Intimations of Evil (Warriors of Vhast Book 1)

by Cary J Lenehan

  Ayesha showed the master leatherworker her bow case and quiver and explained how she wanted to be able to attach one of them to each side of her horse harness. The father had her sit on a stool and then nodded and sketched things and then measured things and how far she could reach and then wrote the measures on a slate.

  That night, during her breaks, Ayesha sat and chatted with Stefan, to the envy of his friends. She insisted that he introduce her. Now that she had an excuse and had met some of the locals to talk to in a non-romantic way she could start to learn more about the town and she could be more certain to hear any rumours about the goings-on in town. As she had surmised, it turned out that they were all soldiers, part-time, but still soldiers and, as a part of their duties they patrolled all around the town and the hamlets that surrounded it. Good. That served the purpose of her mission well. Now it would be harder for Theodora to pass by unnoticed and thus elude her.

  ~~~

  Ayesha found that it did not take long to settle into a routine. To her delight the inn had a large bathing room and a hot spring that was under the town was tapped into there. This gave the inn copious hot water for bathing, even if it did smell slightly of al-kīmiyā. She recognised sulphur as one of the chemicals. She wouldn’t drink the water from it unless she needed a medicine. The only drawback of the baths was that the people who used them had to help empty them—but this was only a fairly minor task as most of the work was really done by enchantments. Seeing that there was one room for men and another set aside for women she could even shed her veil when she was inside the room just as if she were bathing at home. It was an unexpected, but welcome, pleasure.

  Late one afternoon, before getting ready for the night, while she was just lying there relaxing in the bath on her own, there being no other female guests and the house girls being busy with preparing for the evening, there was an interruption. A tall girl, from her blonde hair a northern barbarian and obviously just arrived, came into the room with Ava, one of the servants. As they entered Ava looked a little nervously at the barbarian girl before addressing Ayesha.

  “Astrid,” said Ava, “t’is be Ayesha. She be a workin’ as entertainer here in tavern. Ayesha, Astrid has just walked here from Wolfneck in t’ far north an’ has brought us new priest an’ grand new Bible.” Turning again to Astrid she continued, “Ayesha be a showin’ you what to do here.” Again to Ayesha and in a pleading tone she said, “Can you please? I be a needin’ to get her travel clothes clean an’ t’en get on with t’ servin’.” She looked ready to flee as soon as she could, holding out a hand to Astrid and glancing nervously at her.

  Wolfneck, thought Ayesha. That is a long way to walk with just one of their priests for company.

  Astrid started removing garments and Ava collected them, holding each item a little away from her. Ayesha sized the new girl up. She was a large girl, tall and buxom with the palest hair and that she had ever seen, and it was soon obvious that it was naturally that colour. Her skin and nipples were also very pale. “Climb in, O well-travelled lady of the North,” said Ayesha in Darkspeech.

  “You speak my tongue! Are you from Darkreach?” asked the big girl. She was smiling and revealing her teeth which, if what Ayesha had heard was correct, definitely confirmed her origin. It was hard not to stare as, when displayed, her teeth made her beautiful face look quite cat-like, still beautiful, but also disturbingly feline. Ayesha made sure she showed no reaction to the sight.

  “No, the Caliphate, but by the Grace of Allah I have learnt many languages as a part of my training. I am what your people call, I believe, a skald.”

  “We haven’t had a good one in our village for many years. Are you any good?” she asked.

  Ayesha noted that she asked openly with a note of almost child-like innocence. Without pausing she started climbing in while still talking.

  “I am glad this bath is here. It is almost hot enough. At home we don’t have much hot water, but we clean off in a sauna, a steam room. It is far hotter than this. That would be a luxury to find here in the south.”

  “Not too hard. My people also have them, but they are probably different to yours.” So, to Ayesha’s surprise, a friendship was soon born from a discussion of differences and similarities in bathing habits.

  Chapter XXI

