Adversaries Together

by Daniel Casey

  “Then fire!” The shot flew from the Kopis, a black coconut sized shell sped towards the karve. It hit the water just to the side of the boat; the huge white splash nearly turned the small craft over.

  Riv lowered his monocular, “Have you corrected, Ryan!” Again, a high-pitched ‘aye’ came from below, “Then fire!”

  The second shot soared. Riv watched it fly. The shot seemed drawn to the boat. When it struck the karve, the ship suddenly erupted into a torrent of splinters.

  “There it is.” Sharin said grinning and satisfied.

  Riv didn’t bring down the monocular but continued scanning the wreckage, “Ready the second tender; investigate the wreckage.”

  Sharin shrugged, “Ain’t nothing left of that boat, sir.”

  “Do it.”

  “Aye.”

  Riv braced himself with his fists as he leaned on the rail of the bow. He stared at the spot where the karve had been. Everything about these contracts was getting too ridiculous. Ryan emerged from below and came up to Riv.

  “Not a bad bit of action.” He said

  “You missed.” Riv mumbled.

  “Just barely,” Ryan tried to defend himself, “When was the last time we shot at anything?”

  “True enough,” Riv still stared out at the wreckage and didn’t glance at Ryan, “What you’ve been serving the sergeant.”

  Ryan stood up a bit straighter, “Aye.”

  “Think there’s enough for the remainder of the troop?” Riv turned his head to peer at Ryan.

  “Oh, I think so,” Ryan rubbed his face and gave a mischievous smile, “It’ll be a messy last leg to Anhra though.”

  “Feed them. When they fall ill tonight, come get me, and we’ll quarantine the lot. We’re not stopping at Anhra.”

  “Oh, aye? Well, what about those going ashore?”

  Riv turned to face Ryan, “Those men are the captain’s concern, not ours.” Ryan nodded a bit hesitant. Riv swung around, “Arro!” he called.

  “Sir.” An obscenely tall man stood on the deck below Riv.

  “Make ready,” Riv never looked at the man, “When the tenders return we’re pulling anchor.”

  The Cruor, 30th of Mabon

  They all sat around the fire, the camp just before Cruor sculpture pool. Roth had his back to it while the others sat across from him catching glimpses of the flames in the pool and watching odd shadows dance over the cliff face. They were going to sleep out here tonight having arrive too late in the day for Roth to find them better quarters in cliff dwelling above sculpture. To get up to it they'd have negotiate a series of footholds and pegs, it was too dark to attempt the climb now. Roth’s description of The Cruor had done more to confuse the others than anything else and had led to them to prod for details about the place. He tried to explain how it was made and why, but he wasn’t satisfied each time he started. Finally, he settled on the angle he wanted.

  “The edict gave every reeve incentive. It wasn’t long before the margraves got in on the act.” The casual firelight lit up their faces as though they were merely on some sporting excursion. Roth’s voice was even, lacking bitterness for one of the few times they had been together.

  “The local governments always used the Athingani as a scapegoat.” Wynne added.

  “Sometimes with good reason, there’s only so many times that you can be called thieves, sorcerers, flesh dealers, and plague spreaders before it starts to sink in.” Roth said.

  “You begin to believe it.” Kira nodded.

  “Begin to act it out.” Fery said.

  Roth tossed a couple of small sticks into the fire as Wynne spoke, “So the edict was a prophecy fulfilled by its bias.”

  “No,” Roth shook his head, “the edict was before the bigotry became so widespread.”

  “I can’t remember a time they weren’t maltreated.” Wynne said.

  “It’s an outgrowth out of another issue.”

  “What exactly?” Fery asked.

  “When Reg’s boy found me on the coast…”

  “What does that have to do with it?” Fery asked

  “Let him get us there…” Wynne patted his daughter on the thigh.

  “Sorry.” She said and Roth winked at her.

  “I was fairly far gone. Mostly just drifting meat, a beached carcass.”

  “Reg certainly got you back on your feet fast enough.” Kira said.

