The portal opened up and Silva stepped through it with Alison at her side. They came out of the portal and onto the streets of the Free City. As she stepped onto the sandy ground, the place felt different. The liveliness and energy that had used to be there was missing. It just felt hollow.
Shops were still up but few people were at them. No children were running around or playing. There were some people hanging around in the streets though. Some were drinking, some were sleeping, a few were even gambling but they all were bandaged and injured. The garb of them was also different.
Some wore ornate armor and had pale skin almost like her and her mothers but they each had red eyes. Others were wearing tattered robes, shirts, and pants, but no shoes, and all had ears and tails far bushier than Roxanne or Regina sported.
But they all watched Alison and they nodded toward her. And she greeted them back with smiles, asking how they were and things like that.
“You’re popular,” Silva said softly following behind her.
“Our name is known in the city,” she replied. “Potentially like your own?”
“Our name isn’t that well known.”
“That’s not what we heard,” Alison chuckled. “Aren’t you akin to a princess?”
“No. Well. Technically,” she said. “Our Q’unas still sit on the throne. So our una is the princess. But our una shares in the duties of ruling. So technically yes, we are also a princess. It is complicated.”
“It sounds complicated when long lives are brought into the equation.”
They walked together leaving part of the city behind and crossing through to an open area with a large courtyard and tower. Everything within the city was all in one piece. There was harm here but every time she passed a person, she felt a great loss.
“How bad was the fighting here?”
“What?”
“The city is in one piece. Noria was devastated and from what Daze boasted about, the Sanctum was equally hurt. The Free City is still standing but all of the people within it look broken.”
“You’re perceptive,” she said and looked over her shoulder. “We did our best to keep the fighting outside of the city. But for all the damage prevented in our home, twice as much blood was spilled in the sands. So to answer your question, the fighting was very bad.”
“Who were those other people? Not all of them looked like Rogues.”
“Some were knights of Cerise and others were the wulves of Luthagen. They stuck around to help with aid and the dead.”
Silva nodded slowly. “You feel guilty. Why?”
“Because these people suffered, almost irrevocably and yet we’re going to go home where everything is safe and fine. It’s not fair.”
“Neither is the war that Daze caused. You survived. That reward is going home. Everyone who fights in a war knows that.”
Titanya was right and Silva truly hated the fact that they were. But when they looked at Alison, Alison held out a hand to her. Silva stared, then closed her eyes tightly giving her hand a tight squeeze as they walked. “Alison?”
“Yes?”
“When we left, Seffy, myself and Sofia. We left because we wanted stories about us like our parents. To be in them and to be as great. But. We know none of us wanted this.”
“No one really does. But this is life. The harsh side of it. It’s not always the case but it’s there. It’s the job of us adults to shield you from things like this. To get you ready for it. And hope that you never have to see things like it. How old are you?”
“Nineteen,” she said and watched the way Alison gasped. “What?”
Alison shook her head, “You’re even younger than we were when we first saw how harsh the world can be.”
As they went through the proving grounds there were dozens of other Rogues gathered around. But beyond them, they could see the pair of dragons crouched near the ground. Emeralda was watching a few healers carefully work on the silver dragon. Silver had her head down, eyes closed calmly
Silva’s own eyes widened looking at Silver, “What happened to her?”
“Complications with the demon. But she’s alright for now,” Alison said. “Your mother was able to do some on site healing and our healers are doing their best to give her something more thorough.”
Silver raised her head slowly and hummed as she looked at Silva, “Hello little one.”
“Hello Silver,” she bowed her head.
The dragon chuckled, “I thought you did not want to use my name properly.”
“We couldn’t come up with something that did you justice. So we’ll do as you’ve asked,” she said looking away, embarrassed.
“Go little one. They are waiting,” Silver said before closing her eyes and laying her head back down.
Silva looked to the tent that was nearest and stared at it for a long time. She had just seen her family yesterday and yet everything felt different again. She didn’t know how to feel. Alison put a hand against her back and pat it gently.
“Go say hi. They’re worried. We’re gonna go see a man about a horse. But if you need anything let us know.”
She turned and walked off as Silva stared at the tent. Taking a deep breath, she brushed the flap open and looked at the five of them. Dawn was working on both Sefirin and Nero. Sofie was laying on a bed asleep. Lily looked up though and stared at Silva for a moment before smiling at her, “Hi sweetie.”
Silva’s eyes bled to pink as she looked at her, “Hi mother.”
She walked inside quickly and hugged her mother tightly before going toward her brother, father, and mother. Dawn ended the spell properly before she wrapped her arms around her daughter.
“Welcome back lela,” Dawn said softly.
“Thank you una,” she closed her eyes tightly. “We’re just. We’re just really glad you all are okay.”
“And we’re glad you’re back with us,” Lily said resting her hand on her back. “Did help arrive?”
