by John Booth
“Not if we’ve been to a midwife and she confirms you’re pregnant.”
Jalia paused for thought. “That would work. Does Gorn know of a midwife who will lie for us?”
“Unfortunately no, but I have a cunning plan,” Daniel grinned at Jalia in a particularly wicked way. “We’ll use your ring to convince her you’re pregnant. Then we can make our moves against the Association without fear of discovery. The Association will assume we’ve entered the city by boat and they’ll spend their time checking barns and boat-houses while we sit safe in Dan’s house.”
“Can my ring do that?” Jalia was unconvinced the magic ring was up to it. If the task was to gut the midwife or throw her in the lake she was sure it could do it, but this would involve affecting the woman’s mind.
“Ask the ring for a sign,” Daniel prompted and Jalia created the appropriate question.
“I’m only getting a faint tingle from the ring, as if it isn’t sure,” Jalia said a few seconds later.
“Ask it if it will work if you go through the motions, so all it has to do is convince the midwife your belly is large and a baby is inside it.”
“Magic ring, will it work if we do what he just said?” Jalia asked and shook the finger in pain. “There was no need for such an enthusiastic response,” she grumbled.
“So, it’s settled then?”
“Well Daniel I’m not sure…” Jalia began, and stopped in mid-sentence as Risa and two of her daughter’s in law entered the room with a maternity dress, a big pillow and sewing kits. “I see you have it all planned,” she shouted at Daniel’s back as he fled the room.
Their swords and usual clothes were stored in the pack dangling from the donkeys back on the other side to the one where Jalia’s feet hung. While her disguise was effective, it was also hot and heavy and she wondered if this was what pregnant women put up with. Jalia never intended to get pregnant, but now she was clear what she would tell Daniel, if he ever was to ask her why not.
The bridge across the lake was a wonder of the world. It hadn’t looked impressive to Jalia when she viewed it from the top of the hill, but when she saw it up close it gave a very different impression. It was wide; wide enough for at least six carts to travel abreast while its arches were big enough to let large boats go through them.
The most impressive feature of the bridge was its center sections. These were not made of stone like the rest of the bridge but of iron. Great iron wheels and cogs made it possible to swing the sections down on massive hinges to make it impossible to pass.
“How do they ever get them back up into position again?” Jalia asked in wonder as their donkey cautiously stepped over the four inch gap between one swinging section and the next.
“Gorn told me there is a barge that can lift the sections back up by use of counterweights. But any attacker can be prevented from access to Telmar by these things. They were constructed by the Magicians Kings for security.” Daniel marveled at the things the Magician Kings had done during their reign. Nothing like this could be built today.
Guards were stationed by the control levers. Ten heavily armed men viewed them with suspicion from behind fortifications. One of the men came out to talk.
“What do you want?” the man enquired as if he neither cared nor really wanted an answer.
“My wife is pregnant…”
“I can see that. We have enough screaming brats in Telmar as it is. Go away.”
“She has trouble giving birth. We seek a city midwife to help us. I have leased a house in Ona from a farmer we met on the trail.” Daniel started to search his pockets for the lease he and Dan had written. He knew exactly which pocket it was in but he intended that to be the last he looked in. He wanted to give these men the impression he wasn’t very bright.
“How many pockets have you got in those trousers?” the guard asked irritably. Daniel triumphantly pulled a scrap of parchment from a pocket on his leg. The guard stared suspiciously at the paper. He had some trouble with reading, but he could read names and recognized the name Dan Caulder. He gave the paper back. “I suppose it won’t matter if you leave the city after your wife gives birth. Good luck to the two of you.”
Daniel eased Jalia and the donkey past the guard and through the gates set in the fortifications. Some of the guards jeered as they went by and Daniel hung his head as though frightened. Jalia worked hard at suppressing the urge to jump off the donkey to find out whether these guards could swim.
