The North (Closed)

[KieranSoares]

"The alternative is losing you forever. I've never been more sure in my life," Blair told her softly. "If anything goes wrong, Hadvar will get you out no matter what."

Stepping up to the window, Blair slid it open and glanced around outside for a long moment before swinging her legs out and dropping a few feet to the tiled roof of the ground level. She slung Jane's bag over her back and helped her climb out safely. "Stay on my heels. If anyone tries to stop you, just pretend you're lost and distract them," she whispered when she had Jane close again. She then pulled a cord from around her neck and put it around Jane's. A polished metal whistle hung at the end. "If it goes wrong, you can call Hadvar."

 

[heartofcourage]

Jane followed closely behind Blair, her hand hooking into Blair’s belt as she led her into the darkness. Even a week at Edinburgh hadn’t been enough to orient herself to anything. It wouldn’t take much for Jane to be hopelessly lost if Blair were to suddenly change her mind and leave her behind.

Jane was distracted briefly as a large dragon shadow passed over them and the same roar from earlier shook the air around them. “I thought she would have called him off.” Jane murmured with a voice full of fear that Schaller was still terrorizing the city late into the evening.

 

[KieranSoares]

Blair looked up as Schaller passed over, quietly glad she'd warned Fiona ahead of time and Schaller wouldn't outright attack while Blair was still there. "She promised to go peacefully. But like she told Royer, she won't stop Lord Schaller. But he's also a good distraction."

As they came to the end of the tiled roof, Blair helped Jane climb down some stacked crates near the kitchen entrance. The kitchen itself was dark now, the last serving staff having finished cleaning. "Stay close to the wall," she whispered as she climbed down as well.

They made their way down the eastern side of the castle until they crossed toward the outer wall and to a small side gate that was left strangely unguarded. Jane saw why as they passed through, unconscious or maybe dead guards placed into the shadows inside the gatehouse. Just as it seemed they were free to disappear into the city, Blair stumbled and fell to her knees, grasping at her head and gritting her teeth in pain. "Fuck..." She hissed, hazily looking back toward the castle. "Call... Call Hadvar..." She was crumbling on the spot, having never experienced such an onslaught to her mind.

At that same moment, even at such a distance, Fiona would feel her connection to the unknown Caller break. He'd turned his attention away from her suddenly.

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona glanced up suddenly from her meal that she had been cooking over a small campfire. The connection with the foreign caller was suddenly severed and she wondered just what had happened.

“Something isn’t right.” She murmured to Ezra. “Where did they go…?”

She used her power to test the connections around her, pausing when she felt Blair and the pain come through so clearly.

“She went back to the fucking castle.” Fiona growled, pushing herself to her feet and glancing over at Ezra. “We have to go. Now.”

 

[KieranSoares]

"Shit..." Ezra muttered, looking off toward the city. Just as they were about to take Sadah and meet up with Schaller, another draconic shape appeared, rising up and then shooting toward the castle's edge.

"Hold on," Ezra told Fiona as the shape rose into the sky again. "That's Blair's partner. They're coming back."

Sure enough, Hadvar came speeding toward them and landed carefully nearby on three legs, holding something to his chest. The dark red male came walking over, revealing in his hand a pair of women. One was in fine riding armor with blood trailing down from her nose, unconscious. The other was a bit more delicate, in a fine dress and holding the shorter woman steady.

Hadvar, who was usually mostly silent, approached Fiona and helped Jane stand, but still held the unconscious Blair. "Caller," he addressed Fiona respectfully, knowing he and Blair would be in trouble for going back. "Please... Markos has a hold on her mind. I don't know how to help."

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona moved towards Blair, pausing for a moment to regard the other woman. Jane stood there with panic on her face, begging Blair to wake up. Fiona cursed under her breath as she recognized the other woman as the prince's new wife.

"Ezra. Deal with her." Fiona ordered as she moved to Blair's side, Jane leaving only as Ezra pulled her away.

"Please help her. She collapsed as we were escaping." Jane begged of Fiona, not fighting against Ezra's grip on her arm as he dragged her a distance away. "Please..."

"You would do best to stay silent for the moment. Until we can get a straight answer, I won't trust you." Fiona informed the young woman before she turned her attentions to Blair. "Get her laid out on the ground."

