Techromancy Scrolls: Soras (5 page)

He held his hand up to prevent Celeste and Fredrick's protestations. “And it sounds as if Mother Udele has been removed from the domain of Wexbury, so her rescue cannot be performed by the Knights of Wexbury.”

He exhaled. “I can send word to Solomon and the other keeps to be on the lookout.”

I was starting to get angry, we needed to save Udele and he was playing politics.

I almost blurted out something that more than likely would have had me put in the stockades as the man smirked at the look on my face and held his hand up to stop me as he added, “But I am sure that if visiting dignitaries requested a diplomatic escort of say... three?”

He left it hanging and Celeste caught on before I did and said, “Four.”

He amended, “Of four capable knights from Wexbury, the crown would have no choice but to endorse it. If those dignitaries happened to be in search of a missing member of their clan, then who am I to meddle in their private business? With my endorsement, they would have free passage through the realms.”

Celeste poked her head out into the hall and called loudly, “Verna, fetch Tennison!”

She stepped back into the room as Doc started examining Dru's wound again. Everyone was looking expectantly at me. Celeste was just grinning at me. What? Oh! I got it. I felt a little dimwitted and blushed and then stood tall as I faced the Prince.

I said, “Prince George of the Altii, the Lupei family formally requests a diplomatic escort through the lands of Sparo for an unspecified amount of time.”

He blinked innocently. “Why Sora Laney of the Lupei, it would be my pleasure to accommodate you and Sora Celeste of the Lupei in this endeavor.”

I grinned at the man, this was all just silly, but I knew it was a serious game of politics and he was walking a tightrope here.

Behind me, Doc Maxwell muttered, “Just amazing,”

I looked back at him as he looked up at me.

“The man is virtually healed. It looks to be about two weeks along in the process.”

Dru gave a cheesy grin and winked at me. I had to chuckle at the cheeky man. Then he got a serious look on his face and shared, “The war council expects you there in four days, or they will vote in a person of their choosing to speak for the Lupei. They want to send a war party to liberate my clan as the first order of business.”

The Duke spoke, “If our men travel to the mountains to free the camp, that will take two days. You'll reach Heaven's Gate with time to spare.”

Celeste nodded her agreement.

Then Prince stepped up to Alexandru, who pushed past Doc's restraining hands to stand and don his purple, blood-soaked tunic. Prince George said in a gravely serious tone, “Alexandru of the Lupei, I give my word as ruler of the Altii, that the attack on your people and subsequent abduction of your leader was in no way sanctioned by the crown. We will do all in our power to seek out those who perpetrated this heinous act and bring them to justice. I will give you a writ stating such before you leave Wexbury Keep.”

He offered his arm and Dru took the man's measure and then gave his aloof smile and nodded they grasped forearms.

The Prince said, “Let us feast tonight as the Knights prepare for travel at first light of Father Sol.”

Dru nodded and started to walk to the door with my Liege.

Max called out, “Where are you going, young man? I don't recommend you leaving bed yet.”

Dru winked at the man. “Thank you for all you have done for me healer, but I will be fine by morning. We Lupei are a hardy bunch.”

Then we all followed our friend and the Prince out of the hospital with a protesting doctor behind us the whole way. The huge church bell chimed out noon, and I looked to the clock in the tower. Sir Tennison was just galloping up on his steed beside Verna at the last reverberating dong settled across the village.

He dismounted and bowed to the Royals. Then the Duke said in a strong voice for all the people in the market who were gawking at the spectacle, “Sir Tennison, I need you to assemble a force to free the Lupei family of Mountain Gypsies on the lands of Wexbury from an encroaching force that has them under siege. And escort their visiting dignitaries to Heaven's Gate.”

He continued, “You are then to return to the Keep, leaving behind a diplomatic escort composed of four knights of their choice to guard them as they travel the lands of Sparo.”

The Prince nodded. “Nicely done Fred.”

The Duke grinned back. “Not my first rodeo.”

Tennison looked confused and asked, “Dignitaries?”

Princess Everly said like it was obvious, with a mischievous grin on her face, “Why the gypsy princesses, Sora Laney, and Sora Celeste of course.”