Ona was the most nearly round of the islands of Telmar and was approximately three miles in diameter. The road wound along the northern edge of the island and into the bustling streets of Ona’s harbor and market. They had a good idea of where to find Dan’s house. He told them to take Monk’s Street up the hill towards the monastery. His house was halfway up on the left.
The donkey brayed in irritation at having to carry Jalia and the packs up the steep cobbled street. Daniel had to hit him with his reins to get him to move at all. Jalia wanted to get off and walk but that would have ruined the deception. It would certainly have been a lot quicker though.
At the house, Daniel unlocked the door. He would have to go around the house later, pulling out the long nails used to fasten the window shutters closed. He helped Jalia down from the donkey and, holding her arm, helped her into the house. As soon as they were in and the door closed Jalia shook his hand off her.
“I am not an old woman, you know.”
“It is just part of the act, Jalia.”
“Well go out and get some of these windows open before I die from a lack of fresh air.”
When the windows were open, Daniel went down to the market and bought food. He then went in search of a midwife. Jalia waited on the bed in a simple shift ready to command the ring as soon as Daniel entered the house.
“I’ve brought the midwife, Trella my love!” Daniel called as he entered the house. A small round woman with a no nonsense attitude followed behind him and winced at his words. Una Thorn proclaimed herself the best and most experienced midwife on the seven islands of Telmar and she had no time for love or sentiment of any kind.
She felt her life would be a lot easier and less wearing if the younger couples of the island gave up sex until they were much older. Sex was overrated in her personal opinion.
Daniel escorted Una to their bedroom, calling out to Jalia as he climbed the staircase, professing his undying love. When they reached the bedroom, Una swept past Daniel as if he wasn’t there.
“Huh, no wonder she has trouble. Those hips are far too small to give a baby easy passage, and look at her tits, man. I’m going to have to find a wet-nurse if the child is going to have anything to eat.” Una swung over the bed and flung up Jalia’s shift so she was revealed naked with the shift draped over her face. “She is certainly near term judging by the size of that belly. God knows how the poor baby is going to get through that pelvis. Spread your legs, girl!” Una ordered.
It was fortunate Jalia’s face was covered, as it is doubtful any magic could have disguised her anger. However, it was covered and Jalia reluctantly spread her legs for this rude arrogant woman.
She didn’t do it fast enough for Una who slapped her inner thighs to get her to move faster. Jalia’s hand clenched onto the bed and imagined she was squeezing Una’s throat. Una put her hand on Jalia tummy and nodded as she thought she felt a baby kicking within. She turned her attention back to the area between Jalia’s legs
“Well a man might enjoy looking at it, but it’s quite impractical. She will tear for sure when the baby is born. All this hair will have to go.” Una turned to face Daniel. “Do you want me to have it off or will you do it when I’m gone?”
“Oh, I’ll do it, Mistress Una. She’ll be as bald as a baby when I’ve finished, I can assure you.” Daniel tried hard to keep from laughing and hoped Una would mistake his facial contortions for deep concern.
“See that you do a good job. I shall be around tomorrow to check. If you need me sooner, you know whe
re to find me. Good day, sir.” Una picked up her bag and swept from the room. Seconds later they heard the front door slam.
Jalia flipped the top of her shift down and shouted. “I’m going to kill that woman before we leave and if you don’t get that grin off your face, you’re going to die too!”
Daniel raised his hands high in surrender, “I know, I know. I’ll just go and get some soap and water for the shaving.”
This was perhaps the wrong thing to say and Jalia glowered at him. “We don’t need that. I’ll use the ring as it will be quicker. Magic ring, remove the hair below my waist.”
Jalia screamed as every hair below her waist was pulled out in a single instant. Her hands flew to the stinging area between her legs. Daniel looked at her, first with real concern, but as he realized she hadn’t actually been hurt, the humor of the situation overwhelmed him and he burst into laughter.
Jalia rubbed her stinging skin and her face turned a bright shade of red as Daniel’s laughter increased. “Stop that right now, Daniel al’Degar. If you know what’s good for you.”
