Louise pouted. “But, Mother!”
Lady Vaila tousled her daughter's hair. “I am sorry, my love. Celebrations such as this one tend to go on very late, and our friends are like as not to lose all sense of decorum. The tales they tell on this night will give you nightmares. Let us wait until the morrow. Then she can tell you all about her adventures, all right, my sweet?”
Louis’s delicate features formed into an elegant little pout, but only for a moment, as she carefully considered her mother’s words. Jess smiled at the young girl's thoughtful expression, even as Louise turned back to look at Jess. “I have to go to bed now, Jess. Promise to tell me all about your exciting adventures? Just you and me!”
Jess smiled and waved at her little helper. “I promise, little one. When next we tend to our garden, I shall share all of our adventures in exciting detail.”
“Not too exciting, I hope.” Lady Vaila smiled in farewell as Jess and her companions headed deeper into the great hall. Jess felt her cheeks stretch into a happy grin even as Rens, looking larger than life with his brilliant shaggy hair and burgundy tunic, waved them over with a hearty cheer.
"Malek, Jessica, I see you have recovered our Josie. Thank all the gods. Now grab yourselves a seat as we Celebrate the Solstice and the heroes of the hour!"
Jess laughed for merriment then, raising the linked hands of shieldbrother and friend alike, delighting in so many warm gazes sent her way from the table filled with Rens's favored, no matter that she and Malek had been expelled what now seemed months ago.
Jess gave a rueful shake of her head even as Josie suddenly took off, squealing with delight, racing into the arms of none other than Raphael diOnni, dressed as elegantly as any lord could be as he swung his beau about, and no shame at all as he sobbed with relief at her rescue, turning to gaze at Jess and Malek with a look of such gratitude that Jess felt her cheeks redden.
"Jess. Malek. Truer friends I could never ask for. Thank you. Thank you so much for rescuing my Josie."
Josie sobbed and nodded, holding her beau fiercely tight. "They really are heroes, you know. They saved my life."
Raphael nodded, bowing his head toward a pair of men wearing smiles as warm and charming as any girl could dream of, and attire so bright and jarring Jess really did wince and look away. "I look forward to hearing their story in its entirety, my love, and here before us we have two of the Guild's own bards to record the tale."
The pair of men bowed as one. "Nothing would please us more than hearing of this mysterious adventure embraced by Eroving's newest pair of Delvers. To hear of their feats of adventure and derring-do." The closest one with blond locks so pale they were like cornsilk flowing elegantly down his shoulders winked at Jess, nodding his head to Rens who was even at that moment waving for them to sit down.
"First, our young heroes should refresh themselves! With bellies full and hearts at ease, we would love to hear their tale," Rens insisted.
The feast was an excellent affair, warmth and good cheer accompanying food both scrumptious and exquisite; sturdy dining tables all but groaning under the weight of platters piled high with grilled fish, succulent pork, braised lamb and any number of delicacies, items out of season stored by dint of careful engineering and wizardly artifice.
Jess and Malek took immense delight in regaling the flatteringly attentive bards with tales of their daring, having come to instant accord with a single glance and nod to embrace candor and embellish nothing, so that the cold iron truth of their tale would ring sonorous, all the more worthy of being told.
They did not hesitate to admit to the fear and horror that had washed over them when they had faced the various twisted denizens of nightmare inhabiting that dread tower, any more than they did the wrath and jubilation that they had felt, facing off against hideous foes, rescuing maidens fair and precious, claiming treasures wondrous and grand.
“Fantastic. Brilliant fencing form!” Declared one of the frantically writing scribes. “But how exactly did you defeat that demonic creature blocking the hallway?”
Jess smiled, enjoying the drama as she slowly unsheathed her pitted sword. “It’s all in the blood. Just as we can control the image of a dream if we are but aware of it, so too it stands to reason that our very flesh trumps the flesh of dreams, even sentient dreams inhabiting realms of Shadow and nightmare. And since my blade is far sharper and more durable than my flesh, I cut my cheek and laced my blade with my own blood. It thus became a part of me, an extension of me, directed by my will, allowing me to cut through the crimson chords that bound those foul creatures to living dream, and thus I was able to slay them!”
