Paladin's Oath

by M. H. Johnson

  Verona couldn’t fathom the damage the man had suffered to his pelvis and innards, even as Jessica spun around with terrible speed, now gripping the sword she had somehow seized from the guard by the end of the blade, smashing the hilt into the guardsman’s helmet with such horrific force that Verona could hear the crunch of metal and bone as the guardsman was slammed to the ground, his broken body spasming horribly before going utterly still, the scent of blood and ruptured bowels suddenly filling the air, leaving Verona dizzy with nausea.

  "Thunderstrike style. Using the sword hilt-first like a war hammer. Favored by armored knights when their blades are not able to pierce each other's armaments, and percussive force is the order of the day. Also useful in other circumstances, so long as one has the gloves or gauntlets to make it work," noted an almost bemused looking Morlekai. At her side and calm as could be, as if he had not been sprinting madly to Jess's aid when she had seemed off balance and easy prey, but a second before. And how had this man moved so fast?

  Verona shuddered, realizing she was completely out of her depth.

  And amazingly, Jessica de Calenbry appeared unfazed by the blood spatters and gore covering her face and dress, or by the broken bodies before her, seeming almost casually to hunt for and pick up what Verona could only assume was the least banged up sword, before circling once more the original focus of Jessica's hate, her voice once again ringing with her accusations of murder. The tableau was bizarre to the point of madness, the accuser herself covered with the blood of four men she had just finished butchering, but a handful of seconds before

  "Her name was Elebry, wasn't it Kipu? Elebry... Elebry e'Cantu."

  And Verona was thunderstruck, even as the rest of Jessica's mad diatribe washed over her. There had been such a lady, a young lass from a somewhat impoverished noble family who had apparently ran off with a former flame after he had killed his own family retainer to access his father's gold. Just the sort of awful juicy gossip that would flare through the Court, too delicious for the jaded lords and ladies not to dissect and savor its every lurid detail. Apparently, the young fool had come to a bad end, found gutted in a neighborhood of ill repute. One could only imagine the fate of the foolish young noblewoman who had ran off with him.

  And here Jess was, accusing Kipu of having done the deed. The intensity of Jess's hatred, the violent madness that had just cost four men their lives, shook Verona to her core. And yet, wasn't it true that young Elebry had been pursuing another romantic interest? Verona wondered if perhaps, by some horrid coincidence, it had indeed been Kipu she had been pursuing.

  Verona grimaced. If anything, the situation around the presently raving Calenbry girl was even more precarious than she had first thought. And some rumors, at least, had proven themselves to be all too true. Regardless of her sex and rank, this young Squire had indeed been trained for the killingfields, and trained well.

  "You know, I do believe she is going to kill him." Morlekai flashed her a mad grin. "That would be an interesting end to the scene, would it not?" He gestured to the tableau before them. And Verona could now hear every word clear as day.

  "But it's all a lie, all of it!" Jessica roared. "Her body, along with the bodies of all the girls you butchered over the years are still where they have always been, are they not, Kipu? In the end, no matter how hard you tried, you just couldn't bear to let them go!"

  Kipu shuddered, all but flinging Appolonia away as he stumbled back from a grimly approaching Jessica. “Get away from me, witch woman! I have had enough of your sickness, your lies! You and your family, so cavalier, so vainglorious, feeling you all are above anyone and everyone, simply because you are Named? Your father thinking himself a patron saint with his sympathetic words and charity to his underlings, forcing them to come calling to him for aid like favored dogs? That elitist bastard! Rumors and stories of his oldest daughter being a revered adventurer or a hero, some figure out of legend, beyond our reach. Filthy lies! All of it! All a cover so your family could shield from the world the hideous truth! How their daughter Delved in dark forces she couldn't hope to understand and was…changed. Warped. Made a killer! A butcher! A murderer!”

  He snarled, backing away. “Even your vain little sister can see what a monster you are now, Jessica de Calenbry. Go ahead! I am unarmed! Run me through, here and now, like you did my guardsmen! Show your sister and the world the renowned Jessica de Calenbry, ‘savior’ of the Turnsby Estates, is nothing but a mad, raving killer!”

