Techromancy Scrolls: Soras (24 page)

All of the Knights broke into a canter in a well-rehearsed show of skill and force for their people as we passed. There were hundreds of crossroads and thousands of buildings. Some made of proper stone but the preponderance made of wood. But not cheaply like in the Trough back home, these were sturdily built buildings constructed of hefty timbers and thick thatched roofs.

We passed by not one, but multiple marketplaces along the Ring. I hadn't known there were this many people in all of the lands of Sparo. It seemed like there were more people here than in the Gypsy Caravans up at Heaven's Gate though I knew that not to be true. The construction of the roads by all the buildings just made it seem like it.

I took great interest in the signs of technology that got more and more frequent as we progressed. There were some of the wind turbines that originated in Wexbury on the top of some of the multi-story buildings, like inns, that we passed. This indicated that they most likely had electrical lighting and heating inside. Their outer city enjoyed more modern conveniences than most.

The entire realm was so rich in resources that even their serfs were well dressed. I noted that they had tall, decorative light posts with multiple globes and ceramic vessels holding the magic spark to power each post. Such opulence. I could see why Solomon was the crown jewel of the Lower Ten.

We passed a sawmill that wasn't powered by oxen. Instead, it ran off an enormous electric motor. There were a series of ceramic containment vessels in an outside rack powering it. I thought of how we could probably apply the same principal but use the paddle wheel generators to power it. I absently wondered if my other Wexbury companions were taking note of the things I was seeing.

Then a large stone wall came into view. It was much taller and older than the walls around our Keep, possibly forty feet tall. A giant sprawling castle seemed to grow out of the center of the Keep proper, which was about twice the size of Wexbury Keep.

There were twin soaring portcullises with tremendous iron gates raised. The sheer amount of traffic coming in and out of the Keep was staggering. The deep resonating thrum of the Keep's bellows powered war horns seemed to roll past us with an almost palpable pressure wave. I could feel it seeping up through the ground itself, reverberating off the walls of the surrounding buildings.

Everyone parted and made way as the Duke led us through the gates, the people cheering us all on. We made a display of it. Like a proper parade as we moved through the twisting and turning lanes in the Keep and through the inner walls of the castle. Only then did everyone relax and I slumped in the saddle from my exhausting effort to remain upright. I exhaled. I was done.

We got to the stables and dozens of stable boys came running out to collect the horses and gear from the Knights. They were a well-oiled machine. There were also men and woman at the ready with medical kits. The Duke must have sent a runner ahead.

A stable boy took Goliath's reins and I looked down at the ground, my back ached so much. Celeste dismounted and put a hand up and I took it as I slid clumsily and almost bonelessly off the saddle and into her waiting arms. She steadied me on my feet and I whispered, “Maybe riding wasn't such a good idea after all.”

I gave her a sheepish grin and she cocked an eyebrow as if to say, “You think?”

Then she was handing me off to two men with a stretcher and a woman who was pulling a stethoscope out of her black bag that was marked as a medical kit.

As I laid on my side and they hoisted me, Celeste told them, “Watch her back.”

They rushed me toward the looming castle as the woman ran alongside, listening to my heart and lungs. My Lady never left my side.

***

It was a long three weeks of convalescing in Castle Solomon. I learned that the Duchess had eluded capture and had disappeared into the mountains of the realm of York with her men. Word came back from the conclave that they await our return.

The last couple days before I was cleared to travel, Celeste had brought me out on short walks to see the wonders of Solomon. It was like walking through a fairytale. The city was so diverse and seemed to offer something for every taste... if you had the coin. In some ways, it was the most fantastical thing, but in others it seemed sort of hollow and empty. Through my amazement I came to one conclusion, it wasn't home. I will be forever grateful I lived to witness such a sight as this, but I really missed home. Wexbury, where all my friends and family were, and everything I knew.

I chuckled at the thought that while I had enjoyed a variety of exotic foods during my recovery, I wondered if it was really necessary to have fish in every meal.

