Branded

by Clare London

“Still the Warrior! You bring such a burst of energy and passion with you, Maen, whatever the circumstance.”

  “I’m no longer a soldier,” I said sharply.

  “And I’m no longer looking for conflict with you,” she countered. “At least, not tonight. Our camp’s honorable visitor will want to see you, I’m sure. And alive, not dead. I suspect you’ll want to see her.”

  Kiel stepped forward, though I gestured him to stay back. “Mistress Flora?” he asked eagerly.

  Eila nodded. She cast her gaze back over the group of men around us. “Get back to the camp!” she called to them. “We take our two new visitors with us.”

  THEY TOOK Kiel and me to a cave much like the one I’d been imprisoned in when I first met the Exiles, but this time our reception was very different. They showed us to seats hewn out of the rock, and brought water and fruits while we waited. It was only a few hundred steps away, but we had to scramble farther up into the rocks to find the entrance, well hidden from view from the grassland below. I looked about for other evidence of the camp, but their living areas were obviously hidden as well. By now, from my limited knowledge of the terrain outside the walls, I’d worked out an idea of where I was, and I thought we were quite a distance from the Place. I wondered what had made them move their base here, whether they’d been attacked or had finally found it too difficult to work the poor resources there. The rocks outside the city were an unforgiving environment, even for the most determined.

  Several of the men in Eila’s party were obviously intrigued by us, and especially me, for they took a long time seeing to our needs and preparing the space, presumably for Eila and others to join us. They hovered at the mouth of the cave, their conversation low but punctuated by regular, suspicious glances in our direction. We sat alone in the cave, waiting for a meeting we were ill prepared for.

  Kiel coughed at my side. “Will she have us killed, Maen? The Mistress here? They say the Exiles are like wild animals and have no Devotions or anything, full of sickness and mutation and with the roughest speech, and no respect for honor or proper trial before execution.” He paused, gathering a slower breath, obviously trying to calm his fear. “So who is she? It seems you know her already.”

  I nodded. “She is indeed an Exile, and she ran the camp where I was once captured. She and her… partner, Takk, were in charge.”

  “Partner?”

  I sighed. “Life is very different here, Kiel, though maybe closer to your life as a Remainder. Their ways are more aggressive, their loyalties more fierce. Women can be in charge, but so can men. They share much of daily life, and the decision-making. They make alliances between themselves, and care for each other in a singular way. And they keep with them their—”

  “Children!” he interrupted, astonished. Two small figures had run across in the darkness outside the cave, calling to each other. The soldiers pushed them quickly and roughly to one side, but not before the boy in front had peered into the entrance. I didn’t think it was an accident they ran across this path, but rather a dare to each other to be the first to see us. Kiel turned bright, astonished eyes to me. “Their children are among them! How do they live like that? What sort of place is this?”

  A shadow loomed suddenly over the mouth of the cave as a group of people entered. I stood up, gesturing for Kiel to be quiet. He stood as well, hovering a little way behind me, but as they came forward he dropped to his knees on the ground. “Mistress!”

  Mistress Flora led the group toward us. Eila was behind her with a couple of other men whom I recognized from the last time, also the man she’d called Brod who’d captured us. Kiel tugged at my trouser leg; he expected me to kneel down too.

  Flora stopped a couple of feet away from us. The cave had no natural light except the moonlight outside, but several Exiles carried torches that lit the walls well enough for us to see each other. “You are Maen,” she said, her gaze running down my body. “Were you not taught in the city to kneel to a Royal Mistress?”

  Eila glanced over at me, but I kept my attention on Flora. “We’re not in the city now,” I said calmly. “Neither of us.”

  Kiel made a soft groaning noise and his hands scrabbled in distress at the rock beneath us. The sound from Eila’s throat was more like a stifled laugh.

