Tales from Ettania

"Little One."

Emilia's eyes snapped open. The sun cut the room with a streak of light, shining through the middle of the windows where the blue velvet curtains did not reach. She propped herself up on her elbows and looked around for who had woken her. She thought it was her mother. Surely, the only reason the voice sounded so unfamiliar was that she had been in that place in between sleep and waking, but her parents' bed was perfectly made up.

"Emilia! Your parents have been up for hours doing YOUR chores. Get up." Karenal's voice pierced the quiet.

He banged on the door two times, shattering whatever was left of Emilia's concentration on the voice. She stuck her tongue out at the door but dragged herself out of bed with a long sigh. Goosebumps prickled her skin as the blankets fell away. She wondered how long it would be until the first snows fell now that winter was truly upon them.

"Emilia, I am going to have to—"

"Report me," Emilia fired back, "Don't bother. I'm up and on my way."

"You'd better be. If I don't see you downstairs by the time I am done bringing in the day's wood, I will send Gaemon after you."

Emilia hissed through her teeth. Of course, he would threaten her with one of the two worst Faye guards on the estate. One who took special delight in terrorizing the humans. She didn't understand Karenal or any of the humans who were little more than Faye loyalists. Humans who reported on others when they broke their oppressor's laws. She despised them for it. Even though her parents said she shouldn't.

"We should never hate others for finding a way to survive."

That's what they always said. Emilia wasn't sure they were right, but she at least gave Karenal credit for always giving her a warning instead of running straight to the guards when she wasn't doing what she was supposed to.

She dressed quickly in her undyed leather pants and her bleached woolen tunic with the long sleeves. She stumbled into the hallway, pulling on her boots, and hurried to the bathing room. She wished Illidyn, her family's Faye master, would build them their own bathing room and connect it to their room. She shouldn't be so greedy, she guessed, considering how kind Illidyn was. He never beat them and treated them with kindness, but sometimes it seemed like those weren't things anyone should have to be thankful for. Those things should just be things that everyone had. Yet, that is what the Faye had reduced humans to. A life where simply not being beaten regularly meant it was a good life. She did not even want to think about being sent to a dig site.

"Well, at least we also have indoor plumbing," Emilia muttered to herself as she walked into the bathing room to relieve herself, "and our master isn't just kind. He's also nice to look at."

The last thought brought a smile to Emilia's face as she finished and walked to the basin of water where she lathered up a bar of soap and washed her hands. She hastily tied her hair up into a bun and headed to the kitchen, stopping in her room on the way for her cloak. She grabbed a roll, fresh out of the brick oven, and tossed it from hand to hand as she jogged out the back door and to the stables. The wintry air quickly cooled the roll and she tore a chunk from the soft side as she walked through the stable doors, almost choking when the first thing she saw was her mom smacking her dad's arse.

"Gross!"

Her parents turned at her groan, their faces flushing a brilliant red as they laughed. Even though she hated thinking of, let alone seeing, her parents open adoration for each other made her love them even more. Theirs was a love rooted in their adolescence that had continued to grow stronger with every day that passed. Emilia hoped she would have a love like that one day. It wasn't something many humans had. Faye master's rarely considered love when arranging marriages of slaves.

"Emilia, nice of you to join us," her father said his face turning stern, "finally. While you were sleeping, we managed to finish all the morning and afternoon chores. Ours and yours."

"Oh stop it," Emilia's mother elbowed him in the side, smirking at the loud oomph he made, "we did that and let you sleep because we were able to work with Illidyn to arrange for you and the cadre to train today."

Emilia beamed and thrust a fist into the air. There were very few things she liked better than training or seeing her best friends Eva, Los, and Frances. Their closeness had made her mother and father start referring to them as the cadre. Her glee gave way to guilt, though, as she thought of all the chores that meant her parents had done.

"You should have woken me. I am so sorry. How early did you have to get up to finish all of those by now?"

Her father walked to her and gently touched her cheek, "None of that now. We did this because we wanted to."

Emilia began to thank him, when he smirked and added, "Plus, we knew we could not have made her royal laziest get out of bed that early if we had wanted."

