“How many is that?” Ayawa asked as they crouched low in the grass.
“I see twelve,” Tavis replied and took up his tone again to project his sight. “All wearing the colors of Astikar.”
“They can't be priests,” Gedris added. “If all the men of Astikar we have seen are priests, then it could only mean they pulled men from the war with the Doan. That would be suicide, wouldn't it?”
“Gersius is the bigger threat,” Tavis said.
“He may be the only threat if the suspicions of the Father Abbot working with the Doan are true,” Ayawa replied in a hushed tone.
“Let’s not forget we know they are raising false priests,” Tavis interjected quickly before resuming his tone.
“We're only a few hours ahead of the army,” Gedris whispered back. “They know we are coming. What are twelve men going to do to an army?”
“They aren't here for the army. They are looking for our scouts,” Tavis replied.
“This is why I insisted we stay off the roads,” Ayawa added. “They want to blind Gersius to whatever they have planned ahead.”
“You two have been doing this a long time, haven’t you?” Gedris asked as she smiled at Ayawa.
“Too long,” Ayawa replied. “Hopefully, this will be the last war that needs our skills. We are finally free to have a family, and I have a wife to help me.”
Tavis blinked and let his weave fade before crawling through the grass to lay between the women. “Gersius will be hard to blind. The southern warriors are scouting for him, and Jessivel has put his spy network to aid him.”
“Not to mention the dragons flying at night,” Ayawa said. “Numidel has been up every night flying ahead of the army to spy on the road ahead.”
“Do you think Jessivel is right about the army waiting just over the river?” Gedris asked.
Ayawa glanced to Tavis as he shed his smile and turned to look at Gedris. “We already know for sure they are there. Numidel spotted the camp two days ago and estimates they number more than four thousand.”
“When did you learn that?” Gedris asked.
Tavis sighed and put a hand to her back. “While you were sparring with Lilly. Gersius told us about his and Jessivel's reports. Numidel saw the camp, and Jessivel's spies report that reinforcements are streaming in from other provinces. They intend to try and stop Gersius in one decisive battle.”
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
Tavis rubbed at her back as their eyes met. “We didn’t want you to be burdened with worry.”
Gedris looked shocked as Ayawa looked over to explain.
“You are recently married, and I wanted you to be free to enjoy it,” Ayawa added.
Gedris sighed with a smile. “That is very kind of you, I forgive you both, but now I am worried.”
“Don’t be,” Tavis replied. “Gersius knows they are there and is marching right for them, which means he has a plan.”
“Gersius always has a plan, even when he doesn’t know all the details,” Ayawa remarked.
“I heard some of the people in the camp say he is a great general,” Gedris replied.
Ayawa smiled and returned to watching the enemy scouts move away. “Gersius has won battles other men wouldn't have dared to fight. He has broken city walls with minimal casualties and rewritten the book on using blessing for mass combat. He plans his attacks in great detail and always finds the weak points in an enemy's lines. He met one of the Doan armies with half their numbers and shattered them in a single battle.”
“Why didn't he pursue them?” Gedris asked, knowing some of Gersius's story and how he retreated to look for Lilly.
Ayawa nodded at Tavis as he tipped his hat up and replied.
“We are the reason he ran. We spotted the two other armies moving in on both sides. The center army was falling back to draw Gersisu away from a city he was moving to retake. If Gersius had followed them, he would have been surrounded and destroyed. Once he realized there were two more armies, he knew he didn't have the numbers to win an offensive war. He retreated to the frontier keeps and reinforced a line that could hold. He then went to Calathen to demand more soldiers, but the order turned him down, so he went to the lords directly, but they also turned him down. With no other option to turn the tide, he set out to recreate the dragon knight.”
“And now he has to take the city he once thought of as his home,” Gedris replied with a shake of her head. “Is it true the walls of Calathen have never been broken?”
“Not in known history,” Tavis replied.
Gedris thought about the challenges and what must certainly lay ahead. She finally voiced the question that every member of the army was asking.
