He nodded respectfully, then wiggled his book. “I need to get back to it. We are rereading all of our intel since winter to see if we missed any hints or clues.”
“I’ll leave you to it.” She leaned over and kissed his forehead affectionately, then stood. She had options. She could bother Senri and Kian, her loving parents, or harass Emerian, Trevan, and Dave. Learen wandered off while she wasn’t paying attention.
She decided to save Kian from his wife. She walked over and grabbed the fan from him, doing his job. His arm dropped, and he groaned.
“Thank you.”
Senri looked up from what she was sewing and gasped.
“Mave! My wonderful daughter. What are you doing?”
“Helping Kian before his arm falls off. He’s been over here keeping you cool for a very long time.”
“Oh. He could have stopped at any time,” Senri said, frowning.
Kian just laughed as though it was the most ridiculous suggestion he had ever heard.
“What are you making?” Mave asked, sitting down. She rested the fan in her lap. It was the color of a winter night, that blue and grey, all blended together.
“A blanket,” her mother answered.
“For?”
“You. You couldn’t guess? It matches your eyes pretty well.” She pulled it up, showing off the fabric. “How does Mat describe them again? Frosted steel. I think they’re more like a storm, dark blue-grey clouds rolling in.”
“It’s the light,” Kian said with a snort. “Her eyes change, depending on her temper.”
Mave pointed at Kian, trying to indicate he was right. She’d heard a lot about her eyes described so many ways.
“I thought the blanket looked more like a winter night,” Mave said softly, reaching out to touch it. Senri slapped her hand away.
“You can touch it when it’s done, but until then, keep your dirty hands away from it.”
“I didn’t know you could sew,” Mave pointed out.
“Who do you think keeps repairing Kian’s armor?” Senri asked, tilting her head, expecting a very certain answer.
Mave grinned. “Gentrin.”
She got thumped for that answer.
“I don’t do many chores, but I’ve had a lot of free time recently,” her mother said with a huff. “Would you play a little music for me? I’m getting tired of the silence.”
Mave nodded, pulling out the small flute she still carried everywhere. It was her newer one, gifted to her a year earlier by Senri and her husbands when they adopted her. Mave played a soft tune she picked up from a female who came from Leria’s community. It wasn’t for anything specific as far as Mave knew, just soft and elegant.
“You’ll have to play that for your younger sibling when he or she is born,” Kian said quietly. “It’s a nice lullaby.”
Mave raised an eyebrow, curious about what he said but kept playing. He only nodded, confirming she had heard him right.
Mave kept playing, trying not to smile. They were quiet as she played and clapped softly as she finished the song. She stood and gave a mock bow to everyone listening, which was now everyone in the clearing, including Alchan, who stood at the bottom of his steps. She never knew him to like music, but he was smiling as she caught his eye.
One day, I’ll play for your children, too.
It would be great to become an aunt. If he had a hard time being a father, she could help. She would help, as well as her males, their friends.
Everyone settled back into what they were doing, but it wasn’t long before people began to head home. Luykas walked over to her and kissed her cheek.
“I’m going home to make a late dinner. Hopefully, it’ll still be hot by the time Bryn comes home.”
“I should get going, too,” Senri declared.
“Help her get home?” Mave inquired of her husband, who smiled then offered his arm to Senri. Senri looked between them, and Kian frowned, humorously insulted.
“Love, get my things,” Senri ordered, pointing to her sewing bag before walking with Luykas. Kian glared at Mave, who stuck her tongue out.
“I’m going in,” Alchan called out. “Don’t all of you stay out here and keep me up all night.”
Mave took that as a warning to head out as well. Rain and Lilliana were already inside. Emerian, Trevan, and Dave stood, brushing themselves off. The gryphon wasn’t around, so she decided to join them.
“Want to head back with me?” she asked. “You are walking, right? I don’t see Vahn around.”
“Yeah, we’re walking,” Trevan confirmed. “I don’t like bringing him over here. It makes people uncomfortable. A gryphon and an Elvasi right next to the king…”
“It’s a bad look,” she agreed. “Not that we think you would do anything.”
“Others might,” Trevan whispered. “But it’s fine. A good walk never hurt anyone, and I’ve been doing it my entire life.”
She chuckled. “What about you, Dave?”
“Vahn is nice, but sometimes, I get sick in the air,” the human grumbled. “I’m perfectly fine walking.”
“Dave!” she gasped. “You never told me you got airsick. Why didn’t you say sooner?”
“It’s not a big deal—”
At that moment, an Andinna came crashing into the clearing.
“I need to see the king,” he said loudly, looking around. “Champion, can you get the king?”
“What’s wrong?” she asked, walking quickly to the warrior. He wore the simple leather armor of a guard. He was sweating, panting as he grabbed her arm.
He must have flown a good distance and fast. He’s going to fall on his ass.
“Seanev’s campaign is back,” the guard said between hard breaths. She grabbed him under an elbow, helping him stay on his feet. “He’s back. We have him at the northwestern guard post.”
Before she could say anything, Emerian was on Alchan’s porch knocking for her. Brave male. Everyone knew Mave was the best person to get the king if it was an option, especially when it got late.
