Ascendant

by Florian Armas

  I know one of those two men, Saliné thought. He is not from Severin. She moved to walk faster, but did not try to run, even though some people had started to trail her through the plaza. Glancing back, from time to time, she saw that her guards were now just three feet behind her. She passed quickly through the gate of the palace, and silently went to her suite, followed by Gria.

  Entering her suite, Saliné found her second guardian maid, Herna, waiting in the antechamber. Gria tried to follow her inside, but Saliné slammed the door in her face, almost crushing her nose, and extracting a whispered curse from the woman. Stubbornly, Gria still tried to enter, but Saliné blocked the door with her boot, two palms inside the room. It was a clever move as, feeling the free space, Gria pushed the door hard and stepped forward at the same time. This time her head banged against a door which stopped suddenly at Saliné’s boot, and she mumbled another curse, but no longer tried to enter. “Leave,” Saliné said to Herna who, being younger, was easier to maneuver. After the door was closed, Saliné locked it and threw herself on the small sofa.

  Her mind focused again on the man shouting at her in the street. Where have I seen him? She remembered Gria’s and the guards’ reaction, but it could have been something coincidental. I can’t remember, Saliné sighed. She stood up abruptly, and went to her desk. There were papers on it and some quills and ink too. With a nervous glance behind her, she pulled out a piece of paper and started to write:

  ‘Aron wanted me to go in the market today. He was expecting me to do it, even though he tried to ‘persuade’ me to the contrary.’

  ‘The guards did not interfere when the woman and the two men shouted at me. Not even when the woman became violent.’

  Whore, she thought bitterly. I am not a whore, but I am not a free woman either. Why did they shout that? Why would that help Aron?

  ‘They want to link Mohor’s death to me,’ she wrote. ‘That will take some pressure off Aron, and give him more space for maneuver.’ She finally understood.

  Remembering Mohor’s death, she burst into tears, and it took her a while to calm down again and force herself to think. There were rumors in the palace that people had tried to revolt when Mohor was killed by Aron’s guards. She had heard that the evening before, returning to her suite from dinner with Aron and Bucur. Two of Aron’s men were talking at the junction of two corridors, but she could not stop to learn more, and had to turn the corner, as she was being followed by Gria. Seeing her, the men stopped talking at once.

  ‘Even the sellers I knew well in the market associated me with Mohor’s death.’

  ‘They were told that. Someone is spreading rumors about me. Aron.’ With her hand shaking from anger, she underlined Aron’s name twice. The two sneaking parallel lines looked like a child’s way of drawing water.

  I need to challenge this. I started to do it today, but I need to do more. If they let me go to the market again. I must go there; she shook her head. Let’s hope that Aron will want it too. There was no way for her to leave the palace without his approval.

  The last year had been unkind to Saliné and she had grown more adept at hiding her feelings and playing the game they expected from her; but the difficulty lay in making them do what she wanted, even though all the power was on their side. She read the paper again, and then went to the fireplace. The fire from the night before was dead, but she found some embers under the ash. The paper burned quickly.

  Training now, she sighed. She liked to train, but she had always trained with Codrin, Vio and Jara, and that brought the past back into her desolate present. She undressed herself and, almost naked, started to warm her body, moving slowly and stretching; the Assassin Dance was not something to be taken lightly. When Saliné felt ready, she started a simple sequence of smooth moves, performed gradually and with muscular tension. The dance was punctuated now and then by sudden strikes in all directions, in a sequence that stretched her to the limit of her body. After several minutes, she took up her daggers. All her movements were now fluid and controlled. The dance was a deceptive exercise. It looked simple, but in the dancing steps the essence of the fighting style could be found. The Assassin Masters had gathered secrets, and tuned them during almost a millennium, hiding them within these movements.

  With all her effort, her breathing became more controlled, helping to funnel energy into her movements. Her breath and the movement of her body became one – the Assassin Trance.

  In the evening, Bucur came to her suite, in what had become a ritual, to take Saliné to the main living room and have dinner again, and they walked almost in silence through the maze of corridors and stairs; he always avoided the shortest route, instead parading her in front of the people walking in the palace. She forced herself to place her palm on his arm, and to accept his unwanted proximity.

  “I just heard what happened,” Bucur said, letting a trace of worry slip into his voice, after she was seated, and she understood that his timing was planned; Aron needed be part of the conversation too. “We will take the necessary measures, but you should reconsider leaving the palace again. The city is not yet a safe place.” His hand covered hers, as he was seated next to her, and he squeezed it gently.

  Saliné looked through the window, fighting the impulse to pull away, and forced herself to swipe her thumb over his fingers. She felt suddenly angry – and not only at him. At everything. “You are right about the risk. Do you think that people will attempt some more extreme acts to ... punish me?” She stared at him, and Bucur frowned – for all her acting as a docile fiancée, there was something unyielding in her that did not escape his attention.

  “That woman assaulted you,” Aron interjected. “Next time it may be a man with a knife. We have to consider everything carefully.”

  You still want me to go. “Are you advising me to stop the walks for a while?”

  “That woman shouted such bad things,” Bucur said, “linking you to Mohor’s death, even though it was just an unwanted accident.”

