An Apocalypse Rising

Passing through the barrier was, for the party, not much different from moving from one room to the next. The little hairs on their arms stood on end for the transition, but, one moment the horses were setting hooves on the grasslands of the fields of Erette and the next on the hardscrabble dirt of wherever they were now. Neral looked up and, judging by the sun it was now not long after sunrise as there was still some dew on the bits of green they could find. It was desolate on either side and behind, but there held the promise of green ahead. Neral surmised that people could have lived in what lay behind, but it would have been nothing like easy.

She kept her head turned to be certain that her major and the troops that followed them both emerged together. Once they had, the rippling of the rugged scenery behind them simply stopped. Kress glanced about briefly, looking for signs of an impending ambush, but kept most of her focus on her commander in front of her. The others were a little more active in taking in their new environment, but Neral was gratified that she saw wonder, curiosity, and some uneasiness, but not fear.

She looked to her two as they kept pace. Cloaked as they were in dark fabrics, with cowls ready to be pulled over their heads, they appeared to be the mages that they were. There was a certain honesty in how they now carried themselves with her now that she hadn't noticed before.

It's the first time they haven't had to hide who they truly are,

she realized. There was so much they had to hold back in their daily lives so as not to confuse or frighten others, not to mention preserve their own lives. "I apologize, Deres." She turned, "and to you, Bryana."

His eyes conveyed his wonder. "For what, Neral?"

"For not beginning to understand what it is that you have given up to have the lives you do until now. Being a mage is part of who you are as much as it's my sword that defines me."

"That's not your fault, he said. "I knew what returning home would mean. I accepted that. That I don't have to hide the truth from those in my home is enough. That would have been its own special brand of brutality."

Bryana seemed just as indifferent in her own way. "From the first moment I opened a forbidden tome as a guild mage apprentice, I knew it was either hide my truth or accept death. It was just another way death could come." She looked somberly at Neral. "There are reasons there are very few

old

guild mages."

Neral pondered it. "Still...it is its own bravery to be strong enough to bury your truth and carry on. It makes me proud to see it in you."

Deres stared straight ahead, attitude nonchalant, "Though I'm sure Bryana is quite anxious to blast a wild beast or two." He gave enough of a sidelong glance to her to see her grin before hearing the words. "Yes, my Master."

The wry smile spread to him. "I do love when you call me that."

"Yes, I'm aware that you approve of that honorific in any number of circumstances."

She cleared her throat conspicuously. "I believe I shall ride ahead and leave you two to flirt shamelessly with one another."

She trotted Stenna up next to Maylin who continued to cover a surprising amount of ground without seeming to be winded in the slightest. "We can redistribute the gear from one of the pack horses if you wish. They are both suitable to take a rider."

"No, thank you, General." She grimaced slightly, remembering her last attempts at it, though they were many years before. "I have nothing at all against the beasts, it's simply that, historically, we have been unable to find common ground, aside from the fact that they seemed to enjoy introducing me to it regularly. Don't worry though, I can keep up no matter how fast you'd like to go."

"'Neral' is fine, Mother."

She looked up at Neral affectionately, not missing that she had embraced calling her 'mother.' "Thank you, dear. I simply didn't want to come off as too familiar in front of your people, lapses in discipline and all that."

Neral shifted uncomfortably in her saddle to the point that she took it as a cue and he had to right her. "Are you going to be all right with me in charge?"

"I'm not military, dear."

"No, you're not, but, at the end of the day, and in the midst of battle, there must be one voice to choose the path. My soldiers are sworn to me and their duty. Deres and Bryana trust me, and I trust them, and I can trust them to do what I've asked them to."

"So you don't trust me?"

"I do in fact. You raised the man I love, and, knowing you as I do already I can see where your values shaped his. But I know that time is an enemy, and I know there is a part of you that wants to blaze a trail to her now and try to destroy her."

"You assume much, Neral."

"Not really. I just share the feeling," she admitted. "Every moment we delay, she takes more and becomes stronger. But, if we weave our way towards her we can perhaps hinder her progress in small ways, and, if truly fortunate, can pick a point of confrontation on our terms over hers."

