All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 206: Wanted Men

Chapter 206: Wanted Men

Pushing any doubts about her god out of her head, she considered the best way to handle the situation. Guards patrolled around the edges of the camp regularly, and she didn't really fancy herself a stealthy type. Especially given her current state.

Bee looked down at the party dress she was wearing. She hadn't changed after the day's celebrations, and the white, frilly thing wasn't really suited for fighting or sneaking.

So, instead of darting between trees, Bee walked over a bit to stand on the road. If she wasn't going to get in by subterfuge, she was going to use audacity instead. She looked so out of place here, after all; maybe she could convince people that she was something mystical. That should be enough for her to get passed up the chain of command faster than a “little girl” would be otherwise. If something happened, she trusted her abilities to get her out.

Besides, she was fourteen now. She was practically an adult. Taking some risks came with the territory. So, despite how uncomfortable her role made her, she was going to play it to the hilt.

Whistling a merry tune, she walked up the road from the castle toward the sentry stationed at the entrance of the camp.

The young man with an overly large helmet clearly didn't know what to make of her, and it was all she could do to contain her laughter. The open-mouthed stare she received as she skipped right up to him, emerging out of the black night, was something to behold. He was so shocked that he made no move to stop her, let alone call out a warning. In fact, when she looked over her shoulder at him, he was looking around as if to check if he was the only one seeing this.

Finally, she caught his eye. In her best sing-song voice, she called out to him. "Well, are you coming?"

The stammering non-reply actually did make her laugh. Bee chuckled and continued. "Come on, I need to talk to the one in charge."

Not sure what to do, the young soldier simply gave her a salute. "Yes, ma'am."

Falling into a routine seemed to give the man some comfort as he led her to a central tent. The guards stationed at the entrance of the tent assumed ready positions as they saw her approaching. Bee stopped skipping. But that didn't allay their suspicions.

One of them called out. "General! A spirit has bewitched one of the guards. She's standing in front of the tent!"

—

"Hello Miss Bee." Arthur greeted. The High Priestess gave him a small smile and wave.

"Hello, Arthur. What are you doing here?" Bee asked.

Arthur did his best to look past all the strangeness that the girl seemed to carry like an aura. It wasn't really something that he wanted to stick his nose in any more than he had to. Of course, he was going to have to ask a pretty big favor, but that didn't mean he wanted to step on any toes.

"I actually was on my way to talk to you. Or Lord Void, if he is around." Arthur guessed that Miss Bee would speak for the godling but best be polite.

"Void is around here somewhere, but I can pass on anything you want my master to hear." Bee answered. Arthur noticed that the guards had not only lowered their weapons slightly but were edging away from their visitor. Soldiers were a superstitious lot. He was no exception, honestly, but it was easier to put that behind when he knew for certain what was going on.

"Men, in case you didn't recognize her, this is Miss– High Priestess Bee. She was the one who dropped into the gates of Caleb." Arthur said. His words had half the intended effect. A degree of recognition passed over the three guard's faces, but their wariness only increased, if anything.

The commander sighed inwardly. If they hadn't personally seen her fight or heal their comrades, then it was understandable. The only thing they had to go on were rumors of a warrior with the power to single-handedly halt an entire undead horde by herself with nothing but a broom. That, and the obvious fact that the city still stood. Put that tale in the body of a young girl, and it was the thing of faerie tales.

Bee smiled sheepishly up at him, "It is good to see you again, Arthur. You'll have to forgive my entrance, I was a little concerned when an army showed up at my home."

"Of course, I totally understand. I should have sent messengers sooner, I'm sorry for worrying you." Arthur apologized. Honestly, he had thought that this was far enough away from the castle that he would have time to send messengers before their presence was noticed, or at least not that far behind. "Why don't you come in and we can talk?"

With a gesture, Arthur ushered Miss Bee into the tent. As he followed, he paused a moment and overheard a whispered conversation between the guards.

"Was it wise that the commander invited her in?"

"That's vampires you are thinking of. Fae don't need an invitation."

"No, I think they do."

"I'm sure the commander knows more than you about that stuff."

"I hope so…. Say, how old do you think she actually was?"

"No idea, probably like 1000 years old. I would rather not think about it. Hey Cedric, can you see if you can find some holly bows? In case the commander gets in trouble…." Arthur stepped into the tent, and the conversation faded. He shook his head, clearing it of the senseless worries before turning to Miss Bee.

