XXIV.

Brothers

Faunia stood in line with twenty others. She stood with her arms firmly by her sides. Her silver armor shone in the cold light of the sun.

All beyond them was frozen waste. There were villages to the near south, but out this way there was nothing but icy death and frozen burns. And dragons—the dragons that had scared the Freiyans south, down to Dreslon and Siln and Vehk.

To places they will surely die.

"Hark!" shouted the commanding officer. She flinched back into her firm stance. He walked the line with a baton in hand. His thick white mustaches bounced with every step of his. Snow crunched beneath his silver boots…

"Some of us think we're special, roused by the tales of our homeland, roused by our rich families and storied lineages…"

Silver Sword. Faunia Vleren.

"You're all shit in a bucket to me. Shit in a bucket, and no matter how much I've dumped this bucket…" he spun and swatted someone across the jaw with his baton. They fell into the snow with a thud and a meek groan. "You're still shit! Highest ranks in all of Freiya. Highest in all of Kylinstrom! We sit inches from the seats of Akvum and Ivalié and still we can nigh manage to win a Grand Duel. Pity, then, that the highest rank of us all will sit upon the Cromerian Contest—you'd best fight your damn asses off, because the punishment if we share the same embarrassment as we did last Contest will be most severe." He punctuated the last two words. A couple of members in line stirred.

"Grand Marshal Lezat—" A man stepped forward with his hand raised.

Faunia flinched before he even swung.

Thwap!

Down went another.

"Fucking piss." He snorted, then spat upon his body.

Grand Marshal Lezat was not someone to be pestered lightly. She knew. They all should have known—but she'd known him since she was a girl. A relative of her father's—or, a business partner?

"None of you will have special treatment, here. I'll train you until your bones are broken and your skin is flayed and your jaws are crackling with every movement. I'll train you until your bodies break beneath you, just to raise you back up to break you again."

Faunia looked to the churning glass pyramids of the frozen waste beyond. The pyramids that reflected the sun in brilliant prisms of light to make incandescent art in their glossy surfaces.

"Dozing off, Vleren?" asked the black-haired man beside her. He leaned over to look at her face with a grim smile.

Grand Marshal Lezat was already marching over.

"No, I—" she protested. But his baton was swung…

- Riviji -

Seventh of Savus [6] 207CA

She shot out of bed. Or rather, shot away from the leafy mat that had become her bed. The smell of hearty wood already filled her nose before she even remembered where she was, but the straw walls around filled in those gaps.

A forest temple. A collection of straw and wood buildings assembled floating away from the ground, up in the jungle trees.

Tirolith was sleeping soundly on the mat beside her. I didn’t even realize Etherians needed to sleep…

Chk!

A sound of a hit. Someone was struck. Faunia carefully crept from her bed into the dark room, and strode through the shadow until she was beside the red-curtained doorway. She peered into the cylindrical hall, lit by glowing fireflies all throughout.

"Embarrassing." a voice said. The owner of the voice was one of the brothers. He had struck Uco across the face, evidently, as Uco was still bowing before his feet. Blood dripped quietly to the uneven plank floor.

"Dayue, I—"

"You strike alone, you bring us all down. Kill your ego, before it kills you."

He stormed off through another curtained doorway. Faunia waited until she was sure he was gone, and then stepped out into the hall. She minded the floor carefully with her bare feet, hoping to avoid splinters.

"Uco. Is everything alright?"

Uco stood and wiped his cheek. The blood smeared into his fur. "Do not worry. Dayue is ever a difficult one."

"If I've brought trouble, I'll go. The hospitality you've given me so far has been more than enough."

"How I wish it were so easy." The cat shook his head. "Stay, Faunia. Things will not go easier from here."

"The others are still asleep?"

He hummed an affirmation.

"Perhaps, then, I can learn from you now?"

"We've still your motives to test." Uco looked down to the ice, still affixed to his chest. "Though I question not that your daemon has showed mercy once, I do yet wonder how far that mercy will go."

"I understand. I'll show patience, though the threat of Kogar remains urgent."

"Of course. Pray return to your chamber for the night, and my brothers will guide you early on the morrow."

"You won't attend?"

"I've business in Alisa. They will treat you well."

"I see. Then, I hope to see you again, Uco. Your help has been invaluable."

He awkwardly nodded before he turned and walked into the same curtained room as Dayue.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Faunia stood there for a moment longer. She admired the dark-barked tree that sprung leaves up all along the roof of the treehouse. She ran her hand along it, and then turned to admire the red dyed carpets that ran circular around that rounded chamber.

Then she looked to the droplets of blood before the balcony doorway.

Perhaps it's naive of me to believe that brothers should do without spilling each other's blood.

She rubbed her cheek, remembering the baton. Those feelings were all too familiar...

And then she returned to her chamber.

The sun flitted through the giant windows the next morning, making it hard to stay asleep.

As if it wasn't hard enough already…

Faunia dug her elbow into the mat beneath her.

