Sword and Illusion

by Nancy S. Brandt

  Adazzra giggled. "He was pretty much in love with himself, I suppose. Still, other Sarl warriors have found mates when the time came."

  "True," the Exalted Warrior replied, "but I did not believe I would live this long."

  "You will probably outlive all the other warriors in your army."

  "I would not count on that. One aspect of The Change is that a Sarl woman must bear a child by a certain time or her body weakens. This is something that cannot be reversed, and eventually, the woman becomes utterly dependent on other people to care for her every need. She cannot even sit up alone."

  "That's terrible." Adazzra's eyebrows rose, and she covered her mouth with her hand.

  "It is," Moonrazer replied. "At least, that is what my mother told my sisters and me as we were growing up."

  "You have had many men show interest in you. All you would need to do is select one of them."

  Moonrazer rubbed her forehead. "I do not want just any man."

  Adazzra stood and touched her friend's arm. "Trust the Holy One. He will provide for you beyond your dreams. I'm going to see what I can find to help ease the pain in your hip."

  After the Tree Woman had gone, Moonrazer stared at the ceiling and let her mind wander.

  Her relationship history had been one of deception and disappointment.

  Before she’d found the Sword of Justice, she'd traveled the Known Worlds for a time as a courier for a gem merchant with many enemies and competitors.

  During one of her trips for him from Erilea on World Ananthene to Bynesse on World Libennica, she'd met a man named Lammer who made her laugh. They talked about battle strategies and the virtues of certain weapons over others. Their sparring sessions had been exhilarating and stimulating.

  Together they’d visited the Caverns of Greydell and the Waterfalls of Icegriffin. After eleven days together, Moonrazer allowed herself to begin to think about spending her life with a man who respected her battle skill but still thought of her as a woman.

  One night, she went to his room, as they'd planned to go to dinner. When she arrived, his door was ajar, so she went inside.

  He wasn't there. She assumed he'd be back soon, so she sat down near the window to wait.

  The evening was warm. Lammer had opened the window, so she could clearly hear voices of people as they entered the inn or stood outside chatting. She tried not to listen but when she caught Lammer's voice, she looked out.

  He was talking to a man dressed in a black hooded cape.

  "Well?" that man said. "Have you fulfilled the contract yet?"

  Lammer shook his head. "These things take time. I think that by tomorrow morning, I will have taken her to my bed."

  "You'd better bring me proof." The man in the cape sounded angry. "I paid you to conquer a Sarl warrior, either in bed or in battle. If you can't deliver on your promise, I'll find someone who can."

  Moonrazer felt herself grow cold, and she couldn't move. Certainly, she must not be hearing things correctly. It sounded like Lammer was using her as some kind of trophy.

  "I can do it," Lammer said. "Don't worry. By the morning, I'll have proof that I have taken her honor."

  She couldn't listen to this any longer. She left the inn, mounted her horse, Wind Rider, and rode to the nearest Portal.

  From that point, she'd been cautious about letting any man grow close to her. The few times since that she'd allowed it to happen had similar results. They inevitably wanted to prove that they could bed or best a female warrior.

  She'd learned that men were not to be trusted in matters of the heart.

  ****

  For most of the next morning, after having a meal of clamper bird eggs over toast, Moonrazer had to deal with the business of being Exalted Warrior. She wished she could use the aches and soreness from the Sparring to put all this off, but she knew those things wouldn't affect her ability to deal with her people's domestic problems.

  When she sat in the judgment seat, Moonrazer had to wear full battle dress, including a wide weapons belt that held not only the Sword of Justice but several knives and an ax in the back. She had a leather helmet with a golden circlet indicating her status as lawgiver of the Sarl.

  The whole ensemble made her a spectacle to inspire fear, as well as a sense of security, in the mobs of people who waited in line for her rulings on what were, for the most part, petty cases.

  She arbitrated between two men who each claimed a lake full of concealing fish as their own. The Sword of Justice easily showed all witnesses which man was lying by glowing with a blue light when she pointed it at him.

  "You come before the Exalted Warrior and the Sword of Justice with deceit in your heart." She regarded the dishonest man. "You have attempted to steal what is not rightfully yours. Do you know the punishment for approaching the Sword to deceive?"

  The man, whose name was Yakov, trembled as he stepped forward two steps, prompted by the tip of a spear wielded by a warrior behind him. "The Sword can sentence a liar to death," he said, his voice weak.

  Moonrazer stared at him, locking her gaze with his. She wanted him to believe she was mentally debating as to the proper punishment for him.

  In reality, she didn't want to have him executed. She'd never been comfortable killing a Sarl male under any set of circumstances.

  The men were the primary caretakers of the male children and the homes of her warriors. To lose one would cause great hardship for the whole community.

  However, deceit could not be tolerated, and she had to help her people understand this.

