What was a Keeper? Why was she doing this? I whispered to Celeste as the crowd started cheering, and Em turned to the Mother of the Cristea. “She knows I only had a small part in...”
Now Celeste had her finger on my lips. She whispered, “The people need a symbol to look up to after all they've been through it gives them hope. Now shush, mom is speaking.”
I watched as Emily addressed the silver-haired woman who looked hard as the stone in the mountains, wise as an ancient oak, yet playful like a young nymph. “Mother Loretta, friend of New Cali. The Cristea never abandoned our people, even in defeat you fought to free them from the oppressive rule of Eris. Without your people, all would have been lost. For that the people of New Cali and the Knowledge Seeker Sect owe you a debt that can never be repaid.”
Her smile was genuine for the Gypsy Mother as Camille handed her another sash which Em had to stretch to put around her shoulders. “And as such, you will always have our gratitude. As Prime Seeker, I give you the sash of Knowledge of the Sect, the highest of honors, giving you all the rights of Keeper.”
The cheering was even louder and I whooped along with everyone else.
Then Emily put her hand out and Camille put another sash in her hand and the scrappy librarian grinned at Celeste and slapped the sash to her chest almost giggling out, “You, Celeste, are just crazy.”
Everyone chuckled then Em sighed and took the sash back and draped it properly over my wife's shoulders and said, “You are awarded the symbol of Keeper for fearlessly leading the Cristea into battle, all the while leading by example in taking no lives of those whose wills were enslaved by the Thief of Minds.” She tiptoe kissed her on the cheek.
Hey! No fair, I didn't get a kiss! I cheered with the crowd.
Emily reached back again and yet another sash was placed in her hand as she looked around. “Now where is that boy? Bexington?”
We heard a crashing and clanking inside the vessel, and Bex calling out, “I'm ok!”
The newly minted Prime Seeker sighed fondly and she handed Misty the sash, “Can you make sure your Uncle Bex gets this?”
Misty saluted her and then the sash was pulled from her hand as Shan dodged her grasping hand. “I'll do it!” Shan ran squealing behind me. “Save me!” Those two. I just shook my head at their antics, loving how they were more than sisters in name as they acted as if they were sisters in blood since birth.
Emily shrugged and her eyes welled up in tears as she squeaked out, “I'm all out of ways to stall.”
I hugged her tight and so did Celeste and the girls. Then we said our goodbyes as Celeste shouted orders to load up. Quarters were going to be tight in the gondola as four of the makeshift seats Bex rigged upheld the stretcher with Tennison secured to it.
It felt as if we were inside some sort of utilitarian tin can as we boarded. It was even less comfortable than the troop carriers used in the Avalon War. I blinked when Mother Loretta stepped aboard carrying a cross between our military rucksacks and an equipment bag. She looked at Celeste. “Permission to come aboard?”
We all just sort of blinked at her and she gave us a crooked smirk as she said in the tongue of the People, “It will do me no good waiting for an invitation. You spoke of other people of our band, and a possible meeting in the future. So I thought to seize the day. My Soras can coordinate with the Prime Seeker until my return.”
Celeste nodded and offered her arm. “Then welcome aboard, Mother.” They grasped forearms then the woman moved on to where we were all almost shoulder to shoulder and she whispered to me with wide, expectant eyes. “Does Father Stone truly touch the heavens?”
I nodded and sighed before I said, “And more.”
The door was sealed and the girls slid the armor plate down on its window and started waving at everyone.
Celeste slapped a girder twice, sending a gonging sound through the gondola, “Bex! We're secure!”
He bellowed back, “Aye aye!” Then he was shouting out orders to the lords and ladies he had drafted into operating the complex vessel, even though he had automated a lot of the systems. He was impressed that Aelwen had been able to fly the ship at all in her escape from Avalon. He said it was possible, but you'd have to be running all over to the various stations.
Speaking of Aelwen... the voice that set me on edge and made me grit my teeth at the sound of it chimed out from behind us. “Oh girls, it's been too long. Give your Auntie Aelwen a little love?”
