Legon Restoration (10 page)

Ankle felt a bit of ice in his gut thinking about Mors, and "Rachel," he said softly.
 

The tent went silent.

Ankle looked at the Elf. "Do you know how the girl we found is doing?"
 

He shook his head. "We know almost nothing of her, I know your names for the simple reason that you were in that mission and many others for Evindass, and therefore you could be a possible target for the Iumenta. Other than that I don't know much. I have family in the golden city, they told me a human girl was living there that no one seems to know." The Elf looked solemn for a moment, "I don't know everything you boys had to see there but I'm sorry you had to see any of it."

The Elf whose name they never got, spent a little while longer with them, but Ankle wasn't paying much attention to the conversation. All he could do we see Rachel in that cage they found her in. As night drew on he stood outside his tent watching the horizon light up with the glow of fire as Bonta burned.
 

* * * * *

Ashley was running as fast as she could back to her house. Behind her were burning buildings that were too close to the city walls of Bonta. Wooden balls filled with burning oil hurtled over the wall, exploding when they contacted buildings and streets. Ashley told herself that she wasn't going to turn around and look at the devastation. It had been a mistake to go looking for her sister and brother in law, their house was in cinders.
 

The smoke turned the setting sun red. A flash of color and a clap like thunder caused her to jerk her head skywards. Above her dragons were fighting. The sky turned calico and in some places rained blood from the battle above. Ashley refocused on what was in front of her as her legs pumped, taking her away from the wall. She saw plumes of fire to her right; she looked to see some of the Elf dragons dropping the same type of balls that were being lobbed over the city wall.
That’s the government district
she thought.

As she rounded a corner she all but ran into an Iumenta, his yellow eyes only flashing to hers for an instant before it went back about its business. She took in what looked like an odd ballista being manned by several Iumenta. They were not loading bolts into it but rather packages.
It's like a slingshot
she thought. The Iumenta launched the package into the air. She watched as it exploded near an Elf dragon with a loud boom. A moment later she heard what sounded like rocks hitting nearby buildings, she looked down to see a metal spike fall to earth.
That’s what the Iumenta are shooting
she thought. She heard other booms and looked to the sky seeing more of the little packages in the air all around the city.
 

The dragon the Iumenta had shot at turned its attention to them and Ashley ran again not wanting to be around when the dragon attacked. As she ran the nearby buildings were lit with emerald, the same color as the dragon she'd seen. The light came with a small wave of heat. Ashley didn't turn around; having no desire to see whatever was left behind her.

* * * * *

Sara rubbed her eyes. She was exhausted. Though she was in Noris the city of Bonta was no more than an hour away, and had fallen late the night before. This meant that by dawn the injured were coming her way. Her day was spent with wounded people, mostly civilians. She walked out of the warehouse and turned from the healing facility to another warehouse that held medical supplies.
 

One of her staff was with her. "Tammy, what all do we need again?" Sara said looking at a much too small cache of supplies.

Tammy fished for a piece of paper out of one of the pockets of her bloody apron; she pulled out the paper and read off a list of supplies. They had maybe half of what they needed; Sara looked over at Tammy, her red hair escaping from under its bun.
 

Tammy looked at Sara. "What does my hair look bad?" she said with a wink. "Well, you're not one to talk; I think birds are nesting in yours."

Sara laughed, it was an inappropriate time, people were hurt and dying but there wasn't anything she could do to stop it. She got serious, "We need to find supplies... I will-"

"I'll try and find more, I can't use magic like you can, and maybe you can save some people. At any rate, you're in charge you need to be here, I'll go fishing," Tammy said picking up an arm full of supplies. Sara did the same and walked back into the healing center.
 

She was greeted by the smell of blood and infection. Most people were not seriously injured, most of those were still in Bonta, and they were unable to be moved. But Sara was still dealing with the wounded from taking Noris as well. The Iumenta had burned healing centers as they left, leaving the town with no were to go. But unlike Bonta, Noris hadn't been under siege, which meant that most people were able to seek help before infection set in. For the people of Bonta, this had not been the case. The town wasn't under siege for long but infection set in fast. As a result, Sara knew there would be teams working around the clock removing limbs, trying to save people.
 

For her part, her magic was drained along with her body. All she could do was mix herbs for fever and infection and tell her medics who to try and save and who to just make comfortable.
 

Her attention was grabbed by a frantic mother holding a child. Sara rushed over to them, seeing that both were burned. She walked them over to an empty bed where the mother laid the child down. Almost all of the right side of his body was charred, his breath almost nonexistent.
 

"Help us," the woman begged.

Sara's mouth opened and closed without sound. There was no helping them, the boy was too far gone, and Sara could see it. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do."
 

The woman's face fell, tears in her eyes. "My husband is dead... my son is dead..." her eyes lifted to Sara's, "Why did you do this to us?" her broken voice asked.

Sara was at a lack of anything to say. How could she tell a grieving mother that the war that killed her whole family was necessary? There were no words of comfort that she could offer.

Hours after the boy died his mother collapsed with infection from her own injuries, still Sara had no supplies. She stood outside knowing that the woman wouldn't make it through the night, knowing that so many wouldn't. Sara didn't question why the war was happening, oddly she felt more confident than ever about the need for the Iumenta to be pushed out of the land, but she wasn't happy about her current situation. Tammy had returned with a few supplies she'd gotten from the Elves. Tammy had also been reprimanded by command for going to the Elves for help; the Cona stance was that they could take care of their own.
 

Sara was furious with her superiors for not letting the Elves help. But then she had a thought
those orders aren't mine; I am still under the command of Legon
. She was on loan more or less with the Cona Republic; her title was that of a liaison. She remembered Iselin's advice on taking care of things herself.
 

