Servants and Followers (The Legends of Arria, Volume 2) (39 page)

“
Then why do you
protect me? Why do you say nothing?” Janus asked.

“
Don’t tempt me!”
Marlo snarled. “I have never been a man to condemn another for
defiance. Yet I have never been an insubordinate man either. It is
a paradox.” Marlo said after a moment of silence. “For most of my
adult life, my foremost loyalty has laid with Coe Aela. When I was
young, I first served in order to get myself promoted. Then I was
obliged to uphold my loyalty to keep myself and my family safe.
Now, in my old age, I work out of force of habit.”

Marlo continued as they turned a corner
again, “My own daughter despised Coe Aela and its ways. And then,
when the lady of the household, Lady Niobe, died, those
circumstances were abhorred by my Ravona.” He sighed. “Those were
horrible, terrible, and miserable circumstances, I am not saying
otherwise. At my daughter’s insistence, I cajoled His Grace to
transfer her. Perhaps against his better judgment, Lord Fobata did
so. She has been gone for 10 years now, a lady-in-waiting at Coe
Kiki. She has barely visited me in all those years, and writes only
infrequently. My last letter informed me that she was pregnant, and
that was several months ago, probably a year. She would have had
the baby by now, my only grandchild, and I do not even know if it
is a boy or girl.” Marlo sighed as they reached the main doors of
Coe Aela. “I don’t blame her.” He said as they went out into the
front bailey, “Yet I have little doubt as to her activities in Coe
Kiki,” Marlo said at last.

Janus stopped and waited. He had walked
slowly alongside the old man all of this way, careful not to get
too far ahead or to let the old man go faster than was
necessary.

“
But, since her own
reasons are righteous, and she is of my blood, I will give you a
chance.” Marlo said, turning to Janus. “I will keep my eye on you.
You must try to be more careful and not careless of your actions.
Don’t leave any proof behind. You could be indicted for inciting
rebellion if you are caught, and that could be the least of your
charges. I will try not to catch you, but I cannot say the same of
others.” They stopped near the blacksmith shop.

“
Such advice from
you
,
a man of principle
,
shall be highly regarded.” Janus
said coolly, almost sarcastically, but Marlo did not flinch. “As
for your troubles, with your daughter, I believe that they could be
resolved, if given the chance.” Janus said, softer. “Both you and
your daughter are only doing what you think is right.”

“
I thank you for your
kind words, whoever you are.” Marlo grimaced. “I know that I am not
always doing the right thing. You know, I almost recognize you, or
you seem familiar to me.” He frowned. “Who are you? When did I see
you last?” He asked.

Janus paused, staring at Marlo. “What
do you mean? We met just the other night. My name is Janus.” He
said softly.

“
No, before that, in
your other life.” Marlo insisted.

“
A long time ago.
That was a very long time ago,” Janus growled, leaning close so
that Marlo could see the frozen face caught between youth and old
age, the frozen face the steward could just barely recognize as it
had left such an indelible mark upon him so long ago. “You
recognize me now?” Janus asked. “I first met you when you were a
young man, Marlo, and I was just the same as I am now.” Janus said.
“The name I had then was Cannon. No longer.”

“‘
The mark of Doomba
is upon Cannon’.” Marlo whispered. “That is what we used to say
about you. It was a sign of respect.” He said, lowering his
head.

“
Respect? Doomba did
not respect me then.” Janus said, recoiling. “To him, I was just
another source of power, a cog in his machinery.” He scoffed. “In
another lifetime, I did not always do the right thing either, but
now I am learning to do some good, and serve my king.” Janus said,
moving away from Marlo. “You will see me again.” The man formerly
known as Cannon warned.

Janus sat upon a barrel in front of the
blacksmith shop, the smithy, apparently waiting for someone or
something to come out of Coe Aela, and did not look at the steward
again. Marlo shuddered to himself, and moved away from the
blacksmith shop, too frightened to ask any more questions of
Cannon. He might believe what this fellow had to say. He returned
to the castle.

