Chapter Thirty-Two

Count Marche was taking his nightly stroll. He'd invested in a nice estate for a reason, It would have been wasteful to just horde his money and leave it to children who didn't know where it came from. Far better that they be required to make their own money, and inherit a nice home that could be passed on to their children.

"Hello Aelan."
"Gar! What are you doing here? Last time I saw you was the trial."
"His majesty was merciful as well as just. I hope that one day his son will be as good a ruler as he was."
"So you were the lucky one who aquired his majesties goodwill? And how is..."
Gar grasped his right foreamr tightly.
"By the light, Whatever I did to anger you I deny any knowledge."
"Why would you? Just because I was an assasain doesn't mean I'm here to kill someone."
"Sorry Gar, It's just. Well, the guild contributed rather heavily to the palace's construction and I thought your son might have wanted that debt settled."
"I'm not with the guild anymore Aelan. I should have left long ago."
He glanced out across the courtyard.
"I wish I'd left long ago. I neglected my family for a chance at adventure and some easy money. She was right to stop me."
"Easy friend, If she still loves you she'll forgive you."
"It's to late for that."
"I'm sorry Gar."
"You know; I'll admit it. You were right to assume I was here to kill someone. Call out the witches."
"At this time of night? You couldn't even tell half of them are witches, most of them are surprisingly young. That whole 'decrepit' thing is just an act."
"This one won't be."
"Gar Stone, I'll not have you murdering people in the middle of my castle."
"Aelan Marche, My wife's memory demands justice for murder. Will you stand between us?"
"I'll call the witches."

Chapter Thirty-One; Act Three

Sorry for the delay, It's finals week and I've been studying.


Daniel opened his eyes. This wasn't where he'd been when...
Oh right, the arrow.
"He's awake!"
"Where am I? Is this a dream?"
"No, it's the master bedroom at Castle Marche. The count was kind enough to lend it to you while you recovered."
"Looks like I got lucky then."
Kiera looked away nervously.
"Wait, I'm dead aren't I? My parents told me that something like this might happen."
"No, but you were. Dead that is."
"Oh crap! I'm in some kind of otherworldly torture chamber. Back demon! You shall not have my soul."
"Hello son."
"Dad? But you're in prison."
"Full pardon, how are you?"
"I suspect I may be dead, but I feel fine."
"You're not dead. This lovely young lady took care of that."
Tressa waved from the doorway.
"This just keeps getting worse. Now I owe the twerp my life. And who was irresponsible enough to let an eleven year old girl holding my life in her hands?"
"Your lucky Tressa was willing to help at all. We've recruited hundreds of magic users since you died, and not a single one of them even believed it could be done. Several mages presented very well constructed arguements against it, and almost all of the witches had horror stories of the terrible things that have happened to those who have attempted it."
"So you let a crazy Eleven year old girl in control of my future?"
"I'm Fourteen, you've been out for a little over a year."
"You mean I lost a year of my life?"
Tressa glared at him fiercly, "You aren't the only one who lost a year of your life, and I lost mine a lot faster. Ressurections shouldn't be taken lightly."
"Tress, why don't you go get started on that assignment I gave you?"
Tressa looked at Daniel's father, "Ok sir, and Miss Kiera, the council is waiting for you downstairs."
"Tell them I'll be right down," Kiera called to Tressa as she left. "I'm glad to have you back captain. This war hasn't been the same without you."
Kiera stepped out, closing the door behind her.
"Alright old man, what do you want?"
"I need to get to your mother. There's something I need to take care of."
"Then you came to the right place, She was stationed up at the palace when the attack took place. How come I never heard about this pardon?"
"I'll have no further buisness with the guild. I was staying with Uncle Thule on Tara."
"I'd have heard about it then. My contacts in the palace would have informed me."
"What kind of assasin would I be if I let people know where I was? I'm not interested in discussing what I've been doing with you, I'm here for two reasons, one of them I'll be taking care of tonight here at the castle, the other..."
He gripped his right forearm.
"If you're going after Mom you'll need my men. The Ga-Vok had the palace locked down last time I heard."
"That hasn't changed. But they aren't your men anymore. While you were gone Enge assumed your responsibilities. They fight for Kiera now."
"Nervey old salt."
"He's done a good job of it too. Your men are the Anatolian army's vanguard."
"I can't imagine there are many left."
"When you feel up to it, look outside. We aren't losing this war, and with you back victory will come all the swifter."
"If you don't need my help; what do you want?"
"My son was in trouble. I came to help him."
"Enough of that old man. I needed you a year ago; Now I'm fine. Why are you still here?"
He turned and stepped out. He stopped in the doorway for a moment.
"Son. Whatever happens, your mother and I have always, and will always, loved you."
"For all the good that's done me."
And he was gone again; vanished into the approaching night.

