Part 19

Harlen could scarcely remember being so tired. The horses, even as powerful and hardy as they were, now dragged their feet along the mossy soil of the wood. The sun had risen several hours before, as they forded the river separating Windir from the duchy. Without the enhancing magics that the cavalrymen had been using, the trip was very long, indeed.

Several times, Harlen had watched Ceriandel nearly slump forward in his saddle, only to snap his eyes open and sit back upright.

"We must rest a short while." Harlen finally said as Ceriandel once again levered himself upright in the saddle. "It will serve no purpose for us to make a grave mistake due to exhaustion."

The elf nodded agreement, and brought his horse to a stop near a thick patch of shrub. The stunted trees were easily high enough to hide within, and mercifully hollow inside their leafy shroud. The pair guided their horses into the canopy and then laid upon the saddle blankets.

With only a very few words exchanged between the two men, they cast themselves into sleep.

Hyandai watched the companies of Isolationists march out of the wood and take up positions across the valley from Embalis. The guards upon the wall watched, too, nervously. It was a sizable force, already larger than their own, and the scouts said that more were on the way before they retreated, themselves, behind the village's defenses. The last of the moving forces would be here by tomorrow night.

Embalis was besieged.

Truth be told she was not at all sure she could do this. Lead an army into battle and order people to their deaths. Her hands shook and her stomach turned over painfully as she clutched the railing of the catwalk. The sun was low in the sky, and still no help came. None had been promised. The Ghantian offensive was sapping all the forces that the small nation could spare and this little skirmish along their northern frontier would have to wait.

"They shall send reinforcements." She said in a low, almost male voice. "About six months after we are all dead."

Her personal aide, Ealina, looked at her. "Lady Hyandai?" She asked.

"Sorry, I was simply thinking out loud." Hyandai said, turning to the lovely elven girl.

She was several years younger than Hyandai, and not even close to being of age. The girl blinked down at the massing army.

"Lady, do you foresee defeat? Or victory?" Ealina asked, her silver eyes wide and worried.

Hyandai gave out a long sigh. "I foresee death for many." She said. "But I cannot foretell of who will emerge victorious."

Ealina smiled gently. "We will be victorious." She said, with a small amount of self-assuredness. "We are on the side of right."

"I wish I were so certain that correctness granted victory." Hyandai said quietly. "But it does not seem to be so." She turned and walked back into the small room she had turned into her command post.

Ceriandel awoke first, the sound of nearby footsteps rousing him from his fitful slumber. He peered out of their concealment to see one of the scouts of the village, injured but still afoot. He was moving away from Embalis, though. The young scout's eyes were haunted, like those of a panicked animal.

It grieved Ceriandel to see a fellow elf, or any intelligent being look thus. He hailed the elf, holding out a peaceful hand.

"Scout of Embalis." He said. "Come and rest, we are friends."

The scout started at the sound of his voice and spun about, flashing out his hyandai. "Who is there?" The scout demanded. The look of panic was now a flashing hostility, worry, yes, but more determination and anger. Ceriandel was glad to see it.

"I am Ceriandel of clan Yavanhaur." He said. "And we are allied, lest you be serving the traitors."

Harlen had awoken to the speech, unused as he was to elven words that they demanded attention.

"I serve no traitors." The elf said. "I am Mathalas. I was sent forth to scout this way, but when I tried to return, I found my way filled with foes."

Ceriandel nodded. "Come, rest and be comforted." he said.

The elf nodded, deciding he had little to lose at this point. He sheathed his weapon and slid through the branches of the shrubby tree and started at the sight of Harlen, standing and stretching in the dimness.

"A human?" Mathalas asked. "I had heard they sent him away."

Ceriandel chuckled. "They did." He confirmed. "I am bringing him back."

Harlen said. "Well met Mathalas." He had overheard them outside and gleaned the scout's name.

The elf executed one of the quick head-bows, then stood again, a wicked grin crossing his rather roguish face. "The leadership will be sorely put off that you have brought this man back." Mathalas said to Ceriandel.

