Unknown Wars Chapter Eleven: My Heart To Yours
Jeri had been seeking the council of Keren and Ylsa lately as the result of her conversation with Marie. She had been very careful to represent the problem as though it were her own, and not with Alberich or any other Herald.
She had been on her way to Marie's room to check on her friend when she saw Alberich coming through Marie's door, heading off for some unknown destination in a hurry. He barely acknowledged Jeri as he passed her, and immediately she knew something was up.
She found Marie, about where Alberich had left her, in front of her hearth looking a little lost.
"Sweetie? Marie what happened? I saw the weapons-master leave."
"I don't want to talk about that right now. I'd like to have answers before we talk about that again?" she said dizzily.
"Have you eaten at all since yesterday? You look a little off." She commented.
When Marie shook her head, Jeri swatted her arm in annoyance,
"I'll go get you food, you just stay here, and drink some of that tea on the hearth." She added bossily, to which Marie chuckled at her friend's retreating back.
…
Inan and Red were lounging in Red's room, and Inan noticed that his friend's thoughts weren't with him. Had he been a lover he would have felt insulted.
Inan threw a rolled up ball of socks at his friend's head to bring him back to the real world, only to have them blocked at the last possible second.
"I may be a deep thinker, but I'm not inattentive Inan."
"So, are you going to tell me what's on your mind or can I have the pleasure of guessing." He drawled.
"You might not like what I'm thinking about?" he hesitated.
"Does it involve Marie?"
Red nodded.
"I've told you before, if you fancy her, I will be happy for you both."
"It's not that Inan, well it is, but not the way you think."
"You've lost me friend."
"I can't even say the words without thinking that its ridiculous, but I just…"
"Red, between the two of us and Gabriel and Gregory there have been plenty of stupid and ridiculous things concocted in our brains. There will be no shame if you add to the list." He joked.
"Okay, here it is…I think there may be something going on between Marie and Alberich."
Red stiffened waiting for an emotional explosion, but none came. He looked to his friend's face expecting to see shades of red and purple or maybe pale white, and then surely the screaming would come, except it didn't. Inan's expression of anticipation had not changed, he looked exactly as he had moments before, although his eyebrows were raised slightly.
"And?"
"And? What do you mean, and? I think Marie and Alberich are seeing each other!"
"Yeah, I got it the first time Red."
"Well? What are you going to say about it?"
Red watched in exasperation when Inan's mouth curved up in a gleeful little smile,
"Myste owes me a cake." He said giggling.
"Huh?"
…..
Myste was sitting, once again, surrounded by papers and books and parchments rolls. Inan observed her dreamily as she scribbled notes and searched with a free hand for a particular paper or file. It was a complete mystery to him how she could keep anything straight in this chaotic mess.
Idly he cleared his throat.
Myste's head came up from her work sharply, and her face glowed a little at the sight of him.
"Hey Inan, what can I do for you?" she asked cheerily.
"Blueberry honey cake, with sugar glaze." He said triumphantly.
"No, really? Wow I thought that would take longer?"
"Well I can't vouch that they're together, but that wasn't part of the bargain. All you said was when people started to wonder. Well there are people wondering all right." He stated.
"Who then? Who's figured out that two and two make four?" Myste harrumphed.
"I know Jeri has been giving Alberich looks that practically scream "What's going on?' and Red just brought it up with me personally."
"Red? He fancies her doesn't he?" Myste asked with hesitation, fearing the truth, for Red's sake.
"Yup. I think that it's mostly attachment with brotherly protective feelings, but there is some genuine interest there." He said regretfully.
"Ewwwwooooo. That won't end well, not in their predicament." Myste said.
"You mean because Red is, well, Red?"
"Mm hmm. But that's a different shoe, right now I guess I'll have to go raid Mero's kitchen."
"Sometimes I think it would just be better if they were life bonded, it might make it easier on the rest of us." Inan muttered exasperatedly.
"How would that make it easier?" she drawled
"Well, they would…oh…right. Never mind." Inan said sheepishly.
Inan was suddenly remembering the confusion and denial that had surrounded Keren and Ylsa while they were trying to figure out their own life-bonded relationship.
