by Sarah Hawke
“I wish we could bring his body back to Nol Krovos,” Kaseya added into the silence. “We’ll have to settle for bringing his ashes instead.”
I glanced down to where Zalheer’s body had been laid out alongside many of the other fallen defenders in preparation for cremation. By any objective standard, we had barely known the man. We had met him less than a week ago! But for some I still felt sick every sick every time I looked at his corpse. Whatever else he may have been—whatever else he may have done—he had saved our lives. If there was any justice in the multiverse, the amazons would at least have the decency to bury his remains on Nol Krovos. Sadly, I didn’t expect things would be that easy.
“He left me this,” I said, pulling the slender crystal from my pocket. “I’m not certain, but I think it’s a Dal’Rethi training stone.”
Valuri frowned and shook her head. “A what?”
“A teaching device created by the Avetharri thousands of years ago. This might predate the Dragon War.”
I sighed when both girls looked at me like I was speaking gibberish. “The Avethian Empire stretched across this whole region back before humanity had founded a single kingdom. The Avetharri fought a long, bloody war against the dark elves that…” I paused and pinched the bridge of my nose. “Never mind. The point is that the Dal’Rethi Blade Dancers were elite soldier-sorcerers who served and protected their emperor. Almost every modern channeling tradition is based off of their teachings. None have ever achieved similar mastery, not even the moshalim .”
“The old man did say he spent decades traveling the world searching for different channeling traditions,” Valuri said. “Do you know how that thing works?”
“Not a clue,” I admitted. “Most Avethian relics have been lost to history, even among the Highborne of Nelu’Thalas. But there is one person who might know something about it.”
“If you say ‘Telanya,’ I swear to every god in the multiverse I’ll choke you right now.”
I grunted and slipped the stone back into my pocket. I knew I probably should have been more fascinated by Zalheer’s gift, but at the moment we far bigger problems to deal with. According to Kaseya her sister was on the move back to Vorsalos, and the Inquisitrix’s fleet would probably be setting sail for Nol Krovos soon…
I blinked out of my reverie just in time to watch General Serrane and Sir Derec approach us from across the battlements. They both looked as haggard as I felt, though Serrane still moved with a supernatural grace and poise I found genuinely comforting. Hopefully the rest of the soldiers did too.
“I wanted to thank you personally for everything you’ve done,” she said. “All of you. Without your help, we would have been overrun hours ago during the first wave.”
“Gratitude is nice, but coin would be even better,” Valuri said. “Who am I kidding? We don’t get paid for anything anymore…”
Serrane eyed her curiously. “The Council will reward you generously. I will make certain of it.”
“If they don’t, I’m sure there are plenty of other concerned citizens in Highwind who will,” Derec said with a coy wink. “Not all the nobles were eager to abandon this place.”
“Faint praise indeed,” Serrane muttered. She glanced around the carnage, a solemn look on her face. “This blood is on their hands. And we’ve no guarantee the Roskarim won’t regroup and try again.”
“If history is any indicator, they break when their leader falls,” I said. “During the battle, we saw the Inquisitrix’s Hand flee west around the Shattered Peaks. Sooner or later I suspect the barbarians will figure out they were just lambs led to the slaughter.”
“Perhaps,” Serrane said. “In the meantime, I will stay here and continue organizing a defense and conducting repairs. I don’t expect you to stay. Sir Derec mentioned you have other business back in Highwind.”
“We do,” I confirmed. As much as I wanted to tell her everything—preferably during a quiet, private dinner—I knew better than to overshare. No one here needed to know that we were agents of the Black Mistress or that the Inquisitrix planned to attack Nol Krovos. Not that they would believe us…or care. The amazons were barely even real to most of these people.
“As much as we could still use your healing magic, you might as well leave now before it grows dark,” Serrane suggested. “I will contact the Council and make sure they understand the importance of your contribution.”
“I’ll tell them again myself in a few days,” Derec said. “I’ll be escorting the dead back home. The Highlord deserves a proper burial...and so do all the others.”