“How is he going to do it?”
Tavis sat up as the soldiers moved a safe distance away and looked to the distance as if to see the city.
“He hasn't said. He is worried about spies and wants to keep it a secret until it is too late for the enemy to do anything about it.”
“He does have a plan, doesn’t he?”
“Girl, I just told you he always has a plan,” Ayawa remarked as she began to doubt her own words. What was Gersius planning to do, and why hadn't he shared it with his trusted friends?
“We need to advance until we can see the river,” Tavis reminded as the soldiers of Astikar vanished from sight over the hill.
Ayawa dared to sit up and stared into the distance, her sharp eyes scanning the open plains. She raised a hand and made a gesture with her fingers. On distant hills, groups of two or three southern warriors rose from where they were hidden. As a group, they began to advance, pressing ahead to make sure the enemy hadn't crossed the river. They were also on the watch of Alayse, who was supposed to arrive today or early the next. The meeting point was about where Ayawa was now, but thus far, there was no sign of the second company. Jessivel was out with a group of riders looking for them to the south just encase Alayse needed support.
“Does it worry you that they aren’t here?” Gedris asked as she followed behind.
“Anything could have happened to delay them,” Ayawa replied as her eyes searched the landscape. “It is too early to assume there is trouble.”
“Gersius wants them for the river battle,” Tavis said. “If he gets his way, that will be early morning tomorrow.”
“I am sure they will be here soon,” Ayawa replied as her pace quickened. She held the ebon wood bow firmly in hand and arrow poised between fingers to draw in a heartbeat. As they crossed the open ground, the faint smell of smoke greeted their nose, and a bird call turned her head. A distant group of southern warriors gestured, and the signal was relayed until Ayawa saw it clearly.
“What is it?” Gedris whispered.
“Smoke, over the hill to the north, close to the road,” Ayawa replied.
“A campfire?” Tavis asked while tipping his wide-brimmed hat up.
“They say it's a grass fire,” Ayawa replied and gestured back. “We're moving to investigate it.”
It took nearly half an hour to creep toward the location indicated, but eventually, the thin trails of smoke appeared and over a far hill.
“It must be a grass fire,” Tavis said as they ascended the hill. “The smoke covers too wide an area. Probably a lightning strike or an abandoned campfire burned beyond its stones.”
“There have been no storms in a few days, and the grass here is green,” Ayawa replied. “A campfire would have found burning the damp grass challenging.”
“Then what caused it?” Gedris asked as the tension grew.
“We will find out soon enough,” Ayawa replied in a grim tone as they crested the top of the hill. The far side was a swath of burned brush, charred so completely it left behind bare ground and ash.
“This is no grass fire,” Gedris said as they crept onto the bare earth. “The center is bare. Only the grass at the edges is burned.”
“The ground is glazed,” Tavis said. “This was very hot.”
Ayawa fixed her eyes on the six black objects in the center of the barren ring, smoke still wafting off their surface. She knelt over one that looked like a burned log and turned it over to reveal a metal plate emblazoned with the symbol of Ulustrah.
“By the goddess,” Gedris gasped in a short breath.
Ayawa looked up and began to search the ground until she found tracks. “Here,” she called and led them down a trail of grass that was oddly burned in places. The trail ended abruptly with an odd splash of blood on the grass.
Gedris looked around in confusion for the source of the blood, but there was no body. “What were we following?”
“A burning horse,” Ayawa said. “I bet if we look, there will be five more trails.”
“But where did it go?”
Ayawa looked back with a haunted look in her eyes. “Didn't Lilly say she liked the taste of horses?”
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“What does that have to do with--” Gedris began until the realization sank in. “Are you saying a dragon did this?”
“It makes sense,” Tavis said as he started to watch the sky. “That burned area must be its breath. It would explain why the ground is so thoroughly burned clean. Those must have been scout's of Alayse sent ahead to find the meeting point.”
“And we know a red was raiding the towns in the north to frighten them,” Ayawa replied.