We turned to find the ex-Duchess standing behind us. “Misty, darling.”
“Psycho.”
The woman took a half step back, her hand absently going halfway to her broken nose in the memory of Misty breaking it... twice. She shook it off and gave my youngest the grin of a snake as she opened her arms. “Shanicia? Say hello to your favorite auntie?”
Shan thrust her head forward, and with a crack, impacted Aelwen's nose with her forehead. The woman swore and almost tripped over the people behind her, she looked at the blood on her hand then at us and tipped her head back to laugh.
Shan started hopping. “Ow ow ow. How do you do that all the time sis?”
Misty shrugged and said offhandedly, “The pain is worth it.” She pointed at Aelwen who was hissing as she reset her nose again.
Then we all steadied ourselves when with moaning and creaking and protestation of metal, the vessel lifted from the ground in a drunken swaying ascent. The propellers were almost deafening.
Avalon definitely designed these things for a single purpose, and comfort was not it. I asked the resident psycho, “Where are your crew?”
She shrugged. “You killed our gunner dear girl. And Eris' toadies killed the rest as heretics.” She showed no remorse for their deaths at all like they were tools she had no more use for. She and Eris were not that different, and if Aelwen had the sort of power that the Seekers do, she would have done the same thing, I have no doubt in my mind.
Yet here we made a deal with the devil. She had helped me in my captivity, and she is supplying our way home. In exchange, the most wanted person in Sparo will have her freedom. A twenty-four-hour head start when we get back home before she is hunted again.
We went to sit where we could, the girls piled on our laps to make room for the Mother of the Cristea who sat with us. I looked first at her then Celeste. “You never did say how you found the Cristea and how you got an entire army inside the gates without detection.”
My wife smirked and leaned back as Bitsy hopped from her to disappear into Misty's sleeve. “Once upon a time...”
I elbowed her in the ribs, she mocked pain and said, “Ooof. You want the story or not?”
Shanny blurted, “When mumsy got to the crash sites, she couldn't find Uncle Bex and...”
My wife started tying our youngest's long braids over her mouth and looked down at her with an expectant look. Shan squished her head down to her shoulders with the cutest sorry not sorry look. Celeste booped her nose then told Misty, “Gag the little sneak if she tries to tell the story again.”
Not good. Misty was nodding and looked moments away from rubbing her hands together in anticipation, she would actually do it, I knew.
When they settled in, Celeste said pointedly, “As I was saying, there was no trace of Bex and the others at the crash site, so we moved onto the remains of the Kantu, and we found blood and other signs of carnage, but there were no bodies. And... I could feel eyes upon us.”
Mother Loretta shook her head slowly and offered, “I still don't know how you knew. I was well hidden in a rubble pile a hundred yards off. I and some hunters were watching the crash site, because your odd Bexington and the others insisted you would be there soon, hunting for the bodies if you had survived.”
I shared, “It's a weird seventh sense she has, I think it is tied to her magic. She knows when she's being watched.”
Loretta chuckled and said, “I thought we had a hard enough time detaining your Lady Verna there, she's as str
ong as any three of my men, but Celeste had all six hunters incapacitated in less than seven heartbeats when they stepped out to stop her approach to me where I hid. We still hadn't assessed the danger your people might pose.”
She smirked. “Imagine my surprise when she called out in the tongue of the people for me to come out. Then I saw she wore the legendary green piping of the Great Mother on her odd hybrid cloak and armor.”
Celeste cocked an eyebrow at the woman who closed her mouth with a grin as my wife complained, “Does anyone else want to tell the story?” Her hand shot out behind her, lightning-fast, pointing at Verna who was manning one of the motor controls, her mouth half-open to speak. Ok, it was things like this which reminded me how long those two had been best friends, anticipating each other like this and it was quite humorous for the rest of us to witness.
