cleric.
I should help.
“Mommy!”
Oh my God.
Maud whipped around. Helen scrambled toward her, weaving between
combatants, her blonde hair flying.
How? How did she get here? What is she doing here? She is supposed to
be planetside.
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Her legs were already moving. Maud dashed forward. Nothing else
mattered.
Helen dove under a table, slid on her knees, crawled forward,
disappearing from Maud’s view.
“Stay! Don’t move!”
A vampire got in her way, her armor marked with Kozor colors. Maud
stabbed her in the gut, driving the sword through the armor with
detached precision. The vampire groaned, Maud pulled her sword free
and kept moving. Nothing mattered except getting to the table.
Another knight lunged at her. Maud leaned back a hair out of the way.
The blade whistled through the air fanning her face. She gripped the
wrist attached to the hand that held the sword, jerked it up, thrust her
blade into the exposed armpit, freed it, shoved the body out of the way,
and kept moving. She was almost there.
Two knights, snarling and locked in combat, blocked her view. She
halted. They tore into each other and moved to the right.
Onda stood by the table, holding Helen by her throat with one armored
hand.
The world screeched to a halt. Maud went ice cold.
Helen dangled from the Kozor woman’s grip like a helpless kitten. Her
face was turning blue.
Onda smiled wide and turned to Maud.
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Helen jerked her hands up and drove both of her daggers into Onda’s
face.
The vampire woman screamed.
A shimmer appeared on the table next to them and snapped into Nuan
Cee. The merchant tossed a handful of pale powder into Onda’s ruined
face, caught Helen as Onda collapsed, and dashed across the table tops,
leaping nimbly over the larger armored fighters like he could walk on air.
A blink and he landed among the lees.
“Let me go!” Helen snarled and kicked, but the lees swarmed her petting
her hair and making cooing noises.
Maud let out a shuddering breath, exhaling so much pressure, it felt like
pain, then something burned her side. She spun out of the way of the
pain, turning around.
Seveline grinned at her. “I’ve been waiting for this.”
Maud’s side was on fire. The armor kept most of the blood in and it
drenched her, so hot it felt scalding. She yawned. “Bring it, bitch.”
Seveline lunged, opening with a classic overhead stroke. The bitch was
fast. Maud dodged left. Seveline reversed the swing, turning into an
upward slash. The blood blade grazed Maud’s breastplate. The armor
held. Maud danced back.
“Running?” Seveline sneered.
“I want you to feel like you’re doing well.”
“Is that so?”
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“You’re so scared, you stabbed me from behind, so I’m trying to boost
your confidence.”
Seveline bared her teeth.
Maud struck, lunging fast. Seveline parried. Maud let her blade slide off
the other woman’s sword and thrust, aiming at Seveline’s throat. The
vampire woman shied back and launched a furious counter attack. They
clashed in a flurry of blows and blocks, neither fully committing, their
swords meeting and parting to fast to follow.
Seveline ducked, and Maud’s sword whistled over her head. The vampire
woman thrust from a near crouch. Maud knocked the blade aside and
kicked but missed. They broke apart.
Sweat soaked Seveline’s hair line. Maud held completely still, trying to
catch her breath. Her whole side was drenched in pain now. Every
movement, even deep breaths, hurt. Fighting Seveline required
everything she had and she had attacked and parried on pure instinct.
The more she bled, the slower she would be. Time was not on her side.
Seveline charged. Maud parried the slash. The power of the blow
traveled up her arm into her shoulder, stabbing the joint. Seveline had
switched tactics, banking on her greater strength. The blows rained
down on Maud, big, wide, fast. She danced away, dodging and ducking.
Her back touched a table. Seveline had backed her into a corner. An
electric pulse of alarm burst through Maud.
I will survive this.
The vampire gripped her sword with both hands and brought it down
with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Maud angled her blade down,
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catching Seveline’s sword at just the right place and guided it down, out
of the way. The momentum pitched Seveline forward and off balance.
Her face was wide open, and Maud hammered a punch into it.
Seveline stumbled back.
The world acquired a slight fuzziness. She was losing too much blood.
She needed to end this now, or there would be no time with Helen, no
evenings with Arland, and no holidays with Dina.
“You can’t beat me,” Maud said. “You’re not good enough.”