“But Sarah killed the red at the keep battle,” Gedris insisted with a pleading expression.
“There must be more,” Tavis replied and tipped his hat down. “Gersius needs to know another dragon is prowling the river.”
“Should we change course and look for Alayse?” Ayawa asked. “Gersius's plan relies on her cavalry. If her scouts never reported back, she might have held up her advance for fear of danger ahead.”
“At the very least, she will be traveling slower,” Tavis agreed. “But Jessivel is already looking for her. Our mission was to link up if possible and send her east, then get in sight of the river and determine if the enemy is crossing it.”
“If Thayle's description of this woman's personality is accurate, she will probably attack Jessivel on sight,” Ayawa argued.
“That’s why they brought six women of Ulustrah with them,” Tavis reminded. “They will attest for Jessivel’s truth and help guide Alayse in.”
“This Alayse has trouble accepting the truth. Thayle had to use Lilly to get her to yield.”
“We have no choice but to hope it will go smoothly,” Tavis sighed.
“We should do something for the women,” Gedris said. “I can’t stand the thought of leaving them to rot on a barren hillside.”
Ayawa took her hand and turned her to face them. “We don’t have time to dig graves. If we delay far more than the six women here will die. Why don’t you sing them a song and cover them in flowers.”
They returned to the bodies so Gedris could sing to them, causing Ulustrah's blessing to cover them in a rainbow of flowers. When she was done, there was a magical oasis of color in the center of the barren hillside.
“Goodbye, dear sisters, may you find peace in the endless gardens,” Gedris said as she looked down.
“Come girl, we have to fulfill our mission,” Ayawa urged, drawing Gedris away. She pulled Gedris tight, holding her close as they moved into the grass. A quick hand single sent the hidden warriors around them into motion, and their mission resumed. As they crawled forward, Tavis spoke and brought to light concern none of them wanted to face.
“I worry keeping Yarvine so close is a danger.”
Ayawa closed her eyes to focus on a thought before speaking a reply.
“Gersius knows she is a danger and has a plan for her as well.”
Tavis smiled under his hat as his head shook. “The whole camp knows he threatened to kill her. Then Thayle throws her at the crowd's feet after stripping her of all authority. That isn't going to sit well with the more blindly fanatical of Ulustrah's forces.”
“Why do those women deny the obvious?” Ayawa sighed.
“Because it isn't obvious,” Gedris said. “You have to understand we are trained from the moment we enter the order to follow the direction of a prime. All of us know Ulustrah chooses them herself, which means they can't be called into question. For the average woman of the order, a prime is sacred and holy, held up by Ulustrah herself to be a light to us all.”
“This is why I never took up a faith,” Ayawa growled. “I cannot accept mindless obedience.”
“It isn't mindless,” Gedris corrected. “We all choose to obey, but after a while, you stop asking questions. Once the love of Ulustrah comes on you fully, it is hard to see her chosen leadership as anything but part of the goddess.”
“Thayle threw some doubt on that with her little display,” Tavis added as they approached a line of dense brush.
“My heart sank when I saw them pour the water on her head,” Gedris said. “I was sure she was cast down, but Ulustrah refused to do it.”
“And refused to grant blessings to those trying to restrain her,” Ayawa added. “Thayle proved she had your goddesses blessing over Yarvine.”
“Which is probably the only reason they didn’t revolt when Thayle cast her down,” Gedris said with a shake of her head. “I am somewhat relieved that my faith is a secret to so many. I don’t want to be caught up in what is going on.”
“And we’re keeping it that way,” Ayawa remarked with a glance back to her. “I don’t want you talking about your faith in camp at all unless it is in privacy. Yarvine isn’t done, and Two Crows says her guards are still watching us.”
“What for?” Gedris asked.
Ayawa shook her head as her sharp eyes looked through the brush for hidden threats before entering. “I don't know, but if Yarvine found out you were a priestess, she might use you as a weapon against us.”
