by A L Wright
Nikka’s thoughts wandered to her colt and how it was doing back in the south, where Hudreia watched over it. It should be born by now. How fast would it grow and mature, she wondered? The war was escalating quickly, and she was afraid that their mounts wouldn't be close to ready for it.
She was settling into the saddle when her father rode over to her, with three Rangers close behind him.
“Nikka, I need you to return to the Keep and make sure everything is in hand there with the human settlers,” Dartein said as he came to a stop next to her horse.
“Why? Are you not coming back with us?” Nikka asked her father nervously.
“I will be traveling to the Northern Reaches with Yosan and a handful of Rangers. If Yosan does manage to move his chamber out of the ground, he will need us to guard his back on the way home. He can lighten the chamber with magic but will need to concentrate the entire time. I will leave no advantages to our enemies to take out a key player in this war.”
“I understand, but please travel swiftly and safely.” Nikka reached for her father’s hand and squeezed tightly.
“Your grandfather travels back to the Keep with you and Victor. You will be safe,” her father told her.
Nikka smiled and squeezed his hand once more before releasing it. “Good. Maybe I can hear more about our history and learn more of our magic.”
“Good luck with that. Be safe, Nikkola. I will see you in a few days.” Her father wheeled his horse around and nodded goodbye to Victor before thundering north, Yosan ahead and three rangers behind him.
Chapter 2
The Keep had been in their view for about an hour already. Progress across the grassy plain had been slow as they kept from making more noise than necessary while riding towards home. Nikka watched as small plumes of smoke puffed up from several cook fires both inside and outside the Keep’s walls. She sorely hoped that this meant nothing bad had happened in the time they were absent. Glancing over at her grandfather, she saw his face was relaxed and posture loose, but his sharp eyes scoured the landscape, ready for anything. Which was normal. But since the Patriarch was giving no signal that anything was amiss, Nikka trusted they weren’t riding into trouble.
Since the battle in the cave, and the corresponding battle outside of it, she had been nervous about fighting again. Faced with it when she only had time to act and react left no room for doubts or fears. Now that she’d had time to think it all over, she realized just how much trouble they could all be in if these enemies were amassing enforce. Humans may not stand a chance against a horde, without walls, armor, shields, and weapons to protect them. And if her father and Yosan came back from the Northern Reaches empty-handed; well they would have to make do with a mainly human army.
A low horn sounded from the Keep, and a pair of Rangers came galloping out of the main gate towards them. Nikka was relieved to see them, and more than ready to dismount and sleep for hours.
“M’Lady, ‘tis good ta see ya back home. Is yer father close behind?” The ranger named Clyd asked her.
“My father travels north, with one of the warlocks. He will return in a few days, hopefully,” Nikka informed them.
“Word reached us of the battles. We were most relieved to hear the enemies were slaughtered, and only so few of us were lost. It is understood that you and your magic played a large role in the battles,” The second ranger chimed in as they trotted towards the Keep. The weight of their recent battle pressed down on her once more as she thought of those they had left behind, buried in the forest.
“Yes, the men we lost fought hard and died valiantly. They will be honored, memorialized even, once the war is over,” Victor spoke up from beside her, sensing her troubled thoughts.
“Come inside. We got food ‘n drink prepared. Eat ‘n rest, then you can tell us of yer journey after ya sleep,” Clyd said as he ushered them all through the main gate.
Rangers and humans both stood by to grab horses and unload gear, so the party could immediately make their way inside the Keep. Once inside and seated, wine and ale appeared around the tables followed by fresh venison and wild boar. Nikka quickly speared a chunk of the boar, as it was both her favorite and a rare delicacy. Victor chuckled as she tore into her share, serving himself a slice of both and a large mug of ale. Nikka grabbed the mug from him, winking as she drank the first of it before handing it back. He just smiled and gave her an ale flavored kiss before setting to his food.
Glancing down the table, she found her grandfather accompanied by the human, Matten, who had recovered significantly from his previous injuries when the Keep had been recently attacked. In fact, the man looked to be in the peak of health now. It had surely helped that Nikka had healed him almost right after a goblin took him down, knitting his torn flesh back together with her newly found magic. Matten glanced her way while listening to her grandfather speak, nodding at her in recognition and thanks.
On the other side of the table, the two Rangers that had escorted them were laughing over a lewd joke and toasting the victors. The rest of the hall was filled with rangers and warriors, celebrating their victory of the battles over food and ale, telling stories of their accomplishments, and shedding tears over the few men that did not return home with them.
“You did well, my love. You brought them back home,” Victor said.
“Not all of them.” The weight that had been pressing on her felt heavier now, causing her shoulders to slump under it.
“We only lost a few men. Good men that gladly died to protect others.”
“I don’t want to lose any of them,” she replied tightly.
“Nikka, love, we will lose many more warriors in the coming battles. I may not have been fighting these enemies long, but I understand what we are facing.” Victor cupped her chin with his hand, turning her eyes to his. “Etch them all upon your heart, as you will do anyway, but do not let their sacrifice be in vain. Steel yourself to the inevitability, but plan ways to keep losses to a minimum. That’s what a general does.”
