“Rogan, don’t…” Ghalatea whispered.
“Will you just look at your bright-blue eyes and the lovely shape of your lips? Everything about your face is equally beautiful. You’re not a spark less attractive than before the Naftalians dropped by. You’ve grown a bit older, but that only makes you even more beautiful, my love. Your eyes undoubtedly look wiser, but you hardly have any wrinkles and your flowing hair is just as brown as when I first met you. In spite of everything you went through, the lines around your mouth aren’t grim. Instead, it seems as if there’s always a faint smile on your lips.”
Ghalatea had closed her eyes. Tears were streaming down her face.
“Why can’t you see that? It’s such a small part of your face that’s gone.”
She opened her eyes and looked in the mirror. She tried her hardest to see what Rogan described, but she couldn’t. All she saw was the hole in her skin. Even if she turned her other cheek towards the mirror, she still only saw her ruined appearance. So she closed her eyes again. Rogan let go of her head and went to stand in front of her. Then he wrapped his arms around her.
“I hope you’re not mad at me for doing this,” he whispered in her ear.
Ghalatea shook her head. “I know why you do it, Rogan. And I wish I could see things the way you do.” With a deep sigh she rested her head against his chest.
Then Rogan handed her back her veil. She wrapped it around her head and her husband secured the left side on her right shoulder.
After a quick breakfast it was time to say goodbye.
“Will you be careful?” Ghalatea whispered. Now that they were truly saying goodbye, she was starting to feel anxious. She always felt that way when her husband was sent on a mission, one could never be sure that a soldier would return.
“Of course, always.”
The light-heartedness in his voice calmed her down somewhat. They hugged each other once more before they walked outside. Rogan had a final meeting in the main building, where the king would address him and the other commanding officers.
Ghalatea would await the soldiers’ departure in the square with the other women who had just said goodbye to their husbands as well.
It was busy in the square today. Wagons were being packed and lined up at the last minute. There were steel wagons among them to transport the ammunition and rifles. The horses were whinnying nervously and pulled on their reins. It was nowhere near the entire army that was assembling to go south, but nonetheless, no fewer than a thousand soldiers were assembled in the square. They were to join the army that was permanently stationed at the southern fortress. Some ten thousand soldiers would stay behind in Nadesh.
All the preparations were making the women nervous. It had been decades since an army of this capacity had been mobilized. The women kept telling each other that it was just a precaution. Merzia had to be ready in case of an attack. There wasn’t any real threat yet, so everything would probably blow over. But looking at all the tense faces around her, Ghalatea knew that it wouldn’t make any difference. She was glad that the king held Lilith captive. If she had still been a part of the enemy forces, this army might not have stood a chance.
At long last, the commanding officers came out, followed by the Royal Guard with Yvar and Ferhdessar in their midst. As one, the soldiers lined themselves up in orderly rows.
The king let his gaze pass over the army before he started to speak, “My heart fills with pride when I see you all standing here. You are the chosen ones who are going to defend this country and I know that we can rely on you. Go with the protection of the Gods and in the name of Merzia.”
The soldiers responded to these words with a salute and, as if someone had given a sign, the one thousand soldiers bowed as one.
The king had said that the soldier’s task was defensive, not offensive, but still some of the women started to cry. Ghalatea had never done that, because she knew that it would make it even harder for the soldiers to leave. When Rogan was seated on his horse and had joined his unit, Ghalatea walked up to him. The men guided their horses to form a circle around her.
Ghalatea said a prayer, “Wigg, protect these men during the battle that might come. Give them the courage and strength they need to return home safely.”
“We put our fate in your hands,” the men said together. “We trust in you.”
Ghalatea gave Rogan a little pouch. This was a custom she had adopted from the Kel Cornu. Women gave men such gifts when they were to be separated for a long period of time. Ghalatea had filled the pouch with protective herbs and a few talismans. She had selected them with care. Rogan kissed the pouch and hung it around his neck. Then Ghalatea handed the other men a pouch as well.
