Chapter 5
“Aaagh, I wish we had horses,” Lox muttered for the fifth time that day. They had been walking for two days already, heading west now towards the town of Martin's Mill. He really wasn't trying to be annoying, it was just that his feet hurt. Clarissa didn't need to glare at him like that. He was more used to sneaking around people's houses while they were gone for the day, or on vacation. Vacations were better because you could go in at night. I seemed people had been leaving less and less as of late, and for the past few months it had been difficult to land a good haul. That was one reason he had tried to get into the palace. Nick a small bauble like a gold or silver cup and he and Clarissa could eat for a few weeks. He had been too desperate, too greedy, and he had been too impatient. His uncle Oren had always said, “it's better to eat the cat than steal a pantry.”
He'd never understood that one until he got caught in the palace with a sack full of fine silver cookware, but looking over at Winter striding confidently with the sunlight reflecting off of her blond hair, he was suddenly glad that shady old uncle had put him through all that hellish thief training. Scaling the cliffs near their old home in Renal village with sacks full of rocks tied around his back had been the worst, but it had been useful, on more than one occasion.
And now here he was, tromping through the woods on some grand adventure. He was still a bit uneasy with how simple it had been to exit the city. He guessed the guards had yet to be notified about Winter's brazen challenge to the king. I knew she was crazy, but that whole 'advanced intero-' whatever it was? That was insane. He had spared Clarissa the details, but he hoped he himself would never have to see Winter's eyes turn that shade of blue ever again. Even now he shivered unconsciously at the cold they had radiated.
Still, there was something about her. Of course Lox preferred the more docile type of girl, the one's like that waitress Elsa, or Lissy the shoemaker's daughter, or even Bella at the city library. “Ah, I miss Ramsfeld already,” he said out loud.
“Feel free to go back stupid brother,” sniffed Clarissa. “See how long you last with the city watch waiting for you there.”
“Hoho, the little missy has a point there,” butted in Heldrin with a smug laugh. Clarissa sniffed again and ignored the old mage. Small wonder, she still blamed the white haired old coot for that accident two years ago. One of the students that had been taking lessons along with Clarissa and a few others had tried a new spell. Clarissa said Heldrin had forced him to try it, but Lox wasn't so sure. At any rate, the student had ended up dying, and there was now a small abandoned magic school building with a crack running through it's center. Lox tried to not remember that day. When he had finally been able to reach his sister after he'd heard the news- well suffice it to say that she had stayed in her room for a week without saying a peep.
“It won't be long yet till we make it to the town,” stated Heldrin looking over at Lox, “another day at most.”
“Good,” said Winter in that strange accent she used. Her voice was a little husky, but still high pitched, he liked it. “You are sure Lord Newell is there Heldrin?” she asked looking levelly at the old mage. Lox called it the 'you are going to tell me exactly everything I want to know' princess look.
“Anything is possible Winter,” replied Heldrin, “but he was there the last I heard. If anything has changed since then we will surely be able to find out where he has gone.”
“I still don't get why we have to get to this Lord Newell,” Lox complained. The man's name sounded like some boring old overweight lord who probably had so much money he didn't know what to do with it. “I mean, wouldn't it be fine to just go somewhere far away?”
Winter turned her blue eyed gaze on him then. This one was called the 'shut up and do as I say' princess look. “We'd only end up running around forever,” she said patiently. For some reason it seemed like the temperature was rising the longer she looked at him. She continued, “if we join up with people who support me we'll be safe. I think.” The last was a whisper he didn't think he was supposed to hear, so he ignored it for now, filing it away for later.
“Ah, fine,” he sighed. Resting his hands behind his head he looked up into the blue sky past the leaves of the tree tops. It was a wonderful day. His feet still hurt, but as he focused on the sounds of the forest and the gentle breeze through the trees, he was able to let his thoughts wander.
