Rapture gasped loudly. “She is not! That's Don's sister.” She scowled at Visor. “And you shouldn't talk that way! If she heard you say that, it would hurt her feelings.”
“I guess you're right. She's so sensitive. You know, like when she called you my 'fountain pen holder' in front of my mom!” Visor threw a stick onto the fire. The musicians built up the camp around the Fist of Mercy.
Rapture said, “She's sweet though.”
Visor said, “Sweet? Do you mean like when they danced naked at my brother's coronation!”
“It wasn’t naked.”
“Well, it wasn’t dressed. A thin layer of lace? You could see everything.”
“And Evan really has nice thighs!”
Visor pressed his hands over his face. “Oh, my eyes! Cut them out!”
Rapture snickered. “She must do a lot of field work to keep fit like that.”
Visor covered his ears. “Lalalalalala ...!”
Thorsius said, “It sounds like Ranie’s a bad influence.”
Visor said, “Oh, no, Evan's the bad influence. Actually, it’s more of a Folie a deux. They’re both the bad influence.”
Rapture said, “At least they have priorities. I'm sure if Ranie ever got captured by some vardal maniacs, Evan would make rescue her first priority.”
Visor said, “Oh, here we go with the whole tower witch thing again.”
Thorsius chuckled. “Well, court boys take a bit longer to work up to it.” He pretended to nudge Visor’s shoulder.
Sorana stopped sharpening her dagger. “Fear is only in your mind.”
Thorsius said, “The end of a lance isn’t in your mind, but’ll kill ya just the same.”
“And you know this?” Sorana stood up and walked closer to Visor and Rap. There was a sparkle in her eyes—a hint of copper in her iris. “You mean that a silly girl like me doesn't understand fear. We simply create phantom agonies that involve romantic fairy tales. Do you mean fears like this?” She knelt before Visor and clutched her fists over her heart. “Oh my dear Visor! Since you touched—”
Everything became distorted. He reflexively looked to Rapture.
Rapture put her hand to her head. She looked confused. “What’s happening?”
Visor could have sworn she’d said that same thing in that exact manner before. That was weird. When was that? “I don’t know.” Things became clear again.
Sorana was over by Thorsius now.
Thorsius stood up and growled. He stood more than a foot taller and carried more than twice her weight. He slammed a leg of meat to the ground. “Enough!”
Visor jumped up. “Velsignet! Stand down!”
Thorsius turned and stomped off, muttering. “Sick bitch.”
Sorana looked through Visor and Rapture, seeming not to recognize them. She wore a perverse smirk. Then her eyes fell to the ground as she wandered back to her earlier position. She resumed the sharpening of her dagger as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened.
Members of the orchestra stared in slack-jaw fascination.
Visor looked to Rapture and held out his hands. What do I do?
Rapture waved him off and pointed at Thorsius.
Visor went to talk to his friend.
Chapter 17
Abduction
Rapture asked, “Do you hate Thor?”
Sorana rubbed her temples. “I don't know. I'm sorry.”
Rapture said, “Sweetie, what you just did was very rude. Thor is not well spoken like Don, but he is a kind man. You should not speak to him that way.”
Sorana began to weep quietly.
People were watching.
Rapture slipped her arm under Sorana's. “Let's go for a walk.” They walked away from camp. “Why are you crying?”
Sorana said, “I don't know. I was just afraid.”
Rapture asked, “What are you afraid of?”
“You.”
“Me? Why would you ever be afraid of me?”
Sorana looked at the ground.
“Just tell me. It's fine.”
Sorana said, “I thought you might be jealous.”
“Jealous?”
“Well, you know. With Visor, you know.”
Rapture laughed, but stopped when she realized Sorana wasn't laughing. “You do realize I'm a siren, right?”
Sorana nodded meekly. “M-hmm.” After a couple of steps, she said, “I don't know what that means.”
