Servants and Followers (The Legends of Arria, Volume 2)

by Courtney Bowen

  Of course, today had been a little bit different, since this was the second time they had met in here today. Fobata quite liked the study, imaging himself to be a studious man who enjoyed reading all of these books, wrapped up in affairs of the contemplative mind beyond the realms of mortal, flesh-and-blood men. But Goga was rather indifferent to the place, never having been a book reader and unable to imagine what sort of joy Fobata might get out of them.

  He only attended the meetings with Fobata here in the study because he could expect to get some wine out of the deal, and a break from his tedious duties guarding a backwoods castle that saw little if any action. He also enjoyed the change of venue from the outdoors, which could always be counted upon to provide some discomfort he had not expected even as it varied from day to night, season to season, with hot and cold weather. It might be cold and damp in the castle on occasion, but at least this condition was constant and he could change it.

  “Someone--my steward, who I put in charge of the task of spying on the newcomers, ordered another servant to do it instead, and in this report, that person declared they are mostly harmless.” Fobata scoffed. “Harmless? I do not think so. Do you think so?”

  The mundane affairs of bureaucracy, always passing along the task for others to accomplish until they failed. Goga shrugged. “I cannot say for sure.” He said. “I did duel one of them not that long ago. He didn’t seem that much of a threat to me.” He chuckled. “Of course, this fellow had some luck in prolonging the fight,” He frowned to himself, mulling over the wine. “But it was quickly ended.” He remarked. “I could have killed him, but I didn’t. Aren’t you proud of me?” He sneered.

  “I’m proud of you, Goga.” Fobata muttered, not really paying attention to his captain of the guards as he stared at the report like it might change ink color, or the intent of its message. “Something is wrong here. Terribly wrong.” He remarked to himself. “I don’t quite understand it, but I feel like we’re not doing something right. That we’re forgetting or overlooking something very important and valuable.”

  “Oh, grow up, Fobata, you’re just being paranoid.” Goga muttered. “Perhaps this whole measure of action is unnecessary in the first place. Have you ever stopped and thought about that?” He asked, shaking his head.

  “You know what I said on the matter this morning, captain,” Fobata said stiffly. “I believe we are doing the right thing, the necessary thing, when I have messed up far too many times in the past to afford another mistake. If they want this group of children, then I shall arrest them. I have no choice. I am merely acting upon orders, and that is the only meaning I can find in this whole irrational endeavor. Understood?” He asked.

  “Completely. What can go wrong?” Captain Goga asked.

  “I don’t know. I’m afraid.” Fobata said.

  Goga scoffed. “You’ve got that right.”

  “I’m serious here. It’s plaguing me, this sense of unease.” Fobata said. “It’s sort of like I’m squeamish, but I’m not. I have to face this great big thing and I have no idea what I am dealing with here. I’m not ready yet.”

  “My lord, you are forty years old, and you are being naïve.” Goga remarked. “You have to face it, whatever this thing is, and completely destroy it, or else it will destroy you. Do you understand me?” Fobata silently nodded. “Good, now I’m going to the stables,” Goga said, getting up from his chair, leaving behind an empty wine bottle. “I must tend to my horse.” He burped. “Excuse me, my lord,” He said, leaving the study.

  Fobata sighed, and rubbed his cheek. “I need to shave.” He muttered to himself. “If my wife was still alive, she would have told me so,” He said, glaring at the empty spot Goga had occupied. “No thanks to you.” He said.

  Goga went down the front hallway of Coe Aela, staggering a little bit as he sang, “I embrace the darkness...”

  Chapter 11: Gnat’s Run

  Release me, and I will run, as fast as I can;

  Release me, and I will go, as far as I can;

  Release me and I will be trapped in the fear

  Left behind.

  --Song of Running, Tarak

  It took awhile for the group to locate, and arrange surreptitiously to talk with Gnat, but finally she met them just before sunset in the boys’ room to deliver more blankets for their beds. “First of all, I want to apologize for what’s going on.” Gnat said. “I am not involved, never was a Follower of Doomba, yet I still know that I should help you all.”

  “How did you find out about this, Gnat?” Basha asked. “And what exactly is it?” He added for emphasis.