“I wouldn't do anything that would harm you,” Gedris said as Tavis put a hand on her shoulder.
“Skilled manipulators can often make you do things that don't seem to matter but have terrible consequences. Yarvine is a manipulator, and she has a purpose we haven't seen yet.”
“But what could that be?” Gedris asked. “She lost her temple and the lives of her ranking priestesses. You would think she would be happy to see Gersius marching on the city. Instead, she seems to think we need to withdraw from the war and make peace with the Father Abbot.”
“With the man who tortured one of his own and then boldly lied about him,” Ayawa growled. “Now his assassins have killed the head prime of your order, and Yarvine hasn't had a word to say.”
“Has she been told?” Gedris asked.
Ayawa and Tavis exchanged a look as Gedris followed them into the brush. Gersius asked Thayle to keep the information quiet, but they believed Yarvine knew. The scryer she kept hidden in the wagon was communicating with other temples and her pigeons with persons unknown nearby. Two Crows offered to send a few hunters to follow the birds and locate who was receiving them, but that was difficult even for the most skilled. They would have to wander in the direction they saw them fly and hope to spot follow up birds to keep on the path.
“Nobody has told her, but that doesn't mean she doesn't know,” Ayawa said at last. “She is communicating with parties unknown outside the camp. Thayle wanted to expose who it was by confronting her, but Gersius stayed her hand. He says there is a better way to deal with her.”
“You're right; he always has a plan,” Gedris remarked.
“Always,” Ayawa said with a slight smile, then froze. She held up a hand, silently relaying a message, then squatted down as Tavis and Gedris melted into the brush.
“What have you seen?” Tavis asked.
“Project your sight into the trees ahead,” Ayawa said.
Tavis sat on his knees and began to dance his fingers while making a low tone. His sight left his body, traveling on an invisible current through the trees. He saw them laying on the ground, carefully concealed, and looking back his way. As he swept over, he saw the man sitting cross-legged, lost in a weave of his own.
Tavis jerked awake and turned to Ayawa. “They have a weaver, and they are watching us!”
Ayawa raised an arm and sent a silent alarm but also alerted the enemy that they knew. Voices called out, and arrows began to fall along with flashes of weaves and blessing. Ayawa came to her feet with bow in hand, an arrow flying back in seconds. Gedris immediately moved behind her and put up a shield to protect them both as Tavis took cover behind a tree.
“How many did you see?” Ayawa shouted as an arrow went past her head.
“At least twenty!” Tavis shouted back right before the side of his tree exploded.
“That was a weave!” Ayawa cursed as she aimed and loosed an arrow causing a cry of pain in the distance.
Tavis tipped his hat down and began a weave of his own. In moments a bolt of twisting red light went flying back to cries of 'weaver' from the other side. For a few tense moments, the battle was one-sided as the enemy focused their fire solely on the three, but the southern warriors arrived. Filling the enemy's flanks with arrows of their own, they evened out the odds and gave them some breathing room.
“Can you use that strategy Gersius was talking about?” Ayawa asked as she turned on Gedris.
She swallowed hard and nodded, but uncertainty showed on her face.
“You used that blessing a dozen times while we were traveling,” Ayawa said firmly. “I know you can do this.” She turned to Tavis, who was holding his hat down, and nodded. “She acts on three, we on five.”
He nodded in return, and the count began. When Ayawa reached three, Gedris began to sing, and a wall of brambles and thorns grew right before their enemies blocking their line of fire. On three, Ayawa and Tavis, now hidden from sight, sprinted for the wall of plants. On one, Gedris changed her tune, calling to the plants to part just as Ayawa and Tavis burst through the gap.
The surprise was total, with a man falling to an arrow before he knew they were there. She loosed three more and killed two before the men on the other side acted to impede them. Tavis killed two with his swords, but his task was to find the weaver. Depending on the man's training, he could turn the tide of the battle with a single weave. He caught sight of him standing near the back, working an intricate weave as the air shimmered. Beside him was a woman in armor, a tall tree emblazoned on a silver shield, her long golden hair braided down her back. She saw Tavis coming and raised a hand with a familiar song as vines and plants grew around his feet.