Damn thing. I'll be sore for weeks.

Eventually she stood. Not long after, a dull knocking sounded at the doorframe, followed by a somber voice: "Ah, we're ready for you."

"Thank you, Vesivar."

"Ah, yes." he growled, and stomped away.

Faunia looked to Tirolith, stood beside her own bedmat. The girl sniffed twice, and stared at the door frame.

"You slept poorly, too?"

Tirolith shook her head. "Uco isn't here."

"He said he was going to Alisa."

"Alisa. To the north."

Faunia nodded.

Tirolith shifted her lips.

"Something amiss?"

"He's gone south."

"Perhaps he had something to finish up before he returned. Or maybe Kogar has appeared, after all?"

"Maybe." Tirolith gave a dull nod.

Faunia stepped forward toward the doorway, but Tirolith was quick to march before her. She pulled the curtain open and stepped out into the main hall—

Both of their eyes locked onto the glowing rune in the center of that dark-wooded tree. It flared.

"Get down!"

Tirolith spun and grabbed Faunia by the collar. She pulled her down and then launched her straight up toward the ceiling in one powerful motion.

"Whaaaa—"

Teal wings shot out of Tirolith's back as she jumped and slammed into Faunia. A shield of ice assembled just in time for them to crash through the ceiling. And then:

BOOM!

Fire and debris scattered wildly into the air. Smoke rose from the burning tree. The central treehouse began to collapse, laying limp the bridges that once connected to it's encircling balcony.

"It was a trap." Tirolith declared. Her wings beat the air once, twice…

And then they, too, fell limply behind her.

"We're—we're falling!" Faunia shouted. They'd only just cleared the treetops when her wings gave out.

An azar's voice bellowed: "Strike! Don't entrust her life to gravity!"

And another called: "I've got the girl!"

Tirolith spun and used the momentum to throw Faunia into the air above her.

An azar bounded up over those treetops and drew massive black daggers as he fell toward her.

Tirolith raised her hand.

Ptooooow!

Her entire arm became one massive tendril of ice, stretching over Faunia's shoulder and piercing the azar through the chest. It ran through his chest until Tirolith broke the icicle off and regrew her hand. She flipped backward once and then thrust her wings downward. A gust — she caught the wind. She caught Faunia in her arms.

But the next impact struck: Dayue jumped out of the eastern trees and grabbed them in middair. He shoved a long dagger into Tirolith's exposed neck, and twisted….

"No!" Faunia screamed out. Her rapier was out of reach.

"Eck!" Dayue choked as Tirolith's frost-encased hand rushed up to his throat. Blood pooled into the ice like red dye into water. She kicked him off — but long, oozing ropes of blood kept his throat connected to her hand, which swept down to pull the ropes taut…

Krrrrrch!

His body smashed through the roof of another straw treehouse.

"Tirolith, breathe!" Faunia shouted.

"They tried to kill us! Those bastards really tried to murder us!" Tirolith screamed like a wounded animal.

She flipped over. Her wings kicked off the wind and sent them flying toward that treehouse.

"Stop!"

Krnch!

A second crash through the roof. Faunia bounced off the floor and came to a painful, scraping halt against the central tree.

The whole treehouse rocked. Smoke covered her vision.

When the smoke finally cleared, a daemon was revealed.

"Tirolith?" Faunia gasped. "What happened?"

She dropped Dayue's limp body to the ground like a sack of rocks. Her body was encased in her icicle armor; jagged, spiked icicle armor stained red with blood. Her face was covered in the crimson visage of an azar. She was no longer even the same height, having grown at least three feet in size, towering over Faunia.

"Tirolith!"

"DAEMON!" another azar fell through the open roof toward her spine. A shimmering burst of energy radiated from his left palm. His right palm held a large handaxe…

Tirolith lost her balance when the pulse of energy hit her. The axe cleaved into her shoulder. She screamed out in terror as the azar grabbed the back of her head and slammed her down to the ground.

Faunia crawled to her knees and struggled to her feet.

A strike to her leg from behind dropped her onto her back. Above her, Vesivar looked down dejectedly.

"Vesivar, please! Call off this attack!"

"Ah. Two of my brothers, already. You see. You see…" He raised his spear.

Tirolith howled out, "Die, all of you, just die!"

And they all felt the leylines twist in compliance.

"No…" Faunia whimpered. Her mind was blank amidst the macabre scene. Tirolith's blood armor drooled off of her body and left her streaked in crimson.

The girl fell to her knees and hugged Faunia tightly. "Shh." she said. "Shh, Faunia, don't worry. We're safe, now. Again. And forever…"

X

"And that's all there is to it." Rithi swatted his hands together as though cleaning them of dirt. He stepped up toward Cedric's side. "You ready?"

Cedric thumped the tip of his sheathed bastard sword against the cobbled floor below.

"Yeah. As ready as I'll ever be."

They took their first steps back into that hell: into the Petalfall, toward that red star in the gradiant sky…