A Change For the Light

by Heather Maginnis

  "What's going on here then?" he demanded in an earthy rough voice.

  The stable lad who had stood up after falling under Angee's blow spoke with a slur due to his pulped lip, "this thief was trying to escape with this purse."

  Angee piped up in her best nasal voice "it's mine!, he stole it!".

  The guard gave her a measured look, "we'll see about that, come on we'll go to the magistrate", nodding to the lad he gestured "you come too, I want the whole story for him and you as a witness."

  Angee was frog marched with the stable lad walking at her side smirking to the town hall, she was taken into a court, bigger than the one in Bria's town and told to stand in the dock.

  The Magistrate came in, an old man with greying hair that showed a striking contrast to his black robe.

  The guard stepped up, "this girl is accused of stealing this purse from the Barley Inn, this stable lad caught her, and when he shouted me I came in just in time to see her hit him in the mouth."

  The magistrate frowned, "what have you to say girl?" he said looking sternly at Angee, "please sir, the purse is mine, if you look inside you'll see my initials A.M. and a note from my father."

  She knew this was true as she'd done the initial's while practising her letters with Mol and the note she kept as it was from her father.

  The magistrate looked inside, "hmm, it does back up your story, but why hit the stable lad?", Angee felt tears roll down her cheeks, "he hurt me!" she wailed.

  He sat considering this for a few moments, "very well, I dismiss the theft charge" Angee felt relief but he continued speaking "but you cannot just hit someone for nothing, I sentence you to two days in the town gaol for assault".

  Angee was on the verge of telling them who she really was then stopped, she might find what she was looking for after all.

  Mol was getting dressed when a Bard popped her head in her room without knocking, "the Mother Abbess wants to see you now" she said and without further ado had left . Mol breathed a massive sigh, a minute earlier and she'd have seen the Kironi daggers, straightening her dress and checking her hair in the brass mirror she opened the door and walked out.

  Something flashed in a ray of early morning sunlight and she ducked, just as a knife went through the space she'd been stood in to bury itself in the door frame. Coming up in a crouch she scanned the area, nothing moved, standing up carefully she pulled the knife out of the frame, just a common kitchen knife, but weighing it in here hand she realised it was perfectly weighted for throwing.

  It had shaken Mol but she didn't let it show as she knocked on the Mother Abbess's office door, "come in!" said an angry voice from inside.

  Mol was not daunted by the tone of voice but entered timidly as servant would who was in fear of their mortal soul. "well, don't just stand there come in girl !" a testy tone colouring what she said.

  "Now, I want you to go to the stable and find a mount we leave in one hour, pack only what you can carry on your horse , you may go", Mol new a dismissal when she heard one and almost bumped into Sera as she closed the door.

  "What are you doing here" Sera hissed at her, "Mol smiled, I'm getting my orders to find a horse for the trip in an hour."

  Sera looked surprised, "an hour?, we aren't supposed to leave till tomorrow" and with that angry tone she barged into the mother abbess's office.

  Mol looked over her shoulder as she walked down the corridor and sighed at the raised voices.

  She packed her saddlebags quickly, the ones she'd used for the trip here would do, all her essential equipment was on her body anyway, she made her way to the stable and asked the stablemaster for a horse.

  "What for ?" he demanded, Mol hated being talked to in that tone but ignored it, "I'm supposed to accompany the Mother Abbess on her trip", frowning the stablemaster went and brought out a horse, and a more sorry looking nag Mol had never seen, just then Sera came round to see to her mount and stopped when she saw the nag.

  "Is this the horse you mean for Mol to ride with the Mother Abbess?", she asked in a frosty tone.

  The stablemaster squared his shoulders, "she's only a servant this is good enough for the likes of her!".

  Mol could tell this was going to get ugly but then Sera surprised her with a laugh, "I'm sure you'd like to explain to the Mother abbess that when she's on view the people one of her entourage will look shabby cause she's a servant", the stablemaster turned slightly green and Mol smothered a laugh, "ah, yes, I hadn't thought of that" a sickly tone in his voice.

