Heroes at Odds

by Moira J. Moore

  The caster facing me looked terrified.

  “Lord Kent will not allow you to do anything of the sort,” one of the others announced. His voice shook a little.

  And there it was. Further proof that Kent was behind all of Fiona’s troubles.

  Fiona chuckled. “You cannot be under the delusion that Kent cares about any of you. You know as well as I that no one matters to him unless they are of use to him. You’ve failed. You’re nothing to him.”

  “We didn’t fail. We killed some of your people and terrified the rest. No one will support you now.”

  Fiona squinted at him as though puzzled. “You really don’t know him, do you?” she asked. “He’s not quite balanced. The things he’s done in just the last couple of weeks, they prove he’s lost all understanding of what he’s permitted to do by law, all understanding of the logical consequences of his actions. He attacked the same tenants he was hoping to take responsibility for. He burnt down their homes and spoiled their produce. He beat a lord almost to death. Do you really think he cares about you? You’re just tools to him. He sent you here to attack my people right in front of me. And you were caught. Of course you were caught. And he knew you would be caught. He threw you away while he kept his more important casters back on his land.” She leaned close to the stoic one, her face a finger width away. “Because he does have other casters, doesn’t he? Casters I’ve never seen before.” She backed up a bit and resumed circling. “He tossed you at me, so I could do anything I wanted to you. The question is, what do I do with you?”

  “Throw us in a hole if you want. We’ll get out of it. You can’t imagine what we can do.”

  “Why aren’t you getting yourself out of this situation, then, if you’re so all-powerful?”

  An excellent question.

  And telling, I thought, that none of the casters would answer.

  “You’re going to kill us. Get on with it.”

  “Do you know what a Pair can do?” she asked.

  What? Where had that come from? What did we have to do with anything?

  “More than the Triple S would tell you. More than Pairs will tell you. But I’ve seen things. And, oh, the things they could do to a body, should they feel like it.”

  Hell. Shut up, woman. Was that why she had asked us to come?

  I couldn’t tell whether they actually believed Fiona or not. I didn’t care. I was furious. We didn’t need people adding to the ridiculous rumors about us that were already out there.

  I tried to keep my expression bland. Whatever Fiona was doing, right then and there wasn’t the time to correct her, to suggest in any way that I didn’t support what she was doing.

  “But you know,” Fiona said. “There are some things you just have to do yourself. And, of course, I don’t need to kill you, right now. I just need to make you wish you were dead. Until you tell me what I want to know. And if you tell me quickly enough, I’ll have Healer Browne take care of you. She’s quite good. So, Whaler Fenn, if I could have your harpoon.”

  The whaler handed it to Fiona.

  Fiona turned the harpoon in her hands, end over end. It was a fairly long and heavy instrument. She clearly wasn’t comfortable with it. Her husband would have been. He had gone whaling, occasionally.

  “This is used on whales,” Fiona said. “But I wonder what it could do to a person. What if I shoved it through your eye?” Fiona had clearly been inspired by the whaler. “Think that would hurt?”

  One of the casters gasped. He was the one Fiona chose to stand before. She placed the tip of the harpoon against the top of his cheek, right under his left eye. “Wouldn’t take much of a slip, would it?”

  She couldn’t really shove a harpoon through a person’s eyes. Please, show me she couldn’t.

  “I wonder if you could cast so well, missing one of your eyes.”

  The caster swallowed loudly, but kept his mouth shut.

  “How many casters does Kent have?”

  None of the casters said anything.

  Fiona shifted the harpoon just a little, bringing the tip infinitesimally closer to the caster’s eye. “How many?”

  We waited. I looked at Fiona. I couldn’t believe she would actually do it. That would be torture. Torture was disgusting.

  I wasn’t going to stand there and let her do that to him, to any of them. My interference would infuriate Fiona. It might endanger everyone. I didn’t care. This was not going to happen in front of me.