“Yes, they do,” Kaseya said flatly. She eventually pulled her eyes away from the bodies and touched General Serrane on the shoulder. “Without your leadership, none of these soldiers would still be alive. I am proud to have fought alongside you.”
The elven woman smiled and clutched Kaseya’s forearm. She said something in Elven, and Kaseya replied in her own language. They shared another glance, then offered each other a parting bow.
Once Serrane was out of earshot, Valuri chuckled and crouched down behind me where she could whisper. “At this rate, Red is going to fuck her before you do.”
I sighed and turned back to Derec. “We’ll get back to Solemi as soon as possible. I really hope she can arrange for a ship to take us to Nol Krovos.”
“So do I,” the knight replied gravely. “Though to be honest, I’m more worried about what’s going to happen with the Council. Kastrius was the glue holding them together.”
I studied his profile as he glanced back over his shoulder to the Highlord’s coffin. Something in his voice was odd , but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what…
“The Highlord died defending the innocent,” Kaseya said. “There is no greater glory.”
“True enough,” Derec replied. Something flickered across his face, but I wasn’t able to pin it down before he turned. “I’ve tried to convince General Serrane to return, but that’s not going to happen for a while. She won’t leave until she’s certain the Roskarim are routed.” He sighed and shook his head. “In any event, I wish you luck on your journey. I would offer you horses, but I don’t think we have any left to spare.”
“We’ll be all right,” I said, forcing a tight smile. The longer I sat here surrounded by death and destruction, the more I wanted to run through the gate and out into the open plains. The freezing winter wind would still feel less oppressive.
“Then I’m sure I’ll see you soon,” Derec said, shaking my hand. “Give Solemi my best.”
***
We didn’t actually leave Icewatch for several more hours. Kaseya had to gather Zalheer’s ashes from the pyre, and I decided to do a final round of triage in the healing tents to make ensure that no one else would die from their wounds. Once I was certain that everything was stable, we grabbed as many supplies as we could carry and set out. Even though we only had a few hours of daylight left, I was overjoyed to be out on the open road.
I expected camp that night to be a somber combination of quiet reflection and barely-restrained tears. We had only narrowly escaped oblivion, after all, and I swore the cold touch of death was still lurking in my shadow. But once the tents were propped and the campfire was lit, we all realized that survival was pointless if we refused to feel alive. And so the celebration finally began in earnest.
Within minutes of igniting the campfire, I had a bottle of whiskey in my hand and Kaseya’s tits in my mouth. She bounced up and down on my lap, her quim cradling my cock and her thighs straddling my waist, while she and Val shared a wet, heated kiss fueled as much out of desperation as lust. I fucked both of them as long and hard as I ever had before, in every hole and in every position, as if each thrust were a giant middle finger to the gods of darkness and death. I was mostly sober when I injected my first load deep into Kaseya’s cunt, but I was entirely drunk when I fired the next one all over Valuri’s face.
I was vaguely aware of the girls entertaining each other afterwards, but I slept like a br
ick until well after sunrise the next day. I doubt I would have noticed if the entire remainder of the Roskarim army trampled over me. Every muscle in my body ached, and my head was still pounding.
Amazingly, the girls were in even worse shape. Kaseya was still lying face down on her pillow, her untied red hair spilled out across half the tent, while Valuri was curled up beneath me for warmth. I snorted softly and slid my arms around the Huntress’s waist, then pressed my face into her black hair and finally let myself cry.
I wasn’t entirely certain whether the tears were born more out of relief or shock or outright sadness, but they flowed more easily than they had in as long as I could remember. At the very least, I knew they were a response to the shockwaves of death I still felt shuddering through the Aether. I had killed men before, of course, but I had never watched so many perish around me at the same time. The echoes of their death clung to me somehow, and no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t push them away. It made me want to pour more whiskey down my throat and never channel again.
