The Second Archon War: Carmen Dei 26

Carmen Dei 26: The Rabbit and the Princess

The wind at Amber’s back was warm and gentle, her glider riding on it easily as she peered at the battlefield below her. There was smoke and dust filling the air that obscured things, but her modified goggles allowed her to see into the ultraviolet and infrared spectrums. Frequent use meant the new colors no longer made her nauseous.

What did make her nauseous was to see all the dead bodies scattered in the snow. It was heartbreaking to see the bodies of Polish soldiers, and even worse, Knights that she knew dead on the field. The worst though were the civilians. Most had evacuated, but…not all of them. 

Many of the corpses were Fatui, which Amber tried not to feel too bad about. They had been the ones to invade Poland, and they all served the Tsaritsa, who was pretty close to the Devil in the new cosmology that Amber was believing in more fervently by the day.

No, the Tsaritsa isn’t the Devil. That’s…Him…

Furtively, Amber checked the skies about her, but didn’t see a golden streak. For several months now, Scion has been largely missing from Earth Bet. It had caused only a minor sensation at first, but there was more and more talk online about just why the Golden Devil King was absent. Frankly, Amber was glad he was gone, at least for now. Anyone who molested Lord Buer had to be evil. She was just a little girl!

“Vengence to Outrider, come in, Outrider,” Lauren’s voice said in Amber’s ear. 

Amber smiled and used her tongue to activate the radio she’d implanted in one of her teeth. She just had so MANY ideas for inventions these days! It wasn’t like it was at all before Lord Barbados’ blessing where all she’d had ideas for were gliders and exploding dolls. It was probably because he’d exorcised the demon that had been possessing her. 

“This is Outrider. What’s up, Vengeance?” 

“How’s the scouting mission? Do we have another attack incoming?” Lauren asked, her tone crisp and to the point. 

Looking up from the ground, Amber grimaced at the massive storm front ahead of her. The wall of ice and fog where Lord Barbatos’ warm wind met the Tsaritsa’s icy gale. Not even her enhanced vision could penetrate that, even with the module to detect elemental energy. The storm was completely unnatural, and any attempt to see into it or explore it had been met with poor results. 

“Skies are clear today, except for, well, you know. I’m not detecting any movement at the moment, but- wait. Something’s happening in the storm!” 

Elemental energy flared, and Amber desperately tried to get her glider around. She was five clicks away from the storm wall, but she knew perfectly well that wasn’t nearly far enough if one of the Fatui’s Movers appeared to confront her. She currently had on active camouflage that should hide her from most things, but while Amber was stealthy and had excellent information-gathering hardware, she wasn’t terribly effective at aerial combat. 

“Amber?! Amber, what’s happening!” Lauren’s panicked voice cried, but Amber was already turning about and trying to head away from the storm as fast as she could, desperately praying to Barbados as she did so. 

“Lord of Anemo and Angel of Freedom, please send winds to guide your servant to safety,” Amber gasped desperately as two shapes broke out of the blizzard, flying at her own altitude and heading straight for her. 

At first, she thought it was the Servant and the Dancer. If it was, she was dead, or worse. What the Dancer could do to you…they’d seen entire platoons of loyal soldiers wrapped in her strings turn on their comrades, moving to the command of the Fatui Harbinger. The Servant was just a brute who would burn you to death. That was a far kinder fate. 

However, what came out of the storm was just two capes in Fatui uniforms. After a moment, Amber recognized them both. “It’s Foxbat and Frogfoot. They probably can’t see me, but I’m diving down to get out of their range. You’ll need to send someone to take care of them.”

Both Russian capes were your standard Flying Blaster setups, though they both bore Delusions that amplified their powers. In Foxbat’s case, he had a Pyro Delusion, while Frogfoot had an Anemo. Both of them were serious threats on their lonesome, but together they could be the forerunners of another assault by the Fatui. 

