Chapter Thirteen - Pain
It was three hours after the great wave came crashing down over them before Henrietta and Montmorency were on the verge of collapse from exhaustion. That was when the water receded into the lake and they could stop channeling their spell. The two girls and the two mage knights with them all fell over onto the ground in exhaustion.
General Gramont surveyed the scene and bowed his head solemnly. He didn't need an exact number of casualties to know he was defeated quite profoundly. There were only the mage knights and half a regiment of infantry left. The rest were dead on the hill top leading into the pass and were all dead or would be washing up on the banks of the lake before long.
"See to our wounded. Check the area for any survivors. We'll see to the dead after we've saved everyone we can still save." ordered the General.
"How barbaric... Brinvilliers didn't even gather his own dead or wounded..." he said as he saw a few men on the hill reaching into the air for attention.
"What should we do now father?" asked Guiche as he walked up beside his father.
"I want two squads on perimeter detail. Check for enemy scouts."
The General then turned to his son, "Go help them find survivors. That's your only priority right now."
As the sun was setting all the wounded soldiers lay beside the ruins of the house. Hundreds of men lay mortally wounded. Henrietta sat beside one of her enemy soldiers and did her best to heal his wounds but they were just too severe.
"You should be putting me out of my misery." he said to her.
"No. You're a soldier, and I won't just give up on you." she answered him.
"I'm a mercenary, not a soldier. I just fight for the money. I would have fought for you at a discount if I had the chance now." he said to her with a slight chuckle.
"I'll hold you to that. I'm not giving up yet." she said while focusing as hard as she could on her scepter to give the healing spell one last chance to work. Some of the water from a bucket near her came out and turned into a glowing mist which went into the man's body but it simply wasn't potent enough. X2-C3 ran a scan on the man's body and beeped solemnly. She didn't need the pad to know what that meant.
"It's alright your highness. You did your best. My number is just up."
Henrietta fought hard to contain her emotions and give this dying man his dignity. "Is there anything you'd like me to do for you? Anyone I can write to about you?" she asked him.
The soldier nodded, "No. I'm all I've got in this world. I'm ready now."
Henrietta looked at X2 and nodded to it. The Droid produced its blaster and promptly shoot the man in the head before two of his surviving comrades carried him away to the growing funeral pyre being prepared. She wanted to weep for each of those she was unable to save but she had to maintain her composure for the sake of those she had yet to attend to. Having only four healers for hundreds of wounded meant there wasn't time to grieve.
"Only eight hundred of my troops are still fit to fight. But a few of Brinvilliers' have switched sides after they were just abandoned here so that brings my total force to a little over a thousand. Only fifty Mage Knights are left. Rest are regular infantry. Thankfully we didn't lose any of the students we brought, that would have looked bad… As if this whole scene doesn't look bad already." explained General Gramont with only a very slight hint of his true frustration coming through his steely voice.
"So much for a quick end to this Civil War. Even with Valliere's army, how are we suppose to retake Tristain?" asked Matilda while holding a cloth to a cut on her forehead.
"First we gather our forces. Then we attack them where they're weak and gather more support. Yes it'll take longer now but our goal hasn't changed." said the General.
Agnes limped up to them which drew a smile from Matilda. "About time you showed up. I was starting to think you turned coward and died on us."
"Not a chance. But I just heard from one of the men that they saw the White Knight carry Calista away. I don't know about you but I owe her one rescue and I intend to pay up before I go even deeper into debt."
"Then you'd better get the Princess or Montmorency to fix up that leg so we can get moving." said Matilda with determination while pointing at the Musketeer's bleeding thigh.
"Excuse me? I can't have two of our best fighters going off searching for one person. Not with the situation as it is now!" said the General with an incredulous tone.
"I owe her." answered Agnes.
"She owes me." added Matilda.
"I don't care! You have responsibilities here that have to come first! This is war!"
"Are you going to try and stop us?" asked Matilda.
"Do I need to? Think for a moment. How can the two of you rescue her? You saw how those two fought. It'd be suicide!"
Matilda sighed deeply. "Alright… fine. You're right. Come on Agnes, let's get your leg sorted out."
Matilda helped the limping Agnes over to the makeshift infirmary which was still being set up around the many wounded. "You're not really giving up on Calista are you?" asked Agnes.
"Of course not. But the General is right. So we'll just have to sneak out later. We'll tell him we're checking the perimeter or something." explained Matilda.
"Pfft… I hate sneaking around. Makes me feel like a kid." said Agnes.
"No... The way you bicker with Cali makes you a kid. Sticking your neck out for a friend, that's called being a grown up."
"She's not my friend. She's just someone I owe a favor to. That's it."
"Whatever you say…"
Calista awoke to find herself chained to the Earth in the back of Duke Brinvilliers' camp. All around her she could sense the soldiers and their nervousness about her and the Jedi. Her first instinct told her they had lost the battle severely and her first thoughts were of her friends. The Sith reached out through the Force and was relieved that she could feel them still alive. Matilda, Montmorency, Henrietta, and even Agnes.
Calista opened her eyes and stared with cold fury ahead of her as the White Knight was examining her Lightsaber Staff. He levitated it in his hands and used the force to completely disassemble the weapon.
