Rosalea sat still for a few minutes more; she was too sore around her middle to even lay back. She was grateful for the trees saving her as her rear and thighs got cold in the snow, but she was now thinking she should have done virtually any other magic to try and save herself. She could have grabbed onto solidified air or pulled up soft snow maybe, or even used her terra magic to make pressure between herself and the earth and slowed her fall.

I guess it is Kaylar’s fault for never letting me fall. She huffed and wished the dragon had been half as careful with her as Kaylar always had been. Where is Fen? She still has not come? She breathed out slowly. Well, we have a strong bond. If Kaylar can use his brand to find things, we should surely be able to sense each other. Rosalea had never been unintentionally separated from Fen, let alone lost without her, so this was the first time she was going to use the bond to try to find her liana.

Before she tried focusing, she took a deep breath and just tried something simple first. “Fen!” Rosalea called with all her might into the bond. There was no answer. It feels so weird. I have never been so far away from her she could not answer my thoughts, except when the Ieshans were forcing us apart, I guess. The lack of answer from Fen made her feel uneven, like she was unbalanced somehow. Slowly, she felt the bond coming from the west of her; it seemed the dragon had been trying to take her further east. Makes me nervous there is some dragon castle or manor or something out this way.

Rosalea closed her eyes and meditated, which took effort through the pain. She did not enter her magical inner world, but just listened to what she was feeling. Fen was in the west, and she could feel that she was alive and looking for her. Hopefully she can feel me too and is able to walk toward me. Rosalea whimpered softly as she got up, her core and legs had taken the worst of the battering.

She did not know how much distance could separate a person and their liana and have it interfere like this. Stupid dragon. Rosalea kept to the deep trees. The last thing she needed was another encounter with it. If I run into a mystic, I should be able to talk to it. We came here to find them. She was a little worried about the townspeople calling them demons though. I should be ready for things to go wrong either way. She had to go slow; her bruised body objected to all this movement after her fall, and it was a little hard to breathe.

Her stomach felt a little upset after her pulse calmed, but she kept moving. She could only hope that she would soon find Fen.

***

It had been an exciting day for the town. It was rare that the dragon arrived and demanded nothing; she had simply tried to carry off the newcomer. It was also rare that newcomers came into the town. Now, twice in a single day, there were newcomers.

It was a group of twenty or so men led by a single woman. The men were armed and wore armor of the finest caliber; the dirty faces of the townspeople reflected in the glittering finery. The leader was tall for a woman, her height nearing six feet. When she dismounted her blood bay quarter horse, her stance showed grace and command. She removed her helmet to reveal crimson hair, twisted into a dark brown bun behind her head, pale brown eyes with a narrow shape, and long elven ears. She wore armor almost as heavy as the men’s and exuded strength.

Her skin was patchworked fair and darker brown, as if flecks of fairness had been splattered over the darker tones. Even so, the red mark, almost the color of blood, on her face stood out: a large triangle upon the cheekbone on the right side. Within the center of that stood an anvil. Around the outside, there were the characteristic curly and spiky characters of the dragon tongue. If Rosalea had been there, she would have known it read Beryn of Carnelian. However, she was not there, and none of the townspeople, including the woman, could read it. The townspeople did recognize it though. They all had similar brands on them, though most of them, it was on their shoulders.

“I have come, summoned by our master to bring order and prosperity to this town. I am Lady Beryn, and I hereby assume control of this town.”

There was silence, and then there was laughter from somewhere in the back. However, when a man bearing the same mark she had on his cheek drew his sword, all grew very quiet. Many of the armed people with her were clearly mages based on the symbols held within their brands.

Then, Lady Beryn raised her hand, “Stand down, Commander, there is no need for you to show our people your teeth.” Her tone was full of disdain, and she raised her hand up, one of the marks within her brand was a leaf and the other was a curl of wind, and she demonstrated both now. From her neck, a vine with several exotic golden flowers on it came to life, twining down her arm and then extending past her fingers, growing in a circle in a wide range around the crowd around her. This was sufficient to get wide eyes as the flowers unfurled, but she was not entertaining with this demonstration. She pivoted on her heel, spinning a circle and the extended flowered-vine whipped through the air with her movements and became laced flames from her caelus magic putting pressure on the air all around them and catching the plant. She flicked her wrist, setting the whole thing free from her hand, though flames remained weather around her arm as she fed the swirling flames with air and flared them every direction

The flames went out a second later, over-fueled and going out, but the bright flash was more than enough to have locals screaming and ducking down to avoid the arc of light and heat. She stood there, fire still curling around the vine that she kept alive with her magic through this, her pale brown eyes cold as she waited in silence until every eye was back on her.

