Heirs of power, p.17
Heirs of Power, page 17
part #1 of Constellation Series
Tears sprung to the girl’s eyes, “I don’t want it, if I could give it back…”
“Not back,” He sighed. “It was yours all along- it is your birth-right. Goodbye and good fortune.”
He gave each of them a handshake, looking drawn and desolate and somehow smaller than he had before. Ellie made him bend down and threw her arms around his neck, and Kitty noticed that she must have got attached to him pretty quickly. When she finally released him his eyes rested on her for a second, and then he turned and left.
“I can’t even use a sword,” Mianna said airily.
“Ever tried, love?” Asher asked.
The girl just shook her head.
“Then how do you know?” The Juggler queried.
Mianna twisted her fingers together nervously and shrugged. Kitty knew how intimidating her rough-looking companion could be, and she stepped over and put her arm around the newest Constellation, “Don’t worry about it for now, we are all constantly practicing and improving. The good thing is you will be a natural because there’s part of you that already knows how to do it, so we just have to sync that with the rest of you.”
“We need to prepare your travelling things and armour,” Charles said gently. “There are only a few hours of daylight left and you need to put as much distance between yourselves and here as possible.”
“If I have to have armour, I want the one I designed,” Mianna said.
“You have to have armour and it will be your official set,” Charles told her as he led her once more.
“Noooooo. It’s too hot and it makes me look like a man,” She complained.
“Mistress Mianna, your own is fine for wearing on-site, but it is too flimsy. A pleated metal skirt that barely comes to your knees and a breastplate doesn’t even protect…” He gestured airily at his chest, searching desperately for the words, “… Your heart. It doesn’t protect your heart.”
“I’m going to die anyway...” The Swordsman whispered, eyes filling rapidly with tears.
“Do not say such things, Mistress,” Charles said gently.
“Why? My dad did- and he should know.”
“The Guild Master is a formidable man, but no-one knows everything. Within you is the ability to be just as formidable as he… Do not forget that you share the very thing that made him so unique to begin with.”
Mianna didn’t look too convinced and they continued on in silence until they came to the armoury. Charles unlocked it and led them all in to the place where the Cavalliah’s personal equipment was kept.
The sight was mind-blowing. Mannequins sported the most incredible quality armour, with Darias’ main set stood out front and centre: colossal, blood-red, locking pieces that would transform him into a juggernaut. There were even child-sized suits, delicate and decorative, that were more for ceremonial purpose than warfare. Swords of all kinds hung from the walls, interspersed with a few daggers and the odd spear or lance. There were even a pair of longbows that Kitty would have drooled over before she had received her Lucidian gift.
“These are mine,” Mianna pointed out.
One mannequin sported the armour that Charles had so openly disapproved of, and Kitty could see why. It was practically a red summer dress made of metal, complete with matching calf-high, heeled booties. It was gimmicky but sweet, fine for a grown daughter of Darias Cavalliah to wear in public but next to useless in the middle of a real battle. The other however, was perfect protection for The Swordsman: a full suit made of small, dull silver scales, with each one individually edged in red. The Archer ran her finger along it, feeling the solid strength of the material and noting that every tiny plate flexed slightly to give the wearer decent freedom of movement alongside great defence.
Mianna looked pleadingly at Charles and clutched at her self-designed armour. He just shook his head wearily, to which the new-found Constellation pouted in response but slumped over to the more appropriate set and started taking it down. It didn’t take much time to prepare the rest of her gear, with travel essentials having already been gathered for her brother earlier that day.
The process would have taken a lot longer if she had been allowed to choose what clothing to bring but Charles wisely took control of that situation before it began by telling her to choose one nice dress to take, in case she needed it. He had finished packing several sets of practical wear in the time it had taken Mianna to narrow the choices down to seven dresses, and he then helped her to decide the winner. Afterwards, The Swordsman just had to don her armour and they were ready to go.
