Arie turned over in her tent. She blinked and sat up carefully. Soreness lingered in her body, but nothing too serious. That was odd, she thought to herself. She had used all her Gift before and it had left her weak and hurting for days. She set that thought aside to consider later she lifted the flap of her tent. The sun was setting and they had made camp again. SandStorm was waiting very impatiently by the tent. He butted his head against her chest with enough force to knock her over.
Don't do that again. The horse said in a serious voice. Your sire's magic is too much for you to be taking.
Arie blinked and stood again.
"Is that what happened?"
Her friend nodded before turning back to the look over the camp at something.
Your crude friends decided to hang around. They are waiting for you. The Queen wouldn't start until you arrived.
She was about to ask what he meant when she caught a whiff of something that made her gag. Stormwings. Wrinkling her nose she followed the scent. There were two Stormwings perched on a log, their sharp talons digging into dead wood while Raoul stood by the fire. One Stormwing was male the other was Queen Rehah. Both chatted quietly with each other. It was the male who saw her first. He cackled and asked,
"Back from the dead?"
Arie gave him a sour look and a rude gesture. His queen beside him laughed.
"Good to see you still have fire." She glanced at Raoul. "Important friends you have now Arie."
Arie ducked her head. Her cheeks red.
"I'm just here to help."
"Nonsense," Raoul put in. "You saved two of the King's Own. I owe you a lot for that. We would have past them and never have known."
Arie opened her mouth then closed it, there wasn't much she could say to that. Raoul turned back to the two Immortals.
"Shall we begin?"
Rehah bowed her head mockingly, "By all means."
"The company that was killed. Can you describe the killers? How they fought, what they used? I just can't believe anyone would be able to kill a full group of the King's Own and not lose any of their own."
"They did lose a few. But they collected the bodies of their own. It was an ambush. Your people were lured into the open field then arrows were rained down on them. Some had the Gift and were able to fight up close, but as you can see, it did little good."
A gruff voice asked, "What about the two we found?" Sir Jorrey walked over to the fire and sat down as far as he could get from the Immortals. His opinion of the Stormwings was written clearly across his face and body. A hand hovered over his sword just waiting for an excuse.
The male Stormwing tilted his head and inspected the knight before replying, "One of them was hit with several arrows. The other tasted of fear so strong he could have fed us all." The Immortal smiled flashed dirty teeth covered in dried blood. Then he was thoughtful. "It wasn't us or death at the enemies hands he feared. It was his brother. He crawled a good ways with him, before he was seriously wounded, but the attackers left them to us." Now he turned to Arie. "Something you stopped."
Arie smiled icily.
"As I said, the dead are yours, not the living."
The Immortal snorted in disgust. Arie looked over the Stormwing more carefully. He had long black hair that would have been pretty if it hadn't been knotted and matted. Almond shaped eyes that were bright green were set into a sharp angled face that was oddly attractive. But the look in his eyes; not quite malice, but something close, ruined the beauty of him.
"You weren't one of the two I stopped."
The queen snorted ineloquently.
"No, one was his brother."
Well that explained it, Arie thought.
"If my magic had ill effects I can undo them." She noticed everyone's features showed surprise. "Honestly I didn't think it would do much to you because you are Immortals. You can't die."
The male snorted and said sharply, "But we can be killed."
"My magic works differently than most."
Before the male could make another retort his queen raised steel wing to silence him. "I'll send the two to your tent once we are finished here." Her feathers clicked as she settled back into place. "Back to the business at hand."
Raoul grunted in agreement.
"Can you tell us anything about the people who attacked? What they looked like?"
Rehah shrugged.
"They didn't look like soldiers, but most of them were."
Raoul scrunched his eyebrows together in thought.
"Are you sure?"
The queen laughed.
"Trained soldiers move differently from villagers." Like the male she flashed a bloody smile. "More finesse and less fear when they kill. Not because they have to, because they want to or because it is their job." Now she was thoughtful, "There were a handful of villagers in their number, but nowhere near enough to stop your men."
Raoul ran a hand through his hair. Arie wasn't quite sure what to make of the news. It could be that Apostate had hired help, but Arie had the feeling that might not be the case. Someone hiding out can hardly bring an army with him. Can he? That was not a very comforting thought.
"But they were headed in the direction of a small village up the coast a ways. Seems they have other things in mind."
"And you didn't say anything," demanded Jorrey. Arie glanced at the young man who turned and glared at her. He whispered something under his breath before he stomped off into the camp. When he was gone Rehah said to her,
"I'd stab that one before he stabs you in the back."
