Paladin's Oath

by M. H. Johnson

  “What is it, my love?”

  Agda gently took one of her husband's hands in her own. "I fear it involves our daughters, my dear." Her words seemed to weigh her husband down. He immediately closed his eyes and took a deep breath, the anxiety of a father soon replaced by the measuring gaze of one used to command and the hardships of war. He could not completely hide the tremble of fear in his strong baritone voice, however.

  “Please. Tell me they are both all right?” the baron all but implored.

  “Yes, my lord. Both your daughters are in surprisingly good health, and all weapons are sheathed,” Verona assured, somewhat shaken that Agda had deduced the heart of it, but then again, what else could it be? “One who is... assisting me is assuring that things stay that way until we make our return.”

  But what did she really know of Morlekai's intentions in any case? Verona suppressed a shudder, wondering if perhaps she had made an error of sorts, trusting that all parties involved would remain safely unharmed under that man's care before her return. Really, they must hurry, she thought to herself, doing her best to dispel the anxiety from her own features.

  Agda then turned her gaze to Verona. “Tell us. What is the exact nature of this incident?” Agda’s melodic voice was clipped, direct, like an officer demanding concise, immediate details from her scout.

  Verona took a deep breath and organized her thoughts. “You are correct in your assumption, baroness. It involves your daughters. And please, be at ease. Both of them are perfectly safe,” she said, sensing her host's dread instantly transform to one of grim resolve. No doubt Jessica's parents were quite aware of their daughter's temperament, and perhaps had cause to fear just such an incident as what had so recently transpired.

  “Very well. Give us the details, as concisely as you can,” Lady Agda demanded.

  “My lady, it appears that your daughter Jessica has taken quite poorly to one Lord Kipu, perceiving the lad to be some sort of threat to your youngest, Appolonia. Jessica proceeded to... confront Kipu. Kipu had armed guardsmen about him, yet this did not deter your daughter.”

  “By the gods,” Agda vehemently cursed, shaking her head even as she glanced at Verona. “This took place near one of the groves, you had said?”

  “Some distance from the nearest apple orchard. Please, allow me to show you the exact location.”

  Lord Arthur nodded. “Very well. Let us be off.” They immediately began walking at a soldier’s fast march, and the baron caught Verona’s eyes with a commander’s gaze. “Continue your report.” Even as he said it he gave a sharp series of whistles, and Verona had no doubt that it was some type of code.

  “In any event, Lady Jessica proceeded to accuse Kipu of, well, a string of heinous deeds. The confrontation so alarmed Kipu that his squadron drew their blades.”

  “Squadron?” Lord Arthur gazed at Verona in alarmed indignation.

  Verona nodded. “Yes, my lord. I apologize, I should have been clear. Kipu had a total of four guardsmen by his side as well as your youngest, when Jessica confronted him.

  Lord Arthur snarled. “That rodent. I gave him concessions for two bladesmen. Not four!” His hot glare sent shivers down Verona’s spine.

  “Go on.” Agda’s voice was almost a reprimand.

  Verona blinked and nodded, even as the baron led them to the apple grove in question, bidding both of them to stop with a gentle shake of his head when Verona made to move forward. Verona nodded her acquiescence and continued her report. “One of the guards either prodded at Jessica with his blade or… had attempted to strike. I honestly cannot say for certain.”

  The baron closed his eyes and grimaced. “How badly is my daughter injured?”

  Verona took a deep breath. “Save for a shallow cut to her cheek, not at all.”

  The baron pinned Verona with the full force of his glare. "Tell me, Lady Verona, what exactly happened after the guards drew steel?"

  Verona took an involuntary step back, suddenly feeling like a rabbit caught in a hunter’s trap.

  "Arthur." Lady Agda gently squeezed her husband's wrist and he blinked, and Verona suddenly felt as if she could move again, even as she caught the sound of rapid footsteps approaching, a squadron of armed and armored guardsmen stopping abruptly before saluting their commander.

  “We are ready, my lord.”

