“Take everything you can carry!” Gareth yelled as the carpet landed and Orenda stepped onto the deck of the Urillian ship. The hole they had blown through it had torn a huge gash through the deck, and there were several soldiers who were trying to get up, but were impeded by their lack of limbs, the blood flowing from their injuries, and, she suspected, a general lack of morale.
The captain was lying spread eagled with a pool of blood surrounding his head like a halo. He wasn’t lying as Charles had been, on his face, but on his back, staring up at nothing with eyes that could not see. Gareth stepped over him to make his way below deck. A healer knelt beside a soldier missing a leg, chanting with her staff glowing in the dim night, and the soldier stared at Orenda in fear.
Orenda recognized the healer, and the sight before her was doing nothing to ease her nausea. She felt her vision going again, blinded by tears, and did not see Shalendra rise, but she heard her voice.
“Orenda Nochdifache,” She said with the sort of contempt that scared Orenda.
“Shelly,” Orenda tried to say, but she was doubled over in pain, so she only let out a moan and fell to her knees to throw up on the deck. Whatever magic protected the Burned Roc was gone now, and so was Gareth.
“Nochdifache!” Shelly repeated, and Orenda felt the kick to her ribs that sent her sideways, “I knew it! I had always known!”
Orenda tried to shake her head. She wanted to tell Shelly that Toli was alive, and tried to at least roll over, to figure out which was was up, to get back onto her knees. But there was something more than the sea pressing down on her, something sharp, covered in thorns-
She couldn’t manage a scream as something grew at amazing speed through her dress, through her flesh, and into her lung. She coughed, and the convulsion made her sick, and she had felt this before.
She was drowning.
She was going to die.
The sea pressed in on her from all sides, and the thing in her lung was growing, sprouting, and she could not identify the poison, but she felt it as it entered her blood and began to flow through her body. She did not know what the liquid was she was drowning in, could not identify it, had no way of knowing it was her own blood.
“Get the fuck away from him!” Gareth called, and Orenda blinked the tears from her eyes- but she couldn’t see Shelly. She knew the sound of her scream, but she could not see her over the light of the fire.
“Ronnie,” Gareth said and the thing inside Orenda was still poisoning her as she felt his hands on her.
Shelly was still screaming, and Orenda couldn’t move. Gareth snapped the thing inside her with one hand and supported her with the other. If she could think clearly, she would have known that it was his flesh hand holding her, would have made the connection between it and the fire that moved through her. She felt the plant inside her burn away to nothing, felt the poison in her veins heat- and it hurt, it hurt so badly to burn away all the bad parts of her, but then they were gone.
“I need a healer!” Gareth called, “I need a healer or she’ll scar! Imperius!”
But Orenda knew Imperius was back on the ship, and couldn’t hear you when you were standing next to him. There was no way he would hear them now.
“I’ll do what I can!” Bella said, and laid a hand on the carterized scar on Orenda’s back. “It’s still too much for her. It’s the ocean. We should have left her on the ship.”
Orenda felt the sort of fresh air to which she was unaccustomed. She had lived her entire life under the smog of the industrial district or the salt of the coast. She had never known what clean, fresh, mountain air was, how cold it was, how crisp, how it smelled of nothing with no coal particles or throngs of bodies. She could breath for the first time in her life, and it felt amazing.
She felt the fluid in her lungs being swept away by the current, and opened her mouth to let it escape, spat it all over Gareth, but he seemed unaffected as he hugged her.
“Thank you,” he said to Bella, and he may have been crying “Thank you so much!”
“Are you alright, Rendy?” Bella asked her.
“I… yes,” Orenda said, “Thank you.”
“Gary,” Bella huffed, as if just realizing something annoying, and they both turned their attention to her, “You set the damn ship on fire.”
“I had good reason!” Gareth agreed as he stood.
“That was our food, Gary,” she huffed, and gently set Orenda to rights as she guided her back to her feed.
He laid out the carpet, picked up the several bags of rice he must have thrown down, and said, “Come with me, Rendy. Let’s get you back to the ship. We’ll take on the rest of them. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I let that happen.”
“I’m fine,” Orenda said, though she was still sick, “But… yes. I don’t think I’ll be much help.”
“Can you get this put away while we’re gone?” Gareth asked, standing by the supplies they had looted as Orenda watched the four ships that had lined the harbor burn.
“Sure,” Bilge said, turning a barrel on its side and kicking it towards the kitchen, “I do everything. Everything around here.”
“I’m sorry,” Gareth said and seemed to mean it, “but I’d like to get this all over and done with.”
“Whatever,” Bilge said.
“Not to worry, captain,” Impy promised, “We’ll keep the ship safe while you’re away.”
“I know you will,” Gareth smiled, “She’s in capable hands.”
