The day Trinsi finally got to witness Seis ‘in action’ started as a fine day. The sun was not blaring down on them and the warm wind gave the forest life. Perhaps that’s why they didn’t hear them coming.

They arrive riding beasts unlike any other. Seis had told them blackspined tigers, but these were monsters not domesticated animals. Armor clad, like their faceless riders, the earth trembled beneath them, and the sound they emitted pierced their ears sharply.

The Storms don’t give anyone the chance to react. Immediately, the first tiger jumps onto one of the beareaters and tears its head off with it teeth. The noise that Lunetta omits in alarm brings everyone back from the distraction. The Orrs begin shooting arrows at the first beast and its rider.

The rider raises his spear into the air, billowing clouds form around him and sharp green light rips a tear in the air. Cracking, loud, as it strikes the three closest fighters. They cry out simultaneously, dropping onto their knees.

“Trinsi!” The knight hears Seis’s voice across the field.

Seis was blocking strikes and running around the second Storm, who had followed behind the first. She blocks then strikes, blocks then strikes, whirling around like an extraordinary shadow. The pulling sensation is unlike before, and for once Trinsi considers giving into the sinking feeling.

La Terra Aeternam ti espera.

An Orr attempts to sneak up on the first Storm from behind, and the man on the tiger lifts him up into the air with one arm. With his other arm he grabs the Orr’s free arm and rips it off fluently. The Orr makes a gurgling scream and begins to wail. Those around him become hysterical, floundering to make a line of defense.

The severed arm swings in the Storm’s clenched hand as he bellows a battle cry into the sky. Drops of blood sprinkle in a line across Trinsi’s cheekbone, the red stands out bright on her olive skin.

“Trinsi help them!” Seis shouts again, her voice hints a tired rasp.

“Trinsi!” Lunetta stands behind a caravan shooting arrows, her brown hair pulled into a tight ponytail.

Vente a la Terra Aeternam.

A lighting strike misses Seis but manages to trip her. The second blackspined tiger rams into her, sending her tumbling across the field. This must have broken her concentration because the sinking feeling goes away shortly. The moment is seconds long, but it is enough for the First Knight to break out of her trance.

She turns to the first monster and send three exploding arrows at it. They’re small explosions, even so they’re enough to rattle the animal. It reels back onto its hind legs.

“Trinsi catch!” Cheron shouts a couple of feet away. He throws her the other end to his rope, she catches it and together they run past the tiger, knocking it off its legs. This sends its rider rolling onto the ground.

The Orrs rush forward to net the tiger, while Trinsi pulls her sword out from its sheath, jumping at the chance to strike the man before he’s able to rise.

He twists out of the way in a reflex, reaching for his spear that lays near Cheron. Thinking quickly, the striker kicks it out of their enemy’s reach. Almost as if in spite, the Storm grabs Cheron’s leg, and throws the man across the clearing. Trinsi continues to swing at him, only narrowly missing him every time. How is he so fast?

There is no structure to his movements, he does whatever he wants. No grace, no precision, only chaos and aggression. Similar to how Seis moved the day Trinsi met her, minus the aggression.

She knows now more than ever, that no one in their vicinity is prepared for this. The words that Seis had spoken to them the day of their first encounter have never rang more clearly in Trinsi’s mind.

If they’re truly here, then we’ve already lost.

Everyone here, with the exception of Seis and the Storms, had only fought for sport or entertainment, never for their lives.

She runs through everything the woman has said and shared with them since she came to the Syardom, but their time together has been short and Trinsi is blanking. She glances over to the Ester, both her and the Storm are disarmed and engage in hand to hand combat. They’re moving so quickly Trinsi can’t tell if anyone is winning. She doesn’t dare watch, she has her own fight and she can’t afford to be sucked into the Earth again.

The Storm is disarmed and being pelted with arrows. The knight steps to closer to him, too close, he grabs her by the hair and lifts her up, using her to shield himself from the arrows. Trinsi uses the opportunity to knee him in the face. The man is wearing a helmet however, and she probably does about the same amount of damage to herself as her opponent.

