Markus
There was an urgency in the towns they rode through, the sort that Markus had only experienced once before on the day his grandfather died and his father had been crowned king.
Though Julius had been quite old, it had been a very unexpected death. He had survived the war and up until that moment, he had the admiration and loyalty of all his daughters.
That said, no one in their realm was truly surprised when the eldest ran her spear through his head. After news of Helen's death swept their kingdom, it was only a matter of time before it happened, but no one had expected it to happen quite so soon.
Markus could remember vividly being dragged back and forth around the capitol by his father as Antonius was ferried around in preparation for his coronation. With each passing stop, things became increasingly urgent as every corner of the kingdom sprung to action to begin the celebration of a new king, as well as dealing with the conflicted emotions of losing a highly efficient but tyrannical former king.
It somehow felt like that now.
Only, this time it was the opposite.
Then, there was an increasingly happy atmosphere, celebratory. Relief. People were able to relax for the first time in several generations and allow themselves the moment to appreciate the beauty of their kingdom.
Now, it was slowly descending into panic and terror as realization took hold that something was terribly wrong.
The level and sudden swell of emotion was all the same, though, suffocating Markus as it surrounded him from all around.
The closer they came to the epicenter of the incident, he began to see people sitting along buildings, their faces scratched to shreds as windows and doors were hastily closed and blocked off. In the air, there was a buzzing, the sound of thousands of beating wings that nearly drowned out all other noises of the panicked locals.
The farmer riding just ahead of him shouted over it, saying that they were just over the next hill, where Markus saw people hurrying away from. He kicked at his horse to hurry around them before his horse was struck in the face with something, startling it into rearing up. After jerking it back into place, he leaned forward to pull the small pale thing that clung to his horse’s face and was immediately bit on the finger.
Markus winced, the teeth unusually sharp, and pulled his hand back to pry the thing, a creature smaller than the palm of his hand, off his pointer finger. He gripped it hard to see it looked like a tiny person with a cloud of frizzy bright red hair on its head and wings like dragonflies. It thrashed wildly in Markus’ loose hold to try and free itself, screeching at Markus as it clawed at his fingers, leaving white lines on his skin where others would have their flesh torn open. The fact that it was even able to nearly pierce his skin was impressive, though.
Markus flung it aside with a frown before he dismounted and walked quickly up the hill past the fleeing locals to look down over the vineyards -
Or, what had been the vineyards.
Dozen of long stretching rows of grapevines were covered in the little creatures, gnawing away at anything they could get their mouth on. Most of the fruit had been harvested some months back, but any new growth was gone, as were the leaves and the young vines, ripped apart by tiny mouths and razor teeth. The trees serving as wind breakers were full of the creatures, chirping noise at each other as they jumped in and out of the foliage. The air above the fields was spotted with them, groups flying around in circles to swoop down and attack anyone that tried to near where most gathered on the vines.
The farmer joined him and breathlessly pointed eastward toward where the pear groves were maintained near the river and said they had been consumed as well. “If they go north, they will surely consume the fig orchards!”
The fig, of course, where the staple fruit of their kingdom, and the largest orchard by far was the one here just outside of the city. Losing that would be very troubling for them.
A flash of movement and Markus turned to see one of his Father’s lycan clumsily stopping on the hill opposite him. He whistled with two of his fingers and the lycan’s head snapped to him, meeting his gaze before he spun around spastically and ran back in the opposite direction. A scout sent by his aunts, Markus realized, meaning they would be here very shortly.
The farmer asked what they should do, but Markus did not answer. He did not know. These were not familiar creatures to him. There were many and their thoughts were strange - simplistic, but at the same time, they possessed more intelligence than most other creatures. There was strategy there. They had tasks assigned, they seemed to communicate amongst themselves like bees, communicating not with words, but with motion and emotive expressions and screeching similar to how his aunts did, minus the screeching.
Markus eyed the remnants of it all and scowled.
The air around them snapped and his tunic fluttered violently, the farmer flinched and whipped around to look with shock and awe at something behind Markus and Markus knew his aunts had arrived.
Markus turned a little to see Cydonia, flanked on either side by Malia and Hesperia, the trio of his eldest Aunts, all dressed in their armor and looking livid, which did not surprise Markus. These vineyards were favored for the special liqueur, which they drank with all of their meals, a tradition taken from Julius.
