All the time she checked on the woman who was still oblivious as to what was happening.
When she had brewed some hot tea she supported the womans head and gave her a drink, the woman seemed to come around slightly and take the hot fluid before sinking back to the ground.
Mol covered her with her cloak and the Horse blanket and let her sleep while she cooked the rabbit she'd caught earlier.
A scream made Mol jump, the woman was having a nightmare, Mol quickly knelt beside her, "there, there, you're safe now". The woman quieted, then opened her eyes slowly, it took her a moment to focus, finally she locked eyes with Mol and scanned her up and down quickly.
"Who are you?" she asked. Mol had been thinking how best to answer that questions for a few days now,
"I'm Mol."
"Are you alone?", the woman seemed nervous,extremely nervous for some reason.
Mol smiled gently. "Yes, I took a message for my mistress and am just on my way home for a visit before returning."
This seemed to reassure the woman, "my name is", she paused a moment, "Lezza."
Mol study her, "would you like something to eat?, I have some rabbit that I've just cooked."
The woman nodded shyly and Mol cut some pieces which she handed to Lezza on a plate. Lezza must be really hungry Mol thought, the way she attacked the food, Mol watched her in silence. "You look like you haven't eaten in quite a while."
"It has been a few days" Lezza admitted, "this is delicious."
Once finished she handed the plate to Mol and laid back down again, she was asleep in moments.
It had grown dark now, but at least the rain had held off, Mol banked the fire carefully and settled down to sleep.
She was awakened in the middle of the night by Lezza's coughing.
Mol quickly got her a drink of water. That cough didn't sound very good saw Mol rummaged in her saddlebag for the herbs and bandage she'd brought with her.
Carefully she mixed the herbs into a paste and spread it on the bandage.
She shook Lezza's shoulder but couldn't wake her, so, undoing Lezza's tunic she prepared to apply the bandage.
Lezza awoke at that point, and snatched her tunic closed but not before Mol had seen what she was trying to hide, "you're a Bard!".
"No I'm not!" Lezza snarled, then she suddenly burst into tears. Mol was just going to tell her she was a Bard when the tears started, that gave her pause for thought, in the end she decided not to tell her who she really was.
"There there, it's alright." Mol embraced Lezza and kept murmuring reassurances till the tears slowed.
Lezza took a shuddering breath, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you like that you've been very kind."
"Give over, you needed help, and I don't mind, I won't push you if you don't feel up too talking, if you say you aren't a Bard then it's non of my business."
They sat quietly for a long time just watching the fire while the wind teased it and the only sound was the embers popping and the trees swaying gently.
Finally Lezza began to talk, haltingly at first, then as her grim tale unfolded the word came faster and faster along with the threatened tears.
At the mention of Angee and the others Mol had to stop herself jumping in and asking questions, this was not the time.
"But what makes you think you are unworthy to be a Bard?, has anyone said anything too you?". Lezza shook her head,
"no, they've all been so kind, but if they knew the truth, well, every single one would hate me."
"I think you do them and yourself an injustice, you have been injured both physically and in your mind, you cannot heal from that over night. Have you prayed to the Goddess?".
Mol had a strange feeling her questions were being guided, that bit about the Goddess came out and she hadn't intended to ask it.
"Yes, I prayed to the Goddess for help and strength but she didn't answer me."
All of a sudden Mol felt herself being pushed aside, someone else was with her now, not someone she realised with a jolt of fear, the Goddess herself!.
Mol started speaking, but this time her voice was different.
My daughter it pains me to see you in such distress,
you have not failed me or your sisters, know that I love you as do your sisters. A tone of amusement entered her voice, ask the first one you meet.
Mol felt the goddess return control to her, thank you my daughter, know that I am well pleased with you and Mol felt the benediction of Love suffuse her being and restore her energy levels at the same time.
Lezza was merely sat staring at Mol with a stunned expression on her face, "I never thought..".
She seemed lost for words. Mol didn't say a word herself, she hadn't been expecting a divine visitation either, she waited for what Lezza would say next.
"Well, I guess I'd better go find those Bards I met."
It was incredibly hard not to laugh at what Lezza had said but somehow she did. "why?".
A puzzled look crossed Lezza's face, "Well, she said to ask the first sister I meet."
Mol undid her dress exposing her star, "so, ask" she said with a glorious smile.
Lezza jumped up, "what colour star is that?".
Mol was buttoning up her dress, and looked up at Lezza,
"Bronze, I am the first Bronze Bard. Only a few know about me, including Angie, who is a White Bard, if you want proof I am who I say I am."
Mol went on to describe the three Bards in such detail Lezza could do nothing but be convinced.
Mol then told her what a Bronze Bard was, and why it was secret. "Now, I think your idea of looking for Angee and the others is a good one, I sense danger for them, and they'll need both of us", Lezza looked uncertain,but nodded.
Thirty Three
They hadn't really learned anything from their talk with Lezza,
only what the plague looked like, not what had caused it.