“Oooh, they’re looking pissed on the shore,” Bella said looking out with a barrel of rum on her shoulder. Orenda was not accustomed to shifters or their enhanced strength and thought it was amazing that she could do that. She was even more amazed when she watched Bella toss it, then point her wand at it so that a current of air carried it to the wooden docks. The soldiers who had gathered there scattered, and she laughed as it shattered.
“You’d best move, lads!” Gareth shouted at them, and they seemed to agree with him. “Orenda,” he continued, “Those Urillians are so obsessed with their earth magic that they don’t stop to think what you get from working together. Do you know what a fire enjoys?”
“I’m not sure I ever thought about it,” Orenda answered, leaning heavily on the railing and trying not to think about hearing Shelly die screaming.
“Well, you know how you snuff out a candle?” Gareth asked, “It’s because a flame needs air to burn. The more air,” he produced a flame in his right hand, raised it above his head, and Bella took a deep breath as her wand began to glow. He threw the fireball, and as she exhaled it spread, wider and taller as it moved, until it collided with the harbor, hit the rum, and a wall of flame sprouted. “The bigger the flame.”
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“Like bellows on a forge,” Falsie said as he slapped Orenda on the back.
“Weren’t we going to dock there?” Orenda asked.
There was silence for a beat before Bella spoke.
“Shit.”
“...did not think it through,” Gareth agreed.
“Just… instant regret,” Bella stared at the flames dancing toward the sky.
“Well,” Draco said, “It’s very pretty.”
“I can probably fit three people on the carpet if one is the dragon,” Gareth said as if it would be helpful.
Orenda was the last to make it to shore. They had gone the long way round, and were all huddled behind a mansion overlooking the sea. Orenda was so thankful to be on solid ground again, without the constant sickness that had plagued her through the entire journey, that she hugged the wall, leaned heavily against it, and sighed with contentment. This night had been a lot to process, and when she opened her eyes she saw the fire of the docks below, and several black silhouettes against it as the Urillians worked to try to put out the flames without any noticeable success.
“Zena, love,” Gareth asked the flame in his hand, and this time Orenda saw her. The woman had thick dark hair corralled under a headdress, chiseled, symmetrical features, and the same beautiful, dark eyes that Orenda had seen before. She looked so much like Ali that for a moment it threw her. It could have been Ali in a costume.
“Good work, Nochdifache,” Zena said, “I can see the flames from here. We’re in the stronghold, the mansion on the hill. We’ve dispatched with the nobility. We’ll have the city by morning.”
“Wonderful!” Gareth said, “Because I’m outside. I’ll see you in a moment.”
“Perfect,” she said, and disappeared from the flame.
“Does she have a son?” Orenda asked.
“I don’t know,” Gareth said, “I never thought to ask. It’s possible. She had a husband, and those things do happen.”
“She had a husband?” Orenda asked, “What happened to him?”
“I don’t know, Orenda,” he said as the party made their way along the back wall, “I don’t ask people intrusive personal questions. ‘Oh, hello, General AlHadeen, nice to see you again. How did your husband die? Was it gruesome? Or is he still alive but you had a terrible break-up? Why don’t you relive that for me in detail? Isn’t this a pleasant conversation?’.”
“Gary,” Bella warned.
“Well, it’s rude,” Gareth defended, “People don’t like to have conversations like that.”
“Yes, Orenda, she has a son,” Bella answered, “And he knows that perfectly well.”
“I don’t know that,” Gareth argued, “I have absolutely no memory of that.”
“Gary, that’s how we finally found Lapus!” Bella argued, “You do know that.”
“I have no memory of that event whatsoever,” Gareth argued.
They went on bickering, and Orenda got the distinct impression that Gareth was being contrary and disagreeable on purpose for reasons that she didn’t understand.
As they rounded a corner, Orenda saw something she had never seen before- humans in military uniforms. One held a staff, and the other had a sword on his hip and a large, round bronze shield. They were wearing padded armor under some sort of metal tunic, and seemed not to think that they shouldn’t be. Both wore helmets that rounded at the top and effectively protected their faces, but they were visible underneath, bright eyed and alert.
They seemed to recognize Gareth, and that didn’t shock Orenda. His mask was apparently a symbol the Knights used, but still the soldier with the staff spoke.
“What path do you walk?” She asked.
“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Gareth said, and as if he were running through a passcode rather than living by a creed he rambled off, “Path of order, white rabbit- for fuck’s sake I had to push that rabbit off my lap- you people make me tired. Let us in. I just went through four ships in fewer hours and we need a good rest and some supplies. We’ve a long walk ahead of us and I’m old. I need a fucking nap.”
“And a drink,” Bella chimed in.
“Wouldn’t hurt me to take a bath,” Falsie said.
