by Reiter
“You see what?”
“You’re afraid I’m going to best him better than you can!”
Jorkethian grabbed Valian by the lapels and jerked his body forward. It did not have the effect Ulreejun was looking for, and he thought the young KnighT had moved in such a way as to make it look more effective than it actually was. “This is no game, boy!”
Valian took soft hold of his master’s hands and smiled. “Yes it is, Master!” he argued. “It is the ultimate game, and the gods are the scorekeepers. Trust me, Master. Trust your training... your guidance... your faith... and above all, trust your love.”
“Their deliberations have been concluded,” N’Toa announced and he turned to the Empress who put her hand to her sheathed sword and lifted her free hand to remove the blind.
“Your Majesty, what the boy has-”
“KnighT,” Valian boomed. “I am of station, Countess, and you will respect that or find additional charges levied at you.”
Lusorra looked at Valian and then at the Empress. The woman knew she did not have an advocate of sufficient power in the dining hall... perhaps at Court, but circumstances had removed that possibility. After taking a moment, the Countess smiled and bowed her head to Valian.
“My apologies, Sir KnighT,” she said softly. “But to resume... what the KnighT has proposed as a challenge is at best awkward to resolve. He has challenged a Master KnighT and myself. How does he mean to face eleven champions at once?!”
“Interesting that you could only find ten within your province to stand with you, Countess,” Valian said, sounding as if he expected this attempt. “But the matter is easily resolved and in a manner the Old Code embraces.”
“A tournament!” Pelania said in a soft voice.
“Exactly, Your Majesty,” he replied. “An Old Code Tournament of KnighTs. If memory serves, the next to be held is the Farefall Tournament, the one the Emperor himself often attends.”
“That tournament isn’t until Yorjunvis!” Evard barked. “More than three months away! First you question my character and then you make this display of cowardice?!”
“What site could I choose that you would agree to, Sir Evard?” Valian returned. “And what judges would you accept? This saves us all the time of unnecessary bickering because not even you can question the integrity of an Imperial event. What you wish to imply as cowardice I see as intelligence. How fortunate this is not a test of wits, eh?”
There was good chance Evard could not hear the laughter coming from the dining hall. That did not make him any less aggravated by the snipe.
“KnighT, or no KnighT, I will end you, child! So swears Evard Bruntelior!” With that, the man turned and walked away. The sound of an opening door could be heard as Lusorra addressed the Empress.
“It would seem that this is indeed a solution to the problem,” she smiled. “These terms are accepted. But in that Sir Valian has selected the time and place, it is my right to exercise the terms.”
“In accepting the tournament, Countess, you have also accepted the terms,” Valian pointed out. “The KnighT that wins the tournament wins the challenge. Your eleven to my one. I very much like those odds.
“A detailing of your champions and their listed retainers will be expected within the hour,” Valian declared. “Dreadnaught N’Toa, might I implore you to be the recipient of that list?”
“He will be more than happy to receive it,” Pelania stated.
“Very good then,” Valian said, reaching into a small pocket sewn into his belt. He produced a small crystal and handed it to the Dreadnaught. “Here is mine.”
“Your list is received, Sir Valian,” N’Toa announced. “Great glory to you and your house.”
“To the gods with the glory,” Valian said, turning to leave. “All I need is my house!” Reaching the doors, Valian stopped. He turned to face the Empress and he bowed deeply. “By your leave, Your Majesty.”
“Attend to your matters, Sir KnighT,” she replied. “And do so with your Empress’ blessing.”
“Your Majesty.” Valian then looked at the monitor. “Father?”
“The House Jhormynn is no longer in need of a KnighT,” Vaiyorl said proudly. “In three months’ time, I believe we will retain the KnighT we have. Go now, son, and good skill to you.”
Valian bowed before turning to look at one of the Estate Guards. “Arrest that man,” he said, pointing at Larry. “Put him in restraints, trackers, and store him in the smallest cell we have.”
