by Unknown
We carefully climbed the steps to the room Luc and I rented for the week, her to demonstrate her solicitude to the crowd in the common area, me to maintain the illusion of my sightlessness. Once we gained the second floor and I released my hold on the banister, my free hand slipped into the folds of my robes and grasped the handle of my dagger.
I led the way into the sleeping chamber.
“Justice, I have—”
To anyone else, my actions flowed so fast they would have seemed magic. With a swift kick, I shut the door. Before it slammed, I shoved the girl against the cheap plaster that covered the walls, my left forearm pressed against her throat. The tip of my dagger flipped up her veil before the point settled at the fragile join of her ear and jaw.
I didn’t need her sharp gasp to know my hood had fallen back with the speed of my movements.
“Goddess, what are you?” The tremor in her voice matched the rapid throb of her artery under my blade. Everyone expected the milky white orbs of the sightless, like the rest of my order. Only Luc ever had the courage to tell me that no human’s eyes were the color of blood.
“A better question is why a pig herder thought she could pass for a priestess of Love.”
“Please forgive me, Justice. I didn’t know how else to seek your help without the entire town—” Her sob could have been faked.
“You know the penalty for impersonating a priest or priestess of the Twelve,” I ground out. “Who did you steal the robes from?”
“I didn’t take them! They were my mother’s.”
I jerked away from the girl. I knew better than to release a potential threat. Thirty years of blasted training.
But her mother hadn’t sold her. The way my mother had sold me at the tender age of three winters.
The hiss of steel on leather whispered on the other side of the door. No doubt the inn’s patrons had enjoyed telling the story to Luc when he returned from his errand. I touched his mind and warned him of our guest. He sheathed his sword and slipped inside our room.
“Maybe you’d better start at the beginning, child.” The rumble of his voice at my back reassured me.
The girl edged around me. “M’lord. I—I need your help. My betrothed has been kidnapped.”
Wonderful. A cock-and-bull story. “Why haven’t you gone to the magistrate’s office?”
Her hair rustled as she looked at me, then back at Luc. “His own parents did the deed, Lord, Lady. He is Marco DiMara.”
A bitter laugh erupted from my throat. A pig herder promised to the scion of one of the richest families in all of the land of Issura? “You really expect us to believe that load of—”
Luc cut me off. “You understand I will truth-bind you?”
“Yes, m’Lord.” It was the first time I heard confidence in the girl’s voice.
In less than three heartbeats, Luc had muttered the words of his spell. Brilliant oranges, reds and yellows of active magic surrounded the girl. She sat on the edge of our bed. The slide of skin over skin as she rubbed her hands set my nerves on edge.
“I am Katarina DiLove. My mother kept me after my birth eighteen winters ago, and I served as her handmaid until her death from the wasting sickness last summer. I have no great magics, nor did I wish to stay at the temple.
“My small talent is in the care of animals. I am—” Her voice faltered as the spell prodded her. “Was apprenticed with Jovis, the city’s veterinarian. I met Marco last fall. His horse had broken a leg in a hunting accident, and I healed the poor creature.”
Luc whistled, a high, surprised sound. My estimation of the girl tilted. A true healer had more than a little talent.
Katarina didn’t seem to notice our reactions. “He courted me. I told him I had no dowry other than the death gift from my mother, but he said it didn’t matter. That he loved me no matter the difference between our stations.
“I was to meet him at the Wilding God’s clearing two nights ago. He wasn’t there, but Mistress DiMara was. She said that I would pay for seducing her son. That she and her husband would ensure I never saw him again. That if by happenstance we did meet, he would not know me.
“Yesterday morning, Master Jovis released me from my contract. He said I could sleep in the pig barn last night, but it would be best for both of us if I left the city.”
Katarina’s voice turned hard. “The DiMaras own the magistrate. He would not help if I had gone to him. Brother Kam sent me to you.”
“Disguised as a priestess?”
“No. That was my idea.”
