Rebellion - 8 (Patreon)

"Isolde, it's good to see you." Vivi greeted her sister-in-law politely as they were escorted into Tambleton, their horses being seen to, as they had declared their allegiance to the rebellion on their approach. "You as well, Caleb. I assume you're heading for the same place we are?"

"Of course. What other reason would we have to march in this Light forsaken weather?" Isolde replied disgustedly. "Rather than horses, it seems we should've brought boats."

Caleb rolled his eyes beside Isolde and jostled her with his elbow. “Of course you’d think that’s the solution. Sister, you think every journey would be better with boats. I’m sure you’d prefer to sail up a mountain if you could.”

“Well, it’d be easier than climbing!”

Though Vivi was fixated upon and had the attention of the leaders of the procession, and very much its most important members, mine drifted to someone else riding amongst the roughly hundred-strong retinue.

Her hazel eyes met mine tiredly, and with a pat on the neck of her old draft horse, she dropped to the ground. Flashes of the last time we spoke, when she blamed me for the loss of someone we both cared for – for failing my student – ran through my head. I wanted to greet her, ask how she was, try for that old familiarity.

But it wouldn't come. Heather was my friend, my throat shouldn't feel tight and I shouldn't have so much trouble talking to her. I shouldn't be afraid she was going to reject me... but I was.

I couldn't help but feel an echo, lesser, to my split with Vivi as she came closer, wondering if it would be the same hurt all over again.

And then she was in front of me, looking utterly exhausted and... as lost for words, struggling to find them, as I was. Her mouth opened and closed – I'd been trained out of that, even if so much else hadn't stuck – as she tried to find what to say.

Then, she pulled me into a hug, pressing me into her chest. "Mum told me off." She muttered into my ear, squeezing tighter as I hesitated to return the embrace. "I was being a... a cunt. Horrible and stupid; it wasn't your fault."

People were watching, seeing me get hugged by my friend. Even with how much power I had... what did it matter? No, seriously, what did it matter? I was never going to be physically intimidating, I was, at most, five foot two. And that was if I cheated and included my shoes – I was small, I wore dresses, I kept impractically long hair.

Wrapping my arms around Heather I threw aside any care for the appropriateness of the public hug. My friend was back and I was going to be happy about that.

"You were hurting," I mumbled into her chest, offering her an out for her guilt. "We... we'd just lost him. You wanted someone to blame. I get it."

I wasn't going to pretend it hadn't hurt, because it had... but compared to losing Richard, the hurt of the blame was nothing. Just thinking about how viciously I'd responded to the thought of Marigold being in danger...

That wasn't going to go away anytime soon. And, honestly, I didn't want it to.

"You didn't want them here," Heather shook her head in denial. "It was Celestine who brought the apprentices, our students who couldn't protect themselves. I... I think I hate her."

She let go, a volatile mix of emotions rioting across her soft features. There was plenty of anger bubbling under the surface still, struggling against the near hero worship she'd held for Celestine all her life. One moment she looked constipated and the next like someone had shoved a dead skunk under her nose.

It wasn't terribly flattering, but it was kind of funny.

And, with the tension and worry about how she would treat me fading, I found it very easy to laugh. Her pout didn't really help with that.

"Sorry, sorry." I giggled, patting her arm lightly. "But, Celestine regrets it too. She nearly lost Emma." My momentary humour fell away. "And... Trix is gone."

She grabbed my arms, squeezing and demanding.

"Not dead!" I corrected myself before she could speak, realising my mistake. "Just... when I had to flee, she was left behind. The king's men took her. I... don't know what happened after that."

Maybe I should've killed– no. If I had killed Genn at the wall then Trix would've been punished far more harshly.

"Then once we're done here, we'll have another rescue mission." Heather said firmly, once more pulling me close. "I only really joined the rebellion to spite the speaker and her neutrality, but now... now I'm glad I'm taking part. We'll get her back."

"If you're done fondling each other," Tulvan's scathing tones cut through the air, "we've got a planning session to finish. With new attendees – you are welcome to join us, Merrowfall. Maybe you can keep these two brats in line; stop them stealing all my men. You’ve got plenty with you as is."

