by D. H. Aire
Le’ann nodded. “I can do a fine warrior’s braid. I’ve seen them in the Temple’s tapestries back in the Capital.”
Yel’ane’s eyes widened, “Oh, would you, Le’ann? And, if you don’t like it, Lawson, you can just undo it.”
Grimacing, he shrugged, “Fine.”
Re’ut poured some ointment in her palms as did two of the other Sisters, which they started slavering across his back and chest as Le’ann began taking his long hair in her hands, “It’s soft,” she muttered, sounding surprised.
The Sisters looked at each other as Yel’ane swallowed hard, watching them start to massage his shoulders as she more slowly slathered him a nut brown.
Lawson frowned, but didn’t complain.
Le’ann glanced at her, saying to Re’ut, “Be sure to work that into his neck there.”
She nodded as Lawson’s head lolled and the two younger Sisters knelt to work on applying the ointment to his lower back and stomach. “Lawson,” Re’ut said, “Ani’ya and the girls… they told us stories about how you saved them, time and time again.”
“Not alone, I didn’t,” he said softly as she massaged his shoulders again.
“Ani’ya said… you killed some kind of cougar sneaking up on her in her sleep.”
“Hmm, that was—”
“Lawson,” Yel’ane said, “you saved Ani’ya more than once. Vi’ya, too,” she hastened to add as Le’ann stroked back his luxurious feeling hair. Yel’ane could still feel a connection to it herself and hardly dared smile. They needed the Sisters, knowing Lawson would not really understand.
“Ani’ya is not really my niece,” Re’ut admitted.
“Hmm,” Lawson muttered.
“I was already pregnant when I was accepted into the House. The Mother Shaman knew it… understood why I needed to be accepted into the House so badly.” Le’ann and the Sisters had stopped to stare. Re’ut closed her eyes and continued to knead his shoulders. “Had my less talented old Mother Shaman realized what I had done out of… curiousity, need, foolishness one night on the docks, I would have been left Houseless… my baby and I, destitute.”
She shook her head, sighed, “De’ohr said, she understood… Not all women could live without a man in their lives and Ryff, though, distracted by Vyss’s illness, would understand, too. He knew how keenly we wanted to protect our children, our family… I swore to him… married him… and never had the chance to show him… my gratitude.”
She stood back and came over to Yel’ane. She held up his slick hands, “Yel’ane, help me off with this.”
Le’ann nodded to the others, who finished slowly adding ointment as she completed her braiding. Lawson was quiet, eyes closed, half-asleep as they moved away. Le’ann helped them, then removed her own livery.
Hands trembling, Yel’ane helping Re’ut remove her livery. Soon the four stood facing their kneeling lord as Yel’ane came up beside Lawson, “You take oath to join our House?”
Re’ut nodded. “In place of my Ani’ya, who he accepts as a daughter of his House, not fosterling.”
Le’ann said, “In place of Vi’ya, who he accepts as a daughter of his House… not fosterling.”
“In place of En’sta, who he accepts as a daughter of his House, not fosterling.”
“In place of my sister, Jen’yan, who he accepts as he offered as a daughter of his House, not fosterling… I will bear him many daughters and guard your back, Yel’ane — you saved her life and deserve all honor.”
Lawson opened his eyes, stared at them with a piercing gaze and said in a monotone, “I accept your oath.” He turned his head and stared at Yel’ane, continuing in that stilted voice, “He will remember this as a dream… but will accept it.”
They gasped.
“Lawson is my… holy… avatar,” he continued, turning back to them. “As he accepts you, I accept you… The others have a choice. Do as you have or agree that when their kin is of age, they will fulfill their oath themselves… It matters not to me. It will matter to him. He is my Assistant Engineer… as George Bradley is my Captain of Engineers… Save your people as I seek to save them all.”
Lawson swayed and slumped to the side. Yel’ane caught his head as the four ran forward. Yel’ane said, “Uh, you’ll not get a better chance.”
