by Anthony Ryan
Vaelin’s mind reeled. Two Aspects slain, it seemed so utterly incredible. He remembered Aspect Corlin Al Sentis well from his Test of Knowledge, the solemn, grave-faced man who had pressed him on the events in the forest. It was strange to think of him torn by daggers and poison. His chain of thought led him to an inevitable concern. “Aspect Arlyn?”
“He’s alive and well. They sent three men for him. They tunnelled into the vaults, where they were met by Master Grealin. It’s always a mistake to underestimate a fat man in a fight.” It was the closest thing to a compliment Sollis had ever voiced about Master Grealin.
“Is he injured?”
“A few bruises only. Although he was sorely grieved he couldn’t keep one of them alive to provide some answers.”
“My brothers?”
“They’re all well. Brother Nortah managed to get himself expelled from the Second Order after only two days. As for the others, Brother Caenis distinguished himself by killing the assassin who had knifed Aspect Hendrahl and the others appear to have been sleeping off a vatful of ale when Aspect Corlin met his end. Half the novice brothers of the Sixth Order lolling about the House of the Fourth Order, and assassins slit the Aspect’s throat and get away before anyone had noticed. Severe punishment was warranted.”
Vaelin sank back into his mattress, suddenly overwhelmed by tiredness. “Forgive me, Master,” he said. “For not taking one of them alive. The poison dulled my wits somewhat…” He drifted away, seeing Master Sollis’s lean, inexpressive face fade into shadow.
Barkus raged, Dentos joked, Nortah laughed and Caenis said little. Vaelin realised he had missed them all terribly.
“It’s just so bloody daft,” Barkus said, bafflement creasing his brows. “I mean what is going on?”
“Clearly there are enemies among us, brother,” Caenis said. “We must be wary.”
“But why though? Why kill the Aspects?”
Vaelin was tired, the cut on his arm had darkened into a bluish scar and the agony instilled by the Joffril root had faded into a dull ache that lingered in his limbs. Throughout the morning he had had several visitors, Master Harin awkwardly complimenting him and forcing a booming laugh or two. Vaelin could tell the big man was gratified by his survival and saddened by Henna’s betrayal. She had been something of a favourite in his group. Brother Sellin stayed for over an hour, gnarled hands clutching his wooden club and talking of how he would have used it on the assassins if he’d but had the chance. Vaelin had a brief vision of an elderly brother lying in a gatehouse with his throat cut but said, “They were wise indeed to give you a wide berth, brother.” The old man seemed happy enough with this and said he would come back the next day with a healing broth of his own recipe. There had been other visitors but Sister Sherin had been conspicuous by her absence and he worried about any embarrassing ramblings he may have uttered in his sleep.
“How’s Frentis?” he asked.
“Angry,” Nortah said. “Doesn’t know what to do with it, we’ve had to drag him out of three fights already. He begged the Aspect to let him come with us but got a day in the stables for his pains.”
“Keep an eye on him when you get back. I don’t like his being around Master Rensial on his own. Tell him I’m well, I’ll be back soon. And tell him to make sure he visits Scratch every day.”
Nortah nodded. It was unspoken but acknowledged that he would lead whilst Vaelin recovered. “They said you killed four of them,” he said. “Impressive.”
“Three. There was a girl, she had pretended to be a sister here for years. She killed herself when she failed to kill me.”
“A girl?” A faintly wicked smile played on Nortah’s lips as he glanced at the scar on Vaelin’s arm. “How close did you let her get, brother?”
“Too close.” A lesson I won’t forget.
“Brother Nillin had been at the Fourth Order for over twelve years,” Caenis said. “He was one of their most respected scholars, author of three books on linguistics, teacher of languages to the novice brothers, and all the time he was waiting to kill Aspect Dendrahl.”
“The fat bastard’s got you to thank he’s still with us,” Nortah said. “How did you reckon it out anyway?”