  Flora’s gaze never wavered, but she frowned. She was not as beautiful as her sister Seleste, nor as delicate as Chloe, but she was still a striking woman. She had a long, thin face and straight shoulders; her dark hair was thick and bound back at the nape of her neck in an ornate clip. She wore a floor-length purple silk gown that she’d obviously brought with her from the city, and it looked odd among the utilitarian tunics and trousers of the Exiles. “I’ve heard of you, soldier,” she said.

  I drew a deep breath. “And I of you, Mistress. Does that mean we have no need to learn the truth about each other?”

  Eila now laughed aloud, and I was surprised to see Flora didn’t chastise her. Then, also to my surprise, Flora smiled as well. “Yes, I heard that about you too. That you have a fierce stubbornness and loyalty that would make you a fine soldier in any Guard—even an Exile one.”

  “Are you trying to recruit me?” I asked dryly. “I’m not here for that. I am still under the Queen’s rule.”

  “No,” said Flora. “Please, Maen….” Her face twisted with a moment’s sadness. “You are here to find me on Seleste’s behalf?”

  I nodded. Kiel gave a miserable cough beside me.

  Flora looked around at the men and women who surrounded her. “Move away,” she said. “I wish to talk to him in private.”

  For a moment they didn’t move, and I wondered what kind of influence she would have out here among this alien community. They had no loyalty to the city’s ways or its royal family—in fact there was probably outright hostility. I’d suffered that myself. My fists clenched at my side in readiness for conflict. I wished I had my dagger to hand, but they hadn’t returned any arms to me. Then Eila grunted an order to the group and they started to move away. A couple of them glared at us—and at Flora herself—but no one made a move against us. They fixed a couple of the torches into leather brackets hanging on the cave walls to give us light, and after a few moments, only Eila, Brod, and the man she’d called Karil were left at the mouth of the cave. The two men stepped just outside the entrance and took up a sentry position there.

  Mistress Flora sat down on the stone floor in front of us.

  Kiel gaped with shock.

  She frowned at him. “Shut that mouth, boy, unless you wish to catch the night bugs with it. Maen was right—I’m no more important here than one of the Exiles, and so I must behave like them and hope he treats me with the same courtesy.”

  I lowered myself down to sit beside the pair of them. “You are still a Mistress,” I said carefully. “Whereas I owe no courtesy to the other rebels.”

  “But that’s the point!” Her eyes glittered with fervor. “You of all people owe them nothing—in fact, you’d be justified in striking out against them for what they’ve done to you in the past. But you’ve come here at your personal risk and haven’t attempted any hostility. Can I hope that means you aren’t entirely in Seleste’s thrall?” As I hesitated, she sighed. “It’s not easy for me, Maen, to talk to you as an equal, but I’ll make that effort for the sake of my new life. After all, that’s all I have left now, isn’t it?”

  Kiel turned to me excitedly. “But you’re only here to see where the Mistress is, aren’t you, Maen? You said you wanted to secure her safety—” He saw the look on my face and winced.

  “Hush, boy,” Flora said to him. She was maybe the only person who could call him “boy” without provoking a storm of protest from him. “Is that true, Maen? Where is your Guard, where are your spies? Have you really come alone with just this youngster?”

  I leaned back on the cold floor and sighed. “It’s true. I’m here under my own initiative. Although I’m charged with finding you for my Mistress, I have a curiosity and opinion of my
own.”

  It was true; I had no desire to be Seleste’s assassin. I disliked the thought of that even more than I resented being her spy.

  “So you have found me,” she said softly. “And I think you deserve to know why I’m here.”

  Eila stirred at the cave mouth, but it was only to wave in some Exile women bringing more food and drink for our group. The men also brought blankets for us to sit on and wrap around us. As they handed them over and withdrew respectfully, I glanced up at them, recognizing city soldiers.

  Flora saw my look and nodded. “These are some of the men who followed me. I didn’t ask them to. It’s their choice, although I appreciate their loyalty and the personal risk they run. Like the boy here, who offered to be my contact when I left so quickly after the battle.”

