by Greg Curtis
It hurt saying that. It hurt a lot. But again it was the truth and it had to be spoken. It had to be accepted. Staria had died in her place because of her cowardice. And though nearly five years had passed, that pain remained with her. As strong now as it ever had. It would remain with her for the rest of her life.
“By the Seven!” April sounded appalled. “And I thought Simon was evil!”
“Advance and retreat now please. Fifty repeats and remember to keep that sword straight this time.” Kyriel knew she wouldn't. Her arm would bend at some point. April simply wasn't strong enough and the sword weighed too much. It was only six or seven pounds, but on the end of an outstretched arm that was a lot. Still, it had to be done. April would just have to build up her muscles.
“You know you are much better off being away from that. I would much rather have no father than that father.”
That was true Kyriel thought. At least the second part. But as for the former, she wasn't so certain. She had betrayed the house and now she was hunted. She would be hunted for the rest of her life. There would be no peace for her. Her father would never forgive her for her disloyalty. Neither would she. At least if she'd done as she was told her sister would be alive.
But for the moment she had a larger concern. Her youngest sister, Valia. While her father was thousands of league away, Valia wasn't. She had guessed where she had fled to, or rather how she had fled. The local temple had told her where. And then she had chased her across the world.
Why?
That was the question that plagued her. Why had Valia chased her half way across the world? Was it vengeance she sought for the death of Staria? Did she seek a return to honour for the house by killing her? Or was it for some nobler purpose? A reunion of sisters? Kyriel had no idea. But she doubted the latter. If her purpose had been a good one she could have simply gone to the local hamadryad's temple and portalled here. She hadn't, instead choosing to take a long and dangerous journey over sea and across land. That did not seem like the actions of someone with only good wishes in her heart.
Now what she did know was that Valia was somewhere inside Theria. Or she had been when the coup had begun. That was the last report she'd heard about her before everything had gone wrong. Now she could be anywhere. She could be dead. Or injured. She could be a slave forced to work for these accursed veiled soldiers and their priest as they built their temple. She could be out there somewhere, hunting her.
There was a reason she trained with her blades every day.
And there was a reason that she expected her students to train just as hard. They could find themselves in a situation that was just as bad. They had to be prepared.
“Be that as it may April, if one of your family does try to sacrifice you, you need to be ready. You need to be able to fight even in your sleep if you have to. So let’s run through all three dances again half a dozen times, and this time with vigour. And then I'll teach you the fourth dance.”
“Fourth?!” April sounded shocked. “Just how many of these dances are there?”
“A hundred and eighty three – with the short sword. Seventy six more with the light shield. And once you've mastered them all we'll start with the duelling.”
There was no point in hiding it Kyriel thought. No reason to cover the bitter truth with honey. Her student had to know what she was getting herself into by agreeing to train. And she would train.
“Now can we begin please.”
“Fine!” April got in the first position, sword at the ready. “But while I do that why don't you tell me about Edouard.”
“Edouard?” Kyriel was confused, but also a little alarmed as she thought she knew what her student was hinting at.
“Seven bells! You really are bad at this! Do they not teach you anything of subtlety in Edin?” April began her dances.
“Furtive glances when you think he can't see you. Following him around. Spying on him. Wearing perfume. Making excuses to be with him and then walking away. Mara knows. Anatha knows. By the Seven even Denetta knows!”
“What do they know?” Kyriel hated that there was a note of nervousness in her voice but she couldn't help it. And she hated that April guessed the truth. Some days she wondered if it had been a mistake joining a temple run by women. The gossip was endless.
“That you are in love with my brother.”
“More lightness in your steps and less stretching forward. You never want to over extend.” Kyriel tried to change the topic, embarrassed by the heat she could feel rising in her cheeks.
“Evasion?” April sounded unimpressed. “Just how do men and women court in Tenarri if you can't even talk about it?”
“We don't court. Men and women never see each other before they wed. Women remain in their father's home until they are given to their husbands.”
“Given?!” April sounded upset. “By all that's holy, the women in your land are treated as property!”
“It's just the way it is. And it’s not as if your people don’t arrange marriages.” Kyriel felt the need to defend herself, and she didn't even know why.
“With the agreement of all parties! And that hasn't been forthcoming in my House. Simon and Marcus have both refused to marry anyone Father suggested. Leona ran off and married Innosen against Father's wishes. And Edouard hides in his fort playing with his toys, hoping that Father won't remember him. At this rate Father's best hope for an heir with the family name may be Thomas.”
“He doesn't want to marry?” Kyriel wanted to bite out her own tongue the instant the words tripped off it. But by then it was too late.
