Chapter 35
A tree without a limb is still a tree. A limb without a tree is lost.
Smoke rises in the distance and I need to keep moving.
The sun is setting and my clothing is damp from navigating the tunnels and swimming in the mystery water.
The testament of vampyr healing and my strength is the only thing keeping me alive.
Now that I’m outside of the manor, they will notice that my corpse is missing soon.
My body is in impeccable condition, save for the dirt.
I stretch my limbs and take in my surroundings.
Going back to Orvynn or even the nearby village is not an option.
Killian left me for dead.
Every ounce of training in me kicks into action. Krue is on the eastern side of Lux. If the manor is on my right, then I need to keep heading away from it towards the main part of Lux. There must be legions or soldiers left over. I’m counting on it.
Barefoot, I continue trekking through the cold forest, thankful the frost has melted. These moments give me a chance to breathe, to digest what has befallen me. Somehow, I lost my shoes in the fight.
Killian tried to kill me. Something, some hidden motive is driving him and I know somehow it is linked to Sawyer. If only I knew what. But one thing I am positive about? He was involved in my amnesia. This was instrumented by him. At what capacity, I do not know.
And that monster, that beast. A part of me took Cedric’s stories of the old continent as myth. Vampyr are not the real monsters here. Evil incarnate is here on earth among us. How many more are hidden?
The pads of my feet start to wear raw before healing and wearing again. The sun is completely set now so I wrap my arms around my midsection, scanning the surrounding foliage. The sounds of birds and the wind fill the silence and something else.
Slowly, I cease movement to listen. I am not alone.
I step behind a tree, pulling my body in close. Being unarmed and powerless is not ideal, yet I’ve made it this far.
“Come out,” a voice orders across the space.
Deftly, I peek out from behind the tree and see someone do the same, but they release an arrow from their bow.
Dodging it, I conjure that seed of power Avonde trained me to, expanding the width of the trunk a half an inch.
I want to laugh at my show of skills in this area but another arrow fires on the other side, embedding in another tree.
The blood I’ve been drinking has granted me some energy, but I am nearly depleted.
“Like hell,” I mutter, calculating my options. The jeweled dagger is no longer with me.
“We can hear you,” a second, female voice yells. “Reveal yourself or die.”
Wait.
“Serene?” I yell. Could the cess really be out here? I’m only a few miles from Orvynn but a long distance from Demis.
“Come out, slowly,” Serene coaxes from behind the tree. I turn to my right and find an arrow in my face, pulled taut and ready to release. She furrows her brow and lowers the weapon.
“Liv? What are you doing out here?” Serene drops the weapon and looks me over, noticing the torn clothing and blood everywhere. “Gods, you’re covered in blood!”
A male emerges from another tree, a vampyr soldier.
“Lieutenant Poe, this is Lady El— Liv, from Demis,” she introduces, gesturing to me in all of my glory. Poe approaches and bows in greeting.
“Serene, what’s going on? Why are you out here?”
“Answer me first. Did you come from Orvynn?” She looks over my shoulder in the distance, knowing the miles I put between me and that hell.
“I fled, yes. Is there an outpost nearby? We need to send a message to the king immediately. There’s no time to waste.” I gesture ahead and begin walking, the two follow behind before Poe takes the lead.
“War has begun,” he says. “Duresden has made movements on both the east and west fronts. All villages and transports have been cut off. We’re sending soldiers to all outposts to guard common border crossings but their tactics are inconsistent.”
“The prince is behind it in some capacity, but I am not yet sure how. His friend, a cess, tried to kill me. They have monsters,” I reply, feeling a slight tremor in my hands. Serene turns to me, mouth gaping. I thought she didn’t like me, but I suppose I was wrong.
Poe turns us right and we begin walking on a country road, reminding me of the trip to Brynnwood. If only I had stayed with Cedric, none of this would have happened. This is my fault. Sawyer planted his manipulation time and time again. Gods, I was so stupid.
So, so blind.
A wagon of soldiers pulls up from behind us. “Lieutenant Poe, is everything all right?” The soldier gestures to us, eyes catching on me in my state.
“No, but we have to act fast. Do you have room for us?”
The soldier motions for a few younger-looking humans to hop off. “Not personal boys, we need the space. Report back to the post within the hour. Understood?”
“Yes, sir,” they reply in unison with a soft smile on their faces.
We board the wagon, reminding me of Trentin, a far distant life, and race down the road to Lux’s nearest legion of soldiers. War is here. War that Sawyer has helped to orchestrate. Everything makes sense. His presence in my dream state, trying to turn me against Cedric, his yearning for power.
This was his plan. Remove me, try to remove Cedric, gain Lux.
“Are there men stationed at Krue?” I ask, the wind whipping my hair around my face. A large wooden gate appears in the distance and sentries train their arrows on us, cess flanked on the side ready to wield power.
“Yes, a small company,” Poe replies.
“Under whose leadership?”
“The prince’s…” He trails off, realizing exactly what I suspected.
“Sawyer’s working with Rolan. He’s trying to stage a coup or something,” I breathe. “Duresden has agents in Krue.”
“OPEN THE GATES!” our driver orders. The ground guards motion up top and the twin gates slowly slide open.
Our wagon barrels through, the steeds blowing hot steam through their nostrils.
