"Then we'll take you back there as soon as we can."
She went to the front of the air-car. Rune and Cloud paused their game as she passed by, clearly wondering what she was doing.
She stopped by where Wind was piloting the air-car. The controls were simple: just a single stick that moved the vehicle side to side. A button could be pushed to drop it down, another to cause it to rise.
"The girls are from a place called Anargyr," said Sword. "Can we take them back?" she asked.
Wind looked at her. The mask was pushed back on her head in the way Sword was coming to realize she wore it when she was at ease in her surroundings. But she still had trouble reading the woman's expression.
Wind's gaze flicked past Sword's shoulder. Rune approached. "Brother Scieran told us to come back straightway, so we couldn't be followed."
"Brother Scieran didn't know we'd be saving hostages," said Sword. She said it softly, not wanting to start a fight with the other girl. But Rune didn't seem angry, just thoughtful.
A moment later, Cloud joined them. He eyed the girls huddled at the back of the car, then turned to his sister. The two of them seemed to have a wordless conversation, then Wind turned to Sword. She nodded, a motion so slight that it could have been imagination were Sword not watching for it.
She also thought – and this really could have been imagination – that Wind smiled at her. Just a little. Still, it made her feel the way Armor had when he hugged her.
Are you so starved for love?
No, not love. Belonging.
And she knew it was true. She had lost herself in the kennels, and been found again in the arms of her father-friend. She had been reborn as a Blessed One, and had died inside when she found she was living a lie.
She needed yet another birth, yet another life – this time as a Cursed One. And like all new births, this one came in blood and tears… and it required the help of others. She needed Wind's smile, not because it meant love, but simply because it meant she wasn't alone.
Rune had gone to the side window. Nearby, Arrow piloted the other air-ship in perfect sync with theirs. Rune caught his attention after a moment, and signaled that they would be diverting. Arrow's face twisted in confusion, but he nodded: clearly he understood that they'd be going somewhere else, though he didn't know why.
But he trusted.
Cloud joined Rune and pointed to the back of the air-car where the freed slaves knelt, heads together, perhaps praying. Arrow saw them.
He nodded, and this time seemed to understand where they were going.
The air-car had a few things in its stores, among them a sky-map of Ansborn. Anargyr was too small to be on the map, but Duolasa showed them the Imperial Army base it lay nearby. Wind made for the area.
Duolasa guided them.
Before they landed, she gasped.
When they landed, she wept.
So did the other girls.
It wasn't hard to see why: Anargyr was gone.
Like the village Sword had seen in her vision, like the doomed Nasius, Anargyr had been destroyed. No wood remained unburned, no stone remained unbroken.
Duolasa and the other girls wanted to rush off the air-car, wanted to go into the village to check for survivors. But Sword could see that the place had been burnt down days or weeks ago. If there had been survivors, they had long gone.
And she did not want the slave girls to see what she feared lay in the center of the ruins.
"Who would do this?" asked Duolasa. "Why would anyone do this?"
"The Empire," answered Rune. She spat to the side. "The Chancellor and his cur of an Emperor." She looked at Duolasa. "Did you pay full taxes at season's end?"
Duolasa shook her head. "The crops were bad. We paid what we could, but –"
"Then that was why Ambek landed when he took you. He was seeking full payment. And when he didn't get it he sent word to the Chancellor, who sent the Army to sack your village as an example."
Duolasa wept. Rune looked uncomfortable. Rage twisted Cloud's features, and Wind dropped her mask over her face. Arrow – who had landed as well – and Sword went to Duolasa. They reached out as one and their fingers touched when they both tried to hold her shoulder.
Sword's fingers jerked back. Arrow didn't seem to notice the contact. He held Duolasa, then started to pull her close.
She shied away. Looked at him with terror.
Of course. After what she's been through… what Ambek has done to her.
Sword shoved Arrow aside. She didn't mean to do it roughly, but there was no time to explain. No time to tell him that a man's touch was the last thing the girl would want right now.
