Chapter: Dwende reports to the court of Ko’fell

“In an effort to kill the women, it seems that we have only kicked a hornet’s nest, my lord.” Dwende reported to King Borundu directly. The laggardly king wore a displeased look on his face.

Sitting in his throne with a slight slump, the king reached over to grab his wine goblet for a sip. “What do you expect me to report to King Edobe and thenceforth the rest of Milynine?” Borundu started swigging wine- dribbling the drink on his black chin and curly beard. “It certainly can not be defeat. I need some words of victory, for there must be some silver lining, else I will be made a laughing stock, and thenceforth the rest of Ko’fell by association. The fifth greatest province in all the land does not deserve to be made into a punchline for tavern quibble.”

“If you must have a silver lining, I would tell you that I fought Inella, the matriarch witch at Leired, and learned a great deal. The most important knowledge I ascertained would dispel all the rumors that she is the greatest mage to ever walk the land, for she is not. She is quick, resourceful, and overflowing with mana, but she is a lesser mage than I. You can tell King Edobe that Inella will not be the end of his kingdom like the prophets ring out, like the seer’s whisper in panicked manners.”

“Borundu, how do you do?” King Eric walked into the room unannounced. His cape flowed behind him while he walked. He approached the table where the other two were seated and took a seat himself. He looked aloof for a man who was about to speak on his terrorist daughter.

“Eric, what a pleasant surprise. I was not expecting you. Have you come to Ko’fell recently?” King Borundu gave a wide smile.

“Yes, I arrived within the hour. I made here with great haste that I might hold council with you.” Eric idly thumbed the hilt of his sword.

“It would be my honor to hold council with you presently, Eric.” Borundu said sweetly. “Do you wish for me to give leave to Dwende?” Borundu had an inner bitterness due to thinking about the failed attack. Only the wine he’d been drinking for the last several hours (without any breaks) lightened his mood. A king acts a fool for no one, but even a king must show respect for another king of the great kingdoms.

“I can leave, if necessary, my lords.” Dwende looked every bit as submissive as he sounded.

“No, your mage can stay. I do not doubt that you would need to speak with him later about what it is that I have to tell you. No need to make you play a parrot.” Eric was outwardly pleasant, but on the inside he wanted the mage to leave so that the two kings could have their holy privacy. Eric made an uncharacteristic compromise, and now both kings had submitted their scenes of hospitable/accommodating acting.

“If it pleases you, my lord.” Dwende gave a humble bow to Eric that kept the smile out of his eyes.

“Surely the matter must be urgent if you have traveled all this way just to speak with me. What is it that we must discuss, Eric?” King Borundu shifted his elbows on the table, eager to hear the unknown subject.

“It is my belief that Inella and her coven will not march East, as she does not have the sheer numbers. However, I have caught word that you attacked her at the caves. I wish to hear the details of that attack, and perhaps we can glean her capabilities from what you have to say.”

Dwende and Borundu took roughly equal turns explaining their perspectives. Dwende had his own account of the flank from the forest, while Borundu relayed what he saw from Braun’s perspective on the flagship.

“A third of your court’s wizardly forces were defeated? Truly?” Eric asked, shock was stretched tightly across his face. Too arrogant to be timorous, Eric was surprised at how incompetent the wizards of Ko’fell must have been.

“I’m afraid so. We were not expecting the women to be as adept as they were.” Borundu paused to ring a servant’s bell. The manservant was in the room before Borundu could set the bell down. “Fetch us more wine, and get each of us a plate to eat.” The manservant bowed deeply and scurried away.

“The ban on women being magicians has done us little good if a mass of that many women own such a strength as what you’ve made apparent. Do they hold equal prowess to the wizards of our courts when you put the numbers aside?” Eric played with his beard as he contemplated.

“Some of them, sure. From my understanding however, most of the witches on the coast are little more than scared girls. Teenagers who quit whoring, or housewives who ran away out of boredom.”

“None of them are as strong as me, I can guarantee you that.” Dwende cut in. “Not even your daughter, Eric. I faced her one against one.” Dwende had brought up the taboo subject of Eric and Inella’s relation that Borundu had so carefully avoided. Borundu creased his eyebrows in anger and annoyance, waiting for Eric’s outraged reaction. Instead of bursting at the seams, Eric nodded nonchalantly.