"They will have to cope." Said Ceriandel. "He is the Warleader's betrothed, and from what I know, the Warleader out ranks the Lord and Lady of a town during time of conflict."

The scout nodded. "A technicality that may save your title." He said, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "But they have other ways of making one regret crossing them."

"They can do their worst." The blade dancer said. "I welcome it, so long as my sister is happy and we have victory through her leadership."

Harlen held out a large loaf of bread to the two elves, and a jar of plum preserves. The scout ate heartily, being quite famished after several days in the wood. Ceriandel more picked at his portion, thinking hard between bites.

"That worries me most of all." Harlen said, watching Ceriandel eat. "Hyandai always had a, well, a healthy appetite. Yet you say she cannot even keep food down now."

Ceriandel laughed at that. "Diplomatically put, Harlen." He said. "Hyandai eats like a wolf who has starved two weeks." He continued smiling long after his laughter died off. "And, yes, for one such as her, being unable to eat is a sore trial, I deem."

The scout was leaning with his back to the trunk. "Hyandai is a good Warleader." He said. "I met her twice. She knows her mind and heeds not foolish counsel."

Harlen nodded, as did Ceriandel.

Hyandai emerged from the privy, her face flush. Her anger at herself over her lack of fortitude was the main cause, but some of it was her discomfort. She could not keep food down and it annoyed her. Rinsing her mouth with water, she spit over the railing, belatedly checking downward for possible victims of an aquatic bombardment.

Two of the captains patiently awaited her. They had seen her for days now, growing more frail and losing weight. "Lady Hyandai, a heal..." He started to say.

"No!" She hissed at him, interrupting the captain and forcing him to take a half-step backward. "No healers. I told you, they have more important matters to tend to. There is a war going on, and they don not have time for some girl who cannot keep her sliced apples down."

She turned toward the model of the village and looked down at it. "You say there are more, even, than we thought?" She asked.

He nodded. "At least two hundreds." He said. "It was sheer luck that one of our scouts happened upon the camp, it was well hidden in a remote vale." He pointed at a map, lacquered to a wooden panel on the wall. "They were encamped here, and would be marching even now, if they wish to be here by tomorrow night."

Ceriandel tended to the wounds of the scout dutifully, if not enthusiastically. The elven healing breath was rather personal contact, and most often administered across sexual lines, however, there were no females present, and the chore was a necessary one.

The three got up and mounted the much refreshed horses. The scout had fetched several bags of water for the beasts and they seemed almost eager to be off now.

Mounted with Harlen alone, and the scout behind Ceriandel, they set off again, angling due south now, so as to come to Embalis from its south side. If they had the north side covered, one would hope that there were not enough of them to place picket all about the town.

It was growing dark, and the scout changed to Harlen's horse. In part this was to save the strength of Ceriandel's beast, and in part to let the scout guide the human's mount in the darkness, where Harlen was nearly blind. The horses were likewise nearly blind, but were trained to trust their rider's guidance in darkness. They slowed to a canter, though, and would not allow themselves to be goaded into greater speed.

They rode into the night, and only stopped for a short break at the banks of a brook as the sky was lightening in the east. Neither friend nor foe did they meet, nor even many animals. The coming war had left a tension in the wood, that even animals could sense. Even Harlen could feel that something of consequence was passing.

"We are well south of Embalis now." Ceriandel said, looking about into the growing light. "It will take most of the day to move back toward the village and come from its due south."

The scout nodded agreement. "From what I saw of their movements, they cannot have formed their regiments near the village until, at earliest, yesterday night. Two of their encampments were still breaking down camp as I sighted them."

Harlen was relieved to hear that. "So they cannot attack before tonight?" He asked.

"Exactly." The scout said. "Armies are not fleet of foot, even elven armies." Mathalas said.

"I do not expect them to tarry long." Said Ceriandel. "They are impatient to get this conflict underway. Once they are assembled, they will attack."

They let the horses rest a couple of hours while they, themselves took a little sleep.

"A thousand?" Hyandai asked, looking at the captain dubiously. "You are certain?"

He nodded. "At least, including the one company that still marches on us."