My red-headed temptress smugly continued, “It took a bit, but in the end, I had convinced Mother Loretta that we were who we claimed. That we came from the land of her ancestors.”
She straightened Shanny's tunic and kissed the top of her head, stalling before saying, “We sent the crew of the Kantu to the beyond that night. I have some of their things to give to their families. It seems Bex had saved everyone on the Outrider by his quick thinking, and Tennison had sacrificed to assure it was not in vain.”
Verna picked up the narrative anyway from her station. “The Cristea healers saw to our minor injuries and have been able to keep Tennison alive throughout this ordeal. They are miracle workers.” I could feel one of those healers who had come along to keep Tennison stable, her magics not as smooth as the silken sheets Syl worked with, but just as amazing.
Mother Loretta beamed in pride for her people.
Celeste's eyes lit up as she shared, “When we gained her trust, and convinced her I was the Great Mother's consort...” I crinkled my nose at her and she rolled her eyes then shared, “She trusted us enough to show us how they've survived all this time in the Uninhabitable Lands.”
Kristof offered from another motor station, “They brought us into a crack in the earth herself, concealed behind some debris... it was the most incredible sight I've ever witnessed.”
My wife spoke up over all the other conversations to ask, “Excuse me? Who's the one telling the story? Anyone else want to dogpile on it here?” When Bex cleared his throat from the ship's controls, she closed her eyes tight and warned, “Bex, I swear to the gods, if you open your mouth...”
He snapped his mouth shut as the others chuckled. She complained to the air, “I remember a time where the people around me respected me.”
I leaned up and kissed the tip of her nose. This seemed to placate her.
She smiled as if remembering the wonder. “The Cristea... they found one of the oceans under the planet's crust where it is wafer-thin in this area in a planetary context. There's an endless cavern down there flooded with water, which goes on for hundreds of miles according to their people.”
She waved her hand in a sweeping gesture. “They've got a system of thousands of large, highly polished obsidian, volcanic glass mirrors bringing in the sunlight and lighting up large swathes of the cavern. They have a large camp down there on the shore, and light enough to grow foodstuffs to survive. They fish these odd flatfish which have no eyes, that live in the waters below.”
Then she told me, “You've never seen anything its equal, love.”
Now she looked smug as she shared, “And, it wasn't long after their banishment, they discovered the underground river that feeds the Cradle. It is a short swim through a tunnel they had found which empties out into the lake near the pier... inside the lake gates of Doctrina's wall.”
Ahhh! Ok, so that's how they conducted their raids inside the city, and how they smuggled in most of their people for the final battle to free New Cali.
I gave my wife a patient stare as she kept wiggling her eyebrows. I finally rolled my eyes and caved, “Yes yes, very impressive. I swear you are worse than the kids sometimes.”
She brushed it off, not impressed by my not impress-ation as I tried my hardest not to smile. “So when we returned, a couple of days later than we anticipated, to the farmhouse, we found only the farmers, and Gael shared the story and Misty's message.”
Bex finally got up the nerve to break in. “And it took a while to come up with a plan to rescue everyone, and it turned into something more. When the Cristea impressed upon us their worry for the Great Mother, Celeste informed them that of all the people taken, that the Sect made a mistake by taking you. That at any given time, you were the most dangerous person in the room.”
“Bex!”
“Sorry, Celeste.”
My wife gave me a “why me” look then gave everyone else the stink eye and finished with, “I knew you'd be planning something, that you'd just need some sort of little diversion to enact your plan... so I brought an army. The rest is history.”
Ok, now I had to break and give her a crooked grin as I mimed balancing some scales. “Little diversion... army. Yeah, like those are the same thing. Only you could find an army handy in the Uninhabitable Lands, love, only you.”
Loretta offered in English, “Eh, we weren't busy that night anyway, so why not?”
The vessel erupted into uproarious laughter.
The repairs that Bex and Laura Smith had made had given the Redemption only partial functionality, and we were even lucky they were able to do that much. The top speed of the airship was greatly reduced and it took us almost five days, fighting a headwind before the green limb of life was seen on the horizon.
