by Jim Butcher
And what would he do to stop it?
He'd find me Kill me And sow confusion among the holders until his plan could begin
A slow chill went through her She considered the situation again, but it was perfectly typical of Fidelias He preferred simple approaches, direct solutions Keep lies simple, he had always told her, keep plans simple Leave them open to modification, and use your eyes, your head, more than any plan
Word of a Cursor in the Valley would spread among the holders like wildfire She might as well paint a circle over her heart and wait for an arrow to soar into its center A slow chill crawled through her He would kill her, now Fidelias had given her a chance, and she had made him suffer for it He would not allow himself to make the same mistake again Her teacher would kill her, without a moment's hesitation, if she got in his way again
"That's what I'm here to do," she whispered She started shivering again
Though she tried to tell herself that it was not fear coloring her decision, she felt it, tickling at her belly, racing with cold spider-fingers up and down her spine. She could not allow herself the luxury of openly invoking her authority and revealing herself to Fidelias. To do so would be to invite her own death, swift and certain. She had to remain quiet, as covert as possible. A runaway slave would be a far less unusual occurrence here at the frontier than an emissary of the Crown warning of possible invasion. She couldn't allow her identity to be known until she knew who she could trust, who could give her information that would let her act decisively. To do any less would be to invite her own death, and possibly disaster upon the Valley.
She looked down at the boy, her thoughts still in a tangle. He hadn't needed to come and help her the previous evening, but he had. The boy had courage, even if he lacked some more life-preserving common sense, and she had little choice but to be glad that he did. That said something of him, and in turn of the folk who had raised him. In his sleep, in his fever, he had spoken not to a mother or a father, but to his aunt, whose name apparently was Isana. An orphan?
Amara mused, and as she did, her belly rumbled. She rose to her feet and padded among the trees planted around the pool. As she expected, she found more than a few fruit-bearing trees among them. Gaius never acted with a single consequence in mind, when he could manage several at once. In creating this Memorium for his fallen son, he had raised a spectacular tribute to the Princeps' memory, reminded the High Lords exactly what power he commanded and provided a place of refuge for himself (or for his agents) all at the same time.
She picked fruit from the trees and ate, studying the area around her. Amara went to the statues. They had been armed with genuine shields and with weapons, the short, vicious blades of the Royal Guard, meant to be used in close quarters, to incapacitate or kill in a single blow. She slid one from its sheath and tested it. Its edge proved to be keen, and she returned it to its resting place. Food, shelter, and arms. Gaius was a paranoid old fox, and she was glad for it.
Her arm twinged as she slid the sword back, and she glanced at the dirtied bandage on it. She retrieved the knife from her discarded skirts and cut a fresh bandage from them. She dried it, first, near one of the fires, before cutting the old one off, cleaning the wound with fresh water, and applying
fresh wrappings. Something else tugged at her attention, but she pushed it firmly away. There was work to be done.
Amara moved quickly then, making sure the boy was sleeping peacefully. She gathered fruit onto one of the shields, using it as a platter, and rested it near him. She washed their clothing in the pool and used branches from the small trees to dry them over one of the other fires. She called upon the weary Cirrus to stand guard around the Memorium and to warn her should anyone approach. And when those chores were done, she found a smooth stone among the soil of the plants and used it to hone the edge of her knife.
That was when the tears took her. When the memories of years of instruction, conversation, of life shared with the man who had been her teacher came rolling back over her. She had loved him, in her own way, loved the danger of her work, loved the experiences he shared with her, loved the life to which she had been called. He had known how much being a Cursor meant to Amara. He had known, and he had done everything to help her with her studies, with graduating from the Academy.
He did everything except tell you the truth. Amara felt the tears rising, and she let them come. It hurt. It hurt to think that he had turned against the Realm, that he had, in that single act of treachery, endangered all that she had struggled to achieve, to fight to protect. He had declared his life's purpose as a Cursor to be empty, meaningless, and by extension, hers as well. His actions, not his words, said that it all had been a hollow, vicious lie.