"Two and a half to one." She murmured. "And their ranks far fuller of trained warriors than ours." She looked at the captain. "Perhaps we should consider retreat."

He shook his head. "Then they would likely catch us without even our hasty defenses." He said. "No, we should either surrender or fight here."

"Surrender." Hyandai said, her face rather morose. "No, I do not think we will be surrendering to those treacherous persons. They tried to kill me in my bed, they will not keep their word if it suits them. I believe they have grown blinded by their zeal to further their goals, forsaking all other things."

"Fanatics are often the worst enemy one can have, they are absolutely convinced of their correctness, and other opinions are moot." The captain said, shaking his head. "I understand there are some entire human cultures of that sort."

Hyandai nodded. "There are." She said. "The Black Theocracy and Costa Roja." She looked at a map of Feldare. "They are quite different and both quite convinced their way is the only right way."

"And now, even our own people fall to the appeal of zealotry." The captain said quietly. "It proves we are not so superior, does it not?"

Hyandai smiled. The captain was a Warwolf, like herself, and his viewpoint only reinforced that. The road to their downfall has and is their rather high opinion of themselves. To believe themselves superior to humanity, because of long span of years, or agility, or even innate magical ability. Foolishness. Humanity was just as valid an expression of the will of the Spirits as elfkind.

Did not man build great empires? Did man not wield mighty magics? Did they not show great generosity of spirit? Hyandai smiled. Elves and man should be brothers, not competitors. To compete with man, or man to compete with elvenkind was foolishness, they had much to offer one another.

"I have to admit, Lady Hyandai." The captain said. "You are an inspiration to those of us who believe as we do." He meant her betrothal to Harlen, a human.

"I did not seek out a human mate, Captain Lemlithis." She said. "I simply did not discount a great man because his ears were round." She giggled at the reference. Most warwolves believed that this was possibly the greatest physical difference between humans and elves. It was sort of a running joke with them.

Lemlithis nodded. "Of course, your heart led you to your choice." He agreed.

Harlen awoke to Ceriandel shaking his foot with his own foot. "Let us be going." The blade dancer said. "Else we may be too late."

The three rode hard again that day, driving the horses to a froth. The beasts were beginning to weaken overall, though, as horses cannot be driven for several days straight without long-term hurt.

They had slowed to little better than a walk by middle afternoon, and even that taxed the horses now. The forest slowly crept by them, and they started to fear that they would not arrive even in the night.

At the fall of darkness. They dismounted and started walking the horses, leading them by their bits. It would do them little good to kill the beasts when they may well be needed in the village. They were near now, and Harlen could vaguely make out the smell of smoke.

"Already they fight?" He asked.

The scout shook his head. "Lady Hyandai had ordered many buildings razed to clear what she termed 'free fire zones' for the archers." He said. "The scent you smell is old smoke, from those burnings."

Finally, they saw the first lights of the village, high in the trees overhead and at a distance. They all began to move forward cautiously, watching about themselves for enemy or even village elves who might mistake them for enemy soldiers. They did not wish to be attacked by either side at this point.

They came to a palisade, with a rude gate set into it, and a dozen militia manning it. The elves grew alert as they came near, rising from their positions and regarding them suspiciously.

"Who is there?" Asked one of the militiamen, seemingly their senior officer.

"Ceriandel of clan Yavanhaur, Mathalas the scout, and Harlen of Morrovale." Ceriandel said.

The sight of the human among the three approaching figures caused a bit of a stir, but also confirmed that it was hardly Isolationists before them.

The gate groaned open and they allowed the three to enter. The horses were taken and guided to the stables. Three of the militiamen walked with the three toward the center of the village.

Up a long stair they climbed, high into the branches of the mightiest of the ornthalion trees in the village. This was the Turaorn, the master tree, the eldest and most revered ornthalion of the area.

The three guards led them into a small chamber. "Wait here, someone will come and decide what is to be done with you." Two of the guards stood outside, on the catwalk, and watched the three in the chamber. They knew they could easily overpower the guards, but to what end? So the three simply sat at chairs about a small table in the center of the room.

