Clara

by Suzanna J. Linton

“When did you start caring, anyhow? Besides, I'm sure she's gotten over it.” Emmerich regarded him for a moment. “Do you like this girl?”

  He looked away. “Does it make a difference? Look, Clara has lost all her old friends and family. You were the last thread that held her to her past.”

  A dark look crossed his face, gone as soon as it came. “The past is gone and dead. No use in hanging onto anything that happened in it.”

  “Right. That's always been your guiding star.”

  Emmerich looked at him sharply. “What's gotten into you?”

  “Nothing, nothing.” He stood and started to leave. “I'm going to bed.”

  “Come and sit back down. We have to talk about our plan of attack. I always think better when you're around to ridicule me.”

  Gavin hesitated at the door. Looking over his shoulder, he said, “Good night, Emmerich.”

  And he left.

  Chapter Twelve

  The next morning, Clara awoke with a start. The familiar prickle danced along her scalp and down her spine. She jerked upright, pressing her knees against her forehead as the vision fell upon her.

  She saw a woman standing on a parapet overlooking a mountainside Clara did not recognize. Her white hair was piled on her head in an intricate knot and a long silver chain with a round disc pendant hung on her neck. The ruby in the pendant's center caught the light as it laid against the deep blue of her velvet tunic. At her left stood an armored man holding a map. He said something but Clara did not hear him. The woman turned to the man on her right. Clara recognized him as the man who tried to poison Lord Dwervin. The woman said something to him and he laughed.

  The vision dissolved. Sweat beaded her forehead and her whole body trembled. Nausea flowed over her. She turned, leaning over the side of the bed, and vomited into the piss pot.

  The door to her bedchamber opened and Relly entered. She set a breakfast tray on the bedside table.

  “I thought ye'd be hungry,” she said. Her smile faded. “Somethin' the matter, girl?”

  Clara flung the coverlet off her and dashed to the wardrobe. She pulled out the first tunic her hands landed on (a dark red) and then pulled out an undergown of pale cream.

  “Ye need help?” asked Relly.

  Clara shook her head and gently pushed the Cook out of the room.

  “Something the matter?”

  Clara nodded.

  “Ye need to hurry to the new lord?”

  She nodded again.

  “I'll get out yer way, then.” And the door shut in her face.

  Clara gulped down most of the food to make Relly happy, then pulled on the clothes. She brushed her hair and braided it. When she came out, the cook stood from the couch but before she could speak, Clara was already running as hard as she could to Emmerich's chambers. It wasn't until she was halfway down the hall that she realized she forgot to put on slippers.

  Emmerich and Gavin shot to their feet when she burst into the room, with two guards close behind. Her hands went to her slate–but she had forgotten it. She looked around in a panic as the guards clamped hands onto her arms and shoulders.

  “It's all right,” Emmerich told the guards. They released Clara and, saluting, returned to their posts, closing the door behind them.

  “I got you, love,” said Gavin. On the map table, he laid out paper, pen, and ink.

  They watched as Clara furiously scribbled out her vision. When she was finished, she stood back, smiling triumphantly. Emmerich picked up the paper and the two men read it.

  “This noblewoman,” said Emmerich, “did she have on a silver necklace? With a large pendant?” She nodded. He looked at Gavin with a frown. “The Baroness.”

  “Looks like she has a wizard in her employ. And the wizard that tried to assassinate the late Dwervin, no less.”

  “I hate wizards. Why didn't the Grand Temple just burn them all?”

  “Because the Grand Temple swore to not interfere with government anymore and the first thing the wizards did was make themselves indispensable to the sovereigns.” Gavin shrugged.

  Emmerich sighed, then looked to Clara. “Thank you, Clara. Tell me, can you call up these visions on your own?”

  She shook her head. Taking back the paper, she wrote, “I can feel them coming, though. I can never stop them.”

  “Well, please don't try!” His hands gripped her shoulders. “This information was vital.”