Re’ut nodded, bent, and kissed him on the cheek and the others followed suit. When she rose, she found the other Cathartans all standing where the tent’s opening had been. They had apparently closed it tight, screening them from view.
They bowed to Yel’ane. “Milady.”
She swallowed. Yel’ane knew they were hers now. Her Sisters and Lawson’s wives — who, without hesitation, really would do anything to keep him alive.
Lawson stirred as two Sisters entered the tent taking off their livery and Re’ut and Le’ann helped him to back to his feet, “What happened?”
Yel’ane sighed, “I broke my promise.”
“Huh? Huh!” He stared at the naked women and the four now disrobing.
Yel’ane took off her livery as Lawson and Re’ut and Le’ann, stood, frowning, coming over to her. “It’s all right,” Yel’ane said. “He and I have an understanding.”
He gaped, “What?”
She loosened her bodice, “How?”
He grimaced and knelt on one knee, “We agreed, Yel’ane… We discuss everything.”
“I know,” she said in a soft voice.
Four women knelt before him and began taking their oath, offering themselves in the stead of their seven-year-old kin. He swatted her bottom as Yel’ane stifled a cry. Anguished, he picked her up like a baby and hugged her close, her arms across her slicked neck, her tears brushing his feather soft long braid.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
Re’ut came before him, “Accept their oaths, husband.”
“I… accept.”
Le’ann frowned, “Did you… ever touch Ani’ya?”
“No, I never raised a hand to any of them.”
Yel’ane glanced back, “I’m the one who punished her… she nearly got herself killed.”
Le’ann stared. “I guess that’s fitting. After all, you got punished often enough back home.”
Yel’ane nodded and burrowed her face in Lawson’s side as the last batch of Cathartans doffed their livery as Jen’yan’s eldest sister finished dressing and moved to guard the tent, soon to be followed by the one of the other firsts among Lawson’s bodyguard wives.
Chapter 31 - Damsel in Distress
Farrel found the company of her steeds preferable to facing the captain and crew’s glares. She fell asleep on the straw covered floor besides the mare and woke to a familiar sound. She opened her eyes and heard the faintest of footfalls. She drew a dagger and rose.
There was a gasp. “Didn’t mean nothing, whomever you are. Just wanted some of the water.”
“Tett?”
The dwarf rasped, “Fri’il? What are you doing here?”
#
Lady Haydenan had gone without sleep, using every ounce of her magery to edge past the seemingly endless array of Haydenese soldiers now camped along the border. In desperation, she had taken off her clothes and spelled them to ash, fearing not only dogs after her scent as her wards weakened, but tracking spells.
She dared not do without her shoes as she crossed stone as much as possible, hugging herself against the cold. She did not know how long it had been since seeing the last Haydenese pickets, but she had made up her mind. She would either reach her uncle or will herself to death, baring Kolter any true claim to Hayden.
When the sun rose, she thought she saw the Aqwaine River. She collapsed; fevered, welcoming death.
#
“Tett?” Fri’il looked around, “Spiro! Come here now. I know Tett goes nowhere without you being nearby.”
“Fool…” the other dwarf raged, coming out from behind the stacked crates. “Tett, you should have woken me rather than go for the water yourself.”
“Um, not my f
ault,” Tett protested as Farrel lowered her blade. “You’ve gotten fast as Cle’or, Milady.”
“Don’t ‘Milady’ me… Now how did he know?” she demanded.
“Who?” Tett muttered.
“That stubborn husband of mine, Je’orj.”
Spiro shook his head, “He didn’t… What are you doing here?”
“What?” she rasped.
“We’re, well, going home for a visit,” Spiro said.
“Without paying your passage?”
“Dwarves don’t exactly have the opportunity to pay for such passage on the Aqwaine’s river,” Spiro said.
“Not on a Tanish ship, no how,” Tett said.
“Je’orj didn’t send you to… follow me?”
“No, Milady,” Spiro replied. “We’re only aboard until Tane.”
The mare and stallion suddenly went wild.
Farrel hurried over, “What’s wrong? I’m here.”
The stallion bucked in his stall and the mare’s eyes were round.
