Chapter 16: Good Intentions

Fine! Keep your silence! I will guide myself through this life. I had so hoped that you wouldn't be like Bhal! I wanted to believe that I could find Faith in something that I had chosen! I suppose I was wrong... once again. 

***

I am sorry, dear child. I really am. Just wait a little longer...

Year of Wrath 1232, Season of life D2. Neaves

   The air streamed past her wings as the wind howled in her ears. The human city was just coming into view as she marveled at the glittering rooftops, banking low to glide over the fields all around the human settlement. The glow of her wings streaming past her in an afterimage with her speed, she let her fingertips touch the tops of the wheat as it passed under her. The smell of the sea was intoxicating from the still humid air of the Valley, and the sound of the gulls reached her ears. 

   Tipping her wings back, she gained altitude as the world below fell away at a breathtaking speed. Slowing just enough to glide with those same birds, she stretched out her arm and let one of them land on her. Though it struggled to stay perched there, its beady eyes stared at her, squawked, and took flight again. She felt happy, for the first time in a very long time. 

   Free to leave the Valley, free of her chains as a Shrine Guard, free of the looks the Clan gave her as she walked by them. She smiled as her heart felt lighter. The high walls of the city loomed over the horizon, and she had the thought that she might just fly right over to stop and see if the shipyard workers still remembered her. They had always been kind, letting her be comfortable despite her shyness around them.

   She could start to see the humans on the road far below; she felt she was maybe two thousand feet above the earth. Passing through a cloud that steamed against her wings, their fire already burning away the small amount of moisture that tried to accumulate along her arms and legs. The humans were pointing up at her, thinking nothing of it, and she waved down at them. Not entirely sure if they could even see that, but she did it anyway. 

   Enjoying the view of the Ilori sea off in the distance to the south, she beat her wings to take her higher and higher, until her breath came in great puffs of steam with her effort. Setting herself down on a thermal, holding her position in the sky. Looking out to the city again, she saw one of those dirigibles that had passed by the valley on more than one occasion. Though this one looked different somehow, she couldn't quite place what was off about it. 

   Banking her wings again, she drew closer to the city. Just outside its southern walls, she saw a massive camp further to the south; she could see where the grasslands fell away. Off in the distant horizon, there were the rolling hills of the dunes in the desert. A noise got her attention, loud and droning. 

   The city walls started swarming with humans, all headed toward odd machines at regular intervals along the tops. Finally remembering the name of the noise, Ryhs had told her once when they heard them in the western pass overlooking Mistsdale, a klaxon. He had told her then that they used those as warnings; they got humans' attention very well. It certainly got hers. 

   She flew over the walls again, seeing the odd machines start turning on massive swivel plates. Looking back at the sea, she didn't see any of those massive ships with the guns that she had sometimes seen in the sea before. That Klaxon sounded off in the distance now, somewhere inside the camp to the south. A cold sweat broke out on her brow as she beat her wings higher. Something was wrong. 

   She had gained several hundred feet, thinking she would be safer up higher, but she was just under a thermocline. Trying to cross it now would be extremely turbulent as the winds changed directions, just under the final layer where the clouds were. More and more of the humans started swarming the walls, beating her wings a bit more; she gained even more altitude, taking her risk anyway. 

   Just as she expected, the winds shifted from the north to push her straight west. With a powerful beat of her wings, she shot up out of the turbulent airstream, several thousand feet in the sky. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash from the odd machines, and a second later, round after round of metal screamed past her. 

   Several of the machines were pointed at her as fear cemented itself in her mind. Banking low and dropping from the sky, she dive-bombed toward the earth as more of those massive bullets followed her descent. Why was this happening? Why were they targeting her? Her eyes went wide as she saw that dirigible much closer now, near the city wall. Something along its bottom deck fired at her. 

   Thinking quickly, she released a wall of fire in front of her as something collided with the heat. Melting nearly instantly, splattering her with hot metal before falling back to the earth. She knew those odd machines along the top of the walls were some kind of gun now; they were slower, but they would be retargeting her quickly enough. 

   Beating her wings with all her strength, she gained just enough altitude to hide inside a nearby cloud. Though to what effect, she didn't know, as her glowing wings made her easy to spot even inside the thing. Realizing that almost immediately, as she heard another boom from the airship, something slammed into her. 

