“Don’t you ever scare me like that again.”
“I’m sorry,” Syd smiled sheepishly at her angry elven lover. “I promise, if I had had any choice about it, I wouldn’t have gotten that badly injured.”
“I know that,” Eir said as she gently ran her fingers through Syd’s white hair. The gentle caress turned to an ineffectual thumping as Eir balled up her fist and knocked on the Nephilim’s head. “Still! Don’t let that ever happen again! I almost fainted when I saw your health drop like that!”
“I’ll try,” Syd grinned as she grabbed Eir’s fist and placed a loving kiss on top of her knuckles. “I promise, I’ll try.”
While Jadis had been unable to communicate with her lovers during her fight with the cultists, that didn’t mean that her lovers had been completely in the dark as to what was going on. Sure, they didn’t know any of the details, but Eir had her Oracle’s Emblem on Jadis and thus had been able to see the drastic fluctuations in her health. When Jadis had dropped below two hundred health points, the Oracle had nearly had a fit. At least, that was what Sorcha had told her. Eir had been much more put together by the time Jadis and the others had made it back to Cold Brook. However, the elf had taken the earliest opportunity possible to drag one of Jadis’ bodies off to the side away from all the commotion and have a talk with her about her recent near-death experience.
“Is everyone here healed up?” Syd asked after a few more rounds of doting recriminations from her oracle.
“Yes,” Eir answered from where she had snuggled her face up against Syd’s neck. “I’ve restored everyone to their maximum health. There are a few villagers with some cosmetic damage that I’d like to fix for them, but that will have to wait until after I restore my magic reserves. Restoration of the Beautiful is a costly spell.”
“Good,” Syd nodded as she gently cradled her favorite elf against her armored body. “We should probably work on getting everyone out of here, then.”
“Out of here?” Eir asked as she pulled away so she could look Syd in the eye. “What do you mean?”
“They can’t stay here,” Syd gave the oracle a wan smile. “Half the buildings are still on fire, and the others aren’t secure. Plus, that forest fire could get worse before it goes out. It might not rain again for days. We’ve got to lead them somewhere safe.”
“That is true,” Eir nodded with an equally tired look on her face. “Are we going to escort them to the next closest village?”
“I’m talking that over with Aila, Sev, and Mayor Gereon right now,” Syd explained what was going on elsewhere. “We’re probably going to escort them to Millstead, a village that’s not too far down the road, just so they have someplace to sleep tonight. Then we’ll have to take them to Falk’s Reach. That’s where the local lord lives.”
“That’s a good plan,” Eir agreed. “I’ll help the mothers gather some necessities for their children.”
With that, Eir got up from Syd’s lap and left her to attend to her self-appointed task. Having been left to sit alone on a large rock by the brook, Syd let out a weary sigh before leaning back and staring up at the sky. There were no rain clouds, but the stars were still obscured thanks to the black smoke rising from the still smoldering buildings and the burning forest. She was still able to make out the dark shape of the Behemoth hovering in the sky to the north of the village, though.
Jadis’ companions had made it to Cold Brook around forty minutes to an hour after Jadis had arrived and first encountered the village ambush. Rather than landing the airship, Aila had brought the vehicle close enough down to the ground that Kerr and Bridget had been able to jump out and tether the Behemoth with a few ropes. Those who needed to come down had done so, but Sabina and Kerr had remained up in the ship. Sabina to make sure the airship’s flight was maintained properly at a height of around seventy feet, and Kerr to act as a sniper in case anything hostile approached the village.
There was no way they would be able to transport all the villagers inside the Behemoth. Traveling by land was the only way. Most of them would have to walk, since even their mundane wagons had been burnt or otherwise damaged by the cultists. Jadis was still intent on finding a way to make the trip as quick and easy as possible though.
“That overturned wagon the cultists were using isn’t that damaged,” Jay pointed at the vehicle. “I can flip that over and we can get a lot of people in there.”
“I can’t believe they burned their own transport,” Bridget said with a disgusted curl of her lip as she looked at the remains of the other two wagons. “That’s so stupid.”
“I can believe it,” Aila said as she walked up behind the orc, along with Severina and the Mayor. “Senseless destruction seems to be their calling card.”
“I’m pretty sure they aren’t that senseless,” Jay said with a shake of her head. “Or stupid. They’re cruel and deranged, but not idiots. I think they were fine with destroying the wagons because they didn’t need them. They were just a cover to get here. If everything had gone the way they had planned, I bet they wouldn’t have needed the wagons anymore.”
“The cultists likely would have left their Demon minions here, yes,” Severina agreed. “Though I can see other scenarios where they would still need those wagons. For transportation of their… targets. Perhaps.”
Both Severina and Jay glanced over to where Vera and Tegwyn were talking with Thea and a few other villagers.
“All depends on what their plan really was,” Jay said after a moment. “And with them all dead, we’re not likely to even know for sure. In any case, we should start getting everyone who isn’t up for the hike to the next village into the wagon. The longer we linger here, the greater the chances the fire is going to spread enough to block off the road and then we’ll have to go around.”