"It becomes far more difficult to plan on a larger scale, and dangerous in the midst of something smaller scale, like the heat of battle if I have to worry about you running off to act on your own because you think you know best."

"Ah. But what if I do know best?"

"Then convince me." She gestured behind her. "The lowest ranking officer back there knows that if she has a concern to be addressed or an idea to be considered, she can take it to the major, and, if it's sound, the major will bring it to me. You and my two have the benefit of my ear directly, so take me aside and convince me. The day I become too rigid to listen is the day I retire or someone retires me on the field, probably violently. Come, say what you must, but accept that the final decision is mine, and carry that out. Can you do that?"

"I will do as you ask, Neral." She swallowed her frustration. "You're right. All I want to do is tear up everything and everyone in the land until she's broken at my feet. But that is exactly the wrong thing, especially with my son and his loves at my back. Part of the reason I asked him to come is because I knew he would temper me. I do not wish my feelings to lead to greater mistakes that favor her." Her body language tightened with the admission. "Your judgment is probably superior to mine just now, so I will defer to it."

For Neral, her word was enough. "Where are we?"

"Well back from where I suspect she is. I tried to guess from how far she might detect our presence, but I don't know what her reach is. I don't know the things she has done. It's only a guess, so it could be a horrible one. If she knows where we are, I would expect to be overwhelmed soon."

Neral weighed the options. "Not if she wants to see what we'll do. Not if she doesn't consider us a threat."

Maylin's tone was lethal by itself. "She will."

She reached down. "Mother? Your hand, please."

She glanced at it. "I told you I'm fine."

"I'm sure you are. I'm sure you have all sorts of magics to keep you from fatigue. Or from needing to eat, sleep, and probably breathe. And, while I've spent more than my share of time marching, it tires me to look at you."

She slowed just a little, looking at the beast. "And I told you, they don't like me."

"You have to let them know you. Besides, the reins are mine. The only way she throws you is if she throws me, and she will not throw me."

She slowed yet again, feeling a bit less of the urge to tear up the world. "If she does?"

"Then the girl and I will have words."

Maylin eyed the horse, then the outstretched arm. "It might be worth it just for that."

She took the proffered hand, lifted herself onto the horse and wrapped her arms around Neral where the mail thinned slightly at the waist.

"Still this way, I assume?"

"Yes, Daughter."

Neral slowed so the rest of the group could catch up, but, ahead they forged.

The day's march was uneventful and Neral was grateful for it in more ways than one. Of course, that they did not have to fight was to their benefit. She would prefer to delay that as long as possible. Also, it gave her a chance to survey the land they traveled through. As expected, the hard ground gave way to lush short grasses including plumes of foliage, long, narrow and as tall as a man, their green reeds dappled with silver. Farther on, there were forests in the distance with trees taller than any she'd ever seen. She could have seen herself living in such a place under other circumstances, and it saddened her that it was now being visited by such misery.

Lunch of bread, salted meats, and a smooth, light ale was had on the move as Neral wanted to make as much time as they could before camping for the night. As the sun began to set they found an open field to make their home for the night. It was open enough so that they could set up a perimeter of eyes and wards to give them plenty of warning before the threat hit the camp proper, but with enough concealment from the grasses and shrubbery that they wouldn't be completely obvious from miles around to the unaided eye.

The troops watched with interest and some with suspicion as Deres, Maylin, and Bryana weaved wards around the camp, fingers glowing various colors that changed with the chanting and arms moving in a dance that was far beyond their experience to witness. As they did their work, Neral and Hennis, one of the archers unfamiliar to Neral beyond reputation, a squat woman with sharp features and long, braided, dark hair headed out.

Neral wanted to know her abilities, so they set out on a hunt together. The general was pleased that the area was, in fact, as game-rich as it appeared to be. It didn't take them long to find a well-trodden path to a feeding area. Neral positioned herself slightly downwind while Hennis found a place with a winding brook at her back. The general was quite pleased with the archer, as she was methodical and quick, seeming to plan for acts several steps ahead.

