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The leading edges of leather and metal flung themselves against each other, boiled up, then smoothed once more into a flowing sea of movement. Two rivers meeting. If I watched the current closely, I could make out the line where the two joined, more defined in some places than others. But that line broke apart, splintered and swirled as some groups pushed forward and others back.
I kept good thoughts for all involved, in case that helped, focusing on them being strong and courageous, being careful not to exceed my instructions. I felt like the ten-year-old cheerleader in sagging socks again, peering past the coaches, trying to figure out enough of what was going on in the game to know which cheer to use.
Blood didn’t spurt up into the air or anything, but bodies dropped, disappearing beneath the melee, an ominous vanishing. The cavalry charged in from the side—plumes nodding indeed—and I picked out Puck’s celadon outfit easily. I couldn’t see whether Darling was with him and when I tried to query the cat, I got nothing back—whether due to distance, his preoccupation or worse, I didn’t know.
After a bit, I was able to identify the knot of nobles, mostly by tracking the paths of the bright uniforms running back and forth from it. Figures seemed to forage out briefly and, after having grabbed a taste of battle for themselves, scurry back to their fortified hill, surrounded by a bastion of colorful pages.
There was a similar grouping at the end of the other valley. I toyed with sending a little spell their way, but no—do what you’re told.This time I deliberately stroked my throat.Remember. Work within parameters.I could do this. My rebellions needed to be carefully chosen. And hidden.
Then they brought out Lady Strawberry’s beasts, and monstrous they were.
Now the blood did fly as four great rhinoceros-sized creatures waded through the infantry. I watched in congealing horror, glad I hadn’t eaten any more than I had. A page-jockey perched on the neck of each one. Massive horns gored and tossed. Maybe it was my own confusion, but the monsters looked to be rampaging equally through both armies. The line between them grew more diffused, blurring as soldiers ran in all directions from the beasts.
Preoccupied with the nightmare of it all, I didn’t see the dragons until they flew right overhead.
They thundered in from behind me and dropped into the belly of the valley below. The wake turbulence of their great passage nearly threw me from the stool and, as I clutched the sides of my seat, I saw Larch’s blueberry face raised in shock and terror. Glinting in the afternoon light, the two dragons swooped like raptors falling onto their prey. They seized the rhino-creatures, two each, carrying them into the sky, pages tumbling as they fell from their mounts.
The dragons spiraled up, the pumping of their wings flattening both armies for a moment as the men crouched under the blast of hot wind. Then the dragons wheeled and roared directly over our plateau again. I crouched at the base of the stool, clutching Larch, as the bloody dripping carcasses of the rhinos dangling from the enormous dragon claws barely cleared us. Red and yellow mucousy gore rained down on us, along with a clump of flesh that hit my bare shoulder and slid greasily off.
As quickly as the dragons arrived, they were gone again. Lady Strawberry’s monsters had been removed from the playing field like illegal chess pieces. The armies seemed at a loss for a moment, perhaps as stunned as I.
They stood from their crouches.
Regarded one another.
Then fell to fighting again, prodded by who knows what. What could be worse for them than facing this?
Larch offered me a cleaning cloth from his never-ending supply of noble-tending materials. I tried to wipe myself clean while Larch did the same.
The fluids were oddly sticky. I felt as if I was trying to remove maple syrup with tissue—fibers of the gray cleaning cloths sticking to the smearing stains. I wiped harder with no better success. The stuff stank, too, like pond water and xylene mixed. What if it was toxic?
Having had enough, I wished us both clean, which helped considerably, though not completely. I frowned at the yellow streaks still sprinkling down the skirt of my dress.
“Dragon blood, Lady Sorceress,” Larch offered. “One of Lady Strawberry’s monsters must have gored one. Or perhaps an arrow. Magic doesn’t work on dragons,” he added as I continued to stare at him.
“Why ever not?” I asked, to which he only shrugged in that fatalistic way. “That makes no sense. Aren’t they subject to the same physical laws as everything else here?”
“Why can some perform magic and others not?” Larch countered.
“Excellent question—why is that?”
“Surely it’s not so different in your land. Some have power. Some don’t. Why is that?” Larch snapped back, which made me realize he’d dropped all obsequious servant attitude. Apparently he also caught himself, because he lowered his head and began muttering that he might be able to concoct a cleaning solution from some of the mosses in the area, combined with some water, liberally sprinkling the explanation withmyladysorceresses.
“Cut the crap, Larch.” We were both on edge, watching the horrors below. “You know I don’t care whether you ‘my lady’ me—what do you know of magic and where I’m from? If you know the answers to my questions, I sure as hell want to hear them. I’ve had it up to here with circuitous answers.”
“Then why did you walk away from the one person who could answer them?” His bright eyes pierced me.
“Who—Rogue?” Suddenly suspicious, I grabbed his little arm. “You work for Rogue, don’t you?”
“I thought I worked for you, my lady sorceress.” His tone was deferential but he wrenched his arm from my grasp and stalked away.
I studied Larch as he yanked various supplies from his packs.
“He abandoned me. To torture, I might add. And being drugged and packed off over someone’s shoulder hardly counts as walking away.”
Larch snorted. The interruption gave me a chance to steady my voice, which had started to get wobbly.Don’t you dare cry.
“He knew what would be done to me and consigned me to the worst of hells.” He kissed me and deserted me. I sounded pitiful, even to myself. Time to focus on someone else’s problems. Just as well, since Larch apparently had no come-back to that.