One of the scouts accepted it with the words: “I couldn’t imagine setting out without this gift. It means a lot to me, to all of us.”
“I’m glad I can offer all of you some support in this way.”
The man nodded and tucked the pouch under his tunic.
“This reminds us of what we want to return to. I’m convinced that it gives us strength,” another soldier said.
Ghalatea smiled. In the beginning of their marriage, Ghalatea had only made pouches for Rogan. When he became commander, however, his soldiers had objected. Ever since, she had gladly made pouches for all of them. On their safe return to Nadesh they sacrificed the pouches to the Gods to say thanks for their protection. This was a ritual of their own making, the Kel Cornu didn’t do that.
The column of soldiers started to move. Rogan bent towards Ghalatea and kissed her hand. There was nothing left to say, they had already said their goodbyes that morning. Dwelling on it would only make it harder to hold back her tears.
The king stayed behind at the top of the stairs, but the women accompanied the soldiers until they had left the fortress. The tread of marching feet was the only sound that broke the silence. This showed how well these soldiers had been trained. The women waited at the gate until the last wagon had passed. Ghalatea mounted her horse and started on her journey back to the palace. She stopped halfway between the fortress and the city. She could still see the column of soldiers, but they had covered quite a distance by now. She kept watching until the trees swallowed them up and they disappeared from sight.
“Come back safe, Rogan,” she whispered as she wiped away her tears.
Another woman dabbed her eyes as well and nodded at her. They continued their journey together.
11
Lilith wiped the sweat from her forehead and bent forwards again. She was holding a pot pressed between her knees. One of the maidservants had let the food get burned, and of course Lilith was the one who had to clean the pots again. Her arm was hurting from all the grating.
Even though she could only reach the bottom of the pot with great difficulty, Lilith didn’t dare stick her head in it any more. When she had done so before, someone had forcefully hit a spoon against the side. Her ears were still ringing. Everyone had laughed at her, so Lilith hadn’t said anything. She was a prisoner, so she was the one who got the lousy chores, that’s how it was. Her confrontation with Aida had taught her that there was no use complaining. The Ancilla Princeps didn’t care about what happened to her.
Fortunately, she was almost finished. Lilith sprinkled some new sand on the black stain. Meanwhile, she listened to the others.
“Aida, how are you doing?”
Even though Aida didn’t have to work because she wasn’t completely recovered yet, she did visit the kitchen regularly. She lowered herself down on a chair near the fireplace, groaning dramatically. One of the girls immediately responded by bringing her something to drink.
“I’m healing very slowly,” Aida whined and she listed all her aches.
Baby. Lilith didn’t dare say this out loud.
Not much later the pot was clean. Lilith got up and stretched the stiffness out of her back. She wiped away the sand and rinsed the pot. Then she put it away. Aida instantly picked it up to inspect her work. Lilith smile
d when the maid put the pot back down in disappointment and limped out of the kitchen. Of course she hadn’t been able to find the tiniest of flaws, Lilith had made sure of that. Now she only had to clean the worktop and clear out the ashes in the fireplace, and her duties would be finished. After that she could get started with Aida’s duties. Lilith sighed, it was going to be a late one again.
She briefly looked up when Ghalatea entered the kitchen and she made a small curtsy. “Shall I make you some tea, Ancilla Princeps?”
“Yes, please.”
Lilith hung a small kettle over the fire and continued with the dishes. As she was rinsing the plates, she kept a close eye on the kettle to see if the water was boiling yet. More and more maidservants were leaving the kitchen. By the time that Lilith handed Ghalatea her cup of tea, they were the only ones left. Lilith kept working as hard as she could, because the Ancilla Princeps was keeping a close eye on her. She wanted to say something to break the suffocating silence, but she didn’t know what. Maybe she could say something about the book she was reading. Lilith had found a very interesting book about Merzia’s history in the library. Nevertheless, she kept quiet.
