worst thing. The Goddess forgave harm in trying to save one’s own bodily harm. Whether it was a sin to put herself in this situation was another matter.
Kalyah’s heart racing, she fought still, pushing out thoughts of forgiveness and sin.
“Phantom!” Warren cried.
In a blink of her aching eyes, Kalyah watched as Warren’s greatsword sprouted out of Lucy’s chest. The metal was transparent and smoking wildly from the bloodless wound. The hands fell off Kalyah’s throat and Lucy, once again her red self, slid down to the crossguard of the weapon. Withdrawing the blade, he gently set her down on the stone floor, where she snored away, completely asleep.
“You okay?” Warren asked, checking over Kalyah’s neck.
“Yes, yes, I’m fine,” the Pixie said. From her heartbeat alone she could tell that bruises were forming. She would heal herself later, now she focused on her friend. The Phantom blade of Psyin had left her unharmed, but needed to hit somewhere fatal for it to work. As much power as it took to kill to render unconscious. Kalyah stroked her lover’s sleeping face, crying over the disuse of her poor body. Carefully she tried to pick her up to take her away, but her body was tired from the quick mental battle with the Witch and she struggled to calm her emotions. This wasn’t any patient, this was someone she loved dearly and usually Priestesses weren’t allowed to tend to someone related or loved. The body’s ties clouded the mind and led to accidents.
“I’ll get her in a minute,” Warren said calmly. “I need to deal with these two.” He gestured his head and across the floor came Niae’s two children, the Wood and the Sea elves. They checked over Lucy and comforted Kalyah. The Sea elf tended to her neck, healing the forming bruises. It had been such a long time on her own, Kalyah didn’t remember the pair there.
“That was a foolish move,” the Sea elf woman muttered, shaking her head of silver blue hair. She frowned, but it quickly turned into a smile as the bruises faded, the scales on her face wrinkling.
Warren stared down the two Clerics, even though they were taller than him. His sword was on his back again, but he didn’t need weapons to look intimidating. Diana thought his face was handsome, but he could be quite menacing when he wanted to be so. The two High elves didn’t seem to care still and Diana was ready to send them off forever. She knew this was part of her short temper and even shorter patience, but for them to have such stupid beliefs was infuriating. Psyin Clerics as well, the god of knowledge and order. Anyone with half a mind could see the children meant them no harm. She was glad that Warren came between her and the pair of them. Jonah and Aiko were helping as well, holding her hand and rubbing against her armored leg.
“What’s your judgment?” Warren asked coldly.
“We were lied to,” said the lead man, Cre’ven.
“Ya weren’t told who was in the hotel, only that they were important,” Warren went on. “Is the only remaining princess of the Magi kingdom not important enough for you two?”
"We are not alone here, brother," he replied. "You have us outside, on the roof, up the stairs."
"I know where I told you to go," Warren said indignantly.
"We need time to consider this new information," the other High elf said. His name tag read Fre'en. "We saw the war, unlike you, child. The Ash Makers turned forests to ash, they belong where they cannot harm anyone on those Dry isles."
"Or dead," Cre'ven mumbled. “You have lied to us about this camp as well, where were they? Somewhere outside the city? We would like to see it.”
“You can’t, it’s gone,” Jonah remarked. “There’s nothing left to even see.”
The two Clerics looked at Jonah as one might look at a child speaking out of turn. Gods, Diana wished that Psyin could have standard and caring doctrine across the world. Some Psyin Clerics, like these, might as well be followers of Domin. A god whose mantra was, “Good will be done, no matter the cost.” That statement led to a lot of destruction during the war.
“He’s right, there’s nothing to see,” Warren said, folding his arms firmly. “The ones we saved from the Nymphs are the last survivors. A camp of young and old men, women, children and maybe four guns between them. All they needed the guns for was the Stalkers that lived in the caves.”
“The cliffs to the north…” Cre’ven said with a squint.
“Why were they gathering leaves?” Fre’en asked.
“That’s classified, by order of the king of the Magi,” Warren said without a moment’s hesitation. “Go on, back to the temple. Call up the temple in Principality, get king Augustus on the phone, tell him Warren Whittaker sent you. If you don’t believe his daughter, then maybe you will believe him.”
