As our forces trooped towards the hills at the back of the shrine where Shaeraggo’s host waited, Shaeula turned to me, an amused expression on her face. It’s good to see she is relaxed, but…
“You were mistaken when you spoke to my brother. Why should you not-not be able to praise Aiko just because she is your sister? It is hard for me to understand. If you find her eyes beautiful, would she not-not be happy to hear this?”
Oh come on… I’m pretty sure she’s messing with me…
“Shae-u-la!” Eri intoned. “I’m pretty sure you know it’s saying things like that which makes me get angry. Those are the sort of compliments you give a lover, not family…”
Shaeula shrugged. “I think you mortals worry too much over the difference. I do not-not understand why I would be displeased if Shaeraggo calls me beautiful. I am indeed gorgeous. Still, there is much brother Shaeraggo is doing that-that causes me grief…”
“Oh Shaeula…” Eri changed her expression, going from stern to amused, letting out a giggle. “I guess you’ll never change. Just… just try to be a little more understanding of our ways, all right, else you’ll embarrass Akio or get him into trouble.”
“Indeed, I should be aware of that.” Shaeula conceded.
“Kek-keh-keh. You are all so very entertaining. I had heard the, keh-keh, rumours of the youngest daughter of Prince Shaetanao, but they have not done you justice. Keh-keh-keh.” Ixitt chimed in. He had pulled a contraption down over his head, looking like very old-fashioned spectacles with multiple lenses, ringed with brass and silver, something like an Ophthalmologist might use. “I hope to see more wonders during the Trial, keh-keh.”
Oh yeah, him. I had put him out of my mind, worry over how Shaeula and our troops would fare the only thing I was thinking about. I didn’t know what to make of him, especially since it seemed most ratkin were Unseelie, but… “I’m sure you will, but shouldn’t you be with Shaeraggo?”
Before he could reply an angry shout echoed across to us from the hills where the orderly ranks of Shaeraggo’s army were formed up, a far cry from our disordered march. “Little sister, are you trying to-to anger me? Why must you take that form, mocking me with its vile mortal visage?”
Well, that’s just a side benefit. Shaeula thought if he was enraged, he might give worse orders. Worth a shot, I guess, after all, he can’t hate me any more than he does already…
Giving her brother a sweet smile, yet one with steel hidden within, she reached out and took my hand, causing him to hiss bitterly. “Why should I not-not take whichever form I so please, dear brother? Both this and my Fae form are me, and I can change much as I choose to change my clothes. Besides, this-this mortal form has other benefits.” She turned to me then, face pink. “With this hand, I can better feel your warmth.”
Beside me Eri was also blushing, clenching and unclenching her fists with emotion, while I could hear Shaeraggo grinding his teeth from here. He turned away, glaring at his unfortunate wife, who was trying to make herself smaller, hunched behind her great staff. “Enough of this farce. Come forwards and start the ritual. I want this to be over-over.” He growled. “Only when you have been suitably punished and this… malign influence removed can you return to the sweet sister you are-are.”
“Indeed, there is no-no point delaying this. I am well prepared. But before I go… for good fortune, my Akio.” With that she leaned up on tiptoes and brushed my lips with hers. Wait, here? She had kissed me once before, and I felt bad about it, though it was hard to refute that she had saved Eri at that time so was due a reward, but…
After some wet noises she pulled away, wiping her damp lips with her free hand. “Indeed-indeed. That gives me courage. This battle will be hard, but I shall, nay must, obtain victory. I shall win before you are forced to face my brother in deadly combat.” She turned to Eri then. “Watch well, for you wished to be strong. If your true desire is to stand beside Akio, to protect him, then you will-will need to steel yourself.”
With that she released my hand and led her troops to the site of the Moonlight Mist Realm without looking back, where Selensha was organising everyone to prepare for the second Trial.
“I’m… I’m sorry Eri. I shouldn’t have done that, I hope you can forgive…” she placed her hand on my mouth, sealing my speech.
“It… it doesn’t feel good seeing you kissing another girl, cheating.” She admitted. “I don’t want you cheating on me. No more than I would on you. But…” her gaze strayed to Shaeula, who was arguing with Grulgor about something. “… she’s fighting so hard so that she can protect you. And I… I once felt no-one could love you more than I did. I still think that’s true. But… just maybe…” her onyx eyes softened as she looked at her rival. “… just maybe, someone else can love you as much…”
The pledge to the spirits was complete, even the Kamaitachi having to swear, despite them not being able to benefit from the protection. The same wonderous sight as the first Realm was conjured, the descending mist and brilliant glow of water energies was recreated, just on a vaster scale. Once the spell was done, Selensha staggered, spent, and Shaeraggo caught her tenderly, for a moment looking almost happy. So he can make a face like that. Perhaps when all this is over, we can repair the relationship between him and Shaeula… I know she wants that. After all, the sibling bond is a deep one, and the youngest child is doted on the most, just look at Aiko…
“You know something?” Eri was continuing, her face resolute, an expression I didn’t see often. “I made a mistake. I… I should have let Shaeula … and you…” she was stumbling over her words, her face and neck flushed, her breath coming fast. “… if she needed more strength, if she could have avoided hurt, protected you… I should have said… wait, Akio!” I cut off her troubled words with my embrace, holding her head tight to my chest.
