Guardian of Honor

by Robin D. Owens

"You explain to whoever made these, that I never want fur on my clothes again." Alexa shuddered, remembering the Assayer's Office.

  We eat them. You wear and sleep on things you eat.

  "You eat ermine?" Weren't they little minklike creatures? Ferrets or weasels or something?

  Not me, but some nobles think they are a delicacy.

  "Huh. Well, I'd bet some monsters would think me a delicacy." Gruesome thought. She cinched her leather baton-belt around her waist. The stick lay heavy against her hip.

  An exotic-looking flower was embroidered over her left breastin purple on the tabard. Glancing into the closet, she saw her wardrobe was lavender and purple, with one gold gown. She grimaced, shut the door, and hurried from the bedroom into the narrow semicircular hallway.

  New shoes are outside the door, Sinafin teased.

  Alexa had forgotten about shoes, but none of the Castle corridors was carpeted. She opened the door with a yank that set the harpstrings singing. In front of her were several pairs of exquisitely made shoes. One pair of black, one brown, one jade green, one purple. No one was in the half-circle anteroom of her tower, so she sat down and pulled on the shoes. The leather was soft and molded to her feet when she laced them up.

  When she stood and shifted back and forth, she nearly moaned in delight. They were the most comfortable shoes she'd ever worn. Finding size fours outside of the children's section had always been difficult, though sometimes the Velcro fastenings made up for it.

  It was a fact of life: she was small. Small there and even smaller here. And she was supposed to be a warrior?

  Sinafin fluttered to her shoulder, folded her wings. The Song would not have called you if you were not the right person to save Lladrana.

  Alexa supposed she'd hear a lot of that stuff in the future, but she straightened her shoulders, lifted her chin and took the stairs down at a quick pace. She was pretty sure of the way to the Marshalls' chamber.

  When she reached the door with the fancy writing she couldn't read, she felt a twinge of anxiety again. Well, she'd learn to read, and to speak, and to fight, and she'd do her best...until the Snap. She grinned. Her best had always been good enough to scrape through, and the Marshalls hadn't seen her in action!

  She flung open the door and marched in.

  They were all standing. Reynardus touched his baton and the ivory flared white. "This meeting is adjourned. We all have much to do."

  If she'd been paranoid, she'd have thought they had deliberately finished before she could participate. Maybe it was just that they'd always done things one way, that they weren't used to her being there.

  Maybe.

  The room was long and narrow, with tall multipaned windows inset with stained glass in the center showing coats of arms. The large wooden table had fifty chairs, with the Marshalls clustered at the near end. One of the wooden chairs had a carving on top of a knight riding a volaran; another, a woman reaching upward, mouth open; a third, a Tower with lightning around it; a fourth, a town; a fifth, a ship. Representatives' chairs, Alexa figured. All the other chairs alternated—a sword or a shield carved on them. The last one had a carved shield—and a stack of cushions. Yep, the Marshalls had expected her and had noticed she was small.

  All except Thealia and Reynardus filed out. Since she was irritated, Alexa hitched herself to sit on the huge table. With a final flutter of wings, Sinafin sat on Alexa's shoulder.

  Alexa swung her legs. "Mind telling me what was discussed?" she asked the two.

  "Since we had no Representatives today, we decided what information we would give them," Reynardus said.

  The pompous jerk. She knew "spin" when she heard it. She kept her voice mild. "I hope you decided that the best policy is full disclosure." Dammit, now she sounded like a politician. "Tell them everything."

  Reynardus's heavy eyelids lowered.

  Before he could make a snide remark, Alexa pushed ahead. "From what I could tell from the map, and what the feycoocu hasshown me, you are fighting a losing battle. Your defenses are falling and you don't have the army to stop the, uh, creeping evil." How different the evil here in Lladrana from that spouted by politicians in the States. This was evil. These were true monsters, not humans with differing beliefs. "You need all the help you can get. Arm the Chevaliers with magical weapons, give them the right spells to use in battle." Were these words really coming from her mouth? They should have sounded silly; she should have felt silly. She didn't. She felt determined, fierce. And it was good to have a passion again.