  Arthur de Calenbry nodded. “Very good, Johnathan.” He gestured to Verona. “Lady Verona is about to give us a report on the present situation, with all due haste, even as we proceed, with all caution.”

  Verona nodded in understanding even as she led the slow journey back to Morlekai and the children, offhandedly reflecting that the distance seemed so much greater, as she was no longer running forth at a mad sprint. “There were four armed guardsmen, blades bared before Jessica, even as she continued to accuse Kipu of, well, a string of murders, including a noble child long thought to have run away with her beau. Jessica seems to believe that Kipu was planning on kidnapping and killing Lady Appolonia. These accusations incensed Lord Kipu. He… he ordered his guardsmen to protect him. They approached Lady Jessica with live steel. One of the guardsmen… I could not tell if he were prodding her, or thrusting.”

  “Makes no difference,” the guardsman named Johnathan snapped. “Should one of those men have aggressed a noble with live steel, his life is forfeit.”

  Verona met the man's eyes. “I do not disagree with you.”

  “We shall let her finish the report, Johnathan,” the baron gently reproved his man. “Pray continue, Lady Verona.”

  “Yes, my lord,” Verona said, immediately deferring to the Arthur Calenbry's presence and aura of command. “Once the man… aggressed with his blade, Lady Jessica took swift, brutal action. Within seconds she had disarmed him and, well, ran him through with his own blade.”

  Lady Agda blinked and shuddered, her husband holding her to his chest. Lady Verona thought she detected a note of fierce pride in the baron's features before settling to those of a neutral commander once more. “Pray continue.”

  Lady Verona nodded. “After that moment, the three remaining guardsmen charged her as one. Jessica… she maneuvered herself so only one faced her at any moment. The second guardsman stumbled back, injured from a quick exchange. Jessica seized the initiative, ran him through, engaging the third man even as the second fell. It was a furious exchange but she appeared to have the measure of her opponents. Within seconds, all four of Kipu's men had collapsed in death.”

  “'Tis what those bastards deserve, baring steel at our lady!” One of the other house guard muttered hotly.

  “Hold your tongue,” Johnathan demanded curtly. “Even if you’re right.”

  The baron kept his eyes on Verona. “So. Both of my children are unharmed?”

  Lady Verona nodded solemnly. “Yes, my lord. It just so happens that I and… Del Morlekai had been behind Lady Jessica.” She forced a deep shuddering breath. “When I began to understand the nature of what was transpiring, steel had already been drawn, and I was some distance away. And to be candid, before blood was shed, I thought Lady Jessica would retreat.”

  The Baron gazed at her coolly, before nodding. “You are unarmed, and a lady; I assume untrained in warfare. When battle erupts among those unused to it, it nearly always catches them off guard. I would say, stupidly off guard, but that would be unfair. So I will not accuse you of cowardice. Now, please be so good as to finish your report.”

  Lady Verona continued, having to suppress an odd flash of shame. “Jessica, despite the bodies fallen at her feet, and her sister’s screams for her to desist, continued to circle Lord Kipu, accusing him of numerous heinous acts involving the predation of vulnerable young women, declaring that she would not let him threaten those she loved. She challenged him to pick up his sword, yet he absolutely refused even to touch it, allowing for no claims of a trial by combat. Despite this, Jessica looked ready to disembowel him, so I acted.”

  “And how exactly was it that you acted?” Lady Agda
demanded, and Verona could feel Agda's icy blue eyes locking onto her, as if a serpent considering how best to strike.

  Lady Verona took a deep breath, realizing how precarious her situation truly was. The Calenbrys led a coterie of guardsmen well trained in the arts of death, and it was all too easy to imagine one or more of them being hit with the mad impulse to get rid of any loose ends for the sake of the clan, for all that Verona had done her best not to appear antagonistic to their interests as of yet. Verona took a deep breath, considering her words carefully. Perhaps, the blunt truth would be best. "I am an Agent of the Crown, baroness. I am sure you can fathom why I am here."

