Chapter 10 - A Distant Flash of Light

Only a good liar can know, with certainty, when they are being lied to. It consequently took a truly exceptional liar to realize without hesitation that the world itself was trying to pull the wool over her eyes. It may have helped that she'd been told it would happen, but she still found it unsettling.

So she knew. So what? There was only one thing she truly wanted and with his memory returned, she was doubtful that she still had a chance to get it. Even if she fought tooth and nail to win the man she wanted, it wasn't up to her on whether she'd get it-or if he'd even still feel the same about her.

Her freedom had already been earned by throwing her kitsune-bi companion-her best friend-under a speeding wagon by letting her take Meryl's place in that crystal.

How much more was she willing to sacrifice to get what she wanted? When the immediate answer was "anything", the worry then became whether she'd be more likely to get what she wanted by doing as she'd been instructed or by taking her own path.

Having both options open seemed preferable, but they both lead inexorably to her current difficulty.

It had taken the better part of nine months to insinuate her way into Durand's castle staff. It only took another two to find what she had been instructed to find.

Durand's phylactery.

The phylactery was in a privileged part of the castle under constant guard and behind a complex locked door. A magical alarm would trigger if the door was opened without a specific key, if the phylactery was moved from an enchanted pedestal, or if any of the guards failed to report in at very frequent, precise intervals.

Even if the stars aligned perfectly to allow her to overcome all of those security measures, the owner of the phylactery, Durand, would also become immediately aware if it were touched.

Sixteen hour shifts made detailed planning very difficult and, as she'd learned herself on her first official payday, the wages paid by South Teremir were so extravagant that there was no chance she'd even be able to bribe any of the other workers to get her any closer to the phylactery.

Somehow, Meryl vowed as she ever-so-joyfully cleaned the midden again, she'd get her hands on that phylactery.

-

Sitting under the withering gaze of the murderous Hilde for a few hours was enough to get me doubting that I'd survive our clash.

When Ixora seemed to almost materialize in front of my cell, I'd have happily volunteered to be subjected to just about any level of aggressive interrogation to get me away from that hateful stare.

Unlocking the cell, she gave gestured for me to follow. Her expression was impossible for me to read as she said only, "This way."

The last look from Hilde was one of taunting expectation. "They're probably about to offer you a way out. You'd better take it, little man."

That damn orc had already killed me 1.5 times. She sounded pretty confident. If she was right then it'd be silly to refuse, right?

I was lead through a few straight hallways into a dark room illuminated by only a single candle. The sound of our footsteps threw enough distant echoes to make it clear that the room was far larger than I could see.

She was looking a great deal more troubled than before. "I'm not normally so...angry," she said as she gestured to a wooden chair near the candle.

"I feel like Zee would have mentioned it if you were," I answered with a shrug as I carefully sat myself down.

"Zee?" Ixora said with a look of momentary confusion before smiling now from across the table. "That's clever."

I turned my eyes to the weary sternness of the salamander's gaze and said, "So despite what the orc said, I doubt an Ashtail raider is here to break me out of prison."

Ixora gave a barely audible grunt of displeasure. "We aren't raiders." She then added a bit more quietly, "at least not yet. We found general, excuse me, former general Hildegard as she was killing the last of the guards that had been transporting her to some prison or another after their wagon overturned. And yes, we took the supplies. Better we be scavengers than bandits, but we are running out of options."

I wasn't about to blame them even if they had turned to banditry. Who was I to judge, anyway? It was shitty, sure...but it was clear that they were being motivated by hunger and not greed.

Silent a moment, I finally said, "I need to ask you for a favor."

"Do you truly intend to fight Hildegard?" she asked in response.

Grumbling through a ragged sigh, I answered, "It sure as hell isn't what I want to do, but if beating her is the only way I can get you to help me...I'll gladly spit in death's face again."

"You want Sara to heal Azalea. Is that correct?" She said after a moment of thought.

"Yes," I said simply.

"And if you had a choice between saving your own life by escaping this place or saving Azalea's life…?"

I chuckled dryly. "If I can guarantee Zee's life, I'm more than happy to take my chances with the orc. And even if there's almost no chance to save Zee...I'm here in the first place because I'm willing to bet my life on that glimmer of hope.

Ixora sighed heavily. "Sara's gossip is the reason this has become difficult. Everyone here already knows about this duel. So I'm left with giving you a chance to escape or throwing you into certain death."

"Wait...you're seriously about to offer me a way out of here?" I quietly offered in response.

Ixora held up a hand. "Sara has her husband back so she should be able to heal my sister after we've consolidated our power in a new fortress. It shouldn't take us more than a few months."

"That isn't going to cut it. She's dying," I protested immediately. "What about if I win the fight?"

