Elyon's Blades, page 12
part #1 of The Daughters of Elyon Series
“No, no, no!” Ailith jumped onto the sill and leaned out to grab her around the chest with her right arm. She knew that wouldn’t be enough, so as they fell, she hopped up and wrapped one leg around Emlyn’s waist and the other between her thighs.
Belatedly realizing it would have been nice to have had the time to grasp onto something before she’d grabbed Emlyn, she locked her ankles together and desperately flung her free hand back, hoping to hit the metal railing running the width of the window. Through sheer dumb luck, she wedged her hand through two metal brackets securing the rail to the wall and grabbed the railing in a grip that had been strengthened by turns of swordwork and latrine duty.
With her hand wedged painfully between the wall and the two brackets, she had a moment’s panic when she thought the bones in her hand and wrist were going to break. The brackets, along with the wide sill supporting most of her arm, however, added some much-needed support that allowed her to hang on when her underarm bent around the outer edge of the sill and the momentum of their two bodies rammed them into the exterior wall. She had the absurd thought that nothing strengthened a woman’s hands more than digging latrines for the previous ten turns of her life.
Emlyn screamed between sobs, “Let me go! Just let me go!” She bucked and tore at Ailith’s fist, raking her nails along her arm and trying to bend down and bite the fingers clutching the flesh beneath her armpit.
Ailith wasn’t sure how long either grip would hold, but the seamstress’ words the previous day about how strong her legs were had her squeezing Emlyn’s hips and legs with everything she had. She was able to lock one ankle behind the opposite knee, effectively pinning one of Emlyn’s thighs between her own. She realized it was more important to lock her fingers around the bar holding them both up, and she concentrated on that, knowing that if she couldn’t hold, they’d both be nothing more than bloody splotches on the stones below.
When Sábria’s head and arm snaked past, and she added her strength beneath Ailith’s precarious hold around Emlyn’s chest, Ailith nearly panicked, thinking the Arch Priestess of the Daughters of Elyon shouldn’t be risking her life like this. She glanced up and over Sábria’s back and saw a second person replacing Shirin, who had one arm around Sábria’s waist and the other holding onto her belt to make sure she wouldn’t plummet to her death while trying to save a suicidal shiv.
Sábria mimicked Ailith’s hold with her arm around Emlyn’s chest and her fist jammed beneath Ailith’s shaking hand. The Priestess’ grip was just as tight as Ailith’s, and once again, a stray thought flitted through Ailith’s brain that Emlyn was going to have some painful bruises if they managed to live past the next few moments. Sábria’s other hand edged between Ailith’s chest and Emlyn’s back, and Ailith felt the woman’s strong arms flexing as she held on with grim determination.
Just when she felt the hand holding the railing begin to slip, another person jammed themselves in beside Sábria and shoved their arms under Ailith’s armpits, crossing them in front of her chest and locking strong hands onto the front of her shoulders.
Stray thoughts seemed to be the order of the day because it occurred to Ailith that most of the person’s upper body had to be hanging off the sill in order for them to grab her like that. The person’s head bumped against hers, and she heard Shirin’s steady voice say, “I’ve got you, Ailith. I’ve got you.”
There was a note of panic in Ailith’s voice when she croaked, “Me hand’s slippin’.”
“I’ve got you. Hang on as long as you can, okay?”
In the meantime, Sábria was trying to stop Emlyn from fighting them, “Emlyn, you don’t want to take Ailith and me with you, do you? You’re better than that. Let us help you. Stop struggling, and we can pull you both up.”
Ailith wanted to shout, “Both of us? All four more like,” but she held her tongue. Suddenly, Emlyn went limp in her arms, and the change from a struggling, stiff body to dead weight caused the hand beneath Emlyn’s armpit to slip. “Shite!”
She still had a grip, but now it was only on the tunic. Relief flooded through her when Sábria managed to shove her hand further around Emlyn’s chest and hike her up long enough for Ailith to get a better grip.
Geller’s distinctive voice began issuing orders inside the tower. “We’re gonna pull ‘em all up together. They got Emlyn, and she’ll come up with ’em. Tanna, grab onto th’ Commander's belt with one hand and circle her waist with th’ other. No, not there. Put yer hand on th’ other side of Dina’s left hand, so yer crossin’ over. Okay. Ready? On three.”
