A good leader knew how to turn coincidence into opportunity. That’s what Iree thought to herself as she headed towards Sirpo with the intent of utterly destroying it.
Her responsibility to Sacer dictated that she take whatever measures necessary to achieve victory. Having Eternal Rosemary on her side meant losing the war would be impossible; they could end the violence after so long. If Iree gave that up, she wouldn’t be fulfilling her duty to her people. The moment Atlin had introduced herself, she’d begun to make the necessary plans.
It was predictable. If you gave someone a strong enough cause to fight for, they would make the effort. Say that Atlin happened to end up with nowhere to return to. Say those dastardly Ghurian rats went so far as to destroy Sirpo. What would the natural conclusion of the Atlin girl’s desire for revenge and justice be? Why, she’d give her magic to Sacer of course.
The main issue was the many ways it could go wrong. What if Atlin asked to see the damage for herself? Iree was willing to bet she could convince her not to go, but the problem was that her people, if left alive, would definitely contact her. It was far too big of a risk, so Iree decided to turn lie into truth.
Nothing to do but act. The Sirpoan people would be brought back by Atlin’s hand, so any guilt Iree would have felt from the necessary sacrifice was assuaged. That wasn’t to say she felt nothing as she and Ariana commenced with the slaughter of innocent civilians, far from it, but it gave her strikes the decisive nature they needed.
The deed wasn’t as clean as she’d hoped; some Sirpoans had once been soldiers, after all. Still, people like Shark Olyen were the exception, not the rule. Not everyone could retain the fruits of their training after so much time. Either way, the Sirpoans were at a severe disadvantage against soldiers who had abandoned hesitation and mercy before arriving. That combined with the element of surprise made Iree rightfully confident in hers and Ariana’s victory. Neither of them escaped without a few scrapes and bruises, but that was better to make their story more convincing. To be sure, Iree tore her own sleeve and made an extra cut on her forehead, letting blood drip down.
“Let’s wait a while before heading back,” she said once they had reconvened at the entrance to the wasted territory after one last sweep for survivors. Four whole cities desolated. Small cities, but still. She was pretty tired.
Ariana squeezed her right hand into a fist, pursing her lips as blood squelched and oozed between her fingers. The blades her magic created could emerge from any point in her body, but she always chose her hands for simplicity. Her palms were almost permanently wounded as the gouges were consistently cut through, slice after slice building to rot.
“How’s the infection healing up?”
“Like always.” She scooped up some snow and inhaled sharply at the biting relief. A frosty wind whipped around them, but she didn’t shiver, instead studying the bright sunlight as it highlighted the silhouettes of mountains from behind. “Are you sure this will be the end of it?”
“I am. With Atlin behind us, we won't lose.”
They watched melted snow mix with blood and trickle down in thin pink rivulets. “Okay then.”
“You sure you’re good?” Iree wasn’t pretending to have stomached the whole thing without flinching. The method she had used to kill as many people as quickly as possible was to seize their faces or the back of their necks before applying a quick blast of heat intense enough to create a bubbling explosion. She’d been lucky not to get burned by the blastbacks too much. The image of a wide, panicked eye peeking between her fingers before she dealt death… It wasn’t easily forgotten.
“If I wanted the easy way, I wouldn’t be here.”
Iree smiled. “That’s why I like you, Ariana. You always say what’s on my mind without meaning to.”
Ariana was unamused. “Easy to like someone when they share your views, right?”
“You’re such a grump.”
Ariana sighed and patted her hands dry on her pants before drawing a book out from her coat. “I scoped out the Atlin house like you asked me to. There wasn’t much, but I did find this. Looks like it was her mother’s journal.”
“You keep it at your place for now. I’ll go over it later to see if it’ll tell me anything useful about her or her magic.”
“If you’re sure.” One more time, she shook off her hand into the snow. “Promise me, Iree.”
“Of course. It ends here.” For Sacer, for everything behind them and for her own goals, she wouldn’t allow any other conclusion to come to pass.
*~*~*
Dorothea, Shark and Cerid were busy chatting and snacking in the ornate dining hall of Cerid’s home when the deciding news arrived.
Dorothea and Shark, their backs to the door, were alarmed when Cerid jumped up from his seat mid-sentence. “Commander, Captain, hello,” he called, giving a short salute.
