archers. Dru and Tennison, the sole Techno Knight of the group, lead the charge. The last deep rumble of the Keep's war horn rolling across the lands in our wake.
I had to look down at myself then over to my Lady. It felt so very odd riding out to battle without our armor. Instead, we wore brightly colored gypsy garments in yellows and deep purples and greens. Our only protections were our heavily spelled riding cloaks and the sloppy and weak charms that Dru had shown me how to construct on our clothing.
They only had a fraction of the power that I could feel from the wispy magics the true Touched had placed on our cloaks. But Dru was not of the Touched, so could only instruct me to the extent his sister had explained to him. Even so, I was amazed that the magics persisted after I constructed each charm. Though it resulted in blurred, poorly constructed runes imbued into the clothing, in that glowing, misty white magic of the spirit. I placed as many protective and luck charms as I could on them until I was exhausted.
I almost sighed when I looked at Celeste, she looked great in anything and didn't look silly in the brightly colored garb like I did. Her fiery mane billowed back in the wind of our passing, with her deadly looking sword in its scabbard on her back peeking out from under her cloak, making her look dangerously seductive. Like a vengeful wraith, full of fire and beauty.
I glanced at the four knights that bracketed us, or personal diplomatic escort. To our right, were, of course, Verna and Bowyn. The second and fourth best with a sword in the entire realm; Tennison being the first and Celeste the third. We wouldn't have been able to convince Verna to stand aside in this mission, she was Celeste's best friend and would not let us attempt this on our own. And Bowyn has been Celeste's partner since he was assigned to her the day she became a knight.
Verna had a fierce look on her face, and the long scar which cut diagonally across her face made her look even more dangerous than her bulging muscles.
To our left, I had to grin, Bex in his clockwork looking armor with all of his gadgets and wires sprouting out everywhere. And Kristof rounded out our escort, where his wife, Verna goes, as well does he.
They all looked somehow distinguished with their modified sashes, that held the crest of Wexbury and the prominent royal seal of Highland, giving then free passage throughout all the realms and complete autonomy by decree of the crown.
I glanced back, at another of the 'volunteers'. When the mission was announced after the grand feast last night, the entire mobile battalion to the man had stepped up to volunteer to liberate the Lupei clan. I could see Celest's pride for her knights glowing in her eyes at that. They had to draw lots to see who would be selected.
I'm quite sure, part of the draw was fixed as I smiled at our newest knight who got her commission just days after Bex and me. Lady Brenda rode high in her saddle. She had been in our small group of squires before the mission to Far Reach. Brenda, Bex, and I were advanced quickly because of our contributions to the battle.
She saw me looking and gave me a smile and a wink. I grinned back at her. She and our dear Lord Bexington are set to be betrothed on the fall solstice in two months. That was as improbable of a match as Celeste and I were, the strong and capable Brenda, and our scatterbrained intellectual, Bex. He the brains, her the brawn. But in the past two years, he has come a long way. He was still gangly and clumsy, but his pimpled complexion had cleared up and there was some muscle on the young man's body now. The two were good friends to have.
The other person I'm sure was in on the fix was Lord Peter, the most accomplished archer in the realm. Stories abound about him never missing his target except for one tale of him missing a buck in a hunt. He supposedly missed on purpose when he saw a cougar was on the scent before him. He said that he would
I had to look down at myself then over to my Lady. It felt so very odd riding out to battle without our armor. Instead, we wore brightly colored gypsy garments in yellows and deep purples and greens. Our only protections were our heavily spelled riding cloaks and the sloppy and weak charms that Dru had shown me how to construct on our clothing.
They only had a fraction of the power that I could feel from the wispy magics the true Touched had placed on our cloaks. But Dru was not of the Touched, so could only instruct me to the extent his sister had explained to him. Even so, I was amazed that the magics persisted after I constructed each charm. Though it resulted in blurred, poorly constructed runes imbued into the clothing, in that glowing, misty white magic of the spirit. I placed as many protective and luck charms as I could on them until I was exhausted.
I almost sighed when I looked at Celeste, she looked great in anything and didn't look silly in the brightly colored garb like I did. Her fiery mane billowed back in the wind of our passing, with her deadly looking sword in its scabbard on her back peeking out from under her cloak, making her look dangerously seductive. Like a vengeful wraith, full of fire and beauty.
I glanced at the four knights that bracketed us, or personal diplomatic escort. To our right, were, of course, Verna and Bowyn. The second and fourth best with a sword in the entire realm; Tennison being the first and Celeste the third. We wouldn't have been able to convince Verna to stand aside in this mission, she was Celeste's best friend and would not let us attempt this on our own. And Bowyn has been Celeste's partner since he was assigned to her the day she became a knight.
Verna had a fierce look on her face, and the long scar which cut diagonally across her face made her look even more dangerous than her bulging muscles.
To our left, I had to grin, Bex in his clockwork looking armor with all of his gadgets and wires sprouting out everywhere. And Kristof rounded out our escort, where his wife, Verna goes, as well does he.
They all looked somehow distinguished with their modified sashes, that held the crest of Wexbury and the prominent royal seal of Highland, giving then free passage throughout all the realms and complete autonomy by decree of the crown.
I glanced back, at another of the 'volunteers'. When the mission was announced after the grand feast last night, the entire mobile battalion to the man had stepped up to volunteer to liberate the Lupei clan. I could see Celest's pride for her knights glowing in her eyes at that. They had to draw lots to see who would be selected.
I'm quite sure, part of the draw was fixed as I smiled at our newest knight who got her commission just days after Bex and me. Lady Brenda rode high in her saddle. She had been in our small group of squires before the mission to Far Reach. Brenda, Bex, and I were advanced quickly because of our contributions to the battle.
She saw me looking and gave me a smile and a wink. I grinned back at her. She and our dear Lord Bexington are set to be betrothed on the fall solstice in two months. That was as improbable of a match as Celeste and I were, the strong and capable Brenda, and our scatterbrained intellectual, Bex. He the brains, her the brawn. But in the past two years, he has come a long way. He was still gangly and clumsy, but his pimpled complexion had cleared up and there was some muscle on the young man's body now. The two were good friends to have.
The other person I'm sure was in on the fix was Lord Peter, the most accomplished archer in the realm. Stories abound about him never missing his target except for one tale of him missing a buck in a hunt. He supposedly missed on purpose when he saw a cougar was on the scent before him. He said that he would
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