LEGENDS: Fifteen Tales of Sword and Sorcery

by Colt, K. J.

  I almost tried to stop her, but the icy, frenzied look in her lightning blue eyes stopped me. There was something primal about her, and wild, as if this were a hunting expedition.

  ‘I know you sold the girl to the healer unregistered,’ Klawdia hissed in his ear.

  ‘And I knew you were behind all this,’ he replied. ‘You’ve let your personal vendetta against the Queens risk the lives of your friends. Do you think I’d be asking Capacia to sign the register if I intended to sell her off? The ambassador is unconscious; now would be the time to act.’

  ‘You’re going to let us go,’ Klawdia pulled his hair, tilting his head back and bringing the blade up to his jaw.

  Emala walked up to Klawdia and said, ‘Please don’t hurt him.’

  Klawdia threw the mayor aside and seized Emala around the waist. She dragged my friend across the living room, keeping her back to the wall and the dagger to Emala’s breast.

  ‘Klawdia, wait,’ I said.

  ‘Put her down,’ Mother added.

  Klawdia’s eyes moved between me, the mayor, Mother, and Jemely. The commotion must have attracted the attention of the two soldiers downstairs, because they appeared in the doorway with their swords drawn.

  ‘Drop them,’ Klawdia said, and she squeezed Emala’s torso to make her cry out.

  The men glanced at the mayor, who nodded. They placed their weapons on the floor.

  ‘Kick them down the stairs,’ Klawdia said to the soldiers.

  Mayor Vawdon nodded again. The men kicked the swords, and the weapons clanged down the stairway.

  ‘Now, to the attic,’ Klawdia ordered, pointing toward my bedroom.

  ‘What are you going to do with them?’ the mayor asked.

  Klawdia said, ‘You too, up you go.’

  ‘And leave my daughter alone with you and that blade? Not likely.’

  ‘One nick from this blade and your daughter’s blood will decorate this floor.’

  Mayor Vawdon’s eyebrows twitched. Emala’s lips quivered, her eyes watered, and her hands trembled as she clutched Klawdia’s arm. I wanted to tell her she was in no danger.

  ‘Well?’ Klawdia said, her teeth bared.

  Scowling, the mayor led the way upstairs.

  ‘Keep quiet up there,’ Klawdia said. ‘One sound and I’ll slit her throat, and then behead the healer. Think the Queens will like it if I kill their ambassador?’

  The mayor stopped his ascent, his shoulders tense. He stood there with his back to us for a moment, and then he continued. At the top of the stairs, he entered my bedroom and closed the door, but the latch didn’t click.

  ‘All the way!’ Klawdia yelled. When the click sounded, she let out a lungful of air.

  ‘What if they smash the attic window, or signal to the town or something?’ Mother asked.

  ‘He won’t.’ Klawdia loosened her grip on Emala and turned the girl around to face her. ‘Forgive me. I’m only saving Adenine’s life.’

  Emala couldn’t speak. Tears fell from her eyes.

  ‘She wouldn’t have hurt you,’ I said to Emala, but I wasn’t certain about it. I didn’t really know if Klawdia was capable of killing a child.

  The Ruxdorian smiled at the girl. ‘I would never hurt you. I have a plan. Do you want to help us save Adenine?’

  Emala looked at me and said, ‘Yes.’ Her sad gaze moved to Mother and then Jemely. ‘But don’t hurt Father.’

  ‘We won’t,’ Mother promised.

  ‘Father always said that the king’s judgement is always right. Maybe he can help,’ Emala said.

  Jemely shook her head. ‘We’ve kidnapped a healer ambassador, knocked her out cold, and threatened the mayor and his daughter. No king would listen to us. He probably won’t even see us.’

  ‘Father said Adenine needed to go to Juxon City,’ Emala admitted.

  Jemely snorted. ‘Yeah, a nice stopover in Juxon City before she’s sent to the Meligna whores.’

  I really didn’t like that word.

  ‘Emala, Adenine said you overheard your father and Healer Euka discussing selling Adenine,’ Klawdia said. ‘If you speak about this to the king, it will cast a reasonable light on our actions.’

  The girl’s lip quivered as she spoke. ‘You mean… you want me to go against my father?’ She looked at me for support, but I could give her none. Mayor Vawdon had forced us into the situation.

