by D. R. Rosier
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Nicci was circling after the collapse of the hillock. She saw with relief that Justin and the others were okay, not safe exactly, but had escaped the trap. But she couldn’t see her brother Anton anywhere. His form was a wyvern, he should be in the air, he couldn’t have been caught…
She cawed loudly in denial, then dove. She needed to kill some enemy soldiers while the white flames were still burning. She passed between the lines flying low, not wanting to get to far from her responsibility. She needed to stay near Justin. She concentrated on her oath, and the grisly job at hand, trying to ignore the tight ball in her stomach and the instincts telling her that her brother was gone.
She needed to be careful though, magic or not they still had crossbows and swords. She tried to conserve her use of magic, but all too soon she was close to out. She had taken out at least two hundred soldiers in quick succession with her fire magic as she flew over and she needed to rest.
She soared back up in the air and couldn’t help looking around again. Her eyesight was sharp, and from this height she could see every face clearly below her. She did not see her brother at all.
She had an epiphany at that point, and it was a bitter one. She had been obsessed with proving herself. But she realized the only one that had doubted her, had been herself. She had wanted to prove herself to her brother so badly, but now that he was missing, it was painfully obvious to her that he already did respect her. The others along with Justin treated her like an equal, and listened to her.
She had nothing to prove at all, she wasn’t an ornament. She was a powerful woman who had the trust and faith of her friends and family. Thinking back to how often she had talked to Justin about proving herself to be more than a title and fluff, it became clear exactly what he was waiting for before inviting her to his bed…
He was waiting for her to grow up. She had been acting like a self absorbed little girl.
She felt restored, mostly thanks to Justin’s white flames, and dove back down to take out more of them…
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Justin stood there, with his eyes closed, imagining sitting around a table with Kat, Nora, Nicci and Sally. He focused on them, and what love he had for each, as he pushed out his power the best he could. He dare not move or distract himself.
He had felt the anger rising a few times, but had pushed it down, focusing on keeping his loved ones safe and healthy, rather than what had just happened.
He had a lot to be angry about. He was angry he hadn’t pushed harder to make a better plan than to charge in where the enemy waited. He was angry that Anton didn’t listen to his reasoning. They had been so confident of success, especially with his help, that he had let his concerns fall.
He had made a dreadful mistake, he knew it wasn’t his responsibility, but he surely had a partial claim to it. All this fought for his attention in his mind as he focused on the women around him, fighting to keep him safe as he fought to keep them safe.
That was all that mattered, if they lived through this, they could deal with the rest of it then.
He felt his energy dwindling and risked opening his eyes. His women and the other fifty talents had managed to kill around a thousand of them, maybe a little more, but they were still looking at close to two to one odds, and he simply didn’t have anything left. Maybe they should have run?
He mumbled, trying to keep his concentration, “I’m about out, maybe we should retreat?”
Then he felt a rumbling below in the earth and he heard Anton’s voice scream out, “ATTACK!” as close to a thousand men emerged in the field from the same holes the Egerian soldiers had used just fifteen minutes ago. He started laughing in hysterical relief as the thousand men with him surged ahead and a general melee started. The odds had been cut back to about even, but the moral of the enemy troops wasn’t all that high and they were off balance from being taken by surprise.
The Abelawethan soldiers quickly routed the enemy while they only lost about a fifth of their force, very few Egerians escaped…
He was grinning with relief when Anton walked over and explained, “When the hillock collapsed, about ten of the earth mages decided to just fall in while controlling it. They managed to save a thousand of us and led us to those tunnels,” he frowned, “Still, today’s victory feels like a defeat, we lost four thousand good men to that trap, I should have listened to you. I failed those men with my arrogance. I was a fool on top of that, for not heeding the wise words of a Flame of Cytherea.”
With a feeling of dread, he watched Anton fall to his knees and make an oath, “The strength of Abelaweth is yours in this troubled time, I Prince Anton will take orders from you in regards to this war only, for the duration of it, and pledge the support of the crown behind your decisions. Do you accept this oath?”
From what he could understand, Anton was putting him in charge of the war effort. If he accepted, it would be all his responsibility. Well he had been angry they didn’t listen to him, but he wasn’t sure he wanted the full responsibility for it either. He suppressed a sigh, time to put his money where his mouth was so to speak.
“I accept.”
Chapter 13
He spent the next hour helping the soldiers and healing the wounded. His magic felt low, but he had enough for that if he went to each one and physically touched them. He also figured out how to focus his magic. If he just turned it on, it would actively try to restore, heal, protect and change. But if he focused hard enough, he could get it to just heal and restore the soldiers, they had no need of protection or change at the moment and it was a waste of magic.
The oath Anton had given him didn’t mean he had to come up with all the ideas, it was just when there were conflicting ideas he could force his through. No one had a differing opinion though, the way forward was obvious. Take the sixteen hundred men that were left and free the southern villages. There were still five hundred enemy soldiers down there, though split up in the towns.
