The sound of the ocean crashing against the rocks below was nearly deafening. It seemed as though nature itself was warning me away from the area.
I took a moment to corral my hair and tie it back with a ribbon that matched the somber robes I wore. The hem had been stained by mud and grass due to my trek to get here.
I shivered as I remembered the creature I was about to see. I was about to face a Siren, a creature which could enrapture people with their voices. One whose looks were so beguiling that they could lure sailors and soldiers to their deaths.
My fear slowly turned to anticipation as a smile formed on my face.
It was also the being I had been sent to neutralize. I felt the ashwood wand tucked into my belt for a moment and continued on, the salty taste of the air growing as I began descending. While the shore to either side of this cove were jagged rocks and towering cliffs, this was a much more secluded bit, a few towering chunks of stone keeping the waves from battering the sandy beach.
And there, lounging in the gentle waves lapping forward, was a solitary woman, red hair spread behind her as she stared out to sea. She laid back onto her elbows and looked straight at me. I could spy her strangely contented smile and twinkling teal eyes.
“You may as well come out, mage,” she said loud enough to be heard over the waves. “I saw you as you crested the rise. I must say, stealth isn’t your strong suit, is it?” She stood and turned to face me, her loose clothing made transparent in spots from the water. I swallowed and tried not to think about the curves and features that the clinging tunic revealed. I drew my wand and stepped forward.
“I never claimed to be sneaking,” I declared as I held my wand forth, it’s smooth length beginning to glimmer with held power. “I do feel that a moment’s observation is the least I can do before I carry forth my duty.”
The Siren’s eyes grew bored, and she rolled them as she posted her hands on her hips. “Ah, yes,” she sighed. “Another exorcist, another monster hunter. It’s too much to assume for once that someone could come just to see if the legends were true? Or to just bask in my beauty? Dragons get that bit of respect at least.”
I felt my hand lower. This was deadly creature I had been sent to dispatch? She sounded as though she was complaining that the market was out of bread. I watched as she kicked at the waves, venting her frustration.
“Are you at least going to provide me with a fight, mage?” she asked. Her voice was tired, resigned. I looked to the wand in my hand, raised it a little.
And replaced it in my belt. “Do you truly wish to fight?”
Her surprise washed the tired look from her face. “What are you doing?”
I stepped forward, the hem of my robe soaking as I felt the waves begin washing over my boots. “You made no move to prepare yourself. Even when my wand was pointed at you, there was no anger, no fear. Just resignation and irritation.” I stepped closer. “Maybe we could just speak for a while first.”
Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Why?”
I sat on a small boulder lodged in the sand. “My orders merely said to neutralize you. It doesn’t specify as to the means. Perhaps we could come to terms?”
Still suspicious, she sat once again in the surf. At this distance, I could make out a faint iridescence to her amber skin. I felt no spells coming from her, nor was her voice particularly enticing. She was comely, I’ll admit, but I wasn’t ready to fling myself to the sea for her.
“What is your name?” I asked. “I don’t wish to merely call you Siren.”
She smiled a large grin, her teeth giving me a momentary thought of a shark. “Shall we trade names, you and I?”
I smiled back. “No, I think not. I am aware of how the Fae can use one’s name given freely.”
The Siren shrugged. “Fair enough.” She looked around and her gaze settled on the setting sun. “Sunset. You may call me Sunset. You might not be able to pronounce my True Name anyway.”
I nodded. “And you may call me Song.” I crossed my legs. “I have been commanded by the Queen to end your depredations upon her ships and coastal holdings.”
“Depredations?” Sunset began to laugh. “I would hardly call a few drunk soldiers and a single crashed ship depredations!”
I frowned. “So you admit to preying on the Queen’s subjects?”
She flipped a hand in dismissal. “I admit to having killed them, but virtuous knights they were not.” She slipped one side of her tunic off her shoulder, revealing a fading bruise on her upper arm. “They sought to take me to their barracks to share me. One or two were winsome enough, perhaps, but I am not some barmaid to be passed around. I objected and they decided to press their point.” She glanced to the sea again, the mast of a ship barely visible against the coming night. “And before you ask about the ship, the helmsman must have been drunk, since they were sailing straight for the shoals. I saved who I could, but one was already dead from injuries when I hauled him ashore. I suppose that in the shock and dismay it could be seen as I had murdered him.”
