The wind invaded Kiao’s dreams again. It roared to deafen her. The earth under her sprawled body trembled. And the air choking her with dust. The perspective of the dream shifted to the bridge they hid under. Planks stared to peel up one by one in the air and opened up to a swirling maw. She forced herself to wake, and her eyes snapped open. Her heart beat loudly and blood rushing in her ears. She peered around and found. Golden light touching the ground outside of the tarp and a stack of her clothes.

Cloth rustled behind her.

“Bad dream,” asked Soletus. His voice was hoarse.

She realized that her back was against his leg.

She rolled to her back and remembered she didn’t have her shift on. She and Soletus arrived to the tarp soaked to their skin. They needed to warm up fast. She had climbed into the cart for his cloak and to strip off all her clothing. They had no blankets because they had given them to the town and only had cloaks. She wrapped tightly in hers and Soletus in his. The huntress piled theirs on top of them after they were given something warm to drink. After that, Kiao remembered drifting off to sleep. There was a least a stack of her clothing right by where her head was. However, she was concerned about him. His eyes were red and dark circles around his eyes.

“You don’t look like you slept a wink,” she

He leaned his head back and yawned. “No. My ribs kept me up. On another note, I acted as watch because Briar didn’t make a rotation. I should yell at her for that.”

Kiao turned her back to him and dressed. He stared out in front of him, blinking with sleep weighted eyelids.

“You sound terrible,” she said. “I can do something about the bruising.”

He let out a weak chuckle. “That sound as if that requires movement and movement is bad.”

Kiao got her shirt on and worked on her skirt. “Will you be able to travel today?”

“We don’t have a choice. It’s getting late and we should’ve been back on the trail at sunrise.”

Once she dressed, she turned to face him. His eyes were dark looking with that glassy sheen over them. “You need to move around and stand. She then saw his trouser at his other side. “Get dressed. I’ve oil for bruising. It’ll help everything else, just not your ribs.”

Soletus shrugged off the cloak and grimaced the entire time. Kiao crawled out and saw Briar and Laurel standing on the tall grass, conversing to each other.

“Where is Helene and Eione,” she asked when walking to them.

Briar walked over to her with her arms spread wide and then hugged her. “Ko-ko, we were so worried. I was about to send Laurel after you.”

“Over there,” said Laurel, pointed to where Kiao suspected they come from the entire night. “They are watching the path. And I talked Briar out of sending someone for you, given Soletus told us to travel on.”

“And I’m sure he’s still grumpy about it,” said Briar. “I woke up to him scowling.”

Soon Soletus stepped out rubbing his face.

Kiao had him sit on the back of the cart. The array of colors of his bruising went from purple to deep reds on his torso. His stab wound was red, pink, and fleshy. Perfect. It was healing. She rubbed some oil infused with comfrey and a combination of herbs that Lionel said worked best for bruising. Soletus spent most of his time trying not to flinch. Briar hung around while Laurel got the twins. When he let out a strangled cry, she said, sorry. She felt bad for what happened. She should have told him to take a huntress with him.

“Are you apologizing for touching everything that hurts on me or our situation,” he asked.

“She doing it for both,” said Briar before Kiao could explain herself.

“I told you, this isn’t your fault,” he said. “Missions turn sideways all the time and when they do, they turn fast. Besides, I’m well enough. We need to get going.”

Briar snorted out a laugh. “Your rainbow of bruises has me question you ability to ride.”

Soletus opened his mouth, but Kiao cut him off.

“No, he’s going in the cart,” said Kiao.

“Okay,” said Briar. “I’ll make it comfy in there for him.”

Soletus frowned. “Don’t I get a say in this?”

“Nope,” stated Briar. “Your broken body will slow us down.”

A wry grin formed on his face. “I can already hear the ballads about your legendary compassion and care, Briar.”

She fanned her hair, tossing it with her chin up high. “I am a legend in the making.”

Kiao rodeSoletus’s horse, with Briar leading the way as they traveled onward until late-afternoon and broke out of the forest and to the backside of the outpost.

Kiao didn’t know what to expect when they arrived at the outpost. She was expecting a typical outpost of the order. What she saw on a hill with a tower and small living quarters for the warders who kept the outpost. When they came around the backside, it wasn’t a typical living quarters it was a home. A three story home with a hexagonal tower rise up from the side.

When the wound up the path and turned the road up to the front of the outpost, she saw a village sprawling below them.

“What village is this,” Briar asked.

Kiao shrugged. She would need to ask Soletus.

A shout caught her attention. “Hey!” They all looked to see Xylia running towards them.

Briar jumped from the cart, and Kiao dismounted her horse. The young woman hugged the girl.

“Why are you here? I thought the plan was to stay until the order arrived,” asked Xylia.

Briar shook her head. “There was a sight change of plans.”

“That’s an understatement,” said Laurel. “We were chased out.”

Xylia looked between stunned. “What?”

Briar nodded. “Some men in down tricked our fearless mighty monk and stabbed and beaten him in an effort to kill Kiao. So we retreated.”