  She turned her gaze to Arthur de Calenbry, to make sure he understood as well. Were she to disappear, there would be complications not easily dealt with. It would be best for the Calenbrys to proceed cautiously before contemplating certain grim acts upon one of the king's own. And best as well if she give them some modicum of conciliation in turn. "As extreme as the circumstances are, a case can be made for Jessica's actions regarding the guardsmen. I cannot see the Council of Lords being unsympathetic to four armed commoners baring steel against a noble lady wearing naught but a belt knife and a silken dress. But once they had been…dealt with, and Kipu had refused her offer of trial by combat, deliberately disarming himself so that were she to run him through it could only be considered murder, that would have been a different matter entirely."

  Lady Verona took a deep, shuddering breath. "I did my best to convey the gravity of the situation to Jessica. Somehow, between myself and Appolonia, we compelled her to sheathe her blade, and Del Morlekai was left to assure a hopeful lack of bloodshed while I ran off to fetch you.”

  Lady Agda nodded. "Come, husband. Fear not for my endurance, or this damned dress! Our daughters may not be in peril, thank the gods, but there is no need for a snail's pace!"

  Their steady pace quickened, for all that Arthur was too prudent to break into a disorganized run, their ground eating stride the mark of well-trained footmen who could advance many miles with the pace, and still have energy left for a pitched battle at the end of their march, should such be necessary. Their objective was still some distance off, though Verona thought she could make out outlines of several figures in the bright moonlight.

  “Who is this Del Morlekai?” the baron demanded.

  "A Guild representative, my dear." Lady Agda explained, unfazed by the rapid pace. "I was busy dealing with the silver-tongued bard that always accompanies those Delvers for the Guild like their spokesmen or barristers, I suppose. Apparently, they had some gift to give Jessica. A debt to repay."

  Arthur scowled. “And he is there now, having accompanied a Crown Agent, who together were stalking my daughter, conveniently witnessing her fighting for her life, without intervening until after the fact.”

  “My lord,” Verona began, acutely reminded once more of the armed men at her back that could very easily put an end to her life with but a single word, or worse, via coded whistles known only to them. Crown Agent she may be, but he was a baron who had been in the king's favor for years, having weathered numerous attempts to castrate his power, and Verona was now halfway convinced that the king enjoyed using Arthur as a red herring, the more ambitious dukes going for the overprivileged baron, and thus less likely to be a thorn in the king's own side. It sickened Verona to think that if there were lords that could get away with her disappearance, he was probably one of them.

  The baron curtly shook his head. “You intervened before my Jessica made a potentially grave mistake. I am not pleased with the pretenses by which you are here, yet I am well aware of both my daughter's speed and skill, and the fact that you yourself are armed with nothing more than a belt knife and a dress.”

  He flashed a bleak smile, and Verona couldn't help but bow her head, for such was exactly what young Jessica had been equipped with when she had faced off against those four men. “I do not shame you. No woman so poorly armed and lacking my daughter's skills should be expected to survive such an encounter with men of war. So I shall allow myself to believe that you were merely frozen with surprise and fear, the armsmen dead before you could think of some way to assist without distracting my daughter to her further peril. And in regards to preventing the death of a lord upon my grounds; in that, at least, you acted in my daughter’s best interest, so you need not fear my wrath on that account.”

  Solemnly Verona nodded, understanding without it being said that should she ultimately be seen to be acting against their family's best interest, there might be a bitter price to pay indeed. She shuddered, wondering how many old markers the baron could call in from battle brothers he had served with in the Velheim Wars. Perhaps men who, even if they dared not intervene in any formal ruling, would still feel oath-bound to hunt down the original agents who had facilitated the potential downfall of the Calenbry clan. Hunt them down and remind the world of just how utterly savage King Richard's tacticians had become, toward the end of the Velheim Wars, performing acts that even Sir Gray thought extreme. Men like young Jessica's mentor at Highrock, which explained so much of Jessica's temperament, now that she thought about it. Men that even the king's spymaster would think twice before crossing, not the least because General Eloquin's Squires comprised a good portion of those agents that specialized in eliminating undesirables, just as Verona specialized in flushing them out.

