Northern Wind pt 2: Oh, Baby (pt 1 of 2)

Northern Wind pt 2: Oh, Baby (pt 1 of 2)

She paused a moment to get a look at herself in the single mirror in the inn placed at the end of the hallway so all the guests could use it. She, like most of her people, was tall, powerfully built, with blue black hair and dark almond eyes. Her skin was dark, the tone those further North called red. She didn't understand why since they were the ones who turned the color of boiled lobsters in the sun. She adjusted a leather bodice that showed off her arms and shoulders, stronger than many a born man, and checked to see if she was alone before 'fluffing' her breasts to make them more obvious. Her hair looked well enough pulled back into a waist-long braid with thin chains woven in. She could have done without the silver streaking her temples. She made a final adjustment to one of the beaded bands chasing the swells of her biceps and wrists. She'd do.

She didn't usually care much about how she looked, but today was the Festival of the Moon here in Sallah Doone, famous all over the continent for the lavishness of their Festival. Maybe all over the world someday, if ever the deep seas were not so full of kraken and other things. In the harbor here were the hulks of ships big enough they surely once crossed the oceans. But that was long before even her grandmother's grandmother's time, back when the cracked and broken towers of Old New York stood whole. She wondered sometimes when she heard of a new group of brave young fools going on a raid if there had once been an Old York. If so, it was surely gone like all the old Great Cities and home to the things that haunted the dark.

She rolled her eyes at herself. She was delaying. She made her way down into streets packed with revelers already in their cups even though the sun was still bright in the sky. The Festival of the Moon was when people met and became couples. It was also when the Magi came from their towers and allowed a chosen few to join their ranks as apprentices. It was easy to spot the applicants, dour men and women and nervous youths trying to remain distant from the festivities. Most would be turned away with barely a glance. A few would be taken on as servitors if they had a small spark of talent and the right attitude, perhaps one day becoming apprentices. A very, very few would be taken on as apprentices and would not leave the tower again till they washed out or became a Magi true. She had come very close to becoming Magi; her people had needed her more.



She went around a corner, trying to shake off dark thoughts, drawn by the sound of yelling. An instant later a face was planted between her breasts as someone ran smack into her. She glared down and the person babbled quickly, "Sorry! So sorry!" A large man came barreling through the crowds shouting about a kiss. Happened every year, someone thought they could switch cups on someone and claim the kiss that was their due for the sip that was taken. The little person skittered up her back in a panic to get out of reach.

She sighed, did the only thing she could think of to diffuse the situation quickly. She flexed her arms to make the muscles bulge and growled in a thick accent, "Mine." He blinked and backed away. Everyone knew the Southerners were strange and violent. It wasn't her people's fault that they kept running into those with the sense of honor of a hungry weasel.

The person darted down off her back when all was safe, looking up at her with two huge blue eyes, wrinkling a nose pink from too much sun, "Really? Thanks! He switched cups and he's gross and I didn't wanna kiss him and then he was chasing me and I thought he was gonna catch me when I ran into you and then he was so much closer but then you said that and do you really mean it 'cause you're cute? I'm Jo."

Cute was not a word often applied to her so it took her a moment to recover her composure when the rapid-fire words died. She shook Jo's hand, introduced herself while she studied her. Jo had bound her breasts so she could pass as a young man, but she'd felt them when she ran into her. She was wearing a violently purple silk shirt cut like a Floridian nobleman's, brown breeches a size too small, and scuffed black boots. Looked like none of it had been intended for the wearer. Jo grinned, "You gonna give me a drink or what? You I want to kiss!"

She felt her face heat, quickly looked down at the ornate cup tied to her belt. "I haven't gone to the Magi's tent for the blessed wine yet." She knew she probably should not attach herself to anyone so early in the Festival, yet still found herself asking, "Walk with me?"

Jo grinned and chirruped, "Sure! Hey, you're from the far South, right? I was gonna go there next. I'm gonna go to see all the Wonders an' I heard the easiest way to get to the Temple of the Sky was to go South and find a guide. You wouldn't happen to be a guide, would you?"