-*-
Rolf sat on a luxurious dark blue couch holding his head in his hands in the study room of his chambers inside the White Palace. He had just sent the man Norris away, and Simon stood at his side, wiping up the small drops of blood that had been left behind on the white marble floor. The news the wounded man had brought was baffling. He recalled the words his sister had sent to him: Tell him that he will pay. Tell him that from now on he won't find me. Tell him that if he sends any more spies to watch me he will find only corpses. Tell him that when the time comes he will regret throwing me into that dungeon!
Each sentence stung him, each sentence brought feelings of sorrow and regret. She blames me! he thought. No, it is worse than just that. Judging from the condition that poor Norris had been in when he stumbled into his chambers, servants surrounding him pleading with him not to disturb his majesty, his gentle sister had changed. Rolf had at first refused to believe that it had been Winter, his kind compassionate little sister, who had assaulted Norris. That man had taken care of them both since they were small, bringing them meals and cleaning up after the two rowdy children. That was one reason why he had assigned the man to watch her in the first place. Needless to say, Norris had been shaken deeply by this. Yes, at first he had refused to believe she could have done such a thing, until he heard the message she had left for him. ...he will regret throwing me into that dungeon! He could hear her voice repeating it in his head.
“What choice did I have?” he said despairingly, “if I had done anything to oppose the Nobility at that point we'd have both ended up in prison.” Simon shifted uncomfortably beside him. “If she hadn't been so stubborn in upholding what father had tried to do none of this would have ever happened!”
“Ahem,” Simon broke in, “blaming the victim will solve nothing Majesty.”
Rolf clicked his tongue at that, “you are right Simon,” he replied. Lifting his head he peered at his spymaster through lidded dark blue eyes. “Where do you think she will go?” he asked, though he could already guess where his sister would end up.
“I would say she goes to meet with Lord Newell and her other supporters Majesty,” the balding man replied simply. “Which also reminds me, Lord Walker had 400 horse dispatched yesterday, towards the town of Martin's Mill where it is believed Eban Newell is gathering his strength.”
“Yes I remember signing the deployment,” Rolf replied. It irritated him to no end that he had power to call for recruitment, even organize the forces they had, but that the actual deploying of forces was left up to the Noble's Council. He, who was commander of three orders of knights, the Knights of the Gate, the Knights of the Path, and the Knights of the Rose, could only organize them and had no actual power to tell them where to go and what to do. The signing of deployment approvals was merely a cursory thing. It was ridiculous.
“Simon,” he decided then. He would stop that force going to Martin's Mill. Mere soldiers would not dare displease their king. Lord Walker was too cowardly to lead them and had stayed in the palace anyway. “Send messengers to that squadron on the fastest of steeds, I want them to turn around and return,” he said while standing up. “I'll prepare the orders, with my seal.”
“Majesty, if I may?” asked Simon. Rolf nodded. “What of the Noble's Council? They won't consent to this.”
“It is past time for this Simon,” the king drew himself up then, dark eyes gleaming. “I have garnered enough support from the troop commanders in the last few months that they will listen to me.” Walking over to his writing desk he reached underneath with his hand, and with a click a hidden compartment opened. Smiling to himself Rolf reached inside and removed the sealed documents inside.
“T-those are?!” Simon stammered. Of course he knew, Simon had helped draft them himself.
“Yes,” he said, “take these to their respective commanders within the knights,” he grinned then, “it is time that the nobles learn their place.” He laughed then, “by tonight every noble in this palace will be under house arrest.” They wouldn't see it coming, just as they were blind to the plight of the people, just as they were blind to the news coming out of the east. That news was what had started this whole mess in the first place. An impossible thing, and more than likely just made up tales from bored adventurers. An army that used dragon's had not been seen in thousands of years, and dragons themselves had been extinct for near a thousand, but his father Remon had believed. It wasn't until Rolf had seen a man during audience bearing a strange crystal that he had believed.
It was a translucent artifact that could store moving images, he had even tested it by recording himself, but within was stored an account most grisly. Fire pouring out of the heavens, men being torn asunder, eaten. The scene was of absolute chaos, a black army with death riding at it's head. He still trembled as he remembered how that dark imposing figure seemed to look into his eyes as the light from the crystal dimmed.