Seveline snarled and marched forward. Maud saw her eyes. Murder
burned there, hot and blinding. They clashed again, cold and vicious this
time.
Maud thrust her blade past Seveline’s guard. It bit just above the
vampire’s hip, piercing armor and flesh. Seveline backhanded her. The
blow rang through Maud’s skull. The world turned black for a terrifying
second.
Somehow, she knew even through the darkness that Seveline was
coming. Maud slashed blindly. Her sword met resistance, and she
charged forward, throwing all of her weight into the swing. Her vision
cleared. She caught a glimpse of Seveline’s kick right before it landed.
Agony blossomed in her right side, the impact throwing her to the side
and knocking the wind out of her. Suddenly there wasn’t enough air.
Panic tore through her. Maud scrambled back to her feet, holding her
blade out in front of her.
Across from her Seveline gripped her sword with her left hand, her right
arm hanging uselessly at her side. The floor around them was slick with
blood.
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Seveline bared bloody teeth at Maud. “Die.”
“You first.”
Seveline screamed and charged. The world slowed down to a crawl.
Maud watched her come, one powerful step after another, face skewed
with rage, mouth gaping, fangs on display, her blonde mane streaming
behind her.
Her own heart was beating like the toll of massive bell, steady and
somehow too slow. Heartbeat… another…
Maud thrust. Seveline lashed at her, but she was too slow. Maud’s blade
pierced her chest.
Too low. Missed the heart. Missed my chance.
Seveline dropped her sword, impaled and locked her hands on Maud’s
throat. The air in Maud’s lungs turned to fire. Spots exploded in her
vision.
There was no way to break the hold. Seveline was too strong. Maud
clamped both hands on her sword’s grip and dragged the blade, still
buried in Seveline’s chest, upward, through the muscle and bone.
She will not kill m
e. I will not die here, with her hands around my throat.
Seveline was screaming, loud, so loud, spitting blood into Maud’s face.
Maud’s lungs turned to molten lead. She forced the blade up further,
sawing through living flesh.
The light dimmed, Seveline’s face swimming out of focus.
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With a last desperate jerk, Maud twisted the blade. The hands crushing
her neck fell away. Seveline stumbled back and collapsed, her blonde
hair fanning out as she fell. Maud dropped to her knees. Her stomach
spasmed and she retched.
Red liquid burst from her mouth and she didn’t know if it was wine or
blood.
Get up. Get up, get up, get up.
She crawled to Seveline on her hands and knees and locked her hand on
her sword. Seveline’s dead face glared at her with empty eyes. Maud
forced herself up, into a crouch, then to her feet. She gripped her sword,
put her foot on Seveline’s chest and pulled the weapon free.
The fighting around them was drawing to a close. The lees were still
holding Helen. Her daughter was alive. She was alive.
Arland?
Maud spun about, frantic and saw him. Arland walking toward her,
armor stained with blood. Their gazes met and suddenly Maud knew that
everything would be alright now.
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Epilogue
December 1, 2018 by Ilona 762 Comments
The ceiling of the medward was pristine and white. Every cell in her body
ached, as if her whole body had been through such a long and grueling
punishment that it simply gave up and now wallowed in self-pity and
pain.
Maud blinked at whiteness above her. She remembered many different
medward ceilings from the last two years: the grimy mud-brown stone
of the Karhari’s East Plateau, the thick metal plates of the Kurabi Fort,
the multitude of chains hanging from the darkness at Broken Well… She
had woken up a few times like this, in pain and unsure, surprised to be
alive. This ceiling was, by far, the cleanest.
I survived again.
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She didn’t remember losing consciousness. There was Arland coming
toward her, covered in blood, and after that, soft darkness.
To the side quiet voices murmured. Maud focused on them and the
formless noise congealed into words.
“…what if she doesn’t wake up?”
Helen.
“She will wake up.” Arland. “Her injuries are serious but not life
threatening.”
“But what if she doesn’t?”
Maud turned her head. Arland lay in an identical medcot. Helen sat by
his feet, her blonde hair drooping over her face. A smile played on
Maud’s lips. There you two are.
“Am I in the habit of lying?” A touch of steel crept into his voice.
“No. Lord Arland.”