“Yes sir,” three of the guards replied, slapping their heels together and going quickly about what they were ordered to do.
Valian looked at Larry and smiled. “Let me know if you want to borrow my library.”
My family is my strength and my weakness.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
(Rims Time: XI-4903.20)
Valian walked quickly down the corridor, the sounds of the dining hall slowly fading behind him. All he could clearly hear were the footfalls of his family, friends, and acquaintances. He was still smiling from the library line he had delivered to Larry before leaving the room, but he could tell something was not quite right with his squire.
“What is it, Annodia?” he asked.
“How does she get to have ten champions?!” Annodia blurted out, finally relieved of the burden of remaining silent.
Valian chuckled. “I think we can agree that the Old Code is in need of revision in certain places.”
“If, when you say ‘certain’, you mean ‘all’, then yes!” Kethgeegan remarked, bringing laughter from most of the group. Annodia and Jorkethian were not in the mood for amusement.
“When I challenged the Countess, I basically challenged her entire province. I think she presides over some seventeen various territories.”
“Eighteen,” Champanna corrected. “... that she holds according to public records.”
“Thank you, Champanna,” Valian smiled. “... and please mind your voice. I would rather not have to divulge any of our sources at the moment.
“Getting back to the point,” Valian steered the conversation. “...she could only get ten of those territories to submit a champion. Now, that could be because the other territories don’t have a champion to speak of...”
“Or they’ve got reason to believe your claim is true,” Annodia concluded.
“That reminds me. Quilori, kindly send word to the Minister of Affairs informing him of the challenge and that the House Jhormynn requests a formal review edict to be placed on all of the Countess’ internal proceedings until the challenge is resolved.”
“I will get on that immediately!” the Olasson woman replied, reaching for her computer.
“Just in case,” Valian said softly. “That will provide some protection to the territories that have opted out of the tournament.”
“Hey,” Annodia said, taking hold of Valian’s arm. “The Duke has over twenty territories!”
“True, but it wasn’t the Duke that made the challenge,” Valian said. “And even if I had shared all that we have uncovered with the Duke, it would be troublesome for him to make the challenge.”
“Why?”
“Because even though the Duke is riding high at the moment, he and the Duchess still need to be able to survive at Court,” Jorkethian advised, taking another long look at Valian.
“No, he isn’t delusional,” he thought. “It’s obvious that he’s thought this out in as many ways as he could find. But how does he hope to best Bruntelior?”
“It’s better this way,” Valian concluded. “To the eyes of the Imperial Court, I stand alone. No Order of KnighTs to act as an anchor... no real station in the Court to justify. I’m just a brand new KnighT... and with this challenge, I’m proving to most that I don’t know what I’m doing.
“Now, I will meet you at the transport,” Valian said as he stopped. “Annodia, kindly wait for me down here while I say my goodbyes to my siblings.”
“Valian,” Ulreejun started only to be halted
by his student’s lifted hand.
“I don’t know when I’ll see my family again, Master,” Valian said softly as he stared for the stairs. “This lunacy will keep until I return.”
The visitation to Travis was very brief. It was good to see Gwendolyn, and she seemed especially happy to see Valian again, but Travis’ condition had not changed. He was still unconscious, though no longer comatose. Though he had been a Seer for years, it was apparent he still had a few things he needed to learn. Looking away when discovered by a creature of MoGo would have to be added to the list as soon as Travis was able.
Thomas was not to be found, but Valian had expected as much, especially with Travis sidelined with his ‘injury’. That left the two siblings for Valian to speak with before departing the estate.
After conversing with and giving a hug to Tacita, Valian walked over to where Shonsatah was standing. He was stalled in his approach, seeing an entirely new development of which he was unaware.
“When did this start?” he asked, looking at a number of paintings that were anything but pedestrian. He was especially taken with one of a small ship streaking through the sky. His lips pressed together as he immediately placed where he had seen the ship before. It was the skiff that his father had customized; the last ship his parents ever flew.