Chapter Thirty

Kiera woke up in the mansion. The last thing she could remember was the attack. There were so many of them, and they'd come out of nowhere. She'd wanted to fight but Daniel had..

Daniel. He'd been injured; she had to help him. He'd need a doctor.
She threw open the door, "I need a medic!"
"Calm down Milady. Miss Tressa said to take you upstairs when you woke up."
"But Daniel, the captain. He needs help."
"That's what Miss Tressa wanted to talk to you about. She said you should come up there as soon as you woke up. It's this way."
"It's my fault. If I hadn't tried to fight."
The nurse opened the door to the master bedroom. He was on the bed, there weren't any doctors in the room. They couldn't be neglecting him like this unless.

"How badly do you want him back?"
Tressa was standing next to the window.
"Why isn't there a doctor? He was hit! If he doesn't get a doctor he'll die."
"To late for that actually, the doctor declared him DOA."
"No." Kiera collapsed next to the bed, her eyes begining to water. "This is all my fault. I should have listened to him."
"How badly do you want him back?"
Tressa was standing on the other side of the bed now.
"What good would wanting do? He's dead, you said it yourself."
"For a mage you have a very limited grasp of magic. Have you even studied anything beyond the usual imperial curriculum?"
Kiera looked up, "What do you mean?"
"I mean there's more than the arcane to work in."
"Can you help him?"
"Yes, but what kind of Witch would I be if I passed up a good oppurtunity to teach those around me about what was around them?"
"Help him first. How cruel can you be to leave someone dead when you could bring him back?"
"If I fix him now you wouldn't listen. There are very strict rules about this sort of thing, and the cost of returning him is not going to grow significantly greater if I wait another hour or two."
"Bring him back, NOW!"
"Setienlie! This is an opprutunity to learn. Frankly, I'm pretty annoyed that I, the apprentince, am teaching you, the master. I assumed when you came and rescued us that you'd blown through the warriors. I'm begining to question that."
Kiera tried to object, but found her voice unwilling to obey.
"You asked about what I did in battle, the will-binding. I told you I learned it at Aunt Allistari's. I didn't lie, it really was a required skill; she really does have a deep and undying hatred for squirels, rabbits, moles, and anything else that gets into her garden. However, it also serves as a balance. There are seven fields of magic, one of them can be subdivided..."
Kiera, still rather distraught, tuned most of this conversation out. There was something about personalities, iris paterns, elements, all of which probably made up somebodies life's work. (See note)
"...Now, I'm going to ask you one more time. How badly do you want him back?"
"It would mean the world to me Tressa."
"Good, I'm going to hold you to that. First thing you do when this is all over is go on that date with him."
"Thank yo.. wait what? How do you know about that?"
"While you two were away, Enge and I got to talking. But we can discuss that later. Now, I'm going to need you to leave, this is a delicate procedure. I'd hoped you knew enough to help, but since you don't you'd only get in the way. Run along, there are more useful things you could be doing right now."
Tressa shooed her out of the room, and sealed the door behind her. Kiera slept outside the door. There might be better things she could be doing, but for some reason she couldn't pull herself away.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

They were late. Enge was surveying the surroundings from the master bedroom in the mansion. He'd arrived as scheduled two days prior, as had the survivors from two of the other towns, along with their escorts.

He'd sent a company of men on to search for the Captain. They hadn't returned yet, and he was growing worried. The kid, Tressa, wasn't showing it as much but he could tell she was worried too.
She warmed up nicely. He'd had a talk with the Captain before they'd left town. Once he'd mentioned it to Tressa she'd been much nicer. The whole witch thing was mostly just an act. Deep down, she was just a frightened kid who'd been through some pretty wierd stuff and wanted to feel safe.
She read a lot, and not just school type stuff. Enge had never been much of a reader; his parents had been in prison and he'd never really recieved much of an upbringing. He might not have the same intrests or abilities that she did, but he could sympathize with her experiences. He got the impression that she felt the same way. Their relationship made him wonder how any of his own children were right now. He knew he had them; with the number of women he'd known in his life it was inevitable that at least one of them would be raising one. Maybe they were cursing him for leaving, he hoped at least one of them would want him back one day. With the payoff the captain was promising he might be able to look them up, settle down somewhere.

