by Varian Morn
“And what will you do when you leave the sands?” I asked.
“What will you do when you're not in the front of the rest of the Lines?” she asked back.
“Get to the front I guess...”
“Just as I'd get back to the sands?” she argued.
I had to pour more wine into my glass, since she had caused me to drink it all.
“Don't I get more?” she asked.
“Your glass isn't even empty,” I said.
“But it's not full either.”
Shaking my head, I reached over and poured some more into hers as well.
“Thank you. And so, why did you let your people vote on our marriage?” she then asked.
“And who told you that one...?” I groaned.
“First? Sarley. After that? Well... Yevin, some random child, then a pair of women... and,” she actually started to recount them all, but I just put my hand up and surrendered.
“What's wrong with letting them vote?”
“They voted against you, for one,” she said.
“So if you had been the Lord of this Line, you'd not have allowed them a vote?” I asked.
Her eyes went a little wide, and she suddenly sat up straight... as if I had just asked her a question that made her doubt her entire being.
Spending far longer than normal to think of an answer, she coughed when she finally found one. “No. I might not have,” she said.
“I see.”
“But! But...” She coughed again, and took a drink. Had her throat gone dry? “Not because I wouldn't value their input... but because I would have been me. And you would have been you. If you had been a son of Derri, and I a daughter of the Line... I'd... I'd not have wanted to. I would not have been willing to risk it,” she said.
It was my turn to sit in silence for a moment, as I pondered her words.
“I see,” I finally said. “So you're saying I should have said no, because you're too dangerous?” I asked.
She shook her head, but then eventually nodded. “Kind of... but a man... A son of Derri? He would have been cruel. They are cruel. Why would I willing put myself in that position, when I wouldn't need to?” she asked both herself and me.
“True. The world possesses different dangers for women than it does men,” I said.
She only nodded, saying nothing more.
“Quite a thought isn't it,” I added.
“Thought...?”
I pointed to myself, then at her. “You're thinking what it'd be like being the owner of the Line, aren't you? It's definitely one that gets the brain going, isn't it?” I asked.
“Oh... yes. It is. That easy to tell?” she asked.
“Everyone does it. Even Yevin did it once,” I said.
“What'd he say?” she asked.
“Make the hallways bigger,” I said.
She had to put her glass down as she laughed, and the way she did it made me smile. It took all of her effort to do so, and she only barely succeeded.
While she snickered away, trying her best to calm herself, I realized that in moments like these she was somewhat adorable. It was too bad she was such a thorn in my side.
It was too bad I already decided to pity and hate her. I could have even come to like her, otherwise.
Finally collecting herself, she released a deep and pained sigh. “He definitely would have said that,” she agreed.
I nodded, and decided to not describe the face he had made at the time. She'd only spill her drink from laughing harder.
Staying silent as she took a drink, I let her calm herself down completely before I went ahead and asked my next question.
“How old are you?” she then asked before I could ask my own.
“Probably not much older than you. Old enough, but still young I guess,” I said.
“That's a horrible answer. I'll just ask Jamthi,” she said.
“Go ahead.”
She frowned, but dropped it. “Are you good with magic?” she asked.
“Isn't it obvious?” I asked back, gesturing to the Line around us.
“Where'd you get the Front-Line?”
“I found it,” I said.
She frowned, and wanted to know more, but probably knew better than to ask... or realized, even if I told her, she'd not know where it was anyway.
“How many languages do you speak? Or read?” she asked.
“Several...?” I asked back.
That was an odd one. Not many people needed to learn or study other languages anymore... not with the Lines able to translate for them.
Or the fact that everyone who doesn’t live on a Line doesn’t need to learn more than one anyway.
“Do you know how to sing?” she then asked.
Now that one gave me pause, and she happily smiled upon noticing my hesitation.
“You're asking a lot of personal questions,” I said.
“You started it.”
“I only wanted to verify your name, in case I had to formally introduce you to an elder or something,” I corrected.
“And if I'm to be your wife I should know these things. Shouldn't I?” she asked back.
“Why should you? By the time it matters this will all be done and over with, and the Front-Line will be long gone,” I said.
Although I had been speaking realistically... I had also not meant any ill-will behind my words.
Sadly however, it seems she had not taken it that way.
“So... I don't get to choose if I can leave with you or not?” she asked softly.
A long moment passed as I stared past the candle, and into her eyes.
They looked sad... almost hurt, and even though I knew some of it was the mood, and the alcohol, I couldn't help but feel sorry for her.
“You're not my slave. I don't care what your elders say. You're free to do as you please,” I said, and stood from my seat.
Putting my glass down, I gestured to the table. “Thank you. It was good... Have Jamthi or someone clean it up, and then I suggest you get some sleep. Elders from the House of Brillo and Markith will be here in the morning,” I said.
Telleya said nothing, only stared at me as I turned and headed for the door.