"There is no way you can defeat a former Kaori general in a pit fight even with the advantage of being armed as you are. I know this, you know this, and I am certain Hildegard knows this." Ixora said plainly.

As she spoke, my fingers fell upon Tizona's hilt as if beckoned. It wasn't a habit of mine and the feeling I immediately experienced upon touching the weapon was one of outright defiance. It was as though the weapon itself wanted to leap from the sheath and loudly proclaim, "Oh yeah?"

"That remains to be seen." I quieted the unfamiliar thoughts and leveled my gaze back through the gloom at Ixora. "So, out of curiosity, what are you offering?"

Ixora clasped her scaled hands together politely and began, "We have heard that you have connections. The mark on your hand is enough evidence of that. We could use connections like those."

"What do you want? Gold? Supplies?" I asked.

She frowned and continued, "The only way we can survive is with a steady flow of both. You are in a position to provide information about...things being transported across the desert. These things could even be sent by you and...with the right transport agencies you could even insure yourself against losses."

For someone so opposed to the idea of raiding, Ixora was delivering her suggestion far too calmly. Either their situation was a lot more dire than I could imagine or something else entirely was going on.

"So in exchange for you getting me out of here, you want me to help you all officially become raiders? What about Phina? What are you planning to do with Keres and Hildegard?" I asked with a growing distaste in the conversation.

"We could claim the likely bounty on Hildegard or sell her to interested parties in Kaori, but in either case she'll probably be executed. Keres is a traitor. As far as the succubus..." Ixora looked away. "You are the only one we could safely-"

Done with this conversation, I cut in, "So do I just head back to my cell on my own or do you want to escort me?"

I had little trust for Keres and even less for Hildegard but imagining that my cowardice could be the reason that they'd be executed was more than I wanted to live with. Not to mention that I also wasn't going to leave Phina behind, especially not since we'd developed a...rapport.

"Joseph! Think about what you are doing. Are you really willing to die for a common succubus, that orc, and the woman that poisoned my sister?" She protested.

"If I have to wait however many months it'll take you to get this ridiculous operation of yours off the ground, you'd be the woman that killed your sister," I said angrily.

The deal she was offering was bullshit. Had they beaten that idea out of Phina? As far as I was concerned, it didn't matter. I was once again crossing a breaking point that I never knew I'd even reach.

"When Zee told me that she was formerly of the Ashtail Legion, it sounded to me that she felt unworthy of it after what had happened. But this? This feels like your so-called legion wasn't worthy of her," I said coldly. Already on my feet, I turned back and shrugged. "I know I can't understand what you've all lost, but if I take this deal I know I'll lose the reason I came here in the first place." I frowned. "I know it's stupid, and I fucking hate knowing that other people I love will suffer if I die here, but I'm done with compromise. I'm done with sacrifice."

"But you could-"

"I'm fucking done!" I loudly interrupted again. "I'm sure fate will continue to enjoy tormenting me, but if it wants to actually kill me then it can bring it the fuck on. Tomorrow I'm going to thrash that orc until she yields and then I'm walking out of here with Sara, Hildegard, Phina, and whoever else wants to come with me to find Azalea."

Ixora wore a look of disbelief. As she stumbled over what to say, I added as an afterthought, "Oh right. I've got a letter for your mother here. I'm going to head back to my cell to rest up for tomorrow so if you could deliver it, I'd appreciate it."

Placing the letter on the table, I walked from the room and back toward my cell, closing it behind me and checking my weapons before sitting down on the rickety cot upon which I'd be sleeping.

"You're that ready to die?" Hildegard was on her feet now, her stare full of at least as much incredulity as Ixora's. "You've either got a death wish or you've lost your mind."

"You should be thanking me. They were just going to execute you if I ran."

"Is that supposed to convince me to go easy on you?"

I laughed at that. "You know what? I want you to come at me with everything you've got. If you kill me-great, you can check that off your list of things to do."

Hilde snorted angrily. "You're talking like you aren't afraid."

I laid back on the cot and stared calmly up at the stone above me. "And you seem to care less than me about your own life."

When she didn't respond to that, I continued, "Even if I got out of here, I'm on a suicide mission. Hell, if you're so ready to die yourself, why not come die in far more interesting place?"

Hilde's response was a long deep laugh. "Let me tell you how this is going to go, you jellyfish. After I choke the life from you, I'm going to take those fancy blades of yours and cut my way through the rest of this broken clan. Then I'm going to find both of those salamander sisters and pay them what they're owed."

"Or-" I began.

"There is no 'or'! That's what's going to happen," she shouted at me.

I waited until she sat back down, hiding my smirk. "Master."

"You trying to beg?" she spat.

"No, I mean that's what you'll call me after I beat you," I teased. What did I really have to lose?

This time Hilde's laugh was cold and cruel. "You know I was even thinking about making it quick after you had the spine to come back here. Now I'm going to rip that spine out through your mouth after I'm done breaking every single other bone in your body."