Emilia rolled her eyes but hugged him tightly before running to her mother and hugging her as well.

"Thank you both, so much. When do we leave?" Emilia asked as she released her mother.

Her mother kissed her forehead, "We can go now. Your friends will join us a bit later."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Emilia demanded as she spun around and ran out of the stables.

~

Emilia's chest burned by the time they reached their private spot in Silver Forest. They had made it within what Emilia guessed was an hour, which meant she had improved her speed. She wondered when her endurance would finally reach the level where it didn't feel like a fire erupted in her chest when she ran that far.

Cresting the hill and seeing the valley opening up before her, made the burning less insistent. The place always seemed to invigorate her. She quickened her pace until she was in a full sprint as she pelted down and to the middle of the valley.

She turned her head to the sky and threw her arms out to the side. She turned in a slow circle, welcoming the beauty of the tall silver-tipped trees that swayed in the breeze and the slightly spicy aroma they added to the crystalline air. She drank it down in deep lungfuls. Emilia loved it here and not just because it was the place she trained and was able to be alone with her family and friends. The quiet splendor of the place wrapped her in joy and a sense of belonging. Here, here she felt free.

A wind brushed against her face, confusing her as it glided in the opposite direction of the wind whispering through the silver leaves. Emilia turned her head just in time to see her dad reaching out to grab her.

Training had begun.

Emilia hunched down and shifted to her right, throwing her left elbow into her father's hip. His momentum was halted as his body contorted. Emilia didn't wait for him to fall. She lifted up and shoved her shoulder into his chest while reaching over with her right hand to grab his cloak. She jerked on the cloak and he wheeled to her left, stumbling to his knees. He stopped himself from planting face first on the ground with his hands and looked over his shoulder, smirking at Emilia.

She mimicked his infamous smirk back at him and readied herself.

He sprung up and was on her before she could blink. His quickness reminded Emilia of eagles descending like lightning from the skies to snatch prey from the waters and land. She knew his favorite move, though, and jumped over the leg he thrust out. As her right foot touched the ground she launched herself up again and aimed her left knee at his nose. He flung his head to the side and turned his body, but his arms were not fast enough.

Her knee connected with his right shoulder, sending him in a backward fall onto the brittle grass. Emilia smiled in satisfaction seeing how far she had sent him flying.

"Ha! Got yo-"...Emilia's voice was cut off, a sharp pain jabbing into her left kidney making her knees buckle.

She looked up to see her mother's fist coming for her face. She ducked out of the way, but her mom did not miss a beat. A kick landed in her side and now it was Emilia soaring through the air and landing on the dead grass that scratched against her cheek.

"Never lose your focus, Em," Her mother said with the sternness Emilia had grown to loathe, "we have taught you better than this."

Her father trotted over, "Nice knee, kid."

Emilia smiled at the compliment, but it faded quickly as she looked at her mother, "Yes mother, I know. I will do better."

Softness went over her mother's face, "Em, you are doing wonderful. We just want to make sure you are ready."

"Yeah, yeah. Ready for my great mysterious destiny that you won't tell me anything about."

Her mother looked at her sadly, "Em, we can't—"

Excited yells from behind the trees on the hill interrupted her mother. Emilia's annoyance evaporated at the sound and she turned away from her mom, no longer caring what she was going to say.

The cadre had arrived.

Emilia bounced up and ran to meet them. She reached Eva first and jumped into her arms. Eva huffed, stumbling back a step, as she wrapped her arms around Emilia. Soon Los and Frances were standing beside them, arms open and ready for their own hugs.

It was one of her favorite things about the cadre, how they had never grown out of loving hugs. Eva let her go and she turned to the others, embracing them each in turn and then they all huddled together in a group hug.

"There will be time enough for that later. Now is the time for training," her father called.

The cadre disentangled themselves and jogged obediently to her parents.

"First up, hand-to-hand combat. Emilia, you will be the defender, today."

Emilia groaned. The defender had to fight all of the others, one-by-one, in a row.

"Los, you will be the first challenger." Her mother clapped twice signaling them to assume their stances.

