Dawning Skye

330 The Hero Warrick

Tidas’ heart soared as he heard Skye’s voice on the other side. As he stared at the wall with bloody wall as the rock face broke apart, and split open to reveal a dust-covered Skye.

Before she’d realized it, she was yanked into her husband’s arms. He squeezed her to the point of her not being able to breath, then pulled away to look her over. Placing her hand on his chest Skye had Tidas take a few steps back so she could seal the wall.

Once she had, and turned back to speak, Skye found herself nearly being smothered by her husband again. Amara was frantically wiping the tears from her eyes at the two Highlander men stared at them in disbelief.

After several moments of nearly suffocating her, Tidas leaned back again with a slightly irate air about him, and asked; “What the hell happened in there? Why did the alarm go off?”

Skye took on a nervous expression; “Well, I may or may not have gotten a wee bit frustrated with how long it was takin’ ta break down the isotopes, so I sped them up a touch faster than I shoulda-but tis fine! Nothin’ blew up! I just had ta act fast, which got a bit messy.”

Skye looked over at Amara; “We can finish the actual fields once I get some food in me belly. Ima almost outta magic now.”

“ALMOST?! How are ye Standin’ right now?! The amount of induced kinetic energy ye had ta create! The intricacies of the molecular breakdown! The scale ye had ta work on! I-I-I just canna comprehend it!” Gavin had literally screamed, he was so worked up over the implications of her powers.

All Skye said in response was; “I just applied scientific principles ta me magic. Tis how Maevis taught me.”

A large grin spread across Gavin’s face; “Oh, aye. We know all about yer trainin’ wit the various Fae, and how ye won the Mage Trials, and that ye really love green, but fancy blue just as much.”

.....

As Skye’s cheek flared red, she looked up at her husband and spoke with heavy sarcasm; “And how do they know all of that, I wonder.”

Tidas had a small smile on his face, but his eyes were intense as he said; “Because you left me alone for too long..”

Skye’s breath caught in her throat as she recognized the individual emotions mixed within his chaotic eyes. Fear, need, love, relief, lust; they all fought for dominance as he stared at her.

Cupping his cheek, Skye spoke in a soft voice; “Ima alright, husband. I promise.. But ye can not say the same now, can ye? I felt yer blood on the wall as I cleared me way. What did ye do?”

“Went crazy,” Murdoc stated as he walked up.

“I sensed Amara’s magic through the wall, too... Were you gonna-”

“Best not ta ask, dear. Neither of us will like the answer,” Amara said quickly, cutting Skye off before she could finish her thought.

Agreeing to disagree; Skye broke away from her husband to examine him. Truth be told, she could barely feel Amara’s magic in comparison to Tidas’ when she was in the sealed bunker. She’d never felt such...raw magic before. It was different from his usual Tank magic, and Skye wanted to know why..

The tops of his knuckles were torn up, but not to the point of exposing tendons or bone. After the three Highlanders had walked over and saw Tidas’ wounds, they all passed odd glances between each other. Seeing it, Skye asked what it was about.

“Did ye already start ta heal him?” Amara asked as he stared at his cuts.

“I can’t, I don’t have the magic fer it right now.. Why?” Skye inquired with an edge to her tone.

As they exchanged a few more meaningful looks between themselves, Skye became impatient; “Ima, sore, filthy, hungry, and tired: what’s with the looks?”

Seeing she had no patience left for them, Murdoc said; “His hand should look like mush, ta be honest. See those dents in the door? He did that Before he started ta beat the wall til he was bloody. I know I heard the crunch of bone, too. Ye don’t forget or misjudge that sound.”

As Murdoc spoke, Skye checked over her husband’s hand; “Na, no broken bones here.. Are ye sure ye heard it?”

“Aye!”

“I did, too,” Amara added.

When Skye looked at Gavin to hear his opinion, he shrugged; “I was too busy tryin’ ta think of a way ta save ye, so I didna hear nothin’ but screamin’.”

As she nodded her understanding, Skye wanted to examine him more, but her magic was tapped out. If she pushed it any further, she could wind up getting Magic Deprivation Sickness. Like she had gotten the first time she’d used her Shaman trait.

‘Shaman trait-that’s right! I thought Tidas might have it! If his hand was bad enough, he might’ve activated it on instinct.. Which means he hasn’t fully awakened the power yet..’

As a tiny grin touched her lips, Tidas looked at her with the same stern expression he’d had almost the entire time; “What’s got you smiling?”

Skye smirked; “We’ll talk about it later. Right now, Ima starvin’! I wanna see what kinda foods the Highlands has ta offer.”

Everyone smiled at Skye, but the three Highlanders were a touch leery of Tidas for the moment. He’d nearly snapped just by the Thought of something happening to Skye. As they all walked over and climbed on their respective bikes, the Highlanders wondered what would happen if something did ever happen to her...