For now anyway, he was convinced the commander of the enemy invasion had escaped, he had a feeling he would go for the towns as well, to collect his remaining troops and set a new trap. Though the end of the battle had been a rout, they had lost about four hundred of the two thousand soldiers that survived the trap. Still, in a battle, five to one on the butcher’s bill was a huge win, even if it didn’t feel like one.
He did use the oath once though during the strategy meeting.
Anton said, “I need to go back north, report to the king and collect more troops.”
He shook his head, “No, you’d be gone over a week. You need to lead the forces doing actual battle, why don’t you write a report of what happened, what troops you need, and send an air talent to deliver it.”
He had some good ideas from Earth’s history and had smelled out the trap, but he wasn’t a general. He didn’t mind giving Anton orders, but he couldn’t run the soldiers. He was also getting more comfortable with the culture and how things worked here, but he still knew he had a lot to learn. The problem was, he didn’t know what he didn’t know.
As long as Anton was here with his own ideas and advice he wouldn’t do anything too stupid in ignorance. Like get four thousands soldiers killed? He sighed at the thought, Anton wasn’t all that happy about staying because of his blunder, hopefully he would get over it.
Although he could probably depend on Nora for that instead of Anton, he didn’t think the soldiers would follow a woman’s orders, plus, she was in charge of their little group, she couldn’t do both at the same time, at least, not well. He also thought that though she had experience in a small squad and could lead, that might not translate well to leading a much larger force.
The battle had only taken a couple of hours, once things were settled and they had gotten some food down, they set out for a half days march. The faster they went, the more likely they would catch the Egerian soldiers in small numbers. Even so, it would be this time tomorrow before they reached the first town.
He was a little tempted to go on ahead with the ladies, together they could probably kill fifty soldiers easily, but he held back from that idea.
He moved himself right next to Nicci and asked softly, “You doing okay after that mess this morning?”
She shrugged half heartedly and said, “Seeing all that death… It drove home what a self absorbed brat I’ve been. I don’t need to prove anything to anyone. I just need to do my best for the people around me.”
Trying to cheer her up he said, “You forgot beautiful, a beautiful self absorbed brat.”
What the hell? Why did those dumb ass things always sound better in his head?
She asked with head hanging, “Is that what you think of me, really?”
Obviously he had failed miserably at the cheering up thing so he tried again, this time without the humor that wasn’t funny.
Softly in denial he said, “Of course not,” in a serious tone he added, “I think you grew up isolated, and it’s just taking a while for you to open up to what’s around you. Self absorbed has a… selfish connotation, and you have never been that. Just, trouble connecting at first.”
She smiled a bit, a mischievous twinkle growing in her eye. He guessed he got it right the second time.
She cocked her head cutely and asked, “So not beautiful then either?”
He snorted, “Fishing for a compliment? That’s like the water asking if it’s wet.”
At her confused face he said, “Merely beautiful is a major understatement.”
She looked up with an innocent smile, then winked.
That was another issue he had, the words translated but the sayings didn’t. Right as rain, fit as a fiddle, fishing for a compliment etc… Still, at least he got her to give him a smile, so, mission accomplished.
He also noticed he wasn’t getting that hold off feeling anymore while talking to her, yet he had no idea why, or what had prompted it before. He was starting to have suspicions about his feelings and those promptings during sex. His power connected to the goddess, but that wasn’t unique. Still, he wondered if Cytherea had been, and still is, feeding him non-verbal advice that he was free to accept or reject. So far he had followed those feelings and it had always turned out well…
Besides, one could do a lot worse than having the goddess of love as a relationship coach and to improve his ability to sense what would give his partner the greatest pleasure during sex. He would be a fool not to listen. It sounded absurd to him, but there it was. He had originally thought it related to his magic, but none of the things his magic did had anything to do with identifying a woman’s secondary erogenous zones.
He frowned at that thought, his magic did enhance the pleasure during sex, so perhaps he was reading into it too much, and the truth was it didn’t really matter either way. He was after all, still learning about his new power, perhaps there was more yet to understand…
He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, very glad, that his instincts weren’t having him hold off anymore. All of the women attracted him, but in different ways. In Nicci’s case it was her fresh innocent face and incredible body, it evoked a strange mix of protectiveness and the need to have her in every way imaginable until he collapsed in exhaustion. Her cute looks and the way she flirted seemed to enhance that innocence and in short, drove him crazy.
He also loved that she had a joy that was infectious, and a wonder of the world around her that probably came from her being closeted in the castle so much.
He admitted to himself he may have disregarded the inner urgings to leave her be, if his libido hadn’t been getting plenty of attention from Nora and Kat. Those two ladies more than took the edge off, and held his complete attention. He saw her mouth twitch and knew he’d been busted staring again, fortunately she not only didn’t mind but seemed to eat up his attention.