No matter what happened to Amara, she would stop him. Whatever he had planned, however he had justified it, Fidelias was a traitor. That cold fact struck her through the heart, again and again. The knife whispered it, as the stone glided along the blade's edge, the steel wetted with her own tears. Traitor. Traitor. She would stop him. She had to stop him.
Amara did not let herself make a sound. She buried the sobs in her belly, until her throat ached with the pain of holding them back. She blinked the tears from her eyes and honed the edge of the little knife, until it gleamed in the light from the fire.
Chapter 13
Before noon of the next day, the Knights Aeris brought Fidelias, together with Aldrick the Sword and the mad Odiana, down into the western end of the Calderon Valley. Grey clouds hung low and glowering overhead, though their threat was an empty one. The storm that had preceded them during the previous night had already headed off to the south, where distant thunder could only barely be heard. They were attired warmly against the near-winter cold of the Valley, and breath steamed before every mouth.
Fidelias stepped from the litter with a grimace and demanded of the Captain of the contingent of Knights, "You are certain that no one has arrived?"
The man murmured something into the air, then tilted his head to one side, his eyes abstracted, listening. He nodded a moment later and said, "Livus reports that there are still Marat scouts moving here and there. None of our observers saw anyone new coming into the Valley."
"That wasn't the question," Fidelias said. He heard the sharp edge in his own voice. "The last thing we need is an envoy of the Crown rousing Garrison or bringing in reinforcements from Riva."
The Captain shook his head. "The storm last night was long and extremely violent. No one could remain out in it and live. I suppose it's possible that someone skilled could have come in under it, if they could have gotten to cover quickly enough-"
"She could." Fidelias cut off a reply with a wave of his hand. "The crows take Gaius and everyone with him. He always loved to show off. Even when creating distractions."
"Someone's a grumpy boy this morning," Odiana murmured to Aldrick. The big swordsman debarked the litter and turned to lift the shapely woman lightly from it to the ground. The water witch gave Fidelias a smirk that fairly smoldered with sensuality and pressed herself against Aldrick's side, beneath the curve of his arm. "One would think that he hadn't gotten enough sleep last night, love."
"Peace," Aldrick rumbled, the thick fingers of one huge hand sliding over her mouth, a casual motion. The woman's eyes closed, and she let out a happy sigh.
Fidelias ignored the barb from the woman and said to the Captain, "This is no time to get sloppy. Give the girl's description to our men in Riva. If she comes through, stop her. Quietly. The same if any of the other Cursors I've described to you show themselves."
The Captain nodded. "And what do I tell the men here?"
"The same. If you see someone unfamiliar in the air, kill them. It shouldn't take me long to make contact with our source. Then we move."
The Captain nodded. "We were fortunate to have the wind last night, sir. We were able to bring in more men than we thought would be available."
"Fortunate." Fidelias laughed and tried to ignore the tension burning in his
stomach. "That wind brought the storm and with it one of the Crown's own, Captain. I would not be so certain it was such a blessing."
The Captain saluted stiffly and took a step back. He murmured something else to the air, then beckoned with a hand to the Knights supporting the poles of the litter. The men rose in a sudden column of rising wind and soared into the air and through the concealing underbelly of the clouds above within a few moments.
Aldrick waited until they were well gone to say, laconically, "You may have been a little hard on them. If the Crown wanted to craft someone into the Valley, nothing they could have done would have stopped him."
"You don't know Gaius," Fidelias replied. "He is neither all-knowing nor infallible. We should have moved last night."
"We'd have arrived amidst the storm," the swordsman pointed out. "It could have killed us."
"Yes, the nasty storm," Odiana murmured. "And then, too, ex-Cursor, you would not have been given enough time to enjoy the pretty slave child." The last few words of the sentence dripped with a kind of gloating glee. The woman smiled, her eyes sparkling, as Aldrick absently covered her mouth with his hand again. She bit at his fingers, letting out a soft growl, and the swordsman let her, a smile touching his mouth.
