The first thing Caitlin was aware of, when she woke up, was wet skin. The second thing she was aware of, was wet clothing. The third thing she was aware of, was wet water.
The fourth thing she was aware of was one hell of a headache.
She opened her eyes. There wasn’t much to see. Or maybe there was a lot to see. It depended on one’s point of view.
The surprising thing was that the Dawnrunner was still floating. Well, part of it was. And that part didn’t look like it would be staying afloat for long. The far bow end was the only bit above water, and the ocean was clear enough that the aft end was clearly visible - and even more clearly broken off, the last third of the boat missing. Caitlin wondered what was keeping the rest of it up.
It was only then that she realized why she was wet. And it was yet another moment before she realized why she hadn’t drowned. When Caitlin had sailed through the outer hull, the piece that had broken out had gone with her. By a stroke of luck, it had hit the water before she had. And she had landed on top of it. Although it wasn’t quite buoyant enough to hold her completely above the water, her head hadn’t dropped below the surface. It was almost like a raft. Lucky.
So I’m alive, she thought. That’s something.
A wave lapped across the raft...if one could call it a raft...and covered her face. Caitlin spluttered, spat, and coughed several times. A fair amount of water came up; if she hadn’t drowned, a fair amount of water had still made it into her lungs. Not fun. Not fun at all.
A few hard kicks brought her to the edge of the Dawnrunner. She clambered in through a hole at the water level. She wouldn’t stay long...it probably wasn’t safe...but maybe she could pick up something useful.
As it turned out, she stayed for no time at all. Dead and bloated bodies clogged the engine room, where she had ended. Caitlin could only assume that the rest of the ship was the same. She had no wish to go through that.
Once out in the open again, she took a look for land, and found it. But it wasn’t all that uplifting; she could only barely make out the coast far on the southern horizon. Much too far away for her to swim. But on the other hand, she had the raft...of sorts. It was better than nothing. Hauling herself half on to it, she kicked hard for shore, and hoped that the sea currents wouldn’t carry her out of shore’s reach.
Waves brought her to the beach, eventually. Black sand stretched for miles in both directions, as far as the eye could see. The area was deserted. There was forest inland, and she couldn’t see either end of that, either. The only landmark was a small river, only barely worthy of the name, that meandered out of the woods and emptied into the ocean. It was an absolute wilderness.
Caitlin picked herself up carefully, trying to avoid putting too much pressure on any individual bone. Even so, her hip gave way as soon as she had fully stood. Not dislocated, but not very far from it, either. First order of business was to get off the beach, and preferably she would stay close to the river as she worked her way in land. A river meant drinkable water, and that meant people. At some point, at least.
She had to literally drag herself across the sand, which was heated to the point where it was almost painful to the touch. Unpleasant. But it was worth it. The water in the stream was clear as crystal, and she drank thirstily before splashing water on the various bloody gashes that she had sustained in the fall. It wasn’t quite enough to get rid of all the sand, but it was better than nothing. Her reflection in the water showed a face that was covered in sand, mud, and blood, and the bright green hair inherited from her mother was tangled and ripped. Her clothing was in much the same condition, so she stripped down and washed both. She wasn’t much worried about anyone seeing her naked; modesty wasn’t worth the discomfort of being an unwashed person in unwashed clothes, nor the risk of infection. A pumice stone served well enough in place of a sponge, and if there wasn’t any soap, well, she could live with that. It was painful scrubbing off, especially when she cleaned out the cuts and abrasions, but she was glad of it when she laid down on the grass, thinking of what to do now.
Remaining was out of the question. She had no food and no shelter, and with both her swords lying somewhere at the bottom of the ocean, she was bereft of protection as well; magic certainly wouldn’t be enough. So that was out. She thought of going along the beach in the hopes of finding a port, but sea ports were few and far between, and for all she knew she might be hundreds of miles away from one. That left the river, and although she didn’t much like the idea of spending days or weeks in a forest where you couldn’t see more than a hundred feet in any direction, with no one to guard your back when you were asleep didn’t much appeal to her, it seemed the only option. So the river it was. With that decided, she laid her clothes out to dry and went looking for food. No luck, though. Damn. She lay back down again.
Staring up at the clouds, she thought that perhaps living out here under the open sky wasn’t such a bad idea after all. She was Eblani, and although she didn’t much mind wide open spaces, her ancestors had lived almost entirely under the earth. Even Eblan Castle was more underground basements than not. But looking up at the sky, she thought she realized what other people could see in all this. It was her last thought before exhaustion overcame her despite the constant pain, and she slept.
When she woke up, it was to see a starry, cloudless sky. She did a quick examination of her own body and found that most of the minor cuts had clotted over. A simple spell - she was only up to simple spells at the moment - closed those that hadn’t. She repeated the spell once more to remove the pain in her hip, then got to her feet unsteadily. Even that small effort had drained her, but she couldn’t afford to wait here any longer. Her clothes were mostly dry, so she put them back on. They were still torn and raggedy, and at least a little damp, but it was better than wearing half cloth, half sand. A fallen branch, probably ripped off in some storm, served as a hiking staff. Although her hip no longer hurt, that didn’t make it any easier to walk on.
