Adversaries Together (26 page)

“
There’s more happening
between The Cathedral and the Spires than you or I know. The
council think they’re looking to split all of Essia between
them.”

“
What does Wynne think?”
she asked.

“
Father doesn’t agree, nor
does he argue against it. I think he sees something else in this
siege, but he tells no one.”

“
Is that why he spends so
much time in the athenaeum?”

“
After burying so many
bodies out at the lighthouse, I imagine he spends time there
because it’s so quiet.”

“
Why did he do that out
there? Why did he keep fishing those bodies out? It must have been
soul crushing.” Kira shook her head shuddering as she thought of
it.

“
We Rikonenese hold burial
to be a sacrament. Your birth, your death, these are the two most
vital moments in life, for yourself and for others.” Fery said
coolly.

“
I can’t lie; I’m surprised
by how seriously you take both. I don’t know of any nation or
people who don’t honor the dead or celebrate birth, but you all
are…different.”

“
We have just enough of a
devotion to beginnings and endings to be felt to be quite foreign.
Especially to you Cassubians.” Fery nudged Kira in the
ribs.

“
I was raised in Sulecin
but my parentage is Silvincian.” She said in her
defense.

“
So, you’re not purely
Cathedral?” Fery was a bit surprised, “You’re both our adversaries
in one.” Fery made a face.

Kira rolled her eyes, “For an adversary, I’m
a bit hapless. The Cathedral chapels were all I knew until they
sent me off with Goshen.”

Fery was quiet a moment too long, “I’m sorry
you’ve ended up here.”

Kira gave a weak smile and touched Fery’s
forearm, “Being here is…” Kira gave a hard swallow, “This place has
been the closest thing to home I’ve experienced since I left.”

“
Far too much has happened
in far too short of a time to far too many.”

Kira stared at Fery and then burst into
laughter. Fery laughed a bit uncomfortably, which then just sent
Kira into a further bout she seemed to lose herself in it. When it
became clear that she was nearly crying from it, Fery spoke up.

“
What? What is
it?”

Kira collected herself with difficulty. She
was red-faced and short of breath. “Why do you all talk like
that?”

“
Like what?”

“
You’re all so solemn, as
though everything you say is meant for some academy.”

Fery feigned offense and spoke in an affected
Ardavassian accent, “Hardly, dear girl.” They both laughed and
continued through the courtyard loosely holding hands. When they
had come back around to the entrance, Fery turned to face Kira,
taking her other hand in her own.

“
Kira.” She was serious,
but her tone lacked any anxious edge. There was an easy intimacy
between them. It was this that led Kira to realize this girl
actually wanted to be her friend, not her keeper or casual
companion. The thought nearly made her cry again, but she kept her
composure and let Fery talk, “We need to go talk with the Alders
today.”

“
Why so solemn, I’ve done
that before.”

“
Yes, but this time…this
time there will be…”

“
Be what?”

“
I shouldn’t say. You need
to talk to the Alders first. But I can’t send you to them
completely ignorant.”

“
Then tell me.”

“
They are going to. They’ll
show you. And you’ll need to hear a lot from them, a lot that you
may not like to hear. It may make you…”

“
Make me what?”

“
Hate us.” Fery was
shaking, “Hate me, and hate my father.”

“
I doubt that.”

“
We sent those corsairs
after you. We’re responsible for what they did.” Fery’s face was
red with shame, he voice uneven.

Kira was solemn, “I know. I know this
already.”

“
But you don’t know why we
sent them. You don’t know…you don’t know so much.”

“
Then tell me. Just tell
me.”

“
It’s not my place to. But,
you need to know. Things are done here.”

“
Done here?”

“
This,” Fery gestured to
the courtyard, nodded toward the terraced apartments that looked
down upon it, “It’s ending. The Blockade is choking it off. We’re
going to have to leave the city, leave our country.”

“
This is what the Alders
will say to me?”

“
That and more.”

Kira leaned in and hugged Fery. She
whispered, “I am prepared to do what I must.”

“
I know.”

“
And I won’t lose any more
friends.”

“
I hope not.” Fery was
teary eyed. She wiped her eyes, regained her composure, and said
brightly, “We need to go practice.”

Kira dropped Fery’s hands and immediately
slouched, “Oh, no, please…not again.” She whined.

“
Come.” Fery grabbed her
hand and pulled her along. Kira didn’t resist much but made sure
that Fery had to force her along.

“
I hate this so
much.”

“
It will be a good way to
pass the time. And besides, you need to learn to defend yourself.”
Fery was playfully assertive.

Several braziers flush to the stone walls
illuminated the hall. The last time Kira was in the room she was
being turned over, it was dark then and she had stood not at the
head of the room but in the center where Fery stood now. Kira had
expected being here again to be difficult but it was turning out to
be the least difficult thing about the day. She was exhausted,
frustrated, and certain that Fery was sick of her ham-fisted
attempts.

Fery set down the batons and stood for a
moment in thought, “Well, perhaps we can try something that’s a bit
more fun.”

“
Has any of this been fun?”
Kira was on the verge of having her pouting turn to
rage.

“
Come now, the rope and
clubs are difficult. No one said this would be easy.”

“
Yes you did.” Kira
scoffed, “You said it’d be fun and that it was the simplest thing
in the world to learn.”

“
Well, I’m having fun.”
Fery gave a wry grin, “And just because something is simple doesn’t
mean it’s going to be easy.”

“
Now you sound like your
father.”

Fery picked up two batons with long silver
ribbons attached to them, “Now this is why it’s called ribbon
dancing; this is the piece most people love to see. And remember,
I’ve been doing this since I was two and you’ve just seen these for
the first time ever.”

