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Thankfully Ice-Eyes decided not to instruct me immediately. The man was bound and gagged and lashed onto the horse with the panniers for the furniture, still unconscious. He was just another rolled rug as far as the horse was concerned.
It was too bright and too open by the time the bodies were stripped and stashed in the ravine, all signs of deaths being meted out by Mahid erased. The bridge was only minorly damaged and the boards the brigands were using to cover the gap were found and employed for us to cross.
The land wasn’t thickly forested over these ravine-cut hills and we actually camped under the trees at the edges of the dangerous ravines themselves, so we would be hidden from the air and to not be seen by some random herder with his cattle. We were moving slower and slower because the weakest members of the group were getting weaker instead of being strengthened and we were not making ten malas a night. The 1st 2nd was frustrated and furious under his bland exterior. People were not behaving as they should. I sat the horse next to him at the start of what might be our final night of travelling, since he obviously had a specific destination in mind and watched him watch the rest of the column.
For Mahid they were horribly ragtag. The furs some still wore had been rough tanned so all the hair was falling out, leaving them mangy looking. Some had lost fingers and no-doubt toes to the cold but neither were very obvious because they stuffed the gloves and you had to catch that those did not move.
Every one was gaunt and looked more than a little hollow. It looked particularly ugly and odd on the women. Only I and Ilesias and Kyriala had been full fed this winter. Everyone else had gone hungry. The Mirror looked at me as she went by, her feet precisely placed on the step, seated sideways behind her rider. She had learned to sit the women’s saddle and I was heartened to see a quick smile, even as she very properly turned her head away. Some of the Mahid women had learned to ride side saddle by themselves. Shockingly improper but necessary.
It was very early, and I had my first view of our next camp in the rising sun. A half-burnt out villa on the edge of a lake, with a huge cypress grove growing up through it. Several trees had not only grown through the centre court but had fallen and crushed the one quarter. The front door was a broken gate opening into the wilderness at the heart of the house and the one front corner was splintered, and broken open, the walls burst outward as though some giant had grabbed them and pulled them down.
The stable was where we first alighted and it was almost weather tight. The stone of the drive was still smooth as the day it had been poured, with no weeds to be trampled down and once we were all in the stable court there was no sign of our passage, the after scouts sweeping away the fresh manure behind us.
As people got down from the horses, one of the women, an unaccountably fat one, fell to her knees, her arms clutched around her middle and I saw a gush of blood all around her before she was hidden from my sight by other Mahid and the medic. “What’s wrong with her? Was she injured?” In a gap between two people I saw her face. She’d bitten through her lips and there was blood on her face from it, but she wasn’t screaming, or moaning. Her eyes were clenched shut. I could see that in the flash of vision I had of her white face.
“No, Spark. It is the women’s affair,” 2nd Amitzas said from his normal place at my elbow. I turned to look at him as they carried her into the stable, out of my sight. His lip curled with disgust. “She was, unfortunately, unable to miscarry it, earlier.”
“The medic... does he know what to do for her? What’s her name?”
“She is a Mahid, that is all. Why would the Spark pay attention to a mere woman?” He turned to another door to the stable as if I were to follow and stopped, surprised when I did not. I stood my ground.
“They are all my command, my court, and I need to know them all, know of them all. I do not know how to learn how to command men and women and possibly children, whom I do not know. This is the first command of Ilesias the Great to his son.”
He was incredulous that I should question him and I braced myself for him to hit me. I had phrased it as best I could to fall within the parameters of the fat guy’s letter to him but if he took it as mere insubordination he would see it as permission to beat me again. He thought about it, the gears nearly creaking in his head.
“Very well, Spark. You will be formally introduced to each and every one of your Mahid. Then I will run through the Maxims which every good Mahid thinks. Then you will know them.” He made to turn, paused again. “Her name is Iena. She was unfortunate that her husband had achieved her pregnancy before we left. Since we are here, we may be able to afford to keep a single infant, should they survive. If we are forced to move quickly she may have to destroy it. It would be more convenient in that case that it dies first or is female.”
I looked back over my shoulder to where they’d taken her inside. The other Mahid continued getting the horses settled, including mine so I had to follow Ice-Eyes inside. Once inside, I did hear an echoing moan in the stone barn but it was unlikely a Mahid would make such a noise. It was probably the wind howling through the gaps.