“I don’t blame you. She doesn’t blame you.” I reassured her. “How could we? If… and I don’t even like thinking about it, but just imagine… if some ancient mystic or something said that I could gain power if you offered yourself to him, do you think I’d do it? I’d rather die…”
“But what if it was the only way to save… to save us, or Aiko, or …” she continued, seriously thinking about it.
Don’t think I haven’t considered this, long and hard. I’ve been aware that Shaeula loves me for quite some time now, and … my own feelings towards her… we’ve been through so much, so many life-or-death struggles… I can’t lie to myself… but I made a commitment to Eri…
“If both options suck, then I’ll just make a third way.” I promised. “We are going to be married, remember? If Shaeula… if she isn’t strong enough, for whatever reason, then that’s why I’m here. Her brother may be a great warrior, a great hunter, but I have you and Shaeula in my corner, so no matter what, I won’t lose. So… just don’t worry, please? I’ll… I’ll do something about Shaeula, make her understand that I’m your fiancé, and that she can’t do that anymore. When I said I’d go out with you, when I gave you the ring, I promised myself I’d be the best man I could be for you. So I’ll not cheat. I swear!”
She trembled a little in my embrace and whispered something. Even with my enhanced senses I couldn’t catch it all. “… it isn’t cheating?”
We stayed together for a while, until with a little reluctance, we separated. Both sides were now ready to fight, and Shaeula gave us a jaunty wave, causing Eri to look away, guiltily.
“Enough. We should begin the second Trial.” Shaeraggo snapped. His gaze was also directed at Eri, and while it was inevitable, I wasn’t happy about it. I was hoping to keep her under wraps. Still, if he tries anything she can expel her aether and escape. It should be all right. It will be.
The exhausted Selensha nodded, sending up a great flare of bright energy, a pillar far thicker than the first trial. “Begin the second Trial of Three. Under the blessings of the King and Queen may the victor smile under the moon, and the loser find peace!”
Ulfuric was first to react, relaying orders expertly. “Archers, aim for their weaselkin, the trolls are too strong. Spears, block off the trolls and allow the warriors to engage. Mages, defensive barriers. Bombard the trolls when ready. Mistress Tillyae, split your musicians as discussed and play your songs.”
The ranks of the enemy forces began to move, swiftly and in good order. They certainly have us outmatched in training and long experience… Still, Shaeula seemed undaunted, her yukata flapping in the fading breeze created by the great sorcerous working. “Grulgor, you have wanted to prove yourself against Master Ulfuric for some time have you not-not? Well, now is your chance.”
“Grul will smash and crush! Grul will make puny badger kneel in the dirt!” he bellowed, charging forwards, his massive made digging a furrow in the ground behind him as he dragged it. Ulfuric, seeing the charging mass of muscle and steel, merely smiled a little, before ruby light flared and he was covered in hard armour of stone.
“Come then.” Ulfuric hefted his own mace, and it too was covered in dense earth, increasing its mass.
Grulgor powered ahead of the rest, crashing into Ulfuric, his massive metal mace slamming into his. Ulfuric tensed his mighty muscles, shards of stone flaking away, and slid backwards, feet ripping grooves in the floor. Still, after a few seconds he held. “Is that all?” Ulfuric grunted, angering Grulgor further.
“Hardly, puny badger!” Grulgor spat, swinging his mace again and again and again, the ground trembling under the shock of the impacts as Ulfuric parried the blows.
Meanwhile Tillyae had split her musicians into several groups, all guarded by thickets of spear-carrying weaselkin. Multiple fey tunes were struck up, and even over the clash of battle it could be heard, haunting and melancholic.
Our weaselkin were taking losses, the sky blackened by arrows that were raining down, but the Kamaitachi were defending as best they could with their wind. Still, with two against hundreds it would only end one way…
I hope you know what you are doing Shaeula. You wouldn’t even take my batteries for the match… I had tried to give her my batteries that were still full, but she had refused adamantly, still worried about what would happen if I had to face her brother. She was racing towards the archers and musicians, while the other trolls were now engaged with the spear-weasels. They were looking like porcupines, but the armour I had given them was allowing them to push through…
“Out of the way, or suffer the consequences!” Shaeula called to her brother’s forces, as she darted through the rain of heavy shafts gracefully, only suffering some minor rips in her yukata. Pinwheels in hand she sent them spiralling out, and the frontline in front of her went down, crying in pain, as Selensha furiously worked the sorcery to eject the fallen before Shaeula’s wires inflicted injuries they could not recover from.
