The Sword

by Bryan M. Litfin

  “A gift for your father?”

  Ana peeked up at Stratetix from underneath her eyebrows. He was grinning at her with such a mischievous expression that the two of them burst into laughter.

  As the laughter subsided, Ana laid the cloak aside and rose to hug her father, laying her head on his shoulder. “You deserve all I have to give,” she told him with sincere affection.

  “Perhaps. But so does the one for whom the gift is intended.”

  Ana nodded against Stratetix’s shoulder. Then, realizing more fully what her father had just said, she separated herself so she could look at him. “What does that mean?”

  “Captain Teofil is a noble man. He deserves a thank-you gift like this. That’s all I meant.”

  “Are you sure?” Ana searched her father’s face. “For a moment there, it seemed like you were trying to stir up something.”

  Stratetix smiled and held up his hands. “Would I do that, Little Sweet?” His use of Ana’s childhood nickname always melted her heart. She knew it was intended to soften her defenses, but she resisted her father’s wiles and kept her tone playfully firm.

  “To this point in my life, you’ve let me sort things out for myself. But I know you like Teo a lot. You might start meddling.”

  “I won’t meddle.”

  “There’s nothing to meddle with,” Ana insisted. “Teofil is a captain of the Royal Guard, a tournament champion, a respected scholar. He could have any woman in the realm. I’m just a farm girl from Edgeton.”

  Stratetix led Ana to the mirror. “There are many women in the Kingdom of Chiveis.” He raised a finger to point at her reflection. “But look! There is the loveliest of them all, the one to whom he gave his garland.”

  Ana blushed. Fortunately Helena entered the room just then and changed the subject. “The soup is steaming in the bowls, and the cider is poured in the mugs,” she announced. “Come and eat.”

  As the family sat down at the table, Ana’s mind continued to dwell on Teo. Though she didn’t intend it, her mood was pensive and detached.

  “You’ve hardly touched your soup,” Helena remarked. “Is something on your mind?”

  “No.” Ana stirred her bowl. “Well, maybe. Okay, yes.”

  “We were discussing Captain Teofil when you came in,” Stratetix said. “Our daughter is sorting through her feelings.”

  Ana lifted her head and looked into her parents’ eyes. The weight of her secrets had become too much. It’s time to explain my true feelings about Teo, she realized.

  “I know you probably think I’m just a girl with a silly crush—”

  “We don’t think that, Little Sweet.”

  Ana nodded appreciatively. “Good. Because there’s much more to this than romance.” She waved her hand. “I mean, it’s not a romance at all! I don’t know what it is. Just friendship, I guess. All I know is, Teo and I experienced things in the Beyond that will affect both our destinies. We made a discovery that will tie us together, though I’m not sure he fully understands that yet.”

  “What kind of discovery?” Helena’s tone was gentle.

  Ana took a deep breath. “A religious discovery. Something that got me thinking in new ways. I’ve been doing some hard evaluation of the gods of Chiveis.”

  Her parents glanced at each other. Helena nodded almost imperceptibly, and Stratetix chose his words with care. “Your mother and I are disturbed about how the gods abandoned you in the Beyond. We’ve come to believe the gods can’t be trusted when it counts,” he said in a low voice.

  “That’s what I’ve decided too.”

  “Keep these thoughts to yourself, my love,” Helena warned.

  Ana leaned forward on her elbows. “I’ve been keeping my discovery a secret since I got back, but I can’t hold it in anymore! When I was in the Beyond with Teo, we found a book. Not just any book—a book of the Ancients! It describes their religion and their God. When Teo gets back from winter patrol, he’s going to translate it for me. We intend to learn about this God together. I’ve seen his temple, and I know he’s a God of great beauty!”

  Helena slid her hand over Ana’s. “I share your longings, but remember, these are very dangerous ideas. Freedom of religion in Chiveis is more a theory than a reality.”