Spiro raised his hands, “WHAT IS WRONG?”
‘She’s dying! She’s dying!’
Farrel’s anklet flared as she heard the words and glanced back at Spiro, who shrugged, “I’m, uh, good with horses.”
A crewman pounded on the hatch above, “Stop that racket!” He began pulling it back flooding the stalls with sunlight.
The mare and stallion quieted, came forward and stared at her as Tett and Spiro ducked into the shadow. ‘She’s dying. Save her!’
“My, uh, horses need to run free!”
The captain stomped across the deck above, “This is not a pleasure trip, Milady! We’re bound to Tane.”
“Don’t you want to get rid of me?”
He frowned, peering down, “There’s no landing for leagues.”
“My horses will swim across.”
“They’ll what?” the captain rasped.
#
The stallion was heaved up to the deck in a harness. Farrel gestured the crew back and the rather large horse charged and leaped over the side. The captain wasn’t the only one to gape as the horse swam across in no way a horse should. Its legs pumped up and over in stokes a human might find more natural.
“Ahem,” Farrel had her saddle at her side and pack across her shoulder. “Now, my mare.”
The captain glanced back as the stallion reached the stony shore and soon galloped off. “Whatever you say, Milady.”
#
“What? No, no,” Ri said, “we can’t, Grandpa.”
“Why not? Highmage, I demand… I respectfully request you release them from their apprenticeship. I can pay whatever you feel is owed.”
George shook his head, “I don’t own them, Lord Rian… Ri, tell him.”
She swallowed. “I can’t… Momma warned me how treacherous Rian’s Court life is. There is no way you’ve found all Erkiil’s agents. Once they know about me, I’ll never be safe.”
“It’s not like the Empress’s Court — hell — even the palace is safe,” Terus admitted.
“But I’m safe with you… anonymity makes us even safer,” Ri asserted. “Grandpa, I won’t come back now… and there really is my training to consider.”
George nodded. “She’s not saying she refuses to be your heir, Milord.”
“Grandpa, I never thought I’d see you again. Never go back to Rian,” she held Terus’s hand, “I’ll not see any harm because of my past hurt him.”
The elflord grimaced, looked to her cleric, “Have something to write on?”
The priest nodded, “Never without. Then before these witnesses, I’m acknowledging her as my heir, which you will keep safe until the day I die.” There was pain in his eyes, “Meanwhile, let us talk, yes?”
She hugged her grandfather.
#
Farrel looked back as the mare swam across to the riverbank, while the ship’s crew drew up the anchor. The captain stared back at her, looking incredulous.
She turned away and held on tight as the mare touched bottom. “Now, where are we off to?” she mused aloud.
‘She’s that way. Mal’s reached her.’
Farrel blinked as the mare sprang forward at full speed. “Um, hi.”
Her gait momentarily faltered. ‘You can hear me now?’
“Oh, yes.”
‘Good, it’ll make this easier… I think.’
“Um, the stallion, you called him Mal. He wasn’t, um, like Grendel?”
‘Sweet kid, you met him briefly before… before Lonny bit him and changed our lives.’
“Sweet kid?”
‘He’s not a kid now… he’s my, well, husband.’
She blinked. “Lonny just picked you?”
‘We didn’t have much of a life to go back to. Believe me, what Lonny did, has been a welcome change.’
“Who’s dying?”
‘Someone of the blood in need. It calls to us.’
“What’s your name?”
‘Call me Fush.’
“Fush, it is then.”
She saw the stallion laying down besides a still pale figure as the mare increased their gait dramatically. Farrel held on for dear life, which only grew more difficult as the steed slowed too quickly.
She threw her arm around Fush’s wide neck. Took a deep breath as they came to a halt and rushed to what appeared to be a naked young woman’s side. She glanced at the ripped leather shoes, which must have looked elegant once. She checked her pulse, which felt faint. She retrieved her sleeping blanket and wrapped her in it.
“Where’s Balfour when I need him?” she muttered, then looked at her crystal anklet. “Make yourself useful. Help me.”
