“This is my beloved sister,” Katrin said, her voice carrying across the room, though she spoke softly. “She has taught us a kinder, forgiving way of dealing with life. I am proud to be part of her family of tiger-women. Her little daughter, Flori, is my precious niece.”
Flori embraced Katrin enthusiastically. Menders flinched, thinking of those wounds that ran under Katrin’s collarbones. Katrin showed no sign of discomfort, though the pain must have been sharp.
“Help me up, darling,” she said to the little girl. Flori braced herself so Katrin could use her shoulder for support.
Katrin rose slowly to her feet and then turned toward Hemmett, who had not faltered from his posture of attention. She reached out and took his hand.
“At ease,” she said softly. Hemmett relaxed and looked into her eyes.
“This is my brother,” she said, her voice suddenly ringing to the rafters. “From the day I was born, he has been my friend, my confidant, my protector and my other self. There is no knowledge, that I would not trust him with. His heart is pure and true and it has been dedicated to being my Guard since he was a little boy helping me catch those tadpoles in the lake.”
She turned away from Hemmett’s eyes and looked at the crowd of Menders’ Men, Hemmett’s Guard and household members.
“I, Princess Katrin Morghenna Shvalz of the Royal House of Mordania place Captain Hemmett Greinholz under my protection as a Courtier and confer upon him the title of Baronet from this day forward – for all the things he has done and for all he will do to protect and love me.”
The silence was overwhelming – then Hemmett saw Katrin starting to sway and put an arm around her, pulling her against his side, steadying her. Menders stepped over and supported her on the opposite side.
“Now we go forward together, my friends – as a family,” Katrin said gently.
She looked over at Borsen. He smiled and she nodded.
“We go on from here,” he said loudly.
Leptham, Mordania
6
Face the Storm
K
atrin sat in the gentle surf on the beach at Leptham, watching Borsen walking out of the waves toward her.
They had been here a week and already she felt incredibly improved. She spent hours sitting in the surf every day, letting the sea water wash her wounds. The redness and swelling were diminishing, as was the terrible smell. Doctor Franz said it was the best thing she could do. Several of the injuries were healing cleanly now.
She loved the quiet and the endless gentle swish of the waves on the sand, the horizontal lines of sea and sky. It rested her. It helped her clear her mind of the nightmares, sleeping and waking, that had tormented her since she was Suspended.
“You’ll get all wrinkled, Cuz, lying in the water like a crab,” Borsen smiled. He settled beside her in the shallow waves, leaning against her companionably as he wiped his glasses dry on one of her towels.
“I am anyway,” Katrin smiled.
“It’s not so bad now that you’re filling out again,” Borsen assured her.
“Am I?”
“Oh yes. I’m a tailor, I notice these things.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear it. I look like some dried up thing you find in an attic.” Katrin sighed and lifted her arm free of the water. The flesh still hung on her bones and looked horribly unhealthy.
“It will come back. I heard Franz saying you’re young enough that you’ll make a very good recovery.”
Katrin sighed. “Yes, but not a full one.”
“No there’s no way anyone would ever completely recover from something like that,” Borsen said quietly. “You just go on with what you have left.”
They sat together quietly for a while, watching Hemmett thrashing through the waves and standing on a sandbar many yards out in the water, diving off, resurfacing and climbing out to dive again.
Borsen scooped up a shell that came tumbling in on a wave and handed it to her.
“That’s funny, usually you don’t get good shells here like you do on the shore at Erdstrom, because of how shallow the water is. They get ground down to nothing on the sand bars. Must be a storm out there washing them up from the deeper water,” he said.
Katrin shaded her eyes and peered out at the horizon. She shook her head. Her eyes were clearer now that her latest infection was abating, but her vision was still not perfect.
“It’s hazy,” Borsen said. “And the swell over that sandbar Hemmett keeps dancing on is getting bigger. I hope we have a storm. I want to see one come in over the ocean.” He rolled over onto his stomach and looked up at her.