Cess lights illuminate the grounds around the fort.
While the doors are wooden, steel plates reinforce their backside and the entire perimeter is upheld by stone walls with sentries.
The center building has cess running through the front doors, hands ready to spar.
I jump down, scanning the crowd. Avonde weaves through, running towards me. Poe and the driver run to more senior-looking officials while Avonde and I embrace. “What are you doing here? Why aren’t you at Demis?”
“We have plenty of cess there. It’s my duty to get staff to the outposts sometimes and this one being closest to the front…” She pulls back immediately and begins looking over my body. Serene casts a diagnostic spell behind me, checking my health.
“I’m fine, really.”
“You’re covered in blood and dirt and—” She points to my legs in disgust. “What is that black stuff? This looks like the remnants of a cairn.” She smells my body and scrunches her nose.
“Cairn? Whatever, yes, but we need to send a missive immediately to Demis. The castle needs to prepare for an assault. Sawyer is planning a coup with Rolan.”
Avonde brings her hand to her mouth in shock. “No.”
I nod, hardly wanting to believe it myself. “I need to see Cedric. Avonde, I’ve been so blind. I’m a fool. I—” I search for more words, because there is so much I want to say, but nothing finds me. She grabs my hand and squeezes.
“No need, Liv. Please, we will find time to talk but we will send missives immediately. Do you know of any other plans?”
The generals Poe approached now come over to us. The cess and other soldiers who gathered stand around in silence, the crowd’s eyes drilled completely on me.
“Lady Elivienne, do you need medical attention?” This general is middle-aged, vampyr, and hard looking. His beard is thick and frames his face, his uniform highlighting broad shoulders and thick muscles.
“No, sir. I am truly well and fine. But the prince… I believe he is turning against the crown.” Gasps ring out through the crowd. Avonde steps forward and speaks next. “I’ve heard her thoughts. She was attacked by a cairn and fled from Orvynn. Where are our reinforcements?”
A younger general steps forward. “Already on their way. Elivienne, we have missed you.” People murmur around me and I realize my prior status as head of a cess legion gives me rank and notoriety.
How can I move forward like this? Parading as a war-honed fighter when I can barely grow a plant with my fingers?
“You all need to listen very closely,” I begin, accepting a blanket around my shoulders. Looking around the crowd, fighters and healers of every age look upon me in fascination. Fires blaze around, intensifying this moment.
The truth hounds.
“My name is Elivienne de Cassas. You all may be familiar with me, possibly more than that if we are being realistic. Over two years ago, I was attacked and nearly killed at a border skirmish. The one that cost the lives of our cess. This attack was premeditated and its target was me.” I take a deep breath before continuing.
“For two years, I have been in a coma. A dream state. Someone cursed me, killed me momentarily, before placing me into a purgatory between life and death. I do not remember my name, your faces, my rank, memories of my life before. Almost ten months ago I awoke knowing my name was Liv. That is all I was left with. But war is here. You know it. I know it. We cannot work together if I must lie about my capabilities.”
People look to each other, some whispering.
I continue. “Within me, there is no power. But I can fight and I will stay. Until my curse is released, you all will remain strangers. But this is unimportant, what is important is defending Lux. You –” I gesture to the crowd, spinning around – “you are the only defense against what is coming. The enemy has a monster, maybe more, from the old continent.”
“What is she saying!”
“How can we trust her?”
“Someone verify this!”
People begin shouting. Commotion builds as everyone tries to digest the information I have given them. “This is true! Look at my body, the evidence of a cairn is clear here. Who knows what else Duresden has planned for us?”
The older general steps forward. “Everybody listen!” but the noise grows, some cess break off towards the fort building.
“SILENCE!” he screams. The crowd pauses, looking to their leadership.
“We are here to do exactly what our lady has told us. Avonde has confirmed her memories. I believe her.” He looks to me, scanning up and down.
“We all believe her. To your stations, immediately. General Hayes,” he orders.
The younger one steps forward for orders.
“Dispatch orders to the eastern and western legions,” he commands.
The general affirms and leaves the group.
“Avonde?” he calls next. She stops fussing with my healed wounds and looks to him.
“Yes, General Kline?”
“Prepare your healers for massive casualty numbers. Poe will lead the infantry cess in combat.” He nods to Poe who leaves to begin preparing.
“Liv,” he now looks to me, placing his hands on my arms. Looking up at him, he looks so familiar, I can’t place it.
Cess begin frantically ordering each other around the battlement.
“Liv, did Prince Sawyer indicate any immediate movements?”
“No, a man named Killian was there with him and admitted some folly. Sawyer, he had documents on a desk, but I don’t remember seeing anything important. I am in the dark as you are.”
“We will send patrols. You’re inside Lux’s territory but you have a choice, Liv. You may fight or we can send you back to Demis to be with the king. It will be safer there, considering your plight. But, if you can fight, it would be an honor to have you.”
To fight or to stay.
My powers are barely there. But I did not need them to survive Killian or Sawyer or the cairn. Too many times, I have been sheltered, hidden.
“My will is yours to command. How can I help?”
The general smiles, releasing my arms and motions to the stables behind the fort. Calm resolve washes over me. We will fight. We will defend this kingdom.
I will defend it.
“When Lieutenant Poe comes back, we’ll find you armor and weapons. For now, begin with—”