“A general?” Nikka asked, confused.
“Well, what else do you think you are to them? I knew you as my Princess, but they knew you as their Leader’s daughter, the Prince’s Second. You are their General.”
“What does that make you?”
“Their Captain, I suppose. And that puts me there right beside you, every step of the way.” Victor moved his hand up to stroke her cheek.
The weight lessened just a bit at his words. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’m tired, Captain. Take me to bed.”
“With pleasure, my Lady General.”
~
Nikka and Victor were late to break their fast that evening, arriving after everyone else had left on their first errands. They had just started in on their food, Victor chewing on rabbit and Nikka sleepily cradling a mug of the creature’s blood, when The Patriarch stormed into the hall.
“Grandfather, what is wrong?” The look of pure and righteous anger displayed on his face had Nikka rising from her seat. She watched as he paced the room back and forth in front of the banked hearth. The questions she wanted to ask burned in her mouth, but she was honestly terrified to ask. Her Grandfather’s fists were clenching and unclenching repeatedly as if he were trying to gain some semblance of control. The raw emotion shone bright red on his face and shimmered in the air around him, a spillover of dark magic.
“M’Lady,” Clyd called out as he walked briskly toward her, a note in his hand.
Nikka scanned the short note, barely daring to breathe. She glanced to her pacing grandfather, then read it again several times. In shock, she looked up at Victor’s curious face. Her throat was dry, and she had to force the words past the lump that had formed there.
“Tell the men to pack up, and ready horses for immediate departure. The enemy has surrounded the Palace in Noble’s Rest.”
Chapter 3
Friesa awoke to Tynen’s bright blue eyes staring at her, a crooked smile hanging on one side of his lips. Hi
s stare would have once been unnerving, but now was welcomed. The gaze roamed her body, naked against his, and claimed her as his own. Her skin heated in response, and she reached up to pull his smiling mouth down to hers.
Tynen was gentle at first. His mouth pressed softly against her lips, kissing them fully, then kissing the corners of her mouth, her cheeks, and her chin before returning to claim her tongue as she gasped. White hot bolts of lightning raced through her veins, and where Tynen’s hands met her skin, she swore it sizzled. And maybe it did. The runes on the side of the Chamber were still glowing, the magic of the turning not yet finished.
They had come to the Palace in Noble’s Rest some days… weeks, maybe, earlier to ask the Patriarch, Nikka’s Grandfather, if they could use his slumber chamber to turn Friesa into a Noble like them. It had also been the very time that Nikka and her Grandfather had met, after her father, Dartein, had fled the Palace with her as a newborn. Nikka’s mother had died, and her father blamed The Patriarch for not helping to save her. Of course, everyone understood now why he couldn’t have done it. They needed to be able to continue turning humans into Nobles to fight the war. And the runes in the chamber had become so embedded into the magic, they were no longer able to be altered.
For a split second, Friesa thought about how they shouldn’t be awake yet if the magic were still working, but Tynen’s hand sliding up her thigh shut out all coherent thoughts. A groan welled up from deep in her throat and escaped between their lips. He grinned at her again, a hunter’s smile, a predator about to claim his prize. She had never seen him act this way. Before, he had been kind, though much the same as a tame wolf. Friesa almost begged him to bite her, to claim her already. This side of her man was exciting and awakened her every sense.
Those senses didn’t fail to notice the small sparks of electricity at her fingertips as she raked them across Tynen’s shoulders. Nor did they miss the moment the runes stopped glowing. The Chamber became dark and she waited a moment for her eyes to adjust. But the absolute blackness settled around them and she almost panicked until she felt the stone around her lurch upward. The magic had completed. She’d been turned.
The movement halted, and the lid peeled back enough for her to see Tynen staring down at her, waiting for a reaction. Friesa growled low and pulled his mouth back to hers and pressed herself against his well-muscled body. His need for her pressed against her navel and she wondered for a split second if it would hurt, now that she wasn’t human.
Shouts and the sound of many feet running down the hall outside the room stalled them. Tynen perked up first, his warrior senses taking over, and peeked out of the top of the Chamber to see what was happening. His eyes narrowed, and she sat up to see for herself. There were indeed people, a great many people, running past the now open doorway. Guards and warriors fully armored clanked by followed by servants holding shields and a variety of weapons.
Tynen snorted an impatient breath. “I guess our fun must wait, love. That many men running the same direction is always a bad omen.” He stood and jumped out over the lip of the Chamber, reaching back to help her. As her feet touched the stone floor, she pressed against him once more.
“It better not have ta wait fer too long,” she purred in his ear.
Tynen growled as she stepped away, her body on full display from her muscled shoulders, to her rock-hard abs, on down to legs so well-muscled they could choke a man out. He looked as if he was about to change his mind and ravage her there on the chamber room floor, but more feet running up the hallway brought him back to reality. He quickly snagged up the robes hanging next to the chamber and tossed one to her.
She watched as he snapped his robe around himself, loosely covering his pale muscled body. As the fabric broke her line of sight to Tynen’s sculpted backside, her attention snapped back to the feet in the hallway. Friesa counted the seconds before she saw the guards running past… incredible how far away she could hear now. Tugging the cloth snugly around herself, she walked to the doorway, Tynen close behind.