“Ayawa!” he cried in alarm as he was entangled. He looked up just in time to see the weaver complete his spell and knew his time was up. The echoing explosion deafened him as the weave impacted a green shield above his head. He was dazed in the attack but had sense enough to begin cutting at his binds as he looked back. He saw Gedris in her leathers running through the gap. She reached out a hand singing out a blessing as the vines released him. She smiled his way but was suddenly stopped as green chains reached out for her and wrapped around her body. Tavis followed the lines back to the woman in armor, who now held a scowl on her face. It only deepened when her head swung to the side, an arrow from Ayawa tracing a line across her cheek. The chains vanished, dropping Gedris into the brush as Tavis stormed through the chaos to get to the weaver.
He was intercepted by the angry priestess who put her shield to great use in fending off his sword slashes. She fought with a long slender blade that cut the air with grace. Her attacks proved her training as Tavis found it difficult to get around her armor. Ayawa used her arrows to keep the weaver from aiding her as the southern warriors moved in to engage the others.
“You are fighting for the wrong side,” Tavis barked as he jumped away from a shield bash.
“I fight for the safety of this world,” she replied. “You and your filth seek to restore the traitor goddess!”
He didn't understand what she meant, but there wasn't time to ask questions. With a quick step back to gain some distance, he used a rapid weave to fire a burst of air into her face. On reflex, she averted her eyes, and he struck, moving around the shield just in time for a man with a spear to intercept him. Now pressed back, he struggled to deal with the two of them until green chains wrapped around the woman. She howled in rage and called out a blessing. A sliver of light raced down from the sky, striking her head and breaking the chains. She landed on her feet, gaze fixed squarely on Gedris, who drew her two knives.
“One of the daughters of the blind goddess,” she said before raising her shield to catch one of Ayawa’s arrows.
“I can't keep her and the weaver pinned,” Ayawa yelled as she tried to keep switching between targets.
“Leave her for me,” Gedris called and ran forward, knives leading the way.
“Gedris!” Ayawa yelled and began to curse under her breath. She fired an arrow at the man pressing Tavis back, scoring a good hit but armor saved the day.
Tavis saw Gedris run in as the woman set her feet and raised her shield high. He knew this woman was trained well above the rank and file priestesses of Ulustrah, well enough to keep him at bay. She smiled wickedly and swept out with her shield as Gedris came straight in. Gedris slid, using the leaves of the forest floor to glide under the shield, and hacked at the back of the woman's leg where the armor was cloth.
She hobbled forward in an unsteady step as blood was drawn, a blessing of healing on her lips. Gedris rolled to her feet and threw a knife at her that was easily blocked with a shield. Tavis knew if Gedris survived this fight, Ayawa would lash her rear raw for throwing her weapon away. Just as he was about to try and disengage with his combatant, Gedris leaped up, her free hand scooping from the forest floor. As the woman's shield came down, a handful of dirt and debris came over it, striking her in the face.
“Curse you!” the woman shouted as she swung wildly while trying to clear her eyes. Green chains wrapped around her a second time as Gedris rushed in, knife poised for the kill. The twisting red light that met her made Tavis cry out as she lifted from the ground and flew back. Droplets of blood landed on Ayawa's cheek as she roared in anger and charged the weaver.
Tavis knew seconds counted. A bolt of Daghost could cut a man in two, and Gedris was not heavily armored. He risked a move and baited the man in by pretending he was going to run to Gedris's side. Instead, he twisted around the spear, tangling it with one arm before jabbing his sword into the man's throat. The soldier clutched at his wound as his knees hit the ground, and now Tavis did run for Gedris.
“Gedris?” he called as he fell to his knees over her still form. He turned her over and looked away to see ribs exposed where her side had been torn away. “Gedris, please,” he cried as she lay still, her breathing faint. He turned in time to see the women in armor look his way. Rage filled his heart as a red light began to dance in his eyes.
