Teaser: Lady of Ingost
Lady Lidiac couldn’t help herself. She had to hide somewhere and cry for a moment. For so long she had tried to hide the sorrow, to keep the composure her Ingostles were expecting from her. She refused to tell Lady Amalla, but the news ran through the country quickly and probably throughout the entire world. She probably already knew, but the thought of the Empress knowing crushed her heart. There was nothing she could do to help Mella. The horrifying thought that Mella was dead made her more distraught, to know the young Ingostle her women were looking for was probably left in some ditch shot to death.
Lady Lidiac found a hidden place behind one of the recently abandoned homes and wept. She took her handkerchief, wiping away the wet makeup. She no longer cared if anyone saw her face clear of the Ingostle paint. This trip was supposed to be a blessing, a charity service, yet here they were, still helping, but chaos came and it fell apart with some unnecessary sacrifices.
Lady Mella was dead, the Empress knew for sure of it.
She wept for several minutes until she heard a shrill scream from around the house. At first, she ignored it, her mind telling her it wasn’t a matter she couldn't control. She continued to weep, her arms on her knees as she sat against the wall of the house.
Then, by the corner of her eye, she spotted a flicker of orange light from amidst the grey atmosphere. She turned her head for a better view and saw a house near her in flames. The grey sky and the descending sun made it difficult to see their faces, but she could see the black silhouettes of the townspeople, running in panic from the people who caused the fire.
She immediately stood up, dropping her handkerchief as she ran out from around the house. There she saw them, the soldiers in black, running the streets with guns, their Khyro brand wrapped around their arms. She wasn’t sure what else to do. They were throwing torches into houses, grabbing a hold of townspeople and pulling them away, shoving them down the streets. Covered trucks waited for the soldiers as they threw the refugees in, then they would run back out to snatch more. For a moment, she just stood there frozen, in panic and confusion, unsure really what else to do but to hide.
“Serenity!!!” A voice screamed.
Lady Lidiac hadn’t heard her first name for so long she could barely recognize it herself. As soon as she realized someone was calling for her, she whipped her head to where she heard it. It was one of her own Ingostles. She probably didn’t have enough time to blot out the long name of Lady Lidiac, so they called her first name in desperation, a soldier holding the Ingostle’s arms down behind her back. The anguished young Ingostle looked at Lady Lidiac.
“Serenity help!!!!!” She screamed again.
Lady Lidiac felt like she couldn’t move her feet, but when she felt she could, the cries for help caught other attention. Another soldier was attracted to the call for help and immediately saw Lady Lidiac. She was going to run for her Ingostle, but the attention was already centered on her. The soldier broke into a run and that was when Lady Lidiac got out of her frozen position.
In panic, she turned to run and threw her shoes off, giving her better speed across the grass. She didn’t run far before the train of her dress caught on a sprinkler head. She felt her body lunge forward towards the ground, catching herself before she face planted it. She tugged at her train, trying to break free from the head, but every second just brought the soldier closer and closer to her. She continued to pull until her dress ripped free from the sprinkler head. She continued to dart, catching up her momentum as she ran back around the house. She reached the backdoor, trying to open it, she tried several quick attempts to wrench it open and as she realized there was no way to get inside, she continued to run, picking up her train as she ran around the yard and into the next houses yard. She could hear him behind, catching up to her, he was barely panting, his feet hitting the grass in thumps just thirty feet behind her. She had barely grasped the handle of the next back door until she heard a gunshot and pain shot through her left ankle.
Lady Lidiac squeaked, falling against the door. She looked behind her, the soldier was some twenty feet behind her now. Refraining from using her left foot, she swung open the unlocked back door and rushed in, slamming it shut and quickly locking the door with trembling hands. Just then, she heard the soldiers fists slam as he pounded on the door, losing the chase. Her ears were ringing, everything so disorienting, so off-balance. She tried to ignore the pain increasing in her ankle, but as she tried to limp away from the door, she realized the train of her dress had caught into the doorway. She knew he was coming around to approach the front door, but as she pulled and tugged, she merely, through tears, pulled as hard as she could until the train ripped away from her bodice. Lady Lidiac limped her way to the front door, pulling at the walls to reach the door faster, but just as her hand reached for the handle-
She came too late.
