╚╩╩╩╝ Hamil ╚╩╩╩╝

The situation became grim once Renae came into view. Smoke rose high into the sky from several points over the tree line. Even at this distance from the city, I could hear the sounds of people fighting. It was something I was all too familiar with.

Witnessing my father’s men raid smaller towns and villages, I learned to recognize the outcome of the battle by the sounds that came from them. What I was hearing from Renae was the sound of one-sided slaughter.

“What do we do?” Charlotte asked, wide eyed.

Raising her arm at a right angle, Dame Austen signaled for us to stop. “Hamil, take the girls and stay back. We’ll go and scout the situation.” She turned back.

Dame Austen, Astrid and Damian helped the three of us off of their horses and then rode off to the city.

Charlotte, Clementine and I hurried off of the road and hid out of sight.

“What do you think is going on?” Charlotte asked, fidgeting with her hands.

“Whatever it is, it’s not good.” Clementine answered, kicking at the dirt.

“I think it has something to do with my father.” I said, looking up at the light as it slipped through the gaps in the trees.

“We don’t know that yet.” Charlotte said, stepping closer to me.

“No, I’m sure of it.” I squatted close to the ground. “That man at the Gelling’s estate mentioned my father. He also said something about everyone in Renae.”

“Do you think they’re alright.” Charlotte asked, sitting on the dirt.

The tightness in my chest, the worry and fear, had reflected in everyone else as we were traveling. Of course I was worried for them. But…

“They have Bark. I think they’ll be fine.” I tried to convince myself.

“Bark? Your dog?” Charlotte asked, tipping her head.

“He’s more than just a dog.” I stared absently at a nearby tree. The tightness in my chest slowly loosened. “He’ll protect them.”

“Hey, uh… where did Clementine go?” Charlotte asked, looking around.

The islander had disappeared. She was standing right beside us just a moment ago.

Standing, I focused, trying to feel the emotions of anyone around us. Then I felt them. Dozens of people a short distance away. A small group of them, surrounded by the rest, were people gripped by fear.

Holding out a hand, I said. “Come on. Stay right behind me.”

Charlotte nodded and grabbed my hand, pulling herself up.

Slowly, we trudged through the dew-soaked woods until we were able to see the group. They had fashioned a sort of base in a small clearing. A crude wooden fence had been thrown together around a small group of young women. They were the girls who had been taken with Charlotte and Jaime. Men dressed for the army stood at several points around the base, armed with spears and swords.

“I don’t like the way this looks.” Charlotte muttered, looking over my shoulder.

“Why are they being held like this?” I asked myself. “Are they trying to keep people out or keep the girls in?”

“It looks like both.” She replied. “We need to help them.”

A part of me wanted to just run away and take Charlotte away. It was the cowardly part of me I blamed my father for. He would, like a young fawn, run at the slightest sign of danger.

Taking a moment to calm my nerves, I inched away from the base. “Let’s wait and observe for now. We’ll head in once we have more information.”

After several minutes, something happened. One of the girls approached the fence and said something. Inching forward, I was able to hear some of what was being said.

“We are under strict order to keep all of you here while your families are being investigated.” One of the soldiers turned around and stood over the girl who had spoken up.

“Investigated for what?” The girl cried. “I just want to go home.” She reached out past the fence, but was forcibly shoved back, falling onto the ground.

“Until we’re sure that all every traitor has been found and exterminated, you’re staying here!” The soldier shouted.

“We already told you, Lord Wark is not a traitor. He saved us.” One of the other girls spoke up.

“Your words mean little. We will find the evidence once we break through to their home.”

“Then why are we here? If it’s the Warks that you want, then why hold us here?”

The guard turned and walked through the small opening into the fenced area. The girls all huddled together, trying to get away from the soldier.

“Because we were told to exterminate any sense of rebellion in the city. Your families are all suspect, too.”

