by John Olsen
The small number of crystals gave him little to contribute to defending the castle immediately. They needed better defenses, and a few war animals would have made a huge difference in their ability to repel attackers. Then again, they had no trained animals, either, aside from the cattle.
He was tempted to requisition the entire herd under the control of Saleena but held that back in case of an emergency. He wasn’t keen on his father’s rules and methods, but he risked rebellion if he introduced too much change at once. The people of the barony had to see a good reason for each of his changes.
“While we’re here, we might as well take a quick inventory. The accounting books in my father’s study show we should have over five thousand gold coins and ten thousand in silver.” The coins of the kingdom held an image of a crystal pair front and back, and were used primarily to trade with the capital, and sometimes with other baronies when they couldn’t barter.
The crates were not locked. Gavin lifted a lid to peer inside, finding old cloth bundled up in rolls. The scent of cedar wafted out. He pulled one bundle out and unrolled the cloth. It was an intricately embroidered gown.
Captain Zachary took a sharp breath. “I had no idea the baron kept those after your mother passed on.”
His mother’s? The sense of loss from the recent deaths threatened to come to the surface. Gavin reverently rolled the dress back up. “You saw my mother wear this?” He ran his fingers along the collar’s delicate thread flowers.
“Yes. It was one of her favorites. She wore it to all the winter feasts. Your father wanted to have a new one made for her, but she refused. The people expected to see her wear it every winter, and she was happy to oblige them.”
“Thank you. My father never spoke ...” Gavin backtracked. “... never speaks of her. He never told me what she was like, what she spent her time on, or the things she enjoyed. I think he blames me for her death.” He laid the bundle back inside and set the lid in place. He made sure it was tight enough to continue to protect the old cloth as it had for over eighteen years. This connected him to the mother he never knew. She was more real in his mind now, someone he could hold onto and care about rather than a vague concept. He wanted to go through the entire crate and ask Captain Zachary about everything, but there was no time.
Gavin sighed and wove his way past the crates to a set of small chests lining a table against the far wall. The captain followed along behind him with crisp steps, his hands clasped behind his back. He was clearly uncomfortable in the forbidden vault but was attentive to his assigned duty. He was a good man.
The first chest was empty, as was the second. Gavin’s concern grew as he opened empty chests, one after the other. One held a handful of mixed gold and silver coins. Finally, he reached for the last one and opened it. With a sigh of relief, he saw it was full of gold coins. He tugged the chest to the front of the table, surprised at the weight, and pulled out a coin. He saw a portrait on it instead of an image of a crystal. He pulled another out, and it was the same. He rifled through and found every coin was the same, with an image of a bearded man.
“Do you know where this would have come from, Captain?”
The captain stepped forward to take the proffered coin and held it up to the light. “This is a Northern coin. It’s from the Graven Kingdom.” He flipped it over in his hand a few times, studying it.
“Why would my father have almost none of the coin the books claim, yet have this? I would understand a few coins mixed in from other places because of trade, but this chest is all Graven as if he’s traded with them exclusively.”
“Perhaps he arranged a trade agreement, or took the rest of the coins to the conference for a planned purchase.” Captain Zachary put a positive spin on the situation, but Gavin knew those were not plausible answers. His father had spent a fortune on something which wasn’t recorded in the books.
Gavin put aside the least savory of the ideas which ran through his head. “Right. We’ll go with the trade idea, and assume he took all our coin to the Baron’s Conference. As I said, you’re my witness should the need arise. This changes things.”
Saleena listened, along with the rest of the locals, as Gavin’s proclamation was read in the courtyard. Gavin would either be the subject of heroic story and song among the people, or they would string him up by his thumbs on the outer wall. It depended on whether his father ever came back.
The herald’s words rang out in a clear tone that carried across the courtyard. “And whereas Stoutheart Barony must provide for the defense of its subjects in these challenging times, all past use of crystals by proscribed persons is pardoned. Each subject with crystal experience, whether in wartime or peace, is asked to come forth and make themselves available for our defense. Crystals shall be allocated where they will be of the most use to protect the people.”
Saleena held a pouch with three crystal pairs, given to her by Gavin. He had told her they were for Willem, and for whoever else she thought might be trained to use them, based on their affinity with animals and their experience. He expected her to train Willem and any others who came forward since his father’s crystal trainer had gone to the doomed conference.
One of Willem’s cats was a good choice, he had said. She agreed to the task of training Willem, even though she’d much rather spend her time with Gavin than in the granary with Willem who was two years her junior. She missed the winters of the past with Gavin, spending hours on mischief and exploring the castle’s many hallways, talking about everything and nothing as they wandered. She understood the threat to the barony but didn’t like being away from Gavin. She wanted to lean on him when the loss of Ned hit her unexpectedly.
She stamped her way to the granary with a loaf of fresh bread and a hunk of cheese from the kitchen under her arm, taking her bad mood out on the ground with each step.
