entered.
“Kestrel, take off your shirt again. Belinda, come in here,” Casimo called out loudly before Kestrel and Arlen had even entered his office.
Belinda followed the other two into the office, and pushed the door closed behind her.
“Both of you take a look at this and tell me what it means,” Casimo ordered Arlen and Belinda.
They both circled Kestrel as he stood self-consciously.
“Belinda, what do these things mean?” Casimo asked his assistant.
“I don’t know, but the crest is beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s a work of art. What do the words at the bottom mean?” she asked.
“What words?” Kestrel questioned. He had never had a mirror with which to study the marks on his chest closely, and the details were a mystery.
Belinda leaned in close to his body. “Kai’s champion, Estone’s Champion, Humanity’s Champion,” she read.
“So you’re humanity’s champion now?” Casimo asked.
“So the goddess named me,” Kestrel replied. Belinda gasped audibly.
“Have you renounced your allegiance to the elven nation?” he asked.
“No,” Kestrel answered instantly, while thinking about the constant desire he felt to go back to Merilla and live with her in Estone.
“Arlen, what do you think of this?” the commander asked.
“I think I am a simple master-at-arms, and these are matters far beyond my knowledge. I know Kestrel is an elf, and I know he killed a yeti, and I know he would not betray our people,” the warrior replied.
Casimo sat silently for over a minute, as everyone else stood awkwardly. “Put your shirt on Kestrel,” he said at last. “Then go get whatever you want to take with you. I’m going to send you on your way to Center Trunk this afternoon; this is too deep for me.
Come back in an hour; I’m going to write a report for you to take to Silvan, explaining the situation as I understand it,” he decided out loud. “All of you are dismissed. Belinda, get a message tube prepared.
“No, wait,” he called as they headed to the door. “Kestrel, you might as well spend the night here after traveling all day to get here; get a little rest. You’re off duty, and I’ll have a message for you in the morning,” he changed his mind.
Kestrel gathered his pack and weapons, and started down the hall. “Kestrel,” Arlen called, “do you want to grab dinner?” he asked.
“That sounds good,” Kestrel replied with a grin, the first time he felt comfortable since beginning to tell his tale. “I’ll meet you at the dining hall in a couple of hours.” He left the offices to return to his old rooms for the first time since he had left on the yeti-hunting training mission.
“Belinda,” Casimo called as soon as Kestrel was gone. “Get the fastest messenger you can. I want to send a tube this afternoon with a message, and then I’ll send another tomorrow with Kestrel,” he ordered, then shut his door and began to write out his urgent report.
Chapter 25 — Hydrotaz Betrayal
Ferris was released from the prison the same day Kestrel arrived in Firheng. He had spent days crammed with two dozen other Hydrotaz officers in a small dungeon cell, next to other cells that likewise inhumanely held officers and noblemen who had been swept up by the forces of Graylee.
The joy Ferris had felt during the great victory over the elves had been a short-lived burst of satisfaction. He had felt uneasy before the battle, concerned about the presence of the Graylee forces and equipment on Hydrotaz soil. He had been confused by the sudden departure from the battlefield after the easy victory, and he felt uneasy when they had triumphantly marched back westward with their war machines and strings of captured elves who were destined to be enslaved.
And then horror had come. Officers of the Hydrotaz forces had been pulled aside for a series of briefings over the course of the journey, and had been chained up and bundled away from their forces. Then the siege weapons had been reassembled, and used to pummel the capital city, Hydrotaz, into surrender to the surrounding Graylee forces. The leaders of Hydrotaz’s own forces had been penned away, and only now were being released, now that their wives and children were being held as hostages, shipped to the distant city of Graylee to be held at a palace there, or to be punished there if the Hydrotaz officers objected to the conquest of their nation.
Ferris had stood for days in the crowded dungeon cell, a filthy cesspit that could not hold half as many prisoners in humane conditions. When his name had been called on the day of his release he had pressed and worked his way through the crowd to the dim light of a lantern that showed where the doorway was. His legs were like those of all the other prisoners, weak from the lack of exercise and movement, and when he left the cell and affirmed his identity, he was dragged by two Graylee guards out into the sunlight. He shaded his eyes and stumbled, blinded by the light, as he slowly followed his captors to a courtroom.
“Captain Ferris?” a military judge of Graylee had asked as he sat up at the bench looking down upon Ferris. Other men in tattered clothes were awaiting their turns for similar hearings.
“That’s me,” Ferris confirmed.
“Husband of Joane, father of Graysen?” the judge asked.
“I am,” Ferris answered.
“Resident of the blue brick manor on green water pond, and descendant of the Mylinde clan?” he was further asked to affirm his identity.
“Those things are all true,” he could only agree. There was no value in foolish opposition at this point, not when these men could easily reach out and harm his family.
“You are hereby freed upon parole, and released to live in society once again. You are hereby offered the opportunity to serve your nation as an officer in the infantry,” the judge read emotionlessly from a sheet of paper. “You are hereby notified that your wife and son have taken transport aboard the Graylee royal yacht
“Do you accept the terms of your freedom and responsibility?” the judge asked, then stopped reading without bothering to look up from his paper to observe Ferris.
Ferris paused long enough that some of the bustle around the edges of the courtroom slowed as people paused to see if he would speak the wrong words.
“I accept the terms,” he mumbled at last.
“Take this loyal subject of Graylee to the quartermaster for uniform, supplies, and a copy of the rules of the Graylee army. Process all such paperwork as is necessary for him to assume his duties,” the judge said in a bored tone. He hammered on the podium. “Next case,” he called out, and Ferris was escorted away.
He learned later that day that he would be assigned as captain of a company of mixed Graylee and Hydrotaz membership, to be assigned to spend the upcoming winter out on the Eastern Forest frontier, near where the Battle of the Fire had been held, and then would be thrown into battle in the spring.
Chapter 26 — The Return to Center Trunk
Kestrel awoke in the morning, feeling more comfortable with his circumstances than he had at any time since killing the yeti. He and Arlen had eaten dinner, then drank ales, then returned to Kestrel’s apartment and continued to talk deep into the night. Kestrel had told Arlen the whole story of his doomed infatuation with Merilla, and the painful decision he had made to walk away from the human woman. He had confessed his self-doubt about his identity, whether he was elf or human.
Arlen had tapped Kestrel’s breast as he prepared to leave when the red stars rose above the horizon. “You
