by Liam Carrack
She looked off to the left too, and saw the steadily growing light bobbing toward us. She jumped up, and began collecting papers without a thought to what order they belonged in. So, her sense of propriety had returned. She had tasted so sweet, Gods, how I wanted just a few more moments alone with her. Then reality reared its ugly head. Get up you fool. Get up, for appearances sake. GET UP! I knelt next to her and began picking up the last few pages.
I think I said something then, but it couldn’t have made any sense and she responded with a question.
“Who is that?” Who is that? How should I know? Well, that wasn’t true. If I Looked I’d know, but she didn’t know I had that ability and I wasn’t about to let her in on all my little secrets just yet.
“How should I know? It’s your house.” I hoped that didn’t sound to her like it had to me.
“It is isn’t it.” It is isn’t it? What was wrong with this girl? She nearly fell over giggling at this point. I could hear the stifled laughter, and I was praying that whoever was about to round that bend couldn’t hear it.
“Are you alright?” Dammit, Hurn. Why didn’t you think before you acted? This is all going to go pear-shaped before it ever gets started!
“Oh damn.” Well at least she wasn’t giggling anymore. “It must be Scinna.” That was exactly the thought that had been wriggling around in my mind. I didn’t quite catch her next words, but I was walking beside her before Scinna, or whoever it was came around the corner. “… aiding me. She’ll never believe we ran into… start looking… hiding.” I could only hear every other word over the swish of her skirts she was speaking so softly. “I don’t want that kind of scrutiny, do you?” I heard the whole of that last part though.
By some strange stroke of luck we turned onto another corridor and swiftly made our way down this hall to the main Hallway out to the front office without any confrontation with Scinna at all, which was good because I had this uncomfortable feeling that the Lady beside me would not have been able to hold it together through even a passing interview from her housemistress. After said mistress had disappeared up the main staircase and we around another corner, Llanalla nearly stopped my heart beating in my chest when she stopped mid step and said, “Wait.”
I stopped a step beyond her and turned to face her. I was dreading what might come next. “What?” Please, please, please don’t, I don’t even know what I don’t want. What is wrong with me? It felt like an eternity before she answered. The goofy grin on her face somehow didn’t help either. At that moment I recalled a promise I’d made Vyn about looking out for his baby sister, and my stomach did a flip flop. Play it off. Play it off like it’s nothing. That’s the way to go. Just a momentary lapse in judgment, that’s all.
She began whispering up at me. “It’s just… I mean… I’ve never had anybody tell me I’m lovely.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. This girl was gorgeous, angelic even. I know these fool Phiraien went for the rounder women, but surely…“Thank you.” She was thanking me for molesting her in her own home. She wasn’t looking at me either. She was focused on some point on the floor that I couldn’t quite make out. “I’ve never had anybody kiss me either…” WHAT? Okay, so she had been cloistered away in mourning, but never? She was thanking me too. I couldn’t believe it. The pure innocence, the naivety was heart warming, but never kissed, at her age?
“What do you mean no one has ever told you you’re beautiful?” She looked up at me then, and my heart broke. I would swear there were tears welling up in those enormous blue eyes of hers. That’s probably why the next words fell out of my mouth before I could stop them. “Vyn said you were tall and thin, but I always took that for marks of beauty. You have to know you are breathtaking.”
I was so busy cursing myself for a fool that I almost missed what she said, something about Vyn calling her a beanpole. Brothers can be assholes. I think I’d have hit the man if he wasn’t dead. “Well, Vyn was a fool then. I wouldn’t have believed it if anyone else had told me, but he must have been an utter fool.”
“Thank you,” she smiled and looked down again, “I think,” I could see her self-conscious grin, “but I think Tobbyrn is still in there waiting for me… er, us.”
“Shit!” Byrn, I had forgotten all about Byrn. He was still here? Dammit, dammit, dammit. Well, maybe it was for the best. We wouldn’t be alone all evening this way. “I apologize. I will try not to use such coarse language.” You’re babbling.
