The North (Closed)

[heartofcourage]

As the entire family regroup, Fiona stayed and worked tirelessly. Even when she felt weariness creep along her bones, she pushed it aside for the greater good. They needed her now as Edward negotiated his new status, as those injured healed, and as they took stock of what they had lost. If she needed to stay and help put back together an entire major city, she would.

She was as visible as possible, walking through the streets of London with a simple guard of two Alestair agents. Dragons were too confined in the narrow corridors, and frankly, she didn’t need them now. They had their own orders to help the soldiers.

She gave out orders to help those in need, provide them with food and shelter. Units were organized to patrol to keep those from doing harm that might take opportunity of the chaos. She would do everything in her power to be magnanimous.

As she climbed the old Roman walls to get a better look of their position, she noticed a crowd gathering. It struck her as odd as there was nothing there save from a few advisors and her guard.

“God save our Queen!” A voice called out and she glanced into the crowd, seeing Invernessian blue and black among them.

“A Scot in England?” She called back. “How long has it been?”

“Too long!” The voice called back as other voices joined his.

 

[KieranSoares]

Despite all the destruction, spirits among many of the civilians gathered seemed to be high. Higher still were the spirits of displaced Scots who'd just witnessed the first successful step toward returning home. As more gathered and cheered, it started a wave across the city and soon the names of the returning Northerners were spread around like wildfire, touted as heroes and liberators after Hess's greedy reign.

When Hess's death was announced, the city practically exploded with relief and hope, and Fiona was there to witness it. Soon Edward would arrive once things were safe, and take over his rightful capital. With the palace a burned-out husk, Windsor would serve as his seat for the time being.

Among the ruins of the western wall and buildings beside, Fiona was soon joined by Tanya Ashcroft as her dragon set her down and flew off. Jogging toward Fiona in her dark Rider armor, it was clear the Empress had seen battle personally but had managed to escape major wounds. "Blackstone!" she called up to Fiona. "I've got something you need to hear!"

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona turned at the sound of her name, taking in the sight of Tanya yet remaining guarded. She still remembered the horrid dreams she’d been plagued with of her husband turning rogue.

“Tanya.” Fiona said with a nod as she beckoned the woman close. “What is your news?”

 

[KieranSoares]

"My own Riders spotted an unfamiliar dragon taking off from a village north of London while we were fighting. I have reports of a young Scottish woman seen in Rider armor. She may be, or at least be related to Royer's Caller."

Tanya offered out a folded paper, and Fiona found a quickly-scrawled sketch of a young woman no older than Riley. She had long hair and calm eyes, and quickly-scrawled notes described hair and eye color and other small details. "She has previously been seen at Hess's side, but seemed to have abandoned him before Shani got to him. We aren't sure if she's just a new mercenary, or someone more important."

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona looked over the paper and then tucked it into the pocket of her armor. “When Shani is well, Kell will debrief her. I’m sure she will have something to add.”

Fiona looked Tanya over and then cleared her throat. “The two of us have things to discuss. Tomorrow. Too much has happened today.”

 

[KieranSoares]

"Too much indeed." Tanya cast her gaze over the city with a furrowed brow. "I know this was necessary. But seeing war in my home again isn't easy." Giving a nod to Fiona, she headed off again for Deidre to pick her up.

Fiona fielded many other reports that afternoon of what was lost and what had happened on different missions and task forces. Overall she learned that while the exploding wall had done a lot of damage, they'd had enough warning to avoid losing whole battalions' worth of people. And also in spite of that trick, Hess and his men had undertaken far greater casualties before surrender. The North was still hale and hearty overall, but as more details came in, Sam's worries about things seeming too easy, about something lying under the surface, were well-founded.

The Chinese gunpowder issue was among the most dangerous facing the allies. Royer and Hess had created a strong relationship with eastern traders for both weapons and powder. Worse yet, some reports suggested the technology and how to create everything they needed was already in Scotland, no longer being sent over long distances. With that also came cleared reports of what kind of forces Royer had, and how he was keeping a steel grip on even rebellious clans. Royer had leaned hard into his alliances and strengths, but also took full advantage of his access to dragons and at least one Caller to assert dominance. And by putting people loyal to him in charge of minor kingdoms and clans, he had a small but strong resistance that would mimic Sam's fight against Barbarossa so long ago.

