The villagers moved away from her, one involuntary pace.
Now she'd just shown them what she could do.
"Herald?" one of the men said timidly, looking at her with respect tinged with fear. They knew that she had punished him herself even if they had no idea how. "What must we do with him?"
"What you please," she said wearily, "and according to your own customs.
Whether he lives or dies, he has been dealt with."
As they took him away, one of the women caught her attention. "Herald, we have heard you have a mind-magic. Is there aught you can do for this girl? And— I am a midwife. Would you take it amiss if she should 'lose'
the child? Though I am not Gifted, I learned my craft among Healers. It can be done with no harm to her."
In for a lamb— she thought, and nodded.
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The people were dispersing, too shocked and appalled even to whisper among themselves. Talia stumbled wearily to the knot of women, and knelt beside the shivering, sobbing girl. She eased into trance, and probed as Kerithwyn had taught her. She could "read," though she could not act on what she read. It was as she had suspected; the girl was too young, the not-born malformed. She transferred her attention to the girl's mind and began laying the foundation for a healing that time and courage could complete without any further intervention on Talia's part— imprinting as forcefully as she could that none of this had been the girl's own fault.
Lastly, she sent the girl into a half-trance which would last for several days, during which the damage done to her body, at least, could be mended.
She stood, bone-weary, and faced the midwife. "What you suggest would happen eventually, and it will be easier on her body if it were to happen now. She hates what she bears as much as she hates the father, and the cleansing of her body may bring some ease to her heart. And— tell her that she was never to blame for this. Tell her until she believes it."
The midwife nodded without speaking, and she and the others led the half-aware girl to her house.
Only the trader was left. His eyes brimmed with tears and gratitude; the proximity of his clean, normal mind was infinitely comforting to Talia.
After the running sewer of the stepfather he seemed like a clear, sparkling stream.
"Lady Herald—" he faltered at last, "— my life is yours."
"Then take it, and do good with it, trader," she replied, burying her face in Rolan's neck, feeling her Companion's gentle touch slowly cleansing her of contamination.
The trader's footsteps receded.
And the sound of three sets of hooves was approaching. They rang with the unmistakable chime of Companion hooves on stone— and were accompanied by the soft sound of gently-moving bridle bells.
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Oh, Goddess, help me! she thought. No more— I can't bear any more.
But the hooves continued to approach, and then she heard footsteps and felt hands take her shoulders. She looked up. It was Kris.
"I saw the end, and I heard the rest from the midwife," he said quietly.
"But—"
"But— you made a judgment and a punishment, Herald," said a strange voice, a female voice, age-roughened, but strong. Talia looked beyond Kris to see two unfamiliar faces; a woman about Keren's age, but strongly and squarely-built, and a young man perhaps a year or two older than Kris, with mouse-brown hair. Both wore the arrows of Special Messengers on the sleeves of their Whites.
Special couriers— their Companions must have sensed the trouble, and brought them to help.
And they were senior Heralds. "You did use your Gift on that man, did you not?" the young man asked, somberly.
"Yes," she replied, meeting their eyes. "I did. And I would do the same if the circumstances warranted it."
"Do you judge that to be an ethical use of your Gift?"
"Is shooting raiders an ethical use of my hands?" she countered. "It's part of me; it is totally in my control, it does not control me. I made a reasoned and thought-out decision— if the man ever accepts his own guilt and the fact that what he did was wrong, he'll break free of the compulsion I put on him. Until then he will suffer exactly as he made his victims suffer.
That seemed to me to be far more in keeping with his crime than imprisoning or executing him. So I judged, and meted out punishment; I stand by it— and I would do it again."
She regarded them both with a certain defiance, and somewhat to her surprise, they both nodded with a certain amount of satisfaction.
"Then I think that we are not needed here after all," said the woman.
"Clear roads to you, brother— sister—"
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They wheeled their Companions and rode back out the gates without a single backward glance.
That left only Kris.
"You did very well, Herald Talia," he said gently.
She stood wearily in the firm grasp of his hands, with his voice recalling her to duty. She longed beyond telling to lay that duty on him, and she knew that if she asked, he would take it.
But if she laid it on anyone, she would be proving false to her calling. If this were a normal circuit, there would be no Kris to take up the burden of her tasks because she felt too worn, too sickened, too exhausted— and yes, too cowardly, too cowardly to face all those people and prove again to them that their trust was not misplaced, that a Herald could bring healing as well as punishment. And they must be shown yet again that though a Herald had powers the guilty had to fear, the innocent would never feel them. She must face the fear in those faces and turn it back into trust. Kris could not do that for her, and if he were not here, she would not even have the brief luxury of imagining that he could.
* * *
She sighed, and hearing the weariness, the pain in that sigh, Kris almost wished that she'd ask for him to take over. His heart ached for her, but this was the trial by fire that every Herald had to face, soon or late, and she most of all. No matter what the personal cost, a Herald's duty must come first. She had proven that her Gift was under her control. She had proven that she was willing to accept the ethical and moral responsibilities that particular Gift laid upon her. Now she must prove she had the emotional and mental strength to carry any job she undertook to its end. She had no choice, and neither did he. They had accepted this responsibility along with every other aspect of becoming a Herald. But—he hurt for her.
