Elyon's Blades, page 22
part #1 of The Daughters of Elyon Series
Both men nodded emphatically and Grady said, “Oh Aye, I’d know ‘em all right.”
With his enthusiastic head bob, Milo’s hair flopped down over his eyes again, “Aye, Yer Grace.”
“And are you willing to do that for us?”
Both men said in unison, “Aye.”
Sábria nodded to Terrowyn and Geller, silently telling them to go bring the two shivs into the courtyard. When they left, she smiled at the two men. “Would you follow me, please? And when you identify them, there will no doubt be other people in the courtyard. Would you remember to speak loud enough for everyone in that courtyard to hear what you have to say?”
Both men looked at each other and shrugged. “Aye.”
“Then let’s go down, shall we?”
Sábria made sure to position herself, Shirin, and the two men closer to the gates than to the middle of the courtyard so that Geller and Terrowyn could bring the two shivs to the center, nearest the statue of the Goddess. That way, more people could see and hear what was happening.
The two women timed their arrival perfectly, with Geller bringing Nox from the dormitory at the same time Terrowyn escorted Ailith from the breezeway leading from the stables.
Nox looked distinctly nervous, while Ailith just looked angry and irritated at the disruption to her day. The change in Ailith’s appearance was startling. Her hair was dirty and unkempt, as were her tunic and trews. Sábria doubted whether she’d bathed since the incident had happened in the alley. The Goddess knew she’d tried to get her into the bathing rooms, but Ailith had flatly refused. Some might say that the young warrior looked like the mountain peasant she was, except Sábria knew that even mountain peasants bathed at least every fortnight or so.
Word spread quickly through a community such as theirs, and before too long, people were coming out of every building and archway. At least a hundred Blades and shivs gathered in small groups, curious as to what the Arch Priestess had planned. Whispers and quiet murmurs filled the air as people made guesses as to how Sábria intended to reward Nox and punish Ailith. It wasn’t like the Arch Priestess to publicly punish her people, but what Ailith had done was so egregious that many were making guesses as to what would happen to the cowardly shiv.
Geller was standing with Nox in front of the statue on Sábria’s left while Terrowyn brought Ailith forward and faced Sábria on the right.
Sábria watched Nox intently and knew the instant the shiv recognized the two sailors. Blood drained from the younger woman’s face, and she nervously glanced around. Whether she was looking for a way to escape or looking to see how many people would witness her ignominy, she couldn’t tell.
Sábria spoke loud enough for everyone in the courtyard to hear. “We have discovered that these two men were witness to the events leading up to Maeira’s death. Master Grady, can you tell us why you’re only coming forward now to speak about what you saw that night?”
Grady straightened and, doing as the Arch Priestess had instructed, spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. “Aye, Milady. We was at th’ end of th’ alley, and when th’ fightin’ stopped, Milo and me went to help th’ Blade what was bleedin’ on th’ ground. We was already late fer our ship cuz it were sailin’ on th’ mornin’ tide. The hurt Blade, th’ one on th’ ground, told that ‘un,” he pointed to Ailith, “to go find the one what ran.” He pointed to Nox. “That ‘un. Me’n Milo said we’d stay ‘till help arrived an’ that one,” he pointed to Ailith again, “went to look fer th’ other.”
Grady glanced at Milo who agreed emphatically. “Aye.”
When his friend backed up what he’d said so far, Grady returned the nod and hiked up his pants importantly before continuing. “When another Blade,” he looked around to see if he could recognize the woman who’d first arrived to help the downed Blade. “Well, I don’t see th’ other Blade what came to help—”
Soirin pushed through a knot of Blades standing off to the side. “It was me. I was the first on the scene.” She looked at Sábria, and shame dotted her cheeks with a bright red hue. “Forgive me, My Lady. I did see these men for just a moment, and until right now, I’d completely forgotten them. They left immediately after I arrived and there was so much going on….” Her voice trailed off as she realized she was making excuses for not giving a completely accurate report after a critical incident. Both she and Sábria knew her omission was inexcusable.
Milo spoke up then. He grabbed Grady’s shoulder and pointed at Soirin. “Aye, that’s th’ Blade what came just before we shoved off.”
