by C. R. Daems
"Courage—"
"Yes, courage. To follow orders that repulse you. Trust me, Lieutenant, if the duke had been here, those would have been his orders, and you might have had to carry them out. Just as you will carry out my orders, although you think them wrong." She had stopped walking and held eye contact until he bowed acceptance.
"Yes, Lady Shelly. What do I tell the men?"
"That she was following orders. Nothing else."
"They may think it was your orders," he said, looking pale.
"It doesn't matter," she said quietly, her eyes misty in the moonlight. It did matter, which made the sacrifice even more courageous. If she lived through our pilgrimage to Kariso, she would make a wise leader someday. When Eaton walked off, head down in thought, I spoke.
"I'm sorry, Shelly."
She laughed softly. "Like being a slave, another learning opportunity. And like then, I expect you to save me from any lessons I'm not ready for."
* * *
Shelly decided to return to the castle with the bodies to let the earl know it had been mercenaries rather than Indians and to get the wounded soldiers treated. She was also concerned that a certain young baron, who was one of the cousins in line to inherit, had been encouraging the earl to take a party into the Vulture Mountains after the Indians. An expedition that could get the earl killed.
"So it was mercenaries and not Indians. The survivors always seemed so sure it was Indians," the earl said and took a sip of wine. "I understand you had the survivors killed." He gave Shelly a hard look.
"Isn't that what we do with robbers and murderers, My Lord? They killed two of my soldiers and wounded several others. They showed us no mercy, attacking in the dead of night."
"Quite right, Lady Shelly. You had a right to be upset and to demand swift justice. You think you got them all?"
"None got away, My Lord. I would imagine a search of the area would turn up their camp."
"Well, Zara, you saved the tribes, for now." His smile was a partial sneer. There was no response that wouldn't get me in trouble or that would convince him he was wrong. Shelly must have concluded the same as she rose.
"If you will excuse me, Earl Pelote. I'm afraid I'm more exhausted than I thought."
"Yes of course, my dear. A terrible experience for one so young." He smiled knowingly. And like the many things he knew, he was mistaken. She had grown tired of his many dogged misconceptions and used the frail woman act to leave.
* * *
We left five days later, when the wounded appeared fit to travel. The lieutenant stopped early each day with Shelly's encouragement to give the wounded men more time to recover. The ire directed at Shelly had all but disappeared as the days passed, because of her obvious concern for the troops and their wellbeing. Each night I spent some time alone with Shelly, practicing with her knife. The sheath I had made for her knife strapped to her calf, which was covered by her ankle-length skirts, and during the days on the trail strapped to her thigh and hidden by her riding pants, which were wide like a skirt but tight at the ankles. The exercises were twofold: when and how to get the knife from its hiding place and where to stick it.
"My advice, Shelly: never draw it unless you are willing to kill with it. Otherwise, there is a good chance it will be taken away from you and used against you," I said after several nights of practice.
"I imagine the places you have been teaching me to stick it aren't the kind my opponent would survive. Do you really think I'll need to ... kill someone?"
"I hope not, Shelly. Taking another's life is not an easy thing, even to survive or for duty. I hope your position and sharp intellect will always be enough, but in case they aren’t, you will have a choice."
"Yes, one always has a choice, even when neither option is good."
CHAPTER TEN
AYUS: Earl Varesko
Four days later, we reached the town of Ayus. Although the town was on the coast, the shoreline at Ayus was rocky and unsuitable for boats, so cargo was loaded and unloaded in a quiet cove several leagues north and transported to and from the town by wagons. The original city walls no longer accommodated the current residents, which had spread well beyond the walls, so the city gates remained permanently open to traffic. Inside the walls, the homes were well maintained and the shops and craftsmen predominately catered to the wealthy. The castle was located at the far end of the city and sat on a small hill. A small party met us at the castle gate.