Once her story finished spilling. Katarina sucked in a wretched breath and began sobbing in earnest. I questioned her for nearly half of a candle mark, but her story did not alter one whit, nor could she give us more details.
I sat down next to the girl, her sobs now reduced to hiccups. She not so subtly scooted away. I couldn’t fault her. The reaction to me, to my eyes, was due to my own foolishness.
“There may not be anything we can do,” I said. “It may be as simple as Marco’s parents threatening to disown him if he continues with his plans to marry you, and he buckled to their wishes.”
“But Marco isn’t like that!”
“We’ll look into it. That is all I can promise.” I reached into a pocket of my robes and produced two gold pieces. “Go to Nastine. That’s the next stop on my circuit. Tell the adherents at the temple of Balance I sent you, and wait for me. Nothing more. I’ll be there next week with my findings.”
She bobbed her head. “It is more than I expected.” After a moment’s hesitation, she whispered, “About my own transgression, Justice—”
“I discover you’ve impersonated a priestess again, and I’ll behead you myself.”
“Yes, Justice.” The acknowledgement was my only thanks. Luc received a hug from her before she fled through the sleeping room’s door.
He sealed the door behind the girl and cast a privacy spell. Warmth filled me. I knew where his actions led.
“Well?” He unlaced the ties of my formal cloak.
I sighed as he eased the material from my shoulders. “The girl’s only telling the truth as she knows it. She’s low on facts and high on conjecture.”
“A veterinarian is not going to release a true healer from her contract without cause. Or some damn good incentive.” He pressed a tiny kiss along my neckline with each word, stroked the scars along my back.
“So you believe it bears investigation?”
He chuckled against my skin. “I know you. You would have her stripped and flogged for the impersonation if you suspected her story false. And since you’ve already pardoned one transgression this morning…”
I sighed as he unwound my breast band. “Whatever happened to the days when our vocations fought demons and otherworldly menaces instead of dealing with jilted lovers?”
“Maybe the Goddess is trying to teach you patience with boring cases.”
I slapped at his hands. “Luc, we have to be at court by third morning.” My protest was token, and we both knew it.
“It’s only second hour. We have plenty of time.” As if he cued them, the city bells rang.
I sighed and let him press me to the bedcovers.
~o0o~
The port city of Orrin was far too big not to have its own temple adjudicator. After the elderly resident justice had passed in the spring, the Reverend Mother assigned Orrin to my circuit. I couldn’t say she ignored my entreaties or those of Kam, the old priest at the Temple of Light across the city’s main thoroughfare. She always sent us both polite replies that she searched for the right candidate for the position.
Even though I spent a week out of every month in Orrin, I wasn’t insane enough to take up residence in the temple facilities. The minute I did, the old hen would permanently assign me the position, and Luc and I would be parted forever. Besides, this city held too many bitter memories.
As usual, I heard the capital cases first that morning. I only had to execute one man. When I returned from the b
ack courtyard after his beheading, I slipped my sword through the clasped hands of the Goddess’s statue behind my chair. Odd how a bloody blade in the grip of a basalt figure subdued the crowd and kept order.
By the end of the afternoon, my grim humor had evaporated, and I wondered if I could die of boredom. The accused turned into a giant parade of disorderly conduct charges. At first evening, I called a halt to the proceedings.
The resident clerk approached me as the main hall cleared. “There’s only a day and a half of civil cases left, m’lady.” From her high voice and jovial attitude, she was still quite young.
I snorted. “And by morning, there will be another pile of criminal cases because some fleet arrived today, and all the crews decided to drink their pay.”
She shrugged. “Sailors, m’lady.”
Luc approached and handed me my cleaned sword. “Ready for evening meal?”
Bless him. The blade slid into my back scabbard with a satisfying snick. I had changed my clothes at the mid-day break, not that bloodstains were obvious in my traditional robes. Or so everyone said.