She nodded quickly, “Q’unas, uncle Alastor, and everyone showed up. They saved us. If they hadn’t gotten there, Daze would’ve killed us all.”
Nero looked at Lily and nodded, “You made the right call. Like always.”
She smiled at him and then down at their daughter again. As she looked, her eyes widened slightly. She turned Silva’s head slowly and met her eyes. Silva made a face her eyes going from pink to a mild green and then back to pink. “Your magic. I thought you had lost it?”
“What happened?” Dawn asked softly her own eyes changing to an awed green.
Silva rubbed her eyes before saying, “Whatever Daze took from us. We got it back when you beat him. And even more than that now.” She held her hand out to her mother’s and an orb of white light appeared. Dawn stared at it, stared at what her daughter had created, and nearly cried as she mimicked the magic. The orbs rotated around each other until they collided, bathing them in a gentle warmth.
“Lela. You’ve done it. You’ve done it,” Dawn’s smile which was normally bright was even more radiant as she looked at her daughter. “You’ve talked about this since you were little and we first told you it was possible.”
“It took a lot of extra steps but we got there,” she laughed fighting tears as her eyes went pink again. She looked past her mother though as she watched her sister start to wake up.
Sofie yawned, rubbing her eyes, and grumbled something. But as she turned her orange eyes onto her sister, they widened to saucers as she scrambled out of bed. Silva turned and walked toward her. She held one hand out to her and sat down beside her.
“Silva. You’re back. And your eyes,” she reached out toward her cheek.
“A faerie. Like yours,” she shut her eyes tightly. “I’m sorry Sofia. For everything I’ve done. For putting you through everything I have for these years.”
“It’s okay Silva.”
“It’s not. We’re your sister. Your older sister at that. We should have been showing you. Teaching you. Not making things harder for you.” She looked at her closely her eyes turning a deep orange. “But no more. If you want when we get back. We can teach you. Properly. Not just faerie magic but everything about us. But if you want nothing to do with us, we understand that too.”
Sofie nodded excitedly, “I just want to have my sister back.”
Tears finally left Silva’s eyes, “You have her. And more.”
“So when do we go home?” Sefirin asked looking at his parents.
“Soon,” Nero replied. “We just need a bit more time to heal but me and Silver. One more day. And then we’re taking the first portal back to Reditus.”
“Until then get some rest. This has been a very long day,” Dawn said going to them each one by one. “We’ve all done what we had to.”
As she spoke Silva did suddenly feel it. The adrenaline. The rush of the fighting. The relief of their victory. All of it was slowly fading away and she was exhausted. She moved away and found her own separate bed. Laying her head down, her eyes slowly closed.
“We made it Titanya.”
“Yeah. We did.”
Alison sighed heavily and stood on the opposite side of the city. Specifically, the tent where Monica did her business about the Rogues and the city. Blaze saw her and immediately stepped forward to brush against her. She smiled rubbing his muzzle and pressing her forehead against his. “You have no idea how glad we are that you’re okay.”
She tapped his face again and then went back to the tent. Moving the flap aside she stepped inside and saw the trio there before her. Vincent looked up first from one of his maps and smiled at her, relief on his tired face.
He wore an eyepatch over the eye Daze damaged and just staring at it made her heart ache. Dawn did everything she could and then some. His life wasn’t in danger but she couldn’t save his eye. Vincent acted like it was fine but she knew him better than that.
Monica turned to look back at her and gave a quick dip of a nod. She had her scarves back around her mouth and also her arm. It was gone too. It was wrapped in tight bandages and she still moved like she had them both. The absence made her scowl here and there. “Hey there Alison. Everything good with our friends across the country?”
“Silva’s back with them. Regina is with the Norians. As we left, we sensed the Zodiac were coming by. By now they’re likely heading home.”
“So it’s just us free people,” Samuel said looking up from the books he had or was writing in presently. Even though he wasn’t obviously hurt, she could see it in his eyes.
“Well. We still have dragons hanging around. And Cerisans. And Luthagens,” Vincent shrugged. “So not just us yet.”
“How’s the arm?” Alison asked glancing at the bandages.
Monica made a harsh face as she looked at it, “A pain. I’ll be lucky if there’s no funky demon residue bullshit inside me.”
“That’s not what the doctors or the mages said,” Samuel said glancing at her.
“Yeah well they’re not the ones attached to it!” she barked. “You better not forget to keep researching a prosthetic. I can’t keep running the Rogue’s missing an arm.”
“Monica. The fighting just ended. We don’t have to do this now.” Vincent looked at her and she glared at him for a long time, But she met his eye and if anyone could feel what she felt, he could.
Monica picked up a clipboard, went through it slowly before tossing it down. “How many of us are even left?”
“Rogues or people of the city?”
Monica glanced at him then sat down heavily in a chair, “Both.”
