An Apocalypse Rising Ch. 06

Her tone was somber and her voice far away. "We all do."

The burial proceeded smoothly, though all were on the lookout for something else to appear. Placed together, also as they would have wanted, especially in this place so far from home. Dion read from words she had prepared as the site was readied, not because she feared not knowing what to say, but because she wanted the general to know exactly what she had said, and to be able to keep it if that's what she wished.

With the words spoken and a marker carved into the rock by Deres, they shooed all but one of the horses that became another pack animal for the gear salvaged from the others before making sure the general was secure with Stenna and moving along the beach to get beyond it and to hopefully safer ground. They traveled the beach, Neral lashed to Deres with he and Bryana on either side of Stenna with the rest in a loose formation behind in the event anything decided to meet them. Nothing did though they did have to skirt to avoid the witch's caravans of slaves.

Emerging from their path between the water and rock they saw the forest well behind them and gently rolling hills ahead before the valley and the jagged mountains beyond that looked as though they were daring others to approach so they could be shredded. Dion looked upon it with some trepidation. It had already cost them much and she was unsure how much more it would claim. There was something abhorrent in all of it. She was wiling to meet anything one-on-one with a sword, but this mind-warping and twisting of bodies was something else. She pointed to her right. "I like that hill a little higher than the ones around it near the valley entrance. We camp there."

"We could make some more time." Delles, said, anxious at the moment to not have to sit still.

Dion shook her head firmly. "Not until the general has recovered or circumstance demands." Truth be told, Dion did not want the last leg of this journey to be hers to take unless there was no choice.

Wards were set and camp was made before dusk, now far enough away from the beach to take some of the damp and chill from the air. Still, Bryana and Deres made sure that Neral was bundled and warm near the fire. Deres' blue eyes looked down at her, still with some concern, but he was far more relaxed about things now. He looked at the scars of both wounds on her neck. "Scars are small but nice. I expect she will approve." He kissed each reverently.

Bryana didn't even want to utter the words. "She nearly died. A few more moments and she would have."

"But she didn't, Bryana."

"Someone should have seen something." She fought back the self-loathing. "I should have seen something...sensed something."

"Hennis must have been masked by a half-mage...or been able to put herself in a place to quiet her mind so that there was little or nothing to sense. How hard is it once you've been ruined by that woman?"

"I should have known," she insisted. "I've been Drexa. I've...made pawns like them. I should have seen it." She caressed Neral's cheek. "And she almost paid for it."

"I missed it, too, you know." His tone carried some bitterness. "Magic isn't infinite and we're not gods. Don't you think I'm thinking the same things?"

"Except that you're not.... You don't owe her what I owe her."

Not so long ago in the grand scheme Bryana had lived her life as part of one of several secret mage guilds in the five kingdoms. They traded the expertise in the forbidden arts for gold or other profit and Neral had in fact been Bryana's target. After she had been captured before the plot could come to fruition and she had been changed by Deres' application of magic to be certain that the plot was fully exposed she had been remade. As the wronged party, Bryana owed Neral a debt. That debt paid had turned to love, but Bryana had never stopped thinking of herself as Neral's protector. To have failed so spectacularly, in her mind, was unforgivable.

"It happened, love. She will not blame you, so do not blame yourself."

She looked down at Neral's sleeping form. Easier said than done.

Dion had come at that moment, bending to her knees at the general's side. She'd wanted to be there when they woke her. Deres knelt down next to her on her left and touched points on her temples and near the center of her forehead and waited.

Moments passed and Neral's brows raised as though she were trying use them to pull her eyelids open. Once they did, her hand reflexively went to her throat and she tried to lift herself.

Deres and Brynn soothed her as he spoke the words, "Lie back."

"You still need to rest," she said firmly.

Neral struggled to find voice, but all there was was pain. She winced.

Brynn caressed. "Don't try to talk. Your voice will return as well, but the softer tissues take longer to mend properly. You will be barking orders again very soon."

She relented as Deres put a cup near her lips. "Drink this. It will help speed that process."

