Engaging Evil (Warriors of Vhast Book 2)

by Cary J Lenehan

  The happy pair had left to dance and Christopher was standing there watching them go with a smile playing over his face. Robin and Eleanor have not left. He said to them, “It is your wedding feast, why are you not enjoying yourselves?” he asked.

  “We have another matter as well,” said Eleanor. “It seems that Sajãh will be looking after Ruhayma and Roxanna,” she waved towards the children. These must be the little girls from the Caliphate. “So act surprised if she asks, although she may just ask the Princesses. With Fear and Gurinder taken care of, that only leaves Gemma and Aelgifu without a family to care for them. Would you object at all if we started out with our family by asking them if they would like to be our children?”

  “Are you sure you wish to do this? It is hard enough to start a family of your own without the additional strain of added children who are not yours. I am sure someone will look after them.”

  “They doest be ours if we a make it so,” said Robin. “Family is as family doest. It beseems us that it doest be a best if they stay together, so that they always doeth have a sister who doth know what they ha’ been through.”

  “So you are of the same mind?”

  “Yes Father,” Robin smiled. “My house and workshop doth have room for us all and some extras, and I believe that a good husband is always of the same mind as his wife on such important matters once she has ha’ told him what it is.”

  Christopher smiled at this and Eleanor slapped Robin’s hand playfully.

  “Then my blessings on you and your marriage are threefold. It will be certain that the Father and my namesake will both smile upon your union.”

  The two left to draw aside the two little girls and talk with them. It is apparent that Fear might have been saying something to the other little ones and it is evident that being adopted and having a family is a popular idea with the children.

  Chapter XXIV

  Rani

  Harald showed Rani the secret compartment. It was in the library. “I am miner. My life oft depends on seeing rocks t’at look wrong. I was doing repair here ’n’ t’ought t’at I would check what was hidden and it was…” He pressed two rocks an arm’s length apart as Rani watched. A section of timber panel on the next wall gave a faint click. He went over and pushed on one side of the panel and the other side swung open. It was a small door a pace high and another wide. Rani looked in. There was a deep shelf and some drawers there. They began opening them.

  “There is a fortune here,” said Rani after a while. “I suggest that we tell no-one about this. We can use some of the jewellery as wedding presents and keep the rest to sell as we need. Some may even be magical, but I doubt it, unless I have completely lost my touch.” She looked through what was there before taking a necklace of jet from one tray. “This will look good on Eleanor,” she said. Harald nodded approvingly.

  ~~~

  Rani looked at what was in front of her. That has to be beef. They serve me, a Kshatya, with cow? She looked around. Other Hindus are eating…Lakshmi and Shilpa are obviously enjoying themselves. Parminder and Gurinder were taken away from Haven too young to know better, but the cook, Lãdi, is even Hindu. How could they? She went down to where the rest of the people were and moved to behind Shilpa. She had been a trader, and so should be Sudra.

  “How can you eat cows?” she asked. I hope I sound shocked. I am shocked.

  “It was easy,” Shilpa replied casually. “They punished us if we refused to eat anything. They liked to find excuses to punish us. Eating beef is far better than being whipped. Now we are used to eating anything. If you look around, you will see that this beautiful roast pork is being eaten by the Muslims as well.” She pointed. “See…Ayesha has noticed. You can see the look of horror on her face.” She dug Hagar, a Muslim woman and the butcher for the village, who sat beside her, in the ribs and pointed out Ayesha’s face. They both laughed. “You said we would have a lot to explain to the priests if we ever went home. This is just one of them.”

  Hagar joined the conversation. “So, we eat whatever is in front of us. The Hindus have had their caste broken thoroughly. I kill and eat what I was taught to think unclean according to the way that meat should be treated. Will that change your idea on what you will do here? Is that too much?” She sounds worried. “If we ever get a Mullah here, I do not think that we will be forgiven what we have been forced to do anyway.”

  “And I will worry about the priests and my karma if I ever get back to Vinice,” added Shilpa. “Coming back as a lower form might be a relief after the punishment of this incarnation. In the meantime, I eat beef and I meditate.”

  “Thank you,” said Rani. I am shocked to my core, but the women are right. Surely other people who have left Haven have faced the same choice. Why haven’t I heard of this issue? Did the priests at home just ignore it until people came home, and then purify them? “It doesn’t change my mind. I have made a promise. I will however, as you said, have to meditate on it. In the meantime I think that perhaps I should talk with Ayesha, before she explodes like a fireball.”

  The other two laughed again and Rani moved away to do as she said…Quickly.

