“This is a lot of studying. How long do you think it will take, my Lord?”
“As much time as we need. We are between. In this place, you learn faster than you can imagine. Also, you cannot lie here.”
She turned to him. “My Lord, I will never lie to you.”
“Never is a long time, and we both have many years to come. But I know you will always work for my interests. For this, I cannot thank you enough. We don’t technically need to eat or drink, but it will seem more normal if we do. There are rooms and we can even sleep, which I think we should do.”
Illa nodded. “I was trained to hate Daggers. But what Ticca said was so interesting. Do all Daggers talk as she does?”
He nodded. “Yes, all the Daggers I have met do, which would be one.” Illa laughed hard. “We have a good beginning, if you like my jokes. Seriously, Daggers are unique. They were restarted by Duke with Damega. Daggers are not just specially trained warriors for hire. They are, in fact, based on a unique group of military specialists who were respected throughout the world before they were forgotten, during Imperial times. The core of the Daggers is their total dedication to three values: honor, courage, and commitment. Every Dagger is taught logic and critical thinking, with an emphasis on not losing sight of any one of the three guiding principles. What is unique is that by commitment, Daggers do not mean commitment to their superiors, but commitment to doing the right thing. To a Dagger, courage is standing up for the right, regardless of the consequences. Finally, honor is courage in motion. Daggers will always step up to do the right thing, even if it is against their orders.”
Illa thought about that. “The Nhia-Samri are only taught that honor is in doing your duty to your commanding officer. There is a strict code of conduct. There is nothing about thinking for yourself, and the highest crime is disobedience. I find the Dagger core values far more compatible with what I have always felt would be honorable behavior. I am pleased you are a Dagger God. I shall endeavor to live to these ideals.”
“We have a long time tonight to discuss the philosophy and applications of Dagger ideals. Besides teaching you what I know of Daggers, I also desire for you to teach me all you know of the Nhia-Samri, including training me in the Nhia-Samri fighting styles.”
“It takes five years to complete training.”
“I am a fast study, and this is not a normal environment. Let us see how far we can progress.”
With that, they dug into their work. Cycles passed as they read and debated the various laws. They spent marks fighting every day, and Illa drew wondrous diagrams of the Nhia-Samri outposts she had served in. She taught him all she knew of the Nhia-Samri. He spent time giving her all the Dagger training Ticca had given him. Then he passed on all the elven combat, hunting, and survival training Kliasa had given him. He also taught her the elven language.
Nothing they changed ever disappeared, and Lebuin realized they were physically changing their minds. The diagrams and training were embedded into their consciousness. They discussed trying to pull Ticca and Ditani in on a different night, and resolved to propose the idea after reviewing the laws, to insure they were not going to violate any of them.
By morning, Lebuin had as complete an understanding of the Nhia-Samri as any Nhia-Samri warrior who was raised, trained, and part of that organization. He had mastered all of the fighting skills, at least, in his mind. His body would take time to achieve the physical abilities, but he knew what to do. He and Illa had also reviewed and debated all of the laws of the Gods and felt comfortable that they could act well enough. Lebuin knew he needed to get more followers eventually, but they had found some means whereby he had a grace period to use the mana line energies, so long as he was actively engaged in expanding his followers.
Even better was that Illa had all of his limited Dagger training and his advanced elven training rooted in her mind. She, too, had a complete set of the laws of Gods in her mind and would be able to act properly as his high priestess and disciple.
They had grown to know each other, and were compatible friends. For this, Lebuin was grateful, as he was worried they would both regret her choice if they were not able to be friends. He gave her a hug and then allowed her consciousness to return to her own body.
Alone, he spent more time considering his situation and poring over the laws of Gods, trying to determine what the Circle had done. In the end, the Circle had broken a number of laws in not recognizing a new god-kin, and in not teaching him what he needed to know, letting him roam free with his powers, which was a serious violation. He was also sure they had interfered in his education, because he found that any Elracian knowledge was never to be given to anyone, except Gods that needed it, and then, only by unanimous vote of the Circle with the agreement of Duke. But he had been given a few excellent references in Elracian knowledge and powers anonymously. There was no explanation as to why Elracian knowledge was forbidden to be shared. I’ll have to keep this my own secret. They are relatively safe in my guarded armoire’s secret compartments, but I must find a better and stronger hiding place for those books.