  Clara felt disturbingly aware of the warmth of his hands flowing through her clothes. She took a slow step back, giving a half smile as a sort of thanks, though waves of nausea were beginning to wash over her again. Perhaps she shouldn't have eaten that breakfast so quickly.

  “Is it possible that the Baroness sent Brellin to kill Dwervin? There was much fear that he was working for the Sorcerer King,” said Gavin.

  “Well, there's always been a rivalry between Dwervin and the Baroness. A wizard will do anything if you pay him enough.”

  “That is true, but it still troubles me.” Gavin looked over at Clara, who had collapsed into a chair at the table. “You're pale.” He came over and felt her forehead. “Your skin is like ice. I think she needs mulled wine, Emmerich.”

  “I'll have the kitchen bring some up. If this is how visions affect her, then it would be best to not overly rely on her.” He pulled a rope hidden by a tapestry. In a moment, a manservant entered and Emmerich directed him to fetch the wine. “Now,” he said, “we'll have to figure out how to get around this. Ah, I think she'll be all right, Gavin.”

  Clara felt very embarrassed that the general's right-hand man, now kneeling by her feet, seemed more interested in coddling her than giving advice. She smiled at him reassuringly.

  Taking up the paper, she wrote, “I am still tired from what happened in the gardens. Visions don't always affect me this way.”

  “What did happen in the garden?” asked Gavin.

  “Aye. I've been curious about that myself,” broke in Emmerich.

  She wrote, “I've had time to think about this. I think I saw the multiple endings of the battle and it was more than I could bear.”

  “Then maybe we'll keep you from battlegrounds, then,” said Gavin. Emmerich snorted and he gave him a harsh look. “It nearly killed her, man.”

  The bard moved her to a seat by the fire. Closing her eyes, she tried to shake the feeling as if there was more to know. The feeling often came to her after a vision, as if she hadn't seen everything. Eventually, the manservant returned with the wine. She sipped it, letting the warmth seep into her. The two men were talking about tactics but she found herself not caring. Soon, she fell asleep by the fire.

  When Clara slowly awoke, she heard two low voices arguing.

  “A campaign is no place for her,” whispered Gavin.

  “She's no good to me a hundred leagues away,” Emmerich replied.

  “We can use Portent.”

  “I know you think highly of that merlin, but this is too serious. What if Portent was shot down, and the message fell in the wrong hands?”

  Silence fell for a long moment.

  When Emmerich spoke again, his voice was gentle. “We're almost through, old friend. But in order to lop off the snake's head, we have to do things we're not comfortable with. You spent all winter here. I'm sure soldiers died who you wished you could have warned.”

  Gavin drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Those soldiers had a choice whether or not to fight. They heard the rumors of you. I even spread a few of my own. But why do I have the feeling you aren't going to give Clara much of a choice?”

  “She's going to get a choice; I just already know her decision. Think about it. She's been a slave most of her life. She probably has never set foot outside of Dwervinton in that whole time. Do you really think she's going to stay behind?”

  “She could just choose to strike out on her own.”

  “If she has any sense, she'd realize how suicidal that is. Even in the best of times a lone woman can't hope to wander arou
nd unmolested.”

  A pause. Clara could picture Gavin frowning. “Maybe she will find a willing partner.”

  The air grew taught with tension. “Are you that willing partner?”

  “No. You know I'll see you to the end.”

  “Good.”

  Finally, she couldn't stand it any longer and opened her eyes, yawning. She sat up straighter, wondering how much of the day had passed.

  “Look who's awake.” Emmerich smiled at her from where he and Gavin sat by the window. “I trust you slept well.”

  Gavin sat in a chair next to her. “You've been asleep for about a candle mark. Do you feel all right?”

  She nodded. Emmerich came to kneel before her. “Clara, do you want to come with us?”

  She looked at Gavin, whose face had hardened and he gave his friend a poisonous look. “It's a hard road,” he said. “We'll understand if you don't want to go.”