  The Mother Abbess arrived not long after, from her brisk walk and business like attitude she was eager to be off, Mol climbed into the saddle of a dark brown mare, a considerable improvement on the last offering. Sera sidled up to the Mother Abbess. "Are you sure you'll only take two of us and two guards with you?". The Mother Abbess wheeled her mount, "yes!, and do not question me any more on this!". Sera blanched and fell back a bit but held her tongue, Emili, the other Bard accompanying them rode slightly in front of Sera, just behind the mother abbess in front.

  It was still not half way through the morning when the set off and the weather which had been promising rain seemed to have relented and the sun was shining through the few white clouds still in the sky.

  They rode at a gentle pace and Sera gradually dropped back past the pair of guards to ride with Mol at the back of the small group, "I tried to tell her" she said without turning her head, "but she wouldn't have anymore protection than this", the note of exasperation in Sera's voice made Mol wonder if something else had happened between Sera and the Mother Abbess, but she didn't like to intrude on something that might not have anything to do with her.

  ' Silly girl! you're supposed to find out things that's your job! ' .

  Mol almost jumped out of the saddle as much at hearing Suse's voice as at the sharp slap down she gave her. Mol took a deep breath, this was not going to be easy .

  "Sera, is everything alright with the Mother Abbess?". Sera looked uneasy, "why do you ask?".

  Mol waved her hand in a sweeping gesture, "there's been a few things, she seems angry a lot lately."

  Sera nodded soberly, "I know I don't know what's happened, it all these past few months, it's almost as if.....", Mol turned in the saddle and looked directly at her.

  "What?", Sera shrugged and said nothing, Mol turned and kept her gaze on the back of the Mother Abbess.

  At lunchtime they all dismounted and Mol unloaded provisions from the pack animal, it was then she noticed they seemed to have a lot more provisions for the trip they were on than needed, she set out some cold meats and cheese with crusty bread and took them to the Mother Abbess.

  The Mother didn't notice her for a moment and seemed preoccupied, she look up, "oh thank you my child" and took them without much enthusiasm.

  As Mol laid out the others food she kept an a weather eye out for what she was doing, barely eating, in fact just picking at her food.

  After a short rest of a few minutes they remounted, an hour later they reached the end of the road which branched in three directions, The Mother Abbess led them down one and Mol saw Sera spur her mount to catch up with the Abbess.

  "Excuse me Mother, where are we going?".

  The Abbess turned to Sera, "I thought we'd do a tour of a few towns not just the nearest, it's been a long time since I did that."

  Sera seemed both shocked and on the verge of exploding. "That will take weeks!".

  The Abbess smiled "I believe your right dear." Sera carried on pressing the point, "Mother, for such a journey so far, we should have more guards", a hand flew out and struck Sera, "get to the back now, I will have no insolence from you!" the Mother Abbess spat.

  Sera could only look at her in shock, blood trickling down her lip and wheeled her mount to join Mol.

  The look she gave Mol spoke volumes.

  Nineteen

  Angee was taken to the town Gaol behind the town hall, she wasn't handled roughly, but then being manacled didn't mean they had too to keep her in l
ine.

  After being searched by a male guard, something that made her want to vomit.

  The way he moved his hands over her body and the look he gave her while doing it made her mark him down for a visit from Bard Angee as soon as she could possibly manage it.

  She wasn't put in a cell as she'd expected, but then she'd never seen the inside of any prison before, she went into a sort of communal cell with about a dozen others females ranging from a child of about seven to someone in their sixties, she picked a corner of the straw covered floor and sat down.

  Almost immediately she was accosted by a butch looking woman.

  "You can't sit there."

  Angee didn't say anything and stood up and walked over to the other side of the cell and sat against a wall.

  "You can't sit there either" said the woman who had followed her. Angee looked up at her, "where can i sit?", the woman grinned, and it wasn't the sort of grin you give a friend, more when you're really hungry and looking at a large dinner. "Anywhere you like luv" she said with an expansive wave, "but you gotta pay!".