   Pain rang out along her entire body, as she began bleeding along her shoulders and arms. How? These were not the humans she was used to dealing with; she had no idea that they had anything to take something out of the sky like that. She heard the screaming bullets before she saw them. Folding her wings, she fell from the sky like a meteor. 

   Flaring her wings brighter, she braced for what she assumed was going to hurt quite a bit more than whatever the airship had done. Just before she left the cloud, she expelled a colossal amount of fire. Enough to boil the cloud until it expanded too quickly for the cool air around it to contain. Another massive boom sounded out across the fields as a shockwave rippled through the sky.

   Instantly evaporating the rest of the clouds around her. Expecting that, she opened her wings again and shot fire out of her hands to increase her speed westward as another volley of bullets tried to hit her. Finally, the shockwave caught up, driving her closer to the ground at supersonic speed. Opening her wings just enough to control her direction as the airship passed by in a flash above. The shockwave knocked the massive warship in the sky off kilter. 

   She couldn't breathe for how fast the air streaked past, her skin burned as the atmosphere rubbed against her, the friction of it generating enough heat to make her scream. Though even in her fear as she shot like a bullet over the fields, only a few feet from the ground now, those guns along the top of the wall ceased firing at her as she got in line with the airship. Unwilling to risk their own equipment. Then again, firing at the ground now would only endanger any of the buildings down here. 

   A forest was quickly approaching, though an unexpected bit of turbulence sent her tumbling like a rock the last few feet to the ground. Crashing into the earth below, she skidded the last hundred feet as the earth slowed her down. Feeling a bone snap in her arm, she screamed again as her back struck a rock and sent her tumbling again in a wild mess the last thirty feet or so. 

   Her adrenaline was high, but the world swam around her. Trying to get to her feet, she tried to get up using the arm that had just broken. Falling back down to the earth in a heap, as darkness encroached on the edges of her vision. "No, not now." She said as she slipped into unconsciousness. 

   Visions of that goblin woman in the west haunted her mind as she was dimly aware of the klaxon in the distance. The earth below her wobbled under her as blood dripped to the ground. Visions of fire filled her sight as the world burned. 

   She was in a wood the next time she opened her eyes, leaning against a tree. She vomited. As darkness overtook her again, that woman's face. She thought she was cute, with soft lips, beautifully purple eyes like a night sky on a new moon.

   The earth came up to meet her as she found the most comfortable-looking rock. The fire in her wings had died, and the woods were dark now. The last thing she remembered before the darkness took her again was how bright the eastern skies looked, despite the sun setting in the west. 

   Groggily, she stumbled into a marsh, the cool water bringing her senses back just enough to look around her, feeling nauseous. Her arm hung limply at her side, falling hard against a tree. The strike against the tree popped her shoulder back into place as she screamed. The world faded around her as her eyes closed again. 

   "Well now," A feminine voice purred into her ear. "What a sorry state you are in, Child." 

It sounded familiar, but all Neaves could manage was an unintelligible grumble. Like she had heard it before, something about it was off. "A fire blast that close to the city? Bringing down an airship filled with flammable gas on top of a wheatfield. I couldn't have asked for a better bit of entertainment." 

   "Wha?" Neaves gasped out. The pain running through her was too much; she was tired. She wanted to sleep; she didn't understand what was going on, though her stomach groaned. Her vision still faded from her the moment she opened her eyes, as a pair of black feathered wings took up the darkening world. 

   The blessed sleep she managed to have was far too short. Consciousness claimed her again as the first sensation she registered, again, was pain. "Oh? Still alive?" That voice purred again. "Good, then maybe Syn was right to pick you."

Something that sounded like claws on rock drew closer, "I will try to make this quick." Though Neaves hadn't yet opened her eyes, she didn't like how that sounded. 

   The world was nothing but pain as something grabbed her arm and reset the bone. A hand went over her mouth to stifle her scream again. "You keep screaming like that, and you'll have the rest of the army on your ass before you can figure out how to bend over and please your first man." The woman hissed. 

"Then again, I don't know why I'm bothering. Syn says you'll live, but just barely." The woman complained as something rubbed along the wounds she had gotten from the airship in the cloud. It itched, though as she tried to scratch it, a hand slapped hers away.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Your eyes are closed shut from dried blood. You do have a nasty cut above your eye." The next moment, something felt like it was licking her eyelids. Until she was able to open them with a snap. 

