51
Despite the fact her breath was forming in clouds in front of her, sweat poured down Ella's back. It was only partly to do with the chain mail she was wearing – dulled by ash and mud. She had a similar mixture daubed on her face, shield and sword. Glancing around in the pre-dawn gloom, Ella could see the faint gleam of the eyes of the men around her, also painted so they did not give their position away to any Scanrans that were awake at this unearthly hour.
A griffin feather tickled the bridge of her nose. She tucked it back under her helmet. Lady Kel had not explained where she had got such precious feathers from, only that Ella needed to wear them on a band under her helmet. "They'll protect you from illusion and lies. They've saved me on many an occasion. Only the Captain and you have them in your squad. Make sure you wear them."
Ella had taken them, so many different questions on her lips, but was prevented from asking as Lady Kel had crushed her in a huge hug. "Be careful, Squire."
Checking to make sure that the band was securely fixed in its place, Ella resumed her focus on the task at hand.
"Hold steady everyone," whispered Captain Domitan. "Remember your orders."
Watch for the signal. Keep low. Take out the men in front of the inn. If there are villagers inside, go with Renner and Tulric. Take the villagers to safety. If there are no villagers, stay with the main group and wait for further instructions.
Ella had done nothing but run through the orders in her head. She was not sure she had snatched any sleep in the hours before dawn – if she had, she had dreamed about the orders.
"How are you holding up, Squire Brightleigh?" whispered Domitan.
She waited a moment before her voice was steady enough to answer. "Fine, thank you sir."
He clapped her gently on the shoulder, before turning his gaze back to the ridge above the village.
In the last year, Ella had come to like the Captain of Third Company greatly. He was humorous and kind. That he loved Lady Kel was obvious to everyone, except possibly Lady Kel herself, and Ella couldn't help but feel fond of the man for that alone. But he had also taken the time to talk to Ella and show he respected her as a knight-in-training. Her presence in his squad in such an important attack spoke volumes of his confidence in her.
But he was not the Lady Knight. Ella had never wished for anything more in her life than to have her Knight Mistress by her side for this, her first major skirmish.
Fear rose as bile in her throat, but she swallowed it determinedly. This sort of thing was what she was becoming a knight for. To protect the innocent people of the realm. If she failed this test now, then she might as well turn tail and go home.
"There it is," the Captain's voice was still a whisper. Turning her gaze upwards, Ella saw a small flicker of light rise in the sky and thought suddenly of Wyl, and then Ro. She sent a quick prayer up to the Goddess to keep her friends safe. "Keep low and follow me."
They ran forward at a crouch, every hair standing up on Ella's body as they did so. She gripped her blackened sword tightly in one leather gloved hand, her shield she tucked in as close to her body as she could.
Captain Domitan came to a halt. Seamlessly, the other men stopped as well, Ella half a heartbeat behind. Shifting the sword in his hand, the Captain signalled and the group split into two, moving to crouch behind outbuildings either side of the inn.
Ella could see the Scanrans now, six of them, gathered in a slumped huddle around the smouldering remains of a fire. They seemed asleep, or drunk.
They also looked huge.
Glancing up at the Captain, crouched beside her, Ella could hear him softly counting under his breath.
"Three…two…one…now!"
As one, they rushed from the side of the building. Ella had a fleeting impression of a ragged blonde giant looming over her, before she ducked, feeling the cool breeze of something metallic passing over her head. All thoughts seemed to have left her head; she operated purely on instinct as everything around her cleared and sharpened in the gathering light of dawn. Thrusting upwards with her blade, she found brief resistance in a leather jerkin, before the sword sunk deeper in.
There was a bellow from the man she'd just stuck and she got her shield up just in time to stop the trajectory of his war hammer taking her head clear off her neck. Still, the force of it drove her shield into her face. Dimly, Ella heard something crunch and felt her mouth fill with blood, as she tumbled back to land on her rump.
Somehow she managed to keep her grip on her sword, pulling it with her, to another yell from the Scanran. Peering over the top of her shield she saw the man pull back his hammer for another swing and braced herself for the blow.
When it came, it broke her shield clean in two, sending shockwaves down her left arm. On the next swing she rolled clear, shaking her tingling arm free of the leather straps. In a strange moment, she felt eternally grateful for Lady Kel's flying lessons – they had strengthened her shield arm to withstand worse hits than that.
The wound she had inflicted on the Scanran had slowed him enough to give her time to scramble to her feet and put a little distance between them. Still, for someone bleeding profusely from his groin, the man was quick enough that Ella barely had time to dodge his next swing and bring her sword up to cut the muscles in his arm, thanking the gods that these Scanrans didn't seem to believe in armour in the way the Tortallans did.
The hammer tumbled from his grasp and as he staggered, grasping at his wounded flesh, Ella took her chance. She drove her sword as high as she could reach, the tip of it entering just below the man's breastbone, hitting something vital enough to make him drop like a stone.
"Ella!"
Hearing Captain Domitan's voice, Ella blinked as she pulled back, sword dripping, and looked around her. The other five Scanrans were also dead. None of the men in their group seemed to have any major injuries.
Domitan came over to her. "Are you alright?"
She went to answer, to find her mouth still full of blood. Swallowing hastily, Ella nearly choked on what would later transpire to be a tooth, and managed, "I'm fine." As soon as the words left her, the entire left side of her face felt like it was on fire.