  Angee considered all her options in only a few seconds, there weren't that many after all, "pay?" she asked innocently. "How?".

  The woman's grin grew broader.

  "Well, you can pay with any money on jewellery you smuggled in, or if not there are more pleasurable ways" a leer crossing her face.

  Angee knew she'd have had to be a moron to not understand that meaning, "and if i choose nor to pay?", the woman's face grew hard.

  "Oh, you'll pay dearie, you'll pay."

  She reached down for Angee who rolled forward out of her reach and came up on her feet, she saw the guards watching and betting on the winner by the looks of it.

  A roar of pure rage drew her attention to the rather large problem at hand, the woman lunged and Angee side stepped pushing the woman in the back so she went sprawling on the floor, for all she was big she got up quickly, "Bitch!, you'll pay now!".

  Angee just waited for the next attack, she didn't have to wait long, the woman ran at her with a swinging arm which would have taken her head off if it had connected, but Angee ducked and as the woman stopped and whirled Angee threw a pile driver into the woman's midriff, she doubled over gasping for breath, but Angee followed up with a knee and brought the woman's face down on it, she heard a scream as the woman's nose broke and teeth fell to the floor.

  The woman staggered but still came on, "I wouldn't!" Angee warned, but it went unheeded, a few more punches and the woman was a bleeding wreck on the floor, at that point the guards came in, from the look on their faces they'd expected a different result, and the dragged the woman off giving Angee dark looks.

  Angee sat back down in the corner, from the look the others gave her no one would bother her now.

  On the second day of her imprisonment a girl walked up to her, "I'm Angeless, can I sit here?".

  Angee knew someone who looked about thirteen or so would be prime goods in here "sure" she indicated, "I'm Angee", the girl smiled, obvious relief in her face.

  "What you in for?" the girl asked, Angee laughed ruefully, "punching a stable lad who thought I was stealing."

  Angeless was silent for a moment, "I was caught stealing and given a ninety day sentence of twenty gold's fine, as if I have twenty gold's" she snorted.

  Angee looked at her, perhaps she had found what she was looking for, "how long have you got left to serve?".

  Angeless looked down, "eighty days, if I last that long" she almost whispered.

  Angee learned Angeless's history over the course of the next few hours, abandoned as a child she had learned to fend for herself and was a street rat of the first order, what she didn't know she could find out and if she couldn't find out no one could, according to her anyway.

  Angee didn't think this sounded like boasting, just a statement of fact.

  * * *

  Mol was beginning to feel travel fatigue, three days they had been on the road and she'd never really had a break, she had a greater respect of what servants did and if she knew her attitude to servants in general had changed.

  They decided to make camp near a grove of trees as the weather looked about to break, it didn't take Mol long to get a decent fire going and she had a pot of stew on the boil consisting of meat and turnips, it wasn't fancy fare but better than cold rations.

  They were just about to settle for the night when she felt danger, Sera must have felt it too for she sprang up "ware the trees!".

  It was a scene from Mol's worst nightmare, humans, and with them creatures she'd never seen before, but she knew her enemy, and the six of them were soon engaged in battle with these minions of evil.

  The guards for all they were well trained had the bad luck to come up against some of the creatures and were quickly slain, the human enemy numbering about ten in all were soon dispatched by the four Bards, Mol was surprised by how agile the Mother Abbess was, taking on a black creature eight foot tall, Mol was up against something that looked as if it was bleeding, and she got the shock of her life when her Kironi daggers came into contact with the creature for flame sprang up the blades to burn as well as cut, it didn't take long for them to dispatch most of their supernatural adversaries.

  The Mother Abbess was just finishing off the last and Sera was checking the other's were dead when she saw Emili walking up behind the Abbess, she realised something was wrong and shouted a warning, the thrust Emili had aimed for the heart had missed, but the mother went down with a chest wound. Mol launched herself at Emili who barely evaded a lethal thrust, "so, you aren't just a servant" she said in a tone Mol had heard before, Mol didn't answer instead she launched a fierce assault on the traitor.