  Kiel grunted through a large mouthful of food that smelled surprisingly good.

  “He’s a young man,” I said gently. “Far from a boy. And a brave one, hardworking and talented. He’s working as a scribe in the Library now.”

  She nodded. “I’ve been working with the Remainders for some time, Maen, and I know their talents.” She saw my look of astonishment. “There’s no need for me to hide that anymore, is there? I’m in as much danger for my subversive activities over the last few years as I am for leaving the city. I’ve never understood the intolerance of the Ladies toward their own people in the same city. I’ve done what I can to ease that situation, to offer better opportunities for the Remainders. And for a while, I thought Seleste might join me in that.”

  She paused for only a moment, gathering her thoughts. When she continued, her voice was firm, as if she were both relieved and determined to speak of these things to me. “I think my ideas swiftly outstripped her own. Whatever the reasons, I learned to be more circumspect. But I believed—and I still do!—that the division of our population is detrimental to the health of our race. I know the dogma of the city tells us the complete opposite, but the planet and the people are changing. There are troubles in Aza—across the other cities too. We need a way of monitoring this, of controlling this—of protecting our people. We need to study the terrain, the climate, the geographical and sociological history of our world, and without restriction or fear. If I had become Queen….” She sighed and frowned. “I would have tried to change even more. We need all the resources we can get, all the skills that are available. Even if that means joining forces with the Exiles themselves.”

  I saw Kiel’s eyes widen even further, and for once he was silent. I shrugged. “Opposition to that would come not only from the city. The Exiles will disagree with you too. I don’t believe they want to come back to the city, for many reasons. The two societies have become too diverse.”

  She nodded impatiently. “That’s so, though some cities trade with them on normal commercial terms, and have done so from self-interest for many years. But we need them and their expertise, if not their numbers.” She saw my answering frown and spoke angrily. “Did you think they were like animals here, barely able to forage and survive, like primitives? So the myths of the city tell you. And maybe your experience has made you hate and despise them too. But they’ve been here for many generations, developing strength and protection against the harsh life.”

  “Without the education and organization of the city….”

  She frowned back at me again. “Look past all that, soldier! The Exile people survive without the assistance of any of our Households, including the Household of Physic. Maybe the men don’t grow to be such splendid specimens as yourself, but that will come in future generations. Others have joined this community too, and not just fugitives and disgraced soldiers, but those with skills and expertise from all areas—intellectually, scientifically, philosophically. They’ve come here because they’re suffocated or persecuted in the city. You were in a minor Household at Exchequer, Maen. You would never have seen what fine minds exist in the city, nor what opportunities the Royal Household could have offered for them to thrive. But my mother refused to sanction study outside of the city’s old ways. I’ve met and worked with people there who want to think and feel and question and change the world, yet have always been held prisoner to the Devotions and the Queen’s intransigence.”

  “Are these people Ladies? Women?”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Not solely. I spoke of men as well. Is that too shocking to you? I won’t believe you’ve never had thoughts and ideas of your own that weren’t directed by your Mistress—that you can’t imagine extending that a few steps further to an independence of your own, like many of the male citizens here.”

  “It’s treason.”

  She sighed, assessing my reaction for a moment more. “You’ve lived with your caution too long. It’s become a prison for your mind. I have lived my own lie for many years and spent too much time hiding and dissembling. It must stop. We must stop. The difficulties ahead must be faced together.”

  I gazed into her eyes, full now of passion and anger. “Your opinions and ideas are too bold for the city.”

  Surprisingly, she smiled. “I know. I’ve not been an easy person to have in the Household.”

  I wanted to smile too, though with sadness. “This would all be astonishing news to the Queen—”

  “She knows.” Flora interrupted me, her voice tight with repressed emotion. When I stared at her in surprise, she continued. “Seleste knows of these people, though maybe not the details nor the extent of the community. She knows they’re here and that they’re more than criminals and outcasts. But she cannot—will not—accept them back into her plans.”

