10
After a tremendous rumble and shock… after being seized and then flung beneath someone’s sheltering body… battered by red, shrieking pain and confusion…
Sera Cliffwatch came to herself with a sharp, ragged gasp. She stood with three others in a very strange place. Looked around wildly, seeing a tumbled ruin of marble and elven-glass heaped up behind her, a misty gold haven, ahead. A young marine guard hovered close beside Sera, half of his ribs stoven in.
Guard…
Council Hall…
Trial. She’d been on trial, Sera recalled. Or, not her, but his lordship, with her own actions called into question. Her truthful witness required. Then a mage-quake had struck, and now this.
Neither quite dead nor alive, Sera turned her attention to what she could manage. Namely, the young guard who’d thrown himself over her, possibly saving her life. He stood swaying and shocked, eyes on that softly lit cloud bank. Was seeing something she couldn’t maybe, but…
“Negative. None of that, shipmate,” ordered the leftenant, summoning manna for ‘First Aid and Crew Care’. “I’m Sera, and I probably owe you a life-debt. You kept me from being crushed, I think. What’s your name, Marine?”
He blinked uncertainly, dragged away from the border by Sera’s firm tone and high rank.
“I’m Karlo Gold-Merchant, my lady. Regular pikeman, attached to the council guard until Month of First Bud.”
“You’re a hero, Karlo,” she told him, fighting like mad to knit bone and stop blood-loss. Working from this side, patching a wound was much harder, her efforts no more than cobweb and shadow. Broken ribs... collapsed lung… but his heart was untouched. Still jerking along and battling death. “I have a family out there, waiting. There’s my husband, Loren, and our son, Sache. Also, my mom, dad and sister. What about you? Any folks, Karlo?”
The marine’s gaze sharpened a bit, and he turned himself more toward Sera, tugging his uniform back into shape. Trying to, anyway.
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“Yes. I mean… not married or anything, my lady.”
“Sera.”
“S- Sera. I have a love-friend, though. We came through training together and I… we…”
“We’ll get you back to your sweetheart, Karlo,” she promised him, coaxing an artery back into one piece with healing sigils and words of command.
She was still at it when the two others present came forward. They’d been speaking together in low tones; perfectly audible, but magically blurred. Distance here was different than out in the physical plane. They had only to focus their will to bring themselves over to Karlo and Sera.
Leftenant Cliffwatch paused her work long enough to bow, for the others were Karren Serenard and Esten Dawnwending. Full elven nobility, both of them. Also, Lady Serenard was quite clearly dead, half of her skull and left shoulder crushed almost to powder. Lord Dawnwending still lived, his handsome, dark face looking dusty and grim; streaked more with her blood than his.
“My lord, my lady,” murmured Sera, flowing out of her bow in a way that wouldn’t be possible, physically. Just reshaped herself upright like clay. “How may this unworthy one serve?”
“By leaving off patching that watchman and paying attention,” snapped Lady Serenard, through a jaw that was partly unhinged. “I am dead, but I will not pass on without witnesses to the disposal of my estate. Esten, here, has already heard this, but the Serenard title and holdings pass to my nephew, Dorwynn. Hear it and witness, both of you. My son receives Hillside Farm, permission to marry and ten-thousand gold. That is all. Dorwynn ascends to the family seat as Lord Serenard. So may it be.”
Sera and Karlo bowed low, chorusing,
“So may it be. Your will has been heard and witnessed, my lady.”
“Good,” she replied, as the glow of her soul began to pierce through Lady Serenard's body. She next made a hopeless stab at arranging her bloodied and bone-spattered hair, adding, “See that you do your best to bring down that bog-wretch, Arvendahl. It is his fault I’m dead. Well… there is much to be done in the halls of my ancestors, I’m sure… but I would give a great deal to have Falco’s shade to torment, first.” Then, having given up trying to smooth her mussed hairdo, “For the record, my official judgment is that you acted in the best interests of Vancora, Leftenant Cliffwatch… and that you should retain your rank and position as captain.”
Lady Serenard glanced across to that golden paradise then, saying,
“Pity you’re only a half-elf. Dorwynn could use a strong mate. He’s a bit of a ninny, and I’ve left so much behind that still needs doing… but no one commands Lady Fate. Not even the gods.” Shaking that crushed, bloody head, Karren Serenard next placed her hand on Dawnwending’s shoulder. “Esten, be well. Live, brother. I shall tell Lianne how much you love her. You will be met with much joy, when the time comes at last.”
Then Sera woke up to shouting voices, a lifted beam and sudden bright light. Anxious faces bent close, searching for movement and breath. One of them…
Sera’s brown eyes widened. She blinked; unable to scrub away blood and sweat with pinned arms, still trapped beneath Karlo.
“Alive!” shouted Prince Nalderick, reaching down to send manna coursing through Sera and Karlo. “Two more alive, over here!”