  “We’re leaving Edgeton soon to spend a few weeks near Aunt Rosetta at our chalet in Vingin,” Stratetix said. “Vingin isn’t far from Lekovil, so you might be able to see Captain Teofil there.” He raised his index finger. “But as your father, I warn you to keep this secret to yourself. If you speak with the captain about this book you’ve found, you must share the knowledge with no one else. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, Father.” Ana bowed before his stern gaze. But when she glanced across the table at Helena, she was surprised to see her mother wearing a different expression. Helena’s eyes were closed, and she had a satisfied smile on her lips.

  “Mother? What is it?”

  Helena’s eyes popped open, bright and expectant. “I’ve been praying for this,” she said.

  An onion, a bouillon cube, and a few scraps of dried beef were all that remained in the cupboard. It would have to do.

  Teo gathered the last of his winter rations and chopped them into a pot on a cast-iron stove. “I wish I had some bread,” he said woefully, but there was no one to hear his request. He scratched his scraggly beard and waited for the thin soup to simmer.

  After dinner, Teo threw his last few sticks into the stove. When he’d arrived at the hut on the Great Pass in late autumn, he had been disappointed, though not surprised, to discover how meager was his allotment of food and fuel. The Warlord had been infuriated by Teo’s escapade in the Beyond and ordered him to a hard tour of duty as punishment. Teo had spent many fireless nights huddled under his ragged blankets while winter storms howled outside. He could make it through one more night like that. In the morning, his relief would arrive.

  Teo lay on his bed with his arms crossed, watching the flickering orange light inside the stove grow weaker. As the wind’s icy fingers reached into the drafty hut to defeat the flame’s warmth, Teo returned to the mental picture that had comforted him many times: the image of Anastasia sleeping peacefully under a down comforter in her room, a fire blazing in her hearth. A few cold nights up here is a small price to pay for that, he reminded himself.

  The farmers of Edgeton would be burrowed in this time of year with no field work to do until warmer weather arrived. Perhaps this would be a good time to visit Ana. Teo considered the idea, analyzing his motives. The ostensible reason would be to give her a translation of the Sacred Writing of Deu, as he had promised. But was there a deeper reason? Teo’s mind kept returning to their intimate moment on the balcony. He sensed something had changed between them that night under the full moon. No, he corrected himself, it wasn’t just that night. It was the whole adventure we shared. The realization dawned on Teo that he and Ana had been deeply bonded by their experience in the Beyond. What exactly did that mean? Were they supposed to become lovers?

  The orange light in the stove winked out as the last ember surrendered to the cold darkness on the Great Pass. Teo rolled over in bed and told himself to quit daydreaming like a girl. All these notions about balconies and secret bonds were too complex to figure out. When the time is right to make your move, you’ll know it. Until then, let things unfold at their own pace. Satisfied with that conclusion, Teo closed his eyes to sleep, though the room was pitch-black already.

  The next morning, Teo spotted the packhorses moving slowly up the Great Pass. He shouldered his rucksack and set off down the slope, passing the oncoming guardsman with a wave and a grunt.

  Down in the Troll’s Valley, the snow lay in patches on the ground. Though the vernal equinox was only a few days away, things hadn’t started greening up in the valley yet. Even so, it was nice not to have deep snow underfoot.

  Arriving at last at the Citadel, Teo was greeted with none of the acclaim he had received a few months earlier when he was a tourname
nt competitor. Now, with his disheveled appearance and scruffy beard, no one recognized him as anyone but a soldier returning from field duty. He filed the appropriate papers at the Warlord’s Bureau, then stopped at a bathhouse to clean up and get a shave and haircut.

  As a barber scraped the whiskers from Teo’s face, his thoughts turned to the academic work that lay before him. He had left the Sacred Writing of Deu in his rooms at the University last fall and had scarcely given it a thought since then. Now it was time to resume his studies. Perhaps I should visit Ana and let her know.

  “Sir?” The barber paused his shaving.

  “Huh? What?”

  “I’m going to have to ask you to start thinking about something else. I can’t shave you with that big grin on your face.” Teo laughed at the attendant’s jest and held his chin still until the shave was finished.

  Cleanliness brought Teo a renewed sense of civility. He wandered the halls of the magnificent bathhouse at leisure, savoring the presence of people again. Vendors hawked dried fruits and baked goods from their carts. Teo was standing in a secluded window niche finishing a sweet roll when a woman addressed him from behind. “So,” she sneered, “it’s the great tournament champion!”