"This design is impressive. Most of this technology is out of date but this Lightsaber is still no less effective than my own. Two separate hilts with a very cleverly designed coupler to link them into a staff. Dual phased with Four synthetic crystals… Must have been a lot of hard work to grow and imbue these crystals, I can clearly sense that you made these yourself. I especially like the detailing... Electrum is very rare. The etching work you've done here is also very beautiful. I can't read Echani though. What does it say?"
"It says if you don't put my Lightsaber back together exactly the way it was… I'll rip out that cybernetic eye of yours... Then shove it up between your ass cheeks so you can watch as I kick your ass so hard that even your ancestors won't be able to sit down for a month!" yelled a furious Calista in Galactic Basic.
Duke Brinvilliers clapped his hands and laughed at the Sith. "I've no idea what you said young lady, but I'm sure it was very colorful."
"With all due respect your excellency, this woman can kill you just by thinking about it. Try not to upset her." said the White Knight in the local language as he carefully reassembled the weapon, but left out the power cores.
"His life is for someone else to take. But you… I told you to put my Lightsaber back together exactly the way it was. For that failure… I'm going to tear you apart and use your bones to craft this world's first ever refresher seat!"
"My deepest apologies my lady. But I've already introduced the concept in Romalia along with indoor plumbing. Though I am still working on plans for a large scale waste treatment facility. So if you have ideas on how to accomplish that with my bones, I would be fascinated to hear you out." he responded in Galactic Basic.
Calista shook her head and started laughing. "I never would have imagined a Jedi who could turn a vulgar threat into a potty joke."
"I wasn't joking. I simply found all the reports of plague being caused by poor hygiene to be tiresome so I decided to do something about it."
"If I wasn't going to kill you, I'd invite you to trade notes with a friend of mine. It's an issue she's quite passionate about."
The Duke bent over slightly to inspect the Lightsaber staff the White Knight was holding. "I've never seen metal shine so flawlessly before. I'd very much like to buy that from you."
"Respectfully your Excellency. In your hands this weapon could harm you more than it could if I just gave it back to her."
"Very well… after you're finished here, I hope you'll join me for dinner." said the Duke as he walked away from the scene.
"You're quite an enigma my Lady… or should I address you as 'my Lord'?"
Calista had nothing to say to him except to narrow her eyes and stare him down.
"I can feel your anger… Do you only suppress it when you fight?"
"Are you always a pompous egotistical nerfherder? Or are you just trying especially hard for me?"
"May I ask your name?"
"Lord Calista Zarkot..."
"Hmm, not 'Darth'? And Calista… That doesn't sound very Echani. Neither does Zarkot."
"Echuta."
The Jedi frowned at her "That's not a word that should ever come out of the mouth of a beautiful young woman like yourself. Surely even a Sith is more dignified than that."
After he got no response other than a death glare he continued "Well… My name is Julio Chesaré. Jedi Knight, and more recently, Knight of the Order of the Holy Romalian Church."
"That's not your real name..."
"No. It isn't. But it's the name I adopted when I was inducted into the Romalian Knights. We are afterall who we choose to be. Aren't we?"
Calista spat at his feet. "You know nothing of what you speak."
"As you say… I'll be going to dinner now. I'll have food sent to you."
Julio walked away from her while tucking her saber staff into his cloak and her power cores into his pocket which drew an indignant glare that he could almost feel heating up his back from Calista as he walked away. Once he was gone Calista sighed and tried to make herself comfortable but her chains were too tight. She had chains wrapped around her whole body with her arms behind her back and her legs wrapped tightly. If it wasn't for her body armor the chains would actually be cutting off circulation. She considered her options carefully, two guards, both Mage Knights by the look of them, probably the ones keeping her chained. She could sense thousands of soldiers around the camp all busy with their dinners. The Jedi said he would send her food and she honestly needed some. She'd need her strength if the opportunity for escape presented itself.
"Sir Julio. I understand you're the new leader of the Romalian Knights. Rumor also has it that you were responsible for disbanding the Holy Inquisition. How did you manage to accomplish that?" asked a nobleman at the table.
"That was rather difficult. At first they dismissed me as a minor nuisance. I continued to try and negotiate with the Bishops who oversaw the Inquisition but they wouldn't hear of it. So with the support and encouragement of His Holiness I gathered those Knights who felt as we did and started a series of 'aggressive' negotiations. In the aftermath of our diplomatic efforts, the Inquisitors were all imprisoned and an independant body was established to look into their records and investigate allegations of corruption and other wrongdoings."
"Aggressive negotiations? What does that mean exactly?" asked the Duke.
"Negotiations with swords." stated a calm Julio which drew boisterous laughs from those gathered at the table.
"Most impressive. I've also heard that you've gained some renown as an engineer and city planner."
"Indeed that is true, His Holiness intends to make a model case of Romalia for what can be done when people work together to improve society. Much of the capital city now has running water inside its buildings and more aqueducts are being built to carry fresh water in and unclean water out. It's an enormous project which won't be completed for a few more years but the people are already reaping the benefits. Disease rates are going down sharply and employment rates are very near one hundred percent in Romalia because of all the jobs these projects are creating."
"I suppose these projects are being funded by all the immense wealth the Church has accumulated at the expense of other nations?" asked one of the Noblemen with indignation.
"No. The Bishops have not been very keen to donate funds to the project. It is being funded entirely by tax revenues gathered from local sources. Businesses mostly, and from the personal wealth of the Pope himself. As employment rates have gone up, so have the numbers of eligible taxpayers which means more money coming in and going back out."