Xylia face blanched. “Is he alright.” She started looking for him.

“He’s inside the cart,” said Briar. “He less incident prone when you limit his ability to move.”

Kiao then stepped in. “He’s alright. But we need to speak to whoever is in charge.”

“Oh, that’s First Warden Donaven. He’s still in town,” she said. “But Lobilea is here. She helps Donaven. If you need to send a message, she can write one for you and sent it off on a bird.”

Kiao nodded. “Then get her, please.”

Kiao then went to the back of the cart and opened it up. She was almost expecting for Soletus to be awake and alert. Instead, he was wrapped in his cloak again. She hated to wake him up.

“Sol,” she said.

“Hmmm,” he said, unmoving.

“We arrived at the outpost.”

He sat up. The cloak pooling at his lap. “I need my shirt,” he said groggily.

Then the light streaming into the cart dimmed. She turned to see a woman standing there with two curious boys peering in. One was an older boy right at the cusp of todhood and the other was an older tod.

“Above and below what happened to him,” she gasped.

“I got into a tussle,” said Soletus. “Madame...”

“Nighthawk Yes, I guess you’re the monk who sent the message earlier. Soletus was it?”

He nodded and blinked. “Sorry, I just woke up. Um, I need to send another message. This is the Fourth Knoll outpost?”

“Yes.”

He thought a moment and then stated, “Silver Ridge. I need to send a bird to Silver Ridge,” he said, sounding very sluggish, and found his shirt. “I’ll be out in a moment.”

“I’ll look at you later,” stated Kiao and she climbed out and shut the door. She felt eyes on her and noticed that the entire family was staring at her with heads slightly tilted.

“Oh, I’m Sister Kiao,” she said and held out her hand.

The woman took it, shaking it. “I’m Lobelia. I was expecting someone much more...I don’t know what I was expecting. Anyway, Xylia told so many stories about you and the huntresses, was it? I heard the town was a loss.”

“It was,” said Kiao. “We had to make a retreat. It was the townsfolk that injured the second warden.”

Lobelia shook her head. “I’m not surprised. We don’t have any dealings with Hawke and her ilk. The village been debating if we should send someone. But if they chased you from town, she won’t like us.”

Kiao became intrigued. “She’s that well known?”

“In this area, yes. But don’t just stand out here. Boys, tuck these horses in the barn. You ladies can come with me inside.”

Soletus then stepped out. He wore a shirt and trousers, no sash. No boots.

“And you, I can tuck you in a room.”

“That’s unnecessary,” he said, still struggling to wake up.

“It is,” she said. “No arguing. You can rest until Donaven comes back.”

There were all taken into the cozy home. They were all given a round of tea and toast with jam. Soletus was taken to an unoccupied room with a cot. It gave time for Kiao to look at him. His temperature, warmer than normal. Mood, quiet. Overall, exhausted. Lobelia kept looking in on him every so often. Kiao waited by his side on a stool, didn’t even know what to tell the first warden who was coming to see them. She had hoped Soletus would do some of the explaining, but the moment his head hit the pillow, he was out.

The sun shifted and the warmth in the room lessened at the sun sunk behind some trees. The coolness made Kiao drowsy, and she rested her head on the cot. She didn’t hear the footsteps enter the room. However, she felt a hand pat her shoulder. She looked up and stood a man than she hadn’t been expecting. He was an amalgamation of Lord Kharis’s fine face, smile, and spectacle, Brother Jaron’s sinewy build, and Vloy’s speckled brown skin. His curls, though, were a tighter and the color of a mink’s hide. Two friendly burnished silver eyes greeted her. A brotherhood patch on his shoulder.

“First Warden Donaven, I presume,” she asked.

The kanu nodded. “In the flesh. Lobelia informed me of your situation. She sent a message to Silver Ridge. Hostile town. No chanters. Advise a delegation team? What happened to warrant all of that?”

Kiao hung her head down. “The townsfolk, or rather the mayor, believed I summoned a whirlwind to destroy their town. They tried to kill the second warden to lure me so they could burn me. We made a retreat.”

Donaven blinked at her with his brow cocked as if he didn’t hear right. “They thought what? Why?”

“Timing. We came by to reclaim the chapel, but they were using it as a storage building for peat blocks and pickles. I guess they believed I was so offended by it and called a whirlwind on them. We left town right before it happened.”

“So you weren’t in town, and come back to help?”

“Yes, all a master plan in trying to turn everyone to Dias.”

The man’s puffed his cheeks out and letting out a long sigh. “Well, the Hawke’s aren’t known for any sort of normal intelligence. Though they can manipulate. They’ve an entire town under their control.”

“So you know about her? Then why not report her,” asked Kiao.

Donaven lifted a hand missing his index and middle finger and use his thumb to point in the air as he was trying to come up with an explanation. He thought too long on it and then decided. “That’s a...you know what. Come with me. I’ll show you the aviary and we can talk more there.”