Even cold and dried, the spots left a slight temperature variation from the cloth. To me, they stood as mute badges to my position.
“Good eventide.” I nodded to the clerk before Luc wrapped my arm around his.
As we stepped outside, I welcomed the cool air after the stuffiness of court. The business district’s administrative offices and most of the temples were quiet for the night. Only the Temple of Love, three cross streets down, was brightly lit. The raucous laughter of men and the lighter giggling of the priestesses spilled from its front courtyard.
I paused, taking in the glow of oil lamps and torches. Then there were the sounds. Noises all too similar to the ones I made when Luc lay with me.
“Sentimental, Justice?” he whispered in my ear.
“No. I’m thankful my mother sold me every time I pass one of those places.” She really had done me a favor though it felt like a wretched abandonment to the child I had been. But considering I couldn’t keep my own vow of chastity to Balance—
I tugged on his arm, and we started across the street. “Come. I’m hungry.” I left the rest of my feelings unsaid. It was too dangerous to speak the words aloud on an open street.
~o0o~
Dinner with Brother Kam was always a pleasant affair, but tonight, his jocularity seemed forced. After telling a particularly obscene story concerning a former mayor, two milkmaids, and a cow, he exhaled and sipped his wine.
He toyed with the stem for a long moment before he said, “I wish you would reconsider accepting the temple seat here in Orrin, Anthea.”
I felt Luc’s attention on me and I nodded my agreement. He rose and circled the room.
Brother Kam said nothing as Luc warded the room against anyone overhearing this conversation.
“Does this have anything to do with the DiMara family?” I asked.
Brother Kam’s face blazed red. He reached for the wine pitcher and refilled his goblet. “According to the city’s gossipmongers, Lord and Lady DiMara have been petitioning a match with one of the Queen’s granddaughters for their son Marco. Needless to say, their attempts have been politely, but firmly, rebuffed.”
He took a deep swallow of wine before continuing. “Three days ago, Marco came to me for advice on a young apprentice he was enamored with. Even though I told him to forget about her, he was quite insistent he loved her.” A self-deprecating chuckle echoed from Kam’s chest. “I asked him why he didn’t seek the guidance of the priestesses down the street. He told me he needed straight answers, not flowery speech.”
“And?” I prompted.
Brother Kam looked at me squarely, one of the few who knew the truth about me and was unafraid to gaze upon my failed attempt at sight. “I told him if he was serious, he would collect any money he could lay his hands on and flee with his paramour to Cant. Lady DiMara would never countenance a match between any of her children and a mere animal healer, much less a bastard child of the Spring Rituals.”
He took another swallow of wine. “Yesterday, the veterinarian Jovis came to me. It was before noon, and the man was more intoxicated than adherents of the Mother at a harvest. The man never drinks because he never knows when he might be summoned.” He slammed his hand against the surface of the table.
“What did he tell you?” Luc said.
“Nothing.” Kam waved his hand in the air. “He couldn’t tell me a blessed thing. He was under some kind of compulsion I could not break.” He stared at the tapestry of Light decorating the far wall. “He tried. God help him, he tried to tell me, but I found a secondary spell designed to kill him if he managed to defeat the primary compulsion.
“This morning, Marco’s paramour showed up on my doorstep.”
Luc relayed our own encounter with Katarina. Kam grunted and poured another goblet of wine.
My palms formed a blade, and I rested my chin against my fingertips. “This doesn’t make sense. Why go to such lengths to stop Marco?”
“Oh, the story gets better.” Anger coated Kam’s words. “Shortly after I sent Katarina to speak to you, Lord DiMara arrived, claiming Marco wishes to take temple vows.”
“He’s of age, is he not?” Luc said.
“Yes.” Kam shook his head. “I cannot refuse an honest supplicant. But…”
Luc’s own rage flicked at the back of my mind. Katarina’s story fell into place. The DiMaras had set a very neat trap for their son.