  Emili by this time had taken some cuts and was in retreat, there was fear in her eyes, Mol smiled, which made Emili blanche more, suddenly Emili threw up a hand and a black light obscured Mol's vision, "you didn't win you know" a voice came out of the darkness, followed by insane laughter fading into the distance.

  Everything came back to normal suddenly, and Mol turned to see Sera stood over the Mother Abbess, Mol walked over to the guards but heard Sera say, "they're dead."

  Sera was working on the Mother Abbess, it did not look good to Mol from the gurgling sound the Abbess was making, leaving her to it she picked up the two Bards sword's which gleamed wetly from the blood on them, she took them over to the stream at the edge of the trees and washed them and her daggers using clumps of grass to clean them.

  Returns fifteen minutes later with the clean weapons she saw the Abbess lying comfortably asleep while Sera has started to clean up some of the carnage, dragging some of the enemy bodies into the trees, while she did that, Mol got out a pack spade and started to dig two graves, Sera came up just after she'd got started, "we're taking them with us, we never leave our dead if possible and they died in our service."

  Mol could only stare, it finally seemed to hit home and tears rolled down her cheeks, Sera helped her up out of the shallow hole

  "It's shock my sister." Mol looked up at that and Sera smiled, "come on lets see about a hot drink." stretching Mol felt a bit better. "Why don't we?".

  Angee was pleased to get out of gaol, she headed straight for the temple to get another uniform rather than the Inn, she didn't want more trouble when she'd found the source of local information she needed.

  Entering the temple she was challenged almost immediately with a hand clamping on her shoulder, "what are you doing here" asked a suspicious voice "the temple is only open to the public on sundays for service or by appointment, and there are no appointments booked for today!" Angee turned around.

  She had to smother a giggle, Ruth's face was a picture, completely slack jawed.

  "You'll catch flies if you leave you mouth open like that", Ruth jaw closed with an audible snap, "phew!, you smell!, where have you been?, we thought they'd got you too!".

  Angee shook her head and explained what had happened, "I notice too my purse is a bit lighter, either the stable
lad or someone at the gaol has light fingers."

  Ruth merely shrugged her shoulders, "and you're surprised?". Angee was a bit lost for words herself, "well... you'd expect guards to be honest", Ruth burst out laughing, "In an ideal world yes,here no."

  Angee was feeling really grubby by now, "if you don't mind I'll have a bath and borrow a uniform as I didn't want any more trouble at the Inn."

  After a long bath and once in uniform again Angee felt right with the world, she'd got used to the feel of the uniform and ordinary clothes felt wrong, almost alien to her now, the image in the mirror looked different too more mature, as a Bard should look.

  She got some money from Ruth who couldn't really refuse as she was a sister of the order, but the amount made her blanche.

  Quickly she popped back to the Inn and retrieved her sword, then she found arriving at the gaol she wasn't recognised as anything other than a Bard and had no trouble paying Angeless's fine.

  Angeless's was wary when she came out of the front door, "feel better now you're out?". Angeless looked at her for a moment then comprehension dawned in her eyes.

  "You!, if they catch you impersonating a Bard you'll be for it" she warned.

  Angee smiled at her, "oh it's no impression, I AM a Bard" and lifting a hand it glowed with white fire.

  Angeless looked puzzled, "then what were you doing in gaol?, I thought Bards were outside the law", Angee cocked her head to one side.

  "Not outside exactly, we're responsible to our order, but I take your meaning, I was out looking around and someone mistook me for a thief. He got hit in the process so I decided to go along with it."

  Angeless was looking even more puzzled, "why?".

  Angee crooked her arm under Angeless's, "to find someone to help me, and I found you, tell you what why don't we go get something to eat, my treat and I will tell you all about what I'm looking for."

  The door opened and someone came in, "don't you knock!" snarled the woman behind the desk, "perhaps I ought to teach you some manners!". The servant blanched, "please, you asked to be informed when the prisoner regained consciousness." the woman mused on that for a moment, "very well you may go", the servant bowed deeply,