“I see you’re handling your liquor about as well as Red here,” Valuri said after a moment. “What the hell are you whimpering about?”
I sighed and rubbed the tears from my face. “I don’t know, maybe I’m experiencing genuine human emotion for once. You should try it sometime.”
“Sounds exhausting,” she muttered, squirming around to face me. She stared at me for a long moment, her green eyes brimming with more sympathy than she would ever dare put into words. “We’re alive, we’re safe…things could be a hell of a lot worse.”
“I know, it’s just…” I sighed and shook my head. “We’ve scraped by plenty of times before, but this feels different somehow. Maybe it was just seeing the power Zalheer could unleash…and seeing the power the Aether could unleash back upon him.”
Valuri slowly ran her fingers through my short hair. “That or you’re just upset you never had the chance to fuck Serrane.”
I groaned and rolled my eyes. “You could at least try to be serious once in a while.”
“I have tried before. I’m just not very good at it.”
She grabbed the sides of my head and forced me to look her in the eyes before she kissed me again. Her tongue wrapped around mine, and I shared in her breath for several minutes before she finally pulled away.
“You’re worried that the next time you overchannel, you’ll suffer Zalheer’s fate,” she reasoned.
“It’s always a risk,” I said. “I’ve been lucky so far.”
“Then maybe I need to start keeping you in check. Every third fireball I’ll jab my claws into your ribs and suck the Aether out of you.”
I snorted but smiled despite myself. I knew she wasn’t actually trying to be difficult; this was her awkward way of trying to make me feel better. She had never been the lovey-dovey type and never would be. But she was definitely the “let’s fuck until you feel better type,” and she deftly wriggled her legs out from beneath me and clamped the around my waist. My cock swelled to life against her, and she gently nudged the tip into her quim.
“That’s better,” Valuri breathed as her hips began slowly bucking against me. “If you’re going to overchannel yourself to death soon, we better start having you feed me two or three times a day while you still can.”
I dragged my fingers along the silky smooth skin of her outer thighs. “At that rate, there won’t be much left for Kaseya.”
“Red will make due, I’m sure. Besides, once you’re gone I plan to transfer ownership of that collar. I’ll be her Maskari if it means I get to feed off her sweet little cunt whenever I want. I doubt we’ll even miss you.”
I slammed into her hard enough that she actually squealed in surprise, which only encouraged me to fuck her even harder. Half of me wanted to kiss the cute, impish smirk on her lips; the other half wanted to slap it off her face in frustration. It was basically the perfect distillation of our relationship.
“For the record, I never doubted that we’d win,” she said between gasps for breath. “Not even for a moment.”
“You’re so full of shit,” I sneered.
“I’d rather be full of cum.”
“Did…did you really just say that?”
“My secret’s out—you know I can feed wherever you put it.” Her grin turned downright devilish. “So you might as well spill inside me.”
I snorted and pinned her arms beside her head as I pounded her in earnest. Her fingernails dug into my flesh, and I pumped everything I had as deep inside her as I could.
“Good boy,” she cooed into my ear just like she used to back when we had first met. She had been a much more ruthless mistress back then, all things considered.
I remained on top of her and watched in idle fascination as her eyes rolled back into her head and her tattoos began to glow beneath her pale skin. I traced my fingers along the ones on her belly, and I softly kissed her breasts until she finally came down.
Kaseya didn’t stir until I had slumped over on my side, and when she leaned up she looked like she had just fought an ogre in the gladiator pits. “Matriarch’s mercy,” she breathed. “I overslept. I’m sorry.”
“I took care of him, don’t worry,” Val said. “Someone doesn’t know how to hold her liquor.”
“I know how to…it was something in the…” Kaseya swallowed and licked at her lips. “Zor kalah , I think you’re right.”
We shared a chuckle before Valuri started shivering and dug through our supplies for her clothes. “I’m pretty sure there’s a stream around here, but it is way too fucking cold for a bath,” she said. “We should probably get moving as soon as possible.”