She spent five days in that forest, before she was found. By Vashin himself, in fact.
It was something of a shock, for both of them, emerging from opposite sides of a clearing in the woods. Silence reigned for a few moments. And Vashin sighed with relief.
"I was right, it is you. We nearly gave up hope when driftwood from the Dawnrunner floated ashore. But...you’re alive!"
Caitlin grinned weakly, exhausted from five days of ceaseless hiking along the riverside, wondering when she would come to something other than the endless forest.
"Yeah," she said. "I’m alive, I guess. A little the worse for wear, but I’m alive. Where am I? I followed the river in from the coast, but I’m not even sure which continent I’m on."
Vashin sat down heavily on a rock. "Toroia. You’re about a hundred miles inward from the eastern coastline. We’ve had search parties scouring this whole area for you for days, once we found the wreckage. Did...did anyone else survive?"
Caitlin was silent a moment, and shook her head sadly. Vashin flinched as if from a blow.
"Well..." he said. "I guess...I guess there’s nothing more we can do...."
"Did Palom make it out okay?" Caitlin asked.
"Yeah. He was in pretty bad shape, but he lived."
"That’s...good."
Silence again.
"Well," Caitlin asked, "what now?"
Vashin shook himself out. "We get moving, I guess. There’s a base a few days hike from here, and a ship to use. One of the small ones that Cid’s been designing. Him and your brother."
Caitlin smiled again. "Corvin worked on it? Remind me not to get inside...."
Vashin chuckled at that, and stood up. "Come on," he said. "Let’s get moving. We’ll never get there if we don’t start out. Oh...wait a minute...."
"What is it?"
"It’s dangerous out in these woods alone. Predators and all that. Hang on, I’ll bring in a friend...."
"That monster girl I saw in Baron, you mean?"
"No, Cecil needs her right now. I left her with him. Someone else. Don’t worry, though...it’s a bit of a strain for me to hold two monsters out of phase, but I can handle it."
Caitlin was silent as he began chanting. She amused herself by trying to understand the words, but only managed to catch about one in four. She was no Caller. The languages for magic and Calling were different. She had seen Corvin at his training before, and hadn’t been able to make anything of it.
A funny thing happened, as she listened. There was...a sensation, in the back of her mind. Almost as if she were drifting to sleep, while somehow still remaining conscious. And then an uncomfortable pull, finally changing into a sense of...a sense of....
Caitlin tried to identify the last feeling, but as soon as she did, it went away.
Strange, she thought.
The chant cut off, and there was a moment’s wait before light and darkness seemed to collapse inward, a locus some twelve feet across centered on a spot about thirty feet away. Then the distortion vanished, and in it’s place was a somewhat larger-than-average dragon, with gray-toned skin, a spined tail, and teeth that extended downward outside its jaw. When it opened that mouth to speak, frozen fire dribbled out, a fire so cold that Caitlin could feel it from several feet away. How cold fire was possible, she wasn’t sure. Wings coated in frost protruded from its shoulders, each of them larger than a full-grown man.
"Greetings once again, Vashin," the beast said in a voice that sounded like rock scraped across broken glass. "Why am I here? I see no threat."
"You’re here because I need your help, for a time. We need to travel, and someone has to watch our backs. This forest isn’t the safest of places."
The dragon snorted. "Very well...although I would have hoped you could deal with such a thing on your own."
"Better safe than sorry. I think introductions are in order. Caitlin..." he turned to her, and gestured at the dragon. "This is Vor. A...friend. Vor, this is Caitlin."
"Umm...hi," Caitlin muttered. Vor just looked at her silently.
Vashin glanced back and forth between them, and shrugged. He turned around. "Come on," he said. "We’d better get moving."
Caitlin watched a moment as he started out, followed close behind by the dragon...and reflected that she didn’t mind spending a week alone in the wilderness with this man. He was the root cause of her being here, after all. The dragon might be an irritant, but maybe he would send it away at night. Maybe, just maybe....
Although it was more difficult than it ought to have been, she discarded the thought as ludicrous, the sort of thing that only happened in romance stories and such. She loped after him, as he began the hike to the southwest. To the base camp.
"Ophelia!" Corvin called out as he ran down halls of one of the manor houses in Nestenna; one currently being used as quarters for the high-ranking visitors. "You’re back! How was the battle?"
Her back was to him, and she continued walking silently as he caught up with her. There was something...Corvin drew up next to her, and looked her over. Her normally calm expression had been replaced with a tired, almost hopeless look, and beneath that, something else Corvin didn’t recognize.
"Are you all right?" Corvin asked.
She glanced up at him, and essayed a smile. It wasn’t very convincing. And she was still silent.
"What’s wrong?"