The door swung open and the man was right there, holding the muzzle point blank to Lady Lidiac’s chest. She toppled over, holding herself up as she gazed up at the malicious man above. Her chest rose up and down, her heart pacing quicker and quicker as he held the gun down to her, his eyes so dark and determined to get what he wanted.
“No more running Ingost Lady.” The soldier growled.
Lady Lidiac slid up the wall, holding her bleeding foot out as she leaned up against a lamp table. His finger pulled back the safety just as Lady Lidiac reached over and snatched the lamp, slamming it against his head. The soldier barely had any time to react as he toppled over unconscious in front of her. The lamp had shattered at the impact and she held the tattered lamp in her hand in shock.
The Empress straightened, she couldn’t hide and she couldn’t run, her entire backside showed bare legs, the backend stuck in the back door, but her entire front was the bright red target those soldiers were looking for. She came to Polei to save the people, not to cower from them. She gazed back down at the unconscious body underneath her and she looked up at the ceiling.
“Oh Edda, please forgive me.”
She then reached down and dragged the soldier into a bedroom just around the corner.
Trembling and in shock, she unbuttoned his uniform and pulled it off of his body, taking everything but his underclothes. Although the blinds were surely closed, she could see the flames from between the cracks and gunshots rang with screams and cries. Lady Lidiac was too shocked to cry herself, but everything she heard just made her heart sink. She felt dizzy, but she would keep going no matter how much her body yelled at her to stop and rest.
She hastily undressed herself, the summer air feeling cold through her shivering body. Luckily, the soldier was thin and just a little taller than she, giving her a uniform that mostly fit her. As she slipped it on, she tore off her hat and pulled out her bun, retying her light brown hair into a simple ponytail where she tucked it under her uniform coat. The coat was warm and much larger than her form fitting dress, but she didn’t much care how pretty she looked, she was impersonating a man, not an Ingostle woman. Luckily she had taken off her paint after her crying session, but she swiftly rushed to the bathroom, quickly washing off the rest of the paint smeared on her face. It had been a while since she had looked in the mirror, but as she gazed at her exhausted self, her eyes bloodshot from tears with bags heavy underneath them, she wanted to cry more. Though right now, she wasn’t a feminine Ingostle, she was a soldier.
With the helmet left, Lady Lidiac hooked the strap around her slender jaw and dragged the unconscious man into a closet. Luckily, she quickly locked it and grabbed a chair, shoving it under the knob.
With a heavy sigh, Lady Lidiac, still trembling although warmer, limped out of the house, the gun held in her hands. She would not shoot, but it not only gave her a sense of security. She didn’t hold her finger to the trigger, but as she walked past soldiers torturing the people, her finger seemed to slowly make it’s way in that position.
She had barely been in the house for ten minutes, yet those left were either dead or other soldiers dragged them away. She stood outside of the door, the world spinning and muffled with faint screams and the snaps of the fires surrounding her. Flames danced in the air, those injured dragging themselves across the ground or lying still. Other soldiers dragged those hurt and took them away, leaving those lifeless on the streets. She felt nauseous, her head spinning as she gazed at the horrific sight. One was trying to retrieve two of the townspeople at the same time, struggling to keep them both down.
“Soldier, help me here!” He called, trying to restrain one.
Lady Lidiac, confused and unsure what else to do but to follow orders, limped over with her pained ankle and snatched the escaping second Polei person. She grabbed her arms, unsure what else to do from there.
“Let go of me!” She screamed, trying to jerk from Lady Lidiacs grasp.
It surprised Lady Lidiac what she could do as she gripped her wrists. A tarped truck had drove over with at least thirty of the townspeople inside, sitting there in panic and distress. The other soldier threw the one he had inside and Lady Lidiac, with no other choice, shoved the woman inside, trying to be graceful as to not hurt her. She wanted to help her instead of take her away, but she had no other choice. The other soldier jumped in and took a seat on the edge of the bench, then he leaned forward with his hand and he pulled Lady Lidiac inside. She took his hand without thought and he hoisted her up into the truck. There, another soldier closed the tailgate and she was inside, feeling like the refugees, but to the others, she was the soldier instead of the victim.