  ‘Let me talk to her,’ I said.

  Klawdia looked at Mother who nodded. I ushered Emala into Mother’s bedroom and closed the door.

  Neither of us spoke for a moment. And then I said, ‘I didn’t want you to be involved like this.’

  She lowered her gaze. ‘Father has always been a good person. I don’t understand why he took that gold from Healer Euka. But if he says you should go on the register, then it’s for your own good. He says if Capacia signs it, he can protect you from becoming the property of the Queens.’ Emala burst into tears. ‘I don’t want Father to get in trouble, and I don’t want you to go to Meligna. This is so hard.’

  I put my arm around her. ‘I showed you my eyes in secret.’

  ‘I know, I’m sorry, I thought it wouldn’t matter if he knew because you said you were going. He said if I didn’t help him, he’d go to prison, we’d lose our house, and he wouldn’t be mayor anymore.’ She sobbed. ‘But he’s an adult. He’s supposed to know better, and you’re innocent. So I’m going to do what’s best for you.’

  ‘You will?’

  ‘I have to.’ She took my hand and squeezed it. ‘You’re my closest friend. If the king knows that the Queens encouraged their ambassador to buy healer girls, he might be able to protect you.’

  What about other healer girls? It didn’t seem fair that I should stay and they should go. I’d have to try and explain to the king about Klawdia and why she’d gone to such lengths to protect me; otherwise, he might punish her. ‘What if the king puts your father in prison?’

  She made a sort of wailing sound. ‘Don’t say that or I’ll change my mind.’

  I hugged her for a while before leading her back into the living room, and there I told Klawdia, Mother, and Jemely what Emala had agreed to do. Mother rolled her chair to Emala and scooped her up into a hug. Emala looked at me awkwardly.

  Klawdia said, ‘There’ll be guards outside. I’ll have to fight them off, and the king will see it as treachery. I’ll be hunted until the end of my life. So will Adenine. The king is the best option now.’

  Mother sighed. ‘We’re going to look guilty even though we’re not.’

  A murmur came from the storage room.

  Jemely cocked her head. ‘Healer Euka is waking up.’

  ‘Let her,’ Klawdia said, and then she looked at Emala. ‘I have to take you captive again. I won’t hurt you.’

  ‘All right,’ she agreed, and Klawdia put her dagger at the girl’s throat.

  Healer Euka stumbled out of the room. She looked at Klawdia and laughed. ‘Greetings, Mother of Nallael. Where’s the mayor? Oh, no matter, I suppose.’ She didn’t even care that Klawdia had a hostage. ‘I’ll be off, then. Adenine, come with me.’ Was she mad?

  The door upstairs opened. ‘Healer Euka?’ the mayor called.

  ‘What are you doing up there?’ Healer Euka asked. ‘That cowardly savage isn’t going to hurt your daughter.’

  Feet appeared on the attic stairs. Klawdia’s grip on Emala tightened.

  Emala played her part, looking scared and struggling to get away. ‘Father!’

  Mayor Vawdon reached the bottom step and stared at Klawdia. ‘What do you want?’

  ‘We agree to an audience with the king, and ask that your daughter be present.’

  The mayor looked anxiously at Emala. ‘I approve of you seeing the king, but I won’t allow my daughter to be involved.’

  ‘It’s my choice, Father. I’m going to testify. I know you accepted money in exchange for Adenine.’ Emala didn’t blink as she held her father’s gaze.

  ‘You’d side with these
lawbreakers? You’ve got it wrong, sweetheart.’

  Emala hardened her features and crossed her arms.

  Klawdia pointed at the mayor’s soldiers. ‘One of you go to Juxon City now and fetch a royal soldier. Tell them that Klawdia of the Bears requests an audience with the king, and that there have been arrests.’

  One soldier looked at Mayor Vawdon, who nodded reluctantly before glaring at his daughter. The one soldier left while the other stayed behind.

  And we waited.

  Moments later, there were bangs downstairs, and then more Borrelian soldiers appeared on the stairs. Mother locked the barricade door. The day outside turned to night. My eyes grew tired. The mayor and Healer Euka rested in kitchen chairs. I stared at her striking and unforgettably gold eyes and felt wonder at them.

  Jemely lit a fire, fed Butter, and locked him upstairs at my request.