"Eligible taxpayers? You mean to suggest that not everyone pays their dues to the state?"
"One of the first acts of His Holiness after he came to power was a series of Tax Reforms. People under a certain threshold of income were considered ineligible to pay taxes. He shifted the burden from the poor onto the wealthy. The more money you earn, the higher your tax rates."
That drew laughs from the Noblemen. "I suppose you had a hand in that?" asked the Duke.
"No your excellency. That was actually before my time. The only things I've had a hand in was the reorganization of the Order of the Holy Romalian Knights, disbanding the Inquisition, the aqueducts, and a few others things. His Holiness deserves the credit for the major reforms starting to sweep the Church such as the new tax codes. I'm not at liberty to discuss other changes in the works and planning stages yet unfortunately."
"I'm still skeptical. The Church has always maintained an iron grip on its power and influence. I find it very hard to believe that after thousands of years, they'd be willing to relax their grip so easily, and so quickly." explained the Duke.
"You will see it with your own eyes in time. Then you'll believe it." answered Julio with a respectful tone.
The Mage Knights stubbornly refused to unbind her hands to allow her to feed herself. The soldier was too afraid to be next to her and tried to leave the food on the floor next to her to allow her to eat from it that way. Calista refused that indignity, she wouldn't be fed as if she were an animal. One of the Mage Knights ordered the man to feed her and the man complied. Spoon feeding the Sith woman. Calista had an indignant look on her face the whole time, if she didn't need the food to recover her strength she would have found a way to lash out at this man and tear him apart like a rabid Nexu.
It wasn't long after she finished eating and the soldier left her that she began to notice something was very wrong. Her senses and instincts all went into overdrive to warn her that she'd just been poisoned. Calista quickly started calculating her options, she could stay exactly where she was an go into a meditative trance to purify herself but while she was doing that anyone could come and finish her off. That wasn't an option. She went straight to action on option two…
The Guards were curious, she was muttering under her breath and her voice was getting progressively louder. Then they felt a growing strain on their magical power. It was far more immense than anything these two have ever faced. Their prisoner was breaking their hold on her, "How can this be? Our chains have held dragons down!"
Calista started muttering her phrases over again and the two Mage Knights had to give their all to the spell. They couldn't break their concentration for even a moment, not even to raise an alarm.
"Through victory… MY CHAINS ARE BROKEN!" declared Calista as she produced a Force overload around her body powerful enough to break the chains and send shrapnel flying in all directions. The Mage Knights were mortally wounded and fell to the ground where they'd bleed to death. "The Force… shall set me free." she said as she stood up. She felt her heart rate increase and speed up the poison's dispersal in her system, she exerted herself too much to produce the effect she needed to break free.
Time was short. If whomever poisoned her was competent she guess it was enough poison to kill a human many time over… But she wasn't Human. An Echani could withstand much more than any Human ever could. But she had to act fast for it was certain to kill her if she didn't get to safety and get herself into a healing trance soon.
She took a quick look around, the sounds had alerted the camp. She had to choose the path of least resistance, she didn't have time for any delays. She sensed a group of thirty soldiers gathering to come at at her from one possible direction, those would take too long, there was a group of twelve in the other possible escape rough. That she could handle… There were just regular infantry.
She took a breath and focused her mind to steady her heartbeat and silently thanked her greatest teacher for instilling in her the benefits of a well disciplined mind before she took off running. Twelve men, some equipped with polearms, others with swords. She didn't have time for strategy, she ran into the first one she could reach and wrapped her hands around the shaft of his weapon and leveraged his weapon to throw him over her. The pike was impaled into the ground and Calista used it to flip herself backwards and land behind the man she just threw on her hands and feet.
Even without her Lightsaber, even with all her Force power directed at slowing the poison, Calista was a living weapon. As a child, her mother trained her in the Echani arts since she could walk. As a young adult, Calista studied the manuals her mother had authored. She wasn't fighting these men as a Sith, she fought as an Echani. She felt proud of herself for it, she felt as if her mother were smiling at her from the beyond.
She narrowed her eyes and focused her vision on the next man she would attack. But her eyes were beginning to fail her, the poison blurred her vision and she couldn't rely on the Force to see for her now. She had to trust her training. She observed him carefully, reading his general body movements and timed her strike perfectly. She sprang up from her prone position and brought her fist into his throat collapsing his windpipe and sending him falling onto the sword of one of his comrades. She didn't need to see in detail, she just needed to know where they were and get an understanding of how they were moving. The rest was pure instinct.
Calista then used her momentum to flip herself onto her hands and placed her feet on both sides of the head of her next victim. She twisted her entire body tearing his head and some of his spine out as she fell to the side and landed on her feet again. Her next move was to grab a pike aimed at her belly with one hand and danced around him until she could bring the back of her fist into the side of his head breaking his skull into his brain. The small woman followed this up with an immediate kick to a soldier's chest as he raised his sword to slice at her. Her foot was placed so precisely that his own attempt at slashing her killed him when his rib snapped and impaled his heart.
It was a vicious, gore filled dance of death she performed with these men. By the end of it not one of them survived. When reinforcements finally arrived they were too late. Calista, drenched in the blood of her victims, escaped into the dense forest. The professional soldiers knew they had no chance of ever finding her in the darkness.