“For one thing, it means I will never hurt you. Also, it means that I will never be jealous. We’re not supposed to be, anyway. He is not my man. I will never marry Don, nor any other man.” Rapture looked at the stars, silver ice crystals hanging cold and beautiful in the black night. “I will follow my body from man to man, until my youth is expired and no man wants me. Then I will return to Xandria and help to raise the young. It is my life.”
“Do you love him?”
“I think I do, but I don't. I follow my body, and so does he. We feel as if we are in love, but we also know that when my body decides it, our time will end. Marry him if you wish. It means nothing to me.”
“Marry him?”
“If you want, though it would be unusual to marry a man currently bound with a siren. Humans usually wait until after the binding is finished to marry. You can go ahead, but realize that I will not leave him, and he won’t leave me until my body decides it is time.”
“How do you know when it is time?”
“I don't know, really. I've never had a binding expire. I was assigned to WaterCrescent to bind to Lord Mourning, but Don got me first.”
“How long have you been bound to Visor?”
“Seven years. That’s a long time. Usually the bindings last two or three years, though four is not unheard of. And I can feel that it is slipping recently. Oh, we are surely the best of friends. And we think that we will always remain friends for the rest of our lives. But usually, when the binding ends, so does the friendship—always, actually.” Rapture shrugged. “There is no fairy tale love for sirens. Don says the whole thing is a waste of physiology. Our bodies spend so much energy binding to a man, but we do not reproduce with men. Our sisters in Xandria and Twelve Angels bud clones of themselves. It is the balance of our race that some of us live among humans. We bind to them … heal them. They protect us.”
“I still don't understand. If you love him, what do you think of me?”
“What do I think of you?”
They stopped. “Well sometimes when Visor and I ... you, you know.”
Rapture said, “Visor cares for you and finds you pretty. He cares for you. My body reads his desires.”
“So you control him? Or he controls you?”
“A binding isn’t really like that. You’re thinking of the compelling—that’s the thing where we actually make a man love us and do whatever we want.”
“Why not do that all the time?”
“Well, I guess that wouldn’t be any fun.” Rapture huffed. “It takes concentration, for one. You’d get tired. And it usually wears off if you’re not close enough for a while. Also, it can be dangerous.”
“Why?”
“When you do that, the man loses control. Like if you compel him to try to get him to do something, and another man talks to you, he might kill him.”
“Because he’s jealous.”
“Yeah.”
“So compelling isn’t love.”
“I guess it’s whatever you want to call it. Some people say it is. You can feel guilty afterwards, though.”
Sorana knelt in the snow. “Have you ever … I don't know how to ask this.”
Rapture said, “Just ask. I will not hurt you.”
“Have you ever compelled Don?”
Rapture sat in front of Sorana. “Sweetie, do you know what it means to keep something a secret?”
“I don't know any secrets.”
“It m
eans that if I tell you the answer to that, you must never repeat it—at least not to other people. You can talk about it with me, but you have to be sure no one else is around. There are times it might be appropriate to mention it to Don, but that can be tricky.”
Sorana said, “I understand.”
Rapture took Sorana's hands in her own and rested them on her knees. “Years ago—maybe a year after we first met—he asked me to compel him. He wanted to see what it was like. So I did.” Rapture took a deep breath. “It was the first time—the only time—I forced my want and will for that purpose. When it was done, he cried.”
“Why?”
Rapture looked into Sorana's amber eyes. “He wasn't sad, yet wasn't happy either. He described it as being inside of paradise and then losing it. It was a place that made you forget all pains of the world. It is to know, for once in life, that all you are living for is right there with you. I guess it was longing that made him cry.”
Sorana said, “It sounds like he loves you.”
“He thinks he does. I guess only time will tell for sure.” Rapture struggled to stand and lost her balance.
Sorana hopped up and caught her.
“Thanks.”
Sorana smiled.