By the time Fiona returned to Darkwood, it was just after nightfall and an agent's dragon set her down in the courtyard. Schaller had busied himself helping Sadah with Avfairn, and Ezra had send the fastest messengers to Rory and the haven for aid. As Fiona arrived, she could see the wounded Avfairn had been placed carefully against a courtyard wall and Sadah, Schaller, and Ezra were keeping constant watch. The fact that Jani wasn't out there too meant she was in worse shape than any of them realized. Even at her weakest, she never let her dragon recover alone. She would personally hunt and hand-feed him when he was hurt or sick as he'd always done the same for her. But like Shani, she was in critical condition in the infirmary. Andre was at her side, as much out of love for her as for his mother and a sense of duty to her.

Among the other notable wounded, Fiona would learn, was her husband with broken ribs, Kell with some minor cuts and burns, and Will who'd suffered a broken ankle when his horse was killed and fell with his leg trapped beneath. No one related or close with Clan Ghis had died, miraculously. She did learn of targeted attempts on her son and husband, but all of them had been foiled thanks to Shani's information given to Kell before the fire.

It had been decided that the city would be thoroughly combed and searched before Edward and Ashleigh were allowed to set foot there, but they were heading relief efforts for civilians and pouring what money they could into repair projects. The palace would be left unrepaired until the English citizens were cared for

As Fiona approached Darkwood, she found Sam waiting for her in the doorway. He had a protective hand resting over his side, but he otherwise looked hale and whole. "Evening, love," he murmured, grateful to see her unharmed as he pulled her in and kissed her forehead. Burying his face in her hair, he let out a shaky breath. "We did it... One more domino down."

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona finally admitted exhaustion as she sank against her husband, letting him hold her as he greeted her on the steps of Darkwood. "Perhaps the easiest of them all."

She pulled away briefly to look up at him, seeing the telltale signs of pain etched on his face. He was a stubborn man, one that she loved dearly. "I don't want to think about war or plans or battle. I just want to bathe and sleep."

She stood on her toes and kissed him, looping her arm through his good arm and ushering him back into the manor house. "Kell's men will keep me informed if something happens."

As Fiona led Sam to their room, Shani was starting to wake. She was burning up, sweat breaking on her brow as someone mopped her face with a cool cloth, murmuring soft and soothing words to her. She whimpered and pulled at the blankets that swaddled her body, someone else gently scolding her. Her eyes slowly opened, and she took in the dimly lit room, licking her dry lips as she saw her mother and her father at her bedside.

"Welcome back, my love." Rissa said softly, gently patting her daughter's brow with a cool cloth to help with her fever. "Stay still, love. You have a fever from the infection in your chest. Alex thinks it'll go away in time."

"...water..." Shani croaked, her eyes begging for something to quench her thirst.

 

[KieranSoares]

Qira's powerful arms gently slipped beneath her head and back, slowly propping her up against additional pillows and the headboard behind her. Soon he lifted a glass to her lips. Alex had prepared water with honey and some pain-killing herbs earlier and let it cool, a mix he often gave to those with smoke inhalation or lung maladies to soothe their raw throats.

As Shani drank, Qira's brows were furrowed in focus watching for any sign that she might take a turn. "Slowly," he encouraged softly. "You have all the time in the world."

 

[heartofcourage]

Shani gripped her father’s wrist as he held the water to her lips, almost afraid that he would take it away before she was ready. She drank deeply, gasping when it was finally empty. Sitting along the pillows, she felt the most pitiful she ever had in her life, aching and battered.

“I need to speak with Kell.” She muttered.

 

[KieranSoares]

Qira nodded, glancing to Rissa before rising. "I'll be right back." He slipped away out of the infirmary to find Kell and Kate in their room. Kell was injured, but not badly enough that the doctors wanted to watch him overnight.

Kell was still awake going over reports and messages when Qira arrived, though he'd allowed himself to be relegated to an armchair and promised to sit still after Alex scolded him. As Qira entered the shared parlor, he looked first to Kate and then Kell. "She's awake," he announced quietly, the relief clear in his eyes. "She asked to see you, Kell."

Picking himself up slowly from the chair, Kell bit back a groan of effort and pain. "Then I'd best not keep our girl waiting..."

"Where is Bo?" Qira asked, glancing around as he helped Kell up.

"Overworking himself... After he visited Shani earlier, he decided that with three of us wounded, he needed to step it up." Kell sighed and shook his head. "His words, not mine."

"Kate?" Qira asked softly. "Come with us? I don't want you far from Kell or I right now."

 

[heartofcourage]

Kate had her own duties to attend to, but when Qira asked her to come with him, she knew that she needed to. She was well protected, but Qira and Kell needed her close for the time being.

"As long as I'm not gone long." Kate said, rising from her spot to follow the both of them to Shani's room.

