Coins on a Battlefield ONC 2023

Fleeting Time

Elena burst into tears as she threw herself into Leoric's arms, after making it in his camp only minutes before her follower. She didn't expect it of herself--swore she was tough, but perhaps she could blame it all on not getting enough sleep instead of trauma--which was the basis of war. Denial was normal for the midst of battle.

Commander Abbot carried his wife into his tent and sat down on his cot to rock her until she calmed. He waited for the shuddering sobs of exhaustion after a good post-cry to die off before talking. "What sent you out so early?"

"Wren walks Abbot's Castle. She is with those three little girls--not one of them are children in their head and...and last night?" Elena wasn't one to talk with her hands, especially since that could cause weapons to be drawn, but she was upset enough to not notice that they were everywhere but controlled.

"Shhh, you don't have to say more." Leoric grabbed her closest hand, to pull it in against his neck, to let her find his heartbeat, as his mail was in the way. " I had my battles with their high priestess when they wouldn't let me go. The reason two priestesses of Wren carried my child is that I couldn't separate my nightmares from my waking moments anymore. I'm surprised that only two children come from that hell."

He said it so calmly--there were things he left out of his paperwork, still more secrets.

Worry or his heartbeat, which one stilled her? Elena felt more focused, but that didn't mean that everything was better--not yet. "I would have stayed but I have a solution to getting the people behind this--and possibly the Goddess herself--to come out."

"What do you need of me?"

"Ah, directly ask Ang-Nui if he's willing to battle Wren for stealing into his territory like this. I need to mix some pills for you to start taking and you need a private meal with these little girls so they can try to kill you."

"So you know how they did it."

"Yes, and the counter for one attempt, not chronic attempts."

"What else?"

"We need to lock the children's powers in their bodies. I need Ang-Nui's support when you appear to fall. And we need to have as few people in the room as possible."

"Go mix your little pills, I'll get them to make ready for the ride. I assume I should be an autocratic ass?"

"Well, I did run away from my duties."

"Hopefully we have this done by nightfall, then."

It was a rushed experience for Elena. Mixing the Deadrott with beet powder made a chew that was only a hair tacky, which she cleared up with a light dusting of flour as she cut it into small tablets. She wrapped up two-thirds and kept the rest out for Leoric to eat right before they rode out.

The future Duke found her right as she was finishing. "Ang-Nui wants to taste your memories, my love."

"How?" Elena dusted off her hands as she stood to face him. Leoric pulled her in for a gentle kiss with eyes that were filled with life and light...if he had been too somber, the memories would have drowned her.

She could see that marshland and the blinking eyes on the cattails. She re-lived the past day and night--distanced from the actions or it would have hurt all over. It was like their God took on the burden of the pain.

The grim man she had briefly feared before this moment is what pulled back from her--apparently, Ang-Nui didn't keep it from His paladin. Leoric spat to the side in a manner that reminded her of Ven. "My past wants to haunt my future. It must end."

The problem was she couldn't tell if it was the God or the man who spoke those words--honestly it shouldn't matter since it was clear that Paladin and God tried to pull together as much as they could.

She handed him the concoction and he ate it. Then he placed his ring on her thumb. "This is my ring of dedication. When you kiss the stone, you will be my apprentice. Don't do it until you're ready to strike."

~~~

Minutes later, they were riding home to hell.

Hours later, they made it into the courtyard where Commander Abbot took on the mantle of Lord and Master for the first time, bellowing for everyone to come out and present themselves while he chewed Elena out. He only faltered when he saw his daughters for the first time, before he hardened his heart for what needed to be done. He chewed out the head maid for allowing his girls to eat with everyone else, demanded that their first meal together would be in the stateroom, immediately, sending maids and cook running back into the castle to obey this irate man's commands.

Beth's smile was almost demonic as Leoric placed a necklace on all three of his daughters.

~~~

It felt like an eternity and seconds alike as Leoric sat at the table with his girls. He made Elena sit down beside him and announced that she was his wife to the shocked maid and children. Well, 2 shocked children and one foaming mad 1. He dismissed the head maid after that--the juicy gossip should be enough to get her to go running off to the cook instead of staying near the battle.

Elena shakily raised a bite to her lips--she hadn't thought to protect herself. Leo took it from her and placed it back on the plate, to drip venom into his command. "No, my beloved, you will not eat until I'm satisfied with your punishment."

So, the children ate as they would while Leoric ate his meal in stony silence.

Elena kept her hands in her lap, wringing them in restlessness.

With his last bite, Leoric slumped over into his plate.

"Why don't you eat..." Beth started to speak to Elena, but the necklace began to tighten around her throat, choking the child's words--all three of them began tugging at the things, coughing.

The wall behind the girls distorted and fell. Two women lay battered against a stone wall, but the third stood up from a throne--it was the bitch from her nightmares.

As the monstrous priestess stepped forward into Abbbot's Duchy the invisible wall between realities rippled. She hissed at Elena like a cat as she crossed over.

Hastily Elena kissed the ring's seal, muttering, "Ang-Nui, you better back me on this."

She picked up Abbot's personal knife off the table and launched it at the woman--it wobbled more than flipped like a throwing knife. Would it hit one of the children? It felt like an eternity as the blade crossed the room, before hitting Wren's Priestess in the center of her throat, where the voice resides. She'd be dead in moments, but the woman tried to speak anyway.

The lights dimmed in her eyes and the head rolled back, straining further open at the blade, and still, the body tried to speak.

Finally, Wren had enough and poured out the dead body to land on the table. She was the shape of a cat with extra legs and bigger teeth. "Filthy. Human. Stealing my property, which includes your frail body."

As it went to swipe at Elena's face, her vision rippled and she saw the lake again.

The cattails climbed out of the water on a crab's back and it ripped its chin-feelers out of the ground, causing the strange vision to dim before it wholly disappeared into the crab. It dwarfed the cat, taking up half the room. The feline hissed and jumped on its back, clawing away at eyes that scattered in puffs of seeds.

Its feet clacked on the stone as it scuttled around, looking for something as its eyes kept diminishing. Finally, it reached the base of the cat's tail and pinched it off.

Wren diminished to the size of a normal house cat immediately and attempted to scrabble away from Ang-Nui's pincers, but it grabbed the cat by its neck and broke it, ending the life of the demented Goddess with one good pinch. Then Ang-Nui settled down like a crab and ate the Goddess in little tiny strips.

Beth looked bewildered and started bawling. Roe hid under the table, shaking. Agni sniffed boredly, "Ah, Elena...mother? Could you help me move these two fools onto this side of the aperture before it closes?"