  Had Lila felt pain when Taro sank her into the ground? I’d never thought about that possibility before. Taro had done that to a lot of people. Had that been torture?

  I felt nauseous.

  “Tell me what I want to know,” Fiona ordered.

  We waited. I slid a footstep closer. The idea that I could actually stop Fiona should she decide to carry out her threat was unrealistic, but I couldn’t just stand there and watch, as though I approved.

  The caster was flushed. He was breathing too quickly. I could see him swallowing again and again. But he didn’t speak.

  I wondered why. Was he afraid of Kent, or was some part of him sure Fiona couldn’t go through with her threat?

  After another long, silent moment, Fiona swore and stepped back. I let out a long breath. She couldn’t do it.

  She went to the next caster and held the harpoon to his face. “What else is Kent planning?”

  But everyone knew she couldn’t actually torture them. She had given herself away. She knew it, too, and it wasn’t long before she gave the harpoon back to the whaler with an expression of resignation. “Have them stripped down,” she ordered. “Then tie them back onto the chairs, the chairs a body’s length apart. And gag them. A handkerchief stuffed in the mouth, another tied around it. I’ll decide what to do with them later.”

  Thank Zaire. I didn’t know what I would have done if Fiona had actually gone through with it. Just thinking about it made my chest burn.

  “It’ll have to be something else,” Fiona growled, and she left the room.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Not knowing what else to do, I followed Browne back out of the manor to the inner garden, still lugging a sack of crystals about. There were many members of the circle waiting, but not all of them. That was annoying. How long were we supposed to wait?

  “Where are Morgan and Vic?” Browne demanded. “And Eun?”

  “They’re refusing to come,” Tye reported sullenly.

  Browne scowled. “Does no one honor their oaths anymore?”

  “Be reasonable, Nab. No one anticipated anything like this.”

  “That’s irrelevant. No one can anticipate everything when they take an oath. They know at the time that they’re taking that risk.”

  “What’s the plan?” I asked in a voice flattened to hide my impatience. We didn’t have time for recriminations.

  “We’re each going to take a handful of crystals. We’re all going to return to our homes, planting the crystals along the way. I trust you all brought glass and yarn.” Almost everyone nodded. Hefez wrinkled his nose. He had clearly forgotten. “Get each crystal ringing before you leave it. Keep your last crystal for your home. Hopefully, by the time everyone’s done, almost all of Her Grace’s land will be protected.”

  “But that will keep everyone inside,” I pointed out.

  “That’s why we’ll have to wait until we think everyone who is going with Her Ladyship is beyond the border before we start planting the crystals.”

  And hope no one needed to be sent back.

  “I think you should stick to the perimeter of the manor,” Browne said to me. “Don’t bother with the attic.”

  “I’m not staying here,” I objected. “I’m going with Her Ladyship.”

  “You’re needed to guard the manor.”

  “My Source is going with the Duchess.” I had no doubt of that. “I go where my Source goes.”

  She scowled at me, but she made no further protest. “Fine. Penelope, the manor is yours. Here.” She open
ed her sack. “Take as much as you can carry. You as well, Shield. We might need them.”

  I put a small handful in my purse. I didn’t want the purse to be too full. I needed to be able to grab things quickly.

  Fiona stormed out of the manor, addressing the tenants, who were pale and nervous as they fiddled with their implements. “You, you, you, you, you and you. We have mounts for you. You and everyone who has brought a horse, we will be riding to Kent manor.”

  Three servants were handing to the people who would ride head spades, fishing gaffs, and mallets. I didn’t like contemplating what I was supposed to do with the fishing gaff I’d been given. The hook at the end of it looked vicious.

  “The rest of you,” said Fiona, “follow as quickly as you can. I don’t want you to fight anyone if it can be avoided. I am hoping your mere presence will be intimidating. You outnumber Kent’s tenants. Do only what is necessary to get by them. I don’t want you to endanger yourselves needlessly, or injure anyone if it can be avoided. I just want you to get to the manor. Are there any questions?”

