Astucia looked around where they had landed. It was in the middle of the wilderness with trees so huge that you couldn’t wrap your arms around the tree even with 3 people.
It was cold and damp and there was snow on the ground. She could hear the sounds of animals in the background and she could hear a roaring fire.
The place was a huge fort which had many fires and each of the houses of the leaders were all lot cabins. The barracks were huge and houses not just vampires but the other magical community members including shifters shamans and wise women as well as druids.
She was wandering around looking at how amazing this place was. They had a riding ring and you could see the most amazing horses out in a field or in the stables. They were a bit more shaggy than the breeds that she was used to. She had talked to the horse master and they were called Icelandic horses. They were bred for a harsher climate and were perfect for the arctic people.
She could see lots of guards but they were all wearing leather. From what she could see and Alenna had agreed this was a magical community but they were all natives of the land in this area. They believed that magic could be something that the Natives controlled.
Alenna had to head back to China as Mei Ling had been pressuring many in her court to help her bid for the Emporess position which would mean combat to the death.
“Astucia, thank you for joining us here at Fort Ahcahk. In Cree language that means Spirit. You have seen our defences and the people that will be defending. We have very few strong Shamans but they will be trying to hide our people. The shamans can transmute power and keep shields on us.”. Summerfawn said.
She has looked shocked as transmute wasn’t a spell that any or her people knew. “What class of vampires do we have here in the fort that can be relied upon in combat?”
Summerfawn answered “We don’t have the class system that is antiquated British system that doesn’t seem to work. We believe that the power that we have is built from within from the time you are given your power. It’s the learning that takes time. The classifications that we have are vampire, shifter, shaman, and wisewoman. The power that one has is always there and can’t increase with time. We have 5 shamans currently hear though 2 of them are strictly defensive. They are shielding our people. Of the other three they are willing to use attack magic but only one has the power that would be useful. As for the shifters there are few and some are what you would call weres they are only able to change generally to a wolf or a bear.”
She nodded. Astucia had no idea that not every region used the same method for power measuring. Here she would be strong no matter what but would have to learn. “That’s good to know. Especially as sometimes a person can be strong but not have the learning to do what is needed. The vampires do they have special powers or are basic creations”
Summerfawn nods “Most of them have powers but they aren’t overly strong and many of my band have what is classified as psionic powers mostly telepathy with some having touch reading.”
She looked shocked as she had never before met another touch reader and thought she was utterly alone in this world “You have touch readers?”
“Oh yes” said Summerfawn “It is a powerful gift and one the bands will seek out more often than not. It is a heavy burden but one can block the visions with enough time and training”
This was news to Astucia she had never been able to block the visions they just came as she touched anything be person or thing. “When this is over I may stay with your permission and learn this. I struggle with my gift as people call it. I think we can get you that training but we must get to the War Circle.”
She nodded “Agreed you will be meeting some people who have been with the European courts they are very powerful and wish to not have anyone know. We will teach you the ability to shield out people finding out what you know.”. They entered the circle and there was a huge amount of people “Let me introduce you to our chief shaman and our head of defensive magic his name is WhiteHawk. This is Aranai she is a vampire shaman. These three you would have heard of. Shane McColm was a spirit warrior and a major at that. Ashlana was a top ranked member of the Vampire Courts her title was Goddess. This is Valdiche who was an Emporess she is extremely powerful and has been my guest for three centuries.”
Astucia started to feel faint. Ashlana and Valdiche were legends amongst the vampires. One was a psionic prodigy. Valdiche ran the vampires for a thousand years and didn’t need a husband or any other such nonsense. Her touch could kill anyone and cause the undeath of vampires. To meet them in person was a dream come true. How had these two women get protection and hiding from the reclusive Native American bands.
Shane was another person she had heard rumours about as he had been after Alexandre for all the time she had been in his employ. He had been a strong presence in her life even having never met him. He had no love for the darker creatures especially know as the Demonic Hunter. He spoke “I think we can win but we must keep this a secret for as long as possible. My people will be looking to open up North America if they knew how powerful you all were and wouldn’t hesitate to take care over. The spirit warriors are acting more and more out of character. Ashlana while she has a lot of leeway in what she can do she is hiding for now. Valdiche is not one who we want to be seen with as would mean everyone of our deaths. The rule is the Emporer and his bitch of a wife want no potential contenders.”