Fidelias stared hard at the water witch. She knew. He couldn't be sure how much she knew, about Aquitaine's wife and the aftermath of the dismal little scene the previous evening, but he could see knowledge glittering in her eyes.
His belly burned a bit more as he considered the possible consequences,
should Aquitaine learn of his wife's liaison with Fidelias. Aquitaine seemed the type to overlook the forest for the trees, at times, but he would surely have little patience with anyone who would risk humiliating him by lying with his wife. The few bites of biscuit Fidelias had managed to get down during the flight threatened to come hurtling up again. He kept the tension off of his face and thought that he would have to do something about the water witch: She was fast becoming a liability.
Fidelias gave her a flat, neutral little smile and said, "I think we should focus on the task at hand."
"Seems pretty straightforward," Aldrick commented. "Get on the horses. Ride to the meeting point. Talk to the savage. Ride out again."
Fidelias glanced around and then murmured for Vamma to fetch the horses. The earth fury moved beneath his right foot, a stirring in the ground of acknowledgment, and vanished. "I don't anticipate that the ride will be a problem. The savage might."
Aldrick shrugged. "He won't be a problem."
The former Cursor began tugging on his riding gloves. "You think your sword will alter anything for him?"
"It can alter all sorts of things."
Fidelias smiled. "He's Marat. He isn't human. They don't think the same way we do.'
Aldrick squinted at him, almost frowning.
"He won't be intimidated by you. He regards your sword as something dangerous-you'll just be the soft, weak thing holding it."
Aldrick's expression didn't change.
Fidelias sighed. "Look, Aldrick. The Marat don't have the same notion of individuality that we do. Their whole culture is based around totems. Their tribes are built upon commonality of totem animals. If a man has a powerful totem, then he is a formidable man. But if the man has to hide behind his totem, instead of fighting beside it, then it makes him somewhat contemptible. They've called us the Dead Tribe. They regard armor and weaponry as our totem-dead earth. We hide behind our dead totems rather than going into battle beside them. Do you see?"
"No," Aldrick stated. He slipped Odiana from his side and started to draw on his gloves, unconcerned. "That doesn't make any sense."
"Not to you," Fidelias said. "It makes perfect sense to a Marat."
"Savages," Aldrick commented. Odiana turned to the packs and drew
his scabbarded sword from it. He held out his hand, without looking, and she slipped the weapon into it, then watched as the swordsman buckled it on. "What happens if he doesn't cooperate?"
"Leave that to me," Fidelias said.
Aldrick raised his eyebrows.
"I mean it. Keep your weapon at your side unless everything goes to the crows."
"And if it does?"
"Kill everything that isn't you, me, or the witch."
Aldrick smiled.
"What do I do?" Odiana asked. Her duty to Aldrick done, she wandered a few paces away, drawing the toe of her shoe through the mud, lifting her heavier, warmer skirts enough to be able to study the buckles.
"Just keep an eye on the Marat. If you feel them get angry, warn us."
Odiana frowned and looked up at Fidelias. She placed a hand on the shapely curve of one hip and said, "If Aldrick gets to kill someone, I should get to as well. It's only fair."
"Perhaps," Fidelias said.
"I didn't get to kill anyone last night. It's my turn."
"We'll see."
Odiana stamped her foot on the ground and folded her arms, scowling. "Aldrick!"
The big man went to her, taking off his cape and absently slipping it over her shoulders. The fabric could have wrapped around her twice. "Quiet, love. You know I'll let you have what you want."
She smiled up at him, winsome. "Truly?"
"Don't I always." He bent to the woman and kissed her, one arm pressing her against him. Her full lips parted willingly to his mouth, her body arching against his, and she reached up a hand to rake her nails through his hair, evidently delighted.