"Welcome, Lady Shelly. I'm Minister Neiland. Earl Varesko sends greetings and would like to speak with you after you have had a chance to get settled. I've made arrangements for you and your ladies in the castle, and Lieutenant Garret will take care of your escort. If you will follow me." He waved toward the four-story building in the center of the courtyard.
"Thank you, Minister Neiland. It will be nice to be able to wash and sleep in a bed again. A day on a horse is invigorating; eight is torture," Shelly said. I marveled at her ability to switch back and forth from young and inexperienced, to pampered noble, to no nonsense noble in charge as the occasion warranted.
The rooms Shelly was given here were bigger than the ones at Salman, and I chose to stay with her, reinforcing the idea of me being a chaperone. A young girl, Lisa, came a couple of hours later to inform Shelly that the earl was free to see her an hour before dinner, and she came back at that time.
"Lord Varesko," Shelly curtsied as we entered; I gave a small head bow. "Thank you for looking after me and my companions."
"Anything you need, Shelly. It's hard to believe you're the same little girl I last saw just three years ago. I was devastated to hear Indians kidnapped you. I can't believe your uncle was so careless."
"It was Phillip's fault. He was raised to believe he was special and that he made the rules. He died determined to teach the Indians he was special." Shelly wiped her eyes dry.
"Like your uncle," Varesko said quietly. "Is your companion the one who freed you?" he asked, turning his full attention on me.
"Yes. Earl Varesko, this is Zara."
"Zara, I understand you did it alone."
"The Indians are hunters, so if they can't steal it, they trade for what they need. A slave is useful but has a value, like most things they own. Lady Shelly was worth less than a mule and fifteen long swords," I said. The Earl frowned then smiled then laughed.
"If they knew she was royalty, they would have gotten ten times that."
"A slave is a slave. Royalty can't work any harder than a farmer's daughter. I didn't bargain for Lady Shelly, just my pick of the girl slaves."
"You seem to have a keen understanding of the Indians' thinking. I'm surprised you managed to get away after you delivered the mule and swords."
"They had similar concerns. Men are men."
"Yes. No one trusts anyone, and with good cause."
Shelly took that as an opportunity to change the topic and told the earl of our encounter with the mercenaries. We were the last to arrive for dinner, which had more than fifty people in attendance. Afterward, a juggler, a pair of acrobats, and a fool entertained us. Melisa had been right. The nobility did little work and spent most of their time being waited on or entertained. Maybe the Indians had the right of it: a person's real worth was what you could trade him or her for.
* * *
We left three days later, with two additional soldiers the earl had provided to bring the military detail back up to strength. He claimed they knew the land south of Ayus, which might prove useful. The soldiers had changed into typical hired-guard clothing, as the dukes of the various regions didn't like foreign troops wandering their lands. They turned a blind eye to guards for caravans carrying nobles.
We reached the Black River just after noon. A sturdy wooden bridge spanned the turbulent waters at its narrowest point—some fifty paces wide. Duke Wetzel's Black and Silver standard flew on our side, and the Purple and Silver of Duke Dewan flew on the other. Four independent dukes who had been at peace for over fifty years ruled Aesona.
However, if the Sirens took control, that would soon change.
According to Eaton, he didn't expect any trouble on the way to Munda. Our party was too large for local bandits, and no mountains stood between here and there, therefore, no Indians. True to his logic, we encountered no problems on our five-day trip to Munda. The morning of our fifth day, we encountered a Munda patrol of ten men flying Earl Alleaki's colors: Purple and Maroon. A young-looking lieutenant raised his hand, stopping his formation twenty paces short of us.
"What is your purpose on Earl Alleaki's land?" he said in a commanding voice, which matched his scowl and ramrod posture.
"We are escorting Lady Shelly on our way to Earl Alleaki's castle," Eaton said as he moved to the front of the caravan with Shelly and me following.
The young lieutenant's face softened, and he rode forward. "Welcome, Lady Shelly. The earl was told to expect you several days ago. He has been concerned and told patrols to watch for you."
"Regrettably, we were delayed leaving Salman, and it put us behind schedule. But all is well," Shelly said, dismissing the delay as trivial and none of his business at the same time.
