by Guy Antibes
Menna spied three travelers carrying swords in the road ahead. Bellia itched to pull out her short sword, but didn’t want to trust Rullon’s magic.
The two groups closed. Bellia laughed when she recognized the travelers and ran out past Menna and Romo to put her arms around Wully.
“What are you doing out here?” Wully said.
“I’m leaving. Going outside. These are two women in my former squad. My once-tentmate Menna and this is Romo. They both survived the destruction of the army camp.”
Menna eyed the three men with suspicion in her eyes. Did she expect them to carry her back to the temple? “Menna, this is Wully, Zeerok and Punty. These are Rangers for the Temple. We’ve saved each others’ lives a few times.”
Menna’s suspicion changed abruptly. She relaxed and broke into a grin. “So you’ve taken care of my friend, Bellia. Glad to meet you.” The thick tension evaporated when Menna extended her hand. “Do you want to say goodbye to your friends? It’s late enough for us all to share a camp.” Menna said.
All six sat around the campfire. The rain ended hours ago and a hearty stew bubbled in the larger pot. Menna’s gruel acted as the base, but Punty had brought down a small boar a few days previous and the Rangers had to finish the last of the meat before it spoiled.
“We’ll miss you, lass.” Wully said. “We hope you recover Menna’s booty. Who knows what Wansua will be like by the time you return from wherever you are going o Eustia.”
“It should be fine,” Bellia said. “We’re going to go up the eastern side of Testia through Terusa. Then we have to struggle through a mountain pass directly to North Wansua and we’re back home. Feelings run high in South Wansua and there’s no point in attempting Kokota. I, for one, am not interested in providing Kokotans with some of me to drink.” They all laughed.
Romo told the rangers of their escape from the Kokotans. Bellia told about her first meeting with Wully and the good fortune that they ran into each other.
Bellia and Wully were the last around the flickering coals of the campfire. “Come with me,” Wully said.
They walked until they were out of earshot. Wully cast a quick little spell to ensure they weren’t followed. “Do you know what you’re doing?”
“I do,” Bellia said. “I’ve been nudged to do this. Too many coincidences.”
“You know you can trust your friend, Menna, only so far. I’ve seen her kind before. I can tell you with certainty that she has the capability to turn on you in a heartbeat.”
“I’ve lived with her for nine months straight. Every single day. She’s got a bite and now that she’s in charge, I can see it more clearly. But my path is with her.”
“It’s your life. I suppose the Prior gave you good advice.”
“So did Rullon.”
“You can trust Rullon. He’s the most honest man in Togolath.”
“Thanks.”
“I guess that’s it. If you need me, send me a message to the Temple or come yourself. I’m more than a healer and, may the Blind God forgive me, not afraid to use my magic should the need arise.”
“I’ll miss all three of you.”
“What about your man friend? I never did know who you spent so much time with in the Temple,” Wully said.
“Ned? I am the vision of his long-dead daughter.”
“Ned? I didn’t know that’s whom you were friends with. He’s a very special person.” Wully’s eyes shone in the moonlight.
“How do you mean?”
“Ned is at least a few thousand years old. The Blind God preserves him.”
“Where did he come from?” Bellia felt cold.
“Somewhere in the south of Eustia. Durnna maybe. Rumors are that he helped build the Blind God’s Temple in Tuathua.”
“He gave me a flute. A beautiful flute.” Bellia said.
“You didn’t get a typical Blind God nudge. You’ve been kicked in the rear, my girl. My offer still stands, anytime, anywhere. We will rush to your side.”
“Thanks.” Bellia gave Wully a hug. “We better get back.”
The next morning, the groups split. Bellia gave her Ranger friends hugs. Menna had finished talking to Wully about Barloo.
Bellia stood in the middle of the road by herself. The three Rangers were a hundred paces down the road towards the temple and her army friends had already disappeared around a bend.
Her interlude at the Blind God’s temple had ended and Bellia could feel that her journey was only the beginning of reaching her goal.