—

I looked down at the scene as Beatrice made her way into the camp. After all this time observing humans, I thought I had understood them better. But these didn't behave in any way that I could have predicted.

From my time with Arthur's army, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what guards did. They stopped anything that looked like a threat and called for reinforcements. So why Beatrice was able to walk right through camp and get one to take her to the leader was beyond me.

The bamboozled guard was rather young, but that was no excuse. When they reached the commander's tent, the guards there acted more in line with my expectations. But when Arthur stepped out, my processor speed spiked. I should have known. Had I really been scanning all the people down there, I would have surely recognized some of them. But I had been too focused on watching Beatrice to make sure she was safe.

Once I realized she would be fine, I zipped down to the ground without anyone noticing and slid under the tent flap behind the guard's back. Beatrice was just sitting down on one of the small folding chairs that Arthur kept for visitors, and the man was pouring them drinks.

When he turned around, I gave him a big wave of greeting. The man jumped slightly, and the liquid in the cup he was holding splashed onto his wrist. Muttering some curses, Arthur put the drink down before inclining his head to me. "It is good to see you again, Lord Void. Would you also like a drink?"

I declined. The offer was probably just made to be polite, but I didn't need to clean the inside of a cup when plenty had already splashed onto the floor just now. So I rolled up to Arthur's feet and cleaned up the small puddle. I actually had to be careful where I put my Mop to avoid sucking all the water out of Arthur by accident.

While I cleaned, he stayed very still, which I appreciated. While getting tripped over might hurt him more than me, I still didn't like getting stepped on. After I backed away, he unfroze and finished getting Beatrice and himself a drink.

Moving to rest under Beatrice's chair, I waited for them to begin.

—

After Void moved under Bee's chair, she relaxed slightly; it was something her master did when she didn't want to really take part in the conversation and was content to simply observe. Still, it was comforting to have the implicit support and the knowledge that Void could step in if something was going wrong.

While she respected Arthur, she had only met him briefly. She trusted that he knew the folly of attacking their community, but she couldn't know what orders the king might have given him. From what she had seen, he was an extremely competent commander, so she had to be wary of any tricks.

"So, you said you wanted to talk to me?" She asked to get the conversation moving. Void had spent more time with the army than she had, but she didn't know what kind of terms they left on. It was pretty normal for all of the new residents of the castle to be pretty terrified of the deity for the first couple of weeks. Arthur seemed respectful, but she knew how unnerving Void could really be.

"I did, yes. I also want to assure you that we don't mean you any harm. I realize that showing up with an army is…. A bit intimidating. Perhaps it will require a show of good intentions." Arthur said. Bee simply waited for him to get to his question.

"However, we weren't sent by the king. Rather the opposite. When we returned to Caleb, we received some unsettling news…"

Arthur then went on to explain how he and all his men were to be captured on charges of suspected treason. How a much larger army was waiting for them at Caleb, and they had avoided the city rather than risk questioning and possible reprisal.

"That is what finds us on your doorstep. I am fairly certain we haven't been discovered or followed. Not within the last few days, at least."

"What about the men of Caleb?" Bee asked. Many of the castle residents had family still in the city. With this news, they'd be rightfully worried about the ones who stayed behind to rebuild.

"As far as I can tell, they weren't harmed. The army wasn't actually helping with the rebuilding, but they aren't stopping it either." Arthur said. "But that news is a few days old. I have a few scouts that have infiltrated the city and are sending me regular reports."

Bee nodded. She would have to go see herself eventually, but there wasn't much that they could do for now. They wouldn't be able to reunite the people of Caleb until after the winter, at least.

"I have been trying to see where the nobility stands on this matter, but it seems the most I can do is get protection for my family. My wife and daughters have been spirited away to a safe location by family allies. My sons are serving in the army down south and should be safe, for now." Arthur explained. "So. That brings me to my question. My men and I can't really call ourselves Kingdom soldiers anymore. We need some place to camp for winter and plan."

Bee thought of what she had seen from above. Just a rough estimate put the number of men in the thousands. There was no way they would be able to house and feed everyone. They were at capacity as it was.

She spoke slowly. "I don't think we can fit you in the castle. There just isn't enough room."

Arthur smiled. "That won't be necessary. We can winter in a camp and put up our own structures, we just need some place that is defensible and out of the way, far from enemy forces, while we figure out our options."

"What are your options? It seems you are rather stuck." Bee asked. And for the first time, Void chimed in from below, agreeing with her.

Arthur ran his hand down his face tiredly. "I don't know honestly. None of them seem good."