As she turned and made her way back into the pub I pulled away from Heather, and seeing Vivi grabbed her hand. My gorgeous bladedancer was frowning slightly, more of a pout, as she looked at me. And behind her Isolde looked... concerned?

Ah, right... embracing another girl. "It's Heather, she's a cuddle fiend." I rolled my eyes. "As you'll find out; she's a friend and I'm not making her sleep in the cold when our tent has room."

Heather flushed slightly but, without any prompting at all, pulled Vivi into a hug too. "Thank you for taking care of Gwen." She said as Vivi let out a strangled mewl.

"Anyway, planning." I said, tugging them all. "We're stuck until the water drops a little, but there's plenty of supplies..."

-oOoOo-

"Thanks and blessings, great witch." A ragged-looking man said as he knelt in the ashes of his home. "Maurice said he'd bring help, but we'd scarcely believed him. Light knows we can't pay for it, not after..." he swallowed thickly, eyes blinking with tears that wouldn't flow. "What... what do ye need, lady?"

Letting him ramble, I placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and flooded him with the same healing I had done for his family, washing away the burns he wore.

There had been no great battles, and little resistance, to our progress after leaving Tambleton. From the moment the waters had receded back to the River Wren's banks we'd made good time, marching quickly and heading deeper into the rugged dales of the Northern Headlands. But that didn't mean the last few weeks were entirely uneventful.

Planning, plotting our path, and all else had come first. Bowford was left behind to guard the new bridge at Tambleton, well stocked with all the supplies Lord Permont had gathered – and well positioned, with the improvements Heather and I had made to said lord's rushed fortifications. We had more than enough experience from working at the wall to make something good of them, and it meant he wouldn't have to make the same choice Permont had.

Here and there, despite the ostensibly friendly territory we had passed through, some lords had been defiant. One and all Tulvan had insisted on capturing, pulling behind our force to be taken back to Tulle Peak, where Tulvan Keep stood, and held there until the end of the war.

What happened to the soldiers... earned a great deal of barbed words. Beaten, disarmed, and captured, she looked for every excuse just to get rid of them.

Each house loyal to her that we'd passed now hosted some assortment of prisoners, but there were limits to that. Manor houses, far more plentiful here than true castles, had little in the way of dungeons. Every man set to guard them was one less for the campaign itself, as Tulvan was ever determined to remind me.

And, for once, I wasn't going to argue with her as to her decision on what to do with the royalists when she caught them. Turning on your own people, even if they were sheltering a rebel priest, was unforgivable.

"Clear the camp and pack up!" Tulvan yelled as she rode through on her horse. "Ain't no point in staying here, not when we've got pretend piss-pot riverlanders making a mess of our lands!" Her eyes met mine, a severe scowl on her face, but I nodded back. "We'll march through the night if we have to – unless you lot are too busy bellyaching to stop them doing this again?!"

"No!" Came a roar back from the riders following her already, her own lords and their men now the majority amongst them. "Marchin in the dark, up the creek and down the hill, to where they sleep and lie still!"

Laughter threaded through the riders, grim and dark. The part about slitting throats and ending feuds going unsung as they moved out.

"You don't need to worry about payment," I said to the man as I let go. One of many, and many more to go. "Simply take care of yourselves, your family, and your fellows as best you can."

He bowed his head to me, hands trembling with anger. His family might be almost whole, the injuries done to all but one of them by their supposed liege-lord healed now, but others who weren't nearly so lucky. And even those that were... lost much anyway.

Homes, livestock, in some cases not all-but, but all-including the clothes off their backs.

At least they had their lives and their health, for without more time that was all I could really offer them. Heather would stay for a while and finish up, but–

"Wait!" A girl yelled, sprinting up behind me. "Imma join up! Got to, for Robbie."

"Mathilda!" The man yelled back, rushing to his feet.

"Dad, she's the miracle witch!" Mathilda protested, a faint whine in her voice. She was clutching a bow, along with a set of arrows, and a half-burned spear. "We owe too much not to! There was no food, then, magic and the fields were full. And she's doing it again."

