After a day of much needed rest and mourning, Rian spent the entire morning discussing defense strategies and planning for future attacks with the Prioresses and their high-ranking military officials. Men from greater Ellendilla, Zehr, and Faiyer answered the High Prioress’ request for help.
When Rian finally returned to their room, Colleen saw the dark circles under his eyes.
“How did it go?” She hadn’t seen much of him, and she’d missed him.
“As good as can be expected. We have more to discuss, but we’re taking a break. Some of those officers have no backbones, and there is a small, but vocal, group of Prioresses with a stubborn streak a mile long.” He removed his tunic and stripped off his boots. “They have decided, however, to have a party for the men and Tuath males in the dining hall tonight to boost morale,” he informed dryly.
“Are women invited?”
“I don’t know. They said there would be dancers,” Rian replied as he pulled off his pants.
Colleen folded the blankets open on the bed so he could get in, and she cleaned and examined his wound. It looked better, but it was still puffy and raw. She covered him up when she was finished and sat next to him on the edge of the bed.
“Do you want to nap?” she asked.
“I probably should, but please make sure I wake in two hours. Apparently, Master Pierce and I still need to convince some of the Prioresses why postponing a solid defense plan until next week is unwise.”
“I will let you sleep.” Colleen kissed his forehead before she left to search for Aurianna, finally bumping into her in the museum.
Aurianna waved her over. “I’ve been wandering for a bit. Trahsten said he’d be in meetings all day. I’ve been working up the courage to go to Mother’s shrine.”
Colleen’s eyes brightened. “Let me boost you then.”
Aurianna leaned into her shoulder before nudging her to move toward their goal.
“They’re having a party for the men tonight. How much would you like to wager they’re spending more time planning the party than they are on defense strategies?” Colleen asked in a peeved tone.
Aurianna laughed. “I only hope Trahsten takes it easy on the drink!” “Rian said he wasn’t sure if we’re invited,” Colleen revealed. Aurianna scowled. “We better be! We took care of them after the fact. Why shouldn’t we be allowed to have a little fun?” “They’re having dancers,” Colleen added. “Then even if we aren’t invited, we should definitely attend,” Aurianna’s eyes glinted with stubbornness.
“Sometimes men need a chance to bond together,” Forsythia said as she approached them.
“Well, they don’t need a bunch of strange women dancing for them to do that, do they?” Aurianna asked irritably.
“It provides a nice distraction for them,” Forsythia stated, nonplussed.
“Yeah. From us!” Colleen retorted, and they all laughed. “What should we do while they’re gone?”
“You can always go after they’ve had a few drinks and loosened up a bit,” Forsythia suggested.
“That sounds like a good idea. I just hope we make it there before any of them do something foolish.” Aurianna folded her arms.
“They don’t need a party to do that,” Forsythia pointed out, and they all burst out laughing again.
“What is so funny?” Dronte asked as he rounded the corner. “Nothing,” the women replied in unison. “Hmm. Where are you off to?”
“Colleen and I are going to one of my mother’s shrines,” Aurianna said.
A faint grin formed on Dronte’s weathered face. “Hmm… Perhaps that will be insightful. Have you been practicing what you’ve learned?”
Aurianna blushed. “I do make wizard’s fire in the bath. I don’t blow things up,” she quickly added, “I just form it and let it dissolve. I even submerged it once thinking it would warm up the water more, but it fizzled instead. I’m still convinced I can make it happen though. Aside from that, just the usual heating of tea, increasing flames in fire, mending tears in clothing, and shielding.”
Dronte nodded. “Remember: anything done for menial tasks can be done on a bigger scale. Forsythia, may I have a word with you?”
“Certainly,” she replied, and she turned to Colleen and Aurianna, “Would you excuse me,
please?” She paced beside Dronte until they were out of hearing range.
“How do you have your shield set up?” Colleen asked.
Aurianna’s brows wiggled. “I have made it so I can feel if someone or something creeps up on me,” she whispered.
Colleen gasped. “How? Show me.”
Aurianna glanced behind them and then pressed against Colleen’s arm to tuck her into an alcove. She lit up her shield so Colleen could see a massive dome of webbed silver intertwined with a smaller web of yellow. “If you set it over the top, it just lets you hear things further away from you, but if you interweave them, you will feel if someone nears the shield in about a ten-foot radius beyond its end.”
Colleen studied the weave. She dropped her shield and remade it, carefully webbing yellow strands throughout it. Once she set it, she looked to Aurianna. “But how do I test it?”
“Let me walk off, and you keep going down the hall and see if you can feel me,” she offered.
