by Joe Jackson
Kari folded her arms across her chest and sighed quietly again. “A long time ago, I was traveling through what they call the ‘dragon mountains’ of Terrassia,” she began, and quickly had the attention of everyone in the room. Whether it was because of how off-topic her words seemed or the fact that she was divulging some personal history seemed to depend largely on the listener. “While I was scouting out something, I encountered an erestram. We fought for several minutes, and I ended up disabling him. I’m not ashamed to say it was mostly luck and the fact that he didn’t seem to take me very seriously as an opponent, alone and so much smaller than he was. But I took off part of his hand, and then part of his foot, and before he knew it, he was on his knees, defenseless and at my mercy.”
Kari didn’t miss the subtle scribbling of Master Goldberg, but she tried to ignore it. “To this day, Masters, I’m not sure why I let him go. At the time, I knew him as a demon of the underworld, and a dangerous adversary, and everything in my gut told me to kill him and be done with it. But I didn’t, and I won’t pretend it’s because I was…attuned to Zalkar or had our lord’s tenet in mind. He had surrendered himself to my judgment, and despite whatever he may have done while here on our world, all I saw was something defenseless that I wouldn’t have felt right killing.”
“His name was Etolivor, and I let him go. Turns out he had a mate. They may have even had children together, I’m not sure,” she continued, and it was clear the priests were curious how she knew all of this. “He helped Sonja, Danilynn, Se’sasha, and me escape Sorelizar. Now, I’m not saying Atauridar is ever going to save someone’s life or even that he’ll change his ways, but…I don’t know. I’m not that smart, Masters, and I’m far from a phil…osophical woman, but as I get older, I find that Zalkar’s tenet keeps changing, keeps…evolving. We don’t just show mercy because we want to prove we’re better than our enemies. We show mercy so mercy is in turn shown to us, and it will come back to us, in this life or the next.”
“Anyway, you asked me for my thoughts, and this is what I think: the War is over. We should leave it in the past; bury the hatchet as they say. We’re trying to help Kaelariel bring his people into the light, and we’re not going to help with that if we strike Atauridar down out of some veiled vengeance.”
“You suggest we set him free, then?” Master Bennet asked.
“Not exactly,” Kari answered, and she looked over at Kyrie. “I brought my mother-in-law with me because there’s another alternative, something I’m not sure I’m supposed to share, since I’m pretty sure I’m not even supposed to know about it.”
“Miss Kyleah?” Master Bennet prompted as all eyes fell on the half-guardian priestess.
“How do you know about this?” she asked her daughter-in-law.
“Master…or Brother Samuel Tirar in Raugro, on Tsalbrin, told me about it when…,” Kari began, but she trailed off. She blew out a sigh. “When my friend Makauric was killed.”
Kyrie nodded and turned to the Council. “My lord has a place that was prepared for serilis-rir uninterested or unable to live among us,” she answered. “I will say no more on the subject, so please don’t ask. Rest assured that where he takes them, they will be no bother to us, nor we to them.”
“So you’re suggesting exile?” Master van Holtzer said, a little calmer than in his earlier outburst.
“In a sense, yes,” Kari affirmed. “I think the biggest mistake would be to take the War personally and make Atauridar pay the price for it. We don’t have to like him or even respect him, but my personal feelings are that he was just a soldier, doing his duty in a time of War.”
“I’m not certain I agree with that,” Master MacDonald said.
“You are wasting your time,” Atauridar said to Kari, interrupting the priest. “As I said when this began, their decision was made before any of us set foot in this chamber.”
“You be quiet,” Kari berated him, and the serilis-rir’s brows rose in surprise. “If you’re judged today, it’s not going to be by this Order. You’re serilis-rir, so you’re one of Kaelariel’s charges, and frankly, I’m happy to let him handle this. If he wants you to pay for the things you’ve done, that’s his business. If not, he can take you to this other place, and you won’t have to worry about us, and we won’t have to worry about you.”