“What was all the whispering about last night,” Menna said as the rain started up again. Bellia noticed the voice tried to sound casual but Menna’s body shouted frantic curiosity.
“Advice. Wully’s always giving advice. He wanted me to be sure I’m doing the right thing.”
“And are you?” The casualness was gone.
“I am. More convinced that ever, actually.” Bellia gave her former subordinate a crooked grin.
“So you can’t wait to get back to Northwood to help me out. You didn’t tell him about Helevat?”
“No. And he didn’t ask.” Bellia looked Menna directly in the eye.
Menna threw her fist down on her thigh. “Sorry. The sooner we get going the better. I’m seeing ghosts in the daylight.”
Bellia thought of gods in the daylight and the ancient one who liked to work at night. She shivered at the thought of Ned’s thousands year old touch.
~~~
Chapter Seventeen
Back to Barloo
~
The port city of Barloo brought all of the excitement back that Bellia felt on her first visit. This time she’d spend more than a frantic few hours in the city.
“They should be waiting for us in The Ale Swallow.”
An apt name thought Bellia. They walked past the dock where they fought the Kokotans. A much larger ship took up the space. Bellia read the inscription in Griannan script.Sea Parrot. After another one hundred paces she spotted a building with a board depicting a mug of ale on a dark blue swallow.
The bar was dark inside. Smoke and the stale smell of ale and old urine assaulted Bellia’s nose. This was worse than any dive Menna had convinced her to visit while in the army. Backs against the wall, four people spoke in low tones.
“Yezza. We have arrived. And I bring good tidings.”
Bellia walked closer to see that Yezza was a woman. She wore mail armor over a leather jerkin. “Yeah, we bring rotten news. Our scholar left for Eustia six months ago. We’ve been holed up in this damned town ever since we got here.”
“We can leave right now, sister,” Menna said with as much cheer in her voice as she could muster.
The four at the table rose as one. “Is now good enough? I hate this place,” Yezza said. All seven left the filthy tavern, which surprised Bellia.
“I know of a shop where we can lay in supplies for our trek north. But what use if we don’t have a scholar?” Yezza gave Menna such a dour look, Bellia didn’t know who was in charge.
“I’m the scholar,” Bellia said.
“What’s the script on that ship?”
She pointed to the ship Bellia noticed on the way in.
“Sea Parrot.”
Yezza looked at her men, who returned her smile.
She raised an eyebrow.
“She translated the scrap of parchment. She’s the one.”
“If you say so.” Yezza clapped Menna on the back causing her to cough. Her men laughed. Yezza was much taller than Menna, but not as tall as Bellia. She wore long straight black hair tied back. Her dusky complexion was unlike any Bellia had encountered.
“Never seen a Banta Plainswoman before? Do you even know where Banta is?”
“I do,” Bellia said. “Let’s see. There are the seven tribes of the Middabs. The name you use for yourselves, not Banta plainspeople. Currently, Owanza is one of your Chiefs. I don’t know the names of all the clans. My studies never mentioned all of them. Which tribe are you from?”
Yezza�
��s eyes flashed in anger. “Don’t mention my tribe.” She turned to Menna who walked slightly behind her. “She is a scholar.”
Bellia caught the flash of a smile. She would have never classified herself as a scholar, but she had learned a great deal at the temple. Bellia didn’t know if she should be proud or not. She didn’t like being led around and kept in the dark about so much of what went on around her. She also didn’t feel encouraged by Menna’s choice in traveling companions.
Yezza led them to a general store for shipmasters. Bellia noticed that Yezza did all the buying. Menna put a few personal things on the large counter, which Yezza paid for, too.
The next day, they all set off. Yezza bought horses for all. Bellia told Menna she could buy her own, but Menna would hear none of it.
“She pays the bills for her share of the treasure. And I’m going to take as much advantage of it as I can.”
Bellia didn’t like Menna’s attitude. Purposely setting up a contentious atmosphere was no way to build camaraderie in a squad. That’s how she saw this group of soldiers of fortune stacking up. However, she also knew that Menna had always kept her own counsel and didn’t like others telling her what to do.
