Marri's Approach (Brackish Bay)

by Cerise Noble

  “Wow.”

  “And one day her general told her to go get information.”

  “Information?”

  “Stuff about their enemies. How many soldiers they had, what kind of weapons, and what they would do when the woman's army attacked.”

  “Did she?”

  “Yes, she did. She was good at it, too. She went to the enemy and found out everything her general wanted, and then she went back to her army. Her army attacked the enemy, and they won, thanks to the solider. So from then on, she became a spy.”

  “What's a spy?”

  “A solider who sneaks up to the enemy and gets information is a spy.”

  “Ooh.”

  “So the spy became a very good spy and learned lots of things.”

  “Did she get married?”

  “I don't know. I don't think she wants to get married.”

  “She doesn't?”

  I glanced at Sarafina, wondering what their moral rules are. I hoped she did not come from horse tribe stock.

  “No, she wants to keep being a spy, and most husbands would say no to that.”

  “Mama is still a textile artist.” I loved how the little voice put emphasis on the words, and Sarafina grinned with pleasure. “Daddy wants her to do what she is good at. That's what good husbands do, isn't that right, Mama?”

  She grinned, finishing the last clump of wool. “It sure is, Yasmine. Daddy's a great husband. And when you grow up, you can find a great husband, too.” She picked up the child and they rubbed noses, cuter than cute. “Just like your big sisters did. They found husbands that are good men, just like your brothers grew up to be, and are growing up to be.”

  I heard a boyish voice from inside the house. “I wouldn't want to marry a soldier!”

  Sarafina giggled. “Hah, I knew you were listening, Rafiq.” A boy came into view, arms crossed and eyebrows raised. “You don't have to marry a soldier. But if you did, I know you would support her to be the best soldier she could be.”

  The boy turned towards the table without answering. Sarafina dished up soup from a pot on a woodstove, then began to cut fat into handfuls of flour from a jar high on the shelf.

  “Biscuits?” The boy was incredulous.

  Sarafina shushed him. “We have a guest.”

  I smiled at him, recognizing that ground wheat flour was probably far more expensive and harder to come by than rice in this place. Wheat was harder to grow, now that the land was swampy and flooded.

  “I am honored. What can I do to help?”

  “Nothing, nothing. Just wash up and sit down, thank you. I welcome you to our home, Marri.”

  “Thank you so very much for your hospitality.”

  “Oh, quite welcome.”

  In short order there were biscuits baking in a pan on top of the stove, and a bowl of steaming bean and fish soup in front of me. The scent reached in my nostrils and put claws into my stomach. I dug in, then tried to remember my former madam's rules for eating properly. I sat up straighter, took smaller bites, and chewed more demurely. It paid off when Sarafina complimented my manners.

  “Thank you. I'm a bit rusty, I fear.”

  It had been many months since I lived with Madame Bon, the owner of the brothel I belonged to and worked in for a year.

  “You're better than a lot of the slaves that come through here. There are some who were never taught manners at all, who eat so sloppily I can't imagine how they enjoy their food.”

  I blushed, glad I'd had someone to teach me a little better. I wonder, Fortuna, what she would say if she knew I had learned when I was a whore? I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing at the thought.

  “I'm sure. Are there many slaves who come through here?”

  “Not many, not since Jessica died.”

  Fortuna? Who is Jessica? Not the queen William told me about? Oh, Fortuna, what did you do? William always waxed rhapsodic about the powerful bond of love between Roy and Jessica.

  “Oh?”

  “Yes. There used to be more when Lord Roy was more active, but he delegates a lot of our governing to the mayors of each outpost now. Slavery is one of the main punishments for lawbreaking here.”

  “What are the others?”

  “Corporal punishment for small crimes or rule breaking, slavery for serious infractions. Slavery and being sold in a different city for serious infractions are a severe enough threat when keeping the criminal here would not be best. Death for the worst of infractions.”

