Flame of Cytherea: Cytherean Chronicles book 1 (20 page)

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The next day the sun was out and they made good time.
 
They stopped in one of the southern villages
and the ladies bought clothes they believed would allow them to blend in
better.
 
They got prepared for making a
crossing into
Egeria
where they would change and
hopefully blend in.
 
They decided to stay
at an inn in town and leave in the early morning before sunrise.

As a result, Justin’s play time was severely curtailed as
they all went to sleep early and he actually got a well deserved rest.
 
They were all nervous as they got up and
prepared to cross over into
Egeria
.
 
No one really knew what to expect, going by how
their soldiers acted wasn’t a good measure, but they were very aware their
invasion force was only five people strong.

Kat prowled ahead of the others while Sally flew above.
 
Just Nicci and Nora were back with Justin as
they crossed the border.
 
It felt strange
not standing by him, but she understood the necessity of having scouts for this
first part of their plan.

While Sally could easily spot the patrols on her own, Kat’s
heightened senses will be able to pick up anyone dug in or stationary below
cover.

She wasn’t that worried, the border was many miles long, she
just needed to make sure they didn’t stumble into any of the few patrols the
enemy had, not to mention their own patrols.
 
Not that their soldiers would do much, but they would be challenged,
increasing the chance of the other side noticing.

She took in the scent first, and then turned toward it.
 
Her eyes cut through the darkness.
 
There was an enemy soldier well hidden in the
tree a couple of hundred feet away.
 
She had
the instinct to remove the threat but shrugged it off, they needed to leave no
evidence of their crossing.
 
She could
also tell he was sleeping.

Nevertheless she did not want to risk it, and quietly led
the group to the side for a while before moving forward again.
 
She did not detect anything else on their way
through.
 
After they had shadowed the
road for a mile or so, she changed forms and started to change her clothes, hopefully
the second stage would work as well.

None of them noticed the raven take to the sky from the
trees, they were simply too far away at that point.

-------------

Nora felt really strange outside of armor after wearing hers
constantly for over two years.
 
She felt
like she was naked without it.
 
She was
also used to moving much faster, they plodded along the road at a slow walk
that set her teeth on edge.
 
Yet, she
knew it was necessary, moving at speed would be like screaming they were there.

They had already been passed by a couple of merchant wagons
in each direction, as well as a small squad of soldiers.
 
Going faster simply wouldn’t have been worth
it…

-------------

Nicci had to force herself to relax as the second small
group of soldiers passed them that day.
 
Luckily Nora had forced her to buy this shapeless fabric, she was still
drawing looks despite the unflattering garment, and it was nerve racking.

She was also grounded.
 
Her phoenix form was easily seen and recognized from miles away.
 
If there was any trouble, she would have to
stick to her human fire wielding and only change as a last resort.
 
She realized it wasn’t what they were doing,
but she thought there was a good chance they had to remove the king of
Egeria
.
 
Politically
speaking it would be a nightmare if it got out that a princess from the
neighboring kingdom took part in the assassination.

That might not be what it was, but she knew it would be
viewed that way by some.

She also couldn’t shake off the confrontation between her
and her father a few days ago.
 
She had
expected him to be horribly angry, followed by a shouting match.
 
But when she told him her choice, he simply
looked heartbroken.
 
She had been ordered
to leave the castle, not in a roar, but a whisper.
 
She knew it wasn’t her fault, but it still
hurt…

------------

Sally was tired after being in the air all day.
 
She had been watching over them and had
gotten nervous a couple of times, but so far nothing had happened.
 
She felt relief as they made their way off
the road in the early evening, and set up camp.
 
She circled a few times, and not seeing anything, landed and changed.

She immediately felt her soreness leave when Justin touched
her.
 
It was a relief.
 
They were watchful as they ate, and went to
sleep under the stars.
 
They had decided
building stone shelters would be a mistake.
 
She also wanted to drag him away, but it was too dangerous right
now.
 
She slowly fell into a deep restful
sleep, content and warm in Justin’s arms as he spooned into her.

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Sara worked to get a fire started.
 
She hadn’t eaten anything once the bread
scraps ran out, though she had found a stream to refill her water skin.
 
In her desperation to eat when she had seen a
rabbit, she stunned it with her mind’s emotions.
 
It was a simple matter to pick it up and snap
its neck, but she couldn’t get the damn fire started.

Tears of relief started to run down her face as the grass
caught, she held her breath until the sticks caught fire.
 
She skewered the rabbit and hung it over the
fire, her mouth watering.
 
When it was
finally cooked, or at least not raw in the middle, it tasted better than
anything she had eaten before.

She was not suited for outdoor life, she was hardly
surviving and she couldn’t wait to find somewhere she could settle down,
somewhere far away and out of reach of her old king…

----------

Justin brooded as he, Kat, Nicci and Sally waited a couple
of miles from the village.
 
They had
decided when they started out to avoid villages if possible, and had brought
enough food with them for six days.
 
With
Kat or Nicci being able to hunt for fresh meat it was more than doable.
 
But as the morning had gone on they were
running into more and more small squads of soldiers.

Since they had been ignored, they figured the soldiers
weren’t after them, but they had been a little nervous about it.
 
So against his better judgment Nora went into
the town to try and pick up rumors about what was going on.
 
At first he argued he should be there, but he
was eventually convinced spy work was best done by one individual who knew what
they were about.

He smiled wryly, outside of Bond films he had no idea how
spying worked.
 
Somehow he doubted the
realism of the films…

Plus, with Nora’s talent she could listen to conversations
from a hundred yards away.
 