I kept my eyes on her as she spoke, searching for outright lies or doubletalk. The Fae were known to speak their belief of the truth and twist it to their benefit. I compared it to the reports that I had skimmed prior to my setting out from Canterlot palace. The reports of the fort soldiers didn’t match, but the sailors had reported a ‘maiden of the waves’ pulling them to shore as the ship foundered.
“You don’t believe me, do you?” Sunset muttered. “Fae can’t be trusted, can they? We’ll ensnare your spirits and drag you to your doom. Could you consider that perhaps I merely wish to be left alone?”
“I’m not here to judge,” I replied softly. “I’m merely here to deal with the issue.” I stood and brushed my hands against my legs. “A solution must be reached. Could you relocate to another cove?”
“It would require more than three hundred leagues through treacherous waters.” She swirled a hand idly in the water. “It is a possibility, but I was born in these waters long ago. You would be asking me to leave the only home I’ve known.”
I frowned. “I thought the Fae were all born in the Fae realm.”
“Full blooded Fae are,” Sunset sighed. “My father was a mortal man that my mother fell in love with. The faerie world doesn’t abide my human blood and rejects me. I have no other place to go.”
I studied her for a moment. She hadn't lost contact with the water once since we've been talking.
“Don’t want to, or can’t?”
Sunset looked at me, looking down at her feet. “I can only go so far from the sea, several hundred yards at most. Any further and I start to die.”
I nodded, turning to leave. “I will take you tale to the Queen and make a recommendation to set this cove as a protectorate. Her soldiers would be forbidden from entering and ships would be given instruction to give it a wide berth.”
“And if they ask of my disposition?”
“Wounded, mortally. But the battle left the land unstable and dangerous.” I raked a hand through my dark hair. “I may even be able to lay a spell at the head of the path to make people think it’s been broken.” I leveled my gaze on her. “You’d have to be careful not to be seen.”
“Why not carry out your orders?”
I smiled wryly. “Were you truly a danger, you’d have attacked me the moment you knew I was here to kill you. And I think we both know that.”
Tears appeared in her eyes. “Thank you.”
I began to hike up the trail when four men in armor crested the hill, their tabards displaying them as of the Palace guard. I frowned and hailed them, keeping my hand clear of my wand.
My greeting was met with drawn swords.
“Drop the wand, witch,” the ranking soldier growled. “I won’t have you bewitching us as that monster obviously did with you.” The guards started spreading out to the sides, flanking me.
I slowly followed their movements with my eyes, anger growing.
“I am on an official mission with a writ from the Court!” I snarled, raising my arms slightly as the guards began to close in. “It’s a high crime to interfere with an officer of the Queen!”
“She sent us to help you in the event you got bewitched.” He looked over my shoulder. “And seeing as how she’s still standing, I think it’s clear what happened.”
I was about to respond with a biting remark when the soldier to my left lunged and swung his sword down. I flung my arm up, fist curled.
The sword struck me just below the wrist, the shuddering force almost enough to throw me from my feet. But instead of cleaving my hand off, a resounding metallic clang echoed through the air.
I stood there, my rent sleeve revealing a glittering metal vambrace underneath, its carven runes glimmering. As they stared in shock, I shrugged off the upper half of my robe, revealing a tight fitted blouse of studded leather, runes of power embossed into the material. Arm bands of gold circled my upper arms, while close-fitted vambraces protected my lower arms.
I could feel my anger drawing upon my magic, my eyes starting to glow with arcane fury.
“You are accused of treason,” I said coldly. “Attacking a member of the Court without provocation. You will lay down your arms or be held accountable.”
They hesitated, but then rushed me. I was able to hold them at bay for a moment, my basic training letting me block their swings, but my speed was boosted by the defensive charms woven into my vambraces and they could only last so long. I felt a barely dodged attack nick the back of my armored blouse, then only dodged another thrust by slipping in the mud. I felt a solid swing catch me in the middle, the runes of protection keeping it from cutting through but driving the wind out of me.
I staggered back, hand cradling my stomach as I glared at them.
“This is the Sorceress of the Blaze?” the lead guard laughed. “Some fire you have, wench.”
“I’m still giving you the opportunity to surrender,” I bit. My fingertip felt the butt of my wand and I slowly started easing it from its toggle. Another inch and I could bring it to bear. “There could be leniency on the part of Her Majesty.”