  “Kipu?” Appolonia gazed at Kipu what must have been shock, even Verona could sense the contempt the young lord had for the entire family of the girl who obviously adored him.

  Jess nodded, her face a mask of dark triumph as she circled him still. "Yes, Kipu. Unmask your hate. Let Apple see that bitterness, that contempt, that loathing you have for us, for our entire family! You despise us, don't you, Kipu? You hate any woman that is not broken and subservient. And what a prize it would be, if you could pluck the baron's own beloved youngest, such a sweet blossom that she is, and entice her back to your dark dungeon of pain. And how you would revel in the awful nightmare you would make of her final days, as you forced her to suffer for daring to have pride, for daring to believe in herself, for daring to flaunt a loving father that protected her and cared for her!"

  Verona swore she heard Jessica growl, though it hardly sounded human, her eyes flashing like rubies, or shimmering drops of blood. "How dare you! How dare you think you can come into my home, into my garden, and threaten those I love with your mad bitter schemes, you little maggot! I know what you were planning, Kipu. I know all of it! The foulness of your treachery ripples through the air. I smell your rotten depravity and I will end it, here and now!"

  Contemptuously, she pointed at the sword the panicked young lord was stumbling over in his desperate struggle to back away. “Pick up your blade, Kipu. One final moment of redemption, a chance to face your death like a noble sworn to serve his king. A mercy you gave none of your victims!”

  Grimly, Jessica approached the young lord who had stumbled to the ground in his terror, backpedaling madly on hands and feet, refusing even to look at his blade. A foolish mistake, Verona thought, for clearly Jessica was going to cut him down, either way. Her blade began to rise, slowly, in counterpoint to her sister's panicked screams, as if she was savoring the kill to come. She was seconds away from striking, and Verona was coldly certain that it would not be a quick death, either.

  “Well?” Queried the man lounging beside her, gazing at the tableau in cold amusement. He radiated a fierceness that would easily mute to leadership should he choose such a role, as alpha as any male could possibly be. Yet he seemed perfectly willing to let her take the lead.

  Verona grimaced, realizing if she were to have any handle on this situation, to prevent it from spiraling any further into madness, she had to act, and now, before Jess committed an act from which there could be no turning back. It was one thing for Jessica to kill guardsmen who had themselves bared naked steel, another thing entirely to kill a member of the noble class. As awful as it was to admit, in the eyes of those who held power, it was so. Or so she later reasoned when she found herself charging headlong toward Jess, shouting desperately to catch the mad girl's attention, fear for her own safety only hitting once the words rang from her throat.

  “Jessica de Calenbry! In the name of the king, I bid you stop!” she cried, and Jessica seemed to shiver and freeze, glancing back toward Verona in surprised disbelief. Yet Verona was not blind to Kipu’s fierce grin either. She would be saving his life, after all, for better or worse. Jess’s blade, Verona was alarmed to see, was now in perfect position to plunge right through Kipu's heart.

  41

  “Lady Jessica de Calenbry,” she cried out breathlessly, “as an Agent of the Crown I bid you stop, lest you commit murder against an unarmed lord before my very eyes!”

  The girl grimaced, glaring down at her feet, gazing at an empty patch of grass as far as Verona could tell. “I k
new she was an agent, Twilight!” she hissed at the empty patch of air, which for some reasons made Verona shiver. The girl was clearly mad, unless rumors of her invisible familiar were more than part of the story drummed up by the opportunistic Guild.

  To her utter relief, the girl at last lowered her sword, though Jessica's fierce crimson gaze made Verona’s heart race anew, for all that she was still panting from her mad dash across the field. The odd breeze shifted once more, the stench of blood and offal now a palpable miasma. Verona felt of a sudden dizzy, her shoulders gently braced by a bemused Morlekai who had effortlessly loped over at her side.

  "Well done," the Delver declared with a single offhand glance at the broken bodies around them. "I see rumors of your martial skills are not exaggerated. Excellent. I was looking for a new sparring partner. I think you'll do nicely."

  Jessica’s gaze was fierce. Unrepentant. “If you were spying on me the whole time, and thank you for being observant and picking that out, Twilight, then you know this monster was seeking to prey upon my sister. I will allow no one to harm my family. Anyone that attempts to hurt those I love will pay a terrible price for their deed. There will be no mercy shown. None!”

