Chapter X Pt.1

This chapter opens with Artes Lessa's Family running for their lives from the relentless pursuit of two Bruxa. Lydia Lessa is at the cusp of giving birth to Artes' first child, but there are complications.

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"Hurry, Brida! We can't get caught out here in the night!" Nissa shouted at the servant girl.

The carriage moved as fast as it was able to. Brida was driving Lydia and Nissa back to Whit Orchard for Artes' protection from the vampiric horde that chased them.

"I'm sorry, Lydia. This is all my fault." Nissa cried to her sister.

Lydia weekly smiled at her sister and held her hand for comfort. "Perhaps it's fate. How could you have known they were Bruxa. Even the Master witcher couldn't see through the facade until the last moment."

"But the baby, Lydia. What if?"

"No matter what happens. You get my child to Artes. He will take care of him or her, no matter what. And he'll kill every last vampire that conspired against us. Aahhhh!" Lydia suddenly cried out in pain.

"I...I can't move. I can't move my body, Nissa!" Lydia cried to her sister. All of the pain she had once felt was now gone. The child within her had snapped her spin.

"Cut it out..." Lydia muttered.

"What?" Nissa asked, terrified of what her sister was suggesting.

"Cut it out! Get it out of me!" She yelled.

Nissa unsheathed her dagger with tears in her eyes. She looked at the state of her sister with a shattered heart. Sickly pale and broken. Nessa blamed herself for everything.

She cried out as she sunk her dagger into her sister's gut. But Lydia felt nothing. She just quietly wept as the light faded from her eyes.

Unbeknownst to Brida, she had just crossed a line marked by Artes to secure White Orchard until his plan was finished. Though, the temerian soldiers in hiding noticed the speed of the carriage and the house emblem on its side. After a few moments, they saw two phantom-like purses after the carriage.

"Send up the flare. We have to alert Lord Artes."

"But he's in battle," the young soldier protested.

The commander broke the boy's nose and snatched the crossbow from him. The commander loaded a signal and shot into the sky. The moment it exploded, the sky was turned red.

Miles away, Artes was riding Tyr, and the Scoia'tael forces were on his tail.

"Little Lord. The border road! There's a monster!" Vernossiel shouted.

Artes looked to the border road and saw the signal. He jerks his reins and redirects his journey to the site of the Flare.

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"Princess Adda!" Shouted the fort commander.

"What it is. Is Sir Artes back?" she asked.

"The border has just sent up a flare. It's red."

Adda's head snapped towards the commander with wide eyes. "Monsters... Send a unit out now. There's no telling where Artes is, and we need to protect the villagers. Go!" she shouted.

The commander bowed and replied, "Yes, my Lady!"

The commander then sprinted off and ordered a unit to head towards the border road.

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"Brida! No matter what, you can not stop this carriage!" Nissa shouted as she wrapped the newborn in layers of cloth for protection. Nissa then held her niece close to her chest and leaped from the carriage.

Nissa used her body to break the fall and pushed herself to roll under the brush on the side of the road. Nissa laid there paralyzed by fear. She nor the babe made a sound as the wind whistled above them, and great shadow blocked the light of the moon in a brief moment in pursuit of the carriage.

A moment later, the labored breath of soldiers in pursuit ran by in chase of the phantom-like bruxas. Nissa exhaled heavily, and her eyes flooded with tears as the sadness poured from her soul. Nissa wept for a while until she calmed herself down out.

Worried for the silent babe, Nissa began to look the babe over and though it didn't have any injuries. The babe looked older than a newborn.

"By the gods..." She gasped as she laid eyes on the babe, that looked to be 3 months old.

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"Surround the beasts! Archers! Fire at will!" Artes shouted from his horse.

The archers fired but to no avail. Artes pulled out two moondust bombs and threw them at the Bruxa. When they exploded, dust filled the area and stopped the Bruxa from phasing across the battlefield.

"Keep firing!" Artes shouted.

He knew that his people's arrows wouldn't kill the monsters, but it would incapacitate enough for Artes to make his move. Tossing a jar of thick black liquid to his Scoia'tael commanders, Artes instructed them to dip their arrows in before firing.

Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! the arrows buried themselves in a bruxa. It soon began to cough black blood and fall to its knees. Unable to heal itself from the steel arrows, it found itself weakened.

Artes then leaped from his horse, released a stream of fire, and set the last bruxa ablaze. Bathing his blade in vampiric oil, Artes hacked away, bisecting and beheading the bruxa.

"Put that one in chains and take it away!"

"Lord Artes?"

"What!?"

"The carriage bears your family crest. The servant girl says that she was transporting your family. They were fleeing a vampire attack."

The color left from Artes' face and his body began to shake as he feared the worse.

"Lord. Your wife. She...She's not so good."

Pushing himself to move, Artes blinked towards the carriage and found a sickly Lydia laying in a pool of her blood. Her gut was sliced open and back broken.