  My skin prickled, and I felt a touch of cold wiggle along my spine. “The worst infractions? What are those?”

  “Murder. Violent rape. Sometimes violence against the community. Certainly our lord has put to death a great many warriors and soldiers who attacked our House.”

  I swallowed hard and wondered whether what I was playing at was still such a good idea. Still, my pride goaded me on. I am not attacking his house; I am doing it a service, right, Fortuna?

  “He holds trials?”

  “Hearings. Usually there are just the mayor and the soldiers, someone to record the events, and a representative from the offender’s house, and any witnesses.”

  “What if he's wrong?”

  She shrugged, uncomfortable with the idea that her lord could be wrong about anything. “He would rather err on the side of protecting his people than on the side of letting somebody go free to harm one of his own.”

  “What if it's one of his own who has committed the crime?”

  “That's why slavery and corporal punishment are options, also. He does not leap lightly to a death sentence.”

  I nodded, chewing slowly on the deliciously fluffy biscuit. “He sounds strict.”

  She laughed. “Strict is an understatement. But surely you know all this from the information they give you when you become a citizen or come into our territory.”

  Oh, Fortuna. “I've heard it, but it is always good to hear from one who's lived under his rule for a long time, to understand the perspective from one close to him.”

  She blushed. “Oh, I'm not close to him, but I have been here for a long time, since before he built the main house. This is one of the oldest houses on the island.”

  She gestured with pride, and then nothing would do but the children had to show me around the place, the upper floor with their beds, the lower with their bathing room, the kitchen where we were, and the room with all the shelves where she kept her supplies and finished items and everything in between. It was vast and beautiful, and when she offered me a tiny bit of crocheted lace, explaining how she had made it, I knew I had my bit of proof. Surely there was no one else in the whole of Brackish Bay with her skill.

  I thanked her profusely, and had just turned towards the door when a great big man blocked it. I stopped short while the children ran around me and launched themselves at what had to be their father. He laughed and scooped them up and raised his brow at his wife while hugging and playing with the little ones. She came next to me.

  “Marri is new to the island. I was just talking to her about Roy's rules and showing her my work.”

  “New?” He frowned at me. “Who do you belong to?”

  “No one, sir. I am unclaimed.”

  “A free woman? What is your trade?”

  “I am a soldier, sir.”

  His gaze narrowed on me, and I felt more than saw Sarafina shift, remembering my story.

  “A soldier? Why are you not with Gerard?”

  That was name of the man William told me was head of all the soldiers and guards in Brackish Bay.

  “I was given leave to get my bearings before reporting for duty, sir.”

  This was dangerous ground. I wondered how much they knew about how Gerard conducted his army's business.

  “That is not how he usually deals with new soldiers.”

  Busted. Nothing for it but to bluff my way through.

  “No, sir, but because I come straight from Amanda Tell's army, we came to a slightly different agreement.” />
  “Amanda Tell? Who is that?”

  “She's a highly renowned general. She expects all her soldiers to get a feel for the lay of the land, to understand the ground they're defending before they do so.”

  Fortuna, he seems to be able to tell I'm lying. I'm not completely lying, though. It is an idea I'd suggested to her.

  “Is that so? I don't believe Gerard has ever had a rule like that.”

  His bulk was still blocking the doorway, and it made me antsy. I could feel myself being closed in, and as a spy, being closed in was the worst. Added to that, I was out of options. I couldn't kill him, I couldn't threaten her, I dared not touch the children in even the slightest intimation of danger. Not that I could, Fortuna. Smart little rug rats that they were, they had backed into a corner out of reach. I couldn't seduce him, either, not with the children there.

  “Sarafina, has nothing she's said struck you as suspicious?”

  Sarafina colored under her husband's questioning gaze. “No, sir.”

  “Did she tell you she was a soldier?”

  “No, sir. But I didn't ask, sir.”

  “Didn't ask. Sarafina, your heart is too generous for your own good.”

  The boy spoke up. “Mama thought she was good because she knows William. She told us a story.”

