PART THREE: In Which Our Heroes Return Home, Thoroughly Convinced of Their Superiority
Rand stretched, his long, muscular arms casting shadows upon the ground in the orange morning sun. Rapping on the dirty, water-warped door, Rand called out, "It's morning. Wake up!" as he walked back inside.
Two groans answered Rand's call through from the small, spartan hut, halfway between the cities of Capitan and Windia, once part of the same nation a mere thirty months previous. All three had visited the hut before, when its inhabitants were murdered by a demon posing as a young girl. Rand started a fire in the iron stove, then put a pot of coffee on to brew, using the last of the grounds they'd brought with them from Capitan.
"Coffee ready yet?" Sten grunted from the upper bunk.
"Almost," Rand answered, jostling the coffeepot. "Coffee?" Nina asked from the middle berth. Oddly, she'd developed a taste for the black brew within the last week the three had been traveling together, though Rand and Sten both had understood her to dislike it through their previous association.
Rand helped the Wyndian out of her bed, then poured her a cup. Sighing, he prepared a second cup for himself, drinking the black java, sipping it quickly to avoid burning his tongue. "Do you know how we're going to get back to the Township yet?"
"Fungh," Sten mumbled into his pillow. "ll'figure sumpin' out.'
"Well, we can't go through Wyndia," said Rand.
Nina looked puzzled. "Why not?"
"Because your mother would string us up," Rand answered. "She thinks we're responsible for what's happened to you."
Nina took another sip. "And are you?"
"What? You mean are we responsible?" Nina nodded. "No, we're not-at least, I don't think so. When I saw you last, you were pretty much fine, although you may have been acting a bit weird. Sten hadn't seen you since even before that." Nina had lost most of her memory because of the geas that had been placed upon her, though neither of her friends had enough knowledge of spellwork to determine what exactly was wrong with her mind. The exiled princess had been experiencing flashes of memory from her previous life, although it had taken her three days before she could tell Sten and Rand apart.
Sten groaned. "Lemme sleep. She'kn summon th' Great Bird later."
Rand dropped his mug, which, fortunately, was made of iron and did not shatter. "The Great Bird?"
"What's the Great Bird?" asked Nina.
"You mean you don't remember?"
"No," she admitted.
Rand sighed. "Let's go outside."
The wind whistled in the distance as Rand and Nina stood on the plains, perhaps half a mile south of the cabin. The Farm Clansman had wanted to have plenty of room for the Bird to set down if and when it appeared. "All of your people once had the ability to transform into the Great Bird at will," Rand explained. It was really quite ironic, as Nina had originally explained this phenomenon to him and the others almost three years ago. "Due to interbreeding with other races, however, your ancestral powers have weakened. Only one Wyndian per generation now can become the Great Bird, and the transformation is permanent."
This was as far as Rand could go before revealing any personally painful information, and he wasn't sure that he wanted to. Nina likely didn't have any memory of what had happened, and he hoped to spare her as much grief as he could. "I don't know how you summoned the Bird," he admitted, "but it seemed to be an internal process. Maybe you should just think of big birds, or your clan, or something."
Nina shrugged, and closed her eyes, lifting her face up to the wind. Nothing happened. "Try again," Rand urged. Once again, the results were negative.
"Alright," Rand said slowly. "There's one more thing I haven't-"
"Look!" Nina shouted, pointing to the west. Over a dozen hooded figures appeared on the horizon, figures in magenta uniforms, no doubt soldiers of the Caliph of Capitan. "Rand! What should we do?"
"Do you remember any of your battle magicks?" he asked, cursing himself for not forseeing this possibility.
"I don't think so," she replied, backing up a few steps. "Nothing that will help, anyway, though I do seem to remember a way to make anything made out of porcelain grow fur."
"I suppose that won't help in this instance, unless their swords are made out of porcelain," Rand said. "I think I can cover this." Raising his palm, he concentrated, then stomped his foot onto the grass. The ridge upon which the soldiers were standing began to shudder, then convulse violently, knocking several of them to the ground. "Nope," Rand growled. "Didn't get 'em all."
One of the soldiers waved his hand in the air, a gesture Rand recognized. "Oh, no," he gasped, clutching Nina as she collapsed, then swore lightly as he himself lost consciousness. "I...really...hate...these...guys."
Sten awoke groggily, sometime after noon, he suspected. He wasn't usually such a late riser, but Rand and he had run out of dragonwater two nights ago, and not drinking made Sten tired. He rolled out of bed, forgetting that he was on the top bunk and crashing noisily to the floor. Groaning, he gently raised himself to his feet, surprised that Rand hadn't let fly with a sharp remark yet.