Leaving the Office was easy... but walking past Jamthi and Sarley, and their weird smiles, without letting them see the trouble I withheld on my face wasn't.
“Clean it up and get her to bed,” I said to them.
“Your bed or hers?” Jamthi teased as I passed.
Although normally I would have glared at him, or at least teased him back... I instead had to keep walking.
I had to.
I couldn't allow them to see how troubled his words had made me.
Chapter Thirty One – Her Failure
“Is here fine, Miss Noth?” the young lad asked.
“Yep. Place it down there, that's fine,” I said.
The three men lowered the Sand-Tusk to the floor, and with a small huff all stepped back and away from it.
“Awfully heavy for whatever it is. Is it a bone?” one of them asked.
“Yes. It's a tusk of a large sand creature, though no one has seen them for some time,” I said.
We had killed and eaten them all after all.
“Oh? A sand beast? How cool,” the youngest said as he kneeled down and tapped the tusk.
“They're tasty too... or at least, somewhat,” I said. Chances were, these people who grew up eating such tasty food all the time might not have found them very tasteful... but I had at one time.
“Hm. Maybe we'll run into some before we leave?” one said with a laugh.
“We'll get back to work now, Miss Noth. Yell if you need anything else,” the oldest said, giving me a small salute as he left.
The other two quickly followed after him, giving me half hearted salutes in the process.
Watching them go, I waited until they were far enough down the hall that they couldn't hear or see me... and jumped a little in excitement.
How easy!
/>
Victory was easy indeed!
Almost knocking over a small table as I danced around, I caught myself from causing any more noise.
Calming myself, I took a deep breath and relaxed. I couldn't make a mistake now.
Don't allow the easy steps ruin the hard ones, after all!
The Sand-Tusk rested up against the couch and chairs in Noth's office, and was surprisingly bigger than I remembered. It was almost big enough that it needed to be turned sideways; else it would hit the wall and desk.
But I wasn't going to move it... nor did I have any plans on asking others to do so either.
The other night, when I had saw them from a distance... I had been unsure. I couldn't believe that the House of Hombil would have actually given them to Noth, least of all without explaining what they were... or what they were capable of...
Then I remembered my own Household... and how we had spent so much time going through the crates in our storage rooms, the day before we started trading with Noth. It had taken us a long time... and there had been a lot of stuff in those crates that none of us knew anything about.
It wouldn't surprise me at all, if whoever at the House of Hombil that checked this particular crate, hadn't known at all what they were.
After all, they would have sent the young workers into the storage rooms first. Not the elderly or the educated. Or the healers, like myself, who only knew what they were thanks to having to occasionally treat the wounds they caused.
The House of Hombil didn't need to send such people who would know what the Sand-Tusks are, to do such petty work. They had enough people where they could just use the young workers and men.
And that was why this worked.
Well... that and the fact I had easily been able to ask those men to carry one of them up here into Noth's office for me.
Originally my plan had been to do it to the whole crate, while they worked around them... But this morning when I had gone down and found the room where they were all being held, I found that it was full of crates but empty of people.
They had finished working in that room.
Which meant, even if I used all of the Sand-Tusks in that crate, the result wouldn't be anywhere near enough to matter.
Damage to the Line alone wasn't going to be enough... I needed people to be harmed.
Or well, instead of people... just a statement.
Damage to an empty storeroom? Painful. And annoying. But Noth was kind enough to find it within him to simply leave, instead of exact vengeance...
So I needed something that pushed aside that soft heart... and called forth the terribly cruel Lord of the Line who lurked beneath it.
I needed the Commander who dared to face off with a Sand Goliath. The one who somehow retained the fealty and loyalty of even a giant, behemoth of a warrior like Yevin.
I needed to make Noth angry, and not something he simply sighed or shook his head at.
I needed the man who had done such a thing to my ancestor. I needed the Commander of the Front-Line, not Noth.
Kneeling down next to the Sand-Tusk, I ran my hand along it once more. I had already verified it really was a Sand-Tusk, but just in case I double checked again.
The feeling of wet sand being felt as I slid my hand along the dry bone made me smile.
How familiar. How easy.
I couldn't believe how easy it had been to convince Noth's people to help me bring this up here...
They had thought I had wanted it for something silly. Something a wife would do for her husband. They had teased and joked about it the entire way up here, and I had played along perfectly.
Grandmother Rivini would be proud... at least for a moment, until she realized the meaning behind it all.
Still...
For a tiny moment I reconsidered.
I knew what I was about to do.
I personally have nursed several men and women... even a child once, who had sustained injuries from these things.
They had been some of the first people I personally had allowed to die. They had been my patients, my own, who from start to finish I had cared for.
Granted... I couldn't have saved them, no matter what. But it had taken me a long time to get over their loss.
Their deaths had not been kind to me.
Not just mentally, but physically. Mother and the other healers had not been happy with me at all... but had been more than happy to shift the blame entirely upon me.
