Authors: Leslie Ann Moore
“The mistress is…occupied at the moment,” Aruk-cho replied cryptically. “When she is finished with her task, I am certain she will come to the infirmary herself.”
Magnes recalled hearing a man scream. He shuddered, then banished the thought from his mind.
He and Fadili worked quickly to wash, pad, and then bind the freshly sutured wounds. Finally, they laid Ashinji on his uninjured side atop a clean, moss-stuffed mattress and covered him up to his chin with several layers of blankets.
“I’ve done what I can. The rest is up to you and your One Goddess,” Magnes said. His eyes met Gran’s. “I’ll stay the night, of course. Fadili can return to the temple… let them know where I am.”
“I’m staying too,” Seijon piped up.
“As will I,” Gran added.
“Are you certain, Gran?” Magnes asked. “You look completely exhausted.”
“No more than do you, young man! I will stay, and there’ll be no arguments.”
Aruk-cho cleared his throat. “I will take my leave, then. I shall return in the morning. Many thanks to you, Brother.”
“Aruk-cho, wait. I need to speak to you,” Gran called out. “It’s vital that you listen now to what I’m about to say.” She stood up, and some of her weariness seemed to fall away.
The akuta carefully maneuvered his bulk further into the room until he stood before Gran, dwarfing her slender frame beside his massive one.
“I am listening, Grandmother,” he rumbled.
“You and I have been here a long time, have we not?” she began. The akuta inclined his head in reply. “We both made a conscious decision to stay, though we are free to leave whenever we wish. I have always kept my reasons for remaining to myself. I can remain no longer. I must return to my homeland.”
She wavered on her feet and Magnes jumped to catch her as she sagged.
“Gran, please sit down! You’re about to collapse!” he scolded.
Seijon brought a stool over, and Magnes helped the old woman to sit. After taking a moment to catch her breath, she continued. “Something terrible is happening in the north, and I don’t mean the coming war between my people and the Empire. I felt it stirring several years ago… an ancient and terrible evil that has for centuries been kept imprisoned by members of my order. That evil has grown stronger with each passing year.”
“Before, I chose to ignore it. After all, I was no longer a part of the world of high magic. I gave up the practice of sorcery when I went into exile. But when Ashinji arrived, and I learned who he was—no, when I learned who his
wife
was, I realized that I could no longer remain out of the fight. My skills and strength will be needed by my colleagues, for only by combining all of our power will we have any hope of defeating what is coming.”
“Gran, you told me long ago that you had been a sorceress and that you had given up your powers. The mistress will not stop you from returning home to take them up again if you must, but what part in all of this does Ashinji play?”
“Ashinji’s wife is the key to everything…quite literally. She is an innocent, chosen before her birth by members of my order to be the bearer of a powerful magic. She has no idea what she harbors…no idea at all. But she must be protected at all costs from that which is coming. If the Key inside her is freed prematurely and falls into the wrong hands, it will mean the end of the material world as we know it… for humans, elves, for every living thing.”
“I still do not understand, Grandmother.”
“Ashinji must return with me to Alasiri; that is, if he lives. He has a vital role to play in the securing of the Key. It is his wife, after all, who harbors the magic. Aruk-cho, I am asking for your help. Your people and mine have been allies in the past. If…
when
Ashinji is well enough, help us to leave this place.”
“You are asking me to abet an escape. Ashinji is legally a slave. I am the yardmaster here. The mistress trusts and relies on me.” Aruk-cho’s liquid black eyes slid from Gran’s face to stare at Ashinji lying in his bed, silent and still. The atmosphere grew tense and heavy. Magnes studied the craggy lines of Aruk-cho’s face, searching in vain for some clue as to what the akuta’s thoughts were, but as usual, he had no luck. Aruk-cho remained a master of inscrutability.
“Aruk-cho,” Gran continued, “I’m not asking you to aid us directly. You are an honorable man. I know where your first loyalty must lie. But Ashinji has to return home with me.” She paused, then added, “I have some money saved. It’s not enough to purchase Ashi’s freedom, but I will gladly give it all to Mistress de Guera as partial compensation when we leave.”