Her face scrunched up tightly, her teeth gritted together tightly. "Got to help. Can't– can't be in debt forever."

"Mathy..." He sighed in response. "Will you...? We can't ask you to take her, but it's right. Can't pay in gold, or food, but only in blood."

I felt deeply uncomfortable by the thought, though... the Headlands weren't so different. Every deed, be it a slight or a gift, repaid. It was one of the reasons Mama had taken us up there, they were fixated enough on their traditions that even a witch would receive their dues.

This was just somewhat more extreme than that and their own way of dealing with their lack of control over their lives.

"I have other people to see to, but," I gestured towards Tulvan, "if you want revenge, then seek to join Lady Tulvan and her army. Find Lady Isolde Mistmantle or Lord Caleb Merrowfall if you want to join me; we'll be splitting from the main force once we pass Carnmen Castle and remaining apart for a time."

Giving her a moment to think, I heard more whispers of 'Robbie', but no decisive conclusion.

They would make up their minds in time. As would, inevitably, many others; in some horrific and monstrous ways, the sheer brutality of the royalist lord worked in our favour. Radicalising a village, offering a story of the atrocities they would commit to retain power... It just wasn't worth the price.

-oOoOo-

The earth shuddered as a steel ball crashed into one of my barriers and exploded, but there was little time to focus on that. "There!" Commander Smith yelled as he pointed, directing attention to the southern towers of Carnmen Castle. Smoke plumed out of the end of a cannon poking out through a window. "Counter battery fire–"

Before he could finish one of our cannons fired early, the deafening boom returning the same treatment we were suffering.

The first day of the siege had gone well, I'd managed to repeat the trick I'd used on Lord Permont on all the cannons on the ramparts. But the enemy wasn't stupid; bringing them down, inside the castle itself, must have taken them hours but they managed it before the defences could be overwhelmed by the assault of the first day.

And now I couldn't just call down lightning or stars from the sky directly on top of them to take them out. They had completely abandoned the ramparts when it became clear anything open to the sky was vulnerable.

It was... irritating. Without bringing down the entire castle, which I wasn't even sure I could do, I couldn't get at the defenders or cannons. But at least I could still play a part; as Commander Smith repeated his order I hummed softly into the wind, asking it to guide the cannon fire and give the shots just a little nudge for accuracy.

Just like the last few times, the return fire struck true and the cannon, along with the bodies of its crew, toppled out and fell into the gorge that made the castle a strong defensive position.

"Think that's the last of them?" Smith asked as he shoved a finger in his ear to clear the ringing we all felt. "Six, right? Unless you counted wrong."

"I didn't." Unless they had some in storage to begin with. "You might've though; you sure we got the last one? Could've pulled it out of the rubble by now." With the cannon dealt with I followed the plan we'd outlined with Tulvan yesterday; an assault was deadly, but... there were ways to mitigate that. The clouds above thickened as I pushed Life into them, into their waters, burgeoning and burbling with magic and eagerness.

"Eh, it'll be over soon anyway." He shrugged, adjusting his hat as the rain began in earnest. "Reload round shot! Aim for the west tower! On my mark–!"

Tulvan blew her horn and the assault began, the roar of the surging soldiers all but drowning out his order to fire.

The last tower overlooking the makeshift bridge I'd grown, and that Heather was regrowing where it had been burnt, cut, and severed, was struck hard. Gunfire still came back, but though many shots found their marks...

As the rain fell, men and woman kept up their charge. Wounds healing mere moments after the blood was spilled, bolstered and strengthened as they made their way towards the castle.

Tomorrow was going to be messy, surgeons had their work cut out for them to get the bloody lead shot out of everyone, but no one was dying. Not yet. By tonight Carnmen Castle would be ours and myself, Vivi, Isolde, and the rest of our group would be on our way south, into the vale.

Where we'd finally rescue Howard.

The wind stirred, carrying the scent of blood to me through the rain; keepers, I was already sick and tired of this war.