He'd never thought this far ahead. He'd always asumed he'd die fighting, eventually everyone did. He'd seen all his friends and comrades die at some point; the fact that he'd survived so long is why the captain had bothered to befriend him. It had become mutual, but it would never be quite the same as a friendship between equals. The captain was the captain, and in the end they both knew which relationship was more important. If it hadn't been for Tress coming along, he probably never would have thought further than the next job.

There. Dust on the road, the captain would be returning now. But there wasn't as much as there should have been.
Enge rushed down into the courtyard.
"I need medics. You men come with me."
"Aye sir."

Kiera hopped off of the lead truck.
"I need medical personel now!"
"Right here milady."
"Enge, is there a medical facility set up yet?"
"It's in an outbuilding, servants quarters. This way."
They brought the trucks around to the servants quarters and started unloading the wounded. Enge gasped when he saw the captain among them.
"What happened? Is he going to be ok?"
Kiera was practically screaming orders to the nurses now. Enge realized that whatever had happened, he wasn't going to learn anything from her.
"Enge, what happened?"
Tressa was standing next to Enge, looking startled.
"I wish I knew kid. The captains been injured, and her ladyship is getting hysterical."
"Oh, I'll handle this then." She glanced over at Kiera, "Seithe"
Kiera yawned, and walked of toward the mansion after prompting by one of the nurses.
"All right people! Guards, go fetch the cots, tents, and tarps and set them up here. Nurses get inside and set up the medical equipment; doctors start prioritizing patient status. Get those in critical condition inside for imediate attention."
"What about the captain?"
"Take him upstairs, I'll take care of him. Then start organizing the men to defend the mansion if we have to."
"You'll take care of him? When did you become a doctor?"
Tressa started running back up to the mansion, "When I started living with a witch."

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Tressa was bored. It had been nearly a week now since everyone else had left. She'd been left in charge of what she susspected the military would call 'supplies aquisition and relocation'. It was essentially just figuring out which houses no longer had owners and then ransacking them for anything that could be useful; then putting that stuff in neat little piles in the mansion's various open areas. Their was a cellar underneath of the gymnasium facilities that had been refrigerated. Tressa couldn't imagine why any one would want a large floor made of ice, but it made food storage much easier. The gymnasium itself was now occupied by several hundred large boxes of clothing. It had held several hundred and one boxes, but there were a few rather attractive dresses that she expected would fit her rather nicely when this was all over.

She would have felt worse about it, but she'd already noticed quite a bit of carefully hidden loot in various parts of the mansion. She had even put a few things off to the side for her aunt and Miss Kiera.
After all, it's not like this war would last forever, might as well be ready for when things improved.

The market was host to a few score of new recruits, mostly younger men and a couple of the rowdier women. They spent the day training with the variety of axes, spears, and swords that had been gathered from across town. There weren't enough to defend the town, even with the defenses that she'd helped set up around the mansion. There were barely enough people to fill all of it's rooms. She hoped that Miss Kiera would bring back more survivors. If the other towns had as few survivors as this one then none of them would stand a chance on their own.

"Miss. We found some bedding and more arrows in the Hoskins' place out on the edge of town. Where should we put them?"
"Put the arrows in the gallery. The bedding you can take over to the bath house for processing."
"Thank you miss."

It felt good to be in charge. All those years being at the bottom rung of the household were over. Now she could give the orders. It was a lot of responsibility, but a sharp glance and a hint of a curse and nobody would challenge her. It didn't even have to be a real curse; the locals had never actually had a witch. She could see now how Aunt Allistari had never had any problems arbitrating; a witches word was final for the arguement or a witches word would be final for the arguer.
It was little wonder there were so many stories about magic users going bad; this kind of power was amazing. She could really see how easy it would be to just, take over the whole town. Only thing holding her back was the knowledge that there were more important things to be done.
It didn't hurt that she knew how quickly Daniel would have lept at the oppurtunity to put her down either. It was one thing to be a magic user in a town of suspicous and frighten people; it was a whole 'nother one to challenge the most powerful Nielda on the planet. Although he'd never do anything unless either it made him happy, or he stood to gain from it. She couldn't imagine what Miss Kiera must have had to offer him to get him so zealous about following her orders.
She suspected it was one of those things Aunt Allistari insisted she'd understand when she was older.

