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Chapter Thirty-Two
Last Updated:
2023-08-16 06:12:19
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The Villain's Hero Chapter Thirty-Three
We rode out from the village two days later, towards the spot that my siblings, by means of over-flying it in dragon form, had determined to be the best position for the initial campsite. Our convoy had grown. A number of villagers had joined us – young boys recruited as pages with the goal of training as squires, young women who had fallen for the charms and romance of the knights, and tradesmen such as the blacksmith following with their eyes on the golden coins in my sibling’s purses.Perditha’s addition was not a surprise to me. Rue’s efforts to win her affections were not as unsuccessful as they had appeared destined to be with the stops and starts of that first day. Perditha had been hesitant and wary, and perhaps another man would have pushed too hard without regard for her boundaries, but Rue was not that sort of man.The next morning, he had begun the day by chopping the wood in her yard and stacking it to season ready for winter. The sound of the axe had announced his arriva
Last Updated : 2023-08-21The Villain's Hero Chapter Thirty-Four
On the road, our brief overnight stops had only merited the use of the small A frame tents, however as it was possible that we would stay for weeks at the base camp, the larger Fae-made war tents were erected, great multi-chamber constructions that cheerfully waved the purple standard with its golden dragon of Uyan Taesil, as well as the Nerith’s royals’ white skull with a golden crown and Fae rose wreath on a black cloth – the design a nod both to Akyran’s Dark Court inheritance and to Ecaeris’ Necromancer skills.With the rings of smaller tents, and wagon’s converted into accommodation, we swiftly formed a village of flapping canvas at the side of the river that had been the reason for the site’s selection. The healer’s tent was by far the largest of the structures, something which was rather ominous if a person stopped to think about it overlong. It was busy with healers and volunteers who were setting up the cot beds, tables, and shelves for the potions, elixirs, and bandages we m
Last Updated : 2023-08-22The Villain's Hero Chapter Thirty-Five
The healer’s tent exploded into a chaos of blood and gore as the knights and hunters returned. The freneticism of stopping bleeding, stitching wounds, and applying potions kept me too busy to think, but I slowly began to piece together a story of what had befallen them. The creature had possessed a tail to accompany the pinchers that Val had mimed for me that morning, and that tail had been armed with some type of stinger.The injuries varied from burns from the poison of the stinger to cuts, and bruises from being knocked aside in the swing of its great tail. The burn injuries were most serious, but still relatively minor, the knights and hunters having been too many, too small, and too quick for the creature to stab effectively.Most of the knights and hunters had been covered by their leather or metal armor. The first step was to strip that from them without coming into contact with the poison or getting more upon the injured person. Hands, necks, and faces were the most common inj
Last Updated : 2023-08-23The Villain's Hero Chapter Thirty-Six
In a daze, I made my way to the river and washed off the blood as Rue had bade me to do.My father had long had a saying that prophesies were rarely wrong, but our interpretations of them could be. There were, after all, so many different ways to interpret words.There might be time, I told myself as I watched the moonlight spread in the ripples of the water. The monsters had been the bane of our world for decades. There was no guarantee that this campaign would discover their origin. There was no guarantee that now was the time for the prophecy to be fulfilled.I pressed my hand over my stomach as the tears ran down my face. Maybe there would be time for this child to be born. Half a year was all that I needed to give it life.My breath dragged in on a sob and I pressed fingers icy from the water to my eyes, trying to stem the tears. My family would raise the baby for me. I did not fear for it, but I grieved what we would not have. How much time might prophesy give me with my child?
Last Updated : 2023-08-28The Villain's Hero Chapter Thirty-Seven
At first glance, the camp looked no different, and I hoped that Rue was wrong about deserters, however as I went about my day, it became evident that there were gaps. Wagons were missing, fewer horses grazed, and tents were empty.People were tense, sliding sideways glances at my siblings as they moved through the camp. Although they maintained an appearance of dragon-stoicism, Tarragon, Rue, and the twins talked more frequently during the day in dragon, discussing what to do. In comparison to their frequent conversations, the rest of the camp seemed muted, their conversations carried out in hushed murmurs, interrupted, and falling into guilty silence whenever someone passed by.That night, I was woken by movement and murmurings outside of the tent. In the dark, I met Tarragon’s eyes. She put a finger to her lips and we both listened to the sounds of horses being led past, the clank of armor, and the creak of wagons.When the noises passed, Tarra rolled over and appeared to return to
Last Updated : 2023-08-29The Villain's Hero Chapter Thirty-Eight
There was much to keep us busy. The injured in the healer’s tents needed to be washed, fed, and watered, their bandages and bedding changed. There were potions and poultices to make and administer, and spells to cast.The toxins of the monsters seemed to increase the risk of infection and the onset of rot into the wounds, and there were two patients that seemed very likely to succumb to their injuries – one a burn victim, and the other the man whose leg we had amputated the day before.“It is time,” Perditha decided grimly.I nodded, and we lifted Daerton’s chest of anti-venoms onto the tabletop, standing before it and inspecting the little vials with trepidation. I reached for a vial from the center. “The creature they brought back was not an arachnid. It did look a little like the creature these potions were made from, but only a little. I think the middle potions, that combines elements of both, would be the safest option,” I told her.“The creature…” She said slowly. “It is still
Last Updated : 2023-08-30The Villain's Hero Chapter Thirty-Nine
I ran. My skirts tangled around my legs, and I dragged the fabric up, paying no heed to modesty as I ran, my heart in my throat and tears already in my eyes.Tarragon held Caraway in her arms, and I could see the steady drip of blood off his naked hip. Rue was standing on his own two feet, but the moment that Valerian transformed, he put his arm around Rue’s waist. Tarragon’s face was pale, her expression utterly blank, shocked beyond comprehension.“Cara!” I reached them. I could see that someone had applied a field-bandage to his stomach, but it was soaked through. “Straight to the tent!” I turned to Rue. He was also roughly bandaged, the wound to his forearm.“It’s nothing,” he told me, though his face was parchment-white and from the set of his jaw I could see that he was in pain. “A glancing wound. Enough to prevent me from flying. Nothing else. Tend to Cara, Daethie.”I nodded and turned to run ahead.Aien was making his way to meet us and stopped as our paths crossed. “Daethie?
