Chapter twenty-five

The battle was raging. It was a close match; the enemy they were fighting was almost their equal and if they had had any mages, would be their superior. The mage corps of the Fire Eagles was working on creating earthquakes as barriers, illusions of troops; Taia and Whitestar had been working as mages the previous day and were only on the battlefield instead because they had exhausted themselves. Taia had been fighting for several candlemarks and was beginning to feel it; her shoulders were sore, she had a hundred nicks and cuts and an arrow wound in her right thigh that was oozing blood around the arrow head she hadn't yet had time to remove. She had thought about Fetching it out but was afraid that it would bleed more heavily; if Whitestar had to distract herself for even a second to Heal her, they might both go down. So Taia ignored the pain and hoped that the arrow head wouldn't do permanent damage until after the battle, when she could Fetch it out at her leisure.

Suddenly she heard a roar coming from a few horse lengths over. There was a giant of a man riding – a bull?! – and swinging huge maces on the ends of chains, taking out swaths of soldiers. This wasn't good. She couldn't allow him to decimate her army. So she signaled Kyesh to move forward – out of range of the maces, but more lateral to the giant – and she brought her feet up onto his back in a crouch. She finished off the attackers immediately near her and yelling a battle cry launched herself through the sky towards the giant man. She flipped in the air in order to make herself a smaller target. As she straightened out, she caught one mace chain with her sword, allowing the chain to wrap itself around the sword blade. The mace itself hit her forearm and she hoped it wasn't broken – again – but she knew it was injured. No matter, she had two; and she used the sword, wrapped in the mace chain, to help pull herself behind the giant man, landing squarely on the haunches of his bull. She used the still-fully functional arm to lop off the man's other arm, then stabbed him through the back. She then took a moment to dislodge the remaining mace from her sword – and climbed down off the bull. She made her way back to Kyesh, who was doing a marvelous job of keeping himself unharmed despite having no rider, and remounted.

Unfortunately, she was now only able to fight with one arm, which was rather difficult for her; she had been fighting with a double-sword technique for her entire career. But her left arm was rather useless at the moment; she still wasn't even sure whether or not it was broken. Probably. As a result of being hobbled on the left side, she ended up with quite a few more sword wounds on that side than she might otherwise have had; but she did survive the battle. When it was over, she could not dismount. Not only was her left arm useless – she would have been able to dismount without it – but her left leg had too many gashes, not to mention the arrow head in her right, to support her weight. So she rode Kyesh, who was limping slightly from some cuts of his own, towards the river – and right in.

Once in the water, she was able to slide off Kyesh's back, where she was able to remove his armor and Fetched it back to camp after a thorough rinsing. She then removed her own armor and leathers, and after rinsing it, Fetched it back to camp with Kyesh's gear. This Mindmagic stuff came in handy, now and then. She swam under the water and felt along Kyesh's skin to determine the extent of his injuries and wash them as best she could. Once she determined that he had nothing life-threatening, she crawled back onto his back and they walked out of the river. Ordinarily, she tried not to ride her horse after battle, particularly when they limped; but she couldn't walk herself. She would simply have to ride Syrx the next day and give Kyesh a rest.

Whitestar had a similar collection of sword cuts and arrow wounds, although she had managed to get the arrow head out of her arm. Ikien was not limping, but also had several lacerations which would need to be Healed or stitched, depending on Whitestar's energy level after she was done with Taia and herself. They made it back to camp in their blood-soaked shifts – luckily, it wasn't quite as much blood as it appeared from the stains on their clothing – and Whitestar got to work. Taia fetched the arrow head out of her own leg while Whitestar Healed the tissue in its wake; that wound would be sore tomorrow, but fully Healed. She moved on to Taia's arm – which was not broken, exactly, but cracked – and after giving Taia an earful about being more careful and how dare she break a bone after all the work Whitestar had put in to healing them already, Healed that. She finished Healing all of the wounds they each had that were still bleeding – the ones that had scabbed could heal on their own – and moved on to the horses, while Taia got started cleaning and repairing the armor and weapons. The sword she had used to catch the mace had more than a few nicks to the blade; it would take quite a bit of work to get those out and make the blade flawless again. Taia thought that she would probably make herself a new sword when the season was over. She stripped the wrappings from all her blades and Whitestar's – they were too sodden with blood to even try to clean them – then cleaned and rewrapped them. She collected all the arrowheads and attached them to new shafts and had just begun refletching them when Whitestar returned, near to dropping, from Healing the horses.