  Verona took a deep shuddering breath. “Jessica de Calenbry. If you wish to make a declaration of foul play, or issue challenge, the proper methodology is to declare your intent before the Council of Lords, not to butcher a fellow lord without trial or challenge being issued and accepted!”

  "I didn't have time!" the gore-spattered girl furiously declared. "I only found out he was a threat, just now! He was given opportunity to draw his sword, and he refused. And I will not allow this twisted serpent to slither into my garden and prey upon my flock with impunity!"

  “Jessica de Calenbry, you are so insane!” Her sister Appolonia shrieked, her green eyes hot with tears. Her auburn locks, darker than her sister's fiery mane, were filthy with grass, leaves and dirt; her coloring and features were so close a match to the king's own, that Verona flinched. Presently the Calenbry's youngest was gazing at her sister with utter fury, ineffectually pummeling Jessica as hard as she could with her petite hands.

  For a split second Verona feared for the girl, but Jessica’s hurt look as she patiently stood there and took it, eased that concern. “Look at what you did, just look at what you did! Oh by the gods above, I hate you! I absolutely hate you, you stupid, stupid bitch! Put down the stupid sword and back away!”

  And amazingly, Jessica sighed and did just that. Too much the trained warrior to disarm herself entirely, she instead yanked free a sword belt from one of the fallen guards, cleaning and sheathing her weapon, even as Appolonia rushed to the side of a dazed and furious looking Kipu, who was taking shuddering breaths as he levered himself off the ground. "Oh gods, Kipu, oh gods, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry!"

  Kipu's dark gaze was filled with loathing so vehement that Appolonia stepped back and whimpered. "Don't touch me, you foul little whore. I don't want you near me!" Kipu then focused his furious gaze on Verona. "Do you hear me, agent? Servant of the Crown? I want nothing to do with this family. Nothing! I want only to leave, and never lay eyes upon this place or this mad family, ever again! I will swear that truth before any bard in the Guild!"

  Appolonia fell to her knees, curling up into a ball and crying, her harsh bitter sobs making her sister wince, even when Jessica flashed her furious gaze at Kipu, the young lord shuddering and refusing to even look their way while he continued his panicked diatribe.

  "She is mad. Do you hear me, agent? Utterly and completely mad! Raging! Delusional! She flew into a berserker's rage and butchered four men before my very eyes, raving such twisted delusions!" Kipu took a shuddering breath. "By the angels above, I have never before met a creature so needing to be locked up in a healer's asylum!"

  Verona frowned. “Insane or no, while it is true that she did indeed kill four armed guardsmen, she was one lone woman with a knife. Do visiting lords normally have an armed retinue with them in this part of the kingdom?”

  Kipu flashed a hot bitter look at her before closing his own eyes and forcing himself to calm. “I have extra men with me for protection. I asked for and received permission from the baron himself to bring my men! And it was a good thing I had, or I would be dead, so who would dare fault me?”

  Morlekai flashed the young lord a bemused smile, deceptively indulgent, like a lion gazing at a wandering sheep with utter indifference before savagely disemboweling his prey. “Four guardsmen indeed. And yet, for some reason, they felt the need to bare live steel in the face of their host's daughter. Rather… unusual for guards serving in an honorable capacity, wouldn’t you say?”

  “They were protecting me!” Kipu glared at the powerfully built Delver. “And who are you to speak to me in such a way? Who are you to question me? You are no lord, merely a manservant of your agent, so watch your tongue.”

  Morlekai's smile was deadly. "I will let that pass, for now. Another has made claim, and I will respect that." The air grew thick with tension before the Delver abruptly chuckled. "Nonetheless, lad, it was your guardsmen who approached the lady in question with bared steel."

  Kipu gazed at Verona incredulously. "Am I the one at trial, here? This crazy wench charged into my men and butchered them, and would have slain me as well, had you not cried her surcease. I do not tell my men how best to protect themselves, I leave that to their judgment. They thought I faced a threat, deceptive as it may appear, and by Justice they were right! They bared steel to defend me, and died for it!" Kipu's gaze was almost imploring. Almost.