“I didn’t. I was returning a book the Aspect had lent me. I kicked the door in when I heard him screaming.” He paused, his sombre mood deepening visibly. “Brother Nillin put up a fair fight for a man in his forty-seventh year.”
“What’d you do him with?” Dentos asked.
“I didn’t have a weapon, couldn’t see the point of carrying one around the Fourth Order. I had to use my hands.”
“Couldn’t have been easy,” Barkus commented. “Facing off unarmed against a man with a knife.”
“The man was skilled but…” Caenis shrugged.
“He wasn’t one of us,” Vaelin finished.
Caenis nodded. “Which begs the question why wait until the Orders are full of boys from the Sixth Order before making their move.”
“Nothing about this makes sense,” Nortah said, yawning. “Although I can understand someone wanting the Aspect of the Second Order dead. One more minute of the boring old fool’s twaddle and I’d’ve strangled him myself.”
“Is that why you were expelled?” Vaelin asked.
Dentos snickered and Nortah’s smile for once seemed to have some genuine humour in it. “There was a misunderstanding with one of the sisters. Apparently relaxation massage has certain limitations. At least I think that’s what she said before she slapped me and ran off.”
Vaelin let them laugh for a few seconds before cutting in, raising his gaze to meet each of their eyes in turn. “I don’t know what happened here, brothers. I don’t understand it any better than you do. I do know that we live in perilous times, that the only trust we can have is in each other. Heed Master Sollis, obey the Aspect and, above all, guard each other well.”
The door opened and Sister Sherin entered with a bowl of steaming water, the first time he had seen her all day. “Out!” she commanded. “Time for Brother Vaelin’s wash and you lot have been here long enough.”
“A wash, eh?” Nortah raised an eyebrow, leaning close to Sherin as she placed the bowl on the table, Vaelin noting how his gaze scanned her from head to toe. “I trust you’ll be very thorough, sister.”
Sherin gave Nortah the same wearied, uninterested glance he recognised from her encounters with amorous drunks in the treatment room. “Don’t you have to go and play with your sword somewhere, brother?”
Laughing wryly, Nortah followed the others from the room.
“Your friend could do with a lesson in manners,” Sherin observed, placing the bowl on the small table beside the bed. “His demeanour is unseemly for a brother.”
“My Order has many different brothers within its ranks, some of them more seemly than others.”
She raised an eyebrow but said nothing, dipping her cloth into the bowl and making to pull back the covers. “I’m strong enough now to wash myself, sister,” he told her, gently but firmly holding on to the blankets.
She gave him a bemused look. “Trust me when I say, brother, you have nothing I haven’t seen before. Who do you think washed you when you were unconscious?”
Vaelin drove the uncomfortable thought to the back of his mind and kept hold of the bedclothes. “Even so. I’m stronger now.”
“As you wish.” She dropped the cloth into the bowl and moved back. “Since you’re so much stronger, you can meet with the Aspect today. She’s been asking for you. In the gardens at noon. I’ll help you, if you can stand to accept my help that is.”
She left the room without a backward glance. It took Vaelin a moment to realise he had actually hurt her feelings.
The gardens of the Fifth Order were extensive, covering several acres of rich soil where brothers and sisters tended the myriad variety of herbs and medicinal plants that played such an important role in their work. For the most part the gardens consisted of a series of rectangles, a monotonous che
quer-board of green and brown, but here and there were islands of colour, clusters of flowers and cherry blossoms.
“We have gardens in our Order,” Vaelin told Sherin as she helped him along one of the gravel pathways between the allotments. His legs and chest still ached a good deal and he leaned on her shoulder more heavily than he would have wished, knowing the proximity made her uncomfortable. She had said nothing when she arrived at noon to take him to the Aspect and did her best to avoid his gaze. “They aren’t like this,” he went on when she didn’t respond. “Master Smentil tends them, mostly on his own. He only speaks in signs, lost his tongue to the Lonak…” His voice faded. Sister Sherin was clearly in no mood for conversation.