  “He had to.”

  “How so?”

  “Reg’s Novosar, but his wife was Athingani. When he heard me mumbling during my fever in the cant, he realized I was too.”

  “The cant?” Kira asked.

  “It’s the language of the Athingani, more than a dialect but not quite its own language.” Wynne explained.

  Fery blinked, “So he helped you just because of that?”

  “He healed me because of that. I told him about you,” Roth pointed to Kira, “and Goshen, how I was thrown over. I was done with it all, honestly.” Roth laughed and shook his head.

  “You gave up?” Kira said hesitant.

  “I had been beaten repeatedly, lost all my coin, and barely had the clothes on my back.” Roth broke a branch and tossed the halves into the fire, “So yeah, I just wanted to head back to Anhra, maybe get a contract, and get back on my feet.”

  “Makes sense.” Kira said softly, “You never owed us anything. In fact, we owed you.”

  Roth shook his head, “I gave that debt to collect to Jena.”

  No one spoke. The wood cracked as the flames sighed their heat into the thin night air.

  “Debts.” Roth continued, “Are just what we owe, what we trade between us, what we collect and hold over each other. The Athingani make no oaths because they’re for all; everyone is owed everything by everyone.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense.” Fery scrunched up her face.

  Roth smiled, “Yeah, a lot of what they believed didn’t to most.”

  Wynne nodded, “It’s both simpler and more complex than we give it credit.”

  “It’s much easier to live than to explain.”

  “You just say yes.” Kira’s gaze was lost in the fire and she seemed to be speaking to no one. Roth looked at her, seemingly satisfied with her queer insight.

  “When the first reeves showed up in the villages and told the folks that the land was now part of Rautia or Havan or Midhalm, Arderra, Sulecin, Rikonen, even Heveonen. It was greeted as strange but there was no resistance. Everyone went about their business.”

  “But no one really paid the alcavala did they?” Wynne said.

  “Not a one.” Roth nodded.

  “So their reputation started as cheats with outsiders.” Wynne explained.

  “It’s disloyal to refuse to pay alcavala; we all need to put in for all. How could you not understand that?” Fery asked looking confused at Roth.

  “They never refused, it never occurred to them. They never considered themselves part of those cities or lands.” Roth said.

  “But that couldn’t be all of it.”

  “No,” Roth sighed, “We trained warriors. The Cathedral wanted crusaders, the Novosar wanted defenders, and the Spires and the Essians wanted drones. What the Adrenines were to making a navy, we were to making an army.”

  “Why you? I mean, them. Or…” Kira asked

  “There were free cities, mostly due to being out of the way or too far away to bother with, too poor. Athingani were a people, a people found in some degree everywhere. A people that didn’t mix with others, didn’t look like others, didn’t act like others.”

  “Strangers to all.” Kira said.

  “We were apart. As such, we were prefect brokers. To equip, instruct, and ship off to the realms skilled soldiers. That was the vocation, where the coin came from to pay the alcavala.”

  “But it couldn’t last.” Wynne added.

  Roth shook his head, “Soon everyone had an army, some might have had more numbers but everyone was fairly equal in skill.”

  “The E
ris Valley War, Battles of the Lake District.” Wynne said.

  “Carlisle’s Campaign, the Union of the Spires, and even your Ranald Feuds…we trained all those men. They learned to kill and to die from us.” Roth paused suddenly angry; he spat and gestured for Wynne to pass him the bota.

  “Most of those conflicts were ages ago though.” Fery said.

  “Those conflicts,” Roth drank, set the bota down, and continued, “Those conflicts made the world we know. The last one nearly sixty years ago, here.”

  Wynne nodded, “The Feuds defined Essia against Cassubia. The Seven Spires became so by taking their valley and fighting their own civil war, and Novosy only exists because of Carlisle.”

  “I know but… I mean they taught us that but still.” Fery said.

  “It’s difficult to imagine it actually happening, of things being otherwise.” Kira said in sympathy with Fery, “It seems as though there has always been The Cathedral, the Seven Spires.”