  “What are we supposed to do when we get there?” a man called out.

  “Just watch.”

  Witnesses, perhaps?

  To prevent Kent’s tenants from interfering?

  To brag about how many loyal tenants she had?

  Horses were being brought out. Fiona mounted one immediately.

  “Give us a candle mark before you start,” Browne told the other casters. I followed her to the horses. Taro had emerged from the manor and climbed onto a horse. I scrambled up after him.

  I wasn’t sure whether any of the things we could do would be useful. That was unpredictable. I only knew that there was no way I was going to wait at the manor where I would have no means of knowing what was going on. Clearly, Taro felt the same.

  It didn’t surprise me at all that my brothers came out to join us. They seemed the sort. What astonished me was Marcus’s appearance.

  “This has nothing to do with you,” Fiona told him.

  “This is completely insane,” he said. “I didn’t know this sort of thing still happened.”

  Fiona didn’t dispute that. “Then one would think you’d refrain from participating.”

  “I can’t just cower in a corner, or slither away, when people I know are doing something this mad.”

  He glanced at Taro, then glanced quickly away. I wondered if pride was a factor here. Taro was doing it, so Marcus must.

  Fiona shrugged. “If you wish. It’ll be dangerous.”

  “I understand.”

  “Up behind me, Trader Pride,” Browne offered.

  “Thank you, but I came here with my own horse.” He jogged over to the stable.

  My mother was standing near the door, looking annoyed, her arms crossed. Cars stood beside her, looking equally unimpressed.

  After every horse had acquired a rider, Fiona kicked hers into movement and the rest of us followed.

  My arms tightened around Taro’s waist, my cheek resting between his shoulder blades. Did Kent know we were coming? If Browne and her group could communicate over a distance, so might the Kent casters. Perhaps they’d come up with a better way. There might be a legion of more violently inclined casters waiting for us on Kent’s property. We should have brought more of the circle with us.

  The Triple S had never trained us to do anything like this. They would have been horrified to know what we were doing. I wondered if I could get away with not reporting this. When the inevitable rumors reached their ears, I could claim ignorance. Or, at least, lack of participation. Of course, Source Karish and I hadn’t been involved in some anachronistic battle between two insane titleholders. What could that possibly have to do with us?

  If we didn’t end up dead. I closed my eyes briefly. This was so, so stupid.

  There was no one waiting for us at the border between Fiona’s land and Kent’s. As we rode farther into Kent territory, in daylight, it was unnerving to see that there were no tenants working. They had gathered somewhere. They were waiting for us, in some unexpected place.

  At this point, I realized none of us had thought to ask what we were going to do once we reached the manor. And Fiona hadn’t thought to tell us. Unless we, too, were just supposed to stand around as witnesses.

  None of us knew what the hell we were doing.

  And then I saw what might have been the first line of Kent’s defense. A wide, deep ditch had been cut into the soil. Looking either way didn’t bring the end of the ditch into sight. It would have taken ages to create. There had to be an easy way to cross, or the tenants would have been barred from the manor, but I couldn’t see any kind of bridge.

  This had not been there when Taro, my brothers and I had sneaked over. Had it been dug by hand or created by a cast?

  “I could jump this,” said Taro.

  “Not with me on the horse, you won’t,” I objected. “And don’t even contemplate leaving me behind.”

  “I doubt any of the rest of us could manage it,” Fiona admitted.

  A squeeze to my forearm was all the warning Taro gave me before lowering his shields. I swallowed back an oath before erecting mine.

  Still, Taro was getting ever more willing to create events. I found that disturbing.

  The horses went crazy, bucking and jerking at their bits. Three tenants lost their seat and the horses ran off. Fiona swore as she ruthlessly pulled on her reins, drawing her mount’s head too far in to allow it to move much.

