Bright Star

by E G Manetti

  Lilian, release the glass. Take your pleasure. With milord’s instruction, Lilian stumbles slightly, rearing backward against the delight of milord’s sex in her body. At the cessation of the tension between desire and discipline, release takes her in a violent, sense-drowning wave. Lilian is barely aware of finding the silk rug. All she knows is swamping ecstasy punctuated by milord driving into her hard and fast.

  “Lilian.” Milord demands her attention as a finger strokes her bottom lip.

  Voice and touch force Lilian’s eyes open to meet milord’s gaze. They are prone on the silk rug by the windows. The tumultuous sensations generated by milord’s passion continue to echo inside her, liquefying her limbs. Milord’s fingers are stroking her face. There is wetness. Tears?

  “Is it well with you?” Milord inquires, stroking the wetness from her cheek.

  “Yes, milord,” Lilian responds, bewildered and still within the thrall of her fading release. “I know not the cause of tears. There was naught of pain.”

  “It was not all of pleasure, either,” milord replies. His aspect holds an odd expression. “I take no pleasure in your distress. Why did you not speak?”

  “Voice what, milord?” Lilian returns, confused.

  Lucius considers the tear-stained face, the dark pools of Lilian’s eyes, and the lithe form that is yet subject to an occasional tremor. It is not as if he can berate her for excessive obedience. “Lilian, if I cannot view your face, I have no means to know if you are in distress.”

  The tension entering Lilian’s form indicates the very distress Lucius wishes to avoid. Demon shit. The brilliance of her intellect makes it too easy to overlook her youth and relative inexperience. They have already established a signal for urgent Cartel matters; a minor modification should suffice. Gently cupping Lilian’s face, Lucius instructs, “Recall the red eargems. Lilian, do you find yourself in distress again, voice ‘red gems.’ ”

  “Yes, milord.”

  16. A Thorn in Sebastian’s Side

  As the Anarchy continued into its third century, Vistrite became increasingly precious, the supply transports frequent targets of marauders and pirates. Determined to protect the source of his power and the last vestiges of Vistrite technology, Jonathan Metricelli dedicated his forces to guarding the Crevasse. In doing so, the Fourth Warrior abandoned significant sections of the Third System to lawlessness and strife.

  On Sinead’s World one marauder chieftain corrupted the Fifth Warrior’s battle general, Robert Dragon, and took possession of a fortress from which to launch forays against Jonathan’s formidable defenses. Enraged by Robert Dragon’s betrayal, knowing she dared not allow another marauder chieftain to establish territory on her planet, Sinead sent her personal guard to retake the fortress and bring Robert Dragon to justice.

  Led by Adelaide Thornbearer, distant kinswoman to Sinead Standingbear and consort to Robert Dragon, the guard successfully regained the fortress. In the course of the battle, Adelaide was rescued from almost-certain death by Robert Dragon, who was then slain by the escaping marauder chieftain. As a warning to others, Adelaide decapitated her consort, shrank his head, and hung it from her warbelt. Robert Dragon would be the first fallen foe so honored by Adelaide. He was not to be the last. ~ excerpt from The Origins of the Five Warriors, a scholarly treatise.

  Sevenday 35, Day 2

  A fist flies past Lilian’s ear. As she ducks, pivoting on one foot, she loses her balance. Rolling away from her attacker, Lilian attempts to slash his Achilles tendon with her thorn. Completing her roll, Lilian surges to her feet.

  Lilian lightly dances out of Trevelyan’s reach as he follows her pivot with an attempt to sweep her at the knees. The two combatants circle cautiously. Trevelyan’s goal is to knock the young woman to the mats. Lilian’s goal is to stay on her feet and mark her training master as often as possible.

  At a feint from Trevelyan, Lilian dodges, seeking an opening. A distraction at the entrance compromises Lilian’s footing. Her slight stumble gives Trevelyan momentary advantage. The spymaster grasps one flailing leg to throw her. Using her falling momentum, Lilian hits the floor with her back and kicks out with her free leg, causing Trevelyan to release the other. Lilian escapes.