  “They all know that I will be your wife,” Saliné shrugged, “but it will take a while for some people to fully acknowledge it.”

  Aron gaped, his eyes sparkling with anger, and no one spoke for a while; she faced the silence with strained attention.

  “Yes, yes, they are aware of that.” Bucur forced a thin smile to his lips, fastening upon Saliné a look which at least told her that they understood her words as she intended.

  “We don’t need to hide in the palace,” Saliné said calmly. “Severin is our city. Unless Aron advises me differently, of course.” She glanced at him, feeling the impatience in his silence.

  “You may be right, and I know that you like to visit the market, but we have to think about your safety too,” Aron said, still trying to make it her decision.

  “Then I will wait for you to tell me when security is restored in Severin.”

  “There are no security issues in Severin,” Aron said in haste, a dark shadow filling his eyes; her wit annoyed him, and as he had no one else upon whom to vent his irritation, it was to Saliné that he displayed it.

  The next evening, Felcer, the healer of Severin, came to her room. He was one of the few of Mohor’s people that Aron let continue their jobs; Felcer was too skilled to kick him out, but Aron took care to provide two young apprentices to learn from him.

  “You look better, today,” Felcer said, and Saliné answered with a sad smile. “I went to the market yesterday,” he continued, “and I talked with Ferd.”

  Saliné fought hard to keep her composure. “Yes, I was in the market too,” she said neutrally.

  “Do you know when I came to Severin?” Felcer asked. “Of course you can’t know. I came here three months before Mohor was born.” His voice broke, but he recovered fast. “I came as an apprentice to old Miklos, and it was me who received the newborn from the midwife – Miklos’s arms were too weak. From his birth, I took care of Mohor, until ... until that day. I am on your side, Lady Saliné. Before... Just before that
day, Mohor told me that you only play the role of Bucur’s fiancée. I thought the same – you and Bucur don’t really match – even though I never voiced my thoughts, but it helped that he confirmed everything to me, and he asked me to take care of you. I am only a healer, and I am old, but I am willing to help.”

  “Thank you, Felcer,” Saliné said, fighting hard against her own emotions.

  “So, I talked to Ferd.” Felcer moistened his lips. “He apologizes for the last encounter, and Velna too. There are people spreading the story that you are behind Mohor’s death, that you convinced Aron and Bucur to take Severin; that you wanted to be the Signora of Severin.”

  “And they believed it,” Saliné said bitterly.

  “Some of them, yes, but not Ferd, and not Velna, even though they acted as they acted. The woman who came to talk with Velna is known to spread bad words about you. Velna acted as she did to stop you saying things that the people who are behind that woman should not hear.”

  “Do you know who is behind this?”

  “Not yet, but we are watching them. I understand that in two days, you will go to the market again.”

  “I need to talk with Ferd, if... If he is the same man I knew in the past.”

  “Yes, he told me that, but there is something else that we learned today. There is a rumor about some people planning to gather in the market, when you arrive there. They will shout again ... those bad words, but even worse they may become violent. They want to take off your clothes and carry you naked through the city, shouting that you killed Mohor. We are not yet sure,” he added, his voice trailing, “but we need to be prepared.”

  “What?” Saliné asked, involuntarily.

  “It’s an old custom, to carry whores and traitors naked through the streets.”

  “I understand there may be some bad feelings, but I did not think,” she shook her head. “I did not think that they would go that far based only on rumors.”

  “You know?” Felcer smiled, “it’s exactly this last rumor about being ... paraded which has convinced a lot of people that you are innocent.”

  “That’s good,” Saliné said, a thin tremor in her voice, “but the price I may have to pay seems too high. Things may get out of control, and I don’t want to be paraded naked in the streets. I will pretend that I am sick, and stay here. I can’t bear that.”

  “No, no,” Felcer said quickly. “We are prepared. There will be even more people shouting that you are innocent and that everything happened because of Aron. Our people will surround and defend you.”

  “That’s not good,” Saliné said firmly. “It will set me on a collision course with Aron, and I am too weak to afford that, even though more people may be on my side. Aron is the master of Severin. I have no soldiers, no authority.”

  “It’s your decision,” Felcer said gently. “Ferd asked me how we might help you, but he said that it will not be possible to sneak you out of Severin. The gate is watched closely.”

  Any day, I can leave Severin through the secret tunnel, yet I can’t. Mother, Codrin, Vio, they will all be in danger. The only way is for Codrin to take Severin. That may turn the Circle to the right path. “However much I wish it, I can’t leave. There is only one place where I would be safe, Cleuny, but that will endanger Codrin and my family. Even without me, he has enough issues with the Circle. There is no need to create another one. But we can help him.” She stared with determination and a trace of hope at Felcer. “We must help him, and we must find ways to weaken Aron.”

  “I think I know what’s in your mind, but I am an old man. Ferd has military skills...”