  That night Astrid sat entranced at what Ayesha could do. If she occasionally forgot herself and lapped at her drink, instead of sipping, when she looked around to check, no one seemed to notice. Ayesha introduced her to Stefan and his friends and, in the breaks, she was soon happy exchanging hunting stories with them, the stories simplified by her lack of facility with Dwarven, but at least she was learning new words as she went. At least you didn’t need many words for hunting stories. During these talks Astrid accidentally learnt of Stefan’s desire to leave the town and so Stefan and Ayesha became the first people that she mentioned to Father Anastasias the next day.

  Next day Astrid joined in at archery practice. It seemed that Ayesha’s people only used little bows. The mountain girl had never seen a bow like Astrid’s before. Astrid watched as she measured herself against it. It was far taller than Ayesha was and, at the centre, was nearly as thick as her, admittedly slender, wrist. From the ground she could not shoot as far as Astrid, or as well.

  In three days the modifications for Ayesha’s saddle were finished and she then showed the others what she could do as a mounted archer. Astrid admitted that her people did not ride, but then she had to explain what skis and sleighs were and why canoes were more useful than horses in the cold and marshy boreal forests with their endless lakes and rivers.

  To Astrid’s surprise, given how others had looked at her as she came south, the tiny Muslim girl with the veil and the tall pale blonde from the north were soon familiar to everyone in the village and, if anyone presumed on them, as unaccompanied women, Astrid just smiled at them sweetly. Soon people were calling her the Cat. She thought that was funny. She had always been known as Astrid Tostisdottir. She had never been given a by-name at home. To have a name that was all her own was both new and good to her.

  The two discovered that the inn had a rarely used room downstairs on the same level as the baths. It was supposed to be a private eating room, but was rarely used as such. Like many of the better taverns but perhaps with more than most, it also had a quite a few books in it perhaps thirty, some of which were from before The Burning. Astrid was not sure why, but Ayesha was delighted to find this and insisted that they make this room their own.

  Sometimes they allowed Father Christopher or Stefan to join them in their ‘private room’. Some of the books were old enough to have been written for normal folk but in High Speech and, on discovering that Ayesha could read this, an elated Father Christopher insisted that she start telling him what was in them.

  Chapter XXII

  When they arrived in the fields around Evilhalt, Hulagu could see some people standing around while a girl rode a horse, steering it with her knees, and shot arrows at a target. “The girl is very good, but she is not Khitan,” said Hulagu.

  “How do you know that?” asked Bianca.

  “She wears a veil over her face and she is dressed as the people of the Caliphate dress when they are on a horse. See—”

  “I don’t know how they dress,” said Bianca shortly. “Remember all that I have seen is my people, a little of yours, and what I have of traders have come through. Traders dress in anything as takes their fancy. Everything is strange to me. Even that big woman is. I have never seen hair like hers before and, if that is a bow, it is nearly as tall as she is instead of a proper size. Then there is that man in black. He sort of looks like a priest, but he has a beard and his clothes are all wrong.”

  “I have seen his sort before in the villages around the plains. He is a priest and I have been told that he worships your God, but he does it differently. Your people kill priests like him by burning when they catch them.”

  Bianca looked horrified at that idea. Her voice sound
ed dismissive. “They wouldn’t do that to a person unless they were a devil worshipper or very evil. Does he worship the devil?” she finished by asking curiously.

  Hulagu shrugged. If she wanted to see him as trying to avoid saying too much, she could. Religion was the one area that they had difficulty with between them.

  “You are both wrong in your beliefs anyway. What does it matter who is more wrong? Make sure you are polite to him though. We are in his town, not the other way around and I think that we need to be accepted without an argument.” Bianca, he thought very reluctantly, gave assent.

  The rider stopped what she was doing, recovered some arrows, and re-joined the others. They all stood there watching as Hulagu and Bianca approached.

  ~~~

  “One is Khitan,” said Astrid. “The other is dressed like them, but she is a Christian.”

  “How do you know?” asked Father Christopher.

  “She has a large crucifix around her neck,” Astrid replied. “Can’t you see? She looks unarmed. Perhaps she is his slave.”