Where the hell was Rand, anyway? And Nina seemed to be missing also. Hmmm. Scratching his back, he yawned and walked out front, munching on an owlfruit he'd harvested from the orchard. "Rand!" he called. "Nina!" Nothing, but their gear was still inside. Sten peered around the area, using his trained military eye. Interestingly, one section of the nearby hills seemed to be...demolished, somehow. There also seemed to be quite a few footprints around as well.
It was unlikely Nina and Rand would simply leave him here alone. From the available evidence, Sten inferred that the two had been involved in some sort of battle, with either Rand or one of the enemy utilizing a earth-based magical weave. It would also seem that his friends had lost, then been carried away.
Groaning inwardly, the Highlander rounded up the provisions he'd need for his trip, hid the rest of the gear in the cabin, then set out west, following the footprints he found near the battle site. By nightfall he had located the camp, sneaking up stealthfully and avoiding the flickering light of the campfire. As Sten had suspected, soldiers of the Caliph were the ones who'd abducted his friends.
Darting between the soldiers' tents, Sten selected one at random and slithered in under its flap. It was empty, save for a few bedrolls and a small box, which Sten opened. The Highlander retrieved a small ring, possibly valuable, but too small to fit on his long fingers.
Sten snuck out and crept into another tent. "Aha!" Nina was bound, unconscious on the ground. Silently, he untied the ropes 'round her wrists and ankles, trying not to enjoy himself too much, then he patted Nina gently on her left cheek, calling her name softly. He shushed her as she woke up. "Do you know where Rand is?" he asked.
Nina shook her head groggily.
"All right," Sten whispered. "I've got an idea."
The Caliph's soldiers were cooking a small ham over the campfire when Sten's plan took effect. A veiled female form began dancing in front of them, taking their attention away from the food. Several of the soldiers whistled sharply as the dancer twirled this way and that, shaking suggestively.
The soldiers were so distracted that they didn't notice a slight figure darting among the remaining tents. This spectacle, unfortunately, lasted only a few short minutes, as one of the owlfruits tucked within the the bodice of Sten's robes fell out, clunking on the flat ground.
"Hey!" one of the soldiers growled. "That ain't no woman!"
"Uh...tennis, anyone?" Sten asked weakly, then dashed off behind the tents.
Meanwhile, Nina had found her larger companion, hog-tied and unconscious within another of the numerous magenta tents. With great difficulty, the winged princess freed the Farm Clansman, then gently roused him.
"What's going on?" Rand asked, rubbing his eyes.
"We've been captured," Nina told him. "We should get out of here, fast, before they catch Sten."
Rand nodded, and followed her out of the tent, both looking around for any threat. Only one guard was left, and he had evidently not noticed our heroes escape as of yet. Rand snuck up, or at least, as best he could, then punched the soldier harshly in the temple. The Caliph's soldier collapsed. Rand searched him for valuables, pocketing the gold fifty-zenny coins he found in his adversary's purse.
"Let's go," Nina called softly, pulling at Rand's right arm.
"All right," he agreed, following her to the west of the camp. "What about Sten?"
"I hope he'll come back to find us," she said, a hint of doubt in her dulcet tones.
Rand grunted and crouched down, motioning for Nina to do the same. "We'll wait for him here. He came to save us; we're not going to leave him behind."
Reluctantly, the amnesiac Wyndian princess nodded. Suddenly, a half-robed figure dashed past, perhaps only twenty yards in front of the two, pursued by a group of the Caliph's fighting men. Reacting swiftly, Rand concetrated, holding his right hand, palm outward, in front of his face, while simultaneously clenching the left into a fist. Three lightning bolts struck amongst the soldiers, hitting one directly on the cranium and grazing another three.
"Hey!" one of them cried, and his remaining companions followed his lead toward the two freed prisoners. Perhaps it was divine intervention, though all three of the companions were unlikely to believe in such after their previous adventures, but it happened to be at this moment that some of Nina's magical abilities chose to reassert themselves within the princess's mind. She easily cast another lighting weave, even more powerful than Rand's, which shocked the remaining foes, all of which crumpled to the ground.
"What happened?" Rand asked her.
"I remembered one of my battle magicks," she said. "I think your spell jogged some of my memory."
"I guess that's a good thing," Rand said. "But what about Sten?"
"I'm fine!" The two heard the Highlander's high-pitched voice from a distance. The half-dressed ex-merecenary ambled awkwardly towards the his friends. "Good to see you," he said.
"Is that an Owlfruit in your bodice," Rand asked, "or are you just happy to see me?"