  ‘Well, there’s no reason for us to starve,’ Mother said, breaking the silence. ‘Are we all hungry, then?’

  Everyone nodded, and Mother looked at Jemely, who frowned, rose from her chair, and went to prepare us food in the kitchen. As she chopped and sliced ingredients—tomatoes, onion, potato, beef—she unintentionally provided distraction for the room. The aroma of spices calmed the air, and although not entirely civil, conversation arose.

  ‘It will be at least ten hours before they arrive,’ Healer Euka said, and rose from her chair to inspect what Jemely was cooking. As she glanced into the stew pot, she screwed her face up. ‘I won’t be eating that.’

  Jemely’s murderous eyes snapped to the healer’s, and she dipped the wooden spoon into the half-cooked food, reached around to hold the healer by her hair, and forced the contents into the aristocrat’s mouth.

  Food smeared across the pristine skin of the ambassador’s face, and she cried out, ‘Ugh, look what you’ve done, you fool!’

  I struggled to hold back laughter, and Mother’s hand was clamped on her mouth, her shoulder’s jiggling from laughter.

  Jemely’s scowl changed to a smirk. ‘Your words are more rotten than anything I’ve ever cooked.’

  Healer Euka stormed into the storeroom and emerged with some cloth, which she used to finish cleaning her face. ‘I’m not surprised that a kitchen maid has no manners.’

  Oh dear.

  Jemely ran at the healer and smacked her hard across the face. There was a distinct thwack. A part of me gave a little cheer.

  ‘Jemely!’ I said, astonished by her behaviour.

  But the healer grabbed Jemely by the throat.

  ‘Enough!’ Klawdia grabbed the ambassador by the hair and flung her aside. Then she shoved Jemely back into the kitchen before returning back to Emala’s side on the floor.

  Jemely shot provoking smirks at the healer, who was rubbing her swollen red cheek.

  The healer caught my eye and said, ‘Do not worry, Adenine. In a minute, the marks on my face will be gone and the skin returned to its softness. We do not suffer the way they do.’ She moved her index finger around to point at everyone else in the room.

  I turned away, embarrassed that she had spoken to me so personally. We had nothing in common.

  ‘Tell me, Adenine, what do you know about my city?’ she asked. ‘I bet most are lies, or half-truths twisted by idle gossip.’

  ‘Address my daughter by name again and Klawdia will lock you upstairs,’ Mother threatened.

  Healer Euka straightened her robe and perched on the edge of a nearby chair. ‘Whatever your hopes are, the king will rule in my favour. He always does.’ She leaned back in her seat and smiled arrogantly. ‘Seeing as I’m not eating, I’ll sleep instead.’ She gave Mother’s bedroom a thoughtful glance.

  ‘Just ‘cause you’re all high and mighty with your flashy clothes and shiny eyes doesn’t mean you get the rights to our beds,’ Jemely said. ‘You’ll stay awake like the rest of us.’

  But Mother offered Healer Euka her bedroom anyway.

  ‘I admire your commitment to remaining a thoughtful host,’ Healer Euka said to Mother. ‘But this doesn’t make us friends.’

  ‘I pity any person who sees all good deeds as requiring compensation,’ Mother retorted.

  Healer Euka frowned, then strode into the bedroom and closed the door with a bang.

  ‘She’s as precious as a hen, that one,’ Jemely said, glaring after her.

  Mother and I looked at each other and laughed.

  ‘Where do you keep linen?’ Mayor Vawdon asked, interrupting the last of our chuckling.

  ‘In the storeroom,’ Mother said.

  ‘Borgon,’ the mayor said to his soldier, ‘fetch all of it, will you? Make us a place to rest. I will sleep after supper.’

  The soldier nodded, lit a lamp, and took it into the storeroom. He fashioned two beds made from straw and linen.

  ‘Emala,’ Mayor Vawdon said.

  His daughter raised her head, revealing swollen eyes.

  ‘By morning, I’ll expect you to have changed your mind and aligned yourself with me.’

  But his daughter said nothing and simply lowered her head back down into her drawn legs that she scooped even tighter against her chest.

  After we ate, fatigue slowed my mind. I put my feet up on the kitchen table, slumped down into my chair, and rested my head on my hand. Until recently, my eyelids had never grown heavy from sleepiness. When the stitching had still been in my eyes, I’d always exchanged one kind of darkness for another.

