The vault opened when all nine stood before it. A single volume on a table. A name written two thousand years before she was born. The cost shall be proportional. She shall not be spared it.
Sir Philip Beckwith and Sera Esmerelda Hale were the first of the Knights Celestial to leave the Sun Citadel on Helios, just as the sun began to fall in the west.
She still felt like Scarlet, but the name was also a call back to her youth, so it wasn’t uncomfortable. Once she donned the armor set aside for her as one of the nine justices—white and gold and emblazoned on the chest with the symbol of Epherion—she felt like she had become one of them.
Marcus was the impetus for leaving. “I told him twelve hours. It’s been nearly that. He will start climbing these stairs soon. He’s sixty-two. I’ve got to get back before he decides to start climbing in the dark.”
Philip agreed and they descended the stairs together. The others followed close behind.
Sir Wardyn Holt did not wear his armor, nor was his new sword strapped to his side. He retained his old gear, carried his spear strapped to his back, and carried his new belongings in a pack. He did not belong fully to either world yet—and he was not pretending that he did.
He walked more quickly than the humans, but Yselle was able to keep up with him easily on her feathered wings. The result was that the four of them came down out of the mountain together with the other five trailing behind.
“You look adorable in that armor,” Scarlet said.
“Why thank you,” Yselle said, somehow pulling off a curtsey while still flying. “I think it brings out the color of my eyes. But I think we all look splendid. Except for Wardyn here, who refuses to wear his.”
“It’s not that I refuse,” he said. “I will in due time. But I am still Krang Haddagan for the time being, and if there is going to be a council with my people, I assuredly will sit on the side of my people until negotiations are concluded.”
“And you can’t look like you are on the same team as the Knights Celestial until that happens,” Scarlet said. “That makes sense.”
“I am on both teams, just to be clear,” he said. “The Urukesh team and the Knights Celestial team. I’m not on the human side of these negotiations, so I beg you not to take offense if I insist on what is right for my people.”
“We won’t take offense,” Philip said. “I’d be dismayed if you didn’t advocate for your people.”
The steadiness in his voice settled something in her.
“All we want,” Scarlet said, “is to restore the borders.”
“I will hold my tongue on this matter until the council is convened,” Wardyn said.
“Did anyone else notice that we didn’t need to drink, eat, or sleep while we were there?” Yselle asked.
“I wasn’t there long enough to notice,” Philip said.
“No, she’s right,” Wardyn said. “You were gone a week, and we never ate or slept. I did lie down a few times, but I was always well rested.”
They met Marcus a hundred yards from the end of the stairs.
“What a magnificent sight you make, dressed in this armor,” he said. “But I am confused that you are dressed the same, my lady.”
“While I remain Scarlet,” she said, “I have joined the Knights Celestial and have taken the name Esmerelda Hale. But I will remain Scarlet Wentworth among my people.” Saying it aloud made the split feel real—and heavier than she expected.
“What’s next?” Marcus asked. “Bertram and Travis have been directing the people to collect firewood and forage for food sources in your absence.”
“We are about three days travel from our lands and another two to Stormrest itself, but we shan’t be going that far.”
“No?” Marcus asked.
“We’re going home first. The town of Faerlong Dell is within the lands Philip has recovered, and I happen to know two women who are among the first eager to re-establish it. Stormrest can wait.”
“Faerlong Dell!” Marcus said, excitedly. “I’ve always loved that area. It was where my grandfather once lived.”
The name settled among them. Someone fed a log to the nearest fire. The group’s attention shifted—not toward Stormrest, but toward the land itself.
“So we will settle there?” Marcus asked.
“Yes,” Scarlet said. “The houses have stood empty or been ransacked, but the bones are there. We’ll settle in while we work. It won’t be permanent—those homes have rightful heirs and we’ll honor that—but it’s a beginning.”
She looked at Marcus. “And you’ll be coming with me to Kestrelmont. We need a historian.”
“I would hope my people haven’t ransacked Faerlong Dell,” Wardyn said, frowning.
Scarlet frowned as well. “I apologize. I did not mean any offense.”
“I understand,” Wardyn said. “But words matter.”
“I don’t disagree,” Scarlet said.
“I think I’ll take my leave of you at this time,” he said. “I will go to prepare a council. Sir Philip, we will meet where we fought the wolves. Does this suit your side?”
Philip nodded. “I know the place. Let us hope that it becomes a monument to peace.”
“Indeed,” Wardyn said.
He moved west along the road, moving far faster than a human. Before he was out of sight, the remaining five members of the Knights Celestial were among them.