One of the bards whistled. “I had never heard of anything like that before. Brilliant, my lady. Brilliant!”
Malek nodded, grinning wryly but happily. “She’s bloody brilliant when it comes to any sort of fight. No one I’d rather have by my side.” He then turned to Jacob who had slunk so furtively to their table, gazing at Malek like a lost puppy afraid his former master would kick him. Yet Malek had done no such thing, plopping a slender Jacob into his lap as if he weighed nothing, holding his hand, gazing at him with warm pride. “Well, except for you, dear Jacob,” he whispered, caressing the back of his lover’s neck and bringing him in close for a fierce kiss, no longer caring what anyone thought. Jacob gasped in surprise, before falling into his lover’s embrace.
The colorfully dressed bard cleared his throat. “Indeed. You two Delvers make an astoundingly effective pair. Now we would love to hear more about your final encounter, how you managed to rescue young Josie de Lakare and the stalwart students helping Master Rens with his great working, Lady Jess.”
Jess nodded, her sword now in the hands of Rens who was whistling in amazement as he carefully eyed the pitted blade. “After we found my mithril shirt, we heard panicked cries, and we knew our friends were in trouble. It then became a mad race against time, and it felt as if the mists of winter were closing in."
Swallowing, Jess told of her encounter with Ubel Niedrig, grimly recounting the horrific acts he had been responsible for, the lives of desperate children lost, children forgotten as if they had never been, to fuel his mad thirst for power. A hunger that had spelled his own doom in the end, consigned to the form of a horrific revenant, trapped in rotting flesh, and how furiously he had fought, as deadly a battle as she had ever faced, and one that had almost spelled her doom.
"And yet, you survived," noted the nearest bard. "What was your secret?"
Jess turned to the bard, her gaze solemn. "Just as important as blooding my blade, I needed to embrace the horror all around me. No longer fearing the awful taint that is darkest Shadow, for all that it warps and destroys so many, if the stories are true. No longer exhausting myself, pushing it away. I found the courage to drink deep from that cup of bubbling madness. Only then was I able to bring him down."
"She was incredible," Malek whispered. "Their blades flashed quick and deadly, all the other thralls becoming staggered and disjointed. It's the only reason why I wasn't overwhelmed." He shrugged. "I halfway think they were Ubel's puppets, unable to focus on fighting when their master had channeled all their power, committed to trying to bring Jess down."
Jess nodded. "But he wasn't the true puppetmaster."
Malek flashed a bleak smile. "Not even the lich was, but he was a terrible foe. You could feel death skittering in your innards when he talked, as if you were already dead and buried, he come with mocking laughter to tear free your trapped soul."
Jess nodded. "But fear had touched even the lich's heart the moment he found that he was not immune to my blows. Fearsome and terrible as he was, his vile necromantic arts were no match for a blade burning with blood quickened with the will and fury of the living. Then he started spouting this drivel about my being a creature of Hell, just because he hadn’t managed to best me in two moves.” She shook her head. “Who knows? Maybe he would have been able to summon some terrible power to smite me, but instead he wasted his time bringing h
is dark runes to life at our feet.”
The bards gasped at this, the scribe stopped his scribbling and the room subtly quieted. "We saw them," Alex confirmed. "Through our wardings, we saw the room light up with crimson sigils, burning as if, yes, from the very fires of Hell. Truly we thought we were done for, but like I said earlier, Jess walked through them unharmed. Even we could hear her blade ring against the stone tiles, and the sigils all ruptured."
Jess nodded. “Exactly. Same blood on my blade that cut through his cloaking magics also sliced through the abyssal wardings the lich had lain on his tiles. But really, how could he hope that would work? I’m human.” She grinned. “I guess you could say he went for a feint I didn’t even know I had laid out for him to fall for."
Twilight grinned. "That's one interpretation of events," he quipped, Jess all too happy to ignore him.
Jess went on to describe the perilous battles in graphic detail per the bards' requests, pausing only to sip from her cup before finishing with the lich's dying scream. "As awful as he was, as much as I wanted to flee, I turned fear to fury, seized the Vor, and here I am, alive and able to tell the tale."