“He doesn't want to marry someone Father picks for him. And he's shy. But he may be the only one of my elder brothers who is marriageable. Even before his treachery Simon was always too selfish. He could never share anything. Marcus is almost a slave to his urges. He could not restrain himself to one woman. Edouard though will make a good husband.”
Kyriel didn't say anything. But even so she could still feel her face turning red and a smile desperately trying to tug the edges of her mouth upwards. It was hard to deny that she felt something for Edouard that she had never felt for another man. But it wasn't right.
And she decided, it was even more wrong to discuss it – especially with his sister.
“All right April. Time for some fitness. I want you to run to the water's edge at the temple and then back.”
“But –!”
“Twice!” Kyriel was firm. Then, when April looked at her, thinking about protesting, she became more so. “Do you want to make it three times?”
April didn't and without too much more grumbling – at least that Kyriel could hear – she started running towards the treeline and the temple beyond. Maybe it was wrong to use her position to keep herself from being embarrassed. But it didn't feel wrong.
Besides, she'd make it up to her by being nice at dinner. After once more explaining to her that she couldn't tell Edouard or anyone else in her family about the portal system. Liandra had been quite clear about that. The Severin family were a useful ally and probably trustworthy. In fact she considered Edouard one of the most honourable men she'd met. But it was too soon to reveal all their secrets to them.
Then again, Edouard was clever. Damnably clever. And though he didn't reveal all he knew, she suspected he knew more than the temple would want him to know. Sooner or later he was going to guess the rest. And having April simply turn up at dinner this evening might be giving him too much of a clue.
Chapter Thirty Two
“April!”
Edouard was shocked to see his little sister at his door, but also pleased. More than pleased. Even when he saw that she was wearing the simple home spun dress that was the uniform of the handmaidens.
But none of that mattered when she was on his doorstep, and he quickly wrapped her up in a hug and then escorted her inside, slamming the door shut behind them. It was late and the nights were still chilly. And for some reason he still couldn't get the bone shaking cold of the
river out of his bones. Fortunately the great room was warm, and with the huge fire in the hearth burning away merrily it was a comfortable and welcoming place to be. Even when he had so many guests staying with him, constantly creating a nuisance of themselves.
Edouard made the introductions as Kyriel handed her a warm goblet of mulled wine, and soon she was sitting with them, sipping her drink and most important of all in his view, smiling.
Their family was a complicated one thanks to their father's habit of exchanging wives every few years. But as complicated as it was it was also simple – at least for the children of those marriages. The elder took care of the younger. It was simply the way it had to be. So April was his responsibility, as he was Leona's and so forth. The only one who had not been so fortunate was Marcus, purely because Simon did not take care of anyone save himself. But he had long suspected that that was why Marcus had become such a capable soldier. He had learned to look out for himself.
As for Simon himself, no one had looked out for him either, but he had been coddled by both his parents as the first child. Maybe that explained something of where he had gone wrong in life?
Now however, it seemed that Simon wasn't the only child going astray according to April. Denetta had turned up in Bitter Crest twice and each time she and Marcus had managed to embarrass the entire family. In fact they'd fled their makeshift quarters for hours at a time while the pair had indulged their carnal desires. But that hadn't stopped the entire inn from hearing what was going on. Coin had been paid to cover for the inconvenience, and Father had apparently had lengthy words with his son. They clearly hadn't worked.
April's face coloured a little as she told him the bare facts of the matter, and the other handmaidens all looked away to hide the colour growing in their cheeks. Meanwhile Edouard was struggling to contain his laughter. After everything that had happened lately it was hard not to see the humour in the situation. Though he hoped it wasn't the start of a more serious affair. Marcus' mother would never accept a demoness into the family.
The other news was that father was hiring large numbers of artisans to construct a new residence in Bitter Crest. It seemed he'd lost hope that the family home in Theria would be returned to them when this was all over. If it ever ended. And they did have land attached to the House's warehouses and emporium which was more than large enough to build on. Edouard wondered if a shrine would be built there as well in accord with their new alliance.
He also wondered about the wisdom of building in Bitter Crest. Although he wasn't privy to his brother's plans he was fairly sure that Simon was dreaming of ruling more than just one city and one province. He had ambition. And Bitter Crest was a free city, poorly defended, and very close to Theria. It would make an attractive target.
“Temple life seems to agree with you.”
Once the introductions and the family stuff had been dealt with, he thought he'd mention it. After all, she seemed happy and healthy, and despite it being a strange garment for someone of the nobility to wear, the home spun dress somehow suited her. Besides, he'd always expected that she would sooner or later wear the robes of one temple or another.