The horse riding took getting used to. Bellia never touched bottom to saddle before. Every night, she hobbled around until she retained the feeling on her behind. She rested on her blanket, favoring her front when Yezza walked by and tossed a bottle on her blanket. “This liniment will help.”
“Thank you,” she said to Yezza’s retreating back. She opened the bottle and winced from the smell. Once she found a secluded spot at their campsite, she saturated her pocket square with the foul smelling medicine. Bellia looked around to make sure she wasn’t observed and pulled down her pants, rubbing the liniment in where it hurt. By the time she put the stopper back on the bottle, her bottom burned fiercely. Her hands even started to feel uncomfortably hot.
Bellia hitched up her pants and ran to the stream and, to the camp’s laughter plunged into the cold water. The burning continued, but the numbness brought on by the frigid water, cooled her enough.
Bellia slogged her way back to camp. Her arrival brought back laughter. She heard giggling breaking out from various corners, including Menna, until the burning finally stopped. Just before falling asleep, Bellia emptied the contents of the bottle into the dirt.
The next day, Bellia padded her rear with extra clothing. She didn’t care what the others said. She committed to move forward and she would just have to bear jokes at her expense. Whining and complaining wouldn’t do anybody any good. She learned that in the army.
Yezza remained an unknown quantity. Somehow, Bellia felt that there was something unique about that untamed woman. Not just an animal ferocity, but Yezza had a presence. Bellia thought of it as the confidence of command. The woman contained her aggression and let it come out in a controlled amount. Bellia didn’t know if that made sense to her, but that’s how she looked at the woman.
That night Bellia pulled out her flute and practiced. She shut off the thoughts of others and concentrated on the music. She noticed extra spaces between the dots and held onto the notes for those spaces. This time she could feel a certain power in the tune. As she played more confidently, she became one with the music and the dots seemed to glow on the parchment. In the back of her mind she saw a vision of a jungle. Huge waterfalls fell, enhanced by the power of the gods. Animals of all kinds sought the music and were silenced by its power and majesty. She finished and the glowing dots faded along with the vision.
The camp was silent. Even the insects and animal sounds couldn’t be heard at first, and then they gradually returned to normal.
“What was that?” Menna asked. “After all of those horrid notes, you come up with that? It was a performance. Gave me goosebumps.”
“It sounded okay?”
“I felt like I was in the jungle.” Romo shivered.
Yezza walked up to her. She seemed to enjoy looking down at people, Bellia noticed. She probably dominated everyone she came in contact with.
“Where did you get that flute?”
“From a friend at the Blind God’s Temple. He used to play it to his daughter.”
“No child would make it through that music without crying. You better find a happier tune or I will break that flute over your head.” Bellia saw traces of tears on her face. “Perhaps I will look for something a little more joyous.”
Bellia looked at the instrument. The flute didn’t seem magical. To her it was a lump of stone with a golden tip. Then she remembered the glowing dots. Perhaps the music created the magic. Could the Kokotans find her when she played? She wasn’t ready to find out, yet.
~
An early snowstorm caught them. The horses struggled through the drifts, but as they continued towards the warmer north through Terusa, the snow turned to rain. This weather reminded Bellia of Greenwell. Bellia’s bottom was now well used to horse riding. She still practiced the flute but resisted the temptation to space the dots and that proved the key to not invoking the magic in the music.
“What can we do to unite the group, Bellia?” Menna asked as they headed west towards the mountains. Bellia could see the big gap they would ride through.
“You call this a group?” Bellia’s attention to the mountains came to an abrupt halt. This was the first time Menna asked for her advice for the entire trip and Bellia could feel the heat rise up from her neck. “Yezza might be insane. What good is it to get close to a domineering madwoman?”
“We both come from the same general area of Eustia. She’s of the Middab, fearsome nomads. I’m from a more normal kind of stock. We farmed just to the south of the plains of the Middab but never ventured in. The Middab don’t like strangers.”