“Of the population, we still have about six hundred people still alive. But of the Rogue only about a fraction of us are still running around.”
“So what’s that? three hundred? two hundred?”
“A hundred and fifty give or take.”
“You’re sure? We’ve counted?” Vincent asked and his voice was strained. Alison went to his side and took hold of his arm.
Samuel sighed, “The numbers aren’t exact. We’re just. Going off of our dead and the people we’ve been able to track inside. It’s early but this is a guess.”
“Fuck. Fuck!” Monica shouted swinging her good arm out and pushing a hand through her hair. “We lost so much. And we could barely defend the City. If it weren’t for Alison and Ryza. It all would be gone.”
“We did the best we could Monica,” Samuel said looking at her.
“And it wasn’t enough! We should have done better. I should have done better,” she looked down glaring. “Boss and the old man. They would have done better than this.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Vincent said glaring at her.
“What was that?” Monica stood up again.
“Vince ease back,” Alison said but he stepped away from her.
“No fuck that,” Monica said. “Let him say what he wants.”
Samuel sighed and went back to his notes, “Let them get it out of their system.”
Stomping over, a lot of the effect was lost from his new lack of depth perception. But he was careful and he faced his friend. “Boss and the old man would have been just as screwed as we were. We fought an army of demons and a demon big enough to step on us! We’re lucky we survived! We did what we could with something that none of us could have seen coming.
“We brought our people together. They rallied behind you and we fought and died together. And now we pick up the pieces. Boss and the old man would be proud of how we did because we didn’t let our home get destroyed. So, what if we needed to ask for help. We’re lucky enough to be even able to do that. So don’t fall apart on us now Monica. We need our boss to keep us together. You got me, Samuel, and Alison. Don’t act like you have to shoulder it yourself.”
She glared at him a moment longer and scowled looking at the ground. “Since when did you get to be the sensible one here?”
“Since always remember?”
“Oh right. That’s why Paratouga went to shit,” she said smirking at him.
“Oh come the fuck on. We are so past that,” Vincent groaned taking a step back. He stumbled and Monica grabbed his shoulder.
“Don’t worry Vince we are. But I’m still gonna fuck with you about it.”
Alison sighed letting her shoulders sag, “And here we thought you two were going to fight.”
“Who us?” Vincent raised his eyebrow. “No way. Sometimes Monica needs to get her head out of her ass but that’s what I’m here for.”
Monica hit him then her face. “Okay. We’ve taken early stock. We’re fucked right now. But we’re not out. People come here for sanctuary. And as long as we’re still alive people can still do that. The Free City will recover.” She looked at her elbow and sighed hard. “We’ll survive.”
The next few days were difficult. The days were filled with funerals. There were many bodies to burn. Lots of words to be said as they remembered their friends, good and bad. And the nights were filled with drinking and stories. None of them had ever expected to have a Rogue funeral sent on by dragon fire or overseen by the image of their goddess.
It was a long week of these back-to-back. By the end of it, many of the wolves of Luthagen had taken the long journey home while the Cerisans had taken portals back to their castle.
They stood outside the city together, the sun hanging over their heads. They were definitely an interesting group. A family of six and a pair of dragons, a trio of wulves and wolves, a trio of sanguiknights, and a found family of thieves in the desert.
Vincent looked at them and there was a visible tiredness to him. But he laughed, “You really have gotten me to meet some weird people.”
“Oh come on Vince,” Alison said squeezing his hand. “Everything is so much more interesting since you met us.”
“Is the bandit still saying he doesn’t like the fact that he knows us,” Morrigan folded her arms.
“Vince only does it as a joke now,” Alistair said chuckling. “By the way Vince. Rodi wants you to come visit next time.”
“Oh?” that brought a brighter smile to his face. “How is he doing? Morrigan still hammering the basics into his sword style?”
“Yes,” she said proudly. “Essential things unlike people like you have learned to handle.”
“Hey I’ve gotten me this far.”
Alison shook her head and walked toward the Niess’. “Ignoring them. Are you alright?”
“Yes, thank you,” Dawn said smiling at her. “We took a few days extra to make sure that Silver and Nero recovered properly.”
Nero stretched his arms and nodded, “Never felt better. Well that’s not true. When I was like ten years younger, I felt great.”
“Father please,” Silva said putting a hand on her head.
“Can I start calling you old man then?” Seffirn asked wrapping his arm around his shoulders.
“Do it and I’ll show you just how old I am,” he said grinning back at his son.
“And how are you Titanya?” Alison asked looking at Silva.
The demon took over one of the eyes of the young faerie, manifesting the mask on her forehead. “Still ticking along in here.” They said and smirked. “Worried we might cause some trouble?”
“No. But we know that acknowledging the demon inside someone isn’t exactly easy for those without one,” she said and brushed her hand across her eye.