Making for the deck, Amber alighted onto a frozen field, before folding her glider up onto her back and scurrying into a ditch. She could see the two Fatui capes tracing lazy lines in the sky. They probably hadn’t known Amber was there, but both sides had scouts to monitor what the other side was doing at all hours. 

The Fatui pushed more than 30 kilometers into Poland in the last ten days on the Belarus front and were nearly to Bialystok. Latvia, Estonia, and Moldova had also suffered invasions, and had fared even worse, mostly falling into Russian hands. The Finns had declared war but were simply biding their time, waiting for Russia to invade while they fortified. For now, Europe was reeling, and if something didn’t change soon, all of Eastern Europe might fall. 

There was a streak in the sky, and Amber felt her heart leap as bright beams of green light flashed, one of them impacting Foxbat, who burst into flames. Legend! And by the looks of things, he wasn’t alone. Five capes flying in formation raced towards the battlefield, and fire and lasers burnt lines in Amber’s vision.

“The Protectorate is responding, hang tight,” Lauren’s voice called.

“I can see them! Legend and four others,” Amber said, feeling a sense of relief. She looked back towards the storm wall, frowning. “But the Imps wouldn’t have just sent two…”

Sure enough, more shapes emerged from the storm, some flying, others not. Amber dove for cover as explosions began to rock the sky, bursts of elemental reactions and parahuman displays of power. No Harbingers yet, but if one of them did emerge, it would get nasty, fast.

The skirmish grew into a full-blown battle as ground forces moved in on both sides, and Amber could only hunker down and report back to command as she ID’d Fatui capes and units maneuvering onto the field. It was too dangerous for her to take off, but she was close enough to the front and well-hidden enough that her information was invaluable to NATO forces brawling with the Fatui. 

A body crashed to the ground only a dozen meters from amber, the snow melting with a hiss. She ran over with her first aid kit, uncertain who had been hurt, but not willing to let someone suffer and die if she could help it. 

She turned the body over, and grimaced, recognizing a Fatui uniform. The man was dressed in a very colorful version of a Russian Naval Officer’s uniform from the mid-19th century, though with aviator goggles to go with the golden epaulets and long overcoat. He’d been burned, badly, but he was still breathing, if unconscious. He had an Electro Vision and an Anemo Delusion, so Amber quickly took both of those and hid them back in the ditch. Without them, he’d be mostly powerless, though she still had to be careful. 

“I’ve got a prisoner. He’s in bad shape, but he looks to be a Lieutenant from their aviation corps,” Amber reported. 

“Understood, we’ll send a squad to pick them up when the battle dies down,” a stranger’s voice said. Lauren took to the field some time ago, and Amber could only pray she was safe. Her friend tended to throw herself into the thick of the fighting and rely on the power of The Song of Broken Pines, a blessed sword gifted to her by Lord Barbatos, to protect herself. She was only an Electro Vision Holder though, so it wasn’t like she could duel a high end Fatui cape, and especially not a Harbinger. 

Treating the fatuus’ wounds, Amber could only hope she could keep the man alive until that squad came. He had burns over a great deal of his body and was bleeding badly, as well as who knew how many internal injuries. A Vision holder was a lot tougher than a normal human, but only action hero tough. A high enough fall could still kill them, especially if you took away their Vision before they could use it to heal. 

Still, Amber had invented some rather clever first-aid devices that should help with the burns and internal bleeding, and she did her best to apply them to her patient. She thought she just about had him stabilized, when she noticed that the storm wall was advancing towards her, and doing so rapidly. 

“Command! The Tsaritsa’s Will is moving towards me, and quick! I’m going to have to fall back and abandon my prisoner!” Amber said, turning to spring away from the oncoming storm. 

“Understood, Vorreiter, get out of there! The Dancer and the Servant have taken the field, and Legend is being pushed back. We’ve already lost too many capes, we can’t afford to lose you as well.”

Amber didn’t even get up to a sprint before she tripped, crying out in pain as something bit into her legs. She looked on in horror as frost-covered thorns grew up around her. Desperately, she made one final call.