Last Updated : 2023-09-04The Villain's Hero Chapter Forty
“What happened?” Aien asked Valerian. Perditha had taken Valerian’s place in order to wipe the blood with a damp cloth so that I could see where to stitch. She pressed her fingertips to Caraway’s throat and nodded to me reassuringly. “He’s strong,” she said quietly. “We must hope for the best.” “Tarragon was in trouble,” Valerian said. “There were many monsters. They came out of the trees in great swarms. We burnt those that we could, but we could not use our flame close to where Tarragon fought. The knights…” He looked around him and switched to dragon. “They fled. They abandoned her. When Caraway saw Tarragon go down, he swept in, caught her in his claws, but one of the creatures raked him across the underbelly…” “I don’t understand,” Aien said. “Tarragon was alone,” Rue said standing and walking over to join us. His arm was bandaged and held to his chest in a neat sling, but his face was still unnaturally pale. “You should sit, Rue,” Perditha said anxiously. “The toxins…” “I w
Last Updated : 2023-09-05
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“No,” Ecaeris looked at me in surprise. “No Daethie, I don’t believe you are meant to die. I didn’t believe that Tarragon was destined for death, either. Do you think so little of us all – the Fae royal family, your own parents – to think that we would send Tarragon, your brothers, yourself, and Aien blithely off to die? No,” she reached out and gripped my shoulder. “If that had been in our thoughts, we would have come on the campaign and done all that we could to protect you all.” “Oh,” I crumpled, weeping. “Oh, Daethie,” Ecaeris shook me slightly. “Foolish children,” she tsked. “You never told Tarragon,” I pointed out. “She has thought all this time that the lamb would die to end the slaughter, but there is no end...” Ecaeris winced and blew out a breath. “We did not anticipate that she would interpret the prophecy in such a way, and the intention behind keeping that part to ourselves was to keep the population hopeful whilst we trained her to fulfill her role. She never spoke to
The Villain's Hero Chapter Forty-Nine
We arrived at the stronghold with Shara landing heavily in the courtyard now bare of statues. Shara waited for us to dismount before returning to the air, making the flight back towards the camp. I wondered what she had made of our conversation – she would have heard every word that Aien and I had said, and yet she had remained silent, allowing us to speak with the illusion of privacy.We were immediately surrounded by concerned servants. Much had changed at the stronghold I saw as we were hastened up into the hall. It was clean, the shutters open to admit the light, and the fires and torches lit. There were vases heavy with greenery, bright tapestries on the walls and rugs beneath our feet. The scent of food cooking made my stomach rumble.The stronghold had come alive, like the statues from the courtyard.It was not to Aien’s mother’s chamber that I was led but another, less grand, but only just, and it was more than ample for my needs. In the busyness of the maids who hastened to t
The Villain's Hero Chapter Forty-Eight
I woke with Aien wrapped tightly around me. I closed my eyes tightly against the day and buried my face into his chest, determined to stay and appreciate the warmth for as long as possible. We had arrived back to camp deep into the night, too dazed with exhaustion to do more than stagger into the tent and fall into the nest that he had built…“Why a nest?” I murmured.“What?” He was groggy with sleep, his movements languorous as he shifted against me, drawing me even closer as if he sought to press me within his very skin and bone.“This isn’t a bed,” I told him. “It’s a nest, such as female dragons build for…” I trailed off, vulnerable. It had always been my most dominant dragonish trait, the one behavior that was all instinct and had not been learned.Tarragon had never shown that particular inclination and Shara was too young. Our brothers and father were male, and it had always been a female dragon trait – the males built treasure hordes, whilst female dragons built cozy nests in
The Villain's Hero Chapter Forty-Seven
There were far too many, I thought in panic, and they seemed to keep coming from the trees in an endless stream. The small monsters the size of a big man like my father in man-form were so quick, whilst the larger ones followed behind, their dragon-size intimidating.I propelled myself up and forward with my wings, meeting the front-line of the small monsters beyond the ring of stones, as far from Tarragon as I could. The blade of my sword flashed as I landed amongst them. It took a moment for those at the front to turn, and I was already in the thick of sharp legs, snapping mandibles, and spiny carapaces.The moves that I had learned by rote in Nerith but had never mastered flowed through me effortlessly. I dodged, and dove, slicing with Intuin Desparen, carving through legs and bodies, spraying blood and gore in heavy streams that arced from the tip of the blade and rained back down over me, covering me in the foul liquid.As the larger creatures reached the battle, I broke free, so