  “She believes there are spies in the city who wish us ill—”

  “And she sends spies of her own!” snapped Flora. “Hasn’t she asked you to find those Exile spies? To investigate in return?” She could see from my expression that she was right. “It’s from fear,” she said more gently. “We’ve all been afraid of what was outside the city walls, especially in the Royal Household. I was there myself, remember. There have always been rumors that past sisters of the Queen sought refuge outside, and many of them are an unknown threat to the stability of the city.” She realized the irony of her own position, for she smiled at me. “Yes, that’s exactly where I find myself now.”

  “Where are these scientists? These philosophers?” I’d seen only rough soldiers and their followers in my time here.

  Flora teased gently at her lower lip. She must have heard the wary suspicion in my tone. “You know I won’t tell you that. Whether you consider yourself a spy or a soldier, that knowledge cannot be trusted to you. But they exist, they’re at a safe location, and they’re working with us.”

  “Us?” I repeated her own word softly.

  Her only reply was a narrowing of her eyes. I’d drawn the right conclusion about her new loyalties.

  “Can’t you speak to Seleste, explain this to her?”

  Flora made a noise of disgust. “She’ll have me killed. That’s the truth, and you know it as well as I do. I’ve broken away from the city, and rebelled against the old ways. Seleste is no fool, and we’ve lived in the same House all our lives. She has her suspicions of what I’ve been doing. Her life is based on the traditions of city life, and her power based on the hierarchy she’s inherited. She can’t give that up without losing everything she treasures. She listens only to what she wants to hear. In her eyes I’m a traitor, not just to the city but against her personally. I’m a threat to the society, something she cannot afford to let live.”

  “You attacked her after the battle,” I reminded her. “Tried to kill her.”

  Flora shook her head. “I defended myself. She had conquered my soldiers and I had no protection. She tried to take me, to hold me in her Household, and then she would have found sufficient reason to have me executed, whatever mercy she’s shown to our other sisters. I had to escape from her.”

  I drew a deep breath. “She’s strong.” I meant that in many more ways than the physical.

  Flora reached out for the first t
ime and touched me, placing a hand on my arm. “She’s scared. Scared to discover what’s really happening to the planet—to the city. Scared to accept the city needs more than her and her precious soldiers, and fearful to admit the thought of losing power.”

  “She’s fought hard for it. She’s a good Queen. Even if she isn’t extreme enough for your tastes, she’s done a lot for the city, even before she won the battle.”

  There was sadness in Flora’s eyes. “Your loyalty is all the more touching when you have no need of watching your tongue. I scorn it—yet I admire you personally for it.”

  Kiel coughed beside me; we’d both forgotten he was there. “Mistress, the Queen has improved the life of many Remainders, that’s true.”

  I turned to look at him, his thin face strangely shadowed in the flickering light. “Yours?”

  But he shook his head and his gaze darted to Flora and back to me. He looked conflicted, not knowing whether to speak up in support of me or his previous Mistress. “Not particularly. My opportunities have come from Mistress Flora alone. I’ll be forever grateful for that. When I spoke to you of the Remainders, Maen, I meant others. But we’re still largely ignored in most city matters.”

  “She needs them as military fodder,” Flora said bitterly. “That’s why she offers them better training, better health. The only threat she understands is a military one.”

  “And the Exiles?” I countered. “Isn’t that exactly what they represent? You talk of cooperation, yet you ally yourself with a group that’s openly hostile to the city.”

  Flora’s gaze shifted over to the cave mouth where Eila was watching us, or rather, me. Flora looked between us for a moment as if she were puzzling over something. “They’ve offered me shelter, to be part of them. For that I’m grateful. And they’re as concerned about the future of our world as anyone. Yet sometimes it’s necessary to use conflict to force the path of negotiation. You should know that. You’ve been trained as a soldier for all of your adult years.”