by E G Manetti
The Master Scholar of Ancients history is a handsome man in his forties with straight black hair, honey-hued skin, and pale green eyes set in the narrow features of an aesthete. Without hesitation, Lilian closes the door in the man’s smiling face.
Five Warriors take it!
“Lilian, someone is at the door,” Katleen calls, tripping down the stairs to the sound of the chimes. At the bottom, Katleen finds her sister scowling at the door, arms crossed. “Lilian, open the door, someone is there.”
“This once, could you not have been on time? We would no longer be here had you been.” Irritation and something that might be weariness fill Lilian’s voice as the chimes continue their imperious call.
“Lilian, what is it? What is amiss? Who is out there?” Katleen tugs at Lilian’s tunic.
More to herself than her sister, Lilian says, “He will not leave. We must speak with him.”
Detaching Katleen’s fingers, Lilian explains, “The man outside the door is Andreas Chiang, Master Scholar of Ancients History at Mulan’s University. We were once lovers.”
Eyes wide, Katleen gasps, “He should not be here, should he? Monsignor Lucius will be displeased.”
“Monsignor will definitely be displeased,” Lilian concurs. With a sigh, she adds, “We will not be rid of Andreas short of a visit from the militia. I do not relish a scene at our entry.”
Turning a sober gaze on Katleen, Lilian asks, “Recall you your duty in this?”
“Yes, I must keep my position between you at all times, even when seated,” Katleen nods, recalling their outings with Chrys.
“You must go out first, so he cannot reach out to me.” Lilian runs a finger over the conservator’s seal hidden beneath her race garb with the gold warbelt. “Katleen, Andreas is a Universalist, and he rarely exits Mulan’s Sanctuary. He has no notion the danger he presents to me. Do you understand?”
At Katleen’s somber nod, Lilian reluctantly releases the door.
The now-impatient man speaks, “Lilian, what do you? Why did you close the door?”
“Step back, Andreas. You may not enter; we are coming out. Please do not attempt to touch me. The entire neighborhood is watching,” Lilian quickly announces.
“Lilian, this is—”
“Andreas, step back or I will close this entry and summon the militia,” Lilian interrupts, anxiety sharpening her voice.
Thoroughly confused and disgruntled, the scholar takes a step back.
As Lilian turns from sealing the door, Andreas tries to reach for her, only to find Katleen roughly shoved between them. “Andreas, please, do not attempt to touch me. It could see me caned.”
Dropping his hand, Andreas gazes on Lilian in confusion, “Lilian, I do not understand. Caned? What say you?”
“Andreas, will you depart? I beg you to. It would be best for me if you do,” Lilian pleads, knowing it is useless. For nearly a year, she has ignored his alerts, deleting them unread as required by her bond. She must look to milord and only milord. She had hoped that when Andreas’ alerts ceased shortly after the Five Warriors’ Festival, he had finally understood.
“We must speak. Invite me in. It will only require a moment,” the scholar assures her.
Desperation tightening her voice, Lilian declares, “You may not come in. You should not be here at all.”
“Lilian, you must hear me. It is to your benefit,” Andreas says, resolutely ignoring her plea.
Lilian’s choices are few. She may attempt to drive him off at the point of her thorn or deal with whatever has brought him to her doorstep. “Andreas, may I make you known to my sister, Katleen? Katleen, I would make you known to Andreas Chiang, Master Scholar of Ancients History at the University of Mulan.”
Not permitting time for a formal greeting, Lilian continues, “We cannot remain here. Come, we will walk to Hidaka’s Café.”
As they turn toward the café, Lilian warns, “Andreas, you know I am bonded to Monsignor Lucius Mercio. Protocol, stricture, and custom are absolute. I belong to the monsignor and only the monsignor. Should you so much as take my hand, and I permit it, I could be caned. You could be heavily fined. Anything more intimate… well, it would be worse for both of us. Katleen walks between us so that even incidental contact is avoided.”
Andreas is disbelieving. “Lilian, that is ridiculous. Under those strictures, you could not safely walk down a street or take public transport.”