Tennison rubbed his hand over his face in exasperated resignation. “Why do I feel a clusterfuck coming on?” To the royal women for his language, he quickly said, “Apologies.”

Everyone laughed at the huge man's confusion. Celeste rolled her eyes at him. “Come on big man, I'll fill you in privately at the castle before we feast.”

I went to follow but then gleeped as I was tugged back to take Princess Everly's arm. She said in a conspiratorial tone as she looked around at all my confused friends and family, “Let them discuss all that monotonous planning, you must tell me about your adventures with the Lupei. I have heard so many rumors.” She grinned at Dru and looped his arm too and dragged us toward the market, half the Knights peeling off with her.

She called back, “You have fun planning violence dear George, I find it tedious. We will see you at the feast.”

The man just chuckled and called back, “May the Lord have mercy on your soul Laney.”

A few of the Highland Knights chuckled at that. I just blushed and went with the most powerful woman in all the lands.

The next morning, Celeste and I found ourselves heading out the gates and riding hard toward the west, with a rescue expedition of twelve Knights of the Realm, and six archers. Dru and Tennison, the sole Techno Knight of the group, lead the charge. The last deep rumble of the Keep's war horn rolling across the lands in our wake.

I had to look down at myself then over to my Lady. It felt so very odd riding out to battle without our armor. Instead, we wore brightly colored gypsy garments in yellows and deep purples and greens. Our only protections were our heavily spelled riding cloaks and the sloppy and weak charms that Dru had shown me how to construct on our clothing.

They only had a fraction of the power that I could feel from the wispy magics the true Touched had placed on our cloaks. But Dru was not of the Touched, so could only instruct me to the extent his sister had explained to him. Even so, I was amazed that the magics persisted after I constructed each charm. Though it resulted in blurred, poorly constructed runes imbued into the clothing, in that glowing, misty white magic of the spirit. I placed as many protective and luck charms as I could on them until I was exhausted.

I almost sighed when I looked at Celeste, she looked great in anything and didn't look silly in the brightly colored garb like I did. Her fiery mane billowed back in the wind of our passing, with her deadly looking sword in its scabbard on her back peeking out from under her cloak, making her look dangerously seductive. Like a vengeful wraith, full of fire and beauty.

I glanced at the four knights that bracketed us, or personal diplomatic escort. To our right, were, of course, Verna and Bowyn. The second and fourth best with a sword in the entire realm; Tennison being the first and Celeste the third. We wouldn't have been able to convince Verna to stand aside in this mission, she was Celeste's best friend and would not let us attempt this on our own. And Bowyn has been Celeste's partner since he was assigned to her the day she became a knight.

Verna had a fierce look on her face, and the long scar which cut diagonally across her face made her look even more dangerous than her bulging muscles.

To our left, I had to grin, Bex in his clockwork looking armor with all of his gadgets and wires sprouting out everywhere. And Kristof rounded out our escort, where his wife, Verna goes, as well does he.

They all looked somehow distinguished with their modified sashes, that held the crest of Wexbury and the prominent royal seal of Highland, giving then free passage throughout all the realms and complete autonomy by decree of the crown.

I glanced back, at another of the 'volunteers'. When the mission was announced after the grand feast last night, the entire mobile battalion to the man had stepped up to volunteer to liberate the Lupei clan. I could see Celest's pride for her knights glowing in her eyes at that. They had to draw lots to see who would be selected.

I'm quite sure, part of the draw was fixed as I smiled at our newest knight who got her commission just days after Bex and me. Lady Brenda rode high in her saddle. She had been in our small group of squires before the mission to Far Reach. Brenda, Bex, and I were advanced quickly because of our contributions to the battle.

She saw me looking and gave me a smile and a wink. I grinned back at her. She and our dear Lord Bexington are set to be betrothed on the fall solstice in two months. That was as improbable of a match as Celeste and I were, the strong and capable Brenda, and our scatterbrained intellectual, Bex. He the brains, her the brawn. But in the past two years, he has come a long way. He was still gangly and clumsy, but his pimpled complexion had cleared up and there was some muscle on the young man's body now. The two were good friends to have.