She let out a bubble of laughter at that. It was so endearing, and yet so loud that I nearly jumped. It obviously caught her off guard as well, but she played it off well.
“What do we say? What has kept us so long?”
“The truth.” The truth? What, like, Hey Byrn sorry we kept you, we were just snogging in the hallway. Was she out of her mind? She looked straight into my face and told the most ingenious not-lie I have heard in a long time. “I went to the library to fetch the rest of the papers we needed, and ran into you on the way back. We stopped to pick up the dropped paperwork and walked in together.”
It was ingenious. I was always telling my compatriots to use as much of the truth as they could. It kept you from getting tripped up in a lie. Why hadn’t I thought of that? I laughed softly, and responded, but before I knew what I was doing, I kissed her again. Damn. What is wrong with me? Get a hold of yourself before its too late!
It was already too late. Her kisses were like throwing oil on a fire. I pulled out of the kiss slowly, and leaned in to kiss her neck, when my control kicked in in time and I whispered instead. “I see you agree this should remain our little secret. I don’t believe the players on either side of this would appreciate… this.” Whatever this is. I took the pile of papers she was holding before she dropped them, and took the dozen or so steps down the hallway to the door of the office. She was only a pace behind me, but it was enough space for me to get my wits about me.
As I opened the door I started talking in what I hoped sounded to Byrn like a normal volume level. To me it was very loud, and by the little jump that Llanalla made it was loud to her too. “I’m really sorry ‘bout that.” I began, I gave Byrn our little story in what I hoped sounded like complete candor. His reaction was rather odd, and made me feel a little possessive. Were we going to be fighting for Llanalla’s affection? If we were I had a sneaking suspicion who would win, and I have to say that gave me a little thrill. Before I knew what I was doing I gave Llanalla a little conspiratorial wink right over Byrn’s head.
I then walked over to her. She was standing in front of an oddly constructed grouping of table, desk and mismatched chairs, which left an unusual void at one end of the room. On the table there were two maps; one of the city, and the other of all Phiriel and it’s surrounding countryside. I was intrigued. “What is all this about?” I nodded toward the neatly smoothed maps.
Tobbyrn responded before Llanalla. “Lady Llanalla has some intriguing ideas, but we will need to solve a couple of minor glitches in them first. She plans to, well; I should probably let her tell you. I’m so sorry my Lady, I guess I’m just a little excited, is all.” He was rubbing his hands together furiously, and I could tell he thought he had a plan of his own he wanted to discuss. I turned my head to face Llanalla, and waited for her to divulge this ingenious answer to a plight I had been working on for the last five years. Banging my head against was more like, but then again I’d never had such high and mighty backers before.
“I don’t know if those ‘glitches’ Tobbyrn spoke of are quite so minor, but maybe the answer lies in all these” she said motioning to the piles she had begun making of all the paperwork we had toted in. “Here, give me those if you’re not going to help separate them.”
“I’ll take them, you begin your explanations.” Tobbyrn carefully removed the sheaf of documents I was holding, and began going through them very carefully.
“Please let me get to the end of my ideas before telling me why, and what, won’t work.” She gave me a level look, and I pla
ced my right hand over my heart while covering my mouth with my left. She nodded curtly, and began.
“My plans have grown in the last few hours, but I will begin with my initial idea. I want to start a charitable works program in the city, and involve as many influential people as I can.” Good luck. “What I will propose tomorrow is that we open one or more orphanages for the poor, and homeless children of this city.” If you can get them to stay put. They may be homeless, but they do have parents out there. “The people of this country, and even this city, can get behind the idea of helping children. It is the parents they blame, not the children, and our religious beliefs push charity whether my fellow citizens have forgotten or not. I plan to hire Dynaly women to run these centers. I ran into a woman in the streets yesterday that may already be doing this in her own way.” I wonder who that was. There are a few of us out there collecting the young who actually are orphaned before they get themselves into any real trouble with the law around here. “The Phiraien women will believe they are doing what’s best for these children, and it will mean food, a roof, and even a few jobs for the Dynaly people.” Oh yes, they will think they can reorder the minds of our children to be more civilized. I wonder, no, after all she said at dinner she isn’t like those contemptuous wealthy bitches. I hope.