Myste smiled at Inan's innocent reaction and nodded her head before turning in the direction of the door.
…..
The sun was shining more these days, and the heavy boots and sweaters were squirreled away until next winter. Light coats and colorful silks were all the rave in the Queen's court, while the Herald's and trainees were just happier to escape the Collegium into the warm sunlight.
Marie however had spent the last five weeks in her classes, in her room, in the library, or meeting with Selenay, Elcarth, the Seneschal Herald Kyril, and the Monarch's Own Herald Talamir. She hadn't seen hide nor hair of Alberich in all that time. Ever since that morning in her room, he had been scarcely seen in the Collegium.
In the Salle his best students, Marie and Jeri included, took charge of the younger ones, and spared with each other, but he hadn't been around for a while.
To the others this was an abnormality, but to Marie it was easier to not think about him if she didn't have to see him. She noticed that while he was gone, she didn't worry for him, for fear for him, but that she was sure he would return just fine at some later point. It was all to the better that he wasn't about, especially tonight.
Marie felt a slight stirring under her sternum at the thought of being less than truthful with her friends about her whereabouts. However during all the hours that she had spent in the last month with the Monarch's Own, Marie had learned that even a Herald has rights to their own secrets.
Talamir was a man of many secrets, and although he had never said anything directly to Marie, she knew that he understood her silence. Lying in the grass against Orestes Marie reflected on their last conversation.
… …
Marie and Talamir were sitting under the trees next to the Herald's Temple, two afternoons ago. It had been overcast, and most of the students had stayed indoors for the possible fear of rain. Talamir had come from Lake Evendim and was an expert in weather reading. Marie didn't mind rain, but took Talamir's word and the two of them found a pleasant place to hold their conversation.
"I would ask you more about your time in Karse, but I sense that there is more on your mind than the secretive ways of the Sun Priests?" he asked in a grandfatherly way.
Unlike Elcarth who had a subversive way of asking benign questions that were actually anything but, Talamir was straight with his questions and his answers. It had taken a few days for Marie to warm to any of the Queen's advisors, but Talamir had understood at once that it wasn't that she didn't trust Heralds, but that all formal authority figures made her nervous. For a while he never spoke unless he was answering a question. Gradually he began asking simple questions, and when he felt that Marie was comfortable with his presence he allowed his curiosity to unfold in more complicated inquiries.
Today he had watched her out of the corner of his eye, as Marie looked off into the distance more than once as if she were seeking answers on the furthest horizon to a question she held in her hand.
Talamir was getting on in years, and his heart was not as strong as it once was, but he was not feeble or oblivious in any way. Nor was he unable to read between the lines of what other Heralds were saying in all the corners of the Collegium. He knew that there was something between them, something that was strong and above all, it was complicated. His current Companion, Roland, who came to him after Taver had died, had assured him that they were not life-bonded, but Talamir knew there was more to that explanation that wasn't being said.
He had known Alberich since the first day that he had helped the Karsain man across the border into Valdemar. He had known for some time that the relationship he had shared with Herald Myste was fading, and that they would remain good friends for the rest of their lives. There was something in Alberich's eyes whenever Marie was mentioned, that often made Talamir smile to himself.
Now he noticed that while she was careful not appear flustered, the way her body suddenly went still spoke volumes.
"You should know by now little fox, we are a family, and as a family we notice when our members are troubled. Will you not confide to this old man? Have I not earned your trust these past weeks?" he coaxed softly.
"You know better then that Talamir. It is more that I do not know how to tell you, nor anyone what is between my head and my heart."
"Do you not confide to Orestes about the matters of head and heart?"
"Yes, but he doesn't need to be told, he just knows."
"Yes, our Companions often know what even we do not. And what does he tell you?" Talamir asked.
"He says that my path is my own, but that it will always carry me in two directions at once."
"Riddles and poems but never a straight answer." Talamir harrumphed.
"No, it isn't a riddle, but it does have a complicated answer. As you serve Selenay as Monarch's Own, and she serves Valdemar as a Herald and Queen, I serve the clans as both a member of their family and as their General. I was chosen, and I will be a Herald who serves Valdemar, but I will always be a Black Fox and what remains of the four clans will follow me regardless of whether I wear white and ride a spirit horse, or black and red and fight with sickle blades." She said hollowly.