“Her solution does make the most sense,” Master Arinotte said through a sigh. “If we take it upon ourselves to pass judgment here, we are risking the work Lady Vanador began when she helped bring our deities closer together.”
“I agree,” Master Franklin put in. “Leaving judgment in the hands of Kaelariel makes the most sense.”
“All in favor?” Master Bennet asked, and he was answered with seven Ayes. Master van Holtzer withheld his own, but neither did he voice his feelings when Master Bennet asked if he was dissenting. “Miss Kyleah, how should we proceed?”
Kyrie pursed her lips. “We’ll need to get him out of the city quietly,” she said. “If too many people become aware of his presence, the judgment – or lack thereof – of this Council may not matter. Cover him up and have him brought to Kaelariel’s temple, and my people will take care of him from there.”
“What have you done?” Atauridar asked Kari.
She looked into his eyes, so much question, confusion, and wonder swirling in their crimson depths. “Something I hope I don’t live to regret, but that’s going to be up to you.”
“May I ask a favor of you?”
“I think she’s already granted you one,” Corbanis grumbled from behind the elite serilis-rir, but Kari held a hand up and motioned for him to be quiet.
“What is it?” Kari prompted.
“Find Taesenus, and kill him,” Atauridar said, a sudden fury showing through those eyes.
Kari scoffed. “I intend to, but not as a favor to you or anyone else.”
“Fair enough,” he answered, and then he turned to Kyrie. “Whenever you are ready, priestess, I will follow.”
Kyrie looked to the Council, who gestured for her to take her leave and then bid her farewell. Kari motioned for Corbanis and Erik to escort them, and soon it was just her, Lord Allerius, and the Council in the chamber. She glanced at her friend and former commander, and he smiled at her, though he said nothing. He didn’t have to; she knew that smile well enough to know he was proud of her, whether he agreed with her actions or not. She was surprised that Zalkar’s symbol hadn’t glowed when she’d made her decision, though; had he disagreed with her? And if so, why did the Council not override her?
“You continue to prove yourself quite an asset to this Order and our lord, and a fine example to those hunters under your command,” Master Perez said.
“I don’t agree with the decision,” Master van Holtzer put in before Kari could respond. “I think letting him go, even to some other place under Kaelariel’s supervision, was a mistake. But don’t take my attitude for a judgment of you, Lady Vanador. What you said and did took a great deal of faith and courage, and I’m impressed. I just…I lost too many friends and family in that damned War to forgive so easily.”
“We all did,” Kari offered quietly. “Though I have to say, Masters, I was expecting to see Zalkar’s symbol glowing if he agreed with me. Did we just make a mistake?”
Master Bennet finally smiled. “No, I am afraid it will not be so simple. While you are being tested, you can expect he will not give you visual cues to follow to make decisions. He will weigh your thoughts and your words, and when he is either completely satisfied or not, you will know it.”
“Hmph. As if I don’t have enough on my mind already. By your leave, Masters, I still have some wedding planning to do,” Kari said.
“Go on,” Master Bennet said with a dismissive wave. “Lord Allerius will assist us in sorting the rest of this out. Please have Corbanis and Erik return to us when they’re finished escorting Atauridar to Kaelariel’s temple. We do have some questions about where they found him, and what else we may have to expect from other holdo
uts.”
“As you wish,” Kari said with a salute, and she waddled her way from the chamber.
*****
The wedding day arrived even quicker than the planned wait had indicated. There were well over a thousand in attendance, and Kari could scarcely believe she knew so many people, even indirectly. Adding Damansha and Serenjols’ own wedding to the proceedings had barely made a noticeable change in the number of attendees. The campus of the Order, expected to be more than enough ground to handle all the onlookers and well-wishers, was teeming with people hours before the ceremonies began.
Kari glanced over the campus’ main square from the high windows of the second floor of the priests’ domicile. She and Damansha had been afforded the use of the entire second floor to get ready for their big moments, and Liria and Se’sasha were busily making sure Kari’s dress fit perfectly. Kari already had her hair and claws tended to, so all that remained was to put the dress on. For now, though, she was content to walk around mostly naked, sheltered from prying eyes by the height and reflectiveness of the upper-story windows.