She gave him a look that needed no voice to be understood.

"This one actually tastes good. I promise." He put it to her lips and she drank. It was cool and sweet, somewhat thick, and made her tongue and throat tingle as it slid down. He helped her to a sitting position and she signed to Dion in a gestural dialect used commonly in the military. "Kress? The rest?"

Dion shook her head. "Stopped on the beach, sir. Resting there as well. As you may have guessed," she said, pointing to the side of her own neck, "Hennis shot you."

Her eyes closed and she hung her head. She led them to it. She led them all to it. She was unsure how she would find the strength to face their families. "Pel?"

"Unknown, sir. Dead or turned, she's probably in the woods we left behind. I...do not recommend we seek her out either way, lest what befell them does us." It was hard on both to make the suggestion but it was better to sacrifice one than to risk all and the mission with it.

"Where are we?"

"The hills beyond the forest nearest the valley. We have good sight lines in all directions, wards are in place, and watches set."

Neral nodded before Dion took her arm. "I'm very glad you're on the mend, my friend. You are lucky to have two mages so...close."

Neral returned the grasp before signing, "I know."

Dion dismissed herself and Deres brought Neral close, finally letting go of the anxiety he had held in check since the beach. "I told you you would be all right."

She hugged back for all she was worth. Truth be told, she never expected to have a moment like that again. She had expected to simply never wake. She shed her rank and discipline and all else for a moment and just let herself be a woman in her husband's powerful arms.

His voice was a whisper, "I love you."

She patted his back before pulling away enough to kiss him tenderly, her hands running through his hair before turning equal attention to the other piece of her heart. Bryana was indeed weeping. Neral wiped them away. "I love you, too," she signed.

"I should have known, Neral. I should have protected you from her." At that moment she meant Drexa as much as Hennis.

Neral shook her head vigorously. "You cannot follow me into every battle. You cannot protect me in everything. That's not your job. I know what you believe, but it's not so. It has never been so. All I want is to live my life with you in it."

Bryana rested her chin on Neral's shoulder and hugged her tightly, eyes closed simply letting herself feel.

"Neral, drink this," Deres told her, handing her a cup. "It will help replenish the blood you've lost. He touched her hand before she began to bring it to her lips. "This one tastes as you'd expect."

His smile did not quite amuse her. It definitely did not when she determined how right he was.

***

Less than two hours laying there felt like two years even though she had spent it talking with her soldiers. She still felt tired, but she needed to move. Using a tree to brace herself, she rose, still in her linens, and stayed with the tree until she felt steady on her legs. Delles and Bryana seemed to appear from nowhere to attempt to help her, but she waved them off gently but firmly.

The world steadied and her legs found what she believed would be the strength to move her without sending her to the dirt before she signed for Deres.

Bryana pointed down a small path. "He's looking for flowers for something."

Her expression soured even as she tested her steps towards him, suspecting he was making another potion for her. Her first steps were awkward and, with each one, she made sure she was within arm's reach of something to brace her, she made her way to the blue light of the cube. She knew it was science. It was in the same realm as how oil lit her home. But, it was also still magic to her. It was beyond her.

When she got close enough to see, the cube rested on a rock, projecting an image of Drexa forward and above script beneath and what looked to Neral like two snakes coiled and spinning together with points highlighted that had script attached to them as well.

He seemed to be looking at each leaf, blade of grass, and flower that he could see.

"Deres." The single word felt like blades cutting across her throat.

He turned at once and moved quickly to support her. "You shouldn't be up and you shouldn't be talking yet."

She was steady enough and, unsure if she could get back up so she resisted him placing her on the ground, though she did opt to sign. "I was tired of laying there. What are you doing?"

He looked around even as he answered. "Looking for something that will help against the witch should it be one of you that gets closer to her over one of us." He smiled over seeing a small four-leafed plant half hiding beside the rocks. "You're willing to help, aren't you?"

She forced the word out. "How?"

He put his knife into the ground to take it from the ground while maintaining its roots. "I need to find living things that are willing to come together and become something different than they have ever been."