It abruptly glowed as she found herself canting her head, lowering her face to the young woman’s lips and kissed her. Strength flowed from her into the woman’s fading spirit. With a gasp, the elvin woman began coughing, eyes wide.
Farrel drew back, blinking repeatedly, “That’s different.”
‘You have learned more than you know.’ She stared blearily at the stallion, who met her gaze. Mal’s mind voice was quite different from the mare’s.
“What?” the elvin woman rasped.
“You’re safe.”
She shook her head, “Who are you?”
“Name’s Farrel… I’m, well, on my way to Tane. I’ve a boat to catch.”
“Please, we must go there… quickly, before…”
“Before what?”
“Before Kolter catches me.”
Farrel nodded, “Well, we’re friends, indeed, then. Do you feel you can ride, uh, bareback? Forget I said that.”
‘Soldiers are heading this way, Milady.’ Fush mindspoke.
“Come on, we’ll ride together. Someones heading this way, so we need to wrap that blanket around you differently.”
“Huh?”
The stallion rose, interposing himself between them and the threat. “Your mounts, they are bigger than any horses I’ve ever seen.”
The mare knelt and they mounted with her charge in front of her. “That’s because they’re not horses.”
“Not horses?”
“You set?”
“Uh, as well as I’m going to be, I think.”
“Good.” The mare rose and the steeds raced off.
The young woman held her blanket close as Farrel held her tight with one arm, reins in the other. “What are these things?”
“Um, battle steeds.”
Eyes wide, she glanced over her shoulder, “Battle steeds? Real… battle steeds?”
‘More men on horses coming out of the north.’ Mal warned.
Farrel sighed, “I’m beginning to understand how Je’orj feels.”
#
Thomi felt… he looked up, “Yes, dear.”
‘I have told you anything yet.’
“Uh, yes, dear.”
He felt the faintest kiss on the cheek. ‘Fine… tell Lord Je’orj that we’re scrying an open battle between the Haydenese and the Tane’s troops. The
Haydenese crossed the border… Esperanza says that Lady Hayden has apparently fled. She may be trying to reach safety with her uncle, Lord Tane.’
“They’re attacking each other?”
‘They’ve reinforcements converging on the site. The Haydenese are trying to break south along the western bank of the Aqwaine.’
“And General Winterhil?”
‘He’s says they’re staying out of it. He’s positioned to strike at any Haydenese forces that might break toward the Capital.’
Thomi ran toward the warded command tent.
Fifth Legionnaires blocked his way. Sergeant Grigg rushed forward with their veterans. But, as ever, it was Walsh who had a tendency to settle things. He roared and the tent cloth bowed to the sound of it.
That brought the Highmage and Se’and, who was cowled once more. “You could have knocked,” he said, waving his hand in front of his face. “Walsh, we really need to do something about that breath.”
The ogre grinned, “No… breath… mints here.”
“Thomi, that’s an idea for you. Invent breath mints.”
“Breath… what?”
The ogre shrugged, frowning, “Used to like…Spacer’s Brand.”
Thomi looked at him as did everyone else, his voice sounded human.
George nodded, “Let’s take a walk, Thomi… Lord Rian will rejoin us shortly.”
#
The mage frowned, uncertain, as moments later Lord Rian strode forth from the tent, “You can remove the warding now… Highmage?”
George hurried back with Thomi, “Change in plans… We’ll need your wedding gift of Fifth Legionnaires to come with us south.”
Lord Rian saw the other two warders approach.
“The Empress will welcome you with all due honors.”
“Two thousand’s better than fifteen hundred… I will accompany you on your mission.”
“The Haydenese and Tane are fighting a battle.”
“You planning to take sides?”
“No, I hope to make them reconsider their life choices.”
He chuckled, “Oh, I almost wish you would have met Erkiil.”
George frowned, “Seems to me you should be thanking Lawson… who, believe me, is rather sensitive—” They heard a cry from the other tent, its cloth walls all drawn. “Well, he was.”
Se’and put out a restraining hand, “All the Cathartans are in there.”