A few minutes later a young female came into the room. "I am Ealina, aide to Hyandai." She said, as she entered, but stopped speaking as she regarded the seated figures.

"Ehladrim Ceriandel?" She asked, then turned her eyes to Harlen. "And a man of the Westrons?"

She looked at the scout, whom she knew personally. "Mathalas, you will go report to your company, they should be near the northeast palisade." She said.

Mathalas gave the pair a last look and said. "May fate be with you." He said, and went out the door, giving Ealina a quick nodding bow as he passed her.

Ealina looked back at the two militiamen. "You may go." She said. "These men are in my keeping now."

They looked at each other a moment, then nodded and left.

"Unless I am sorely mistaken." Ealina said. "You are Harlen of Morrovale. Lady Hyandai's bethrothed." She looked at Ceriandel. "And you are Ceriandel, who was recently reported missing, or miscreant. The lady's brother."

A small smile crossed her beautiful, angular face. "I see the makings of a conspiracy here." She said. "One to perhaps comfort our Warleader when her health is failing."

Ceriandel smiled. "It might just be so." He said. "But we should see the lady before the village's rulers hear of our arrival."

She turned to him. "I could not shirk my duties so easily." She said. "But I am a busy woman, I might find myself unavoidably detained for a while after I bring you to the Warleader for disposition." She turned toward the door. "Come with me, you are made arrest, keep that in mind."

"Of course." Ceriandel said, grinning as he slid his chair back.

Harlen stood as well and followed them as they all moved about the catwalk then up several ramps to another catwalk. A faint blue glow emanated from the room, she led them in.

The two saw a slender figure silhouetted against the glowing blue model of the village. Harlen hardly recognized Hyandai in chain armor and girt with a long warsword as well as her hyandai.

"Lady Hyandai." Ealina said. "The south gate brought me two refugees that claim to have valuable tactical information."

"I will see them." Hyandai said, her voice sounded tired and distant. "Have them brought to me."

Ealina smiled at the pair. "Warleader, they are here now."

Hyandai turned slowly, her face showing more weariness than even her voice. "Very well, you ca..." She stopped speaking as Harlen and Ceriandel spun into her view.

"Harlen?" She asked, as if doubting that it was really him. A half a heartbeat later she was pressed against him tightly, her chainmail pinching him here and there, but he did not complain. Tears flowed from her eyes like raindrops as she moved her hands again and again for better purchase to cling to him more tightly.

Ceriandel and Ealina stepped across the room to regard the map at a discreet distance from the couple. He began asking her questions of the situation while she showed him the relevant map areas with her fingertip.

"You are not supposed to be here." She said into his chest. "They told you to wait for us to contact you."

"One of you did." He smiled. "Ceriandel came and fetched me." He was nuzzling her fine, silken hair and inhaling deeply her cinnamon scent.

She giggled. "I suppose he told you I was dying?" She said, pulling back at last to look up at him.

Harlen nodded. "Something like that." He confirmed.

She cast an attempt at an annoyed look at her brother. "He exaggerates." She said. "I have been working my mind a bit overmuch these last days, and it is affecting my appetite."

Harlen nodded, touching her neck and shoulder. "And the emotional outbursts?" He inquired.

She shrugged. "The same thing." She said. "I have been reconstructing another person's mind within my own. It is bound to have detrimental effects on me."

Hyandai smiled up at him. "I foresee some of those emotional difficulties being rather absent now you are with me." She said.

"They may try to send me away again." Harlen offered.

"They would not." Hyandai said. "They cannot spare an escort, and to send you alone would be tantamount to a death sentence." She took hold of the sides of his head. "For good or ill, you are here, now, and will be here for the battle, I fear."

She pulled him down to her and kissed him soundly. He did not recall her ever kissing with such strength and urgency. Come to think of it, he didn't remember her ever able to pull him down quite so forcefully either.

"Tales of your weakened state are apparently exaggerated, as well." Harlen said as he came up for air.

Hyandai giggled again. "No." She said. "That is this armor, it grants me some strength. I have grown frail in the last few days, but then again, I've not been sleeping much."