“I’m just happy to be on land,” Orenda said, “I quite like your uniforms. The color’s much more fetching than the silver the Urillians use. Is that bronze?”
“I’m… I’m sorry, Captain,” the guard said, “we have to ask everyone.”
“I’m sure,” Gareth pushed past them and strode through the gate followed by his crew.
Orenda clutched her bag and took in the garden they had walked into. The mansion reminded her of the school with its tall white towers, but in the back, the way they had come in, bathing pools were set under archways supported by columns that ivy had climbed its way up. Sheer curtains draped between them, and Orenda could see humans inside, bathing, or resting on piles on pillows. The garden itself was full of animals the likes of which Orenda had never seen outside of books. Peacocks strutted around as if they had every right to be there, attempting to impress peahens who seemed to not be impressed in the slightest, though Orenda was. One of them caught her staring, looked at her, opened his mouth, and let out the most godawful noise Orenda had ever heard.
“Oh I hate those things!” Gareth said as if this was a common annoyance for him, “I’ll roast you!”
“You’re in a bad mood because you’re tired,” Bella accused, but Orenda thought she was wrong. Orenda thought he was in a bad mood because he didn’t want to go get the staff, didn’t want to go to the place he had once lived with a happy family to see it in ruins.
Gareth only grumbled in response, and walked past two more guards stationed at a back door. It opened into a hall that was more impressive than Orenda had expected for a back door, and she followed Gareth because he seemed to know where he was going. He led them to a wide open room, where Orenda could see the foyer for the main entrance where people were supposed to come in.
“Zena!” He screamed.
“What, Nochdifache?” A voice rang out.
Orenda turned to see three human women walking down the stairs. Two of them were wearing similar armor to the guards they had seen since they arrived, but the one in the middle… she looked like a queen. She wore long, flowing fabric that wrapped around her body and trailed behind her. Orenda thought it looked impractical for the battlefield, but she also thought she knew what it was.
Zena was wearing a sari, like the fire elf in the book.
Orenda remembered that the humans had family lines stretching to before the colonization. This was their land, their culture, as much as it was the fire elves. And they were taking it back themselves.
“Don’t you look beautiful,” Gareth said as if it was an accusation, “Are you going to fight in that? It looks rather flammable. Are you hosting a fucking ball?”
“I won’t have your sailor-speech in my presence,” She smiled, “You’re too rough for such a lovely home, Nochdifache.”
Gareth huffed behind the mask and crossed his arms.
“Orenda,” he said, “Come meet General AlHadeen, leader of the Allinsanian armed forces.”
“Orenda Nochdifache,” The woman smiled and walked slowly down the stairs with her guards on either side of her. She looked to Gareth and asked, “This is your niece?”
“Yes,” He said, and stepped to the side to let Zena get closer to Orenda.
“My son has told me so much about you,” She said, “That you found genealogy records that helped him in his research, that you seduced Lady Glenlen’s heir and dispatched him almost as soon as her lover died, that you discovered the presence of an artifact that may defeat the Emerald Knight, that you helped to smuggle humans to safety, and that you were a great friend and source of comfort to him.”
“Don’t get your hopes up about the artifact,” Gareth said.
“Ali is a treasured friend,” Orenda said.
“You say you’re tired, Nochdifache?” Zena asked.
“Yes, and we need supplies to get us to Henoluhur,” Gareth answered, “We won’t stay here more than a few hours. I’d like to get this whole thing over and done with.”
“Come with me to the stables and I’ll get you outfitted,” She threw one arm around his shoulders and began to lead him away. “The rest of you can rest in our lodgings. The guards will show you the way.”
“Why don’t I just come with you?” Bella asked with something in her voice that Orenda didn’t understand, and she caught up to them in long strides.
“Best to get rest while we can,” Falsie said and began to walk towards the guards to ask for directions, “I’ll lead us right to Henoluhur. It’ll be fine.”
“The way you said that make me think that perhaps it won’t be fine,” Orenda said, because the tone of his voice and the way he had brought it up with no provocation made her nervous.
“Look, it’s… it’s not as if… we’re traveling with anyone who’s mother sold the evil invading army the weapons and armor that they used to overthrow the fire elves, financially crippling Henoluhur so badly that it still hasn’t recovered and that that family is perpetually hated because one person’s greed can be, perhaps, if you stretch it reeeeeaaaaal hard, said to have caused the downfall of civilization. And even if we were, that person always wears a false beard and disguise because he lost his ability to grow facial hair in a horrible clockwork accident, and there’s absolutely no reason to think that anyone would recognize him. He was so young when he left with those… see there aren’t even two of them anymore. It’ll be fiiiiiiine.”
Orenda had no response to this, and paused in her steps to consider the fresh hell she was walking into as Falsie walked up to the guards and began to speak.