“Retreat! Get everyone out of here! It’s the Princess! The Imperial Princess is-”

Amber cut herself off as the storm enveloped her, cold biting into her bones as thorns surrounded her. She could only shrink back in horror as a shadow appeared from nowhere with glowing green eyes. 

SURRENDER. DO NOT RESIST.

Amber’s goggles fogged up as tears of fear and pain clouded her vision. She tried to think of a way out of this. She had a couple of Baron Bunnies on her. She could just detonate them. They probably wouldn’t harm the Princess, but she would die. That might be preferable to being captured by the Fatui. Other capes had been taken. When the Dancer got her strings on them…

There wasn’t anything left when they had to cut down their old friends. Just puppets. 

Squeezing her eyes shut, Amber sobbed out, “I-I’m sorry, Lauren! Stay safe! I-I commit my soul to Lord Barbados, t-that he might guide me t-to Freedom Eternal in the next life.”

She reached for her Baron Bunnies to set them off, but thorny vines grew about her arms, locking her in place. She struggled desperately, writhing and twisting in a futile attempt to either free herself or kill herself. Either would work. She just couldn’t fall into Fatui hands. 

“W-why are you trying to kill yourself?! I was going to take you alive! Stop it!” 

Amber froze, trembling as she looked up into the concerned face of a young girl, who couldn’t have been more than 14 or so. Yes, that was right, Kollei Moskaylova was approximately that age. 

“You just want to mind control me to use me against my friends!” Amber spat, still struggling against the vines, forcing thorns to bite into her flesh through her flying leathers. 

“I won’t let Nastya have you, don’t worry,” the Princess said gently, kneeling down beside Amber and putting a shockingly gentle hand on her head. “You saved Fedot. You earned that much.”

Resisting the urge to bite at the hand, Amber hung there suspended by the vines, panting for breath, her mind racing. Could she survive this? “How can I trust the Fatui? You’ve turned so many of my friends against us. I watched Elke and Adrian kill half a dozen of their former friends before we could stop them!” 

“That is…” Kollei looked away, licking her chapped lips nervously. “That is not what I would have happen…only love can change people’s hearts.”

Amber could only stare at the Princess in shock at that. Love? What did any of this have to do with Love? 

“Look just…don’t resist. You’ll be my prisoner. They won’t touch you,” Kollei said. “Do you promise?” 

Closing her eyes again, Amber forced back a sob. She really didn’t want to die. She had so much more to live for! She hadn’t even found a boyfriend yet! Not that there had been much time with the war and all. 

“Fine,” she spat, glaring up at the Princess. “I won’t promise I won’t try to escape, but I won’t kill myself. Not unless the Dancer tries to take me.”

“Very well,” the Princess agreed, and the thorns about Amber retracted, dropping her on the ground. She winced and tried to move, but pain lanced up her arms and legs where the barbs had pierced her, and she cried out involuntarily. 

“Shhh. Hold still,” the Princess said, and warm green light flowed over her hands and into Amber. She shivered as her wounds began to knit, as the Dendro was infused with an icy chill she was all too familiar with. Even the blessing of Lord Buer was cursed by the Tsaritsa’s touch.

Once her wounds knit, Amber slowly got to her feet, testing her arms and legs by flexing a little and bouncing on her feet. She was a little stiff, which was usual after a healing like that, but overall felt fine. She nodded, then extended her wrists toward the Princess. Trying to run was pointless: she was a Tinker, not a Brute or Mover, and without her gadgets there was very little she could do. “Alright. Tie me up.”

“Do you give me your word of honor and parole as a knight that you won’t try to escape? If you swear to me, I won’t bind you,” the Princess said seriously. “Otherwise…it’s the thorns.”