Shaking her head, Lilian continues, “The strictures are not so senseless. Incidental contact with a stranger is not considered an infraction. Truly, strictness varies greatly with circumstance. My notoriety, coupled with Monsignor’s preeminence, requires that I be exceptionally circumspect.”
“Lilian, you cannot—” the scholar begins.
He is cut off by Lilian’s hard tones. “Andreas, you know that the terms of my bond forbid contact with Dean Joseph, who fostered me. It is true of any other that has a claim on my will or emotions from before my bond, other than Maman and Katleen. My attention and duty are given to Monsignor Lucius and only Monsignor Lucius. You were once my lover; the severest interpretation of stricture applies. You should not even be walking down the street with me now without the monsignor’s consent. Do not mistake me. Should you need to pull me away from a runaway transport, there would be no indictment. For any lesser reason, do not touch me. As it is, the monsignor will not be pleased with this encounter.”
Baffled, Andreas questions, “Monsignor Lucius will be angered simply because I speak with you?”
“Yes, but as we are in public and Katleen is with us, it will not be so bad. Had I permitted you entrance to Katleen’s house, it would be a great deal worse.” Shrugging and shaking her head, Lilian adds, “What is done is done. We are here. Let us sit so you may tell me what brings you to Metricelli Prime and Crevasse City.”
There is some chair juggling before Andreas accepts that Katleen must sit between them. Soberly, Andreas inquires, “If it will cause you difficulty, why speak to Lucius Mercio of my visit? Does he have any other way to hear of it?”
“It is amazing what the monsignor hears.” Lilian’s dry response holds a system’s worth of admiration. Shaking her head, Lilian continues, “Even if I knew for certain that Monsignor Lucius would not discover your visit, it matters naught. I will speak. Monsignor will wish to know.”
At Andreas’ blank stare, Lilian elaborates, “It is the first stricture of the bond commitment. I do the monsignor’s will in all matters as best I understand it. I am certain that the monsignor will wish to know of your visit. I have given my oath I will honor the bond and all its requirements. I will not be forsworn.”
“Contracts entered under duress need not be honored. That is true with the warriors as well as the Universalists,” Andreas points out.
“Monsignor offered no duress. I willingly sealed the contract,” Lilian states.
“The situation created duress,” Andreas responds, outraged.
“The situation was of Remus Gariten’s making, not Monsignor’s. Monsignor offered much-needed aid. I will not betray the monsignor’s grace by inadequate adherence to my bond,” Lilian fiercely retorts. “Such is not the path of honor.”
“Mistress Lilian and Mistress Katleen, well met.” Mr. Hidaka bustles up to the table.
“Well met indeed, Mr. Hidaka,” Lilian and Katleen chorus.
Lilian continues, “Mr. Hidaka may I make you known to Master Andreas Chiang, a friend of mine. Andreas, I would make Mr. Hidaka known to you. He is a good friend to us.”
Once Mr. Hidaka has taken their order and moved out of hearing range, Lilian turns back to Andreas. “Truly, Andreas, we need not debate my decision again. This conversation is an old one, and nothing has changed. What do you here?”
“The scholars at your sister’s school have told me of your troubles.” Andreas leans across the table, his concern palpable. “I am here to remove you and your family to the Sanctuary on Mulan. You will be able to use your brilliance to discover th
e secrets of the Ancients. None will torment you.”
Stunned, Lilian barely manages to keep her voice even. “Andreas, you know I cannot enter the Sanctuary. Even if I wished to live out my life confined to the Sanctuary, I would not abandon Maman and Katleen. Without my bond payments, they could not survive.”
“You need not worry about your mother and sister,” Andreas smiles. “It is all arranged. They may accompany you.”
Adelaide aid me. “Separate Maman from Sinead’s Shrine? Compel Katleen to spend her life in one small city? Segregated from all that is warrior?”
“It need not be forever,” Andreas quickly denies. “Not for your mother and sister.”
“Andreas, that is impossible.” Lilian shakes her head. “You know that if I violate the terms of my bond and my Trial by Ordeal, the shame will sever Maman and Katleen from warrior society. They will never be able to return.”
As Lilian opens her mouth to continue, Andreas holds up a halting hand. “You need not violate your bond. The Holy Mother has agreed to provide funds for its purchase. No transgression will apply.”