Satisfied, he allowed himself to return to his body and the deep sleep that waited.
- - -
Lebuin woke to the smell of breakfast. Sitting up, he stretched and looked around. He was alone in the cave. There was bread with meat sitting close to the dying fire, staying warm, and a pot of arit next to it. He poured some, grabbed the food, and stepped out of the cave mouth, into the light of day. The sun was already above the tree line, making it late morning. A short distance off, Ticca, Illa, and Ditani were sitting, talking.
Ticca was smiling as she poked fun at him. “About time, you woke up.”
He joined their circle. “How long have you three been up?”
Illa sipped some of her arit. “We got up just after dawn and decided to let you rest. I had some questions for Ticca and Ditani. So we exercised and talked. We stopped for some refreshments.”
Ticca looked more comfortable with, even friendly towards, Illa. It seems they settled into something more than a truce. Taking the last bite of his breakfast, he stood. “Well then, you three relax and let me warm up.”
Stepping off, Lebuin went through the morning forms, while a buzz of conversation filled the air. He didn’t bother paying attention so as to better practice. When he finished, he noticed that the sounds of conversation had died. Looking around, he noticed all three were standing near and watching him. Smiling, he motioned, and Ditani stepped up. They went through all twelve patterns together while Ticca and Illa sparred.
Finishing, he and Ditani watched the two warriors spar. Illa was as amazing a fighter as Ticca. Illa was fighting with two of Ticca’s knives. As they watched, the women moved up in notches from basic drills, to more advanced sparring. It was fascinating to watch, especially in that both women were as beautiful as they were skilled.
Ditani sounded almost dreamy as he watched. “I must say, this is an unusual sight. I have been alive for nearly two thousand years and I have never once seen or heard of such beautiful and skillful warriors. I am glad those two are on our side.”
Ditani has a point, considering we are here by a strange set of circumstances. Lebuin admired the skill of his first follower with a great deal of pride. Her beauty was enhanced by the neat clothing she wore. She was dressed as a bard in a patterned dark and light green medium-length tunic, trimmed with silver stitching; her dark leather pants blended into her knee-high riding boots with the brass buckles. Overall, she cut a fine image standing still, but flowing around the area like a dancer, barely touching the ground, she made the scene a work of flowing art. She exchanged blows with Ticca, who looked almost royal in a red velvet short tunic and matching leggings, her wide black belt with all the knife sheaths, and her amazing calf-high boots, which had changed to a dark burgundy.
“It’s odd, but I am grateful for everything that has happened. I am happy to have all of you with me for whatever we have to do next.”
&n
bsp; Ticca ducked under a jab by Illa, and wrapped her arm around Illa’s arm as she stood. The two of them twisted, and Illa managed to force Ticca away, but not before Ticca had taken one of the knives from her. Laughing, Ticca moved in for a double strike. Illa surprised her by not blocking the first knife, and instead, side-stepping with the grace of an acrobat. Illa then spun down and used her remaining knife to parry bind and disarm Ticca’s second strike. Ticca yelped in surprise and twisted back to snag Illa’s left leg with her right leg. Twisting, Ticca sent Illa tumbling forward. Ticca then did a backwards handstand roll, landing on her feet, with the knife she had forced Illa to drop, in her previously empty hand.
Instead of landing flat on her belly, Illa had tucked and rolled forward, coming back to her feet and twisting to end up facing Ticca. At that point, Illa only had one knife and Ticca had the two. Still, they moved in slowly. Both women had a more intense look on their faces.
Lebuin started to stand up, but Ditani placed a hand on his shoulder. “They won’t hurt each other… Well, much. I think they need to do this.”