They talked for a while longer before he went off to spend some time with the rest of the women, after all, if he planned to spend most of tonight with Nicci, assuming she said yes, he needed to make sure he didn’t neglect the others…
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Arnath stared down from two thousand feet, fighting off his rage. He wanted nothing more than to go into a dive and kill the cursed Flame that had cost him so much. That wasn’t his purpose though, at this height he was sure they would never detect his presence. He was following to be sure where they were going.
It looked to him they planned to start at the westernmost village and sweep the border going east from town to town. It wasn’t a bad plan, but worthless now that he knew. He managed to force himself to break off, his anger growing. He could feel nothing else now, just anger and fear, which simply made him angrier. It had been a struggle for him to control himself.
He headed for the town east of where they were going. He would simply gather his troops, sweeping east a day or two ahead the whole way. They should have close to five hundred in the last town. He was tempted to gut the towns on his way through, but his king wanted to make the Abelawethans slaves, not dead enemies. He had a feeling he would already be in enough trouble for his failures.
He wasn’t sure yet what he would do, once they were all gathered. If he could set a trap, he might consider it, or he may take what was left and head for the border. He considered it as he flew…
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Kat was a hunter, a tiger made of mostly muscle, designed to stalk and kill her prey. Her magic lent her even more skill and strength. She was stalking a deer about a mile away from the main force. She had killed many soldiers this morning and needed time to come to terms with it, to absorb the strange turns her life had taken. Hunting was in her blood, familiar, and felt normal. She needed normal.
She didn’t for a moment regret her feelings for Justin, or what they shared together. Quite the opposite, she loved him more than she ever thought would be possible despite their first meeting being a scant week ago. She would never regret following him that afternoon.
But the battle had hit her hard. She was a hunter, but one of animals, for food and sustenance. She was not a killer… or at least, not until this past week. They were invaders, and she had protected her intended mate, and she had reveled in it. The first two points didn’t bother her at all, it was the third that had drove her to escape, to be alone with her thoughts, to go on a simple hunt.
Did she revel in the fact she had protected Justin, kept him safe? Or was it the kill, the power to take a life with such speed and ease. She hoped, she wanted it to be the former. But she just wasn’t sure. So she was out here, doing what she knew best while trying to make sense of it.
She bared her teeth, having successfully snuck up to striking range her body scrunched in tight, muscles contracting, and she dove forward. The deer didn’t even see what hit it, as she closed her jaws around its neck and twisted.
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Nora shrugged off the guilt as she followed Kat’s trail. She had recognized the look in her eyes, it was the same look Nora had worn after her first battle. Back then, it had been her sisters, who had been there for her and explained it. The guilt she felt was simply because she was growing to like Kat a lot. Outside of sharing Justin, she was becoming a real friend.
Now she was planning to tell Kat what she had been told, something that until now, had been shared only within the ranks of her own unit. It was something that had brought her closer to her new sisters two years ago. The guilt was because it felt like a betrayal, but that was stupid she knew, so she did her best to ignore it. Kat needed her.
She still remembered it like it was yesterday. It was her first fight off the streets, the first fight with actual casualties. She had killed three men that day, and had enjoyed it, she had felt… powerful. Afterwards, once her heart slowed, and her adrenaline dissipated she had felt horror and thought herself a monster for enjoying it.
She remembered how Bria had set her straight. It was slightly cruel, but effective, Bria had explained after, emotions trump logic every time. She just hoped she would be able t
o pull it off. She wasn’t much of an actress. It wouldn’t be an immediate fix of course, but it would help Kat put things in perspective. She found Kat skinning a deer with her claws and walked up and took a seat on the ground and just started talking.
“You know, it feels like that every time. The adrenaline, the way their life drains from their eyes. The satisfaction and thrill of it that makes a heart beat in excitement. I been killing those fuckers for two years, I practically get off on it, nothing better. Did you know they send in small parties all the time, it’s only the large ones that get noticed overly.
“Still, it can be addicting the killing, making me feel the way it does. It works for all types of folk too. Not just enemy soldiers. I got an itch, what do you say we sneak off a bit, track down a couple of travelers and get us a fucking thrill, I know you liked it, I could see it in your eyes.”
She watched as the tiger flashed with light, and suddenly she was looking up at Kat, an innocent look on her face as Kat stared down at her in horror. She could see Kat’s eyes were damp.
She looked up quizzically and said, “What? Don’t you want to feel that thrill again? Let’s go!”
“NO!” she practically screamed it.
Scrunching her eyes together she looked up and asked, “Why not?”
Kat yelled, “Because I’m not a monster!”
She said calmly with a gentle smile, “Of course you’re not. Remember how you feel right now, because that proves you are not a monster, a murderer, or sick in the head. The thrill is natural, from adrenaline, a survival instinct. You are normal, just like everyone else.”
Kat spluttered, “But, what was all that murder talk about then.”
She replied, “Emotion trumps logic. I had to show you emotionally you aren’t a monster, before you would listen to the logic of it. Sorry,” she smiled sheepishly, “If I remember right I was mad at Bria for doing that to me for a day or two, but I was a hopeless cause back then, so forgive me?”