WOW. WOW, YOU GUYS. I just realized that I totally screwed up here and only posted half of the chapter. wow. Just... total fail right there.
But I fixed it. It'll make more sense now, promise...
CHUNK
CHUNK
CHUNK
Think her to you. That had been the only way Ӕparra knew how to find this being called Star. T'reth set another piece of tree trunk on the chopping block and hefted the axe onto his shoulder.
But how did you think someone to you?
CHUNK
CHUNK
The log split and T'reth set it back up to split it into a few more pieces. The simple labor helped him think. It took away the distraction of the army he was trying to lead, and the war he was trying to win. It helped him imagine for a bit that he didn't have a war to fight at all.
CHUNK
CHUNK
Ӕparra hadn't said anything about sorcery being involved, and he had asked several of their mages and a few of the other men who were magically inclined about it, but none of them had been quite sure what she had meant, either.
CHUNK
And then of course there was the issue of being ready for this immortal to find him and then convince her to help, or else die on the spot. In the four weeks since they had seen the mystic he and Ackala had had several arguments about that little aspect of the process. Diplomacy was T'reth's specialty, but his best friend was not quick to trust and always concerned about his welfare. It was aggravating at times, but Ackala did have more experience with the harm that sorcery could cause than he did. This creature, Star, was dangerous.
But wasn't that what they needed right now?
CHUNK
CHUNK
CHUNK
CHUNK
He had prepared his argument well and gone over it enough times that he was pretty sure he was ready to appeal to the immortal. All he needed to do now was find her.
Think her to you.
CHUNK
CHUNK
CHUNK
Think her to you.
CHUNK
CHUNK
Think her to you.
CHUNK
CHUNK
CHUNK
Think…
Light exploded in front of T'reth and a blast of hot air hit him like a wall, interrupting his swing and throwing him to the ground. He scrambled to his feet and took a defensive stance, trying to shield his eyes and see at the same time. The wind pushed against him, bending the grass of the field and roaring through the nearby trees, making him stumble. He dropped his arm to catch himself, and as he dared to look at the source of the light it immediately seemed to tone down so he could see through it without searing his eyes.
All fell quiet the instant he saw her. She was floating a good ten feet off the ground, wings spread wide, tall, thin form poised with an air of fearless power. Pointed ears poked through long, white hair that fluttered in what was left of the wind that had knocked T'reth to his knees. Her face was angular and sharp and pale and he would have said she was beautiful in a peculiarly dangerous way if it weren't for her eyes. He had never seen anything more strange and terrifying as she stared at him with eyes that had no irises or pupils, but seemed to be orbs of pure, liquid silver. They swirled with dark and light bands, unfathomable and unnatural, and no matter how he tried he couldn't look away.
"Speak your piece, T'reth of the Sun Clan." She ordered, and her voice was the wind, speaking directly to his mind, and suddenly his careful argument was completely forgotten and he was left to stare blankly at the goddess before him.
"Speak." She demanded again, fiery impatience impressing itself on his mind.
He could feel his opportunity slipping away from him and a dangerous energy gathering around the immortal, and with his prepared words still nowhere to be found, T'reth simply spoke the truth.
"We would have your assistance." He almost blurted, and then braced himself.
The creature blinked slowly, calmly. "That was the purpose of calling me." She said, making the fully grown man feel like an ignorant five year old asking obvious questions. "For what cause and to what point?"
"For the cause and point of freedom." T'reth answered, slowly getting to his feet, still incapable of looking away from her eerie gaze.
"To and from whom?"
"To the good people of the land." He gestured back at the camp, just a little ways off veiled by a stand of trees. "From the Royalist nation."
The immortal's wings shifted position, drawing back a bit. "You are of Royalist birth." She stated.
A cold feeling swept through T'reth. She knew his heritage, but of course she did. She was a Goddess. But then she would know all about who and why they fought, wouldn't she? Why ask?
"I am." He agreed quietly. "And I believe we are wrong to be doing what we are. They are no different from us. What makes them slaves and us nobles?"
"T'reth?!" A familiar voice called from the direction of the camp. He felt the need to look and warn Ackala from interfering in this critical meeting, but her impossible eyes still held him and he couldn't do any more than lift an arm and wave his friend away.
Ackala wasn't ever one for taking orders against his better judgment, though, and the next thing T'reth knew the larger man was in front of him, swords lifted defensively.
"Away from him, Demon." his friend growled, and as the creature turned her attention away from him with a slight tilt of her head T'reth was free to move again and he lurched forward to push Ackala's arms down.
"Stand down, you're jeopardizing the situation!" he hissed desperately, sensing the energy of the wind and light growing dangerous again.