  “But it's a road out of here,” Emmerich interjected. “You will be using your gift for a great cause, Clara. Marduk needs to be stopped and the rightful person, a better person, put on the throne. You could play an important role in this. You'll have bodyguards, of course, and we'll keep you away from battlegrounds. And, ah, whatever else you want is yours: fine clothes, servants. Does that suit you?”

  She paused and looked from one man to another. Gavin only wanted to protect her. However, Emmerich offered a way to have her own life. She nodded and smiled reassuringly at Gavin, who scowled.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The next day, Clara took her place at Emmerich's left hand at the table for the evening meal in the great hall. She looked down the tables where the other soldiers sat (the family either dead or sent somewhere to be held as prisoners) and smiled faintly at the camaraderie in their laughter and conversations. She heaved a happy sigh.

  The servers came forward and dishes were laid out before them. Emmerich cut her a portion of the large trout and gave it to her with a nod. She reached for her slate to ask him a question but he had already turned to address to Gavin.

  The other captains talked around her. None addressed her. She wondered if they knew who she was.

  “The latest reports,” one began, but was silenced by a cough from Gavin. His eyes cut to her.

  Emmerich frowned, looking to Gavin a moment before saying, “Let it wait until the meeting, Captain Turin.”

  Her eyes went back to her plate, feeling as if she might as well be sitting on the floor again.

  Clara stepped out of the chapel after the evening prayers. Bowing, she accepted the presbyter's blessing and began to walk down the hall to the stairwell. Spying Gavin up ahead, she raced forward, the sound of her running drawing his attention.

  “Clara,” he said, stopping. “Did you enjoy evening prayers?”

  She nodded. Taking out her slate, she quickly wrote, “I need to ask you a favor.”

  “And I'll try to comply.” He nodded at a couple of soldiers who strolled by and saluted him.

  “I need to get into the meetings General Emmerich has with the captains.”

  “It's not your place, Clara. The less you know, the better you are.”

  She glared at him, swiped her slate clean, and wrote, “I need to be a part of this. How will I understand my visions if I don't know what's happening?”

  “No.”

  “Why have you been keeping me from overhearing anything at the table? Why are you acting like this?” Her chalk slapped into the slate with each word, her hand shaking.

  After he read what she wrote, he put gentle hands on her shoulders. “To protect you.” He gave her a swift kiss on the forehead and walked away, leaving her confused and angry.

  Five days before departure to march on Orlind, Clara hid behind the tapestry in the meeting room beside Emmerich's quarters. She thanked the Child that Emmerich had started giving her an allowance. It took a lot of money to bribe the one literate scullery maid into divulging the time and place of the meetings but after a se'ennight of spying on them, it paid off.

  The army that came to take over Dwervinton was only half the actual force. The other half had gone to the port of Seasong, on a peninsula called the Knob, which lay to the northwest. The fighting there had been a little more spirited there than at Dwervinton, but after the installation of a lord sympathetic to Emmerich, those men were returning to meet them at Castle Orlind. Emmerich hoped to take Candor City, which would wrest control of the Northern part of Lorst away from Marduk.

  But what worried everyone was that Marduk wasn't sending out the forces they expected to stop them. It made everyone uneasy, filling many a discussion with speculation as to why.

  “Something more important may have his attention,” Emmerich had said once, to which the other captains nodded in agreement, their eyes shadowed with concern as to what they could be.

  When Gavin came to visit with her in the evenings, she tried to get more information from him, but he always changed the subject.

  Emmerich’s entrance knocked her out of her reverie. She watched him through a tiny slit in the tapestry. Today he wore a black tunic and shirt with grey pants. He looked very handsome, though the steel in his eyes detracted from his looks. Gavin followed behind.

  “We still have a while before the others arrive,” he said, sitting at the table’s head. “You know, I’m going to miss this castle living.”

  Gavin snorted, taking his seat. “You say that now, but wait until this is all over. You’ll be stir crazy by the time winter comes.”

  “Aye, and I’ll come riding up to your front gate, demanding for you to come on some harebrained adventure.”