  The movement at the doorway is milord. Coming to a stand, Lilian drops the chalk-thorn to the mats. Even practice weapons are not to be carried in the presence of milord. Lucius and Trevelyan are in similar dress, bare chested with loose training trousers and soft ankle boots. Lucius’ right pectoral is graced with the sunburst tattoo of Socraide’s Mark.

  Lilian’s attire is similar and adds a supportive sleeveless training tunic into which she has tucked her warrior’s queue. Skin coated with sweat and breathing hard, Lilian waits for milord to speak.

  “Thirty-two minutes, and you remain on your feet. Well done, Lilian,” milord approves.

  The match timer, started at the beginning of the bout, displays the time and explains milord’s entrance. Caught up in the training exercise, Lilian and Trevelyan had not realized the period completed.

  “My thanks, milord. Master Trevelyan is an excellent instructor,” Lilian acknowledges.

  “Have you marked me, Mistress Lilian?” Trevelyan inquires. The Serengeti champion turns slowly so that he can be examined for chalk marks.

  There are a number of faint chalk lines on Trevelyan’s arms and torso that would have caused only shallow cuts with a true thorn. The mark that interests Lilian is the last one she made, the one over Trevelyan’s Achilles tendon.

  With a satisfied nod at the strength of the mark, Lilian responds, “I believe I have crippled you, Master Trevelyan. See to your right calf.”

  “You have indeed,” Trevelyan agrees.

  As he shifts to view the mark, Trevelyan exposes another mark that was hidden in the fold of his trousers. Not as heavy as the Achilles mark, it transverses six inches beginning at the top of Trevelyan’s right thigh. It is dangerously close to his genitalia. The proximity causes both men to wince and Trevelyan to remark, “And possibly unmanned me as well.”

  As Lilian turns to view the other mark, her tunic shifts, exposing a dark red welt on one shoulder blade. Reaching out, Lucius lightly touches the mark, surprising a small start from Lilian. “How come you by this one? No stone pillar caused such a mark.”

  Lilian is commonly marred from training strikes she does not bother to tend. Since Martin’s beating, Lucius is suspicious of any unusual bruising.

  “That was this morning, milord,” Lilian responds. “Maman has added the short sword to our training sessions. It is the standard weapon in Sinead’s Discipline and a secondary one for Adelaide’s. During the rainy season, she became quite adamant that I improve my reach.”

  They were three; all of them outreach me . . .

  The memory of Lilian’s brush with three drunken elite bent on rape is unspoken between Lucius and Lilian. As is Lilian’s unarmed defense against Martin’s assault with a training short sword. The recollection of both events causes Lucius to nod and concur. “The seer is undoubtedly correct.”

  Leaving milord to engage in his training, Lilian encounters Clarice and Rebecca, who are seated on a bench awaiting the start of a class. Due to Seigneur Thorvald’s favor and personal training, Rebecca’s previously abysmal skills have reached a level that permits her participation in the Serengeti training classes. Classes Lilian is unable to enjoy, her enrollment thwarted by Thorvald’s disdain.

  Resigned to Thorvald’s disdain, and well pleased by Trevelyan’s tutelage, Lilian is no longer concerned by the restrictions. Sipping from a vial of water, Lilian seats herself in time to hear Clarice say, “. . . on restricted duty for three days this time. That means at least one of us is likely to go to him.”

  “Restricted duty, what say you Clarice?” queries Lilian, well recalling her four days of restricted duty after Martin’s beating.

  “Tabitha, Monsignor Sebastian’s apprentice,” Clarice replies and then expands, “If Monsignor wishes someone to a
ttend him in the next three days, Rebecca and I are the most likely to be called.”

  Seeing Lilian’s confusion, Rebecca’s face takes on her ‘educating Lilian’ expression. “Monsignor enjoys rough play.”

  Lilian nods. “Yes, I know. Monsignor S—” At a glance from Clarice, Lilian swallows the name of the Grey Spear governor.

  The repetitious mention of one of the governing monsignors may trigger a monitor review by Cartel or Cartouche security-privilege or the militia. Whatever has her friends concerned must be discussed with care. Apprentice criticism of the ranked is treated with severity. Such criticism of a governor is even more severely corrected.

