Justicar Jhee and the Cursed Abbey

by Trevol Swift

  “Shark nip? No, wait, he hates shark nip. You can’t do this.”

  “You have a better chance than any of your victims.”

  Jhee folded her hands into the sleeve of her robes. She strode by a dumbfounded Ms. Hethyr. Lady Bathsheba’s screams and the bull hound’s roars echoed throughout the courtyard. Jhee winced at each one. The mob parted as she approached. They let her pass unmolested. Once out of their sight, she doubled over and emptied the contents of her stomach upon the ground.

  Jhee read the message on her conch from Bax again. We have him.

  It did not note if they had found him alive or dead. She ran to the bottom of the Storm light tower. A group of Prospectives and Professed had gathered. She pushed through the crowd. The inner ring of the crowd consisted of those she had left in the safety of her room. They huddled around Kanto’s blanket-wrapped figure. His skin looked deathly pale.

  Her heart skipped a beat. She dropped down beside him. “Kanto?”

  For a horrible moment, nothing happened then his eyes fluttered open. His gaze focused on Jhee’s face. He rubbed his wrists where he bore bruises from restraints. “I’ve found something new about an official we visited with. I’m going to want some melon candies after this for sure. Melon candies and little cakes.”

  Jhee laughed. She dug about in her sleeves and found a lone parchment wrapped melon candy. She placed it in his hand.

  “And little cakes.”

  Jhee and Shep helped Kanto to his feet. They supported Kanto as they headed back to the abbey.

  Ms. Hethyr and the mob had joined the throng of onlookers. Jhee paused.

  “Now, you, Ms. Hethyr, have your own crimes to answer for. Not the least of which is your disgraceful treatment of Mr. Zane. At the very least you owe him an apology.”

  “I had been drinking, having just found out about my brother’s death.”

  “That is no excuse. I’ll withhold charging you pending Mr. Zane’s input. I suggest you throw yourself on his mercy.”

  “I cannot face him.”

  “Try, and I may see fit to see my way to excuse your assault upon a member of the court.”

  Ms. Hethyr nodded.

  Jhee and Shep returned Kanto to their room.

  28 The First Spire

  The First Spire

  After Jhee had every healer on the grounds and even a Soothbringer examine Kanto, she remained by his side while he convalesced. Once he had a good meal, she brought him lace root melon candies along with his little cherry, citrus cakes as promised. He also requested reading materials, namely later copies of “Dispatches from Arrow Point.” Jhee, at last, had free access to the archives she scoured their histories for any accounts that might shed light or what occurred in the crypts. Her search came up empty. He ate his treats happily while he read, and they chatted.

  “Definite improvement from your first ones.” He set them aside. “I knew you’d come for me. I just had to have faith and hold out. Akesheem and I were lucky. We had people who cared enough to come looking. I think about others. The lost and forgotten. Victims of other Lady Bathshebas and Mr. Pols.”

  “One of the biggest tragedies about all this is that no one really cared about these men. No one took them seriously. They were dismissed, condescended to, and disbelieved. Had someone shown the slightest bit of concern, their tragedies might have been prevented.”

  “Isn’t that what happened in the end, Jhee? Those who were concerned spoke up for them.”

  “Lady Bathsheba was right. It was my job to speak for these boys. A duty I plan to take much more seriously from now on. I’ll count it amongst one of the many lessons she and you taught me.”

  Kanto snorted. He placed a hand on Jhee’s arm. “This past day was nice.”

  “But?”

  “It’ll make it worse when you go back to barely tolerating or avoiding me. The only time I despaired was when I overheard my kidnappers’ debate. They were disappointed they caught me and not Shep or Mirrei. Even strangers noticed how much more regard you had for them than me. Your history with Shep. The history between Mirrei’s family and yours. I’m the only outsider here. You obviously mean Mirrei to inherit and Shep runs your household. Where does that leave me?”

  “I hadn’t considered that. My long view never accounted for you remaining once we reached the capital.”