His aunts came over to where he was and ignored him completely, the three of them moving around him like he wasn’t even there. There was a large rock protruding from the edge of the hill and Cydonia effortlessly stepped up onto it, Malia coming to stand just left of her while Hesperia stood to the right. Together they glared down at the scene. After a moment, Cydonia looked to Malia, nodded, and then to Hesperia to exchange a hard look with her.
Cydonia then spun her spear, once, twice, and then thrice as they gazed down at it all for a long moment.
“Pixies!” Cydonia declared in her booming voice that echoed down into the valley, carrying behind her on the breeze.
“Burn them!” Hesperia cried.
“Do it!” Malia ordered.
Cydonia hollered before she pulled back the spear and sent it flying through the air -
Markus stiffened at the sight, his breath hitching. He raced forward to the edge of the hill to watch with wide eyes as it soared silently through the sky to pierce the ground at the center of the field. With a roar of thunder, so loud it pained him to hear, lightning exploded out in all directions, fire blossoming like a deadly blue flower to consume the entire vineyard and send a wave of heat outward. Smoke began to waff up and Markus watched as the little pixies that hadn’t been electrocuted fall out of the sky, choking on the fumes. Some showed loyalty and tried to help their fellow creature, others scattered.
Cydonia turned and look around at the remaining farmers and their torn looks, as well as the pair of conflicted looking lycan standing nearby. His aunt had just destroyed a vineyard that was over a hundred years old and the one vineyard that grew the intense wine appreciated at ceremonies.
It was a great loss and that showed on the faces of the farmers, but Markus knew that they trusted his aunts and the decisions completely, and so there was no anger, just a sort of depressed emotion.
“Spread the word!” Cydonia roared to them. “Any and all of the creatures must be killed! If they nest, they will stay and it will be a terrible trial to rid ourselves of them! Use whatever method you must and crush them! Quickly now! Every leaf in the kingdom must be turned over to seek them!” The farmers dispersed immediately and Cydonia looked to the lycan. “Tell the queen to see that the message is put out across the entire kingdom. We do not know how far the pixies have spread and everyone must be vigilant. Kill on sight!” The lycan nodded before they turned and disappeared.
“Bolotnik.” Malia sneered then as Cydonia turned slowly to face the burning vineyards, “Nix!” She spat.
“And pixies makes three, sister.” Hesperia growled at Cydonia. “What say you now of Sariel's intentions?”
Cydonia’s face hardened as she looked down between her sisters before she stepped off the rock to be equal with them, standing on level grounds. Her face hardened. “The Nix were only rumors.” She drawled.
“From a reliable source!” Hesperia snapped, her eyes flashing when Cydonia turned to fully glare at her. Malia shifted her weight between them and Markus recognized she was getting into position to move swiftly, if needed, likely to intervene between the other two. It was unusual for his aunts to fight amongst themselves, but when they did, it was not pretty. As he would never kill Alexandros, his aunts would never kill one another.
But it pressed hard enough, they would beat each other into unconsciousness.
“The source was not a sister of ours,” Cydonia snarled, “It was not one of our sisters that witnessed it with her own eyes, and thus is not up to my standard. We must speak to someone who has seen them before, least we wish to provoke an unnecessary fight!”
“Unnecessary!? What do you call this?!” Hesperia threw her arm out toward the fire. “It’s an invasion!”
“We must be sure!” Cydonia roared right back before she moved forward in a flash, grabbing the front of Hesperia’s armor. “I will not risk losing any more sisters to their hands! Retaliation could mean another war!”
“The daughters would not be prepared to fight.” Markus said then, all three sisters freezing. Slowly, they all turned to stare at him, as if realizing he had been here this whole time. “If war is waged, we would be far less prepared than before. None of my sisters are capable or willing to engage in battle.” He lowered his chin under their intense gazes as Cydonia released her sister. “We must be sure.”
“No!” Hesperia hissed at him before whipping her head back to Cydonia. “This is the time to finish what was started, when they are vulnerable! There is only one of each left!”
“Two.” Malia said lowly. “Sariel has one. Gadreel has two.”
“The eldest of Gadreel doesn't matter. He can’t produce.” Hesperia said quickly, Cydonia looking between them as they spoke.