He is my nemari. It’s expected he’ll handle things for me. Alchan won’t hurt him.
Alchan burst out, making Emerian nearly stumble off the porch. Alchan grabbed the younger male by the arm and held him for a moment, then moved him to a safer place. He looked down at her, his amber eyes narrowing. Mave only pointed at the guard.
“I heard the yelling,” Alchan growled, storming past Emerian and jumping down. “But I didn’t hear what it was about.”
“Seanev is at the northwestern guard post,” she explained. “Does that mean…”
“He’s going by our bad news protocol,” Alchan said, sighing. “Something happened and we need to brief him before he comes back.” Alchan turned on her nemari, who was still standing at the door. Rain was there now as well. “I need both of you to round up everyone and meet Mave and me at the guard post.”
“Yes, sir.” Emerian lowered his head before jumping off and flying out of sight. Rain went right after him, heading up the cliff.
“Let’s go,” he ordered. “I need you to come with me since I’m not allowed to leave the village without a guard. You.” Alchan pointed at the young male who had flown in. “Go inside my home and tell Lady Lilliana you need food and water at my order. You can return to your post when I am back.”
“Yes, sir.”
Mave jumped off first, knowing Alchan would be right behind her. He quickly overtook her and flew like he knew where they were going. Mave knew the locations of the guard posts but didn’t regularly visit them. She had helped review them over the winter but hadn’t needed to go near them since.
It was a long flight. The northwestern guard post was a day’s ride. There were several around the village, far enough away to give them advanced warning if the enemy was seen coming too close. Even more were scattered out farther, all part of an advanced warning system Senri developed to protect the center of the rebellion and the home of the king.
It was firmly night when they
landed at the small camp with only two buildings. One was living quarters, and the other was both a supply building and a place for them to eat out of the cold. In the center of their claimed clearing was a large fire, built where Mave knew the guards spent most of their time when they weren’t perched in the trees or patrolling around the camp for any evidence of the Elvasi.
“Where’s Seanev?” Alchan asked the guard running up to them. Mave found it odd they hadn’t seen the army on their way in.
It’s beyond odd. It’s fucking troubling. It’s bad. This is bad.
“He and his warriors are a short walk away in a separate clearing. Please follow me.” The guard turned sharply and started jogging, Mave and Alchan rushing to keep up.
What they found in the next clearing was soul-crushing.
Mave didn’t see her brother immediately. She saw the warriors, so many of them, but so few at the same time.
So very few.
“Hey,” someone called softly. Warriors looked up at her and Alchan, their eyes sad, but unsurprised. They had known someone was on the way. Mave tried to find who spoke and inhaled sharply as she saw her brother.
He had a terrible scar on his bare chest, shoulder to hip, but that wasn’t even the worst of it.
His right arm was gone from the elbow.
Mave took a step toward him, but Alchan was there first.
“Seanev, what the hell happened? Your arm! Wh-what the fuck?” Alchan’s frantic words cut through Mave. She had never heard him talk like that before. He was supposed to be the one who took things well and made everyone believe he could handle it. And when he couldn’t do that, he got pissed off because he hated being stressed out without a solution.
Frantic was never a word Mave wanted to use to describe Alchan.
“We were about to hit our third location,” her brother started. “Everything was going well. We got into position. We killed their scouts and planned to hit fast before anyone could realize we were there. It had worked so well for the first two.”
“Of course, it did,” Alchan snapped. “You’re the most experienced general I have. Let’s sit down. You should sit down.”
Mave followed in silence as one of her brothers forced the other to walk. Seanev seemed empty. It was the only way for her to describe it. He’s suffered a terrible defeat, two terrible injuries, and he was probably still dealing with that. She knew the body healed, but the mind could take time.
She didn’t sit on the log with them, just stood quietly, wondering what she could do. Alchan was doing what she should have been doing. She resigned herself to listening from behind them, watching their backs.
“You can continue,” Alchan said softly.
“We didn’t even get the chance to start our attack. The camp mobilized and came at us, but…Alchan, it was like Elvasi soldiers came out of thin air. My scouts didn’t have any evidence the location wouldn’t be secure. Archers flooded the hills while most of my warriors were resting…”
“The missing soldiers,” Mave whispered to Alchan. Alchan nodded.
“What?” Seanev looked back at her, his mouth open in confusion.
“Bryn’s scouts do regular number checks of the Elvasi camps we know about,” Alchan explained. “You know that. Well, about a month ago, we found one of the camps had nearly half of their soldiers just disappear in the mountains. The scout couldn’t find them. At the same time, in other areas of the mountain, Shadra deployed more of her army into several camps, many of which we sent smaller strike teams to. It seems…she set us up, and you paid for it.”
Seanev blinked several times. “It was an ambush, then. She would have…figured out where we were going, how we were planning on attacking her, then set up an ambush.”
“That’s my guess. What happened to you?”
“I fought. I lost.” Seanev said, his eyes darkening. “Isn’t that obvious? One of my warriors was able to drag me out of that valley. We found as many survivors as we could, then began coming home. Without a thousand men and tons of horses, we could move faster.”