A small crossbow appeared in his hand. “Maybe.”
Time slowed as the crossbow fired, the small dart heading straight for me. I tried to pull my wand free but knew that I wouldn't have enough time to bring it to bear
A loud scream pierced the evening air, the dart shattering as the soldiers covered their ears.
Sunset stepped forward, her face wrathful and her hair snapping like angry wings in a breeze I couldn’t feel. She drew in another breath and screamed again, and I could feel the magic in her voice.
One soldier dropped his sword and fell over, clutching his ears as blood began to seep out. Another started to attack one of his comrades. The leader winced as he loaded another dart into his weapon and raised it."
My wand swung upwards, the tip glowing bright green.
The dart fired as I cried out my incantation.
“Vwkarios!!”
The dart passed next to the bright green blast of energy, time speeding up again. I felt the flare of pain as the dart punched into my shoulder where my armor ended.
My attack struck the lead soldier and burst into a flare of green fire. The crossbow kindled and I held the wand out as the man crumpled. I hissed through the pain, tossing my wand to my uninjured hand and lashing out with another snarled word, causing the flame to leap between the remaining men.
“I’ll show you why they call me Blaze,” I spat as they were consumed by the green fire.
I holstered my wand and dug in my pouch for small vial. I then pulled the dart out of shoulder and tossed it aside.
“Why did you bother fighting?” I asked before drinking the contents of the vial.
I felt a warmth spread through me, and the pain in my shoulder began to fade.
I turned to face the Siren, frowning. “You could have stayed safe in your cove.”
“I assume you had them right where you wanted them?” She smirked at me. “All according to plan?”
“Well, thanks.” I looked at the smoldering ground and sighed. “This is a mess.” I began walking towards the shore. “If you have anything of value, grab it fast.”
“Why?” she asked, jogging to a small cave opening.
“Because soon this cove wont exist anymore.” I dipped the empty vial into the waves, filling it with seawater.
“But, my home…”
I tossed the vial to her. “This should give you the connection you need. There’s a small lake near my villa that feeds directly into the ocean. If that doesn’t help, I’ll figure something out. Either way, you can’t stay here.”
As she gathered her things, I used a bit of magic to sweep the embers of my combat into the lower part of the cove. The next part was going to be tiring, but needed to be done. As Sunset joined me at the crest, looking a little weary, I turned my wand to the rocky overhangs.
“Grt’chara,” I said, and the overhang began to crumble.
I kept my concentration on the rocks, my will worming its way into every crack and crag, snapping them as surely as a heavy sledge would. The rumbling of falling rock reached my ears and I released my held breath.
The cove below was completely buried, no trace of the sandy beach that Sunset had once called her home. I tucked my wand away and pulled my robe back over my shoulders.
“What about the soldiers?” she asked.
“The truth,” I said as I turned to leave. “They attacked, and I defended myself.”
“You won’t face reprisals?”
“I carry a writ to enact justice on behalf of the Queen,” I said. “Attacking me is tantamount to attacking her Majesty. And if you thought I was harsh, Queen Luna would have been far less merciful.”
We walked in silence for a few minutes before she spoke again.
“What is your name?” she asked.
I was silent for several moments, focused on finding a secured place for a campsite.
I sighed. “Aria. My name is Aria.”
Author's Note
I kind of like this setting. I may just expand it a bit in the future.
I flung my staff down as I entered the cottage, lighting the fire in the fireplace with a wave of my hand and growled word. I started peeling my cloak off when Sunset entered, her hair damp. The bottle of water from the cove caught the light as she turned to close the door to the veranda.
“Oh, hey Aria,” she said, setting the sandals she had been wearing to the side. “Welcome back…what is that on you?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I growled, tossing my cloak down with a wet splat. “But the next time I get sent to deal with golems, I want a more accurate portrayal of just what kind of golem it is.”
Sunset’s nose wrinkled as the stench of the goo coating my staff, cloak, armor, pants, boots, and hair reached her. “Poseidon’s Grace, Aria. What in the sea was it?”
“Muck golem.”
She tried to keep a straight face, but the absurdity of such a creation was too much for her to ignore. I enjoy her laughter, honestly.
But she wasn’t the one covered in proverbial shite.
“Can it,” I growled as I stripped most of my clothes off, leaving me in a simple undertunic and small clothes. “I need a bath in the worst way.”