She saw no good outcome for Gavin. If the old baron came back, Gavin would surely be exiled, or even killed as a rebel. If the baron never returned, Gavin was the new baron, and would never consider a herd-girl as anything more than a friend, or possibly a dalliance, which was worse. There had been rumors about his brother Stephan and the young women he spent time with who would never become the Baroness. She wasn’t going to be like those women, used then tossed aside. Gavin would never do such a thing anyway. He had always shown the best of intentions, which sometimes annoyed her when she wanted to garner his attention with a new skirt or hair tie.
Saleena found Willem in his tiny living area with his hands to the small fireplace. As she entered, he turned with an alarmed look. “What is it? I didn’t do anything.”
“Easy, Willem. Gavin, the baron, whatever he is now, asked me to bring you some things.” She tossed the loaf of bread to him.
He caught it, pulled a knife from his boot, and cut it neatly in half with the wickedly sharp knife, then tossed half the loaf back to her. “Thank you. Sorry, but I wasn’t expecting anyone. I get a little jumpy.”
She sat her half of the loaf on his rumpled bed along with the wrapped block of cheese and pulled out the small pouch of crystals. Each was a much higher quality and more detailed than the ones she used with the cattle and could be divided up among three different people. Then again, she could put them to immediate use if she gave them all to Willem for the Cats of the Apocalypse, as Gavin had called them. She could retrieve two of them later for others to use. She’d been asked to train Willem, and she would do it for Gavin, to show him how her three summers of constant crystal practice were of value.
“Did you hear the proclamation in the square? Gavin said anyone who has used crystals without permission wouldn’t be punished. He intends to defend us and wants everyone’s help.”
“Yeah, I heard some of it. I was over at the window listening. It’s got nothing to do with me, though. I’ve wondered what it was like to use a crystal, but I’ve never even touched one before.”
“Hold out your hand.” She placed the crystals in his hand where they shimmered and sparkled
in the light of the flames on the tiny hearth. “There. Now you’ve touched some crystals. These are more expensive than you can imagine, but they’re also designed for smaller animals. They’re more for practice than for full-size war animals in actual combat. Put the ones with the longer loops around your neck and wear them close to your skin. The short cords are for the cats. I don’t know why, but Gavin thinks you should be trained to use crystals even though nobody’s ever used cats as war animals. All you do is keep the rats down, right?”
He called the cats and gently put the crystals around their necks, just snug enough to not come off by accident. The black cat was closest, so he attached his crystal collar first, followed by the blue-eyed tabby, and then the calico. “That’s my job. I keep the grain free of pests. Are you sure he trusts me with these?” He rubbed the calico’s ears.
“He can always change his mind if it doesn’t work well, but yes. He trusts you. He may not realize it, but he’s quite good with people aside from his father and a couple of others.”
Willem appeared skeptical. “Maybe you’re right, but it still doesn’t seem likely. You’ve used crystals before? Why would the old baron allow that?”
She shrugged. “The baron didn’t know about it. But the pardon has gone out, and I don’t need to keep it a secret now. I used a whole set of home-made crystals to control the baron’s cattle herd.”
“I feel a little warm spot on my chest. So, what do I do now?”
“Now, we wait. I’ll be back this evening. While you’re waiting, lie back and rest. For me, it’s like feeling around inside your own head for a set of small windows to look through. I’ll tell you what to do with them when I come back. By the way, do you know what Gavin calls your cats?”
“He didn’t call them anything when he was here. I told him they were Doom Bringer, Death Claw, and Skull Crusher.” He pointed at each in turn. “Skull Crusher is a girl. I know it’s silly, but I wanted them to sound scary to the rats.” The animals rubbed back and forth against his legs and purred.
Saleena giggled. “No wonder he calls them the Cats of the Apocalypse. He did the same thing you did, gave them a name to inspire fear. You have to admit, it’s shorter than calling each by name.”
She sniffed the air. The aroma of roasting meat overrode the smell of vinegar from the nearby barrels. “Are you cooking something?”
“Uh, it’s nothing. I’ll see you tonight then. Thank you for your help.” Willem made to usher her toward the door.
She dodged around him to get a peek at the small hearth. There, over the fire, was a miniature spit where a small animal roasted. She put her hand to her mouth as she recognized the size and shape of a rat.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Willem. I have to go.” She rushed to the door as her gorge rose, hoping to gain fresh air before her lunch decorated his floor. “I’ll be back later.”
* * *
That evening, Saleena sniffed the air as she approached Willem’s little alcove, but detected no smell of cooking meat. She sighed in relief, making enough noise he was sure to notice before she knocked and entered. She had no idea of the training process used by the baron’s old crystal trainer or the military crystal users, other than a few war stories she’d heard from her father. She’d learned it all by trial, error, and feel.
Willem lay back on his bed, his eyes closed with his fingers laced together behind his head.
“Hey, Willem.”
He didn’t respond. He must have entered the control trance on his own. She eased his arms down to his side to keep them from going numb from the loss of circulation. She knew it could happen because she’d done it.