Watching the soldier bend down and reach out to touch one of the girls, it took an enormous amount of self control to not jump in and run him through with his own sword. I noticed too late, though, that Charlotte was experiencing a far stronger desire to charge in.

Running past me before I could catch her, Charlotte broke through the trees and into the clearing, surprising the soldiers nearby. Holding both hands out, her aura flared to life as fire spewed out from her palms. The yellow flames blasted between the two guards in front of her, easily eating through the wooden fence. The soldier inside the fence area turned to see a stream of fire heading straight for his face and scrambled back in time to dodge the attack.

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“Wait, she’s Renae’s kid!” One of the soldiers shouted, reaching for his spear. “Die, traitor!”

The man thrusted his spear forward, but lost his grip once I rushed behind her and slapped it away with a wing.

Something felt off. Not with the situation or the people, but with myself. It was like I had slept wrong on an arm and it tingled, only it was on my back. Flexing my back, I tried to make the sensation go away, only to see what was wrong as it moved into my field of view.

I had another pair of wings on my back, just below the first pair. They were identical, only the second pair was a little more than half the size of the first.

“What in the world!” One of the soldiers shouted, stepping back.

“Surround them!” Another commanded.

I tried to transform the second pair of wings like I could the first, but it did nothing.

There were two ways that I could see us getting out of this: we turn around and return to where we were going to wait for Dame Austen, Astrid and Damian to return, or we fight. I couldn’t see Charlotte agreeing to the first, but the second wasn’t the greatest either. If I was alone, I might have made it out alive. With Charlotte, that gets more likely, but then she would have to fight as well. I was fine with taking a life, I’d long since lost the conscience to worry otherwise, but Charlotte’s never had to.

Seeing no other way out, I felt a pit form in my stomach as the soldiers surrounded us.

“Die!” One of the soldiers shouted, stabbing at Charlotte.

Hugging her, I wrapped my wings around us and felt the spearhead bounce off of them. We had to get out of here, but we couldn’t just leave those girls here either. Who knows what these soldiers would do to them.

“Hamil!” I heard Charlotte shout, distressed. “What’s happening?”

Clearing my mind, I realized that Charlotte and I were several feet in the air. Looking around, I saw that my second pair of wings were glowing a pale blue, stretching out as far as they could.

“Stay just like this!” Charlotte shouted, holding both arms out at the soldiers that were conveniently all gathered in one spot.

A torrent of yellow fire flowed out from her hands, sweeping over the soldiers in an instant. Their haunting screams rose into the sky, but found no sympathy.

Desperately trying to keep us from falling, I slowly willed us back toward the ground. Back on the ground, I had to keep Charlotte from toppling over once she was on her own two feet.

Shaking her head and blinking rapidly, she turned to look at the scorched ground and bent over and retched onto the ground. I knew what she felt, even without my power.

“Close your eyes and breath only through your mouth.” I told her, helping her balance.

“I… I…” She tried to say something, but only gagged on the words before vomiting again.

“Just try to breathe.” I helped her out of sight from the carnage she had caused, followed closely by the now free girls.

Finding a dry patch of grass, I set Charlotte down. Just as I was about to walk back, she grabbed onto my pant leg. “Don’t go.” She pleaded.

“I’ll be right back.” I said softly. The girls quickly promised to watch over her while I was gone.

Back at the base, I grit my teeth and shuddered. I didn’t want to let her bloody her hands, but I ended up helping instead.

Several half charred bodies littered the ground. Some had tried to run, but none made it very far. A good portion of the fence was still on fire. It was all very dry, so the fire spread easily.

It took a few minutes, but I gathered all of the bodies into one pile, covered them in dry timber I’d cut from the fence and let the fire spread onto the pyre. The flames engulfed the bodies in moments. The smell of burnt flesh was weakened by the smoke.

After watching the fire for a minute, I turned and went back to where Charlotte and the girls were hiding. I returned to find Charlotte more lucid, though she was pained. It was my fault.

