Tranquility's Grief by Krista D. Ball

Author:Krista D. Ball [Ball, Krista D.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Mundania Press LLC
Published: 2012-12-10T05:00:00+00:00

Bethany finished her soup and shook out the drops. When she stood, she said, “Get Amber, Lendra, and every mind sensitive and healer we got.

“What are you going to do?” Jovan asked.

Bethany shrugged a shoulder, but she kept her back to them, looking out of her tent. “I suppose I’ll go up, try to keep in contact with it, and see what happens. If things go badly, Eve can heal me and Amber can pull me out. Hopefully. If not, you’re in charge.”

Jovan whistled. “I’m so glad Allric isn’t here right now.”

It took several hours to organize the formation around the boundary. If an army waited for them, they needed to be ready. After coming into contact with Magic, Bethany had no way of knowing if she’d even be able to stand afterwards, so she put Jovan in charge, with Eve, Kiner, and Erem in direct control. Jackson, Lendra, and Amber’s job was to drag Bethany from the field of battle, since Bethany assumed she’d be incapacitated.

Pickets were tripled around the baggage train. Cul had mostly left them alone – in fact, the local people gleefully traded and bartered with them and Bethany spent as much in the last week as she had the entire trip getting north. Cul was a tiny nation, its entire army tenth the size of her and Jovan’s combined military force. Of course, she wasn’t there to conquer them; she was there to conquer Magic…and the Cul authorities were rather quick about selling out their Magi.

The blood from the executions still stained her fur boots. It would never come out.

She shook off that line of thinking. She needed to focus, not meltdown. There would be plenty of time for that post-war, when she, Kiner, and Jovan would drown themselves in a bottle together and emerge months later.

Perhaps she was getting older, or perhaps she had drunk too many bottles because even she didn’t find all that much joy in that thought.

Bethany blew out a breath and shifted around in her elk and seal jacket. The shoulders were too narrow for her mail and padding, so she’d slit the armpits to help make more room. The jacket was surprisingly warm and waterproof, provided nothing got into the armholes.

“We’re waiting on you, Beth,” Jovan said. He stood next to her, his helmeted head held high, sword in hand.

Fear and uncertainty sloshed around in Bethany’s guts, but she pushed the emotions down. Instead, she took deep and calming breaths. She’d never done anything like this before. Using her Power was such a foreign concept. A year ago, she was convinced nothing could entice her to embrace her parentage. Now…

“Amber, Lendra,” Bethany said, her voice calm. She heard the girls rustle behind her. “If you feel that I can’t come out, please pull me back out. Wait as long as possible.”

“Why?” Lendra asked, her voice shaking. Normally, when there was an attack, she was hiding in a cart surrounded by a hundred soldiers dressed as peasants. Still, she did not complain about being so close to what could be the front.

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