She halted at a small series of flowerbeds. He could see the slender figure of Aspect Elera moving between the blossoms.
“The Aspect will help you on the way back,” Sherin said, moving away to let his arm fall from her shoulder.
“Thank you, sister.”
She nodded and turned away.
“Sister,” he said, reaching out to touch her wrist. “A moment please.”
She pulled her wrist away, avoiding his touch, but lingered, eyes guarded.
“I didn’t thank you,” he said. “For saving my life.”
“It is my role, brother.”
“When I was…undergoing my cure I had many strange dreams. I think I may have said things, things I would never say. If I said anything…offensive…”
“You said nothing, brother.” She raised her gaze, meeting his, forcing a small smile. “Nothing offensive at least.” She folded her arms tightly across her chest, her smile fading. “You’ll be leaving soon, going back to that awful place, going to fight some dreadful war. We…we won’t talk again, perhaps not ever.”
Involuntarily he moved closer, reaching out to grasp her hands. “We’ll talk again. I promise.”
“Vaelin!” It was Aspect Elera, standing at the edge of the flower garden, a small pruning knife in her hand. Her smile was bright. “You’re so much stronger.”
“Thanks to Sister Sherin’s care, Aspect.”
“Indeed. Her care is valuable, as is her time.”
“Forgive me, Aspect.” Sherin bowed her head. “I shouldn’t loiter…”
“There is no rebuke, sister. But the city is still troubled. I fear your skills will be sorely needed again today.”
Sherin nodded, gave Vaelin a parting glance, a sad smile on her lips, before releasing his hands and making her way back to the Order House. Vaelin watched her until she was out of sight.
“What do you know of flowers, Vaelin?” Elera Al Mendah asked him, offering her arm for support and leading him into the flower garden.
“Master Hutril taught me to spot the poisonous ones. He said they’re good for grinding up and smearing on arrowheads.” And I have a sister who likes winterblooms.
“Very useful I’m sure. Do you know what these are?” She stopped beside a short row of purple flowers with odd, curved heads framed by four long petals.
“I haven’t seen them before, Aspect.”
“Marlian Orchids, from the far south of the Alpiran Empire. Actually, they’re crossbreeds, I mixed in some of our native orchids to add a little hardiness, our climate is colder than they’re used to. It’s often the way with plants, take them out of the soil in which they’ve grown, and they wither and die.”
He felt a lesson was being taught, a lesson he didn’t want to hear. “I understand, Aspect.” He assumed it was the response she expected.
“Sherin is special,” the Aspect went on. “She cares, you see. Cares more than most, even the brothers and sisters of this Order. Perhaps that’s where her skill comes from. And she is very skilled, already she surpasses me in most things, but don’t tell her that. Skill like that is bound to make her isolated. There aren’t many who take the time or trouble to know her well enough to see how special she is. But you did, as I knew you would. It’s why I placed you together. But I didn’t expect your bond to be so strong.”
“I believe friendship is not forbidden those who serve the Faith.”
Aspect Elera raised an eyebrow at the impertinence but voiced no rebuke. “Friendship is always to be valued. But it cannot inhibit the role you and Sherin are to play. Sherin is to this Order what you are to yours.”
“And what is that?”
“The future. It is necessary you both understand this. Your mother did not, or she refused to. Love can do that, blind you to the path the Faith has made for you. When she left this place to marry your father, the Fifth Order lost a future Aspect.”
“I am sure my mother knew her own heart.”
She winced a little, hearing his bitterness. “Yes, she did. I meant no criticism, merely regret. She was my closest friend, when I first came here she taught me. Without her I would know nothing.”
She paused at a small plain wooden bench and bade him sit. He was grateful for the rest, his legs felt as if they would fold under him at any moment.
“May I ask, Aspect, have you learned anything of the men who attacked you?”
