by Sharon Green
"I know that and I'll remember it," I said with a smile of my own, committing to nothing but remembering. The ‘must’ of my problem was clear enough to me, and I didn't really want it any other way.
The large kitchen had had a table for eating at in it, but Indris had apparently decided her company deserved to eat in her dining hall. The room was tiny compared to my father's, of course, but for a house that size, bigger than what was usually found in a village, it was more than adequate. The board, of a size to fit the room, was being used double-sided, with chairs at each end and one in the middle of each of the long sides. Indris seemed to be adding the very last of the dishes as her father and I walked in, leaving Kylin to come up to us alone. He was now dressed in dark gray trousers and a tan shirt, both of homespun that had seen better days, but there were no ruffles or fancy folds that his brown boots had to work to overcome. With the new outfit even his red swordbelt looked less ridiculous, and his silvered hilt didn't look ridiculous at all.
"I think these last couple of days have spoiled me," he said with a smile, looking down at me with eyes brightened by lamplight. ''I've spent these few hours we've been apart missing you, and I’m glad you're here now, especially in that dress. It really suits you."
"Not as well as leathers do," I answered, looking away from him and making sure he didn't take my hand the way he was trying to do. ''As soon as I get home, I'll be changing back.''
''No sense in standing around, so let's sit down,'' Veslin said into the following silence, saving me from any more of what I'd just had to listen to. I hated it when my enemy spoke that way, making me feel strange and stupid, distracting me from I what I knew I had to do. Reacting to nonsense like that made me mad, which was a benefit any way you looked at it. When it comes to playing games with an enemy, mad is a thousand times better than stupid.
''Sofaltis, you sit here,'' Indris said from the chair in the middle of the near side of the board, watching calmly as we came toward her and pretending she hadn't heard anything of the recent exchange. ''Kylin, the place opposite Sofaltis is yours, and father, yours is where it always is. Let's get to this food before it goes cold and tasteless.''
Veslin walked around to the right of my place to hold Indris's chair while she sat, and I had to endure the same from a man who was working hard not to be discouraged. Kylin ignored the fact that I was ignoring him and his efforts, and in another minute or so everyone was seated. Veslin poured the wine while Indris started the food passing around, and happily the cooking was more than good enough to take my mind off everything else.
Our host and hostess carried most of the conversation during the meal, and after a short while it wasn't difficult to see that they had decided to "help out" just a little. One or the other would ask Kylin a question, listen to his answer, and then try coaxing me into joining the discussion. The object of their solicitude did his own part in the effort, but I'd decided that vast disinterest in everything discussed was the most useful attitude I could have. Combined with distraction, it worked out very well.
". . . and I can't understand what Prince Traffis expects to gain from starting that war," Indris said at one point, taking up a remark made by Veslin. "Even if he happens to defeat the king, no one will accept him as legitimate ruler. He'll have every noble and peasant against him, every hand that can hold a weapon. Without a single tie to any of the noble families and without a single friend, ending the first war will win him nothing but the start of a second."
"Only as long as he doesn’t have any of those friends you just mentioned," Kylin said, continuing with his food even as he spoke. "If it turns out that he does have unexpected backing, there might not be enough people willing to start a second all-out war. The kingdom will be occupied by his foreign troops, we'll have looting and rape and all kinds of brutalities to cope with, too many people will decide to change sides just to save their worthless necks, and no one will know who can be trusted. At that point, whatever officials are left just might decide to salvage what they can by acknowledging Traffis and asking him to curb his followers. Once something like that starts it's usually impossible to stop, and when the final dust clears Traffis will have the entire kingdom."
''With only scattered pockets of resistance for his troops to handle whenever they please," Indris said with a nod, disgust in her tone. "Yes, I know it can happen that way just as it has in other places at other times, so we'll have to hope Traffis does prove to be all alone. What do you think, Sofaltis?"
''My Company didn't find his troops all that hard to handle," I said with a shrug, paying more attention to my wine than to what I was saying. "When I get back to the north, I'll make a special effort to see that there are a lot fewer of them left to do any looting and raping afterward. If there is that sort of an afterward."
There was something of a silence after that, one I pretended I didn't notice, and then the man sitting across from me made a sound showing the annoyance he'd been holding in for most of the meal.
"Tisah, I really am getting tired of repeating myself," Kylin said, the annoyance sharp in his voice. ''We've been over this and over it, but you still refuse to accept it like an adult. You won't be going back north to your Company, you'll be staying in the south and getting married. To me. Whether you admit it or not, that's the way it will be."
''What has the marriage got to do with anything?'' I asked, leaning forward to look over the selection of small cakes standing on the table not far from me. ''I may not have any choice about going through with it, but it's come to me that that makes no real difference at all. If I have to go through with the marriage I will, and then I'll just go back to my Company. That way no one can throw any fits.''
Having mentioned fits, I couldn't help noticing that the man who was so anxious to marry me was about to have one of his own. His skin darkened as his fist closed tight around the copper goblet he held, and his words broke through the change of subject Indris had been hastily trying to make.