Once Hadvar had done so, Fiona tried to rouse Blair. "I need your help with this. I need you to lend me your strength." Fiona said as she glanced up at the dragon. "The two of us together will push him from her mind."

 

[KieranSoares]

Ezra pulled Jane just far enough away to be out of Hadvar's way, looking her over briefly to make sure she was both unarmed and unhurt. "Bloody Blackstones," he muttered to himself as he went. He would've expected a similar stunt out of Fiona in her younger days. Once he was satisfied that Jane wasn't a danger, he fixed her with a stern look. "You're in a very dangerous position, Princess. As long as you stay close, cooperate, and answer the Queen's questions when she speaks to you, I see no reason to bind you like a prisoner. But anything suspicious at all, and you'll remain in chains til further notice."

Fiona was a legend, but her finest officers had quite the reputation too. Ezra, Jani, Costa, and Danica were the four most associated with her, her oldest and most trusted lieutenants who'd followed her into certain death many times each. So as E,ra laid down his rules, Jane already knew who he was and how he and his partner were known for handling feral dragons and teaching many to speak.

Meanwhile, Hadvar was fully focused on Fiona and Blair, the worry in his eyes familiar. It was the same kind of anxiety Schaller or Invah had when Fiona was hurt or in danger. He immediately lowered his maw to the ground at Fiona's asking, his nose gently touching to Blair's shoulder. As Fiona focused in, she could begin to feel the dragon's energy enter into the connection.

At that moment, Blair's own defenses had been brutally torn down, leaving her mind open to attack. Fiona could feel more than see memories of brutal treatment when Blair was small, forced to work from the moment she could walk and carry things and follow directions. Nora was always there, taking punishments for her by claiming blame, or sneaking extra food for her child and holding her when she was hurt. It seemed the other Caller was pulling in all of Blair's worst memories and siphoning the pain from them to hurt her again. Fiona could see flashes of later memories, like Blair being pinned to a tree by the shoulder with a blade when she was a young teen, a Hunter examining her like a piece of meat deciding whether he'd kill or sell her. Another showed a slim golden elder dragon backed into a corner in a deep valley, her left wing broken. Blair had been forced to subdue her, only to scream in protest as Royer's men simply slew the dragon instead of rendering aid like she'd been told they would. The memories began to run together as the other Caller pushed harder and harder, clearly trying to break Blair and keep her pinned down. When Fiona began to push into the connection, his response came quickly and painfully, like a whip slicing into her brain. It even made Hadvar jolt, and he had to refocus all over again.

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona closed her eyes against the pain that the other caller was using, staying with Blair as she started to help take the heavy load. She saw every painful moment in sharp focus, her own anger stoked to a fever pitch as she waited for the right moment. It wasn't long before Fiona saw what she was looking for. The other caller showed themselves in a memory from inside Edinburgh Castle. It took mere moments for Fiona to latch on to him, all of her focus drawn on the man who had been causing all of this trouble.

His mind was blank like a slate, most likely a defense he had created to keep others from doing as he did. It didn't stop Fiona as she ruthlessly squeezed in on him, making sure that he got a taste of his own medicine. For all of the hurt he had given to herself and her children, she twisted and needled at his brain. For all of the hurt he was giving to Blair, she squeezed until she was sure she could hear the screams all the way from Edinburgh Castle. It came at a price as her own head throbbed, but the moment that she felt him lose his footing, she blinked up at Hadvar.

"Now. Take your chance." She muttered to the dragon, needing him to provide the protection until Blair could do it for herself.

 

[KieranSoares]

Despite having little experience in aiding a Caller, Hadvar made up for it with ferocity. His fiery presence pushed into the connection with a rage Fiona would've expected from Schaller, tearing open a space for himself and settling into place as a massive shield. In that instant, the connection to the Caller Markos went slack, his own mind no longer responding. He'd surely passed out much like Blair had.

Blair began to come to finally, at first hazy and lifting a hand to her forehead, and then panicked as she realized she wasn't where she last remembered. It was Hadvar's presence that pulled her back to reality, and she immediately clung to his maw, his hand curling around her protectively.

When Blair finally had the presence of mind to look around her, she immediately searched for Jane. Upon seeing her safely under Ezra's watch, Blair looked to Fiona. She couldn't explain anything or make an excuse beyond, "I couldn't leave her..."