  “Every generation feels that way, they always take their memories as what the right way is,” Roth gazed into the fire but then looked around the pit, “It’s difficult to explain a deeper time awareness to you Sovi.”

  “Sovi?” Fery asked.

  “You call us Athingani, we call you Sovi.”

  “It’s been speculated that the Athingani like the Adrenines are an altogether different kind of human that we,” Wynne looked at Roth as he explained it to Fery, “Sovi.”

  “We refer to the Adrenines as Austri. At least, the true Adrenines.”

  “True Adrenines?” Kira asked.

  “Adrenia has been a nation for a long time now. The realm was once made up of one people, the Austri. You see them today—short, slouched, long feet, blond wiry hair, dark skin. There are many Adrenines now that look like you.” Roth said gesturing to the three.

  “What makes you Athingani…Athingani and not Sovi?” Fery asked.

  “Most Athingani were stocky, broad shouldered, with a thick brow and dark features. They were said to have come from the northeast and loved living in mountains.” Wynne said.

  “That’s the stereotype.” Roth nodded. “But not all were that. Some were tall, thin, light haired and soft featured like you all. Some Athingani joined with Sovi, the children often took after their Sovi parent.” Roth gestured to himself.

  “What about their children?” Kira asked.

  “We can’t have children.” Roth took a swig from the bota.

  “Wait,” Fery said, “Athingani can’t have children?”

  “Half breeds can’t.” Wynne corrected.

  “Oh.” Fery was quiet as though she had crossed a line.

  “We live a long time though, so at least there’s that.” Roth tossed the bota to Wynne.

  “How long?” Kira asked with an eerie casualness.

  “Longer than your kind.”

  Looking to change the subject Fery asked, “So when they had their borders set, they realized you were within all of them.”

  “Loyal to none.” Wynne nodded.

  “The edict allowed for us to be exterminated.” Roth turned to the darkness and pointed in the direction of the pool and sculpture, “That monument is to the last of the mentors. When the edict was pronounced it came on the heels of outlawing of mercenary service.”

  “So you were criminals but unbeknownst to yourselves” Fery realized.

  “We knew soon enough.” Roth stood to stretch then moved a few steps away to gather some more wood to throw on the fire. He kept talking, “They came from all quarters all at once so we couldn’t organize against them at first. When we finally did, there were maybe a thousand mentors remaining.”

  “And they stood their ground here? Made this their last stand.” Kira asked.

  Roth threw down some wood near to where he sat and started feeding the dwindling flames, “No, that thousand assembled a few leagues from here. They had a large encampment meant to stand as a safe haven. They brought in as many ordinary folk as possible, to protect them.”

  “But they couldn’t.” Wynne said.

  “No,” Roth was grim as the fire began to burn bright again, “They weren’t just defeated by all the margraves, the reeves were instructed to kill everyone in the bivouac. And they nearly did.”

  “That’s what this commemorates? A genocide?” Fery was aghast.

  “No, it’s not. It has to be for those that escaped.” Kira looked to Roth.

  “Barely a hundred survived. One of those was Gammon Serero, a stonemason, who spent the rest of his life nursing the remnants of his people. He carved that monument. Tore down a mountain and tried to rebuild.”

  “So the Athingani now are descendants of those?” she asked.

  “Some can claim that.”

  “The rest are found children, mix breeds.” Wynne said matter-of-factly, “Like yourself.” Roth shrugged.

  “And Reg’s son.” Kira added.

  “How can you not want revenge?” Fery asked

  “We don’t think that way.”

  “But how?”

  “We just don’t. We were guilty, putting the sword in your hands and expecting you not to turn it on us was folly. We paid for it—in coin, in blood.”

  “And now?” Kira asked.

  “And now we live as best we can.”

  “Still doesn’t explain why you came for Kira, why we’re here waiting.” Fery added.

  “He came because he was responsible for me.” Kira said flatly.

  “And we’re here because he’s responsible for Jena.” Wynne added.