Meanwhile, at the Duke's dinner table Julio noticed something was wrong when his vision started fading, but like Calista he didn't need his eyes to see. He felt the Duke and his companions watching him, waiting for him to die and he knew right away what happened. His food had been poisoned. He had to act fast, with both hands he projected a Force wave strong enough to knock all the men out of their seats and send them to the floor. He only needed to incapacitate them long enough to get a headstart.
Before long Julio was out of the tent and confronted by several Mage Knights. He knew he didn't have time for this. Mage Knights had one weakness he'd become very proficient at exploiting, something he spent every day teaching his own Mage Knights to avoid having happen to them. With one hand he pushed outwards through the Force knocking the men down, with the other he ripped their weapons from their hands. Swords, wands and staves. A few might have been able to resist, but he knew by now how to prevent them even trying to block him.
One of the Mage Knights observed that his right hand was glowing through his glove as he leapt up into the air higher than anyone should be able to and was intercepted by a white Wind Dragon and carried away.
Brinvilliers inspected the bodies of the dead soldiers as they were laid out for burial. "Someone explain to me how we could poison them with enough Hemlock to drop a dragon... then… once the poison starts working on him... he makes a fool out of us at our own dinner table… humiliates seven of my best Mage Knights… and flies away on a Wind Dragon! At the same time this... tiny... girl... half our size... utterly butchers... twelve armed soldiers with her BARE HANDS! I don't care what it takes! He might be out of our reach but she isn't! Find her and bring me her head on a pike!"
Her body was on fire. Her muscles seized up and she fell flat on her face in the most undignified manner yet. "Three to one gravity… I suppose you win." said Calista with a low chuckle. She could feel the enemy soldiers searching for her. It wouldn't be long before they found her.
"Calista please… I don't want to die. Not when I just started feeling alive."
She felt her apprentice through the Force, Louise was afraid, and in insufferable pain just like she herself was. The words she spoke brought a tear to her eye as she recalled something she wanted to impart on Louise…
"I never told you… what it meant for me, to be Sith."
"No, you haven't. But you need to get up Cali… you have to fight. You can't die! We still have so much to do together! There's so much I'm ready to learn from you… properly this time!"
"It's something all living beings share Louise. Some people have scales, others have tails, some are furry, others and blue… But what we all have in common, what truly drives us all... Our desires."
"What are you saying? Please, get up and keep moving!"
"For once in your life Louise… Listen. What truly drives us all is our desires." she said as she willed her arms to move and push herself up to crawl on her hands and knees.
"The urge to reach." she continued as she slowly stood up and started putting one foot in front of the other.
"The will to achieve." she could feel Louise's pain intensify as she forced her own limbs to move against the unbearable agony.
"The determination to overcome." both she and Louise said in unison as their minds connected more deeply.
"The passion to succeed." Calista continued as she willed herself to move faster.
"That's what it means to be alive." they said. Louise was being held by Kirche who by now firmly believed that Louise's condition put her on death's door.
Two of the soldiers saw her struggling to walk and started running for her. She turned around to prepare to try and defend herself but she was knocked down on her back by the impact of the pike on her chest armor. Her head hit the ground hard.
"That… is what it means… to be Sith. Never forget it. And I won't let you die… Believe it! Put your faith in me like I once put in you." said Calista as she focused hard to clear her mind for what she had to do.
One of the soldiers held out his torch near Calista so he could get a good look at her. "So this is the little girl who killed all our guys? Pfft, she doesn't look so strong now."
Calista held out her hand to him weakly as she spoke "Your eyes can deceive you. Don't trust them."
She channeled her rage into her hand and produced an unstable stream of electricity which arched to everything except her target setting fire to the trees and anything in the vicinity that could ignite. The soldiers could only run for their lives. However they didn't make it far before finding themselves impaled upon swords. The one who wasn't killed instantly looked up to see into the very angry eyes of Agnes. It was the image he took to the afterlife once she kicked him off her sword.
Matilda put away her sword and knelt down to pick up Calista and started walking away with Agnes covering their backs. "Poisoned…" said Calista softly to Matilda as she was picked up.
"You know Cali… If I were still in law enforcement, I'd have to arrest you for starting a forest fire." stated Agnes with a playful tone.
It took everything Calista had to do it, but she raised her hand to make a rude gesture to Agnes before she closed her eyes and focused on putting herself in the healing trance.
Louise felt her connection to Calista weaken and fade, she was unconscious but still alive, and still in so much pain. Louise felt like every single nerve in her body was going off at once, there was pain everywhere. Her throat was hoarse from her yells and screams of agony and she just couldn't vocalize the pain anymore. She wondered if this was how Kirche lived every moment of her life. If this was what Guiche felt after Calista used the Lightning on him.
It was a rare thing for Kirche to feel so powerless. Even her Elixir couldn't dull Louise's pain. There was nothing she could do except hold her new friend and potentially wait for the end to come. If she didn't have so much confidence in Calista's ability to survive she might have entertained the idea of putting Louise out of her misery. But she refused that thought and held Louise just a little bit tighter as they lay together in the bed. Kirche understood pain… now Louise would as well. They were certainly bonding over interesting things. Languages, meditation, gathering information in the city… but this… she didn't know if she even should consider this a bonding experience and the confusion made her angry at herself. Nobody should have to suffer like this. Not Calista, not Louise… She could bear it for herself it was just her state of being. But she couldn't stand to see anyone else endure it.