"The hell you’ll be going back to your Company after the wedding,'' he growled, his light eyes darkening even as he stared at me. "I don't believe in absentee wives, especially not when it’s a war they plan on being absent seeing to. You'll stay with your husband, just the way a wife is supposed to."
''Says who?" I countered, laughing at him over the rim of my cup. ''If I'm not mistaken, the Law has nothing at all to say on the point so that means I can do as I please. Anyone trying to stop me will have only one way of doing it, and I think we all know how that anyone feels about the one way. I'm a Blade and I intend acting like one - any time I feel like it."
"The Law doesn't have to say anything about what a wife does," he countered, his left hand closed around the smaller bandage that now replaced the one I’d put on him the day before. "All wives do the same, which is what she and her husband decide she'll do. If you expect me to decide to let you ride off wherever you please, you’ll find the fault in your reasoning when all that wine you’ve been swallowing wears off."
"It takes a lot more wine than this to get me drunk," I said, still purposely finding the conversation extremely amusing. "I know because I’ve been drunk, just as I've been a lot of other things Blades tend to be. If the Law says I have to marry you then I will, but after that the choice is mine. You won't have any trouble making the proper excuses, will you?"
The small, half-hidden smile I gave him added fuel to the fire just the way I expected it to, already digging away at the attraction he felt for the helpless little female he was so concerned about. If I killed the attraction and concern together I knew I’d have what I wanted and needed, but I had to be sure not to notice the hurt and confusion shadowed behind his annoyance and irritation. He was nothing but an enemy, and enemies deserved to be hurt and confused.
"I think it's time I showed our guests my study," Veslin said to Indris before my bristling antagonist could decide on what to argue about next, rising from his chair with his wine cup still in his hand. "You’ll rejoin us later, of co
urse."
"Certainly, Father, as soon as I’m through with what needs taking care of," Indris answered with pleasantness and a nod, also rising from her chair. "No, no, Sofaltis, I won’t hear of your helping me, especially since I know how much you’ll enjoy seeing my father’s study. You go along with the others, and I'll join you all later when I'm ready."
I hadn't wanted to go anywhere the argument would be able to continue, but the single delaying tactic I’d found it possible to think of had been shot down like a solitary, low-flying bird. It was either be rude to my hosts by simply walking out of the room and ignoring where they wanted me to go, or staying with it and bracing against the time I’d need to launch another attack. From Kylin’s expression I knew beyond doubt that we would be into it again sooner or later, but I also knew that no matter how distasteful I found the situation, I had to stay with it. Walking away would probably ruin everything I'd done until now, and I had even less stomach for starting over.
"Well, if you're sure you don't need the help," I said to Indris, then turned to Veslin with a smile as I got to my feet. "I think my curiosity is aroused. Is your study the place this house's weapons are kept? I couldn't help noticing that for an armorer’s house that a priest of Evon now lives in, there isn't much in the way of steel showing."
"My daughter and I have our personal weapons, but we've lost the habit of wearing them,'' Veslin answered, putting a hand out to me before beginning to lead the way out of the room. ''Aside from that, whatever Javin completed before he died has long since been sold. Indris and I both felt that to keep his final efforts as some sort of tribute to his memory would have been not only unnecessary, but totally against that very same memory. No one who knew Javin will ever forget him, most especially not the woman who loved him and whom he loved, and his work was meant to be used, not hung on a wall somewhere like things that have no other, more important purpose. His weapons will save lives that inferior weapons would have lost, and that's the only tribute to his memory he would have wanted.''
As I followed Veslin toward the back of the house I nodded in agreement with what he'd said, but couldn't help feeling a good deal of disappointment. If I wanted to solve my problem of being unarmed, it looked like rifling the rooms of my hosts was the only way I was going to do it.
We walked through a narrow hall that was lit only by a small lamp at its far end, the dimness making it seem that the hall dead-ended at the lamp without giving access to anything other than that lamp and the wall it hung on. We were nearly at the end and I was about to say something, when Veslin moved to the left and opened a door I hadn't been able to see sooner. Once I was on top of the door I could see it easily enough, and then I forgot everything else in favor of what it opened on.
''This is my study," Veslin announced unnecessarily, stepping completely aside so as not to block sight of any part of the room. It wasn't very large, but as I moved through the doorway I could see that almost every inch of wall space was taken up by shields, shields of every size and description, of every color of every House, of countries I recognized and those I didn't. The floor was polished wood and black leather chairs stood around with an occasional table or two, but nothing else was in the way to distract someone from all those beautiful shields. I turned in a slow circle, trying to take it in all at once, and then Kylin mentioned the point I'd noticed almost immediately.
"They're all broken,'' he said, turning slowly the way I was doing, just as captured as I was. ''They must all have come from different battlefields. How many of their owners lived through whatever broke their shields?"
"Unfortunately, not many,'' Veslin answered, his voice sounding sad. ''In some countries no gentleman enters battle without a shield showing his device, and after a while, when his reputation has begun to grow, that brings him those who will search out known Fighters in a battle. The more well-known his device, the greater the number who will seek him, and after a certain amount of time the numbers have to go against even the best."