  I took one last glance at Klawdia, who was, of course, wide-awake, not even a hint of tiredness on her face. Mother was gently snoring in her wheelchair, and Jemely stared at the fire. The soldier was awake, leaning against the wall, his eyes roaming across the ceiling. Mayor Vawdon appeared to be sleeping. Emala had not moved from her position, and I felt sorry for her. That led me to thinking about Uncle Garrad. In spite of everything, I had loved him; if I had been forced to speak against him in the king’s court, I would have felt as much conflict as Emala did. I truly believed, though, that if Uncle Garrad had succeeded in his intentions that night, it would have been an exchange of my life for his.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  BANGING FROM DOWNSTAIRS WOKE ME. The barricade door was open, and the soldiers jumped to their feet and fled down the stairwell. Mother’s bedroom door was open, and the room empty. She questioned me with a look, but I had no answer for her.

  Klawdia was gone.

  ‘They’re upstairs,’ I heard Healer Euka say from somewhere in Mystoria. The royal guard must have arrived. Or so I hoped.

  Klawdia appeared at the top of the stairs and ran to take Emala hostage again.

  Mother rolled forward, but stopped when Healer Euka’s golden eyes emerged from the shadows of the narrow passageway. An armoured man with a neatly kept beard appeared behind her.

  ‘Early morning it be. I’m Captain Festral. You’re all under arrest.’ The captain turned around and shouted, ‘The rest of you wait down there. Keep order.’

  Mother seemed astonished. ‘Order?’

  There was banging on the door of the storeroom. Jemely shot Klawdia a glance, then cursed and went and unlocked it.

  The captain’s eyes remained on Mother. ‘An angry crowd has gathered about your shop. They’re calling out for death.’

  And I knew whose death he meant.

  Mayor Vawdon walked across the room boldly and offered his hand to the captain. ‘It is a relief to see you,

  Captain. I apologise for the commotion.’

  The captain stared at him for a moment, failing to extend his own hand to meet the mayor’s. ‘I’m not sure I agree with your sentiment, given Healer Euka’s story here.’

  Mayor Vawdon frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

  Captain Festral looked at the golden-eyed woman. ‘She claims that you asked for money in exchange for this girl.’ He pointed at me. ‘Slavery is illegal in South Senya. And any money given in exchange for a human life is slavery.’

  ‘I did nothing of the sort.’ Mayor Vawdon glared at the amb
assador.

  ‘Are you suggesting that I’m lying?’ Healer Euka said. ‘When I politely refused your offer, you sent your redheaded assassin here to kill me and my men. My only desire has been to ensure the safety of this young healer girl, who, without my intervention, would never have been registered with the king, and would have ended up in the hands of unscrupulous men.

  ‘I represent the Queens, and they desire only peace between the North and South territories of Senya. Yet it seems that will never happen, given how unwelcome I’ve felt here, and in every other town in South Senya. This Ruxdorian traitor here’—Healer Euka pointed at Klawdia—‘she may not be Senyan born, but she is a citizen, so her actions represent the king’s since he protects her.’

  ‘But your Queen keeps her son hostage!’ I countered.

  Her smile infuriated me. ‘Nallael is a Meligna citizen, and works to repay his mother’s debt since she abandoned him.’

  The fingers of Klawdia’s left hand rolled up into a fist, and her blue eyes flickered with bloodlust. If not for Captain Festral, she might have murdered the red robed woman right then.

  Captain Festral moved towards Klawdia, saying, ‘Do you intend to kill this child?’

  ‘No,’ Klawdia replied, dropping her blade from

  Emala’s throat. ‘I meant the girl no harm.’

  The captain stretched out his hand and Klawdia gave him her weapon. ‘Why did you even get involved in this?’ he asked.

  ‘I know Healer Euka, and I know Capacia.’ Klawdia pointed at mother. ‘This girl does not want to go to Meligna, and I believe that should be her choice.’

  ‘Even if it antagonises the already tense relationship between North and South?’

  ‘Exactly,’ the ambassador said. ‘Give the savage to us and we’ll find a suitable punishment for her if you don’t want to deal with her.’

  Both of Klawdia’s fists were clenched now, and she threw herself at the healer, who stumbled backwards and fell to the floor.