Dorothea stumbled as she stood and spun around at the same time, and Shark took her arm to steady her. Once they saw Iree and Rhys approaching them, they took her hand and held tight. Rhys was frowning tensely, and Iree’s clothing was torn. Blood had dripped down her face and was smeared across her jaw.
“What happened? Are you okay?” Dorothea asked, stomach tight with fear.
“I’m fine,” Iree replied impatiently. “So’s Ariana.”
That was good, but it only made the obvious problem feel even more ominous. Dorothea looked between Rhys and Iree in rapid trades, willing one of them to speak.
“Dorothea, Shark, it’s…” Rhys trailed off when Iree held up a hand.
“I’ll say it. It’s my fault, after all.” She met Dorothea’s eyes. “I’m sorry, but Sirpo has been destroyed. By the time we got there… It’s all gone. Every city, every house, every…person. There were no survivors.” She hung her head.
Dorothea and Shark turned to face one another’s shock and horror at the same time. On a base level, she understood. The words, the meaning, however, part of her just refused to accept it.
Iree continued, anger shaking her voice. “We met some of those lowlife Ghurian rats on their way out and came to blows, but they fled since they’d already done what they had come to do. We just knew after that, but we had to see for ourselves and… I didn’t think they would go that far. I’m sorry. ”
Shark spoke after a few moments of heavy, stunned silence. “Let’s think about this, Thea.” Their grip was so tight Dorothea felt like her hand might splinter apart. The pressure was good and safe, anchoring her.
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“Right…” They needed to consider how effective their efforts would be before acting. Yes, the events were reversible, but what action would prevent them from facing the same dilemma again?
It wasn’t as simple as it might seem. Even if she saved their lives now, when would the next attack come? Even assuming the Sirpoans were taken into Sacerian protection, there was still a chance the war would be lost and they would all be slaughtered regardless. She could no longer trust Ghuria to honor any treaty.
What was the best way to protect them? The Ghurians had taken everything so easily. How could she fulfill her duty?
But what duty was that? Serve them until she shared her mother’s fate? Remain isolated and blissfully uninvolved while the two warring factions destroyed each other? Was that all her power was meant to be used for? She didn’t know anything anymore.
“We need time to think,” Shark said again, understanding that Dorothea was too numb at the moment to give any answers.
Iree put a hand on her shoulder. “By all means. Take all the time you need to decide what to do next.”
Dorothea barely heard her. How could the Ghurians be so cruel? The pure terror the people of Sirpo must have endured in their final agonizing moments! “No…” She put her hands over her face and bowed her head, trying and failing to hold back tears. “They all…must have suffered so much…!”
“Thea.” Shark draped their arm over her shoulders. “Come on. We should be alone.” She could feel them shaking; it was anger and not fear, she knew.
She let herself be led away. Everything seemed distorted, distant from her. Dorothea had promised from the very beginning of her life, it seemed, that she would save the people of Sirpo despite her own reluctance and fear; the oath was carved into her heart. But now, even after such a short time, her heart told her there was so much more to protect than what she’d thought.
*~*~*
After Dorothea had cried herself to a long and dreamless sleep, she woke up filled with anger. She had never been this angry in her entire life.
As she stirred, Shark let out a grumble beside her, opening one eye a crack. “Eh, wha’ time izzit?”
It was a new day, pale morning light filtering through. She and Shark both looked haggard, washed out and sad. “You fell asleep too?” It hadn’t seemed possible, but here they were.
“You kinda cried yourself into it, so I drifted off… Yesterday was a long day.” They sighed. “Anything feel more clear?” They stretched as they both sat up, Shark’s fingers combing through their hair; it reached down to their waist just like hers when they hadn’t yet tied parts of it up.
Yes, actually. “We can’t let this stand,” Dorothea said with cold certainty.
Shark nodded, fixing their teardrop earrings into place. The purple pendant they then put around their neck, a necklace of Ophelia’s that had been gifted from Dorothea, shone softly against their taupe skin. “So what do you want to do?”
They needed to start with the facts. “With their actions, the Ghurians have proven that neutrality doesn’t mean anything anymore. We need entirely new protective measures.”
“I’ve still gotta wonder why they attacked in the first place.” Shark thought aloud. “Maybe they knew that we’d try to ally with Sacer and wanted to avoid that? With Sirpo gone, we can’t lend any resources.”
Dorothea couldn’t say. How to get into the heads of people so foreign and detestable? “So our first option is to go back to a point when Sirpo wasn’t destroyed and get help earlier. Or we could just go back right now, reverse the damage and resume life as normal with Sacer lending troops.”