  His father turned his gaze to the boy, all of a decade old. “What story?”

  “She told us a story of a girl soldier who became a spy.”

  Oh, gods, Fortuna, curse my lack of imagination.

  His gaze fell hard on me. “Is that so.”

  I found myself flushing. “Yes, sir.”

  He reached for me then, and that was his mistake. In doing so, he moved towards me, away from the doorway, so I ducked and darted around him, slipping out the door even as his big hands tore part of my tunic. I ran, and as I did I tucked the scrap of lace into my belt. I could hear him behind me, shouting, but I ignored it. At his size, he was no match for me, speed-wise. I wasted no time with the beach, and instead leapt off the small cliff next to it, landing with a massive splash in the river. The impact stunned me momentarily, and it was all I could do to get my head above water. But then I did, and found the strength to float, paddling just enough to steer. I swept around the curve, and suddenly I saw the frothy connection of the river to the sea.

  Fear pierced my heart. I began to swim hard, angling for the shore, desperate not to get swept out to the ocean where I would surely die. Boats crossed my path, and I was forced to spend energy fighting the current to stay in place or get around them. Men shouted and women screamed, and then I ducked just as a large boat passed over where I had just been. I pushed away from it, hand over hand, thankful that there was no spinning turbine on this one even as my lungs burned from lack of air. I came back to the surface gasping in its wake, and struck out for shore again. There. There was a spot where the woods met the river, and the weeping willow trees touched the water.

  I swam for it, all my muscles screaming. I caught a trailing branch, but my grip was weak, and I couldn't hold on. I struggled, trying to get closer, and then I saw it—a great S shape slithering through the water. The burst of terror gave me the strength I needed, and I scrambled up the bank, my leaden arms hauling my body up with the branches. The crocodile snapped at me. I cried as I scaled the tree, my body raw from the water and the bark, but whole. I wedged myself into a crook of the branches and shivered, watching the big crocodile slink back into the river.

  Finally, I cried myself to sleep.

  It was dawn when I awoke to the sound of men coming ashore. My muscles were cramped and stiff from the tremendous exertion of the day before, but I dared not move.

  “I thought I saw her come ashore here.”

  “I don't know. Did you see the number of crocs between there and here? She's probably crocodile food by now.”

  “She was a strong swimmer, otherwise the boat would have killed her.”

  “How do you know it didn't?”

  “I saw her. She wasn't just drifting like she was unconscious; she was swimming. Purposefully.”

  “She's probably long gone, then, if she was awake and trying to get away.”

  “No, I don't think so. That swim was grueling. She's probably holed up somewhere, trying to rest.”

  “Great, so we have to poke around in all the bushes. Are you kidding me? Why does Roy care about one little stray?”

  “Because she told Charles she's a spy.”

  A sharp whistle. “Damn.”

  “Right.”

  “From where?”

  “She said Amanda Tell, and apparently Roy's heard of her and doesn't believe that's who sent the bitch.”

  “Why don't we get Rari out here? Her dogs would do a better job of finding her than we will.”

  “Roy wants someone he can trust to keep quiet. At least to start with.”

  “We're nothing if not discreet.”

  “What's this?” I tried to peer through the branches, but the leaves screened the men from me and thankfully, me from them. “It looks like Sarafina's work.”

  Ah, dammit, Fortuna.

  “So she probably did come this way. Let's see if we can find tracks.”

  They moved away from the tree. I waited, then counted to a hundred. I couldn't hear them, couldn't see them. Slowly, carefully, I unbent my limbs one at a time, biting my lips on my groans.

  Still nothing. I began to climb down, one silent step at a time. Maybe I should have waited, but I am not much for waiting. Still there was no sign of the men who'd come to find me. Maybe I could take their boat and row it up the river to our meeting spot. I came to the last branch, and there I looked around, very, very slowly. I scanned the river. There was the boat, pulled up and tied to some of the branches I'd used to pull myself out of the river. The men weren't there. I looked for them along the bank one direction, then the other. No sign. Slowly I swiveled and eyed the trees and brush.