Wincing, Amber considered that. There wasn’t much known about Kollei Moskaylova, now Imperial Princess Kollei Snezhnaya. She had been some sort of orphan girl who according to the doctrine preached by the Church of the Frozen Heart. Supposedly, Kollei had been the first to find the Tsaritsa after her battle with the evil Sustainer of Heavenly Principles, and had given the fallen god succor and comfort despite her destitution. For her act of simple love, she had been elevated above all other mortals, adopted as the Tsarita’s daughter, and granted a portion of her power. 

What they knew from Kollei’s actions during the Butcher of Kyiv and her embassy to Poland was that she was not as cruel or harsh as her adoptive mother. More prone to kindness and diplomacy than ruthless cold conquest. She had also been granted a Dendro Vision, which meant she was an optimist and altruist at heart who valued wisdom and life. To be otherwise would cause her Vision to be forfeit. 

So, weighing that in mind, and against her better judgment, Amber swallowed. “I swear by the Winds of Freedom not to attempt to escape, so long as you are my captor. I give you my word and parole as a Knight of Favonius.”

A cold chill suddenly invaded Amber’s very soul, and she gasped in shock. A weight pressed onto her shoulders, and it felt as though tight bonds had wrapped themselves over her heart. 

“I accept this Oath, under the Authority of my Mother, the Cryo Archon, Dantilion, as the Princess of all Russias,” Kollei declared, her eyes glowing first green, then blue. 

The chill faded, but Amber’s heart was pounding, and she gasped for breath, eyes wide. What had she just sworn to? She didn’t mean to break her oath, far from it, but now…she didn’t think she COULD try to escape, even if she wanted to. She knew that something within her would prevent it, that her oath was binding by far more than words and honor. Maybe this had been a mistake.

“Come on. I’ll take you back to my quarters,” Kollei ordered, and Amber’s feet followed after her before she even told them what to do. A portal of ice and thorns appeared, and Amber followed Kollei through it, glancing behind them as they left. 

“What about what was his name, Fedot? Is he going to be alright?” Amber asked worriedly. She shouldn’t feel so bad about a dead Fatuus, she’d killed plenty of them, but, well…she did.

“I healed him and sent him back. I wanted to deal with you myself,” Kollei said, and Amber was forced to follow her as they walked through an alien landscape, looking about with wide eyes. 

All about them was a frozen world, but not like the one they’d left. There were flowers, trees, animals, and swaying grass in abundance, but they were all made of clear crystal that glowed with a soft blue. The path they walked on was marked by icy thorn bushes, but there were green blossoms amidst the brambles. A wild cat of some sort bounded up to Kollei, who giggled and bent down to pick up the icy feline, stroking its back as it purred contentedly. 

Several frozen rabbits hopped up to Amber, sniffing at her, and she bent down, showing them the palm of her hand. They reminded her of Diluc and Kaeya, her own pair of pet rabbits back in Frankfurt. She hoped her mother was taking good care of the boys. Sniffling, she gently stroked the rabbit’s ears, the icy chill from their bodies making her fingers numb. 

“What…what is this place?” Amber asked, looking up at Kollei who was cradling her cat in her arms. 

“This is the Dream. I’ve shaped it, a little, but I think these animals are brought to life by my Mother’s power. Everything she does in the waking world casts a shadow in the dream. You can see the storm just over there…”

Amber looked around, and indeed, outside of a tranquil bubble that surrounded them, no more than 100 meters in diameter, an icy blizzard raged. But just beyond that…

“Lord Barbatos!” Amber gasped, standing upright. She could see a warm, tranquil land, not more than half a kilometer away, where warm breezes soothed a fertile land of peace and freedom. There were fruiting trees and budding flowers, and not the icy, treacherous kind, but beautiful ones, taller and more luscious than any natural forest. 

“Yes, I…wonder about that,” Kollei admitted, coming to stand beside Amber. “My Mother’s lands are blanketed in winter’s grip, but just beyond it…”

“The Lands of Always Winter, but Never Christmas,” Amber muttered, shaking her head. “Ruled by the White Witch.”

Kollei frowned at her, the cat hissing at Amber as the bunnies suddenly hopped away. 