Talamir was very quiet for a while, and Marie wondered if he would understand a split loyalty like hers.
As if hearing her unspoken worry, Talamir leaned towards her and pulled her into a hug.
Marie stiffened a little, but then relaxed and rested her head on his boney shoulder, closing her eyes and sighing into his offered comfort. After a few moments she heard him whispering to her to,
"My lady, it is an honor to know one such as you who serves others before herself and her own heart. We are indeed lucky to have you here. May I tell you something?"
Marie pulled out of his arms far enough to look at him and nodded.
"I have known Herald Alberich since he first stepped into Valdemar as a newly chosen trainee. I know the story between the two of you. I know how you spared his life even after he had captured you, and you escaped, and he came after your people a second time. I know that for one such as you, it would not be possible to grant the life of an enemy on light terms, and yet you did. There is an unnamed bond between you, is it this that preoccupies your mind today?"
"If you know that I spared his life, what else do you know?" she hazard.
Talamir blinked and saw some of her old suspicion return in her eyes.
"He did not tell us lightly, and it is not common knowledge that you knew each other in your previous lives. To answer your fear, I do not know what was done to you in between your capture and your escape, any more than you have told us." Talamir explained.
Feeling that their conversation would not continue beyond the subject that had been broached, Talamir came to his feet, brushed himself off and while clasping his hands behind him he left her with his final thought.
"I know that whatever ignited between Alberich and that young Black Fox girl was never extinguished, and that the proof of that lies in the small carved token that he carries with him always."
The look on Marie's face told him everything, her face seemed to loose its color, and her eyes had gone wide as walnuts. Talamir wished her a silent farewell and left her to thoughts that, he had no doubt, were both chaotic and contradictory.
…
Marie looked up through the green chandeliers above her and turned to nuzzle her temple into Orestes' main. In turn he nuzzled her shoulder,
You thought he wouldn't honor a gift he didn't understand.
I was young, I don't even know why I gave it to him, but something in me knew it was right.
And you suffered because of that gift.
My people couldn't understand why I would bestow it at that age, and to a man I should have killed.
Your father understood.
He did, even if the others didn't and shunned me for two years.
Is that why you fear rejection from the Heralds, you think that they will shun you if they knew about your past, and your future?
Maybe. Or it could be simpler than that; maybe I'm scared that they will see through me.
And what would they find chosen?
A girl who doesn't know how to love.
The sunlight came cascading into her eyes as the wind pushed aside the branches that sheltered her. This had been one of her first moments outdoors by herself in far too much time. The afternoon was warm and Orestes had brought her to a small wooded glen where he assured her they would be undisturbed.
He was her dearest friend, and she was glad he was here to share the burden of her soul, when no one else was capable. Jeri was important in her life, but there were questions she would ask that Marie didn't know how to answer. Orestes on the other hand didn't have to be told, with their mind link as strong as it was she had only to send, and he would receive…thoughts, feelings and fears, they were all in the realm of his understanding.
Marie checked the horizon and counted the hours before sunset.
You are going to meet them tonight then?
Yes, in the poor half of town.
Are you telling anyone?
No.
I will come with you.
You can't, I don't think Companions can fly, or ride on rooftops.
Regardless, I will be there, even if you do not see me.
Alright, I'll concede to that.
Later when Marie opened the door to her room she felt a presence before she could make out Jeri's shape leaning against the mantle.
"Hi Jeri," she said, her frame still hidden behind the door.
"How do you always know its me?"
"You always smell of bees wax and poplar flower."
Marie hadn't looked at Jeri in the eyes yet, instead she walked to the wardrobe and pulled out a dark bundle from the foot of the wardrobe and placed its contents on her bed.
Jeri watched her with a quiet fascination, the cloth was darker then even official trainee grays, and it held no sheen or visible texture. Marie was brushing out her long fire red hair and twisting it behind her head into a tight single plait braid. She seemed far and away in her thoughts, and yet completely focused on her adulations.
Marie spared a small smile to Jeri when her hair was out of the way.