I think Selensha deserves a nice break after this. She’s doing most of the work. I glanced over to Shaeraggo beside her, and he was standing there, annoyingly composed as Shaeula tore through the ranks and the trolls continued to advance. Yeah, he looks confident still…
“One thing I have learned, dear brother…” Shaeula was flanked by a troop of the armoured weasels with swords and heavy shields, forcing her back away from the musicians, who were now switching from horns and flutes to a series of bronze cymbals and leather drums. “… is that trash mobs aren’t worth my time!”
Beside me, Eri giggled, cutting through her nerves a bit. “That sounds like something she would say. She even brought her games console when she visited us. She really does have a cute side…”
“Yeah, and under that she hides her claws. She’s got the royal imperiousness of a princess down…”
Verdant wind blossomed, and the armoured weasels were driven back, several falling where the wires got past their shields, and then she swept her arms in a wide arc, and Selensha panicked, shouting out a prayer. Mist billowed, and the scores of spear-weasels were gone, ejected outside the barrier, leaving her blades to hum through the suddenly damp air uncontested.
“Please be careful…” Selensha panted. “The Moonlight Mist Realm isn’t strong enough to restore someone cut into pieces…” she slumped to the floor. “… some of them would have died.”
Shaeula barely spared her much attention, seeing the way to the musicians open, only a few armoured warriors there to bar her path, which she quickly swatted aside with a dazzling array of jade, emerald and olivine blades of wind, targeting their joints and other weak points, dismissing them from the battle. “My brother chose this-this. As the challenged party he had-had most say. I have no wish to kill my fellow weaselkin, but for Akio, Eri and my dream… I would become as ruthless as an Unseelie, should it keep them safe-safe.”
Shaeraggo drew in a sharp breath, shocked. I also responded similarly. From what I had gathered, Unseelie were taboo and considered shockingly evil. To say that for us, she’d even fall so low… Damn, and my resolve from earlier… no, I am a man of my word. The two things I hate more than anything are liars and those that abuse women…
“I don’t really get it…” Eri said, her gaze also on Shaeula, contemplative and warm. “But… I guess that’s like saying she’d become a monster or a killer for our sake, right? She really is…” tears began to fall from her eyes then, and I went to hold her, but she shook her head, smiling through them. “… I’m not sad, not really. I’m just… other than you and Aiko, I never had anyone willing to go so far for me… for us. I think I’m beaten. I really am.”
Beaten? In what? No-one expects you to be able to fight like her… even I can’t yet… I cocked my head in puzzlement, waiting for her to clarify, but she still kept smiling that mysterious smile, her tear-filled eyes back on Shaeula.
“Keh-keh-keh. The princess does indeed have the noble bearing of a girl in love. It is quite charming. Keh-keh.”
“Oh, you were still here.” I said to the watching Ixitt, who was making notes with a strange quill-style pen on a waxen tablet.
“Keh. Yes, no getting rid of Ixitt, I fear, keh-keh.” He grinned, the scars and burns on his face looking quite frightful. “My wives were the same, way back then. A woman shines most brightly when in love. You are the same, mortal girl. Keh-keh-keh. You are quite the lucky man, to have such flowers in your hands. This Territory though, it is rather ill… keh-keh… ill-befitting such grace. I have many, many daughters, and not keh-keh-keh…” another fit of coughing burst free from his throat. “… keh-keh. My pardons. Many of my children do not wish to become mortal engineers. Keh. I could pick out some of my daughters as maids, keh-keh, for you. They would be happy to serve I am sure.”
“Uh… I’d need to discuss that with Shaeula…” I wasn’t sure how to answer. Suddenly my attention was taken by two things happening at once. Firstly a massive wave of explosions rocked the battlefield, showering us with dirt and debris even here. I felt the traces of wind energy disperse under the impact, and several trolls were down, alongside numerous other weaselkin who had been tying them up with wave tactics. The mist descended and then they were outside, Selensha once more struggling to heal the more serious wounds.
The second was a ripple of discordant sound, metallic and harsh. The musicians were beating their gongs, drums and cymbals, generating a noise that was physically pressing Shaeula back, blood dripping from her ears. She staggered a little, before turning her head and spitting out silvery blood, staining the ground. Wiping at her mouth delicately with the back of her hand she frowned. “Such unpleasant music. I much-much prefer the sounds of the Material. A nice restaurant, quiet, yet elegant music, us all-all eating and drinking together. Yes. That would be perfect.”
I was about to shout my encouragement, but once more I was too slow. Beside me, Eri called to her. “That sounds lovely. We can go together, just you, me and Akio. Let’s do it tonight! But first…” she said, her damp eyes fierce, a fire lit within. “… but first, you have to win! Don’t let them push you around, you are Shaeula, proud princess, right?”
“Of course.” As another wave of the weaponised sound hit her, a glow of green shimmered in the air like a curtain, and suddenly there was silence. “Burn into your eyes what happens when I get-get serious!”