Clearing the Web

by Cary J Lenehan

  When she ushered the little mage back into their main room Astrid closed the door behind her, leaving the two of them alone on the balcony. She looked at the young woman beside her who was looking curiously back at her. Now how do I do this…delicately? “Do you like that view?”

  “It is marvellous,” replied Fãtima. She is wondering where this is leading. “It is so alive, so different. All I can remember really are vague memories of a poor life before I was taken, and then, of course, the village and until recently those were not good memories to have. All of this, what you see…” she waved a hand to what was spread out below “…it is, well, indescribable. It is beyond anything I imagined.”

  Good start. “You remember what you asked me for when we talked about husbands.” Fãtima bows her head slightly. There is a hint of blush in her skin.

  “Yes,” she said in a low voice.

  “Do you still want that?”

  “I do. I could accept anyone who will keep me safe, and yet give me what I want. I don’t know how that will happen, but I know that this is what I want. I dreamt of being free once and did not know how that would happen, and yet it did. You and your people have made me expect to have my dreams to come true.”

  “Anyone?”

  “Anyone. I want children of course,” she waved dismissively, “but, and I know it is wrong, but I need more. I want to be satisfied, to have release and in my own way to be fully happy.”

  Astrid came over and hugged her before standing back, and now waved her hand at the view that she had been admiring earlier. “Then how would you like to be Empress of all of this?”

  She then had to explain what she meant and what the potential groom looked and sounded like, and assured the girl that the offer was genuine and reassured her that she would still be from Mousehole and would not be abandoned, and that she would be their Ambassador in Ardlark. I am not mentioning the fostering. Her new husband will have to talk to his wife about that himself.

  Fãtima thought for a few moments. “Do you think that he will give me everything that I want and still be kind?”

  I have been thinking about that exact question, and its many ramifications, spoken and unspoken, as I returned here. “All of the time that you are with him he sees right inside you somehow and you will never, ever, have a single secret that you can keep from him. Having said that, I do think that, because he can do that, he, whatever he is, may be the only creature who will ever be wholly able to be what you want in a man.”

  Fãtima nodded. “Then I say yes wholeheartedly.”

  “Excellent. Now please allow me to tell everyone. If you look back through the windows, you will see that they are all gathered and watching us and have no idea what this is all about.” They turned around and Astrid waved through the glass as she smiled at them.

  The room behind us, through the impossibly large glass doors, is full of people and all of them are watching us on the balcony. Even the servants passing through have somehow realised that something important is happening, and are trying to find out what it is by lingering at the edges of the gathering, or pretending to carry cushions or sheets from one place to another. Astrid threw the doors open and, taking Fãtima by the hand, stepped inside.

  “Mousehole will need a new spinner and weaver. Please allow me to introduce to you Fãtima bint al-Fa’r, daughter of the Mouse, Empress-in-waiting of Darkreach, and betrothed bride to be of Hrothnog. She will also be the Ambassador of Mousehole to the Empire.”

  There is a servant who, despite all of her training, is simply standing there with her mouth open with an armful of sheets that are about to fall out of her arms. She will do.

  “Be a good girl and run and let the Emperor know that he has a wedding to arrange and a bride to meet.” Astrid gave her a push. She turned to the Princesses: “I hope that we have a necklace with us, or else one of us will have to go back and get one. Princess, come and greet your new step-grandmother.”

  Astrid

  5th November

  The wedding was set for three weeks’ time. Apparently, there were certain guests who had to come, and even though, according to Basil, a courier could get to all the places of the Empire very quickly, even if he would not say how, the guests still had to get back to Ardlark. In the meantime, the Mice enjoyed themselves in Ardlark.

  Basil’s family is delighted to see him, and even more happy to discover that he is now a senior officer, married, and a father. While they were happy with that news, they are even more delighted to discover that the family has an invitation to attend the Emperor’s wedding.

  Astrid even pressed money on Loukia, her sister in law, so that they would not be embarrassed in terms of clothing, and then had fun with her going to spend the money. Basil is right. I fit in with his family and his one sister who is currently in Ardlark, Olympias, who is in the Navy, does have a sense of humour just like mine. Some of the better dressmakers in Ardlark will take a while to recover from some aspects of this wedding.

  Ayesha

  My first visit has to be to the Mosque. First, she went just as a worshipper. I admit that I am shocked. Sometimes the women here wear veils and sometimes they do not. At least they all cover their heads when going to mosque. It was only after that first exploration that she nervously introduced herself to the Imam at the main mosque.

  He knows about the Imperial wedding, but has not yet received the notification that he will be performing it. Astrid has not gotten around to that bit. After that news, anything else I tell him is strictly secondary. I thought that me being a ghazi, and also leading prayer would shock him as much as it would shock the Mullahs at home. I am wrong. He dismissed that with a wave of the hand as being totally unimportant.