“He has power.” Malia sneered in return, “He lives. He matters.” She licked her lips. “But neither brother are in our realm at the moment...if we did engage, it is unlikely they would make it back in time to aid Sariel.”
A mad smile was there and gone on Hesperia's face as she exchanged wild looks with Malia. She then looked back to Cydonia. “Then we focus on Sariel. It is their doing, their creatures - the nyx, the bolotnik, the pixies, they are all of Sariel blood. If we take him out, it removes Gadreel as well and we are able to finally get revenge for what was taken from us - from you, sister.” She said, touching Cydonia’s hand to hold onto it. “We can finally put an end to all of it!”
“You know that it will not be that easy.” Cydonia said firmly. “Sariel will never be easy.” A muscle in her jaw jumped.
Hesperia huffed, “But it is better to strike now where there is just one boy-”
“Man,” Cydonia corrected, “he is a man now.”
“But he is only one, and I understand that one is still dangerous, but not nearly as dangerous as when he has offspring.” She lowered her tone then. “I am not confident we will be able to do to them what we did to Gadreel, if their numbers grow. One will be war enough. Several would be suicide...and you know that he will go after Penemue, the moment he is able.”
At the mention of their ally, Cydonia’s face scrunched up and she turned her glare to where her spear sat at the center of the burning fields to frown at it with a far off look.
After several moments of tense silence, Hesperia clasped a hand onto Cydonia’s shoulder, Malia following suit to grab onto the opposite shoulder. “You have last say, sister.” Hesperia said softly, in a softer tone than Markus had ever thought her capable of. “We accept your decision.”
Another long moment passed before Cydonia let out a long breath. “We make sure it is Nix.” Cydonia said firmly, quietly. “And if it is true, and it is them, than we shift our focus to retaliation.”
“Agreed.” Her sisters said in unison.
Cydonia reached up to hold onto either of her sisters’ wrists on her shoulder but kept her gaze on the flames. “I will send word to Penemue. They will send down someone to make an identification. They will want proof if we wage war.”
“That’s assuming they would send aid to assist,” Malia said lowly. “They have no more princes to spare.” Again, a muscle in Cydonia’s jaw jumped.
“They have soldiers.” Hesperia pointed out.
“Who the sea will eat on Sariel’s command,” Malia said firmly. “If they have no power, they are worthless. What of Wilhelm? He too should be a young man now, capable. Wilhelm has power.” Markus did not miss the pointed glance he got from her before she fixed her sight back on Cydonia.
“Absolutely not. His life is too valuable to risk. We need him for the Covenant, for the future of this house.” Cydonia snipped with a pinched look.
“Then why don’t we get on that so he can produce an heir that carries the new Covenant,” Malia stressed. “Have Wilhelm and Markus finally get it over with, and then, once he has an heir, Wilhelm can be used against Sariel before he has heirs.”
“Wilhelm is only a Mentalist, though, Malia.” Hesperia pointed out. “How useful do you think he would be against an Elementalist like Sariel?”
Malia looked indecisive, tightening her grip on Cydonia’s shoulder as Cydonia drummed her fingers against her wrist. “Wilhelm is at least as - if not more so - skilled as that little troll-”
“Louis.” Hesperia corrected, “The eldest son of Gadreel is Louis.”
“Troll,” Malia said, correcting her in a thin tone. “He’s a little troll and he deserves no name, and Wilhelm is just as capable as he. And just look at the damage Louis did!”
“It wasn’t against an alert Elementalist, though, sister. It was against my unsuspecting fiance, a sorcerer.” Cydonia said darkly as she slowly looked to fix a glare at her sisters. “And I would advise you two drop him from this conversation unless you wish for me to lose my temper.” The other two fell silent. A beat passed and she took another deep breath. “We make an identification. We act accordingly. Until then, begin to train for what may come...but do not cause for alarm. If Sariel so much as catches a sniff of this, and they are purposely behind this, then they will stop playing coy. We haven’t seen them before as anything but, and I do not wish to see if rumors of their full power are true. With just one of them, they might very well act recklessly.”
“That’s usually Gadreel’s preferred action,” Malia said. "Sariel is more calculative."
“No, Cydonia is right,” Hesperia agreed, “With Sariel alone, they might very well lash out. Gadreel has always been their keeper….you know how elementalists are when they are without similars.”
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