Grady nodded, “Aye that were her. As soon as she came to take over th’ tendin’ of th’ wounded Blade, Milo here and me had to run to catch th’ ship. Our ship just docked again on yer shores on last evening’s tide.”
While Sábria was grateful that Soirin had come forward to corroborate the men’s story, she was livid that the Blade had forgotten such an important piece of information. She reined in her temper, intending to deal with Soirin at a later time. “Grady, can you tell us what brought you to the attention of Senior Guardian Terrowyn this morning?”
“Aye. Me and me mate, Milo, here, saw a bunch of yer Blades with that one there,” he pointed to Nox and wrinkled his nose in disgust, “and they was buying her drinks and food and pattin’ her on th’ back, and we didn’t understand it because she’d run and left her mates to die. If that’d happened on a ship, she’d ‘a been tied to a mast and whipped to death.” Both he and Milo nodded once at that. “And when th’ Guardian there,” he pointed to Terrowyn, “stopped us in th street a while ago, we told her what we’d seen.”
When Nox opened her mouth to object, Geller cuffed her on the head. “Ye’ll have yer time to speak, lass. But keep your gob shut fer now.”
A soft murmur began among the Blades, and Sábria held up her hand for silence. “Tell us what you saw in the alley that night.” She watched Ailith as she spoke, wanting to see what kind of reaction she’d have to finally having the truth be known among her fellow warriors. Nothing changed in the dark brown eyes so full of rage. Sábria wondered if the truth would be enough to bring Ailith back into the fold. Judging by the eyes, she guessed not.
It seemed Grady was warming to the idea of having an audience because he straightened and puffed out his chest again. For the third time that morning, he told his story from beginning to end, and as the truth unfolded, the reaction among the Blades was loud and pronounced. Shouts of “No!” and “That little bitch,” rang throughout the courtyard.
Not being able to stand it any longer, Nox pulled her sword and stepped forward “He’s lying! That bastard’s lying, and I challenge the skezzi asshole.” She lunged toward the two sailors, forcing Sábria, Geller, and Shirin to pull their blades in defense of the men.
Sábria stepped directly in front of the unarmed Grady and Milo, who backed up several paces.
Shocked that the Arch Priestess would pull her blade against her, Nox screamed, “He’s lying! That’s not what happened! You have to believe me!”
Sábria's silence enraged the young shiv, who, to everyone’s surprise, turned and attacked an unarmed Ailith. “You did this, you bitch! You put them up to this.”
Terrowyn, who wasn’t expecting an attack on her charge, was slow to respond. Standing to Ailith’s left, she barely managed to pull her blade and block a swing that would’ve taken Ailith's head from her shoulders. Ailith still hadn’t moved, and Terrowyn shoved her back to give herself room to fight Nox, who seemed to have gone completely insane.
When the older Blade shoved her, Ailith just turned and walked through the crowd, disappearing into the breezeway without once glancing back to watch Nox’s downfall.
With a sinking heart, Sábria watched her go. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much she could do right at that moment, and she turned her attention back to Nox, who was still shouting her innocence to anyone who would listen.
Geller and Shirin moved forward, and they, along with Terrowyn, trapped the shiv within their circle.
With tears streaming down her face, Nox swung wildly, spinning in circles to keep people away. She slashed at Shirin, who easily blocked the attack.
Nox growled and slashed again and then immediately broke off from Shirin to attack Terrowyn. She executed a passable figure-eight pattern she must have learned from her mother.
If a fighter has practiced defending against that sequence of slashes and jabs, as Terrowyn had, it was relatively easy to block all the strikes, which she did. There was a counter move to the defense, but Terro hesitated to kill a young shiv, coward or no.
There was nothing disciplined about Nox’s attack, and other than the one figure-eight pattern, it appeared she’d abandoned everything she’d ever been taught about swordplay. Her subsequent swings were clumsy and not intended for anyone in particular.
The inexperienced shiv was no match for three seasoned Blades, however, and when she moved in to stab Geller, who was an expert in hand-to-hand fighting, the Prime stepped to the side, trapped Nox’s wrist beneath her arm, and effortlessly took her to the ground. She disarmed her within moments of Nox’s body hitting the cobblestones.