“What about your clothes?” Sunset asked.
I bundled the items up and flung them into the fireplace. As I walked by the slack-jawed Siren, I patter her on the shoulder.
“My cloak and armor have a protection enchantment on them. They’ll be fine.”
My front and side yards were filled with various trees — and a few magical alarms — but my backyard held two interesting views. Behind my cottage was a large field of waving grass and wild wheat. It was tall enough to brush by my hip if I walked through it but it wasn’t my destination. I was heading to a pair of stony basins hidden by some of the grass. When I had gotten the land I walked every inch to familiarize myself with it and I had found a small natural spring bubbling in a tiny stone outcropping. A few days worth of earth spells had let me hollow out a couple large depressions and line them with stone. The water filled them slowly before flowing back to the nearby stream and a few enchanted stones set into the bottom of the basin kept the water at a nice warm temperature year-round. The larger of the two was for soaking, but I didn’t want to climb in there caked with filth. To the side, hidden by the stony outcropping was a bucket and a stool.
Sunset joined me as I washed my hair clean of the offending muck and slid her loose overrobe off before sliding into the hotspring I had made. Her skin took on an iridescent shine through the steam and I knew her lower half had returned to the fins and scales of her kind. The only clothing she wore was the leather cord that held her hair back and the leather thong holding the bottle of her birth waters at her neck.
“So, I’ve noticed lately you’ve not been having the best of assignments.”
“That’s an understatement.” I dumped the bucket over my head to rinse the suds from me before shucking my clothes and armbands as well and dropping into the heated water, muscles sighing in the warmth. “Ever since the incident with you it’s been a rough go.”
“She wasn’t happy, huh?”
I submerged and resurfaced, pushing my hair behind my shoulders. “Not overly, no. She was outraged that soldiers in her employ would fabricate evidence or try to attack one of her agents. But she was also displeased with me, since I didn’t follow the letter of her orders despite having been given free will. It’s the worst, and I’ve fallen a few rungs in Queen Luna’s favor.”
“I never thanked you for that, by the way,” Sunset murmured, hand making idle circles in the steaming water. I waved it off.
“It’s done. You weren’t the creature terrorizing the shorelines and didn’t need to be hunted. You wouldn’t believe some of the crap I’ve seen. I once was hired to chase down someone accused of drinking unicorn blood.”
“Unicorn blood?”
“Some fool was seen trying to bind a wound on a unicorn and some blood splashed up on his face. The small villages are filled with silly superstitions and folk lore and not a lick of it’s true.”
“Then how do you sort out the truth? It can’t be as simple as it was with me.”
I sank to where my lips were just above water.
“I just take everything with a grain of salt,” I murmured. “The first rule my teacher taught me was that everybody lies, the difference is just what about and how much of it was conscious.” I held up a hand to stall the upcoming question. “Everyone has a bunch of information in their head and they’re all so certain it’s the truth. People believe the world is flat, despite the fact that ships have sailed clear around it for centuries. They just know it’s flat. Just like they distrust anyone that uses magic, even palliative magic.”
“So you assume everyone is just misinformed then?” Sunset crooked and eyebrow. “Kind of a haughty view. It can’t be that simple.”
“It’s not. The second thing I was taught is that people are stupid. In conjunction to everybody lies, people will believe anything you tell them because they either think it’s true, want it to be true, or are afraid it’s true. And that works against them most of the time. My first task whenever I go on an assignment is to find out how much is truth and how much is fiction.”
I stared off into space for a moment, remembering what the senior mage that had taught me and the sound of her voice echoing in the halls of her library.
“Master Sparkle never taught me anything until I could intuit my way in debates and sense illusions. She was a wily old witch, and even after she said my teaching was finished I still couldn’t beat her in a mock duel.”
“You sound like you miss her,” Sunset said.
I laughed wryly. “As if. Everytime I go to the court to answer a missive I have to see her standing ward at the side of the Queen. She’s only gotten more gentle in her criticisms of me.” I frowned. “And that annoys me for some reason.”
Silence fell on the pool as I sank to sit on a ledge, tilting my head back to rest on the rim of the spring.
“I caught some fish for dinner.” Sunset said simply.
I grunted in reply. I wasn’t used to talking so much. I wasn’t used to people being around all the time.
But mostly, I wasn’t used to her. And yet, strangely…
I wanted to get used to her being around.