By the time that they made it to the infirmary, Shani was drifting back to sleep. Rissa glanced at the opening door and stood to let Kell take her spot beside the bed.

"She's still very hazy." Rissa commented as Shani struggled to force herself awake.

"I'm fine." Shani stubbornly said.

 

[KieranSoares]

Taking a seat stiffly by Shani's side, Kell reached out to take her hand. "Well, agent. You made it," he murmured, his pride and worry obvious. "I assume you have a report for me, if it couldn't wait."

Qira stepped up beside Rissa, pulling her close against his side and reaching out to hold Kate's hand. But he was still very much focused on his job, listening closely to what Shani had to say.

 

[heartofcourage]

Shani forced herself to be alert, her eyes opening she Kell took her hand. Ignoring the suddenly crowded room, she turned her eyes towards him and thought about what she needed to tell him.

"There was a dragon rider from Scotland there. She looked just like Fiona. Golden hair, green eyes. Much younger." Shani said, giving him as much of a detailed description as she could. "Hess knew her. It's obvious that she worked for Royer and that Royer betrayed them all in the end."

 

[KieranSoares]

Kell had his small pocketbook out in an instant, writing down details. "We heard some of the Alstadt Riders spotted a woman of similar description," he muttered. "You saw her with Hess? What did she say to him, can you remember? And was there any hint she might be a Caller?"

Qira was listening closely at the same time, committing Shani's words to memory. He also made a mental note to talk to Fiona and some former mercenary Riders about the young woman to see if anyone recognized her description.

 

[heartofcourage]

"She was Scottish. She said that Royer wouldn't spare any more forces south of Hadrian's Wall." Shani explained, thinking back on the scene with Hess. "And that was it. Hess was abandoned to his fate and the woman left. She was wearing fine armor like what Fiona has. It was clear that she's held in high regard by someone."

 

[KieranSoares]

Kell nodded, jotting down a couple additional details. "Well done, cub. It's a better place to start than what other Riders saw in passing." Kell began to rise, needing Qira's help to fully stand. He tucked the pocketbook away and leaned down to kiss Shani's forehead. "Your only task now is to rest, little love. No doubt Bo will be joining your side again after he exhausts himself."

Looking toward Rissa who hadn't left Shani's side all day, Kell kissed her cheek and motioned her back to her seat. "We have your schedule clear for a while, love. Focus on your little girl. Qira, you too. Kate and I have this handled for now." As much as Shani felt like the entire group's daughter, Kell knew it was most important for Rissa and Qira to be there. It was his quiet way of repaying a fraction of all they'd done for Brogan when he was a baby and constantly had to be hidden and moved around for safety.

 

[heartofcourage]

Rissa nodded, taking her seat next to Shani again. She wasn't about to let her daughter out of her sight any time soon. As things started to quiet down in the infirmary, Fiona heard a knocking at their door. She grumbled at the intrusion, only having just gone to sleep an hour earlier. She didn't move, curling up next to Sam again until another knock sounded, and she cursed under her breath.

"Come." She called, rolling from his side and rubbing at tired and sore eyes with the heels of her palms before moving to pull pieces of her light armor back on.

As she entered the parlor, she saw Kell and knew what he was there for, pulling the drawing that Tanya had already presented to her out of her pocket and passing it to him. "It's not every day that the Empress sees it fit to pass me a note herself."

Without needing to be formal, she sank into an armchair and motioned for him to do the same. "I don't have it in me to stand any longer. Forgive me."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Nothing to forgive, I apologize for the intrusion after such a long day." Kell sank into a chair as well, his wounds minor but exhausting. Looking over the drawing, he tucked it into his pocketbook after a moment. "I sent some of my agents north toward Hadrian's wall to see what kind of resistance we might face and whether they can start counting dragons. The more we can learn about the aerial threats, the better we can prepare you and your Riders."

Looking over to Fiona, his expression was grim. "I stopped by Jani's room in the infirmary... She may be just as, if not worse off than Shani. If Avfairn doesn't make it, I don't know if she will either. Andre sent a letter off to Dola already, said he wouldn't be surprised if she came all the way here with Dylandra's retinue." Kell knew as well as Fiona did that it would destroy the children and the Rider corps if Jani died. She was the glory-hunting, ferociously loving, constant source of trouble that had taken a huge risk on the North twenty years back just because she liked Fiona's spirit. Now, she was a member of the extended Ghis Clan as far as anyone was concerned, and Avfairn with her.