“I must say, you look pretty down there, if a little pink,” Daniel said between peals of laughter. He managed to duck the vase that Jalia threw and headed for the safety of the door. Much as he wanted too, he just couldn’t stop laughing.
Jalia picked up a heavy looking statuette and swung it around preparing to throw it. Daniel stepped through the door and closed it quickly behind him. Resting against the door, in tears of laughter, he felt the almighty crash through the solid oak door as the statuette smashed against the other side. For a couple of minutes there was silence.
“Oh Daniel…” Jalia called in a deceptively sweet voice.
“Yes, Trela my love?” Daniel answered in similar dulcet tones.
“Magic ring, do it to him too!” Jalia snarled.
Daniel doubled over as his crotch and legs stung as though a thousand bees had struck at once. He rolled over on the floor in an agony that slowly faded to a vicious sting.
“Not so funny now, is it?” Jalia called sweetly from the other side of the door.
16.First Strike
The monastery on the island of Cee loomed large in front of Daniel under the pale illumination of Anvil rising. Its thick stone walls rose to a height of forty feet above where Daniel stood and the cliff behind him fell away another hundred feet to the placid lake below.
Someone had told him recently that none of the cliffs on the islands of Telmar were natural. That instead they were carved from gentle slopes after the monasteries were built to present an imposing aspect and to make attack from the lake impossible.
The monastery walls certainly looked difficult to climb. Just behind the ramparts at the top of the wall, the largest block of the monastery presented another twenty feet of difficult climb before he could reach the lowest windows. The windows were barred with iron. Normally Daniel would have regarded an attack on the monastery from this direction impractical, but it turned out this was the only way in that was unguarded and so it became his best choice.
Jalia and Daniel had discussed their options the previous night. They sat in their bedroom with a map Daniel had painstakingly copied from an original in Gorn’s house and evaluated what they knew about the islands of Telmar.
The seven islands of Telmar huddled in a circle near to the shore of Lake Telmar. They were on Ona, which was the most westerly island and nearest to the lakes shore. All but one of the seven islands encircled the island of Fum which was the next island east. The island the furthest east and beyond the island of Trey was Cee. Daniel tapped the map where Cee was.
“According to Gorn, Cee is where the Owner Jal al’Breen is based. Jal is reputed to be one of the nastier members of the Association. I think we should take him out first.”
Jalia nodded thoughtfully and scratched at her itching groin. She noticed Daniel rubbing himself when he thought she wasn’t looking and that thought brought a small smile to her face. It was only right in her mind, that the ‘father of the child’ should endure some of the discomfort of the mother. The fact that there wasn’t actually a child in the first place was irrelevant. After all, it had been his idea.
“Daniel, why don’t we kill Yandin Selda first? Everyone we have spoken to agrees he is the most dangerous of the Association and he’s their leader.”
“He’ll be the best protected and the one most on his guard. Whether we succeed or fail in these assassinations, we shall stir up the biggest hornets’ nest you can imagine. Doing it this way, he may think we’re scared of him and relax his guard.”
“So we take out two of his senior henchmen and he concludes we’re not only scared of him but that we still have two more to go before we try to kill him.” Jalia grinned at Daniel. “He’ll be our next target after these two, I take it?”
“My plan exactly. I’ll kill Jal al’Breen at Cee and you kill Del Brode at Fir at the same time.” On the map, the island of Fir was south and east of Ona. To reach Cee or Fir required either a boat trip or crossing two of the ancient bridges.
“Both islands are a long way from Ona and it will take us several hours to get there. We don’t get as much darkness to play with up here as we would have down south either.” Jalia pondered the problem as she looked at the map. “We’ll have to set off tomorrow morning or early afternoon to give ourselves time to reach the monasteries and check the lay of the land.”
“Just as soon as Una Thorn has come a calling and decided your baby can wait another day to be born,” Daniel agreed.
