laneys.info Beware of Yankees, drunks, and loose women.

Two weeks north of the dreaded swamp, the group continued their northerly trek. Clean air filtered by the surrounding oak and chestnut soon took on the putrid stench of thick smoke. Kailee leaned forward to scan the horizon as Avion drove to it and soon noticed the black columns rising into the air and drifting westward with the wind. She heard Kasar's horse speed forward passed the wagon to join Alister and Lericanin at point where they had stopped.

"Looks like tonight's stay may be outside," Avion mused as Tia and Elsea leaned to see the walled town burning. Two large gates yawned giving them a perfect view of the main street engulfed in flames. Elsea grabbed her bow and quiver and exited through the back door while Kailee concentrated and scanned the breeze for any nearby participants in this fight to find none. Several bordering farms however were also burning with their occupants dead or dying.

"We're too late to save this place," Tia stated noncommitally as she sat back.

Avion turned, "We should at least check the neighboring farms to see if there's anyone hiding that we can help".

"What's the point," Tia countered. "We don't have the money or the time right now."

Staring askance, Avion turned back to watch as Alister rode up and stopped his horse on the right side of the wagon.

"We're going to go in the town and see what's going on. Lericanin noticed fighting beyond the gate."

Tia leaned forward to eye the fighter. "Forbid that you two would miss out on a chance for glory. Perhaps you hadn't noticed that the street to the engagement is engulfed in fire. You and I both know you won't get the horses up there."

"So, we'll walk. You guys stay here with the wagon just in case."

"I want to go with you," Avion volunteered.

Alister dismounted and handed the reins to her, "Who else can drive the wagon?"

"Give it up, Avion," Tia said. "They don't want to share their vain attempt to get into Ghevond."

Kailee watched as Avion turned, anger and concern in her eyes, "What's gotten into you lately? Whoever you are, bring back my friend."

Tia leaned back, the dim light glinting off of her hazel eyes from the darkened face that smiled.

"We won't be sitting here long," Kailee projected. "As soon as the fire goes down, we can check the homes. Why don't you pull up to the gates and wait there."

"Alright." Avion tied off the reins of Alister's horse and drove the wagon up to the tall grassy mound topped by a stone wall as Kailee watched Tia sit and stare out through the forwardmost arrow slit cut into the starboard wall. She had changed somewhat. The form-fitting, black leather armor that she had made in Varberg, the first town they arrived at after the Dender Swamp, told that much.

They waited while the fire burned itself out and then walked into the town. Gutted homes and businesses smoldered in the noonday sun, still hot from the inferno that now made its way farther through the tightly built sprawl, away from the fighting and towards the keep that dominated the center of Kalmar. Blackened bodies of defender and attacker alike littered the flagstone they traveled and there was little discerning between the two.

"We'll go ahead, why don't you two look to see if there's anyone still alive," Avion suggested to Tia and Kailee.

"In there," Tia motioned to the dark ruin to her left. "Are you serious?"

"That's fine," Kailee cut in. "It would probably be better if we stayed nearer the wagon anyway."

Avion nodded as Elsea began heading to the din of battle up ahead. "Thank you."

As the two girls disappeared into the whirling grey smoke, Tia turned to her. "Can you detect anyone alive in this mess?"

"I can't smell anything but smoke and it's making me sick."

"Put this scarf over your nose," she suggested, handing Kailee a thick, woolen wrap. "They tend to forget how sensitive you are to things like this, until it serves their purpose."

Kailee didn't see it that way. She was helping her friends find trouble before it sprang on them, usually. Tia eyed the surroundings as they began walking back towards the gate; the doors hung askew as if blown open by some large giant.

"You know," Tia began. "We could take those horses and be free of their troublesome meddling. Just you and I. We may even be able to find out more about your background. Weren't you saying that your father was an alchemist?"

"That's what my grandparents told me. They think he's living in Bakony now. My grandfather didn't have many good things to say about him though."