She was shocked this man seemed to know more of the inner workings of the Vampires than anyone she had met other than Queen Selene. How could he know so much about the innermost thoughts of the court? Could she really afford to deal with these people? Damnit she liked these people and hated being suspicious of them. “The vampires won’t like it even Queen Selene has said that the rulers don’t hesitate to kill anyone who would be a contender to take them out. I have other bits of news but some of you may know who my old sire was. Alexandre was trying to get Selene to Makena bid for Emporess but she doesn’t seem to be that much into moving up further.”
Shane nodded “Alexandre is what you would call an opportunist. He would push Selene to take out the Emporess. He knows that it would push the Emporer off and he could quickly take out both of them. He would then be in charge and would force the bad old days to return. He is sadistic and manipulative.”
She nodded. “Thankfully Selene isn’t that crazy to listen to him. She has her own ideas and Queen suits her purposes.”
Valdiche spoke up ”Don’t get me wrong Selene is smart and knows what she is doing but she always has had the worst taste in men. I appointed her as Queen in France and she has run in well but her appointments to Barony has been bad as they all would betray her without a second thought. Alexandre is not even the worse. She has two who are stronger than he is and want her out. Only a queen or a king can challenge for the rulership fully. You are what she wants as with your unique skills noone could get the drop on her.”
She glared Astucia had no clue as to why her she would be kept. Touch reading she hadn’t met anyone before so she wouldn’t have thought it was worth it.
They left the council of war she was still in shock when a shaman and a vampire came up to her. “Astucia, I am Winterstag, I am a shaman and this is WinterFawn who is one of our vampires. We are both touch readers. We have been asked to speak with you about your gift.”
Astucia nodded “I have never met another touch reader before. I’ve never even been able to block out the visions. It’s why I make my own weapons and armour. I can’t be forced into a vision of I do it all myself. Is there a trick to block the visions.”
WinterFawn nodded “Yes. It isn’t easy to do but with persistence and patience it will work. When you grab an item focus hard on the thought of your inner eye be closed. It will eventually work but you may have to put some of the blood power behind it. It is much like being able to use power dampening ability that many of the vampires have. It takes time and patience and when you do get it, it will just click. Practice makes perfect. Believe me we know. We are twins, when I was injured badly I petitioned to become a vampire as I feared the loss of the gift. My brother was stronger in magic and was already a shaman. “
Nodding with that she understood. These people were siblings and she didn’t know that they could share the same gift. None of her siblings ever had gifts and especially those gifts like hers. “I will practice what you have said. Tell me how did you learn of your gifts?”
Winterstag answered that “We always knew we were special and we had to learn on our own how to shield out the visions. Thankfully we had each other and our aunt also had the same power. It was known we would be the ones who would be able to do whatever needed to be done. You must have been special as well for Alexandre to force make you into the undead. He must have known how strong you would be one day. Ashlana and Valdiche both would have helped you had you been with them during the time they were on charge. Ashlana is more like you then you realize. Her story was quite sad.”
That shocked Astucia as she would never guess the Goddess would have anything in common with her. “From what we discussed these monsters we are to fight are not just demonics which we could handle but pure demons as well. Have you any angelics that would assist?”
Winterfawn shook her head “We don’t deal with angelics here in North America we believe that they abandoned us especially those who are native. We worship what we can but a single deity just isn’t for us. We have more Druidic rights because of that. We have mother earth, father sky, grandfather sun and grandmother moon. Those are what we worship the most and we tend to then be able to call about the elements. We do have a person who can warp the power flows around us. I don’t know how the spiderweb spells would work on those that are pure demons. It may do nothing but Aranai definitely can’t be in combat. We will go into combat as well can’t leave the fighting to others.”
“Understood. We will do what we can without the extra help. I know that the as angelics hate working with vampires. It is all for the good I know what I need to do. “ Astucia pulled out a knife “This is an enchanted knife of the strongest wood I have seen. It will pierce almost anything. This dagger is priestly blessed so is holy and will do much damage to those beasts. As a shaman you can bless other weapons with the spirit of what you worship. Demons from what my research has found as also susceptible to earth magics. Since they are beings that are linked to fire water would also help. We can’t let them into the fort as that would mean certain destruction. I think we should be in the burnt Forrest.”
The winter twins both agreed. “We can use the burnt out clearing. I can set a timed spell which will create a torrential rain which will stop the fires. The earth there has little to burn and we can use the vines under the ground to bind them to the earth for a time so that we can attack. Our shifters are quick if we sent in the wolves and the bears they can tear them apart while we use bows as well as spells. Vampires can use the blood magic” Winterstag said.