   She was in a swamp, her wings sitting in a shallow pool of water. Thoroughly soaked, she wouldn't have been able to lift them even if she wanted to. In front of her was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen, naked. Her harpy wings were draped across her back like a cape. Her eyes drifted to her chest, then further down, lingering. 

   "Really? That is your first thought?" The woman said with a smirk, "If you weren't in such a bad state, I might show you a thing or seven." 

Neaves tried to rise from the tree, but the woman shoved her hard back against it. "No. Sit and rest. You broke your arm, dislocated it to boot. You are covered in birdshot wounds, I'm still picking the lead out of them." 

   Though her mouth was dry, she was thirsty, terribly so. Still, she tried to speak anyway. "Who are you?" She said hoarsely. 

   "You might call me Azu, you might call me Mother, though your people seem fond of calling me the Ascendant Butterfly." She said with a sense of dispassion that made her shiver. It dawned on her then that this was the same goddess that she had talked to on previous occasions, her goddess.

   "But, you and I have already talked, more than once." Neaves coughed, pain ripping across her chest. 

   "Ah, you spoke to Syn. Not me." Azu said, picking out the last of the lead from her arm. Covering her wounds in some kind of balm. Poking the substance into the holes painfully, though she did smear the same substance into the cut above her eye. 

   "Did," She hesitated, "Did you lick my eyes clean?" She didn't really know if she wanted to know. 

   "Amongst several other places on you. You'll make someone happy someday." Neaves shivered again, trying to push the thought from her mind that her goddess acted like such a beast. "You can cast that thought out of your head, girl. Do you see a rag with me?"

   Now that she thought about it, she couldn't see much at all. Looking up to the sky, she could see stars through the trees. "How did you find me?" Though Azu only gave her a look that told her she thought the question was moronic. 

   Not answering, she straddled Neaves, holding her head still, looking intently into the cut along her forehead. "It won't scar." She said finally, as she took her broken arm in her hands and bundled it in a splint, wrapping it with something. It felt like cloth, but the dim light didn't tell her much. 

   "What are you wrapping my arm in?" Neaves asked. 

   "The bottom of your dress. A wonderful sight you were, had I not been asked to assist you, I'd have had other ideas." Azu said. Which only made Neaves regret asking. 

   "You are nothing like what I thought you were." Neaves groaned as Azu unceremoniously dropped her broken arm back into her lap, her hand conspicuously close to Azu's crotch. 

   "Hmm, that is true." She said flatly.

   "Why?" Neaves pressed, as her mind started to clear, and Azu pressed a hand to her chest, an odd warmth filling her. 

   "I told you already, do I need to repeat myself, foolish girl?" She asked, apparently having no shame whatsoever as she pressed her breasts into Neaves’ face, reaching for something behind her. 

   "Could you remind me?" Neaves asked from between those two massive distractions, trying to pull herself together. 

   "I am Azu. Not Syn. The god your people know is her. We share the name and the body, but I couldn't care less about you, Faeries. Syn does." She said, sounding annoyed. 

   "But that doesn't make any sense," Neaves said. 

   "I don't particularly care if it does or not." She said as she finally pulled herself back away from Neaves' face. "Now you are going to open your mouth and swallow what I'm about to put in it." 

   "What?" Neaves sounded as skeptical as she was astonished. 

   "Open," Azu said, grabbing her jaw and opening it as she dropped something into her mouth and closed it. Keeping her mouth shut with both her hands. "Swallow."

   Whatever she put into her mouth was disgusting. Bitter, sour, tasting like week-old rotten meat. She tried to swallow, but couldn't make herself do so. Azu tipped her head back, but Neaves' instincts rebelled. 

   Shaking her head, Azu pressed her lips against Neaves'. The shock of it made her forget just enough; she swallowed as Azu broke from her. Though she promptly shut her mouth again, and immediately knew why as her stomach turned. "Keep it down, girl, just a little longer." She got up off Neaves and turned her head away from her as she promptly vomited.

   "What the fuck was that?" Neaves demanded, wiping the bile from her lips with the back of her hand. 

   "Medicine," Azu said as she softly pressed her lips to Neaves' again, just the briefest kiss before rising to her full height to stand over the Mistwalker. The grin on her face was equal parts malice as it was glee. 

   "Why do you keep doing that?" Neaves asked, touching a finger to her lips. Growing annoyed that this woman could possibly be the Azu she knew. 

