The First Contact

“You summoned me, mother?”

“Yes, Satine. Please, sit.”

Mother Mina’s cell was small and ascetic. It only had a bed, a table with an opened letter laying on top, a chair and a lamp. Mother cared not for earthly possessions. Morning sun seeped into the room through a small window, casting deep shadows on the prioress’ face. It made her look older and more troubled than usual.

Satine sat at the table, waiting for what mother Mina would say.

“I’ve received a condolence letter from knight commander de Montfort.”

“That’s… kind of him.”

Mina let out a chuckle of irony.

“Oh, hardly, my child. Five of our sisters are gone, and he wrote as if I had buried the entire order. He isn’t even hiding it anymore. He wants direct authority over the Sisterhood.”

“What would that mean for us?”

“Loss of autonomy, of course. Right now we can act independently, but should de Montfort send a permanent contingent here, we would be his puppets. He has enough political standing to attempt a takeover. He just needs a pretext, and our dwindling combat readiness would be just that.”

“Why does it mean so much to him?”

“Einhart extended his operations to Inelin province, and the Brotherhood hardly has any presence here. No castles, not even any sort of permanent residency. Taking over the Sisterhood would give him a direct control over a well-fortified monastery and a logistical hub with the personnel already in place. All he needs to do is to waltz in with his troops.”

“We mustn’t allow that.”

“My point exactly. Can you think of a solution for that?”

It’s a test – Satine thought. – She wants to see if I’m fit to be a leader.

She took a few seconds to find an answer.

“We must appear stronger and more capable than we really are. De Montfort will have no claim over us if we can take care of ourselves.”

“Appearances are not enough. A real strength must follow.”

“We can train more sisters to join our ranks.”

“Training takes time. What can we do now?” – mother Mina pressed on. Satine started feeling like an interrogatee.

“I… I don’t know…” – she muttered.

“I won’t always be around to give you answers. Sometimes you will have to find them yourself, no matter what. You won’t always be right, but you always have to own your decisions, whether right or wrong. That’s what it means to be a leader.”

Satine nodded.

“We can take initiative.”

A barely visible smile appeared on Mina’s face.

“And take initiative we will.”

***

“There!”

Sonia spotted the first charred tree hit by a stray fireball. After a few more steps she found the place. This was where their sisters were ambushed.

She was disappointed to see the extent to which the entire site was trampled by the search and recovery parties. It seemed like no stone was left unturned… or rather, kicked over, as Sonia didn't think that thorough evidence collection was of the utmost priority to the local militia.

“Well… There's not much left” - Sonia sighed.

“At least we can sample the spell blast marks.” – Liesë said, taking out some vials from her sampling kit.

“You do you, I'll look around for any useful tracks.”

Any human or horse remains which may have survived the deadly barrage of fireballs, had already been taken, to the last burnt bone.

When Sonia walked closer to the epicenter, she was blinded by the sun. The canopy above was gone here. The trees were turned to ash, leaving only black stumps sticking from the ground. Her every step launched little clouds of ash. It hadn't rained for days, fortunately for her.

She paid close attention to the footprints, especially to the older ones, already covered by ash. After a moment she figured she could use some assistance. She pulled an amulet from her pocket.

It was a unique piece, made by a skilled artificer many centuries ago. It resembled a silver ant with catharite eyes. The craftsman fashioned the metal to be able to detect traces of magic. Sonia had used it long enough to become proficient in tracking with its aid. And aid her it did.

“Got it!” - Sonia exclaimed, feeling the amulet shiver gently. It had caught a trace.

She took a closer look and identified the footprints belonging to one of the sorcerers. She carefully followed the tracks to the edge of the burnt opening.

***

Liesë finished scraping the charred bark to the vial and packed her things.

It's going to be a busy evening in the laboratory – she thought.

She had collected several samples from the blast marks on the trees and rocks, some of the ash, and, most intriguing of all, a piece of clotted blood, which she found using a similar amulet to Sonia's one. Liesë's was fashioned into an ivy leaf. Based on the style, they had concluded that not only were they made by the same hand, but in fact were a matching set. They considered those handy trinkets tokens of their friendship.

Liesë realized it was time to find Sonia, but she had wandered off from the site and disappeared into the woods.

It took her a long while, and a few increasingly concerned shouts, but she found her, crouching and looking into some tracks so closely, her face was nearly planted in the ground.

“Good grief, finally!” – Liesë shouted. – “Why didn't you respond?”

Sonia didn't say anything. Instead, she continued studying the tracks, occasionally looking further into the forest from whence they came and where they led to. Finally, she said silently, without looking away:

“I don't think it was an ambush…”

“If not an ambush, then what?”

“It seems like they just bumped into each other.”

***

Satine stood on the cloister, leaning against the stone balustrade. She needed to take some fresh air after another afternoon counsel with mother Mina. They had been discussing the future of the battlesisters.

Suddenly, someone touched her arm. It was Taevine.