  Carefully choosing her words, Lilian continues, “—ah, prefers the dominant role in dominance and submission games. It was revealed by my research. Yet, I do not understand, I . . .”

  Lilian trails off as the information coalesces in her mind. “Three days?”

  At her friends’ nods, Lilian voices naught. They are all thinking the same thought. Such damage is not an accident. It is cruelty.

  Lilian does voice her next thought. “Does Tabitha enjoy such? I have heard it is possible but not encountered it.”

  Both of the other women shake their heads. Clarice voices certainty. “She likes it not at all. Someone must have held Tabitha in great despite to bind her into such a contract. This is the third time since the dry season passed that she has been on restricted duty.”

  “Now one of you must suffer this until she heals?” Lilian is appalled.

  At Lilian’s outrage, Rebecca responds, “No, we won’t be subject to such. The common playthings must be returned in good working order. When we voice ‘Crevasse’—the Cartel halt word—even Monsignor must cease. It’s only that we . . .”

  With a shiver of distaste, Rebecca fails to complete the thought. Even the irreverent Rebecca has more discretion than to voice she finds a governing monsignor’s attentions unpleasant.

  I am the sum of my ancestors. Lilian swallows water, attempting to clear her mind with the clear liquid. I am the foundation of my family. Why did she not know this? How could she not know this?

  This day. Halt word. Of course, the Cartel has a halt word. As does Lilian, ‘red gems’ by milord’s grace. Overset by too much information, Lilian closes her eyes and concentrates on the flowing liquid.

  Five Warriors take it! She had so little time to prepare for her bond. Lilian barely mastered stricture and protocol before her First Day. Without Chrys, she would have lacked knowledge of custom. It is only now that the deepest nuances surface. Once again Lilian thanks the Shades for delivering her to milord. It could have been so much worse. I will not fall.

  There is no purpose in belaboring that Monsignor Sebastian violates protocol and stricture in his mistreatment of his apprentice. The distinction between warranted correction and cruelty is readily adjusted by the rank of the offender. If it were other than a governing monsignor, Master Straus might be able to intervene. As it is, those with sufficient rank to challenge the governor are unlikely to do so over an apprentice. If Sebastian Mehta is ever brought to answer for this darkness, it will be at the hands of the Shades.

  Clarice also shudders slightly as she nods her agreement with Rebecca’s unvoiced distaste for Sebastian Mehta. “I cannot imagine how Tabitha has withstood it all this time. Her bond proves at the end of the green season, but I do not envision how she will escape. She has little training beyond the most basic assignments. Only Grey Spear will consider her for an associate, which means she will remain subject to her monsignor’s will.”

  “Clarice, how is it you know so much of Mistress Tabitha?” Lilian wonders. “I cannot recall ever encountering her.”

  Which is, in and of itself, an indictment of Sebastian Mehta’s treatment of his apprentice, Lilian realizes. She can recall a number of occasions when she attended milord in conference with the Grey Spear preeminence. Standing silent, Lilian learned much and advanced her skills. Tabitha has had no such opportunity.

  “We are friends of a sort,” Clarice responds, ending Lilian’s internal revelation. “During the dry season, when Ann Hunter was tormenting me, Ann gave me an assignment she had neglected to complete and the deadline was impossible.”

  Rebecca makes a derisive sound in recognition of similar torments.

  With remembered desperation, Clarice concludes, “I was in tears and Tabitha offered to aid me. She stayed all night with me in the Archives, assisting with the extracts so I could finish the report.”

  “Then mayhap we should discover if there is aught we can do to aid her in return,” Lilian suggests. Within the consortium, they unite against foes. They will also unite in favor of friends. “What know you of her skills and work?”

  “She has basic skills in legalistics and archiving, but they are first-year associate skills, not what would be expected after three years of apprenticeship. She is passed around from project to project to perform the tedious tasks. She is clever enough, but I do not believe it can be proven from her tally.”

  Lilian sits quietly, thinking. Milord lacks the bells to oversee Vistrite. The fate of one of Serengeti’s least associates, one not even of Blooded Dagger, is not milord’s to own. “She is in a box.”