Kitty admired the blonde’s new look- it was just like she was wearing a dragon skin. Despite Mianna’s protest that it was too masculine, the armour was fairly form-fitting and even the helmet had sweeping curves befitting a teenage girl. Charles presented her with a metal shield that was slightly larger than a buckler, along with a slim longsword.
“This was the best fit I could find,” He told her. “Is it to your liking?”
She awkwardly strapped the shield to her left arm and reached nervously for the weapon. She instinctively held it correctly straight away, looking at it oddly.
“Swing it a little,” Charles said, stepping back. “Let me know if you want something with a different weight or length.”
“I don’t know…” The girl said, wriggling it in the air gingerly.
Suddenly Asher drew his own sword and slashed straight at Mianna’s face. Charles reacted instantly, tearing out the longsword on his hip. The guard may have been quick enough to intercept the blow… if The Swordsman hadn’t beaten him to it. She had driven the blade, which she was formerly holding so tentatively, into The Juggler’s attack and knocked his strike wide. Then she dropped it with a squeak and jumped back. Charles interposed himself between her and Asher, sword barely an inch from the taller man’s eye.
“Looks fine to me,” The Juggler said calmly, replacing his short sword.
Mianna was staring at her hands and nearly hyperventilating.
“That was uncalled for,” Serena said. “But I believe that Mianna can indeed use that weapon. May we be on our way now?”
“That was amazing! Great job, Mianna,” Kitty told the girl.
“But… how?”
“You’re The Swordsman. Trust me, this is only a glimpse of how powerful you’ll be,” The Archer smiled. “Looks like you won’t have too much trouble tapping into your abilities.”
“Okay,” Mianna replied, still apprehensive. “I’ll try.”
“I understand what it is you were setting out to achieve, but do not attempt to strike my mistress ever again. Especially whilst in my presence,” Charles levelled towards the smug-looking Juggler.
Asher just grinned back, completely disregarding the threat.
“We really have to go,” Kitty said, stepping between the two men.
“Indeed, Miss Fairlow. I shall escort you,” The guard had resumed his usual polite manner, although his gaze did remain fixed on The Juggler a second longer than necessary, driving his point home.
An official plan had not been formulated for what was to happen after they had found The Swordsman; everything had happened so strangely and unexpectedly that the group hadn’t had much opportunity to consider their next move. The few minutes between leaving Mianna’s room and getting to the exit was a scramble of ideas and arguments. No-one could put their finger on a good choice of strategy, and the only thing they all agreed on was that they had to go north, towards The Mystic.
“I hate to say this,” Asher finally said. “But we could just take the road and stay in the open. Any Tenebri loyalist with eyes and a brain’s picked out we’re here. They know our numbers, and maybe some of our abilities. If we go back in the woods and they sneak up on us, they’re gonna be at an advantage. ‘Least on the road we see what’s coming. This time of day most actual traders will already be at their destination, so we know if we see anyone travelling that we ought to keep an eye on them.”
“It’s risky, but so is anything else we choose to do,” Kitty considered.
“You’re gonna have to be on watch again, Archer. Up for that?” Asher asked.
“Sure, but I don’t have night vision unfortunately, so let’s get as far as we can while it’s still light. Unless any one else has any ideas?”
The other women shook their heads.
“It’s a good idea,” Ellie added.
“If The Astronomer says so, it’s probably for the best,” Asher pointed out.
They said goodbye to Charles at the gate, with Mianna giving him a teary hug- more than she’d afforded either of her parents- and the newly expanded group were once more on their way.
The mid-afternoon was cool but not overly so, giving them a manageable temperature for their forced march. After only ten minutes, Kitty noticed Ellie starting to flag. The Astronomer was breathing hard and stumbling regularly, which was a concern as she had managed to keep pace with them for much longer when travelling in the woods. The Archer nudged Asher in concern.
“Astronomer, need a lift?” He asked.
“I’m sorry,” She mumbled, dejectedly. “I’m just so tired.”