**********

As Murdoc, Amara, Gavin, Skye, and Tidas rode through the streets of the city, a large number of people stopped and stared as they went by. The alarms from earlier had sent everyone into evacuation mode, but an announcement by Petrie moments after had put most at ease..

When Murdoc had walked Mickey and Malcolm back at the first field, he’d seen Petrie on the trolly. After telling him where and what they were doing, the Highlander King had ordered Petrie to standby at the communications bunker. In case they needed to issue emergency orders.

He was instructed that if the alarm went off for longer than three minutes, then he was to announce the evacuation. When fear had covered Petrie’s features, Murdoc assured him that it was just a precaution. And mainly because of how old the sensor system was in that section of the bunkers.

When the alarms had shut off, and Petrie told everyone that, ‘The Last Warrick was decommissioning the old reactor’; the term hero was being thrown around like a hot potato.

She had not only stopped the war, but was now taking care of a mult-generational threat. From a young age, all Highlanders were taught what to do if they ever heard the alarm system. The understanding that they no longer needed to fear it was staggering.

The only ones that didn’t understand what was going on were the Alconians. When the alarm had gone off, everyone had jumped into their armor, and readied to fight. As soon as he was finished with his appointed duty, Petrie rushed to the RMC bunker to explain everything.

The soldiers were already on edge because of how long Tidas and Skye had been gone. The alarm being thrown in on top of it had sent them into battle-mode. It took Petrie half an hour to get them all to settle down.

As he went to leave the RMC bunker, Petrie wondered how the merry band of heroes were fairing..

************

“Really, Murdoc? Mead Hall, of all places? A bit of variety wouldn’t kill ya,” Amara stated as they parked their bikes.

Murdoc faked indignation as he spoke; “Slanderer! There is no better place ta find variety! Mead Hall only serves the best of the best!”

“They do got a braw beef pie,” Gavin added as he avoided Amara’s glare.

“Starvin’ mage, here! Let’s move this along please,” Skye chimed in as she gripped her stomach.

Right as they were about to go in, large groups of people started to approach them. Many were shouting, asking if the Last Warrick really did clear the reactor. When Murdoc confirmed it, everyone around them started praising Skye.

Instead of the ‘Last Warrick’, they were now calling her the ‘Hero Warrick’. The words ‘Savior’ and ‘Goddess’ were also being thrown around, just less liberally. As the clamor grew, so did Skye’s hunger.

Tidas watched as she swayed while standing and thanking everyone as they gushed. Knowing that she was literally starving from magic deprivation, Tidas stepped forward, and bellowed out that Skye needed to eat and rest before fixing the rest of the fields. And that Murdoc would make an announcement explaining everything later.

Generally accepting the Alconian Prince’s answer, the crowds began to disperse. Skye looked to her husband with an appreciative smile, then kissed his cheek before thanking him. Seeing everyone returning to their usual routines, the group went inside Mead Hall’s entrance...

************

Malcolm watched with growing irritation as the southern princess was treated like Highlander royalty. The fact that Murdoc seemed fine with her receiving so much praise angered him even more. As Mickey approached him from his side, he scoffed as he watched what he considered to be a circus farce.

“Would ye look at the fools? So easily swayed by her.. Ima no fool.. I see what this all really is..”

“What do ye mean, sir? Skye and Tidas seem like genuinely-”

“Don’t be fooled, lad,” Malcolm said as he cut Mickey off; “She may be the face that we see, but she still bows down ta those traitors.. She even married one! She be no Warrick ta me. She be a traitor ta her own blood..”

Mickey shifted uncomfortably where he stood; “I don’t think Tidas-”

“He’s a MacArthur! There be Nothin’ good about ’em. And ta say different is because of his whore ofa wife’s charms. Now: did ye get it?” Malcolm said hastily, not even letting Mickey finish his thought.

Sighing deeply, Mickey replied in a whisper; “I could only grab a gauntlet, but tis got an Alconian sigil on it.”

Malcolm grinned devilishly; “That’s perfect! Tis exactly what we need! Did ye get the explosives from Gavin’s office?”

“I told ye I canna do that! I canna do that ta Gavin,” Mickey nearly yelled with obvious distress.

Malcolm narrowed his eyes on Mickey; “If ye don’t want me ta kick yer friend’s family out of their house, ye will do what I ask..”

Mickey sighed as his heart sank; “I’ll get ’em, just not from Gavin. I’ll figure it out.”

“Ye better,” Malcolm replied in a harsh tone; “Or Petrie and his family will have ta go back ta the Outskirts..”

Mickey nodded his understanding, then headed off to figure out where else he could get what he needed. As Malcolm watched him go, he grimaced with disapproval at the young man that he thought had promise..

‘Guess I’ll have ta do somethin’ about him later, too..’

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