She walked to the center of the hall, turned
to face Kira and then bowed. She kept bowing until she looked bent
in half, her arms were straight out to her sides and she released
the bundles of ribbon she was holding and pointed the batons
outward. She seemed painfully still. Suddenly, she flung her upper
body up and did a series of backwards flips. Her legs were like
scissors through the air, as Fery’s body flipped all the while she
was spinning her wrists and the ribbons seemed to come to life.

They spun out wide like silvery tornados and
even when Fery stopped, her legs outstretched she seemed to be
writing on air as her arms entwined and the ribbons flew furiously
dynamic. Still sitting low, Fery did a pirouette that slowly rose
her up, the ribbons wrapped themselves around her until she was
standing again, then she froze and all movement stopped.

Fery’s eyes fixed on Kira as she broke the
stillness, racing towards her, making huge circles with the
twirling ribbons until she was face to face with Kira encircling
them both in the ribbons. Smiling, Fery then tossed the batons
behind her, did two backward somersaults, caught the batons, which
seemed magically attracted to her hands, and pulled herself up into
the folded position she had begun in.

Kira was astounded, wide-eyed, “There is no
way I’ll be able to do that.” Fery laughed as she broke her form
and was suddenly just an ordinary girl again, “That was magical,
Fery, I…”

“
Now you know why this is
our sport.” She handed the batons to Kira, who took them
gingerly.

“
I can’t make these do what
you did.”

“
Yes you can, don’t get
distracted by the body movement. Did you see how I was twirling the
batons?”

“
Yeah, your wrists were
constantly moving.”

“
Exactly, the baton is a
pencil. The ribbon is the line you are drawing only it lasts longer
than a moment.”

Kira held the baton and casually flicked and
spun it, “I don’t know.”

“
All the pieces,” Fery
gestured to the ball, the rope, and the clubs, “Are about precise
control, balance and movement. Every gesture is deliberate but
every gesture looks completely natural or spontaneous.”

“
That’s the
trick.”

Fery smiled, “That’s the trick.”

“
I feel like a child finger
painting in front of a master.” Kira sighed as she stepped aside
continuing to flick the baton learning how the ribbon
responded.

“
Yeah,” Fery said in a
playful tone nodding, “And I’m not really very good
either…”

“
Oh shut up.” Kira snapped
as she spun around and the two laughed.

Just then, the door at the far end opened and
Fery’s father entered. Kira felt safe with Consul Landis, he had
spoken in her defense when she was brought here and he was the
first to show her kindness and apologize for the cruelty she
endured. He seemed, like his daughter, to be genuinely concerned
about Kira. She had never encountered this sort of absolute
kindness, one that never hid things from her or looked to get
something from her.

“
I see you two are
training.” Wynne said.

“
I wouldn’t call it that,
Fery has been,” Kira said, “I’ve been making a fool of
myself.”

“
It’s always difficult at
first and you’re at a stark disadvantage.”

Fery came up to her father and embraced him,
“She’s better than she lets on, she’s smart and she’s seeing what
she needs to do.”

“
It’s just doing it that
doesn’t quite seem to work.” Kira tossed the ribbon batons down
next to the other equipment.

“
You’ll find that’s true in
nearly all cases,” Wynne stepped back a bit and raised his hands,
“Kira, I have something for you.”

This was a surprise; Wynne never gave gifts.
In fact, he always seemed a bit too reserved for any kind of
outward affection. Kira gave a wry smile, “A gift? I don’t see what
I’ve…”

“
No,” Wynne shook his head,
“Not a gift. Not really one at all.”

His expression was serious as he turned
slightly and waved in the retainers that lingered in the doorway,
“Bring him here.”

The guards each held an arm of a man who had
his hands bound before him and a hood over his head. He walked with
ease and didn’t look hurt.

“
You’re showing me a
prisoner?” Kira was uncomfortable; she was remembering herself
standing bound on this floor with the rough hands of guards keeping
her still even though she never moved.

“
Not a prisoner, a
stranger.” Wynne walked over to stand in front of the man; he
nodded at the guards who pressed him down to knees. They weren’t
treating him roughly, yet it still felt bizarre to Kira.

“
Kira, take a moment.”
Wynne’s cadence was even and tender, “Don’t forget—you’re both safe
here with us.”

Her mind was racing; she could hear the noise
of her blood in her ears pumping faster and faster. Her eyes darted
between Fery, Wynne, and the hooded figure. Fery was suddenly at
her side, a hand on her back, whispering to her that she was fine,
that everything was under complete control.

“
We found him yesterday,”
Wynne said as he pulled the hood off, “And it was decided that you
needed to be the one to make the decision about him.”

He had a couple of small cuts on his forehead
and was unshaven; Kira shuddered and lunged at him. She fell to her
knees and embraced him.

“
Found you.” Roth
whispered.

Chapter IV

Rikonen

17
^th
of Mabon

“
How?” Kira
asked.

Roth sat at the dining table slowly drinking
the ayran Wynne had given him after they had moved to Kira and
Fery’s apartment and unbound him. He wasn’t hurt, he wasn’t worn or
weary, and he looked like he did when Kira had first saw him on the
marsh. Only this time, the edge in his voice was reserved for Wynne
and Fery, while to her he spoke in a tone that betrayed a heavy
relief.

“
I was able to get out of
the binds but not before I blacked-out. I washed up on shore west
of Arderra,” Roth took a deep drink, and then continued, “Not
really on shore, a boy found me in the muck when the tide was out.
His father patched me up and I convinced him to come with me here
to find you.”

“
That’s a lot of good
fortune.” Wynne said plainly.

Roth looked him over and nodded, “Since Kira
ran into me,” he laughed and Kira blushed, “I should’ve been dead a
couple of times now. I’ve certainly been concussed more than I
would’ve liked.”