  Roth didn’t betray any emotion, just sat staring at the fire. When he spoke, it was distant but decisive, “We’re here because your people deserve a chance at salvation,” he looked to Fery then turned to Wynne, “Because I owe Kira and Jena and might be able to help you as well.”

  “I just don’t think I would’ve done the same.” Fery said weakly, Wynne rubbed her back in support.

  “It’s not about you.” Wynne said.

  “I still really don’t understand.” Fery said throwing her hands up trying to lighten the mood.

  “The Light that shines on only one shines on none.” Kira mumbled her scripture.

  “You could say that,” Roth smirked.

  Siracene Highlands, 31st of Mabon

  It was an odd sensation but as they walked Goshen could actually feel himself getting better. Vigor, he thought. The swim to shore had destroyed him but Declan had perhaps rightly teased him that he had finally worked out the last of the venom from his system. Prior to this sojourn, Goshen had never given a second thought to poisons but now he could boast being the victim of two different kinds. He made a note to talk with vicar Alin once he made it back to Sulecin. And that was when he stopped. He wasn’t going to see the vicar; he wasn’t going to be welcomed by The Cathedral ever again.

  Jena punched him in the shoulder from behind, “Do you ever stop daydreaming?”

  “It’s called thinking, not daydreaming.” Goshen stumbled forward frowning at her.

  Declan cackled ahead of them and called back, “Thinking, he says.”

  The three had been moving through the thick forest staying clear of the highland’s coulee basins for days. It had been slow going due to the terrain and the fact that they were constantly on guard. The first day they had caught a glimpse of a line of deep black smoke from behind them near the shore. Jena was certain that the crew of the ship was responsible and that they were hot on their heels. As they moved, the three settled into a kind of routine.

  Declan was a better tracker than Jena, though it seemed not by much, but given she was looking over her shoulder every few moments, she gladly conceded the trailblazing to him. Jena had told them both that after encounters. Declan didn’t seem to have a preference though he made it a point to mock the idea that there was anyone else in these land to encounter. Goshen had advocated for the road and, surprisingly, Jena had agreed. When they found it, the road was actually more of a wide path, a remarkabl
y level path about four spans wide of tightly compacted white gravel, but still just a path. They followed it for two afternoons and made their fastest progress. Unfortunately, so did whoever was behind them. On her rearguard rangings, Jena has spied a camp perhaps five leagues behind them. The three had agreed that going back into the woodland would be the best route.

  “You know you don’t have to be such a bitch all the time to me.” Goshen mumbled more to himself than to Jena. In fact, he didn’t think she had heard him until he looked up after a few steps to see her glaring at him.

  “It’s shit like that,” Jena said calmly but her eyes were furious, “that leads me to treat you the way I do.”

  “I’ve been nothing but civil, yet from the first you’ve been needlessly gruff with me.”

  “Needlessly gruff?” Jena gave an incredulous laugh, “You & yours have harried me from the first for simply trying to help you not die. I saved you.”

  “Had some help wit that tho.” Declan mumbled ahead of them.

  “Without us, you’d be rotting in a hole guilty of nothing.”

  Goshen looked down a bit cowed but then broke in, “I wouldn’t be in this situation if it weren’t for your friend.”

  “He saved your life and your precious alm! You’d be bloated sack in the lowlands without him. And he didn’t have to get me to protect you. So, when you think about it—for even a second—he’s saved your life at least twice.”

  “Where is he now?”

  “That’s your answer?” Jena screamed in Goshen’s face as Declan chuckled and turned away from the bickering.

  “Yes, damn it, it is! I’m no free ranger or…whatever the hell he is,” Goshen pointed after Declan, stepped back and threw his up. “I have nothing and now nowhere to go. I was a crusader. I served the Light. What do I do now? Keep letting myself be shepherd…”

  “You find your friend.” Jena broke in and the two glared at each other in sudden silence.

  “Oi,” Declan called several spans away, “If you two are done, I’ve found something that actually matters.”