"They'll both need tomorrow, and maybe the next day, off the battlefield but they will make a full recovery," she said.

"Good," said Taia. "I would hate to lose Kyesh. Or Ikien, he's proving himself well on the field."

"Yes, I think Ikien is my favorite mount so far," said Whitestar. "I would like to use him for stud so one of his line is always available to me."

"That can be arranged," said Taia. "I can't decide between mounts of Kyesh's line or Ishim's."

"Isn't Kyesh one of Ishim's colts?" asked Whitestar.

"No," said Taia. "Myk's. Ikien, too. Syrx is of Ishim, and Pieki."

"Hm. I like Pieki, too. I don't know. Maybe it will be nice to retire from the field and have our biggest worry be which horse has which father!" said Whitestar. Taia couldn't disagree with that.

Whitestar skinned and cooked the wild pig that Ryki had hunted for them that day while Taia finished with the arrows. She finished at about the same time Whitestar did, and accepted her dinner with gratitude. She had only just realized how hungry she was. She ate a large portion of the pork and drank a cup of kava. She grabbed a piece of buttered bread and another cup of kava and headed off to her strategy meeting. Whitestar sighed, and took herself to the Healer's tents – she had no more magical energy to spare, but she could stitch and poultice with the best of them.

"That was some impressive stunt you pulled there," said Miljek as she entered the strategy tent.

"I couldn't let that guy take out the whole army, now, could I?" Taia replied.

"I didna know ye were trained to do that," said Jexon. "And yer horse, he jest kep' on fightin'. That's some good trainin', right there."

"I'm not trained to do that," said Taia. "I am trained to leap from my horses' back, because you never know when you're going to have to catapult off if he gets killed – but not at anything. I guess I just reacted. As for Kyesh, he's one of the smartest horses I've ever trained, and apparently I did a damned good job!"

They all laughed.

"Well," said Taia. "I don't have any suggestions for strategy change, do you? I don't mean to be rude or dismissive, but we're all exhausted. The sooner we get finished, the sooner we all get to bed."

"I think a few more days, and we'll be ready to finish them off," said Milna. "I know it doesn't look like it, but we're winning, and winning big. We should be ready to wrap this up in a sennight, and then we don't have any more campaigns lined up this season."

"Well then," said Taia. "I guess that's it. When we are ready to finish them, I want to split the army into thirds – one to hit them head on and the other two to flank. In fact, why don't we start getting into position to do that tomorrow. Miljek, you should take the head on division; you have more foot soldiers and archers, they will be most effective there. Jexon, you and Ilken take the flanking positions. You have the majority of the skirmishing cavalry, so when we are ready to begin the flanking maneuver you will have the mobility to do so. Questions?"

There were none. The officers were dismissed back to their tents, leaving Milna, Ilken, Jexon, Miljek and Taia alone in the tent.

"I suppose now is as good a time as any to tell you," said Taia. "If things go as planned, this will be my last season with the Fire Eaglses. My joints are telling me it's time to retire. You all know I've sent Rek on a mission – but what you don't know is what that mission was. I sent him to Valdemar, to inquire for Whitestar and myself whether or not there are any job prospects there."

"But we only just got you back!" said Milna.

"What kinds of jobs will you do there?" asked Miljek.

"But ye canna leave!" said Jexon.

"Retire? After a move like the one you made today, you think you need to retire?" asked Ilken.

"That move broke my arm again," said Taia. "And while yes, in warm weather I can still be of use – in the winter, or in a cold rain, I am as much hindrance as help. It takes at least a candlemark before my joints will move freely, and then only with pain. I could continue on here for a few more years, certainly – but then what? I love the Fire Eagles, I always will. I've found a home here, a family; but it's time to move on. I'd like to teach; magecraft, weaponstraining, maybe equitation. But all of this is a bit premature, anyway; Rek may very well come back with an answer of no, and then the question is moot. I'll be staying on, at least until we figure out what's next."