"Shut up," Sten snapped, removing the second Owlfruit from his clothing, then chucking the magenta dress he'd used to trick the Caliph's soldiers onto the ground. Clad only in denim trousers, the hairy Highlander cast a glaring eye at his large friend. "I didn't do this for fun, you know."
"Of course not," Rand sarcastically agreed. "You only cross-dress for fun on Thursdays."
"Shut up!" Sten bristled.
Nina, at this point, had tolerated more than enough jocularity. "Stop it!" she ordered. "Let's just get out of here."
Sten looked around at the dead or unconscious soldiers. "You know, now would be a good time to summon the Great Bird."
Nina's eyes darkened. "I can't," she admitted.
"Wait," Rand said softly. "There's something I haven't told you."
"What?" Nina asked after a moment's silence.
Rand hesitated. "What I haven't told you is..." He wiped the sweat from his brow. "Um...the Great Bird, well, before she transformed, she was...your sister, Mina, the younger Princess."
Nina's eyes showed nothing but confusion. "What?"
"That's why I didn't want to tell you," Rand admitted. "I hoped you wouldn't have to remember. We've got to get out of here, though. Maybe this will help you summon the Great Bird."
Nina concentrated. "It's still not working," she said after a couple of minutes.
Rand looked at Sten for help. The Highlander did nothing but shrug cluelessly. "All right," the big man said, "try to think of the most melacholy emotions that you're able. Those might help. Every time you called the Great Bird, I could sense the grief within you. Perhaps that was the key to summoning her."
Nina had no memory of her sister, or much of anything else. The only melancholy thought she could come up with was losing Rand and Sten. Then she'd be alone again. Nothing was worse than that.
"There it is!" Sten cried, pointing at the feathery shape zooming down from the sky.
"You all right?" Rand asked.
"Sure," Nina replied, eyes downcast.
After they had ridden the Bird back to the TownShip, all of the three were in a more jovial mood, considering they had just fled the forces of a feared dictator, not to mention pilfering his favorite wife out from under his nose.
Nero smiled as they entered the house. "Hey guys, good to see you," he said simply, as though they'd only gone out for a shopping expedition.
"Let's have a celebratory drink, my man," Sten said. "Dragonwater all around!" Nero poured four tumblers full of the pungent liquor, setting them on the table. Nina grabbed hers and tossed it back, swallowing the entire serving in one gulp. Suddenly she realized the men were all staring at her.
"What?" she asked.
"You...never seemed to have much of a stomach for liquor before," Rand told her.
She shrugged. "I guess I didn't remember that."
"That's not a bad thing, necessarily," Nero cackled. Toasting the others, he then also pounded his dragonwater, followed closely by Sten and Rand. One drink quickly turned into four or five, and by the time a very irritated Sorceress Bleu walked into the sitting room, all of the heroes were what Bow would describe as "three sheets to the wind."
"Where have you been?" she demanded. "You were supposed to report to me as soon as you returned."
"Gee, Bleu," Sten said, "we just got here."
"How long ago is 'just got here?'"
"I dunno," Rand said blankly. "Maybe two hours?"
Bleu sighed in exasperation. "All right, just tell me what happened."
"Well," Sten began, "we looked in Nina in Coursair-" at this he ducked a dirty look from Rand, "-and then in Wyndia. No real leads there, so we went west to Capitan, where we made a startling discovery."
Rand nodded. "There appears to be a new ruler there and the city has seceded from Wyndian rule. We discovered that Nina had become one of the Caliph's wives, and we later found out she had lost most of her memories." Rand thought he saw something of a guilty expression on Bleu's face at this, but it vanished almost as soon as it had come.
"Right," Sten said. "Anyway, we rescued Nina and got out of the city-"
"Decimating three of the Caliph's regiments in the process-"
"Then escaped east-"
"Sten dressed up like a woman-"
"You didn't have to tell her that!"
"And then we crushed another forty of the Caliph's troops-"
"Nina remembered how to summon the Great Bird-"
"Then we came back here."
"I think that sums it up, Mister Marks," Sten said, looking proudly at his big companion.
"Yes sir, Mister Sten," Rand agreed, shaking hands with the Highlander.
As both men sat down to return to their drinking, Bleu slithered over to the counter, picked herself up a cup, then plopped it down on the table. "Make mine a double," she said.
"Bleu?" Nero asked quizzically.
"Aren't you going to see if you can restore Nina's mind?" Sten inquired.
"I'll worry about it tomorrow," she said, gulping down ounces of dragonwater. "If what you've told me about the Caliph is true, we'll have a lot of things to worry about tomorrow."
END