  She heard Reynardus's teeth click together.

  "There are several problems," Thealia said. "We don't have the time to train them in battlespells. It takes more Power to prime the magical weapons than we can spare."

  "If everyone had knowledge of our battle spells, there would be worse fighting amongst the Chevaliers and in the towns," Reynardus said.

  It sounded to Alexa as if they'd done too little, too late, and time was running out. Alexa stared at the Marshalls. "Am I allowedany opinion, any input to the Marshalls at all?"

  "Of course," Thealia said.

  Reynardus curled his lips.

  Alexa had magic enough to gain their ranks, but not enough, yet, to have them listen to her. It would take time, but she'd be like a faucet drip and wear them away. Deep inside, she knew that was one of her functions here, and she would follow her instincts.

  "I ask that you tell the other Marshalls my concerns."

  "It will be done," Thealia said.

  Alexa fixed her stare on Reynardus. "You don't have a very high opinion of the Chevaliers and townspeople. And they don't have a good opinion of you Marshalls either. Don't you think someone needs to mend fences here? To be honest, I think the Marshalls, who are in the ultimate position of power, should be able to bend. That's my recommendation."

  "We'll discuss it—" Thealia choked.

  "We have discussed it, and nothing will change," Reynardus said.

  Acid pitched in Alexa's stomach. She wished she could pound some sense into their heads, but she was the youngest and most inexperienced. Too new. Too Exotique.

  "What else was talked about?"

  Thealia's expression softened. "We decided to open Marshall Testing and increase our team to forty. We already have a few applicants."

  Reynardus grunted.

  This was news to Alexa. She perked up. With an increase of Marshalls, especially younger Marshalls, she bet she'd have a better chance at change. The balance of power within the Marshalls could shift. She could only go along now, make sure she was accepted and fit in. Later, she could help the Marshalls steer a new path.

  "That sounds good."

  "And we are inventorying the magical weapons in our armory in case we wish to disperse them in the future. The batons are the fiercest weapons, but we have several swords—broadswords and short swords. A mace or two, and some quarterstaffs like Partis uses," Thealia said.

  Again, too little, too late. And too late for Alexa to do much about it.

  Thealia looked at Alexa. Like this was supposed to placate her?

  "Speaking of estates," Thealia said, "we also dealt with Reynardus's fine for oath-breaking and gifting you with your estate. Reynardus and I were on our way to the map room."

  A thrill ran through her at the idea of land of her own. Shecould hardly believe it—it seemed to be coming to her too soon and almost too easily. Discreetly she wiped her suddenly damp palms on her tunic. Then Alexa looked at Reynardus, maybe not so easily. She figured she'd have to battle him every inch of the way.

  He looked as if he had tasted something bitter.

  "According to the Lorebook, Reynardus must be fined lands or volarans for his oath-breaking."

  Now Reynardus didn't look happy with following ancient tradition.

  "Two square miles or seven prime, war-trained volarans," Thealia said.

  "I told you I only have six," Reynardus said.

  "So we agreed on the land. I believe that my ancestor sold a bit
of land to yours in nearly that amount."

  "One-point-eight," Reynardus said.

  "That will do," said Thealia.

  Reynardus huffed a breath and strode from the room. Thealia followed.

  Sinafin-butterfly rose to flutter in the air and Alexa slid from the table to her feet. "We're going to the magic map room that shows Lladrana and those falling magic fenceposts, right?" she asked.

  Yes. You will be guided by me, Alexa. It's important.

  Sinafin flew ahead of her, pink and silver wings flickering in the gray corridor. They exited the Keep and crossed the courtyard to an opening in the Cloister walk that led to the small map room.

  Reynardus stood stiffly, hands clasped behind his back. A big chunk of land in the middle of Lladrana glowed fox red on the map. It was far from the long northern border where the horrors came from.

  Since she often accompanied Thealia to the map room, Alexaknew the placement of the fenceposts. None had fallen during the night. She sighed with relief.

  Thealia tapped a small portion of red land that intruded on her green-tinted estate. "I accept. I'll have Faith draw up the papers for you to sign, Reynardus." Thealia smiled broadly. "You do have a time limit, according to past Lorebooks."