Colleen nodded and flapped her hands. “Yes, do that.” She turned and walked in the opposite direction. She paced for a long while and started to fret she had applied the shield incorrectly when a niggling sensation swept up to her from the floor to her right heel. She gasped and turned to see Aurianna duck into a doorway. “I can’t believe how well that works,” she said.
Aurianna came back over to her. “Good. I’m glad it’s working for you. I doubt we’ll have a lot of need for it with everyone else providing defense for us, but one never knows.” They exited the Palace and veered right, toward the row of shrines along the length of the grounds there. “Did Trahsten sleep well last night?” Colleen asked Aurianna quietly. “He slept hard most of the night, but by morning, he had a few nightmares,” Aurianna
answered. “Why? Did Rian not sleep well?” “No, and he was disturbed by so many requests for his time. I should have put my foot
down and made them find someone else to handle all the problems bubbling up, but I didn’t,” Guilt sat heavy in her shoulders.
“He’s their leader here, Colleen. They sort of fall under his responsibility, which means very little alone time.”
“I know. I just wish he’d been allowed some breathing room last night. He looked so tired just now. I suppose he’s not the only one who needs to rest though,” Colleen said thoughtfully before nudging her chin ahead of them.
Aurianna paused outside the Lady’s shrine, and rested her hand against the door frame. “This is it.”
“Are you ready?” Colleen asked.
Aurianna blew out a deep breath. “I’ve been ready.”
~~~
Aurianna’s eyes scanned the length of the shrine. The walls were painted a pearlescent white and silver cut outs of the moon’s phases hung on three of the walls. Numerous shelves of candles rested in the foreground, and piles of cushions laid in the corners. Hundreds of candles were lit, incense smoke wafting through the air.
“Seems like a busy place,” she mumbled.
“The Lady is quite popular among women,” Colleen reminded.
Aurianna nodded and chose a deep blue cushion to sit on. Crossing her legs, she closed her eyes and ignored everything around her. Stillness settled over her, and a vision flashed before her.
The same river flowing to the ocean rose before her. The stang rested against a fallen log beside her. She gingerly reached over to it and gently brushed her fingertip against the moonflower which bloomed larger and started to glow. She then placed her finger against the orb with flame inside, causing it to crackle and spark within. She brought her face closer to it. Everywhere she moved her finger, the flame followed.
“I swear I can make something happen with wizard’s fire that’s better suited for me,” she said softly.
She picked up the stang, gripped it firmly in her hand and stood up. She raised it above her head. “I refuse to be afraid of Rollef anymore!” Her voice reverberated off the hills.
Remember how these things must be integrated.
“Yes, I will be bold here and still scared in the waking world.”
Your fear will come and go.
Aurianna nodded. “Am I on the right path? Am I doing the right things?”
Yes.
Aurianna thought there’d be more of a vague answer from her mother, a riddle for her to solve, so she wasn’t prepared for the surprise that struck with her mother’s simple forthright answer. “Will we win this war with Behl?”
You want easy answers, and these I do not always give.
Aurianna sighed. “Yes, of course.”
The world is ready for all four of us to be in full embodiment.
Aurianna held her breath. “What do I need to know?”
All will be revealed as it must.
Aurianna nearly growled with frustration. “Why can’t you just tell me?”
That is not how things work.
“What if I die?”
You will not die.
Aurianna sat in stunned silence, and a small seed of confidence nestled inside her core. “Thank you.”
She opened her eyes, grateful that Colleen sat right beside her. Her mother had said she would not die, but what of her friends or Trahsten?
No. Rollef does not get to win. Damn it.
~~~
“I’ve something we can do for a bit,” Aurianna said with a mischievous gleam in her eye. Colleen barely kept the grin off her face. A thrill of excitement zipped up her sternum at her friend behaving just as she always had in their girlhood days. “What?”
“Come see,” Aurianna said, and she gripped Colleen’s hand to lead her outside to one of the gardens.
Aurianna looked around the expansive lawn before darting over to a bush nearby and scooping out a handful of turnips. She stood on her tiptoes and looked over the hedgerow before placing them along it. Then she stood beside Colleen, her legs shoulder-width apart, her palm up. Small lines of orange traveled up her abdomen and raced toward her open palm, forming a ball about the size of a melon. Once it sparkled and crackled, she lobbed the ball at one of the turnips, evaporating it in an instant.
“Is that wizard’s fire?” Colleen asked with awe.
Aurianna smiled. “Yes!”
“Sweet Earth! How did you learn to do that?” Colleen tried to go over the lines in her mind.