“There is too much to consider!” Cre’ven said defensively.
“There’s a lot, I know, but I’ve been here almost a week and I still stand with the princess,” Warren said with a shrug.
“You are young and never saw the war,” Fre’en hissed.
“I’m well aware of that, sir. Miss Diana here had her sister killed by the Order of Ash, yet she still protects those upstairs,” the Paladin said evenly.
Cre’ven shook his head. “No, you have not seen the Order of Ash, no one has yet this century. That was a rogue assassin working to free the cretin stuck in the Tombs. The Order of Ash lived up to their name. I had many friends reduced to ashes in the war, men I knew longer than any of you have been alive. They destroyed people with a flick of their wrists, scattered blood and guts over fields where grain was once grown. Nature harms them and they harm nature back. It is like killing a Watchdog of the gods to destroy them.” He looked to the stairs behind them.
“If you take one step to harm those children, then I won’t hesitate to kill ya,” Warren said firmly, his hands on the daggers at his belt.
“That is a bold claim, child,” Fre’en said, a hand on his sword tied to his belt.
“It’s a promise and one Psyin Himself knows I’ll keep,” Warren said, gripping the handles of the dagger. The air was charged between the three and Jonah shivered beside Diana. The princess herself was unsure if the threats would be carried out. Their sharp stares seemed to confirm that they would actually kill each other here in this lobby. The blood was almost promised to be spilled right here and now.
“Go on then, consider what you know now,” Diana said, gesturing towards the door. “Tell them the royal highness Diana Orchidrin Scholar sent you.” Aiko growled at them, coming between the two and Warren. The Paladin didn’t budge as the tiger pressed against his coat, rumbling deep in its throat.
“We leave for now, but our opinions on the accursed are unlikely to change,” Fre’en said, stepping backwards.
“All that is required is that you do not murder children in their beds,” Diana said coldly.
“You’re better than that, aren’t you?” Jonah added, breaking his grip from Diana’s hand to raise his right hand, the one with the gun. Though his weapon didn’t form and his hand merely shook with nerves. “Psyin preaches forgiveness as well, doesn’t He? And that actions make someone, not their birth? Some actions warrant death, but not until they are committed, right?”
The two Clerics and the Paladin all looked at Jonah, whose eyes were still glowing with his indexing.
“They are not people,” said Cre’ven, his hand slipping from the sword on his belt.
“How, they aren’t mindless undead, are they?” Jonah asked, his voice trembling.
The Cleric Cre’ven had no answer. “We leave, for now, all of us, to consider.” He jerked his head to his fellow. Soon the door was opening and then closing behind them.
Before anything could be said between the three, they all turned at Kalyah’s gasp. Lucy’s body rose like a puppet pulled up by its strings. Her head hung unnaturally and her hooves slid backwards in an eerie walk. Her eyes were still closed. Kalyah rose up and tugged at her arm, but the arm was jerked out of her grip. In the front doorway the window was shadowed and through the cloudy glass Diana could see the face of the Witch.
Warren drew his sword again, but by the time the metal finished singing, Lucy was lurched towards the door. She slammed against it, the door knob twisted. “Move and I kill her,” came the Witch’s voice from the demonkin’s throat. “You have one week to surrender the Ash Makers before we come to take them from you. We won’t kill them, we only want to know why the creatures started to vanish.”
“They don’t know anything!” Diana shouted, pointing her staff towards the door. The stonework was out of her range.
“They will,” the Witch’s puppet continued. “Tell your mother, I don’t care, she could never best me anyway. Though I suspect after your last spat she won’t listen to you.” To Diana’s choked sound she made Lucy smile. “I don’t need Flies when your maids can be brewed. One week, consider it, because my Mimic can still do a fine impression of you. There’s no telling what she could say next. Maybe she’ll have you support the taking out of that camp. That way your new allies in the Order will hate you properly. Your mother will drag you back home and you’ll never avenge your sister…” With a cackling laugh the door slid open and Lucy went sliding out of it.
By the time the door swung all the way open and Warren had crossed the room with pounding footsteps, the doorway was empty.