She left her friend’s side and followed the man through a door to the side and up a spiral staircase. It was dim and smelled of dust, but the more they rose, the more she smelled something more acrid.

“You have to excuse me, but your name doesn’t match the face I remember. I knew that Brother Hickory had found a lad by your name who worked in the infirmary by the name of Kiao.”

“I’m the same Kiao,” she said.

He paused and looked down at her.

“I was dressed as a boy to be in the order. I revealed myself and now I’m the order’s priestess.”

“Oh,” he said, blinking, and then laughed at himself. “Okay that makes sense. Sorry. All Xylia told me about you was that you were the order’s priestess.”

“I really don’t remember you,” she said. “You’re unique looking.”

“I’m taking that as a compliment. I like to think of myself as a fiendishly handsome fellow. Though Lobelia claims I’m a good-looking menace,” he said, winking at her.

“I believe she’s right, especially the menace part,” she returned.

“Ouch, that hurt. Then again, chanters figure me out very quickly. Anyway, I wasn’t what you would call someone who frequented the infirmary,” he explained amicably. “Or town for that matter. I was a scout and sometimes I was sent way before a band given the situation. And I volunteered for longer missions because I didn’t have a band. And then I lost my fingers and injured my wrist. Wielding a bow and using a staff is a little difficult. I choose to be stationed at this outpost and not a peaceguard.”

“A drass beast attack.”

“Oh no, I was doing something very stupid and fell. My hand was crushed under a rock. Losing two fingers was better than my entire hand,” he stated as he reached the top of the tower and he opened the door to an open room with cages with pigeons in them. There was a long perch in the center of the room and there sat four pigeons with slate colored feathers cooing as Donaven walked in. In a corner perch, was a sleepy hawk.

“That’s Streak. He’s trained to go back to the monastery. My fastest flier. And then four are Beacon, Fluffy, Racer, and Idijot.”

“Idijot,” she asked, with the corner of her mouth working upward.

He rolled his eyes. “His homing ability leaves a lot to be desired. He always returns, just not in the time frame he should. And usually some building in town. ”The warden then looked at the cages. “Ah, she used Silverwing. She’ll get their the quickest. I can up here to see if Streak was still here so I can send a message straight to the monastery. I did see your whirlwind over the trees.”

“I take it didn’t touch anything around here?”

“No, Ma’am. It tore up some farmer fields, but it churned over countryside and spat out what it pull from the ground. It’s not the first whirlwind I’ve seen, but the first I heard destroy an entire town.”

“We almost got torn up inside it ourselves fleeing from it. I didn’t even know what it was, but Soletus did. We pulled off the road and under a bridge.”

“Smart lad. Should I worry about his injuries?”

“No, I’ll take care of those,” she told him and went straight to why he took her up there to talk. “But why never mentioned about Mayor Hawke to the order?”

“Oh yeah, them. The Hawkes are less volatile when you don’t deal with them. They are a tight clan. How many did you meet?”

“I met only Mayor Hawke and her husband. Wait. Hawke is her maiden name?”

“Yes and no. Hawke is sort of a name they’ve given themselves. They want to be a house. And choose to different spelling of House Hawk just to do it. Her husband married into it. He’s a quiet man. Won’t say anything against her or her father or her brothers or cousins or aunt.”

Kiao felt her stomach twist at the notion of how much they didn’t know. “There were more of them? We didn’t know that. We could hardly talk to anyone in town. They never introduced themselves.”

“I’ve wanted to say something to the order about the Hawke clan, but I have to respect the wishes of the Mayor of the town below us. He doesn’t want to stir up trouble. She’s never killed people, but she has no problem with being a bully to the outer farms and cause property damage. They pitch a fit when that happens. Basically, they don’t want to call the order for what they claim is petty feuding.”

“So, what can be done?”

“In the short term, I’ll raise alerts to monitor search parties. I’m sure she’ll realize you made it here sooner or later.”

“Should we go back on the road if that’s the case? You don’t have anyone else here.”

He shook his head. “No, stay here. I’ll seen another bird to see if Silver Ridge can provide you an escort. It’ll take a handful of days.”

Kiao wasn’t comfortable staying there. “What if they come here? They were willing to kill.”

“Do they know who that young man is?”

She was surprise that he did. “I guess you know he’s a Sheldmartin.”

Donaven nodded. “He looks so much like his mother, it’s very hard for me not to realize who he is.”

“You knew Cordea?”

“I suppose you do too,” he said with a smile knowing smile. “How is she?”

“She’s fine. Still keep the Women’s Society and other daughter, Saedee. So, if you know Cordea, then you should know who Briar is,” she said, intrigued by who he was.

He bobbed his head. “Mae was always trying to keep her daughter out of trouble. And you look bewildered.”

“I’m confused why they would know you.”

“Well, I used to be one of Edithlyn patients,” he said, and before he could explain further, Lobiliea knocked on the frame. “Donnie, there’s an old man demanding to speak with you. Claims he is a Hawke.”