Duke Liam convinced Celeste to allow him to take us out on a boat he called a yacht, it was a large schooner that had multiple cabins in it. It sliced through the glassy waters of the Great Sea like it was gliding on silk. He brought us to a point where we could not even see the shore. He had said, “This is the world that was. In the Before times, there was more water on the Earth than land. This is what it would be like to be on one of those great oceans. Nothing but water for a far as the eye can see.” I felt... humbled by it?

My voice never came back to me, it remained hoarse and raspy.

The dead flesh had to be removed from the burns around my throat to prevent infection and I went through the excruciating process of getting the stump of my right index finger amputated properly at the last knuckle. I will not admit to crying like a child from that pain as I bit down on the leather strap they placed between my teeth.

Celeste tells me that the new burns on my back seemed to anger my old scars and brought them out more prominently. I could live with it all, Mother Udele was safe, I kept my pledge, and Celeste didn't seem to mind having a scarred woman who was falling apart. I could do without anything as long as I still had her.

I looked into the finely polished silver mirror in the quarters that Duke Liam assigned to my Lady and me. I would be forever marked by Kennick, I knew that as I looked at the angry healing burns in the shape of two hand prints on my neck. Even if we got back to Sylvia, she has shown that she can do very little to heal wounds inflicted by magic. Something in the residual magic interferes with her healing abilities.

I absently flexed my throbbing hand, missing the silk glove gifted to me by the Lupei, it had always soothed the pain.

I looked over the clothing supplied to me by the castle's lead maid, Marideth. I still preferred tunics and trousers over dresses, but this dress was pretty, in the rich oranges and greens of Solomon. It hung lower than the knee length style that seemed popular in the city. Marideth had apologized, but I was so short that it was either this or the dresses that the young teen nobles wore.

I was excited, this was the day we would start our journey northwest toward Father Stone to rejoin the conclave. I exhaled with one last look in the mirror, seeing a girl I recognized yet didn't. I looked away, it does not pay to be vain. I adjusted Anadele on my hip. Bex had retrieved her from the sand for me, from where the final battle had occurred.

I felt silly as usual, wearing a sword with a dress, but Ranelle and the other Gypsies would never forgive me if I didn't. But then I glanced at my borrowed boots and shrugged at my own hypocrisy, my little dagger was in its sheath inside the boot. All my training as a knight had driven the lesson into me that you should never be caught unarmed.

I looked at the gorgeous redhead in her flowing Gypsy garments who was staring hungrily at me. I blushed and looked down at my feet as I ground a heel on the floor, feeling bashful. I rasped out, “Hey now, none of that my Lady. It was your rule to wait until we returned to Wexbury and I was fully healed.”

She grinned at me, her left cheek dimpling. “That was extremely short sighted of me.” She stepped in front of me and rested her hands on my hips. Her eyes seemed to glow slightly with her emerald power. I blushed, she says she loses some of her control whenever she is near me. She leaned down and gave me the gentlest of kisses.

I closed my eyes to savor it, still amazed that the person who could bring so much violence to bear against her enemies, could be so tender, so soft, so... I pulled back and bit my lower lip and said breathlessly, “Mother Luna, Celeste, the others are waiting and you are breaking down my resolve.”

She gave me a toothy grin and offered her arm. I placed my hand on it, trying to remember a time when she wasn't leading me around like I was a proper lady or something. Then she led me out to the people waiting in the courtyard.

I smiled at everyone already mounted and ready. The polished armor of our diplomatic escort shone brightly in the morning rays from Father Sol, looking regal and dignified. The women of my Greva were looking resplendent in their leathers and riding cloaks. I sighed and looked at Celeste. Goliath and Alexandru's horse were tethered behind the wagon where Mother Udele and Alexi were resting. My Lady insisted I rest in our travels back to Heaven's Gate until Sylvia cleared me.