"Ah, so we're yer backup plan, are we?" said Jexon. Taia was about to argue – and then she saw the glint in his eye. "Aye, Captain, we understand. The merc life – 'tis a hard life, and when y'eve seen what y'eve seen – perhaps 'tis time to slow down a bit, get yerself a right house an' a garden like, tech the young'ns about glory and fightin' so they's a-come to take yer place. If'n Rek comes back with a yes, we'll be sendin ye's off with a right good party; if'n he comes back with a no, we'll be havin' ye's for as long as ye stay an' good luck to ye no matter what."

"Well that's as fine a speech as any of us could ever hope to give," said Miljek. "We all agree, then – should Rek come back with a job offer from Valdemar, you'll get the sendoff you deserve. If not – well, we'll count ourselves lucky and keep you as long as we can."

"Thank you all," said Taia. "It's been a good – what, fifteen years? But it's time to move on. While I still can."

Taia went back to her tent – a little bit happy, a little bit sad. She hoped she was making the right decision. In the middle of the summer, when her joints were relatively well-behaved and she wasn't in pain, and she could perform at her expected level – she thought she should stay and go on forever. But in the winter – or in the spring or fall, if the weather was poor – she knew it was the right choice. She couldn't go out on campaign in the winter. She couldn't hardly make it through a cold rain. She would do it, of course – but it was miserable. And she couldn't be Captain of a mercenary troupe she couldn't fight with, no matter the weather, no matter the season. It was the right choice; a difficult one, but the right one.

They finished the campaign and with it the summer, and suddenly it was fall. They found an additional campaign to occupy their time during that season – and it was cold and rainy enough that Taia reinforced to herself the fact that her retirement was the right decision. Every morning was a trial to get up off the bedroll on the ground and wriggle into her armor; every day she had to spend time in pain warming up her muscles and her joints, and every night she whimpered back to that bedroll exhausted and miserable. She knew that Valdemar also had winter, and a harsher one than she was used to in Jkatha; however, she would also have rooms with solid walls, heat, a real bed, and more freedom to set her classes – at something later than the break of dawn.

So it was with a great deal of gratitude that they returned back to the stronghold at the end of the campaign season to find Rek, with a message from Kerowyn inviting them to Valdemar to start as teachers in magecraft, Healing, and weapons training. She wasn't sure whether or not equitation would be an option, but also wouldn't rule it out. So Taia and Whitestar returned to their hut, sad to be leaving it behind but excited to enter the next chapter. They spent the winter quietly saying their goodbyes to their comrades, one person at a time. Whitestar continued to tan hides, Taia continued to train horses – but she did not make any more armor. She began gathering the steel to make herself a new set of swords since hers had been damaged in the previous season, but she was in no hurry. She made a few Shin'a'in warbows as gifts for her friends, but she did not spend her evenings making any new equipment to replace that which was worn out. They did, however, make a lot of saddlebags; they had a lot of things in that hut that would need packing up and carrying out. Luckily, they had plenty of horses to do it with. Jessup would stay behind, given to a local farmer who had a daughter overjoyed to have her own horse – despite his advanced age. Taia would miss him, but he deserved being spoiled and cosseted by a little girl, and he would be of more use there than he would traipsing across the Combs again to stand in a field.

Finally the time came to leave. Taia and Whitestar gathered the troupe in the center of the stronghold to make the official announcement; not a single soldier failed to show.

"By now most of you have heard that we will not be joining you next campaign season," said Taia. "We depart the day after tomorrow to try our fortunes as teachers in Valdemar. It has been an amazing ride with the Fire Eagles, and we will always treasure the time we spent with you. We found welcome and family here, and the opportunity to try our skills with the best troupe in all of Velgarth. We wish you all the best, and should you ever require anything of us, please, do not hesitate to ask, and we will come."

There were cheers, a few people begging them to change their mind – but mostly, the troupe was happy for them and encouraged them on their journey. They allowed for a few people to ask questions, which they answered briefly and honestly, then it was time for business.

"Milna has been my co-captain for the last two seasons, and she operated as captain without me the season prior during my absence. I will appoint her to be the official Captain following my retirement, if she is so willing, and if you will have her," said Taia.