"Come Tammy," she said.

Tammy followed Sara. "What are we doing?"
 

"Do you still have a list?"
 

"Yes, why?"
 

Sara didn't respond but continued on to where the Elvin command was. She walked into the building without fear, grabbing Tammy's hand bringing her in too. "Sara we are going to get in trouble..." Tammy protested.

Sara was not stopped by anyone as she walked up a set of stairs to a door labeled 'Sydin' and she knocked twice. Sydin opened the door smiling at her, then looking her over his smile faded. "Come in Sara, I dare say you need something."
 

She entered with Tammy, who was turning a special shade of green and white. Sara held out her hand to Tammy who gave her a list of supplies. "Sydin, we don't have enough medical supplies, and people are dying."
 

Sydin looked serious. "Yes I am aware the human leadership has been pig headed about us helping out."

"Yes I am aware of that, but we need help."
 

"Do you want to go against your command?" he asked her.

Sara beamed, "Well you see, I'm not really under their command now am I?"
 

Sydin caught on. "That you aren't, you are really under our command but you are in charge of that healing facility."
 

"Right, which is under the control of the humans but," Sara said "there is no rule that a human healing facility can't use Elvin medicine…just that the Cona staff isn't allowed to ask you for it."
 

Tammy looked to be catching on as Sydin spoke. "But that doesn't hinder you, does it dear?" he held out his hand. "Let's have a look here," he said taking the list from Sara and reading it over.
 

"There is an Elvin healing center to the north of town I think you know about, I will have them give you everything you need, mostly it is herbs you need for infection. I will have them give you some other medicines I think you became aquatinted with when you lived in Seeon. The center has two Biologic Ascended, along with a team of other Biologics. I will have a few of them including both Ascended come down to your center and see if they can help with your back log. Does that work?"

Sara felt like a weight had been taken off of her chest. "Sydin, I would hug you if I wasn't covered in blood."

Chapter Seven

Cremo Terra

"Hate is the natural byproduct of life, with it we know love and we find motivation."

-Articles of the Mahann

Cinto moved through the rafters of the building with ease, Kora behind him. He sniffed the air trying to catch the scent of a Twig. He knew that they would be coming, now that Bonta had fallen, he knew that he and Kora didn't have long. They continued moving, stopping when they heard dragon wings hiss in the sky above the building. Cinto felt for the crystal at his belt, he couldn't use magic but he knew what it felt like to have a crystal drain energy from him. There was no pull on him from the crystal.

"They do not know we are here," Kora said softly.

"That they do not, they may not even know any of our kind are left in the city," Cinto said hopeful.

Kora peeked out of a gap in the roof, his silver hair and gray skin hardly showing in the light. "They must know, not everyone came back from Noris now did they?"

That they hadn't. It was a moot point, Cinto and Kora had a mission they were to complete. They continued on, high in the building that held government records. They were above the room that they needed to be in. There was a heart beat inside and soft breathing. To soft for a human, Kora signed to Cinto,
Elf.
Like a spider Cinto turned himself upside down, crawling along the buildings outer wall, getting purchase on uneven stones. The room they needed to be in had a ceiling, but an adjoining closet did not. It was into that closet that Cinto now went. He looked through a key, hole seeing a room of shelves stacked with papers. With her back to Cinto was a Twig, she pushed back her brown hair behind a tapered ear. She was reading something from one of the shelves, not paying attention to her surroundings. As silent as was possible Cinto drew a knife from his belt, placing his hand on the door knob.
 

He opened the door which to his great pleasure made no sound. He tip toed his way up to the Elf. He was about to grab her when she spun in shock. Vivid green eyes flashed and she opened her mouth to call for help. Cinto slashed at her with the knife. She backed away but not in time, the knife cut into her. She spluttered unable to cry out, she turned to run. Cinto grabbed one of her hands pulling her back to him. Kora was in the room now rushing up to Cinto.
 

"If she dies too fast her mate will know," Kora hissed, stopping Cinto from breaking her neck.

Cinto stopped what he was doing. It was true. His blade was coated with a drug that would make it difficult for the Elf to talk with her mind, but if she died her husband would too, and in so doing give away Cinto and Kora.
 

"Fine," Cinto said. With a twist he broke the Elf’s arms which was far more effective then cuffs could ever be. She only gurgled a scream. Kora stabbed her in the liver. The wound would take a little while to kill and the pain would make it impossible for her to move around or focus enough to work past the drug in her system. Cinto tossed the Elf to the corner of the room to let her die. They went to work finding and destroying documents.
 

* * * * *

Umbra flew over Bonta, pushing soothing emotions to the people. Light rain and fog made the already smoke filled air catch in her lungs making her want to cough; she resisted and searched for anything amiss with mind, eyes, ears and magic. She wasn't finding anything with any of those senses. The city was full of people, limiting her seeking spells to those using large amounts of magic. Even those using just a little were everywhere with Elf and human Venefica using their powers.
 

She glided by the city’s government sector and in a heartbeat she felt the mind of Sydin.

 
"Are you finding anything?" he asked.

"No Sir nothing, I am sure that Cona and Impa units are still in Bonta, they just haven't made a scene yet like they did in Noris."
 

"I agree, keep your eyes peeled for anything out of the norm and let me know if you find anything."
 

"Yes Sir," Umbra said.

* * * * *

Kora looked over at the dying Twig on the floor, her chest rising and falling in ragged painful breaths. He and Cinto were done with what they needed to do and could go now.
 

"Should we put it out of its misery?" Cinto asked

Kora looked down at the Twig sneering, "Where is your Everser Vald to save you now? Worthless Twig, do you really think you can win this war?"