 

[heartofcourage]

“And you most certainly have fucked us over.” Fiona said as she stood over her sister with her hands on her hips. “She’ll be going back.”

Fiona glanced over towards the other woman who seemed to be watching them with a great deal of worry. Kneeling down next to Blair, she met her own blue eyes and whispered the next few words.

“If you have feelings for her, you need to put them aside for now. We’ll be trading her for our father.”

 

[KieranSoares]

"No," Blair protested instantly, sitting up a little too fast and instantly regretting it. Despite the dizziness, she forced herself to her feet. "I promised... And even if I've wanted to know him my entire life, I won't trade her for a man I've only met once."

Hadvar let Blair lean against him, looking to Fiona. He understood Fiona's side, but she could see in his eyes that he was going to resist too. He loved Blair and he had come to care for Jane over the years as well.

 

[heartofcourage]

“Do you understand what you’ve done?” Fiona asked as Blair insisted that She wasn’t going to send Jane back. “You took a princess from Royer. The newest princess. His heir’s bride. I can cover for this, but have you lost your mind?”

 

[KieranSoares]

"Of course I understand!" Blair hissed quietly. "You can't tell me you wouldn't have done the same for your husband. I won't leave Jane behind to be killed in the chaos when Katherine Ghis comes tearing through. Now that she's safe, I'll do anything in my power to get Owen back, that's a promise. Even if I have to charge back in there right now and break him out."

"Fiona," Ezra called, motioning eastward to alert her to Danica and Costa coming back in. Schaller would continue to harry the city without causing real damage, seeking to break the soldiers' spirits and make everyone lose sleep.

 

[heartofcourage]

"Handle it." Fiona said as she glanced towards Dani and Costa coming in to join them. "And watch her." She said as she glanced at Jane again.

With that, Fiona stalked forward and grabbed Blair by the collar of her armor, dragging the younger away from anyone else that might hear. "You stay here." She called over her shoulder to Hadvar.

Fiona said nothing as she finally let Blair go, stalking away a short distance to let her anger cool slightly before she turned back to look at her half-sister. "Did you enjoy what the caller did to you? It's going to happen again once he wakes, and they figure out that the princess is gone. How can you be this stupid? What will you do tomorrow if Royer shows up with nothing but our father's pelt in his hands because you decided to play the foolish hero? How will that guilt feel for the rest of your life?"

Fiona had never been more furious at another being in her life. "If you truly believe that Queen Katherine is as blood thirsty as Royer says she is that she would kill innocent souls for no reason, then what good are you to me?"

 

[KieranSoares]

Blair stared Fiona down as she scolded and raged, a defiant, stubborn look on her face that Fiona knew all too well from her own daughter, and from the mirror in her younger days.

"You're not the only person here with someone you love on the line," Blair protested unflinchingly. "I've met Owen Blackstone once. And regardless of how good a person he is, I can't put my best friend since childhood above a man I never knew. And don't put words in my mouth about Katherine Ghis. No, I don't think she would order for Jane to be killed. But dragons attacking the city, siege weapons, fire, looters and thieves... None of them give a fuck about her. I wasn't going to leave her fate to chance, especially not with how fucking stupid and reckless Ramsey is."

There was some guilt in Blair's gaze, but also a clear belief that she had done what was best for her loved ones. "I have always put Jane, my mother, and Hadvar above all else. That won't change now. I'd rather trade myself for Owen than risk Jane being here when your armies arrive. I do want him back, and I never wanted to hurt you or him. But I never had the chance to love him like you do."

 

[heartofcourage]

"Don't put words in your mouth? You're the one who just said it, as if she isn't my sister by marriage. Every single word you say about a northern cut to the core because they aren't just some strange people. They are my family!" Fiona raged, her blue eyes blazing. "And if your loyalties don't go beyond yourself, your mother, your dragon, or that woman...then you should leave now. So help me, though, if my father dies because of what you did this evening, nothing will save you."

The two women were eye to eye, full of anger for different reasons. Fiona knew what it was like to be young and foolish, headstrong to a fault. What frightened her the most, however, was losing her father and finally being the kit alone in the world.

"I had to find my way in this world. I had to claw out every opportunity to make my name worth something. Trust me, no one wanted to be related to Owen Blackstone. However, you have the chance to be proud of who you are. You have a chance to have a mother and a father...the things that I never did...because of the work that I did to make this bloody curse worthwhile." Fiona had tears of fury streaming down her face as she spat out all of the vitriol that had been gathering in her chest. "How fucking dare you, Blair."