“Thaniel taught me and Prioress Erlite helped me refine it,” Aurianna said.
“What else can you do?”
Aurianna’s shoulders slumped. “Well, that’s it for now.”
“That’s it? Aurianna, wizard’s fire is a pretty big deal.”
Aurianna perked up a little. “I hope to learn more.” She stepped closer to Colleen. “I’ve been borrowing books about wizard battle tactics from the library, but it’s hard getting into them.”
Colleen nearly laughed. “And here I’ve been spending my time reading healing books.”
Aurianna playfully shoved Colleen’s stomach with her forearm. “Let’s see what you can do. Conjure up something Tuath maybe.”
Colleen wrinkled her nose. “I don’t think it works like that, but I’ll give it a try.”
She took a few, deep breaths, relaxing her whole body before opening herself up to her gift. Rays of energy raced up the balls of her feet to her middle. I need to destroy the turnip. The turnip is an enemy. Thin lines of white and violet started swirling along her arm. She raised her hand, palm up, and her gift rapidly coalesced into it. It looks like lightning in a way. The ball of energy started to feel heavy, so she threw it at one of the turnips. It instantly shattered into a thousand pieces. She released her gift and both she and Aurianna raced over to the remains.
Aurianna gingerly tapped one of the pieces.
“Are they…?”
Aurianna looked up to her, mouth agape. “Frozen,” she said.
“How the hell did I do that?”
Aurianna snorted. “I have no idea, but that is pretty amazing.”
Colleen looked at her hand. “I meant to try to make something like wizard’s fire. It even looked like lightning in my hand. Why did the turnip freeze?”
Aurianna shrugged. “Maybe it’s your Tuath side? From the Moon Water tribe?”
Colleen stroked her chin. “I suppose that could be it. I’ve never made anything cold before in my life. I’ve only started fires and reheated teas.”
Aurianna scrunched her face. “I’ve never made anything cold either.” She looked at the remaining turnips and licked her lips before steadying her feet once more and focusing on her palm. This time, small lines of white and silver raced from all the space around her, not just the earth. They raced to the palm of her hand until a small oval orb floated above it. Aurianna tossed it at one of the turnips, and it melted. Her mouth gaped wide and her eyes were big as saucers.
“Holy hell, Aurianna! How did you do that?”
“I don’t know,” Aurianna’s voice quaked.
“Melting is more intense than wizard’s fire, isn’t it?” Colleen asked.
“I don’t know,” Aurianna glanced around. “I don’t know if I want to know.”
“Aurianna, you have such talent. Remember when we lifted stains from our clothing? You’ve essentially intensified that to a bigger level.”
Aurianna’s shoulders lowered. “Oh thank goodness. I thought I was having some kind of freak moment. What you say makes so much sense. I was reading about different techniques, and a lot of the wizards say that most magic performed is menial, which I suppose is why Dronte is always reminding me of that fact. When the time comes to engage in combat, one merely needs to—as you just noted—intensify and concentrate it further. I guess I’m absorbing more than I thought.”
“This place has been good for us. I’m glad the Tuaths decided to make their stand here,” Colleen noted.
Aurianna arched a brow. “Let’s destroy the last two,” she said.
Colleen laughed. “With pleasure.” She concentrated her energy as she had before and launched it at her final target. It, too, shattered in frozen shards. She leaned closer to examine the remnants, something tickled the recesses of her mind. Why does this feel familiar? What part of my gift am I using?
They had run out of items to destroy, and since Colleen had promised to wake Rian, she told Aurianna they ought to go back. Aurianna held Colleen’s hand as they walked back to their rooms. Shortly after, Colleen was gently nudging Rian awake.
His eyes popped open, and he stretched nice and long before swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. Rian remained seated for a long time in order to get his mind working. She smiled to see him in this very normal act. Eventually, he pulled on his pants and put on his boots. He looked at her and smiled before he put on his tunic and his vest.
“When will you be back?” she asked.
“Who knows? We may just go from the meetings to the party,” he pulled her close to him and kissed her. She melted in his embrace. “I will see you later,” he promised.
“Mmhmm,” she watched him as he walked out the door. She sighed and retrieved one of the books she’d borrowed before settling into a comfy chair.
~~~
Will stepped out of the pub he’d eaten his midday meal in when he spied a familiar face. “Thad! Thad Jenkins, is that you?”
Thad smiled and ran over to him. “My Gods! It’s great to see you alive! What are you doing here?”
“It’s good to see you as well. I was traveling and made my way here. I offered my services for defense as soon as I got my room at the Crested Inn. What are you doing here?”