“Borsen, are you going to stay at The Shadows for a while?” Katrin asked.
“Looking to get rid of me?” he smiled.
“No, but your career… you’ve worked so hard toward it, and now you never talk about it anymore.”
“I’ve been happy,” he said, studying the little mussels that washed up with each wave and then burrowed down into the sand. “And I’ve been busy enough. I love being with you. I can’t really do anything until I’m twenty-one anyway. Then I would be old enough to have some credibility as a tailor, so people don’t think I’m a journeyman.”
“Borsen, you’re twenty now. Twenty and a half. You want a big establishment in Erdahn, you’ve always said so.”
Borsen turned on his side in the waves, propping his head on his hand.
“Some things are more important, Cuz.”
“Would you help me lie down like you? My backside is sore.” He steadied her as she turned on her side and lay down eye to eye with him.
She appreciated his devotion. He had been a lifeline since she’d been brought home from Erdahn more than half-dead. He’d spent hours at her bedside, reading, talking, being there. He would sometimes bring projects down from the workshop and sit in her room, keeping her from being bored or lonely, stitching away nonstop.
But he’d worked toward having what he called “an establishment” for years with single minded intensity. Even the years they’d spent traveling hadn’t damped his ardor. Now he was speaking as if he had stopped caring. She couldn’t believe it. This was something to think about.
If she searched her soul, she desperately wanted Borsen to stay at The Shadows with her, but he was so talented and had so many plans that couldn’t be carried out in a secluded country location. If he let them go for her…
A much larger wave, which they hadn’t noticed in spite of Hemmett’s shouting from the sand bar to warn them, hit them, causing Katrin to shriek and Borsen to jump to his feet and catch her before she tumbled along with it as it receded. They both laughed as he helped her up.
A cold wind raked them. The sky was rapidly growing black, clouds climbing high at the horizon. Hemmett, seeing that no-one was hurt or swept out to sea, dove from the sand bar and headed for shore. Katrin saw Menders was coming toward them along the beach, laughing at their scramble.
“We’d best get you back to the hotel, there’s a storm coming,” he said as he reached them, picking up the towels and bundling one around her.
“Oh, I want to see the storm!” she protested, resisting as he put his arm around her waist and prepared to help her walk back to the hotel. The wind was rising and she felt exhilirated.
Hemmett coasted up on a wave and ran to them.
“That’s going to be a big blow,” he said. “Better get you inside right away, Willow.”
“No! Let’s wait for the storm,” Katrin begged.
“Are you crazy? You’ll get struck by lightning,” Hemmett argued, pointing at the fiery bolts dancing from the bottom of the clouds out over the sea.
“We’re going to compromise here,” Menders said, indicating one of the hotel gazebos. He put an arm around Katrin’s waist and helped her across the sand and into the shelter, while Hemmett and Borsen followed, having scooped up her towels and other paraphernalia, arguing about the wisdom of staying out in the storm.
“You can’t protect us from e
verything!” Borsen yelled over the rising wind, answering Hemmett’s continued scolding. He raced into the gazebo and stood by the railing facing the sea as the black clouds came rolling across the wild water. He started yowling like a maddened langur.
Menders, who had been trying to get Katrin to sit in a chair, burst out laughing. She eluded him and went to stand by Borsen. She hooted at the storm as well, laughing as an enormous thunderclap resounded across the ocean.
Hemmett stared at them for a moment as they stood there howling and laughing, then decided he may as well join the fraternity of the mad. He took his place beside them, roaring and pounding on his chest.
“You’re all mad,” Menders grinned, coming to stand next to them.
“Yell at it Menders, it’s wonderful!” Katrin cried, cupping her hands around her mouth and yowling as gusts of wind shook the gazebo. Borsen rattled the railing with his fists, bellowing. The sea was rising in white capped waves and the lightning was coming closer. The wind grew stronger and colder. Katrin, feeling like a little girl again, whooped and yelled and wished she was strong enough to run along the shoreline fighting the wind and confronting the waves.
