“…forty-nine, fifty.” Vadanian nodded as he counted out the last of the coins. “Right. That’s all of it.”
The atmosphere within the Broken Nag hadn’t changed. Still as dingy and stagnant as when they’d left, Echo wasn’t sure anyone had even left.
The forest elf, Vadanian was waiting for them when they walked in. Good to his word, his price hadn’t changed as much as a pence.
“Thought you said there was another of you,” Vadanian continued as he divided his fee between two purses.
“I’m afraid our fourth had more matters to attend to than we’d anticipated,” said Echo.
“We waited for Miss Knight Lady as long as we could, but we didn’t want to risk missing you, Mr. Elf sir,” added Rosalie.
Vadanian cocked an eyebrow at her. “Knight Lady? You don’t mean…” His face blanched. “You were the ones that came in with the Hurricane, weren’t you?” They nodded. “Cor,” he muttered under his breath. “That’d be my luck, wouldn’t it?”
“Not plannin’ on backin’ out now, are you?” Healer grumbled.
Jaw flexing, the forest elf shook his head. “I’m an elf of my word,” he affirmed.
Echo’s feathers bristled. All eyes in the tavern were on them and the satchel of gold they carried. Five hundred sovereigns, Captain Theris had ordered, for services rendered. And just like that, half was gone to the nu-sadis’s coffers.
“If that’s all, Master Vadanian, shall we be off?” said Echo.
Turning from the tavern keeper, Vadanian reclined on the bar. “A bit long in the day to be heading out, don’t you think? We’ll leave in the morning. Meantime, you should provision yourselves for the road.” Eyes drifting past Echo, he rested a hand on the hilt of his sword. “Get yourselves some proper lodgings for the night. Preferably near the garrison.”
Healer straightened up, allowing his full demigiant frame to fill out. “Take it we ain’t welcome ‘round here no more?”
“Just the opposite, old man.” Vadanian smirked. “You’d not be at a loss for friends looking for a wee game of cards or some such. ‘Course, I reckon their decks are about as straight as a wagon wheel, if you follow.”
“Noted,” Healer grunted.
Tossing one of the purses to the tavern keeper, Vadanian winked. “Be a lad and hold onto that ‘til we get back. Don’t want my clients thinking I might go and leg it in the middle of the night like some nu-duwar scally, do we?”
Nodding stiffly, the tavern keeper attached a claim tag to the coin purse and locked it in a chest beneath the bar.
“You know the rules,” he grunted. “It’s a sovereign a day to mind it.” He turned to Echo. “If he don’t show, you let me know and either you can have it back or put it up as a bounty. Choice is yours. Either way, if you die out there, I keep the lot.”
“I’d have it no other way, mate,” Vadanian confirmed.
With Healer shielding them, they made for the door. The awful stares of the tavern’s occupants followed them. Stools scratched at the floor as some rose to watch from the windows. Echo’s pulse quickened.
“Best pass it my way, lass,” Healer grumbled.
With a subtle nod, Echo made a show of passing the remaining coin purse to the demigiant priest. Anything to be rid of the trailing gazes of the Broken Nag.
“We should hurry back to the garrison,” said Rosalie. “Miss Dame Mira should be done by now, shouldn’t she?”
“Hopefully,” Echo muttered. “Even if she isn’t,” she turned, beckoning them to follow her back to the garrison, “I’d feel more welcome there.” Echo’s jaw tensed. And with any luck, she’ll be herself again.
***
Mira’s face burned with embarrassment as she hurried from the treasury. So many questions. Too many questions. Too many lies. That wry look on the clerk’s face as he looked at the parchment from the captain. That comment…
“I thought that pretty little thing was making eyes at you.”
Her face could’ve started a fire after that.
Word would get around soon. “Did you hear? The Hurricane got hitched!” “To who?!” “That Yesha she turned up with, who do you think?!”
What a notion! The very idea made her want to scream. Her and Echo?
