"You're my son, and as such you deserve the armor fitting of that title," she said with a huff. "Does Bernar have anything like this?" I asked with a chuckle. "He does, but for the same reasons he wears the pendant all the time, he doesn't wear the armor," she replied. "I see. When did we earn a family crest? I thought those were only given to royal or noble families," I asked, idly fiddling with the design on my gorget as we turned down the path that led to the stables.
"It was a few years before I had Bernar. Aurae and Elhael gave it to me so that when I eventually came back, all would know of my station," she began. "The addition of the quote was my idea, though," she chuckled. I looked at her curiously, since the words They All Will Fall didn't exactly explain a lot to me at that point in time. "But what does the crest mean?" I asked, knowing next to nothing of symbology.
My mother gazed off into the distance for a moment, then answered in a hushed tone. "The falcon signifies hope and chivalry, the crossed swords mean that we are always on guard, and the laurel signifies the triumphs over evil. The words in the unfurled scroll mean exactly what you think they mean; that all of our enemies, both physical and mental, will fall without exception. Do you understand?" she asked, looking at me sharply.
I nodded my understanding firmly. "I do. I'll do my best to uphold what you've worked so hard for all these years," I began. "Besides, it's not like our useless prick of a father would've done anything about it," I chuckled, shaking my head as I looked away. My mother, on the other hand, didn't laugh.
"Useless prick as he turned out to be, there was a point where I did love him. He gave me you and Bernar, after all, so I can't be too angry at him," she said with a raised eyebrow. "I know, I know. I'm not denying that. I just wish he hadn't turned out to be such a piece of shit," I replied, raising my hands placatingly.
Within the hour, we were loaded up and ready to make our way to Soule. It would be a decently long journey, and with Bernar having gone to meet Leona in the Rhydian Pass, it would just be my mother, Ysevel, Vyra, Derion and I going to investigate.
I wonder if the five of us will be enough for this. I know they're the core members of my mother's team, but shouldn't Eileen be here, too? I wondered, as I looked out of the stable toward the massive gate.
"We'll be fine. Eileen volunteered to stay behind with Anwill this time around since you were technically taking her place," my mother said warmly, noticing the slightly worried expression on my face after having read my thoughts.
"I know, but the only other times I've seen any kind of real action, it felt like everything just seemed to happen all at once. It was always to our benefit to have combat veterans at our side," I said with a shrug.
"You were also in some very difficult situations, and none of which afforded you any time to deal with properly," she said, acknowledging everything that had happened during Coltend's invasion. "I guess you're right," I said, recalling how rushed everything felt, and how quickly we were all forced to grow up and deal with everything that had happened.
If that bastard hadn't… I stopped myself, not wanting to flood my head with endless questions.
Within a few moments, we began to ride through the city. Onlookers on the sides of the road cheered us on. Not to the degree of a full-blown parade, but they knew that whenever my mother and her team went out, it was for something of vital importance. She waved and smiled brightly at those who cheered her on, and I think I even saw her blow a kiss at one point. She was damned-near regal in her handling of the crowd.
I, however, was not, and Ysevel could only chuckle at my discomfort.
As we left the city of Myrdin, we turned South-West and headed down the path that led to Soule. It was well traveled, for sure, reminding me of the path from Codrean to Coltend Castle with its numerous cart-marks and hoof prints embedded into the packed earth.
The magnificent trees that coated the country of Caegwen like a blanket seemed much taller now that there was nothing else to block their full glory. The golden rays of morning sunlight cut through what little gaps in the canopy existed as birds sang their morning mating calls and songs.
The path was long. Much longer than the pathway from Codrean to Coltend, spanning nearly halfway across the country itself. Over the three days it took us to arrive, the snowfall began to grow increasingly denser as we approached our destination.
Caegwen wasn't quite as mountainous or hilly as I'd thought it would be, but it still held its fair share of steep inclines that we had to go over. With the occasional break in the treeline present, it allowed me to look out over the countryside. A beautiful sea of white lay out before me as far as I could see, and all I could do was marvel at its beauty.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Ysevel said from beside me. My mother, who rode just ahead of me alongside Derion, who was our master tracker, turned an ear towards us almost unnoticeably. Even after having been on the road for the past three days, she still looked just as clean and stunning as the day we'd left. "Y-yes, it really is," I said, mentally kicking myself for sounding like an idiot.