Chapter 13: Revelations

Secrets are everywhere if you know
where to look,

Secrets hide inside books, hearts,
minds and more,

When secrets are a part of who we are
and sustain us as

The truth is sometimes too hard to
bear, blunt and true.

--
Secrets, Pinal

Running all night long, not certain
where they were going except south, as far south as they could get
away from Coe Aela before they collapsed in exhaustion with the
rising of the dawn, they managed to find a hollow in the forest,
behind a sunken, fallen tree, and fell asleep for a few hours,
their pillows their bags and each other. Fato nestled up in a tree,
snoring loudly as morning rose even higher. Finally, with flies
buzzing about them, someone stirred and woke.

Oaka swatted at some flies and rolled
over, his hand brushing up against the Blue Sword in the process.
“Ow!” Oaka cried, startled awake by a pulse he had felt that had
seared his hand, once he got a close look at it. “What is this?” He
cried.

Monika woke up reluctantly, followed by
Basha and Gnat as they all had to extract themselves from the pile
they had formed in their slumbers. “I don’t know. What’s wrong?”
Monika asked, yawning.

“
Your Blue Sword did
this to me!” Oaka said, holding out his hand towards
Monika.

Monika examined the burn on his hands.
“It did? How is that possible?” She asked, wide awake now as Basha
and Gnat groggily followed the conversation.

“
Oh, go back to
sleep!” Fato called from above as Basha went off into the bushes to
relieve himself. “I was having a wonderful dream about hands.” Fato
muttered.

“
Hands? What are we
talking about?” Gnat asked.

“
Hands and
feet
, my hands and
feet
.” Fato added
, smiling
.

“
I don’t know, it
shocked me!” Oaka gasped, talking to Monika, as the others weren’t
making any sense. “Like a little fire, or a lightning bolt, it
burned me!”

“
It’s not the shock
from static, certainly.” Monika said. “It’s like
…
did you burn yourself
with your powers, Oaka? Your fire power?”

“
No, I didn’t.” Oaka
said. “I never
…
I don’t burn myself when I wield
it, and I don’t think I’m conscious enough when I’m asleep to use
my powers. I think you have to be awake to use magic, even
inadvertantly.”

“
That’s probably
true.” Monika said as Basha came back from the bushes.

“
Your Blue Sword did
that to me, and I don’t know why.” Oaka said.

“
Maybe it’s because
you’re Menthar.” Fato remarked from above.

“
Shut up! I’m not
Menthar!” Oaka cried. “Just because I have those powers doesn’t
make me the same as--”

“
Maybe Fato has a
point.” Monika said. “Maybe it’s because you have your powers and I
have my powers--let’s put it to the test.” She said, glancing
around at everyone. “Basha, bring out the Black Sword. We’re going
to see who gets shocked with what.”

They tested--Oaka got burned with both
the Black and Blue Swords, Monika got burned with only the Black
Sword, and somehow Gnat and Basha did not get burned at all.
Although Gnat did mention that she had felt a sense of unease
touching the Black and Blue Swords, like they did not belong to
her, and Basha had to agree with her sentiment when it came to
touching the Blue Sword--he could hold it, but it did not belong to
him, it just did not feel right to use the Blue Sword--they could
touch both Swords.

“
What does this all
mean?” Oaka asked.

“
Basha and Gnat seem
to have the ability to touch all of the Swords,” Monika said,
“Without getting shocked. Although they may feel some discomfort,
they have the ability to wield all of the Swords if need be. We
might have to test this some more if we get other Swords, but I
have a feeling that--”

“
This is ridiculous.”
Basha said, starting to feel like this was some kind of a trap. “We
should just get something to eat, and then get out of
here.”

“
I know what you
mean.” Oaka muttered. Was he jealous? Oaka shouldn’t feel jealous
about this, when it was a horrible thing to be good at in some
regard.

Basha said, as he grabbed his pack, “I
didn’t ask for this. We didn’t ask for this, did we, Gnat?” He
turned to the younger girl. He was not alone in this ability, at
least, that would have frightened him most of all. Gnat was also
involved in this as well, although he did not know why she was.
Perhaps it had something to do with her parents if the ability to
wield magic was inherited?