"I've put out a call for any able healers from the liberated areas to come assist as they're able. My hope is that former students of Mariko Varno and friends of Casso and Dalton can help. Luna and Alex are one hell of a team, and Loren and some of the other young doctors are good at what they do, but they're already overstretched. We didn't anticipate a wall blowing up and wounding an entire battalion." Kell leaned back and shook his head. "But despite all of the wounded and those in critical condition... We still took London faster than even Soma predicted, and declarations of surrender or fealty have been pouring in from the surrounding estates and towns since Hess fell. Those unsure have made up their minds, and those who thought of resisting now see it's futile."

Kell glanced up as Sam slowly lumbered into the room holding his side. "Sam. Doing alright?"

"Better than you, by the looks of it," Sam grunted, taking a seat by Fiona.

"I won't keep you two much longer. I just wanted to update you on what Shani reported. This woman in the Rider armor, Shani believed she must've been important by the looks of her armor and how she delivered Royer's word personally, abandoning Hess. Shani noted she looked surprisingly similar to you, Fiona, but with green eyes and more golden blonde hair. Do you know of any other branches of the Blackstone family? Any cousins or distant relations?"

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona thought back on her family line, of all the stories that her grandfather had ever told her. As far as she knew, the Blackstone bloodline had always been a trickle, barely breeding from one generation to the next. In fact, her children with Sam were perhaps the most plentiful it had ever seen.

"I'm sure there are distant relations that I don't know about. My grandfather's line was from Greece and most everyone he knew from his youth were hunted and killed." Fiona said softly, trailing off for a moment as she considered a possibility. "The Blackstone line has never seen a human born besides myself and Soma. If my father...had a child...it's possible..."

She turned her attention back to Kell and let out a long sigh. "Kell, I'm not a rarity. I'm a freak in the scheme of things. I'm one single caller born to a caller who knew his gift and a were who might not have known her own. My Ma was haunted by things she didn't understand and things she didn't comprehend. If all of this had happened without Sam by my side, I might have ended up like her: a hopeless addict living on the streets or dead in a whorehouse. If Royer has his way, I might still end up like that. To some I'm nothing more than a woman who hears voices and charms beasts and is nothing more than a common witch."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Then it's a good thing Royer isn't going to have his way,* Kell said confidently. "But I may reach out to Owen... Considering the girl's youth, perhaps there is a chance he had a partner shortly before he returned to Sweden. Or, perhaps she is a descendant from your Greek roots, mixed in with northern blood. Until we know connections or names, we can only guess wildly."

"If she is related to Fiona, she might be th'Caller that struck out at her," Sam murmured. "And if she's from the Blackstone line, it would explain why she's so powerful."

"I'm of the mind there's more than one," Kell explained. "Some rumblings from up North hinted that Royer was gathering 'tools' against our Riders. Looking for Elder Dragons, Callers, veteran mercenary Riders, that sort of thing. And speaking of witches, we nearly dismissed a rumor about Royer having witches at his command. But if Callers can be called witches... It's all hearsay this far, but it's worth being cautious about."

 

[heartofcourage]

"If you knew nothing about me, if you weren't part of this family, would you believe in witches?" Fiona asked Kell honestly. "This isn't exactly something you encounter every day."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Ghosts and magic are hard to deny even as skeptical as I am." Kell shrugged slightly. "Witches, Callers. Druids... I won't pretend to understand any of it. But we need to look into it and I just want to keep you up to speed."

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona nodded, deep in thought long after Kell left the parlor, and she was alone with Sam yet again. She was a million miles away, staring off into the distance as she tried to make sense of this new development.

"Family." She said softly. "Surely my Da would have said something if he had another child."

She tilted her head back against the armchair and sighed deeply. "A distraction we don't need, Sam. They're doing it on purpose."

 

[KieranSoares]

"I know it's a distraction," Sam agreed quietly. "But it also could be true. Maybe a child Owen doesn' know about. If he was a nomad, or she was a child he never got t'meet because he was sold and separated from her mother..." Sam sighed and reached out to take her hand. "Owen's never talked a lot about his time out east searching for dragons or his time in slavery. We've never pushed him to tell because you never wanted to make him relive it. But whether she's close or distant blood, or she's just a look alike meant to distract us, we still know she's got t'be important t'Royer if she had custom armor an' brought his own words to Hess."

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona took his hand, her fingers drifting over his wedding band. Her constant companion and the one that kept her grounded for the past twenty years.

"None of this is coincidence." Fiona said softly. "Royer knows exactly what he's doing. He thinks he can intimidate us. Turn about is fair play."