“She is no longer my daughter. She stopped being that the day that she left, all those years ago.” Eric cleared his throat and began again, “I am pleased to hear that you are stronger than her. Perhaps next time you will be able to kill her instead of retreating.” Dwende kept his composure, but on the inside he boiled with rage at the comment. The conversation between the three continued on for hours, long after the plates of chicken were cleared, and many glasses of wine were emptied in commodious swallows.

“After all I’ve heard, I am sure that those stinking women will not attack my land. They are filthy rats living in holes. Your recent attack surely has put their tails betwixt their legs. Burn them if they do attack me, I shall be well defended. Though I am less endowed with mages, the natural defenses of my castle should suffice to quell what miniscule damage they could manage to muster. Plus, I have the towers to protect me before they can get to the castle. If they should attack me, it will be their deaths- every wretched one of them.” King Eric held up his glass as he finished.

“Cheers, I will drink to that.” King Borundu said, raising his glass to match King Eric.

“Aye.” Dwende chimed in his agreement and merry drinking as well. With that, the night of royal conversation was over. Eric said his formal goodbyes and left the castle to find his carriage back to Celith. He only stopped for a moment to visit the brothels in the lower districts. The prostitutes weren’t pleased with how quickly he came and left, but they lined their pockets with his handsome pay all the same.

~~~~

Chapter: Inella Takes The Celith Towers

After several months of direct preparation, Inella and the witches of Leired were ready to take The Celith Towers. The towers of Celith were made to protect the farmland to the West of Celith castle. Spires of gray stone that had stood vigilant since the time they were built, battered by wind and sliced by rain, the towers had never had to protect anyone, because no large forces had existed West of the towers until Inella formed her coven. There had been a population of nomadic indigenous peoples scattered across the coast, but King Eric had hunted most of them down before Inella was born.

The women were all wearing some sort of camouflage, filing into place amongst the bushes and trees, waiting for the signal to attack. The Celith Towers were meant to express the jurisdiction of Celith; on one side of the towers was Celith, on the other side was the wilderness, the coast, and rare farming villages with small populations. While there were not many soldiers posted at the towers, Inella and her tactical advisors (Nehaynosh, Lyndross, Dremeira, Ihe, June, Selena, and Sunin) unanimously agreed that the towers needed to be taken. A small force was potent when it could approach from behind, and the towers were a great tactical advantage for establishing vision. If the attack went well, the women estimated that they would be able to attack Celith itself before news of the tower could reach King Eric.

The Celith Towers stood over fifty feet tall, the entirety of the structure built out of cobblestone of various gray shades. At the top of each of the two towers was an archer posted in the parapet. Several soldiers were posted on top of the bridge that connected the towers, and two pike wielding soldiers were posted at the gate underneath. A handful of soldiers stayed inside the building, which Inella remembered being two staircases and four rooms: a dining hall, a sleeping quarter, a kitchen, and an armory which connected to the small courtyard of the spires.

“Wait for the signal.” June whispered from behind Lyndross. The two of them were aiming their hands at the archers on top of the towers. Their arms were extended out in front of them. Each had a hand and part of their forearm emerged from the cover of the bushes; the rest of their bodies were hidden. June spoke words of patience to Lyndross, because she knew how impatient the woman could get and how hot headed she could be. The two women were practically on top of each other as they hid in the bush. June’s free hand was rubbing Lyndross on the back, and June could feel nervous energy and adrenaline as her palm rotated around slowly.

The guards on top of the bridge had just settled into their watching positions between roaming, and that’s when Dousza and Calie struck. The women maintained invisibility as they climbed the wall up to the bridge and then struck out with twin daggers. The two women attacked in a brutally similar style: efficient, lethal, and silent. June and Lyndross cast firebolts at the tower archers on the signal of the bridge guards perishing.

While this was happening, Inella had been walking forward (down the road) towards the gate of the towers and the two soldiers guarding it. She wore a shaggy, slate colored cloak which obscured her face. “You there! State your business.” One of the guards by the gate yelled at Inella. Inella ignored the exclamation and continued to walk towards the men at a casual pace. The guards at the gate were too focused on the hooded figure walking their way to hear the soft gurgling of the bridge guards being slain, but the firebolts caused the tower guards to release death howlsvwhich drew their attention away from Inella. With this distraction, Inella struck. In a great flurry, Inella’s cloak came off and revealed her two swords. Inella struck in the gut which cut through each one of their weak attempts at blocking. Inella pushed her swords forward with great momentum that left the pikes of the two soldiers tight to their bodies. Before either of the soldiers could recuperate, Inella manifested a crossbow in each hand and fired them point blank into the men’s skulls.

