by Casey Odell
“It’s nice to meet you too,” she replied, curtsying. She wasn’t sure what else to say. Never in her life had she had a ball gown made specifically for her. It was almost too gracious a gift. Perhaps Lianna was trying to bribe her?
A woman served a light sparkling wine in tall flutes as a girl measured Claire up on the pedestal. Lianna sat on the couch with Monnesito, engaged in a lively conversation in their own tongue. By the time the girl was done, Claire realized Lianna had disappeared, leaving Monnesito alone on the couch to beam up at her.
“You have a very cute figure, Mien Serté. Has anyone ever told you that?” he asked.
She flushed, stepping down from the raised platform. “I-I suppose so,” she stammered. “Though I’m a little short.”
He stood and took her hand in his, standing barely taller than her. “Nonsense,” he said. “You are just right. It is the others that are too tall!” His lips curled into a smile underneath his thin mustache. “I will make you the paílle au rue of the ball, don’t you worry!”
Lianna stepped from behind the curtain veiling the hall then. “You always told me I was the most beautiful woman, Monnesito.” She’d changed from her dress into a pair of black slacks and a deep blue linen shirt. Boots covered her once slippered feet.
“Ah, yes, and you are.” He put a hand on Claire’s back, turning her towards Lianna. “But I have found a new kindred spirit.”
“Come, Claire.” Lianna held a hand out to her.
She froze, shocked. “Where?” Lianna had never mentioned going anywhere else. Just where was she taking her now?
“I will explain on the way. Now hurry.” Instead of waiting for her, Lianna took Claire’s hand and dragged her towards the hallway. “Monny, I will trust that you will keep an eye on the guards.”
“As always!” He just stood there and waved as he watched Lianna drag her away.
“I shall not be long,” Lianna called back, plunging into the dark corridor.
“What is this?” Claire tried to pull her hand out of Lianna’s grip, but it was surprisingly strong. “Where are you taking me?” Was it possible that Lianna had betrayed her now too?
“Do not worry,” she said, giving her a tug. “Monny is a trusted friend. Those guards, however, are not. Half of them are Council men. But we shall be back before they discover we were gone. Now come. Let me show you the kind of mercy the Council shows.”
After a few flights of stairs, they burst out onto the roof, sunlight glaring brightly. Flowery vines grew rampant along the walls. The wind began to pick up and before Claire could protest, Lianna grabbed her and their feet left the roof. Moments later, the whirlwind subsided and they stood alone in a narrow back alley.
Claire pushed away from the other woman.
“I really wish you two would stop that!” Her heart pounded in her chest, her hands and body trembled.
“Come, we do not have much time,” Lianna demanded, whirling around to start down the passage.
“Why should I?” She planted her feet on the ground, tired of all the secret keeping. It was the elves all over again.
Lianna spun around and marched up to her. “Because you need to make a decision, and I want you to make the right one.”
“I don’t want to be on anyone’s side!”
“Whether you like it or not, you will be on someone’s side: the Council, the king, the syndicate, or any of those other lovely men that are surely looking for you out there.” Her eyes narrowed. “It is best that it is you that does the choosing, and not the other way around. And believe me, they will not be so nice about it.” She whirled around again and started back down the alley.
“I don’t—” Claire choked out, frozen in place. Lianna stopped and turned toward her. “I don’t know what you want from me. What you expect of me. I don’t know this game, what I should choose. You are asking me to give up my life. I’m just—”
“A simple little tavern maid.” Her expression softened. “I know. But you are not anymore, as long as you have that.” Her eyes drifted down to Claire’s right arm. “You will never be able to live a normal life. No one is just going to walk away, not now. They never have, Claire.” Lianna took her hand, clasping it between both of hers. “I am sorry. But the sooner you face this truth, the better.”
Claire nodded and let Lianna pull her along once again.