The other two women were on top of them in an instant, and Nox’s shouts turned to sobs, and her declarations of innocence were replaced by gut-wrenching cries admitting her guilt and remorse. “I didn’t mean to, I didn’t. I don’t know why I lied, and then I couldn’t change what I’d told everyone. I’m so sorry, Ailith. I’m so, so sorry.” She fell silent after Terrowyn and Geller dragged her to her feet to face Sábria. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she sobbed uncontrollably.
The Arch Priestess walked forward and, in a loud voice, asked, “Are you now saying it was you who ran and not Ailith?”
“I didn’t mean to. It just happened. There were so many, and I thought we were all going to die, and then I didn’t know what to say when Soirin asked me where Ailith was. I didn’t know what to say.”
Ignoring the excuses, Sábria repeated her question. “I asked if it was you who ran when Jenx and Ailith were being attacked and not Ailith as you claimed.”
Nox’s legs collapsed beneath her, and the two Blades let her sink to her knees. Starring down at the cobbles, Nox sobbed a quiet “Yes.”
Sábria’s tone was vicious now as she stepped forward and grabbed Nox by her tunic. Using her considerable strength, she lifted her to her feet. “I don’t think everyone heard you, Nox. Was it you who ran when Jenx and Ailith were being attacked?”
The harsh treatment brought the fight back into the shiv, and she straightened and shouted into Sábria’s face, “Yes, damn you! Yes. I’m the coward, not Ailith.” She wrenched her tunic from Sábria’s grasp and turned to shout at the assembled Blades. “Do you hear me? I ran!”
No one spoke as the Blades listened in shock to the one they’d proclaimed a hero admitting that she ran and left others to die. And to a person, the fact that she’d left a fellow shiv to take the blame for her cowardice was inconceivable. Many had verbally abused Ailith whenever she’d walked by, and now they realized how very, very wrong they’d been to do so. And most pinned their actions squarely on Nox’s heaving shoulders.
Sábria felt the waves of shame, anger, and hatred surging through her warriors. “Take her to the detention cells until I decide what to do with her.” As Terrowyn and Geller led a sobbing Nox away, Sábria pointedly looked into the face of every one of her Blades.
A good many stared at the ground, ashamed to meet Sábria’s angry glare. Emlyn, on the other hand, met her cool gaze with an answering one of her own since she’d been one of the few who hadn’t gone after Ailith.
Sábria dipped her chin once in acknowledgment of that fact before moving on to the next person. As the last warrior lowered their gaze, Sábria turned and spoke to Grady and Milo. “Commander Shirin will see that both of you receive a reward for coming forward this morning and telling us what really transpired in the alley that morning.” She glanced at Shirin, who nodded and escorted the two men back into the Citadel.
She watched them a moment, suddenly feeling rather old and tired. Turning, she straightened her shoulders and strode through the assembled crowd, intending to find Ailith to see how she was reacting to the latest turn of events.
Twenty-Seven
Ailith wasn’t reacting. She was down in a six-foot-deep by six-foot-long ditch trying to find the leak in the water system leading into the stables. When Sábria found her, she was carrying two heavy buckets full of dirt up the rungs of a ladder. The bottom of the ladder was resting in the ditch, while the tops of the side rails overreached the edge. She held a bucket in each hand and was balancing upright as she carefully mounted one rung at a time.
Sábria had no idea that Ailith had been digging the ditch, and she walked over and rested her hands on her hips, “Ailith, what are you doing? We have Temple laborers to do this type of digging whenever we have a leak.”
Ailith ignored Sábria as she stepped onto solid ground and walked over to a pile of mud and dirt. She upended her buckets and then tossed them back into the muddy hole before jumping in after them.
“I’m talking to you, Ailith. I don’t appreciate being ignored.”
“Then don’t talk to me.” Ailith picked up her shovel and began refilling the buckets.
Sábria jumped into the hole and grabbed the shovel out of Ailith’s hands. She threw it to the side, stepped up close, and poked her in the chest. “I’m getting very tired of your surly attitude.”
