Engaging Evil (Warriors of Vhast Book 2)

by Cary J Lenehan

  A last look around. Yes the men all look…owned. I hope the women know what they are doing. That is something else we will have to do—find some more good men—although it looks like Sajãh and Fortunata have found one solution to that problem. I will need to think about that. It looks like last night will not be the last wedding that we will see. He was just opening his mouth when there was another arrival…the brewer, Aine. I wonder where the miner is. He is the only local man not present and not, apparently, claimed yet.

  ~~~

  Theodora

  After Father Christopher had finished Mass Theodora stood up and turned around to all of those present. “After lunch,” she said, “Rani and I would like to see you all and find out what you know and can do and want to do. Can you please spread the word through the village? Oh, and by the way…we know the name of the village now. It is not going to go down for us all as ‘What-is-this-place-called’.” She looked at her priest. Father Christopher looks embarrassed, but everyone else is smiling. “We have an old book from a man who travelled everywhere and he once stayed here for a night. He says that it is called Mousehole and the place where the bandit chiefs stayed used to be an inn that was called the Hall of Mice.” People are turning the name over in their minds. “I will see you all after lunch…”

  She said to the priest, “Father…Verily needs to talk to you.”

  ~~~

  After getting the rest of the day organised, Theodora and Rani sat down with a newly awake Fear between them. Theodora started to brush Fear’s blonde hair to get the tangles of the night out. I have agreed to let Rani do the speaking here. I will try and keep the girl calm.

  “Little one, I want you to listen very carefully,” said Rani, sitting in front of her. “You have a choice to make. You have had many bad things happen to you here in Mousehole…things that a little girl like you should not have had happen to you. Theodora knows a way to make your memory of them go away—if you want her to do this. It will be as if they never happened. You will wake up as if you have just arrived here and the last year will be gone forever. You can have a childhood back. We will still keep you and look after you and love you, but the bad bits will be gone. It is your choice.”

  Fear sat and thought. Theodora had a hand on her shoulder. I can feel the tension. There is a slight tremor in her body as her muscles tighten. “So I would be here, and you would be here and I would remember only what was before?”

  Rani nodded.

  There was silence. Fear must be thinking hard. In a serious tone, one that was far older than the girl was herself, she said, “I will keep what happened to me. I hated the last year but I didn’t like my life before much either. If I lose the last year I will not know why I love you so much for saving me.” She reached out and put her arms around Rani’s neck and hugged her and continued, now in the voice of the little girl that she was, “Will you be my mummies forever?”

  Rani is now looking across at me. I can feel tears springing into my eyes. They are starting in my lover’s eyes as well.

  “Yes dear, we will.”

  The question that I asked myself earlier is now answered. Neither of us might ever carry a child, but now we have a daughter. Fear turned and hugged her…and I…I don’t know how to feel except confused.

  Chapter XX

  Father Christopher

  Well, we are gathered, Christopher thought, as he looked around at people standing around and talking quietly. I wonder where the mages are? Except for Hulagu and his köle, who are on watch, every-one in the village is gathered here. I was there when Rani spoke to Hulagu and so she knows the mind of the Khitan. Apparently his mind is also that of his köle, on this at least. He hadn’t even bothered to ask them, although they stood right beside him.

  It was still a little longer before Rani and Theodora entered the hall, each holding one of Fear’s hands as she skipped between them. They went up to the front. “Thank you all for coming,” said Rani. “We must leave you to sit a little while longer though. Before we can speak with all of you from the village, we need to see our original band for a few minutes.”

  “Can we see you out the front please,” continued Theodora, and they moved back out of the hall. As they were gathering he looked at them. Astrid and Basil are clutching each other’s hands and smiling. Stefan has brought that red-head, Bryony, with him, Thord looks, well, it is sometimes hard to tell with Dwarves, I know that I look grim at one end of the line, Ayesha has a blank face and Bianca stands at the other end from me and is shifting her weight from foot to foot. She is nervous about something.

  Theodora said, “What we need to know is who wants to stay here and who wants to continue on our Quest. We also need to work out, if we go, when.”

  “Where you go, I go,” said Ayesha. Basil nodded.

  “And where Basil goes…you will not stop me from going,” said Astrid.

  Thord looked more cheerful. “I’m going to Dwarvenholme. Many have set out for t’ere, but none have reported success. If’n I stay here I’ll probably just be rich. If’n I go t’ere, win or lose, I’ll live in t’ legends. T’ere is no choice.”

  Stefan thought for a bit. “We have discussed t’is. I be not lovin’ Bryony, nor do she be lovin’ me, but we be wantin’ to stay together for t’present. I left with you for t’is purpose. I canna be lettin’ you down now. I admit t’at I would prefer to be a livin’ a quieter life with a better chance of stayin’ alive, but I be havin’ a duty t’at I must complete.”

  They are all looking at me now. This is where it gets difficult. He looked around at them and started, “I have two duties now and I am torn. I was sent out to just see the world and charged with the pastoral care of any that I encountered that need me. Personally I want to come with you. I think that this is something that must be done, but I cannot leave this village of Mousehole without a priest. For other reasons, I need to talk to someone above me as well. Is there any way we can get to Greensin on the carpet? If we can, and I can get another priest to come here, then I will go with you.”