Raoul was about to say something, but Arie spoke up first,
"I can defend myself. I will not harm someone under my care."
The Stormwing queen shrugged.
"It is your funeral." The two Stormwings took flight in a flurry of gleaming metal and clicking steel feathers.
Raoul sighed, "You know, I would have liked to ask them more, but I am still glad they left." He coughed and cleared his throat. For a long time they were both silent until Raoul finally asked, "So, how does a girl make friends with a flock of Immortal creatures that feast on fear and desecrate bodies?"
If anyone else had asked that question or had said it any other way Arie would have been furious. But looking into the man's eyes she saw actual curiosity. She swallowed the sharp remark that had instinctively risen.
"My mom was a healer. During the war there was a small skirmish near were we lived at the time. I was told to stay behind while my mother went."
"I take it you didn't do as you were told?"
Arie half smiled.
"No. I followed after she left. The battle took place on a high flat hill. My mom took the path up, but I scaled the cliff face. I was very good at it so I didn't take anything. When I reached the top I looked over at the battle field." She blinked back tears as she remembered the feeling of all those lives. Probably not even half of what was in the field, but enough. "The cost of that battle alone hit me hard. I lost my grip for only a moment and fell. Rehah, the queen, caught me." Arie rolled up her sleeves to show under both of her arms were a matching set of three lines permanently etched into her skin. Raoul seemed to ponder her words.
"Why did she save you? Not to be rude, but Stormwings love death. Why would they save someone?"
Arie was surprised by the question.
"You don't know?"
The man shook his head. Arie blew out a breath and thought to herself, this man is very strange.
"Stormwings love children. They protect them. Most of the time. There are some who have lost that part of themselves though."
"I had never heard of that." He smiled broadly at her after a moment. "Just goes to show you can always learn more."
Arie's stomach took that moment to growl. Raoul smothered his laughter and patted her on the shoulder.
"I'll have my standard-bearer bring you food and Neal will probably check in on you to see how you are doing."
Arie nodded and picked her way back to her tent. A few minutes later SandStorm snorted and the smell of Stormwings wafted in. Some of the horses stirred restlessly. They did not like the Immortals so close when they were tied up. Arie reached to the animal's minds soothing them and promising the Immortals wouldn't be here for long. She stood outside just as three Stormwings landed awkwardly on the flat ground. Rehah and two different males. One was similar to the male she had already met, except this one's man half looked to be in his eighties. Steel feathers were thickly covered in rust and were moving very stiffly. The second male had a similar problem, though he was even worse off. White film was forming in his eyes, partially blinding him.
Arie went to the one who was worse off. She gently grabbed his steel wings and opened them. Rust made them unbearably stiff and grating noise issued from the metal as it grudgingly moved. Once she could see all the damage she flowed her Gift into it, reversing the damage. Thankfully not too much time had passed since the magic had been worked or this would be harder. In minutes the creature looked as it once had and flew off after it flipped its tail at her. Next Arie moved to the second, doing as she did for the first. When that was done the Immortal flew away after a muttered insult.
"Your flock was checked for poison?" Arie asked her friend. The steely creature nodded.
"The talkative friend of yours cleared us." Queen Rehah stared at her silently for a long time before releasing the things clutched in her metal claws and flew off to join her flock. Arie went and carefully picked up what had been left behind. Three steel feathers. Carefully she wrapped them in a napkin she found in her pocket then stuck them in her pocket.
"Tisn't right," a voice nearby grumbled.
Arie looked around a saw a soldier leaning against a tree. He had been watching her heal the Immortals.
"Hmm?" she asked feigning ignorance.
The man grunted and pointed the way the Stormwings had flown off.
"They are monsters, ya should've left them to their fate."
"What makes you think they are monsters?"
The man looked at her incredulously.
"They grow strong off fear, and desecrate the dead. What else is that but a monster?"
"I don't know. But it seems to me plenty of kings use fear to remain in power and to grow their lands, then they send people to die for little reason. So which is more monstrous?"
The man shook his head.
"Dat's different."
Arie shrugged. It didn't seem any different to her.
"Why did it give you those feathers anyhow?" Arie put a hand over the gift.
"They will come in handy later I think." She sat down just outside of her tent until Lerant came over to her with a bowl of noodles and soup. They chatted until Neal came and fussed over her and made her drink something horrid. Then the nobleman passed a bag to Lerant and told him,
"Make sure she drinks one cup in the morning for two days." Then he turned and walked away before either of them could say anything.