They walked together to a nearby stream. The bank was steep, so Rapture held onto Sorana's arm as they approached the edge. As one, they knelt by the stream. Rapture put her hand into the water to stroke some smooth rocks just below the surface. “Xandria is surrounded by water on three sides.” She went on to describe some of the major city attractions. She used the inside of her robe to clean Sorana's face with stream water.
There was shouting at the camp. The girls hurried back. When they got closer, Athian ran towards them shouting. “Horseman! Visor and Thor were taken.”
***************
“Talon’s a bounty hunter.” Liefer shook his head. “He will have expert trackers. They will move faster than us. We can't run.”
Athian shrugged. “And we can't fight. Most don't have the training, and with the children—maybe if we don't resist, they won't harm us.”
Liefer said, “He's looking for us—the orchestra. We should split up.”
“We are splitting for sure.” Kaytla pointed at Sorana. “I'm not going anywhere with that woman.”
Athian said, “Oh, Kay, she's didn't mean for this to happen.”
Several people were talking at once. Kaytla was the loudest, yelling at her brother. “Visor isn't here. You don't owe her anything. She's poison. She shouldn't even be here.”
“She shouldn't even be, for that matter.” The oboist spoke during a lull in the commotion. Everyone looked at her. She looked down. “Awkward moment.”
Multiple conversations restarted.
Liefer's uncle raised his fists. “Quiet—all of you! We will do as the siren wishes.”
Sorana said, “Fine.” She turned and began gathering her things.
Rapture called after her. “Sweetie. Sorana!”
From behind, Liefer asked, “Engel Godiva, what would you have us do?”
Rapture turned and saw Liefer through blurry eyes. She could feel her lip quivering. “You know, you people ... just ...”
Athian stepped up and knelt before her. “Your Grace, I am with you. What do you want?”
Rapture looked around at the selfish humans. They awaited her words. She spoke to Athian. “Go with your sister. See her to Alafos. The children—all of you—get to safety.” Rapture considered her words. “Sorana will see me to Xandria.”
Several of them objected.
She ignored them.
Chapter 18
Talon
“How do you think Rap’s holding up?” Athian took a sip of soup. That pulled Visor’s arm via the shackles and chain between them.
Visor groaned. “Better than me. Thanks for your concern.”
“It’s just that’s it’s been a week.”
“She’s gone longer. Our binding is different that way. So, you managed to evade them for all of, what, six hours?”
Athian helped Visor swallow some soup. “After they caught you? Yeah, something like that. We were just too slow. Maybe it was good that Liefer tried to lead them off on the false trail. I hope he escaped. Is your side not getting any better?
“I think I’ve got broken ribs. Dang ogre.”
“It did look like an accident.” Athian said, “At least Talon let his siren heal you.”
“Just enough to keep me alive. He's a real diplomat.”
“He kind of is, getting this motley crew to work together.”
Visor said, “Money can get them to work together.”
“When was the last time you saw Thor?”
“He was alive during the morning break yesterday, but I haven't seen him since.” Visor sat up and winced.
“They keep us isolated.”
“They split us up right away. Four sets of prisoners per guard. Prisoners chained by twos.” Visor motioned into the night. “Regular patrols with scheduled check-in; a scheduled relief for the guards.”
“He's got a military background.”
“Or he’s just smart. Oh, well. If Liefer and the girls make it to Xandria—well, that’s something.”
“They’ll be faster than Talon’s Gauntlet.”
“Just the time we took ferrying the wagons across Keening Lake would give them a sufficient lead.”
Their guard stood up and looked intently toward the edge of camp. A perimeter fire went out. That was the second one. The guard yelled out to a nearby infantry and headed over to check the fire. The guard stopped in his tracks and turned around. An arrow was protruding from his chest. His body twisted, and he fell forward, revealing another arrow sticking out of his back.
Another infantry man yelled a warning and waited for help before jogging to the extinguished perimeter fire.