“I-it’s from a book! The Chronicles of Narnia? Um, I read it when I was a girl, maybe about your age,” Amber hastily explained. “They made a TV series…but it’s in English.”

She blinked suddenly, a thought occurring to her. “Um, your German is very good. I don’t speak much Russian.”

“Oh? Ah, I-I’m not speaking German,” Kollei admitted. When Amber looked baffled, she hastily explained, “M-my Mother’s power. Um, one of the gifts…it lets me speak to the heart. I-It’s like the Gift of Tongues.”

“Oh, like in Acts Chapter 2,” Amber said with a thoughtful nod. 

Kollei blushed. “Um, y-yes. Are you…a Christian, then?”

“Yes. Is that a problem?” Amber declared defiantly. There was a great deal of theological complexity to her answer, of course. She’d grown up Lutheran, though largely only nominally so. She’d been baptised and taken communion of course, but hadn’t really thought much of it beyond going to church occasionally with her mother. 

Now, of course, she was a part of the Church of Barbatos, which acknowledged Lord Barbados, in his human incarnation of Venti Luft, as an Angel sent by the Lord Jesus Christ as an emissary to Earth to guide Mankind to Freedom. There were rumblings in the Church that argued that Nahida Saeed was the Angel of Wisdom to Venti’s Angel of Freedom, and others took it so far as to argue that there were Seven Angels, or Archons, sent by God, including the Raiden Shogun and most heretically, the Tsaritsa herself. 

Amber didn’t really think too hard about any of that. Venti was an Angel who was God’s chosen messenger to Earth, which meant praying to him was a totally normal thing to do. Even if he did tend to get drunk on the communion wine. 

Whether or not she was in communion with traditional Christian orthodoxy wasn’t something Amber was concerned about. The Pope, which she didn’t really think much of since she was a good Lutheran at heart still, had said Venti was an Angel, and if that wasn’t good enough for you, what would be? Her Polish comrades were mostly Catholic, however, and they didn’t have any problem offering prayers to Barbados, who was nearly as popular as the Virgin Mary these days.

“No, it’s just…Russia isn’t a kind place for Christians these days,” Kollei said, turning away. “You worship my Mother, or, well…things get unpleasant.”

“Death or exile is what you mean,” Amber muttered, and Kollei’s posture stiffened slightly. The girl was sensitive for being the scion of the most bloodthirsty tyrant since Stalin. 

“C-come on. I’ll lead you through the storm,” Kollei said, and started forward. As she moved, Amber now noticed that the bubble of calm moved with her, as did the animals. 

Bound by oath and not wanting to die just yet, Amber hastily followed after. At first, she just trailed after the girl, but her naturally gregarious nature didn’t keep her down for long, even as a prisoner of war. Besides, maybe she could talk her way out of this. 

“So, uh, why exactly did you take me prisoner, anyway?” Amber asked, looking around. “I mean, what do you want me for? Why aren’t you just handing me over to the Dancer?”

“I don’t…I don’t agree with everything Nastya does. I understand it’s for the war, but…we should be looking for a way towards peace,” Kollei said, her eyes forward. “When Poland rejoins the Empire…we will still have to rule, and have cordial relations with our neighbors. War can’t last forever.”

“I think you’ll find the Polish disagree about that,” Amber said dryly. The general attitude seemed to be that the war would end either when the Fatui were driven out, or the last Pole was dead. And quite a few Poles didn’t seem terribly particular about which one it was. 

“Their hearts can change. I would prefer…not to follow the Dancer’s path. That’s not really Love, no matter what she calls it,” Kollei said, looking down at her boots, which were fine lambskin with golden scrollwork. Her whole outfit looked like it cost a year of Amber’s salary as a knight, and she wasn’t exactly paid poorly. 

“Uh, yeah, mind control generally isn’t considered love. Just ask Dorothy about how she feels about that,” Amber said with a shudder. 

“Dorothy…Gale?” Kollei said with an air of innocence that was nearly enough for Amber to forget she was a horrific monster. 