  The mages are looking at each other blankly. “We forgot the carpet,” said Rani to Theodora. Then to the group she said, “Yes, we think that we in the valley should stay secret, and so don’t want to use it much, but this is something that the carpet would be good for. We will get you a priest.”

  Next…Bianca. She looks uncomfortable and is still restless in the way she stands. Now she has her arms crossed defensively under her breasts, almost hugging herself. “Not long ago I had no family at all. I now have a sort of brother at least. What did Hulagu say?”

  “He thinks that we should go,” said Rani. “Whatever this means, he said that I had to tell you that he thought about it last night and reached that decision and he thought about it again today and still thinks the same.”

  Bianca is smiling and nodding. She looks far happier. I wonder what that means. I have no idea, but obviously Bianca does. Now her arms uncross and she is still.

  Rani continued, “He still has his Quest and,” she smiled, “he still doesn’t have his bride. He said that if you really didn’t want to go, he would take you back to the tents, but he hopes that you want to go on. He said that he thought it would be good for you and he knows your determination.”

  “Then it is decided,” said Bianca. “We go. I suggest though that we do not go during the winter. The cold will be a worse enemy than the Masters. We should go in the spring.”

  “That is what we think as well,” said Theodora. “Does anyone object?” They all shook their heads. “Then let us go and see what help we can get and what the rest want.”

  They re-entered the hall. Sajãh is on her feet and facing the other former slaves who are all seated on chairs, benches and cushions. She has obviously just finished speaking to them. She spoke before anyone else could, “Before you say anything, we think that you should hear what we have to say first.” Others are nodding. “Until a few days ago we were slaves. We lived as long as we behaved ourselves
and we died if we objected or if we lost our beauty or even just at a whim. One girl died because of a bet on who could better hit a running target. We existed for others as if we were things, not for ourselves as people. We were treated as no other slaves are ever treated. Now you have given us freedom. I presume that we may go or stay as we wish.” She paused and looked from Rani to Theodora. They both nodded. “Then those of us here, we choose to stay. We have been talking about this since we were freed. This is our village now. What lives we had before here are now gone and in the past. In many cases our families are gone as well, and we all need to start again…this time together. However, having said that, we realise that without you we would have nothing and without you someone, anyone really who is determined, could take our freedom again. These are the mountains, the Great Range. We are far from anyone and even further from help. Several of us are from the villages of the north and south plains and they have argued that their old villages stayed independent only because they could draw on the Khitan as allies against whoever came against them. We have no-one like that to draw on here and we want you to be our safeguard and to teach us. We want Rani and Theodora to rule us, as our…we don’t know what to call you… Princesses, if you wish. That would be nice. I think that we all liked having a Princess last night.” There is a fair amount unrehearsed murmuring of assent among the villagers. “This will be a rich village. In return for freeing us and protecting and teaching us, half of what it earns from its mines and fields shall belong to you people, and your descendants, forever. The rest of us will still be wealthy and, more importantly, we shall still be free.” Sajãh looked around her. Even more agreement is being expressed. She must have been talking to them for a while. She didn’t just organise this today. She sat back down beside the smith. He patted her hand and Fortunata leant over him and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

  It looks like the rest of us are astonished. I feel a little smug. It seems that I was the only one of us thinking ahead. Clearly I was right in some of my speculation…and I certainly am not going to be the one to start that conversation.

  Theodora was the first to recover. She waved the others to seats, putting Fear between her and Rani. She stopped momentarily in thought and glanced back at me. Something has struck her. Does she worry about my opinion on this? She said, “You know that Rani and I are lovers.” There is nodding. “Perhaps neither of our families will have us back.” There is more nodding. “The rest have, for one reason or another, left our homes behind and we have a Quest to perform…a Fate that must be settled…before we can come to rest.” Again there is nodding. “Yet you still want us to rule you, you want us to take your wealth?”

  Good question, even though I suspect that I already know the answer to it…but it still needs to be laid out. Sajãh looked around at the other freed slaves. The others are all looking at her. “Some would be yours anyway, by right of conquest, at least the khums, the fifth. Most conquerors would take it all, including us. We count one half to be cheap against our new lives and our freedom. Oh, Father, the Christians tell me that your share is the…what is the word?” She looked down at her sister and their partner.

  Fortunata said, “We are to be free of normal tithes, Father. Your share of the half is to stand as our tithes to the Church. Those among us that came here from the Brotherhood have always been sold to slavers by their masters so that they could pay tithes. We want no-one to ever be faced with that sort of choice again. If other Churches come here, you will have to share that with them.”

  Christopher stood up. I hadn’t thought about this part of it, but it does make sense. “I think that the Metropolitan will be pleased with that arrangement. Tithes may be set at a tenth, but they are not always paid and the Church is always short of money and always has too much to spend it on.” He smiled. “I think that I can say yes on his behalf. I thank you, my flock, and …” I need to choose my words carefully now, something I will always have to do here…“may the Blessings of the Most High be on you all for your wisdom.”

