Liberty and Death, Chapter 73
Chapter 73
15 minutes later, Kyra burst out of the front doors of Luxholme, loaded for bear and with help in tow.
It looked like Fern had somehow managed to convince Hawk that [Bertha] would be of more use to someone whose punches didn’t do far more damage than bullets, and she cradled the LMG lovingly against her chest. Of course, she also had her mace at her hip, and a shield on her back. No Paladin would be complete without those accessories, big gun or not.
Emily was probably their least immediately physically threatening combatant. She wore the same tactical armor as the rest of them, and had one of the Glock-adjacent sidearms so common in Tyrinno, but other than that, she was just a slight, if hardened-looking, young woman.
That impression would change very quickly for anyone who tried her. An ethereal scythe and the shade of her fallen sister made her a passable imitation of the shadow of death.
Then there was Jocasta.
Loose clothing that someone had managed to get her to put a plate carrier over, and a big floppy hat with flowers along the brim, she looked like someone had decided to take their grandma on a SpecOps raid.
Still, she hobbled considerably faster than she liked to let people believe she could, and lined up with the rest of the girls, snapping off a sharp salute and a cheeky grin to Cora.
Cora laughed and returned it.
“You gonna be able to get around alright, Jocasta? If not, I’m happy to volunteer Hawk as public transport,” she offered.
Hawk snorted, looked like she was about to say something, then got both barrels of the sweetest nana smile Jocasta could give.
Cora all but saw Hawk’s heart melt a bit.
“Yeah, fine,” she groaned, and fell to a knee. Even like that, she was still taller than Jocasta, and not really even close.
Kyra walked up, giving Jocasta a foothold to climb up, while Cora approached from the front, lending her a hand to steady.
Conveniently, that brought her lips just under Hawk’s horn, almost touching her ear.
She appreciated this. She really did. She thought about saying something nice, like ‘I owe you one.’
Instead, so soft Hawk probably felt more than heard it, she whispered two words; “Good girl…”
There was a crunch, and she looked down to see that Hawk’s hand had closed to a fist.
Through the road.
Cora giggled, danced away, and tried to keep her mind off of any fun ways Hawk might try to get her back for that.
The group set off, following Kyra and Tanya through Tyrinno’s winding, weirdly empty streets.
They went the opposite direction of the Bazaar this time, and Cora intuited they must be heading towards one of the wealthier parts of the city.
It wasn’t much of a logical leap; behind them were short, run down blocky buildings, ahead were shining high-rises, glass gleaming blue as the sea against the smoggy sky.
“That the Azure Compass?” Cora asked Emily, trudging along beside her. No response.
She turned to Fern and nudged her.
“Hm? Oh, yep, can see why they call it that right?”
“Yeah, its pretty…”
“Mmm, pity glass doesn’t burn though,” Fern laughed, nudging Cora back.
“Oh, everything burns if you get it hot enough,” Lysander drolled. Cora looked over her shoulder, where their mage was dancing flames between her fingers.
Cora rolled her eyes.
“So, are you a drama queen because I played you that way, or…”
“I am an actual Queen, peasant. That doesn’t change just because I’m not in my kingdom,” Lysander said dismissively. “And I have no idea what influence you had on me. I remember a life I understand to have never happened. Far more than what would have made it onto your silver screen.”
She looked down at herself, arching one perfect eyebrow appreciatively.
“Although, you did leave me a couple of gifts I don’t recall having had prior to Tyrinno,” she said with a smirk, the lights dancing in her green eyes swirling with mischief.
“Ugh, don’t remind me,” Cora said, nodding ahead towards Hawk and her own new accessories, “way things are going I’ll be the only one in this house that doesn’t have to shop at specialty stores.”
Lysander laughed at that. Cora’s own laugh, maybe slightly more arch, but hers nonetheless.
She realized that it hurt. She missed the sound of her own laughter.
Lysander might be the smartest among the Luxholmers, but as was so often the case, that didn’t necessarily translate to any kind of ability to read emotions.