The area seemed like a world away from the one they had been in earlier, more rundown, not as clean. Women wore muted wool dresses in browns and grays; men simple slacks and shirts. Wooden structures replaced many of the stone and brick buildings, and the taverns and inns seemed more the type she was used to. A poor district. But even still, it wasn’t as bad as some of the areas she’d encountered on her travels.
They crossed the street, plunging into the crowd unnoticed. She was suddenly grateful Lianna had thought to change out of her dress from earlier.
Vendors shouted out their wares for sale as they passed by. She began to notice small makeshift tents set up in some of the alleys, some occupied by old men in rags, others, increasingly, by younger families. Many of the younger ones had darker skin and hair, their clothing made of light, colorful linens.
“Who are they?” Claire asked.
“Refugees,” Lianna said without breaking stride. “From the west mostly. Zaqar, Belquiel, Palaan. They are coming more and more to escape the ravages of the Beasts and dying lands. But we are running out of room to put them.”
“Is there anything we can do to help them?” Regret filled her, along with a quiet pity. She had almost been a refugee herself. Surely there was something she could do for them.
“We already give them food and water. There is housing they can go to if they wish, but they are filling up faster than we can provide,” she said solemnly. “They do not want to stay. They are only here until it passes. If it passes. Try not to worry about them, my dear. They are well taken care of, despite what it may seem. Now come.”
A few streets later, they stood in front of a modest townhouse, stretching high with three levels of windows, much in the same style as Lendon and even Stockton: plain, simple, but robust and functional. The door was red, the paint cracking.
On the third knock, it opened. A young girl peeked out through a crack before swinging it open wide. Freckles covered her cheeks, her brown hair braided in tails on each side of her face.
“Li, what an unexpected surprise!” The girl looked no more than thirteen years of age. A sweet yellow dress decorated her thin frame, a white ribbon tied in a bow around the middle.
“Little Aleena, you look very cute today,” Lianna said, giving the girl a radiant smile. “May we come in?”
“Of course!” Aleena swept aside and motioned for them to enter.
Claire followed them into the dim hall, closing the door behind her. The girl led them into the front seating area and drew the curtains open. She flitted around the room, tidying things up in a hurry.
“I would like you to meet my friend, little Aly.” She put a hand on Claire’s shoulder. The girl stopped and looked up at them. “Her name is Claire.”
“I-it’s nice to meet you.” Aleena curtsied, dropping one of the scrolls she had in her arms. She bent and picked it up.
“Is your papeo in?” Lianna inquired. “I would very much like for her to meet him.”
Little Aly’s eyes found Claire’s right hand and then widened. “Y-yes, of course,” she stammered before scrambling away, dropping another scroll.
A small fireplace sat in the wall, a painting of a pretty blonde woman hung above it. The mantle was thick oak. Lianna crossed to admire the tiny baubles along the top of it. Two chairs and a couch surrounded the area. A worn rug covered the wooden floorboards.
Claire examined the room. It was certainly not where she’d expected to end up. It was hard to see how any of this could help her in her decision.
Aleena returned with a middle-aged man in tow. His face was ordinary, his brown hair peppered with gray. At once
she could tell where Aly had gotten her big brown eyes from. The man was thin, almost frail looking, and wearing a plain beige shirt and brown slacks.
“Sir Holden,” Lianna said as the man took her hand and laid a light kiss on it. “You are looking well today. I would like you to meet Claire.”
Claire curtsied when Sir Holden bowed to her. His eyes studied her carefully.
“Little Aly, why don’t you make us some tea?” Lianna asked, turning to the girl.
Aleena nodded and scurried from the room once again.
“Meet Sir Thomas Holden. He used to be a knight in the palace,” Lianna revealed.
Used to be? Claire watched as Sir Holden picked up a small slate board and a thin piece of chalk. Slowly, he wrote something across the surface, then turned it toward Claire.
“Pleasure to meet you,” Claire read aloud softly. Then it dawned on her, a sinking feeling starting in her stomach. “He can’t talk…” She looked at Lianna. “Why can’t he talk?”