She shook her head. “Very little. The bodies were examined, nothing of interest was found save that they all had poisoned pellets concealed in their teeth, like Sister Henna. Their faces were not known to anyone. The Realm Guard and the Fourth Order are investigating. I daresay they will provide answers in due course.”
For a woman who had recently escaped death, she seemed remarkably unconcerned about the identity of her attackers. “You are not afraid others might try again?”
She frowned as if the thought had not occurred to her before. “If they come, they come. There seems little I can do about it. The Faith tells us to accept those things we cannot change.”
“Sister Henna had been here a long time. Her betrayal must hurt.”
“Betrayal? I doubt she ever had any loyalty to this place so how could she betray it? She did what she was sent here to do. I must say I’m impressed with her dedication, all this time living a lie and she never faltered, never let her mask slip.”
“She said something, before she died. ‘Once there were seven.’ Do you know what it means?”
There was something there, some reaction but not the same recognition he had seen in Master Sollis, more like fear, but gone in an instant. “You have many questions today, Vaelin. It seems to be a recurring feature of our conversations.”
Another one who’ll tell me nothing. “Forgive me, Aspect.”
She dismissed his concern with a laugh. “After what you did for me I feel I owe you one answer at least. So, ask me, but one question only, mind.”
One question only. It almost seemed cruel, as if she was playing with him. He wanted answers to every one of the myriad questions that plagued him, but after a moment’s frantic thought he settled on the one that had been at the forefront of his mind for months. “What do you know of my sister?”
“Ah.” She paused for a moment, sadness lining her face. “I know that she’s a very bright little girl. I know her parents love her very much. I know that she was born a little over ten years ago.”
“When my mother was still alive.”
The Aspect sighed heavily. “Vaelin, I don’t wish to hurt you but you must understand that not every marriage is a happy story. Your mother and father loved each other greatly but they were also very different. Your mother hated war, she had seen enough of it in her service, but she accepted your father’s role as Battle Lord because she loved him and because he was a man of justice who strove to keep the worst excesses of the Realm Guard in check. But when the third Meldenean war came she found she could stomach it no longer. She knew what he had been ordered to do and she begged him not to. But he had to obey his king.”
“The city.” Men, women, children…screaming in the flames.
“Yes. It haunted them both and it ended their union. She turned away from him. He began spending more time away from home, how he met the woman who would give him a daughter I don’t
know. But when your mother died and you were placed in the Sixth Order they were brought to live in his home. He asked for permission to marry and legitimise the girl but the King refused. The Battle Lord must be an example, a model for the people to follow. It was not long after this that your father left the King’s service.”
“Did my mother know? About the girl.”
“I don’t think so. Her health began to fail about the same time. She concerned herself with your future.” She reached up to smooth the hair from his forehead. “She had many hopes for you. All the good she did, all the people she healed, but you were the proudest achievement of her life.”
“Then I am glad she did not live to see what I have become.”
The slap was slow by his standards but so unexpected he failed to block it.
“Don’t ever say that!” Her voice was heavy with anger as he rubbed his stinging cheek. “What have you become? A brave young man who saved my life. Not to mention Sister Sherin’s. I know your mother’s spirit sings with pride at who you are.”
“I am a killer. It’s all I know how to do.”
“You are a warrior in the service of the Faith. Do not forget that. It may mean nothing to you now but it will in time.”
“It’s not what she wanted. Putting me in that place so my father could move his whore into her house…”
“It wasn’t his decision.”
“Another King’s order, then. A symbol of his devotion…”
“It was your mother’s dying wish.”
He felt he had been slapped again, only worse. His head spun, mind reeling. LIES! She’s lying! My mother would never have wanted this.
“Vaelin?”
He rose from the bench, staggering away from her, nausea and confusion boiling inside him, but his weakened legs could only carry him a few steps before he collapsed, crushing precious orchids and finding himself blinded by tears.
“Vaelin.” She was holding him, cradling him as he sobbed. “I’m sorry. You had to know.”
“Why?” he whispered into her breast. “Why would she do that?”