Even if I was interested, she’s totally out of my league! Besides! She’s a freaking duchess! I’m just a knight. There are literally laws about that! And some knight I’ve been for her. “Don’t worry, my lady. I, Dame Mira Ashwood, pledge to restore you to your birthright on my honor.” A sharp breath of self-condemnation escaped her. We haven’t even taken a single step toward Clearwater Cove.
Vanishing into the women’s barracks, she made for her simple quarters. It wasn’t much, but it would let her hide.
At least it was quiet. There weren’t many other women in the order. In fact, Mira was confident she had more flight feathers than the Dragons had dames. And quiet was exactly what she needed at the moment.
Passing through the empty common area, she turned down the corridor to her room. The rhythmic sound of sweeping called from her open door. At least that was one thing she didn’t need to worry about.
“Thank you, squire,” she began as she stepped through the door. “I’ll take it from—”
Mira froze. Her room. It was empty.
Standing in the center of the room, the young redheaded squire stopped mid sweep. His brow furrowed tight at the sight of the zephyra, her wings flared in shock.
“Dame Mira?” he said, voice dripping with confusion. “What are you doing here, ma’am?”
“I… My room?”
He cocked his head. “Is something wrong with it, ma’am? The captain picked it out personally. Me and the other squires was real careful, ma’am! I swear! We even hired some girls to help move your… feminine things.”
“Move?” Her feathers bristled and flattened. “What!? Where to!?”
His face scrunched. “To the family barracks, ma’am,” he said like it was obvious. “I’m sure you and your wife don’t want to live together here, do you?”
And it was in that moment that understanding wiped Dame Mira Aurelia Ashwood from existence. In the doorway to that room, there stood a statue. A perfect likeness of the zephyra knight that had only called it home for a few months before she’d left on errantry.
Word had gotten around already.
“Dame knight?” He touched her petrified hand. “Are you alright, ma’am?”
“Peachy.”
Never. Not once in her life had Mira ever used that word that fell from her lips. In fact, she wasn’t honestly confident that she spoke it. That single uttered sound. Those two simple syllables. They were as meaningless to her as the madness consuming her life.
“Ma’am?” the squire said at her frozen reply. “Have you not… Do you need me to show you to it, ma’am?”
But no other meaningless words could form in her mind let alone mouth, and at her silence, the boy slid his hand into hers and gently guided her from the barracks.
“She’s quite lovely, ma’am,” he said to fill the silence. “Beautiful plumage. I heard tell you two’d adopted a child together. A girl? How old is she, ma’am? My age? Younger?”
Mira’s response was more mechanical than conversational. “Five. She’s five.”
“A couple years younger.” He nodded thoughtfully. “Is she a zephyra, too, ma’am?”
She shook her head. “Human.”
“That must be hard on you and your wife.” A silent scream filled Mira’s head at him referring to Echo as that. “You know, her not being able to fly and all… ma’am.”
It felt to Mira like her body had no weight as he led her by the hand. As if she’d be transformed from knight to statue and at last to dandelion fluff alighting upon the breeze. A breeze being drawn ever closer to a pyre.
“Here we are, ma’am,” the squire said as they approached the door to her… their new quarters.
This was hardly Mira’s first trip to the so-called “family barracks.” She’d essentially grown up in Captain Theris’s. At least, she had since the age of five after her home eyrie exi—
Shaking her head to banish… rid herself of the memory, she drew a breath to steady herself.
Like the rest of Sitrian construction, it was a simple house of functional design. Two stories, a sharply peaked roof, no doubt a cellar beneath it. It was identical to the one she remembered from her downy days. Only smaller.
Of course, that was more to do with the skewed memory of youth. Every home in the family row was the same. As if they’d been stamped out with the same cookie cutter. No difference in form or size save for how its inhabitants decorated it.
Pressing her hand to the warm oak door, she shuddered as the door swung open.
