Heirs of Hyarch

"They're out there now," Edeline quietly told Hamond.

They'd risen far earlier in the morning than Edeline would've like to pack up, all so they could begin hunting for Jylania. She'd half hoped the girl would show up in the middle of the night, solving their main problem and allowing them to just leave Melyn immediately. Unfortunately, that had not come to pass.

Instead, it turned out that the royal knights had sent more men. It was only five that Edeline could see, but that meant they clearly knew of their prior defeat. As such, they were being more cautious, showing no sign of making a move on the inn. That would almost certainly changed the second they all went out the door.

"Should I tell Myronel and Nela to hurry?" Hamond asked.

The two were upstairs gathering everything together into bags. Hamond had already taken whatever remaining food he thought would keep for the road, and they'd have to spend whatever remaining coin to get some more. If only...Aether, Edeline had almost forgotten about the clothes they'd paid to have made.

Maybe if the search took more than a couple of days, they'd be able to go get them. But if they found Jylania quickly, it wouldn't be worth the risk to stay and wait for Dantyla to finish. Maybe they could trade for some cloth elsewhere, and patch up their outfits again. They couldn't keep doing it forever, but...Edeline didn't see any other options without putting themselves at risk.

That left the one other problem though, one they couldn't delay on: Zerendel.

Leaving the boy behind wasn't an option, not with the knights about. They could hardly take the boy along without planning for extra supplies to account for him either, something they did not have time for. Then again, they had not had that kind of planning for Jylania and Sedat either. It was something that could work out...if Zerendel was willing to come along.

Such was the critical question. Both Jylania and Sedat had very good reasons for wanting to leave their homes to follow them and learn spells. That was not the case for Zerendel. He likely still had other family here in Melyn, although the question of who that would be had not been brought up. Nor had they brought up the fate of his immediate family yet.

One matter at a time, Edeline reminded herself. "Do you think we should go outside and deal with them now?" She looked over at Hamond.

"I do," Sedat said from the back of the room. "Better now than them attacking when we're not ready."

"You know you're staying back, right?" Hamond sighed. "We are grateful you helped yesterday, but you don't have to be in every fight. Leave some things to us."

"Sure, but you better keep him safe." The pleading look Sedat was giving Edeline was equal parts amusing and saddening.

Of course, they both knew Edeline had many reasons to keep Hamond safe when possible. "If they want to harm anyone here, they will have to deal with me first."

"Then might want to get them before they try to get us," Sedat replied.

There was a certain reasoning to that suggestion which Edeline found herself in agreement with. "Then go tell the others to hurry. We'll go out and clear a path for us."

Sedat gave a nod before heading up the stairs as fast as her bird-like legs allowed her. Once she was out of sight, Edeline faced Hamond. She suspected he would object to her plan. A measured approach was the sort of thing he favored.

To her surprise, he was already standing at the ready by the inn's front doorway. "Let's deal with it before Nela comes down," he said in response to her questioning look. "I'm worried about her."

Nela had seemed a little lost this morning, even if she claimed her head was feeling better. All the better to keep her away from any battlefield, as long as possible. Although...the whole city could soon be such, through no fault of theirs.

Either way, their fight began now. "Let's go," Edeline said, drawing her sword.

The pair went out, Edeline leading the way. The knights immediately went on alert on seeing them, pulling out their own weapons. "Halt, and drop your blade!" one of them called out.

"I propose you do it instead," Edeline warned, "After your attack this past day, I have no desire to show you mercy. You have one chance."

"A girl like you thinks you can threaten us?" It was another of the knights mocking her. "Here we are with them telling us they had some sort of monstrous bird, and this is what we find? Let's just kill her, then go in."

"I'm the one in charge," the first man protested.

"Then lead the charge, or shut up," came the retort.

Edeline was about to ask if they were going to fight each other first, but then the clank as a thrown rock hit one of the knights in the shoulder interrupted that thought. The thrower was an elven man around their age, standing a good three hex paces down the street.

"Why don't you bother me instead?" the man taunted. From his posture, Edeline guessed he planned on running for it. But then...what was he even attempting to accomplish?

"Ignore him. Little pebbles can't get through our armor," the knights' leader said.

Edeline almost grinned as a clever idea came to mind. "So what you are saying is, he needed to throw a larger rock?" She shifted her stance to hold her sword in one hand, raising the other. "Because I certainly can do that."

The knights all just stared at her in varying states of disbelief and dismissal.