-oOoOo-

Leaning against a tree I watched as Vivi tossed another man to the ground, doing little more than tie up those that fell down so they couldn't get back up – well, and also patching them up so they didn't bleed out for no reason.

Honestly, when we weren't fighting a bloody siege to try and take a castle, the Carnmen Vale was remarkably idyllic; scattered farmsteads stretching along a small creek with fields ready to turn gold come autumn, forested hills climbing up to misty heights on both sides, and an utter lack of meaningful opposition.

Each of the noble houses we'd passed so far had surrendered, or offered allegiance, without much hesitation. The various 'felds' of the valley – March, Linda, Corren, Daen – all swore they were loyal supporters of Tulvan while throwing each other, and the Carnath house – Vivi's maternal family – under the proverbial bus for being royalists. I got the feeling they'd lost their men in the siege and were just covering their arses while trying to settle petty grudges against each other.

"Told you she could beat them, Sister." Caleb Merrowfall said smugly as Vivi handled the last of the guards. "No contest."

Isolde scowled and handed over a few silver coins while the rest of their retinue laughed. "She always looked so... meek when I saw her."

I snorted and shook my head, pushing myself off the tree to go and reapply the enhancements I'd offered her before we started. When we got here, seeing there'd be so little resistance, she'd asked to go alone. An absurdity we refused... but that didn't mean she couldn't get some catharsis while we were at it.

"You ready to go in?" I asked as I rubbed her shoulder lightly. She was breathing evenly, almost too evenly, with the wind stirring with every breath – much to my displeasure.

Wrinkling my nose I wished that the stupid scent of blood and dog would go away; I knew the dog or wolf scent was just Hannah's wolf, a good dog as any were, but the blood... I honestly didn't know if it was just my guilt playing with my head or not. It could just be the fact there was blood everywhere all the damn time now thanks to the civil war, and I was better at smelling it than most.

"Yeah." Vivi replied, letting out a long breath and firming her expression. "I'm ready. Let's go rescue my brother from my horrid bitch of a mother."

"You said it, not me." Isolde chimed in, up and linking her arm with mine and Vivi's. "Let's see what kind of reception they've prepared for us, shall we?" She grinned brightly. "Two crowns she has some sort of terrible speech about how we've ruined everything, any takers?"

That got Vivi to laugh, delightfully. "Not a chance! I know my mother."

"Vivi personally, with something about me being a scarlet woman who corrupted her?" I offered. Honestly, I wasn't much of a betting person... but if it made Vivi smile, which it did, it was worth the lost money.

The old man at the door to the house, wearing decent formal attire for a butler, looked pained as we approached. He'd been listening in and watching. "Welcome, young sir and madams, to the house of Carnath. What brings you here this day?"

He wasn't as good as Rodger, his voice betraying his discomfort at still being here. I did have to give him partial credit for still being here at all, though.

"My husband–"

"My brother–"

Vivi and Isolde looked at each other for a moment, then nodded. "Howard Mistmantle," they said together, "where is he?"

Bowing his head the old butler managed to look even more tired. "The young lord and his mother are in the main dining hall, awaiting guests. Lord and Lady Carnath, along with our Young Miss, are also in attendance." He raised his head, one hand shaking, and met Vivi's eyes. "I would ask if you would not partake in violence in this house. The Lord and Lady are of advanced age and the Young Miss has lost her father too recently to suffer further."

"Didn't know you had any cousins, Vivi." I said.

She shrugged loosely. "I met her once. Isobel brought me here to see her as a baby. It was... boring." She started forward and we followed, Isolde still holding both our arms together while her retinue made up the rear. "She convinced Father that I couldn't ride the horses here because it was too dangerous. So I was stuck inside for weeks."

"A terrible fate, I couldn't imagine what I would do to Papa if he stopped me going sailing." Isolde offered.

Caleb snorted. "I do; you threw a tantrum and built your own raft, then got stranded on an island and sent us all into a panic looking for you. No wonder Howard likes you, Ise, you're just like his sister."

"Hey!"

Vivi laughed again as the old man opened to door to let us inside, dim candles offering some illumination that I quickly added to with small astral lights.