  “In Darkreach, anyone can be in the military and for many poor women it is seen as a good way to get away from small villages, and to find a good husband,” the Imam, Iyãd ibn Walĩd, said. “If they are stationed somewhere away from a mosque, it is far better that a woman leads the prayer than that they not pray. Is that not the case in the Caliphate?” I have shocked him with my answer, but he has his mind firmly on more important matters and will not be distracted. “Now, back to the wedding…”

  At least I have got out of him a commitment to find some good potential husbands who are men of good character, devout and hard working. I just remembered that Astrid said that shearers, spinners and weavers are especially needed. The Imam thought a bit about that and said that he would send a letter to the Imam at Brinkhold.

  “They make a lot of cloth there, but the town is…well, many want to leave there. For many the army is an option, but surely those who wish to stay in the trade that Allah, the Wise, has given them to do, would be best served staying in that trade if they can. I am sure we will find you some men.” A thought has struck him. “What if we find women or girls, orphans perhaps? This trader Carausius, he is reliable and will get them there safely?”

  Ayesha sighed in resignation. I know where he is going with that thought. “Only send women or girls if they are useful. We do not want women who are useless, but if the girl is bright and has skills and is, preferably, pretty so that she does not feel left out, it is far better to send her to us than to let her find…another way to survive or to stay in that way.”

  The Imam took my meaning immediately and smiles. I can see that he is looking forward to culling the ranks of women of fallen virtue and giving those who deserve and want it a worthy life again. Allah is indeed Merciful.

  Theodora

  6th November

  I have to negotiate my way around my family. Unlike Astrid, who comes back, most nights, full of tales of laughter and chaos, I am finding that introducing Rani, explaining her status, why I left, and why I now will be living outside Darkreach is hard work and no fun at all.

  More than ever, I know that living with my large supply of relations, all of whom have more concern for bloo
dy protocol and status than anything else, is like trying to live under a pile of heavy blankets with no light and very little air to breathe.

  I wish that I was already back at home with only a dragon to worry about. Even Fear has some problems, although she may be too young to understand some of them. I hope. Theodora soon discovered that some of the family objected to Fear’s adoption into the Imperial family.

  Fear

  Except for some excursions, I have to spend my time at the school for the Palace. I miss Ruth and I miss all of my cousins. This is much more boring, even though mummy Theodora tells me it is important, and that I have to be a good girl, or I will not be going to the wedding. I am not sure if the wedding is worth it.

  Even worse than being just boring, all of these children with golden eyes, eyes that are just like my mother’s eyes, are not nice. They don’t believe my stories when they ask me about myself and where I came from. They treat me as if I am somehow less than them. Some of the teachers are just as bad.

  That changed when Theodora found her crying one afternoon in her room, and after comforting her, went storming out. One of the teachers is not there today, and two of the worst of the children now look at me as if they are scared of me.

  That is even more the case now that Ayesha has returned to giving me some of the training that she had been giving to all of the young girls back in Mousehole. I was not wearing my blades, now Ayesha says that I have to wear them everywhere—even in class—regardless of what the teachers might think.

  It got even better after Ayesha and Basil took me to the markets and bought me some beautiful matched blades of my own, enhanced ones with swirling patterns in the blades just like Basil’s, not just ones that are left over from the bandits.

  My cousins at home will be envious. Although everyone here has a belt knife, none of the other children in the school carry any real weapons, or even know what to do with them yet. I think that is silly. What would you do if someone attacked you by surprise and you were not armed?

  Rani

  8th November

  It is interesting here. In some ways it is as stultifying as living under, what I now realise, are the restrictions of caste. In others, it is freer. Ardlark is so much bigger and provides more scope than Pavitra Phāṭaka in so many ways.

  She made a visit to the University, to discover that here Magic was just one of the faculties in a much larger institution. What is more, anyone can attend University if they can afford it, and if you pass the exams to get there and are too poor to afford to go, the Empire even grants a stipend to the students so that they can attend. The students on the stipend have to live in barracks and live there under rules, but in Darkreach people are used to that. In return for being taught, they have to serve the Empire for at least ten years upon graduating.

  This means that a goodly supply of physicians, teachers, mages and other professionals end up in even the smallest villages of the Empire. I wish Haven would do that. I know now that too many of the people, particularly the poor ones, in the outlying villages die when they need not, and live lives that are poorer than they should be.

  She even went along to see a school where students from several races were taught. And taught by a tiny teacher who, and I have to smile at this, despite being obviously more than half Kharl, reminds me so very much of Ruth.

  Aziz

  We are having a very enjoyable time. There are whole areas of the city where the soldiers exercise and practice and drink. Verily and I have found them all. I am a Hob, and yet no-one cares about our race, and we take the babies along and they usually end up being cared for by some of the locals, who are fascinated by us very strange strangers with Imperial cachet.

  Theodora

  Eventually, I get to visit the Grey Doe. I have decided not to be Salimah al Sabah, but myself. Astrid has scouted the location for her husband. I have to take her and Ayesha with me inside. We arrive and leave Basil with the saddles, in the street in front of the inn.