“Ellendilla sent out assistance notices, and Queen Ovaiyed encouraged able bodied men to go. I thought what have I to lose?” Thad shrugged.
“Thad,” Will nearly chided.
“Well? It’s not as if she’ll return to me. That’s too much to hope for,” Thad said with sorrow.
Will frowned. His heart hurt for his friend. “I’m sorry, Thad.”
Thad waved his hand. “Where did you say you were staying?”
“The Crested Inn. Do you have a place? Maybe you want to bunk up?”
“I don’t have a place yet, and I would love to bunk up. I just got in and signed up, so I’ll have to fight down here next battle.”
Will nodded. “You’ll be on the patch of wall near mine then. I’m down there toward where the Southern half meets the Western half.”
“Oh good,” Thad said with relief.
Will brought Thad to his room and let him get settled in. They agreed to meet for dinner later. In the meantime, Will planned to go to another row of shrines to the Four. He found it fascinating that so many were set up within the city and how different, yet similar they each were. For example, every shrine to the Empress had swans or swan feathers in them, but the wall colors or donation areas were all different. Every shrine to the Green Maker had depictions of ivy or elk and lush foliage. The Lady’s shrines almost always had moon phases painted or sculpted in them. He hadn’t had enough nerve to set foot in one for the Lord of the Underworld yet—until today. He intended to light a candle for the Prioress who lost her life on the wall next to him.
The streets were packed with shoppers frantically trying to stock up between battles. There was a tight tension in the air as worried faces roamed this way and that in pursuit of their endeavors. A few people bumped into him, but it wasn’t aggressive.
Suddenly, a chill cascaded down his spine. Will glanced around, positive that someone was following him. His muscles tightened, and he felt as if he were a helpless rabbit about to be devoured by a powerful predator. He quickened his pace and found the first row of shrines. After casting a look over his shoulder, he ducked into the shrine for the Lord of the Underworld.
The walls were painted a deep violet hue, almost black. Painted on each wall was a single candle, illuminating the deep violet in decreasingly light concentric circles. Staggered rails of candles nestled along the opposite wall, a brazier of coals lit beneath.
Will let out a cleansing breath and relaxed his shoulders. He scooped a spoonful of loose herbs and resins beside the candles and sprinkled it onto the brazier. A pleasant aroma of sandalwood, patchouli, neroli, and myrrh wafted up to his nose. He inhaled the scent and lit a fire stick, then brought the flame to one of the candles.
“I light this for the Red Prioress that lost her life beside me,” he said.
Maybe I should light one for all that have died.
He placed the fire stick to the wick beside the first candle. “I light this for all who lost their lives in the battle against Behl,” he said solemnly. He shook the fire stick out, tears forming in his eyes. He dropped the fire stick into the brazier and sat on one of the cushions.
All those lives lost.
Tears flowed freely down his cheeks, dripping onto his pants. He hastily wiped snot away from his nose and closed his eyes.
I’m sorry for taking lives. Please forgive me.
Sorrow, guilt, and relief battled in his middle. Guilt riddled him that he was the culprit of taking some of those lives, but he was also relieved he’d made it out alive and that all of Ellendil remained free.
I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way.
Suddenly, a vision came to him of two hearts interlinking, an infinity symbol wrapped around them.
“What the…” he mumbled.
You are destined for beautiful things, a warm female voice said.
His heart filled with heat, and a grin formed on his lips. What does the symbol mean?
You will know when the time is right. You and I will meet.
He wrinkled his brow with confusion. Is it a symbol for the two of us?
No. It is a symbol for you and something much greater.
His confusion deepened. How can there be anyone greater than you?
The warm voice laughed, and he couldn’t help but smile. I am free to do as I will. We will have enjoyment, but you will move on to another.
Will’s breath caught. Was the Empress really telling him they’d spend time together or was his mind playing tricks on him? While he was usually a confident person, he’d never had a penchant toward arrogance. No, this wasn’t a delusion of grandeur. She was really telling him something.
How can you tell me this in a shrine that is not your own?
The Empress laughed again. We can go wherever we like. You refuse to hear the Lord of the Underworld, so I will speak to you.
Will gasped. It unnerves me to speak to him.
And yet you ask his forgiveness.
Suddenly, he felt very self-conscious. I’m sorry.
Don’t be sorry. Speak to him. Speak to all of us. We will listen, and if you keep yourself open, you may hear us.
Will grinned. He got up and placed a silver on the rail beside all the candles. Lord, please keep me safe.