  He was about to sit down again, when he had another thought. “As your local priest, I am now free to perform more marriages if required.” Now for the next fireball. He turned to the mages. “I will have to get back to the library of the monastery to look at something I once read there, but I believe there is a precedent for you to be married, if you wish. You would need to be joined in some way for me to install you as equal rulers, after all.” The expression on their faces is worth that. They must have already wondered. I really hope that I am not going to disappoint them, but I am sure that I came across something…just a line…many years ago in an old history, that would back me up, at least partly. He sat down to cheers.

  I can almost read the expression on Rani’s face. ‘Married? We can actually be married?’ He tried to resist smiling.

  Theodora’s face is more controlled, but I can see the wheels turning behind her eyes. She jumped to her feet and ran over and kissed him. “Thank you,” she said. Well, that was a surprise. Sometimes I forget that for someone well over a century old she is almost a teenager in so many ways.

  Fear was tugging at Rani. “Why is mummy Theodora so excited? Why did she kiss the priest man? I didn’t think she liked men?”

  “She kissed him because he just gave us good news. She and I can marry and you can be our real daughter in the eyes of everyone.” Fear then ran over and flung herself onto his lap, threw her arms around him and gave him a kiss as well, before running back and landing on Rani’s lap.

  “In case you had not guessed,” said Rani, with Fear squirming around on her lap, “we have adopted Fear. She is now our beloved daughter. That is another thing we were going to tell you.”

  Theodora then took up, “Which means that we now need someone to look after us.” Without looking back she held up a hand behind her, with her palm facing the direction of Basil and Ayesha to forestall what we all know they are about to say. “And that means not one of you two. We will accept you as our guards. That is your real task and why you were sent after us. We want someone who is worried about our hair and not whether someone is trying to kill us.” It is easy to see rueful smiles on their faces as they look at each other. It has brought some smiles and laughs from the rest.

  “Besides, you are now supposed to worry about my hair,” Astrid said to Basil. One of her deliberately-not-quiet-enough whispers adds more laughter.

  Theodora tried to get back on track. “We still need to find these Masters and stop them. It is their fault that you were enslaved. By now you all know this village is really called Mousehole, don’t you?” She looked around…“This place, Mousehole, was rebuilt and became a home for bandits. We could ask someone else to do it or to help, but seeing that you have made the decision you have, this is the first test of our independence. We think we know where they are. We think that we have some ideas on what to do with them and, I actually don’t want to say any more about that this week. I am not being secretive…well yes I am…but not from you. I have a spell I want to cast. It is a major spell and I will need at least a week to prepare for it. Once I have cast it then I will say more.

  “We are going to stay here, perhaps even for the whole winter, before attacking. We need time to prepare and time to train you and to get things organised. I understand that winter is often a time for doing very little outside because it is too cold. I am from Ardlark—we don’t see much cold weather there, so I am not sure. Well, this winter will be busy. We hope to test to see if anyone can become a mage. Rani used to teach at the Mage’s School in Haven and she wants to see if anyone here can learn from her. We want to set up a school. This is not just for the little ones, and we need someone to take charge of them, but everyone needs to learn to read and write at least two languages. I suspect that a lot of us can teach some form of music or musical instrument. We are already a village of bards. I like that part. As well, we have many weapons skills to share and Thord, I believe, is going to instruct us how to climb like mountain goat
s. We need to find out what you can teach us and what you can do and who wants to come with us on the next part of our journey.”

  She has clearly finished and with her sitting down has just started the questions and talking…among the villagers and to the…Princesses. Looks like to me as well …

  ~~~

  “This may be a silly question,” said Naeve loudly, cutting through the rising chatter, “but what are we called? We live in Mousehole, but being called Mouseholers sounds silly.”

  “Why can we not just be the Mice, since we live in the hole?” the Cat asked quickly, before Rani could say anything.

  It seems that everyone likes that idea.

  ~~~

  It is amazing how fast the day goes when you are busy. With looking after the animals, changes of guard, and people leaving to get food and prepare for the evening meal, the rest of the day went by quickly. No-one got near the mine today. It is amazing how many people want to talk to the priest or the Princesses.

  Chapter XXI

  Astrid

  The shared meal on our second night is a lot quieter than my wedding evening with a night watch now on duty. We have more people to share the job as guards now, but admittedly some are trainees and almost useless. We are now on the Evilhalt system; everyone is in the militia, regardless of what else they do. Mousehole is far too small a village to waste people. Unlike Wolfneck, it is also more likely to be attacked. Everyone has to be used. Most of these women have never handled a weapon seriously before. We just handed them arms tonight, more to give them confidence than anything else. Stefan and his woman…definitely his woman now…are sitting opposite us and it has gotten out that tomorrow the leatherworker, who is used to this sort of thing from Evilhalt, will start testing them and seeing what their skills are. Then we get to try fitting them with what armour we have. That should be funny. The women are generally very different in shape to the bandits. Stefan has already had a word with Norbert about what they would have to do between them. The smith and the leatherworker will be very busy for a while.