“Can I kill her? She must have told people I’m pregnant by now.” Jalia fluttered her eyes at Daniel. “Please Daniel; let me kill that nasty woman. I won’t ask for anything else for ages if you just let me…”
Daniel laughed at how well Jalia played the pleading little girl. As far as he knew, Una Thorn was an upright respectable woman cursed with an appalling bedside manner. He didn’t intend to let Jalia to kill her just because she was annoying. He scratched absent-mindedly at his crotch, which had started to itch again.
“No, you’re not going to kill the nasty woman, because being nasty is not a sufficient reason to kill anybody.” Jalia gave him a vindictive look. This, as far as Daniel was concerned, proved the exact point he was trying to make. “We’ll let her examine you and see what a masterly job your fine husband has done in plucking your nether regions and then we’ll change into our normal clothes and sneak out the back.”
“It’s not like you to accept we have to kill these bastards, Daniel. I’ve been expecting you to tell me we should negotiate with them instead.” Jalia pulled her knees close to her chest, having put her feet against her bottom on the chair. As she hadn’t bothered to change out of the shift she had been wearing for the examination, and that shift was fairly short, the sight this presented to Daniel distracted him.
Jalia noticed the glazed look in his eyes and prodded him with her leg. “Daniel!”
“Sorry Jalia, I was miles away.” Daniel ran Jalia’s question through his mind and tried to concentrate. “I can see the redness has gone,” he said out-loud, cursing his thoughts for betraying him.
“I shall be checking on yours later. Now can we get back to the plan?”
“We have no choice but to strike first and strike hard. There are only two of us and we face an army, possibly several armies. We have no choice but to act like assassins, however much I dislike it.” Daniel paused and studied the map. “The worst problem we’ll have is on Sep. I understand the female Owner, Silla Klint, operates from there and the bridge to it has been closed for over two years.”
“I’ll take care of her when the time comes, Daniel. I know you don’t like killing women.”
“It is not that she’s a woman. It’s that she will be difficult to get at and I understand she’s brought back more of her men from the mines than any of the other owners. Rumor has it, that she alone didn’t put all her gold into the vaults at Brinan.”
“We can worry about her later. To
morrow we will kill two of the mine owners and see what happens.” Jalia sounded delighted by the idea. Knowing her the way he did, Daniel was sure he wasn’t being misled in the slightest by her tone.
Daniel walked further around the walls of the monastery looking for a suitable place to climb. He tied a long silk cord to the handle of his dagger. It was essential neither he nor Jalia gave any hint they had magic at their disposal, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t use it when people would assume a conventional method had been used.
Using his dagger as an improvised grappling hook he ordered it flying over the wall where it positioned itself so it wouldn’t slip as Daniel climbed the cord. Daniel put on calf skin gloves to avoid burns to his hands. It didn’t take him long to reach the top and to peer across its ramparts.
As he suspected, the guards were behaving in a slack manner. This deep into Telmar, they wouldn’t be expecting an attack launched by a single man. The man supposed to be guarding the wall chatted to a comrade some distance away. Daniel climbed onto the path running round the wall without being seen. He jumped onto a thatched outhouse roof and from there dropped to the ground.
He slipped into the kitchens of the main building of the monastery without being seen. The door to the kitchen was propped open to let fumes escape on this hot summer’s evening. Daniel heard a lot of shouting, as the monastery chef seemed to be fond of screaming obscenities at his workers.
It appeared Daniel had timed his arrival to coincide with the evening banquet. Daniel grinned at such remarkable luck. He couldn’t have picked his time better if he tried.
Jalia stared at a metal portcullis firmly set in the down position. Behind her, in the monastery of Fir moat, no less than six bodies floated, bobbing up and down on the surface of its stagnant fetid water.
The island of Fir was a peculiar shape, it looked a little like a pear that had grown lopsided so that its bulbous body was well to one side of its upper part. It was a low lying island; in that nowhere was more than twenty feet above the height of the lake. To protect the monastery, the monks built a wide moat around the monastery crossed by a single bridge.