  Teo turned around slowly, knowing from the familiar voice whom he would see. Yet when he saw her, he was unprepared for her manner of dress. The woman wore the gauzy attire of an Astrebrilian priestess. Though her black lips gave her a shocking appearance, there was no mistaking her red hair. It was Habiloho.

  “Hello, Princess.” Teo kept his tone cordial. “I didn’t realize you had entered the Order of Astrebril.”

  “If you were as smart as you think you are, you’d see I’m still an acolyte. I haven’t been initiated yet.”

  “I know. I can see you’re not wearing the collar.”

  “Oh, forgive me,” Habiloho replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “I guess I had reason to think your eyesight is deficient.” She spat out the last word like poison, staring at Teo with steely eyes. Tension hung in the air.

  Because Habiloho had broached the awkward subject of the tournament garland, Teo decided to be direct. “There’s nothing wrong with my eyesight, Habiloho. I made my decision, and I stand by it even now.”

  Habiloho grabbed Teo’s jerkin in her fists, thrusting her face into his. He had never seen such hatred in a woman’s eyes. It smoldered like a malevolent fire.

  “It should have been me!” she hissed through gritted teeth. “I am the Flame of Chiveis!”

  “There’s more to beauty than outward appearance,” Teo said calmly.

  She slapped him.

  Teo winced and turned his head back to Habiloho but said nothing.

  “Watch yourself, Captain,” she warned. “The power of the gods is great. You wouldn’t want Astrebril to be angry with you.” The princess spun around and stalked away, her hips swishing in the clingy gown.

  Teo rubbed his cheek. “She’ll hate me until the day she dies,” he observed with a sigh.

  When Stratetix stopped his wagon in front of the tidy house on the outskirts of Vingin, Ana leaped to the ground and ran to the door. One of the main reasons her family often spent part of the winter at their tiny chalet in Vingin was to be close to Helena’s sister, a widow who still lived in the house she had shared with her husband. Ana spotted her on the front steps. “Aunt Rosetta! I’ve missed you!” she cried as she embraced the plump middle-aged woman.

  “Oh, child, we were so worried about you. Bless my soul, Ana, I can hardly believe it’s you!”

  “It’s me alright! As good as ever, and ready for some of your pastries.” Ana smiled at her aunt, who was wiping tears from the corners of her eyes.

  Another figure appeared behind Rosetta. “Lina!” Ana threw her arms around her skinny cousin with the curly blonde hair.

  “Ana, I’m so glad to see you! Vingin is so boring. Now that you’re here, maybe we can cause some trouble.” Ana laughed as the two girls went inside. Stratetix and Helena followed.

  Rosetta offered her sister and brother-in-law hot tea and apple strudel drizzled with plenty of icing. Ana and Lina sat on the floor in front of the hearth, downing their pastries with gusto. The conversation began with small talk but inevitably turned to the account of Ana’s abduction. Rosetta could hardly bear to hear the details, while Lina listened with rapt attention.

  “I grieved for you, child, like my very own,” Rosetta said to Ana. “When I heard you had come back safely, I couldn’t believe it. Like a resurrection from the dead, it was. And now to see you here in person . . .” Tears came to her eyes again.

  “We owe everything to the courage of one man,” Stratetix said. “A valiant man who acted honorably.” Helena nodded in agreement.

  “I want to hear more about that part,” Lina whispered to Ana with a sly smile.

  The conversation moved to other matters, so the girls excused themselves. Upstairs, they chatted on the bed and giggled like long-lost sisters.

  “Everyone says the captain is so good-looking.” Lina had a touch of awe in her voice. “I’ve never actually seen him, except from a distance at the games.”

  “Yes, he’s handsome,” Ana acknowledged. “But it isn’t his looks that draw you the most.”

  Lina’s eyes were wide. “What is it, then?”

  “His strength.”

  Lina squealed. “Are you lovers?”

  “No!” Ana’s reply was adamant.

  “Well, what are you?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know? How can you not know?”

  “We never, uh, defined it.” Ana tilted her head. “Actually, I don’t think there’s anything to define.”