She looked up, and must have seen his thoughts writ plainly in his eyes.
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"I'd better locate the Town Council, the Mayor and the Clerk," she said, pulling herself up straight and schooling her face into calm. "There's work to do."
As Kris watched her walk away, head high, carriage confident, nothing reflecting her inner agony, he felt a glow of pride.
Now she was truly a Herald.
* * *
Kris preceded her to the Waystation nearest the town and had all in readiness when she rode up, shoulders slumped in exhaustion. The rules governing both of them allowed him to do that much for her, at least. She sought their bed long before he, and was apparently asleep by the time he joined her, but in the darkness he felt her shaken with silent tears, and gathered her into his arms to weep herself to sleep on his shoulder. The second day she took reports and news, and began settling grievances.
Kris winced to see how warily the townsfolk regarded her, like some creature from legend— powerful, and not necessarily to be trusted. It was well that this was such a large place, for after her performance of the previous day, it might have been difficult to find those willing to have her sit in judgment over them— except that there was no choice in the matter here. Anyone with a grievance to settle before a Herald in a place this size must register that fact in writing; with the witness of their own words, there was not one of them bold enough to deny his original will.
Talia had the right to choose the order of
their judgments; normally she did not exercise that right, but she chose otherwise this time. Wisely, she picked those cases to settle that required tact, understanding, and gentleness to come first. Gradually the townsfolk began to relax in her presence, began to lose their fear of her. By the third day, they were laughing at the occasional wry jest she inserted into her comments. By day's end, the fear was forgotten. By the fourth day, when she took her leave of them, she had regained their trust in Heralds, and more. Kris was so proud of her that he fairly shone with it as they rode on to their next stop.
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The gods must have agreed with him, for they were kind to Talia in this much, at least. There were no further crises for the rest of the circuit.
"I can't believe it's over."
"You'd better," Kris laughed, "since that's the rendezvous point ahead of us. And unless my eyes are deceiving me—"
"They're not. That's a Companion grazing, and I think I see two mules."
"So tonight is the last we'll spend in a Waystation for a while. Sorry?"
"That I won't be eating your cooking or mine, or sleeping on straw? Be serious!"
Kris chuckled, and squinted against the light of the westering sun. "Hark!"
he intoned melodramatically. "Methinks our relief hath heard the silver sound of our Companions' hooves."
"Or the rattling of your few thoughts in your empty head—" Talia kneed Rolan and they galloped into the lead. "It's Griffon!"
Sure enough, it was Talia's year-mate, who had gotten into Whites at the same time, but evidently finished his own internship early. She slid off Rolan's back after both of them had pulled up beside him with a clattering of hooves and jangling of bridle bells, and delivered a hearty kiss and embrace that sent him blushing as red as ever she had. He greeted Kris with such obvious relief that both of them were hard put to keep from chuckling at his bashfulness.
"There's an inn just a half hour down the road from here," he told them, stammering a trifle. "They're expecting you. I thought you'd probably rather sleep soft tonight, so when Farist caught the edges of Rolan's sending, I rode down there and warned them."
"Right, and thanks!" Kris answered for both of them, touched by the unexpected courtesy. "Seems like it's been forever since we had real beds."
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"Not true," Talia interrupted him. "We had a real bed just a bit over four months ago, with Tedric."
"So we did, but it still seems like forever. That reminds me though; my first bit of advice to you is to always plan to stop at the northernmost Resupply Station; it' s right near Berrybay. Tedric is a good host, loves
having company, and his cooking-!" Kris rolled his eyes heavenward in mock ecstacy.
"And my first bit of advice is to watch out for the other northernmost
surprise—" Briefly Talia outlined the plague's symptoms and described how it had decimated Waymeet.
They took turns detailing some of the hazards and pitfalls of this circuit, then turned their chirras and their remaining supplies over to him. Griffon helped them load their own gear on his mules, and by the time it was dusk, he was well settled into the Station and they were ready to be on their way.
As the lights of the inn shone through the darkness ahead of them, Kris sensed Talia's involuntary shiver.
"I know," he told her softly. "Now it's over— and now is when it really starts to get hard. But you're ready. Trust me, little bird, you are ready."
"You're sure?" she replied in a small, doubtful voice.
"As sure as I've ever been of anything in my life. You've been ready since Westmark. If you can handle that, you can handle anything; touchy nobles, Heirs with adolescent traumas, heart-wounded Heralds—"
"Mooncalf Heralds with lifebonds?" she asked with a tinge of sarcasm.
"Even that. Especially that. You haven't let it get in the way of anything yet, and you won't now. You're ready, dearheart. And if you dare make a liar out of me—"
"You'll what?"
"I'll— I'll commission a Bard to write you into something scathing."
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"Great Goddess!" she reeled in the saddle, clutching her heart as if stabbed, her high spirits restored. "A death worse than Fate!"
"See that you behave yourself then," he grinned. "Now come on— there's dinner waiting, and soft feather beds; and after that—"
"Yes," she sighed, staring down the road to the south. "Home. At last."
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