The house wasn't poor by any means, and meticulously maintained, but there was evidence enough that the wealth the Carnath family once held had diminished over the years. Rich colours faded away, the lack of gas lights, and the old fashion on display in all of the paintings.

"Once our house was the point of pride between the capital and the Northern Headlands, with the Carnmen Vale the easiest route of transport from the riches of the dales down to the great city at the heart of our nation." The butler started, offering an entirely unasked-for history lesson. "It was no single thing that saw to our decline; foolishly, in the War of Broken Oaths, our lord chose not to aid the king, which saw Carnmen Castle stripped from him, and losing the tolls it provided."

He gestured to a portrait of a grim man holding a halberd with a hand on the shoulder of someone who could've been his carbon copy. "That alone was devastating, but the vale itself was wealthy. Trade still made its way up the river... until the Lord Tulvan chose to build a dam, preventing the flooding." He shook his head. "A foolish endeavour that only flooded–"

"This is the door." Vivi said, interrupting him. "Isolde?"

She grinned in response. "My pleasure."

Without another word Isolde raised her leg kicked the door to the dining hall wide open, startling me and her brother – who let out an undignified squawk of distress – as she did so.

"Howard! My dear damsel in distress! I've come to rescue you!" She yelled out joyously.

I woodenly turned to her to stare. I could feel the sheer ham wafting off of her and felt likely to get secondhand embarrassment on her brother's behalf.

Or Howard's, who slowly lowered his cutlery and left them on the table as he cradled his head in his hands. "Isolde, dear... we were having lunch."

"A last meal before our family is rent asunder for the last time." A grey old woman, Lady Carnath, said calmly. "We knew this day would come, it was inevitable, really." She shook her head tiredly and patted her granddaughter on the head.

"Mother, it didn't have to–" Isobel protested.

Only to be interrupted by her father. "You don't know the Lady Tulvan, dear heart. She doesn't accept excuses nor disobedience." He looked at us with a soft smile. "We are lucky she is not here herself. Godfrey is too busy to aid us, and so this is as good as it gets."

Without hesitating he went back to his meal, almost ignoring us if not for the wary gaze he kept upon us.

"But– the king will– how could that bloody fool Crowley get this much support?!" Isobel yelled furiously, slamming the table as she stood. "He consorted with witches!" She pointed at me. "Took in their devilry and abandoned the Light!"

I raised my hand. "Point of order, he invited a paladin to test my work before ever trusting me." Really, there was being bigoted and there was just lying. Not that they didn't normally go hand in hand. "Even invited said paladin–"

Lady Carnath was giggling. "This isn't a school, little witch. You don't need to raise your hand."

"And she just stands there, mocking me!" Isobel continued, gesticulating at me wildly. "Howard, you can't possibly think this is right. They came here, attacked our family, and want to take you away to betray the king! You'll die, just like my Tobias did for following the witch!"

"Mother..." Howard sighed.

Vivi broke away from Isolde as the ranting kept on going, marching forward with one hand on her sword. Lady Carnath looked worried but her husband had, very clearly, accepted his fate.

Whatever it might be.

"You have to know that the king will win this war, that his loyal subjects will emerge far stronger for the rewards he lavishes upon them." Isobel argued at no one save herself. Her eyes watched as the Merrowfall retinue dispersed around the room, feeling ever more trapped. "The Greymanes won't tolerate betrayal for a second time! They won't! For either of our–"

I let out a sigh of relief as Vivi slapped her mother. A hand was still on her sword, but only a slap, not resorting to anything more.

"As Father told us as children, we stayed loyal. But loyal wasn't enough." Vivi spat at her shocked mother. "No lord strong enough to rule alone was left in the Duskmist Plains, so we were moved. Rewarded for our loyalty by being given Northglade Keep and set to guard the Northgate."

Howard nodded and confirmed what she said. "Many think we were punished for rebellion, but it wasn't so. Our forces fought for and with King Oswald II, he simply didn't trust any lord after the war was won. So Misthaven was lost."