“Tacita’s to blame for this,” Shonsatah said as she put more paint to her current work. “It started with sign language and Braille... and then it was calligraphy... then sketching... and now this.”
“Sister... you have a genuine gift,” Valian said, finally looking away from the skiff painting. The next that caught his eyes was what had to have been her view of the Test Tower. Valian had never considered it to be a menacing thing, but he quickly realized that he had not had to watch any of his loved ones face it. “And it’s a good thing I didn’t have this view of that thing.”
“It wouldn’t have changed anything,” she said without looking away from her painting. “Big, ominous-looking things don’t frighten you. That you leave for us to do.”
“Why do I get the feeling that you’re angry with me?”
“Could it be because I was in the room when you gave your life away?” she asked, a very slight tremble in her voice. It reached Valian’s heart and he closed his eyes.
“Sister.” He started toward her, opening his arms to take her into an embrace. He stopped when she whirled around, swinging her hand for his face. It was pure reaction that made his head jerk backward, moving his face just out of Shonsatah’s reach.
“No!” she yelled. “Stay away from me! I’m not your sister.”
“You don’t believe that,” he whispered, approaching slowly.
“Yes I do! You’re beneath me!”
“That I am,” he smiled. “Have been since the day we met.”
Shonsatah gasped, her mind taking hold of her and snatching her back through time to a memory she could not forget even if she tried.
It had been an innocent enough beginning, attending a carnival full of wonder and oddities of all sorts. True Lord Vaiyorl Jhormynn had allowed the troupe to use his property to set up their tents. On a very unexpected outing, Shonsatah’s father had decided to take the family to the carnival, a command performance of sorts. They were in the third tent, meeting Boris for the first time... when the family outing became a test of survival. People Shonsatah had known and come to love died that evening, including most of her personal guard... she had reason to believe that she would be joining them.
It was also the first time she had worked MajiK away from the secret place she had made in the corner of her bedchamber. She had been hoping for a simple Restoration Charm, and that is what she had managed, far exceeding what she had come to know as the limits of the incantation. Her father had been stunned by an Anti-MannA pulse and was barely managing to run with the rest of the family as they escaped the oddity tent. Her charm restored him fully and even engaged a measure of his anger to fortify him beyond that point of simple healing.
Sending his family ahead, Vaiyorl had turned to face the enemy. Shonsatah would not see him again until the next morning... but she was not yet done with the night. Delivered to a teleportation pad by one of the carnies, Guysorla and her children had been sent to a spaceport where a small skiff had been waiting. Manning that ship had been Kolinkar and Arva Styrke... and their son, Valian. Struck by a spear, Shonsatah had not been given time to be afraid of Kolinkar’s appearance. He had been Darkbred, a former Ardrian Marine. His formidable rage and power was dispensed with extreme prejudice. His wife had been there with a timely shot for the few targets Kolinkar could not reach.
But even aboard the skiff the Jhormynn family had not been safe, and an Imperial warship came out of a gate and started firing on the small ship. Arva had been the pilot and she demonstrated why she had been able to survive service in the Ardrian Flight Corps. Kolinkar had given the order for the Jhormynn family to man their escape craft when the skiff started taking more and more damage.
“But if we take their escape craft, what are they going to take?” Shonsatah had asked, looking up at her mother. Guysorla looked at her daughter with tears in her eyes and she had no need to explain why she was about to cry.
Shonsatah had not been given time to voice her disapproval of the plan; Yorlson had been the first to move to the escape craft, taking the position that had been designed for Valian. Guysorla and Pirion had been told to take the position that had been designed for the large Marine and Shonsatah had volunteered to share the last remaining position, that of Arva Styrke’s, with a young Valian.
When the craft dislodged from the ship, Shonsatah had watched silently as the young Darkbred boy cancelled the pre-programed flight pattern. The escape pod had no viewports, so Valian had to pilot the craft using only instrumentation.