She was grinning down at me. Then like a proper lady befitting my station, I stuck my tongue out at her and she chuckled. I loved her laugh, it took away the stress and shadows from her eyes and made he look younger, like the young woman who laid beneath the warrior's exterior.

She led me to the wagon and Duke Liam stepped forward from the ranks of the Solomon Knight's honor guard. His voice boomed out, “Young Sora Laney of the Lupei. Techno Knight of Wexbury. A word please.”

We paused and he stepped up to us and smiled down at me. I bowed to the man. “Duke Liam?” I glanced at what he was carrying in his hands. It was covered in a green silk cloth tied with an orange ribbon.

He smiled at me. “Ahh, Tiny Wexbury, are you not a princess of the Mountain Gypsies as well? That makes us peers. You may call me Liam.”

I gave him a lopsided smile and said, “Yes your Grace.”

He tipped his head back and laughed, my smile grew. He looked over at Celeste, “Is your woman always so... contrary?”

Celeste gave him a beaming smile as she rolled her eyes. “You have no idea.”

Hey! I bumped her hip.

Then the Duke actually bowed to her and asked, “May I borrow your charge for a minute?”

My girl inclined her head and held her arm out. He offered his and I transferred my hand to it. I looked back at Celeste as he led me away. She just shrugged.

The Duke led me out of the cobblestone courtyard through a smaller arch. There was a manicured lawn with a little path through beds of flowers. It was a hidden garden. He led me to a marble railing overlooking a second tier of the garden and then turned to face me.

The man said in a somber tone, “Solomon owes you a debt we can never repay. By your actions, you have averted a war that would have spelled the end to not only Solomon but to all the realms. My wife's deceptions and deplorable actions are inexcusable and my heart breaks learning that she was not the girl I married so long ago.”

I gave the man a sympathetic look and he gave me a sad smile, then looked back toward the courtyard and smirked a little as he continued. “She loves you. When word arrived here at the Keep that you had assembled a five-man strike team to storm the ruins to save Mother Udele, we thought it a fool's errand. If it was indeed our deserters involved in this plot, how could a single Wexbury Knight and a few Gypsies hope to succeed?”

His smile grew. “Even as we rallied the troops to head north, she assured me that you were more capable than I could imagine and you feared nothing. I thought you to be ten feet tall the way she spoke. Imagine my surprise when we came upon the smallest Knight I have ever laid eyes on. And my surprise grew when we learned that you had succeeded in your mission.”

I blushed as he smiled toward the courtyard again, “I must admit to being curious if the Blade of Temperance of Wexbury lived up to her reputation. So many rumors about her have circulated throughout the realms, and we knew they couldn't all be true. I pride myself in the knowledge that we train the finest of Knights here in Solomon, so I wanted to see what Wexbury could really do.”

He shook his head and said softly, with respect in his voice, “I did not expect what happened when she took on five of our highly trained ex-Knights at the same time. They didn't stand a chance, and I have a feeling your lady was holding back. The other Knights of Wexbury made short work of the other traitors with those powered blades and that wondrous brute of a woman, Lady Verna.”

He shook his head, I didn't know what to say so I shrugged and rasped out, “The fire of Wexbury.”

He chuckled and said, “Indeed.”

Then his expression changed to something unreadable as he narrowed his eyes. “There are whispers about you too, Penny Lady.”

He knew what the people of Wexbury called me?

His tone got lower, “The whispers of impossible things. All just rumors and speculation. I tasted your magic on the field, you have but a tiny spark so I knew the rumors were unfounded. And you bear more scars than seasoned Knights of old.”

His eyes narrowed more. “I watched as this tiny woman, even while the very life was being choked from her body, killed one of the most powerful magic users in the Lower Ten. Not with that little spark, but with a blade.”

I shrugged and said, “Most magic users become dependent on their magic and forget about everything else. He expected me to try to defend myself with magic, so that is what I gave him. While he dealt with that, I ended him with a simple blade.”