  “These brutes bought and sold men. How did grandmamere frame selling me to you?”

  “She had multiple tacks. A rescue.”

  “She couldn’t wait to get rid of me like you.”

  “Not that way.”

  “When you had no use for my savvy or physical charms, I thought perhaps what you needed was someone light and fun. Then you brought home Mirrei and proceeded to pass me over in household and political matters. I kept thinking it’s me. I’m your equal, Jhee. I’ve read the accounts of your cases with Vizier Jeja. You know the power of expression and story to affect people. What is music and fashion if not another means of expression, of storytelling? I am a remora as attached to fashion and politics as you are to arcana and the law. I’m not some poor frail thing like Mirrei nor am I a sturdy pair of arms like Shep. What’s more, you respect their interests more than you respect mine. Shep’s interest in food and fauna or Mirrei’s interest in medicine and flora won’t be of any more inherent value than mine in music and fashion at court. The minutiae I value may be the only tool to help you survive there.”

  “This is precisely why I tried not to become overly reliant on your charms. I didn’t want to build false expectations.”

  “Yours or mine? Consummation, instrumentation, and sensitization decrease your incentive to remarry me. At least, be honest about the true cause of your reluctance. You’ve always been of a mind for remarriage when it comes to Mirrei and me. Every night spent in your arms secured my place further in your household and hindered annulment, which makes remarriage for gain harder.”

  “You never answered if you wanted to take your leave once we reached the capital.”

  Kanto swept over to the hearth and gazed into the fire. “It’s so easy for you to forswear our marriage. You’re not invested. You never let yourself be. That stings most of all.”

  Jhee moved to stand behind him. She wanted to reach out, but it would just be too little too late. Maybe if she told him, he was right. That seemed inadequate, as well. She balled up her hands and remained paralyzed by insecurity.

  “’Don’t be another problem she has to fix.’ I’ve tried to play along with this idea you have of me as some empty-headed libertine. Perhaps I shouldn’t have. It only seems to make things worse. You know you never had that way of undressing me with your eyes the way most of those who visited the grand dame did. I liked that about you. You literally liked your little obscure facts and figures, and it didn’t matter what I looked like. I’m not sure if I’d ever experienced that before. When you visited our house to meet, I thought, me, you made a straight bee-line for our private antiquities collection. You were so adorable and awkward. Here you were, an accomplished official who had spent time at the capital, and you were so out of your depth but down to earth. Your head so full of facts and figures so full of the minutiae. That’s how I first knew and saw the person who Shep described to grandmamere. I must admit to having been smitten. I decided then and there on the spot, I would marry you. Even if grandmamere decided against it. Do you know while she did want me to have a love match, she hedged her bets? She let it be known your house and mine might be coming to an arrangement.”

  “Plenty of takers I have no doubt.”

  “Plenty, too many to count. It was a bit of a frenzy for a while.”

  “No doubt, you could have done better than me.”

  “There you would be wrong; I could never have done better than you, because you were my choice from the very beginning, from the moment I saw you. Not grandmamere’s, not Shep’s. My choice. I know Grandmamere, though. If she disapproved, she’d have found a way to convince me otherwise and make
me believe it was my idea.” Kanto hugged himself. “Jhee, where was this flattery months ago when it might have made a difference?”

  “I don’t know. I was just blind to your strengths, I suppose.”

  “I think it’s more you don’t reckon what I excel at as strengths.”

  “You know me so much better than I know you.”

  “Most assuredly from your lack of trying. Here, Jhee. This is how the vizier kept herself protected. I planned to use these as part of my independence kit. Without me, you’re liable to require them more than I.”

  “Favor lists?”

  “Lady Bathsheba’s. I’ve done my best to decipher them. I found them in that awful room she held me in along with her boudoir journal, where she rated the various merits of the men she ‘seduced.’ The possibility remains they are decoys or fakes so exercise caution if you choose to use them. Consider them a parting gift from me.”

  “I cannot even begin to account for all the ways I’ve wronged you as your denbe.”