  “Not unarmed,” said Ayesha, “I can see more knives than I carry and then look at the horse she rides. It moves like a warhorse.”

  “You must have better eyes than I have,” said Christopher. “All I can see is that she is blonde, though much more yellow than you.”

  “You spend far too much time looking at books rather than for bears or beauties, Father,” said Astrid and then added a grin. “Perhaps you should look at more of the latter.”

  “T’ey canna be a traders,” said Stefan. “T’ey be a havin’ t’ree packhorses, but only two to guard ’em. One other be a ridin’ animal, although it be havin’ no rider. Neither it nor one packhorse are a bein’ led, but t’ other two packhorses are.”

  “She certainly cannot be a slave,” said Ayesha. “They ride side-by-side, not close enough to be lovers, but close enough to talk quietly.”

  “We’ll find out soon enow,” said Stefan, looking around. “I’m t’ nearest watch member on duty, so I be askin’ ’em, but I only be havin’ a little Khitan. Does any speak it well?”

  “I don’t just sing in these tongues, I speak them as well. Mind you, Allah grant that you never meet some of the people whose tongues I have been trained to speak in,” said Ayesha.

  Stefan nodded for her to take the lead and they all moved off towards the road.

  ~~~

  “What do they speak here?” asked Bianca.

  “They are mostly Human, but they speak the Dwarven tongue. I have a little of that speech. About as much as I used to speak Latin.” They both smiled at this. “I will try that.”

  Now that they were coming among people Hulagu asked Bianca to gather up the lead ropes from the headstalls of Sirocco and Sluggard, instead of just letting them follow her words. They didn’t want her horses upsetting people. She dug her heels in and quickly was beside him again. Gradually they moved closer to the clump of people, trailing a small string of horses behind them.

  ~~~

  As the person on home ground it was Ayesha who spoke first. “I offer you the gift of hearth and water and may your sleep be safe and restful here. I am Ayesha of the Caliphate speaking for Stefan of Evilhalt, who lacks your words, and I am staying in this town for a time. If you do not mind, I will speak for Stefan, most noble lord of the plains.”

  From the expression on their faces she could see that the Khitan pair were surprised that she not only spoke Khitan, but she also even knew the right words to say. The man recovered quickly.

  “I am Hulagu of the Dire Wolves and I am on my wanderjahr, and this is Bianca of the Horse. She is from among the Latins but she travels under my guarantee and that of my clan. I speak for her deeds and she may be spoken to. We accept your hospitality and thank you for it. May prosperity attend upon you and yours.”

  Of the Latins, thought Ayesha. That explains her appearance, but it raises many other questions.

  Ayesha continued her side of the introductions as she kept glancing around to look at reactions. She was trained to be observant and this was good practice.

  “This is Father Christopher of Greensin, he is a priest who must travel for two years, almost like your wanderjahr, but his Abbot is making him do it and he does not wish to go.” The new pair shared a quick glance over that.

  “This is Astrid the Cat from Wolfneck. She seeks to get away from the wrong marriage and an undesirable man.”

  Ayesha noted from the corner of her eye that Astrid recognised her name and smiled broadly and cheerfully, without understanding a word of what was said. The pair saw her teeth and Bianca quickly crossed herself.

  Astrid frowned at the smaller girl.

  It seemed that Bianca realised that she might have just offended the large northern girl and gave a nervous smile back.

  Ayesha turned to Stefan in Dwarven. “What should I ask them?”

  “Simply, what be t’eir purpose here,” said Stefan. Ayesha relayed the question.

  The man, Hulagu replied, “For me the answer is simple. I have received a prophecy that I must travel here. I will meet others and something, I do not know what, will happen that is important.”

  Ayesha noted that upon translation it was the turn of Father Christopher and Astrid to exchange glances. I wonder what that is about. I will ask her later, she thought.