“What’s everyone runnin’ fer?” Friesa called to a passing servant.
“My lady, the Palace is under attack,” a timid young girl spoke up, bowing low in front of her.
“Attack? Whom attacks us?” Tynen asked, quietly.
“A goblin horde, my lord. They’ve surrounded the palace,” the girl replied.
“And the town?”
“My lord, the town has been cut off from the Palace. A few dozen families made it inside the gates before the attack, but the rest, sir, the rest…” trembling, the servant trailed off.
“Tynen, we have ta help them. We have ta get past the enemy ‘n help them townsfolk.” Friesa fought back the panic that surged into her throat.
“Calm, my love. Your senses are quite heightened, as they are new. Just breathe, and rest assured you and I will both help them.” Tynen turned back to the servant girl. “Take us to the armory, please.”
“Follow me, my lord.” The girl looked close to bursting into tears but bowed and rushed down the hallway, against the flow of warriors that had been running by them, already armed and ready to fight.
Friesa watched in mild shock as Tynen quickly chose armor for them both, light leather strengthened with iron plates to protect sensitive areas. Next, he grabbed weapons; swords and daggers, a small hatchet and a hammer. He sent the servants off with the bundles, instructing them to dump the gear in their room so they could dress and make ready.
She watched the servants rush off and jumped in startlement when Tynen cupped her elbow to signal the need to move.
“The enemy, it is more’n just a few beasties? They have enough ta make armies?” she whispered the question.
“Yes, we had suspected they were amassing in a couple of places, but it seems they were more widespread and heavier in numbers than we thought.”
Friesa shook her head in a snap, now suddenly clear, and narrowed her eyes, “Then let’s go’n reduce those numbers.”
Tynen grinned, leaning in to kiss her with a reminder of what to expect after the battle. Friesa followed behind him down the hallway, electricity coursing through her veins. The feeling had been building since she had woken up. Forgotten for a moment in the excitement of the news, but was once again at the forefront of her mind. Especially since her fingertips were glowing white, now.
They rushed down the halls and corridors of the Palace to their room, Tynen immediately dressing and donning armor. He looked back at her standing near the door, still examining her hands.
“What is that, Friesa?” He came near and tried to reach for one of her hands.
Friesa backed up a step to avoid his grasp and turned to lay a finger against the wall. Sparks flowed from her fingertip, outward in a circle away from where it contacted the stone. Tynen’s eyes grew wide.
“Oh, this will be fun,” she breathed.
Tynen threw her a wicked grin that she quickly matched before marching to the table that held her clothes and gear. She dressed and donned the armor, strapped on daggers and a hatchet, and looked around for a sword.
She was confused at first when her lover handed over the long-handled hammer he’d had brought with them from the armory. But when she grabbed the handle and tested the weight, swinging it around to find the balance, it felt perfect in her hand.
“How’d ya know this would be right fer me?” she asked as she examined the fastenings between the handle and head.
“Well, you are a smith. And while you’ve missed on occasion while practicing with swords, I’ve never seen you miss your mark when pounding on one.”
“I did’na know ya watched me so close,” she replied.
“I’ve watched you every second since the moment I first found you in the smithy. And I’ll watch you every moment from now on. I couldn’t wait to get you here and claim you as mine. My Chosen. Oh, the things I will do to you once we kill these goblins.” Tynen pulled her close with one arm around her waist, the other hand tracing his fingers over h
er face.
Any lingering trace of her old human fears vanished, and she grinned as she leaned in to kiss him.
“We’ll kill them all, you’n I.” Her hammer slamming home into the bracket on her belt echoed through the stone room.
~
The couple rushed from the main doors of the palace, out into chaos. The yard was a sea of rushing Nobles, moving weapons to the gates and walls, and pulling injured warriors back toward safety. Two healers garbed in white robes were tending to the most serious wounds and didn’t bother glancing their way as the pair moved past them. After taking a quick look around, Tynen rushed off to the east side of the wall, waving at her to follow.
Friesa saw why as they approached the wall. Several fighters were waiting at this spot, the dull thuds of the enemy on the other side as they fought to break through. As they took up spots next to the others, a crack began to appear and spread quickly. Within another moment, the wall burst to reveal the grinning faces of goblins on the other side. The beasts screamed and cheered, and many of them lurched for the hole at the same time. Before anyone could stop her, Friesa rushed forward and clamped her palm down on the helmet of the goblin in the lead.
Sparks flew from her hand and streaks of lighting raced down through the goblin's body, amplified by the metal helmet. The once ferocious enemy now screamed in pain and those who had been huddled around him in attempt to break through screamed as well as the lightning raced from one to the other in the blink of an eye. Friesa let go as the screams died, and all movement stilled around her. She glanced over her shoulder to see wide-eyed Nobles staring in shock and Tynen grinning maniacally.
“You all stay put here; the live ones will be diggin’ through their dead friends soon. We’ll help the others,” Friesa commanded.
Stunned nods and fight ready stances were all the confirmation she needed before she and Tynen strode off, in search of the next potential breach.