   "It gets your attention." She said, suddenly sounding bored. 

   "As if I couldn't. Standing here naked like that. Pressing your tits in my face like that, giving me a full look at you. Are you enjoying this?" Neaves was still annoyed, not particularly caring that this was her goddess. 

   "I would be enjoying myself a lot more if Syn weren't constantly in my head telling me no." She leaned down and whispered with a sultry tone, "And I'd be the best thing you'd ever know."

"Besides," She said, rising to her full height again, "You needed help. You were nearly out of blood by the time you stumbled in this muck. Broken bones, bullet wounds, a concussion, burns, and a fair bit of blunt force trauma." 

   Neaves sat looking up at Azu for a long moment before asking. "Why?" 

   She popped her hip out to the side, a pensive gesture she pantomimed as if she were on stage, tapping her lip while she thought. "Why do I do anything? That is a better question. I have everything I want; your mortal souls don't hold any actual interest to me." She glared down at Neaves in a seeming personality shift. "As I have already said."

   Neaves tried to lift her arm to a more comfortable position, but only succeeded in falling over away from the tree she was being supported against. Though before her face went under the water, a shadowy thread held her head up, then righted her. "What is that?" She asked, never having seen magic like before. She had seen some casters amongst humans, but never anything that seemed to make shadows physical. Or so she thought.

   "You are nothing but questions, you remind me of my brother, cousin, sibling?" She seemed to be trying to find the right word, but all it did was confuse her even more. "Shared origin partner. Let's go with that." Azu said with a snap of her fingers. 

"But that is not something I am going to share with you. It is not a song you are ready for." Azu finished as she squatted in front of Neaves again to look in her eyes. The longer she talked with her goddess, the more Neaves began to think she wasn't quite right in the head. 

   "How did I end up here? How did you find me?" Neaves asked, despite being given the indication that Azu thought that was a pointless question.

   "You should count yourself lucky that you have your wings open to Syn's light. You foolish Faeries keep up that tradition of yours about not damaging your wings, and you'll never grow stronger. All because of a flippant response I gave centuries ago." Azu said with a wave of her hand, rolling her eyes. 

   A chill ran down her spine at that, swallowing a hard lump in her throat. Azu's black eyes flicked back to her. "What do you mean?" Neaves asked slowly. 

   "Your wings, much like your legs, need to be opened at some point, girl. Before this time, before this Tree, children would injure their wings often. Before you, Faeries had realized, Syn's light and influence would seep into you faster. The more damage to your wings, the faster they healed in the future, the more power you would sequester for yourself." Azu explained. 

   Neaves reached her good arm over, running a hand over the scar on her wing. The goddess's eyes followed the motion, but then she took the wing in her hand, examining it. Neaves swallowed again, "You mean to tell me that you always wanted us to damage our wings?" 

   "Syn did, yes. Have you ever noticed how your wings flake away scales? How they don't itch, how they don't feel pain? Have you ever opened your wings to the sun and felt you scar be the hottest part?" Azu asked, eyeing her intently now. Her voice shifted to something else. Like someone else was speaking. 

   "I couldn't let my children be exposed to the full light of the stars right away. Your wings burn only because they have never experienced their first real molt. You don't even have your antlers yet. Yes, the first time you hurt your wings, they were meant to shed and grow. With each passing damage, the brighter they glow, the more light they drink in, the more powerful you become when your body drinks in the starlight." This not-Azu said. 

   "So you want us to rip our wings, then sit under the night sky?" Neaves asked slowly. 

   "What do you think the sun is?" Azu asked with a look that made Neaves feel foolish. "It just happens to be The Cradle's resident star."

   She wanted to ask what the Cradle was, but kept her mouth shut. There was just simply too much going on at the moment, too many questions, too much strangeness. But, she asked anyway. "So my torn wing kept me going?" 

   "Amongst several other things." She sounded like the other Azu again, the one who seemed far more interested in obscene commentary. "Your ability to keep going despite the injuries you had, your sense of direction and intuition for safety, and as a beacon for me to hunt you down." She counted off on her fingers, but still held up two more fingers. Looking back at the bemused Mistwalker, she waved her hand and said. "You are not ready to hear the other four."

   Neaves furrowed her brow, certain now that Azu was nuts. "Why do you keep calling me a Faerie? I am a Mistwalker. Don't you know that?" 