“
I don’t know what
your problem is,” Gnat said, shrugging. “I didn’t ask for this
power, or whatever it is, but I certainly do like it!”

“
What?” Basha said,
shocked as he got out some food. “Gnat, don’t you understand that
what we’ve got--it’s out of our control?” He asked, passing some of
his food to her.

“
It’s our control,
Basha, that’s the whole point.” Gnat said, grabbing what he offered
her. “Don’t you see? We can control the Swords of Arria! It does
sound kind of amazing, once you do think about it, doesn’t it?” She
laughed as she took a bite. “I’ve never had that experience before
of being able to control anything in my life.”

Basha groaned. “The problem is, where
does it all come from? How did we get this ability?” He asked Gnat.
Gnat shrugged as she took another bite. “What about your parents?”
Basha asked her.

“
Who cares? All hail
the great and powerful Gnat and Basha!” Fato laughed from
above.

“
Shut up!” Basha
cried, picking up a pebble and throwing it at the bird.

“
Cut it out!” Monika
said, grabbing Basha’s hand. Basha stopped, staring at
Monika.

“
No, keep doing it,”
Oaka remarked, laughing. Fato and Oaka started arguing again at
this point before the falcon flew off. Monika said nothing as she
let go of Basha’s hand, turning away from him, but Basha blushed a
little bit.

“
I’ve never had any
parents, I never knew them, Basha,” Gnat said, looking up at him as
she continued the conversation they were having. “I was an orphan
baby left outside the gates of Coe Aela, or so they told me.” She
shrugged, chewing. “I’m not certain if it’s true or not. Wouldn’t a
guard have seen my mother or father dropping me off? Would they,
the people of Coe Aela, have opened the gate for a guard or someone
to come out and pick me up?” She swallowed. “I’m half certain they
would have left me out there if they had spotted me on the ground.
I think I was born inside Coe Aela, but nobody would claim me as
their child.” Gnat shrugged again, taking another bite. “I don’t
know if it’s true or not, I don’t know why they would lie to me
about it, but it’s all I’ve got.” She said, swallowing
again.

Basha stared at her,
shocked at the similarities in their stories
. P
arents who had
abandoned or left them after birth, missing or dead, as they were
raised by others, often forced to deal with hard tasks and face
questions they had no real answer to
. W
here did all of this lead to?
“I’m sorry, Gnat,” Basha said, eating slowly.

“
They’re the ones who
should be sorry, the people of Coe Aela, especially Lord Fobata and
Captain Goga.” Gnat said. “They’re the ones who thought that I was
just a puppy, with my tail tucked between my legs. They thought
that I should be eager and dutiful to Fobata for having been
brought into his care, but I knew the truth, that they had lied to
me somehow. They had named me Gnat to let me know how insignificant
I was, and for awhile I did believe that part, but then my act
became my demeanor. For I knew that as long as I acted
inconspicuous, dumb, and humble, basically humiliated, I could
avoid their notice most of the time. And it worked, for the most
part, and I survived, by myself, no matter what they threw at me.”
She said.

“
We should get
going,” Monika muttered, crossing her arms as she started to get
uncomfortable with this whole situation. “Before Goga and his men
catch up with us.” But nobody moved as they didn’t want to leave
just yet, tired from last night and this situation. Oaka grabbed
his own pack, and Monika followed suit, as they broke their fast
with the food inside.

“
What bothers you,
Basha?” Gnat asked, staring at him after a moment of
silence.

“
I don’t want to be
powerful.” Basha said, sitting down on the ground with a thud. “I’m
an orphan, Gnat, the same as you are, not knowing my own parents.
My mother died in childbirth bringing me into this world, and my
father might have died before, but she didn’t really tell much
about herself. I was raised by Oaka’s family. We’re practically
brothers, but not the same. I didn’t know the truth until I was
eight years old.” Basha said, looking up at Gnat staring down at
him in horror.