Swing and Thrust: A Harem Fantasy (Sword and Sorority Book 2)

by Scot C Morgan

  "You know," I said, "it's not my decision, but I don't see why not."

  "Actually," Alara said. "It is your decision."

  "Huh?" Nithia drew her head back a little.

  "What she said. Huh?"

  Alara took a deep breath, then exhaled. "I am the Priestess of Carnera. So, of course, I must accept your pledge, but Den, as the Guardian of Carnera, must grant you permission."

  Nithia looked at me. "Why does he get to decide?"

  I turned my hands up to signal to her these weren't my rules. "I already told you, I'm fine with it."

  "Wait." Alara spoke with a serious tone. "Both of you need to understand something."

  "What?" Nithia sounded impatient.

  Alara touched her hand. "The reason Den must give his permission too is because you will be first in line."

  "First in line for what?" Nithia asked.

  "First in line to become priestess should anything ever happen to me."

  "Nothing's going to happen to you." Nithia clearly didn't want to entertain such a thought, and neither did I.

  "I'm not saying it will," Alara said. "But the future will happen and we won't know it until then."

  "I still don't understand why that makes it my decision," I said. "I mean, I get that as Guardian I'm connected to the Order, to you, but…"

  "Den," Alara stared intensely into my eyes and I felt uneasy about what she might say next. "I've never told you this because I didn't want you to worry."

  "Okay, I'm worried now. You didn't tell me what?"

  She lowered her gaze for a moment. "My mother accepted the same bond, but she died before the last Guardian."

  "I don't understand," I said.

  "Me neither." Nithia leaned her head down to look Alara in her eyes.

  Alara sat up straight again and looked to Nithia, then to me. "If she hadn't died before the Guardian…his death would've meant hers too."

  Oh, shit.

  "You mean…" I didn't want to say it, hoping I'd misunderstood somehow, but I knew I hadn't.

  "Our lives are bonded, Den," she said. "My life is yours…since the time I summoned you. I live so long as you do. This is the way it has always been for the Priestess of Carnera."

  "That's not right!" I felt my chest tighten and my breathing quickened a little.

  "I'm sorry, Den," Alara said. "I should have told you, but I knew if I had, it would distract you when you needed to stay focused…when you needed to fight."

  "Yeah, it would have! What if something had happened to me?"

  Alara shrugged half-heartedly. "It's the way it's always been. I accepted it when I joined the Order. My mother told me all of this beforehand."

  Nithia leaned forward and hugged Alara, almost tipping both of them back into the headboard.

  "That's just not right," I said, struggling to deal with the responsibility Alara just laid on me. "How could you have let me risk your life…all those times? Ruja's men. The spiders. Saber-Kong!"

  Nithia released Alara and sat back.

  "It's alright, Den," Alara said with a soothing tone. "I accepted this fate long ago, just as my mother had. I am at peace with it."

  "Well, I'm not!" I stood up and began pacing. "I mean, all those time's I jumped in thinking I was protecting you, all of you." I glanced at Nithia. "What if something had happened to me."

  "But you survived," Alara said. "You're the Guardian. You are strong, stronger than you know."

  "But what if it did?"

  "I took an oath when I joined the Order, knowing one day I could be called upon to become the Priestess. It is the life I chose. It is the life I want. You are part of that, and I that has been the best part of it all. I can't regret that. I don't."

  I turned my back to Alara, not to hurt her, but because I was hurting. I didn't know what to do or say. I knew I couldn't undo what was, but I wondered how I could go on, how I could face Thautus Kurg someday if losing meant Alara's life too.

  As I stared at the door, I heard sobbing. I turned around to comfort Alara, but she was holding Nithia. Alara wasn't the one crying.

  I went over to her and joined Alara in putting arms around her. "It's going to be alright." I kissed her on the side of her head as I looked into Alara's eyes. The three of sat together for a few moments until Nithia calmed.

  She reached up and wiped her eyes and Alara and I gave her a little room to do so.

  "No, it's not," she said, looking at me and still sounding tearful.