Chapter twenty-seven

They approached the first town after only a half hour of driving. It looked to be in much better condition than the last one.
"That's Tairus. They had flocks up in the hills before the attack. Any survivors are probably up there."
"Enge, once we've cleared town take a company of men into the hills for a few days and check for survivors."
"Will do."

There was no encampment here, and no mansion either. That would make defense rather dificult. The big problem would be the flocks. If they were still here the survivors would insist on bringing them along.
"Enge, take two companies of men. You'll need to escort their flocks too."
"Sheep? We're defending sheep now?"
"Goats actually, Tairus is the leading producer of goats milk on the planet."
"Captain?"
"Do as she says. Worst case scenario goats have nice warm fur."

"Enge, we're not going to stop here. You and your men will just break off of the convoy and take care of town. If their are flocks I'm guessing the Ga-Vok will be up in the hills hunting. You shouldn't have any problems picking them off. Be back at base by the end of the week with whatever, and whoever, you find."
"What about you all?"
"There's another three towns to check. We'll meet you back at base."

The convoy started driving off. Daniel's truck stopped next to Enge.
"No looting. I'll be checking gear and equipment when you get back."
"Thanks for the support captain."
"Hey, if I didn't trust you I'd have left you back at base with the kid."

Enge watched the convoy leaving town. He turned arround to inspect his command. A couple hundred men, and a dozen trucks, about two companies total; it wasn't much but the town was small and the Ga-Vok hadn't even bothered setting up a camp.

"Alright, clear the town. I'll set up in the guard station in the center of town; bring the survivors there. We'll start work on the hills tomorrow."
What he wouldn't give to have been allowed to stay with the captain. Who knew what sort of trouble he'd get himself into out there.

chapter twenty-six

"So, we're sure about the route?"
"Completly, there's no faster way to hit all four towns without dividing forces."
"What if we.."
"With all due respect milady, I've been shipping in this region for the past eight years. If there was a route that would get me more time at home than this one, I'd have found it by now. This isn't even my normal route. Traffic here and here would slow things down normally."
Kiera and their guide, a middle-aged man who called himself Chuck, were examining a map that Tressa had found in a basement storeroom.
"Alright then, we'll use your route. Go get some sleep, we'll need you alert when we start driving in the morning."
"Yes ma'am."
"You wouldn't be condemning the operation to go get some sleep yourself Miss Kiera."
"I still haven't figured out what to do with any survivors we find. Could you just go get another cup of that tea?"
"I have it right here."
Tressa held out a chipped stone mug.
"Have you never served tea before? You're supposed to use a tea cup, not some kind of stein."
"If you insist on a tea cup I might as well be pouring it right into your hand. They're all broken, little bits of porcelain all over the floor."
"Porcelain, really? That would have been perfect too."
Kiera took a sip from the warm stein. It had a definite effect on the taste, but if this was the best there was it would have to do.
"Where'd you learn to do that?"
"Aunt Allistari was very fond of tea. It was a required recipe in her house."
"Not what I meant, but interesting to know anyways. How did you do that thing with the warrior this morning?"
"You mean the will-binding? Also a required skill in Aunt Allistari's house."
"What kind of person would teach a child how to take control of someone else?"
"Someone who didn't like squirrels."
"Seems like an abuse of power to me, couldn't just shoot them?"
"Only if you wanted to clean up the mess; mind control just makes it cleaner. Not to mention how much you save on fertilizer."
"This conversation is over, I'm sorry I ever asked."
Tressa giggled, "At my age you probably had servants to take care of whatever you needed."
"Yes, and it was clean, warm, and safe; the way a child should grow up."
"Seems to have worked out just fine for everyone else in the empire."
"Did it really? I pity them then, It's shameful that children should still have to struggle to make it through childhood like that."
"We can't all be nobility. Magic and fighting were a game to you; for some of us it's a way of life."
Tressa walked over to the door.
"Maybe it is shameful that we can't chose to do what we enjoy, but I think it's just as shameful that my living is your sport."

Kiera sipped her tea. Something she'd said must have struck a nerve. She made a mental note to apologise in the morning and turned back to the charts before her.