Lord Gren Walker had decried the record as false, and even demanded the man's head who had brought it to them. The fool. Luckily the man had escaped, hopefully to warn other countries. Princess Winter had been kept in the dark about it however, which may have been a mistake looking at it in hindsight, and Gren had explained of the whole thing as a bad joke to the other nobles. It was a mess, but it was his to clean up.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
With the troublesome nobles out of the picture Rolf would have the leeway he needed to secure the country for the coming tide of war that would no doubt arrive shortly. He was confident that this coup would succeed, as he had been 'organizing' his troops for some time now. He couldn't wait to see the looks on their faces, those nobles who thought so highly of themselves.
Quickly he finished the message for the cavalry Walker had sent out after Lord Newell. “There, take this,” he said handing Simon the now sealed document. “We cannot let my sister get mixed up in a battlefield like that, send your fastest riders. Oh and,” he added at last, “tell them to keep a look out for Winter on the road, she is to be kept safe and brought to me.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” the balding man bowed. He had a lot of work to do, but Rolf was confident in his abilities. Waving the man off the king collapsed back into his chair sighing, and began to plan his strategy from here on. First, I have to get Winter somewhere safe...
-*-
It was nighttime as Winter sat at a small campfire cooking some...karn was it? It looked similar to a rabbit, except that it had little mouse ears. Still, it's got a fluffy tale and hops around, so rabbit. She didn't particularly think that it was bad to think of it as a rabbit, it was after all, better than eating giant mice.
“Say, Clarissa,” she said turning to the girl next to her who was helping with the cooking, “are there rabbits, like how the rabbit people have bunny ears?” she asked suddenly.
Clarissa narrowed her green eyes, furrowing her brows together in a cute way, “what are you talking about? The only rabbits are rabbit people,” she said.
“So there are no karn that have ears like a rabbit person?” Winter asked sheepishly.
“Of course not!” the girl squeaked, “you get some strange ideas in your head princess.” She was shaking her head at Winter as she stirred the broth for the stew, it was almost time to add the karn to the mix. This would be their last dinner camping out like this. Everyone had been surprised when Winter showed them how to make snares to catch the little creatures. City folk... Declan had grown up in a small town close to Houston, but it was mostly woods, and very few people had lived there. That small town had eventually grated on him as a young boy though, and there hadn't been many opportunities except to join the military, from there he had served two campaigns, one in Iraq, one in Afghanistan.
Not wanting to return home he applied to the CIA, who were only too happy to employ someone who had managed to learn Farsi so well in such a short amount of time. He found while working there that he had a knack for languages. German and Russian for work, and Japanese because he had watched too much anime had and gotten sick of reading subtitles. He never admitted that to anyone though, his coworkers would have had a field day making fun of his Chinese cartoons.
Rumic by comparison was easy. It was almost like all the mistakes of mixing things up you'd normally make learning a third or fourth language...actually worked. Either the language was stupidly easy, or this body's mind remembers it. The thought made her shiver.
“Here, Winter,” said Clarissa breaking her out of her thoughts. “Go take this bowl to Lox, and here's one for you too,” she said handing over two bowls full of karn stew. She then scooped her own bowl and sat down beginning to eat.
“Ah, it smells delicious,” said Heldrin from the other side of the small fire. Clarissa was still ignoring the old man, and from what Lox had told her about what happened she couldn't exactly blame her. Little by little though, it seemed she was warming up to the old mage.
“Help yourself,” Clarissa said in a small voice. Still, she turned away from him as he stood to fill his own bowl.
Winter turned and walked a small ways away from the fire to where Lox sat on a tree limb in the moonlight. He claimed to have exceptional eyesight at night but he couldn't cook, so he usually took first watch. The sun had gone down an hour ago anyway, and a crimson moon had quickly taken it's place painting the landscape an eerie pinkish tint. The other two moons had yet to rise, but both were a pale gray like she was used too.
