Alone in the Dark

Wolves on Guard

The older chief clerk who was the man who worked for the O'Vara estates, managing the estates, walked through the door of the old barn where the villagers had put the bodies.

It was protected from animals and the elements outside, but cold enough that the bodies of the fallen remained frozen as they waited for transportation home. Nerini had been sitting amongst them for about an hour. She looked like Lady O'Vara now, having let the enchantment over her hair and eyes go, so that the loyal members of her brother's estates would recognize her. She had kept watch over the dead, some of whom had been around when she learned how to handle a sword, in the hours it took for them to arrive. She fought the urge to let her mind drift back into those memories, knowing that they would be her undoing when she needed to stay focused.

Lukine, the clerk stopped in his tracks and watched her for a moment before understanding grew on his features.

"M'lady Nerini, I had a thought it might be you." The man said soberly, glancing to her charge and then back to her, his expression sad.

"Lukine, well met." She breathed, standing and moving to grasp the man's hand, but found herself enveloped in a hard hug by the large man. "It's the least I could do."

He patted her back, then stepped back and nodded slowly. "I will take them home, we will lay them to rest."

She nodded as she fought the emotions warring within her. "I said the initial rites over them after getting them down, I should go home with you, they deserve the honour of having someone from my family there."

"We'd welcome you home," Lukine said easily, watching her with a careful calculation on his features. "But we know your job is here, M'lady. You do them more honour finding your brother and bringing those who did this to justice."

Nerini turned to look at the soldiers lying frozen in death, covered in burial shrouds, on pallets to ease their travel. "As you say, Lukine."

"I brought with me another twenty soldiers for the security and honour guard back, but I can leave the section with you." Lukine broke the silence after they watched the dead that surrounded them. "All of them have volunteered for the duty. Our wolves are eager to make this right, to fight this. And they will be even more eager when they know it's you that is here."

Nerini looked towards the door for a long while, emotions playing across her face as she fought with the conflicting thoughts and loyalties to decide what she said next. "Bring them in, Lukine. I'll try to do something right for once and hopefully it will do until I can return home and properly honour their families."

Lukine whistled shrilly, and the door was pulled open, admitting twenty armoured Guards wearing her family's red and black. They filed in and lined up in rows of five in front of her. If there was surprise on their features when they saw who she was, they didn't falter in their crisp, well-trained movements. They saluted crisply and then stood as one silent unit, watching her.

"Well met." She said firmly.

After glancing the guards over, Lukine turning from them to face her, his movements practiced and precise as he saluted her once more. The large man may be a clerk now, but he was as much a soldier as anyone was.

"Fifth squadron, reporting for duty, M'lady O'Vara" Lukine followed the rigid protocol to the letter.

Nerini nodded and let out a breath, watching them as she tried to remember the training she had never used before. "Be at ease, Fifth."

"But never let our guard down." Lukine repeated to her, followed by the twenty men and women repeating. "For we are the light in the storm"

The Guard then shifted, taking more relaxed stances and moving forward to form a semi-circle around her, their helmets coming off, surrounding her with grim faces. Lukine stood off to the side, giving them the chance to be near her. It was in that moment that Nerini realized, if she could not find her brother, these were her people. They all would look at the bodies and thinking the same thing.

Nerini refused to let herself to even contemplate that option. She would find her brother. Kannein was still alive, he would have been with this group if he was not. Besides, this moment was for the fallen, to honour their service and sacrifice.

Nerini let the silence hang for a moment, before taking in a breath to steady her voice. "I know you aren't used to seeing me in front of you and you are angry at what happened to our people. I feel that anger twinned with my own. I also know that you all want to hunt with me, find whoever is responsible and make them pay."

There were nods and grunts of ascent, soldiers shifting and looking ready to hunt like the hounds of hell, and Nerini allowed it for a moment before shaking her head and continuing. "But we can't do that, I can't let you do that. We believe this enemy is trying to draw us out, lure us into reacting in anger and sending wave upon wave of fighters after them, onto a ground and time of their choosing, till it weaken us to the point that we are no longer effective. I will not play their game, I will not sacrifice your lives for my own desire for revenge."

She looked to Lukine, who nodded and gave out the orders to the group, his words ringing out through the cold air. "First, we will honour our brothers and sisters who fell fighting this darkness. And then, we will do what Aupana needs us to do, which is to protect our borders. You are being sent home, to provide an unexpected line of defense against this foe."

Some soldiers appeared unimpressed, shaking their heads and glaring at Lukine and her as she picked up where Lukine stopped. "Don't get me wrong, I am not letting them settle, or giving them a free pass for this. I am staying here, and I am going to hunt them down, and I need five of you to stay with me. One who can blend in here in this village and be my contact, and the others will be assigned to the Royal Guard detachment in Sytheville, for quick assistance when I need you."

Nerini watched them come to terms with what she was proposing, the dissent and anger on their faces slowly becoming acceptance and resolution. When she saw more nods than glares, she inclined her head to Lukine once more. "I am sending requests for two platoons of Rangers join you at home and you will increase the size, duration and frequency of your patrols. They are entering Aupana somehow, and I want you to cut those lines and bring the force of your anger down on them. And that is how we will strike back; in ways they aren't expecting from us. Smart and controlled."

The entire group grinned in eagerness at this second mission, nodding to themselves more fervently. Nerini noticed glances between friends, nods, and even a few handshakes. She let them build themselves up and took a step back, nodding to Lukine before turning towards the bodies. She walked over to pick up a lantern that had been glowing dimly on the ground. As Nerini stood, she adjusted the light coming out of it, increasing the glow until it hurt her eyes.

"Fifth!" Lukine yelled sharply, followed by the sound of the soldiers coming to crisp attention. "For your brothers and sisters of the seventh."
"Those that lay before us, those that lay before them and those who stand beside us." The soldiers chanted, offering a salute.

Nerini lowered the lantern and put it down on the sole table in the room. She bowed her head and responded as firmly as she could. "May their fight be over, the sword has passed, and we pick it up. May their pain be over, the armour has passed, and we put it on. May their journey continue into peaceful fields and mountain streams; for our road is long and we must continue on it without them."

The soldiers behind her repeated her words, and the building fell silent, but for the crackling of the lantern and the breathing behind her. Outside, the winter winds howled like wolves, as if the spirits of those they were sending off were saying goodbye. Or demanding revenge for the horrors that they had been put through.

Nerini closed her eyes and let out a slow breath, breaking the silence after allowing it to stretch out around them. "Lansend thanks you, Aupana thanks you, you were all mighty but you can rest now. We will take it from here."

"For we are the light in the storm." The group saluted and then moved to the bodies, lifting them two at a time and carrying them out of the barn to the waiting wagons, as Nerini pulled her hood up and observed silently from her place beside the imposing figure of Lukine.

Lansend may be the Light in the Storm, but she was going to hunt in the darkness she had trained to walk through. Damn the fickle rogues that sold their souls to the darkness for a few coins of gold. Kea may have trained her, but he didn't know all her tricks. They may have been close once, but Nerini could harden her heart to accomplish these goals.