Ticca attacked first. She stepped up to Illa, deflecting Illa’s knife and bringing her other hand in for a cutting stroke. Illa tried to step aside, but wasn’t fast enough, and Ticca pulled her knife back at the last moment, preventing a deep cut. Still, she cut a line through Illa’s fine tunic, across Illa’s belly, drawing blood. Both women’s looks changed, and Illa grabbed Ticca’s wrist, twisting it with more strength than Lebuin thought Illa had, and causing Ticca to cut her own arm with her own knife.
Then Ticca moved almost as fast as she had at the gate fight in Llino. Ticca dropped both knives and twisted her wrist free of Illa’s grip. Ticca snapped her right leg past Illa, turning her upper body into Illa and grabbing Illa by the upper arm and body, lifting her off the ground and flipping her over Ticca’s hip. Illa was caught off-guard and fell on her back with the wind knocked out of her, in a loud gasp. Illa’s right hand slammed onto the ground, knocking the knife out of her hand, to land a few feet away. Ticca landed on top of her and tried to lock Illa’s legs with her own, while grappling Illa with one hand and reaching for her dagger, which had fallen next to Illa’s head, with her other hand.
Illa found the strength to kick Ticca’s legs off of her. Illa broke free from Ticca and shoved Ticca violently off her and away from Ticca’s dagger. Illa then lifted her feet and did a strong snapping motion with her arms behind her head, bringing herself to a standing position. She spun, drawing her odassi, and advanced on Ticca. Ticca had used the momentum from Illa’s push to roll a few feet off, and then, somehow, came up to her feet with two recovered knives, one in each hand.
Illa stepped up to Ticca and struck with a speed and deadliness that equaled Ossa-Ulla. Ticca defended and met the attack with her own counter-attacks. They spun around each other with the ringing of steel on steel, and flashes of sparks as their blades met. Their hands and arms were a blur of motion, feet stirring up a cloud of dust, as they danced around each other, exchanging blow after blow.
Lebuin had seen enough. This had shifted to something more than testing each other’s abilities. He stood, feeling weird. He started to run towards the fight, but his legs felt heavy, and the world spun. As he cried out, falling, he realized that what power he had gathered was rushing out of him like a lake bursting through a dam. He didn’t feel the ground as he hit it, but he did hear Ditani screaming his name.
This is so familiar, was all he had time to think before the blackness enveloped him.
Elades enjoyed the feeling of being out in the forest once again. Riding through the trees and hearing the animal sounds always made him feel good. As he rode, he kept count of animals and people. Scouts moved through, reporting on the area. In addition to the thirty-five members of Alpha Squad, there were also the three extra non-combatants of Duke’s more hearty personal staff, plus the two extra Daggers, Nigan and Risy, who might or might not be under coin with Lebuin. Looking back, he saw Nigan and Risy had taken to shepherding the non-combatants and looking after their extra pack horses. Next to him, Ladro, Duke’s private secretary, rode easily, but with that wide-eyed look of someone not used to being in the wilderness. Alpha Squad was working in symmetry, keeping watch. With Duke in full-blown tracking mode, he had little to do, but enjoy the ride until something interesting happened.
Elades watched Duke moving nimbly through the forest path. He was proud that his long service as a Dagger had earned him the command position over all of Duke’s Dagger forces. He had worked as a Dagger for nearly fifty years. His experience spanned whole kingdoms and even the Great War forty years ago. His training had never stopped, and he had taken time to learn all he could from every officer of every fleet and army he had encountered. All of that was paying off. He was serving the greatest Dagger legend—Duke—personally. It wasn’t just that Duke was the Supreme Commander of the Imperial Armies, or the creature that had brought the Daggers back from the obscurity of legend. Nor was it that Duke was as ancient as this world. His heart and soul knew that they were going to be doing a great work, and the scourge of the Nhia-Samri would finally be stopped.