  "You will not die this day," she said when she thought he'd suffered enough. She re-sheathed the Sword. "Instead, you shall labor for the man you tried to rob."

  She turned to Balasi, the other man. "You will treat him fairly and see that he receives a proper amount of fish to feed his family."

  Then she spoke to Yakov. "I will send a warrior to check on you regularly until another blizzard has passed. You are to work for Balasi as though working for me."

  Both men bowed, and one of her warriors escorted them out.

  Moonrazer raised her eyes toward heaven as they left the audience chamber. Men were so territorial.

  She approved the promotion of seventeen warriors on the basis of recommendations from their immediate supervisors. She was pleased to see that even in a time of extended peace, her warriors were able to find ways to distinguish themselves and keep their reflexes sharp.

  The next case, the last one of the day, was the hardest.

  Two men had been found trying to smuggle gold and jewels offworld through a Portal in the northwestern village of Nedinu. They had been brought before the Exalted Warrior for judgment.

  As soon as she saw them enter the audience chamber, the Sword of Justice hummed in the scabbard on her belt. She touched the hilt and found it warm.

  With a sigh, she unsheathed it. Clearly, one of these men was guilty of more than theft, for a Sword Judgment was only necessary for the most serious offenses. As reprehensible as smuggling was, it was not something deserving of death, the only sentence allowed if the Judgment found a person guilty.

  As the two men stood before her, she raised the Sword over their heads. It wavered, but then hovered over the man on Moonrazer's right.

  "What is your name?" she asked him.

  "Geraint," he replied, meeting her eyes. She knew that he felt no guilt over whatever the Sword sensed in his past.

  "Tell me, Geraint." Moonrazer lowered the Sword but left it in sight. "How did you come into possession of these gold coins, statues, and gemstones?"

  "I found them hidden in a cave," he said, still staring at her. "There were skeletons of Navin there, as if they died while standing guard. I figured the dirty dr'cala didn't need them no longer."

  "Indeed." She stared into the deep azure light emanating from the Sword. "Then you should be able to show my warriors where this cave is?"

  He shook his head. "I do not know if I can remember the way."

  Moon
razer glanced at the other man, fingered the glowing Sword, and saw him begin to tremble. Sweat droplets clung to his forehead.

  "Can you remember where this cave is?" Moonrazer asked, turning to the other man. "What is your name?"

  "My name is Sisor, and no, um, Exalted Warrior, ma'am," he said.

  "I know the two of you are lying," Moonrazer said evenly. "The Sword of Justice tells me this."

  Sisor blurted, "We robbed the Church of Legendary Mysteries. May the Holy One have mercy on us." He fell to the ground at her feet.

  Geraint rolled his eyes. "We tunneled in through the north wall. It was a pretty bit of back-breaking labor, and I hate to see it wasted."

  The blue light from the Sword was undiminished.

  "Sisor? Have you anything to add to this story?"

  "Please, he said he would kill me, too, if I said anything." At this the light of the Sword faded, and Geraint shot a glare at Sisor.

  Moonrazer looked across the room to the commander of the Guards. "Graysaber, who are the warriors assigned to guard the Church of Legendary Mysteries?"

  "Shadowhands' platoon," Graysaber said. "They will be returning in two days after serving there a moon cycle. Their replacements left yesterday."

  "I see," Moonrazer said. "And you have heard from Shadowhands since they left the barracks?"

  "No, Warrior, but I had not expected to until her duty was complete."

  "Well, Graysaber," the Exalted Warrior said, turning to face Geraint. "I think when the platoon returns we will discover that at least one of my warriors was killed by this man."

  "I did not know he planned to kill anyone. Please believe me." Sisor began to sob and buried his face in his hands.

  Graysaber's eyes grew large, and she reached for her weapon.

  "That will not be necessary. The Sword of Justice has told me what I need to know."

  Moonrazer fingered the golden circlet with her left hand, reminding herself that she needed to set an example here.

  Sisor was now so pale and sweating so profusely, Moonrazer worried for his health. She nodded to two of the male servants standing nearby, and they quickly brought a jug of water and a mug for the man.

  She looked at him. "Sisor, for the crime of theft from a holy place, you will be sentenced to ten blizzards of unpaid labor. You will work in the sword forges below the castle. The Forge Master will see that you are housed and fed."

  She nodded to the servants again, and they led Sisor to waiting warriors who would escort him to his punishment.

  Turning her eyes back to the murderer, Moonrazer said, "Geraint, there was a guard on duty, and you killed her."

  He opened his mouth to respond, and she stopped his words with a glare.

  "This is not a question, but a statement of fact. It is bad enough to steal from a church. You, however, have not only been found guilty of theft but also of the murder of one of my warriors, and for that you will die."

  He began to scream, and without hesitation, she swung the Sword of Justice in a swift, ringing arc and sliced his head from his shoulders. The scream died with a sort of wet hissing and ended with a solid thump.