''I've heard of the custom," I said, looking at one long shield that had obviously taken a lance or spear in its center. The device was a wild cat of some sort, golden on a bar of red, but the weapon that had entered it had obliterated the head and face of the cat. "I've never considered it a very smart custom, not when the boast of who you are can quickly make it become who you were."
"Even the most cautious Fighter tends to suffer from the same blind spot," Veslin said with a sadness-banishing chuckle. ''If you're a Blade, then I have gold to wager on the fact that you wore your Company's medallion right out where everyone could see it, especially if you happen to be a member of a Fist. Do you need to be told that the stone indicating a Fist draws as many challengers as almost any device you might see here?"
''No," I admitted with a chuckle of my own, glancing around to share the amusement showing in his light, piercing eyes. ''I am a member of a Fist, so I'd be a fool to take your bet. The ones who were almost sure they could take one of us went after Jak or Foist or Ham, while the ones who were utterly convinced went after Rull. I usually got the ones who were a little less than almost sure, the ones who thought they were playing it safe just in case. It never occurred to them that if I couldn't handle it, someone would have proved that long before they got there."
An odd sound came from the third person in the room, and Veslin and I looked around to see that Kylin had turned his attention from the shields and was walking slowly back and forth across the floor. It was almost as if he were forcing himself to walk slowly and calmly, forcing himself to let go of very great anger, and I couldn't imagine what was wrong with him. Veslin's eyes suddenly filled with half amused compassion as he rubbed at his face with two fingers, and then he turned toward the part of the room that was to the far left of the door we'd entered by.
"Why don't you two come over here, and I'll pour us all some wine I don't share with just anyone,'' he said, moving to a large, round table surrounded by chairs. "I also have something rather special to show you, and since a story goes along with it the wine can be considered a necessity."
There were five well-stuffed black leather chairs around the table, but what was on the table did more to take one's attention than the prospect of sitting comfortably. Aside from a crystal pitcher and half a dozen crystal goblets, the table held a black leather box trimmed heavily with silver. The box wasn't quite long enough to take a decent-sized dagger, but it was about eight inches high or more, and the top of it was hinged as if it were a miniature trunk. The keyhole in its front, just below where the top of it met the body, seemed more ornate than most keyholes tend to be, leading an observer to wonder what sort of key it took to open the box.
"Now, that's what I call interesting,'' Kylin said as he joined us at the table, letting his eyes move over the box. Whatever had been bothering him a minute ago seemed to be gone now, and I couldn't help noticing that he was very close on my right. If I hadn't been alert for a move like that he might have boxed me in, but his version of tactics did nothing more than accomplish his own outflanking. When he accepted a cup of wine from Veslin and sat down in the chair right beside me, he looked up to see that I'd moved to my left before accepting a cup, and was therefore taking my own seat with an empty chair between us. He then had the choice of making himself look foolish by moving, or staying where he was. A moment of thought convinced him to stay where he was, but the lamplight reflected the darkening of his eyes.
''Yes, interesting is what I thought too when I first saw the box,'' Veslin agreed with Kylin's comment, sitting to my left with his own silver-filled goblet. The crystal of the cup let the color of the wine show through, making it sparkle and flow as though we held cupfuls of moonlight. "The box came to me a number of years ago, from the man who had done most to put an edge on my battle skills, and who had also been a priest of Evon. It had been years since I'd seen him last, and startled is too mild a word to describe what I felt when he sent for me. I hadn't even known he was in Gerfid, the town near where my u
nit was fighting.''
Veslin slid forward in his chair and reached to the box, using one finger to gently flip open its lid. The inside of the box was lined with black velvet, and when I also leaned forward just a little I could see the pure, shining silver of what lay on the velvet. For an instant it flamed so bright I could make out nothing but the fact of silver, and then the glow settled down to separate into - two silver bracers!
"But they're not a pair," I said, feeling even as I said the words that the protest was incorrect. It somehow seemed that the two bracers, mismatched in size though they were, belonged not simply together but almost in the same volume of air. If they had both been the same size, I think I would have looked for the mirror reflecting the image of a single creation.
"They may not be a pair, but they have an interesting story behind them," Veslin said, now sitting back and sipping at his wine. ''They were the reason my friend had sent for me, knowing as he did that he was dying. Go ahead, the two of you. I don't mind if you try them.''
It came to me then that Kylin was also leaning forward in his chair, as taken by the sight of the bracers as I was. I didn't know about him, but it had been all I could do to keep my hand from reaching out to the glowing beauty of what the box contained, as though I were a small child entranced by the glory of a flower or butterfly. I put down the goblet of my untasted wine and wiped my palms on the skirt of my dress, knowing I ought to be assuring Veslin that I didn't have to touch something that beautiful to appreciate it. I knew I should refuse that outrageous a liberty even though it was so freely offered, but I found that I couldn't. I licked dry lips and tried to make the words come out, but simply couldn't. I had to touch that silver glory, I simply had to.