The thought of Jo crossing even the relatively settled land on the coast made her hair stand on end. She didn't answer, instead drawled, "You must be just starting out, then." By attitude and accent, Jo had to be from the Floridian Peninsula. Probably the southernmost tip.

Jo shook her head, grinned proudly. "Nope!" She replied, popping the 'p.' She continued, "I already went North to see the Bronze Woman in Old New York's harbor. I thought I'd do the hardest first so now the rest of it should be easy, right?" She did a double take. She'd been there herself but only in the company of many warriors and a number of apprentices going on their final test to become Magi. It was always a visit to the Bronze Woman to attend to her fire so it would never go out, then a raid on a dragon's nest for an unfertilized egg. Always, many died. This never stopped those with more guts than brains from trying to do the same. Only one group had gone recently...

"I was with the ones who actually got a dragon's egg! It was so neat! We got into a tower and there were Shades all around and we thought they'd get us but then there was this smell and then they weren't following us anymore and then we got to this big room inside and there was the dragon and it was sleeping. We didn't know what to do but she moved just a little and I could see an egg and I snuck up and reached under her and got it! Then we found this tunnel to the sewers and there were Slipshadows down there and then they were after us and I don't know how we would've gotten out but then the dragon woke up and roared and they fell back some. We got out of the tunnels and it was too bright for them to follow and we thought the dragon might get us -- stayed almost right on top of us, she did -- but right at the edge of the city she pulled back. But then one guy, the one who washed out of the Magi, turned on us and killed most of the rest of us that lived but I got away because when he started making stuff blow up, a cart landed on top of me upside down an' hid me till he was gone chasing the others."

She blinked slowly while she took all that in. "You have the luck of a cat! I'd heard that the egg was stolen after the raid."

Jo's eyes got shifty and she gave a little shrug, "Yeah. Probably him that took it, yanno. S'what he wanted so he wouldn't have to share the money from selling it with the rest of us." A suspicion swept over her since she knew that he'd been tracked down and hadn't had the egg. However, then Jo pointed and hissed, "Look!"

She looked and immediately frowned when she saw three women with bluish skin bartering with a fruit vendor. They had many names. Wolfen, Dark Riders, and others. Mainly they were called the Northern Wind because they swept out of the far North to do battle with the things in the night. Some said they were no different than their prey. Undoubtedly the red eyes had something to do with that. She knew from her own time with them that they answered only to one name. Vrakos. In their own language it meant simply, 'The Family.' She murmured hopefully, "Their women. Maybe they are recruiting this year?" Hopes were dashed when one turned enough for her to see the woman's lips, a blue so dark it was almost black. High rank, there. Clan matriarchs -- they called them little mothers -- did not leave their icy strongholds for less than invasion. Another of the Wind turned and her lips curved to bare her teeth. Sometimes a smile was just another way to bare fangs. She knew her. Too well.

"Jo, step back." She reached into her pocket to finger the mix of sacred pollen and salt there. One did not fight the Wind with steel. The woman approached, didn't need steel to kill. Great Thunder, she didn't want this fight. Prayed there wouldn't be one.

Jo asked what was going on, but stepped back to join the crowd that was pretending not to gather. The Wind always got attention. She took a deep breath, managed to say levelly, "Hello, Urd." It wasn't her true name, nor even the name the Vrakos called her but it would do. She asked blandly, "How long has it been?"

Urd snarled, "Since you left? Twelve years." She came closer, hissed at her so low none could hear unless they were right beside them and no one stood close to the Wind when they were looking fierce, "Drink little this day. Keep your sword ready and pray that we are wrong. Northern gate at sunrise." Then louder to give the crowds something to talk about, Urd added more in the vein of a lover's spat. Easy to do since they had real practice. "How could you just leave me like that? Leave us?"

She sighed, pulling her hand out of her pocket to make a soothing gesture, "You know why, Urd." She dropped her voice lower like calming a horse, "You know I didn't have a choice." And very low, "Thanks for the warning." She just wished she knew if it was because of what they had been or because they really thought they'd need all the help they could get tonight.