“It’s going to be alright,” he said, smiling at Shonsatah. That was the face she had discovered she could never forget. His violet eyes had been bright and full of hope even as they cried at the loss of his parents. Even then he had been able to demonstrate an inhuman level of discipline and self-control. She remembered she had only ever seen one tear... while he was piloting the escape pod.
The moment they had reached the ground, he had looked at her, quivering in fear and anger. Being only a child herself, Shonsatah had only known to do what she had seen. She wrapped her arms around Valian, hugging his head into her shoulder.
How long had they been locked into that pod? Guysorla had called out to her children and she had even wanted to know how the boy was. Shonsatah had simply said that they were both alright and Valian held on to her tightly, silently crying into her shoulder.
Nearly three hours later, Vaiyorl had located the pod. He had been hurt, burned in the flare-fire of an explosion, but he was otherwise alright. The same could not be said about Minyalla S’Clardiar, the Estate Guard who had been with her father and wound up taking the brunt of the blast that had hurt Vaiyorl.
Since that day, Shonsatah had only seen Valian cry once: when the pressures of Jorkethian had finally taken their toll.
“But even then he wasn’t crying because he thought he was failing,” Shonsatah thought. “He cried because he thought he was failing the memory of his parents, failing the cause for which they had given their lives.
“Stay away from me,” she pleaded.
“I can’t,” Valian returned, receiving a slap from the girl. “And you’re only going to hurt your hand if you keep doing that.”
“Oh, so you can’t be hurt, is that it?” she cried. “Is that why you think you can face off against so many and hope for victory?”
“I can be hurt,” Valian admitted. “I can’t even say how much it hurts to know that I’m the reason why you’re crying. I’m so sorry, Shonsatah.”
“Then rescind the challenge!”
“You know I can’t do that. And even if I could, I wouldn’t.”
“Why not, Valian?!”
“Because I’ve found the source,” he revea
led after tapping a button on his comm-link.
“You what?”
“I found the source,” he repeated, his eyes locked on hers. “The one behind the attack on the Jhormynn Family and my first parents.”
Suddenly, Shonsatah’s rage was suspended and staggered back a step. “You found them?!” she whispered. She covered her mouth as Valian nodded ‘yes’.
“If I bring charges, the Imperial Court will do all that it can to play it down. No House of Standing can be caught engaging in these acts. This is the only play I have that won’t came back on the house.”
“Damn the house!” Shonsatah barked.
Valian took hold of the young woman and quickly brought her close. “And that line of thinking you will abandon right here and right now. I cannot go straight at these people. The tournament is the only available avenue of approach.”
“But against so many–”
“It only lessens my chances if I am concerned about what you might do or say,” Valian admitted. “And I know that wasn’t fair of me to say, but I’m all out of fair moves, Shonsatah.”
“Realistically speaking, what are y–”
“I will win the tournament!” he vowed.
“You had better!” Pirion demanded as he entered the room. “I am putting my inheritance on the line.”
“Pirion!” Shonsatah scolded.
“What? Do you know how much I won when he completed the Test Tower?”
“You had a wager going?!” Valian asked, more than a little surprised.
“With the same idiot I just secured a bet against: Wisia Herthane!”
“True Lord Kelsbi’s daughter,” Shonsatah sighed, closing her eyes. “What does she have in the way of an inheritance?”
“Not much,” Pirion grinned. “I put my inheritance up against her dowry.”
Valian shook his head, walking over to embrace the boy who was becoming more and more of a man.
“Prepare to reap the rewards, Brother,” Valian smiled.
Annodia gave no sign of relief at seeing Valian descending the winding stairway, but that was exactly how she felt. Standing alone she had been given the opportunity to think... and worry... and imagine the worst possible outcome of the challenge her KnighT had placed this evening. Seeing him again, however, brightened her disposition and she smiled up the stairs.