Emilia didn't care much for the hand-to-hand challenges, mostly because she didn't feel it was a fair fight against her friends. In hand-to-hand they could still use their magic, and magic was the one thing Emilia had never been able to master. She couldn't even muster a tiny bit let alone enough to battle with. Eva always said it was just the bracelets all humans were forced to wear to control their magic. But even when Illidyn had ruined her once and allowed her mother to coach her she hadn't been able to work any magic.

Her friends, though, even with the bracelets, were able to summon their magic without runes. Los's father had always said it was because they were especially god blessed. Los' father had said a lot of things. He revered the old gods, though just speaking their names was forbidden. It was them, he told the cadre, who had first given magic to humans. A gift, he said, so that we could fend off the Faye. Given how the Great War turned out, Emilia thought the gods must have been too stingy with their gift. Their magic had not been able to rival the Faye's preternatural size and strength; nor their heightened senses and the way they could move as swiftly as an arrow loosed from the bow.

"Oh, and since some of you have been lax," Her mother said as Emilia and Los walked away from each other and Eva and Francis went to stand beside her father, "in your hand-to-hand combat skills, there will be no magic use this time. You cannot let yourself be too reliant on your magic. As most have learned, we can lose our access to that. We can't be powerless without it."

Emilia smiled and turned to Los, stretching her arms overhead. She studied his stance, how his hands were down by his sides and he stood with his feet parallel to one another. It was a nonchalant pose, his face calm. She knew it belied how dangerous he was. He may prefer his air magic or using his bow and arrow, but he was not one to take lightly. He was, though, the one Emilia's mother had been referencing. Emilia's smile widened. He was good, but she was better.

To compensate for her lack of magic, Emilia trained harder and longer at everything else. All the training had honed her skills to a fine edge and made her strong. Physically stronger than all the cadre, except, maybe, Francis. Emilia took a deep breath in and steadied her heart. She couldn't let herself be cocky. Cocky led to mistakes. Mistakes led to losing. A whistle shrilled in the silence, her father she knew, and her mother clapped twice more.

Time to begin.

Emilia dug her feet into the ground readying herself. She slowly exhaled the breath she had been holding and gathered another as she sprung towards Los. Usually, this is when he would give her a wink as he choked off her air for the few seconds he was able to harness his magic. She smirked at him. Let's see how you do when you can't stop my forward momentum that way.

She bridged the ten-foot gap in a matter of seconds. Los's eyes widened, but he still managed to duck beneath her right fist. He didn't anticipate her rebound move as she pushed off her left foot into a backward jump, twisting her body and sending a backhanded, left hammer fist into his left temple. He dropped to his knees, dazed, and instinctively sent a hard burst of wind at her. Emilia fought through the gust and tackled him, landing on top of him. She sat up and pulled a fist back to strike him. Her father whistled again and Emilia stopped it within inches of Los's nose.

She rose to her feet, panting, and offered Los a hand.

He laughed and gave her the finger. "I'm beat, but not that beat."

Emilia rolled her eyes as he wobbled upright. She moved back to her starting place and waited for the next challenger.

"Frances your up," Emilia's mother called, "and forget my earlier rule. Magic is allowed."

"Geez," Los grunted as he went to join Eva, "you'd think you only made the rule for me."

"You would think that, wouldn't you?" Her mother laughed.

Emilia's blood thrummed with the song of battle as she watched Frances stop where Los had stood. He reached his hands down towards the earth. She knew beneath his sleeves that vine-like veins were pushing up against his skin. She knew that his skin would feel like a polished rock.

It was always the first magic Frances did before a fight, using his earth magic to toughen his skin. Surprisingly, it was also magic he could hold for a long time. He thought it was because he had been using it most of his life before he even really knew what he was doing. As a child, he had called it unknowingly when his master would beat him in a drunken rage.

Frances theorized using magic was like using a muscle. The more you did it, the easier it became to do.

The signal came again and Emilia widened her stance, digging in. Frances was not one she could be on the offensive with when he had his diamond-hard skin. His long, powerful legs propelled him across the gap. When he was a few feet away, he threw his first fist. Emilia dodged it and the flurry of punches that followed it. He drew back slightly and Emilia jumped back to get out of his reach, he reacted quickly to her move and sprung forward with a fist flying.