Shirin’s fists tightened on Ailith’s chest, bunching up the skin and digging painfully into her shoulder muscles.
Ailith ground her teeth to keep from crying out from the pain.
“One, two, three. Pull!”
Slower than she would have liked, Ailith felt them sliding her back up to the edge of the sill. The movement stopped for a beat while people adjusted their grips, trying to get Ailith over the ledge without scraping her backbone to shreds. The rough sill bit into her back anyway, but she barely noticed. Her arm and legs were still clamped around Emlyn’s body, and the weeping woman, plus Sábria’s upper body, ended up lying on top of her.
Emlyn put her head down on Ailith’s throat and cried, “Why? Why didn’t you let me go? Please let me go.” The words came out on a tide of tears, and Ailith felt Emlyn’s body quiver each time the woman took a shuddering breath.
A shuddering breath sounded good right about then since between Emlyn’s head resting on Ailith’s windpipe and, for all intents and purposes, two adult bodies lying on her chest, she was having a hard time pulling in any air.
Once Sábria was back on the sill, she pulled her knee up under her and adjusted the arm between Ailith and Emlyn’s bodies until she had a firm grasp on Emlyn’s belt.
Geller somehow squeezed in between Sábria and Shirin—more on top of Shirin than next to her—and grabbed Emlyn beneath her arms. Ailith gritted her teeth when Geller’s elbow accidentally dug into her chest, but a muffled grunt escaped nonetheless. The elbow quickly lifted, and the Prime said, “Sorry, Lass. Lost my balance.”
Keeping one arm around Emlyn’s chest, Sábria calmly spoke to Ailith. “You can let her go now, Ailith, it’s okay. We’ve got her.”
Ailith realized she still had her three critical points of contact, chest, thighs, and death grip on the metal bar. She released the arm around the chest first, then unhooked her foot from behind her knee and relaxed her thighs, which had started to cramp.
Geller and Sábria pulled Emlyn all the way into the room and held onto the still-sobbing woman as they made their way down the seven flights of stairs.
Shirin shifted her weight, and while she kept one arm around Ailith’s chest, she tapped the hand still clinging to the bar with the other. “Let go, Ailith.”
“Me arm.” When they’d pulled her up, her elbow and shoulder had bent at an awkward angle, and with Shirin’s help, she shifted further onto that shoulder to relieve some of the pressure. Groaning from the pain and a sudden, unexpected wave of nausea racing through her body, she forced her hand open. It was stuck between the metal support brackets, and Shirin gently rolled it this way and that trying to get it out. “You scraped your knuckles. Relax your hand and let me do the pulling, okay?”
Now that the crisis had passed, Ailith began shaking uncontrollably, and a sheen of sweat broke out on her brow. She closed her eyes and concentrated on relaxing her hand as Shirin worked to pull it between the metal rods and the wall. “We need a better angle. Relax and let me do the work.” After a moment, Shirin put one knee on the sill and lifted Ailith onto her stomach, effectively stretching the arm out straight.
Gently grasping Ailith’s hand, she squeezed the thumb and fingers together to make the hand more streamlined and easier to pull free. “You really jammed it in there. I need to find the angle you had when your hand slipped through the first time.” When she was finally able to ease the hand through the two brackets, she took a moment to rub it open. “There we go. Come on, now.”
Once the hand was somewhat relaxed, Shirin pulled Ailith onto her back, slipped her arms beneath her shoulders and knees, and lifted her over the bar and into the room.
When Ailith’s feet hit the floor, her legs collapsed beneath her. She braced herself against Shirin and slid down onto the cool tile floor.
Besides the two of them, there was only one other person in the tower now, a Blade she’d seen around but had never met. The Blade released her grip on Shirin’s belt and patted her on the back. “Got her?”
The Commander nodded. “Yes. Thank you.”
“Anytime.” The woman dipped her chin to Ailith and headed down the stairs.
Ailith swiveled around until she was leaning against the wall. She brought her knees up, rested her cheek against the wall’s smooth surface, and closed her eyes.