  The ground shook only slightly, but soil dropped down from the sides of the ditch. Taro didn’t push the sides of the ditch together, which I would have expected. He just let the dirt fall in, the result being a low, flattened area that looked much easier to traverse.

  Fiona looked at Taro, one eyebrow raised.

  “Earthquake,” he said.

  “Very convenient.”

  “No, not really.”

  Fiona didn’t look convinced, but she chose not to question it further. She spent a few moments looking at the indentation and prodded the horse to step into it. The horse’s hooves sunk a little into the dirt, but not enough to either hamper or spook it. She crossed to the other side easily. Those of us who had been able to hold on to our mounts followed, the others left behind to chase after their horses.

  The next barrier was the jagged outcrop of rock that surrounded the manor. The gap was filled with, I would guess, farmers. Kent had had the same idea as Fiona. Tenants were standing ready to fight with nothing more than hoes and pitchforks. It was disgusting.

  Fiona charged ahead. The gap was small; I wasn’t sure one could actually ride through it safely at anything faster than a trot. But either Fiona hadn’t realized that, or she didn’t care. Four of the tenants ran away. I didn’t blame them at all. It was what I would do in the same circumstances.

  Fiona swung her head spade. She hit the first man she came to right in the face and I saw blood spurt from his nose. I couldn’t help wincing, couldn’t help imagining what that would feel like.

  More farmers ran away.

  Then Taro and I were upon them, followed by most of the others. I refused to swing my gaff at anyone. Taro, I was pleased to see, didn’t use his, either. This didn’t seem to be a liability for our side. The rest of Kent’s tenants ran away.

  Thank gods. They weren’t complete idiots.

  And so we cleared the second barrier.

  It wasn’t long before I could see the manor. There didn’t appear to be anyone outside it.

  Wouldn’t this have been a better place to dig that ditch? It would have been much easier; they could have surrounded the whole manor.

  Maybe he’d thought the ditch unsightly, which it was, and he hadn’t wanted to have to look at it.

  Maybe he didn’t know what he was doing, either. I had no reason to believe he had any experience in this sort of behavior. Maybe he was just making things up as he went along.

  So that would be all of us, then.

  Fiona’s horse
squealed. Its head was pushed to the side by something invisible, a painful looking angle. This didn’t stop its forward motion. The poor animal seemed to bend in on itself, pushing Fiona forward. And then Fiona slammed against something invisible, too, sliding to the ground.

  Fortunately, sort of, we had been letting Fiona ride ahead—she was the titleholder—so the rest of us had some warning. Not a whole lot. Two tenants ran into the barrier before everyone managed to stop.

  Browne was off her horse the instant she could stop it. She ran the few steps to Fiona and knelt beside her.

  “I’m all right,” Fiona said.

  There was blood gushing from her nose.

  Browne touched Fiona’s nose.

  Fiona slapped her hand away.

  “It doesn’t look broken.”

  “Of course, it’s not broken. Go check on the others.”

  I dismounted and, hand out, walked slowly to where the invisible barrier seemed to be. At first, I felt nothing more than a faint brushing against my fingertips, but as I pushed in, the barrier solidified into something hard. When I knocked on it, there was actual sound.

  A disturbing thing, to feel and hear from something I couldn’t see. Even worse, I could place my hand against the barrier, and lean on it, and it supported my weight. That was just bizarre.

  Most alarming of all, Kent’s casters had come up with their own kind of barrier. One that seemed to be more effective than ours.

  One of the tenants who had run into the barrier had knocked himself unconscious. The other appeared unharmed. The horses were another matter. Fiona’s was slumped on the ground. Another was kind of meandering around nonsensically.

  I had heard nothing to indicate Browne knew the first thing about healing animals.

  Kent sauntered out of the manor, and he didn’t have to take many steps before his smirk became obvious.

  Fiona carefully moved forward until she could touch the barrier.

  Kent strolled over to her, halting when there was only a body’s length between them. He crossed his arms. “You’ve come uninvited on my land,” he said. “You may leave now.”