Alexia approached the wooden walls of Maypine as dark clouds obscured the sun and rain battered the trees. Ahead of her, a long line of waggoneers had congregated at the city’s southern gate loaded with lumber from the forest at their backs. Two sentries with bark-and-leaf-covered chainmail screened caravans for contraband and collected Archlord Pinarus’s tariffs. Alexia had always marveled at the unique appearances of the Pinarus Sentinels. However, these sentinels could not compare to their namesake.
The famed sentinel towers of Maypine were as grand as Alexia had hoped. The Pinarus had channeled Celegana to carve hollows into the base of trees that stood several hundred feet high and crafted roped walkways scaling them, spiraling through the inside of the trees and through hollows onto the outside of the trees. Alexia imagined the beautiful views of the Maypine Forest to the south and east, the Balbaraq Mountains to the northwest, Lake Eagle to the north, and distant Covademara to the southwest. If all went well at the Pinnacle, she hoped to gaze out from the heights of one of the famed sentinel trees.
The thought trailed away as Alexia guarded herself from the anxiety of her task. Her trained mind worked to find stillness in observing with her eyes rather than analyzing frightening futures not yet come. These sequoia sentinels spanned the skyline of Maypine. Alexia counted twenty-seven of them scattered sporadically within the palisade. The closest sentinel was a part of the palisade wall and the hollow at the grand tree’s base was the southern gateway. An external ropeway looped around the lower segments of the tree before a hollow about sixty feet up sent the ropeways internal until another hollow about a hundred feet up sent the pathway back to the outside of the tree. Alexia scanned it, marveling at the blending of cognitive-affectomancy with nature, and noted that no Pinarus Sentinels manned the tower.
It had been years since Maypine had been raided by either the Ruby or the Haliae Buccaneers, and the Haliae would come by the Eagle River rather than overland if they made another ill-fated attempt on their northern neighbor. If Alexia failed her task here, the situation would no longer permit this complacency. Maypine would become a frontline of the war and Ruby fires would blaze through the forest.
“I will not fail,” Alexia muttered, trying to shape reality to her will. I cannot fail.
She clutched at her sternum, reaching for a locket that was not there. She closed the fingers of her empty hand, feeling the absence of Zander’s grip on her. She wished he were here, rather than face this daunting task alone. His presence would be a shield against her fears and his charisma would guide her own faltering articulation. She relived, every day, his declarations that they could do better together what she now tried on her own.
Alexia dismounted Moonstrider, holding her mount’s reins to anchor her stability. She needed to break free from the expectation that her self-consciousness would dominate her, that her words would flee her, that saving Mirrevar and Leveria was a task beyond her. She sought mental sanctuary, and her mind drifted to her mother who had been her safest harbor all her life, but had done much to model and enable her retreat into social isolation.
Alexia imagined sitting by the hearth listening to her mother telling her the history of Leveria before tucking her into bed. Maypine had stories tracing back to the beginnings of time. In the Dark Era, humanity struggled to recover from a cataclysm known as the Divine Fratricide. Meladon had departed with his Paradise and the remnants of the Divine Thirteen waged catastrophic wars against each other with their human followers caught in the middle. According to legend, the Divine Fratricide ended with the Divine Thirteen lost from the world, never to be seen in the flesh again. The societies built by the Divine Thirteen collapsed as they warred for or against Zamael. Though Zamael didn’t triumph in battle, the Dark Brother had destroyed the world. Anarchy, lawlessness, and brutality reigned. In Leveria, thousands of tribal warlords vied for the most sustainable locations on the continent. Maypine was one such place.
Long before Philladon Leveria unified the continent, a wizard named Pinarus used cognitive-affectomancy to build the first palisade that surrounded the bountiful groves of Maypine, forcing tree to merge together with stone risen from the earth. It was said that regardless of the tree or stone used to build the palisade, it would be painted red afore long. Yet, the Pinarus kept their hold on the walled grove for centuries. When Philladon Godseer claimed kingship, the Pinarus were among the first to kneel before him and serve as loyal vassals. King Philladon saw them as a stable force and gave them lordship over the Northern Eagle River and its surrounding forests.