"She said she was poisoned." said Matilda as she lay Calista down in the makeshift infirmary of their camp. Henrietta and Montmorency had rushed to their aid as soon as they'd arrived.
"Do you have any idea what kind of poison?" asked Montmorency as she started checking her friend's condition.
"No. Idea. All she said was 'poisoned' and that was it before she passed out." explained Matilda.
"What about her symptoms then? Think hard." demanded Montmorency with professionalism.
"I don't know. We found her on the ground, she tried to electrocute an enemy soldier but she missed and started a fire in the forest." said Agnes.
"She's barely breathing… her heartbeat is very low. I'm going to guess Hemlock since it grows everywhere around here." said Montmorency as she got out her wand.
"Can you cure her?" asked Matilda with growing concern.
"If I had my father's lab… absolutely. With just my Magic? I don't know… but I'm going to try." she started before turning to one of the soldiers who was assisting her with the care of the wounded. "Bring us water!"
"Maybe together?" asked Henrietta which got a nod from Montmorency.
The two girls combined their spell with the provided water to amplify the effect of the healing mist they produced but to no avail. Montmorency demanded they try again but they still failed. Montmorency checked Calista's condition and there was no improvement whatsoever.
After the fifth attempt the Princess spoke up. "Even together we aren't strong enough for this… The poison's too far advanced… Montmorency… We've done all we can... "
"I don't get it. She told me that she was able to purge toxins from her system somehow. We drank six bottles of wine together… Matilda and I were on the floor in a drunken stupor and Calista was just fine… Not even a hangover."
"Maybe this poison is too strong, or maybe she didn't get a chance to do whatever it was she did to get the alcohol out?" Matilda hypothesized.
Montmorency shook her head and tried her spell again on her own.
Henrietta put a hand on Montmorency's shoulder as she spoke. "We did our best… There's nothing more we can do except make her comfortable." said the Princess in a small tone of voice.
"Yes there is! Bring her to the lake!" said Montmorency as she stormed out of the infirmary towards the Lake with the Princess following her closely trying to calm her down. Matilda picked Calista up, she didn't know what the girl had in mind but anything was better than standing around waiting for Calista to die.
"I know she's your friend Montmorency. I think of her as mine too. But we did everything we could! We have to respect her dignity now!" explained Henrietta.
"No. We haven't tried everything yet." answered the blonde mage as she held her fist over the water of the lake. It didn't take much to reopen the cut she made earlier on her palm, she just needed to press into it with her finger nails to draw blood.
"What are you thinking?" asked Henrietta.
"I'm thinking that I'm not letting her die." she declared with cold determination.
Matilda lay Calista down a couple meters away from Montmorency when the Water Spirit took form and appeared before them. Matilda fell back on her rear end when she saw the giant Elemental take form and stared at it wide eyed. Agnes froze up a few paces behind with a similar expression.
"Why have you called me child? I've done you one service already today, does human greed truly know no bounds?" asked the water elemental.
Montmorency backed up a few paces and knelt before the Elemental in deference. "Forgive me. But my friend, she's been poisoned. Our power isn't enough to heal her. You have a contract with my family. As the heiress to House Montmorency I would ask of you to heal this woman here." she said with a polite tone but with desperation coming through in her inflections for even the most tone deaf to hear.
"Whatever care I had for you and your family I used up today granting you the chance to save yourselves from my wrath. Do not try my patience by asking me for favors child. Especially for one whose aura carries the taint of Brimir."
"You have a contract with my family! Why would you turn your back on that?!"
"The contract was broken. I was betrayed by the contractor and the treasure I was meant to guard was stolen. That one can tell you the tale." said the Elemental with a gesture to General Gramont who in turn looked at the ground in shame when all eyes fell upon him.
"Then make a new contract with me! I will restore my family's honor." said a determined Montmorency.
"Because your progenitors destroyed my trust the price will be high. Are you sure that you are willing to pay it? I require a service, and a sacrifice to do what you ask."
"What are your terms?" she asked as everyone around her looked on with concern. They knew nothing good could ever follow such a statement.
"First, you must swear to return what was stolen from me. What your father failed to protect. The Ring of Andvarii which was used during your battle by the one you call Brinvilliers. Second, to fuel the spell will require a portion of your life energy."
"How much life energy?!" demanded Guiche before he tried to walk up to Montmorency only to be held back by his father who demanded he stay out of it and be quiet.
"As much as it takes!" answered the Water Elemental with growing irritation.
"Is there no other way?" asked Henrietta.
"No. I require her oath and her sacrifice to make the contract. No more questions! You know my terms now."
Montmorency had a sudden flash of realization. This whole situation had happened before but not to her… She was taken back to the first time she met Calista. The story she told her about the slave boy on Korriban that she was forced to kill by her teachers...
"Seeing Guiche in the state he's in now... it's heartbreaking. I want to help him, but I don't know how. I'll do whatever it takes! If you can help him... please! I'll do anything!"
"Be very careful when you say such things. You never know when the price might be too high."
"What do you mean?"
"What I'm asking you my dear... is… Are you willing to endure even a fraction of what that slave boy endured for me... To save this boy you love?"
She wondered if she could be able to live with it if she didn't do whatever it would take to save Calista. Something inside Montmorency knew that Calista would do the same for her without any hesitation. She heard more of Calista's words echo in her mind...
"What I regret most about that day, is the fact that I didn't even try. He risked his life for me, but when the moment came for me, I didn't risk mine for his."