The truck started off again and Lady Lidiac sat there still in shock, speechless as she sat on the edge right across from the Khyro soldier. Inside, it was loud in screams and cries, several either refusing to look at her or glare at her as they drove on. One shot to her feet and started pounding on the tarp in panic.
“Get me out of here!” She screamed, but it was strained as if she hadn’t stopped screaming since they took her.
“Shut up!” The soldier barked, but then he turned to Lady Lidiac, “I didn’t catch your name.” The soldier added, taking this too casually for having just taken an entire town in less than an hour.
“Serenity.” Lady Lidiac responded, hoping it wouldn’t be a dead give away of who she was. She had to almost shout her name across the shouts and screams inside.
“Nice to meet you Serenity, I’m Syn.” The soldier said, gazing out the tiny openings between the tarp and the walls of the truck, watching the dirt road pass in the blur behind.
Lady Lidiac had no intention of conversation so she didn’t continue it, gazing down at her hands. She felt so uncomfortable, so confused, everything had happened in a blur and she was left disguising as a soldier, unsure if this would even work out once she arrived. Her head was still spinning and she wanted to puke, but she just tried to take in deep breaths, refraining from passing out or throwing up. She was too afraid to puke.There was female soldiers everywhere, that wasn’t the part that made her nervous, it was the hope that none of the townspeople would point her out.
“I saw you limping when you helped me retrieve the last of the Polei people. Did you get shot?” Syn asked, as he wanted a conversation to keep his sanity from the cries of pain he was sitting in.
“An old wound, not a big deal.” Lady Lidiac said, still gazing down at her knees.
“The General would never let you go out if you were limping from an old wound. It happened today.”
Lady Lidiac finally looked up at Syn.
“Yes, it did. I got shot in the ankle by accident from another one of the soldiers. I’ll be alright though.”
“We should be arriving in the next hour or so, how bad is it?”
Lady Lidiac shook her head.
“I told you, it’s fine. I’ll be alright.”
“Can I have a look at it?”
Lady Lidiac looked at the others in there, angry and begging eyes still gazing at her in disbelief. She shot her glance back at Syn.
“No, not in here. I’ll be fine until we arrive.”
Syn shook his head.
“Alright, but if it gets worse, it’s on you.” He explained.
Lady Lidiac didn’t want to talk to him, she wanted to be alone, but she wanted to save them. It was crammed and hot in there, the evening giving an eerie darkness inside. Although, with every one of their shoulders pressed tightly against each other, they all avoided touching Lady Lidiac, squishing tighter with others to keep from getting into the soldier's space. She wanted to help them, take them now to the safe city where there wouldn’t be raids or wars to get involved in. She knew the one that was supposed to take her place was probably just waking up with a terrible headache, half naked and locked in a closet in Polei. He would have handled this in a much more terrible way, she could see it in his eyes. If he was sitting where she was, he wouldn’t be sitting there in silence trying to contain his sanity.
She wanted to cry more, but Lady Lidiac kept her composure, stiffening up and taking a very deep breath. The cries of fear had died down, but the atmosphere was sticky and terrible. Beads of sweat trickled down her forehead, everyone desperate to get out of the living Hell in the back of a large military truck.
Lady Lidiac kept thinking of the other Ingostles. Where were they? They were probably in a different truck being taken to the same place, but to see them, so defeated and exhausted, made her cringe. It hurt Lady Lidiac that her girls were treated just like the others in this truck, it was painful to know all that had happened so quickly, so terribly.
Although, out of everything, that was why she took that soldiers uniform, that was why she was sitting in there. She was going to save not only her Ingostle girls, but every one of the townspeople taken.
She took another intake of air, staring straight ahead as the truck continued it’s bumpy ride down the road.
“I can do this.” She whispered as the night continued on.