Urd growled back, "You aren't worth it." She curled her lip and spun on her heel, striding to join her sisters. The three of them stalked away and the crowds melted from their path.

She sighed in relief. Urd might still want a fight but it wasn't going to be tonight. Jo wriggled under her arm."What was all that about? Was one of the Wind really your lover? I thought about asking one of them to share my cup this Festival."

She shook her head quickly, "I don't think that would be wise. They take it much more seriously than most further south do. They take it the old way, to mean a year and a day. Have you ever been to the Festival here before?" Jo shook her head. "This is one of the few places the Wind come in any numbers and only for the Festival of the Moon. Though I rarely see the women here unless they are either new recruits or very young. They come because this city is too close to the ruins of Old New York and the sheer number of people pouring in draws the creatures there down. So every year in exchange for grain, the Wind come and protect this city for the duration of the Festival. And each year young -- or just drunk -- idiots sneak out to see what really happens out there. The bodies are sometimes found the next day. There are those who say the Wind do it all, that they are doing the killings to scare Sallah Doone into paying the grain. They are wrong."

"How come you're so sure of that?" She looked up, cocked her head.

She gave a little smile. "I was one of those drunk idiots that survived. I was very lucky and managed to kill a Shade before it killed me with Urd's help. It was how we met. I'll walk you to the Magi's tents but I think it would be best if I did not join the festivities. Perhaps later."



Somehow she found herself standing in front of the Magi's tent and solemnly drinking from Jo's cup while Jo drank from hers. A giant from the North called out, "Hey, don't tie yourself to that midget! I'll give you a real ride!" The giants weren't really, but since most were about seven foot tall, the term fit. They lived between the Wind and everyone else, often riding into battle with them. Jo bristled at being called short.

She laid a hand on her shoulder and called over, "Hilde, you had your chance!" She strolled over, smirking, "Besides, I am clearly a pale, delicate flower and you might break me."

Hilde threw her head back and laughed, "Good one." She sobered quickly though and warned softly, "Urd is here."

She grimaced, "I've already talked with her." She leaned closer, "Hilde, I know you know what is going on if you are here in Sallah Doone. I know you, Hilde, and you do not come South except for battle." Hilde sighed, obviously reluctant. She turned and started to ask Jo if she'd mind if they took a moment alone, but Jo attached to her arm like a limpet.

Jo glared up, way up, at Hilde, "Don't you even try to steal my woman. You keep those big hands to yourself or I'll hurt you!" It was apparent that she meant it too.

Hilde smirked, "She's spunky. Let her come. Maybe she can be useful later."Jo glared at her before she could protest. She sighed, nodded. The three of them found an alleyway to speak in. After checking for any who might overhear, Hilde's face went grim. "A dragon's egg was stolen from the nest. The Matriarch has determined that it was fertilized. It may have already hatched. The Matriarch says that it is somewhere in this city." That was more than the Magi knew and one of the problems with dragons. They just couldn't use magic on them at all. Luckily they never left the ruins of the Great Cities. "The Shades always get antsy about an egg being stolen but they stop looking once an egg has been turned over to the Magi and they do whatever they do." Hilde sighed in pleasure, "There will be much blood tonight. Many Shades to kill. Maybe even some Slipshadow, more than I have ever seen. This many people and a dragon's egg, how could they resist? I do not know how it will be this night, but the Wind has left only the Matriarch's own clan at home to guard the her."

Her eyes bulged, "What?"

Jo cocked her head, "She's just a queen, right?"

Hilde shook her head quickly. "No, and never let the Vrakos hear that. She is much more than a queen. She is their mother. If she falls without an heir, the Vrakos will fall with her. This Matriarch is young still. She has no daughters."

Jo's eyes widened, "Oh." Her eyes went shifty, "So anybody know why the Shades go after the eggs?"

"No. I wish we did. Anyway, I need to get back out there before my wives and husbands begin looking for me. You two have a good time." Hilde clapped them both on the shoulders and gave the traditional salute, "For tonight we may die!"