"If I could go back and do it again, I would have fought him, and anyone else who tried to challenge me."
"But I'm not stupid, I know I would have died, if not by the Overseer, then by any number of the other, more powerful people. In the end I had to accept that I was powerless at that moment…"
"I resolved to never be powerless again."
She couldn't accept that this was a coincidence. It was just too perfect a role reversal. Right down to the person whose life was hanging in the balance being unable to play any role in determining their own fate. She couldn't help but wonder if Calista somehow knew this could happen.
Back then she put it all on the line for Guiche and got nothing out of it except more pain for herself. Calista on the other hand never let her down. From Calista she got her her first taste of what it meant to have a real friend. Someone who was there for you when you needed them and knew not to impose themselves on you. Someone who gave you unconditional respect. Calista had promised to protect her but now it seems the powers that be had other plans. They wanted to put her to the test instead. Montmorency knew in her very soul that Calista never stopped regretting the fact that she couldn't even try to save that boy back then. She felt strongly that if she didn't go through with this now that she would in turn experience the same regret.
"I accept your terms." she said to the water spirit.
"What?! No! Montmorency! You can't! Not for her!" demanded Guiche.
General Gramont grabbed his son by the arm and roughly pulled him away from the scene. "Damn it Guiche… Once in your life do as I tell you! I might know something you don't."
Guiche couldn't fathom why no one else was raising objections to this madness as he was dragged away by his father. The boy didn't dare to offer resistance to his father though, no matter how much he wanted to.
"If the Ring of Andvarii is not returned to me before the summer months come to an end... what was given... will be taken." explained the Elemental in a stern tone.
Montmorency meanwhile knelt down next to Calista and turned her head to the Water Spirit. "I'm ready to begin."
The Water spirit then began to glow and a line of magical energy formed between her and the young water mage. Montmorency felt empowered by it and began to channel the healing spell into Calista. The pain was excruciating as she felt her very life energy fuel the spell instead of her magical energy. She clenched her teeth and pushed through it until the spells completion when she collapsed onto her back.
"It is done. Do not trouble me again until you have the ring. The one who has it now is the leader of the army you fought today. Defeat him and return what was stolen!" said the water elemental before it vanished back into the lake.
Henrietta rushed to Montmorency's side and picked her up to put her head in her lap while Matilda picked up Calista and took her back to the makeshift Infirmary. The Princesses looked the unconscious girl over and even in the dark of night she could clearly see the damage which was done to her. Her hair and skin had lost color. She'd lost muscle and body mass to the point where Henrietta herself could lift and carry her to the infirmary.
Louise took a very deep breath and exhaled slowly with a blissful expression. All she could feel now was the elixir Kirche dosed her with to try and soothe the pain. "I don't know what happened but Calista is alright now." said Louise with a tone of serenity.
To say she was stunned by the sudden change in Louise would have been an understatement. She was speechless for a long time before she finally stood up and tucked Louise into bed. "Get some sleep then. Tomorrow, we're going to finish up whatever we can do here and then see about joining them."
"Sounds good to me."
"I'm going to go down and have a drink… God knows I fucking need one right now."
General Gramont took his son to the outskirts of the camp where they could have privacy for the lecture he would have to give his son.
"Father… why didn't let me try to stop her from doing something so awful?! I simply do not understand!" exclaimed Guiche in a semi-flamboyant manner which he was desperate to keep in check but still failed to reign it all in.
"Can you stop talking for a moment and listen?! God even your mother listens more often..." said the General with a firm tone which gave the boy no room to misinterpret the dire consequences of not doing as he's told.
"It's because you don't understand. It was her decision to make. Her life to give. Her friend to save. If I were in her place and that was her father dying on the ground there I would have done exactly the same thing. If you don't have a friend you'd be willing to risk your life for Guiche, you have a very long way to go before you can ever call yourself a man." explained the General.
"A friend I'd be willing to risk my life for…" started Guiche which sent him into deep thought.
"I'm not finished talking and you're not finished listening!" he stated authoritatively.
"Yes sir." said Guiche with a small voice as he returned his undivided attention to his father.
"You don't open yourself up Guiche. You hide behind this mask your mother and my brother gave you to wear. Well you're not trying to impress the ladies at school or court now. You're fighting a war. You've taken lives and you've saved lives but that doesn't make you any more of a man."
"I've screwed up father. I've done things I don't even know how to atone for. But I've also done something for which I should feel shame and regret but I don't, and I don't understand why."
"What are you talking about?"
"You heard about what happened to Count Mott?"
"The bastard's house burned down with him inside it. Good riddance I say. What's that got to do with anything?"
Guiche shook his head. "He died in a fire yes. But I was the one who started it. By setting him on fire."
"You did what?!"
"I killed him. I set him on fire." explained Guiche without a hint of emotion in his tone.
"In the name of God… Why?" asked the General with a forced calm.
"There's this girl in my school. Louise Valliere. Her best friend is a maid in the school. Old Osmond sold her to Count Mott. The Count… did things to her. I went with Louise to rescue her. You said I should have a friend I'd be willing to risk my life for. I risked mine for Louise. But not because she was my friend. She hates me…" said Guiche as he looked out at the lake with the blue and red moon's mixed lights reflecting upon it.
"Then why? I mean. I'm not unhappy that he's dead. I'm just curious as to why you'd do such a thing." asked the General.