  Verona took a shuddering breath, cursing Sir Gray under her breath for putting her in such a precarious, no-win situation. Even should she survive this night, she may well pay with her life as a result of old favors called in, should she be forced to declare Jessica a conniver for the throne, to say nothing of the situation even now confronting them, the focus of her investigation having just threatened a fellow lord at sword's point, after butchering all his men before Verona's very eyes.

  And within moments they were there, Verona struck once again by the savagery of that brief terrible fight, the broken bodies collapsed in heaps like discarded marionettes. The stench of voided bowels and already putrefying organs was enough to make Verona dizzy and nauseous.

  "Mother!" Cried a still tear-stained Appolonia, rushing into the baroness's arms and sobbing uncontrollably. "It's Jessica, mom. She went crazy! She killed all the guards, and was going to kill Kipu! Oh mom. I was so scared!"

  “There there, Appolonia. All is well now. Shush. Be at ease. What matters is that you and your sister are safe.”

  A still terrified Appolonia refused to let go of her mother, burying her face in Agda's dress, her body shaking with renewed sobs. Probably the first time the child had seen the horror of battle up close, Verona reflected.

  Jessica appeared unbothered by the blood and gore staining her dress, arms, face, and hair. Perhaps it was because she was so focused on the object of her hate, eyes still blazing with hot fury as she traded curses and insults with Lord Kipu, even as an amused looking Morlekai, arms folded, kept himself between the two.

  Nonetheless, the bloodstains did cast Jessica de Calenbry in a very barbaric light.

  "I will tear your arms off and beat you to death with them, you vile little worm, Lords Council or no!" Jessica roared after a particularly heated exchange between the two.

  “Jessica de Calenbry! Report!” Her father’s voice cracked out like a drill sergeant’s, and Jess snapped up at attention, facing her father with a quick salute like a good recruit.

  "Sir! This individual, Kipu de Trolos, did strive to commit a most foul and heinous act upon our lands. He was having his men scout out the best ways past our guards, so that the second time he and Appolonia met, they could run off together discretely. What Apple doesn't realize is that Kipu is actually a sadistic killer, and had planned to imprison her in his old home and torture her to death over a matter of days or weeks. And since Apple will be enticed to run off of her own free will, no one would realize that Kipu was her captor! That was his plan. He has killed many times before, having used just such a ruse to imprison and subsequently tortured to deat
h one Lady Elebry e'Cantu."

  Kipu's went deathly pale as Jess made her accusation, visibly shaking. "Lies!" he spat out. "All of it, lies!" He turned his desperate gaze to the baron. “Don’t you see, my lord? I came to your house as an honored guest. It is true that I had some feelings for Apple, but I swear to you! By the time that… mad creature met up with us, I was already intending to walk Appolonia back to the house. I did nothing more improper than perhaps imply that I would like to share a kiss with her. I had absolutely no intention of allowing any harm to occur to her on our evening stroll. I would swear that before the Court of Lords!”

  Kipu started heaving, so incensed he seemed.

  "The next thing I know your mad daughter strode in on us, making wild, horrible accusations. She drew her blade, and my men worried for my life and safety. Within moments, all four of my men were butchered before our very eyes, and I pity poor Appolonia, who will no doubt be scarred by this scene of horror for the rest of her life! It is only by the brave intervention of a Crown Agent, investigating rumors of your older daughter's growing insanity I can only assume, that saved my life, or else your family would be guilty of a most heinous crime indeed, shedding the blood of a noble guest given safe passage by right of bread and salt upon your lands!"

  "Liar!" Jess roared. "You came here under false pretenses, so your guest rights are null and void!"

  "You are insane!" Kipu hissed back. "A completely mad psychotic killer, completely lost to your own delusions, and should be locked up in a sanitarium for your own good!"