  The forest called to me, welcomed me, and I grinned. My mother had taught me forest craft, the art of moving swiftly and silently in the woods. Despite years of living in camps or cities, my activities as a spy and guerrilla soldier had kept up my skill. So delighted was I in remembering the woods, so exhausted from my exertion of the day before, that I made a fundamental mistake. I became overconfident and leapt down to the ground before I'd scanned every single bit of the vegetation for my opponents. They burst out of the shrubbery, bows drawn.

  I grinned. I'd only heard two voices, and there they were, showing me both of them. They were too far apart. They wouldn't dare shoot at me when I passed through the middle. I let my face go slack with shock and fear.

  “Oh, gods, please don't shoot, please don't, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset anyone.”

  As I spoke I walked forward, overeager to please.

  “Stop! Don't come any farther.”

  Fortuna, you're a doll. I was close enough, so I burst into a sprint, dashing between them so that as they tracked me with their bows they ended up facing each other, and then I was gone into the woods and running like a fox.

  Chapter 2

  Hours later, I was still running. Why was I always running? Part of the job description, I supposed. This time I wasn't allowed to double back and kill my pursuers, more's the pity.

  I'd made that foolish promise to William; strange, since he, himself, was not a citizen. He was born of a tribe of horsemen, a wanderer, not one to stay in town for long. But somehow Roy had inspired his respect, and caused him to threaten me if I so much as harmed a single citizen of Brackish Bay.

  Ridiculous rules. I tossed my head and leapt around a fallen tree, ducked under branches, and zigzagged around an animal den. My toe caught on an unseen rock, but I recovered my balance and kept going. I could hear them behind me, crashing about. They were fast, I'd give them that, so even if I heard them coming, it didn't do much good if I couldn't outrun them.

  Fortuna, I do understand that I'm stupid sometimes. I didn't glance up this time. Our l
ady of fortune didn't reside any particular place; she just meddled with our lives on her whims. Cruel and capricious, she could see me caught, beaten, and sold into slavery one day, but then rescued, protected, and doctor-provided for another. I had long given up trying to predict her moods, and therefore spent most of my time cajoling or cursing her name.

  There was the still the matter of what to do with the men behind me. I didn't want to lead them back to my patrol's meeting place, so I was going to have to lose them before then. The soldiers knew enough to keep their mouths shut as they ran, but I also knew from William's information that Rari, the city's hunts woman, claimed territory in the direction I was running. I could go through it, but that would be dangerous. She'd kill me on sight rather than ask why I was running through her territory with her House's soldiers on my tail.

  Speaking of which, I hadn't had sex in weeks, and it was wearing on me. I'd been forbidden after William beat me for endangering his foster daughter and apprentice Katherine. The little wench had followed me on the way to a foolish mission in Ken's Corner and almost gotten raped. I'd killed the creep, of course, but he'd inconsiderately spewed blood on her as he died. That was one of only a couple times that a beating hadn't given me pleasure.

  I ducked around a smooth-barked tree and scrambled up it. I needed the breather, and I wanted to see if I could identify just how far away I was from Rari's territory. I needed to skirt that if I wanted to have any chance of getting back to the meeting place alive.

  For a long time, my pursuers crashed and thrashed through the brush. Finally I saw one pass. He was wearing overalls without a shirt, boots, and wore his bow and quiver slung diagonally across his back. It was a small bow, made for speed rather than distance, and I shivered a little. They weren't green boys, and definitely not amateurs. I remembered William telling me Roy had held this patch of ground and water for a few years shy of two decades, and reevaluated my assessment of their relative preparations.

  Of course, this was just them dealing with me. I wondered how my patrol has done. Though Zarilla and I were both going to the heart of Brackish Bay, where Roy lived with his core group, I hadn't seen hide nor hair of her.