Come Close - By Adeen

[Zevka]

"Soon, my daughter. Soon."

Citrus and cinnamon whirled about Adeen, keeping bone and claw and flame at bay. The dread vixen?s maw of borrowed bones contorted with speech, with her broken Legion at the bars in rising chorus.

?My daughter. Our princess. Your time is here. Your reign begins.? Its grin a chaos of shattered obsidian. ?Only come with us to see it so??

The cacophony blasted the poppy ash and filled the air with dust, so only the burn of the fox's ember jaws shone through the haze. Adeen dragged herself upwards, and touched the vortex of spice. The warmth of evening tea, the calm assurance as the stoat and vole spoke over cups. This was not what she ever imagined when they spoke of the nightmare beyond, but she knew the truth of this adversary in wait.

The ash and Gates parted and a pair of hares crawled forth. Only half their bodies remained, the lower portions broken beyond recognition while their torsos bled free from repeated slashes. They groaned in their agony as they blindly scrabbled at the base of Adeen's protective vortex.

"You may have them again." The lick of desire highlighted the vixen's every word. "Forever above, forever beneath your heel. You need only ask."

Adeen's paw twitched for the baselard no longer at her side, as an echo of a rattle primed in her throat. What remained of Kirkland and Priscilla Cullporter, the elder hares which fell with Fenton, paused their pawing and bowed their heads before their new master. For a moment the cinnamon aegis flickered, but Adeen backed away until her shoulders pressed against the cyclone's back.

"N-no," said Adeen. "I never wanted to hurt them. I only lost myself. I only..."

The words failed as the colossus bellowed with hideous laughter, blowing the feeble hare corpses away. The amalgam skull drew close, until the gigantic pit where its eye should rest loomed. Fires within the socket bored into Adeen's mind, keeping her fixed as the skull split and delivered its last offer.

Canen dropped from the skull's center.

His baked bread fur remained intact. His ribbon-pink ears and silvered muzzle twitched in frenzy as he cast about for reason, for sight. The father did not see his son's wife before him, or the gargantuan skull reforming above him. Canen only panicked and stumbled in place as a child lost in the darkness.

Adeen pressed against the vortex, which thinned by the second until only a haze kept the ash and bones aside.

"Forever yours, my daughter." Canen's face indented, peeled away, as the skull spoke, until Adeen knew the sweet release of his end once again. "A seat upon this throne; revenge without end."

The skull lowered once more, pulping most of Canen's body beneath its weight. A throne of claws formed into the vixen's forehead, and her blackened muzzle pierced Adeen's barrier and offered a ramp to the seat.

Adeen trembled as her footpaw touched the sloped muzzle. At once the heat rose through her body, and the screams of Legion beyond Hellgates filled her mind and more. Laughter then. Uncontrollable laughter as Adeen's eyes filled with tears. Not an enemy remained before her, not a single obstacle to freedom remained, and all would fall beneath her reign.

...There are things you?ve left undone, things you must decide...

And then she looked up. The clouds above were only seen in snippets as the swirl of ash passed.

Two beasts descended through the clouds, through the ash. Pearlescent and luminous came their lowering forms, and both blurred in detail though their bodies remained complete - one short, one tall. Neither moved, spoke, or did much else but stand opposite the vixen of Hellgates. They studied Adeen between, not a lick of flame or flake of ash daring to approach.

The bones beneath Adeen's foot cracked and trembled as they awaited their sister's climb. Beneath the weight, Canen's shattered body reached up for Adeen's tail, grasping as he gurgled for purchase.

Canen spoke, and in the slur of words she heard only a plea for forgiveness, for help.

Adeen backed away from the throne and into her all-but-lost shield. Two roads wound from her last bastion.

Behind her, the vixen seethed, the Legion reaching for their queen-to-be.

Before her, the two beasts held out their paws in offer.


~*~


To the left.

Marks on the wooden wall. The carvings stained and shaded in ways inflexible stone would not allow. Crossed swords, a tree-lined path, and all manner of sigil upholding the mind and times of Madder Barrow residents. The urge in touching the expert sheers swelled, but no signal allowed the scroll-weighted paw to lift and inspect.

To the right.

The crumpled, white brow of a warrior before the storm. The mouse was no maiden, no delicate flower, yet her paws cycled fluid and effortless through a string of signs as her eyes flickered beneath the closed lids. No straining revealed the litany on her lips, but the scent of surging clouds, both electric and tart, wafted from The Pearl Dawn as she prayed.

And behind her, Aldridge, his paw resting on Rinam?s shoulder.

Through the mouse?s bog, and the overhang of citrus tea from the censers, the stoat of Madder Barrow greeted her nostrils as clean and simple as mint pulped in a stone bowl. The lines of his face, and the webwork of muscles beneath his tunic, slackened as Adeen?s open eye met his.