  "I'll be careful," I said.

  Nithia huffed. "I'm not talking about you."

  "What?" Alara said.

  Nithia spilled a few more tears. "I'm sorry. Of course, I care about you, about both of you, but that's not why I'm crying."

  I took a breath and dove into to the deep end, hoping for the best. "Why are you crying, then?"

  She sniffled, then wiped her eyes. Her lips quivered as she glanced to Alara then back to me. "Because you aren't going to agree to let me join the Order."

  Damn.

  "Is it really something you want to do?" I said, hoping to talk her down from the idea.

  She gave me a stone-cold glare.

  "I see," I said.

  Alara rolled her lips inward a little as she pressed them together and looked at the covers over her legs.

  "What is it?" I asked her.

  "She wouldn't really be in danger," Alara said. "Not any more than we already find ourselves in from time to time, at least." She raised her eyebrows and waited for me to say something.

  "The bond?" I said.

  Alara put her hand on Nithia's. "She wouldn't share that risk. Only the priestess does." She smiled at Nithia, who did the same at her. "And we would gather more women for the Order over time. If anything ever happened to me-"

  "Nothing's going to happen to you," I said.

  "But if something did, Nithia wouldn't have to be the one to take over."

  Nithia evidently noticed how Alara was trying to convince me. "One of the others could. It wouldn't have to be me. I just want to be in the Order, not in charge of it."

  I sighed, realizing they were teaming up on me.

  "She's right," Alara said. "And I can teach her some of our ways. She'll be better able to help me keep you safe."

  "Which means you'd be safer then," I said.

  "Exactly." Alara took hold of my hand and brought it over toward Nithia, placing it on top of Nithia's hand. "Will you allow her?"

  I turned to Nithia. She melted me with her doe eyes. "Please, Den," she said. "I've given this a lot of thought. It's what I want. Deeper purpose." She looked at Alara. "And we're really already sisters. It's where I belong."

  I shook my head. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I can't take your decision from you. If it's truly what you want…" I turned to Alara and she nodded back at me. "Then I must allow it," I said.

  "Oh, thank you, Den!" Nithia lunged onto me and pushed me back onto the bed with her arms around me. I cherished her embrace, but my stomach felt uneasy and knotted—from my decision and especially from thinking about what Alara told me of our bond, and her life being in my hands.

  Someone knocked on the door, then it opened.

  "Hey," Tara said, stepping inside. "Why didn't you tell me we had time for one more romp before we leave for Yedia?"

  The door opened wider. "Oh, good morning. Are you all ready? Oh!"

  Nithia was still on top of me as I tilted my head back and saw Bibiana. She looked confused.

  "Yeah," I said. "We'll be right down."

  "Oh, okay," she said, backing out through the doorway while still eyeing Nithia and me. "See you all in a few minutes."

  She closed the door and a second later I heard her call for her husband.

  Nithia slid halfway off me but stayed beside me with her hand on my chest. I glanced at her, Tara, and Alara. "I think she's got something to talk about with Sal now, huh?" The three of them laughed, but my thoughts drifted back to what Alara said about our bond. I promis
ed myself I'd stay alive by sheer will if it ever came to it. I stayed on the bed, on my back, thinking, while the three of them started getting dressed. Something's coming. Who? What? I don't know. But, I need to be ready, when the time comes. I can't afford to fail. Not now.

  Chapter 26

  Alara walked up to me as I was outside getting Pudding ready for the ride to Yedia. "It's done," she said.

  "Done?"

  "Nithia is a Sister of the Order of Carnera."

  "Just like that? You did the ceremony in the room? Just now?"

  She nodded. "It doesn't take long."

  "Oh. Wow. I guess it's done, then."

  "Hello, my Guardian." Nithia slapped me on my butt as she snuck up behind me.

  I turned around and looked at her, expecting to see something different about her. She was smiling, which was nice—especially after she'd cried back in the room. I hated seeing her so upset. Other than her mood, she looked the same to me—beautiful, caring, still a little hard to figure out.