In response, he tears her sword out of her hand and throws her in the direction he threw Cheron. The throw is at an angle, so the dirt burns as she slides against the floor

Cheron, in the meantime has gotten hold of the man’s spear and is charging straight at him. Trinsi cannot believe what she’s seeing. From the ground, she calls out to stop him, “Cheron-”

It’s too late, Trinsi had forgotten that the man had been Seis’s striker, he wasn’t only a naive young man charging blindly into his first battle, he was a stupidly strong young man charging blindly into his first battle. The spear pieces straight through the man, right at the navel and under his chest piece. The Storm yells not in pain but incredulity.

Enraged, he wraps his hands around the spear and sends an electrical pulse through it. His intention is to shock Cheron who is still has hold of the spear, but it appears to have slipped his mind that he remains impaled by it. Cheron’s palms are burned horribly and he cries as he jumps back from the Storm. The Storm realizes too late what he has done and is stuck in a never ending cycle of electricity, until he collapses.

It is odd that the Storm is not immune to his own power, Trinsi thinks, but she is relieved that the absurd idea worked.

Lunetta and some of the others rush forward to tend the wounded. Olan walks over to the decapitated beareater and drops his cloak over the head.

Trinsi whirls around to where she saw Seis and the second Storm, only to find that she stands giving orders to an Orr and Conner. They stand over the body of the other Storm.

As Trinsi approaches, she notices that the Storm was a woman.

“Take this and deliver it to Duka Usel. He isn’t that far behind us, but the sooner they get here the better. If you can send another beareater ahead of their party, please do so.” She hands over the sigil of the Storm she defeated to the Orr. To Connor and Trinsi she continues, “Leave no trace that we were ever here. These were only their scouts, I’m going to ride ahead to see what direction they’re coming from and how many of them there are. Chances are that Elkhorn is no longer an option, but we will go over it once Duka Usel arrives.”

“I’ll go with you, Olan announces from behind Trinsi before she can get the words out herself.

“Thank you.” Seis turns to Trinsi, who can tell from the glazed look in her eye that the Ester’s mind is calculating at a rate faster than anyone else’s here. “Please pass this along to Lunetta. We’ll be back, be ready to head out at a moments notice.”

---

“They’re coming from Oakson, Elkhorn is likely out of the question. Have you spoken to your scouts from Cloakwood?”

Dux Bellorum Seis, General Usel, Lunetta and Olan speak in Lunetta’s tent. They have set up camp for the night in a hidden alcove. By the time they are able to properly gather, it is late in the evening.

They sit around a short legged table, drinking barleywine because according to Seis, “after that fight, we need it.”

Usel doesn’t disagree, he sends a fellow Syar to fetch the scout.

“They’re further south than I expected,” Seis admits, “while they haven’t reached Elkwood yet, that’s likely where they’re going next. I believe they will reach Elkhorn before us since the bigger group is heading that way. A smaller group is heading in the direction of Cloakwood, but we are closer than they are. I say let’s wait for them there.”

“We’re not going to help the Elks? How will they defend themselves?” Lunetta asks with wide eyes.

“I don’t know.” Seis presses her lips together, “They have a decent military, and while they might not be able to save everyone, we’re not in the greatest shape either… earlier we were only facing two of them. I think should begin to consider another option that is not fighting.”

Lunetta unconsciously glances at Trinsi, “What do you mean? Not fighting will result in thousands dying.”

“Thousands will die regardless. I don’t know what other options we have either. I will think about it too. We all should.” Seis carefully studies everyone in the room, “We can wait to make a decision once we meet with the High Chancellor in Cloakwood. They might have an idea as well.”

“I know I froze,” Trinsi sighs,“I promise it won’t happen again now that I know what they’re like.”

Lunetta shakes her head and places her hand over Trinsi’s, it’s warm compared the knight’s own cold hands. “We all froze, it wasn’t solely you. This was unexpected and that was our mistake, now that we know more I want to say that our odds are better.”

“You all handled it as best as you could.” Seis adds with no expression, concern lingers in her eyes however.

The conversation continues, but Trinsi remains unfocused and unable to add anything of value. She wants to ask Seis about the voice she heard, but when she returns from her daze Seis is gone and Usel is excusing himself.

Lunetta turns to her and squeezes her shoulder, “Try to get sleep alright Trin?”

---

The camp is quiet as Trinsi takes her time walking through it. Not like the nights prior, when the quiet had some ambient sounds of nature to keep the travelers sane.