“Your mother will wake up. Have you thought of what you will tell her?”
“Nothing she can tell me will make me less mad,” Maud said. “There will
be ripper cushions. Huge ripper cushions.”
Helen flew off the medcot and jumped the five feet separating
them. Maud barely had a chance to move her legs out of the way. Helen
threw herself at her, small arms wrapping around her neck. “Mommy!”
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Maud hugged her daughter to her. “You’re in so much trouble.”
Helen stuck her face into Maud’s shoulder, like a kitten waiting for a
stroke.
Arland was looking at them. His eyes were so blue.
Maud reached over to him, but her arm fell short.
“Hold on.” He fiddled with the controls on the side of his medcot. It slid
toward hers. The two beds touched. Arland moved toward her and held
out his arm. She slipped under it, ignoring the muscles screaming in
protest, and settled on his chest. His lips found hers and he kissed her. A
hot electric thrill dashed through her, from her neck all the way down
into her feet. Maud laughed softly. They stretched against each other,
their bodies touching. Maud pulled Helen closer to her. Arland sighed
next to her, sounding completely content.
Helen didn’t say anything.
“Go ahead,” Arland said. “Tell her.”
Helen pulled the blanket over her head and burrowed under it.
Maud looked at Arland.
“She walked onto the transport and presented herself to the guards,” he
said. “And when they asked her what she was doing there, she told
them, ‘My mommy is the Maven and she is waiting for me.’”
Maud drew in a theatrically shocked breath. “Helen! You lied!”
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Helen curled into a ball, trying to make herself smaller.
“And nobody thought to confirm this?” Maud asked quietly.
“No. When I asked them why they let a child onto the transport going to
the Battle Station, I was told she was very convincing and had the air of
confidence. She didn’t try to sneak in or ask permission, she walked up
to them and looked them in the eye, like a knight reporting for duty,
which apparently persuaded the battle-hardened knights that she was
following orders and was exactly where she was required to be. All of our
iron-clad security measures have been defeated by a five-year-old,”
Arland said, his tone dry. “I’m less than pleased.”
That was pure Melizard. He could talk anyone into anything with a wink
and a smile.
“What were you thinking? Maud squeezed her daughter to her.
“I was helping,” Helen said in a small voice.
“Am I punished?” Helen asked.
“Yes,” Maud told her.” As soon as I can think of a floor large enough for
you to scrub with your brush.”
“I don’t care,” Helen said. “I helped. You didn’t die.”
Maud sighed and kissed her daughter’s forehead. “What are we going
to do with you?”
“Command training,” Arland said. “As soon as she is old enough, in
about two years, maybe sooner. She needs to learn responsibility for the
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people she will lead, or we will all be in a lot of trouble when she reaches
adolescence.”
“I can’t think about that right now.” Maud shivered.
Arland wrapped his arm tighter around her. The heat of his body
warmed her. She could’ve stayed like this forever.
I have earned this. I can’t believe he loves me.
“I love you, Arland,” she whispered. “You know that, right?”
“I know,” he told her. “I love you too, with all my heart. Will you have
me?”
“I will.” She brushed his lips with hers.
“Even though I am an arrogant idiot who took on nine knights at once?”
“Even though. You’re mine. All mine.”
He grinned at her.
The medward’s doors opened and Ilemina and Otubar marched in.
“You’re awake,” Ilemina announced. “Good.”
Maud had a powerful urge to bury her head under the blanket. Arland
let out a low growl.
“Have you told her?” Ilemina demanded.
“No. I was about to, mother.”
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“Well, I’ll tell her.” Ilemina turned to M
aud. “We won. We’ve destroyed
over half of the pirate fleet. The rest of the cowards fled. We’ve
captured seven vessels and picked up a few dozen escape pods, all of
them crewed with members of Kozor and Serak. Of the two hundred
wedding guests, sixty-eight survived. It was a resounding victory.” She
turned to her husband. “Well? Say something to the boy.”
Otubar fixed Arland with a heavy stare. “You did well. I’m glad you are
not dead.”
Arland looked like hiding under the blanket had occurred to him as well
and he was pondering the merits of that idea.
“We are breaking the survivors up into small batches and shipping them
off to Karhari,” Ilemina said. “We have several drop points around the