"So then you're okay with 'master'?"

Even as she looked at me with a newfound respect, the greater measure of her stare spoke in such volumes of hateful profanity that my imagination was deafened by the fury.

I felt like getting her angry would work to my advantage, especially with the much longer reach I'd have in the duel with my blades. If she got her hands on me though...well at least a surplus of anger would see me more quickly through the pain of a death that just wouldn't stop chasing me.

It wasn't but a few moments later that I realized the futility of that plan when Hildegard quietly began to speak.

"Why?" she asked, her tone completely foreign, almost soft.

"Why what?" I asked, not sure what she meant.

"Why are you alive? Why aren't you afraid? Why didn't you have your salamander finish me off...or your legion-class necromancer?"

Her tone seemed to suggest she was talking to herself more than me.

"I don't like hurting people...or even the idea of them being hurt-especially because of me."

Hilde stood and began pacing. "No...I saw you die."

"Maybe I'm just the embodiment of some idea you refuse to accept," I called out, concerned not in the least about how pretentious I probably sounded.

This time she turned to look at me. "I am a general. When I've won a battle, it doesn't mean I personally killed every enemy. By all rights...that means you've beaten me twice-once with the necromancer and again with the salamander. A loyal follower is no different than a weapon...so why can't I forget everything else and listen to my instincts?"

"What do your instincts say?" I asked.

"To follow you-to obey."

The air between us was becoming extremely heavy. I doubted there was any way Hildegard planned to simply surrender in our duel, but I was suddenly being presented with the fact that she was far more than a mindless war machine.

I stood and locked eyes with her to respect the seriousness of whatever it was she planned to say.

"I don't why I'm even telling you this." Before I could say anything to that, she gestured to a jagged scar across her upper chest. "This was the mark left by my first love. She died less than a year after we had sworn ourselves to each other."

A sense of utter despair so utterly pervaded her words that I was stunned to silence.

Hildegard stopped pacing for a moment closed her eyes as she craned her neck upward as if to stare at the stars, however far beyond the cave ceiling they currently hid.

"A second lover...a third. I watched them all die, most as a direct result of orders I gave them." She paused, her body shaking as she took each breath to continue. "A decade after being named the Terror of the Black Plains, I remember finally staring up at Lord Kaori herself, my back broken as I choked on blood. This was someone that wouldn't die-someone that wouldn't leave me alone. I didn't hear the screams of my dying soldiers or the sounds of our fortress collapsing around us. All I heard was her decree 'Drag that pitiful, broken body to my citadel and I'll keep you as a general. Or die. It's all the same to me.' I fell for her in that moment."

That right there was true romance, right?

When she hesitated, I spoke up. "I'm no Lord Kaori."

She spat in response. "Neither is Lord Kaori. Where is she now? Dead? Missing? But you…"

"Whoa, you really shouldn't be trying to compare me to a Lord in the first place. I'm just a man...and a whore to boot," I protested.

She, I assumed impossibly, sighed wistfully. "And still you somehow didn't die."

"It still hurt. I can think of far better special talents I'd like to have."

"Part of me hopes I never have to learn to tolerate those stupid comments you try to pass off as humor."

"What are you saying?" I asked, now even more intrigued.

"I'm saying that I'm going to try to kill you tomorrow...painfully. But if, after our duel, you're still alive...or somehow rise from the grave, I will swear myself to you. Your enemies will become mine. Your cause will become mine until I breathe my last breath," she said with an almost reverent seriousness.

Even though she was saying exactly what I wanted to hear, the fact that she was saying it calmly and rationally meant that there was no way I'd be able to use her rage as an advantage.

High risk-high reward, I guess.

"I know exactly how I'll use you," I said with a smile to hide the shiver of fear I felt in that moment.

"Good. However impossible it will be, I want you to beat me," she said, adding with a chilling smile, "But I'd be just as happy to feel that satisfying pop of your neck breaking in my hands after you've screamed the last dregs of your voice into a hollow sky."

I couldn't even imagine a response to that.

In far too cheerful a voice, given what she'd just said, Hildegard said before lying down, "Sleep well!"

How did I keep getting myself into this shit?

-

"How was that?" Phina asked Ixora as she stepped from the shadows with Sara.

"He is not well in the head," Sara replied. "And neither are you for following him."

"I'm aware," Phina said dismissively. "But he still passed that little test, didn't he?"

"I'll make sure the rest of the clan knows about the terms for the fight," Sara happily offered before galloping from the room.

Stepping also from the shadows into the light of the single candle, a much older salamander smiled. "If his guts aren't strewn from one side of the canyon to the other by tomorrows end, certainly. Can you be trusted to deliver on your promise?"