She took his hand and led him to the model of the village. Ceriandel and Ealina regarded them as they approached.

Ealina could see more color in Hyandai's face already, so deemed her decision the right one.

Ceriandel saw his sister smiling, so arrived at the same conclusion.

Harlen was too happy just to be with his beloved, that he hardly could think at all.

"Ealina, I will be in my chambers for an hour." Hyandai said. "Alert me if anything changes."

"Of course, Lady Hyandai." The aide said, smiling.

Hyandai led Harlen across the sloping catwalk to her own room, at least what was serving as her room for now. Upon entering she shut the door.

"I have missed you greatly." She said, her back pressed to the door.

Harlen smiled, turning to face her. "And I, you, very much." He said, and walked up to her. He kissed her again and she responded warmly, pressing her mail-clad body against him.

"Can we manage with the armor on?" Hyandai asked "If I remove it, I may not be a very active lover."

Harlen looked at the chainmail, lifting the hem of its steel ringed skirt. "I believe I can work around that, my mailed maiden." He said.

"Good." She said, tugging at his belt, and pulling him toward the small cot. "Then you have been miscreant in your duties to me. If you will note my rather alarmingly ungreen eyes."

Harlen nodded as she sat upon the bed and pulled her boots off. She looked rather different in the armor, he decided, less helpless, more the warrior. She scooted up onto the cot and laid back, watching him intently.

Harlen kicked off his own boots, then took off his pants. "You may wish to leave the shirt on, lest you get pinched." Hyandai said.

He nodded agreement. She giggled at his already swelling organ. "Even in war, there you are." She said. "You are a lust fey's dream come true."

Lowering his head to her ankle, Harlen began to kiss his way up her long, slender leg. She sighed as he passed her knee, and began up her thigh. Her legs moved apart and she felt the chainmail being slid up against her smooth skin, along with its underlying padded layer.

A loud groan escaped her lips as his tongue and lips touched her opening. Her hands gripped the sheets at the intense stimulation and long absence of it. "It has been too long." Hyandai said. "Fifty-nine years of nothing, and now two weeks is too long."

Harlen chuckled as he continued lapping at her clitoris and sliding his tongue into her. She began to wriggle about, causing the mail to clink and squeak oddly.

"We go to war tonight, very likely, and yet, I only wish to have you inside me." Hyandai said.

Harlen nodded and rose up from her middle. "It seems logical to me." He said.

She smiled as he moved up her body, but missed his kisses on her torso that he would have laid down had her chainmail not been present. She moved her long legs outward to accommodate his large frame and felt his cock pressing against her opening.

A tiny sense of dread was quickly overwhelmed by a greater sense of anticipation and desire. "Take me roughly." She said. "I need to feel everything."

Harlen smiled and kissed her lips. "Very well." He said.

His thick cock opened her entry then he halted for a moment, gathering himself. The next moment, he was fully within her and her breath was releasing in a loud cry of pain and joy. He began feeding into her the two weeks of loneliness and fear and frustration. His organ pistoning into her repeatedly, spreading her entry wide and burying itself to the base in her tight cunt.

Soon all the pained sounds left her cries, and were replaced by only pleasure. Her body had not forgotten her lover, it simply desired a object reminder of him. Her face softened as the pleasure built up.

"I feel like myself for the first time in days." She said, then giggled. "Now if only I could eat while you do that."

Harlen smiled broadly. "I would not complain if you did so." He said. "Should I fetch something?"

Hyandai wrapped her legs around his waist, holding him to her. "I think you better stay." She said, her breathing growing more labored. "There is an event scheduled for you to attend." This last came out rather slurred and almost as a single word.

A similar feeling was creeping into Harlen's loins as she felt his impending climax build. His back and sides burned from the force he was pouring into taking Hyandai this time, and she was responding by accepting every thrust fully, allowing him to batter his way into her small body.

She cried out again, this time more loudly, and for a long moment. Her scream held a note for several heartbeats, then died down, moving through the tones of her range until she was silent again.

He could feel her opening contract around his shaft, tightening and then loosening. Her own thrusts had ceased as she climaxed. Now they began again, with renewed vigor.