"I've done terrible things to Louise. I've hurt her. Made fun of her… Tried to kill her-" Guiche was interrupted by a punch to his face which sent him to the ground. "I deserved that." he said from where he landed. He didn't dare get back up.
"You deserved much more! But we're in the middle of a war and I need you fit to fight. Now go on. What else have you got to say?" the General was demanding in his tone, filling Guiche with fear akin to that which he felt for Calista.
"After all that happened a dear friend advised me that I should follow my heart and do what I feel is right. But it's so hard because my head keeps giving me all these bad ideas on how to go about it."
"Hrmmm… I know that feeling only too well. The thing is Guiche. You have to trust your instincts. Sure you'll make mistakes. It's normal. But I won't always be there to correct you when you do. You have to gather experience. You have to put that mask aside and become your own man. Just like in war, you'll lose some battles. But you have to learn from them. Sometimes you even have to make sacrifices or cut your losses and run. Life is unfair. It's brutal teacher which eventually kills all its students. Just do what you think is the right thing at this exact moment, and be willing to accept the consequences. When you can do that, that's when you'll start being a man."
Kirche went down to the tavern and found herself a seat. By now Marlene knew what her order would be and didn't waste a moment in bringing her a mug of ale. Though she detested what Tristain passed off as ale it was the best she could get. Business was slow so Marlene took a seat opposite Kirche once she set the mug down before her. Kirche took a sip of the ale and widened her eyes.
"This is Germanian!" declared a surprised Kirche.
"Yes it is. I know you dislike the local ale so I asked the boss and he managed to get us a barrel." said Marlene with a smile.
"That's very thoughtful. You'll be an excellent wife one day." said a very happy Kirche as she sipped her ale.
Marlene looked down sadly at the comment and Kirche straightened her face. "I'm sorry. Did I say something wrong?"
"No my lady. It's just that… after working here. I doubt I'll find a good husband." answered a dejected Marlene.
"Pfft. Who needs a husband anyway. There's nothing they can provide you that you shouldn't be able to provide for yourself." said Kirche before sipping her ale.
"I agree. But it would be nice. Even though I very rarely sleep alone, I am all alone. I'm sorry. I should not be troubling you with these things."
"You're not troubling me. If you want to talk to me, talk to me."
"It's not my place. I'm just a commo-"
"If you finish that sentence I will get angry. Forget that I'm a noble. Just talk to me."
"It's not easy my lady. You're as high as one can be, I'm as low as one ca-"
"Ok. Now I'm angry. Don't you dare put yourself down. I don't know what lead you to your current situation and it's none of my business. But don't put yourself down. No matter how bad things get you have to keep your head up. Or, as you yourself said, you may as well be dead."
"Yes. That is true. I'm sorry." said Marlene who put a smile back on her face.
"Much better."
"May I ask how your friend is doing? Is she recovering?"
"Yes. Thankfully, it seems the worst has passed. She's sleeping now. Tomorrow we need to see about paying a visit to the source of her problems so I can give her a piece of my mind."
Marlene couldn't help but chuckle. "You have such passion when it comes to your friend."
"Pfft, we're not even that close. We hated each other until recently. Now I tentatively call her a friend. But my motto is that anything worth doing, is worth doing well. If I'm going to make peace with her and be a friend, I'll do it the best I can."
"I wish I had a friend like you." said Marlene wistfully.
"You already do!" said Kirche while pointing to herself.
While the two spoke a group of a rowdy soldiers entered the establishment demanding food and drink. Marlene was about to get up to attend to them when Kirche reached out and grabbed her arm. When Marlene looked to Kirche the redhead shook her head. "You're busy. Ignore them."
The proprietor of the establishment called out to Marlene and the brunette was suddenly caught between a rock and a hard place. She didn't want to leave Kirche, but she couldn't ignore her work. "Unless she's paying for you Marlene, we need you here." said the bulky and scantily dressed drag queen.
"My lady... You're going to get me fired!"
"She's with me for the night!" declared Kirche with a loud voice in Gaulish to be understood by the proprietor and the soldiers.
"Are you sure my Lady? You already paid for my time earlier." asked Marlene.
"Yes. I'm sure. Let's get out of here before these scum ruin my mood." answered Kirche while getting up.
"Isn't your friend sleeping?" asked Marlene.
"Good point… mind if we sit in your room?"
"Not at all." answered a happy Marlene.
Calista slowly awoke feeling groggy and confused. All she could remember was being in immense pain and couldn't understand why she was suddenly so uncomfortable. Something else was very wrong though, she tried to reach out with her senses but she couldn't feel the Force. Her eyes were closed but she couldn't see. Fear was all she felt…
She tried to move but discovered her arms and legs were bound so tightly she couldn't move at all, it felt like she was frozen in carbonite. She opened her eyes and looked to find her hands were bound in Force restraints, she couldn't see her legs because of the angle of her body but it stood to reason they were bound the same way. She looked around at where she was and vividly recalled the many horrors she'd suffered in this room.
These were the private quarters of her former Master.
"No! No! No! No!" she cried out in terror. This was impossible!
"Did you think that simply because I had no choice but to allow you to pursue this ridiculous idea of being a common fighter pilot that I'd also allow you to neglect your duties to me?" came a deep male voice which was full of malice and contempt.
"This is impossible! I killed you! You're dead! I blew you out of the kriffing airlock!" said Calista with a fearful voice.