  ~~~

  Harald is right. Women keep approaching him but he does not favour one over another and he has gone aside with none. They flirt with him and he flirts back with all of them, and is careful to detach any hands that try to grow intimate, and if he kisses any it is lightly and on the hand or cheek. He is enjoying himself immensely.

  ~~~

  I wish Theo-dear didn’t make me come to her priest’s service. It makes me uneasy. Mind you, if the man is offering to marry us, I suppose it is the least I can do. He is not even hinting that I convert. At least the incense is familiar, even if that is all. Someone has put seats at the front and to the side for us. Matching chairs no less. Everyone else sits on mismatched chairs or benches. Looking out it seems that everyone is here, even those who are not Christian, except for Thord and those on watch. I am certainly not the only Hindi woman. I have only dressed in normal clothing but, others haven’t. The Cat and Eleanor have their wedding dresses on and the others are generally in good clothes as well. Maybe I should think about some better garb to wear on Krondag since my new people are marking it as special.

  The priest is still fussing around at the front and Princess wants me to look at how there are little clumps as our growing number of families sit together in pairs, sometimes with a child or two.

  ~~~

  After Mass, Rani stood up. More work for me as a ruler lies ahead. “Today, as we agreed, is going to be our day for training and teaching…I want every one of you to see Ruth now and prove to her that you can read and write in at least two languages, one being Hindi, to her satisfaction. If you cannot do that then you will be spending every Krondag morning, at least—and probably a few nights—learning how to do it.” She scanned the crowd. Several of the women, particularly the younger ones who have been here some time look…reluctant and about to object. They would have found no need for writing as slaves. I have to kill that reluctance before it is given voice otherwise it will be much harder later. “If we are to stay a free village, we all need to be as skilled as we can be. What is the use of being a guard if you cannot read or leave a message? Outside this valley even slaves can usually read and write. You have decided to let us be your Princesses and this is our decision.” She looked sternly at them. “Once you have done that test, and made any arrangements that you need to make, you may practice with weapons, or with riding, until lunch.”

  She continued more lightly, “After lunch we will continue our testing of what people can do. We already know that most of you could use a little help with weapons,” that caused laughter, “but today I will also be testing people to see if they can become mages. Hulagu and Verily have already approached me and have started some training, but I would love to start our own little school. Unlike the way it was in Haven, I will teach any of you who want to try to learn regardless of caste. If you do not want to try
to be a mage, then go back to training with weapons. I am sure we will need all the skill we can gain in that area.”

  ~~~

  Ruth has eight students and all of them have glum faces except for Parminder, who appears to be happy most of the time, and Verily—it is hard to tell what Verily thinks of if she doesn’t want you to.

  ~~~

  A lot of good it does reminding people that Krondag is to be, generally and as much as possible, their day of training and teaching, when Lãdi snorts at it.

  “For me every day is work.” I heard that. The woman may want to work herself to death, but everyone needs some time doing something different. She sighed. If I am supposed to be their ruler now, I had better do some ruling. It took some stern words to convince Lãdi to take the whole day off. Others could look after the kitchen on Krondag.

  She still had to be chased out of it several times. I need to have a few more words with her.

  ~~~

  All of the Mice who were former slaves are here. I have them sitting around thinking about things and concentrating on bits of fluff, candle flames, grains of sand or water. From the expression on their faces it may not be what they are expecting. Do they seriously expect to cast a spell straight off? It seems so for at least some of them. Some were sent away and some decided that this was not what they thought it would be and left on their own accord. By the end of the day, I am more than happy. Some of my students are a little surprised to still be here, but it is not a bad start. I have Verily, Naeve, Fortunata, a pair of young Caliphate girls—Fãtima and Bilqĩs—and both Goditha and Parminder. That is interesting. With Fãtima the last to make it into the class, three of my potential mages have been brought here as children and have managed to survive the experience. Is that significant?

  She studied her new students. “Naeve, I cannot be sure at this stage, but I feel you will never be a strong mage. Having said that, you are free to continue if you wish and there is no reason that you cannot be successful. Remember that we are now going to be studying as in a real school and some mages that I have known, much weaker than others, have risen much further than the more talented because they have studied and worked hard.”

  “Oh, I will stay,” Naeve replied. “Are you joking?…I am a milkmaid… My mother was a milkmaid…As far as I know every woman in my line has been a cursed milkmaid. Now, to be honest I do not mind being a milkmaid. A few days ago…God it seems a lifetime ago… milking a cow certainly used to beat spending every day underneath a hairy and usually unwashed and smelly man pretending to enjoy whatever he did to me, while I thought Giles, whom I knew loved me would never have me even once. But the chance to be a mage…I am not passing that up. All of the women of my line will be so jealous.”

  Rani nodded with a smile. “Verily, Fãtima, Bilqĩs, Goditha and Parminder: Ruth tells me you are all working on your reading and writing with her. This now becomes much more important. It is essential for a mage to write… Do any of you wish to stop now?” She waited a little. “Good. She will now add an extra lesson for all of you one night a week.” There were a few groans. “Hulagu does not know it yet, but he will be joining you. You are all going to learn High Speech. Ruth will start on teaching you the basics and then either Theodora or I will take over. Verily, you are going to have to work very hard, because Ayesha wants to work with you as well and train you in her ways of fighting. She tells me that you and Bianca have potential and by the end of winter she wants to see you almost fully trained. I will want to spend as much time with you as she does, so do not count on too much partying.” Again she paused. “Does anyone have any questions?”

  Fortunata raised her hand. “I don’t know anything about being a mage and…you hear stories…will it hurt my life in bed?”

  “I hope not, and if it does it is news to both Theodora and me.”

  Fortunata nodded. “While I am learning, before I get control, will I be dangerous to anyone who is in bed with me if I have a bad dream?”

  “To be honest,” said Rani, “I have heard of it happening. But it was only the one time. Most of the time it would be like going to sleep and then accidentally firing a bow in your bed and hitting someone.” This caused smiles at least. “Is there anything else?” She looked around. There was a shaking of heads. “All right, then go and put on some old clothes and hit things…and Verily dear, try and avoid taking your top off again like you did yesterday.” Now that I have acknowledged to myself that I like women, I had best not mention that I had been more distracted by what I saw then the men seemed to be. Even Verily had to smile a tight smile at the weak jest.