He stepped forward too fast for his bare footpaws to manage. The jostle woke Rinam from her rite, and sent her backwards though Adeen could not tell what struck the mouse so deeply. Breathing came hard, harder still than moving her own limbs, which only twitched after a significant delay. Though a blanket draped across her, a heavier, unseen one enfolded her entirety, as though a mason filled her every joint with clay.

Thoughts frayed at the edge of her mind, her mostly healed head infrequently throbbing at the effort. Ash, fire, and a light too bright for anybeast?s eyes. Each thread dissolved as soon as she found them, one by one until only the mouse and stoat before her remained.

Silence lingered overlong as Aldridge went from standing straight, to pouring a bowl of water, to kneeling at her side.

?Welcome back.?

Rinam stepped forth when neither the stoat or vole acted. They kept locked on one another as she picked about Adeen?s still form, gathering the bits of quill, scroll, and cloth away so she may move free. Adeen tried once Rinam stepped back. Her elbows dug into the tabletop, and her back lifted all of a millimeter. Another millimeter more and Adeen found herself critically short for breath and flat on her back again.

Aldridge swooped in and looped his arm behind her, helping Adeen up to a comfortable sit as Rinam rearranged the blankets for modesty. She leaned not on the pillow the mouse thrust behind her head, but against Aldridge?s chest.

Adeen attempted speech where movement failed. Dust left her muzzle, and wafted up with the censer?s steam. Rinam brought forth Aldridge?s water bowl. The memory frayed at the seams, but in a snippet she saw the mouse striking her down within the arena. Adeen winced as she drew close, but sipped and spoke all the same.

?Our plan. What is our plan??

A smile meant so many things at so many different times. The grin of triumph. The smirk of infatuation. The warmth of joy. Her journal dictated the crutches beasts of the Crater leaned upon for navigating the social gauntlet. For Aldridge, he rarely smiled without purpose, and settled on logic and wide arms for easing a foe.

The stoat smiled now, though. One Adeen could not face at first, but immediately missed when he started speaking.

??Our? plan, indeed.? He adjusted himself upon the table as Rinam - without expression or word - set about cleaning and making sure the door remained locked. ?Our plan is to plan. Gather your strength. We?ll keep you safe until you?re ready for the front line again.?

?Why??

?Beasts still suffer under Nire?s rule. Your mind and our reach can change this.?

?N-no.? A cough rattled her fragile bones and stole her voice. She hesitated to take another sip from the bowl Rinam held. ?Why did you save me? I don?t...deserve it.?

"Because without you, this would all mean so much less. If I do not believe in you then I cannot believe in myself, in this."

He tilted his frame so Adeen may look upon the Mark Wall without strain. New symbols joined the few she recognized from before, blooming along the otherwise bare wood like a young tree. Counting came hard, but a good many beasts pledged themselves to the kingdom of Madder Barrow, to the repurposing of Nire?s Crater.

A whisper at the corner of Adeen?s mind cried folly. Its echo died away as she inhaled the sharp clouds and sweet mint of her saviors.

Again, she urged her paw aloft for inspecting the cut and skill of the marks before her. The weight of her inactivity managed a flick of her wrist and nothing more. The ache worsened with the effort, until her entire body wracked between the desire for motion and the craving for nothingness. She twisted in Aldridge?s grip, and after a great deal of fussing he and Rinam resettled her upon the table.

?My journal.? Both the mouse and stoat froze at the request, as Adeen?s paw flicked for the tome. ?Did it find you, Rinam? May I...see it.?

Aldridge made for the collection of Adeen?s effects on a side table. Rinam stepped between him and spoke firm her displeasure.

?I forbid it. She?s not ready.?

?I?m-? another clutch of coughs stole her words. Both beasts came to her side.

?I know what your work can do,? said Rinam. ?I read and followed your plan beyond reason. All That Is, and Aldridge, kept me from your end.?

?As well as I can keep any beast.? Rinam did not react to Aldridge?s veiled statement, but even Adeen caught the claw of longing in his tone, the tyranny of knowledge?s call. ?We fought you while you slept, and there still may be more of you left to fight.?

The ink still flowed. Even apart, Adeen heard the flutter of pages, felt the ripple of her fervent study just beyond her dulled limbs. Mint and storm. Anise and citrus. Over and over the scents combined with the fragile poppies in Adeen?s mind.

A field of poppies...

Every thread of the Between dissolved as she reached. Only reality remained before her, a choice heavy on the air though nobeast asked a question.

?I?m sorry.? A whisper from Adeen was all she could manage. ?I will make this right. W-we will make this right.?

Both the mouse and stoat spoke assurances. Both of them offered their pledges. Adeen heard none of it as her sobs of regret stole her remaining energy and forced her into dreaming.


~*~


?They will not eat?? said Fenton.

?They try but nothing comes,? said Adeen.

The winters of Bastion did not bring drifts or clouds, but the stark cold of steel upon the ocean?s floor. Adeen and Fenton found the warmest spot of the city in the alley between a bakery and smith?s forge. They pressed hard against the walls, the mother and her twin babes against the bakery bricks and the father across against the forge?s shared wall.