When the chair creaked, Lilith looked over her shoulder. The Ancilla Princeps seemed lost in thought. Lilith didn’t dare ask her what was on her mind, so she dried the last few plates and put them in the rack.
“Will you make sure that the kitchen is tidy when you leave tonight?” Ghalatea asked as she got up to leave Lilith to it.
“Of course, Ancilla Princeps,” Lilith replied.
The clock over the fireplace showed that it was nearly midnight when Lilith had finally completed all her duties. She turned off the lights and stepped into the corridor.
At this time of night, the palace was usually wrapped in silence. The green glow of the night lighting gave the building a strange atmosphere. Lilith had become fond of this world where she was all alone. At this time of night, the palace was hers. On most nights, though, she was too tired to walk around a little while longer, and today wasn’t any different. So she decided to go straight to bed.
Suddenly Lilith heard a shuffling sound. But there was no one to be seen. She hurried to the nearest intersection of corridors. Now she could hear footsteps. A feeling of inquisitive excitement welled up inside her. She had forgotten about her fatigue.
In the green light she spied the silhouettes of people clad in long, wide robes that were trailing along the ground. The sleeves covered their hands and the big hoods of the robes covered their faces, making their height their only distinctive feature.
Lilith frowned and wondered what this meant. Should she warn someone? She shook her head, surely the presence of these people was known. A group like this could never enter the palace unseen. There had to be something else going on.
Lilith decided to follow the almost noiseless procession. Nobody noticed her when she slipped through a door just before it closed. The king was waiting in a room that was lighted by too few candles. His dark clothes were modest. His gold headband glittered.
The ceremony was performed as noiselessly as the procession had moved through the corridors. One by one, the people came forwards. Lilith stole to the left to better see what was going on and hid behind a pillar.
The people presented the king with gifts, but nobody took down their hood or said a word. The king accepted the gifts with a friendly nod and handed the gift giver a pouch in return.
Lilith observed the ritual incredulously. She stole even closer and could now hear the contents of the pouch chinking as it changed hands. What in the world was going on? From this vantage point she could also see the gifts that the people gave to the king. They were manifold; some people had brought food – predominantly bread – or an ordinary piece of clothing that the king would never wear. But others gave the king nothing more than a single flower that could probably be picked by the side of most footpaths. Still, Yvar made no distinction in what he gave in return. Everyone who visited the king at this nightly hour left the palace with equally sized, chinking pouches.
When the next gift was handed to the king, Lilith caught a glimpse of a woman’s hand. She gave the king a bracelet made of plaited straw, decorated with dried wildflowers. When Yvar gave her a pouch, she fell to her knees and stammered softly, “Thank you, lord. Now I can finally give my children a decent meal again. Thank you, thank you.”
She humbly bowed her head, but the king got up and kneeled before her. His guards became nervous and moved forwards, but the king didn’t take any notice of them. He put his hand on the woman’s shoulder. She warily looked up. Then he said softly, but still loud enough for everyone to hear, “Lady, you force me to thank you in the same way. It isn’t hard to share when you have great wealth. Compared to your gift, mine is but small. You give me something of yourself, which is the biggest gift anyone can give.”
Yvar was still holding the bracelet, but now he slipped it around his wrist instead of putting it aside with the other gifts. Then he helped the woman back up. When he had seated himself on his throne again, the ceremony continued in an orderly manner and in silence.
The king’s words kept reverberating in Lilith’s head. They puzzled her. There was no doubt in her mind that the king possessed great wealth, but Lilith would much rather own glittering jewellery and gems than a trinket made out of straw.
She was suddenly roused from her thoughts. She couldn’t explain her sudden vigilance, but she decided not to ignore the shivers that were running down her spine. What looked like a man, judging from his height, came forwards. He made a graceful bow, but Lilith couldn’t keep her eyes off him. She straightened herself to better see what was going on. The king received a pouch that was made of seaweed and decorated with shells. Lilith was shocked when she recognized it, and from the corners of her eyes she saw more people moving to the front.
“Muircadhi!” she screamed, jumping up.