  “I need to talk with him. The day I plan to go to the market again, Aron and Bucur will not be here, so it will be easier to talk. I will surprise everybody and ask to leave the palace two hours earlier than we planned. Those people wanting to attack me may have some spies here. A few servants think me responsible for Mohor’s death. Ferd should act discreetly – no shouts against Aron – and keep most of those ... those people out of the market without a fight. Mostly the men. I can handle three or four women. Maybe...,” she rubbed her chin. “Tomorrow, I will ‘sprain’ an ankle. That will allow you to come and see me, and me to carry a cane while walking to the market. In the right hands, a cane can be a powerful weapon. What do you think?” She stared at Felcer.

  “That you were born to lead,” he smiled. “I will meet Ferd today.”

  Chapter 3 – Saliné

  Saliné knew how to play the game so that the other side was unable to hide its cards, and waited patiently. The next evening, seeing her talking about everything else but the market, Aron reopened the issue about her visit there.

  “These are difficult times, and you don’t have many things to enjoy. If you really want, you may go tomorrow and see the market again.” Aron spoke without looking at her, like he was preoccupied by more important things. “It seems that things have calmed down a bit.”

  “The market is a pleasant place indeed, full of life and colors,” she said, her voice flat.

  “Just please be careful.” Bucur looked at her and placed his hand over hers. “At the least sign of danger, return to the castle. I wish I could join you, but we will not be here. Maybe you should take more soldiers with you.”

  She pondered for a while. More soldiers would stop those people attacking me, but it may be better to let them act now, while they are less organized. I should count on the element of surprise too. “That would only show the people that we fear something. One guard should be enough.”

  “But your leg,” Bucur said, tentatively, and gently squeezed her hand.

  “It’s fine,” Saliné shrugged. “It’s just a small strain on my ankle. “Felcer gave me some ointment. It seems that it works, and he told me that I can walk, I just need to be careful.” An ointment always works wonders on a healthy leg, she chuckled inside.

  “When do you plan to go?” Aron asked. “I need to tell Karel, as he will take care of your safety in our absence.”

  “At noon. It’s warmer.”

  “At noon, then,” Aron nodded and fell silent.

  In the morning, as planned with Felcer, she decided to leave two hours earlier and, unable to ask Aron and Bucur for guidance, Karel protested.

  “I don’t have free men now,” he said.

  “Do you mean to tell me you can’t find one spare man in a full garrison?” Saliné asked in a mildly scolding voice, tapping with the point of her cane on his chest. “I will not go later. It’s a warm day, and I can’t walk fast. If you don’t give me a guard now, I will stay at home.”

  Karel shot her a malevolent glance, but he had been ordered to let her go that day, so he yielded to her plea. But he was not Spatar without a reason; he managed to delay her for almost half an hour, and through the window of the hall, Saliné saw three of his men hurrying out through the gate of the palace.

  This time, she walked as fast she could toward the market without giving the impression that she was unhurt, and went directly to Velna. “Good morning, Velna. I need you to keep the shrew behind me here.” She pointed toward Gria who, as in the previous visit, was walking seven paces behind her, together with the guard.

  “Good morning, Lady Saliné. I’ve received some new samples of silk. Should I show them to you? They are of good quality.” Velna pointed to some samples that were already on the counter.

  “Gria,” Saliné said, “the samples look interesting, and I want to see how they look on me, but there is no mirror here. Velna will dress you in silk.”

  Gria gaped, her hand touching the silk greedily and, without a word, she abandoned herself to Velna’s tender ministrations, as she started to drape her from chin to ankles.

  “It’s beautiful, but I am not sure...” Saliné said, after the first sample was finally wrapped around Gria. “Velna, please tie a belt around her waist, and put on two or three brooches, to keep the silk from falling from her shoulders. Make it look like a dress.”

  It took Velna thr
ee more minutes to arrange the silk as she was asked, and Saliné moved a few steps back, staring at Gria, who for the first time had a genuine smile on her lips. “You look wonderful, Gria, but I don’t think that the color will suit me.” Saliné shook her head, looking at the improvised dress. “Velna, please try with this one.” She pointed with her cane to a bolt of dark green silk. Meanwhile, I will go to buy some sweeties.”

  Gria opened her mouth to protest and tried to move, but Velna caught her arm and kept her in place. “Don’t move,” Velna said, “or the brooches will pierce your skin and ruin my silk. You don’t have the money to pay for it, but don’t worry, each time Lady Saliné buys silk, she gives something to her maid too. Today is your lucky day.”

  When Saliné reached Ferd’s booth, Gria was still struggling to free herself from her prison of silk.

  “I’ve thought about what Felcer told me,” he said after the greetings. “We don’t have enough people to revolt against Aron, and they are merchants and servants, not soldiers.”

  “No, no,” Saliné said quickly, “I was not thinking about that. What I had in mind was to weaken Aron in small ways, and if siege is laid against Severin, only then we should stir a revolt. Codrin may arrive soon with his army.”

  “That would be easier,” Ferd said, “but not easy. You mentioned that killing Bucur would endanger Codrin. Now you are talking about a siege.”

  “I will not endanger Codrin, even if I have to remain hostage here all my life, but if he takes the decision to lay siege to Severin... It will be his decision, and he knows better what is happening in Frankis right now. If Codrin lays siege, we will start the revolt, but until then, we need to weaken Aron.”