Fidelias rubbed at the bridge of his nose, where tension had begun to gather into a headache, and walked a short distance away. The horses arrived a moment later, nudged into a calm walk by Vamma and subtly guided over the ground. Fidelias called to the other two, who broke from their embrace only reluctantly, and the three saddled and mounted without further discussion.
As he had predicted, the ride passed uneventfully. Etan bounded along
before them through the trees, the wood fury taking the form of a large, silent squirrel, always just far enough into the shadows to be seen only in faint outline. Fidelias followed the bounding, flickering shape of his fury without the need for conscious effort; he had been using Etan to track for him and guide him since he had been barely more than a boy.
They crossed the Crown causeway and rode north and east through barren woodland filled with ragged pine trees, brambles, and thorns, toward the glowering shape of mountain rising up several miles before them. The mountain, Fidelias remembered, as well as the pine barrens around it, had a bad reputation for being hostile to humans. Little wonder the Marat had wanted a meeting near to what would be a safe area for his kind.
Fidelias flexed his right foot in the stirrup as he rode, frowning. The boot didn't fit correctly without his knife in it. He felt a faint and bitter smile stretch his lips. The girl had been brighter than he'd given her credit for. She'd seen an opportunity and exploited it ruthlessly, just as she'd been taught to do. As her -patriserus, he felt an undeniable stirring of pride in her accomplishment.
But as a professional, there was only a cold, tense frustration. She should have become an asset to his effort, and instead she had become a dangerously unknown factor in the play of events. If she was in the valley, there was no limit to how much havoc she could potentially wreak with his plans-and even if she wasn't, the distraction of guarding against the possibility was nothing trivial in itself.
How would he disrupt the plan in motion, were he in her place?
Fidelias considered it. No. That would be the wrong approach. He preferred short, brutal solutions to such matters, the less complicated the better. Too much could go wrong with finesse in a situation like this.
Amara thought in a far less linear manner. The simplest solution would be to get to the nearest Steadholder, declare her status, and dragoon everyone she could lay her hands on into spreading word through the valley that some sort of mischief was abroad. In that event, he'd have several dozen woodcrafty holders roaming about the valley, and one of them would almost c
ertainly see something and know it for what it was.
If she did that, identifying herself and her location, matters would be simpler. A swift stroke would remove her from the equation, and he could then muddy the waters until it was too late for the holders to stop matters from proceeding.
Amara would realize the danger of such a course, naturally. She would need to be more circumspect than that. Less linear. She would be improvising as she went along, while he would by necessity play the hunter, beating the bushes to force her to move and then acting swiftly to cut off anything she might attempt.
Fidelias smiled at the irony: It seemed they would both be playing to their strong suits. Well enough, then. The girl was talented, but inexperienced. She wouldn't be the first person he had outmaneuvered and destroyed. She wouldn't be the last.
A flicker of motion from Etan warned Fidelias that the three riders were not alone in the grey shadows of the woods. He drew his mount to a stop at once, lifting his hand to signal the others to do the same. There was silence there among the dimness of the evergreens, broken only by the breathing of the three horses, the drip of rainwater from the trees to the forest floor, and the soft sigh of cold northern wind.
Fidelias's mount threw back its head and let out a short, shrill sound of fear. The other two horses picked up on it, heads lifted high and eyes wide and white. Odiana's mount threw its head about and danced to one side, nervous and spooky. Fidelias reached out to Vamma at once, and the earth fury acted upon his will, spreading to the beasts around him the soothing calm of the deep earth. Fidelias felt the earth fury's influence expand like a slow wave, until it rippled over the horses, stealing away the restless agitation and letting their riders bring the beasts once more under control.
"Something watches," the water witch hissed. She drew her mount close to Aldrick's side, her dark eyes glittering and agate-hard. "They are hungry."
Aldrick pursed his lips, then put one hand on his sword. He didn't otherwise straighten from the relaxed slouch he had maintained during the whole ride.