She was also pleased that she remembered how to hunt, as life had taken her away from that skill. Father made a point of making time with his three daughters around what appealed to them rather than forcing them to conform to what he thought they should like. He was an enlightened soul that way and it was one of the many reasons she loved him still. He'd taken her hunting to try it and she loved the sport of it as much as the time with him. Neral played rattler to the beast they encountered, driving the stag to Hennis who felled it in a single shot.

Dressing the beast in the field and returning the short distance to camp, the meal was served around the roaring fire. Maylin looked upon it as though she wasn't quite sure what to do with it and Kress took note. "You don't eat meat where you're from, ma'am?"

She picked at it without actually picking any of it up from the metal plate, "We do, though the animals of the wastes aren't particularly palatable. They survive where humans aren't meant to, so most of them are as poisonous as the land. The meat we do eat is grown in proper facilities. We don't have to, she began, trying to hide her distaste, "kill things that were once alive for it."

Looks were exchanged all around the fire from the assembled women and all shared the same disbelief. Beyond the realm of the five kingdoms, there was nothing. Expeditions had gone out beyond the seemingly endless mountains countless times over the generations to all but vanish. Some few that did return only did so because they turned back in time and never without casualties. They told stories of storms with toxic rain, brutal wind and little to no food to be found. Everything beyond the mountains was dead, they said, and there was no evidence to prove them wrong.

"I understand your feeling," Neral told her with sympathy, "and no one is going to force you to eat it, but, Hennis and I took this animal to sustain us, not to murder it. We respect the life given, and, to not use that life to its purpose means that it sacrificed for nothing."

Maylin heard the murmurs of assent and looked to each of them to see some eyes waiting to see what she would do, so, she pulled a strip from the bone and downed it. It was more gamey than she was used to, but not unpalatable. "Needs salt."

There were snickers and soft laughter to be heard, more when Kress responded with mock indignation. "Madam, I'll have you know that I properly season all our food as I cook."

"She's right," Maklleen, a doughy-faced part of the infantry told her with a daring glance of her hazel eyes. "It's in desperate need of salt."

Kress gave the woman her best stone-faced expression, though there was humor in her tone. "When I want your opinion, Lieutenant, I'll tell you what it is."

When the laughter died down, Delles, a sinewy archer with a horizontal scar along her left cheek from a near-miss from an enemy archer's arrow. "How would you know what you can possibly eat in the wastes? Are you from Adar or something?" She laughed even as she said it, as did others. Some of those that had survived the wastes told tales of a city with spires that reached the sky where there was no crime or want. They became more grand with each telling until Adar was nothing short of a mythical paradise.

"I am."

Delles waited for the joke as did others. An uneasiness fell when the punchline didn't come. Neral looked to Deres and Bryana just for affirmation. It all had to come out eventually. She looked to Maylin, "When I asked where we were earlier, you didn't exactly answer what I wanted to know.

Where

are we?"

Maylin took the cue and reached into her pack to pull out a one-inch gray cube. It flared a bright blue in her palm and the half dozen filaments of light that emerged from it flitted over and around one another to create an outline map of the world in that same blue light. Two of the women jumped, fearing what the light might do if it hit them. "Shades," one of them whispered. All watched in rapt attention. Even Neral was fascinated at how the world grew and grew. A lot of her world had gone unmapped. Once completed, the cube pulsed the same blue inside a rather large peninsula while she could see the mountain chains that surrounded her home far to the east.

"You

are

from Adar," Hennis proclaimed in wonder. She looked immediately to Deres and Bryana. Deres's eyes twinkled in the fire and his normal mischievous nature. He tilted his head to gesture towards Bryana. "She's not. Technically neither am I, I just grew up there."

"You are Adaran," Maylin said plainly, closing the map as she closed her hand. "You lived there. You learned there. You are my son."

"But you're all mages, right? Not just her?" Dion, a member of the infantry with almond-shaped eyes and dark hair. Neral knew her to be unflappable in almost any circumstance. She would hold the line even if she were the only one left. "Real, mage fire, flying, conjuring mages?"

"Some things get exaggerated," Deres said quickly, trying to avoid being tarred with some of the more fantastical mage stereotypes. "We can't really fly."