Closing her mouth, Lilian founders for a response. Andreas’ mother is the Holy Mother of the Universalist Conclave and not particularly fond of Lilian. Lilian is touched by the lengths he will go to aid them even as her frustration spikes at his high-handedness. “Andreas, the Holy Mother of the Universalist Conclave is wondrously generous. Please extend my gratitude for her consideration.”
At Andreas’ triumphant smile, Lilian frowns. “It matters naught. If I abandon my bond, I fail to prove that my honor and courage are stronger than my genetics. I will be forever a criminal and Maman and Katleen ruined by our blood ties, forced into exile in the Sanctuary.”
As Andreas opens his mouth to speak, it is Lilian’s turn to raise a halting hand. “This is an old argument between us. Naught has changed. I will not abandon Maman and Katleen or warrior honor. I know that you can imagine no better fate than to live out one’s life in the serene balance of Mulan’s Sanctuary. Safe from what you view as warrior barbarism. What you find serene, I find sterile and confining. It is not a life that would please me, Maman, or Katleen.
“I know you believe that my indenture is the worst sort of degradation. It is not. Monsignor has more than met the monsignor’s obligations under the bond. Monsignor has entrusted me with the conservatorship of Desperation Mine and Refinery, as well as the Western fisheries. Monsignor has given me a place in both the Mercium and Bright Star ventures. Monsignor could have done no more for a protégé. I do not require the protection of the Sanctuary. I am not in distress.”
As Lilian finishes speaking, Mr. Hidaka arrives with their food, and there is silence while they are served. Hungry from her race in the Garden Center, Lilian wastes no time attacking the fruit and cheese. Katleen is equally eager for her fruit cobbler.
Ignoring his plate, Andreas leans intently across the table toward Lilian. “You voice you are not in distress, yet I know of the insults you receive daily. Such would not be yours within the Sanctuary.”
With that, Andreas glances pointedly at the empty space around their isolated table. “Nor would you be reduced to serving a barbarian.”
Ignoring Andreas’s insult to milord, Lilian shakes her head. “I do not enjoy insult, but I will not flee from it. It has eased much in recent months. Mostly we are shunned. Should it escalate again, we may accept the master scholar’s kind offer and send Katleen to live at the Universalist school. Truly, I am grateful for the kindness of the scholars and your concern.”
“Lilian, your courage does you credit. This life, bondage to that man, it is not what was meant for you. You need not endure it.” Andreas desires nothing more than to drag her to the shelter he is convinced she requires.
“Andreas, please, I have chosen my path,” Lilian sighs. “I will walk it as I must.”
“As the plaything of a barbarian,” Andreas sneers contemptuously. “You could be so much more. Your gifts would not be wasted on Mulan. I am certain that I have found clues to an Ancients’ site in the First System. It is somewhere on Atlantis. From the Sanctuary, I know you could help me locate it. It is even older than the one we found on Rimon Deuce. Together, we—”
“Andreas,” Lilian cuts off the scholar’s diatribe. “There is no ‘we.’ There has not been for some time. Nor do I wish to spend my life interred in the Sanctuary, sifting the Archives for the Ancients’ secrets. Is this new discovery why you have come to me?”
“Of course not.” Andreas pulls back, affronted. “I fear for you. You have not answered my alerts. You were assaulted at the Five Warriors’ Festival. My inquiries confirmed you are in constant danger of insult and violence. I would see you safe and respected.”
Andreas has not changed. He remains convinced of his righteousness and the superiority of the Universalists to the warriors. Lilian struggles for an argument to convince the scholar. “Andreas, in the past half period, you have offered Monsignor Lucius multiple profound insults. You have approached the monsignor’s apprentice, whom you once knew intimately, without the monsignor’s foreknowledge or agreement.”
“I do not require that barbarian’s permission,” Andreas states.
Ignoring Andreas, Lilian continues, “Had I not forestalled you, you would have embraced me—that is considered theft. You have attempted to corrupt the monsignor’s apprentice into abandoning her bond. Effectively, you have attempted to steal me from the monsignor. You have slandered monsignor by implying the monsignor abuses me. Your actions would be acceptable within the Sanctuary, but they are serious transgressions in the rest of the Twelve Systems.”