“The second one’s better, right? We don’t have to reestablish ties with the Sacerians, and you’ve already done them the favor of helping out Cerid’s group, so they still owe you. Maybe it’s better to keep it that way.”
“We wouldn’t have to worry about that battle at the border anymore either.” Knowing what would happen to Cerid’s group, she couldn’t let that go unrectified. It was easier to stay in the present where all was already well on that front.
Shark let out an exhausted sigh. “So it’s a matter of how we wanna use our current standing with Sacer. Iree seemed pretty willing to go along with whatever we decided.”
“There’s just…nothing stopping Ghuria. There are no guarantees anywhere.” The only thing that absolutely meant Sirpo would be safe was if Ghuria was defeated. “Look… We can talk about what’s easier or what will strain me less, but it’s… I’m going to die anyways.”
Shark’s voice had a hard edge as they demanded, “So what? That’s no reason to waste what you’ve got left.”
They knew where her thoughts were going. “Shark, I didn’t realize until recently how hateful I’ve become. After watching Mom go, I didn’t care about the rest of the world.” Dorothea pressed her hands to her heart. “And I didn’t want to use this power for anyone else’s sake. I thought they didn’t deserve it. But who deserves this war? Me living my life like I have is completely meaningless. If I’m going to die, it should be for a good reason.”
“No, Thea. We can find a different way to fix this.”
“I think I should fight for them,” she said gently.
“No. Please.”
Dorothea searched their begging eyes. “What would you have me do?”
“Literally anything else!” They shook their head before snapping, “You feel guilty, so now you want to become some sacrificial martyr? You don’t have a responsibility to anyone, and no one’s asked you to take pity on them. It’s not your war and you’re not their hero.”
“I know. I know it’s too little, too late. I just… I’d rather do something good before I—”
“Just stop talking about dying!” Shark yelled.
“How can I not? Every moment is ticking away from me!” Dorothea retorted. “Shark, it’s no use. I think… After coming here, I think that living and dying having done nothing for anyone else would be worse than picking my own purpose.”
“So you’ll die because it’s noble?” Shark let out a bitter laugh. “Honestly, Thea, that’s bullshit. It’s utter bullshit.”
“Maybe. But I still think it’s the right thing to do. This is the route that will give our homeland the most surefire chance at safety.”
“This is war, Thea. It’ll only get worse from here on out if we do this.”
“Shark, you don’t have to follow me. I can take responsibility for my choices alone.”
They shook their head. “No way. Your battles are mine. There’s no other way for me to live my life. But that doesn’t mean I’ll just go along, got it? If I have a say, there’s going to be plenty of life left in you by the time we’re through.”
Dorothea managed a laugh. “Thank you. It’s not like I want to die… I’ll have a few good years left with you by the end.”
“Yeah.” Shark hugged her tight, squeezing the breath out of her. “This is gonna be messy.”
“Probably.”
“Welp. Ready to break the news to the others?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
They breathed deep, cleaned up as best they could and went to find the commander and the others. Just like they had left them the day before, Iree, Cerid and Rhys were in the dining hall. The three looked like they hadn’t rested well and were locked in tense conversation.
“Hello,” Dorothea said, and they all turned to stare at her.
Iree gave her a sympathetic smile. “I won’t ask if you’re okay, since the answer is obvious. So what’ll it be? You’ve got the look of someone whose mind is made up.”
Dorothea approached her, chest tight with fear and anticipation. She found courage to speak in Shark’s presence behind her.
“I will help you win this war,” she offered. “Anything you ask of me within my power, I’ll do it. In return, Sacer will become Sirpo’s sworn protector upon its resurrection. Our nations will become allies against whatever might harm us.” Please don’t say no, she prayed. Please, help me save them.
Iree’s eyes flashed. “You have yourself a deal, Atlin.” She put both hands on her hips. “Give me twenty minutes. Rhys, take them to my office. We’ll all meet there to plan. Got it? Good. I’ll be back.” Then she was gone, hair streaming behind her like streaks across a sky mottled by bloody sunset as she ran.
Dorothea almost laughed. The commander was amazing. She moved with pure decisive force, not wasting a single moment.
She had to be the same way now. There was no time to waste, quite literally; every second that went by was one more she wouldn’t be able to give away to save her home and its people. She, and they, wouldn’t die for nothing. She’d make sure of it.