“No! Though I’m surprised you read that one! I do love the Oz books! But, no, I mean Dorothy Schmidt. She was brainwashed by the Gesellschaft. You know, the Nazis? Anyway, Lord Barbados freed her, now she’s one of his clerics,” Amber explained. Kollei was frowning, so she added, “She's the moth lady.”

“My mother…is not fond of Barbados. For good reason,” Kollei said coldly, her eyes locking on the blizzard in front of them. 

“Why? He’s the Angel of Freedom! He saved Munich, and destroyed the Nazis!” Amber pointed out.

“Because he left my Grandmother, the previous Cryo Archon, to die, after he promised to save her. He left her to be killed by demons while he idled away the days,” Kollei snapped. “He hasn’t told you everything.”

Amber opened her mouth to protest but then closed it. They didn’t know a lot about Lord Barbados, it was true. Or Teyvat, where he claimed to have come from. He had mentioned something about the Tsaritsa’s grief, and that he felt guilty about…something. What that something was wasn’t clear. 

“Well, if she has a problem with Lord Barbados, the Tsaritsa should take it up with him, not all of Eastern Europe,” Amber harrumphed. 

“Don’t you understand?” Kollei pointed out to the storm. “She’s trying to protect us! From much worse than this! You know what Scion, what the Sustainer, really is, right?”

“He’s…” Amber searched for words, but couldn’t find them. She settled on, “Evil. He tried to…you know. In Baghdad.”

“He raped Nahida Saeed,” Kollei said bluntly, her hand going to her Dendro Vision. “Or tried to. And he’ll do worse to the whole world. He’s the King of Demons. That’s why my mother fought him. Why EVERYONE has to fight him. She’s preparing us for that. Barbados will refuse to fight, again, and leave you all to die. So you have to join my Mother. Join Russia. Together, we can be strong enough to resist the Sustainer and his demons. You had one in you, didn’t you? I can still sense it’s lingering presence…”

Amber flinched as Kollei reached out, putting a hand on her chest, over her heart. She felt that icy probe in her soul again, but it was laced with the warmth of Dendro. “Lord Barbados…when we swear as Knights, we seek him out. Usually, it’s pretty pointless, but eventually, he finds you. For parahumans like me…he heals us. Fixes us. For Vision Holders he just tells them a riddle and gets them drunk or something, Lauren wasn’t clear about it. But for me…he fixed me. I used to have this…compulsion. This need, to make things. To try them out. And…and to use them to fight. But I don’t any more! I have ideas, but more, and they don’t have to be for fighting. I’m free. Barbados set me free. Doesn’t the Tsaritsa do…something?”

“You’re given a choice. You can Love her, and give your heart to her,” Kollei said, her hand shifting slightly to trail up Amber’s sternum, then down her left arm. “If you embrace my mother, she kills your demon, and gives you its power. So long as you serve her, you will have access to more power than you can imagine. But, if you refuse…”

Kollei gripped Amber’s hand, squeezing it until Amber gasped at the icy pressure. “Then you are stripped of your demon. I still see Grigory, Vasili, and Agatha. They’re husks of what they once were, but they still work as servants in the Ice Palace. But they’re better of than they were as hosts to demons. Now they love my mother utterly. They have nothing else left but her.”

Those names…Amber recognized them. The leaders of the Red Gauntlet, which had been completely wiped out. She’d cheered when she heard it, had thought that the Tsaritsa would be like Lord Barbados. How wrong she had been. 

“People should be free to make their own choices,” Amber said through gritted teeth as icy veins spread up her arm. “Not made into slaves. That’s not love. That’s tyranny!”

“Sometimes, a Mother must be a tyrant to her children for their own good,” Kollei said, releasing Amber’s hand. She gasped in relief, and tried to rub feeling back into her numb fingers. 

“We’re here.”