Down below, she could see her family was already assembled, easily identified even among the massive crowd thanks to Ty’s wheelchair and the tall forms of most of her in-laws. Corbanis and Kyrie were there, and though they had been cordial and a little standoffish since his return from the south, they now held hands as they walked among the gathering. Kari had a feeling that seeing their sons get married might help mend things between them. Above all, she was glad she had not caused a large-scale argument by ordering Corbanis to DarkWind.
The majority of the crowd’s attention was drawn to two curious figures on the west side of the main square. The six-foot-nine, red-skinned form of Kaelariel was unmistakable, and Kari knew it was no small thing to have the deity in attendance. He wasn’t just a deity and the head of the pantheon, but Grakin’s deity specifically, and Kari had to imagine that performing a wedding in the presence of her god was going to put a lot of pressure on Kyrie. Standing beside Kaelariel, his eight-foot frame even more impressive, was Celigus Chinchala. Kari couldn’t help but smirk; it wasn’t every day a demon king came to the campus of the Order – in peace no less – and she was just glad he hadn’t brought his kast’wa.
That, of course, made Kari wonder if he even could, but she shook the thought away. The last thing she wanted to think about on her wedding day was work, and thinking about King Koursturaux could be considered nothing else.
The Duke of Sutherland was chatting casually with the deity and the demon king, and he had quite a retinue of paladins with him. Earl Markus Garant and Katarina had been following Krycyd since his arrival, and Gabrius stayed amongst them as well. It was as many paladins as Kari had ever seen in one place. She wasn’t sure where Sherman and Sharyn were, but they were about somewhere.
She spotted them after a minute, mostly keeping to a corner of the grounds where the rest of Sharyn’s pack was. Gil was with them, too. Word hadn’t been spread yet of the fact that any of them were werewolves, and nobody seemed to pay much mind to Gil’s appearance. Kari had heard that when one of the werewolves, Darren, was introduced to the Council of the Order, they had recognized him by name and rank. Just as Gil had mentioned, Darren had long served as a lieutenant among the ducal armies of Carinthia to the north, and his name was well-known, even if his status as a werewolf was not.
At last, Kari’s eyes fell upon her handsome mate, chatting congenially with some of the members of the Order’s Council on the steps of the temple. Grakin was well-respected as a healer, and Kari assumed the fact that he was about to marry her would only expand the respect he received from the Order. Though Kari knew many of the hunters on campus had more than just an eye for her, they viewed her foremost as their commander, and many of them were admittedly quite intimidated by her history. The fact that she was approaching forty years old never seemed to deter anyone’s interest, strangely enough; in almost every situation, she was told that she “hardly looked a day over twenty-five.” Kari smiled, thinking of Trigonh and, more pointedly, his gift to her.
She turned when Damansha burst into the room dressed in the barest of undergarments. “All right, let’s get that dress on, ladies,” she said to the two syrinthians. Kari was surprised by how easily Damansha had accepted the serpent-women as acquaintances, if not exactly friends. Liria had helped put together a lovely dress for Damansha, but where Kari’s gown was purple, the half-elite woman’s was of pure ivory. Kari wasn’t positive that meant she and Jol had waited to be married before mating, but she was pretty sure that was the case.
Liria and Se’sasha went into a flurry of activity, carefully fitting the dress onto the half-elite woman without tearing it or pulling on her wings too sharply. Damansha was done up in minutes in the beautiful dress, the barest of sparkles and other highlights around her eyes, her hair done up in eight, evenly-spaced braids, and her claws polished the same color as her dress. Kari had so often seen Damansha dressed casually or armored in preparation for her work as a captain of the guard that seeing her like this was amazing. She looked like a goddess.
“You look gorgeous,” Kari commented. “If we weren’t both about to get married, I might propose to you.”
Damansha swung a surprised gaze on Kari, but then started laughing. “I can’t wait to see how you look,” she said. “You already look great, and you don’t even have your dress on yet.”