Shirin sat down next to her, put her arm around her shoulders, and pulled her in close. “I’ve got you.” She hugged her and laid her head on Ailith’s hair.
It seemed the most natural thing in the world to Ailith to relax into the embrace, which she did until her right thigh constricted into a mind-shattering cramp. “Fowk!” She lunged forward and grabbed her leg, rolling onto her side in a futile effort to stop the spasm. As quickly as it had begun, the pain eased.
When she opened her eyes, she found Shirin pressing the front of her shoulder onto the sole of her boot and forcing the leg into Ailith’s chest. “Better?”
Ailith closed her eyes again and lay the back of her head on the tiles, running shaky fingers through her hair. “Aye.”
“I’m going to straighten it out slowly, and if you feel even the slightest pull, back here,” she ran her hand down the back of Ailith’s thigh, “you tell me, okay?”
Nodding, Ailith felt Shirin slowly pull on her leg, which immediately began to cramp again.
Shirin must have felt it as well because she leaned in and pushed it back to her chest. “It’s okay. We’ll do this a few times, and your leg should relax. Then we’ll get you back to your room, and I’ll find someone to massage the cramp out. Just relax.”
Ailith had never heard the gentle, calming tones the Commander was using now, and she decided she preferred this woman to the scowling one she’d come to know.
Shirin straightened the leg two more times before she was finally able to extend it fully.
Thinking about what had just happened, Ailith kept her eyes closed and shook her head. Her words came out angry and probably louder than necessary. “What th’ fowk did that crazy Priestess think she were doin’? She could ’a been killed!”
Pursing her lips didn’t quite hide her amusement as Shirin stared down at Ailith, shaking her head at the temerity of their newest shiv. “The only thing she could do, Ailith. Just like you. The only thing she could.”
Shirin pushed to her feet and held out her hand. “Come on. I’ll help you down the stairs. Your leg might cramp up again, and if it does, sit down immediately. If you lunge forward like you did a short time ago, we’ll both end up at the bottom of the tower with our necks broken in more places than I’d care to count.”
Ailith allowed the Commander to pull her to her feet and tentatively tested her full weight on her leg. It held with only the slightest twinge. The sun shining off Millnet Bay caught her eye, and she silently watched the sails of three tiny ships as they turned East and began their long voyage back to Kibrun. “It was th’ cannons what set her off. I think that Princess was real important to her. And I think that bastard Emperor Aloric knew it, too.”
She looked at Shirin, who was also watching the sails. “Do ya think he fired the cannons to honor the Princess or to drive th’ knife further into Emlyn’s heart?” When Shirin’s lips thinned, Ailith continued, “Did he do it because of me? Because I knelt to Sábria and no to him?” She felt guilty tears at the back of her eyes, and she determinedly blinked them away. If she was responsible for what had just happened, she didn’t know what she’d do.
With fierce certainty in her eyes, Shirin turned to her. “No, Ailith! My heart nearly burst with pride when you stepped in front of the Arch Priestess and knelt to her. When you do what’s right, and others do wrong, you’re not responsible for their actions.” She took Ailith’s chin between strong fingers. “Do you hear me? You are not responsible.”
“Aye, but—”
“No buts. Now let’s go down and find someone to give that leg a massage. I need to see how Sábria and Emlyn are doing.”
“Ya can go on, Commander. I’ll make me own way down.”
Shirin wrapped an arm around Ailith’s waist. “Right. And get a leg cramp halfway down that sends you plummeting down the stairwell to your death. Now that’s the kind of shiv thinking I expect from a new trainee.”
“Ach. I’m fine.”
Shirin pulled her arm away and looked at the dots of blood staining her hand and sleeve. “What’s this?” She lifted Ailith’s shirt. “Were you going to mention the scrapes on your back? I swear, Ailith, I’ve never seen anyone bleed through so many clothes in their first five days at the Temple.”
“Me back’s fine. Just a few scrapes is all.”
Shirin walked a half circle around her, checking for any more injuries. When she saw the torn trews, she pointed to the window ledge. “Put it up here. Now.”
Not entirely trusting her other leg not to cramp, Ailith slid over the top of the rail and caught her tired foot on the bar as she moved to sit on the sill.