"You're still not comfortable around me, are you?" she chuckled, asking a rhetorical question as she noticed my flushed cheeks. "W-well, yes and no," I said, rubbing the back of my head awkwardly. Her response was merely a lifted eyebrow and a wry smirk strewn across her fine features.
I sighed heavily, and brought my arm down. "You've seen me at my worst," I began after a moment's pause. "You've seen me balling my eyes out, wishing a glick would've chewed my heart out with its nasty rows of teeth. You've also done a lot for me that I don't think I could ever repay you for. There are… layers upon layers of things that run through my head when I try to talk to you now," I said, my tone dropping.
She chuckled softly and warmly, like a kiss from a golden ray of sunlight on a cold winter morning. "You almost make it sound like you're not worthy of my presence or something," she said in jest.
"I'm not. At the very least, I don't feel like it. You're incredible, Ysevel; head and shoulders above most of the people I know. To top it all off, you've helped me in ways I didn't even know were possible, so, thank you," I said in a lowered tone, not able to bring forth any words or jokes of my own.
Her expression softened, realizing she had hit the mark with her words and that she was right about how I felt. "Thoma, I…" she began.
"It's fine," I cut her off, not wanting to hear her patronize me or my feelings to prevent them from bubbling up further. "I just don't know what I did to deserve such kindness from someone I admire," I said, feeling a smile tug at the corner of my mouth as I shook my head. It was the first time I was able to voice any sort of feelings I had toward her, and I felt immediately lighter. It was refreshing, like a sip of cold water on a hot day.
"Oh, so you just admire me?" she asked playfully as her chagrined smile beamed at me. I blushed and my eyes widened, realizing the truth behind her words as I turned to look away. I quickly realized that the way I'd said what I did gave away everything, while saying very little at the same time.
But, then again, so did she, I thought, suddenly compiling her expression with her question to extract their meaning.
You idiot, I kicked myself mentally.
I finally managed to look into her violet eyes. They were just as beautiful as the first time I saw them, only this time, they seemed different, somehow. It felt like they were looking into me rather than at me, and I could feel the blood rushing to my face as the butterflies in my stomach turned into a tempest. Without realizing it, I had been blankly staring at her for a few seconds with what must have been a stupid looking grin on my face.
"W-well, I mean…" I stammered as I began to try explaining myself. "No, no! It's okay! I understand," she said, raising her hand placatingly. "It's still too fresh, I get it," she said, still holding the same expression. I paused, trying to think of how best to answer that. When nothing came to mind, I allowed myself a small chuckle, and shook my head. "Thank you, though," she said, her tone was a little different than her usually playful one. "For what?" I asked, looking over to her. She was…blushing. "For telling me," she said, giving me a heartfelt smile. I could see her eyes beginning to water a little, or at least I thought they were, but my attention immediately shifted to my mother's booming voice.
Stop, she commanded mentally to us all. When we all looked at her, Ysevel included, we noticed some tracks in the ground. Siraye, what are those? Ysevel asked, sharing her mental connection with the rest of us so we could all hear her words. I don't recognize these tracks. Thoma, Derion, go check it out, my mother replied.
Is this for me to learn from Derion on how to read tracks? I asked, already knowing the answer. Yes, he has insight into such things that I could never give you, she replied as she turned to look at me. I nodded my head and dismounted, feeling my ankle sink into the snow. I patted Celer's nape, and briskly walked up to where Derion was waiting for me.
As we approached the tracks, I noticed they bled off the side of the path, and went over a small hill in front of us. I moved forward to follow them, feeling the dark, hooded cloak I was wearing being tugged back. I turned to look at Derion who was holding up a hand, telling me to wait. With a smooth curling of his fingers, he pointed a long, skinny index finger forward, just off to the side of the deep footprints.
A hand mark? It's human, then? I asked, hoping he could hear me.
When he didn't mentally or verbally respond to my question, I thought he couldn't hear me after all. I assumed my expression gave away what I was thinking, because he nodded anyway and allowed a wolfish smile to come to his face. Letting go of my cloak, he motioned for me to take it slowly, and observe my surroundings.
My mother said he had greater insight into these things, and I'm beginning to think that wordless communication is a part of this insight, I thought, nodding my head understandingly.
I stepped forward, this time much more cautiously and observantly, as I took in every little detail that I could. I gestured to another set of much lighter prints in the snow, ones that no fauna I knew of could have left. He observed it carefully, his eyes widening at a realization I could only deign to imagine.
Commander, we have a problem, he said, transmitting his words to me as well.