“Yeah,” I agreed, rubbing at my face. The echoes in the Aether seemed to have fallen silent for a few moments at least, and I hoped they would continue to fade the farther away from Icewatch we traveled. “We still have a long way left to go.”
5
Two days and a hundred or so miles later, the shining spires of Highwind finally appeared on the horizon. The roads this close were even busier than when we had left; word of the Roskarim attack had undoubtedly spread all across the Lastharvest Plains, and anyone with the means was still seeking solace inside the city walls. I started to worry that we might be denied entry—the line of caravans and refugees was almost half a mile long at this point—but then one of the guards spotted us and waved us forward.
“The Mistress said you’d be back soon,” the young man said. “Come on; let’s get you inside where it’s warm.”
I nodded and followed, clamping my hand over Kaseya’s mouth before she could say anything that got us in trouble. I felt as bad as she did leaving all these people out here in the cold, especially when we were only being allowed inside thanks to grift, but we did need to speak with Solemi as soon as possible. Besides, favors like this were half the reason we had been seeking a powerful ally here in the first place…
Once we were actually inside the gates, the abrupt shift in the city’s collective mood became even more obvious. There were at least twice as many guardsmen on the streets but half the number of regular people. The weather probably accounted for part of it—winter had descended even more swiftly than normal this year—but news of the barbarian invasion had obviously reached the common folk as well.
“I wonder if they know about Kastrius,” Valuri whispered as we led our horses through the streets. “Or that the Roskarim retreated.”
“Probably ‘yes’ on both counts,” I said. “Serrane will have told the rest of the Duskwatch everything with her calling crystal, and I’m sure they’re received plenty of messenger hawks, too.”
“Mm,” Valuri murmured, her eyes darting back and forth around the streets. “Why do I get the feeling a bunch of other horrible things have happened since we left?”
“Because you have basic reasoning and observational skills,” I replied dryly. “Let’s just focus on getting to Darkwind. Solemi can fill us in and hopefully get us that ship.”
“I sti
ll think there’s a decent chance we’ll have to walk to Greygale and bribe someone to take us. And by bribe I mean threaten, because it’s not like we’re burdened with a bunch of extra gold.”
“The Ranger-General did say that the Council would pay us,” Kaseya pointed out.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t hold my breath on that,” I said. “Come on.”
We left our horse when Solemi’s people at the nearby stable then attempted to maneuver our way towards Moonshadow Plaza and the hidden entrance to Darkwind inside the Skittering Spider. The heavy patrols forced us into several detours, however, and we eventually ended up on the edge of the plaza where an austere, middle-aged man clad in the armor of a city guardsmen was addressing a crowd of several hundred people.
“…cannot afford to take any more risks,” he was saying, his deep voice echoing down the street. “Every day the gates remain open is another opportunity for more Senosi assassins to slip into our city. Until the Vorsalosian threat has been dealt with, Highwind will remain closed.”
Valuri pulled the cowl of her cloak more tightly around her shoulder. “Who the hell is that supposed to be?”
“Constable Mannick, I think,” I said. “I don’t really know anything about him other than the fact he’s in charge of the Highwind Guard. Well, that and Serrane seems to dislike him.”
“As of tonight, I will also officially be enacting a curfew for all citizens,” Mannick went on. “No one is allowed on the streets after sundown unless they are accompanied by one of my Guardsmen.”
The crowd erupted in a bizarre combination of cheers, jeers, and outright screams of protest, mostly from merchants upset about their places of business. I didn’t blame them, but I also didn’t want to be here if the crowd got out of hand…
“The death of Highlord Kastrius, a true hero of Highwind, should be a clarion call to action,” Mannick shouted over the protests. “For too long the feckless nobles of the city have counted their riches while the people in the streets suffer. For too long they have refused to spend a single coin bolstering the Guard or building a real army to protect us. Icewatch stands today thanks to the selfless bravery and sacrifice of good men and women, and Highwind will only stand tomorrow if even more of those brave men and women answer the call.”