Amber looked around, spying a cozy looking cottage at the outskirts of a village. She recognized this place, though in the real world, it was nothing but burned-out rubble: Gródek. There had been a fierce battle here some days ago. The village itself seemed free of of the storm, another bubble of calm surrounding it. Within it, people scurried about, and Amber blinked, rubbing at her eyes.

“This…is a dream, right? Those aren’t real people…” she said, feeling sick to her stomach as the people sent nervous glances at her and Kollei. It was mostly children, women, and the elderly, but there were a few younger people of fighting age…some Amber recognized. All of them had been thought lost, dead or worse.

“They are the ones I’ve rescued. They stay here, in the Dream. I keep them safe,” Kollei said firmly. “Come on. I’ll introduce you.”

Dazed, Amber followed after Kollei as they entered the village. Most of the inhabitants shrank back from them, but one little girl ran up.

“Princess Kollei! Did you bring us another friend?” the girl asked. She was young, no more than six, with her brown hair in pigtails, wearing a dress that didn’t look warm enough for the season. Though now that Amber thought about it, it was fairly warm in the Dream compared to the waking world. 

“I did. This is Amber. She won’t be staying here, but I thought you’d like to meet her, Tara,” Kollei said with a smile. She reached into the satchel she had at her side, and pulled out some ration bars. “Here. For you and your grand mother.” 

“Thanks! Hi, Amber!” the little girl said.

“Um, hello. Er, how did you get here, Tara?” Amber asked, crouching down. 

“We got trapped in the big storm. Grandma couldn’t get out of the house. It got real cold,” Tara said, clutching the food tightly to her chest. “But then Princess Kollei came and rescued us! Now we get to live here. It’s not so bad. But there’s no TV, so it’s kinda boring sometimes.”

“But there’s books, and that’s better,” Kollei said with a smile.

“I guess,” Tara said with a shrug. “Bye!” Then she hurried off, to where an old woman hastily ushered her into a building and shut the door behind them. 

Turning, Amber faced one of the young men, who was still wearing the uniform of polish infantrymen. “Hey, Kewin. Guess you didn’t die after all, huh?”

“Maybe it would have been better if I had. If we both had, Amber,” Kewin said, glowering at Kollei. 

“That’s no way to talk. You didn’t seem to want to die when I healed you,” Kollei said with a sigh.

“I was delusional. I never should have agreed to this,” Kewin growled. He glared at Amber. “I’d have thought a knight would be braver.”

“Yeah, well…sometimes bravery is walking the harder path. Even when dying would be easier. Living…it’s always hard. But it can be worth it. Fight on. We’re not out of this yet,” Amber said, and saluted Kewin.

He stiffened, then slowly nodded, returning the salute. “Poland is not yet lost.”

“Not while we live,” Amber agreed. “Keep these people safe, OK? I’ll do what I can on my end. I’m just a Tinker, but…maybe I can fix this, somehow. For all of you.”

“Thanks. I’d help, but…” Kewin grimaced. “I promised I wouldn’t fight her. And, well, turns out that’s not a promise I can break.”

“Yeah. My mom always told me not to make a promise you didn’t mean. Guess she was right!” Amber laughed nervously. She glanced towards Kollei, who was setting food into a table, pulling out a lot more from that satchel that it should have been able to hold. “So, uh, things are OK here then?”

“I don’t know about OK, but we’re surviving. Kollei shows up every day or two with food and supplies. No one’s starving, and she cured the diabetes Tara had. Type One, you know. Just held her for a few minutes and wrapped her in that weird green glow. She’d been going into ketoacidosis, no insulin here,” Kewin said, his voice low. “Her grandmother was so desperate she carried the girl to her and begged for her help. Hurt her pride, but…Tara’s only five. Hard to see her suffer and die like that…”

“Seriously? Just cured Type One, like that?” Amber asked, shocked. 

Kewin grimaced. “Yeah. I’ve heard Barbados can do the same thing…when he’s not drunk.”

