The Bandit (Fall of the Swords Book 2)

by Scott Michael Decker

  “She's down to one feeding a day now, Lord, usually at bedtime.”

  “Good for a child to have a snack at bedtime,” he said benignly. “Would you be so kind, Lady?”

  “I'd be happy to, Lord.” Loosening her sash, she freed a breast and picked up a bottle. After expressing two ounces, she adjusted her clothes.

  Soothing Spirit held up the bottle, as if measuring. The level in it rose. Capping the bottle, he shook it up and poured off half into the other bottle. Smiling, he handed each Matriarch an ounce and a half of immunity-fortified breast-milk.

  Bubbling Water stepped over to one of the two rocking chairs and sat. Shading Oak took the other. Both of them humming soft tunes, the women fed the Arrow Twins their first food beyond the womb.

  “I'll be in the next room, helping the Lady Consort,” Soothing Spirit said. Smiling, he left, closing the door behind him.

  Bubbling Water set up a psychic connection with her infant, emulating the maternal link of most breastfeeding mothers. The baby welcomed her contact. Looking at the prefrontal lobes, she saw something unusual. “Look at their psychic cortices, Lady Oak.”

  “They both have the development of a six-year-old,” Shading Oak replied.

  Nodding, Bubbling Water looked at the other Matriarch. “A Wizard seems to have made a few changes in-utero.” She glanced at her old friend.

  Shading Oak looked pale.

  Bubbling Water frowned. “Flowering Pine's impervious to psychic probes, isn't she? How …?”

  Shading Oak looked down at her baby. “I've been talking with the servants who worked beside Flowering Pine before she became the Lady Consort. She's much more than she seems, Lady Water…”

  * * *

  Healing Hand looked over the rubble north of them, then at the field of injured south of them. “Did we cause this, Lord Eagle?”

  The two Wizards stood at one end of a row of cots. The Burrow marketplace had become a makeshift hospital, every bed filled. People were still combing the garrison wreckage, now digging up the dead, having already pulled all the injured from the rubble.

  Spying Eagle frowned at him. “How could we?”

  “You know how we said we'd help Guarding Bear if we didn't have to kill anyone?” Healing Hand asked. “Back there at the fortress, we helped kill a lot of people. How's that any different?”

  Spying Eagle shook his head, stumped that an eight-year-old child saw shared responsibility where he hadn't. “You're right, Lord Hand. We do bear some culpability in the deaths of those bandits. Their being bandits is superfluous. Their loyalties don't matter. Who's loyal to whom, or to what Empire, isn't important—not really. We're all human beings. We all are.”

  “So you agree then? We did cause all this?”

  The brown-haired man shook his head at the blond-haired boy. “No, Lord Hand, we didn't cause all this. I do agree that we helped kill a lot of people. The earthquake was an act of the Infinite, though.”

  “Oh,” Healing hand said, frowning. He looked over at the Wizard, a deep, deep sadness on his face. “Lord Eagle, I don't want to kill any more people—or even help kill anyone.”

  “Good! I encourage you to stand by that!” Then he laughed. “Remember what the Lady Snow told me?” He hoped the boy didn't internalize their participation to such a degree that it sickened him.

  “You mean about becoming what you fear?”

  “Yes,” Spying Eagle replied. “Who knows, Lord Hand, someday you might carry a sword around all the time, eh?”

  Healing Hand grinned and said, “And you'll question Lurking Hawk!”

  Sharing a laugh, the two of them moved onto the next cot. The woman there had a crushed pelvis. Mercifully unconscious, she felt no pain. They knelt on either side of her. Healing Hand placed his large palms on the hip. Spying Eagle placed his hands on the boy's. Their hands were the same size. “One, two, three,” the Wizard said. They applied their talents, Spying Eagle his multiplicity and Healing Hand his amplitude.

  The woman stirred as the boy and man withdrew their hands. Torpid, she looked at them. “Am I all right?”

  “You are now, Lady,” Healing Hand said. “Have a medacor check that hip in three weeks and get a complete physical. We're only treating the worst wounds right now.”

  “Thank you, Lords. I thought the pain was going to kill me.” She looked around, reorienting herself. “Oh! The Lady Consort gave birth,” the woman said, consulting the psychic flow. “Infinite bless her!”