  “Servants like me often go unnoticed here. Sometimes, we hear things when others don’t know we’re there. A message came several weeks ago, but I only heard about it this morning. Lord Fobata and Captain Goga were meeting in a study where I was cleaning up, which they normally don’t do, and I hid myself inside of an armoire when I heard them coming. I didn’t want to be seen by them, especially Goga, he just…anyway,” Gnat said, clearing her throat. “I heard them talking, well, arguing. Goga was complaining to Lord Fobata that they had expected a group to arrive on Markee 14. They had been warned by this Lord Crow that they had to beware of this group because they would be bringing a lot of trouble with them, and the only group that arrived were you guys.” Gnat said.

  “Lord Crow.” Fato muttered, shifting on his perch.

  “Is that the only reason, Markee 14?” Basha asked. “That is both pretty vague and specific.”

  “I know it doesn’t make much sense,” Gnat said, “But it’s true, that is what they said. Even they doubted it, especially Captain Goga. He didn’t trust this Lord Crow person, said he was their ‘old friend’ sarcastically, and even…” Gnat frowned. “Bloodlines. There was something about bloodlines. Somehow Lord Crow had the most to gain, and Captain Goga was at the bottom of the pile.”

  “I don’t believe this,” Oaka said, getting up. “First, you say they are Followers of Doomba, Captain Goga and Fobata, and now you are talking about bloodlines, and Lord Crow whoever he is, and that we are only targets of this whole debacle just because we happened to arrive on a specific day, chased by Black Wolves I might add,” Oaka said, trying to deal with all of this. His suspicions about Doomba being involved in Basha’s prophecy, ‘control over man and beast’…this was exactly what he had feared, almost, the proof that it was possible.

  “It’s true!” Gnat cried. “We’ve known for years that Goga and Fobata were Followers, or at least we suspected, and it wasn’t until a few months ago that Janus had…” Gnat gasped. “Ask Fato!” She cried, causing the falcon to wince.

  Basha, Oaka, and Monika stopped and turned around. “Fato?” Monika asked.

  Fato lowered his head. “I have a message for King Sonnagh from Janus, a spy employed by His Majesty, that Janus intends to sabotage Lord Fobata and Captain Goga, who are Followers of Doomba. That’s all I have to say at the moment.” Fato was thinking about the woman he had seen with Janus today, but it probably was not worth mentioning at this time, nor was the rest of the message to King Sonnagh.

  “Why didn’t you stop us?” Basha began to say.

  “I did try to warn you all against coming here, saying that we should bypass Coe Aela, but you three wouldn’t listen to me.” Fato said, backing away from them. “And I didn’t want to say the message then when it was supposed to be a state secret.”

  “Never mind then.” Basha said, angry at the bird as he turned around to Gnat. “So it’s true then. Fobata and Goga are Followers of Doomba, and Lord Crow must have found out that Fato had this message, and that he would be coming back down here on his return trip to Coe Kiki.”

  “It still doesn’t make much sense to me.” Oaka said. He couldn’t believe it, Basha was just trying to make another excuse again for what was happening here. Did he just not want to face the truth about Doomba’s involvement in this matter?

  “Does it matter?” Basha asked, turning around to Oaka. “We have got to go
, and Gnat is our only way out of here before…is there a way out, Gnat, and can we get out tonight?” Basha asked, turning to her again as Oaka shook his head.

  “Why do you think I’m here?” Gnat said, smiling. “There is a way out, I found it, and we can all go out as soon as you all are packed.”

  The group started collecting their bags, Monika slipped out to go into her bedroom, and Basha turned to Gnat. “What about the horses?” Basha asked.

  Gnat hesitated. “I’m afraid it’s not going to be possible to get them out.”

  Oaka stopped packing, staring at Gnat as Basha lowered his head. “I suppose we should have known...” Basha said, and then hesitated. “There is something else I need, in the stables. It’s in my horse’s stall, in the saddle, a sheath with a sword in it. Can we get it out?” He asked.

  “I suppose I can do it, but it’s far better for you all to get out of Coe Aela first before I do. I’ll fetch the sword, if you really need it, and bring it to you.” Gnat said, looking up at him.