"I am so willing, and honored to serve this troupe in whatever capacity it sees fit," said Milna.

"All those in favor of Milna succeeding me as Captain permanently say aye," said Taia.

There was a roar of "aye's".

"All those against, nay," said Taia.

There wasn't a "nay" in the bunch.

"I have one thing to say, if it would be permitted," said Miljek. "I think that for the past few seasons it has been very effective to have a co-captaincy, and not that I want the position – I would turn it down if it were offered – but if Milna wished, I think it would be perhaps to the troupe benefit to continue with that model."

"I will certainly give it some consideration," said Milna. "We will have a meeting at the start of the season to discuss whether or not it seems the best plan and if so, who would be deserving of the role. But for now – we need to get down to serious business."

"Aye, an' what would that be?" asked Jexon.

"Planning tomorrow's sending-off party, of course," said Milna. "You didn't think we would let our beloved Taia and Whitestar go without one, did you?"

"Aye, no, of course not!" said Jexon.

And so the following day was spent in revelry and eating. It was lucky that Taia and Whitestar had most of their belongings already packed in saddlebags; they certainly didn't have time during that day to do any of it. They were kept busy all day with people coming up to them to offer their well wishes, their personal stories of how much Taia and Whitestar would be missed; Taia was surprised to discover that almost every member of the troupe had a story to tell. Some of them she had offered personal training to, some said she had saved their lives on the battlefield, some just wanted to tell her that they thought she had been a great Captain and she would be missed. Some of them remembered her from her Lieutenant days, when she went out of her way – they felt – to address their personal needs. They ate a lot of good food, drank a lot of good kava, and went to bed tired – but gratified – for their last night in their little hut, their first home as adults where they had found so much peace and security for so long.

In the morning, Taia rode Syrx – Kyesh had been retired the previous season – and Whitestar rode Pieki while they loaded up all of their belongings on the backs of the other horses. They rode out for a day in order to get away from the stronghold, and then Gated themselves to the edge of Kata'shin'a'in. They had decided to visit with Brandi, Jacqui and Kiri for a sennight on their way out, and thought they might spend another with Whitestar's family in the Vale. Tyke, ever the messenger, had left several days earlier to take the message to the Plains and returned with the message that Brandi, Jacqui and Kiri would in fact meet them in Kata'shin'a'in. With the size of Taia's herd, however, not even the Shin'a'in trade city was equipped to house them so they would camp just outside its border. They arrived at their designated location and had just finished setting up their tent when their companions arrived – and they had brought a surprise. A young woman Taia didn't recognize came riding up behind Kiri. She looked a little familiar – could it be?

Andrien. Her baby sister Andrien had made the trip to see her. Taia wasn't sure how to react; the last time she had seen Andrien, she had been delirious with the effects of her uncontrolled and unshielded Gifts and Andrien had been a terrified six-year-old girl. Taia had left the Plains and been exposed to the healthier beliefs of the Tale'edras cousins for the rest of her childhood; Andrien had grown up entirely under her mother's toxic influence. What would she be like? What would she think of her heretic, magic-wielding, shay'a'chern sister?

"Andrien," said Taia. She figured she might as well take the position of power and be the first to greet her sister. "It's been so long I hardly recognized you, you've grown up! I'm so happy you came."

"Hello, sister," said Andrien. "Kiri happened to be on her way to visit the Clan when your bird intercepted her and passed the message. She invited me to come along, and I thought maybe I should meet the sisters our mother banished."

Taia had forgotten that Brandi had been banished when Andrien was just a baby, and so she wouldn't have any memory of her. Taia and Whitestar greeted Kiri, Jacqui and Brandi, and then Taia introduced Whitestar to Andrien.

"Andrien, this is my lifebonded, Ale'shaya shena Pretera'sedrin k'Treva. Ale'shaya, this is my youngest sister, Andrien shena Pretera'sedrin."

"It's nice to meet you, Andrien," said Ale'shaya.

Andrien just nodded, a small smile on her face. She seemed a bit uncomfortable, but it was rather unclear whether it was because Ale'shaya was Tale'edras or because she was Taia's – female – lifebonded.