“So what are your plans now that you're in charge?” – asked Taevine. Satine thought she could hear something strange in her voice. It had been like that ever since she was appointed decurioness.

“I'm discussing this with mother Mina. She's advocating for gathering more intel on Einhart's intentions before we make a move.”

“And in the meantime the sorcs take out Sonia and Liesë, who have been missing since the morning!”

“I gave Sonia my permission to do some scouting and strictly forbade them to engage the guerillas should they encounter some.”

Taevine was shocked.

“And you told me nothing about it!”

“Why are you angry about it? I have full autonomy to authorize such operations and I don't have to disclose them to my other subordinates.”

“Subordinates? Since when are you such a panjandrum?”

“Just trying to match the seriousness of my station and the circumstances we're in. You yourself asked for some decisive actions, so I'm doing just that.”

“Yes, but you needn't be so haughty about it. Do you have any orders for me, commander?”

Satine felt bad for treating Taevine with such stiffness. She found it difficult to strike a balance between their friendship and her new duties. It didn't help that they had been raised together in the order, and they had always been on equal footing. It was strange for her to be given authority over her peer.

Finally she realized she had been standing silently for a while.

“If not, then I'll see you at lunch. Good day to you, sister.”

Taevine walked away before Satine could say anything, leaving her wondering what it really meant for her to be in charge.

Will I ever be as good as Lynette?

She knew that she was now personally responsible for the lives of her four sisters, and the entirety of armed operations of her order, as modest as their strength was at that point. At the same time, she didn’t want to lose her friendship with any of the sisters, but a stark thought started slowly setting in. Perhaps in the grim reality of war, attachment was a luxury she could ill afford.

***

Sonia didn't talk much on their way back, and neither did Liesë. Despite their best efforts, they had been unable to find any further evidence. The horses were slowly carrying them home, the lush green canopy of the forest over their heads, and the singing of birds in their ears, but their minds were clouded and uneasy.

Finally, Liesë broke the silence:

“I've been trying to remember other cases when Einhart ventured out of his usual territory. There was his supposed regicide attempt, and some magical artifact search operations.”

“The capital is the other way from Arskegg” – Sonia noted – “but I don't recall there being any artifacts around here that could be useful to him. Do you?”

“I don't either. Do you suppose he's interested in the sanctuary?”

“It's a religious site, not something an arcane practitioner would find useful.”

“As soon as I'm done with the sample analysis, I'll scour the library for any information on magic in the area. Good thing that mother didn't order to burn the books forbidden by the Holy See.”

Sonia chuckled.

“You practically begged her to spare them. I'd never seen you that distressed.”

“Because that knowledge is irreplaceable! I can imagine no worse crime than depriving people of it.”

“What is in those books, anyway?”

“Mostly arcane and alchemical lore, including some quite obscure things, like necromancy.”

“You’d keep such a dangerous knowledge?”

“There’s no such thing as dangerous knowledge. There are only dangerous people.”

“Like Einhart… You know, sometimes limits may be beneficial. It would have saved us a lot of headache if he had never learned the secrets of the arcane.”

“I can't believe I hear a praise for restrictions from such a free spirit as you!”

Sonia laughed out loud.

“You got me there.”

“Besides, it's not like it would have prevented him from becoming a sorcerer. People like him are born with sensitivity to magic.”

Sonia nodded in silence. She knew that Liesë was about to flood her with trivia.

“And in fact, he had done some excellent service to the realm before he went rogue. He was the captain of the Royal Battlemages and one of their best trainers. At the battle of Kornda Hill he scorched over a hundred soldiers and had a standoff with an enemy battlemage, which he won by ripping his head off. But it was still not enough to win the day and he was captured. It was then when he was tortured, flayed and left for dead on a pile of corpses. Yet he still walked away from that.”

Sonia could hardly believe Liesë was able to tell such a story casually, but that was the kind of person she was. She replied:

“Well, that makes it kind of hard to blame him for taking it personally when later magic was banned and his very existence became essentially outlawed.”

“It doesn’t absolve him of his crimes. He still chose to kill innocents instead of fleeing the kingdom.”

“Aye, that he did…” – Sonia's voice went sadder as she remembered the scene of her sisters’ tragic death.

Suddenly, her amulet started vibrating.

“Off the road, now!” – she shouted and they both immediately swerved into the forest. They hid their horses and stealthily crawled back to watch the highway.

After a few moments they heard a clatter of hooves and two riders emerged from behind the curve.

One was a tall man with light skin, brown hair and the eyes the color of a thunder cloud. He was wearing a hooded ashen cloak with some armor pieces made of brown boiled leather beneath. From under the coattails glared the pommel of a longsword.

The other one had a pale face with sharp features, almost like a bird of prey. He had long black hair and was clad all in black, with a cape hung over his shoulder. He seemed unarmed.

They both passed the sisters’ hiding spot and continued on their way. Soon the amulets became still again.

“That was close” – Sonia sighed with relief.

“We must tell the others.”