“I’ll leave you to it then, ma’am,” said the squire. “Unless, you need me further.”
She shook her head, slowly. Jerkily. “N-No,” she managed to stammer out. “That… That’ll be all, squire.”
Her feathers bristled as she stepped across the threshold. It was so strange as she entered the house. So familiar yet so foreign. She felt as though memory alone guided her feet. Like she could navigate the whole building blindfolded.
It was exactly like Captain Theris’s from her youth. Same main sitting room centered on the hearth. Same small kitchen and dining room. If she didn’t know better, she wouldn’t have been surprised to find the dent she’d left in the ceiling when that mouse spooked her when she was eight.
Climbing the stairs to the second floor, routine guided her to what would have been her childhood room. Her heart fluttered at the sight of the tiny bed set along the wall.
“Vivvy.”
The child. Her child’s name drifted from her lips as she took it in.
Mira couldn’t stop her mind from forming the girl’s mental image. Thoughts of paint and toys soon joined it.
Mama Mira? I’m… I’m her—
The knight gasped. Stepping back, her wings pushed the other door open. The door to the master bedroom. Her bedroom… Their bedroom.
It felt like a giant wrapped his fingers around her head, and forced it to turn to the bed. The desk next to it, she could practically see Echo studying her spells. Her jaw dropped at the sight of the afghan spread across the bed.
How in the Abyss did they—
But as she studied the afghan lying there, how anyone could’ve finished it in the few hours she’d been back in Sitri was the furthest thing from her mind. The colors. Those colors. They were hers. Hers and Echo’s. Joined together in the marital pattern…
Her face blazed a billion degrees. Never had her feet moved so fast. She blinked and was outside. Door slamming shut behind her.
Free outside, she closed her eyes and slumped against the door.
Breathe, woman! she mentally growled. You can fix this. Echo never needs to kno—
“There you are!”
Mira’s wings shot open. Of course!
Hoping against hope it was just another trick of the mind; Mira let one eye drift open.
Naturally, it was not.
“I’ve been looking for you,” Echo continued. “Are these your quarters?” She beamed. “They’re quite nice. Much more spacious than what we provide our knights back in Clearwater Cove. So…?”
Nose wrinkling, Mira cocked her head. “So what, my lady?”
“Are you not intending to invite me in? I’ve never seen the inside of a knight’s private quarters before. Come on, love! You simply must give me the tour!”
Looking beyond her mistress, Mira found eyes upon them and gulped.
The L word. She just had to say the L word!
“Of course!” she said as she forced a smile upon her face. “Right this way.” Someone, please, kill me!
Stepping aside, Mira motioned her in. Simple enough. So, of course, Echo had to go and throw fuel on the gossip fire by hooking her arm on her way inside.
“We went ahead and hired that elf, love,” Echo said innocently. “He says we’re to leave first thing in the morning.”
Echo’s magenta eyes sparkled as she turned to take it in. “Oh Mira, it’s so cozy.” She squeezed her arm. “Always knew you were just a big softy under all that plate mail.”
A gasp of surprise tore through the duchess. Releasing the mortified knight, she raced to the simple dining table.
“This tea set is absolutely darling! Look!” Echo spread a wing as she held a teacup up to it. “They match my plumage! How gay.” She laughed a tittering laugh. “My word, it’s as if you were expecting me this entire time.”
Flitting around the main floor, the petite noblewoman studied everything. Comments and cooing about everything being, “precious” or “darling,” “Simply divine Mira, dear!” streamed endlessly from her. And with every “dear,” “darling,” and l… “l-love” the knight felt a little piece of her soul leave her body.
Mortified didn’t begin to describe Mira’s state. She could practically feel the other knights’ gossipy wives and nosey children pressing their ears to the door, shutters, wherever they could find a spot to eavesdrop.
At the same time, she’d be lying if she said there wasn’t a small sense of relief that Echo hadn’t caught on to everything—everything!—being clearly meant for a couple. A m-married couple…
“Told you she was.”