"Funny how we came to be together. My father raped my mother when she was attending the magic college of Bukhara and left her in the alleyway afterwards." Kailee noticed the hatred in Tia's eyes at the mention of the incident. "I'm going to kill him when I find him," she mentioned, matter-of-factly. "My mother has been training me for that day all my life."

Hitting her in the face, the facts made Kailee step back. "How could you hate someone you don't even know?"

Tia's hazel eyes glazed. "I know him well enough."

Soon, the fighting ended and they led the reluctant horses and wagon into the town as the survivors began assisting the wounded and preparing the dead for burial. Arriving at the keep, Lericanin and Alister tended to Kasar who had been wounded severely while Avion and Elsea looked on.

"Is he alright?" Kailee asked.

Lericanin nodded, "He will be. Tia, I'm glad you're finally here. See what you can do for him."

The team medic initially eyed their fallen comrade as he sat against the tan wall of a home saved from the fire, then soon walked over and knelt beside him as she assessed the damage.

"The baroness of Kalmar has given us lodging in the keep," Alister informed as he retrieved the reins from Kailee, led the horses and wagon further along the rounded street and to the backside of the large, rounded tower. She watched as people scrambled with buckets dipped into the well, pass them off to others in a line that eventually ended at one burning house. Kailee wished that she had a list that could make it rain.

After Tia stabilized the Sauqiran, they moved him inside the keep and found a place within the busy great hall to place he and their gear.

Eventually, Kailee walked the market square beyond the keep and rounded the quiet stalls to see Lericanin walk into the gutted church. She hurried to the shallow wall and gate and began to feel nauseated. Backing as the feeling went away, she noticed him kneel and pray in the roofless building now filled with rubble. For an instant, she noticed a shimmer standing to the right and behind him as a shiver ran up her spine.

'You need not fear, my love. That servant can't hurt you.'

"Unless you allow it, right?"

The low, dark chuckle made her skin crawl. 'Perhaps you should take Tia's advice, you two would be better off on your own.'

"I enjoy being with my friends, I'm not leaving them," she stated as she wondered what Lericanin and this apparition were talking about.

'They're talking about how to best rid the world of people like us. Your safety is my primary concern, but know this, you win either way. The sooner this life is over, the sooner we can be together.' His hot breath burned her neck and cheek which prompted her to step away. He sighed, searing the flagstone at her feet. 'You don't appreciate the things that I've done for you? I returned Tia to you at your request and still you spurn my love.'

"Are you capable of love? Do you even know what that is?"

"Absolutely," Tia added from behind.

She turned to see her smirking friend. "Love is taking all you can and giving of yourself completely. He cares more for us than any of these people ever will. Can they give us life? Could any of them helped keep us together after that day in the swamp? Kailee, you would've buried me that day if it hadn't been for Him. You know this to be true." Tia took her hand and caressed it with her thumb.

Kailee looked away as she tried to push out the emotion of the incident. Seeing her friends body being lifted into the air...stop!

"You two don't have to be afraid to enter the courtyard," Lericanin stated as he neared. "He would accept you both with open arms."

"Kailee, come on. Let's get some dinner," Tia pulled Kailee closer as she turned to leave.

There were so many questions. "How long are we staying," Kailee asked, following Tia across the street.

"I'm not sure. I think I want to stay and help rebuild the church. Probably a few days," he shrugged.

As they walked up the stairway, embedded into the steep green mound that supported the tall, granite home, Kailee wondered how best to keep everyone around her that she had come to depend on.
"Tia, I do know what love is. It's what I feel for you. We've been through so much together but, I also have come to enjoy our friends. I can't leave them."

Tia eyed her for a moment, studying her eyes as she sighed. "I do love you too, but there are things that I have to do also. With or without you."

Kailee gripped her sister's hand tighter, the gulf between them was widening and she didn't know how to stop it.