Ixora looked at Phina. "I can't believe you're letting your man do this. This is insane. I should have him tied up and bred with every single mamono here, not trotted out into a glorified execution that'll be less dignified than a hanging and more painful than being burned alive," Ixora cursed.

"He is most certainly not my man! He tastes good, he's my child's father, and I've been literally cursed to follow him. Not to mention that Azalea or Dahlia would give you a red-assed beating if you tried to tie him up here." Phina said with determined certainty before looking back to the older salamander. "If we don't die horribly tomorrow or later when we assault a Teremir guild protectorate, absolutely ma'am,"

"Wonderful." The elder salamander smiled. "Ixora, read Azalea's letter for me."

"I have other things to-" Ixora began.

"Mmm? Did you say something about giving me some grandchildren?"

Ixora looked horrified. "No, mother. I said...ah...let's go somewhere more comfortable first."

-
-Elsewhere in the desert-
-Through Ila's eyes-

Ila landed far enough from the dark-skinned salamander to allow for the opportunity for her to more calmly take in Ila's draconic majesty.

"Whoa there, stranger. You need me for something?" the salamander had the audacity to say.

Making an impatient huff, Ila then brushed a coating of quickly melting ice crystals from her claws but moved no closer. She then said with an irritated sigh, "I often forget the fear you lesser mamono must face when confronted with draconic excellence, but I have little patience for it today. You are a salamander and so I assume you must know of or belong to the so-called Ashtail Legion. I seek them and you will lead me to their refuge."

-
-Through Azalea's Eyes-

Damn, this was a huge dragon. She wore one of the unbreakable enchanted collars that would keep her from shifting...but the way she wore it, coupled with the way she carried herself, gave no assurances.

With a dozen Regard elite closing in quickly after a full day of pursuit, it seemed unlikely that the dragon was with them. She could still have been an overeager mercenary, trying to find and sell the location of the remaining Ashtails to South Teremir.

Azalea stammered slightly at the comically direct request. "Even if any of that was true and I actually did know the place you're looking for, why would I lead you there?"

Ila placed her hands on her hips and answered, "Because I have asked it of you. Was that not clear?"

Azalea shook her head before responding, "And who are you, exactly?"

The dragon bore a look of relief to see that things appeared to be moving along as she was hoping. Based on the growth of her horns, she was far too old to be that arrogant without also wearing a lot of scars. That is unless...

"I am the Great and Mighty Ila, Winglord of the Skyrender Dragonflight, Chosen Champion and Blessed of Lord Akuma."

Blinking for a moment, Azalea finally answered, "And what does the Mighty Ila want with the-"

Interrupting the salamander, Ila spoke up, more forceful this time, "I am the Great and Mighty Ila, Winglord of the Skyrender Dragonflight, Chosen Champion and Blessed of Lord Akuma. If you must address me, do it as such. I have no desire to frighten you further, so if you are at all capable, you will-"

The dragon stopped speaking and made a quick step to her right, narrowly avoiding a sling bullet that hit the sand with a dull thud between the two of them.

It was difficult to imagine a worse possible moment for Jess to have revealed herself, but the shot drew Azalea's eyes to the full circle of advancing mamono. They would be upon her and the dragon in too few moments.

Three of the Violaceous Regard's elite would have been a difficult fight on an open field of desert such the one upon which they currently stood. The dozen surrounding her, Azalea knew, were a death sentence before even considering the skills of the dragon.

"If you aren't with them," Azalea said as she gestured to the approaching South Teremir elites, "Then it's fair to say they'll be trying to kill us both."

"Just as a child can try to touch a mountaintop as she gazes up at it from the ground," Ila countered as she did some light stretching. "You are only of any consequence because of your ability to lead me where I intend to go, and nothing will stop me from reaching my destination. If you and the rest of these lesser mamono have so completely lost your grip on sanity as to take up arms against a dragon, then I will accept the responsibility of reminding each and every one of you of the might that had even the Lords begging for parley."

"Wow, okay." Waving a claw in the air to signal Jess, Azalea stepped forward and unshouldered her large falchion and then pulled her spear from where it had been planted in the sand. "I don't know what rock you've been living under, but looking for the Ashtails is looking for a fight. And if you're looking for a fight, I'm your huckleberry. I am Azalea, formerly of the Ashtail Legion and I really hope you fight even a quarter as well as you boast."

The dragon Ila frowned and took a large drink of water from her waterskin. With the familiar gaze of someone that had never known defeat falling upon her, Azalea felt an unparalleled exhilaration at the thought of the onrushing conflict.

"I need you alive so do not worry over your life." Ila turned her body and extended a claw towards Azalea. "You face a true dragon, lizard. Nothing in this age can have prepared you this."

"You know…" Her tail already blazing to life in expectation of the coming conflict, Azalea laughed and took a loose stance. "The last dragon I beat said something just like that."