Mira’s eyes snapped to the shutters. Two pairs of eyes stared in at her through a small gap. She was at the window, sealing them before the conscious thought to move registered.
Gods, devils, and everything else! she mentally cursed. Myria help me! What sort of new nightmare is this!? Give me the alley and Char—
She couldn’t complete the thought. Charek. The alley. Bl… Blood. So much blood.
Taking a steadying breath, she forced herself back to the present. It would be a bad night. The worst in weeks.
It’s okay, she assured herself. We’re leaving in the morning. I can take care of damage control when this is all over. She clearly hasn’t caught on. As long as she doesn’t go upstairs everything’ll be—
“Oh Mira, how wonderful!”
The voice. Her voice. It came from… Mira had taken her eyes off her for two seconds and she’d fluttered right up the stairs.
Plodding upstairs after her, she found Echo staring into, she gulped, Vivvy’s room.
Turning, Echo beamed up at her knight. “Brilliant, Mira! You’ve thought of everything!” Throwing her arms around her, Echo squeezed her tight. “We can save the coins staying here tonight. Only—.” Her lips screwed. “You didn’t really need to waste your wages on getting a bed for Rosie, dear. You know she prefers to sleep curled up as a cat.”
The all consuming blush that hadn’t left Mira’s face since the Captain’s office grew even deeper.
“It’s um… I-It’s not for Rosalie… my lady.”
“Not for—” Echo’s nose wrinkled. “If not for her, then who? Please, my knight. Speak plainly. You’re acting quite queer. Is something the matter?”
Mira was truly surprised Echo wasn’t sunbathing beneath the heat emanating from her features. She couldn’t speak. If she opened her mouth, she’d scream. All she could do was spread a wing and brush her flight feathers.
She swore she heard the clicking and clunking of gears turning in Echo’s head as she cocked her head to study the gesture. Understanding flashed across her face in an instant.
“Oh… Oooh.” Echo cleared her throat. “R-Right. I… I should’ve understood you’d have needed to put o-our daughter in your report to your captain.” A nervous laugh trembled through her. “Eh hem. Is that your room? Let’s have a look!”
“My lady, wait!”
Too late. In her haste to clear the awkwardness of having jointly adopted a human orphan by sheer accident, the duchess hurriedly opened the door to the master bedroom. The late afternoon sun streaming in lit the afghan like a beacon.
“What a big bed,” Echo observed. “I suppose with how you toss and turn that makes—Wait. That afghan. Isn’t that the… I thought you said you weren’t seeing anyone? But that’s the marital pattern of Welmin, isn’t it? You’re married? To who, love?”
But as she studied the afghan, her eyes slowly widened as revelation overtook her. The color palette was unmistakable. The deep black and rust red of Mira’s feathers mingled with the glorious green and lush yellow of Echo’s, the blush that consumed the petite noble turned her wings cardinal.
“I can explain,” Mira managed to strangle out. “I told Captain Theris about Vivvy and he assumed—”
Raising a trembling hand, Echo shook her head.
“I-I-I’ll go get the others,” Mira stammered. “You can sleep here tonight. I’ll camp out downstairs with Healer. Keep him company.”
“Don’t be daft! It’s your bed, love.” Echo scoffed. “What nonsense! You act as if we’ve never slept with each other before.”
Mira froze. Wings bristling, her eyes went wide. Echo’s reassuring smirk faltered. A gurgle welled in her throat.
Magenta eyes flashing, Echo threw up her hands. “Not like that!”
About the Author
A. S. Raithe is a fantasy author living near Pittsburgh with his wife and children. Always the creative type, it wasn’t until high school and being introduced to a local bestselling author that he found his passion for writing. He took time away from writing to attend college before being convinced by his wife to pick it up again shortly after their wedding. Outside of writing he enjoys exercise, baking, gardening, folklore, music, and hiking.