His sister shook her head “Unfortunately our blood magic will not be as useful. I think we need druids who will be able to use earth magic against them. The vampires will try and use what they can. I think you Astucia will be better off as you have huge amounts of talent that is not just power but physical training. I can fight but I use the bow so will be up higher and I can turn invisible in the night with my powers. It will be an amazing battle”
Astucia didn’t agree “This will lead to glorious death for some. Wait and see”
———-
Two days later they were out hiding in caves near the burnt forest. This would not be a quick battle and would be bloody and dangerous. Astucia hasn’t tried to use any powers recently and the foreseers that were with the bands, and noone knew who would survive as the future was always fluid.
The last few days she has been very busy training her gift as time permitted but more working with the fighters of the band. She had learned the use of the bow and she wasn’t masterful at it yet. She would gain that from practice.
She had learned a lot and was happy with what she had accomplished. She didn’t want to leave when this battle was over but she had to go back to France but she knew that one day she would be back and this place just called out to her like no place else ever did.
She could hear the clash of battle and could hear the scream of wounds. She jumped and ran toward the battle she had her knives ready. She saw a demonic just as she got close by she snapped out the holy knife and drove it in to the heart of the demonic as she ducked under his claw swipes. The demon blew up in a shower of light. That was one down there would be many more.
She rushes into the clearing and saw one large giant fighting. It was at least 8 feet tall and overly muscled. There was not an easy way to win. They had to get past it’s reach advantage to be able to fight properly. She was sure she could do it but she saw WinterFawn come out and join her. She saw that she was out of arrows and had transformed her hands into claws. She didn’t stop to wait but dove in slashing the things chest open. It howled and sliced her almost in two with his huge claws. Astucia had already been moving at the time and quickly used the holy blade she had sliding the head off the demon.
She rushed over to her friend and could feel that she was going “Astucia my life is leaving me. I have set my body as a trap it will take out whatever is near me. You need to get away and quickly. I can no longer do what my band needs. I bequeath my role to you. “
Astucia turned to mist and let the wind carry her away. She saw the demons coming for her all of a sudden a dark explosion happened killing everyone around. The brief war had ended at least for now. The cost was too high.
———
She was in the fire room staring at what was left of the band. Astucia knew of 33 members that passed away including WinterFawn. It was difficult to understand the feeling that Winterstag was going through as he lost his twin and this time to final death. She had spent a lot of time with him and had formed a bond that she didn’t think could be broken.
“As you know we most many of our band. We lost one of our bravest members. WinterFawn unfortunately was dying and cast the darkbomb which ended the war for now for us. We have a very special lady to thank Astucia. She has been bequeathed the spot that WinterFawn held with us. Our council has voted and they have agreed to honour our sister and asked Astucia to stay on. She has agreed but she also knows she needs to go back to France but we have ways to keep in touch. “
Astucia was crying and the tears were red like all vampires “Yes while I must return to France and to Queen Selene. My heart will always be here in the Northwest Territories. I have means to get back and forth here now and I have other communication methods. Know that my leaving is temporary.”
——–
She was walking in the beautiful gardens with WinterStag. She had fallen hard for him and knew how hard he was going to have it
“Astucia you know I love you but I will grow old and die, while you will stay young forever. My life can be sustained to about 150 years which is hugely long. I can’t force you to go through life without me.”
She sighed “I don’t care about how long we will have together. I love you and that’s all that matters. My family is no more from what I understand. I will come back every month Alenna has agreed to become my ferry to get over here. I will not be able to stay with you as of yet but I will be back and it will be within 15 years. Before I go we will be linked mentally so we will always be together. “
—–
She was back in France and she was not happy about it. She had linked her mind to Winterstag without a thought with the help of him and his twin she was able to increase her power from Class C to Class A. She had no fear of the Queen now but she would still be here for a while to determine what else she needed to learn before she travelled back to her heart.
The Court was almost empty as was the usual. Speaking with Valdiche she had learned a lot about why. Some of what she found out made perfect sense. She attracted horrid people around her that never did anything. It was why France wasn’t a full powerhouse in the vampiric cadres.
She walked up wearing her traditional armour and bowed slightly to her Queen. “Your mission was a success your Majesty. We have managed to keep what we did a secret and I have all of the data that we gathered. The bands over there are unique and have helped me understand more about my own powers. In fact before I left I did the testing of my powers and am now Class A which is as high as many people go. I pledge to serve you for 10 years and teach you how to fight the demons.”
Selene nodded “I understand but I have another mission for you as well. It’s time we deal with my barons. There are 5 that we must take out and one of them is your former Sire. He will be not match for your power. I suggest we go after the others first and chasing the firebrand last.”
Crazy Canadian Writing 