  From what Clarice has conveyed, Tabitha’s work record is insufficient to warrant an associate’s place with either Iron Hammer or Blooded Dagger. Master Straus might consider her for a Cartel associate but cannot offer such a position in the face of Monsignor Sebastian’s will to keep her as Grey Spear. As a junior associate within Grey Spear, Tabitha will remain well within the thrall of Monsignor Sebastian.

  “Then there is naught to be done for her?” Clarice says despondently.

  “I did not speak so,” Lilian returns. “I will take counsel with someone who is good with boxes. Serengeti is not the whole of the Twelve Systems. If naught can be accomplished within these halls, mayhap something without can be arranged. I will do some investigating.”

  »◊«

  “Lilian, you know there is little I may voice about matters between Monsignor Sebastian and his apprentice.” Master Medic Chin has seated Lilian on the far side of his desk for their conversation.

  At milord’s instruction, when seeking counsel from Master Chin, Lilian is free of all the apprentice strictures except for the first and fourth. She may not defy milord’s will or permit carnal access to her person. The master medic’s domain is sacrosanct. Only with Chin’s or milord’s authorization can the monitors be accessed.

  Certain of her safety, Lilian does not hesitate to speak freely. “Master Medic, I do not ask, and truly I could not tolerate more than I already know. Suffice it that it troubles me Tabitha is on restricted duty so often. There is naught I can do to alleviate that and I know it well.

  “I beg your assistance in aiding her escape from the box that is forming to hold her when she proves her bond at year’s end. Should Grey Spear offer her an associate’s role, she will be in no better a situation than she is in now. Should they fail do so, or should she refuse the offer, she may have nowhere else to go. No one outside Serengeti is likely to take her. No one within will have her, since she has been unable to demonstrate her value.”

  “What is your interest in the matter?” Chin’s regard is speculative.

  “Although owning a severe trial, Tabitha aided another of whom no return could be expected. If I am able, I would the favor be returned and such gallantry rewarded,” Lilian explains.

  Nodding, Chin responds, “Ask of me what you wish. I will provide what assistance I may.”

  Inhaling deeply, Lilian ventures, “First, are there any strictures against apprentices assisting another to demonstrate competence?”

  Lilian must be cautious. She is planning to thwart the will of a governing monsignor. Any stricture violation, no matter how minor, will put her in line for severe punishment of which caning will be the lightest.

  “None whatsoever,” Chin assures Lilian. “Although, should you neglect your
own assigned tasks in the process, that would become a problem. What think you in this?”

  Chin is well aware of the risk Lilian is pondering. While willing to assist, he will ensure that Lucius halts her plan should it prove too dangerous.

  “I would have Mistress Tabitha demonstrate her value to someone in Serengeti who will either wish to attach her or be willing to help place her elsewhere. First, I must discover the extent of her skills. Master Chin, are you able to access Mistress Tabitha’s records and inform me of where she excels?” Lilian asks.

  “That I can do, although you could as well.” Chin is not certain why he is necessary for such a simple task.

  “I would leave an identifier behind. I do not wish to alert anyone who may care,” Lilian replies. “Master Chin, as her medic, your review will cause no comment.”

  Nodding, pleased to find the young woman is proceeding with well-considered caution, the medic turns to his techno group and taps out a few commands. “This is interesting. She has no excellent marks in any area but is very competent in legalistics, analytics and problematics, and archiving.”

  “That is unusual, is it not?” Lilian inquires. “Serengeti does not entertain applications from those who do not excel in at least one area.”

  “Mistress Tabitha did not apply through Serengeti. Her bond was directly purchased by Monsignor Sebastian fifteen months ago. He pays her bond out of his personal resources. Unless her work has a negative impact on the Cartel, the Cartel has no interest in the matter.” The master medic does not add that it is the same type of arrangement that brought Lilian to Serengeti.

  Completing his explanation, Chin watches as Lilian ponders the information. Her eyes are unfocused and pale; she is murmuring quietly. After a moment Lilian’s eyes refocus, the normal gray color returns, and Lilian’s expression lightens.

  “Have you a plan, Mistress Lilian?” Chin is fascinated by Lilian’s sudden shift into what was clearly deep analytical thought.