  Fire and smoke erupted from the corpse's shoulders, leaving a trail in the air as the body slumped to the floor. Lights and images formed in the smoke, and the gray form of Geraint could be seen gliding out of the darkness and slitting the throat of Shadowhands.

  The audience chamber grew silent. After the smoke cleared, the servants set to work removing his body and cleaning the mess from the floor.

  ****

  The judicial work done for the morning, Moonrazer was eager to get out of the Tower and take Wind Rider out for some exercise. Besides knowing that her animal needed to run, she wanted to get into the fresh air and get the smell of blood and smoke out of her nostrils.

  Just as Moonrazer reached the stable, a young Sarl male, by the name of Teldain, stopped her. She sighed when she saw him, knowing that her ride on Wind Rider would have to wait.

  Like all the Dosal, errand runners for the warriors, Teldain wore a gray tunic with a row of red tassels along the hem and a pair of red trousers with a gray stripe running up the side of each leg. These uniforms were distinctive, and they allowed the Dosal to stand out from the other male Sarl who lived and worked around the warriors. The errand runners needed to be spotted easily.

  "Warrior," he said, bowing. "There you are. I was sent by Bluehammer on the south battlement. She said to tell you that a procession carrying the standard of the Fountain of Infallible Light is approaching the Tower."

  "The Sisters of the Flame?" Moonrazer scowled. "I had no word they were coming. Do you know if Mother Whiteshadow is with them?"

  The Dosal bowed again. "I saw her banner at the head of the procession. What do you need me to do?"

  Moonrazer rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Find Graydagger and tell her to assemble as many senior warriors as she can find. They should dress in their finest battle garments and meet me in the Throne Room."

  Teldain bowed once more then hurried away.

  Moonrazer marched back to the Tower.

  "Oakgold," she called through the hallways. "I need you now."

  Immediately a woman, the third daughter of Grayhelm, appeared from around a corner.

  "Yes, Warrior?"

  "It seems that we are to be visited by my sister, Mother Prioress Whiteshadow of the Sisters of the Flame. The Sisters, and especially the Mother Prioress, are very concerned with ritual and ceremony. I need my courtly garments, immediately."

  Oakgold nodded and rushed away.

  ****

  Mother Whiteshadow the Third, the Prioress of the Sisters of the Flame, saw the banners flying from the turrets of the Tower that was home to the Exalted Warrior, Moonrazer.

  The Mother Prioress smiled to herself. Soon, very soon, all the accepted ways of doing things would change. She had seen it in a vision. The Holy One himself, and his mother the Blessed Lorelii, had visited her in her room.

  While it had been four blizzards ago, right after the Sarl came back to Carrick, Whiteshadow remembered it clearly and had meditated on it often.

  She'd been confined to her bed, recovering from a fever that had swept through the shrine of the Fountain of Infallible Light.

  A vigil was being kept at the foot of her bed, and priests and priestesses of her order were summoned from nearby territories in haste to both pray for her recovery and to be prepared in case a new Mother Prioress was needed. A Dosal, the swiftest of the errand runners in the shrine, was ordered to wait by her bed, ready to bring word to the Exalted Warrior if the Holy One chose to take Whiteshadow to her rest.

  Whiteshadow lay on her small, plainly dressed bed in her cell, barely aware of who was near her, with only the strength to silently mouth the words of the prayers from the Ritual of the Bells which was to take place the next day.

  Suddenly, the light from the dozen candles placed around the room dimmed, and Whiteshadow believed the end had come. Relief flooded her body. Soon she would be reunited with her parents and her deceased friends and would be able to see the Holy One, Janico, face to face.

  An instant later, she knew she had passed because a yellow-robed priestess stood at the foot of her bed, a crown of ice on her head and a white Snowbell flower in her hand. It was Lorelii, Mother of the Holy One.

  "Mother Lorelii," Whiteshadow whispered. "Have you come to escort me to Paradise?"

  The woman looked so serene. "My daughter, it is not time for you to leave this world. Your work is not finished. My son has much for you to do still."

  "But Mother, I am tired and ill. What work can I do?"

  "You will recover, and you will do much to change the Sarl."

  "I do not understand." Whiteshadow wondered if she were hallucinating. How could she change the Sarl? She was their spiritual leader, but Moonrazer was the Exalted Warrior.

  Suddenly a man, unmistakably Janico, the Holy One, stood next to Lorelii.

  Whiteshadow trembled. How
was it possible that she could be in the presence of her Lord and Savior?

  "My child," he said, "I have chosen you to prepare the Sarl for the next Exalted Warrior. Ask me for the gifts of humility and selflessness that are required for your task. Your heart needs to be broken if you are to succeed."

  "Moonrazer is the leader of the Sarl," she said. "Forgive me, but what of her?"

  "Watch for the thirty-ninth anniversary of her birth. Go to her then, help her prepare the Choosing Ritual."