The city lay in ruins. Parts of it still burned. If the last reports Ciara had received were half accurate, much of the rest of Viridis was on fire as well. Whatever Spears and his band of marauders thought they wanted, all they were really good at was destroying things. She sighed and stepped around a heap of broken stone and charred rubble that used to be someone's house. She'd only been queen for a few days and she'd already botched it. After Blackpool fell, she'd pulled her soldiers back to wait for Spears' attack and now they were all dead or scattered across the island. She had no idea what had happened to anyone else, or even to her family. All she knew was Cearnach was empty.
She skirted another ruined house and the burned out remains of a crude barricade and emerged on the main road that ran from the city gates to her castle. A flash of anger twisted her mouth into a sneer. Her castle. She'd been born and raised there, but she'd never seriously thought she'd actually sit on the ancient throne one day. She paused a moment, torn between duty and common sense. In the back of her mind, she fancied she could hear all the ghosts of her ancestors laughing at her across a thousand years.
“Where have you all gone, now that I need you?” she said “You're the ones who were raised to it. I'm just Connor's bastard. Just the last desperate resort.”
It was tempting to tuck tail and slip away somewhere, where nobody knew who she was. She'd even lost Brigit after promising Fithir she'd look after the girl. But then she bared her teeth, balled her fists and turned to face the castle. The Queen of Cearnach was sworn to protect the city, and there wasn't any other choice.
She was almost back to the castle when she heard the sound of sobbing coming from just beyond another tumbled heap of bricks. She froze, ears swiveling to catch any other sounds. She knew that Spears' wolves were fond of torturing their victims and she'd seen too many mutilated bodies left in their wake. She put a hand on the hilt of her sword and inched forward.
Brigit sat on what was left of a wagon with her face in her hands, bawling at the top of her lungs. The child was filthy and her clothes were tattered, but to Ciara's vast relief she didn't appear to be hurt. She jumped up at Ciara's approach and Ciara was shocked to see the long, blood-stained knife in her sister's hand.
“What are you doing with that? Did someone attack you? Are you okay?” she said.
Brigit hesitated for the space of a single breath. Then she dropped the knife and flung herself into Ciara's arms.
“You came back,” she said.
“Of course. I promised, didn't I? It'll take more than General Spears and his whole army put together to keep us apart,” Ciara said.
She scooped Brigit up and gave the girl a kiss on her forehead. Fresh tears welled in the pups eyes but she gave Ciara a quick smile and a kiss on the cheek.
“What are we going to do now?” Brigit said.
“Right now, we're going to go find our friends,” Ciara said.
Brigit flattened her ears and gave Ciara a doubtful look.
“We'd have to leave the city,” she said.
In spite of all her anger and worry, Ciara couldn't help but grin back at her sister. Brigit was only nine years old, but she was already a fighter. Just like Ciara had been at her age.
“We'll come back. Don't you worry about that. I'm not leaving my home in the hands of some barbarian,” Ciara said.
“And you're really back? It's just, I thought, after Mom... died...” Brigit began.
“Ssh. I'm here. Everything's going to be okay,” Ciara said.
“I fought them, after they came into the castle. I tried to hide, like you told me to, but... I think I hurt one of them, but not enough,” Brigit said.
Before Ciara could answer, she felt Brigit's grip tighten and the child shrank down against her.
“I gave orders that children were to be left alone. The officer responsible for attacking your sister has been executed,” Spears said.
Ciara whirled around, clutching Brigit tighter while she struggled to draw her sword while the big wolf grinned toothily at her.
“Sounds like a good start to me. Why don't you go next?” she said.
“Gently, Majesty. Is that sort of ingratitude really what you want to teach to impressionable young pups?” he said.
Brigit twisted around in Ciara's grasp and glared at Spears.
“Go away. You don't belong here. This is our home, not yours,” she said.
Ciara finally got her sword out and she gripped the hilt too tightly, trying not to let Spears see her tremble. She only been this close to him once before, and she'd forgotten how big he was, but it was too late to think about that now. He drew his own sword and flourished it. It was oversized, just like him, and razor sharp and it could probably cut her in half.
“I'd think twice about doing anything heroic, if I were you. I believe you're all the family your sister has left in the world, aren't you?” Spears said.
“That's none of your business,” Ciara said.
“I think it is. I'm not totally heartless, you know. That's why I'm going to let you go,” he said.
Ciara took a deep breath and raised her sword until it was pointed at the General's chest. The point grazed Spears' cuirass, right above where his heart should be.
“Ciara Lohan. Queen of Foxes. Protector of the City. Isn't that right? But everyone knows you're just trying to fill daddy's shoes, even though you're nothing but the living reminder of his sin. Go away. Raise your sister to be smarter than you are,” he said.
“She's smarter than you are. You'll see. She'll get you,” Brigit said.
Spears just gave them another tooth-filled grin and inclined his head very slightly toward a patch of rubble off to one side. Ciara spotted the archers standing not quite behind a broken wall and she drew her sword back slightly from Spears' chest. It would be easy enough for her to kill him and to hell with the consequences. If she was alone, she might even have done it. But Spears was right. She was all Brigit had, and that was the part that really rankled. She took a step back and dropped her sword.
“You'll be sorry,” Brigit said.
This time, Spears laughed at them. He stuck his big sword in the ground and shook with mirth.
“I never thought foxes could be so brave. When I first came to this island, I thought it was going to be so boring. Go away, both of you. Go and make your little plots for revenge. You have my word that none of my soldiers will harm you,” he said.
Ciara flattened her ears, put both arms around Brigit and walked slowly down the road to the city gate. With luck, Oseille would still be standing. It was still home, and it was where she'd always gone when she was in trouble. As she passed through the broken gate, she found herself hoping that maybe some of the others had made it back there was well, and that together they could plan what to do next.
She stopped once, at the top of the long hill just outside the city, and took one more look back. In a thousand years, no king or queen of Cearnach had ever abandoned it. She was the first. But she would return.
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