Prologue

Medwch 9th 398 AFU

The first snow was below me; I could see it all, white crush upon the ground, and in the clearing an army of blood red demons, each and every one armed to the teeth and completely loyal to me. These LeatherWing were prepared for war, and I was leading them. I was their Queen, both in name and deed, and we were going to see the woman who was my mother-in-law.

Sure, there were Elves and more below me as well, and definitely more than the reds, but with 50 of them being blood red they more than stood out against the snow. Over 300 LeatherWing warriors owed me life, honor, and more, 250 stayed behind to watch my city, all willing to follow me into whatever crazy thing I was going to do next.

The problem was, I had no idea what that was going to be.

Vela was, even as just the mother of my owner and wife, more than a force of nature. I adored the days we spent together just talking, be it about important things, things we found important or just the color of the sky and trees. She and I had become friends. I can only imagine how she felt when I confronted her with the idea that her people had let not only me and my people down, but everyone else who had suffered under Unstoma.

Now I knew she was in the town I grew up in, a place I both revered and loathed for the role it had in making me. There she had attacked with her so hastily gathered army, and now she occupied South Point. She did this in less than seven months.

In the time it took me and her children to go and find my father and discover the fate of my dad, she had crushed a standing army.

I knew both from history, and from firsthand experience, LeatherWing could mobilize and move fast, that every day of their life was an almost playful struggle between bodies, ideas, and blood. Fighting was a game to them, one they enjoyed and never held grudges about, at least not that I had seen. It was a game where they turned deadly at the first sign of abuse from another. Attack them and they would defend themselves, attack another, someone weaker in their presence? You would be pulled, bone from bone, muscle and tissue rent from you, and your screams would be the melody they danced to.

They don't torture, well they do, but to them that’s sex. No, they were just savage, what's more, they were proud of that fact.

Looking down at my army, I knew I too was LeatherWing, not in blood but in heart. I had been savage, savage enough that it gave hardened looters and killers pause, savage enough they now saw me as their leader, their savior. I butchered their false goddess, the one who was abusing them, and I did it in front of them.

For that? I was their new leader, their new Queen. The kind of Queen who put her people's lives before her own.

I may be a slave to my owner, but it was a different thing for them. Now? These women were slaves to me. I would ensure they were fed, clothed, and their needs seen to, and for this? They would die for me.

What I had done to their old leader still left me cold inside as I thought of it, the brutality of the act, the joy I took in doing it. That scared me.

Their devotion to me? That left me feeling incredibly small and insignificant. Given everything I really was, really am? How could I not let them down? Now we marched to see the mother of the person who married me.

Life was so much simpler when I was picking pockets.

Chapter 1

Going Home

The sound of the first snow under my feet soothed me in ways I didn't understand. The smell of horse flesh and campfires was punctuated by the smell of so many people in such a small space. Make no mistake, we were packed into the clearing, and we had the room, but in the end, there were still too many people too close together.

It amazes me that I am the one thing all these people have in common, a belief that I am right, a belief I wish I shared. I wish I didn't still hear the sounds, the whimpers of the scared little girl whose throat I slit. She was beaten, I had robbed her of ever seeing the sky again when I slashed her wings, I had her crushed well before my foot went down on her back. I certainly didn't need to pull her taut by her hair and slit her throat. Her whimpers, that gurgle, it will follow me to my grave, it followed me into sleep every night. Worse yet, I didn't feel bad about my actions no matter how hard I tried to, I just felt cold.

Back home so much had been going on I barely had time to think on it. Well, dwell on it. What with a murder plot and the largest money scam I had ever even heard of. That was just the extra, I had also been up to my eyeballs in law and paperwork. In a strange way the assassin that had been paid to relieve me of the burden of my life was a welcomed change to velum after velum of codified decree. Doubly so when you count the fact that investigating who hired the guild is how we uncovered the theft of enough silver to gild every building in Five Rivers.