That fight must have scared off any of the animals in the vicinity. Alternatively, it was possible that they could sense the Storm’s presence. Or, it was simply Trinsi who couldn’t hear it. She’s worn out, even the shuffling sound of her feet on the dirt is fading.

“Trinsi!”

The hushed whisper cuts through the silence.

The knight looks up to see Cheron standing in front of her tent. He appears anxious, but not especially alarmed.

“Cheron?”

“Seis- Duka Seis?” He waits for Trinsi to correct him.

“Dux Bellorum Seis.”

“Right, Dux Bellorum Seis sent me to fetch you,” he explains in a lower tone, but no longer speaks in a whisper.

“Where is she?” And what could be so important that the Ester couldn’t tell her back inside Lunetta’s tent in front of everyone else. Suddenly Trinsi is awake, and nervous… a different nervous- not a bad nervous, she thinks.

“Follow me,” Cheron waves leading the way to Seis’s tent. He could have just told Trinsi that Seis was in her tent and she would have known where to go, but she supposes that he was instructed to see it through.

Seis is pacing in the middle of her tent, lost in thought, when Trinsi peers in. The woman looks up and waves for Cheron to wait outside of the tent. He nods humbly, and turns away from the door.

“Dux Bellorum,” Trinsi bows, but halfway into the bow, Seis puts her hand up to stop her.

“Trinsi,” she begins informally, holding her hands behind her back, “I don’t have a lot of time to explain but I have to go.”

Seis is on edge and trying not to show it. She could have fooled anyone else, but Trinsi wasn’t tired enough to not notice.

“Wait, where are you going?”

“You did a great job with the Storm, I need you to keep doing what you’re doing.” Her dark eyes stare past the knight, distracted, “Seven of them are coming this way, I believe that with Usel’s men you can easily handle three of them but-” She shakes her head, biting her lip, “Seven is too many, they aren’t ready for that. I, I’m going to go try to take care of four of them, but like I said- I’m not as young as I once was. I know my odds, and they’re in my favor yes, but there is still a chance I won’t return. And if that’s the case-” she sighs, finally getting to the point, “Lunetta can’t afford to lose both of us.”

“What do you mean?” The younger woman is not understanding.

Seis steps closer to her, holding two fingers in front of her. She closes her eyes and a chill runs down Trinsi’s spine as her fingertips glow faintly.

“The thing you guys call ‘magic’, we call the Wish of Mother Earth.”

Trinsi hears the words in her mind. She watches as the Ester gently taps the center of her chest. The touch is warm, and there’s a change in the air that the knight can’t explain. Even so, she knows what this is.

“We only get one, it’s a one-off.”

“What are you-” The knight jerks back, but she was not fast enough, the spell is over. Her heart valve. This woman that she resented for so long, she has given Trinsi life. A proper life.

She shakes her head morosely, “But what if-” What if someone else needs it more? Trinsi wouldn’t be able to forgive herself if someone was critically wounded- How could Seis waste such a valuable resource?

“Lunetta needs you,” the Ester says simply. She picks up her small sack of belongings from her futon and swings it over her shoulder, “I’ll be back I hope, give my apologies to Daf Lunetta and Duka Usel. And I’m sorry to put you in a tough spot.”

She bows before walking out of the tent.

Trinsi is reeling, but manages to turn around and rush after her.

“Wait- I’ll go with you-” Someone grabs her by the wrist, it’s Cheron with an apologetic frown.

Seis stops but she doesn’t turn back to look at her, “I said Lunetta needs you Duka Trinsi.”

The two watch her leave in melancholic lull.

“You’re not going to let me go after her?” Trinsi asks Cheron, knowing the response she is going to get.

“She asked me not to allow it.” He releases the hold on her wrist anyway, “But while I may be more muscle than you, I don’t doubt that you could take me down if you wished it. That being said, out of respect to her, I will do everything in my power to stop you if I have to.”

“She’s crazy, she’s going to get hurt.” The young woman frowns, she shouldn’t even care, but how could she not?

“You really think so?” Cheron asks thoughtfully. “She’s an Ester, she’s nothing like us. She made the earth shake during that fight! Mother Earth is on her side… call me stupidly optimistic, but I think she’ll be okay.”

So Cheron had felt it too. His comment reminds Trinsi that she didn’t get the chance to ask Seis about the voices. She lets out a long sigh and heads back to her own tent.

“She’s an Ester, but she’s not immortal.”