She raised her shield as the fire hit her, turning the tree beside her into a roaring blaze. She stumbled out of the searing heat in a daze only to be tackled by Tavis, who wrapped his hands around her throat as they began to burn her skin.
“Heal her!” he roared into the woman's face. “Heal her, or I will burn your soul out!”
Her eyes went wide as her skin began to smolder. “What are you?” she cried.
“I am a Ji' fire weaver, and you will pay the ash price in my stead if you push me any further!” he shouted and dragged her by the collar of her breastplate to Gedris. He threw her down at the dying woman's side and wrapped an arm around her neck. “Heal her quickly, or your armor is going to get hotter and hotter until your blood boils out!” he growled.
The woman cried in frustration but put her hands to Gedris and began to sing. Tavis was relieved to see the golden light and wanted to cry when ribs were once again encased in flesh. True to his word, he kept the heat coming as the woman began to twitch in discomfort. When Gedris finally lifted an arm, he relented, allowing the woman to scramble away, desperately trying to get out of her nearly blazing armor.
Tavis looked inward as the flame raged inside. It roared to get out and run wild, eager to burn the world around him. It was a duel of focus now, his will against that of the fire, and he was losing. The last time he lost control, innocent people had died, and in this proximity, Gedris and Aayawa were sure to pay the price. Then a hand wrapped around his shoulder, and he opened his eyes to look into Gedris's face as she held the tatters of her armor over her chest. She raised her free hand over his head and began to sing a gentle tune causing pure water to fall from her fingers to his forehead. It sizzled and hissed into steam but somehow, seeing her eyes brought him back, and the fire began to die.
“Come back,” Gedris whispered as he closed his eyes again. “Ayawa and I need you.”
His breathing returned to normal as his shoulders relaxed, the water starting to pour down his face.
“You fools will never win,” the woman beside them said as she finally cast her breastplate aside. She went to say something more but an arrow buried in her exposed chest as Ayawa rushed to her lover’s sides.
“By the earth mother, are you alright?” Ayawa gasped as she looked at the torn armor.
Gedris lowered her arm to reveal the wound was gone but admitted it was still sore. Ayawa nodded and turned to Tavis, whose face ran wet with water and tears.
“The others are retreating,” came the voice of a southern warrior who arrived to inform them the battle was fast fading.
“Let them go,” Ayawa responded as she wrapped an arm around Tavis and Gedris's heads. She pulled them tight to her chest and breathed a sigh of relief. “Search the bodies. Find any letters or dispatches they might be carrying, and make ready to move. We have to be away in minutes; the smoke of the fires will draw every scout for five miles.”
The man nodded and ran off to relay her orders as she clutched them tightly.
“We have to scout the river,” Tavis whispered.
“We are going back to meet with Gersius,” Ayawa said. “He needs to know there is a dragon about and that priestesses of Ulustrah are fighting for our enemies.”
Tavis nodded in her arms as she began to cry, her tears washing Gedris's blood from her cheek. She looked up and silently gave thanks to the earth mother, then glanced to the weaver nailed to a tree by five arrows. If anybody had a letter of importance, it would be him. “Can you walk? She asked Gedris, knowing full well that serious injuries often left one weak even if healed.
“I think so, Gedris replied and stumbled to get to her feet.
“I can help her,” Tavis said as he got up and looked about for his hat lost when he tackled the woman.
“You two stay here,” Ayawa commanded before dashing for the slain weaver. She quickly searched his pockets and found three letters that were quickly tucked in a pouch. She came back and helped Tavis up, then both of them helped Gedris stand and limp away.
Gersius was only a couple of hours behind, and there would be wagons to carry them until they recovered. With tears in her eyes, she ordered the scouts to withdraw and ran to carry her family to safety. Silently she prayed to the earth mother that this would be the last war and that she and Gedris would live to be mothers themselves.