  The news of the twins' births had come to them a half-hour ago. Neither felt much enthusiasm. Tired, the pair moved to the next of the seriously injured.

  “No,” Spying Eagle said, “I won't interrogate Lurking Hawk. I don't want to subject him to the same indignities he did me.”

  “Oh, I know you wouldn't do it for revenge, Lord Eagle,” Healing Hand replied. “What did you say a few minutes ago? 'Who's loyal to whom or to what Empire isn't important.' You're right: It isn't important, but if that isn't, Lord Eagle, what is?”

  “Are you a midget in disguise?”

  Healing Hand snorted with disgust. “If I'm a midget, you're a bandit spy. You didn't get your name for your eyesight, eh? Look at that leg! Should we amputate? He can always have another grown.”

  Spying Eagle examined the warrior on the cot. Badly mangled, the leg was almost irreparable. He looked ahead at the number of patients who needed treatment, assessing.

  “I'm serious, Lord Eagle: If loyalty to a person or an Empire doesn't matter, what does? I'm asking only because I don't know.”

  “What is important,” Spying Eagle replied, “is that we do the greatest good for the greatest number—and that means we amputate.”

  Healing Hand nodded gravely, and the two of them went to work. The boy separated the flesh while the man suspended the flow of blood. Spying Eagle cauterized the major blood vessels. Healing Hand grew new skin over the stump. As they stood to attend to the next patient, the boy yawned.

  “How long since you slept, Lord Hand?”

  “I don't know—dawn soon, eh, so I'd guess almost twenty-four hours. Listen, Lord Eagle, if the greatest good for the greatest number is the most important goal, don't you feel bound to interrogate Lurking Hawk?”

  “Eh? What?” Spying Eagle yawned as well, both of them needing sleep. Since waking, they'd traveled from Burrow to the fortress, had helped besiege that fortress, had returned to Burrow, and had begun to treat the worst injuries. The amount of time since they'd slept was secondary to the amount of psychic energy they'd expended, talent usage resulting in a need for sleep. They both had worked without respite since arriving three hours earlier. Spying Eagle had almost depleted his psychic reserves; he guessed he had enough energy for five more patients. “How are your reserves, Lord Hand?”

  The boy shrugged, his large palms at his shoulders. “I don't know. I've never emptied them.”

  Frowning, Spying Eagle glanced toward the garrison rubble.

  Guarding Bear limped toward them.

  “What about this one, Lord Eagle? Surprises me he's still alive.”

  The warrior's chest was a pulp of flesh. As Spying Eagle watched, the man died. Healing Hand put his palms on the chest. The body convulsed. The Wizard bent to help him. Together, they pulled the warrior back from the Infinite. With a sigh, he looked at Healing Hand. “Almost lost him, eh?”

  Nodding, Healing Hand sighed and glanced toward the garrison.

  Guarding Bear was five paces away.

  Standing, Spying Eagle bowed, as did Healing Hand.

  Guarding Bear nodded to them both. “Good work at the fortress, Lords. I forgot about the tiger. I should have warned you that she can disable her frontal and prefrontal lobes—my fault that you missed her, eh? Sorry. Anyway, that'll be a sleeping potion they'll never forget. I'm proud of you both.”

  “Thank you, Lord Bear,” Healing Hand said, looking sad. “I wish I hadn't helped.”

  Frowning, Guarding Bear nodded and shrugged. “I'm glad you
did. One day you might be glad too. I can see that you didn't enjoy helping to kill those bandits. I didn't enjoy the killing.” He sighed. “My leg needs healing, Little Lord.”

  Examining the leg, Healing Hand burst out laughing.

  “What's so funny?” Guarding Bear asked.

  Spying Eagle probed the leg and also began to laugh.

  From the knee downward, the leg resembled a leg—on the surface. Below the skin, veins and arteries wiggled in all directions. Muscles attached to all the wrong tendons. Bone fused to bone at a hundred different angles, hurled together like an unsolved jigsaw puzzle thrown into a box.

  “Who healed your leg, Lord?” Healing Hand said, unable to stifle his laughter. Sitting on the ground, he held his sides, rocking back and forth, his face a rictus.

  “It hurts!” Guarding Bear complained.

  “I'll wager it does, Lord,” Spying Eagle said, chuckling.