  “Thank you.” Basha said, patting Gnat on the back. “I don’t know how…do you want to come with us?” Basha asked. “Get away from Coe Aela, and Captain Goga?”

  “That definitely sounds like a good idea to me.” Fato remarked.

  “I can’t...” Gnat said, lowering her head and shaking it. “Thank you for asking, but it wouldn’t be fair to the other servants, to Janus even, if I were to just go without…I’m not ready yet.” She said, lifting her head. “Maybe someday, when we are all together, but we’re not together yet.” She said.

  “You should go.” Fato muttered to himself.

  Monika returned with her packs, and learned the bad news that they would be leaving their horses behind. She wept softly for Deja, and then lifted her tear-stained eyes to slowly nod after a few moments--she would be ready to leave. They rearranged their load, leaving behind a few possessions so that they could carry enough for the trip without weighing themselves down, and then turned to the door.

  Gnat let them out, and then softly led the way, through the corridors of Coe Aela. She paused along the way to shove them into alcoves or abandoned rooms, if she thought that someone was coming they should beware of, but for the most part no one was about at this hour, possibly because they were eating dinner. Only once or twice did the group see people, and they seemed to be servants that Gnat trusted--she nodded at them slightly, as if she knew them, and they nodded back, as if they knew her secret. No one spoke, even though the group members had some questions, until Gnat opened a door at the end of a corridor that led them outside.

  Basha had gotten turned around by their progress through the corridors, but as he looked out, he knew that it was not the front bailey, or the back bailey, or the east bailey. It was instead the west bailey, which apparently had been abandoned by the groundskeepers as weeds ran rampant, vines crawled up the walls and trees, and bushes irregularly shaped and untrimmed were gathered together in clumps. Statues, allowed to break and fall, had been left where they lied beside still, dry fountains.

  The group stopped a moment to stare at this grim sight as Gnat crept up to the curtain wall, feeling around amidst the vines with her head slanted in thought. There were no sentries within sight on the ramparts. She paused, and pushed aside some vines, waving over to the group to come. They hurried over as best they could amidst the littered field, and their hands felt as well in the spot where her hand had been until they felt the gap. She pushed them through the hole, barely large enough for a full-grown woman to slip through, but Oaka and Basha managed the gap after Monika, and then Gnat came through once the group was out. Fato had flown over the ramparts.

  Trees clumped together outside of Coe Aela, the start of Mila Forest, hid the hole from where the guards could have seen it on top of the ramparts. Basha gasped, turning around to face the hole in the failing light. “That was…how did that hole happen?”

  “No clue. It’s been there for awhile, I think.” Gnat said, panting as Fato flew back to them for a moment. “Perhaps as far back as when Fobata’s ancestors claimed they had invaded this impenetrable castle. I think that’s a legend, but what else could explain this breach?” She asked, looking ahead. “Let’s get going again.”

  “I hope they have forgotten about this,” Monika muttered as she and the others followed.

  They ran through the forest, Gnat leading the way, trying not to trip over everything in their path until they came upon a glade surrounded by wild oaks. There was a rock formation as large as a hill, which formed an outcrop, in the glade with a waterfall tumbling down from its lip into a pool and a thin creek wheedling away from it.

  Gnat went around the pool toward the rocks at the edge of the outcrop, and they followed her slowly across the slick surface, careful not to slip even as she got closer and closer towards the waterfall. They hesitated as they thought she might be leading them on with nowhere to go but a dead end, but then she slipped through the waterfall without coming back out, and so they followed her--and nearly fell over the edge of the cave mouth.

  “Sorry!” Gnat called back, lifting her head up. “I should have warned you all. It’s just a little bit further. You three should be safe in here, with Fato,” Gnat remarked, as the falcon flew into the cave just above their heads, flapping about to shake off the water he had been doused with, and to explore the cavern. “Until it’s clear enough for you all to leave with Basha’s sword.” She added.

  “Why can’t we all just go?” Oaka asked, staring down into the cave. “Leave Coe Aela, Goga, and all of that stuff behind us. Why do we have to wait? It seems clear enough now.”