The man raised his eyebrows at her. "If you say so, Squire. Well done! That man must have had over a foot on you!" He glanced around as the rest of their squad gathered. "Ok, our next move is to check the inn for villagers. You'll help escort them, while the rest of us find – "
Something landed amongst them. It looked like a small clay pot, one which bounced slightly as the group drew back, all of them turning in the direction the object had come from.
"I can't see anyone!" said one of the men.
Ella blinked, confused. She could, as plain as day – a small man by Scanran standards, unarmed and alone. He looked odd though, a strange haze wavering around him…
"Mage!" she and Dom yelled at the same time. The Captain followed with a curse and a yell of "Blazebalm! Scatter! Go, go, go!"
Her feet heard the instruction before her brain. By the time it caught up, Ella was already running.
The force of the blast behind lifted her off her feet and threw her forward. She felt searing heat at her back as the ground rushed up to meet her.
xxx
"What the…" Kel halted and held up her glaive, stopping the men behind her.
There had been a flash in the distance, followed by a booming noise. From somewhere on another side of the village, a cloud of smoke mushroomed.
Kel swore. "Corporal, what direction is that?"
The man's scared face bobbed up next to her. "North, My Lady."
"Mithros…" whispered Kel, dread filling her from her boots up. Dom's group. Ella.
She was prevented from dwelling on the thought any further as a fresh batch of Scanrans came rushing towards them. Gritting her teeth, Kel gripped her glaive and swung as the first man reached her.
xxx
Some impulse in Ella made her crawl forward on hands and knees, until she made it behind a stone trough. Her ears were ringing. Somehow she was still grasping her sword. The back of her chainmail felt almost unbearably hot, but that was fading slowly.
She spat on the ground, trying to clear her mouth of the blood that was still filling it, her tongue finally finding the spot where one of her teeth had been knocked clean out. Her face felt like it was swelling.
Cautiously, she poked her head over the top of the trough. In front of her, she saw small fires burning on the ground, the wall of the inn which had been blackened by the blast and…
…and limbs. Ella couldn't work out whose limbs they were. She couldn't see any of the men she had been with previously.
Ducking down behind the trough again, Ella vomited all over the ground she was kneeling on. Wiping her mouth on the back of her glove and grimacing with pain, she steeled herself to peer over the trough once more.
The mage was nowhere to be seen. Ella felt under her helmet, to find the griffin band was miraculously still in place, so she had to trust that he had moved off somewhere.
She slumped against the trough. Was she the only one left? What had happened to the others? Where was Captain Domitan? She couldn't be the only one left, she just couldn't.
As tempting as it was to just sit there and shiver, until someone came and found her, Ella realised that was not an option. She had to move.
Despite her knees feeling incredibly wobbly, Ella pushed herself into a crouch and sprinted to the nearest building – a small dwelling. Flattening herself against the wall, she could see that a small window was open just above her head. Double checking to see whether anyone was in sight, Ella sheathed her sword and jumped until her fingertips grasped the sill.
For a terrible moment, she wasn't sure whether she had the strength left to haul herself, chainmail and all, through the window – nor indeed whether she'd fit, small as she was.
The arm strengthening training with Lady Kel had paid off, however, or maybe the gods were looking out for her. With a grunt, Ella heaved herself up and found herself slithering through the window to fall in a graceless heap on top of some sacks of flour.
Trying to regain her breath, Ella clambered to her feet to find the end of a pitchfork inches away from the end of her nose.
"Who are you? State your business."
The man's voice was muffled – Ella's ears were still ringing from the blazebalm – but distinctly Tortallan, despite the fact his straggly beard and thinning hair were easily as blonde, if not blonder, than the Scanrans outside. Blue eyes burnt fiercely at her.
Ella held her hands up to show she meant no harm. "Please, Sir. I am with the King's Own. We are trying to rescue you from the Scanrans, but my group…I just need somewhere to hide for a moment, I need to wait for reinforcements." Her voice sounded thick and unlike herself. Her bottom lip felt twice its normal size.
"Rescue?" The man's voice was harsh and Ella wished her ears would clear so she could hear properly. "You're not going to rescue us! You're going to get yourselves killed and leave us to the mercy of these barbarians! What is the realm coming to when they send children like you into battle?"
Even with all the fear of the situation, Ella felt anger spark in her at that remark. "Sir, I am sixteen and a Squire of the realm. My name is Ella of Brightleigh and if you'll please just let me past, I need to –"
"Ellabelle?"
The arrival of a new voice, a female voice, brought Ella up sharply. Suddenly the man in front of her seemed too familiar, despite the beard and the rough clothes. Simultaneously, he seemed to recognise her – the Goddess only knew she was probably not looking herself at this precise moment, covered in mud, swollen and bleeding.
Still, Ella wouldn't bring herself to believe it until the owner of the other voice stepped out from behind a door.
The woman had aged a decade since Ella had last seen her, a year and a half ago. Her pale blonde hair had turned completely white and hung limply in a greasy braid. She wore a simple homespun dress of brown wool, a moth eaten shawl drawn around her shoulders.
The world spun for a moment then slowed and sharpened once more. One of her ears popped, the world rushing back in again in full volume on her right side as it finally sunk in what she was seeing.
"Mother?"
A/N Because we haven't had a good cliffhanger for a while have we? ;)