   She only cocked her head at Neaves, a blank look on her face. "A what? Is that a name you've given yourselves?" She blinked and shook her head a little before continuing, "Forget I said that. It has been a long time since I've spoken to one of her children directly. Syn is usually the one who does the talking."

   Resolving to herself that the goddess she had worshipped since a little girl was fully out of her mind, she smacked her cheek as if trying to wake up from a bad dream. But when she opened her eyes again, Azu was still in front of her, watching her with an odd look. "Fine, why are you two giving me visions of that woman?" 

   "Oh, I can't tell you, or I should say I won't. But," Azu's skin began flowing from her body, reshaping itself as Neaves tried to keep her stomach down again, until what stood before her was a perfect copy of the little goblin woman. Though her goddess apparently had a penchant for nudity, as Neaves’ cheeks flushed hotly, the goblin woman was wearing nothing, the same as Azu. 

"If you want a better look at her," Azu did a slow twirl for Neaves, letting her look at anything she wanted as she stretched into various positions. She wasn't very well endowed in the chest, but she certainly had a shapely back end. Her ears were almost like a rabbit's, but wider, and fuzzier, hanging out to the side of her head. But, Azu dropped them down as Neaves didn't comment, eliciting a different look on her face as Neaves blushed again from the adorable expression on the goblin's face. Standing up, she only reached Neaves' eyes; she guessed she was maybe four feet tall. 

"She certainly is well built," Azu said as she felt her stomach, her shoulders, and her arms. Running her hands along her rump, she gave them a slap. "Very well built." 

   "Do you know what her name is?" Neaves asked as she tried to ignore the feeling of seeing her as this caused her. 

   "Nope." She said as her voice shifted to a different pitch, not sounding like Azu at all. It was softer, higher-pitched, lilting. Sounding exactly like she had been in her last dream. 

   Neaves swallowed, reaching a hand out to rest on the goblin’s hip. Azu cocked her head again, an evil grin spitting the goblin's face. "Can you change back? I, I don't know what to think at the moment. This is more distracting than just seeing you."

   "In that case, no." She smiled viciously again. Walking up closer to Neaves, her chest touching her arm. Hands on her hips, Neaves noticed now that she had a braid that nearly dragged on the ground, though in this swamp, the tip floated on the surface of the water. "You should drink your fill, girl. She may not be as willing as I am. You think about her an awful amount." She purred. 

   Sitting down in her lap, painfully shifting her broken arm with the motion. She began picking at Neaves' wings, crinkling them in her small hands. An act that made Neaves go pale, damaging her wings at all, went against everything she had ever been taught. But, as she worked, she did note that it didn't actually hurt, feeling more like she was stretching a muscle. "Why do you continue to sit in this water?" She asked after a while, leaning back and reaching for her other wing. 

   Neaves noted the well-toned muscles on her, watching her breasts as she worked her wing. Looking at her eyes that reminded her of a clear night sky, the entire time, Azu shot her looks and moved to keep her eyes on her. Neaves shook her head, grabbed Azu by the waist, and got her legs under her. Lifting herself out of the murk, the goblin held in the crook of her arm. "Well now, this is certainly a bit of roleplaying I could get used to." Azu teased. 

   Setting her down, she tried to increase the fire in her wings to dry them out. Tried, being the operative word, they refused to listen to her. Looking down at the grinning little nymph, she frowned. "Why won't my wings work?"

   "Oh no! They don't want to do what you want?" Azu said with no small amount of sarcasm. "Whatever will you do? Just now finding out that I am nothing like you thought, that your twisted and erroneous traditions limit your growth, and now your magic doesn't work?"

   "You could just tell me," Neaves said, being unable to use both her arms. She tried to cross her good arm, but only managed to be able to grip her broken one with her good hand, making her look more nervous than annoyed. 

   "You have a lot of nerve telling me what I could or couldn't do," Azu said impishly. "I am still a goddess." 

   "You still haven't answered," Neaves said flatly. 

   Azu puffed out the goblin's chest and walked uncomfortably close to her. "Your wings need to shed their scales after that damage, then they need to drink in a full day's worth of light. All that filtered light that barely manages to make its way into the Valley was never enough as it was." 

   "It's just beginning to be sunrise, so that shouldn't be too hard," Neaves said confidently. 