"And we were punished again by Genn when he built the wall. Straight across the keep!" Vivi snapped. "We owe the king nothing."

"You're mad." Isobel whispered as she stared at Vivi in horror. "It's her fault, is it not? All this foolishness."

Vivi's sword left its sheath, her hand only stopped as Howard rose to grab her wrist.

"Mayhaps our little witch friend has had an influence on her proclivities by being so adorable." Isolde muttered as she joined her husband. "But I must ask, did you have to say that? You lost me my bet." She clicked her tongue. "Some mother-in-law you are."

"Some mother she is." Vivi breathed coldly. "I've always been this way, I've always preferred girls, I've always wanted to fight and ride and run. You, Mother, just tried to stamp it out of me. And got angry when it failed."

"If you had just–"

"Isobel!" Lord Carnath snapped. "Enough. We are at their mercy, do not strain it further."

Vivi stared at her broken mother for a moment, watching for something, then turned away. But she didn't sheath her sword – instead she pointed it at the hearth and flames curled out from the fire, wrapping around her blade.

Then, she slashed at the wall. A painting, one of a young Vivi, her mother, her uncle, her cousin, and her grandparents that was displayed proudly above the entrance to the hall, was set ablaze. "You were never a mother to me." Vivi said without emotion. "Just someone who said they were my mother. Consider this me disowning you; I stayed for Father, because it would hurt him, not because I cared about being a Mistmantle. "

She walked to me and took my arm, pulling me against her. Where no one else could see tears welled up in her eyes. "Let's go." She said, and as she pulled me away, I followed.

The last of the ashes of the painting fell to the floor, the fire dying in silence, as we left the hall.

-oOoOo-

We waited outside, watching the blazing colours of the sunset, while Howard, Isolde, and the rest lingered inside for a time. Hannah and her wolf, along with her new apprentice Mathilde, prowled around to keep us safe as Vivi lay with her head in my lap where I could play with her hair, breathing slowly and steadily; not quite asleep, but resting.

She needed it. For all Vivi had been strong in the moment, holding onto her emotions as well as she could, confronting her mother had taken a lot out of my gorgeous and normally so vibrant Vivi.

Not that I couldn't relate, but unlike with me, I didn't think there would be a mending of fences over the years. That required both sides to want it.

At least she wouldn't be alone. Me, her brother, Lorna, Isolde... no. Not alone at all.

"I always dreamed of doing that." She muttered quietly after an hour or more. "Of slapping her. But it didn't help."

Humming softly I kept stroking her hair, her braids undone and letting her crimson locks flow freely in the wind.

"That's why you didn't hit Irwen, isn't it? I always thought you should have. Made her hurt like she hurt you." She turned, pressing her head into my lap. "Like mine hurt me."

"It can be cathartic, telling them how much they've harmed you. But unless they listen and understand... it doesn't help. And all hitting them does..." My aunt in my old life, truly intent on helping me... but never listening when I asked her to stop, to stop pushing, to leave me alone, to stop interfering and making things worse.

Blaming me when she drove me to the edge of insanity and dared to be intimidating once. "Is prove them right."

I leaned down and kissed her head. "You're free now, it'll get better."

She laughed wetly, the breeze picking up and joining in with an exuberant song of its own. "I am. I'm free. To be me." Smiling widely she met my gaze and cupped my cheek, pulling me down for a sweet and wind-blessed kiss.

It was, quite literally, electric for a brief moment.

"I do hope you don't consider yourself free of the Mistmantle name, Vivianne." Howard said, startling her into pulling back. I laughed lightly; it'd been more than long enough for him to come out and I'd felt him coming. "You're still my sister, and if that means Mother... is cast out, then so be it."

He knelt beside us and took her hand, squeezing it lightly as she blushed. "I would stand in Father's place as you marry your beloved one day, if you let me."

"O-of course." She stammered, clearly feeling more than a little emotional whiplash. My cheeks were warm too as I imagined walking beside Vivi down an aisle.

Or towards an ancient tree and a waiting great fox.

Hannah's wolf howled his agreement, and another distant call answered. One day it would be real, surely.