Soon enough, Damansha was ready, and Liria and Se’sasha escorted her down the steps to the front door of the domicile. Just as Kari had started to suspect, Damansha had no living immediate family, which explained why she was so touched to be readily accepted into Jol’s. Several men had offered to walk her to the steps of the temple in place of her father, but as Kari understood it, the half-elite woman had turned them all down – even Duke Bosimar himself. Kari wasn’t sure if Damansha had something against being “given away,” but the demonhunter watched out the window while the half-elite woman made her way slowly through the square.
The music from the string quartet was barely audible from up here and behind a window, but Damansha’s steps were sure as she walked the grounds, and the crowd parted to form a long, wide path for her. She only made it about halfway before someone stepped out and stopped her progress, though. Kari squinted, trying to see what was going on. Even from the distance, Kari could tell who it was, and her heart skipped a beat: Awlinscar, the lord of the elite serilis-rir, had come to escort Damansha. The half-elite woman slid her arm through his without hesitation, and Kari smiled: the elite serilis-rir were all like brothers, and that would make Awlinscar family. The thought made Kari consider her mercy to Atauridar, and she wondered what Awlinscar would think of it.
They proceeded to the far north end of the square and the steps of the temple, where Jol met her and escorted her the rest of the way. The Council stood in a semi-circle before the doors to the temple, and Kyrie stood before them. Kari wished she could hear the proceedings from her vantage point, but she knew she’d be going through the same process soon enough. Kyrie spoke for a short time, and then the couple held hands and began exchanging their vows. Soon, Jol and Damansha placed rings on each other’s fingers, but then Jol began saying something to his new wife.
“Shut up and kiss her, you fool,” Kari chuckled. “There’ll be plenty of time for talk when your heads hit the pillow.”
The somewhat embarrassed snickers of the two syrinthian women behind her only made Kari smile ever wider. She had to remind herself that both Liria and Se’sasha had yet to see twenty summers, and indeed, were unlikely to have ever participated in a romantic relationship. Once Jol leaned forward and he and Damansha shared a long, passionate kiss, Kyrie began a final prayer, and the entire gathering dropped to one knee. Kari turned back toward the two syrinthians and started getting dressed.
Soon Kari was all done up, just as Damansha had been, and though the pregnant belly was a stark contrast to the half-elite woman’s burly physique, Kari thought she look
ed rather cute. Once she was ready, Liria and Se’sasha left to join the rest of the gathering outside. Kari stayed upstairs for about another ten minutes, trying desperately not to fidget too much and ruin her hair or her claws. And then a bell tolled, signaling to her that it was time to walk the aisle.
She descended the stairs calmly and with surprising grace for her condition, and made her way to the front door. She opened it and stepped out, and all eyes on this side of the gathering turned on her immediately. There were smiles and a few chuckles, and Kari wondered if it was her belly amusing some of the spectators. She tried not to get insulted or hurt, and instead she concentrated on the feelings of the man waiting at the end of the long, open aisle. She, too, had opted not to be escorted to the “altar,” and after taking a deep breath, she started forward.
A massive shadow drew her attention to the left before she had even taken a single step, and her jaw dropped open. Standing there, his ten-foot form encased in armor that had been polished to a mirrored shine, was Trigonh. The erestram was groomed, armed, and armored, and he stepped before Kari and folded his hands behind his back. “Hello, my friend,” he said softly.
It took Kari a moment to find her voice. “Trigonh!” she barked. “Damnit, you can’t shock a pregnant woman like this! You’re lucky I’m not going into labor!” The erestram laughed, crouched down, and opened his arms to her, and Kari rushed in for as tight a hug as they could manage with her belly between them. “I’d ask what brings you here, but that would be a pretty silly thing to ask, wouldn’t it?”
Some of the nearby cadets and guests chuckled again, but Trigonh paid them little heed. “I came to see you get married, naturally, but I also wanted to ask a favor of you, my friend,” he said, his face taking on a more serious expression. “If it is all right with you, I would like the honor of giving you away.”