“Perhaps we do not need to leave Cold Brook,” Gereon spoke up, his voice creaking with age. “The wide space the grazing meadows provide should keep us safe from the worst of the fires. Our walls are still intact. We can barricade the gate well enough and stay inside the less-damaged houses until proper repairs can be made.”
Jay turned and shook her head at the old man. She knew Gereon didn’t want to leave, but she also knew that he knew it was the only viable option.
“It isn’t safe to leave you here,” Jay told him once more. “There could be Demons out there that we missed. We’ve got to take you and everyone you’re responsible for somewhere you can all be safe until the local lord has had time to clear the land and make sure no dangers are still hiding around here.”
“Yes, yes,” Gereon said as he closed his eyes and shook his head. “You’re right. Blast it all, but if you hadn’t brought them here—”
Gereon cut himself off, glancing up at Jay before looking away.
“My apologies, Lady Jadis. I did not mean to blame this misfortune on you.”
Jadis waved off the mayor’s words. She couldn’t fault the man’s reasoning. It was the same as Meli’s. Jadis knew they were both correct, anyway, even if they were polite and understanding about it. The only reason the cultists had attacked Cold Brook was because of the connection the village had to Jadis. If Thea’s mother had lived elsewhere, then a lot more people would be alive in Cold Brook that night.
While Gereon was still thoughtful and reasonable enough to not lay any blame on Jadis, others wouldn’t be so forgiving. Jadis could already see the looks some of the villagers were sending her way. No one had said anything yet, but she supposed it was only a matter of time. Jadis knew that she could handle the recriminations. She had the mental fortitude for it. But when she saw that both Thea and Vera were also starting to get looks from the survivors…
No. Those two were incredibly strong and did not need her to play the white knight. Thea was one of the strongest people she knew, in a lot of ways. She could handle herself against angry neighbors. That knowledge didn’t stop Jadis from wanting to protect her lover and her gentle mother.
While Jay, Bridget, Aila, and a few of the villagers set about righting the overturned wagon and making any repairs that might be necessary, Dys joined Thea, Vera, and Tegwyn where they had gathered off to the side of the main gate.
Lacking a good idea as to what she could say to make the situation better, she fell back onto simple practicality.
“Is there anything you want to get from your house before we go?” Dys asked the two women.
“I could use a change of clothes,” Vera said as she twisted her hands through the length of her recently redone ponytail. “But all of my more important valuables were in… well…”
Vera’s gaze drifted to a house quietly smoldering a short distance away. Gran Trudy’s home, a house Vera had been staying in for safety for the duration of the demonic invasion, had not survived the attack. Neither had Gran Trudy, for that matter.
“I’ll go fetch you some things,” Tegwyn offered with a smile. “I’ll return in just a few moments.”
“Thank you,” Vera smiled back at the Dryad, though her expression was subdued.
As soon as Teg had stepped away, Thea put a hand on her mother’s shoulder. Giving Vera an encouraging squeeze, she spoke with a calm reassurance that once more reminded Jadis just how resilient a woman Thea was.
“D—Don’t worry. We’ll take care of you. We have, ah, room in our home in Eldingholt. You c—can stay with us. You’ll be safe there.”
“Ah, I don’t want to be a burden on you,” Vera told her daughter. “I’m sure I can find room and board with the imperial provisions for Demon dislocation. I can—”
“Don’t even think about it,” Dys cut the woman off. “There’s no way we’d let you do that. We have more than enough room since we haven’t hired all that many mercenaries yet. In fact, we were looking into buying one of the other buildings next to us, so we’ll have tons of space soon enough.”
As she spoke the words to Vera, a light went on in Jadis’ heads. While Dys, Thea, and Vera continued to talk, a part of Jadis focused on the plan that was forming in her mind. A plan that, the more she thought about it, the more she felt that it was the right course of action.
Bridget’s grandfather, Morley, had already made it clear that he intended to move his clan out of Brightstone and to the capital, and he expected Fortune’s Favored to provide work for the various clan members who would need jobs. Jadis had no problem with that arrangement, since she both wanted to keep a close eye on her newly extended family for their protection, and she needed experienced warriors to join her mercenary company. Originally, Jadis had thought that Morley and the clan would find lodgings in the city and would simply “commute to work” as it were. After experiencing the attack on Cold Brook, however, Jadis was thinking there was a better option.
The Clan Warsong family lived in a communal compound. Why couldn’t Jadis’ family?
“Hey, Aila,” Jay said as she leaned an elbow on the side of the now upright wagon. “Do you think we could afford to buy out the workshops to the left and right of our headquarters?"
Aila looked up from where she was examining the spokes of a wheel for cracks.
“I suppose it’s possible,” she said after a moment of thought. “Depending on whether or not the owners would be willing to sell. And how much we are willing to spend. Purchasing both would cut into the funds we were setting aside for more airship production. Why?”
“Well,” Jay mused as she tapped her knuckles against the wooden panel. “I was thinking that we might want to expand our living quarters. A lot.”
Aila’s eyes flicked over to where Bridget was tossing some befouled rags out of the back of the wagon, then to the gates of the village where Dys, Thea, and Vera were visible. As were quite a few now homeless villagers.
“Perhaps we do. Let’s talk.”
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