  ~~~

  That night in bed, Rani, over the sleeping body of a child, quietly told Theodora what she had found out. “If all three of the girls who survived a childhood here have the potential to be mages do you think that perhaps Fear might—”

  “Hush dear. She is still getting used to being our daughter. She is still far too young to test. Even the oldest of the children is a couple of years away from puberty. We will have plenty of time to find out if our daughter will become a mage. But speaking of our daughter, I know she likes sleeping with us, but I want some time with you…alone. I think that it is time that we had a house of our own. How are we going to organise that?”

  “Father Christopher told me that Goditha is planning to rebuild one as well. According to Robin all of the girls—as well as being used for sex—had to do almost all of the work themselves. Apparently she had to train herself to become a mason and a bit of a carpenter—she sometimes even used to help Norbert. Perhaps we can get her out of other work and make her our village builder and book her services.”

  “Good idea. Now you need to get your sleep. I am going to start with my big spell tomorrow and you and I are both going to need rest beforehand.”

  ~~~

  The next day, before breakfast, Theodora began preparing for the spell to protect the valley from magical inquisitiveness. “Dearest, have you seen a piece of jade anywhere—any piece will do. Is there any in that treasure cave that Harald showed you?”

  Rani thought for a bit. “There is just the piece. Do you want it now?”

  “The sooner the better.”

  Rani went down into the hidden cupboard and brought back a small piece of jade, half a hand long, carved in the shape of a mouse.

  Theodora smiled. “Better and better,” and, wrapping it carefully, slipped it into her pouch. “Now I am going to make an odd request to them all at breakfast. You will understand why. Back me up if I need it, please.”

  ~~~

  As they were all finishing breakfast Theodora stood up. “I am going to ask you all to do something that will be…distasteful for many of you. I do not ask you lightly. I am going to try and cast a spell that will protect this valley and everyone in it from prying magical eyes. This is a spell that normally only someone as powerful as my Granther, Hrothnog, would do. I would normally die if I tried it, but I think I have found a way to cast it safely. If I am wrong I will still die in front of you and you will have to watch. I think that it is worth that risk…if you will all help me.”

  She looked around. The matter of fact way that she said the words ‘I will die’ caused looks of horror to appear on faces. I am relieved that the new mage apprentices mainly look curious rather than fearful. I probably look more worried than them…and she didn’t even warn me…but I am her lover and they are not.

  “Outside the hall are a large number of small pots that Lãdi has found for me. I want you each to take one, and take one for everyone who is not here… This is where it gets messy. I want each of you to put into a pot a small amount of you. I want each of you to…go to the toilet…in both ways…in it. I want you to spit in it. I want a clipping of your hair in it and I want a clipping of a finger or toenail in it. I have an extra request for the men. I would also like some of your seed in it. I am sorry to ask this of you, and I will take care of what you give me and destroy them safely when I am done, but this is the only
way I can cast this spell. Naeve and Giles. I want more from you. There are some larger pots. In them I want seeds of the plants here. I want little bits of wool, little pieces of grass, some of the earth, the water. I need some of the timber of the wood to burn. In fact, if it is charcoal already, that will be even better. What I want is the essence of the entire valley.” She stopped and then had a second thought and blushed a bit. “Father Christopher, obviously I cannot ask for your seed; forgive me.”

  “There is nothing for me to forgive, my daughter. We have already been thinking here about the vexed question of doing things that are normally forbidden in the name of good.” He looked significantly at Bianca, who shuffled in her seat. “You are obviously serious about dying if you do not get this right.”

  Theodora acknowledged him with a nod.

  Sri Ayyappan, wise protector, I pray to you. I know I am unhappier than I was before. Don’t let my exotic Princess die. I have just found her.

  “In that case I will give you of my seed and will ask forgiveness later. It is good for us all to help you help us. Thank you for asking us.”

  “Thank you Father. Oh, and for all those studying magic, Rani will have you watching what I do today and tomorrow when you will give me your pots. I suspect your next few lessons will focus on why I am doing what I am doing. It should help you learn the theory if you see it in action on a scale that few in the entire Land will ever see.” She briefly gave a tight and forced smile. “That is, if it works for me.”