  “But you spent all that time riding through mysterious forests and camping together. Sleeping together,” she added.

  “Yes,” Ana agreed. “Sleeping.”

  “When are you going to see him again?”

  “I don’t know. He’s on winter patrol. I guess he’ll come back to Lekovil at some point.”

  “Ana! Lekovil is down in the valley, a short walk from here. You have to go see him!”

  “So I should just throw myself at him? Is that what you’ve learned about men in all your eighteen years of experience?”

  “I’m not saying to throw yourself at him. But you have to, you know, put yourself in his path. It’s what girls do.”

  “It’s not what this girl does.” Ana lifted her chin proudly.

  “Then this girl might never get herself a husband! Ana, you have to take charge. Make it happen. Do what it takes.”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “No, you don’t,” Lina retorted. “You’re not thinking straight. What day is coming soon? The great festival for Elzebul.”

  “Ugh. I hate that dirty god.”

  “Sh! Ana, don’t say that so loudly!” Lina glanced out the window at the sky, then continued in a low voice, “Whatever you may think about the god, his festival is tomorrow. And who is required to attend his parade?”

  “His priests?”

  “Yes. And who else? At Lekovil?”

  Ana thought about it. “Oh, right—the professors. I guess Teo will have to be there.”

  Lina intertwined her fingers against her cheek and fluttered her eyelids. “Oh, Teo,” she mimicked in a breathy voice. “What a coincidence running into you here!” Ana laughed at her cousin’s flirty strategies and toppled Lina off the bed.

  “You’re forgetting something,” Ana said as Lina looked up at her from the floor in a mess of curls. “The festival of Elzebul ends with the Wild Night. There’s no way my father is going to let me out of the house that night.”

  Lina’s expression turned sneaky. “He doesn’t have to know! We’ll just go to the parade, bump into your lover, and be back before sunset.”

  Ana looked skeptical. “I doubt that would work, Lina,” she said. “And I already told you—Teo is not my lover!”

  Maurice the Wise shoo
k a bowl of potpourri to stir up its scent, trying to cover the foul stench that permeated the air. Several candles burned around his room at the University, but the stink outside was too strong to be masked.

  “This is what passes for religion these days,” Maurice complained. “The worship of filth! Elzebul was always Lord of the Flies, but in recent years they’ve started taking it too far.”

  Teo shrugged. “What can you do? The people love the wild abandon of this festival.”

  “Lack of self-control is unworthy of respect, Teo, my son.”

  “I know. We both know Elzebul is corrupt. For that matter, all the gods are.”

  Maurice raised his eyebrows. “It seems you’ve become quite the atheist.” He handed his student a mug of juniper tea and waited for a reply.

  “It’s the only conclusion a logical person can make. Look at the evidence. Elzebul is about to be worshiped in a parade where people offer him the contents of their chamber pots. The chicken coops and stables of Chiveis have been ransacked just so the god can have what he cherishes most—excrement. How is that holy?”

  Maurice nodded his agreement. “Alright, what about Pon?” he inquired. “Maybe he’s good?”

  “He values charcoal. What could be more mundane than that? As for the pleasures he offers in the forests—not so bad, I suppose. But the last time I tried that, look where I ended up.” Teo grinned and jerked his thumb toward the north.

  “Maybe Vulkain then?”

  “His priests do some good with their matches. Their medicines and bleaches and food preservatives are useful to mankind. But if Vulkain is a good god, why are all the Vulkainians thugs? Why do they spray people with acid? Have you ever seen the burns those sprayers cause? It’s ugly.” Teo sipped hot tea as he sat on his master’s couch.

  “Continue the path of your investigation, wherever it may lead. Surely Astrebril the Beautiful is a good god.”

  “No, he’s worst of all. He does harm to people, not good. His thunder at dawn is terrifying, and no one knows when it will come. No question, he’s a powerful deity. I’ve seen the houses his thunder has visited. It’s as if men with hammers have destroyed them to the last stone—yet it happens suddenly, with a boom and smoke. There’s nothing like it on earth. Astrebril is a vindictive god to be feared.”