But as the moon rose, and the shops closed, the fires within faded. The four voles huddled together, the babes against the mother and the father cradling all. Adeen pulled the twins free from their feeble attempts and rewrapped their tattered blankets, the poppy stitchings frayed from exposure.

Silva did not move unless prodded. Thrane cried soundless as he shivered.

?Have mine.? Fenton pulled a cactus fruit from the folds of his service leathers. ?You need it...they need it.?

?No. You need your strength for tomorrow. You?ll work, buy bread, we?ll eat, they?ll eat, and we?ll ask the March for another night, and I?ll clean their storage right this time, and, and??

The calculations spun onward, silent, as Adeen prodded Silva again and again.

?Eat.? Fenton pressed the withered, pommel-sized fruit against Adeen?s muzzle until he slipped it in through her clenched teeth. He only continued when sure she chewed and swallowed. ?I?m fine. I am...we?re fine.?

?We?re not fine. We?re-?

Adeen brushed her claws over Thrane, who stopped shivering and only reached for the moon above. She lifted her robe and stuffed them both beneath, so only their still muzzles poked from her collar. Fenton drew tighter still, all against the fading warmth of the bakery oven?s reverse.

?We?re fine. We?re together.?

?Y-you?re sure. They...they grow cold and I...?

?Come close, my poppy. Tomorrow, t-together, we?ll try again.?


~*~


Adeen awoke to her legs in the air.

The dregs of alleyway dreams, clouding about the vole?s mind, made the beast at Adeen?s side unknowable. Reality jumped sharp into place as Rinam dragged a clotted sponge across the vole?s hindquarters without ceremony. A muted yelp of surprise as a few more swipes of sponge followed, and then the mouse lowered her legs and readjusted the blanket.

?You?re awake.? Rinam?s nose did not twitch at the mess she dealt with, or the embarrassment and fury coiling along Adeen?s muzzle. She only locked with Adeen as a crafter before her task. ?The Barrow healer taught me. Did I do well??

Adeen clawed the blanket closer against her body, curling as much cloth between her and the blunt mouse at her side. The anger faded as she realized she could clutch the blanket at all, or move her limbs, or speak without losing all breath.

?...your effort encourages my recovery.? The dryness remained, and the mouse brought a bowl to her lips before she could ask. ?Thank you, but??

?Why help the one I?ve hurt. The one that betrayed me.?

?...right.?

?They live. Pavaiz, Safira...Kadar. They live and you knew.?

?I did.?

The stareoff lasted only a minute before Rinam broke free. She disposed of the laundry, rewashed her own paws, and cycled through a collection of pawsigns before stopping before Adeen?s effects. The journal. Rinam picked up the journal and brought it to Adeen?s side. The vole?s breath caught short as Rinam?s capped tail twitched on the tabletop, as she sat beside.

?If you know where they reside, then you must know their way free.?

?Rinam, I am-?

?I do not want an apology. I want you to keep your word.? Rinam gripped the journal at its side, but dare not open the cover. ?You meant me to find them in time. The time is now.?

...I will make this right. W-we will make this right?

The possibilities turned over in Adeen?s mind, surging through her as avenue after avenue presented itself. Earmark 8 would discuss trade routes in and out of the Crater, and opportunities between Mortician Muda?s sloppy inventory management. A single train would flow to and from St. Zivesta?s Church, where honored dead of faith rested, where Kadar of the Iron Sea tended the graves. A two-end point of contact meant only managing the guards as the checkpoints, and even then choice guards and the bowyer?s reach might see...

Adeen groaned with the effort, but rose on the strength of purpose alone. She turned on her side, curling around Rinam?s back. The mouse moved to get up, to help the vole, but a paw upon her paw, upon the journal, kept them still.

?There are ways, Rinam.? Anise and thunder intertwined, until the vole knew the mouse?s fear, until the mouse knew the vole?s sincerity. ?We can see you, and your kind, free.?

In one fluid movement, Rinam rose from their embrace and drew her rondel. Seconds passed, and then the Mark Wall door clicked open. Aldridge Moor stood at the entry. He did not advance, not even after the mouse lowered her weapon. He looked from the warrior at the ready, to the journal tucked under her arm, to the vole bare and on her side.

?See you free.? He made his eavesdropping clear as he trembled out the words. Rinam set the journal down upon the side table, atop Adeen?s cloak and scrolls. ?Is this true??

Adeen nodded.

?And you knew of them before??

?Them and much more.? Adeen tried rising to a sit, but the effort cost too much and sent her horizontal. ?The...freedom paled against striking down Nire. But now...?

Aldridge stormed across the room, ripped the journal from the pile, and slammed it upon the table beside Adeen. He dragged Rinam over, pressed her paw upon Adeen?s, both upon the journal, with his above to seal them all. A new energy filled Adeen?s chest, an excitement which trembled in her throat and coiled her tail.

Anise, Mint, and Thunder filled the room and stained the New Mark Wall.

?Together??

?Together.?