  “So I wish to enter this town in order to help complete my geas. Bianca is with me of her own free will. She is the only survivor of a caravan from Freehold. The rest were slain by brigands. She seeks to see them slain, and I will not answer for her actions if she finds any in your town, but she otherwise travels as she wills. We have money, but we will also seek to sell some of the items that we have gleaned from the two brigands we have already encountered and disposed of.” Ayesha translated this into Dwarven for Stefan, while she noted Father Christopher whispered a cruder account in Darkspeech to Astrid.

  “Please be tellin’ him t’at t’ey be free to enter t’ village of Evilhalt an’ t’at I be accompanin’ t’em to t’ inn. T’ey also be comin’ with me to see Siglevi t’ Short, our Baron. If caravans are been attacked, it affects our town direct. Also, can you be an askin’ if any of t’ horses are for sale?” Ayesha translated.

  “Mine aren’t,” said Hulagu. “I will have to ask Bianca if hers are, but I doubt it. They are her totem animals. She does not believe in totems, but they are hers, or she is theirs.”

  Turning to Bianca he asked, Ayesha noted, in Hindi, “That one, Stefan, who is of this town, wants to know if your horses are for sale. I said no.”

  “That is right. They came to me, I could not sell them,” said Bianca.

  “You be both speakin’ Hindi!” said Stefan, interrupting. “Good, t’en I be a talkin’ to you less clumsy. If you be peaceful t’en you be welcome to our town. Your answer to Ayesha be afar longer than ‘no’, bein’ it?”

  “Yes, Bianca does not believe in totems, but she is the first of the Horse totem and these horses came to her and follow her like a puppy does a child—even though two are battle trained. She need not hobble them. They do as she wishes. I doubt that they will ever leave her and I would hate to be the one to try and part them. The other two are from the brigands. We may sell them or Bianca may decide to add them to her dower herd as they are hers. She killed their old owners. I think it will be a large herd,” he added.

  Chapter XXIII

  Stefan led them all into town and installed them in the inn, before saying that he was going off to report their arrival. Discovering that she could talk to Bianca, and, it seemed, wanting to know more, Ayesha led her off to the bath while they arranged for her clothes to be washed. The big woman followed along as well. It seemed that the Muslim woman was amused that Bianca was unfamiliar with baths and was nervous about the idea of climbing into water that smelled like that. Bianca did not find it amusing at all.

  She tried to be quite firm that you washed off exposed bits of your body when they got dirty, and that climbing naked into
a vast tub of steaming water seemed wrong somehow. She had heard of people taking baths, usually it was noble women showing off, but they always stayed decently clothed, as she had on the plains, when they did so. Unfortunately these girls would not let her keep anything on to preserve even a shred of her decency.

  With her hands nervously hovering around her body trying to cover her nakedness, Bianca told them of her travels and how she met Hulagu. She tried to hide how she got information out of Koyunlu, but Ayesha somehow drew the information out of her. It seemed that Astrid shared Ayesha’s thought that what she had done was reasonable. Ayesha stated that she had not thought that the western Christians could be so practical. It seemed that she knew why the man broke at the threat and she told Bianca. Hulagu, being a man, had not told her. The Cat just laughed and speculated aloud about a few men who might be greatly improved if, like a beast, they could be tamed by a simple cut.

  Ayesha snorted in amusement at that thought and Bianca realised that she was turning the conversation back to finding out more about her and her travels. She seemed to be delighted when she discovered that Bianca could play the flute and was experienced with working in taverns. “All the Cat can do is to kill things,” she said.

  Astrid smiled; she obviously liked her new name. “I can cook them as well,” she added brightly.

  Bianca again saw why the pale-haired girl had gained the nickname. She realised that on hearing Astrid’s reply, her eyes had unconsciously widened and she had crossed herself.

  Astrid sighed and explained, “My people in Wolfneck are all part Kharl. It is a legacy of the wars many years ago when we were a part of Darkreach. Some are more so than others. All I have of my heritage are these teeth and I can also lap my drinks. Others have greenish skin or have faces that look a bit like an animal. The man I was supposed to marry looked like a fat hunch-backed pig on two legs and acted far worse than one. He is one of the ones that I was thinking of who would be improved by a few strokes of a knife when you were talking.”