Angee had agreed to resume Stephanie's quest for her remaining power, albeit reluctantly, it didn't seem such a high priority, but they'd given their word and Stephanie was very committed to finding the missing pieces.
They rode out to quiet a few angry glares and some nasty comments from the townspeople, not that you could really blame them, the Bards had stayed their hands as much as they could, but quite a number were dead even so, something that weighed heavily on all their consciences.
These weren't creatures of evil they'd killed, it was ordinary people scared beyond all reason.
Stephanie felt backtracking was a futile exercise so they headed north east, there were other towns in this direction but with luck they wouldn't run into a similar depth of feeling they'd just left.
The going was hard, the recent rain had turned the roads to a quagmire and they had to be careful lest a mount slip and break a leg on the uneven road.
When they camped for the night they were all covered in mud and extremely tired. It was a sombre camp site that night, no one did much talking all wrapped up in their own separate thoughts.
They were so preoccupied they didn't hear anyone coming until their attackers were on them. Stephanie almost froze in terror at what attacked them, they were something out of a horror film, only ten times worse and a hundred times more real. There was five of them, all blood red, Allia and Bria had a hard time fighting these creatures they moved so swiftly, Angee was faring better, they seemed frightened of the glare the white gem gave off from the sword.
The five creatures had concentrated on the Bards but one of them moved suddenly to attack Stephanie, she threw ice bolts at it, but they seemed to have no effect. It was at the wrong angle to throw a fireball now as it could catch Bria who was fighting behind it, on instinct Stephanie threw up both hands and created a wall of fire.
Stephanie couldn't see the rest of the battle, the fire wall had blocked her view, red claws probed the fire and she was only just managing to avoid them.
She concentrated, the fire grew hotter and brighter, this time she heard a roar of pain w
hen the claws thrust through the fire, it seemed she'd found the right thing to hold the creature off, but how to kill it, that was her problem now.
That was solved by an unearthly roar and she jumped back as the creature fell through the flames, in her surprise the fire winked out, she blinked owlishly, spots before her eyes and it took a her little while to see all the creatures were dead.
They were certainly big monstrosities, a couple were cut clean in two, probably Angee's work Stephanie thought.
"Are you alright?", Stephanie was shaking, " just a reaction to the battle and the use of so much power, it took a lot to hold that thing off, the ice bolts didn't bother it at all, what are they?".
Angee looked in disgust at the creatures on the floor.
"They're called Red Hunters. They belong to the Unnamed One."
Stephanie shuddered again, some evil deity she didn't want to think about.
Angee asked Stephanie to gather all her things and take all the horses a little way up the road, which she did. The reason why became obvious after a few minutes, a massive fire roared into the sky as she looked back down the road, it wasn't a normal fire though it was a blue fire which gave off an eerie light over everything breaking the near total darkness. The fire lasted for about two minutes then there was total darkness again, Stephanie stood there almost afraid to breathe while she waited for the three Bards to join her, she heard someone approaching then a splash followed by a muffled curse the voice she identified as Allia she sighed in relief.
Once they were all remounted they rode as fast as the road conditions would allow. They didn't talk it was hard enough to see where they were going let alone chat about what had happened. They finally stopped near dawn, all of them looking thoroughly exhausted, "we need some rest, I think we're far enough away for some safety."
They made camp, but took turns to keep watch, all of them had their swords ready for anything, if it was going to be that sort of quest better to be safe than sorry.
They rode on for the next few days, the roads were fairly empty. It was a very tense time. They were constantly on watch and none of them seemed to feel like talking.
They eventually arrived at a fair sized town, there seemed to
be little activity as they approached. "Something is wrong."
They all stopped when Angee made that statement.
"Do you see anyone on the gate?. No traffic either, and no sounds, you'd expect noise when we're this close."
Now that Angee mentioned it there was no noise, apart from the birds in the trees Stephanie realised. A horrible premonition began to form in her mind, the same time a sick feeling started in her stomach.
"Do you think it wise to enter the town?". Stephanie put forward. "After all, if it is the plague you'd get it too."
"You think you wouldn't?". The suspicious way Bria said it annoyed Stephanie. These Bards still didn't trust her, and she was at a loss after everything that had happened to understand why.
"My body chemistry is bound to be different. I may be able to contract the disease. But I may be immune too. We know you could all get it, don't you think it makes sense for me to scout the town alone and see what is in there?". The three Bards considered that for a moment. Stephanie suspected there was some form of telepathic communication between them the way their heads moved.
Finally they turned to Stephanie, "alright, but be careful."
Stephanie dismounted but was stopped from proceeding.
"I'd stay on your horse if I were you, you may need to make a quick exit."
Stephanie looked at Allia, oh well, may as well humour them.
She rode through the gates cautiously to a scene that turned her stomach. There were bodies everywhere, just lying in the street. It looked like the whole town had succumbed to the plague. The sweet,sickly stench of decomposition hung everywhere. Stephanie held a handkerchief over her nose to try and block out some of the awful smell.