She gingerly stepped back and turned to search for the cats. They were right behind her. They were quiet little creatures. No wonder they made good hunters.
“You figured it out pretty quickly. Wake up, and we can talk about it. I still don’t know why Gavin would invest in controlling cats, but you can ask him yourself. I’m here to give you some pointers since I’ve done this with a herd of cattle.”
The cats all meowed at her.
“You can’t talk to me through them with their voices. You have to wake up first.”
They trotted past her to the inert form of Willem and patted at his face and hands with their paws.
“Oh! I never told you what to feel for to end your trance. I didn’t expect you to be this far along. It’s like leaning back, pulling your head in through the window.”
The cats turned to stare at her.
“Let me think.” How was it she had learned to connect to her herd and then disconnect from it? She’d started with one crystal and worked her way up from there. Maybe it was different with three at once to start. The crystals were better, and the link was stronger, too. Her first time with more than one crystal hadn’t gone well, either.
She prodded him. “It’s not working. What else have you tried?”
The black cat licked Willem’s finger which showed a small bite mark.
“See if you can pull yourself back. You have to do it with your thoughts instead of your muscles. You’ve got no control at all over your muscles now.”
The cats’ ears twitched a couple of times, but they meowed again in unison before settling down on the cot next to Willem’s unconscious form.
Saleena put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry. I should have warned you, but I forgot how hard it was to pull back from more than one link the first few times. I expected you to take longer to get used to the crystals. It took me a lot longer, but my brother Ned cut our crystals.”
Mentioning her brother sent a pang of loss through her. She looked away to prevent the cats from seeing the tear she wiped away.
She sniffed and turned back, trying to dismiss her weakness. Besides, she was curious at the differences between cattle and cats. “We have to learn how to do this, before Gavin gains some common sense and realizes he’s entrusted a fortune in crystals into the hands of a couple of peasants. What’s different here? The cattle are a herd. They do things together naturally. Are the cats the same?”
Doom Bringer shook his head.
“But I’ve heard how cats hunt together. But not like a herd? Can you get them to each do different things at the same time? I always need to make sure whatever the cattle do can be done together.”
The cats each took up a different task. Doom Bringer climbed the boxes, Death Claw paced back and forth, and Skull Crusher came over and sat at her feet.
“That’s pretty good! I’ve never been able to take complete control of more than one or two cows. The way it usually works is you control one animal’s actions using one crystal. It’s too hard to split my concentration between many bodies. I ride the surface of their minds as a whole. Somehow, they each pick out their part of what I want the herd to do. Can you give hints or ideas to the cats then, a bit like I do?”
Skull Crusher nodded and meowed.
She sat for a moment in thought, and then said, “Well, we’d better give this a try. You might not be able to come back on your own.”
Her first time using two crystals at once had scared her. Da and Ned both said one at a time was all they should do, but she’d tricked them into staying in the field while she was locked in the cabin for safety. She used the cattle to show them what she’d done, then watched through the cattle’s eyes as her father simultaneously cursed, and prayed, and removed one of the crystals from the cattle in a desperate attempt to break her free. She awoke with Da and Ned pounding on the cabin door, and her head feeling like a crushed melon.
“This is going to hurt like a brick to the head, but I think I can break the connection by taking the crystals off the cats one at a time. I’ll do it as slowly as I can. I’m not sure if going slow will make it better or worse.”
She glanced back and forth between Willem and the cats and chose a crystal to remove.
Gavin sorted through piles of paper on his table as Draken pounded on the door and came in. It was funny how Gavin thought of the room
as his now. He looked up at the open door, fully expecting his father to stride in and stamp mud from his boots as he always had, but the hall remained empty save for Draken and the evening guard. Gavin rested his forehead in his hands and stared at the wood grain of the table.
“You’re alone and you’re early. I’m not an idiot, but I want to hear what you found anyway.”
Draken stood a little straighter at attention than he had before the trip. “The Graven Kingdom’s army is on its way, led by its king. We’re right in their path. I give us a few days at most before they get here. They’re living off the land, pillaging and hunting as they advance.”
“Master Draken, I understand the information on an invading army is critical, but why do you make me ask the hard question? What about the baron?”
Draken stood even more stiffly, which Gavin wouldn’t have thought possible, and then he said, “Your father is ... gone. Though it pains me to say it, you must be the baron in fact now, and not standing in his stead. The barony is yours, and the people are your responsibility. It will be my job to continue your training and to advise you. I know you don’t like my advice or my methods. Should you feel this is a problem, you may release me as your trainer and adviser, and find someone more suitable.”
Gavin considered Draken’s change in demeanor and bit back the first several replies that came to mind. The man was an odd combination of insulting and humble. He was manipulative, yet compliant. Above all, his dedication to the barony was beyond question. Gavin was still getting used to this side of Draken where he reluctantly played the part of a servant and adviser.
Finally, Gavin spoke. “You don’t get off that easy. We don’t see eye to eye, but I trust you, and I need you. The people also need you. I must have someone they respect at my side. Trust is critical.”