The servus pulled down his hood and dived forwards. But because of Lilith’s scream, the king was now standing upright as well. Therefore, the creature’s claws came nowhere near Yvar’s throat – which was what the creature had been aiming for – and only dug into his arm. Nevertheless, the king let out a cry of pain.
Harald jumped forwards. He pushed the king aside and drove his weapon into the servus. The creature sank to the floor, lifeless.
It was as if everybody else only now began to realize what was happening. Everybody started to scream and move around. Because of the tremendous chaos, Lilith couldn’t see what happened to the other servi.
The fight ended almost as quickly as it had started. The people were escorted to another room, but Lilith dropped to her knees, shivering. Now that the room was almost empty, she had an unobstructed view.
Three servi lay dead on the floor. Two others were being held at gunpoint by soldiers. Harald was examining the king with great concern. The sleeve of Yvar’s tunic was torn at the shoulder and there was a bloody wound underneath. The Muircadh’s nails had driven into Yvar’s arm and had torn loose a big chunk of flesh. One of the soldiers pushed the king against the armrest of the chair to make sure his knees wouldn’t give way.
“I told you this was a bad idea,” Harald grumbled before he turned around.
He bent over one of the bodies and picked up a hand. The Muircadh’s long, hornlike nails were filed into sharp points. Harald tried to bend one of them, but the creature had reinforced it with something. Harald let out a curse when he scraped his finger. Then he looked at the rest of the body. The fabric of the robe couldn’t hide the creature’s muscular build.
Kapow!
Harald dropped the hand to the floor and quickly turned around as the sound of the shot died away. Lilith’s heart was beating in her throat. One of the Muircadhi was lying in a pool of blood and red spatters formed an irregular pattern on the wall. The soldier that had been guarding him lowered his rifle. He said almost apologetically, “He made another attempt to attack the king.”
The only rem
aining servus was dragged out of the room by two guards. Harald ordered four others to follow them. When the door opened again, a chirurgeon entered the room. He rushed to the king and started taking care of him.
Harald walked up to Lilith and pulled her to her feet. “Why are you here?” he snapped at her.
Lilith gave him a frightened look. She didn’t know how to explain her presence.
“How did you know that the servi were here today?”
“I recognized the gift. They all wear pouches like that.”
“But how did you know they would be in the palace today?”
“I didn’t,” she stammered.
“Rubbish. Why else would you be here?”
“I was just curious,” she whispered, and she explained how she had run into the group of people in the corridor.
”Bring her over here,” Yvar whispered.
Harald tightened his grip on Lilith’s upper arm and wanted to drag her with him.
“Let go of her,” the king commanded, suppressing a groan.
Hesitantly, Lilith came closer. Harald was walking right behind her. He was so close that she could feel his rasping breath on the back of her head. Instinctively she knew that he was holding a dagger and was ready to strike if she made one wrong move. The mistrust hurt her feelings, but there was nothing to be afraid of. She would never even dream of hurting the king.
Yvar smiled at her, but immediately after that he winced in pain because the chirurgeon had begun stitching his wound. The man apologized and started to apply bandages.
Harald was the first to speak, “This prisoner has to be involved, my lord. She shouldn’t have been here.”
“If it hadn’t been for Lilith, things would have turned out much worse. Because of her warning, these monsters couldn’t do what they came for,” the king growled, partly in anger, but undoubtedly also from the pain he was feeling.
“We killed them, lord, and took them prisoner.”
“But would you have been just as fast if you’d had to respond to the movement of one of the servi?” Harald remained silent. The king shook his head in anger. “It was her scream that enabled you to defeat these creatures.” More calmly he addressed Lilith, “That’s why I want to thank you. I will give you a fitting reward tomorrow, but now I want you to leave. I’ll let two guards accompany you, so they can search your room. That way, you can rest assured that there are no servi lurking there. The soldiers will also keep watch tonight. I hope this will make you feel safe enough to be able to sleep.”
The Lilith Trilogy Box Set Page 16