"The earl will be pleased to hear that. We will accompany you to the castle to make sure all remains well." He gave a bow then rode back to his troop and sent a rider off at a gallop to notify the earl. His troop moved to the rear of the caravan, but the lieutenant moved to the front to ride with Shelly, ignoring me after an appraising look. Shelly used the opportunity to quiz the young man on castle Munda. I suspect he would have told her anything she asked, judging from the mesmerized look on his face. By the time we arrived at the castle gate, a reception group was waiting, and I would wager by then Shelly knew the latest gossip and every secret the lieutenant knew.
"Lady Shelly, I'm Minister Mackle. We're glad to see you arrive safely. We have rooms ready for you and your ladies, and the lieutenant will take care of your caravan," the minister said. He had a rotund figure, a happy looking face with a big smile, and a pleasant sounding tenor voice.
"Thank you, Minister Mackle. I feel at home already," Shelly said, handing her reins to a young boy. "And looking forward to a wash and a soft bed."
* * *
"Two men killed, I heard. Duke Wetzel was wise to send a military unit with you, Lady Shelly. Guards for hire can be unpredictable." He smiled. "We all send military troops into the other duke's territory on special occasions, like when a caravan is transporting royalty, and we pretend not to know so long as they don't wear their uniforms.
"Regrettably, they hit us at night, and we had little warning. We also had several wounded, which is the reason I was delayed."
"If you don't mind me asking, Lady Shelly, who's your companion? She doesn't look like an officer or a lady in waiting."
"She a very underpaid mercenary," Shelly said, which caused the earl to choke on his wine and my jaw to drop open. "What would you say it was worth to save a noble from the Indians' camp?"
"Forty, fifty gold," the Earl said, eyes downcast in thought.
"How about ten silvers."
"You're joking ... No, I guess you aren't." He stared at me for a long time before continuing. "A good person to have at your back. The duke is a wise man." The earl went on to ask Shelly a few questions about the Indians and her capture before breaking for dinner. The table arrangement here was in the shape of a letter "T." Sitting across from me was some kind of noble sitting next to a young woman dressed in blue and pink silks, which brazenly displayed her shapely figure. By any standard, she was beautiful, and the nobleman was smitten with her. The pair distracted me all through the meal for no reason I could grasp. But when they rose and walked arm-in-arm away, I saw a faint blue tinge around the woman's hair and made the mistake of closing my eyes and opening my mind as the Monk had taught me. The room blazed blue, and the woman was revealed as a small thin girl wearing a plain white dress.
I quickly opened my eyes and found her staring at me, or at least in my direction. I rose as if I had turned to leave and looked toward Shelly, who thankfully was already standing, talking to the earl's wife. The Monk had said those not fully trained had power, but it was limited and frequently leaked when they used it. The girl had been maintaining an illusion and occasionally leaked power that was visible to anyone trained to notice. Apparently, I must have noticed it once or twice out of the corner of my eye during the meal but too briefly to catch my full attention.
Now what? I wondered as she and the noble left the room. She appeared aware someone had breached her illusion, but she didn't show she knew it was me. And if she did, what was I supposed to do? I couldn't just kill her, nor did I want to. And if I didn't, did that alert the Sirens? I had the mother of all headaches by the time Shelly broke free and we headed for her room.
"You look pale, Zara. Don't you feel well?"
"Did you see that girl, sitting across from me?"
"The one with the noble? That was no girl. A woman extraordinary! She's every girl's dream when they grow up. Mine too!" She gave me a devilish grin.
I said nothing, since I couldn't be sure no one could hear. I waited until Musa and Sarkis had helped her to get ready for bed and left for the night.
"That was a thin waif of girl, a year or two younger than you, that the nobleman had on his arm," I said as she crawled into bed.
She frowned then smiled. "Where do I go for training?" She held up a hand. "I know it's serious, but ... All women do things to make them look better than they are naturally, but imagine what she could do to his mind with that power."