She sighed once. "Nothing, Corvin. Nothing. We won, that’s all."
"Then why do you look so..." Corvin made a vague gesture.
"Have you ever seen a battle, Corvin? Men fighting men?"
"No. Only men fighting monsters, like the wild ones east of Eblan Castle, and down in the caves. I’ve even been part of those battles, before."
"But not men killing men?"
Corvin scratched his head. "No," he said finally. "No. That’s part of why I wanted to be there...I’ve never seen that kind of thing before, and I didn’t like missing the excitement."
Ophelia whirled to face him. She spoke quietly, but there was anger in her eyes and ice in her voice. "Corvin...do you have any idea what it’s like, to watch something like that? Or never mind that, what it’s like to participate? Excitement..." she snorted. "Do the words ‘a horror beyond anything you’ve ever seen’ mean anything to you?"
She stormed off. Corvin had to trot to keep up with her.
"Ophelia..." he began, but didn’t know how to continue. "I’m sorry...."
She stopped dead, and held out her hands to him like claws. There were unshed tears in her eyes when she spoke. "You see these? I threw fire from my own hands, fire that burned people alive. I stood with my fellows, and we used our powers to kill. I killed, with the magic. I spoke the words that called lightning, that struck down people where they stood, armed, fighting, or otherwise...."
"Ophelia..." Corvin began, wanting to comfort her, but not having any idea what to say.
"And I enjoyed it," she whispered. "If there is a god out there, then God help me, I enjoyed it. I loved it, living on the edge, where a mistake meant death..."
Corvin could understand that, a bit; he had been there before. But he’d never questioned it afterwards.
"Look," he said, "that’s not a crime. I’ve fought before. I enjoyed it. It was...fun. I suppose it’s only natural...."
She glared at him, and turned away. "You don’t understand...."
Silence. Ophelia stared at the floor, and Corvin, not knowing what to do, just stood there and watched her.
"At least..." she said, "I thought I enjoyed it. But...you know Jessica?"
"She’s that white wizard you seem to be around a lot, isn’t she?"
Ophelia shook her head. "She was a friend of mine, but...she wasn’t one of ours. We were about halfway through the fight, and she ran up from down in the valley. I waved to her, but my mind was down on the battle." Her head dropped. "She pulled a knife on me. I...I had the choice. Me, or her. I killed her, with magic. She didn’t have a chance; she can only use White, and I’m much stronger than she is. I...."
She trailed off, and stared at thin air as if at a horrible vision. "It was right then, that I just...I don’t know. Up until that point, it was exciting, after that...what if we could have done it differently? What if we could have done it without killing anybody?"
Again, Corvin didn’t know what to say. But he didn’t have to; she collapsed weeping in his arms, and he held her like that, feeling almost awkward, but knowing that she needed some sort of comfort.
"Corvin!" Edge’s voice called out, emanating from a nearby stairwell.
Not now, Father, not now... Corvin thought. I have to help her, even if I can’t do anything, I have to be here for her....
"Corvin!"
She moved against him, and pulled away. "Go," she said. "I’m all right, just...go see what your father wants."
Corvin grimaced, and let her go. She stepped away as he dragged his feet to the stairs.
"What?" he said sourly as he descended. "What is it?"
"Over here, Corvin."
Corvin frowned. Edge sounded almost...cheerful. That wasn’t normal, it wasn’t right. What could possibly have happened?
He turned the corner, and his jaw dropped.
"Say hi, Corvin," his sister said, grinning widely.
"Caitlin!" he cried happily, as his mood evaporated and he hugged her. "Where were you? How did you...? When...? What...?"
She winced. "Corvin! You’re going to break my ribs like that. Again. And try finishing one question before you go on to the next, hmm?"
Corvin laughed and drew back, and looked at her. Really looked at her...she wasn’t in the best shape. Blood stained her clothing, although other than that it was clean. Her hair was tangled and knotted, and the color seemed both faded and dirty, the result first of deep staining and second of sun-bleaching. In general, she looked haggard and in pain; apparently she hadn’t bothered to clean herself up before coming to see him.
Her swords were missing.
Corvin looked once, and then again. She still wore her sword belt, but the sheaths and their twin occupants were gone.
Caitlin saw his glance, and looked sad for a moment. "They went down with the ship..." she said quietly. "Nothing I could do...."
Corvin shook his head, smiled, and hugged her again. "At least you’re alive," he said. "I almost gave up hope...."
"You? Yeah, right," she grinned at him.
"Yep. Me."
To one side, Edge cleared his throat.
Caitlin turned her head to him. "Oh," she said. "Oops." She looked to Corvin. "Come on, mom doesn’t know I’m back yet, we gotta go tell her."
Corvin nodded, smiled, and followed.
They might not be winning the war, but right now, it sure felt like it. He whistled a bright tune as the stone of the halls passed by beside them. Tomorrow was another day, but he wasn’t going to worry; right now, Caitlin was here and well. That was all that mattered. All would be well.
Or so he thought.