"Don't cover it over for them," Maylin told him with a bit of motherly scold, having recognized his tone. "We are what we are. We can do the things we can do." She looked to Dion. "Not everyone can fly, and not for long. It takes a certain level of discipline as it's a constant-cast spell. It takes much energy, as you essentially must ride the wave you create. No one can maintain it long."

She looked to her son again. "I know you had to hide, lest their people string you up, but don't rush to minimize what you are to make them feel better."

Zynn, a member of the cavalry, full-framed and nimble with a mop of red hair that reminded Neral much of Tessa. "You knew they were, General?"

Neral looked her in the eye and then each of them in turn. "I knew. I've known since I met them and I don't care. I know what the law is, and I know what I should have done. I love them, they are mine, and they have never done me harm, or anyone else in Erette. I will not act against someone for what they

might

do." She looked to Bryana and Deres, her feelings etched on her face. "I will not rip out my heart on a chance."

Bryana's past was far more complicated. As a guild mage for hire she had committed many crimes before meeting Neral and Deres on the one night fate changed her. She had done enough to justify every fear of a mage the people had. But she was changed, and no more a threat to the people of Erette than anyone else.

"There's a reason the law is what it is. They are living weapons that can run amok at any time." Kestral said, stringy blonde hair fallen forward over her shoulders, cheeks flushed in anger that she tried to restrain out of deference to those that outranked her. "There

is

a reason that we've come to kill one and whatever stands before it."

"Then perhaps I should kill you, soldier," Maylin snipped, her eyes living up to the ice in their description. She could admit to herself that part of her enjoyed how the woman tensed, waiting for a strike.

Deres was shocked at her response, eyes wide and unsure of what else to say. "Mother."

She consoled Deres with, "That was not a threat." before turning her attention back to Kestral. "That's simply where your logic ends, girl. You are a living weapon, aren't you? Or do you not really know how to use what you carry and plan to beg your enemies to please kill themselves because you can never remember which is the sharp end?"

Some of the women laughed. Even Kress found a crooked grin.

"

You

are a weapon that might run amok given a cock-eyed glance or too much drink, so let's kill you now without judging your behavior. Your sword is a tool. Slay a demon and you're a hero. Rampage through an orphanage with it and you're a demon. Magic is no different."

Maylin composed herself more as she went, hoping to teach. "Yes, the woman we seek is corrupted, but she was corrupted by herself. She was corrupted by a desire for power, an ego that puts her above others, and certainty in her own certainty. How bloody is

your

history over such men and women?"

Kestral was silent.

"And all they had were swords."

"I don't care," Dion, said. "Bad person doing bad things and hurting people needs killing before they start coming after me and mine. That's all I need to know." She met Neral's eyes with pride, extending her arm to clasp Neral's. "General Jaye has never lied to me about things that matter." She leaned back. "Had my love been a mage I wouldn't tell a soul either."

"Attitude is damn rich coming from you anyway, Kes," Makleen chided with a snort. "How much trouble has that little shit you have back home been in in his life. This petty crime and that; a year in jail here and there."

She stared daggers. "That was all a long time ago for him."

"So? Proven bad. Lock him up forever."

"Me, either, said Zynn. "Bryana fixed my grandfather when he was drowning in his own fluids. Wouldn't take a thing for it."

She remembered well. "Not entirely true. Your grandmother forced me to take the eggs."

"Hash this stuff out on your own time and in any way you want, girls," Kress said, finishing her plate by sopping a piece of bread through it before popping it into her mouth. "Just don't let it get in the way of what we're here for."

"If anyone has any questions about what I kept from you or concerns because of it, you can bring them to me directly."

No one had anything to say to her just then, so, after a little more chatter, everyone not on watch went to their bedrolls. Between the watches, the wards, and the horses, who often had a sense of incoming trouble better than any soldier she'd served with, Neral felt reasonably safe when she she'd placed her sword still in arm's reach before laying down. She felt more so once she became the middle of her three after Bryana, and, finally Deres made his way to bed after talking with Maylin for a time. Her arm went around his waist as he caressed her cheek.