With all the external guards dead, the witches advanced from their cover in the forestline and moved to the gate. Inella turned back to the women and gave them a short nod- internally she felt a great pride in leading such a group of powerful, diverse, and forsaken women. After her brief moment of joy, Inella began to cut through the metal of the gate with a steady jet of superheated magma. Lyndross pushed the gate forward as the final iron rod was melted through. The gate did not fall backwards onto the women.

The guards that were inside the mess hall looked at each other in shock when they heard the loud clanging sound of the heavy gate hitting the ground. Casting aside their half finished meals, they ran toward the armory. Inella and the other witches intercepted many of the soldiers before they could reach the armory- killing them was an easy task while they were unarmed. The men that had managed to reach the armory locked the door behind them as they gathered their weapons, they attempted to bide time to come up with a strategy. Of the select few that made it into the armory, the majority of them were panicking. The only two men who were not panicking were the captains of the tower- two men who had a history with Inella: her brother, Eric II, and her brother’s best friend Edmund Tygrowthe.

Eric II and Edmund Tygrowthe had both tortured Inella as a child. Eric II doing it for the purposes of practical rule and pleasure, Edmund Tygrowthe had done it by circumstance. The Tygrowthe family was a lesser vassal of the Celithian royalty, but Sir Tygrowthe was personal friends with King Eric, so the Tygrowthe family had steadily gained power and influence under King Eric’s rule. Sir Tygrowthe had always brought his son with him when he saw the king, because Eric II and Edmund were the same age. After Sir Tygrowthe had observed Eric II for a short period of time, he could tell that the boy was malicious, but Sir Tygrowthe scolded his son to play along with Eric II all the same. If Edmund should ever cause a dispute with Eric II, the Tygrowthe family could lose everything they owned. Edmund’s friendship with Eric II was built slowly. Edmund did not have the animosity that Eric II did.

While Eric II routinely bullied his younger sister Inella, Edmund Tygrowthe accompanied him (much to his own displeasure). Inella did not consider Edmund Tygrowthe innocent in any way and hated both boys in the same way, although Eric II she hated with a greater fervor.

“I’ve heard whispers from the court of my father; these witches must be from Leired. We are going to have to kill them, since they are led by my traitorous sister. If we attack them mercilessly, we stand a chance of winning this fight, men. They may have magic, but they also have the fragile constitutions of women, what with their consternation and indecision. Half of them are probably bleeding their monthly bleed- their heads clouded with fretful, over cooked emotions. We can overpower them if only we believe. We must believe. Our lives depend on it.” Eric II said this to the men huddled in the armory. Some of the men agreed; some of the men thought of their wives and children back home. Edmund Tygrowthe thought of how he had to apologize to Inella before he died, for he had been forced to side with a contemptuous, erroneous fool. Nevertheless, the men opened the door and charged at the women who were scattered across the courtyard.

The men were met with fire from every direction as soon as they stepped foot out of the armory. Not a single man got within a sword’s length of the witches. The two men in the back of the armory, Eric II and Edmund Tygrowthe, strolled out with caution because of seeing recent ashes.

“Oh, sister, how lovely it is to be with you again. It appears you have not changed much seeing as you’re still an ugly virgin who practices that detestable witchcraft.” Eric II said with grandeur. While internally he felt hopeless about the situation, he could not resist being vile when the opportunity presented itself. It really was revealing of his character, how he chose to be malicious in the face of death. The only reason he was still alive was because Inella had ordered the others to stand down. She wanted to fight Eric II herself.

“Am I to be so respected that I get the honor of dueling with my own sister… the head witch of Leired?” Eric II jeered at his sister- raised his sword. “This will be such a pleasure.”

“Your energy would be better used for fighting and not blathering, Eric.” Inella stepped into the circle from behind Lyndross and Ihe. She slowly raised her right arm up and manifested a long sword. The hilt and blade were both silver; the sword had a very straight forward design, but it was elegant and effective.

“Just admit that you’re scared, Inella. I’ve always been stronger than you-” Eric II was interrupted by Inella swinging her sword at him and forcing him to block with a loud clang.