Of course, many younger Daggers were still coming to terms with the fact that their recognized founder, a fifteen-thousand year-old talking, grey wolf, larger than the largest work horse, wasn’t a legend or an exaggeration. Duke had burst into the Blue Dolphin, shattering the doors of the inn and the silly games being played by the nobles, only six weeks–just one and a half cycles–ago. In that time, the pirate usurpers had been exposed and deposed, a Nhia-Samri assassination had been exposed, and the Nhia-Samri infiltration of Aelargo had been stopped dead, literally. Duke had lived up to every legend of him anyone had ever heard, and more.
Still, something big was coming, and Duke was striving to prepare for it. I’m not sure what’s coming. But I’m positive this is going to end up being yet another Dagger legend. I can feel it coming; once again, we are going to show the world what it means to be a Dagger. They’ll be telling stories of our honor, commitment, and courage in facing this threat. His thoughts turned, once again, to Ticca. Somehow, she is central to this. I knew she was going to be great. Heck, I watched her start her career. She might be a bit showy for my tastes, but she is a hell of a good Dagger. She did everything right for those six months I watched, and then she did the truly extraordinary in escaping the Nhia-Samri. He recalled how, in escaping the Nhia-Samri in Llino, she had exposed their presence, and proved more skilled than expected.
Ticca is important to Duke at a level I cannot explain. It will be interesting, seeing where all this takes us.
A scout came jogging back from ahead, and signaled that he had found a camp, but that it was empty. Looking around, he signaled for two patrols to circle the area and search for signs of anyone else. Two pairs of Daggers dropped off their horses, leaving the reins lightly looped to their saddles. Dagger warhorses knew what to do, like their owners. He added two more marks of the sun’s position on his saddle in chalk, so he could be sure of how long the patrols had been out. Always pays to know how long someone hasn’t been seen.
The remaining eighteen Daggers of Alpha Squad behind him limbered up in the saddles, in case they got some action. Duke stopped and stood still, inspecting something in front of him. Signaling Ladro to stay behind, he let his horse move up to just behind Duke before stopping. The rest of the squad stopped, as well. It was silent, except for the occasional sounds of the horses or forest animals. Duke was sniffing the wind and his ears were moving as fast as a top, twisting left and right.
“Elades,” Duke said softly, “Ticca was standing right here, looking at what I am looking at, not more than a day ago, probably less.”
He stretched his neck and stood up in the stirrups to look around the giant wolf’s body, but still couldn’t see past him. He answered back softly, as he knew Duke could hear even the softest whisper this close, “You don’t make a good window, Excellency. May I join you?”
Duk
e looked around. In a more normal voice, Duke answered, “The immediate area is clear. Alpha Squad, dismount and rest. Do not enter this area until the scouts and I have examined it.”
Elades slipped off his horse, letting the reins dangle to the ground, signaling his horse that it could graze, but not move too far away. It tore up some of the green grass and started chewing, as he stepped up next to Duke.
The narrow animal path ran out into a wide-open glade. It was beautiful, with a small rock hill and cliff on the far side. There were signs that some things had been disturbed, but without stepping into the area, he couldn’t be sure. But more disturbing was that on the far side of the glade, there was a low mound of dirt with some stones arranged on top of it that looked like a grave.
“What do you think, Elades?”
Pointing at the grave, he said, “That looks like a grave.” Indicating another area, he added, “Looks odd over there—something isn’t right. Also, this is a pretty nice choke point, and that little hill with the rock face would make a good ambush point.”
Duke nodded. “I agree. Stay here. When the scouts report in, tell them I want them to follow every sign around this site for a quarter mark and report back on how many trails come and go from here.” With that, Duke put his nose to the ground and moved out into the glade. He crisscrossed the clearing many times.
While Duke was investigating the site, different scouting pairs reported back in. He was glad that so far, no scouting pair had disappeared. He sent them off with their tracking orders, changing the marks on his saddle, and then leaned up against a tree, watching Duke. A few of the squad came over to watch; others had sat down and were drinking some water or chewing salted jerky. Nigan and Risy stepped up next to him to watch. Looking over at Nigan, who was still wearing Lebuin’s clothes, he snickered.
Thread Strands (Golden Threads Trilogy) Page 9