The other person I'm sure was in on the fix was Lord Peter, the most accomplished archer in the realm. Stories abound about him never missing his target except for one tale of him missing a buck in a hunt. He supposedly missed on purpose when he saw a cougar was on the scent before him. He said that he would not steal from the mouth of another. I grin like a loon every time that story was passed around, as it was really me that knocked his arm so that the mountain lioness could make the kill. It was her buck, not ours.

He wiggled his eyebrows when he saw me twisting back to look at everyone. I bit back a chuckle at the man, then furrowed my brow as I started to notice something. I turned in my saddle to look at the knights in front of us. I glanced at Celeste, who was watching my realization with a smug smile on her face.

I whispered, “It was fixed!” I had realized that it wasn't just our friends that had somehow had their names drawn. Every surviving member of the Far Reach campaign was among the rescue detail.

She whispered, “They all feel a strong connection to the Lupei, we had spent so much time with them on the road as you recovered. I would deny none their desire to assist our friends.”

Alexandru had faded back like he knew what we were discussing and said loudly, with a smirk on his face, “Hello my Soras, what might you be talking about in hushed tones?”

I scrunched up my face and waggled a fist at the ass of a man. This got a hearty laugh from him. I'm pretty sure Celeste gave him the one finger salute since she looked a little too innocent when I turned back toward her.

Then Celeste complained, “I feel naked without my armor.”

He brightened at that and told me in Gypsy in a matter of fact, teasing tone, “I'd like to see her naked.”

I had Goliath side step next to him and I backhanded his gut hard and admonished in the tongue of the People, “Eyes off, pretty boy, she's taken.” I bit back an 'ow'. It almost felt almost like hitting Tennison, his abdomen muscles were so dense. But I grinned at his reaction as he exhaled with a wince. I had hit his almost fully healed wound and it was still a little tender. Good. Celeste was mine.

I gave him a satisfied grin and he laughed heartily again. Mother Luna, you couldn't help but smile at the playful man. Celeste was chuckling at us mock fighting over her. I blushed at her reaction and urged Goliath a little faster, making them have to hustle to keep pace. Giving me the last word on the subject.

When we were deep in the Whispering Forest, we slowed the pace to give the horses a break. I thought about last night after the feast. Celeste had asked if I wanted to take a walk. After we turned down the Crossbar from Lord's Way, I cocked an eyebrow in question at her. We hadn't spoken much, I was just enjoying our closeness.

It was getting close to the last chime, the bells of the church would be silent after ten o'clock when she turned me onto a familiar lane in Cheap Quarter. My smile grew as she looked down at me. Then she whispered as we walked along under the street lamps, “Look around, what do you see?”

I looked around, my old lane looked the same as any other night. There was light coming out of the windows of most of the stone cottages, some spilling out under the doors. People were hustling about getting ready for bed after a day of work and the celebration feast. At the double lots, the gardeners and herders were stowing their gear and buttoning up their animals.

I shrugged as she stopped me in front of my old cottage. It had been the only home I had known my entire life before a certain red haired Techno Knight stepped into it, back when I was simply Laney Herder, chicken farmer.

“Look closer,” Celeste said.

I glanced around and saw Hank Herder, the new master of the chicken farm that used to be my family's through the little window in the cottage, sitting down at a little table with his new wife for dinner. I blinked as I realized that the light was not flickering. Instead of oil lamps, the cottage was lit by electric light.

I turned to look at a couple other cottages sprinkled around that were lit by the same steady light. Then at the strings street lamps that had wires strung down the lane, not connected to any ceramic, magic spark containment vessels.

She whispered, “Your grand experiment. They all now enjoy the modern convenience of electricity, given freely by the Hawktail River that breathes life into the land of Wexbury.”

Then she let go of my hand and pulled me in front of her. Her eyes twinkled in the street lamps and the light of the Three Sisters in the sky. “You gave that to them, my impossible Herder.”

Then our lips met. My toes curled as my body heated up in desire, every kiss felt like the first time and I couldn't believe that this wonderful woman had chosen me, Laney Herder, as her own.