“Do your worst!” she shrieked. “I’m not afraid!” Thunder rolled across the ocean in answer and the wind caught up spray from the frothing waves and flung it at the gazebo.
“Look!” Hemmett yelled, roaring with laughter.
Kaymar and Ifor were running toward them along the beach, closed umbrellas in hand, obviously intent on a rescue. When Kaymar saw them standing there laughing and yowling defiance at the storm, he tossed the umbrella he held to Ifor. He ran gracefully along the waveline just as Katrin wanted to do, obviously as elated at nature’s tantrum as the rest of them were. Finishing off his performance with three perfect cartwheels, he raced up to the gazebo, Ifor gasping with laughter behind him.
“Storm madness,” was all Menders said before Borsen yelled, “Here it comes!”
Rain slanted under the roof of the gazebo and drenched them. Borsen, Katrin and Hemmett, already being wet, didn’t care and stood right at the railing, laughing like children who had snuck out of the house and were playing in a rainstorm. Katrin was aware of Kaymar standing beside her, his shirt and hair drenched as he laughed too. With delight, she stretched her arms out and let the rain drum on them, washing her wounds, running down her face as she turned it up to the clouds, feeling light and clean again.
I’m alive, she thought. They didn’t kill me. I’m going to live. With hair or without, sick or well, I’m going to live.
She let her hands fill with rain and brought them to her face, rinsing it with the soft water. Borsen was turning this way and that, allowing the rain to run all over him while Hemmett continued howling at the sky, alternating his roars with laughter as the rain drummed on his head and plastered down his hair. Menders stood next to Kaymar, his eyes closed, his expression truly peaceful for the first time in over a year as the rain ran down his face. Ifor stood with them, his hands on Kaymar’s shoulders. He was laughing and calling them all mad, though he was getting drenched too.
The Shadows, Mordania
7
Stand Tall, Work Hard
M
enders tapped on Katrin’s door. She called for him to come in and smiled from the bed as he put a bowl of the soft custard she loved on the nightstand. He sat on the end of the bed against the bedpost, sighing wearily.
“Long day?” she smiled.
“Oh yes,” Menders groaned. “Thank gods tomorrow is a rest day. I intend to stay in bed until the sybaritic hour of seven o’clock.”
Katrin laughed a little. “Ah, such decadence.”
“Maybe even until eight,” Menders replied.
“The world will end if you do that, of course,” Katrin smiled, picking up the dish of custard.
He waited while she ate, glad of the opportunity to relax. It had been a busy day, with the late harvest in full swing, several injuries and a number of dispatches from his network that required immediate attention and responses. What was more, he had let the accounts go lately and had spent several hours catching them back up. It had been a hard grind since before dawn.
Katrin finished her treat and put the bowl down on the nightstand again. She settled back against the pillows.
“Borsen,” Menders said gently.
Instead of asking what he meant or looking surprised, she nodded.
“I know,” she replied. “He thinks he needs to stay because of me.”
“He’s devoted to you,” Menders agreed. “I’ve been very grateful for that, because he’s a good companion for you now that the two of you don’t spar with each other.”
Katrin rolled her eyes and laughed a little in embarrassment.
“That all seems so silly, now that I’ve faced something really terrible,” she said. “I’m glad we don’t do it either, though you must admit that we didn’t do it often.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“Menders, I don’t want other people to change their lives because I’m sick. Not that it isn’t lovely for me having Borsen here. It is, because I can tell him all kinds of things. He has a way of listening and accepting that is very comforting. But I miss him talking about the things he wants to do. I’m going to be better one day and then what will he be?”