  Everyone now knows, or at least thinks they know, who rides the saddles and who lead the party. According to Astrid the city is awash with rumour and information, so that even my entry into the main room causes a sensation. Astrid, with her spear does not help. Maryam bint Suliman has come out into the common room, wiping her hands and full of consternation.

  She is dragged out by the hand by an excited Saidah. “I told you, I told you,” she is crying out. “You didn’t believe me. See, it is Salimah, who is really the Princess.”

  Theodora held out her hands towards the innkeeper. She is now bowing down, as are the rest of the room. “Stop that and stand up. I came here to thank you for looking after me and sheltering me when I needed it. You were the people who started me on my journey and I would not have been able to leave the Empire without your help. I owe you and the people here a huge debt of gratitude that I can never repay.” I think that she is very nervous being thanked by an Imperial Princess.

  Only a few of the people staying in the inn had been there when Salimah had stayed there, but Theodora made sure that she talked to all of them, and even to all of the servants, giving all of the latter little presents that Ayesha had already bought for the purpose.

  Astrid has left Ayesha to look suspiciously around the room. She put aside her spear, and took Saidah in hand to hear her side of the story, so as to give me time and space for my conversations. Eventually, I can get to her to thank her as well. “I now have an adopted daughter who is nearly your age. Would you like to come to the Palace and meet her?”

  Fear

  9th November

  So, it was agreed, and I have gained a companion in Ardlark who accepts me as just another girl, although one who has had a very different life. Fear even disappeared once with Saidah, disappeared that is to all except their silent and unseen companions of the Antikataskopeía who shadowed them.

  We simply went to the docks and looked at the ships tied up there and ate some sweets as we sat on a seat by the wharf. It was all very exciting and well worth being scolded for by my mummies when I got home. I was safe. I had my knives, and Ayesha said that she was proud of how well I snuck out.

  Christopher

  After introducing himself and Bianca to the Metropolitan of Ardlark, Tarasios Garidos, Father Christopher handed over the missive from Metropolitan Basil, and they settled down to a long talk. I really should have noticed when Bianca went back to the palace to change and to find the other Khitan. She left a message for me with a servant.

  Christopher ended up dividing his time between searching for artefacts of the Masters and giving some guest lectures at the University in Theology.

  Here it seems that a priest is taught in a school as well as in a church. I have to admit surprise, although it does make sense, to discover that, although they have their own separate instruction in their own faiths, my students include not only Orthodox students, but also Muslims and Druids from among the Kharl, as many classes, such as rhetoric and law, are shared between them.

  Bianca

  We Khitan are spending a lot of time at the Hippodrome. We can watch races, we can take part in races, and we talk horses with the breeders. Apart from the local heavy horses for the kataphractoi, ours are generally better, but it is hard to resist buying a few for breeding. We may be the first to contact Carausius to bring goods back to the valley for us, but I guarantee that we are not the last.

  The saddles cause a sensation, and there is great disappointment when we show that we are the only ones who can ride them. My stupid brother ends up having to be healed after one incident of showing off his skill. He failed to take the bend sharply enough at one end of the hippodrome. We were very hard on him when he regained consciousness, although admittedly mainly because he could have irreparably damaged the saddle.

  Astrid

  I am going to shake this city up, being in charge of the bride’s side for t
he wedding. Our trader and his wife are coming to the event as well. “He was named in the Treaty. That makes him important enough to be there.”

  I thought that Carausius was more than happy with the new profits he was making. Apparently, being both a simple merchant’s wife and yet also going to the Imperial marriage is something beyond his wife’s ken, and all of her friends are agog at the news.

  Valeria

  Valeria ended up at school. Once this Thamar woman, the head domestic for this part of the palace, discovered that in Mousehole I am the servant for the Princesses, it seems that I am marked for some intensive training, and not for a holiday after all. Luckily, this learning about makeup and hair and clothes is actually my idea of fun, and the fact that some of the servants liked to party and dance after work does not hurt either.

  I hardly ever get to my room, except sometimes to sleep. It is also lucky that there are thousands of Palace servants to care for Fear and the Princesses. I’m not needed to actually do any real work. I just get to play with hair and makeup and clothes every day and dance all night. This is the best trip ever.

  Bilqis

  I will end up alternating between the mages at the University, and two crafts workers that I have located; a glassblower and a carpet maker. My lack of full literacy is actually a big problem for me and I resolve to pay even more attention to Ruth when I get home. The University are having difficulty placing me as a mage. I am going to stop going there.

  The Princesses are generally far better teachers than the ones here. These are so conservative in their views on what magic can do and how to apply it. Do not over extend yourself, do not take risks. Life is about risks.

  At least I have more time to practice with my trade masters. I want to mix magic and glass and carpets, and create things that glow, one way or another. I am hardly in my rooms, and often smell a little singed when I get there, but I am glad of the servants who can fix holes and get me new clothes. I am exhausted.