Oh, Baby, The Northern Wind, Chap 2, pt 2 of 2.

Oh, Baby, The Northern Wind, Chap 2, pt 2 of 2.

They had danced while the sun was bright in the sky; gone to her room at the inn to eat. And when the sun sank toward the horizon they laid down to rest and, of course, gotten none. She'd kissed her before she dressed. "Stay here. I will be back before dawn, Thunder willing." She hurried to the gate, saw one of the Vrakos stationed there to wait on her. As was appropriate for such a duty, it was a young one, his lips barely tinted blue and his eyes only just beginning to take on the red cast of those born into the Wind. His leather vest revealed horrible scars on his chest, large ones that looked almost like tattoos. The scars left from a Shade's claws did that. She had some of her own.

He nodded respectfully, "This way, please. Vraketh awaits." It meant mother. She knew he didn't mean his own mother; it was what they called their war leaders. They were let out the gates and he led her through the fields to a small hill where a cluster of women and men stood watching the horizon. The sun slipped over it as she reached them.

Urd turned, motioned for her to join her. The boy joined a Vrakos she'd seen before, a cousin of the Matriarch. Oddly, there was a family resemblance even though his coloring said he was from the Scrublands. He was pushed from her mind when Urd came to speak with her. "Hilde has informed you of what is coming?"

"Yes. I've brought my Tools," she replied, touching the knee-length leather vest with its many pockets. "Do you know yet if they will really be coming?" Urd pointed to the ruins, motioned her to take a look for herself, so she pulled out a pipe, stuffed a few leaves in it and lit it with a few practiced flicks of her fingers. Her eyes narrowed, peering through the smoke, and she hummed to help herself concentrate till she could clearly see the ruins of Old New York. She paled as she saw it, greenish mist spilling out of the dark places, chasing just behind the light. The tendrils grew together, more and more, till the sickly flow poured out of the ruins like a river. She blinked, broke the spell. "You've seen?"

Urd nodded, "Oh, yes." She and the other Vrakos were painting themselves with something thick, black as the night sky with flecks of silver, that smelled like axle-grease. The younger ones were being helped to get it just right; one could read the story of a Vrakos' life in their battle pain if the method were learned.

She saw Hilde stride towards her, already painted like the rest of the giants in woad and matter, lime applied to her hair so it stood in odd spikes like weapons. She offered her a small mirror to use to apply her own paints of black, white, and red. She looked over when she finished, saw the boy's mother slicking his hair back since it was too short to wear in the complicated braids all the other Vrakos wore. Perhaps not the most sensible thing for battle but her people and the Vrakos shared the belief that only children cut their hair. The Vrakos scented the wind; growls rumbled in their throats and blue lips peeled back from sharp teeth in snarls. The wind picked up and the awful reek of the Shades hit her. She swallowed hard. She knew it was bad, then, because usually only the Vrakos could smell a Shade.

She looked into the distance and could now see the mist with unaided eyes. Every little bit she would see one of them, tall, painfully thin creatures. It looked as if they had been shorter and had been stretched to such height. Tattered clothing floated around them. She knew if she examined it more closely, the tatters would be hemmed. That had always frightened her the most about Shades. They were intelligent enough to have traditions, or at least fashion. Flickers of movement surrounded them, the huge dog-lizards called Slipshadows. She caught glimpses of other things, small twisted creatures that rode the Slipshadows like parasites into battle where they would fall off and swarm the wounded to devour them. They came closer still. She looked to the Vraketh. "Mother, may I?" The Vrakos found no end of amusement that said phrase was a children's game.

"You may," the woman replied, eyes on the dark things before them. She turned back to face the creatures, pulled out two cheaply made daggers. She raised them high above her head, chanting, then dropped to a crouch, slamming them into the earth to the hilts. There was a rumble and then shrieks and hisses from inside the mist as the very ground turned sharp as knives under their feet. She was one of the few who could easily call on the element Earth. She knew it did nothing to the Shades, but the Slipshadows needed their feet to slip from shadow to shadow, the talent that made them so very dangerous. "Clear the mists for the archers."