"Your delusions do not concern me Apprentice. But your conduct does. You've allowed my rivals to humiliate me. Because of you I have that Zabraki freak Darth Ralathos breathing down my neck along with two Dark Council members questioning my competence and leadership!"
"This is a dream… an illusion… it can't be real!" she said tearfully as she struggled to try and break free of her bonds but it was useless, she couldn't move at all.
The older Sith Lord held out his hand to her and promptly electrocuted her. That made her question reality again because the pain felt very real, and so did the smell of her own burnt flesh filling her nostrils. She screamed at the top of her lungs in agony as the energy ran through her body causing her muscles to twist and contort and because of the restraints and how tight they were she felt her bones crack as her body involuntarily twisted in unnatural ways.
"My Lord! Please stop! You're killing her!" yelled a young blonde woman who was restrained and on her knees between two nearby soldiers.
The old Sith kept it up for a while longer before finally stopping. "Did that feel like a dream to you Apprentice?"
Calista couldn't speak, her mouth was bloody from having bitten off part of her tongue and the blood came gushing out and onto the floor. She forced herself to look around and saw the young woman on her knees between the two soldiers. "Montmorency?" she wondered to herself. The woman kneeling and restrained bore a startling resemblance to the young mage. The old Sith man walked up to her and in one motion took out his Lightsaber and beheaded the woman before deactivating his weapon and clipping it back on his belt.
"Nooooooooooo!" yelled Calista which caused blood to spray out of her mouth for a few meters in front of her and splattered to the cold metal of the ship's deck.
"You've grown weak. Soft. Pathetic! After you humiliated me in front of everyone at Vaiken Spacedock I decided you needed a little demonstration of what real power in the Force can accomplish. How did you like the sappy little illusionary world I created for you?" he asked her with an amused tone as he threw a data pad at the floor in front of her.
Calista looked at it and noted the image it was displaying, a picture of everyone she met in Halkeginia in ridiculous poses. "I asked the soldiers to bring me the most utterly absurd reading material the young people are interested in these days and used it to craft the illusion. That is real Sith power. That is what you are to me, something weak and pathetic that I can manipulate and play with as I see fit. You've forgotten that after your little adventure with your pilot friends and that little whore they call Tornado whom I'm going to have you kill later today."
"No… It can't be…" said a tearful Calista.
"Oh but it can, and it is. Accept reality. You're nothing without your little friends to protect you. You can barely conjure Lightning! The only thing more disgusting than your little rebellion at the tournament was watching you hide behind them while they did everything for you! Then I had to sit and read those stupid books to conjure that ridiculous world for you and be even more disgusted by how you behaved! A primitive world ripe for your taking and instead of conquering it you would choose to live a 'normal' life?"
All Calista could do was spit more blood out of her mouth.
"What amused me the most was how you took that stupid little girl as an Apprentice. What do you think you have to teach? You're nothing without me! Oh and that pathetic Jedi… The weakest one I could imagine bested you so easily!" he declared with hatred.
The old Sith continued when he got no response from her "About that little pink girl… If you were you looking for a little sister I could have just called your father here to make one for you with one of your little playmates in the hangar bay?"
Calista was furious but her anger wasn't giving her power. He hatred wasn't making her stronger. She was blind to the Force and had no idea how it was possible.
"Good… I can feel your anger. If you want to be a Force Blind… I can arrange that for you. Or, you can bring me the head of one of your little squadron mates. Any one you choose, I don't particularly care. Show me you are willing to break your attachments if they make you weak like you are now. Prove yourself worthy to be my Apprentice."
"No… either you kill me now. Or once I'm out of these bonds… I'll kill you!" she declared defiantly and spat more blood out of her mouth, but this time towards her Master.
"No my dear… I won't kill you yet. If that's your attitude, then I'll go down there and execute them all myself. Then I'll make you wish you were dead… For now… Dream… Dream pleasantly of your paradise before I bring you back to hell." he said as he started to walk away.
"No… No…. Noooooo!"
"Noooooooooooooooo!" screamed Calista as she sat up in her makeshift bed in the makeshift infirmary of the military camp.
Matilda had fallen asleep beside her and was suddenly very alert after hearing her friend's anguished and ear piercing scream.
"Cali! Cali!" yelled Matilda as she got up and put her arms on Calista's shoulders.
Calista looked around with an expression which Matilda couldn't even begin to describe. There simply weren't words in her vocabulary to describe the level of fear on Calista's face.
"Captain? Where is everyone? Tornado... Pyro... Barber… Are they alright? Did my master hurt them?!"
Matilda blinked at her and started snapping her fingers in front of her face to check if she was actually in there but there was no discernible response to her stimuli.
"Cali… You were poisoned. I think it messed with your mind. Montmorency almost died to heal you."
It took a few moments for the words to register in her mind before she shook her head and took a very deep breath. "Have you ever had a dream you were so sure was real that you're not sure if you're awake or still dreaming?" asked Calista in a low and fearful voice.
"Get your wits together Cali, we need you. Come on, snap out of it." said Matilda while snapping her fingers in front of Calista's face again which drew an irritated groan from the petite woman.
"I'm alright Matilda. Just… give me a moment here." she said before looking around. She was surrounded by wounded soldiers and was laying in a cot. It was daylight already and her dream was slowly fading from her memory, but not from her thoughts...