“I have some money also,” Magnes interjected. “If it’ll help buy my friend’s way out of here, then I’ll happily give it up.”
Aruk-cho stood like a black granite mountain, large and motionless, except for the back and forth swing of his tail. At last, he spoke. “The mistress values Ashinji highly, and not just because of his skills as a fighter. She would not wish to lose him. And yet…. Gran, I have always known you are a woman of great power and knowledge, power that you keep carefully hidden. If you say there is an evil force that threatens our world, and Ashinji is needed to help defeat it, then I believe you. I will aid you however I can and hope the mistress will forgive me.”
“I swear to you, Aruk-cho. When the time comes, I will protect you,” Gran promised. “Thank you.”
“I shall offer prayers for his life tonight, before I retire,” Aruk-cho said, then as carefully as he had entered, he departed the infirmary.
Magnes waited until the yardmaster had moved out of earshot before he spoke. “You didn’t tell Aruk-cho that you’re taking the boy with you. Why not?” he asked.
Seijon, who had remained silent up til now, responded with a “Yeah, why not?” of his own.
“Because Aruk-cho has already been compromised enough!” Gran snapped. “He has agreed, at the very least, to look the other way while I steal one of his employer’s most valuable pieces of property! If he knew I’m planning to steal the boy as well…The money I will leave behind won’t come near to covering the mistress’s losses for both Ashinji and you, imp!” She wagged her finger at Seijon for added effect. “No, it’s much better that he not be privy to everything.”
“Sensible,” Magnes agreed. “I also think it wise not to let him know I’ll be in on the breakout. Fadili can be trusted to keep quiet.” Fadili nodded for emphasis.
Gran sighed and rubbed her eyes. “Ai, Goddess I’m so tired,” she whispered. She eased her thin body off the stool and down into the chair that Fadili had placed by Ashinji’s bed. Tenderly, she caressed Ashinji’s pale cheek and began fussing with the blankets.
Seijon and Mistress de Guera aren’t the only ones who’ve fallen in love with Jelena’s husband,
Magnes thought. “Ashinji reminds you of someone who’s close to you, doesn’t he?” Magnes asked. A flash of insight had made clear the old woman’s behavior toward his friend.
“Yes,” Gran replied. “I had a son once, very much like Ashi.” She said no more and Magnes didn’t press, sensing the terrible weight of grief behind her words.
Fadili came up behind him and touched his shoulder. “Everything is clean and packed up, Tilo,” he reported. “I’ll return to the temple now, if you have no further need of me.”
“Thank you, Brother,” Magnes replied. “Tell Brother Wambo that I’ll be back sometime tomorrow afternoon.”
After Fadili had departed, Magnes pulled up another chair beside the bed and sat. Seijon had made himself a pallet on the floor at the bed’s foot, and now lay curled up under a blanket with only the top of his head showing. Gran gazed at Ashinji’s face.
“You miss him, don’t you? Your son, I mean,” Magnes said.
“I miss all my family,” Gran replied. She reached out and laid a hand on Ashinji’s forehead, closing her eyes. Magnes didn’t realize he had been holding his breath until Gran’s lids fluttered open. “Ashi is adrift… lost in the gray lands between life and death. All I can do is to continue to call to him, in the hope that he hears and heeds my voice.”
“If he dies, what then?” Magnes asked. “Will you be able to do what you need to do without him?”
“I don’t know. I’m not even certain that we can prevail, even with every weapon at our disposal, and Ashinji’s death would make things that much more difficult.”
“Then he has to live.”
The night passed slowly. While Gran dozed and Seijon snored, Magnes remained awake, keeping watch. When the first light of dawn leaked in through the slats of the shutters, he rose, stretched the kinks from his back and reached over to press his hand to Ashinji’s throat. A pulse—weak, but steady—beat against the sensitive tips of his fingers. He breathed a sigh of relief.
His friend still lived.
He bent over to whisper in Gran’s ear. “Gran, wake up.”
“Hmmmm, yes, yes, I’m awake,” she muttered.