  “Wasn’t that how all this got started?” Emmerich snorted a laugh in reply. “But,” Gavin continued, “I don’t think you’ll find it so easy, when this is over, to oust me from my comforts.”

  “Oh, now? Got your eye on a pretty lady? A pretty lady who happens to be a Seer?”

  Gavin shot him a look. “I’m getting tired of this sort of thing. I want a place to settle.”

  Emmerich leaned forward, clasping his hands as he pressed his forearms onto the table. “The truth, now. Every evening, I turn around to ask for a song, or a riddle, or some sort of decent conversation, but you’re never about. I ask around and I’m told you’ve snuck away to Clara’s quarters. How long have you been bedding her?”

  Clara clasped her hand over her mouth to muffle the gasp.

  Gavin stared hard at his friend. Finally, he said, in a low, dangerous voice, “Slander her again and I will defend her honor.”

  “Easy, friend. You know I meant no such thing.”

  Gavin stood and paced up and down the room, going in and out of Clara’s field of vision. After a long time of silence, Emmerich spoke up.

  “Gavin.” His voice was soft and gentle.

  “Her parents sold her! That—harlot treated her like she was less than human!” Gavin cried. “They kept her chained all the time and made her sit on the floor to take her meals in the hall. It was a miracle that Lord Dwervin didn't rape her. But he tried to break her and for that I should have killed him immediately.”

  “Well, he's dead now. Clara avenged herself nicely.”

  “I still don't think she just stood there–”

  “I think you should give her more credit. I also think you may believe it, or it wouldn't trouble you so.”

  The words stole away Clara’s breath. She clasped her shaking hands together. They knew. Or, at least speculated, and that was nearly as bad.

  “I see the look in her eyes some days, Emmerich. No man will be able to hold her and have all her heart because she won't be able to trust him.”

  “But?”

  “But, I would like to try.”

  The scrape and thud of boots and the creak of leather announced the captains’ arrival. Gavin returned to stand by his seat and Emmerich stood to receive his subordinates. Clara was glad; her mind swirled with emotions and thoughts. She would have to find somewhere quiet to sort them out
. Pushing them aside, she listened closely to the meeting.

  After reports on men and supplies she only half-understood, Emmerich announced that he had just received word from a spy by way of the merlin Portent that revealed Castle Orlind’s weak point.

  “From what our spy says, there is a weak spot on the south end of the castle. The thawing snow has weakened the foundations and there’s a chance of the wall caving in.”

  “How far along are they on repairs?” asked a captain. Clara could never remember their names.

  “Not very. It’ll take them the rest of the spring and into summer to fortify the wall.” He paused significantly. “They had to drain the moat and build a scaffold over it.”

  Several captains let out a breath. One whooped.

  Emmerich stood and began to walk around the room. “Gavin, has our little fount of information come up with anything new?”

  “No, but I’m sure she’ll come up with something. It’s not exactly a precise art.”

  He came to stand by the tapestry. Clara pressed her back to the wall and tried to think invisible thoughts. Suddenly, the tapestry swept back and Emmerich glowered down at her.

  Chairs scraped back as the seated men jumped to their feet. Steel hissed as they drew their swords, except for Gavin. He stood, tensed, shock and dread coloring his face.

  “Well,” said Emmerich, “I don’t remember extending you an invitation.” He gently took her arm and drew her out so the others could see her. They sheathed their swords at a wave of his hand.

  Taking up her slate, she wrote, “I deserve to know!”

  Emmerich frowned at the written outburst. “Gavin told me you weren't interested.”

  She looked at him, shocked. Gavin said, “It was for your own good.”

  Clara opened her mouth, as if she could yell at him. She let out a harsh breath and stamped her foot. Emmerich watched her with an almost-amused look.

  “Gavin,” he said, “we'll discuss this later. Gentlemen, allow me to introduce to you Lady Clara, our very own Seer.” The men bowed as he led her to an empty chair beside his, going as far as pulling it out for her.