Riding on, she had to weave to avoid the various corpses, no matter how deep she went into the town no sign of life was seen.
There was no point exploring too deeply, she stopped at the market square, the empty stalls stood there waiting for owners who would never come.
Making her way back to the town gate tears rolled down her cheeks, all these poor people, may their Goddess comfort them.
She'd made a decision early on, she wasn't going out to rejoin the Bards. If she'd caught the plague she didn't want to give it to them.
Dismounting in front of the gate she climbed a wooden ladder up to the top of the wall and looked over. The Bards saw her and rode within hearing distance. "They're all dead in here" Stephanie shouted down. "I didn't see a living soul."
"Why are you up there?" Angee shouted back.
"I didn't want to risk giving you the disease if I'd caught it."
Angee considered a moment, " did you go anywhere near the bodies?".
But Stephanie wasn't listening to her, she'd spotted some movement up the road and was straining her eyes to try and see who they were.
"There are riders coming!. A lot of them!".
Angee whirled her mount to face the direction in which Stephanie had been looking, the others did the same.
A sense of Evil and danger assaulted her mind.
"Quick, in the town, bar the gates!".
All thought of the plague was pushed to the back of their minds at the urgency they felt. Allia was first off her mount and was pushing the heavy wooden gate closed. Bria took the other one while Angee joined Stephanie.
The sound of a heavy bar dropping into place told her the gate had been secured.
Allia and Bria quickly joined them on the wall. They watched as large force approached. Allia was first to recognise who was leading them. "Oh no" she said in a whisper.
The riders stopped in shouting distance, "what?, no greeting for me dear sister?".
Allia said nothing merely looked stoneface at the woman who used to be her sister.
"No matter, we have you now. It will all soon be over and my master will take this land unchallenged."
One of Angee's hands was glowing now, she kept it below the wall so it wasn't seen and was a fierce light when she raised it and threw a blast of energy at Kimih.
A gasp escaped her lips though when Kimih negligently knocked it aside. "Is that the best you can do?".
She gestured and with a roar the Dark servants boiled forward with ropes to scale the wall. "We're in trouble" Bria noted.
They climbed down the wall and jumped on their mounts as the first of the enemy scaled the wall.
"We run or fight?" Stephanie asked as they all spurred their mounts. Angee looked over, "We fight. But on ground of our choosing, where we have plenty of room".
Stephanie urged her horse into the lead. "Follow me!".
They didn't have time for niceties and rode roughshod over the bodies to out pace the Dark servants. Stephanie pulled hard on the reigns once in the market square. "Is this more like what you were thinking?". Angee didn't answer but dismounted.
Bria quickly took the reigns of all the mounts and tied them up at the side of the square. She had barely returned to the others when the Dark servants charged into the square.
Allia and Bria didn't need to be told what to do and the shield snapped into place. Angee raised her hands as the front of the shield raised and started throwing lightning which tore into the ranks of Dark servants.
Stephanie didn't need an invitation to know what to do, she started throwing fireballs of her own.
Between then they threw myriad number of fireballs and lightning, only the screams of the dying perforated the carnage.
Before too long nothing was moving. The Bards lowered the shield. "Is it over?" Stephanie asked.
Before anyone could answer another bolt of lightning shot through the square, this one was black though and hit Bria squarely. She screamed as she was lifted high into the air and came down moments later a bleeding broken wreck.
Allia
and Angee were too shocked to move.
Stephanie rushed over and checked for a pulse, she could see ribs sticking through Bria's uniform and stood up and looked at Allia and Angee, she shook her head sadly.
Stephanie walked over to them and was about to speak when something hit all of them.
They couldn't move.
Mol and Lezza were riding hard. They both felt the danger up ahead but knew it involved Bards. Mol felt she had been through this before. A glint of something in the sunlight gave them the warning they needed to stop before being spotted.
Dismounting cautiously they made their way off road and crept through the trees to get a better look.
Dark Servants were stood with a lot of horses at the entrance to the town.
"We can't get in here, if we go around the outskirts of the wall we should be able to get in."
It took them a few minutes to find a place where the wall was eroded enough to find hand holds to climb up.
Once in the town, they kept to the sides of the streets as much as possible to avoid detection.
Finally they reached the square to see a scene that Mol had never thought to see. Bria was obviously dead, and the others were on their knees surrounded by about one hundred Dark servants.
"There's nothing we can do” Lezza whispered.
Mol ached inside, she knew Lezza was right, it didn't stop her wanting desperately to act though. But that would be suicide. Mol knew all they could do was watch the grim scene unfold before them.
Angee had never felt such despair. Bria was gone, and they were in the hands of an enemy that showed no mercy.
Kimih stood in front of them with a cruel smile on her face.
She had been silently examining them for ten minutes when she suddenly spoke. "You expect to die yes?"
None of the prisoners answered and she laughed.
A Change For the Light Page 25