“He’s not drunk very often anymore,” Amber said faintly. “And yeah. He visited a children’s hospital in Frankfurt once. All the kids just got out of bed and danced while he played music. Never had to get back into bed either. But she’s…she’s not an angel. Just…”

“You can feel it, right? The frost in her? She’s not listed as a Harbinger, but…” Kewin swallowed. “I think she’s just as powerful as one. The write-ups on her were all dead wrong. She’s at least as dangerous as the Sleeper.”

“The Sleeper?” Amber felt faint, but she couldn’t argue. This was going to be harder than she’d thought…and she’d already figured it was impossible.

Kewin chuckled nervously, and clapped her on the back. “Good luck, Sir Amber. Lucky we have a knight here…you’re the only cape I’ve seen, you know.”

“Yeah. Lucky,” Amber agreed with a nervous giggle.

“Amber, we’re leaving. Come on,” Kollei called. She waved to the villagers, who all shied back, save Kewin, who just folded his arms over his chest and glared. “I’ll be back later with more food! No one’s sick, right?”

“Not enough to come crawling to you, Ruskie,” Kewin said, spitting on the ground in disgust.

Kollei sighed. “Someday…you’ll realize we’re all the same, Kewin. We don’t have to be enemies.”

“Sure. Just get the hell out of Poland,” he snarled.

Kollei glared at him, her fists tightening, and he flinched, but didn’t back down. Sighing, Kollei turned away. “Let’s go.”

Amber fell into step with Amber, looking around at the village. There had to be nearly a thousand people here, most of them civilians. Just how long had Kollei been at this? Probably since the first day of the invasion…

“Does the Tsaritsa know about this?” she asked quietly. “That you’re…you know…keeping them here?”

Kollei stiffened, which told Amber everything she needed to know. “She’d understand. She told me to prepare the way for her.”

“So you hid everyone from her in a dream. I guess that works,” Amber sighed. “Kollei…you have to know…your mother started this war. That’s…that’s not good.”

“Everything she does, my mother does for Love. She is the God of Love. How can Love be evil?” Kollei demanded, fixing Amber with a glare. 

Amber hesitated, then said in a very soft voice, “My father…he said he loved me. My mom too. Didn’t stop him from beating us. Or me from…” She swallowed. “Well. I didn’t kill him. When I triggered.”

The memories that were brought up were horrific. So many years of fear, of hiding her pain with a smile. She was glad that Lauren had received her Vision AFTER Amber hospitalized her father, and then got her mom out of there. Because Lauren would have just killed him and damn the consequences. She was a good friend. The best. 

Kollei looked horrified, jerking away. Her mouth worked for a moment, then she shook her head. “My Mother…she isn’t like that. She’d never beat me.”

“Well, she called Poland her children. Looks like she’s beating them pretty badly,” Amber said bluntly. 

They walked in silence for several minutes, Kolle’s jaw muscles working, but no sound coming out. Eventually, she stopped, near the edge of the village. “Here. We’re going back to the waking world. I…I think I need to bind you now. At least for show.”

“Huh? But I promised. Gave you my parole. And I can’t exactly break it,” Amber said, blinking.

“It’s that, or you get bound by Nastya. The Dancer. Choose. Her bonds, or mine,” Kollei said, the same ice her mother possessed entering her voice.

With a shudder, Amber held out her wrists to be manacled. “Alright. Just…I trust you. You seem like a good person, Kollei. I think you’re right. We don’t have to be enemies. But the Dancer…she is my enemy.”

“I know,” Kollei said sadly, reaching out to touch Amber’s hands. Icy thorns wrapped about them, biting into her flesh and making her wince in pain. “I have to find a way so that this story has a happy ending. But as I’m sure you know…those aren’t common on Earth Bet.”

“They weren’t,” Amber agreed, meeting Kollei’s eyes. “Then Lord Barbados came. His way, there are happy endings. I think it’s just your mother’s that makes things awful.”

“Keep that to yourself. Or Nastya will make you,” Kollei snapped, and then she dragged Amber back to the waking world, and the nightmare began.