“Here, the stew is ready,” she said handing him a bowl. “It's getting a bit chilly out here isn't it?” she stated pulling her arms back into her cloak. The bowl was warm.
“Yup,” Lox replied, looking out across a field of pink tinged prairie grass. They had chosen to camp in a small copse of trees, a ways away from the dirt road the had been following. “I suppose fall is just around the corner,” he said absently. “Say, Winter,” he said suddenly, “What do you plan on doing after we meet up with this Newell guy?”
“Well, I'm not so sure actually,” she said after taking a spoonful of stew. She leaned her back against the tree he was in. “I just want us to be safe for the time being.”
“Heh, fine way of doing it,” he snorted. “Kings don't like threats you know,” he said looking down at her now.
“I-I don't know what came over me back then,” she responded hanging her head. “I lost my mind I suppose.” He didn't need to keep looking at her like that though.
“Let's just hope you don't really lose it,” he retorted with a small laugh. Returning his gaze to the surroundings he continued, “I suppose I can't blame you for it...”
“What do you plan on doing once we reach Martin's Mill?” Winter asked then. “I'd like it if you stuck around, at least for a while,” she added meekly.
“Well I suppose I will at that,” he said grinning, “it hasn't been three weeks yet, but Clarissa and I see you as a friend.” He looked down at her again still smiling, “I mean come on, we broke out of jail together, I owe you for that at least. Besides, you still have to teach me those crazy moves you know too!”
“When did I ever agree to that?” she said, her own grin slowly occupying her face. “I don't think you could handle the training.”
“Wanna try me?” he said laughing. Winter was starting to giggle, but she cut herself off. “...Why do you do that?” he asked after a long pause.
“Do what?” she asked confusedly looking up at him. He was back to surveying the surroundings.
“Well, whenever I get you to act like a normal girl,” he said slowly, “it's almost like you...close a door.”
“I do that?” she asked startled. She engrossed herself in a study of her now empty bowl as she felt her cheeks warm.
“Yep,” he said casually, “not only during the past few days traveling, but even back home.” He glanced down at her staring into her bowl. “You don't have to act tough all hours of the day you know, you should lighten up a bit.” She looked up at him then and their eyes met. For an instant it seemed like something was blooming in her chest, but she pulled her eyes away at the last second.
“I-I'm going to go talk with Heldrin now,” she said quickly. He'd started teaching her magic during the trip, mostly just theory, spell memorization would come later. Quickly she retreated back to the fire, pretending she didn't hear Lox heave a sigh as she left. Why the hell does he care anyway? How can I act like a girl when I'm not one, even in this body it's way too embarrassing!
As she sat down across from Heldrin she found he and Clarissa were actually talking together. “...I see, so that's how it was,” Clarissa was saying in a tiny voice.
“Yes, it was a completely different spell-” he cut off as Winter sat down, “Ah, come for your lesson milady?” He said, his eyes twinkling, “I thought you'd be with the young man all night, hohoho!” Even Clarissa's eyes had a dangerous gleam, and her smile seemed too...unwholesome for a nine year old.
“W-wha?” she began, but Lox suddenly burst into the firelight kicking dirt onto the burning logs. “What the hell?” she was so startled she asked in English. Looking down she could see herself starting to glow, and she could feel a small drain in her energy.
“Riders,” replied Lox as the other two asked what was going on. Heldrin was staring at her though. “coming from the east like a demon's on their heels.”
“How many,” asked Winter, but she already knew. Three riders each with their own spare horse. Heldrin should really stop staring at her.
“Three I think,” Lox said, “but there might be more, it was too dark to tell.” With the fire out the strange moonlight seemed to envelope them.
“I don't think they are headed this way,” she said then. “Heldrin, what did I do just now?”
“That was a spell I think,” the mage replied, “though none I've ever heard before, so I can't tell you.”
“Wait, they are slowing,” she said in confusion, “I think...They are coming.” She looked up at the three of them, “everyone hide!”