“I could kill you in an instant with any spell in my arsenal, but I won’t. I won’t… I will prove to you something that I’ve always known- that I am stronger than you. You were stronger than me when I was a child, sure, but you were also several years older than me. It had everything to do with age, and nothing to do with actual strength, you self-important weasel. I’ll kill you here and now and be done with it.” Inella swung in again and forced Eric II to block once more. Based on her two attacks, Inella had gathered that she could overpower Eric II if she wanted to, but she wanted to make the moment last.

Inella came in for a high swing and feinted, she landed a slash above his knee cap after getting under his guard. Ducking his counter attack, Inella hamstrung Eric II, she drew her blade back from its previous extension. Eric II cried out in pain, raising himself to stand on one leg. Inella backed away from him just to embarrass him. “Are you going to cry, little baby?” Inella asked in an insincere and mocking tone.

Eric II limped painfully at his sister, rage boiling in his teary eyes. “This fight is not over, sister.” He swung his blade wildly at Inella (who dodged with a lazy backwards step).

“Oh, I am going to drag this fight on for quite a long time, brother, believe me.” Inella stepped in towards Eric II, feinted a throat slash, and hit him in the shoulder with the pommel of her sword. Eric II knew that he would die soon, and he knew that Inella did intend to drag his death out, so he believed her words and did not fall for the feint; he knew that she would not hit a vital spot this early in the fight. So, instead of moving to block her feint, he kept his blade low. Waiting until her blade was clear, Eric II managed to slap Inella on the calf with the side of his blade. By timing the separation caused by the simultaneous blows, Eric II was able to slash Inella across the shoulder blades as her back was turned to him. Inella gasped in pain, the wound stung her. It was a shallow cut, but Inella knew that she would have to be more careful with her brother; she had underestimated just how injured he was.

Inella quickly turned to face her brother, because she did not want to leave her sliced back exposed. She would be able to outmaneuver Eric II easily- he was practically stationary from his hamstrung leg. Acting on this information, Inella began to circle Eric II, which forced him to change his guard several times. After noting how quickly Eric II could change his guard, Inella attacked. She lunged at her brother while he tried to bring his sword up, but she was not aiming high on him. By the time Eric II had his guard up, Inella’s sword was slicing across Eric II’s hip bone. The whispered grating of the exposed bone made some of the onlooking witches flinch. It was not in everyone else's interest to kill a man so playfully, but it was in Inella’s interest- especially since it was the older brother that had tormented her for her entire childhood.

Eric II dropped his sword reflexively, but before Inella could strike him again, he shoved her away from him. The inertia of the push caused Inella to stumble backwards and Eric II to wobble and fall on his face, because his lane leg could not balance him. Eric II grabbed his sword once he was on the ground, but Inella slapped him in the back of thehead with the flat of her sword before Eric II could pick himself up.

“That was an unwise move, brother, but you didn’t have any other choice, did you? I guess options are limited when you are so undisciplined as to drop your sword mid combat.” Inella was well aware that the taunting comments she made were only provoking Eric II to fight harder, but she could not resist saying them. The fire in Eric II’s belly was maximized. His anger was blind and looking to lash out. It was the hot, teary mixture of rage and embarrassment. After all, this was the first time in his life that his little sister had actually been able to fight back against his antics. He responded as any privileged man does when he is removed from the place of power and privilege he once held.

Eric II lunged at Inella with a wild swing that Inella sidestepped. The anger was making Eric II faster but sloppier at the same time. Inella was cautious not to let her shambling brother wound her again. Inella advanced on Eric II- flicked her blade out in front of her. Her brother clashed blades with her just as Inella had planned he would. Inella swung her sword around in a circle and gained control of both swords, lest her brother were to pull away, but she knew him well enough to conclude that he wouldn't. Inella rotated the blades around again, and then shifted the angle of her sword inward so that she could slam her blade down on Eric II’s cross guard. Inella raised her sword up to slap Eric II under the arm, and in a successive motion she pierced his bicep with a swift jab.

Eric II managed to swing his sword up at Inella’s chest, but Inella had already backed away, his counter attack had been anticipated. If he stood still, it would only lend Inella time to contemplate her next attack, but his motion was so limited, she would be able to see him coming at her. He knew he had to try, even if Inella ultimately could decide to back away from him. After losing a lot of blood, Eric II knew that he had to end the fight soon if he was going to end it at all.