“It does.” She smiled so broadly that it was a wonder her face could contain the expression. And then she proceeded to tell him all about her new life, her tongue almost tripping over itself as she rushed to get the words out. That too was normal enough for April. She had always been an excitable young lady, unable to keep anything back when the mood took her. When she had first discovered the spark of magic within her as a little girl, he had never heard the end of it. Not for many weeks. And every day she had been in an endless rush to tell him of every little thing she'd learned about her gift. He'd liked that.
This time though it wasn't her gift that caused her so much joy. It wasn't actually the temple either, though she told him all about the daily life there in enormous detail. It was Tyrel herself who dominated her thoughts, and Edouard listened carefully as she dropped a few choice snippets of information about her into the conversation. Things he had never suspected. And neither Mara nor Kyriel could stop her though they tried several times. They should have known better. And they both kept giving him vexed looks as he carefully asked her innocent questions to elicit a few more details that they didn't want him to know.
Naturally he didn't pay them any attention as he discovered a whole new world of the hamadryad's machinations. And first among them was that the handmaidens were marrying! Leaving the temple and marrying.
That he hadn't guessed. And more importantly neither had their husbands. They surely knew that their wives had once been handmaidens. But they didn't suspect that they still were in everything but name. That they regularly returned to the temple to speak with her. To pass on what they had learned and to hear her wishes. In short the Honoured Mother was becoming a sort of spy master. One day he'd have to find out how far it went. How many typical seeming wives and mothers across however many realms were actually handmaidens. Perhaps though not while he had guests from the temple staying with him. They would not approve of his curiosity.
Then there was the fact that the temple was recruiting. Not just women fleeing bitter domestic situations, but also those with magic. Sparks and flames. When April mentioned that and in particular that the Mother was training them in the use of their gifts, it opened up a whole new world for him. It was normal enough for temples to welcome magic users among their number, but they didn't train them in the use of their gifts as far as he knew. They didn't need to. Priests and priestesses had their own magic that came from their faith. This smacked of something else.
But then Tyrel was a power – not one of the Seven Divines or any of the other gods and goddesses. Though the distinction was irrelevant in most things, she was still perceived as being an Earth bound being, not a true deity. And her handmaidens had relatively limited magic because of that. This struck him as a way of bridging that gap, and doing it in unexpected ways.
Priests of Virius The Fortunate One, had the magic of chance. So they would twist the odds in their favour. Whether with dice or swords, misfortune would trail their opponents in whatever arena. They were hard to beat. It was a powerful magic, and a desirable one. There was a reason that many chose to worship him. But his priests and the followers had no magic of healing. They could fall to illness like any other. Similarly they were not warriors, gifted with blades and pistols as were the priests of Beala the Warlord. Luck would not be enough to stand them in combat against his followers.
But the handmaidens of Tyrel were different. Now some of them could have any magic if what April was telling him was correct. They could act in ways that others could not expect. They could for example, twist the thoughts of enemies as they rode up a hill towards them, intent on doing them harm. Who knew what else they could do? More importantly, who knew what else they were doing? If you didn't know that a woman was a handmaiden because she looked like any other wife and mother and you didn't know she had magic, how could you know what she was truly up to? She could be doing anything and you'd never suspect.
Then there was the school. April had been well taught in all the skills a noble woman should have. She could read and write and carry out advanced arithmetic. She knew her science and history, and was capable in the hand crafts expected of her. And because she was of the House of Barris she also had a good knowledge of trade. It made sense that she should be used to help teach those who came to the temple in need, many of whom probably couldn't read or write. Education was a privilege often limited to those with the wealth to pay for private tutors.
Temples and churches often tried to counter that by offering education for the various cities' poor. It was a boon for both the children and the temples. The realms got more people with some basic literacy without having to pay for it. And the various faiths got to spread their messages to the young.
In keeping with that Tyrel's shrines had been offering some education to the poor of Theria and several other cities through their shr
ines. There was nothing unusual in that. But what was unexpected was when April spoke of teaching over thirty women in advanced arithmetic and trade, while other handmaidens taught other similarly advanced classes. It struck him from the numbers alone that Tyrel was planning a significant increase in the education services her handmaidens were providing. Both in the numbers of children taught and in the degree.
He wondered at the purpose behind it.
But even as he was wondering about that his sister let out another revelation. Though at first he was too slow to realise it. All he knew at first was that Anatha had rung the dinner bell and everyone had stood to go into the dining room. They were all hungry since dinner had been delayed for April to arrive, and eight bells had been rung already. Besides Anatha was a good cook, and the smell of the roast rabbit was permeating the entire house, making everyone hungry.
Everyone that was except April. As they walked into the dining room arm in arm, she simply commented that she wasn't really that hungry. She'd already eaten her dinner. Five simple words. Five words that in the scheme of things should have meant nothing. So what if she'd already had her dinner? It was a minor thing and she could simply pick at a plate politely as the rest of them enjoyed their meal.