I did feel bad about not feeling bad and I wasn’t sure what that said about me.

"It says we were right. What is so hard to understand about that? She was an abuser; she abused her own people and slaughtered countless more. She wasn't some 'little girl', she made her choice. You were the consequences of those choices."

Screwing my eyes shut didn’t really help, 'She' was in my head, she had been for years apparently.

Opening my eyes and looking around told me no one had noticed my wince.

Camp life was going on as it did every morning, taking down the tents, packing, making sure the fires were out, and generally erasing as much of our presence from the land as we could.

Let me break this down for you, we were an army of LeatherWing. Yes, our standard was that of Five Rivers, but that didn't matter. Out there, somewhere, was not only an army of LeatherWing who had already taken over a city, but probably more than a few armies that were even now on their way to stop them. Our advantage was we were doing the unthinkable, traveling in winter even if only just the start. We were small, a little over 80 people, and despite the fact that the bulk of my forces were made up of people who had been terrorizing the countryside for well over six years as raiders, they had done so without revealing who and what they were.

50 of our number were these raiders, now sworn to me, the rest? 20 others made up of Elven Wardens, Dwarven Bear Warriors from the Al'tur tribes, and Wod Blooded Dwarves. The Elves were from the Sithens closest to Five Rivers, mostly from the Unseelie since they were more inclined to act than their Seelie cousins. Finally, 10 were men and women of Five River's itself. Guards, all volunteers, who were not letting their Queen just wander off on her own.

On top of that? Just the normal, Me, Arwen, Alabaster, Rowen, and Sliverleaf, Bec and Call was once more out in the world. Only now we were joined by three others. Two people who should have always been here, Hanna and Piper, and one who had joined us because we were family to her family, Claw, Ba'call's little sister. She tried to kill me the first time we met, not that I blame her. It was done in public and because of a sworn blood debt. I rolled her like the cub she was. So yeah, I fulfilled my promise to Bec.

Thinking of the brat was apparently all it takes to conjure her. "Morning report oh Broom headed one." She stood before me, draped in the trappings of her craft. Her sister had been a Warden, but she was a Shaman, a holy woman of her tribe. Bone and stones hung from leather she had braided into her hair as well as from her staff. The effect was one that made her look, 'other', especially with her silvery eyes, something that had developed only in the last few weeks. She was very aware of the effect her look had on others and loved every minute of it.

I loved her, she was my little sister of heart, and both of us shared the pain that, as of yet, she could do nothing about. She was the only one who could bring back Ba’call, the rest of her clan's shamans hadn't survived the onslaught of the false empress. She was a jerk, a brat, a sulk, and a goof, all to hide her pain and get through it. I loved her for it.

"Alright give it to me." I had no idea how she kept the look going, and honestly, I didn't care. She wanted to smear mud all over herself in an artful way, I say go for it.

"A'tan. Well, we will be packed up in half a mark or so and will be on the move within the hour. The Unseelie Sith are taking the snow into account but say we are still going to look like a group of about twenty. They want to make it look like a merchant caravan." She let out a sigh, "The Al'turs point out we could attract young ones on a Vike trying to make a name for themselves."

Nodding I looked at her, "How likely do they think this is?"

"Armed merchants? That's something to attract attention. We would wind up with someone who wants a name for their clan."

"That could be to our advantage. Our back riders would see them first. We're small and nimble enough to get in around them, offer them jobs." Mercenaries were tricky, they had a habit of taking what they wanted when they were done. A clan of outcasts? They would fight for the honor of it. "Ask them if we can make it look very tempting to the right sort, the kind desperate enough for any chance at honor but no longer any interest in glory."

Honor I could use. Glory was a hollow bowl. It left far too many dead.

She grinned and a low clicking sound came from her, "I will find out my sister, my Lord. I love the way you think."

