Battlefields: Veil Walkers Book Three

Chapter Four

Denmark, 1387 CE - Nobility Camp - Ming Yue

"This is getting us nowhere," Ming Yue motioned to another stack of crates with her free hand. "Sumi, position check."

As Sumiko climbed the boxes, Ming Yue once again dumped most of the contents of the basket. So far someone had filled it twice with dirty laundry, once with bread and cheese to be distributed, and just now with armor that needed repaired. As the pile of heavy chainmail slid to the ground, she dropped the basket and stretched, holding a hand to her lower back.

"I can help," Irem offered, while Sumiko turned to survey the area from her impromptu watchtower. "It would only be temporary, but it would help."

Ming Yue gave a nod of permission and braced herself against the boxes Sumiko stood on. She felt Irem's hand on her lower back, applying gentle pressure until Ming Yue whimpered.

"There," Irem whispered.

An odd burst of brief pain, a lingering tingle, and the pain subsided. Ming Yue exhaled in relief and turned as Irem removed her hand.

"I shunted the nerve with a bit of power, like when a doctor gives steroid injections for pain," Irem explained as she looked back the way they had come.

Ming Yue frowned. "Why would you learn such a thing?"

Irem motioned with her missing hand, answering the question by pointing out the scar. "It throbs when the weather changes. I learned how to put the pain in check to keep myself sane."

Ming Yue reclaimed her basket and tried to force a smile to Irem. Those words broke her heart, and yet Irem had not revealed this problem before. It should have been easy to see, but the former princess had been hiding it for decades. How many other problems did her team keep hidden from her? Maybe the commander role held her a little too far from the others. Maybe they didn't feel like they could talk to her. Gods, what must Cahya be hiding?

Sumiko's words broke her from her reverie. "The chaos to the north is getting worse, but the south seems quiet. We are about halfway from the edge to the queen's tent."

As Sumiko dropped to the grass once more, Ming Yue motioned for them to continue around this pavilion and into the torchlight beyond.

They proceeded without words, each woman lost in her own thoughts, Ming Yue reckoned. She caught glimpses of their faces, of their worries, as they stepped into spots of illumination. This silence was hell on all of them, and she idly wondered what her teammate's versions of hell looked like. Thus engrossed in thought, Ming Yue didn't realize where she was going until someone bumped into her.

Her empty basket flew from her hands, and a little girl smiled up at her from where she lay on the grass. The child was beyond precious, the living embodiment of beauty and innocence. The girl's green eyes were a little too vivid, Ming Yue noticed as she offered a hand to help the girl up, not wanting to leave such a perfect creature laying on the grass.

"Back!" Irem shouted, shoving Ming Yue away.

Ming Yue caught herself and shook her head to clear the fog she hadn't realized was there. A glance back revealed the child on her feet, Craeu's yellow mark upon her forehead.

As Irem and Sumiko turned to fight, the child laughed in a hypnotizing tone and darted off between the tents.

Ming Yue kicked the fallen basket away and gave chase, trusting Sumiko and Irem to follow.

~*****~

Queen's Tent - Danika

"Normally, I would allow the matron to take care of this herself," said Queen Margarete, "but when I heard you were one of my girls, I simply had to speak with you." A wave of the royal hand summoned an older girl with a wooden chair to Danika's location.