  “You did the best you could.”

  “Thank you. May I give you a parting gift as well?”

  “As you like. Any gifts given I intend to keep, including clothes and other finery. The only matter I’ll account you stingy in is your affections. Your other attentions were quite lavish.”

  “I thought you would want this. I should have given it to you long before this.”

  Jhee pulled out the cloth-wrapped bundle she had debated giving him so many times. The moment had never seemed right. Now, she no longer feared the gift might give the wrong impression. Since signs pointed to this being her last opportunity, now made as a good a moment as any. She unwrapped the unadorned, freshly repaired music box and held it out to him.

  Kanto’s eyes went brilliant gold bathing his face in a warm light. “Mamere’s music box. It was smashed. Irreparable.”

  “With an isle full of Earth adepts and enough motivation, even the most broken items may be fixed.”

  She gingerly passed the music box to him. He opened it and wound the tiny key. Bright, tinkly notes of an old melody filled the alcove. He choked back a sob.

  Tears brimmed in his eyes. “Before she grew bitter and sick, I would curl up in her lap, and nestle my head under her chin. She would pick up the music box and turn the crank. The bright tinkly melody would float out. Thank you.”

  “Would you like to take the waters or a walk in the orchards? You and me. No one else. Right now.”

  “Include the storm light tower, and I’ll consider it.”

  Stairs and heights overlooking breakers. Jhee noted his folded arms. “Agreed.”

  The Dismantler’s Deal

  They walked through the Annex. Jhee’s hands remained tucked into the sleeves of her robes while Kanto clasped his behind his back. “The building’s structure, no doubt created with the tenets of sacred geometry in mind, played several visual and auditory tricks on the unsuspecting visitor.”

  “The Lady Bathsheba, armed with her theoretical music knowledge, was uniquely equipped to recognize and take advantage of it.”

  Jhee untucked her hands to initiate contact, then tucked them away again. “You were uniquely able to as well.”

  They concluded their walk on the storm light’s observation deck and paused to watch the dual suns set. Jhee held back from the edge. Kanto offered her his hand. Gently, he eased her closer to the rail. Jhee gasped at the sight of the suns dipping below the horizon. They tightened their clasped hands.

  “I asked one boon of Shep before he presented me to you. Non-negotiable. Tell me everything you love about her. I merely wished for you to view me with an inkling of the desire you have for him or even the way you do books in the library. I had hoped to substitute desire for respect. I am highly concerned with art and aesthetics. Pursuits you consider frivolous. I do understand weighty topics. Do you know the price my grand dame negotiated with Shep?”

  It had not been money or wealth. Shep had the run of those. They had not decreased with Kanto’s arrival. “Nothing monetary. He is a good diver.”

  “A bunch of sea meat is what you think you’re worth?” Kanto sighed and shook his head. “You.”

  Jhee’s mouth opened in shock. “Me?”

  “He told her stories about you. She listened to the affection in his words. Her house is waning. Grandmere could have leveraged me. She had opportunities to make arrangements with wealthier, more prestigious houses. Such arrangements are fickle and subject to whim. I am young and beautiful. Now. What happens to me, once they are bored or someone more youthful or attractive catches their eye. My only hope was to have given them favored daughters. My grand dame may have been tough as fellstones, but she loved me. Rather than barter me like a commodity to save her house, she arranged marriage to someone kind and fair. Someone who might come to love me. Someone who would be as committed to me as I would be to her.”

  “I did not know.”

  “You thought all I cared about was the trinkets and baubles. My mother had no female heirs. My idiot cousins have already blown through their inheritances and are waiting for grandmamere to die. I wanted to help you build your house. I’ve done my level best to meet you where you are. Shep does not play the game as well as I do. He does realize what you do not. It must be played regardless. You need someone better at it than you two. From the questions he asked, I inferred my purpose. When you took in Mirrei, it strengthened my resolve to nurture this house. You demonstrated both your pragmatism and your generous spirit. Giving the daughter of your childhood friend a better life. Giving yourself a female heir for your holdings should you have no daughters.”