She wanted to know how he could tell that these somethings were willing to be something else and what they might become, but she decided it was enough that he thought it could be done, and, if it would help, then fine. Her eyes were drawn to that floating face. It looked evil, with its sharp lines and brows. Or maybe it was beautiful and she saw it as evil for knowing the damage caused by the woman.

"I have found Pel!"

Abren's voice cut through the air with shock. Neral turned and tried to rush down the path. The second hurried step sent her toward the ground until a strong arm wrapped her tightly. "I told you you shouldn't be walking yet."

She pointed down the path and he supported her as they made their way back to camp to see the woman all but ruined; hair wild, face and body caked in blood, her linen torn and dirty, eyes a study in desperation. She stood half- supported by Abren and Delles.

She focused on the general, her wide eyes becoming only slightly less so in relief. She reached out to clasp the general's arm before Maylin interceded, looking at an into her. Pel shivered and withstood the gaze as best she could.

"Mother?"

She continued to look before shaking her head quickly. "Nothing." She sounded utterly unconvinced of that despite her own senses. Even so, she stepped aside. Pel grasped Neral's forearm in greeting. "Goddess. Thank the Goddess." Her eyes darted to each as if examining them herself. "You're normal? You're all normal. Of course you are. You must be. You're not...fucking mindlessly. General, it was terrible. Kress, Hennis...everyone. They changed. They changed before my eyes."

"We know," Dion told her simply, seeing no reason to elaborate in her condition. "What happened?"

She looked around the ground as she sorted words. "In the woods. We made it past the things and into the woods. But there was something there; something in the woods, something in the trees. It got on us that first night and...everyone's thoughts turned to sex."

At first it was just silly camp talk. You know the kind, General. But it became more and more crass and I saw Kress...attack Hennis...tearing her clothes from her. Everyone stared and it was so hard to turn away. It was sick, but it was...hot. Everyone started losing control. Before I knew it everyone was...fucking, all duty forgotten. I was going to join them. I wanted to.

"Why didn't you?"

She focused on Bryana's words and ignoring the cold stare, composing herself as if to simply report and only partially succeeding. Seeing Kress just...violate Hennis and the way Hennis just turned more and more mindless scared me. Zynn and I were resisting. She tried to crawl away. I ran. They chased me, I think. I made it to my horse and we just ran."

Shame welled in her eyes. "Zynn. I left Zynn. Goddess, I left Zynn. I am so sorry. I...dishonored us both." She looked at Neral again. Thickets and animals and I ran and...I still wanted to go back. Once I got out of the woods things seemed clearer. I hid where I could. I knew you might come this way. I looked for the highest hills farthest from the beach. I looked day and night until...." She collapsed before finishing.

Bryana and Maylin tended to her wounds, put some food in her belly and gave her something to help her sleep. Her fellow soldiers were happy to have her back though no one discussed it at length because no one was all that interested in the last hours of Kress and the rest before they met them on the beach, for the more prurient aspects as well as for the implications for the rest of them. To think that a soldier could fall so easily was disconcerting at best.

As activity wound down, Deres planned to work with his mother through the night, heading off to do so after giving Neral another round of the same potions as before and bidding them goodnight.

Neral was hesitant about again being put into the healing sleep, but Bryana would not dance that dance with her, her blue eyes staring down into Neral's brown. "Would you rather be fit and able to speak tomorrow or in days? Since we do not have days, quiet your arguing eyes."

Neral managed to do so before the touches and murmurings came, bringing the dreamless sleep with it.

***

It was best to slip out in the dead of night. What explanation Bryana chose to give she'd left in her bedroll. It was difficult to find a place to stop writing. She could have gone on about them and the life they'd built seemingly forever. Indeed, it was for the life they'd built that she was doing what had to be done. With Neral asleep and Maylin and Deres deep in their own work it was easy to slip from camp.

As she used her magic to speed herself into the valley, her best veils concealing her presence, her mind went back to the nights before she was changed. It went back to each of the nights that she'd stalked Neral; the nights where she'd crept into her room to weave her magic to corrupt Neral into committing unspeakable acts. Each time, she'd worn away a bit more resistance until that night when she was on the cusp of ruining the general's soul.