I glanced bashfully over at her as I forced the memory away. She cocked her head in question, a warm smile on her lips. I just shook my head at her and returned the smile.

We stopped just past noon, to rest the horses, feed and water them, and to have lunch. As we all sat around eating rations of cornbread, jerky, and apples, Dru asked about our exploits since we last saw him. Celeste smirked and nudged me and motioned her eyes toward Bex.

She was so bad, but apparently, so was I as I grinned at the man and started telling him of Bex's Folly. The day he tested his idea at an electric motor powered wagon that wound up with him chest deep in Dragontooth Lake as the wagon slowly sank.

Bex was all grins and a good sport about it as Tennison laughed loudly and slapped the poor boy on the back. We joke about it but it was actually truly brilliant, his tinkering had brought about many innovations like the Auto-Wagons, the portable electric torches, or PETs, and the powered blades that half of the knights in our party wielded.

Though for every success, there were a dozen failures, and they were usually such spectacular failures that we are amazed he always walks away from them unscathed. Many of the brightest scholars of the realm, including Prime Techromancer Donovan, are secretly keeping tabs on the brainy man and are quick to adapt any advancements he makes that they deem helpful to the realm. In a much more refined and safe implementation of course.

He has some grand experiment of his own in a new warehouse in the warehouse district that he won't even let his beloved Brenda into. He is always moving materials and supplies into the structure.

Bex got his revenge after I finished the tale, and he said, “Has everyone heard the story of our Lady Laney's first attempt at using the Gypsy magic she has been gifted with.”

I shook a finger at him and said, “Don't you dare!”

Celeste chuckled as she took a bite of the apple.

He just gave me an evil looking grin and started telling of one of my most embarrassing moments and my inadvertent swim in Beggar's Creek. He and Brenda were along with Celeste and me, doing a sweep of the Grove. The little island of land to the East of the castle walls, between the Hawktail and Beggar's Creek. They were a Treasure of the Realm, given to the people by my Lady.

We had finished our sweep when Bex had asked me about the ghosting effect I left behind when I exerted myself. We had just reached the bank of the creek and I turned back to him on Goliath and shrugged as I explained, “It has something to do with the Gypsy magic of the spirit. I can't control it yet.”

So I had tried to call it forth to see if I could build the power up like I did my Techromancer power. Someone who is not magic sensitive cannot perceive Techromancer power, but if there is enough power of the spirit gathered in one place, even a non-magic user could see it.

But I learned that day that unlike the magic I had grown used to, it persisted after you called it up, instead of just vanishing into the ether we call it up from.

I gathered a ball of the bright white mist into my hand to show him. He and Brenda looked at it in amazement, since magic to them was something they understood but could never witness, so to be able to actually see it, they had been amazed.

I had smiled at them then released it. But instead of dissipating it remained in place, then pulsed and pushed outward, striking me and sending me tumbling over backward off my saddle to come splashing down into the creek.

Bex was almost giggling as he finished up the story. “We were all knocked off our mounts, Lady Laney was unceremoniously dumped into the creek. It took us a bit as we were all laughing to realize that the poor girl hadn't come up for air. Her armor was weighing her down. A chuckling Celeste waded into the water and reached down and pulled a gasping Laney out of the water.”

I blushed as all gathered laughed at the story. Celeste smugly took another bite of the apple. She was one to laugh, a similar thing happened to her when she was but a squire. I cleared my throat to get Bex's attention as I patted the hilt of Anadele. He swallowed then gave a toothy grin. I couldn't help but smile back at the man as the laughter around us doubled.

To take the focus off of me, I asked Dru what misadventures he had gotten himself into since we parted ways with him. Let me tell you, the man could spin a yarn, most of which I knew were greatly exaggerated if his past stories were any indicator.

But he kept us amused until we broke camp and headed toward the looming peaks of the Whispering Walls in the distance. At the pace we were traveling, we'd arrive at the Lupei camp by mid-morning.

As Father Sol was dipping low in the sky, we could see the lights of a large settlement from a rise. It was nestled in a clearing in the canopy of a clump of deciduous trees that broke up the conifer trees of the forest at irregular intervals.