It was so quiet, it seemed like people were holding their breaths. Her armed guards stood still behind her, the townspeople stared, and the silence stretched on. She spoke now, calmly, “If anyone has any questions about how I lead, I will handle it.” She let the fire on her arm go out. “Are there any questions?” she challenged them.

Silence lay oppressively over everything. The sound of someone coughing in the back was completely out of place, but she ignored it.

“Very good. I am glad that we have all come to understand each other. Who owns the best building in this town?”

There was murmuring when she claimed it as her own, but when she looked the direction of the complaining, there was once again silence.

Then, in a calm and authoritative voice she began to give orders. A medical tent was to be set up and every citizen given access to any medicines they needed. All food supplies in town were to be gathered into one area and appraised for usefulness. Food would become a communal affair until further notice. Finally, any one able-bodied was to get to work assisting in building effective sewers so the town could be cleaned up.

Beryn hung back and observed the reactions. This seems right, she thought as she watched her men moving and the townspeople reacted - a mix of uncertainty, resentment, and hope.

“Bring me all the ledgers, I will be reviewing them.”

“Milady,” said a man near her, looking stressed to be addressing her. “We had a visitor a little before you, and the dragon carried her off. This is her horse,” he held a chestnut by the halter.

Beryn narrowed her eyes a little; that was interesting. I expect Carnelian and I will be speaking on that soon. “Have it kept in the stables for now, please. Thank you for letting me know.”

***

“She has broken the rules.”

Rayale stressed, wishing for perhaps the hundredth time in just this one conversation that his brother had a face that he could read. Then again, the broken “unity” of Myajacs in front of him wasn’t really his brother. “We have not given an alternate direction. This is an exception.”

“I have been hearing that from you a lot recently. Did you not maneuver it so your original words could be fulfilled?”

Stolen novel; please report.

Rayale folded his arms, drawing himself straight in his chair. “You know as well as I do that it is not good to leave uncompleted spells on our world. Why would you thwart me in this case if you care about the rules?”

“Your lack of care for the rules is how we ended up in this disaster. It is clear you cannot handle this.”

Rayale half-growled his frustration. “I do not want your help or your judgment. I only ask for your patience. How hard is that to grant me?”

“I have already granted you patience many times, and all I see is more undesired chaos rippling through my world.”

***

Rosalea walked through the night; she could not have rested if she wanted to, no matter how worn down she was. Without Fen, she felt nervous and off-balance. Even as it got dark, and the pain in her sides was fierce, she kept carefully making her way through the dense forest. She used her plant vitae magic whenever she found herself stuck to get the plants to either lift her through and bend out of her way. Even with winter coming on, there was a lot of plant life, and she had to admit that it felt a little unnatural.

Finally, the sky lit up behind her, a gray light filtering through dark trees and coloring the snow pale blue-gray. It was then she heard a faint, “Nadia! Nadia!”

“Fen!” she answered, feeling excitement bring her new strength through the cold exhaustion. “Fen! Where are you?!” She picked up her pace a little bit , weaving through dark trees and crunching through untouched snow.

“I am just a few miles west of you; Nadia, are you all right?”

“I am all right; I lost Nira. I was grabbed by a red dragon.” Rosalea reached forward to the ground, wanting to transform, but the pain she felt around her core made her hesitate. She continued to crunch through the snow, excited to see Fen.

“A dragon? That cannot be right… can it?” Rosalea rarely felt Fen’s emotions, but she could feel confusion and rage pretty clearly, even separated as they were.

“I am all right. It got hit by lightning and dropped me. Just a few bruises from the trees catching me. Fen, I have been so worried for you.” Rosalea felt the wolf getting closer; it settled that unbalanced sensation in her heart.

“Nadia, I would not have let you go to the town, if I thought such things would happen to you. Such things…” Fen had started saying something, but seemed to have changed her mind.

Rosalea let her breath out slowly, “Well, I guess you do not always know all.” She was delighted to see the tawny-colored wolf come into view, legs stiff and a little bristled from the amount of sass she felt from Rosalea’s comment.

Rosalea held out her arms gratefully for the wolf, “Fen!” She felt so much relief as her liana got to her, and she was able to wrap herself tightly around her. Her eyes burned with relief as she pressed her fingers deep into the soft fur and pressed her face into Fen’s neck.

“Missing for a day, and all you have for me is sass?” Fen asked, placing a kiss un Rosalea’s cheek.

“And exhaustion,” Rosalea said, feeling the weight of the long night as soon as she was safe with her liana.

“Eat, and then let us rest. It should be quiet here, and the trees will watch for us.”

Rosalea felt that Fen was being quite literal. In the rising morning sun, she noticed the leaves were not green on these trees, but purples and blues. Fen looked up at them with her, “The mystics influence the environment to be how they like it. These trees are tall and old, we will be safe here.”