Lurching forward, Eric II began to move towards Inella. She noticed his motion right away, but did not decide to retreat. This was a small victory, only because it was perceived as an opportunity. Eric II brought his sword up with both hands, readying himself based on his distance, but at the last second Inella stepped in towards him after reading his motion. Eric II swung out towards her, and she swung back at him, their swords met between them, blade to blade. In this fierce clash, Eric II grunted, spit dripped down the sides of his mouth and seeped into his facial hair. With a mad twinkle in his eye, he realized that he was being overpowered. Inella’s strength was greater than his, her sword was moving towards him against his resistance. As the blade came closer still, Eric II knew that he was going to die, so he did the only thing he thought he could. He let one hand go off his hilt and slapped Inella across the face. The sound was loud, and a red handprint swelled up on Inella’s cheek immediately. Eric II cackled to himself and maniacally doubled over. “It’s almost as it was when we were children, isn’t that right, sis?” Eric II peered up at his sister.

Inella let go a scream of bitter rage and swung at Eric II with all her might, her blade cleaved into his neck and decapitated him in a motion of inhuman strength. Eric II looked into his sister’s eyes as he died and saw their blue brilliance go murky with hate and agony. Her eyes were slightly withdrawn by her embarrassment that was juxtaposed by the absolute presence of her anger.

It was after the bloodmist had settled and Inella had calmed herself down that Edmund Tygrowth stepped forward. With his hands clasped together in front of him, he bent down onto his knees. “I was complicit in Eric II’s torture of you when we were younger, and for that I am truly sorry. My father gave me a stiff directive to keep Eric II entertained and make sure that no displeasure of my causing was to afflict him. I never had any of that sick pleasure which Eric II gained in teasing you. As a matter of fact, I disliked how we treated you very much, but I felt powerless to do anything about it. Perhaps if I had been a better person, I would have confronted Eric II about what he was doing to you and dealt with the consequences from my father.” Edmund looked up at Inella with regret in his eyes. “I do not ask for you to spare me, for I do not deserve to be forgiven for what I did. I just wanted to let you know, before I die, that I am sorry for what happened to you, and I am sorry that I didn’t do anything about it.”

Inella stepped up to Edmund and looked at him mercifully while tilting her head. Manifesting another sword into her hand, she placed the blades in her hand and executed Edmund without a word. It wasn’t until he was dead that she spoke “Clean up the mess we made, everyone, except for Heather. Heather, you will close up the wound on Edmund’s neck. I plan to reanimate him later, perhaps after we have conquered Celith.” Inella sat down in the courtyard to wash the blood off of her skin and clothes. Koa approached Inella as she sat, using a small water spell to imitate a rag on her skin.

“Would you like some help with that wound on your back?” Koa asked gently. She perceived that the topic of the injury might agitate Inella, since it had embarrassed her; although it was not as embarrassing as when she got slapped.

Inella looked up into Koa’s brown eyes and sighed. “I suppose you can help, no need to be gentle, just be as quick as you can.” It was almost as if Inella accepted the request based on Koa’s tone, since it was kind and sincere- anyone else would have only aggravated Inella. Koa’s black hands were covered in random, unorganized patches of blood by the time she finished stitching Inella’s back, a sign that Koa had been careful and precise, since some bloodying was inevitable. Once the wound was closed Koa used a minor healing spell to reduce the pain, inflammation, and general damage. While Koa had studied sorcery primarily, she had learned a little bit of everything. Most of the healers were scared of Inella. Koa was the only one willing to approach Inella, even though her healing skills were not particularly great.

As night set upon the watchtowers, Inella and all the other witches had recuperated. “I plan on traveling to Celith tonight, but we will leave some women to guard the towers. If we march hard East, we can make it in a day's time.” Inella said to the women gathered in the dining room.

“Surely you don’t mean to attack once we get there? We would all be exhausted, yourself included.” Dremeira said from amongst the crowd. She was strange enough to question Inella without any fear. She was also strange enough to have mentioned that she planned on sleeping outside in the bushes. The women around her laughed and nodded at Dremeira when she said this. The twigs and moss woven into her braided hair and the mud stains on her black skin indicated that she slept outside regularly.

“We will camp near the city for a night and attack once we are rested. The advantage of being close to the city is that we can kill anyone who might be bringing news of our approach before they can reach the castle. Besides that, once the farmers on the outskirts of Celith are made aware of our presence, we will be able to goad them into feeding us. I have no quarrels with the farmers, so we might threaten their lives, but we will not have any need to kill them unless their loyalty to my father proves troublesome.” Inella raised a wine goblet as she finished; she didn’t expect any other comments. There was a long night’s march ahead for many of them.