  “I hope that medacor never treats another human being,” Healing Hand said, red-faced from laughter.

  Guarding Bear grunted. “When I saw what a terrible job he did, I gutted him.”

  “We'll have to amputate, eh Lord Hand?” Spying Eagle said.

  “Indeed, Lord Eagle. It surprises me you can walk at all, Lord General. That leg wouldn't get a snake two feet. What was the medacor's name, Lord?”

  Guarding Bear stubbornly examined his fingernails.

  “He does that when he doesn't want to answer,” Healing Hand whispered loudly to Spying Eagle.

  “I'm afraid we can't help until you tell us who did this.” Spying Eagle tried not to grin. “It's a professional impropriety to redo another medacor's work,” he explained, shrugging.

  Guarding Bear expelled a scoffing breath. “All right, you've had your fun. Now heal the blasted leg, eh?”

  Chuckling, Healing Hand ordered the General to sit. He and Spying Eagle, one on each side, placed their hands on the transmogrified limb. “One, two, three,” the boy said. They poured talent into the leg.

  Sweat glistened on Guarding Bear's brow. He evinced no other reaction to the pain. When the two of them withdrew their hands, he stood and tested the leg. “Thank you, Lords. Still hurts, but I expected that. You did better than that other medacor. I'll see that you get well paid for the work you're doing here.” He looked across the marketplace, across hundreds of cots, all occupied with the severely injured. “How long since you've slept, both of you?”

  Yawning, Spying Eagle shrugged. “Lord Hand, do you want to wager the Lord General healed his own leg?”

  Healing Hand grinned.

  “Obviously, you're both giddy with delirium,” Guarding Bear said. “I hereby relieve you of all duties until noon. Let's get something to eat and find a place to sleep, eh? I feel exhausted.”

  “Yes, Lord!” they both said, giggling.

  The trio moved toward Scratching Wolf, the garrison commander, who stood at the edge of the marketplace, looking over what remained of the garrison.

  “Did you hear that the Lady Consort gave birth, Lord Bear?” Healing Hand asked. “Went into labor while we were at the fortress.”

  Guarding Bear nodded, smiling. “I was glad to hear it. Perhaps with the Succession Assured, we'll have peace, eh?”

  “Lord General, doesn't the Lady Consort's giving birth displease you at all?” Spying Eagle asked, puzzled.

  “Why should it displease me—the Peasant Upstart Usurper?” Smiling, Guarding Bear shook his head. “No, Lord Eagle, I don't want to be Emperor. With a rightful ruler and a rightful heir, we'll have a smooth succession. Neither of you can imagine what an interregnum is like. Neither can I, actually. I don't want to experience one. History is full of examples, none of them pleasant. A smooth succession is better for the Empire, Lord Eagle.”

  “ 'The greatest good for the greatest number,' eh Lord Bear?”

  “Exactly, Little Lord.”

  The trio approached Scratching Wolf, who bowed to the General and nodded to acknowledge the other two. “Well done, Lord General Bear. Is it true you fought the tiger with your bare hands?”

  “Of course not, Lord Wolf—I had a sword and a knife.” Guarding Bear sighed. “They'll deify me for this too, eh?”

  “They already have, Lord.” Scratching Wolf smiled. “Are you two ready to stop for awhile, Lords?” he asked the young Wizards.

  Spying Eagle and Healing Hand nodded.

  “I've had a tent erected for you both. Forgive the lack of proper accommodations. I've assigned you a servant and ordered you a meal. Lord General, for you I've secured lodging at a hostelry, and—”

  “Enough room there for these two?” Guarding Bear interrupted.

  “Uh, well, I think so, if you don't object, Lord.”

  “They've earned it, eh? I'll sleep on the floor if I have to. Where is this place, Lord Wolf?”

  Scratching his head, the Colonel gave them directions. “The proprietor won't be expecting three of you, Lord. He may require a little persuasion.”

  “Deification is a blessing of the Infinite, eh Lord Wolf? Infinite be with you. Thank you, Lord. Oh, uh, congratulations on the birth of your grandchildren, too.” Guarding Bear smiled.

  “They're as much mine as they are yours, Lord. Congratulations to you.” Scratching Wolf smiled back, bowing. “Infinite be with you, Lord General.”

  The trio walked away, southward, toward the affluent side of Burrow.