Emilia grabbed the outside of that wrist and twisted it so that the momentum of her jump was aligning with the hard jerk she gave it. Coupled with his forward momentum, it brought him off-balance and hurtling at her faster than he intended. She threw a knee up to catch his stomach and immediately regretted it.

Pain rippled through her bones when her knee impacted against Frances' armored skin. She gritted her teeth against it, landing softly on the ground, and grabbed Frances' other wrist. Holding onto both, she pushed Frances away and then pulled him back to her again, throwing a hard knee into his stomach again and pushing him back with the impact only to pull him forward onto her knee again. The third time, she finally felt his armored skin slightly give. He grunted and wrenched a hand free. She smiled, silently thanking him for giving her some forward momentum to use.

She pulled him towards her again with his left wrist and then let it go, turning to her side and bending so that he fell over her back. She sprung up and heaved him into the air. He landed with a thud and her father's whistled ended the round.

Now there was only Eva left. She was the most skilled of the cadre with her magic. To everyone's amazement, she had been able to use her magic to create real weapons to fight with. Weapons that seemed to be their own living entities and yet part of Eva too. Eva said she didn't fashion, them, though as much as a call for them and they came.

Emilia loathed them in battle, not only because they made it hard to get close to Eva, but they also happened to be snakes. Emilia hated that Eva used snakes and not only because they made it nearly impossible to get near her but because they were snakes. Emilia hated snakes, retaining a fear of them since being bitten by a venomous river snake when she was a just a little toddling child, and Eva's water snakes were more dangerous than any of Ettania's real snakes.

Again, the signal to begin, and she was flying towards Eva who sprinted towards her. Rippling over her shoulders were her snakes, translucent yet substantial. They were beautiful to look at. So clear you would think you could put your hand right through them like pushing it through the top of a river. Until they decided to twine around your neck and tighten, and you realize they are solid and supple like the strongest silken rope.

Emilia slid under them as they lashed out. She hopped up and Eva jammed an elbow at her. Emilia blocked it with an arm, knowing she had to move quickly or the water snakes would be on her. She grabbed Eva's shirt and forcefully pulled her forward, turning her head down slightly and headbutting Eva in the right cheek.

She knew the nose hit would have been a better play if she were in a real battle. This wasn't real battle, though. This was training with her best friend and she wasn't about to do something that would lead to Eva breaking something. Her head snapped back from the blow and Emilia released Eva's shirt and wrapped her hand around Eva's throat while simultaneously swinging her right leg behind Eva's, using a sweeping hip throw to pin Eva to the ground.

The jolt of hitting the ground drove all the air from Eva's lungs and her water snakes evaporated. Emilia stumbled to her feet when her father whistled and gave Eva a hand up.

"3 out of 3, Em. You are on it today."

Emilia smiled and bowed her head at Eva, "Thanks."

She didn't always win, especially against Eva, and she had never beaten all 3 this quickly before. Today, though, she couldn't quite explain it. Today she just felt different. She felt... in tune. In tune with every muscle and ligament in her body. In tune with every sound and sight and scent around her. It felt almost as if she had been doing this, exactly this, for hundreds and hundreds of years—each move seeming more like a reflex than something she had to think through.

"Enough yapping," Los yelled, "let's get on to the fun stuff."

After hand-to-hand, they paired off and trained with wooden swords. Then each one had to fight two at once. Individual lessons came last, but before them was Emilia's favorite. The exercise where the cadre worked as one team against her parents.

Finally, after three hours of training, her parents called for the midday meal break.

The cadre plopped down onto the blanket Emilia's mother spread and hungrily gobbled up the cheese and apples she left them with. Her parents would spend the time patrolling the forest, to make sure no Faye or their bears lurked about to discover them. It was a crime to train to fight, especially with magic, for humans. If they were caught it would mean death by crucifixion.

Once her parents were out of sight, Los spoke, "a week ago, I overheard Kelia talking about a low noble Faye that would be gone from early this morning until two days hence. I have been scouting his property and learned his guards' routines, he does not have many especially after I saw him leaving with a handful. We should rip him when the moon is at its highest tonight."