She forged ahead, coming up so close she pressed against Cora’s shoulder. That magic dress felt weird. By all appearances, it should burn, or at least make her wet… but instead, it carried the sensation of softest silk.
Lysander grinned up at Cora from beside her, and Cora realized that Linnea had a couple inches on her. Again, having Hawk around just kind of fucked with your sense of scale, and she hadn’t noticed until she was standing next to a literal clone.
“Sooo what is happening between you and that giantess up there, hmm?” Lysandef prodded. Her voice was quiet, but when Cora glanced at the giantess in question, she could have sworn she saw an ear twitch. “The two of you seem rather comfortable, and while you never let me out of the carriage, such as it was, when I was still in your head, I know there was someone out here making you feel like a bitch in heat.”
Cora glared at Lysander, but the elf looked confused.
“Right, pseudo old-timey bullshit, you didn’t mean that as an insult,” Cora sighed. She looked back at Hawk, who was now doing the world's worst job of pretending not to be listening. Animal features, animal senses, Cora guessed.
“It’s… complicated, Lysander,” Cora said, and watched as Hawk’s shoulders drooped slightly. Slight for her, still enough of a motion to make Jocasta grab a horn to steady herself. “The whole power dyamic is fucked up both ways, you know? Since I technically owned her? But on the other hand, she could tear me to pieces with one hand? Plus…”
Cora dropped her voice low enough that she actually was relatively certain Hawk wouldn’t be able to hear it.
“She’s a Monster. Capital M. I don’t know the details, but I bet if I did… well, I can’t help the way I feel, but…”
“Mmm, complicated indeed,” Lysander said, not even bothering to whisper. “But spicy! My word, you are moving quickly in this world, my dear.”
“Hah! Haven’t had much of a choice,” Cora agreed, relaxing a bit as Lysander gave her a step of distance. “Neither she or the city gave me a whole lot of time to get my bearings.”
“Oh that I can believe," Lysander replied, “I’d been here all of 10 minutes before you set me on the kind of working I’d do maybe once a decade, at least in terms of relative complexity to my current abilities.”
“Yeah? How'd that work out?”
“Oh, its ready to cast, of course. Diminished or not, the day I can’t conjure a set of disguises is the day I let the Arcane Tides take me. Your girls were a surprising amount of help,” she said.
Cora still hadn’t quite gotten used to having a conversation with herself. However, maybe that actually made it easier to set Lysander straight.
“Not my girls,” she warned, and Lysander looked at her in alarm, lights in her eyes fading for just a moment. Then she smiled in understanding.
“Of course, Cora, poor choice of words.”
“How’d Yzna do? I had the highest hopes for her, though she does seem more apt to destruction than creation,” Cora said, letting it go. Lysander hadn’t meant anything by it.
“Fantastically!” Lysander exclaimed. “Took it out of her, the poor dear, or I’d have insisted she come along with us. An aptitude for flame that rivals my own, that one. She took great joy in searing a few of the simpler symbols into the stone.”
Cora winced.
“Searing?”
“Mmm, the best way to scribe symbols of the flame. Erode with water, etch with earth, burn with flame,” Lysander said, with the air of a primary school teacher.
“Yeah, great, I just kind of promised Lux I wouldn’t let Yzna burn her,” Cora protested.
“Oh your home is such a sweetheart,” Lysander chuckled, “don’t worry, I cleared it with her first. Pridesrest would not have taken kindly to such treatment either.”
Not for the first time, Cora wondered how the hell she’d retained any sort of leadership role in this little insurgency.
Kyra and Hawk were better fighters. Mike was a better administrator. Iain knew military tactics and operations, and now they had Lysander. Categorically smarter than all of them, she also knew magic and even had experience working with other talking fucking houses.
“Lys–” Cora began, but Kyra’s raised and clenched fist caught her eye, and stopped her dead.
She followed Kyra’s eyeline to a building that looked like any number of those they’d passed, with one notable exception.
Two Links lounged lazily on either side of its entrance, assault weapons resting in their relaxed hands.