Arrow looked hurt, unsure what he had done wrong.
Sword moved to the place he had been standing. Duolasa let her pull her in. Sword held her. Duolasa – older in Turns but a little girl in this moment – sobbed.
"We'll take you with us," said Sword. She stroked the other girl's hair. "You'll be safe."
"My family is gone." The words came in hitches and gasps.
"We're your family now."
A hand reached past her. Cloud, touching Duolasa's head lightly with one hand, his other touching Sword on the shoulder. Arrow moved close as well, touching Cloud and Sword, creating a large circle with Duolasa at the center. Then he moved to the other girls, joining Rune and Wind who were trying to comfort them as well.
Something cracked. A stone, hanging in its place for just this moment, fell away.
Duolasa continued to weep.
Sword felt Wind's hand on her arm. Felt Arrow's touch like a phantom that remained after he himself had left.
The success of their mission had not drawn them together. But this tragedy had.
Sometimes the world is awful. Sometimes it is evil, and cruel. But sometimes that very cruelty serves to remind us we are together in the dark, and must cling to each other long enough to find the light.
And sometimes, the touch of another is the light.
Sword looked up. Still holding tight to Duolasa, still comforting a broken girl. Still knowing that, like all broken people, she could someday be healed. Could, with the right care, be put back together stronger than she had been.
She looked over to the other girls. To Wind and Arrow. Arrow spoke to the girls in low tones. Some of the girls were weeping, too, silent tears tracking shining paths down cheeks that had already seen too many of such things.
Arrow met Sword's eyes. Just for a moment, he stopped speaking. Suddenly it was as though they were the only two people here. The only two people standing before the bones of a once-living place.
He smiled at her. Not a happy smile, of course. But in the sadness there was also some good. Something she had not seen until this instant. Something that made her feel strong, and hopeful.
Sword belonged.
12
Brother Scieran was on them almost before the air-cars had landed. Pounding on Arrow's back, embracing Sword and Rune, clasping arms with Wind and Cloud. "You've done well!" he said. "Wonderfully, wonderfully! I do wish I could have gone with you."
"We settled this already, and I wish we didn't have to re-settle it every time," said Arrow. "You're too valuable to go with us on most of the missions."
"You're the planner," agreed Rune. "And no offense, but as good as you are with your shoelace and your nosepicker," she added, pointing to Brother Scieran's sickle and his whip, "you're just not a Cursed One."
Sword nodded as well. She hadn't been a part of the decision for Brother Scieran to stay behind, but she agreed with it. He was obviously the leader of this small group, and the leader did not put himself in jeopardy for individual missions.
"Yes, yes, I suppose you're right," said Brother Scieran gruffly. "And we do have to take into account my sudden bouts of diarrhea."
He still had hold of Wind's arm when he said that, and though the woman's face remained impassive, Sword could see her tense slightly.
"What?" said Arrow and Rune at the
same time.
"Yes, indeed," said Brother Scieran. "That and my fiercely burning hemmorhoids keep me at the rear – pardon the expression – while you young bucks –"
"SMOKE!"
Brother Scieran – another Brother Scieran – came stomping around the side of a huge stalagmite. The one that had been talking until now grinned and shimmered, his shape becoming the muscular form of Smoke. He grinned even wider as the real Brother Scieran started cursing him with the ability and enthusiasm of a drunken Imperial soldier.
"Good Gods, preacher – do you say your prayers with that mouth?" said Smoke with an innocent smile.
That sent Brother Scieran into another round of apoplectic cursing, followed by, "If you ever imitate me again, I'll make sure that next time you go into the brothels you won't need to disguise your manhood." He fingered his sickle suggestively.
"Well, sorry, preacher," said Smoke. "But I really don't think that would be a good idea – I'd make a terribly ugly lady."
"I second that," said Arrow.