“No apology,” He insisted, sliding off his pack and crouching down so she could get onto his back with ease. “You used your power a lot today, and your Lucidian’s probably taken a load of your energy.”
The girl acquiesced, climbing on to get a piggy back and drooping wearily against his shoulders. Kitty scanned the area- a few people were walking on the road in the distance, but it was difficult to know if they were threats or innocents.
“So, Mianna,” Kitty said as they continued. “Did you ever notice any indications that you were different? Because I never knew I was The Archer before I was told, either.”
“No,” She insisted. “I know I lived in a fighting guild, it’s just never something I tried before. I still can’t believe what I did back there. I guess I really have this Lucimian thing…”
“It’s ‘Lucidian’, Swordsman,” Asher cut in.
“Um, ok. Lucidian thing,” She said clumsily. “Also why do you call me ‘Swordsman’? I’m not a man.”
“It’s your Lucidian title, the star constellation that your Lucidian is connected to and your shared identity. The word ‘man’ originally meant all humans, not just male ones, and therefore your title predates the connotation that it expresses your gender,” Asher explained, completely shocking Kitty with a useful, intelligent reply rather than one of his usual scathing cut-downs.
“Um… what?” Mianna blinked, still confused.
“Because ‘The Swordsperson’ would sound dumb,” He dead-panned.
“I guess,” She answered obliviously. “Just Mimi is fine though.”
Asher gave Kitty a mischievous, sideways look, like a cat that had just found a baby bird.
“Be nice, Asher,” The Archer murmured.
Her next cursory glance around nearly stopped her heart.
“We’re being surrounded,” She swiftly told the others.
“Any gaps?” Asher asked, the figures still too far in the distance for the others to see clearly.
“Small and evenly spaced,” She informed them. “They’re mainly humans but there are some bigger creatures too.”
“Nearest edge?”
“We’re dead centre- this is a well-planned manoeuvre.”
“Then it doesn’t matter which way we run, if we break one side we may be able to get away without too much of a fight.”
“Too late,” Kitty winced. “They’re coming to us.”
The mob started to close in at a rapid pace, plugging any chance of an escape route.
“Stay in the middle of us, Ellie,” Serena told the girl.
“Do your best to stay centre too, Archer,” Asher said. “We three will make a triangle and you shoot down anything that looks like it can use magic.”
“Three?” Mimi panicked, “I don’t know if I can fight yet… what if it was a fluke when I used it earlier?”
“Try,” Asher snapped. “Simple enough for you?”
The poor girl was terrified already and shook as she clumsily unsheathed the unfamiliar sword. The others quickly prepared, creating a tight ring around Ellie and Kitty. The Archer unwrapped Venethos, placing the bow in her hand, where he belonged. Serena flicked her fans to weapon form and Asher drew his blade.
Then with no warning, the advancing group stopped just out of range of a normal bow. Kitty felt sure she could have felled any one of them, but held back out of curiosity.
A woman strode casually out from the mob towards them. She was huge- at least as tall as Asher- but with a more muscular build. She wore grey and pink wraps around her torso and thighs, leaving her shoulders and lower legs exposed. Her neck was ringed in odd ornaments that had wood and bone charms hanging from thin cords, and several of these also decorated the dark black hair pinned up on her head. The worst thing was the absoluteness of her Tenebri transformation: her skin was a dark grey and looked to have a stone-like consistency.
When she spoke, it was far too feminine for her heavy frame and was dripping with supremacy, “I am Kaphira. You will offer yourselves to me now, or you will all die.”
Chapter Eighteen
“Yeah, definitely shoot that bloody thing,” Asher muttered, barely perceptible. “Then there’s about eight more with bows. I’ll stop the arrows but you need to have them down before the rest get close.”
Kitty scanned the small army, mostly a rag-tag group of men with various weapons- probably just whatever the Tenebri had scraped together since they realised The Constellations were in the area. A couple of grey-skins and the larger, four-legged shapes that lurked behind them were more worrying.