Visor withdrew a lock picking set. Their fellow prisoners included another human and an ogre. Visor picked the ogre's lock. “I will free you if you help us.”
The ogre’s lock fell open. After a brief moment of surprise, the ogre jumped up and made a break for freedom. It was what Visor had expected. It wasn’t the help he’d hoped for, but the stupid creature made a good distraction.
The ogre’s partner ran after him.
A cavalry came in from patrol and ran down the fleeing human prisoner. He then turned to check on Visor and Athian.
Visor knelt and put up his hands.
Athian followed suit.
The cavalry moved on to some other commotion.
“Come on!” Visor led Athian behind a tent. The two knelt down and Visor began working on their lock.
The light from the camp’s central cooking fire lessened suddenly. Visor heard Talon's voice in the distance.
There was a strobe light across the camp. That would be the pixie.
Visor finished one of the locks.
Athian said, “Whoa, hold on.”
Visor looked up to find one of Talon's vardal flanked by two human infantry.
Visor held up his hands. “Hey, we just wanted to be mobile in case in the confusion—”
The vardal stepped forward and stuck a thin blade into Athian's gut.
Visor said, “Whoa! Jeez!”
There was a flash of movement between the human guards, accompanied by the sound of hardened steel slicing through softer metal and bone. The humans fell.
The vardal turned.
Sorana leapt at him, and slicing off his blade-wielding hand with her dagger and crushing his cheek with the bulb end of her rod.
The vardal fell heavily.
Sorana leaned close and hissed in Visor’s ear. “Walk. And do not speak.”
Visor grabbed the vardal’s sword and helped Athian up. The two struggled forward together. Athian was bleeding and getting weaker.
Sorana p
rowled in front of them. There was a sudden flash of pain in Visor’s thigh. He stumbled and looked down. An arrow protruded from his leg.
Talon's alfanar was maybe a hundred feet away. A second arrow whizzed by.
Visor struggled forward, heavily favoring one leg and still supporting Athian. An arrow sunk into Sorana's hip. She pulled it out with a grunt and continued.
Talon’s alfanar stepped forward in between shots, keeping within range with the struggling men.
Liefer stepped into view ahead and fired at the alfanar.
As the two archers exchanged fire, the Fist of Mercy slipped past Liefer to find a waiting horse. Sorana helped the men onto the horse.
There was a rumbling. Visor looked past the alfanar to a charging war mastodon. The beast was nine feet the shoulder and covered with long fur. A pair of five-foot, sharpened tusks formed lances capable of piercing an ogre’s full plate armor. The tusks were fitted with reinforcement rings, which were themselves riddled with metal spikes. The mastodon wore partial plate barding.
Talon rode upon the Mastodon.
A two-foot tall pixie stood on Talon’s saddle, lighting his path.
An ogre with a huge sword double-timed beside the mastodon. His fine, full plate armor could only have been forged and welded by vardal.
Unshaken, Liefer sunk an arrow into the alfanar's chest.
Talon ran down Liefer.
Sorana smacked the horse's rump. “Yeah!”
The horse took off. Visor looked back over his shoulder.
The pixie shined a spotlight on Sorana, making her a sitting duck.
The armored ogre and mastodon flanked and closed on Sorana.
A snow leopard leapt off the back of the mastodon. It caught the pixie with its claws and the two creatures crashed to the ground together. The cat recovered and ran off, carrying the still-glowing pixie in its mouth. Talon turned his mastodon to pursue the cat.
Sorana was now virtually invisible compared to the ogre, having removed the decorative plating from her armor. The ogre’s plate armor, on the other hand, was reflective enough to neatly outline his form.
The ogre groaned and howled as Sorana cut him down.
Chapter 19
Pixie
“Oh, Rap I just love you!” Athian rubbed his belly. “Thank you, Your Grace. It's good as new.”
Rapture smiled. “No thanks are necessary. It is what I do.”
Visor said, “But thank you, anyway.”