Over the millennia since then, the outer palisade had been expanded several times to keep farms within the wall and lumber camps beyond. A thriving wooden city developed around the ancient grove where the first palisade wall still stood thousands of years later. Throughout the millennia of expansion, each ancient sentinel tower developed a grove around it and within these groves were shrines to the Divine. These small arbors within the city were sanctuaries remaining from the ancient forest and a reminder that the lifeblood of Maypine came from its wood.
Alexia exhaled and felt calm, grounded in the history of this land rather than flying through her fears of failure. She mounted Moonstrider, giving her steed several pats on the head. The wagons cleared through the gate and the line beyond dwindled. Alexia glanced behind her, noting nothing but empty road, empty lumber camps on this rainy day, and the long path through the forest she had taken to reach this place.
Alexia resisted the urge to clean the mud caked onto the hem of her undyed flax-linen dress nor did she try to untangle the knots she had made in her typically wavy hair. The dark clouds colluded with her disguise, preventing her hair from metamorphing into the sun-kissed dark gold of her mother rather than the constant chestnut brown inherited from her father. Moonstrider was the most remarkable thing about her, betraying her lowborn disguise. A studied eye would recognize her courser’s bluish hair as a Lunarron. Moonstrider was no legendary beast, like a Cheval. Alas, Lunarrons were not ridden by people who lacked in wealth or status. She hoped the unimpressive blanket that was draped over Moonstrider’s flank would hide his quality as well as it concealed both Aurora and Sunfire bound to his side.
Alexia’s disguise sent waves of guilt through her. She had retreated into herself rather than rally the people of Maypine as she promised. She was so scared of other people speaking to her or even recognizing her that she had rushed into the first general store and purchased the dress and blanket. She had spent more effort and time avoiding people than she had approaching them despite knowing that she needed to approach in order to save Mirrevar. Every village, every wayside inn, and every grove along the Forest Road she passed without revealing herself or speaking to a single person beyond purchasing room, food, or her divinedamned disguise.
She told herself that she needed to hurry in order to reach King Gideon before the Celegans began a full assault. She would just embarrass herself with her stutters, jumbled words, and mid-conversation freezes. Her lack of charisma would only hurt her cause. Archlord Pinarus would berate her for making requests of his people without his consent. She told herself anything that could justify hiding and she was divinedamned good at it. However, when she reflected—and since she spoke to no one she reflected quite often—Alexia knew that the primary reason she masked her identity was because she wanted to.
“Hiding something, missy?”
Alexia jolted alert as one of the Pinarus Sentinels approached her. Her eyes shot toward his sheathed sword and the faint remembrance of Ferrickton and the Peacewatch guards battered against her consciousness, setting her heart to a faster beat. She swallowed.
“Got anything for us under that dress?” The Sentinel’s suggestive voice lifted high. It could’ve passed for the talk of an aroused man leering at a tavern maid, assessing her willingness to exchange coin for coitus.
Alexia’s gaze lowered to the ground. No doubt he was disrobing her with his eyes as men in power were wont to do. Her status had never protected her from that leering. Now, under the guise of common rank, she knew she wouldn’t be protected from advances. She folded her arms over her chest to still the chill and try to form a shield against the anxiety quaking inside of her. “I hide nothing,” she lied, aware that the tremors in her voice would do much to convince the guard of the opposite.
The guard snorted, amused as if this was nothing but a game played between a cat and a mouse. “Well. We have had problems with pretty girls riding pretty horses lately, carrying what they ought not.”
Alexia’s head shot up and she finally took in the gleeful smile on the guard’s face. His lip twisted upward, and Alexia felt a wave of dread not unlike one she felt often as a child when cornered by Halius. “Captain, we have a candidate!” he called toward the guardhouse beside the gate. To Alexia, he winked, and demanded she lift off her dress for examination.
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Alexia shook her head. Her objections caught in her throat.
“Cooperate and this will go easier. Prove you have nothing to hide and through the gate you go. Do nothing and…”
“No,” Alexia croaked. The rain pattered against her face as the panic crept through her. She clenched her arms tighter around herself as her breathing accelerated.