 

[KieranSoares]

Blair didn't break eye contact, but she couldn't bite back after what Fiona said. Instead, she murmured, "All my life, I've been taught to fear you and your people, led to believe that Royer was the lesser evil. I'm not so naive that I believe it all... but I see I underestimated you still."

Crossing her arms and finally breaking away from Fiona's gaze, Blair looked down at the ground. "I didn't want to hurt you. I promised myself we'd start out on a good foot, and I fucked everything up. If you can guarantee Jane's safety, I... I'll do anything you need. I want this to work, I really do..."

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona stared at Blair as it seemed that she finally got it. She was young with freedom for the first time in her life and Fiona felt immense guilt at crushing that feeling.

"Go back with the others." Fiona murmured. "I need time to think."

 

[KieranSoares]

Blair turned away, but glanced back at Fiona briefly before she went. "I always wanted a sister... I'll make this right. I promise." She retreated back to where the other Riders had gathered around their small camp. Ezra kept Jane close, but he was cordial with her as he realized she wasn't going to be any trouble. Blair quietly joined her side, lacing her fingers with Jane's and letting herself rest for a moment after Markos's attack. The dragons had all gathered to rest while they could, but Hadvar kept his distance for the moment to watch over Blair and Jane. Schaller was still soaring over Edinburgh, though he was paying close attention to Fiona should plans change.

 

[heartofcourage]

Jane looked at Blair with all of the concern in the world as she returned. She could hear the angry shouts from a distance, but hadn't been able to make out the words. However, it looked like Blair had been put through hell and she squeezed her hand as she laced her fingers with Blair's.

"I'm sorry for all of this." Jane said softly. "I'm sorry, Bea."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Don't apologize. This was all me and I'm taking responsibility for it," Blair muttered, leaning lightly on Jane's shoulder as the other Riders kept mostly to themselves. "You didn't choose to get mixed up in all of this. I did when I chose to defy Royer."

"Blair," Ezra spoke up after a moment. "You haven't eaten. Best keep up your strength after that fight with the other Caller." He offered out a bowl of simple stew that he and Fiona had put together while Blair was away. Then he looked to Jane while picking up an empty bowl, prepared to fill it as well. "And you, Princess?"

 

[heartofcourage]

Jane glanced at Ezra and shook her head at the offer of a meal. Even if there hadn't been a grand feast after the wedding, she didn't think she could eat with the way that her stomach was tied up in knots. She sat beside Blair as she got settled, wondering just what might happen as Fiona stood off in the distance and considered a new plan. After around an hour, Fiona returned to camp, sitting next to Ezra but saying nothing to the others gathered.

"Schaller will be coming in soon." She said, glancing over at her second in command. "He'll take watch and give us all a rest before he takes off again before dawn."

 

[KieranSoares]

"A messenger should come in sometime around sunrise with an update for us about the border," Ezra murmured. "With any luck, leaving the majority of the Rider corps the attack the wall will mean we can march on Edinburgh within the next few days. But we need to figure out what to do about Owen as soon as possible. Royer will leverage your father's life against everything we're working for here, whether or not Blair had broken in and taken the Princess."

Ezra fixed Fiona with a concerned gaze. "If we had any idea where he was being kept, I'd follow you there in a moment to break him out. The moment we have an opening to free him, I'm right behind you."

 

[heartofcourage]

"We'll be lucky if he's still alive come morning." Fiona said, knowing that the situation was dire, glancing over at Blair and Jane as they huddled against Hadvar. "There are two trades that Royer would see as worthwhile: that young woman...or myself. One would break Blair and the other would break the North."

 

[KieranSoares]

"No matter who's in his hands, he'll threaten their life to keep us at bay," Ezra sighed. "And no matter who it is, someone is going to be hurt by this situation. I know any of us officers would volunteer in a moment if we thought Royer would accept, but he doesn't care about us. He wants to get at you and Kate most of all, and even if Hess played dirty, I think Royer is prepared to be much, much worse. From what we've learned about him thus far, he's not just possessive of Scotland. He loves it like your family does, to the point that he'll do anything to protect it from what he considers 'outsiders.' Soma's going to have one hell of a challenge countering him."