Shirin grabbed her arm to steady her, and when Ailith pulled off her knee-high boot and dragged her trews over her knee, Shirin whistled at the bloody cut. “Were you this accident-prone in the army?”
Ailith shrugged, “I guess I just tend to get into scrapes and all. But I heal quick and don’t need no poxy healers pokin’ and jabbin’ at me all th’ time. I’ll be fine.” She rolled the trews back down and pulled her boot on. It seemed like dinner had been a very long time ago, and she’d probably missed breakfast by now. She was starting to feel a bit light-headed, so she pushed off the ledge and steadied herself with a hand against the wall. “Honestly, if ya could just see yer way to askin’ Mistress Fulman if I could get a bite to eat if th’ dinin’ hall’s already closed, that’d be grand. I’m feelin’ a bit dizzy.” She managed a grin. “More so than usual, don’t ya know.”
Shirin took Ailith’s hand and carefully felt the bones. “I forgot it looked like your bones were either broken or were going to break. Does this hurt?”
Ailith leaned back on the sill again. “Just somethin’ to eat, please. I’m kinda not feelin’ so good.”
“Okay. Come on. Up you go.” Shirin wound her hand around Ailith’s waist again and pulled her arm across her shoulders. The two very slowly made their way down the seven flights to the bottom floor. When they stepped out into the light, Kara came hurrying over and slipped around to Ailith’s other side. She took Ailith’s arm to help support her to her room.
“Are you okay?”
Ailith tried to pull away, but both women held on. “I’m fine. Just hungry is all.”
Shirin called to a Blade who was on the way to the stables, “Larin. Would you please ask Mistress Fullman to prepare a plate of food for Ailith and then wait for it? Bring it to Ailith’s room when it’s ready. Back stairs, bear’s wing, fourth floor in the fourth room on the right. You can tell her and Lady Ingry I said we’re making an exception to the rules.”
Larin brought her fist to her chest. “Yes, Commander.”
It took longer than expected for the two women to get Ailith up to her room, and by the time they managed it, Larin caught up with them and delivered a plate of steak and kidney pie with a sweet roll on the side.
Ailith took it from her and nodded. “Thank ya.”
Larin nodded and excused herself. “I’m a bit late to the stables, Commander. I need to run.”
“Tell Kemi I kept you.”
“Thank you, Commander.”
After the Blade left, Ailith sat down at the two-person table in the corner and began to eat.
Shirin started at the knee and pointed toward various body parts she wanted Kara to look at. “Hole in knee, probably from a piece of metal. The back muscles of her right thigh completely cramped up. She’ll need a massage. Her back’s scraped raw, and she nearly broke the bones in her left hand, which is also scraped up. Am I leaving anything out?”
Ailith shoved a forkful of pie into her mouth and glowered at the Commander. “I’m fine.”
Shirin rolled her eyes, “She’s all yours. I take it Sábria is in her room with Emlyn?”
“She is. Master Healer Haria sent Sinda with a pretty heavy sedative, so you don’t need to rush.”
“Thanks.” Shirin ruffled Ailith’s hair. “You do what she says.” Smiling down at the stubborn shiv, she shook her head and let herself out of the room.
Fourteen
Sábria took Emlyn to her apartment in the six-story Sanctum where she, Shirin, the Master Healer, and others in the Temple hierarchy lived. Each person had their own private suite of rooms, with the more elaborate reserved for the Arch Priestess while the rest, diminishing in size and splendor, were assigned according to rank.
The Commander had a four-room suite adjacent to Sábria’s, which had six. The Master Healer, Haria Kestrasin’s suite, was identical to Shirin’s, as were those of the Master Archivist and the Minister of Finance. The remaining twenty-five steadily diminished in size until they finally ended with the lesser, two-room suites given to the Primes of the various shifts.
Normally, Sábria would take an emotionally unstable Blade to her own bed where she could keep an eye on her day and night. She hesitated to do this with Emlyn, though, because of the Kibrunian strictures against touching another person. It was the dull, vacant stare that finally decided her. She doubted Emlyn even knew where they were, let alone where they were headed.