"And I would expect no less from a girl who had the courage to ride under my banner for as long as you had, Jessica de Calenbry."
Jess turned to meet General Eloquin's stare. She had not expected to be giving a graphic blow by blow account of her first battle against foes in the Dreamrealms with bards and scribes hanging on to her every word, all while under the measuring gaze of her mentor. A man whom she admired more than anyone else at the school, and one whom she had unfinished business with, that must be seen through.
Eloquin's piercing gaze made it suddenly clear that her former master already knew what she was going to say.
Malek nodded. "That's when the creature's spell-trap broke, and our friends were pulled back to mundus, safe under the blue skies of Dawn once more."
Rens, like everyone else listening to their accounts, raised his mug, with all the surviving students of that ill-fated venture giving a round of cheer. “Indeed! We returned successfully, the evil spell was broken, and our heroes even brought back one of our own we had thought long lost! A cheer to Jess and Malek. Adventurers and heroes extraordinaire!”
The enchanters' circle beat their table with mugs frothing with good Highrock ale, cheering for their saviors, and the great eating hall itself was filled with celebration and applause.
The attentive bard nodded, and Jess couldn’t help but be flattered by how fixated he was on her every word. “Well done, Lady Jess. You did the forces of justice a good turn this night, stopping that loathsome creature and his evil machinations."
Jess flashed the bleakest of smiles. "The story is not over yet, I'm afraid."
Sparrow, the name of the dark-haired bard who moved in his attire as sensually as any dancer immediately lurched back, eyes widening in alarm as he caught sight of the rune covered sack Jess had slammed upon the table.
And everyone heard, then, the howling of Winter.
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Bloody hells, did someone leave the front doors open?" One lad muttered. "It's suddenly as chilly as the dickens."
Others murmured similar sentiments, but the haunted gaze Rens and the bard both favored Jess with made it clear they understood that something terrible stood dark sentinel, just beyond their ken.
"We await your tale, my lady," Sparrow whispered, captivated by the bag. "I can't help but notice the sigils of potency scribed upon that burlap sack."
Jess flashed a cold grin. "Do you think they are potent enough to keep Winter himself at bay?"
Eloquin's laughter was dark and grim. "No mortal magics will keep that bastard at bay, once Autumn has ended his harvest."
Jess nodded. "As we have." Meeting Eloquin's fearsome gaze, refusing to look away.
"So, you understand, then." Words that seemed to reverberate through the chamber, the entire hall's roar and murmur fading to a hush.
Jess nodded. "We served more than king and Crown, did we not? The High Hunt is more than whispered words uttered by frightened peasants. It represents something far, far older, I think."
Sparrow grew, if anything, even paler, gazing at Eloquin with something very close to horror, stepping back abruptly. "You speak as if the Huntsman, Brother Autumn, is a real force. A real thing. More than an old god long since relegated to song and story."
Eloquin's smile was bleak and strange. "Are not stories your province? Bards and tale-tellers have been around since the first hunters sought Autumn's bounty, wives and children sharing tales and roots by the fire, frigid Winter just a dying breath away. Ever have the tribes of man paid their respects to Autumn, reaping the harvest of beasts and man, purging threats and stocking larders to survive bitter times ahead, the world locked in ice and snow."
Jess blinked, for a second seeing the fearsome general as a massive figure decked out in furs, obsidian tipped spear in hand, a rack of antlers fit to do any stag proud upon his skull. She shook her head and the odd fancy was gone. It was clear though, from the way both bards were staring at Eloquin, that they were all but spell-bound, as if lost in the stories they had only observed from afar before.
Every Squire who had ever blackened his or her dagger had fallen to one knee, fists to chest, saluting their lord. Even the headmaster was gazing at Eloquin with an odd sort of reverence, bowing his head as dignified as any dean could.
Twilight grinned. "What a fascinating night this is turning into. Come, my queen. Let us finish our tale."
Jess nodded, gazing at the sack she held in trembling hands. "Even now, for all my runes of blood, no matter the fury that keeps me standing when exhaustion would leave me low, he is only a heartbeat from breaking free."