   It was Azu's turn to frown, "That isn't the sun peeking through the trees."

   She turned back to look in the direction of the light, only now smelling the smoke on the wind. Her eyes went wide as what she was looking at dawned on her. "What?"

   "Witness the fruits of your overly ambitious attempt to escape. That airship you downed did quite a number on the farms around the city. I imagine with a bit of support from their allies, they won’t starve, but there will be quite a few people hungry because of you." Azu said. She was looking down over the hills just outside the City, the swamp was higher up than she had first imagined. What she mistook for the sunrise was an inferno crawling its way over the countryside. 

Azu stepped up beside her, in her previous form again. Reaching over, she shut Neaves' open mouth with a finger. "This won't change much, but you certainly did give these humans ample reason to suspect that you, what did you call yourselves? Ah, Mistwalkers. That you, Mistwalkers, are enemies. Congratulations."

   She sank to her knees; she didn't want this. She only made things worse the second she tried to do what she thought was right. "What can I do now?" Neaves asked. 

   A hand drifted to her shoulder, turning to look at Azu, she fell back in shock. It wasn't Azu, it was anything but her. Everything about her was light: her skin, her eyes, the nubs where her wings should be. That slowed her thoughts just enough to register that Azu was standing just behind her, she was holding some dark orb in her hands as the world grew silent around them. This new woman had antlers framing her face, though she was also nude, she felt none of the pull that Azu had. Her wings were nothing but nubs where they looked like they had been chewed off, though Azu's eyes burned with that same golden light that this woman seemed to be made of. 

   "Who are you?" Neaves asked nervously, nearly forgetting the horror behind her, nearly. 

The woman smiled as the weight of familiarity washed over her. Neaves suddenly knew her name without needing to be told it. "My name is Syn. You are one of my Children." She said sweetly as she brushed one of her curly locks out of her eyes. "There will be soldiers coming soon. They saw where you crashed, but not where you went. You need to find the goblin village; you will find a friend there. One with far more influence than she realizes." 

   "But, who am I looking for? I don't have a name, I don't have a map, I don't have anything beyond those visions!" Neaves was starting to reach her limit of weird shit for the day. 

   Syn sat next to her, pressing a hand between her wings, filling her with an odd feeling. As her broken arm snapped together painlessly, her wings shed nearly every scale they had instantly. Leaving just the thinner papery flesh beneath them as she felt a new power fill her. What Azu had said dawned on her, let light fill your wings. Sunlight. This woman was made of sunlight. 

   "Go, Child. There won't be much time for thinking while you still need to escape to safety. Take those clothes that Ryhs gave you, and hide your wings as best you can. Try to find a refugee group to fall into." She rose and offered a hand to Neaves. 

   Taking it, she was lifted to her feet. "Just remember, daughter of mine. Love exists in this world; it takes many forms, and the beauty of this grand symphony will show itself. You are strong, you are beautiful, and you are resilient. I could not ask for a better champion, Neaves Emberwing. Now go, just try and remember what Afjie taught you, leave the rhetoric behind." 

   Her head swam with such an odd sendoff. Why was she talking about love and beauty? But Neaves didn't have time as she saw the lanterns hunting through the swamp, the shouts of men, and the barks of hounds reached her ears. 

   As she bolted back down the hill toward the inferno, Azu asked Syn a rather pointed question. "When did you grow strong enough to escape me?" 

   Turning to her, she smiled brightly, "Escape? I need you, Shadow. I have been this strong for quite some time, but I don't feel any need to leave your side."

   Neaves could hear the klaxons in the distance now that she was starting to regain her senses. If she ran toward the fires, she figured they wouldn't bother looking through an area that had been thoroughly scorched. Still, a guilty weight settled in her stomach, thinking about the amount of damage she had just done. 

   Not pausing to let herself think about it any longer, swallowing the feeling down. She ran toward the south, her wings wouldn't work right now anyway, but it wouldn't have been wise to get that far up and be choked to death by the smoke. Every farmhouse was in flames, families standing outside just watching them burn. 

   That stone in her belly was only getting heavier the more she passed as she continued sprinting. Her years of having to keep up with Erlin, having to build her stamina to deal with Ryhs, was putting itself to good use. She didn't stop until dawn had truly begun to rise, just beginning to see the early morning sky over the Ilori. 