“He used to work for the Council,” Lianna said, ignoring her question. “A proud knight with a beautiful young wife and daughter.”
Sir Holden sat quietly in one of the chairs.
Claire swallowed hard. She didn’t like where this was going already.
Lianna took a step in her direction. “For years he worked for them. Loyal, respectful, a true knight he was.” She took another step towards her.
Sweat broke out over her skin. Her eyes were locked on the man.
“All that ended the day he wanted out. His wife became sick, and all he wanted was to take care of her. But those old men weren’t pleased.” She hovered over Claire, her voice dropping low. “They were afraid he would talk, give away all of their secrets. What do you think the price for that is, Claire?”
She gasped and quickly covered her mouth with a hand.
“His tongue, Claire,” Lianna said, her voice cold as ice. “That is the kind of mercy they give.”
“I’m so sorry!” Claire exclaimed.
“Don’t be,” he slurred, the words barely recognizable coming out of his mouth.
Quickly, she turned her head away.
“Do not look away.” Lianna grabbed her by the arm and pulled her toward Sir Holden. “This is how they reward service, Claire.”
Her stomach roiled.
“This is how they reward loyalty.”
“Stop it, please.”
“Do not think that they wouldn’t do the same to you just because you have this.” Lianna jerked her right hand up.
Aleena returned with the tea then, the aroma wafted across the room, making Claire feel even sicker.
“Let me go.” Lianna released her suddenly and she stumbled away. She ran past the girl. “I’m sorry!” she called as she pulled open the front door and burst back into the street. Her breath came quickly, her heart and stomach climbing up her throat. She doubled over, her hands on her knees. She just couldn’t take it anymore. That room, the poor girl and what they had done to her father. The sickeningly sweet smell of the tea.
“I can take you to the dungeons below the palace if you still need more convincing,” Lianna said from behind her. “But I warn you, what you’ll find down there is much worse. I was feeling kind today.”
Claire straightened up and looked at Lianna. She believed she would do it too. “Please don’t.” She was sure she couldn’t handle that. “How do you know him, that man?”
“After I heard what the Council had done, I sought him out. I learned his true story and took pity on him. After his wife passed, I bought this house for him. It is not much, but it is something. Little Aleena apprentices with Monnesito part of the time.” A solemn look crossed her face. “I am sorry, my dear, but I just wanted to show you. You really are quite a stactí one, aren’t you?”
Being a mistress was starting to look better and better. Claire took a deep breath to calm her nerves. She started down the street, back the way they had come. She couldn’t bring herself to go back into that house, especially not after the way she ran away. She would have to send a note— and maybe a bottle of wine— in apology. It was the least she could do.
“I still do not know why you are so reluctant,” Lianna said, catching up to walk beside her. The street was quiet.
“I never planned on staying at the palace.”
“Is there anything wrong with it? I assure you that there is no better place to stay.”
“There is someone that I have to find.”
“Your mother.”
“Of course.” She glanced up at Lianna. “Don’t think that I have given up on her.”
Lianna sighed. “I wish I could hide from my mamía.”
“That’s not a very nice thing to say.”
“You do not know my mother.”
Lianna pulled Claire to a stop suddenly, her hand squeezing her arm tight.
A man stood before them. His hair was black, his skin tanned a dark brown. He was still several paces away, but something about him didn’t seem right.
Claire tensed.
“I didn’t think I would find you so unprotected, Miss Tanith,” the man said as he walked towards them slowly. With plain clothes like all the rest of the townspeople, he certainly didn’t seem like a threat. But the fact that he knew her name said otherwise.
“Who are you?” Lianna stepped in front of Claire.
Claire’s hand went to her waist, but it was bare. She’d left the dagger back at the palace, not thinking that she would need it for a meeting with a dressmaker. It seemed like she had been sorely mistaken.