It was their mistake. "Terra volt."

An arcing bolt of energy shot from her hand to the road between her and the knights. A second later, an echoing crack sounded across the city as she pulled a huge mass of dirt and stone, held together by her spell, up into the air. She could have let it float there, and have the fear of just what they faced set in. However, that would also give them time to evade it or flee, and she had warned them.

She immediately brought the weight down upon the men. If the sound of pulling the stone free had been loud, this was even more so. It was a terrific crash, one that half the city would hear and the other half would learn of before the day's end. It hardly mattered, because by the time they understood what had happened, Edeline and the rest of them should be long gone from the city.

Blinking against the dust thrown up, Edeline turned her attention to the elf who had thrown the initial rock at the knights. He had fallen backwards, now sitting and staring soundlessly with a pale face at her. She wondered if she ought to try and reassure him, but again, not knowing why he was here meant she ought to be cautious.

Before she could do anything, out of the edge of her vision, she saw a figure stagger up. One of the knights had managed to evade her spell, and was trying to get away. Edeline raised her sword, preparing to rush the man down.

"Ventus fugit!" The burst of air Hamond called forth slammed the last knight into the wall of the nearby house. Edeline was quickly upon the survivor, ensuring there would be no more attempts to escape.

The knight swung out with his sword, which he'd somehow kept hold of. Edeline angled her blade to deflect the strike...only to meet air as she realized the knight blade had been snapped off halfway down. He realized it at the same time, tossing what was left of the sword aside in frustration.

"I surrender," he said, raising his hands.

Edeline almost ran him through anyway, knowing how inconsistent showing mercy had been for them. It admittedly would not matter much, since the knights and the king himself would hardly stop seeking her death. Even with all that...the idea of her as some terrible threat and nothing else was repulsive. Edeline knew she had to be more than that.

Circling around the hole she had just left in the street, Edeline approached and knelt next to the knight. "Run. Tell your fellows that they can either surrender their posts in this city, or surrender their lives. You have seen what I can do. You know none of you can stop me."

Backing away again, she watched as the knight stumbled away. If the knights were going to fear her, she would rather they fear the spells of the Stormsage she carried, not the royal blood flowing through her. They may come to fear both, but one way or another people would come to know that she was no Spellking.

"And now everyone knows we're here," Hamond remarked. He'd moved over to stand near the stone-thrower, who was now standing with a worried expression.

"You can say that again," the elf said, "No wonder the boss wanted someone keeping an eye on you."

Edeline narrowed her eyes. "You mean Syrkonel."

"So you've met. I figured you'd probably gotten his attention somehow, and yeah, I can see why now." The elven man relaxed a little. "My name's Tayfel. I was trying to distract them and split them up, make it easier for you. I guess you didn't need the help."

"Not with them, but there is one other thing," Hamond said, "Have you seen a young Elefae girl around? She would be a little over two hex years old, with light brown hair."

"I haven't seen any little girls like that. The boss might know though." Tayfel's look showed he did not entirely believe that.

Edeline sighed, still certain that asking Syrkonel for aid would be a bad idea. Also, she had to agree with Tayfel's unspoken thoughts. It was unlikely that someone plotting a city-wide rebellion would be concerned with the location of a single child. No, this was going to be a task they would have to accomplish on their own.

Tayfel's look shifted to the Rider's Rest. Edeline did not have to turn to know that the others were coming out, but did so anyway. As expected, Myronel and Sedat were already out, with Nela following alongside Zerendel.

"Wait...what the actual shit?" Tayfel blurted out.

"Don't worry, she won't hurt you," Hamond said.

"Not her," Tayfel replied, prompting Edeline to look his direction again. He looked visibly shaken. "Where did...is that boy who I think it is?"

"Who do you think it is?" Edeline was confused. The son of an innkeeper would surely not be that important.

"If that's...that Zerendel boy, the boss is definitely...he's going to want to see you."

It took a moment for Edeline to put it all together. Of course Syrkonel would want to speak to Zerendel, or any survivors of what had happened at the inn. She would have sought the truth as well, had she been in a similar position. Why they had not thought of it earlier...no, that was obvious. Their care for sparing Zerendel's feelings given the tragedy he had seen meant they had not even considered questioning him further on that tragedy.

What she was certain of was that they could hardly abandon the boy to that questioning alone. "Very well," Edeline said with a sigh. She already regretted several of their choices since coming to Melyn, so what was one more? "Take us to him."