“Do you have an answer for me?” Kaphira called.
“Do it,” Asher said.
Kitty made the first move, Venethos sending an arrow blasting towards the towering woman. Kaphira either anticipated their response or possessed an obscene amount of magical enhancement, and skipping skilfully to one side managed to avoid the black and white missile that would have split her skull. It had been a long time since she had missed a shot, and the rage that followed was far more intense than Kitty imagined possible.
“Kill them!” The grey-skinned woman screamed.
At this order, Asher drew his own bow, which Kitty had never actually seen him use. It did not take long for The Juggler to prove that he was an accomplished marksman, felling one of the men who had been aiming at them from the edge of the advancing mob.
“Leave it- take their archers,” He commanded.
Part of her wanted to ignore him and focus on the prey that had managed to be so elusive. The enemy ranged attackers were the bigger threat at present though. Three of them dropped with Venethos’ conjured arrows lodged fatally in their bodies before they managed to aim shots of their own, but there were still too many remaining. Several projectiles came flying and Kitty braced herself, ready to shield The Astronomer who was curled at her feet. The air-borne missiles didn’t even make it half-way, tumbling straight out of the sky as Asher grabbed an arrow from his quiver and took a quick glance around. Between them they managed to take the last of the enemy bowmen mere moments before the battle properly began.
The Juggler switched to his short sword, walling off his side of the triangle. Serena’s fans were a blur as she discarded her usual sweeping movements in favour of a more defensive stance, using her fans for blocking as well as removing the loyalists’ extremities.
Kitty knew that Mimi was going to face the hardest challenge. If The Swordsman panicked it could easily override her natural penchant for combat. The Archer supplemented Mimi’s efforts by concentrating the majority of her shots in the blonde’s direction, tearing into the mass of enemies with well-placed strikes so that the newest Constellation wouldn’t be overwhelmed. Kitty was pleasantly surprised to find that the girl was not doing badly, she was fending off men that were no doubt battle-hardened by using both sword and shield defensively to hold her own.
The grey-skins still hadn’t used any of their powers, but they may have been waiting for their troops to wear down the Lucidians, and it was a frustrating niggle in Kitty’s mind as she did her best to pick them out among the scramble of the battlefield. She spied one and honed in on him, swiftly firing four arrows in the direction of the grey-skinned man, killing him along with another soldier with whom he stood conferring.
Asher had apparently found what he was looking for as well, and he tapped a hefty soldier he had been fighting, Juggling Kaphira directly into the path of his blade, swinging it with enough force at her throat to take off her head. The impact jarred his whole body as the sword barely bit into her skin, leaving a thin line oozing almost-black blood. The enhanced loyalist snarled and drew two long serrated knives from the folds of her wraps, driving one into The Juggler’s side as he attempted to wrench the sword from her neck.
Although Kitty didn’t remember lifting Venethos, the look of panic on Kaphira’s face struck her, revealing that the woman was uncertain as to whether Tenebri defences would stave off Lucidian magic. The Archer fired masses of conjured arrows into the creature that had dared to cut down another Constellation in front of her. The grey-skin managed to turn sideways, taking most of the arrows to the arm and shoulder, and in the next moment Kaphira’s minions were pulling her back, shielding their mistress with a wall of bodies as she escaped in a blast of enhanced speed, black and white arrows hanging from her skin.
“Asher!” Kitty gasped, “Are you alright?”
Somehow he was still up-right and only a small dark patch the size of a finger-tip showed above his left hip where he’d been injured.
“Just fine, love. Nice overreaction,” She could feel him grinning even though he was faced away and poised for the next attack.
“I thought she stabbed you, you idiot!” Kitty nearly sobbed.
“Juggled it for some guy’s rolled up bandana soon as it touched me,” He shrugged, finishing off another foe. “Hope I find it later, that was a nice blade.”