  "You studied up," Reynardus snapped.

  "I had Faith brief me. I can invoke a penalty if you don't make the transfer within twenty-four hours." Thealia smiled sweetly. "The usual penalty is a hundred acres an hour. The oath-breaking was serious."

  Boy, were they gouging him. Alexa made sure her glee didn't show and tried not to think what would have happened to her if the guy had fried her with magic. At least the Marshalls were taking this seriously. It nearly satisfied her.

  A tic jumped near Reynardus's right eye. "I'll sign the land over as soon as the ink is dry on the contract."

  "Now for a more joyful land transfer." Thealia beamed at Alexa. She walked to the animated map. As large as a king-size sheet, the map's backing was stiff, but the colors were vibrant, the northern border glowing and with minute peglike fenceposts. The outlines of Thealia's and Reynardus's estates faded.

  Thealia picked up a huge book from a shelf on the wall. "Currently the Marshalls oversee several vacant estates." She waved a hand and different portions of Lladrana lit up.

  Alexa had a bad feeling about how they had become "vacant," but the deep yearning for her own home kicked in. She wanted this so much she could taste it like her lost tea. And if the price was forsaking everything else she'd ever known, it was higher than she'd ever expected. But it was a price she would pay.

  She looked at the mountain range to the north. She'd like living in view of the mountains again, but didn't want to be on thefront line of invasion. Since most of the North was "vacant," she figured others felt that way too, or had died trying to preserve their land.

  There was a little curve of mountains to the east. Hard to think of mountains in the east, but still...

  Sinafin flapped in front of the map, indicated with an antenna a decent-size chunk of land. Here, Alexa, pick here.

  It was in the west, several miles in from the coastline. Since the map had reverted to the green-brown of a geographic-altitude map, the land Sinafin pointed to showed green with rolling hills. Alexa thought that meant it would be good for farming. And pretty to walk on.

  "A very good choice," said Thealia.

  It wasn't anywhere near Reynardus's estate. That was a point in its favor.

  Thealia found a page in the Lorebook. "It was an Exotique's land many years ago, and has a four-story brick manor house, three villages and a good annual income."

  Would people who once lived with an Exotique be more friendly than those who hadn't?

  Here, Alexa!

  She shrugged. Sinafin hadn't steered her wrong yet. She nodded. "Ayes."

  Sinafin pulsed pink and silver like a flickering neon light. "Si— Feycoocu, you're hurting my eyes." Alexa remembered Sinafin didn't want the Marshalls to know her name almost too late. Sinafin stopped the light and zoomed around the room. Alexa had never seen a butterfly zoom, but Sinafin managed it, and as she did so, she inserted images into Alexa's mind. Green grass and large deciduous trees, a pretty red house with bay windows on several floors.

  Alexa swallowed hard. This looked like a place she'd only dreamed of. "Yes," she whispered.

  Hers. A place of her own and a high place in this society if she fulfilled her potential, and she was used to fulfilling potential that only she believed in. Others had expected that she'd spiral downward from the foster homes; instead she'd climbed upward. Steady and determined. She could do that here too. Win a home and land and even the hearts of some people. She could make friends. She could finally fit in. "Yes!"

  Six mornings later Alexa cracked open an eye to see the bright landscape out of her turret windows. She wanted to roll over and sleep, but her new waterfall chiming clock wouldn't let her. She dragged her weary and aching body from the soft comfort of the bed and donned her new clothes.

  She wished she was back in law school. It had been easier. The classes for the bar, the shared anxiety, the camaraderie and Sophie—all had gotten her through. Her lessons hadn't been as hard and her memory hadn't been as taxed as it was here in Lladrana.

  Her brain felt as if it would leak out of her ears any minute. And nothing compared to the bruises and aches of her body as she learned how to ride and fight with the other Marshalls.

  She had no real friends except Sinafin, who absented herself from the boring daily grind-Alexa-into-the-mud to play and take care of unknown feycoocu business. The little shapeshifter still experimented with forms for Alexa. Sinafin seemed to enjoy plucking images from Alexa's brain and trying them out. Alexa had shared her rooms with everything from a Gila monster to a penguin. Mercifully the foot-long cockroach had only lasted an hour.