“I know that. The Middab are plains people like the original Kokotans,” Bellia said.
“Not true. Few plainspeople intermarry. My parents, on the other hand, were descended from the original people who fled to Kokota. They farmed like everyone else and were looking to get me married to anyone. Family life is not for me.” Menna fiddled with the reins of her horse. She looked off towards the snow-covered mountains.
“I took off to the north and accepted a maid’s post on a sailing vessel going from Togolath to Pottoa. That’s where I met Yezza. I fled from the ship when we landed and ended up bounding about until I joined up with King Rollack’s army. I hooked up with her again in Tuathua. I guess we’re both a bit insane.” Menna’s face hardened up. “So you’re going to have to get used to it, girlie.”
Bellia learned more about Menna’s history in those few sentences than in the entire time being her tentmate. She did feel some of Menna’s pain until her last comment. Bellia had to get used to a lot of things. Continuing on with this group was a choice she made. No one forced it on her. She’d have to remember that, but she didn’t like that ‘girlie’ crack. Not at all.
Only her quest kept her from leaving the group right then. Her anger got the best of her. “Well, I’m not insane. but sometimes I feel like I’m the only one looking out for myself.”
Menna rolled her eyes. “You don’t have the King making you a sergeant here, Bellia. You could have said no.”
“I could have. But did I know Yezza was your money source? Do Romo and you have any money? What did you promise her to convince the woman to part with so much coin?” Bellia didn’t want to know, but she could feel anger replacing the frustration of knowing so little about the situation.
“Don’t get all heated up about it. I’ll pay her back in Northwood.”
“That’s assuming any of your money or her money is still left.” She snorted in disgust. “At the very least I can ride north and see how Pock is doing.” Bellia kicked her horse in the side with her heels and sped on ahead of the others. She refused to let Menna know about her quest to Grianna.
~~~
Chapter Eighteen
Token of the Wolf Tribe
~
Camp that night s
eemed tense. Menna and Yezza put their heads together and parted with both of the women glaring at her. Bellia wondered what story Menna had told her. Yezza came up and pushed Bellia in the back.
“Little girl. I won’t stand for your insolence.”
Bellia no longer could muster the tolerance for the woman’s constant domineering ways.
“Then you can sit down, Yezza,” Bellia said.
She slapped Bellia full on the face. Her reserve crumbled as she punched the Yezza in the nose, sending her sprawling to the slushy mud. Her men rose from where they sat with their swords drawn. Bellia realized that she was the tallest person in the camp. She didn’t have to be pushed around by these people.
This was going to end here and now. Bellia went to her pack and pulled out her short sword and turned around with her Pock sword in the other hand. This was it. What would Menna do in this fight?
Yezza drew two short swords and wove patterns with them as she advanced on Bellia. Menna had practiced this technique on Bellia without success and Yezza would experience the same failure. Perhaps for the first time in a long time, thought Bellia.
She slammed down her sword in time to Yezza’s weave. Both her swords clattered to the ground. She moved past Yezza as the plainswoman stooped to pick them up and kicked her as hard as she could in her back end causing her to fall headlong into the cold, muddy ground of the camp.
Menna and Romo stood facing her men.
“You can die now or you can accept me as an equal. Do you understand Yezza? Make a choice. Now.” Bellia yelled out the last word.
Her men dropped their swords. Yezza turned over and threw a dagger at Bellia. She was ready and slapped it aside with her short sword as it came at her.
Bellia approached the woman and kicked her shoulder so Yezza lay back on the ground; Bellia slammed her sword down just inches from her crotch and did the same with her short sword nearly touching her neck. Yezza looked up at Bellia in surprise.
“I fought for King Rollack as part of the King’s Swords. Menna and Romo both were in my squad. I was their sergeant. Menna and I fought in the King’s presence and once saved his life. Ask Menna or Romo how proficient I am with my weapons. Don’t underestimate me.”