"And you're jeopardizing your life!" Ackala hissed back accusingly, and T'reth was the only mortal alive that could hear the fear in his friend. He was terrified beyond words of the Goddess standing in the air above them. But he was more afraid of what his world would be without his best friend.
"What indeed."
T'reth looked up just as the light increased to blinding intensity, but somehow he could still see Star wrap herself in the light and disappear into it with a flash, leaving the two mortals to blink away the dark spots in their vision and argue about the recklessness of the event.
~0~
When the meeting tent was empty of his officers again T'reth put his elbows on the table and dropped his head into his hands with a weary sigh, massaging his temples in an effort to ease his mounting headache. People were still joining in their resistance effort, but what had once been waves of support were now only trickles. The Royalists were pushing back, loading more oppression and punishment on the communities and towns still under their control. The people were afraid.
T'reth was, too.
It had been a little over two months since Star had come and gone. He had tried, once he had worked up the courage, to call her back and ask for her help a second time despite Ackala's protests, but she hadn't come. He still reserved some hope where the other officers had abandoned it that she would return and agree to assist them, but that hope was quickly dwindling, like a small candle running out of oil to burn. In the meantime, they couldn't sit around and wait for her. They continued to plan and work as if the immortal had never been, but there was only bad news and difficult decisions at the moment, and T'reth felt the weight of leadership on him all the time. Despite most of their number being farmers and manual laborers, food was an issue. They never stayed in one place long enough to plant crops, and moving any sort of supplies on the roads was out of the question; Royalist spies and checkpoints were everywhere. Obtaining weapons of any kind was a monumental challenge; they had few metal workers and even fewer ways to obtain raw materials for them to work with. Their greatest source of metal was farming and hunting tools, and once they had melted those down for swords and arrows they had none left for armor of any sort and not much for gathering food. The cycle was endless and troubling. T'reth knew that if they didn't get some sort of good fortune, and soon, the resistance was going to fall apart. And if they lost this opportunity and the momentum they had already gained, T'reth knew the Royalists would not be so easily surprised again. This was their chance, and it might be their only chance for a good long while. They could not afford to lose it.
Thinking about the situation wasn't getting his headache to lighten up, so T'reth sat up with another sigh, deciding that there were things he really ought to see to.
And then froze. And stared.
The Goddess at the other end of the table folded her wings a little closer to her back as she regarded him. Her face was smooth and emotionless, giving none of her thoughts away to the man. She blinked.
"It has been long since a Child of the Sun has called to me." She said out loud.
T'reth opened his mouth to ask about the unfamiliar title, but then decided he should probably keep quiet and wait to see if she was really here to help. Some part of his heart was dancing with renewed hope, but his mind hushed it, wary of the crushing disappointment that could result from it if the immortal refused to assist them.
"The last of the pure-bloods who did was unworthy." She stated calmly. "He didn't last through the initial plea before I destroyed him."
A chill settled in T'reth's gut again. For a moment he wondered if Ackala's inner ear was ringing wherever he was and wished he had the same mystical ability to sense danger the way his friend did. But then he realized that it would be pointless, anyway. There wasn't anything he could do to defend himself should the immortal decide to kill him.
The being in question tilted her head very slightly as she continued to stare him down with her silver-coated eyes. "But you are not like him, T'reth of the Sun Clan." She murmured. There was silence for a moment and T'reth wondered if he was supposed to reply, but then Star straightened, spreading her dark wings.
"I find your cause honorable T'reth, son of M'drand, worthy heir of the Sun's Light, and I will support it—and you, so long as you remain true to it—as far as I am able, according to my ability and power, on my own terms and in my own time. But know this, mortal," and the tent rippled as a hot breeze swelled through it, making T'reth blink rapidly. The Goddess spread her arms, light gathering about her as she rose several feet above the hard-packed earth, and her sharp features were set in a sever expression, the sort that you didn't argue with. "You have no power to command me, and you never will. Do not dare to think otherwise."
The human shook his head mutely and the immortal seemed to accept his response, settling back to the ground and folding her wings in again. "Good. Now that the formalities are out of the way, we can get to work. Continue to lead your army as you will. I won't tell you what to do, but I will offer council and help you do it."
She pulled a piece of paper seemingly out of thin air and dropped it on the tactical map on the table. T'reth identified it as a smaller version of their own map, labeled with several different colors of dots and lines. A small box in the corner gave meaning to the different marks and the General's jaw almost dropped as he recognized the symbol beside the red dot as the Royalist's seal. They were Royalist military camps, outposts, patrol and supply routes, armories; everything they had been trying to figure out was right there on that piece of paper. T'reth looked up to thank the Goddess, but she wasn't there anymore.
"Thank you." He said anyway, figuring that if she could hear a thought she would hear him say it. Then he snatched up the paper and hurried out to call another meeting with his officers.
This changed everything.