Charlotte shot to her feet and ran to hug me. Surprised, I froze as she squeezed me tighter. “Please don’t blame yourself.” She said softly. “It was my decision.”

I knew that she was disgusted with herself, but stronger than that disgust was the worry. I had assumed that the worry was about herself, but that was clearly untrue.

Wrapping my arms around her, I closed my eyes and relaxed.

After a moment, I could feel eyes burning a hole in my head. I opened my eyes to see all of the girls staring at me. They were all jealous, but I didn’t care.

Then I noticed something. Or, rather, I noticed that someone wasn’t there.

Letting go of Charlotte, I asked. “Where’s Clementine?”

“Clementine?” One of the girls asked. “The last we saw of her, she was being stuffed into one of those slave wagons.”

“So she wasn’t with you?”

“No.”

After thinking for a moment, I looked around, trying to find my bearings. “Which way to the road?” I asked myself.

“I can get us back.” Charlotte spoke up. “I was marking the trees on our way here.”

“Good job.” I nodded. “Lead the way.”

Our group scrambled through the trees, following Charlotte’s trail back to where we had originally stepped off of the road.

Right as we returned, Dame Austen, Astrid and Damian all came into view, riding away from the city. Poking my head out from the trees, I waved for them to stop.

The three dismounted their horses and walked them over to the tree line. All of them paused when they saw the crowd that had gathered.

“Who are they?” Damian asked, leaning in close.

“They’re all the other kidnapping victims.” I answered. “They were being held prisoner deep in the forest.”

“Good job getting them all to safety.” He said, patting me on the back.

“We… we lost Clementine, though.” I said, worried about what would happen to the girl.

“Oh, we know.” He said, frowning. “That girl’s family is partially responsible for this mess. We saw her with her parents.”

Relieved, I asked. “So what’s going on? What’s the mess?”

“It’s bad, but not hopeless.” He answered. “Actually, I should say that it’s worse for them than it is for us.”

“Is your family okay?” Charlotte asked me.

“Well, there’s an army surrounding the estate, but that’s as far as they’re getting.” Astrid joined the conversation. “Bark’s made sure of that.”

“Bark did?” I asked.

“Oh, yeah. He’s walled off the entire estate.” Damian replied. “The inquisitors have been trying to cut through for hours now, but all they’re getting are dulled axes and bruised egos.”

“What… what about my family?” Charlotte asked.

Dame Austen stepped in front of Charlotte and dropped onto one knee, bowing her head. “Your parents were killed by the mob.” She said, keeping her face pointed at the ground. “The entire estate is in ruins. They’ve ransacked everything.”

Charlotte froze, though she wasn’t sad. Her jaw quivering, she asked. “How could this happen?”

“After word of the kidnapping got around, a rumor started to spread that your father had conspired with Lord Gelling and that he was the one truly responsible. Then, Lord Evane came forward with records of your father dealing in slave trading and the people took up arms. The claims… they were legitimate. Your father truly was the one behind the disappearances throughout the city. There were rooms beneath the manor with definite signs that slaves were being kept there.”

“My…” Charlotte paused, clenching her fists, “my parents never loved me. They… they sent me into the hands of a monster and watched as I was abused.” She grit her teeth. “I will not shed a tear for them. They were never my family.” I took her hand in mine and squeezed it gently. Turning to look at me, she smiled. “I have a new family. One that cares for me.”

Lifting her head, Dame Austen said. “As the only present heir of House Renae, my debts fall into your hands.”

“Your debts are forgiven. You have done more than any debt could require.” Charlotte looked down at the lady knight as tears started to form in her eyes. “And I doubt that my family will hold any kind of nobility for much longer.”

“Noble or not, I will continue to protect you.” Rising to her feet, she lifted her head and stood tall. “And if House Renae ceases to be, then so will my knighthood. From today forward, please call me Ayun.”

“Then, Ayun,” Charlotte started, “I hope that you’ll help me rescue my new family.”