   On the outskirts of the farmlands, pausing just long enough to calm her breathing, thanking the gods she was given such long legs. That thought made her pause, Azu. She was nothing like what Neaves remembered on the spire, or in Zelthuma. That thing was rapacious, sultry, and all too comfortable with using her body. But that other woman, she felt like what she remembered. 

   Shaking her head, she took one of the long shawls out that Ryhs had given her, and tucked her wings and hair under it. Though her wings did fold up to a much larger degree, she had to make a conscious effort to do so. Already feeling the muscles in her back begin to whine at the exertion. "This is going to be a long walk." Neaves sighed to herself. 

   She already figured out for herself that flying was out of the question. With this many humans around, she doubted that she could keep her wings outstretched long enough without someone finding her. Hiding in a forest wouldn't do, not enough light, one of the open fields would get her spotted immediately. She figured she would have to wait. 

   Though as she became lost in thought, her mind drifted to getting her first good look at that goblin woman. But, even as she thought about it, her face went red the more she did so. Shaking her head, walking to the edge of one of the forests surrounding the burning fields. Back against the nearest tree so she could watch the road without being seen herself, taking stock of her condition. 

   The adrenaline had faded long ago, despite what Azu had done to her and whatever that Syn woman had done. She still felt like she took the ass end of an ass kicking, her arm still hurt, her wings rumpled like they were, her legs burned. True dawn was still some hours off, she figured she'd be safe enough to close her eyes and rest. 

***

Year of Wrath 1232, Season of life Pyria

   I was awake most of the night, and he showed up again. Though I kissed him through the window, I told him no. It hurt to reject him tonight; the confusion in his eyes made me hesitate, but I stole myself anyway. Pushing him back out the window, telling him not to come back for a week. 

   Though he asked me why, I hadn't thought about that before he asked. Forcing me to make something up on the spot. "Afjie almost caught us last time, she told me she heard something in my room and thought about coming in to check on me." That was when I pressed my lips to his, "Just, give it a little time." 

   Replaying the look on his face over and over all night. My belly was starting to bloat, not enough for anyone but me to notice, but options were running out. "It would be safer," I told myself. 

   I still considered taking him with me, but the other warriors would try to hunt him down. He would be considered a deserter and brought back and punished. I wondered if we could move fast enough; could we make it to the valley's edge before they caught up? My wings were larger, and I was faster than he, but he wouldn't be used to flying at the altitudes we needed to use to get away quickly. 

   The light slowly crawled into the room from the window as dawn rose over the valley. Sitting up, looking at myself in the mirror. Paling as I did so, a sudden wave of nausea washed over me. The next thing I remember was Mother Afjie holding my hair back as I retched into a bucket. 

   It went on for a few days, Afjie and Ryhs were worried sick, to them I was just Ill. But I remembered seeing Erlin's eyes, a quiet knowledge in them. When the others weren't looking, he shook his head and left. I considered telling Mother the actual truth, but I think I'd rather die of embarassment that admit to what I had been doing. 

   As Afjie set a cool towel on my head, ushering me back into bed. Sitting by my bedside day and night now, while she had Ryhs mix various remedies and herbal treatments for me to take. Nothing she could have done would have "cured" me; then again, it wasn't something I wanted "cured".

***

Year of Wrath 1232, Season of life D.12 Bhal

   Suleiman set his hands on the table, the battle maps spread out before him like a great game. His generals were making speculations and plans as they moved various pieces around the map. Huron was going to be their main focus, that battered old city. Suleiman moved a battalion to the Lamia Outpost, marking the settlement with a red X. 

   His generals stopped speaking, watching as he moved several battleships to block off the Ilori Sea just south of the Gnomish blockade in the Palagus. Moving the battalion inside the outpost to rest just south of Huron's official borders, that low wall that marked the separation from the Caliphate and the rest of the world would pose no barrier; it was symbolic as it was. 

   "We will take the outpost first. This entire insult began with that town; we will offer them the graceful hand of the Caliphate." The Sultan began, moving the armored division behind their infantry. "Make them believe that we intend to attack their southern border." 

Eyeing his generals, he continued. "Huron is still nothing more than a broken gateway from the last Great War. Though she will be no easy prize to take. Their walls may be crumbling, but those aircraft guns can be aimed in the skies as well as the ground. Therefore, we will not be sending any air support to the infantry on the ground."