  “I throw myself into the care of the Agency of the Crown. I demand a fair trial for any wrongs I am accused of, and safe passage out of a suddenly hostile demesne from which I had been given guest rights, assuring my safe departure, free of any threats to my person, by ancient custom and right!”

  Jess’s voice was dark, bitter. “If you let this worm go, he will go back to his layer and dispose of any trace of his depredations. Then he will be allowed to walk free and prey upon other girls!”

  Kipu’s eyes blazed with hate. “You are mad, you psychotic wench! It is I who will see judgment passed upon you for attempted murder of a fellow lord, and one given safe passage within your own lands by your parent’s consent!”

  “Under false pretenses!” Jess hissed back. “Rendering your rights for safe passage null and void!”

  “That is for the Council to decide, not you, you rabid cur!” Kipu snarled.

  Morlekai flashed a madcap grin. “What a lovely conversation! I suspect, however, that certain other parties should be informed of the current… situation?” He favored Verona with a bemused, knowing stare and she shut her eyes, cursing him silently. He was playing her. This entire time, he had been playing her. Knowing what her reaction would be when he led her to trail behind Jess, firmly holding her back when she had sought to intervene before things got out of hand, all but compelling her forward when only the young lordling and Appolonia remained. And now he gently manipulated her still, knowing damn well she had no choice but to summon the baron and baroness themselves to deal with this situation.

  Verona shook her head angrily and sighed. “Very well. I will be back momentarily with the baron and his wife.” Her gaze turned sharp. “I trust there will be no more killing while I am gone.” Not bothering for a response, she turned on her heel, striding with a mix of fury and nerves for the manor, doing all she could to ignore Morlekai’s soft, amused laughter behind her.

  42

  The Baroness was still greeting and mingling with guests old and new when Verona caught sight of her, and only because she was practiced at it and looking for it did she see the signs of strain and worry upon Agda’s otherwise pristine features. Having gone from greeting to socializing, the baroness had changed into a sky blue dress of priceless silken fabric that shimmered in the lamplight, and of such exquisite cut and craftsmanship that Verona felt almost dowdy in comparison. For all that the Calenbrys were content for their underlords
to see them as first among equals when welcomed under their roof, it was clear that Agda would deny herself elegance for no longer than was necessary. She truly was a striking figure, even now.

  At last, she caught Agda's eye. The baroness's gaze instantly widened before she gave Verona the subtlest of nods, her slight preoccupation instantly turning to full-blown concern, though quickly hidden.

  Moments later Verona felt the lady's hand gently take her arm and she firmly clamped on her own alarm at being so readily taken unawares, when she was trained and had been expecting it. It chilled Verona to think what would happen to her, if she seemed too blatantly opposed to this family's interests. Nothing was said, of course. Agda seemed too preoccupied to realize how she had sent Verona's heart racing with the unexpected touch.

  Verona took a deep breath, forcing herself to rein in her own tightly drawn nerves. It had truly been a tumultuous evening, and the scene was only half done.

  Agda’s gaze was too perceptive. She obviously suspected who and what Verona was, to have responded so to her with but a single glance. There was no point in subterfuge now. Only damage control and, perhaps, within the bounds of her own edicts, the opportunity to gain a sliver of trust.

  “Well?” So much said with that one simple word.

  Verona sighed and met her hostess’s eyes.

  “There has been… an incident. Some half mile or so from here, past the nearest apple grove.”

  Agda’s lips pursed, her gaze hard as winter ice. “Walk with me.” Her words were as much a command as a request. The baroness then exchanged a few quiet words with a well dressed servitor who was no doubt the house seneschal, yet moved like a warrior of old. With a deferential nod, the seneschal proceeded to the foyer, and Verona overheard talk of a bardic series of tales about to begin. No doubt a means to entertain and distract the audience while the hostess was temporarily absent. Yet Agda’s tight grip upon Verona's wrist forbore any lingering, and within moments they were both standing by the greenhouse, waiting for someone, apparently. Within moments a grim looking Arthur de Calenbry made his presence known, dressed in his gray commander’s uniform, and still moving with the fluid grace of a warrior in his prime. He spared his wife one anxious glance.