Ch 68: The Looming Guillotine

The moon was high in the night sky as Astasha and Calder made their way back to their tent from the Dorthshire camp, their Captains following closely behind.

Kashor had bid them to stay longer, but they knew the Sorcerers of the Moon Garden would be arriving at dawn and Tasha needed time to transcribe her memories of the Wind Walking ritual.

“May the Gods bless you dreams of good tidings my King and Queen of fire!” He had called after them as they departed.

“I hear you were gifted a name, my Golden Phoenix.” Smiled Cal as they walked.

“Yes, though, I don’t know that I deserve the title as much Kashor seems to think I do.”

Calder slowed, pulling Astasha to a stop with him. “May I?” His hands reached for the fur wrapped around her, and she nodded once.

He pulled it away, revealing the charcoal symbol on her chest and his fingers danced delicately over it. “I felt the same way, when he gave me mine. But he sees things no one else can sometimes. And personally, I think he was spot on with yours.” There was an admiration in him and something else she couldn’t quite place, but he simply smiled as he draped the cloak back around her.

“I know that look.” She said with a suspicious eye. “What are you scheming?”

He leaned in and kissed her, the grin on his face widening. “That will have to be a surprise.”

The sound of someone spitting pulled them from their little bubble.

“Move on, Soreno.” Talib was standing at full alert, hand on the hilt of his sword, stance ready.

The marred man from the War Tent stood in the dark by a tent, his eyes trained on Calder and Astasha. “Just taking a piss. No crime in that is there? Not that you have the authority out here really. Just the figment of it.”

Olander had come around to stand in front of the Sorceress, and the Prince had tensed, taking a protective stance.

“I fucking said, move on.” Talib’s voice was like a growl, low and terrifying, yet Soreno simply smirked at him and spit again.

“Olander, check the surroundings, I’ve got Tasha.” Calder whispered over his shoulder.

The young Captain gave the slightest tilt of his head, never taking his eyes off the man in the shadows, before stepping back to check the perimeter.

Soreno seemed to notice and a half cocked grin crept onto his face. “As tempting as it is, I like my chances at the throne more.”

“We’ll see.” Was all Cal responded.

Astasha had kept silent, her focus on reading the situation, feeling for anyone who could be out to ambush them, but the tension seemed to be just that… a ploy to set them on edge. “I’m curious,” she said. “If you are to win the tournament, how do you think the Stone of Balance shall judge you?”

He sneered at her. “Oh when I’m King, there won’t be trials or judgments from rocks.”

“You can’t just change the very foundation of laws that run the kingdom at your whim.” She tried to argue. But his sneer simply grew wider.

“No? Is that not exactly what your lover boy here is doing by marrying you?”

There was the briefest pause before Calder cut into the silence. “I suggest you go to take that piss now.”

Soreno chuckled. “I suppose I should. Good night, Your Majesties.” His voice dripped with sarcasm as he sauntered off into the darkness.

Olander returned a moment later, the coast clear, and Cal stepped away to speak with Talib, no doubt about setting a watch on the man.

“Olander,” Astasha said quietly. “I have a task for you. Between you and I only.”

“Of course, what would you have me do?”

“I want to know everything there is to know about our dear friend, Soreno, down to the element of the sorcerer who gave him those scars.” She was still watching the darkness where he had disappeared but turned back to her Captain finally. “And as soon as possible.”

“Consider it done.” He responded.

At last the four continued on their way, the previous light-heartedness dissipated.

“Cal,” Astasha had been pondering the question since the encounter. “You can’t seriously still be considering the Transfer of Houses can you?”

He didn’t look at her as they walked, but she could feel his hesitancy. “I gave my word, Tasha, what is a good leader if he can’t be trusted to keep his promises?”

“And what will the kingdom be if Soreno wins the tournament?”

Calder’s jaw clenched. “He won’t.”

“How can you possibly know that?” She said raising an eyebrow.

But the Prince simply flashed her a mischievous smirk. “Because, however good his skills, they’re no match for mine, and there’s no law forbidding the current Prince from entering his house into the running.”

Astasha came to a temporary halt. “What?”

Turning back to her, he smiled as he put his arms around her. “You didn’t honestly think I would agree to such a thing without a plan in place did you? I looked into it, when I first considered the proposition as an offer. I plan to fight for my right to rule, and I don’t intend to lose.”

“Oh really? And how exactly, is it you intend to secure this victory, oh great White Dragon?” She was jabbing at him, but there was also a seriousness to her question.

He simply looked at her as though the answer was plain as day. “By learning from you of course.” He bent down, bringing his lips to her ear so that no one else could hear but her. “I’ve been learning to read people’s energy, and trust me when I say, it’ll take more than a quick blade and sharp wit to beat me now.”

*****

Despite her desperate curiosity to know more of Calder’s sudden reveal, she had no time to delve into it.

As soon as they returned to the tent, she went to work transcribing all she could of the ritual they were hoping would be the answer to their problems.

The five sorcerers of the Moon Garden arrived with the rising of the sun, and Calder had immediately asked them to look over Astasha’s notes along with the other mages of the camp.

“This is extremely complicated channeling.” Said the Air Sorcerer of the Moon Garden.

“This is madness!” Responded his Grand Sorceress.

Calder shook his head. “Madness is heading onto a battlefield blindfolded with our hands tied behind our back. This, is a strategy. Unless of course you have another option for how we can see what kind of trap we are walking into.”

The old sorceress looked back at the pages with worry clear as day on her face. “And I suppose scouts are out of the question?”

“The land’s too flat and barren from this side, they’d be spotted long before they could get any useful information. Unless we want to spend weeks waiting for them to climb up through the crags and come down the other side.” The Prince had indeed exhausted all ideas, and this, was his last hope to better prepare his army.

She looked up at him and Astasha who stood next to him. “You do understand the risks you are asking someone to take in this? Leaving one’s body in any capacity is… well there’s a reason it isn’t practiced outside of the dark magics of old.”

“I would gladly do it myself, Grand Sorceress,” Tasha spoke up. “But I am neither an Earth nor Air witch. I do understand though. It won’t be held against anyone should no one choose to do it.”

Her words hung in the air like a guillotine, and for a moment, she felt the fear of the task solidified.

“I would like to volunteer myself to be the journeyer.”

All eyes turned to see who had been brave enough to offer.

“Zephyr…” Astasha shook her head at the old Air Sorcerer as he stepped forward. “You don’t have to do this. She is right, the risks are—“

“But I do.” He said with a finality. “Of the Air and Earth sorcerers here, I am the only one who has seen what the enemy is capable of.” His eyes were soft, and full of empathy and heartbreak as he looked at Astasha. He had been there, in the clearing that night, had seen through her memories the horrors she had faced. The two shared a brief moment of understanding before she silently seceded with the slightest nod of her head. “Besides,” He added turning to the rest of the group. “I’m the eldest here, no point risking young blood before battle.”

Calder let out a deep breath. “Then it’s settled. I hate to rush an already delicate situation, but we move out at dawn, and I’d like to know what we are riding to before we do so.”

“I’ve gone through it all a thousand times in my head.” Said Astasha. “If we work efficiently, we should be set to perform the ritual ahead of the setting sun.”

The Grand Sorceress of the Moon Garden looked between the two of them and then to Zephyr. “Well, I guess it’s a good thing we came prepared. We’ll need a space to work, and the blessing of the Gods and Goddess wouldn’t be a bad thing to have either.”