As much as she loved them, they didn't understand. Neral had worked hard to forget the worst of things and the evil that drove a woman like Drexa simply wasn't in Deres. He didn't realize what they faced as she did. A turn and a twist of the mind with a touch of lust added and almost anything was possible. People turned and twisted into shells of their former selves and set loose upon their own people to maim and destroy.

It hurt enough to see Neral's pain at having her comrades slain around her. It hurt to see her push back the loss and despair that came with that and the knowledge that it was done by her fellows and that it was all necessary. It hurt to see Deres helpless to aid her in that, and Bryana felt the same impotence.

Seeing Neral's neck torn by an arrow triggered a rage like she'd never felt. Seeing her fall, perhaps dead before she hit the ground was a sight that would never leave the mage's mind, but that wasn't the same as seeing her a corrupted thing, empty of all but a lust that would never be satisfied and an ache to obey. Bryana didn't know which was worse, so she had to do something to help prevent both, even if she didn't know what that was as she set out.

As she traveled though she formulated something of a plan. At the very least, as she approached, she could see what they faced and perhaps soften the path for their approach. If the witch came she did not know what would happen, but she had to act.

She'd traveled hours into the valley attempting to keep away from eyes in the night as much as possible, which was easier than expected, beasts being beasts and half-mages barely knowing what to do with the power they could touch. With so much in the way of primitive around her, she sensed the more almost at once. It was like needles pricking her skin and a caress at the base of her brain.

"Come out, interesting one," the feminine voice sang, seeming to frolic with the air. "It will take time to find you, but find you I shall."

Bryana's blue eyes narrowed. She didn't doubt the Magister's power and the veils used her magic reserves that she might need to manage her escape in other ways. Perhaps if I can at least hurt her, that might make it easier for the rest. She let herself drift into the open field to see what there was to see with her magic-enhanced eyes that cut through the darkness.

What was to be seen was a tall, proud creature in a golden and silver trimmed half-cup corset that left her breasts and bare cleft exposed to the chill though it didn't seem to bother her. Matching boots went to her mid-thigh, covering chalk white skin and all of it seemed to set off eyes that were black pools that seemed to have their own currents flowing if one looked closely enough.

Finally, Bryana allowed herself to be seen which pleased the creature. "Most impressive veils. I have not seen ones so effective amongst the meat. Did an Adaran teach you?"

Bryana started to circle her slowly, but the creature did not seem to care. "You are not Drexa."

"I am, actually," she said with a grin from her full, black lips. "I am as much her as I need to be to meet with you." She gave herself a caress with both hands. "I speak with her mind and her power, though the meat itself is actually named Calla."

She followed Bryana, turning as she circled. "Feel free to burn her down if you wish as there are more to use, though I would take it as a small favor if you did not, as this one is something of a personal favorite."

"I would be a fool to face you directly until we've gotten properly acquainted. I'm certain I could best you, but, who knows what might happen, so it's best that there be some distance between us...at least for now."

Drexa began to casually circle her as well. "You are an interesting one. I have been able to glimpse a bit of that for some time now, but now that you are so close you are interesting indeed." She laughed at the absurdity of what she sensed on the surface. "You don't even know what you were going to do here by yourself, did you? Were you hoping to lay waste to everything I'd built? Just you?"

"I believed that whatever damage I could cause would only help those that opposed you."

"You mean the others with you?" She enjoyed seeing the other stiffen I know of them, Bryana. I know more than you think. I know you used to be powerful once...before you were changed."

"Come out from behind your puppet and I'll show you how weak I am. I may lose, but you will remember the fight until your last breath."

Drexa clapped her hands. "That's the spirit. Those are the words of a predator. Perhaps the changing didn't pull all your teeth. I can see it, you know. I can see hints of what you were. Don't you miss it?" Drexa carefully weaved a spell within in the modulations of her own voice. It was a fine art that took decades to master