**
It was too bright and too open by the time the bodies were stripped and stashed in the ravine, all signs of deaths being meted out by Mahid erased. The bridge was only minorly damaged and the boards the brigands were using to cover the gap were found and employed for us to cross.
The land wasn’t thickly forested over these ravine-cut hills and we actually camped under the trees at the edges of the dangerous ravines themselves, so we would be hidden from the air and to not be seen by some random herder with his cattle. We were moving slower and slower because the weakest members of the group were getting weaker instead of being strengthened and we were not making ten malas a night. The 1st 2nd was frustrated and furious under his bland exterior. People were not behaving as they should. I sat the horse next to him at the start of what might be our final night of travelling, since he obviously had a specific destination in mind and watched him watch the rest of the column.
For Mahid they were horribly ragtag. The furs some still wore had been rough tanned so all the hair was falling out, leaving them mangy looking. Some had lost fingers and no-doubt toes to the cold but neither were very obvious because they stuffed the gloves and you had to catch that those did not move.
Every one was gaunt and looked more than a little hollow. It looked particularly ugly and odd on the women. Only I and Ilesias and Kyriala had been full fed this winter. Everyone else had gone hungry. The Mirror looked at me as she went by, her feet precisely placed on the step, seated sideways behind her rider. She had learned to sit the women’s saddle and I was heartened to see a quick smile, even as she very properly turned her head away. Some of the Mahid women had learned to ride side saddle by themselves. Shockingly improper but necessary.
It was very early, and I had my first view of our next camp in the rising sun. A half-burnt out villa on the edge of a lake, with a huge cypress grove growing up through it. Several trees had not only grown through the centre court but had fallen and crushed the one quarter. The front door was a broken gate opening into the wilderness at the heart of the house and the one front corner was splintered, and broken open, the walls burst outward as though some giant had grabbed them and pulled them down.
The stable was where we first alighted and it was almost weather tight. The stone of the drive was still smooth as the day it had been poured, with no weeds to be trampled down and once we were all in the stable court there was no sign of our passage, the after scouts sweeping away the fresh manure behind us.
As people got down from the horses, one of the women, an unaccountably fat one, fell to her knees, her arms clutched around her middle and I saw a gush of blood all around her before she was hidden from my sight by other Mahid and the medic. “What’s wrong with her? Was she injured?” In a gap between two people I saw her face. She’d bitten through her lips and there was blood on her face from it, but she wasn’t screaming, or moaning. Her eyes were clenched shut. I could see that in the flash of vision I had of her white face.
“No, Spark. It is the women’s affair,” 2nd Amitzas said from his normal place at my elbow. I turned to look at him as they carried her into the stable, out of my sight. His lip curled with disgust. “She was, unfortunately, unable to miscarry it, earlier.”
“The medic... does he know what to do for her? What’s her name?”
“She is a Mahid, that is all. Why would the Spark pay attention to a mere woman?” He turned to another door to the stable as if I were to follow and stopped, surprised when I did not. I stood my ground.
“They are all my command, my court, and I need to know them all, know of them all. I do not know how to learn how to command men and women and possibly children, whom I do not know. This is the first command of Ilesias the Great to his son.”
He was incredulous that I should question him and I braced myself for him to hit me. I had phrased it as best I could to fall within the parameters of the fat guy’s letter to him but if he took it as mere insubordination he would see it as permission to beat me again. He thought about it, the gears nearly creaking in his head.
“Very well, Spark. You will be formally introduced to each and every one of your Mahid. Then I will run through the Maxims which every good Mahid thinks. Then you will know them.” He made to turn, paused again. “Her name is Iena. She was unfortunate that her husband had achieved her pregnancy before we left. Since we are here, we may be able to afford to keep a single infant, should they survive. If we are forced to move quickly she may have to destroy it. It would be more convenient in that case that it dies first or is female.”
I looked back over my shoulder to where they’d taken her inside. The other Mahid continued getting the horses settled, including mine so I had to follow Ice-Eyes inside. Once inside, I did hear an echoing moan in the stone barn but it was unlikely a Mahid would make such a noise. It was probably the wind howling through the gaps.
**
The new camp was far better than the old and I wondered why we hadn’t come here first. When I inquired this of the 1st 2nd he merely said. “It was decided that the mountain location was most remote.”