  The door opened on one side of what Sal and Bibiana called their wagon—it was more like a stagecoach. Tara stuck her head out. "Come on sis."

  Nithia grinned to me and I smiled back then nodded toward her carriage. She flipped her palm up to wave to Alara before hurrying over to get inside with Tara and Bibiana. Sal sat on the outside, just like on an Old-West stagecoach. He had two horses in front to pull them. Bundles of goods were strapped to the top of the carriage, and more on the back.

  Hope we don't get ambushed by gunslinging outlaws on the trail.

  Sal looked back at us, leaning out to peer around the side of his 'wagon'. "You two ready to see Yedia?"

  Alara handed me her staff while she mounted Pudding.

  "Lead the way," I said to Sal, then I tucked Alara's staff through loops I'd made on the side of Pudding's gear and got up behind Alara, wrapping a bit of my cloak around her. She had hers on too, but it was chilly and I knew she'd appreciate the extra layer. Sal told us earlier how cold Yedia can be. He said by the afternoon we'd be at a considerably higher elevation and we'd be grateful to already have our warm clothes on. So, that's how we set out.

  It was the most pleasant leg of our entire journey to Yedia. Feeling Alara's warmth against me as we rode kept the cold at bay. Sal wasn't kidding when he said the climate got more extreme closer to Yedia. It was down-right nipply. And that's not just a figure of speech. I checked Alara several times along the way, which she appreciated at first. But after I started making a regular habit of it, she told me to keep my hands to myself—at least until we camped for the night.

  While Tara and Nithia enjoyed the protection of the enclosed carriage with Bibiana, I felt sorry for them when I heard later that night of Bibiana's incessant chatter on the most peculiar of topics. She even insisted Tara try on one of her critter-hair wigs at one point. She'd brought three spares with her—said she liked to change them out for different occasions.

  After camping for the night, I was happy to learn from Sal we'd arrive that second evening. Sal drove his horses hard, though he fed them well and brushed them down at every rest we took throughout each day. Pudding had no trouble keeping. She stood several hands higher than the other two horses and wasn't about to let them show her up.

  The last two hours we rode across tundra, leaving most of the trees well behind us. But a scattered few coniferous trees defied the landscape, towering over it. They must have been there long ago, I thought. Maybe the area looked different back then.

  I first saw the sea off to our right. It was distant but swallowed the horizon. As we continued northward, more of the water came into view. I was amazed at the vastness of the blue-green expanse and captivated by flashes of lightning splitting the dark clouds miles out over the water. Veering to the west for another half hour, skirting the coastline, we finally came to Yedia.

  Darguna, Pertlass, and Hyrin looked like fairground play villages for kids compared to Yedia. A quarter mile in front of us, a massive stone wall ran from the edge of the sea several thousand feet inland, curving away from us out of sight—presumably going around the city. Starting at the shore, towers rose thirty feet or more above the wall every few hundred feet. Directly ahead of us, two strips of small wooden buildings bordered a dirt road leading a few hundred feet to a massive gate in the wall.

  "I've never seen such a place," Alara said.

  "It's huge. I hope we'll be able to find her."

  "And see what they know about dragons."

  We rode behind Sal's stagecoach between the small wooden buildings, most of which appeared to be shops. There were boarded up merchant stalls and some of them had covered side patios with a few empty tables.

  "There's nobody in them," Alara said.

  She was right. They looked abandoned, either shut down for the season or no longer used, left to decay in the salty wind coming in from the sea.

  We followed Sal until we came to the gate, heavy metal bars forming a grid twenty feet high, but still only half the height of the wall itself. An equally-sized paid of wooden doors stood behind the bars. I heard flags being whipped by the wind. Looking up, I saw there was one on either side of the gate, at the top of the wall. They were bordered in red, yellow in the center, with something red in the middle of the yellow. I stared at one of the flags, waiting for the wind to stretch it out so I could see it more clearly. It curled over onto itself then snapped out straight for a moment. A dragon. Jan was right.