Sparrow swallowed. "Lady Jess. What do you hold in your sack?"
"Oh gods, it's moving. I see it moving!"
A girl's shriek echoed oddly through the chamber.
Jess gazed at her bag, twisting and writhing in her grip, subtle no longer.
Winter's howling cackle could be heard beating upon the stained-glass windows lining the grand chamber.
Rens's gaze was one of horror. "Jessica, what did you bring in here? Do you seek to doom us all?"
Jess locked gazes with Sparrow. "Let us finish our tale."
The bard gave a shaky nod.
Jess turned to Eloquin. It was all she could do not to tremble before his terrible gaze.
"This is the longest night of winter, is it not, general?"
A solemn nod. "It is."
Jess shuddered. "Good. How long before daybreak?"
His lips curled in a hard grin. Jess almost thought she saw not a man's teeth, but the maw of a wolf. "Not long at all, Calenbry."
Jess swallowed. "But a Squire no more."
Eloquin slowly shook his head. "No warrior can serve two masters. And another thinks to use you as his avatar."
Jess shuddered. "I know."
She turned to the trembling bards. To gaze at all the assembled students and professors, gazing so raptly at the scene unfolding. "I go out to brave the storm. I will stand sentinel until first light. Walk with me if you dare."
And for all that it felt as if she were being crushed by unfathomable pressure, Jess tightly gripped her burlap sack, making her way for the entrance, Malek, Eloquin, and the pair of bards by her side, the braver students quickly bundling up and trailing shortly after.
Jess turned to the closest bard. "Let me tell you the story of Winter. At least, what I understand his tale to be."
As they made their way back to the forest line, gazing down at Highrock buried in ice and snow, their breath steaming in the air, Jess closed her eyes and spoke.
"The lich I faced had many tendrils in place, many pawns, most now dead, bent on seeing this school fall. For he knew that with Highrock's destruction, Autumn would have no choice but to flee to the wilds once more, and Winter would have free reign, perhaps for years, to make up for a perpetual harvest that all of us
at this school had mistaken for endless summer, so rich was our bounty of bright, sunny days. Lit, perhaps, by the spirits of all the bandits to fall to the pyres of our wrath, reaping the harvests of so many hunts we had made.
"And never before did I question how we seemed to travel across all of Erovering in the space of a single night, as if space and time were but permutations of a dream older than mankind itself."
She turned to Eloquin, who said not a word.
Shuddering from what she saw in his eyes, fey and terrible, she looked away.
"None of us took it seriously, of course. Endless Summer. How could such a thing be? All of us exactly eighteen years old, savoring every day, even if they did all blend together." Jess shuddered. "But no season will be denied forever, and mortal souls are ill equipped to savor eternity for more than a handful of years."
"You were in no danger, Calenbry." Eloquin's voice. Hard and cold. Pitiless like the seasons. "Your former band of brothers reveled in the hunt, the strength and vitality it gave them. Valiant youth who have served me long and well, they would never be forced to endure age's hoary touch. They would be spared endless years rotting in a hovel, despised by kin that has no further use for them, waiting for the mercy of ignoble death. When it was time for them to move on to the next realm, I would have brought them there directly under my banner, as fierce and alive as the very first day they had dared to ride by my side."
Jess slowly shook her head. "It could not be. I know you too wise to risk burrs in time, but Winter could not be forever ignored. The more seasons allowed to pass endlessly, the greater his wrath became. The lich... he was not always so, was he? Just a pawn, a puppet, like Ubel himself, infected with Winter's wrath. His hate. And so, his mortal pawns made pacts with unclean things. Anything to undermine Autumn's reign."
Eloquin flashed the coldest of smiles. "Finish your tale, Calenbry. The dawn is only moments away."
Jess nodded, even as the frigid cold seemed to deepen, the elementalists among those watching softly muttering spells of warmth and protection under their breath. "After the lich fell... laughter. All around. And a chilling white fog flooding the chamber. One that promised doom with its touch, consigned to the coldest days of our past... for eternity."
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