Absently, Lilian fingers her thorn. “For any of these transgressions, I am expected to blood you. Hear this: were you any other, I would do it, and it would not be for the first time.”
“Lilian, your words confirm your desperation,” Andreas exclaims. “Your bond strictures are unreasonable and extreme. That you are expected to offer violence to defend them is infamous. Surely you cannot wish to live like this?”
Far from convincing Andreas, Lilian’s words have made him more adamant.
With a resigned sigh, Lilian reaches beneath her tunic and pulls forth her warbelt. “Andreas, I am not compelled to defend the monsignor’s honor and my own. I wish to.”
Rising slightly in her seat to reveal the belt, Lilian says, “This belt is a gift from Monsignor Lucius. It is meant as a representation of Adelaide Warleader’s warbelt. Some months past, a man intrigued against me. Had he succeeded, my fate would have been dire. He also insulted the monsignor. I asked for and was granted the right of retribution on the monsignor’s behalf.”
At Lilian’s words, Andreas pushes back against his chair, his face and form tight with tension.
Lilian would have preferred to avoid this. It matters not. “The man was once of high station; he now serves in the supply depots of the Eleventh System. As these are civilized times, I could not shrink his head and hang it from my belt as Adelaide would have. To reward me, Monsignor Lucius gave me the ruby as a symbol. I spoke it in the past. I speak it again. I would make a very poor Universalist. Leave me to the path of my choice. You do naught but bring ill to come to me.”
Defeated, the scholar stares at Lilian morosely. Finally, with quiet resolve, Andreas says, “Very well, for now. I will go. Know you this: I will not abandon you. Send to me should you have need. I will check in on you again.”
Shocked that she has not convinced him, Lilian has no choice. “Andreas, have you not been listening? You must not contact me or attempt to meet me again until my bond has proven.”
Pushing back her chair, Lilian reaches for the hilt of her thorn. “This transgression may be forgiven. You did not understand. A second one will be treated as an assault on Monsignor Lucius and met with arms. It will grieve me, but make no mistake. Visit me again without Monsignor Lucius’ permission, and I will take your ears as a battle trophy and present them to the monsignor.”
Appa
lled by Lilian’s threat, Andreas is speechless.
Rising, Lilian concludes, “I would not part with you on this note, but we have been together too long as it is. Katleen and I must go.”
12. Monsignor Lucius’ Will
Of the fifty billion inhabitants of the Twelve Systems, one hundred million can claim genetic descent from the Five Warriors and their retainers. Among these warriors, only one in a hundred holds a seigneur’s gold signet, and only one in ten thousand holds a platinum signet.
Once a signet is licensed by the Governing Council, it becomes hereditary and can be passed to a single heir. The platinum signet of a cartouche preeminence symbolizes the monsignor’s authority to issue gold seigneur signets based solely on the monsignor’s will and the cartouche’s ability to pay the Governing Council license fees.
Other than inheritance, gold signets can be acquired through dedication, loyalty, and exceptional service to a cartouche. Within the cartels and other commerce ventures, master associates are equivalent in rank and income to junior seigneurs. Warriors who hold these positions have the highest probability of earning a signet. ~excerpt from The Signet, an academy primer.
Sevenday 59, Day 1
Lilian opens her eyes to diffuse, pink-tinged sunlight dancing on her balcony. Sunrise. Rising from her bed, she reaches for her training trousers. Today I live.
Settling the gold warbelt under her waistband, I am bonded.
Tugging on her ankle boots, there is only this day.
Pulling on her tunic, I will not fail.
Binding her hair, I will not fall.
Settling her thorn, there is only this day.
Descending the stairs, today I live.
Since the morning she sealed her apprentice contract and gave herself as property to Monsignor Lucius Mercio, Lilian has begun her day with what she mentally terms the ‘trial litany.’
The trial litany reminds her that she dare not dwell on her life before her trial or consider too specifically what may come after. The distraction of those thoughts could lead her to error and then into failure. Today, her mental recitation is particularly vehement. Milord’s likely reaction to the visit with Andreas has consumed her imagination since the day before.