The guard launched at her like stones from a catapult. His hands glided up her leg, traveling beneath her dress, until he patted at her crotch. When he finished with a tight squeeze, Alexia gasped and went rigid. He traced her femininity through her undergarment with two fingers. “Stop,” she whispered.
“You would not believe where girls will hide things these days, missy,” the Sentinel said, as he traced his hands around her undergarment. She could hear the man’s sinister grin, even though her eyes were frozen ahead of her. “Captain, this contraband might need a closer look.”
Her body remained rigid even after he left her to rummage through Moonstrider’s saddlebags. Alexia folded her arms over her chest and kept her eyes on the gate. Her heart thundered even as her body refused to act. Her mind was clouded as the sky above and dark thoughts raced but couldn’t form together into anything coherent. Alexia felt the shadows of her shame, but couldn’t make it take form. She felt frail like a flower that had been stepped on and left trampled in the mud.
Another Sentinel materialized into view, emerging from the gatehouse. Alexia fixated on the twelve trees, the Pinarus sigil, on the guard’s shield. “Find any bliss, Gottrick?”
“Plenty,” the molester answered. “I’ve got a contact high.”
The laughter that bombarded her from both men made her shrink lower in the saddle.
The second guard, the captain, leaned forward and inspected her. Alexia flinched at the cinnamon scent of firewhiskey on his breath. “Good find, Gottrick! This one’s surely hiding contraband. While you check those bags, I think I oughta conduct a more experienced search.”
“Come on down,” the Sentinel captain ordered.
Alexia shook her head and gripped herself tighter.
“Uh-uh. Resisting search. That will not do.” The Sentinel grabbed Alexia’s waist and pulled her off Moonstrider. Her feet dragged against the ground and her reflexes scrambled for footing. She managed to shriek, “Stop!”
“What’s that! Did you hear something, Gottrick?” The man laughed.
“Just a pretty bird chirping, Captain. Lotta birds in the forest, you know.”
Alexia panicked. Words were lost to her. All she could think of was defending herself and she couldn’t think clearly enough to do more than reach for weapons concealed beneath the blanket draped over Moonstrider. Yet, she was powerless against his physical strength. The Sentinel easily shut down her attempt at freeing herself and dragged her several feet away from the horse.
The Sentinel captain pinned her against the gatehouse then sent his hand through the top of her dress. He put his mouth to her neck, nibbling while he squeezed her chest.
Alexia battered at him. “Stop!”
The guard captain pulled her arms effortlessly to the side and locked them behind her back. His voice softened as if he were trying to console her. “I apologize, darlin’. We need to conduct a thorough search. We’ve caught several lasses your age with your charms smuggling bliss into our fine city this moon. Archlord Pinarus would be quite upset if we did not do our job. Surely, you understand? Now be still and this will be over faster and everyone will be happier. Leverith knows these strong hands were made for loving beauties like you. I promise you will like the search if you just cooperate.”
Smiling deep with satisfaction, the Sentinel captain glanced at the footman.
“Look what I found in her saddlebag, Captain.” The other guard came into view holding a vial filled with white liquid like it was a prize during Pageant. Alexia recognized the substance from her training at the Arcanium. Medicans used it to dull pain and operate on their patients. Alas, the substance created a state of bliss that was profoundly addictive and outlawed in every Leverian hold.
“That is not mine!” Alexia roared. She redoubled her struggle, knowing for certainty the cruelty of the game these two Sentinels played.
The captain made a sucking sound, and shook his head as he kept her pinned to the gatehouse. “This does not look good for you. Your cooperation here will make all the difference for you, darlin.”
A burning wrath thawed her freeze response. Her anxiety melted into anger. Nothing stood between her and Divine Seraxa. The air cooled as her innards began to heat. The oblivious guard captain did not deign to see her fear turn to fiery hot rage.
He spoke through his evil smiling lips as he held her arms behind her. “Listen, you are young and beautiful. Whole life ahead of you.” His voice dropped to a whisper layered with lust. “Nobody needs to spend time in the dungeon. You do me and my man Gottrick a favor and we’ll let you go.”