Scarlet watched him go until the road was empty. “I need to be more careful. I used the wrong words with Wardyn.”
Philip said nothing for a moment, his attention still on the western road.
“In point of fact, they did ransack a number of towns,” he said quietly.
“You’re right,” she said. “But that misses the point.”
It was not about accuracy. It was about fracture lines.
“Fair enough.”
Introductions were made between the knights and many of Scarlet’s people. They had already eaten dinner, but there were leftovers aplenty, and they were happy to share with the knights, who had suddenly become hungry.
Scarlet slipped her hand into Philip’s. “Can we talk privately?”
“Of course.”
They found a spot a ways off. Philip cleared off a spot on a log where they could sit.
“What is it, Esme?” he asked.
“Tomorrow’s council. It’s between the Wentworths and the Urukesh.”
“Where are you going with this?”
“It needs to be a negotiation between Krang Haddagan and Scarlet Wentworth, not Sir Philip Beckwith of the Knights Celestial.”
“Do you forget that it has been the knights who have freed dozens of miles of that land?”
“No, Edmund. I am not forgetting. Don’t read it that way.” She pressed on. “What I am saying is that the two negotiating parties need to be the people who have ancestral rights, not conquest rights. It sets the right tone. If you are there representing the right of conquest, then that gives them two planks, because they can argue their conquest was as legitimate as yours.”
“It is exactly as legitimate,” Philip said. “And why wouldn’t we have the same two planks on our side?”
“We would. Except you and I are not on the same side, exactly. I am on the side of my family and our rights to possess the land. You are on the side of conquest and the right to possess via acquisition.”
“I would call it re-acquisition.”
“Either way, the real problem is that I don’t think you should be there as part of the Knights Celestial. Especially with Wardyn now a member. He’s not wearing the armor of the knights, nor will I. It will be the Urukesh and the Wentworths.”
“But the knights have had a role. We can’t turn a blind eye to that.”
“The Knights Celestial needs to be neutral going forward,” Scarlet said. “They can’t be on the human side any more than they can be on the Urukesh side. They can be there, but not on a side of this dispute.”
He frowned. “I’m not going to accuse you of not caring that we bled and died for this land. But you’re not giving it enough credence. Plus, I know Haddagan well enough and he will expect me there.”
Scarlet sighed. “I just think the right thing to do is separate the Knights from this council. You should be there as a neutral observer.”
“No,” he said. “I won’t do that.”
She stared at him.
The fire crackled between them. Somewhere in the camp a child laughed and was shushed.
“But I do agree with your principle,” he continued. “The knights should be neutral. The six of them that will be there. I will come as Edmund Robbins, without the regalia. I will represent the brave men who fought to take the land back.”
Scarlet tilted her head and considered. She could see what it cost him—and what it preserved. She turned it over, looking for the flaw in it, and found instead that it was simply better than her own proposal in the way that occasionally, irritatingly, someone else’s solution was.
“Actually,” she said. “That’s a better idea than mine.”
“I don’t mean to be difficult,” he said. “But I did fight for this land for a very long time.”
“I know,” Scarlet said. “And I won’t forget it.” She squeezed his hand. “I’ll make sure the men who fought for this land are rewarded. They’ve earned it.”
“It’s not only about that. It’s about not simply dismissing the people who made this possible by half.”
Scarlet nodded. “I see your point. And I concede it.”
“Thank you,” Philip said.
She reached for his hand and he accepted hers.
They walked back together and joined the rest, having a meal of leftover turkey and a second round of grunoch jerky.
When they were finished, they sat together with wool blankets again.
“I am on your side,” Philip said.
“I probably didn’t use the right words,” she confessed. “Sometimes my mouth moves faster than my mind.”
“You were mostly right. I guess I was being stubborn.”
She stared at the fire. “Tenacious. We both are. We’ve both needed to be.”
“It’ll be okay. As long as we can disagree and still like each other,” he said.
She leaned her head on his shoulder. “It’s just that so much of my life has been wrapped up in this… and it culminates tomorrow.”
Philip adjusted slightly so she could rest more comfortably. “I have faith in us.”
Stephen B. Anthony is the author of Transmigrant, an epic science fiction thriller, available on both Amazon and Audible.
I love that Scarlet can admit when someone has a better idea than her. She has her pride but she doesn’t let it stop her from pursuing what’s right.
Side note, I HAAAATE the name Sarah, but I absolutely ADORE it when it’s spelled Sera. Such a delightful spelling. It reminds me of this song https://open.spotify.com/track/1dkQe0LrMSinMFavkEB1g8?si=xIYUoEzMSk2HCz94GJqxrw