Giving me the patients, who couldn't be saved, so they themselves wouldn't be blamed when they died was a common tactic amongst them. I understood it all now, but the child I had been at the time had not understood it at all.
My breathing became rougher as I remembered the beatings, and the nights I went without food because of such incidents.
They made what I was about to do rather easy.
Standing, I hurried over to the other side of Noth's desk. Sure enough, just where I had left it... from last night's meal that we had shared, was a large bowl of water.
Large enough to cover the entire Sand-Tusk.
Which meant large enough to ignite the whole thing.
Bending down, I was surprised at how heavy the bowl felt. I knew it wasn't heavy at all, since I had carried it earlier, but at the same time...
“Just do it, get it over with,” I mumbled to myself.
I had checked the surrounding rooms. Only a few people were here.
They were all smart people too. The people of this Line were brilliant and wise... and strong.
They'd be wise enough to run, once they saw the flames.
They might even be able to put it out, with their great magic or tools.
No one should die... no one would...
All they would think was that the House of Hombil tried to sabotage them...
My footsteps were heavy as I rounded the desk and walked towards the Sand-Tusk.
All Noth would believe, was that I helped them... and that...
So that meant...
“Derri and Hombil would...”
With heavy feet, and an even heavier heart... I stared at the water in my hands.
Past the bowl, near my feet... laid the Sand-Tusk...
All I had to do was tilt the bowl.
A small lift of my hands.
Then it was done.
My suffering would end.
All children of Derri's suffering would end.
“Kya!”
The sudden scream made my whole body freeze, as if suddenly locked in place. As if buried by sand.
“Hide me, Princess!”
My eyes were all that I could move as I watched a blur of motion run into the room, nearly stumbling over the Sand-Tusk in the process as she rounded the couch and hurried behind the desk.
The little blur of motion had been clear to my eyes, and made my eyes watery.
Why was she here? Why now?
Looking down, at the water in my hands, I began to become covered in a certain kind of liquid of my own creation as I slowly stepped away from the Sand-Tusk.
“Sshh! Don't tell her I'm here!” Veronica said from behind the desk, peering at me from around its side.
I nodded with a rickety neck, and carefully put the water onto the desk... as far away from the edge near the Sand-Tusk as possible.
“Telleya? Thought you were with Jamthi,” Sarley's voice entered the room as she did, and she sounded pleased to see me... or rather, excited at the opportunity to tease me, and Noth through me.
“I was,” I said honestly.
“Hm. Don't blame you. The kid means well, but he gets so annoying sometimes... he has too much of Noth in him,” Sarley said as she looked around the room.
As her eyes scanned the room, I panicked when they slid over the Sand-Tusk... but she didn't even bother to see it.
Her eyes instead danced from chair to chair, corner to corner... even to the cupboards and shelves nearby.
Walking over to one of the shelves, I calmed down a littl
e when I realized she was just looking for the child.
“I'm on the hunt for a criminal, Telleya,” Sarley said as she grabbed one of the cupboard doors.
“A criminal?” I asked, and felt the cold sweat return.
Sarley nodded as she opened the cabinet, and my sweat and panic suddenly disappeared.
“What!” I startled, hurrying over to her.
Startled by my outburst, Sarley shut the door as she turned, looking around the room for the cause. “What, what?” she asked, bothered.
“How'd you open it...?” I asked, stepping past her and grabbing the door myself.
The same one she had just opened.
Tugging on it, I groaned when I felt the hard firmness upon it. It wasn't going to open.
“Oh... oh! Sorry Telleya... Only a few people can open these ones here,” she said, happy it wasn't anything serious.
“Only a few? So only those Noth trusts?” I asked.
“Uh... well... I guess you could put it that way,” Sarley said, and I could tell I had made her uncomfortable.
“I see,” was all I said as I stepped way, calming myself.
Sarley coughed, and also seemed glad that I had dropped the topic. She probably was worried I had taken offense to it... though I don't know why she'd think such a thing.
She knew I wasn't really his wife after all...
“Anyway... so I'm chasing this criminal. A real dangerous one, she is,” Sarley said, going back into character.
“Hm. How dangerous?” I asked.
“The dirty kind.”
“Dirty...?” I asked, thinking of what she meant.
“Yep. So dirty, even the cobwebs are cleaner,” Sarley said.
“Oh,” I understood her meaning, and smiled at her. So Veronica was running from a bath...?
Surely not... she was old enough to not do such a thing. Must just be a game of some sorts to them.
“Well, as a loyal citizen of this land, it is my duty to aid the just and call out the unjust,” I said.
“So it is!” Sarley agreed, her eyes heading towards the desk.
“Hm. So, as a loyal citizen, I formally make a report that there are no criminals here, good Sarley,” I said, trying to play along.
“Indeed, so it seems. I thank you for your assistance, loyal citizen...” Sarley started to say, but stepped around me and to the other side of the desk in the process.