“As this is not a Guild-governed proceeding we won’t be taxed for using Dynaly workers, not that any of my fellow citizens would want the jobs anyway.” She screwed up her face at this. It obviously sickened her that her fellow Phiraien had let the situation get this bad in the first place. “This part of the plan only helps women and children, but I think the only way it will work is if I have; A, The backing of the church, which Tobbyrn is going to help me with. Do you know Celebrant Bremmer or any of his followers? Well, anyway a cleric by the name of Raddwyllyn will hopefully be meeting with me tomorrow morning before we leave for the Guild Council Hall.” I knew of Bremmer, but only because I knew Raddwyllyn personally. He was the most influential person on our side up until now. He didn’t know my pedigree, so I would have to impress upon Fistall to be very careful to treat me as nothing but a subordinate in front of the man. He would be an excellent ally for backing this plan, however. I hoped he could find a few other, less radical, clergy to stand with him. She was continuing, so I grabbed a piece of unused paper, and began scribbling some notes, lest I forget. “B, We will need some strong willed Dynaly women to stand before the Guild Council tomorrow. I’m sure you are aware of the Phiraien women’s dislike of the Dynaly men’s attitude toward strong willed women, but are you aware that they are equally disgusted by the timidity of Dynaly women?” I had some idea, but I had no idea that such a notion was held as strongly as Llanalla was making it out to seem. She continued without an answer from me. “I truly think that if we can put a strong Dynaly woman in front of a group of strong Phiraien women, they might just back my plan out of spite for Dynaly men, knowing full well this would do nothing to help their plight.” She definitely had a point there. Play to their weaknesses. She had thought this through more thoroughly than she had let on earlier.
“The last obstacle we face is the most difficult. We need a suitable location for this, or these, centers. I want it someplace safe. They may be vulnerable on the streets now, but if I offer them safety I want to be able to deliver it. It can’t be in an area that will cause Phiraien citizens to complain too loudly.” Good luck finding such a location. “The worst part is,” There is a worse part? “we need to have a specific location already decided upon before tomorrow. Tobbyrn has said, and I believe him, that if we don’t have a site already picked out the Council could very easily stall the whole thing as long as they like simply by debating a suitable location, which means I have to own this perfect location already because as soon as everyone knows what I plan to put there they won’t sell. That’s why the map of the city, and that’s why all these documents. They are rosters containing all the things that have been left to me by my parents, brother and aunt.” She spread her hands wide to encompass all the neat little stacks that Tobbyrn had made of the mess we’d carried in.
I knew she wanted to help, but what she was proposing was astonishing. She would be lending her name and reputation, her wealth, and her land, and by the look on her face there was more up her sleeve. “Well… may I interrupt for a moment to comment on this first plan?” She smiled, crossed her arms, sat, and nodded once in acquiescence. “I believe your plan has merit, and is well thought out. Raddwyllyn is a good man, and will do what he can to help, I’m sure. He has been angling for something similar within the church, but they have been hopelessly bogged down in just the discussion you have thought, where. When he is here, please Byrn, don’t let on about our past, or even, well you know.” He nodded, but she looked a little confused. “I want Radwyllyn to go on treating me the way he always has my lady, that’s all. As for that middle problem I don’t think it will be one. I can have several outspoken, and pushy, Dynaly women there ready to push your plan.”
“Gee, and I thought that would be one of the stickier points. I never met any woman I would consider outspoken when I was in Dynal, let alone pushy.”