"The duke believes they belong to a secret society that one must assume has an objective. Like the group in Salman: they had some agenda, else why pretend the Indians were doing the raiding. And what is the girl's agenda here? What does she want with that noble?"
"I understand why you have a headache, because you've just given me one."
"I think she knows I know. That's why I have a headache."
"Oh. In which case you need to ... Oh." We sat in silence for a long time before Shelly finally pulled the cover over her, although I doubt she went to sleep. She wouldn't like the idea of me killing a young girl any more than I would. Besides, I couldn't kill someone in the castle without being arrested and hung. Hours later, exhausted from wrestling with a problem that had nothing but bad solutions, I fell asleep.
* * *
I was sinking into a black void: no sight, sound, or smell. I had no body, arms, legs, or tongue. Panic. I shut my eyes and sought to quiet my mind. Suddenly, the room came to life, bathed in the blue light I had come to recognize as another level where the mind ruled. The girl stood inside the door with a dagger in her hand. When she saw me, she smiled and morphed into a giant cat, finger length fangs dripping blood. Without thinking, I morphed into a giant wolf. Feeling like I had been freed from captivity, I bounded toward the cat, eager for the fight. The cat grew and changed into a giant with an axe. The wolf in me responded by tripling in size and lunging at the giant's arm that held the axe. I could taste the blood as my teeth shredded his arm and the axe fell to the floor. A dagger flashed at my neck that I avoided by clamping down hard on the giant's arm I had in my teeth. The giant screamed as I felt bone crush beneath my teeth. The giant jerked away, leaving me with skin and blood in my mouth. The giant became a knight in armor with a long glistening sword. Mistake. As Zara again, I attacked with all the skill and furiousness of a well-trained Ojaza warrior. Sparks flew off the armor as I landed blow after blow. Then a two-handed strike to her helmet knocked it off, and it flew into the air. She stood there in shock as I reversed my momentum and slashed her naked head, cutting through bone and into the brain.
My eyes blinked open to find the girl lying on the floor with a dagger, and Shelly sitting up in bed with her dagger in her hand.
"What happened, Zara? Is that the girl you told me about? You're bleeding. She almost killed you?" The questions came too fast to answer.
"Call your guard. We'll talk later," I said, feelin
g exhausted as if I had actually been in a physical fight. Shelly quickly grabbed a robe to cover her night shift and then screamed. Seconds later, a corporal opened the door, then followed Shelly's finger pointing at the girl on the floor.
"If it hadn't been for Zara, she would have killed me. Get the castle guard." Shelly sounded hysterical. The guard stood looking at the girl, probably wondering how she got past him. "Now!"
"Yes, Lady Shelly," he said as he raced out the door. Shelly's face relaxed, and I realized it was mostly an act—a damn good one. She was shook up but in control of her emotions. The next two hours were almost funny. The castle guard went on alert looking for more assassins. The earl made a brief appearance with four guards in tow. He apologized several times to Shelly for his failure to protect her and then ran off promising to have the situation resolved by morning. Lieutenant Eaton berated the guard for sleeping on the job. Feeling sorry for the guard, I suggested the girl undoubtedly had help, someone who distracted him while she slipped into the room or maybe there was a secret passage somewhere in the room. It helped to distract Eaton.
"Alright, what happened? You aren't going to sleep until I'm tired, and right now I'm a bundle of nerves," Shelly said as she sat cross-legged on her bed and glared in my direction. I pulled one of the chairs closer to the bed and sat. I would have preferred the floor, but the difference in heights would have been awkward.
"The girl was the Siren I saw at dinner. Either she used her talent to blind the guard to her presence, or she convinced the guard it was you or me entering the room—an illusion rather than manipulating his mind."
"She could do that?"
"I don't know her powers. I know the Cheyo trained are capable of that and more. The Monk believes the Sirens have talent but not nearly that of a fully trained Monk. So each individual's talent will vary. I suspect she blinded the guard to her presence, since she attacked me in a similar way."