Ailith’s eyes flashed dangerously, and she leaned forward and shouted into Sábria’s face. “Then keep th’ fowk away from me, and ya won’t have to be around me surly attitude. Or better yet, send me to one of yer other poxy Temples where I can shovel shit fer them, and ya won’t have to be around me at all, ever again.”
Knowing instinctively that disciplining her at this point would be a mistake, Sábria stepped back and crossed her arms. “You don’t have to stay in the stables anymore, Ailith. Everyone knows what happened now. I want you to resume your training. You’re a warrior, and you belong in the Blades.”
“Fowk! What don’t ya understand? Just leave me th’ fowk alone.” Walking over to where Sábria had tossed the shovel, Ailith picked it up and began once again methodically shoveling mud from the saturated ground into the buckets.
Sábria had never been unsure how to act around a Blade before, let alone a shiv. In all of her previous dealings with her people since assuming the mantle of Arch Priestess, her goddess-enhanced instincts had risen to the fore.
But Ailith wasn’t acting normally, and Sábria was unsure how to proceed. The complete turnabout to her personality felt wrong somehow, and it was putting Sábria off balance. “What would you like to do with the rest of your life, Ailith?”
“Be left th’ fowk alone.” With her two buckets full, she thrust the shovel into the mud, grabbed the bucket’s handles, and climbed out of the ditch. Just as she’d done a hundred times before, she emptied the buckets, tossed them down into the ditch, and jumped in after them.
Sábria stared at her for a while. There should have been some reaction to the truth finally being told, but there was none. Vindication meant nothing to her. A normal reaction would have been to look her accuser and her tormentors in the eyes and, at the very least, show them they hadn’t broken her. Sábria had hoped the truth would turn the tide on the rage she saw building inside of Ailith, but that hadn’t happened.
Her jaw hurt. She shifted it back and forth to loosen muscles gone stiff from frustration and hurt. That was happening a lot lately. She didn’t understand what was happening in the mind of one of her shivs, and that bothered her. She climbed the ladder and started for her office. As she walked beneath the covered breezeway, she held up her hands to stop a group of Blades on their way to the stables. “Stop right now. Where do you think you’re going?”
Marne, an older Blade who’d taken Ailith’s cowardice personally, crossed her arms and glared into Sábria’s eyes. Her distinctive long black braids hung down her back, blending neatly with her black tunic. No matter what the group, if Marne was there, she was their leader.
No one spoke, and Sábria narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Marne? I asked you a question.”
The Blade looked first to the side and then at the archway above their head, and then back to the Arch Priestess. “We’re going to apologize to the shiv. None of us had any inkling we were being played, and…well, we treated her—” She stopped and ground her teeth together, ashamed of how they’d abused Ailith over the past four sevendays.
“The shiv’s name is Ailith, as you well know, and you’ll stay away from her until further notice. You and everyone else. I’ve never been so ashamed to be the Arch Priestess of the Daughters of Elyon. It’s going to take a very, very long time for me to forgive the way my senior Blades treated a nineteen-turn shiv. Now, go back to whatever you were doing and spread the word. No one bothers Ailith until I give them permission to do so.”
Everyone except Marne mumbled, “Aye, My Lady.” When they turned to retrace their steps, Marne stayed behind and glared at the Arch Priestess.
Marne had been in the Temple as long as Sábria. In fact, they’d been shivs together. They frequently butted heads, and at times, because of the Blade’s leadership abilities, Sábria allowed her more leeway than she allowed most of the other women in her service. This was not one of those times. She was tired and frustrated and needed to decide what to do about Nox. Because of that, she was shorter than she normally would have been. “Do you have a problem, Marne?”
“I do. Why would you keep us away from the shiv now? Especially now that we know what really happened? I think it’s important that she hears us apologize, that we own our mistakes. What is it you’re protecting her from?”
“What I do or don’t do in this Temple is none of your business, Marne. You quite often forget that I am the Arch Priestess over every Temple in the Cibían Empire. I have responsibilities you could never dream of. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Don’t question me. I ordered you to stay away from Ailith, and I expect you to obey that order. Do I make myself clear?”