“Huh, huh. What you consider outspoken and what their husbands considered outspoken are two very different things, and a few of our women have come out of their shells, so to speak, while living rough without their husbands on your streets Byrn. Which is not to say that they are not still well mannered, and well spoken by your standards my Lady. How many should we have present? We do not want too many people before the Council after all.”
“Oh.” She hadn’t thought that part through yet. “Well, I don’t know. What do you think Byrn? I’ve never actually spent much time in the Guild Council Hall. How many is too many?”
Byrn looked worried at this point too. “How many can you come up with?”
I smiled at them both, and nearly chuckled. “I think three ought to be enough. Not a single woman, who the council can pass off as an anomaly, but not so many as to overwhelm them.”
“I like three. It’s a good number. Should we have them appear as they are, or dress them up?” Was she asking me or Byrn, and dress them up how?
“A good bath, and a clean set of clothes, but not rich cloths would be ideal. We want the council to remember their plight without being bowled over by it, right?” Tobbyrn’s suggestion was a good one, and a romp in one of her bath houses would certainly help convince these ladies to take a chance and a stand.
“So why this other map? Something to do with where to send Fistall perhaps?”
“Exactly. I have an idea about that too, one that might make the Council, and the rest of the city, more willing to comply with my proposal. Fistall, and every able-bodied Dynaly man are leaving the city.” I moved to say something, but she raised a hand, and bade me wait without a word. “They are going, we won’t say where, the council probably won’t ask. If he goes along with it we can say he came to leave the babe with its Phiraien family, and collect his men. If we play it right, they will be glad to see his back without changing their notions about Dynaly men one bit. I think that my Hunting estate on our northern mountain border would make an excellent place to retreat. It has enough land to feed many with plenty of training ground, and it is quite secluded. If Fistall agrees then I will send an emissary ahead with the proper documentation. The Keeper of our Records here can change its legal ownership to Fistall without anyone at the Guild becoming any the wiser. The land has been in my family for generations, and I have no interest in its upkeep any longer. It’s not like my father or Garvy ever went out there either. I also expect Fistall to allow these Dynaly craftsmen and farmers to ply their trade. What I ask in return is that I have exclusive rights to the sale of whatever goods they make to the people of Phiriel. I will not take the lion’s share of profits either. This however does keep their location secret. As for contacting these new mercenary men I think we should find a location for an office in town. Something small, manned by a single person perhaps
, through which they can be contacted. I suggest the same be done in all the major cities in Phiriel as well as Salissar, and anywhere else Fistall would like. I believe Fistall’s warnings. My people may believe we are untouchable because we are traders, but why buy when you can take? We can send on any other men who turn up in the city, and sneak women and children out rejoining families as suitable housing is built.
If Fistall will allow me, I will use some of his coin to purchase building materials, and ore in my name, and send it on to him. Perhaps,” she turned to Byrn again, “you could set up a dummy name, and business through which to buy all the necessary supplies without drawing attention to me personally. By the time someone unravels it all, and they always do, I am not stupid, it will look like a business deal because I will be the only one selling authentic Dynaly workmanship in Phiriel.”
She had an answer for everything, and I was stunned. “Do you think Fistall will go for it?” She was staring at me, and all I could do was stare back. She stood again, and pointed to a part on the Larger map along the mountains to the Northern border of Phiriel. “It’s an easily defensible location, and I think he will like that. Anyone approaching can be seen for miles before they arrive, and they will have to travel uphill. Fistall could even build a new fortress in the mountains themselves.
He will have to abide by Phiraien law though. I will not even offer him this if you think he will claim this new Dynaly territory. He will also have to deal with the Xeckshaw warriors to his north. Have you ever dealt with them?” I hadn’t and I doubted Fistall had either. They weren’t going to like him, and he wasn’t going to like them either. They are a tribal people led by very powerful female warriors. “If Fistall doesn’t like our women I can only imagine how he will react to the Xeckshaw.” She was laughing at the thought of it and so was Byrn. It was a little amusing in theory. In practice it would be anything but.
