Chapter 102

Etra’s dagger was in mid-swing, stopping mere inches in front of the intruder’s neck. Now in the light, Ilyn could see she had green wavy hair that fell to her shoulders. A trembling girl, no more than fifteen. And Ilyn had seen her before – at the succession ceremony.

“It’s the flower that never falls,” she’d said then.

“Lady of Mille,” Ilyn said. She didn’t know her name – she hadn’t heard it earlier. She carefully picked up the flower, fresh as if just plucked, delicate…nothing that could have grown here in the winter.

It was the Mille’s divine object, “Setoze”.

***

It took a half day for Aden and the Delrose knights to arrive in Elo’s territory. The snow was harsh, and worsened as they moved further north, cutting their vision to almost nothing. Were it not for Aden’s Divine Power, a mission such as this would be impossible in April – the coldest time in the winter region.

“I see Elo,” said Idith, standing by his master. Behind them, the Delrose knights stood, waiting, shielded by Aden’s power from the freezing cold but nonetheless feeling as though their strength was being sucked away by the storm and the march.

“No sign of the Yesters,” Idith continued, and one of the knights behind them gave a small cheer. Aden cocked his head back toward the noise, and the knight caught himself and his cheer abruptly stammered into silence.

“Seems as though the Wall of Light did its job,” he said flatly. He thought of Ilyn’s dream, a vision of Elo being attacked. A Wall of Light, and beyond that wall…someone standing behind the stronghold.

“I woke up when I met his eyes,” she’d said. She’d clenched his hand as she’d described it. Her skin was damp with a cold sweat that had made his heart ache for her.

Aden ordered the knights to scour the area, and they fanned out in sync at his order. Some went over the wall, securing the stronghold while allowing non-combatants to attend to the wounded. Others went scouting further out around Elo.

“Your Majesty,” said Idith, “it will be hard to catch up to the Yesters with a northern wind.”

He broke from watching his knights to acknowledge Idith with a nod. Even with his Divine Power, facing a Yester tribe that had the northern wind with them in April would be dangerous.

“We’re not chasing them,” he said.

No wonder they called for reinforcements so quickly, he thought, his gaze following along the wall. Here and there traces of digging showed where they had tried to break the Wall. In other spots, he could still see the claws of the creatures that had attacked the wall itself before it had rebuffed them.

He turned, gesturing for Idith to follow. The knights had things in hand here. He had somewhere else to be.

“Majesty?” asked Idith.

“Keep your sword ready,” he whispered just loud enough for Idith to hear. Without knowing if the thing from Ilyn’s dream was man or monster, it was good to be cautious.

“Should I call the knights – “Idith began before Aden cut him off with a gesture.

“Just us,” he said.

“Certain?” Idith asked with a cautious glance at the white-cloaked land around them. Aden gave a slight nod in reply, and the two set off.

It took only moments to reach the hill, which was just as Ilyn had described. Someone was standing here, she’d said. Aden bent down. Footprints still lay half-formed in the snow but filling quickly as more fell. The tracks led toward the top of the hill.

***

Red Delrose, Blue North, Green Mille, Shining Elo. Each group had numerous families within it, but each also had only a single family that best represented them. And each family had a person, the best of them all. For the Red Delrose, the family was the Biflton family, and Aden the chosen person. The Nos were represented by the Mille family.

“The vine symbol…,” Etra said, looking at the back of the young girl’s hand. She glanced back at Ilyn.

“The symbol of the Green Mille for certain, ma’am,” she said.

“Thank you, Etra,” Ilyn replied, “you can lower your blade.”

The girl was no threat to her, clearly. If she was, she wouldn’t have been at the succession ceremony in the first place. Etra withdrew the dagger from the girl’s neck but didn’t sheath it.

“What is your name, girl?”

Ilyn still sat on the bed. Normally it would be rude to address someone while sitting in bed – but then, courtesy to trespassers made little sense.

“Rippo,” the girl answered. “Rippo de Mille.”

The Lady of the Green Mille, no doubt. The Mille family’s lady, their chosen person, likely related to the Mille’s elder by blood.

“I’m sure you understand our hostility,” she said simply. She set the Setoze back on the blanket.

“Of course,” the girl replied. Past the shock of the earlier moment, her voice had steadied.

Thump. Behind the curtain, the open window banged again. Finally standing, Ilyn walked to the curtain and closed the window herself. With the wind shut out, the room immediately seemed to warm slightly. And now, unless one of them raised their voice, no one else would be alerted. The three of them could speak privately.

“Then before I ask why you came,” she said, regarding the girl, “I would very much like to know how you got in here.”

An intrusion like this – the chosen person of the Mille family invading the rooms of the mistress of Biflten and the wife of the Delrose’s master – this was a sensitive thing, and they needed to take care that it didn’t flare up to a dispute between the families.