Brother Scieran started cursing again. Sword couldn't help but laugh, and laughed still harder when Smoke caught her eye and winked.
Brother Scieran finally wound down – evidently his knowledge of profane words and obscene suggestions for biological impossibilities had reached its limits – and looked at the group. "The mission went well?" he said.
Arrow nodded. "Ambek is dead. We took down his chariot, too."
"Good. Excellent." Brother Scieran shifted his attention to the girls who were coming slowly out of the air-car. Duolasa led them, the group looking like a litter of fur-cats that had been beaten into submission and now were afraid even of the freedom that they had so long desired.
Brother Scieran moved quickly to them. He bowed low, seeming to know exactly what had happened to them without being told. "I am Brother Scieran," he said. "Priest of Faith, of the Order of Chain. And while you are here no harm will befall you, so long as I live and breathe."
The girls all looked at each other, as though afraid to believe him – or perhaps simply afraid of him. He looked to Rune. "Rune, do we have any more tents?"
Rune nodded. "There are three empties on the edge of the group that I think would be perfect."
"Good." Brother Scieran bowed again. "I will visit you soon, and help you get acclimated. Until then, Rune will take you to tents where you may rest, and she will bring you food if you desire."
One of the other girls spoke. "When can we go home?"
Sword felt like weeping for the girl. They had all seen what happened to the village, they had all stood before the ruins of their past lives. But this one seemed like she still stared at the image of Anargyr. Not the Anargyr as they had seen it – burnt, pillaged, utterly destroyed – but as she no doubt remembered it. As a place where she was happy. A place she called home.
Rune didn't answer. Just took the girl on one side as Duolasa took her on the other. Together, the other freed slaves following, they went toward the lake at the center of the cavern. The girl walked as in a trance.
Sword wondered if she would ever wake.
I hope so. Please, Gods, let it be so.
Brother Scieran motioned for the rest of the group to come with him. Surprisingly, Smoke started in the opposite direction: toward the air-cars.
"Where's Smoke going?" asked Sword.
Smoke shimmered, and when he reappeared he had changed to his prostitute guise.
Sword wondered if he always looked like the same one. It seemed so.
Before she could speak, Smoke rolled his shoulder suggestively. "I'm off for more information, sweetie." He sighed, heaving his bosom dramatically. "Sometimes this beautiful body is a curse."
Arrow coughed as though he was trying not to say something devastating. Smoke grinned. "Jealousy doesn't become you, my love," he said. He blew a kiss in Cloud's and Wind's direction. Surprisingly, Cloud actually pretended to snatch the kiss out of the air and stow it in his breast pocket. "Take care of them for me, my dears," said Smoke. Then he was in the air-car and lifting away from the cavern floor.
Sword watched the air-car until it had disappeared down the corridor that was the only way in or out of the cave – save perhaps that strange whirlpool in the center of the lake. Something was bothering her, though she couldn't quite figure out what.
Then the air-car was gone. Too late now. She would figure it out and tell him when he came back. For now….
She stood there for a few moments, just letting the quiet of the cave wash over her. She could hear the distant murmur of some of the refugees, the muted sound of the waterfall crashing down, but it all seemed part of a dream.
A good dream.
"What are we doing?" she asked. The words came without her realizing it, though had she thought about it they were exactly the ones she would have asked.
"Haven't you been following that?" asked Rune. "We're trying to stop the bad guys from winning."
"Yes, but how?" Sword looked at Brother Scieran. "Please tell me that the plan isn't just to kill off one person at a time until only good people are left. Whoever they are."
"You're a cynical girl," said Arrow.
"Live in the kennels for most of your life and then find out that the only purpose you ever had was a lie and see how hopeful you are," she said.
Brother Scieran nodded. "No, you're right, Sword. The plan isn't just to assassinate people and send the corrupt men and women of the Empire to their doom one at a time." He looked at the others in the group. "But we weren't going to bring you into the complete plan all at once."