Rosalea nodded. She summoned something from earth storage, then her blanket, and she curled up with Fen as her pillow and half a bed and blanket. “Let us never do that again. I never want to go anywhere without you again.”

Fen nuzzled her. Rosalea went right to sleep.

***

She had arrived just yesterday, but as she walked around the town, Beryn tried to decide if she was actually satisfied with her progress. This place filled her with disgust – everything was filthy. The people were undisciplined. There is nothing for it. Carnelian comes today, and I must hope for the best.

She was given angry looks as she walked the streets, but with her magic demonstration, no one dared speak to her. Even the children were working, scrubbing soot and waste away… However, it was clear dirt was not the greatest trouble here. Most of the buildings were dilapidated beyond repair: lumber was called for. When she called men to her, this was the first resistance offered to her. They would not go into the woods because they would be killed by demons. At that point, Beryn had accepted the push back and allowed things to be focused purely on clean up.

Carnelian roared when she was still so far out of sight that Beryn could not see her, but she took it as her cue to move outside the town, to the front where there was enough room for the dragon to comfortably land.

“It looks very busy,” her dragon said, walking to Beryn and standing near her. Beryn rubbed over the scales on her elbow and waited. “This town belonged to my mother; it once stood strong against the forest gods and travelers alike, but it has lost its way since her death.”

Beryn nodded. “I can understand that, and I believe that I can restore it. It will prosper. The people are afraid of the mystics in the forest. I have not seen one yet, but it is preventing them from getting lumber to rebuild the town. What would you like me to do?”

Carnelian breathed out slowly. “Do not aggravate them too much, but take the lumber. If you can capture any of them alive for me, please do so. I have a hidden project I would like to work on with them. I will monitor, but I believe their ruler is too weak and aged to retaliate or order such a thing. If you find stragglers and cannot safely capture them, then kill mystics that come too close.”

“Are the rumors true that they have magic?”

“Yes, but not usually more than a human. It is the toughness and increased size and strength that we must concern ourselves with. Once you can kill one of them, it should show both our people and the mystics how we stand.”

“I understand.”

Carnelian made a pleased thrum, and Berwyn felt a thrill go through her that she was doing well after all. “I have one other thing. I attempted to capture a spy. She has the mark of some other dragon, likely from Myraduil, and I do not want her reporting back. I want you to be on the alert for a silver-haired woman. Capture her if you can, but kill her if you must.”

“We have her mare in the stable; the people saw you carry her away.”

“She was saved by a mystic, and I cannot find where she fell, so I believe she is out there somewhere.”

“I promise that if she can be found, she will be found.”

***

“Nekana.”

The wolf lifted her head. She had been sleeping in a patch of sunlight, too hungry to go home, but too lazy to chase something down. Then, she politely bowed her head. “Lord Kartowen. I did not expect to see an actual god today.”

He smiled, holding out his hand to her. She stood and came to him, towering over him. She was more than double his size. “To the humans and elves, you are a God,” he said, holding her face between his hands.

He was so slight. Like one of the other Lost the wolf had met, he was an elf. His skin was golden and his eyes glittered green. His smile was soft, and his hold on her made every part of her feel a little better. He had a way of making a person felt seen and accepted, even appreciated. “If I were a God, I would drive them and their dragon from the forest,” Nekana said, fishing for a response from the God.

He squished her cheeks and put his forehead against hers. “Your Moryshin is old, and he cannot act. I can only help, but soon the God of Many is going to have his eyes upon this place, so I cannot help so often as I may like.”

It was the most disturbing thing Nekana had ever heard, the idea that a God would be avoiding another God. “So, you must want something form me.”

“Yes. I cannot put right every wrong done to you, my friend, but I can put you on the path toward it.”

“I am old enough I no longer dwell on the things that go wrong. I cannot even declare my surprise that Rubis had a child to take over for her after she stole and mutilated my child. I have come to peace with the doom that we all face because there will be no Moryshin.”

He breathed out against her nose, and she closed her eyes. He squished her cheeks back and forth and pressed his forehead more firmly against hers. “Have faith, Nekana, and do just this one favor for me.”

“My lord, you are a God; I would do any favor for you, faith or no.”

He let her go, smiling at her, and shaking his head. “I see. If you hear the trees echoing a song of loss, then I want you to go to her and stop her from taking her own life. Help her through her trial, and I can promise you balance and peace.”

Nekana breathed out slowly. “Very cryptic, but I believe I understand enough to at least act if I notice something.”

He released her face. “Love takes a long way. I once believed it to be the strongest force there was in this universe.”

Nekana tilted her head, “And what do you think that to be now?”

“Show me if it is love or if it is greed.” He said, and he seemed to disappear before her eyes.