They got the horses settled, then headed to the nearest inn for dinner.

"So," said Brandi, "you retired? Had enough of the merc life?"

"My bones said I couldn't do it anymore," said Taia. "Ale'shaya says – well, you know how all the old women who had lived a lifetime of injuries and broken bones could tell you when a storm was coming because their joints would get sore?"

"Yeah, like mine," joked Jacqui.

"Ale'shaya says that when you break one, the change in the air pressure from the weather changes makes the joints swell after that. They heal from the break, but they're never quite the same," said Taia. "And as you know, well, I had all of mine broken. Some of them more than once. Which leads to a lot of stiffness and pain in the winter, or during a cold and rainy fall. I can't travel, really, in winter anymore; I can't camp in a tent in bad weather, at least not without more pain than….is tolerable. It takes too long for the muscles and the joints to warm up to be functional on a battlefield. So I decided to move on to a more posh lifestyle."

"Well, it sounds like you've earned it," said Brandi.

"I can't very well be a Captain of a merc troupe if I can't endure the conditions they do," said Taia. "Besides, a nice room in a building with real walls, a soft bed…a fireplace…sounds lovely, doesn't it?"

"You never lived with those, how would you even know?" joked Kiri.

"True, but it'd be nice to find out if they're all they're cracked up to be!" said Taia. "So Andrien, what news from Pretera'sedrin?"

"The shaman died," said Andrien. "He got sick, and since he wouldn't allow any of us to have a real Healer – well, he didn't make it."

"Wow," said Taia. "After…..everything he did to the Clan…..I can't say that I'm sorry."

Andrien shrugged. "He was the only shaman I knew," she said. "I know the other Clans…..do things differently, Kiri's been telling me. But – Pretera'sedrin is the Clan I grew up in. I don't know anything else."

It was what Taia was afraid of; the elders had planned to wait out the shaman, figuring they would outlast him – but in the meantime, an entire generation had grown up under his poison. It was anyone's guess how long it would take for Pretera'sedrin to reverse the damage. She also learned that Pretera'sedrin, of all the Clans, had sent one of its members to represent the Shin'a'in in Valdemar after the Kal'enedral Querna was killed; they sent Jarim. Taia remembered Jarim; a hotheaded, fanatical man who was unlikely to listen to anything other than his own opinion. She didn't think he would serve well as an envoy, but apparently the Shin'a'in had also realized this and sent a shaman to help him learn.

"What was it like?" asked Andrien, one night over the fire.

"What was what like?" asked Taia.

"Battle," said Andrien. "Fighting, doing what we're all trained to do – what was it like?"

Taia thought about that. She didn't want to scare the girl off – but she also didn't want to give her unrealistic ideas of glorious battle.

"It's exhausting, it's bloody, and it's a mess," she said. "You spend your days swinging a sword your arms are too tired to feel at people who are trying to kill you, and will, if you don't kill them first; but they're not evil, they're just people on the other side, they're just like you. You hear the clanging of the metal, the screams of the wounded, and when it's over you hear the sobs of the ones left behind and the moans of the dying, and some of them are your friends. You drag yourself to a river, through ground muddy with blood, where the water runs red from the blood you wash away into it. Then you spend your evenings getting your wounds stitched, fixing your weapons and your armor, and trying to scarf down enough watered-down soup to keep yourself from feeling too hungry. And the next day, you get up before dawn and you do it all again."

Andrien was very quiet, and a bit pale. "That sounds….horrible, and nothing like the stories you hear," she said. "Why on earth would you keep doing it?"

"Because you also get to fight on the side of the good, against a noble – mind you, the noble is the bad guy, mostly the ones fighting for him don't really have a choice – who is abusing his people, you get to use the skills you've been taught to defeat real evil – and you can develop some really good friendships with the people fighting at your side. There will always be war and conflict; it should be fought by the people who know how, so that the fewest number of people suffer."

Andrien thought about that. She clearly didn't know what to think of this sister she barely remembered, who wielded so much power with hardly a thought – and had been banished as heretic twice over from the only Clan, the only family Andrien had ever known. It would be a sennight of much learning and thought.