"Time for your release, beloved." She said. Staring at him with emerald eyes.

Her voice had lost all traces of the masculine edge he had noted. This was all Hyandai now. Or perhaps Hyandai plus fey, but there was no more man there. This relieved Harlen quite a lot.

The enthusiastic assistance she loaned to the effort paid off quickly, as he grunted and his orgasm gripped him. Plunging into her a last few strokes, he fell over that precipice and his cock twitched with each jet of warm semen he spent into her.

She continued grinding her pelvis against his swollen cock for several moments, she was encouraging him to keep feeding every drop of his seed into her. Her hands were moving over his cheeks, chin, and neck.

"Beloved, I never wish to be apart from you again." She said. "It was too painful, and this too pleasurable." Her voice was tired and gaspy.

Harlen slid back and his organ slipped from her tight opening, hanging flaccidly from him as he sat back onto his haunches, still between her legs.

"Never more than necessary." Harlen said.

He crawled up beside her and laid at her side. She tried to curl up against him, but the limited mobility offered by the armor prevented a truly satisfying cuddle.

She got a rather upset look to her face. "I regret, lover, that we will not be allowed to stay in this comfort for long." She said.

A few minutes passed, then a few more. And he simply held her curled form. She may have even dozed off for a few minutes, but soon was awake.

"We need to finish preparations." She said. Her voice once again tinged with some man's tones. "This was more than a welcome thing, beloved, but we can ill afford more." Hyandai sat up and drew on her boots. Harlen did the same, crawling out of the bed to slide his pants on. A few minutes later, they were back in the command room.

Ealina stifled a giggle as they entered. Ceriandel did his level best to ignore Hyandai's suddenly very green eyes. He was her brother after all, and very likely, no man, or even elf would be thought a worthy partner for his beloved sister.

"Back to the matters of import." Hyandai said, squeezing Harlen's hand gently. She looked down at the model. "What think you of the defenses?" She asked all around her.

A moment passed as Harlen and Ceriandel blinked, but they both started moving after that moment. Harlen crouched low over the illusory buildings and trees, and miniature people, moving about. It was an exquisite projection of the village, and he knew that if he looked hard enough, he would see himself looking down at a smaller model of the model.

"You have fortified well, for what you had to work with." Harlen said, eyeing the palisades and trenches before them. North of the village on the map, there were many milling figures, three hundred yards or so north, if the scale was accurate. "The enemy?" He asked.

Ceriandel nodded. "I know little of massed battle, but I know defenders usually have the advantage." He said. "The enemy will, even now, be relying upon their superior troops to win the contest.

Ealina shook her head. "It is all very foreign to me, lady." The young elf said. "This is why we defer to your judgement in this matter."

Hyandai nodded. "Yes, some have been here a day and a half, others have arrived through the day." She said.

"Why do they not attack now?" Ceriandel asked.

Pointing with one finger at a glowing nebulous shape at the edge of the model's extents, Hyandai said. "They await one last company." She said. "They are coming from that direction, the north west. They march even now, and will arrive just after midnight, lest they stop."

"A large company?" Ceriandel asked.

Hyandai shrugged. "Large enough, nearly two hundreds more." She looked at him. "Scouts only espied their camp two days ago, just before they all were recalled and no more went out."

Ceriandel gasped. "Nine hundreds then?" He asked.

She shook her head. "No. A thousand." She said, pointing to a knot of troops south west of the village. "Those are also theirs. I assume they intend them to prevent any escape."

"Harlen, I apologize." Ceriandel said. "I may have brought you here to die."

Harlen squeezed Hyandai's hand. "I would rather die beside you than live without you, as trite as that sounds."

"It does not sound trite in your voice." Ceriandel said, turning to Hyandai. "Give me thirty men and I will neutralize that southern unit as soon as the battle commences. The cavalry, they will not be needed defending the wall."

Hyandai nodded. "That may well be a good idea." Her voice subtly changed. "An attack would be the last thing they would expect from a besieged village. Ealina get him those cavalrymen." Ealina and Ceriandel left the chamber.