Knowing spy
craft or not, he was sure that would be a boon for it.
 
He was getting nervous after an hour passed,
and sighed in relief when he saw her coming back.

Nora said without preamble, “The soldiers are chasing after
some chamber maid from the castle named Sara.
 
Apparently she is wanted for murdering a noble, and since she fled she
has taken to highway robbery.
 
Unofficially, from the gossip I heard, the lord was a raping piece of
shit bastard that deserved it.”

Sally said thoughtfully, “It would be a risk, but if we can
locate her first, she would have invaluable information on the inside of the
castle.”

Nora replied regretfully, “My heart goes out for the girl,
but if we start harboring a fugitive we might as well pull out trumpets and
have Nicci lead the way in her other form.”

Nicci snickered and said, “It would be too risky to start
searching overtly ourselves, but I think we should keep our eyes open.”

He noted Kat didn’t have anything to add, just looked
thoughtful.
 
He said, “Let’s go with
Nicci’s take, Sally is right, and if we can help her and ourselves at the same
time safely enough…”

Nora said, “According to the descriptions I heard she is our
age, five foot six, long curly strawberry blonde hair and green eyes.”

He felt a little guilt, normally he wouldn’t hesitate to help,
but he had to take into account the mission they were on.
 
What if helping one woman caused a chain of
events that led to failure?
 
They needed
to remain unnoticed.

He frowned.
 
What good
was saving the world from a dark god if he didn’t stay true to his
convictions?
 
He didn’t like the idea of
sacrificing anyone, or his convictions, for the greater good.
 
It was a cop out in his opinion.
 
On the other hand, this kingdom was often
brutal to women; he couldn’t save them all, no matter how much he wanted too.

They continued on, and if anything the soldiers became more
numerous, which raised his stress level.
 
It was true he didn’t want to die, but the drive behind his emotions of
worry was the safety of his intended mates.
 
He had a tight hold on his magic, keeping it down, so those protective
feelings did not give them a way.
 
They
stopped on the side of the road for a quick lunch before setting out
again.
 

It was mid afternoon when they heard the high pitched scream
of a woman somewhere in the woods to their right.
 
He froze a moment in indecision, then started
a jog into the trees directly toward the scream.
 
When he broke into the clearing he saw six
soldiers surrounding a young woman that was filthy.
 
One of the soldiers must have been a
telekinetic, because she was hanging four feet off the ground.

He was about to have them intervene, when suddenly the six
men screamed and fell to the ground twitching.
 
The girl collapsed to the ground and fell to her knees, he could hear
the ripping sobs from fifty feet away.
 
They approached slowly, Sara he assumed, looked terrified when she saw
them, but she calmed slightly before they even said anything.

If she was truly raped, he knew that he should stay
back.
 
He could never truly understand
what a woman felt after something like that, but he knew she would be wary
around other men.
 
He also remembered how
scary Nora could be before he got to know her, so he gestured Sally forward to
talk for them.
 

Sally said tentatively, “Sara right?
 
We want to help you.
 
You won’t make it if you keep going north
right now, there are too many soldiers searching for you.
 
Eventually you will meet one that is smart
enough not to want a little fun first, and you will lose.”

Sara looked suspicious, but also very confused, when she
said, “Why should I trust you?
 
I’ve had
other offers of help, for a price.
 
What
is yours?”

He heard a noise from behind, it was another group of
soldiers.
 
Before they could call out to
any others though, they turned into quickly incinerating pyres as they were
struck by small balls of fire.

He looked at Nicci questioningly and she just shrugged and
said, “Nora’s air bullets were cool, so I figured out how to make my own.
 
I had to do something with my time while I
was kept from you.”

Sara squeaked in alarm, but calmed down again after a
moment.
 
She looked terrified to him and
he wondered why she hadn’t run for it yet, though he was glad she didn’t.

Sally said patiently, “We just need information, and we hate
men who mistreat women so we would probably have helped anyway.
 
We can explain more later, but right now we
need to make you disappear.”

Sara nodded in understanding and said, “What must I do.”

He watched as Sally used her magic to clean up Sara, and
what emerged amazed him.
 
Her strawberry
blonde hair was glowing in the sunshine, and her perfect porcelain face was
simply beautiful.
 

He turned his back however when Sally started undressing and
said, “Wear these clothes.”

Nora poked him when it was okay to turn around, and he took
in Sara.
 
Her hair was now jet black, her
eyes brown, and her skin was chocolate brown.
 
She looked like she could be Sally’s younger sister.
 
They didn’t look that much alike to him, but
he realized a casual inspection of their group by the soldiers may not notice
the difference.

He was curious to ask how she did it, but that taboo kept
his mouth firmly shut.
 
He grinned back
when Sally mischievously kissed him in her birthday suit.
 
He caught her blushing smile right before she
changed into a falcon.

He watched as Sally took to the air, and they headed back
toward the road and started walking south…

----------

When the fourth band of soldiers passed them on the road,
examining their faces, she managed not to flinch like she had the previous
times.
 
Sara’s mind was spinning, who
were these people and what did they want from her?

If she hadn’t been an empath, she would have run as soon as
she saw them.
 
All of her experience told
her she couldn’t trust anyone, but she was overwhelmed by the last three days
and running on instinct, and her talent was telling her these people meant her
no harm.

It was the compassion she had felt from all of them that
convinced her tired mind not to run.
 
She
almost did anyway at the small surge of lust she felt from the man when she was
cleaned, but he did not step forward or leer at her, so she held still.
 
To her surprise he even turned around to give
her privacy as she changed clothes.