  “Because I need the sword, and Oaka…” Basha started to say, but then Monika shushed him, staring straight ahead into the half-illuminated darkness, shimmering with the waterfall and falling sunlight. She thought she had seen something glisten in there, something she had never seen before, and yet she recognized it.

  “Oh, no! Not again!” They heard Fato’s voice cry in the distance.

  “There is another reason, isn’t there?” Monika asked, staring down at Gnat. “Why you have brought us here?”

  “Is she going to betray us?” Oaka asked, nervous. “Is this like a second trap to lull us all into believing you?”

  “It’s not a trap, it’s important,” Gnat stomped her foot. “I need to show you all this so that you can understand--it’s something that you might need,” She said, turning away. “Come on, climb down, but slowly, carefully.” She insisted.

  The others followed her order, inch-by-inch slowly and carefully until they made it down onto the cavern floor. Monika thought she knew what was here, what she had been searching for since the last Havin season. Part of her dreaded finding it, as it might mean that she was someone completely different from what she had thought of herself before, in terms of her cultural identity. Yet it was also a confirmation of sorts, that she was the person she had thought herself to be, or at least suspected, and this might prove to be the culmination of all her efforts in finding it. Fato flapped down to join them, landing on Oaka’s shoulder.

  “This place is amazing.” Fato said, looking about. “Difficult to see with very little light, but what I could see…it’s amazing to think what water can do to create a place like this.” He muttered.

  “What’s wrong? What happened to you? Why did you scream?” Oaka asked.

  “Nothing.” Fato muttered.

  “I came here quite by accident, exploring around when I was young some years ago,” Gnat said, walking deeper into the cavern. “Occasionally the washerwomen would use the pool above to clean laundry in, and I would accompany them. I nearly fell into the cave the first time, but I managed the climb down after awhile. I kept coming back here, sneaking out through the hole in the wall that I found in the meantime, because I was lured here, in a way.”

  She lifted her head. “I heard--I felt--it was a presence, in a way, not exactly human, but not exactly a thing either,” She added, stopping in front of--they could
not see it clearly, thrusting up out of the darkness.

  “It sang to me.” She said. “It whispered to me a lullaby I had never heard before, soft and gentle, like a mother--I had never known,” Gnat said, standing aside. They saw the hilt, the pommel and its guard, above the wavy figure of a curved sword in its blue scabbard thrust into the cave floor. The light from above touched a hint of blue, turquoise, cobalt and azul in the darkness, from the leather hilt down to the blade’s wavy steel-forged lines.

  “What is it?” Basha asked, stepping forward to stare at its appealing form.

  But Oaka recoiled slightly. It assaulted his senses, and made him feel trapped, cornered, like he might be drowned or quenched.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Fato asked now, frowning at Oaka. “At least it’s not so bad.”

  “Not so bad?” Oaka asked, shocked. “Compared to what?”

  “Compared to the other one.” Fato said, glancing briefly at Basha.

  They could feel the qualities that Gnat had mentioned, that of a gentle, sweet, nurturing touch they longed to take comfort in, yet it was also a powerful wave that could sweep them away from here, carry them off to a faraway land where they would never find home, and wash away all they had ever known. Oaka was afraid of that awesome power.

  “It’s a sword, and not just any sword,” Gnat remarked, turning to Monika. “It’s your sword, is it not?” She asked. “Powerful, like the way you fight, a Blue Sword of water.”

  “A Blue Sword.” Fato muttered to himself.

  “A Blue Sword…” Basha said, turning to Monika. “With a capital S?” He asked.

  “With a capital S is right.” Monika said, nodding as she stared down at her weapon. In the dreams she had of Renrawr’s death, the water closed in on her, as if she had fallen into the ocean instead. But she did not drown as she might have done, when she did not really know how to swim in reality. Or fight it, with a struggle towards the surface, paddling with her hands or kicking with her feet. No, instead, she dreamed of being swallowed up by the water, and floating and sinking at the same time as she breathed in the water like a fish. She became part of the water, trembling in the currents, splashing with the swells, and then evaporating up into the sky before dripping back downwards as rain; she was water.