Sword felt a strange relief. "So you didn't trust me with everything. Good."
"Good?" Rune sounded amused.
"I thought you were all over-trusting idiots."
Arrow laughed. It was the first time he had really done so in her presence, and she was surprised what a difference it made to his features. They transformed into something quite handsome. She remembered Devar, thought of how good-looking he was, and though Arrow was nowhere as handsome as Devar, he was in some strange way just as attractive.
"Well, I hope we've proved we're not idiots," said Arrow. He seemed to remember himself. The laugh died, the smile faded from his face. She could almost read his thoughts: Don't get close. This girl killed my father. She was there when my brother died.
Arrow looked at Brother Scieran. "She did well on the mission. She led us through it." He delivered the words in the near-monotone of someone trying desperately to maintain control. And constantly on the verge of losing.
Brother Scieran looked at Wind and Cloud, who both nodded. Rune added, "Yeah, she did good."
"Well, then, come with me. I've much to show you."
He took them back to the large tent. Rune and Arrow stopped several times along the way, speaking to people in various tents, a word here, a gesture there. The people were in good spirits, but it was clear that they regarded the Cursed Ones as saviors – if not more.
Wind and Cloud surprised Sword. They hadn't gone far into the encampment when several children ran toward them. The twins' expressions didn't change much, but they pulled small candies from inside the folds of their clothing and handed them to the children.
"Thank you, Stormies!" shouted one little girl. Several others echoed the sentiment. After the candy had all been handed out, Wind pulled her silver mask down over her face and crouched while spreading her arms and fingers: a classic monster pose.
The children screamed in mock fright and scattered to all parts of the encampment, turning and waving to Wind as they ran away, juice from the candies running down over their chins and necks.
Then the Cursed Ones were past the encampment, past the hum of the voices of people at work and play in this underground dream.
Brother Scieran threw back the flap to the big tent and gestured them in. He followed, dropping the flap behind.
There were no chairs in the tent, but there were pillows and rugs after the manner of the people of Faith, and he
gestured for all of them to sit. He remained standing, hands resting on the handle of his sickle and the butt of his whip. He looked ready to do battle, as though prepared for enemies to burst into the tent at any moment.
It was a strangely comforting sight. Like she had trusted herself to a man who could actually protect her, to a Pack leader prepared to live and die for them.
He looked at each of them in turn, finally saying, "Excellent job. I already said words to that effect, but it bears repeating. The Minister of Finance was one of the four most powerful men in a corrupt government, and his death will send that government into a frenzy for a while. Not only will it keep them from looking for us – they'll have better things to do – it will hopefully provide openings for further action on our part."
"So what's the next move?" asked Rune. She shimmered. "Everyone shut up," she said. "You all talk so much I can't tell what's going to happen next."
Indeed, Arrow had his mouth open to speak, but now he shut it and waited.
Brother Scieran chuckled. "Now, we wait for Smoke to come back with further intelligence."
"Someone should tell him to change his appearance," said Sword.
"What?" Brother Scieran frowned.
Sword spoke, realizing as she did that this was what had been bothering her as Smoke left. "Does he always look like the same prostitute?"
"Well, we've hardly sampled his wares on a regular basis –" began Rune.
"Quiet," snapped Brother Scieran. Then he switched his attention to Sword. "I assume so."
"He does," said Arrow softly. "He spent a great deal of time constructing a woman who would not only drive men mad enough with desire that they would open their secrets to her, but one who would appeal to a wide range of men." His brow furrowed. "Smoke said it was harder creating a face and body out of nothing but imagination, as it were, so he always uses that one."
"Then sooner or later he's going to get caught," said Sword. "He has to use different identities each time."
Brother Scieran nodded after a moment. "As soon as he gets back, we'll tell him that." Then he looked at the group. "Until then, however, we're waiting on our next intelligence."
The Sword Chronicles: Child of the Empire Page 22