They had been doing rips for a while but had only been doing them in the Drags. The Faye in the Drags didn't have guards usually, and if they did it was usually just one guard. A guard who usually hated his lot in life so much that he spent most of it drunk off his arse. A low noble Faye, though, that was a different story. They would have a small estate and several guards. It was risky, much riskier than any other they had ever done except the first rip. The rip where they saved Talia.

Emilia loved the idea. She was ready to take their fight to the next level. Before she could though, before she could watch the cadre rise and be ready to bring a revolution for human freedom, she had to convince them to take on more risk. She had to build up their confidence in the idea that they could do it.

"I don't know, a low noble? Is it really worth it?" Eva asked.

"Didn't you say that little Mybellin needed more of the medicine for her cough?" Emilia asked.

"Yes."

"Well, we aren't going to get enough money hocking stuff from disgraced Faye to be able to get more of that. Even in the underground that stuff is worth more than we have ever ripped before. But a low noble, they have gold plated forks."

Frances nodded, "She is right. The stuff we could get from there could also buy a lot of fur for winter blankets and cloaks for the humans of the drags."

"Then it's settled?" Los asked.

Emilia put a finger to her mouth as she saw her parents returning, but Eva and Frances nodded. She smiled and whispered to them, "Tonight, outside the safe house before the moon is high. Dressed to rip."

~

Illidyn had acquired the safehouse for the cadre and Emilia thought her parents had been the ones to suggest it to him. Whosever idea it was, Emilia was thankful to them. It was nice to have a place where she and her friends could be together away from prying eyes.

She was the first to arrive. The others weren't far behind. All, as she was, dressed in black and armed with daggers. They would be no match for a Faye and a quick throw of a dagger might distract a Faye long enough for them to escape. They had not had an encounter with a Faye on a rip before and Emilia hoped the same for tonight.

"We should get going to the manor and get in and out as fast as possible," Los said.

"Everyone ready?" Eva asked. The cadre all nodded their heads.

Frances looked at each of them and smiled, "let's go ruin a Faye's day."

They moved in silence, shadows stalking the side streets and alleys, avoiding the Faye and their guards. It didn't take long to make it to the manor they sought. They pressed themselves against the wall.

"There has been one guard at the front gate, one at the back, and two roaming the grounds. We can climb over that wall," Los whispered as he pointed to the east side wall, "there are vine trees that reach over the walls that will help."

"Alright," Emilia said smiling at her friends, and pressing one hand to her heart, "be shadows. Be vigilant. We do this together. Each one looking out for the other. No one left behind."

"No one left behind." Her friends whispered back, pressing their hands to their hearts as well.

They climbed the wall with little difficulty and crouched in some hedges as they waited for one of the guards to pass. Once he rounded the corner towards the front of the manor they sprinted for a long vine that went up the side of the manor to a second-floor balcony.

Frances, bringing up the rear, just barely made it up and over as the other guard circled towards their position. Los opened the window and climbed in, everyone following. Emilia went in last and landed in a crouch. Los put his finger to his lips to remind them to stay silent and headed for the door.

The room they were in appeared to be someone's bedroom, definitely a Faye's bedroom. No human would be allowed a bed that large or such beautiful and immaculate decorations. Los opened the door and motioned for them to go through, Frances went first and gave a slight click of his tongue to signal it was clear. Eva went next and then Emilia and Los.

They stood in a long hallway lined with several shut doors. Which one should they go to first? Emilia scanned the hallway and saw that it ended at a set of double doors. She walked to it, waving her friends to follow. When they reached the double door, Emilia put her ear to the door and listened. Silence.

She slowly turned the knob on one and gently pushed it inwards, thankful the hinges were well oiled. She opened it just enough for her to slide inside and scope out the place before the cadre entered.

A faint light flickered from a candle, but even in the dim light, she couldn't miss what was at the other side of the room. Emilia's insides dropped and dread filled her.

She lurched forward against the door in her shock. Eva came in behind her.

"Em, what is—" Eva's words stopped as she too beheld the sight.

Hanging from a hook that came down from the ceiling was a Faye's head. His lifeless eyes staring back at Emilia.

~~~

Stay tuned for more Tales from Ettania!