“We don’t want to hurt you. We only want to make you feel good,” the guardsman Gottrick added.
Alexia held Seraxa’s flaming fury and formed a focus fit for these disgusting monsters. A bitter smile raised her lips. She fixed her eyes on the Sentinel captain binding her. “Burn.”
Fire exploded from her skin, incinerating her dress, sending the Sentinel captain to his back aflame. He writhed and rolled on the ground, trying to put out the fire. His screams were sweet music to Alexia’s ears and she felt a vindictive hatred rise in her. Qoryxa answered her summons and cold chilled her body as divine energy flowed through her. She held it until her teeth chattered then pointed her hand at the burning man as he struggled toward his feet. A spear of ice formed from the cold and shot through his body.
Alexia lost track of how many ice spears she pierced the captain with. She didn’t stop until several impalements after his writhing and screaming ended.
Standing naked outside Maypine’s southern gate, Alexia channeled Zafrir and Qoryxa—a beautiful and deadly combination if there ever was one—to cause all of the ice spears to levitate. The other monster, Gottrick, dropped the planted vial of bliss and fled for the forest to the side of the road. He ran amongst tree stumps and stacks of wood, weaving around bushes and trees to escape her judgement. Alexia’s ice spears darted after him, homing around trees and bushes, her brilliant mind guiding them all to their destination as she imagined the wind and the ice dancing together, destined to the kill.
She pinned the rapist to a tree with her icy missiles. With a vindictive glory, she recognized that three of her spears had pierced through his arse and would have undoubtedly pulverized his manhood.
Qoryxa’s cool vindication coursed through her, sending chills to every edge of her body. Shivering, Alexia tossed Moonstrider’s blanket aside and put on her Sapphire blue scholar’s robes. The Goddess of cold judgment continued to pull at Alexia and that emotional channel within her savored Gottrick’s cries for help as she tended to each button on her raiment. Beneath the icy vindication, the Fire Goddess’s burning rage waited to consume his raping life.
Alexia reclaimed Sunfire and strode to the dying man, fire and ice cycling through her and being channeled through her silver rapier.
He cried, and begged, and pleaded. The tears fell faster from his face than from the sky. It was the captain that made him do it. He would reform himself. He was a good man. Truly! He never meant any harm. He lost sight of what mattered and was afraid to stand up to the captain. He was one of the good ones but had been forced to do bad things. He would never do it again! He swore on the Divines! He only wanted to live and be a better man! He swore to do whatever the Second Great Wizard bid him!
Alexia heard him but she did not listen. This was not the innocent girl she had always been. Maleon Stonebreaker’s lessons had been burnt into her as much as those icicles had pierced into Gottrick of Maypine. Love didn’t always triumph over hate. Not everyone could be saved. The Second Great Wizard bid him to die.
Sunfire silenced his pleading. Alexia sent a massive flow of Seraxa’s divine energy into the thrust and all that remained of Gottrick of Maypine in the end was ash as lava consumed him and pooled on the ground at her feet.
Alexia returned Sunfire to sheathe and exhaled. She expected to feel regret, even remorse for her actions, but she only felt the justness of her anger and the bliss of doling out judgment to those who deserved it. A part of her mourned this change in her, this innocence taken by Maleon, and another part of her was grateful that it had allowed her to do what needed to be done. These two men would never harm another innocent woman.
When she turned toward the gate, half a dozen Sentinels awaited her. Their spears were raised but they were unwilling to move toward her.
Alexia raised her hands. “I am Master Alexia Bluerose. I … I mean no harm.”
“Excuse me, Great Wizard,” one of the Sentinels stammered, “but I am struggling to accept that.”
Alexia lowered her arms. “The two Sentinels posted here tried to rape me.” She pointed to the guardhouse beside the road. “The captain had me pinned there while his man planted a vial of bliss in my saddlebag.”
“Uhm,” the Sentinel stammered, “I will let the archlord judge what to do about that.”
“Lead on.”