Two more men stepped out of the adjoining alleys to step up behind them.
Sorely mistaken indeed.
“I only came here for the girl, but if you would like to come along as well—”
“Do not think you scare me,” Lianna interrupted him. A slight purple glow appeared on her hand. Fog started to crawl on the ground around the men’s feet. “Now, you will answer me, or I will get it out of you the hard way. This girl is under my protection. Do not think I will hand her over easily.”
A hint of black material peeked up from under one of the men’s shirt.
“The Syndicate,” Claire said.
A laugh bubbled up from Lianna. It echoed down the street in an otherworldly way. The fog grew thicker, shrouding them in a veil of gray.
“How did you know I was here?” she asked the younger blonde one that had stepped up behind them.
“Don’t think you can hide from us so easily,” the first man answered instead.
“Enough of this!” Lianna shouted. Purple light shone brightly from her mark. The vines twisted up her arm.
All at once, the men drew their daggers. Lianna charged at their leader. The two others came for Claire. Quickly, she backed away out of reach. Flashes of purple struck them and they froze, their bodies twitching. Then they fell to the ground unmoving.
Claire yanked the daggers out of their hands and noticed the two dark marks on the inside of their wrists. She held one of the blades in front of her in defense. Their leader lay in a heap on the ground at Lianna’s feet.
Claire’s hands shook. The fight had been short, but it still wasn’t something she was used to yet. She wasn’t sure if she ever would get used to it. However, it seemed like she would have no choice in that either. If the Ophiuchus Syndicate was in Derenan itself, then her fears about leaving the palace were valid. All she knew for sure was that she would need an extra glass of wine in order to fall asleep that night.
“How careless, sending only three men.” Lianna kicked the leader’s dagger away. “Maybe this will teach them a lesson about underestimating me.” A wicked grin curled her lips. “Well, let’s not dawdle. Surely there are more of them crawling around here.” She bent and grabbed the man’s arm and held her other hand out to Claire.
Without arguing, she took it. The wind started to swirl around them, the fog dispersing. Soon they were back on the roof of the dress shop. Along with the man.
“Help me with him.” Lianna nodded at the man.
Between the two of them, they hauled the limp man down the stairs into the parlor. The measuring girl gasped when she saw him.
“My, my, what do we have here?” Monnesito perked up on the couch. “A gift for me?”
“Not this time, Monny,” Lianna answered with a smile.
Claire wondered briefly just what kind of gifts Lianna had been giving the strange dressmaker. They dropped the man right in the middle of the shop on the floor. What she was planning to do with him, Claire wasn’t sure.
Lianna disappeared behind the curtain again and returned a short while later back in her dress, un-mussed like the whole ordeal had never even happened. Claire just rolled her eyes. She refused to look in the mirror, certain she looked a mess.
“Guards!” Lianna shouted suddenly. “Guards, come quick!”
The front door burst open and in streamed the guards. Their light metal armor clinked as they moved. A few carried spears, and the rest had swords or daggers drawn and at the ready. They surrounded the unconscious man. Two guards went behind the curtain to scout the rest of the building.
“Just what were you guards doing?” Lianna put her hands on her hips. “If it wasn’t for the courage of my Monnesito, we could all be dead now.”
The little man stood and Lianna hugged him from behind.
“We are terribly sorry, my lady,” said the head guard, a handsome older man with tanned skin and a smattering of gray stubble on his cheeks. “I had guards posted at every corner of the building. I do not know how he could have gotten in.”
“Well, make sure it does not happen again,” she said as she stepped out from behind Monnesito. “Or else I will be afraid to ever leave the palace again.”
“What shall we do with him?” asked a younger guard. He knelt next to their attacker on the floor.
“I want him alive,” Lianna demanded. “I want him questioned. It seems that he has ties to our little Syndicate friends.”
“Yes, my lady.” The head guard bowed to her.
“Come, Claire.” Lianna held her hand out to her and she took it, no questions asked.