Our supplies were almost exhausted since we hadn't had decent lift capacity and we had loaded enough to last us a maximum of six days then we had enough of the bland ration packs that were salvaged from the wreck of the Highland for three more days if we had to stretch it.
I had to hide my face an hour after we passed over the Southern Weigh-Station on our way to the Southern Outpost when Bex called out the sighting of Sparo. I felt a fool for the big tears that were streaming from my eyes that I couldn't stop. Home.
When I composed myself, I joined the girls at the slits in the armored front of the crowded gondola. There it was, green that meant plant life and trees, with just a hint of the jagged peaks at the end of the Whispering Walls range. And... I pointed at something odd at the forefront of the growing mass of habitable lands. “What's that?”
A few seconds later we all knew, my wife put it succinctly, “Well shit.”
I sighed, though we knew it was likely to happen, at least we made it back before they left. As our lumbering airship crept up toward the Fringe, I gaped at the dozens of airships that dotted the landscape around the outpost, two heavily armored airships taking to the air to challenge us.
I knew the markings... the Artemis and Hades.
The big ports open on the prows that we knew housed two ballistas each, specifically designed for air warfare. The barbed hooks on the shafts of the projectiles that were as big around as my wrist was attached to oiled ropes and heavy weights that would be pushed out after setting the ropes aflame, once they impaled an enemy's lift envelope.
I looked at Celeste in alarm, pointing and prompting, “Umm... flaming ropes and hydrogen do not mix well.”
She actually snorted at me as Bex was calling out an all stop and started the compressors to start our descent to the rocky terrain below. We were still fifty miles short of the outpost. Then I watched the snorty knight pull out a mirror, sticking her hand out through one of the slots and started to signal the incoming vessels.
But I knew that since we were landing now, she wasn't as confident as she tried to project if she wasn't sure they wouldn't fire on an Avalon vessel... with Wexbury colors... signaling friend not... foe. Ok, so I could see it now. I'm not the swiftest, but I eventually get there.
As soon as we hit the ground, dragging along it and crashing through some volcanic formations before screeching to a stop of screeching
and groaning metal, Celeste was barking out, “Ok, we have friendlies incoming, an hour out. That's how long we have to get clear of the Redemption.”
Ah, she was even more concerned things might go sideways than I thought.
Misty asked, “Did they bring the whole fleet?”
Verna said, “Looked like two-thirds of it at least, not a courier in the lot. That's one hell of a search and rescue expedition.” I swallowed, knowing why it was so large. If it had been King George missing the return window, the Realms would move heaven and earth to find him. He was the ruler, and he was loved. They were here because of me... George's co-ruler.
I knew the Altii accepted a Mountain Gypsy sharing equal rule with him and were mostly trying to adapt to the new change, but I had always thought they just tolerated the concept rather than embracing it. But here they were, warships from all the realms, moments away from venturing off into the unknown to go get their co-ruler back.
It was nerve-wracking after we were all clear of the airship, watching the two approaching vessels growing in the sky as they came in at flank speed. The whole time, Celeste and Kristof were flashing the signal mirrors at them.
It wasn't until they descended like giants of the sky and were close enough to identify Celeste that they started flashing back, the big ballista port doors closing. I finally exhaled and said, “Well that was bracing, in a long and drawn-out sort of way.” This got nervous chuckles from those in earshot.
Before long the vessels were landing and loading our people up onto the gunships, the Captain, Lady Zoe, was asking, “Is this everyone, highness?”
I glanced around and then asked Celeste, “Where is...” I stopped when the propellers of the Redemption started whupping up, and the sound of gasses being released into her lift envelope started hissing... I shook my head and finished, “Aelwen.”
The captain's eyes widened and blurted, “The Rogue Duchess Aelwen? Shall we pursue?” She was calling out as the bay door started rising, “Ballista stations! Start emergency ascent procedures!”
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