“How long ago?” Alchan asked.
Seanev closed his eyes, and Mave watched his mouth move, whispering numbers, mentally counting the time.
“Just under a month ago,” Seanev answered. “We would have gotten your intel too late.”
Alchan nodded sadly.
“How many warriors are left?” Mave asked, looking around the temporary camp.
“One hundred and four,” Seanev whispered. “Including me.”
Mave felt her heart drop further. Realizing she needed to sit down now, she fell onto the log next to Seanev. Reaching out, she tried to grab his hand. Looking down, confused, she couldn’t find one. She was on his right.
He didn’t have a right hand anymore.
“It takes some getting used to,” Seanev said sadly, shifting to bring his left hand around, wrapping her hand in his own. “But I appreciate the gesture.”
“I’m sorry this happened to you,” she said, swallowing tears. This wasn’t supposed to happen. They weren’t supposed to lose like this.
“This is war,” he said softly, leaning on her. “Did Alchan tell you?”
“I asked him the moment you were gone,” she confirmed, amazed he could switch topics so quickly.
Leaving his wife is probably easier to deal with than losing nine hundred warriors in an ambush.
The fact that so many Elvasi soldiers could disappear still worried her.
“I’m sorry she doesn’t like you.”
“I don’t need her to like me,” Mave reminded him. “I’m the champion. She is a mativa. Only one of us is replaceable. Besides, I have plenty of good friends. If she and I can’t be, I’m okay with that. It’s not like I’m alone.” Mave squeezed his hand. “But I think you needed us to be friends, didn’t you?”
“She’s a good mativa, and I wanted…I wanted you both to be my family. I needed you both to be my family,” he whispered. “I loved her before the war ever ended, but everything changed. You coming back into my life made me realize things weren’t right between her and me. Something was off, and I started to realize I never had my own life. I was able to make one decision in our marriage, then we blood bonded, and everything else…faded away for me. I was her general, her warrior, to help protect her people, but recently, I stopped feeling fulfilled. That change in me made her feel threatened, and no female likes to be threatened, especially when it comes to her husbands.”
“How long have you been planning on leaving her?”
“I only decided when she forced me to bring Lilliana down to Alchan. We started fighting after we left. Well, right after you left for Kerit, actually. It was almost instantaneous. Like a switch had been flipped. I went from being her husband to being me again. I wanted more independence, less oversight. I wanted to help more with this rebellion, and she did not want that. Her using the blood bond to make me submit started…probably a year ago now. Lilliana was the last straw.”
Mave shifted, so she could wrap her free arm around him. It was the first real hug she had ever given him.
“And now, I’m not even a useful warrior,” he said softly. “She’s going to say I proved her right when I go back up there, looking like this.”
“You’re not going back up there,” Alchan growled. “You’ll move into a home in my village, and you’ll recover and recuperate.”
“I got ambushed and lost nearly a thousand—”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Alchan snapped.
“How wasn’t it my fault?” Seanev snarled. “I was their leader. My father trained me better than this.”
“He did, and you are, which is why I think magic was involved,” Alchan hissed softly, leaning close to Seanev. “We can’t talk about that here. I need to talk to Luykas.”
“Do you think she’s finally…” Seanev frowned, his brow furrowing. “She’s finally deployed her sorcerers?”
“I think so,” Alchan whispered. “But there are too many ears here
, and I need Luykas.”
They waited together, watching the warriors around them. It was close to dawn when others began to land. Luykas, Bryn, and Emerian were there first. Mave watched the horror wash over them as they realized what they were seeing. Kian and Rain were the next to show up.
“We need to talk,” Alchan said simply, standing. “Let’s find somewhere quiet.”
22
Mave
They left the warriors in the clearing, heading back to the guard post. Alchan dismissed the guards, asking them to give the Company some time to speak in private. The guards didn’t question it, even waking up their friends in the living quarters.
“We’ll tend to the warriors and stay with them for the day,” the post commander told them before following his unit into the woods.
“Luykas, do you think Shadra would bring out her sorcery units now?” Alchan asked the moment they were alone.
“Depends. She normally keeps them close to her because they’re the hardest to find. She can’t conscript them to be soldiers the way she can humans or civilian Elvasi. She’s also one of them and likes them more than her soldiers and sailors.” Luykas crossed his arms. “They’re precious, and she never has enough of them.”
“Yes, which is why she normally saved them for major assaults or her own defense,” Alchan added, humming thoughtfully. “That’s what I thought you might say. What I want to know is if there’s any sort of sorcery that can hide hundreds of Elvasi troops, so they can ambush.”
“Not in plain sight, no,” Luykas said, scoffing. His face changed slowly, his eyes going wide. “But there are spells that affect the mind, not the sight. Soft spells, they’re called. They don’t need big spells or lead-up time. A simple whisper of a spell and enough power…They can fool a scout into thinking there aren’t as many soldiers.”
Bryn sucked in a breath. Luykas nodded toward him.
“If they found one of your scouts, they could have altered or tampered with the information that scout would bring back. It’s high-level magic. Not many would know how to do it, and Shadra would be very careful about sending someone into the field who can do it.”
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