  Since Sinafin wanted Alexa to learn the language, she didn't visit Alexa in her dreams to explain things. Even riding wasn't as bad as struggling to speak, read and write Lladranan. Alexa knewgloomily that she'd always have an accent. And if it never got any better, it would be an accent that people laughed at. Apparently she sounded drunk.

  Since her voice was a tool of her trade, she was painfully aware when she slurred her words. But if she wanted to speak in any sort of natural manner, she had to accept that her tongue would mangle words. She could only hope that with use and time, her verbal skills would improve.

  Alexa turned off her alarm and looked at the view while she dressed. The brithenwood tree was the same spring green as the fields. Bushes and trees were budding. The rains had been heavy this year. Even so, Alexa had never seen a frink. It didn't rain frinks in the Castle grounds anymore. The Marshalls believed Alexa's presence had something to do with that, which made her feel even more odd.

  She couldn't see past the heavily forested hills to the piece of land that was now hers, and which she hadn't visited yet. A large estate with a lovely four-story brick manor house, Thealia had said. The thought of it, the support of Sinafin, and her daily healing of Chevaliers were the only things that kept her going.

  The Marshalls were helpful, but distant. Reynardus had stopped outwardly sneering and now treated her with exquisite courtesy and a smirk that drove her crazy.

  Most of the Chevaliers accepted her, glad of another strong arm in the war against the invading horrors. She'd experienced a couple of instances of instinctive revulsion like that Luthan had shown at their first meeting, but no further attacks.

  With effort and care and conscious sensitivity, she could make friends. Sinafin liked her.

  And Pascal and Marwey. The former soldier now wore her purple livery and was in a more advanced Chevalier training thanshe was. He used one of the five volarans that had come with the estate.

  Baby Nyja liked her too. Alexa spent at least an hour every couple of days with the baby, making sure she wasn't abused, that she received all the care she should have.

  Alexa pushed herself hard, harder than the
Marshalls expected, but she needed to prove to herself as well as them that she was as good as any one of them, and equal to Reynardus.

  She'd actually moved from one-on-one training to being with a class of squires to working with young Chevaliers. Six hours a day of fighting and sheer determination to learn made her the equal of anyone in her class. Except with volarans.

  Her five prime flying volarans made her a wealthy woman. All but the one Pascal used lazed their days away in the pastures of her estate. She didn't think she'd ever master the skill of flying on a horse, and after the third time she broke her arm and it was healed magically, the Marshalls agreed with her assessment.

  The fighting force would be split, some on the ground and most in the air. The Marshalls worked with the Chevaliers in this way too, though they mostly flew. Alexa had chosen to stay on the ground. Learning to ride a horse was daunting enough.

  Now, still grumbling, she left her suite and descended her Tower stairs. The other Tower rooms were empty and Alexa didn't know whether to be pleased or wary. She often liked being alone, but it was a long way from the other Marshalls' apartments, though with one instantaneous mind-cry they'd come running, if she cared to have them here.

  The day was cooler than it had looked as Alexa hurried to the map room. She'd developed the habit of meeting Thealia there in the morning before they started their work. Alexa had shaded her estate on the map in deep green, with the emblem of her baton on it. The land of other Marshalls was also shown on themap, as was the estates of the Chevaliers. Alexa knew where the land of Lady Hallard, the new Representative of the Chevaliers, was, as well as that of Reynardus's son Luthan. The most important location was Singer's Abbey, where the oracle of Lladrana lived. It shone gold on the map, and Alexa had vowed to defend it with her life.

  She'd sworn to defend Lladrana itself with her life.

  Most of the time all she had to do was call up the image of the baby Nyja, or Pascal and Marwey, or the Chevaliers she helped, or the map with her estate on it, and the vow would connect bone deep.

  Not this morning. She hadn't slept well; a chill of foreboding had plagued her with black dreams. She'd discovered that a night like that usually meant something bad had happened—Chevaliers died, or more of the magical yellow fenceposts were down, or horrors had been seen in the newly turned fields for planting.