Her eyes flew open and before she could speak again, Magnes reassured her. “Yes, he’s still alive.”
“I know,” she answered.
The infirmary door rattled in its frame, then swung open to admit Mistress de Guera. “How is he?” she demanded without preamble.
“Still alive, Mistress, but just barely,” Magnes answered. Mistress de Guera advanced upon the bed and Magnes had to dodge in order to avoid a collision. She stood for many heartbeats, looking down at Ashinji, her face a mask of conflicting emotions.
At last, her eyes turned first to Gran and then to Magnes. “Leal admitted to stabbing Ashinji only after much…persuasion.”
“What’ll happen to Leal, Mistress?” Seijon asked, awake now, and sitting up on his pallet, hair tousled from sleep.
The mistress’s full lips compressed and a tiny vertical crease appeared between her eyes. She reached beneath the blankets and withdrew Ashinji’s hand clasped in hers.
She stood thus, unmoving, until Gran broke the silence. “Leal is dead, is that not so, Mistress?” the old elven woman asked. Mistress de Guera laid Ashinji’s hand down on top of the coverlet.
“Yes, that is so.”
Abruptly, the mistress spun on her heel and paced toward the door. Before she stepped through, she paused.
“My thanks, Brother Tilo, for your good efforts to save my slave. I am…appreciative.” With that, she departed.
Gran shook her head. “The mistress has made a terrible mistake,” she declared.
“What do you mean?” Magnes asked, though he already knew the answer.
“She has allowed herself to love a slave,” Gran replied.
A Declaration Of Love
A month had passed since Jelena gave birth, and to celebrate the newest Onjara’s first four weeks of life, the king commanded that a feast be given in the little princess’s honor. At the same time, he would officially present his granddaughter to the people of Alasiri.
The day of the festivities dawned wet and blustery. The spring rains had been much heavier this year, a gift and aid from the One, many folk said. The longer the rains lasted, the longer they would delay the Soldarans’ northward march.
Hatora remained calm and quiet throughout the entire presentation ceremony and the feast that followed. Even as her two proud grandfathers passed her back and forth between them like a game ball, she maintained an air of total contentment. Everyone present could see how much both the king and his oldest friend adored the granddaughter they shared.
The day after the feast, word arrived from the south. The Soldaran legions were on the move.
~~~
“Keep your eyes on your opponent’s face, Princess! The eyes! Watch
his
eyes! Yes! Excellent!”
Jelena parried a blow aimed at her midsection, feinted left, then whipped her blade up and to the right, clocking her sparring partner on the side of his helmet, rattling him hard. He stepped back and lowered his own blade. With unsteady fingers, he fumbled at the strap that held his helm in place.
“Are you all right, Mai?” Jelena called out.
“He’s fine, aren’t you, boy?” Kurume Nohe, swordmaster and Jelena’s teacher, answered. “My son has a very hard head.”
Mai Nohe nodded in agreement as he pulled his helmet from his head and let it dangle from his hand by the strap. “Just a little dizzy is all, Princess. Don’t worry yourself.”
“I don’t know, Mai. I hit you pretty hard.” Jelena dropped her own sword and removed her helmet. “You look pale.”
Mai laughed, his dark eyes gleaming. “Like my father says…I have a hard head.”
Kurume Nohe and his son had been working with Jelena now for several weeks, taking up her arms training where she and Ashinji had left off before he’d ridden east to his death.
“You are making tremendous progress, Highness. One would think that you were born to this.” Kurume nodded approvingly.
Jelena laughed in turn. “Hardly!” she exclaimed. “I was born into servitude in my uncle’s house. I never would have been allowed near weapons of any kind had it not been for my cousin insisting I receive at least a rudimentary education. I learned the basics from him.”
“You possess a natural ability, then. Frankly, I’m not surprised, considering your bloodline.”
“Yes, well… natural ability aside, will I be ready to ride to war at my father’s side?” Jelena caught Mai scrutinizing her from the corner of her eye. He seemed like he wanted to say something, but couldn’t quite work up the nerve.