  Sal's coach stopped and I watched him climb down and walk up to the gate. He reached through the bars on one side and knocked against the wooden door.

  "Guess they don't have a doorbell," I said.

  Alara tilted her head back a little. "The wind would make it sound all the time."

  "No, I meant…Yeah. Okay. You're right."

  A small square inset into the door opened and Sal said something to whoever was on the other side. Then he returned to his driver's seat. A few moments later the two large doors slowly opened and the gate began to lift.

  Sal directed his horses to head through and Alara and I followed. As we rode through a guard holding a bladed polearm scowled at Alara and me.

  I smiled at him. "We're with Sal."

  He held the look on his face and said nothing.

  "There's a guy who loves his job," I said, after we'd left him behind us a good ten feet.

  I could hear the bustling activity of the town ahead. The wall seemed to keep most of the wind outside, and now through the gate, the noises were no longer drowned under the cold winds from the sea.

  Sal's coach veered to the right, following the road and then I saw my first real glimpse of Yedia. Hundreds of people were walking around, going into shops or houses—I couldn't tell which—carrying baskets of fruit and vegetables, talking to one another, and generally going about whatever business they had. I couldn't see the end of it all. The road we were on split, and then farther down it split again, more single-story houses and shops and probably every other sort of place lined the sides of every avenue.

  I nodded to a woman who walked nearby with her child beside her, each of them carrying a sack of something. She glanced at me, then took her child by his wrist and walked away from us. I waved to a few other people, but nobody responded.

  Sal took us down a few streets then pulled in next to an empty market stall. He hopped down and waved to us. "This is our place!"

  We rode Pudding up beside the stall and dismounted, fixing her lead to one of the posts. Tara and Nithia got out of the carriage, followed by Bibiana.

  "How was the ride?" I asked Tara when she came over.

  She gave me an evil look and walked past me. Nithia came behind her and gave me a shrug. "We heard a lot of interesting stuff on the way."

  Tara turned around, still scowling.

  "And Tara got to try on one of Bibiana's wigs," Nithia said, clearly getting a kick out of Tara's torment. "Didn't you, Tara?"

  Bibiana walked by. "She looked wonderful."

 
; Sal and Bibiana started unloading goods from their wagon, and we chipped in to make it go faster, and to show our gratitude for them taking us to Yedia.

  "We'll be here for several days," Sal said. "You're welcome to come by anytime, but do you know where you're going?"

  "We're looking for someone," I said. "A woman who recently came here."

  "A Yedian?" Sal asked.

  "No. She's…not from around here, like me."

  "Ah, well. You might want to try the Great Hall, in the city center. They hold big parties every few nights. Most out-of-towners find there way there. It's quite a spectacle." He looked off to the side for a moment. "Yes. Should be one tonight, actually." He pointed down the road. "That way. Then take a left. You'll run into it eventually. Hard to miss."

  "Thanks."

  "Oh, one thing," he said. "Yedians have their own ways. Try not to draw too much attention. They let outsiders in because of the trade." He glanced to some of the goods we'd unloaded. "But many of them would rather we go away." He shrugged. "Don't really get it, but there it is."

  I told him thanks again, then helped get the rest of the goods off the carriage and into his market stall. When we were done, Alara, Nithia, Tara, and I said our goodbyes and walked toward the city center.

  We found our way there twenty minutes later, getting two greetings and at least ten cold shoulders from townspeople on the way. I hoped the mood inside the Great Hall was better. I thought it might be since Sal said it was the happening place.

  "Get a few rounds in them, and a lot of people lighten up," I said, looking at the entrance to a medieval-looking version of a Comic-Con venue.

  We watched about the twentieth Yedian stroll by wearing an outlandish outfit which I knew wasn't what they wore to the office every day, or to whatever job—gathering stone for wall repairs, growing vegetables in the tundra, teaching children to scowl.

  "Or they start punching people," Tara said.

  I glanced at her to make sure she didn't still blame me for the long ride listening to Bibiana talk about her wigs. She was eyeing the passers-by.

  "Good, point," I said. "Well, let's join the party."