The Villain's Hero Chapter Forty-Six
I ignored Tarragon, and she sighed in heavy disapproval. “So stubborn,” she muttered in dragon. “You get that from our mother.”“With the four of you on one side, and Shara on the other, I have to be stubborn, or I’d never get my way,” I pointed out.She laughed, the tension between us breaking, and then pulled her horse to a standstill. “Do you hear that?” She asked, barely at a whisper.“Hear what?” I listened intently. The trees around us were still and silent. The rustle of the dried leaf matter and the music of leaves and branches, as the wind stirred through the forest, seemed overly loud. “There are no birds,” I whispered the words realizing that these sounds were normally muted by the ever-moving wildlife. It was as if everything living in the area had left. “There are no creatures in the trees.”“Yes,” she murmured it quietly. “Frightened away or eaten? Dae,” she added solemnly. “I think that we are very close. This may be your last chance…”I raised my eyebrows. “Stubborn, r
The Villain's Hero Chapter Forty-Five
It took a while to pack clothing, bandages, and medical supplies into bags that Rue, Caraway, and Perditha could carry. We rigged straps around Valerian in dragon form in case either Rue or Caraway lost consciousness during the journey. Whilst a dragon was capable of catching a falling rider mid-air, the maneuver required to do so could unseat other passengers. We contemplated having Valerian carry Caraway or Rue in his claws, but doing so for such a long time would cause cramps and impact Valerian’s ability to land carefully enough for his other passengers.Rue and Caraway protested being tied to Valerian’s back like babes, but Perditha and I would have none of it, and they sulked as they knotted the ropes around them. Still, I saw both grip their bindings for support as Valerian, heavy with so many passengers, leaped into the air.The wind of Valerian’s wing strokes blew back my hair and sent my skirts to snapping around my legs and in the field I saw Aien and the few workers who re
The Villain's Hero Chapter Forty-Four
I woke against Aien’s chest, and for a moment thought that we were back in the farmhouse. I was warm and comfortable curled up with him, his heartbeat under my palm and his steady breath stirring my hair. My mind drew a picture of our bedroom there, the sun bright through the window on the scuffed and bleached floorboards, the heavy wooden bed that creaked under our lovemaking, and the little fireplace with its stack of wood laid by ready for a cold day.But the sounds did not match my memory. There was no sound of a farm waking, no birdcall from the trees, the goats complaining about captivity, and chickens squawking about their morning eggs. No, there was the ever-present flap of canvas in the wind, the creak of rope straining under the pressure, and the distant whisper of the river.We were at the camp, I realized as the softness of dream faded into reality. We were at the camp on campaign, and I was in Aien’s little nest in the entrance to Rue’s tent. I would need to rise soon and
The Villain's Hero Chapter Forty-Three
The night was not still, and my tears were interrupted by the sounds of tents being dismantled, hasty whispers and rustles, followed by the creak of wagons and the hollow fall of horse-hooves. Aien and I both stilled, listening. A man called out, challenging those leaving, arguing that abandoning the campaign was cowardice. They called him a fool and encouraged him to join them before continuing undeterred. I gripped Aien’s shirt in both fists and leaned my forehead against the warmth of his chest. He stroked his hands up and down my back. “Perhaps…” He said into my hair. “Tomorrow we may go too, Daethie…?” “Perhaps.” I didn’t want to think about the morning. Lying pressed against Aien, feeling his body against mine with just the finest layers of cloth between us made me ache for him. I was not alone, his desire evident where our tangled legs brought our hips together. I slowly lifted my head, looking up at him. His hand shook as he stroked my hair back from my face and his face sof
The Villain's Hero Chapter Forty-Two
Tarragon was drunk.The knights and camp followers who had gathered around the fire to ease their weariness with food and ale clustered on the opposite side of the flames to where she sat staring into the glowing embers, a jug of spirit held in one hand. Her dragon-nature was on full display in her stillness, the flames echoed in her eyes, and her jaw grimly set.It took a considerable amount of effort and alcohol for a dragon to become intoxicated. I had only ever seen my father tipsy on a few rare occasions, and never morosely so. When our father drank enough to affect himself, he would speak freely of his past, his childhood, and his people, sing the refrains of ancient songs that he only half-remembered, and then he would wrap his arms around our mother and whisper to her in Fae until they crept away to make another sibling for our family.My brothers and Tarragon regularly drank, but only into joviality, until they sang songs of war, or gambled ridiculous wagers, let their knight