  “You never wanted to be married to a provincial official.”

  “Stop assuming you know my mind. Ask. What effort have you taken to get to know me? No, you assumed based on appearance. You did it to me, and those at court are going to do it to you.”

  “’Drown him in jewels and finery. Don’t let him sit alone in a big empty house by the bedside of another dying woman.’”

  “Grandmamere had just started using the chair before Shep’s visit. She had a health scare.”

  “She said she fell on her way to religious devotions.”

  “She tried to feed me that hook too. She fell while visiting her lover.”

  “I suspect she’ll outlive us all.” Jhee ran her hands over the favor lists. “How would you do it?”

  “Do what?”

  “Test to see if the favor lists are fake.”

  “Call in a random marker. Nothing too big to guard against the list being authentic. Our dear departed vizier must have been embroiled in a massive scandal. These contain some powerful individuals. Court officials. Imperials.”

  “Either what she did was to someone of such stature, no one in that list could save her. Or of such a heinous nature, exile was her best outcome.”

  “Precisely. There’s hope for you yet.”

  “We could exchange political lessons for arcana lessons.”

  “Do you not want to teach cyphering lessons, or do you not want to teach me? You haven’t hesitated to teach strangers.”

  “Do you really want them? Or is it just a way to flatter me?”

  “I’ve wondered what it would be like to learn. It is prudent to have options.”

  “I thought of something else we could do with these and her journals. Would we be able to track down where she sent the men she trafficked? Kanto, I don’t know if there will ever be love between us. I will promise to no longer keep you at arm’s length. I further promise to work harder to demonstrate the value and respect I have for you as a person. I’ll first start with saying, ‘Thank you.’ Your skill and eye for details helped me dismantle the Mist Abbess’s whole scheme.”

  “I suppose that’s a start.”

  Kanto extended both hands toward Jhee’s face. She stepped forward, and they briefly touched escae.

  The Ferry

  Jhee pushed open the doors leading to the docks. Sunlight and sea spray ca
ressed her face. She breathed deep of the beautiful tang of the sea air. For the first time since their arrival, her sinuses were clear and her headache a memory. Eternal silence and the First Makers’ curses to whoever designed this abbey. She swore by everything Made she might godspark the next person who so much as uttered stairs.

  The foghorn for the ferry sounded. Between the weather and the uproar, the repairs to their travel yacht were still underway. However, if they delayed any longer, they would be late for the start of festival season. The prioress followed her towards the dock.

  “Thank you, Justicar for all you have done on behalf of the abbey. I shall take over the running of the abbey until a new abbess is appointed.”

  “Think nothing of it. I shall tell the Chief Abbess she could do a lot worse than to perhaps appoint you.”

  “All honors to you, Justicar. You are most kind and gracious.”

  “I merely did my duty as an official of the court. Perhaps even my duty under the First Makers.”

  The prioress signaled a nearby Prospective to bring over the Eclipse Chest. “Here, Justicar, take this with you.”

  “Perhaps much grief and suffering would have been prevented if it were destroyed.”

  “Saheli would not have wanted knowledge and history destroyed any more than you, especially on her account. However, it doesn’t belong here. The temptation is too great. Raigen was right to mock us. Our order had three mission statements, vows to which we were to cling before all others: humility, chastity, and charity. We flouted them all with glee. We have already proved ourselves unworthy to safeguard them. You may be able to find them a better home in the capital.”

  “I’ll consider the chest and its contents on indefinite loan.”

  Other lay folk loaded a supply of Tranquility Gold wine along with samples of the wild yeast cultures.

  “Don’t worry. Here’s the bill. After all, that was the offer you made at the feast correct?”

  Jhee steeled herself. She had seen the market prices for their increasingly rare noble blend. They might need to cart her to the infirmary once she saw this invoice. They should name it after her for the amount she was going to have to shell out. Jhee opened the receipt. A huge smile spread across her face.