None of the temples would condone a memory block of this type, not even those of the God of Thieves. Only a second-rate sorcerer would agree to such a perversity, therefore the spell would eventually fail. By the time poor Marco realized what had happened to him, he would be sworn to the God.
And only the Temples of Light and Balance required their priests and priestesses to remain chaste.
Coldness swept through me, though I wasn’t sure if it was concern for the young lovers or my and Luc’s own violation of our vows. “Do you have the list of non-temple affiliated talents for Orrin?”
Kam pulled a scroll from his robes and handed it to Luc, who read off the names. Part of me was pleased Katarina had done the smart thing and registered. The rest of the practitioners listed bore some thought. They ranged from a minor prince with limited talent and no hope for the throne to several bastards from the other temples.
I stood. “Thank you for your hospitality, Brother Kam, but it is getting late.”
“Thank you for listening to my nonsense.” Relief danced along the old man’s words. “If I can be of assistance…”
I squeezed his hand. “You’ve been more than enough help.”
“Brother Luc?”
We paused at Kam’s querulous tone. “Yes?”
“I’m grateful for your assistance, but my old bones cannot perform this office much longer. If Justice Anthea decides to settle in Orrin, may I present your name to the Reverend Father as my replacement?”
Luc tilted his head. “I would be honored, Brother.”
~o0o~
Luc paced our room at the inn. Every curse word in the records poured from his mouth.
I sat cross-legged on the bed and rubbed my temples at the growing headache. His tirade was difficult to shut out, made meditation impossible. “Any hope that your tantrum will end soon?”
He paused in mid-step. “It’s one thing when your parents sell you to the temples, but this—”
“Is illegal. I’m not disagreeing with you, but we need to find Marco before the memory block is performed. The DiMaras have had to rush, haven’t thought out their plan thoroughly. And why punish Marco, instead of quietly killing Katarina? This type of revenge is too personal.”
“A way to keep the other DiMara children in line? Make them work harder at seducing a member of the royal family?”
“Maybe. Read the names to me again.”
The parchment rustled, a counterpoint to Luc’s bass as he repeated each name on the list. He tossed
the scroll on the bed. “It’s too many. We don’t have time to check out each one. We can try a tracking spell on Marco.”
I pressed my hands together and rested my elbows on my crossed knees. “If this unknown sorcerer has a lick of common sense and any real power, he is shielding both his presence and Marco’s. If we try to track either of them, it will alert our unknown idiot that we’re looking. And if he can’t perform the memory block in time, he may decide slitting Marco’s throat and fleeing is his best option for survival.”
“The Wilding God’s clearing? Lady DiMara?”
I smiled. “That was my thought.”
~o0o~
The bells rang third night while we crossed the city. Black trousers and long-sleeved tunics allowed us to blend with the shadows. As for evading the night watch and accessing one of the city gates, three generations of peacetime in Issura made the men and women a little too complacent. Besides, they never expect anyone to leave the city this late.
Luc and I jogged to the clearing. While the Lord of Wild Things had an altar within every city, a copse outside of the walls was always set aside for him.
Luc stumbled twice on roots. For me, the blue trees and their yellow canopies were as bright as daytime. Sometimes I suspected he teased me when he claimed the trunks were brown and the leaves green to him. However, I had no doubts that nighttime for him was like the dark to which I was born.
“Here?” he asked when we reached the clearing.
I looked up at the bright red owl perched on the branch above us. “Only if you want droppings down your collar.”
Luc grunted and followed while I found an appropriate spot. I sat cross-legged, my hands on my knees and concentrated.
The matrons of my order say that in the beginning, the universe was perfectly balanced, and that in the end, perfect balance will be achieved again. Translated, their teachings meant we could see the past, and sometimes, even the future.
What we needed was two nights ago. Katarina’s meeting with Lady DiMara.
Cold filled the glade as I plucked the strings of time. Luminous eyes and hot bodies surrounded us. This was not my Goddess’s place, and the wild creatures watched.