She nodded, sweating freely already. She burned three eagle feathers and used a fan of owl feathers to shape the smoke. Singing, she called on the element Wind, felt the Magi on the walls add to it. A bright wind blew past her, slammed into the mist. It was thinned enough the archers could take down the wounded Slipshadows near the front. She'd done all the large magics she dared lest she end up an exhausted heap. She and the few Magi began picking targets. Fire burned, Wind blasted Ice shredded, and in her case, Earth swallowed whole. Too many. Soon they were too close for magic and she drew her sword, blessed by the Matriarch's blood and breath to kill Shades. Then they were upon them. Battle took her. The world narrowed down to the enemy in front of her and the next and the next. A great focus settled over her when she realized just how many there really were. They began to be pushed back, closer to the walls of the city. Her nephew was in there. She fought harder, lost time, lost all sense of anything else. The peculiar clarity was wrenched away when she heard a familiar voice crying out, "Baby! I'm here!"

She wheeled, saw Jo fighting her way forward with a sword in one hand and a small cast-iron skillet in the other. Wasn't as silly as it sounded. Shades didn't like cast iron; it just wasn't any good for weapons. She narrowly avoided a swipe of claws, warned only by a scream from Jo. She killed it, found Jo almost on top of her. "Baby!" Numb, she reached for her but the woman ran right past her. She felt a little stab of pain till she realized there wasn't anyone else that far out on the field. What in the...? A Slipshadow leapt at her and she skewered it, grabbed Jo and swung her behind her. Jo got it in the eye, reaching under her arm to do it. It fell. They were all alone. The Vrakos had been pushed to the walls and many of the giants were dead. She and Jo were about to be overwhelmed. They all were. Jo screamed again, "Baby!" This time she was pointing. She followed the line of her arm, saw only a barn. That was the only reason she saw something burst out of it. At first it looked like a deformed horse-sized eagle. "Baby!" The head whipped around, looked right at them. Then it threw back its head and screamed.

The Shades stood frozen like rabbits. The creature launched itself, swooping down on a Shade a few feet away. She had a good look at it when if flew between the moon and the earth. Long snakey neck, sharp claws for snatching up prey, single wickedly curved tooth at the end of a beak-like muzzle for ripping and rending, huge feathered wings and a broad feathered tail... It was a dragon. The terrible tooth flashed in the moonlight and the Shade it had grabbed went limp. It landed just long enough to gulp down the Shade almost in one piece and visibly grew. It launched again and the Shades suddenly broke, scattering to find cover. There was little to be found in the fields. With a great cry, the Vrakos pushed away from the wall, howled as they cut down the Shades that turned their backs on them. The giants rallied at Hilde's shout; swords and axes swung with renewed vigor. What had been a hopeless battle had become a rout.

The dragon came diving from the sky again and again, each time eating a Shade and each time growing till it no longer needed to land to feed. Indeed, it did not land after the time the Shades tried to swarm it and were driven back only by the dragon letting loose a spray of liquid that ignited on contact with the air. The moment came when the Shades had run too far to be chased and the dragon crouched on the field, now bigger than many houses. They looked at the dragon and the dragon looked at them, both waiting to see what the other would do. It was tense, a sneeze could have had terrible consequences. The moment was broken when Jo shoved past everyone, dragged her with her, then flung her arms around the long neck. "Baby!"

The dragon chirruped, ducked its head down to brush its cheek against Jo's side, nearly knocking the little woman down. Jo began to babble to Baby about her new friend, indicated her. Baby gave her a level, evaluating gaze and a sniff.

The Vraketh shook her head at the sight then very deliberately turned her back to go tend the wounded. All the others followed, had no excuse to stay.

Baby bumped her with its huge head, curled up around she and Jo, gave a big burp, and promptly went to sleep. She watched the sky turn pink, settled against the dragon with Jo in her arms, and let her eyes slip closed for a deserved rest.