  “He's not the Arrow Twins' real grandfather, is he?” Healing Hand asked, glancing up dubiously.

  Guarding Bear chuckled, shaking his head and tousling the boy's hair. “I'm not either, Little Lord. Speaking of parentage, we only know one grandparent of the four they should have, eh?”

  “What do you mean, Lord Bear?”

  “Didn't you know Flying Arrow has an empty quiver?”

  “You mean he's sterile? Well, that's what I heard. I don't believe everything on the flow. Is it true?”

  Nodding, Guarding Bear shrugged. “It doesn't matter, eh? For the greater good, the Arrow Twins are Flying Arrow's children.”

  Healing Hand frowned. “That's not very honest.”

  “No, Lord Hand, it isn't.”

  Silently, the three of them walked southward for a time, considering the necessity of dishonesty and the dishonesty of necessity.

  “Spying Eagle volunteered to question Lurking Hawk,” Healing Hand said, grinning. “ 'For the greater good.' ”

  “I did nothing remotely similar!” Spying Eagle replied indignantly.

  “He even said he'd be Apprentice Sorcerer, 'for the greater good.' ”

  “Fibbing little runt!” Spying Eagle said, laughing. “The Infinite will put snakes in your bed, Little Lord. Teach you a lesson, for your greater good.”

  Guarding Bear laughed, liking their sense of play. “Being a child must be fun, eh Lord Eagle?”

  “Indeed, Lord General. We should always be able to bring out the child in ourselves. When appropriate, of course.”

  “Of course. Lord Hand, how long will the bandits sleep?”

  “I don't know.” Healing Hand spread his palms beside his shoulders in an elaborate shrug.

  “You implanted them. Why don't you know?” Guarding Bear asked.

  “Uh, I didn't implant them, Lord Bear. I converted their…” He looked at Spying Eagle, querying him. “I converted their serotonin into melatonin, and put them to sleep that way. It's easy to do. At my mother's clinic, I'd have fun with the patients. They'd be on the table, talking nervously, waiting for my mother to start. Then: Thump! They'd turn off like a lamp. When Mother was done, I'd change it back and they'd wake up and start talking right where they left off. After a moment or two, they'd ask when she was going to start. We'd both laugh and go find the next patient. I've never just left them like that, so I don't know.”

  Guarding Bear chuckled, wondering how long the bandits would sleep. “Well, I won't lose any sleep over it, so don't worry.”

  Walking southward, the three of them shared a
laugh, as if they'd always been friends—and always would be.

  Chapter 25

  After bestowal, newborns are highly receptive to all frequencies of energy. Between five and seven years old, an infant's prefrontal lobes develop neural assemblies called source lattices, which enable them to emit psychic energy. From birth to source-lattice development, a child has few psychic defenses other than the milieu the parents provide. During these years, a high degree of socialization occurs. Furthermore, any trauma has a severe impact upon the child's emotional, intellectual, and spiritual development. These years are the most formative of our entire lives.—Motherhood: Nature and Nurture.

  * * *

  Peering through the hole, Lurking Hawk cursed the wet nurses again. Why can't they leave the Arrow Twins alone? What will I do if they never leave the room? The Northern Wizard didn't know. I won't get another chance to do this! he thought. Lurking Hawk was so close to his revenge that he could taste it.

  In the bedroom of his suite in Emparia Castle lay a guard, his throat slit. When the guard's relief appeared an hour hence, Lurking Hawk had to be done with this task.

  He made a face at the sour taste in his mouth. Vengeance means doing distasteful things, he thought. All men were vulnerable at some time, and most were vulnerable at that time.

  An hour ago, waking, Lurking Hawk had smiled at the guard watching him sleep. He'd offered to pleasure the man. While doing so, Lurking Hawk had filched the guard's knife. At that moment, he'd used it. I wonder if the guard enjoyed his final moment, Lurking Hawk thought, smiling despite the taste.

  Beyond the hole, the wet nurses tidied the nursery.

  While blood drained from the body, Lurking Hawk had slipped from the room through the panel behind the bed, entering the secret passageways. For a short eternity, he'd traversed the dank, cramped corridors, the dark, narrow stairwells. He'd thought he'd gotten lost at one point, and almost panicked. At that moment, he'd heard a baby's cry.