“Titanya and I are working well together. We’ll be okay. And we know that we have a friend to come to, in case anything ever comes up.”
Alison winked at her and Nero stepped away slowly and looked at Ryza. The necromancer looked at him with a raised eyebrow as did Stephanie and Snow. “I know you and I don’t know each other well. But I was a friend of Sehren for a while. And you and him were close.”
“You were one of his students?” Ryza asked.
“A long time ago yeah.”
Ryza nodded slowly and looked at the pocket watch, “Solaris said some of his greatest joys was being a teacher. We may not have known one another well but he did call you a friend.”
Nero blinked and finally laughed. “That’s good to hear. You know he always wore that,” Nero said glancing at the watch. “What’ll you do next?”
“Hopeful nothing,” Snow glanced down at Rza. “Right Ryry?”
“Yes Snow,” Ryza said chuckling. “We’re going back home and barring another world ending crisis we won’t be doing anything more but enjoy our lives.”
“Sounds like what we plan to do,” Nero looked over his shoulder at the dragons and his family. “You know. If you ever wanted to spend time in Reditus. You’d be welcome in Agrentum.”
Stephanie looked at Ryza, “A different country? Could we?”
Ryza glanced at her and laughed, “Seriously?”
“Seriously Ryry,” Snow said leaning her head down on top of hers. “We could use a real vacation.”
She giggled sofly, “I’ll think about it. How about that?”
“That’s much better than a ‘no’ Ryry,” Snow winked at Stephanie and she grinned back taking one of her arms. The wolves at their feet barked as they moved with all the commotion.
Ryza pulled them away and giggled her tail swishing rapidly. “We’re going to go on our way. I’m glad we could help with the aftermath.”
“We’re glad you were there to help us,” Alison replied. “Stop by again when you’re in our neck of the desert.”
Letting an amused smile cross her face Ryza took a few steps back and paused looking at Silva. Ryza raised the pocket watch at her neck and Silva did the same, “I think our paths will cross again sometime. And I think I’d enjoy talking with you.”
“We’d like that,” Silva said replied.
Ryza smiled again and jumped, changing in the air and landing on all fours. Snow and Stephanie did the same leaning back and letting out soft howls. They panted brushing up against her, as did the other wolves, and then they sprinted into the desert.
“I think we’ll be leaving too,” Morrigan said resting her hand on her blade.
“Wha,t don’t want us to craft you a portal?” Alison asked with a pout.
Morrigan chuckled, “When it comes to a smaller group like this, my Queen has given me the power to transport us.”
“A benefit for being her majesty’s new right hand,” Bendicit said winking.
Morrigan shook her head but accepted the hug that came from Alison. She hugged each of them in turn and even Vincent and Morrigan shared a quick hug.
“Don’t be a stranger,” Alistair said. “Rodi and father want to see you again. And trust me I can’t wait to see my new niece or nephew.”
“You knew?” Vincent asked glancing back at Alison.
“Of course he knew. He’s our brother,” Alison winked taking a step back and pulling him along with her.
They waved one more time as Morrigan drew her sword in a fluid motion. The blade glowed red and Morrigan sliced once against the air across and then down. The portal opened like around the cross and the knights stepped through it together. It closed behind them and Alison turned to the Niess’.
“And then there was just you all.”
“Actually, we might be able to do this,” Silva said holding her pocket watch in hand.
“Uh you sure about that sis?” Seffirin asked making a face. “No offense but those aren’t exactly something we messed with.”
“Oh come on Seffy,” she rolled her eyes. “We can do this much.”
“We don’t doubt that,” Alison said coming over to her. “But let’s do it together. Especially to make one big enough to encompass a dragon. It’ll be just like in Xye.”
“We remember.”
They worked together casting the spell in one motion together and turned with their hands. This time the portal they created was a brilliant white. They turned and opened it wide, much higher than the walls of the city. The spell completed and Alison looked at her and they hugged quickly.
“Remember what we said. If you need anything, we’re here.”
“We’ll remember. Thank you, Alison. For so much.”
Alison and Vincent waved watching the family pass through and into the light. The light flashed one more time and then faded entirely.
“And then there was just the three of us,” Vincent said wrapping his arm around Alison’s shoulder.
“Soon to be four of us,” Alison amended. “Well five. Brynie’s probably finishing up with Poppy soon. I can’t wait to listen to her talk about her new obsession.”
“Me too,” Vince sighed. “I love her to death but I’m hoping for one more not mage in the family.”
“Well we can’t wait to have a magical genius that loves to torment their father along with their sister.”
Vincent scowled as they walked back toward the gates, “Do not wish that on me.”
“We’ll wish for whatever we want. Isn’t that right Penny?”
“We have no comment on your child.”
The gate closed behind them and the demon just laughed as Vincent started another one of his rants about magic and the interesting life that it’s given him.
The Harlequin Library 