“He’ll be one of those pathetic men who tells everyone about how they had a big dream once and were going to do great things,” Menders said honestly. “I don’t want to see that happen to him. His ambitions are enormous but I believe he can achieve them, if he begins when he’s young. There simply isn’t the energy when one is older. Energy is what he’s going to need to accomplish what he wants. He originally planned to leave here when he was twenty-one, and get started on his project, but he’s almost twenty-one now with no firm plans in sight.”
“So which one of us talks to him?” Katrin asked.
“I would rather you did, if you can.”
She nodded but he saw the glint of tears in her eyes.
“I will, tomorrow,” she said.
“We’ll try to fill in the best we can,” Menders said. “I’ll miss him terribly too but he must have his chance – and I don’t want him caught up in being part of the royal situation, if you know what I mean.”
“I know very well,” Katrin sighed. “Menders, is that why you’ve always encouraged Eiren to keep on with the school, even when she was away that year in Erdahn?”
He nodded.
“Absolutely. Eiren had great dreams too and she’s made them come to pass. She needs her own projects and identity.”
“And you gave her that,” Katrin smiled. She shifted in the bed, settling down on her side. Menders could see she was sleepy. “Menders – you regret not having children of your own, don’t you?”
He sat stock still, wondering how she could have known.
“I’ve asked the wrong thing,” Katrin said swiftly, sitting back up. “I’m sorry.”
“Katrin – please never mention that to Eiren. It would break her heart,” Menders answered.
“I wouldn’t. You know that. But during the time we were abroad it occurred to me, when Varnia came along at the last moment and then Hemmett added Luntigré and Flori to the mix – you love us all as your children.”
“Yes then – as time has gone by, I have regretted not having children of my own,” Menders admitted, his voice soft. “I made some decisions when I was very young that I have realized were not necessary. It’s one reason why I don’t want to see Borsen making a decision he might later regret. It’s also important to remember that it wasn’t entirely my decision. Eiren was and is terrified of the idea of childbirth, for good reason. Though my feelings about having children have changed, hers have not – and since she would be the one taking the risk, I leave things as they are.”
“I’ve hurt you,” Katrin said, her voice very quiet.
“No. I’m awed that you realized it, my little princess. I have all of you who have come
to be my children. I’m a lucky man. And there will be others, I think. Sometimes I see them when I’m falling asleep – children who will need me. Some aren’t even born yet but they will come to me when the time is right.”
Suddenly Menders shook himself and looked sheepishly at Katrin. “Here I am waxing mystical and I don’t have Tharak’s presence to carry it off.”
“Oh, you have plenty of presence.” She smiled but he could see she was touched by his words. “I’ll talk to Borsen tomorrow.”
“Thank you, my daughter,” Menders said, rising and then bending to kiss her cheek.
“Good night, Papa dear,” she whispered with a smile.
***
“Let me see to the goats with you,” Katrin said as she came upon Borsen scalding buckets in the kitchen, preparatory to milking their little herd. Borsen had been keeping their cheesemaking business going since she had been ill.
“It’s chilly out there, Cuz,” Borsen replied, looking at her with concern.
“I’ll rug up. I can’t stay inside the rest of my life.” Katrin reached for the kettle to scald the last bucket. Borsen stopped her.
“That’s heavy, I’ll do it,” he said.
She sighed and let him scald the final bucket, then followed him as he went for his coat. He helped her with hers, though she could tell that he was fretting over her going outside in the chill. She followed him into the gloomy autumn twilight.
Borsen lit the lantern that illuminated the barn where the house cows and goats were kept at night. He dragged a hay bale over for her to sit on.
“Your throne,” he pronounced regally, bowing low.
“Thank you, knave,” she laughed, seating herself. Borsen arranged the buckets by the milking stand and went to release the first goat from her pen.
The little doe knew Katrin and went to her immediately, leaning her head against Katrin’s knee, then nuzzling up to her, trying to nip at her wig.
Love and Sacrifice: Book Two of the Prophecy Series Page 40