Brachet continued...

A strange ringing, desperate and shrill, sliced through both the slumbers of Brachet and Rue.  Moaning, Brachet rolled over and pulled the blankets tightly around her ears.  But Rue was instantly awake, hopping barefooted across the cold stone floor to pull on pants and a shirt and boots, and warmer layers over that before reaching for his Protector armor.  His fingers lingered lovingly on the metal, ridiculously strong, somehow still weighing hardly anything, before slipping it over his fleece tunic.  Brachet, despairing of returning to her dreams, threw the blankets off and glared sleepily at Rue. "What are you doing?" she asked, fear slowly entering her eyes.  Rue glanced at her and shrugged helplessly. "I've been called."  His voice was hoarse and he looked worried.  "It sounds bad."  His gaze drifted to the window.  "Have both our regiments been called?" Brachet asked, standing up and walking to the closet, stretching out a hand for her Protector wear.  Rue shook his head. "Just mine..."  Brachet walked to the window.  She could not see inside any one of the other Protector homes, but she knew inside each one was a flurry of activity, somebody leaving someone, or leaving no one, alone, with no one to wait for them... And outside, what terror was laying siege to the majestic Cathair?  She couldn't see it but she could feel the fear and the excitement, the paards snorting in agitation and impatient to run...Mathe and Tirell ready to go... She could feel that same excitement as well as growing apprehension.  She did not want to be parted from Rue.  She had only just found him!  What if something happened?  Impulsively, Brachet clutched at Rue's arm.  "I'm going too," she said, quite firmly, but Rue saw that her fingers were trembling.  He shook his head. "We would be in trouble," he murmured, pushing her hair back and kissing her forehead.  "Don't worry about me, kinna heir."  Rue strapped his sword to his waist and walked to the door, turning and giving Brachet a smile. "Wish me luck, darling."  Brachet bit her lip, tears she was ashamed of and didn't understand threatening to fall. "Luck," she whispered softly, standing a little away from Rue, arms folded.  Rue blew a kiss and moved to step out, but with a cry Brachet flew into his arms and kissed him. "Don't go," she shuddered, leaning into him.  But he went.

For what seemed like hours Brachet waited for Rue to come back, pacing one moment, biting fingernails the next.  She strained her ears for the welcome sound of Rue's returning boots, or at least for the sounds of battle, but heard nothing.  At last she could no longer be patient.  She changed quickly into her Protector armor and stepped out into the bitter cold.

Brachet came from the stables atop Mathe and with a fierce kick and a garbled shout, Mathe grew wings from her hooves and flew from the inner walls of the Cathair to the outside gates, where the sounds of battle were growing louder.  Mathe reared, unusually fearful of the noise and confusion, and Brachet dismounted and ran into the fray, unmindful of the swords and and arrows that passed through the air beside her.  She gasped, eyes wide as she realized that this was the bandit group that Lothe led...she recognized the ones that had tied her, fighting hand to hand with many a brave Protector.  With satisfaction she noticed that a few of the robbers that had dared to take liberties with their hands and eyes that night she was their captive lay strewn across the blood-soaked field.  But she was there to look for Rue, not to rejoice over certain deaths. Try as she might, her usually hawk-like eyes failed to pierce the medley of struggling bodies..everything was gray and red and she could not even distinguish Protectors from bandits.  But finally she managed to make out the figure of Rue, brave and comforting, locked in combat.  With a cry she ran toward him.  He was fighting Lothe, that vicious red-haired villain that had killed her father...memories rushed back at her as she watched, stricken dumb.  Rue was holding his own, and pride and hope surged in her breast.  She strode forward again, determined to help her lover defeat the bandit king. But suddenly, a sword crossed her own and a snaggle-toothed grinning thief pressed her back, cry out and try though she might to get through to her darling Rue...Finally she narrowed her eyes and fought the scoundrel, cursing him through her teeth as he laughed and met every thrust with a parry of his own, never truly attempting to kill her, but keep her from Lothe, and every once in a while his blade would find her arms or shoulders and leave slight, minor scratches in her flesh.  Rage possessed Brachet at every fresh cut, and her sword flew through the air, inflicting wounds upon her enemy.  Desperately her eyes sought Rue, and found him, struggling to keep his hold against Lothe.  Her heart caught in her throat as Rue slipped, the ground beneath his feet icy.  In that minute Lothe chose to strike, a deep cut to the heart, and although it didn't kill Rue just then, Brachet felt the pain in her own heart and knew his life was ebbing. "No!"  The cry burst free from her, and with a hasty--but unexpected--lunge, she cut her sword through her adversaries throat and left him gasping in the mud.  She ran to help Rue, unmindful of the action around her.  Time seemed to freeze midair, with only three people still moving.  Lothe, with an evil twisting his face, moved to cut Rue down, but Brachet, a swiftness in her feet brought on by terror and love, burst between the two and pushed Lothe back, eyes blazing.  Lothe was caught off guard, and Brachet stabbed forward, piercing his heart.  Fear filled the once mocking eyes of the bandit, and Brachet felt triumph surge through her, almost as if her father was there beside her, praising her and smiling. "This is for my father, that you killed when I was a child!  This is for my mother, for the happiness you stole from her!  This is for my sister, who has drawn inside herself!  This is for Rue," she sobbed, "who I love and who you have hurt!"  With each cry she drove the point further into Lothe, who lay gasping on the ground, flailing as he was pinned.  "And this," Brachet screamed, "this is for me!"  With a final bloody gurgle, Lothe died, his head lolling to the side.  Brachet released her sword and went to the side of her love, Rue, who was pale, his face drawn with pain.  As she knelt beside him, he managed to smile weakly.  Brachet cradled his head in her lap. "Oh, Rue..." she murmured, sorrow tinging her voice.  Rue reached his hand up to touch her cheek. "Don't worry, darling..Everything will be fine.  You will go on with your life..."  he trailed off, his breathing ragged.  Brachet shook her head, tears beginning to fall. "Rue," she whispered, "you have always been there for me..through all my foolishness..You have saved me, both from physical peril and myself.."  Rue shivered, and Brachet held him close.  "I have never thanked you..but I thank you now.  And I love you Rue..more than I have ever loved anything."  Rue smiled again, and coughed, blood staining his lips.  Brachet could see how hard it was for him to hold on.  But he spoke. "It has been...my pleasure....m'lady.....And....I love you....too..."  A convulsion wracked his body and he cried out weakly, slumping.  His eyes still shone with love and comfort, and Brachet leaned to kiss him, tears rolling down her face onto his.  Rue was dead.

Brachet did not know what to do with herself.  So when a dragon came to take her to a place called Dun Keiba, she agreed.  If only it would take her from her grief as easily as it took her from her home... The place they landed at was different from what she had expected.  It was warm, and Brachet remembered Rue telling her about his home..a home as warm as his arms, his eyes.  The 'dragons' were different, too.  In fact, they were not dragons at all, as Brachet had expected, but draks, four-winged and beautiful.

So she stayed, feeling that if she had to go on without Rue, it would be better not to go alone.  Perhaps she could learn to live without him...

The end of Brachet's previous adventures.. And the beginning of new ones...