I really wished it was me thinking things like this, as much as I try to ignore 'her', she has good ideas. My problem with her was she also seemed to be somewhat less than warm. I wanted to feel bad over killing the former leader of these LeatherWing, I wanted to feel good for sparing their lives and even giving them a purpose. The problem was, neither was true. I wasn't upset over the death, and I wasn't proud of the decision to help.

"Why should you be proud of doing the right thing, or ashamed of it for that matter. Look, you go above and beyond, and I will tell you good girl. Is that ok? Stars above when did I get so needy. Yes, you did good, both times. Lighten up."

God she was condescending.

I was condescending, at least to myself. The good news on that front was that her and I had come to an odd sort of peace between each other. It wasn't perfect but it was there. I would let her help, let her guide if she stopped hijacking me and knocking me out.

I watched as Claw ran from place to place within camp, letting my orders be known. As the newest member of Bec and Call she was eager to prove herself. It was hard to believe I had ever been that young, but I remembered trying to do the same thing for Jax.

A hand touched my back and warmed me, turning I saw Arwen, he had yet to put on his patch, instead was using the green beryl eye he had bought for it. The stone gave the champion a truly otherworldly appearance. As he was not yet used to the weight of the stone, the patch would be back on before the day was out, but still it was breathtaking to see. His black hair was down, and his remaining green eye seemed to be trying to match the green of his new one. My breath caught and heat flooded into me.

Arwen spoke, "Do you think we'll make Snakes Turn before the end of the week?" His voice sent shivers down my back, my feelings for him grew every day, and with them so did my confusion. I was married but for LeatherWing that didn't mean what it did up here in the north. Arwen made me ache and my wife was well aware of it.

"Confusion hell. Jump the boy already. You know you want him, his owner, your owner, hell even Piper. Your ideas of that's not right come from your indoctrination. The LeatherWing don't care how many people you date."

"That's the plan." I turned toward him. "The snow is still light, if we still have good weather, we should. Then we’re five days out from Cliffport."

At my words he shook his head. "I don't like relying on this much luck. Too much could go wrong. Between wishing the weather holds and hoping there is a boat that will take us to The Bone, too much of this trip is down to luck."

I knew how he felt, hells I even agreed with him. Jax had taught me if you needed this much luck for a plan to go right, then it wasn't a plan. We were small, needing to move fast, and hoping to be somewhere safe by the time the snow of deep winter hit. "We've lost so much time as it is. Losing the last of fall and the entirety of winter..." It took far too long to prepare for this even with the windfall. It didn't help that my councils had decided to be stubborn so as not to lose me. The concessions I had to make to even be here still irked me.

His hand grasped mine and spun me, "I know. Vela is out there, people are dying. I'm not a blind follower Chloe. I can be upset this isn't a great plan." His hands squeezed mine lightly. "But it is a plan, and sadly the best we have. I agree wait and see is stupid, and I agree with this being an entirely voluntary mission."

"But?" My world hung on that but.

"But?" He let out a sigh. "But nothing. You need to remember everyone here is here because they believe you are right, that waiting would bring more harm than good to Five Rivers."

More had wanted to come, they had asked, but more people meant a slower march. Even the raiders I hoped to attract were more of a give them a job and send them out, not someone new to travel with us. Recruiting locals was an absolute necessity if we were to succeed if negotiations with Vela failed. I hope to hell they didn't. I had zero delusions about my experience in war, especially vs the Queen of the Bone, the Long Spear.

Smiling at him, I turned and looked over things. David, our most stalwart party member had been joined by a jenny we agreed should be named Sonja, together, every day they pulled a cart that held our war fund. A chest, that contained gold, gold we hoped was going to be used to get to The Bone before the spring thaw.

Inside that chest was hundreds of meals and homes for people who had neither. Each and every Crown that lay within was us giving up feeding or clothing someone in the hopes that we could buy a few more days to confront and stop Vela. It was theft of future, but one Five Rivers could afford at the moment. While that didn't change what it was, it might give that theft some meaning if we could save lives with it.