   One of his generals spoke up, "What of the ships in the Ythri? Should we not send those battleships to assault the city from offshore?"

   "There have been reports that there was an incident in the farm lands around the city. A large portion of the harvest has gone up in smoke. We could simply starve them out." Another general said. 

   The room went quiet. Every one of his generals kowtowing to something behind the Sultan, Suleiman closed his eyes and turned as well. Bowing to Bhal, a golden spear in his hands as his horns nearly brushed against the ceiling of the room. He ignored them, walking over to study the map laid out so plainly. 

   His voice like a roaring fire, he commented. "Why not a bit of misdirection." It wasn't so much a comment as it was a statement. He rearranged the warships in the River Ythri so that they blocked the Ilori Sea differently, not so much containment, as it was a message. "Fortify the supply lines, invade from the east."

   He turned his attention to the formations south of the City, and an evil grin split his lips. "Make a full assault on Huron from the south. I do not anticipate that you will succeed, even if their city is feeble and broken. Force them to believe that we intend to reattempt the last maneuver that the Romach failed to achieve. I have good information that the Sages will not be there to save them this time." 

Finally he spotted the X on the outpost, and rested a proud hand on Suleiman's shoulder. "Good, good, that will solidify your hold in the region." 

   "They may not believe that is what is being planned, my lord." Suleiman began, "We are tracking down spies as we speak, it may be difficult to have them believe we would strike them from their strongest point like that. I merely placed a single battalion and armored division there to reinforce the border." 

   "Send a legitimate army, make a genuine attempt on the southern border, and dig in. It will distract them from these." Bhal said resting a finger on the map where the Gnomish blockade was. He thought of the plan Xelex had described, deciding that it would be worth following that advice for now. "Take both Mistsdale and Ithrica while the assault on Huron's walls begin. Your forces are not strong enough yet to do much, we will send more support after the invasion in the east." 

   His generals began moving various pieces around to accommodate that plan, sending a regiment north to begin assaulting Zelthuma as well. Moving them closer to a legitimate port they could use in Trynima. As well as setting up preparations for dealing with the Valley. "An attack from the east would take them off guard." Suleiman said scratching his chin.

   "That isn't the point." Bhal said darkly. "Use the valley as a shooting gallery, make yourself known, and draw them in. Annihilate their forces as they come to take the valley themselves, stretch their forces thin and redouble the efforts from the south." 

   His generals grew pale, as Suleiman looked up to his lord. "We would be sending thousands into a meat grinder."

   "An excellent diversion and a bit of propaganda to use." Bhal said with a sinister sneer. "Plant false intelligence in those spies you are hunting, make this plan disappear to them. I'm sure the information will get to where you need it to." And with that, he left the humans to enact his will.

   Closing his eyes, his mind filling with that shared memory between them all, thrashing claws, the pain, the terror, the enveloping darkness. Yet the thing they always remembered the clearest was her face, those cold purple eyes like the night sky. Bhal had to calm himself as he let his fury bubble to the surface. "That was a long time ago. I got what I wanted." 

   Though he said the words, another memory rose in his mind. Xelex had sauntered pompously into one of his dealings with his human cattle. With a snap of his fingers, they left the throne room. "My, my, my, how bloodthirsty you've gotten. Don't let it fill your belly before the main feast has even begun."

   "What do you want Xelex." Bhal asked as he set the reports and map he was studying aside. 

   He said nothing as he strode up to Bhal and took the materials from him before he even finished setting them down. His eyes moving across the words far faster than any living being could have hoped to. "You cannot reveal yourself to the wider world yet, fool." 

   "I will do as I please." Bhal snarled at his brother, only to have a tendril of darkness slam him to the ground and wrap itself around his throat.

   "Oh, no you won't." Xelex said, his face devoid of emotion. "You will not undo my own plans with that fury of yours. You do what you plan to do in these and you will have this little pet project of your crumble faster than I could kill you, again." He added with a sneer as the tendril constricted tighter. 

But, it released Bhal a moment later as the Shadow gasped for air. Xelex only continued. "If you wanted total war, do so. But, this military escapade would only end the same way as last time, proving your former tactics just as pointless." 

   "Then tell me what why you came here." Bhal answered, his eyes glowing with barely contained fire. 

   Xelex smiled wickedly. "There are a few cities you should take first, then a certain valley would become an excellent choak point." 

End of Book 3