And he probably thought he had a better chance to toughen me up there, no matter the cost. There were old cellars and tunnels, including one that was still open from the stable to the villa, and some of the first floor rooms around that opening were safe to use. The whole villa was not visible from either the road or the lake. And, I assumed, from the air, as long as everyone were careful not to be caught outside during the day, and no one showed a light at night.
“The villa... – ahem—I am informed by Joras that the locals believe the whole area is cursed and haunted.” Ailadas coughed again and cleared his throat.
And he probably thought he had a better chance to toughen me up there, no matter the cost. There were old cellars and tunnels, including one that was still open from the stable to the villa, and some of the first floor rooms around that opening were safe to use. The whole villa was not visible from either the road or the lake. And, I assumed, from the air, as long as everyone were careful not to be caught outside during the day, and no one showed a light at night.
“The villa... – ahem—I am informed by Joras that the locals believe the whole area is cursed and haunted.” Ailadas coughed again and cleared his throat.
“Given what the 1st 2nd informs me of some of the lessons he wishes you to have – ahem – with that unfortunate wretch of a bandit – ahem – It may enhance the ‘cursed’ rumours should someone hear him -ahem- screaming.” Ailadas looked away, delicately, giving me time to ensure my feelings were well in hand. It was a kindness and I found myself very thankful for it.
I gulped. Those lessons. 2nd Amitzas had been given leave before I’d left the city, to give me a day of those lessons, by the fat guy and I tried very hard not to think of that. Surely he would have to be less inventive out here in the wilderness?
**
I sent Binshala to inquire after Iena the moment 2nd Amitzas left me alone in my new room. It was on the first floor and had a window... boarded up but still a window. I resolved to ask if the board covering could be hinged somehow, if we were to be here for any length of time.
Immediately outside that window was a sunken garden gone completely wild, with a reflecting pool cracked and half empty, full of green water. We had almost caught up to summer in our descent out of the mountains and I revelled in the fact I didn’t have to wear a coat over the armour.
I was still required to wear it constantly and it was odd to be standing in a villa with faded, sooty-stained murals and broken wooden molding wearing it.
“Spark?” Binshala was back, her narrow face pinched and I knew she didn’t want to tell me the news.
“She died?”
Binshala nodded. “And the baby as well.” She very delicately did not mention if it was male or female or euthanized the moment its mother had died. There would have been no way to feed it. Mother Selinae, another two Summoned home. “She died... they died doing their duty.”
“Rest they in Selestialis,” Binshala said softly.
“I shall have to request of 2nd Amitzas that I say the rites over them.”
She looked surprised and gratified. “That would be very good, if the First of the Mahid allows it. Her husband might show nothing but I’m certain he feels it, inside.”
“Who was her husband?” Why do I want to know? What good does it do? Even if they are Mahid, they are mine.
“6thth Itasas.”
“Thank you, Binshala.” It was a peculiar position to be in. I hated them but they were mine. And they were family. They... were my brothers. My uncles. It was very cold thinking I would kill them, or some of them, one day.
Thanks for the update. ^_^ Very kind and Christmasy of you! =D
ReplyDeleteYW! Another coming along for later today.
ReplyDelete"The land wasn’t thickly forested over these ravine-cut hills and we actually camped in the ravines themselves to not be seen by some random herder with his cattle."
ReplyDeleteIs Amitzas really that ignorant? Because that's a dandy way to get killed by a flash flood, most particularly if the rain happens far enough upstream that you have no warning.
“6thth Itasas.”
There should be only one "th" there.
Overall, very intense, especially the last bit with Minas getting possessive about people who are both-enemies-and-his.
"“Given what the 1st 2nd informs he of some of the lessons he wishes you to have – ahem – with that unfortunate wretch of a bandit – ahem – It may enhance the ‘cursed’ rumours should someone hear him.” Ailadas looked away, delicately, giving me time to ensure my feelings were well in hand. It was a kindness and I found myself very thankful for it."
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what you're saying here, but I get the impression you mean "informs me".
RR
"2nd Amitzas had been given leave before I’d left the city, to give me a day of those lessons, by the fat guy and I tried very hard not to think of that. Surely he would have to be less inventive out here in the wilderness?"
ReplyDeleteAnother sentence fragment. There should be a comma between 'fat guy' and 'and'.
RR
Yes, I think I fixed it...
ReplyDelete