Jeri thought that Marie might say something to her when she turned towards her wearing a smile, but she didn't. Instead she began going through the bundle on her bed. From where she stood, Jeri could see a long dark tunic, with sleeves that came to just below Maries elbows. Next to the tunic were some breeches made with the same black fabric, and a pair of fingerless gloves that would reach Marie's shoulders.
"What are you going to do with all that Marie?"
"Something requiring discretion."
Marie had been waiting for Jeri to confront her about her absence from meals, and free time. It had been three weeks since they had gone into town, and while Marie greatly missed their tradition some things had to come first.
"You're not going to tell me?" Jeri sounded hurt.
"I will eventually, but I can't right now, I have to get ready."
"Promise me it isn't dangerous?"
"You know I can't promise you that."
"Well promise me it isn't illegal?"
"It isn't illegal…in Valdemar." She added.
"Ok, can I help you with anything?" she ventured.
"Yes, you can cover for me. If any one asks I went to meet a boy."
"I won't lie for you."
"You wont be." She answered simply.
"But…what about Alberich?" Jeri asked hastily.
"It's not that kind of meeting, but no one else needs to know that."
"I see." Jeri conceded.
Jeri sat on the edge of Marie's bed and watched her friend pull off her silver gray trainee's uniform. It was the first time she had seen Marie without clothing that covered her arms. Even in the brutal heat of the Salle on a hot day Marie had never gone without long sleeves, and now she knew why.
"Marie?" she said tentatively.
"Jeri, these are old scars, they don't hurt me anymore, don't let them hurt you." She said quietly.
Marie pulled the dark clothing on quickly to save her friend from drawing too many conclusions from her scared body.
The sun had been down for thirty minutes, and both Marie and Jeri had missed dinner when Marie was finishing the laces on her boots. The last thing Marie took from her bed was a soft cotton gauze snood that she bundled her braid into before covering her head and face in darkness.
"You look like you're about to go burgle someone."
Marie chuckled, and then hesitated. Her specialty boxes were inside the hearth, and she couldn't get to them without Jeri knowing about it, but in that moment she understood that it wouldn't matter if she did.
"Jeri, I have something to show you."
The other girl came to her side, and knelt when Marie did. She watched carefully in the dim light as Marie slid out the four stones from the hearth wall. Her eyebrows rose as she watched her friend pull out the wooden case from its hideaway.
Marie opened it there and pulled out two of four identical cylindrical tubes that were each about the length of Marie's forearm, and no wider than three fingers. They were made out of a weird metal that Jeri had never seen before, it was dark polished like pewter, but it had a swirling pattern throughout the shape of the tubes.
"It's folded steel, thinner, stronger, and lighter then regular iron ore. These are hollow on the inside, so that messages and small articles can be stored within them. They are resistant to damage, breaking, and water tight, with two drums of air on the ends to make them float in water." She explained while opening them for Jeri to see inside.
"But be careful, the outside rim also had compartments within it. You see this filigreed design here at the seams of the box?"
"It looks like a tiny thorn branch."
"It is, the tiny tips are sharp and carry a poison in them like quill pens carry ink. If you don't know how to open the box correctly you'll feel a tiny prick and then you won't feel anything at all."
"Holy. Where did you get them?" Jeri was aghast at the implications of all their possible uses.
"My father designed them for our runners, they're called 'neuprimny osten', or Hollow-hearted Thorns. The ones he made are long gone, but these I had specially made here in Haven. I'm telling you this because I don't want you to think that I don't trust you. I do Jeri, with my life, but I can't tell you everything yet, can you understand that?"
"Of course I understand Marie, I'm honored that you showed me this."
Jeri's heart felt a little lighter knowing that her fears over the past few days of loosing Marie's friendship were unfounded. Obviously she had simply been preoccupied with other matters.
"Where are you going? Or can't you tell me that either?"
"I'll tell you that I'll be in Haven."
"Be careful."
"Always am." She smiled at her friend.
Marie took out her sling bag and put the thorn boxes into the front pouch, nestled against the dark fabric of her red wrap skirt and the leather hilts of her sickle blades. She tightened the strap of her sling bag bringing it flush against her back, and attached two wrist sheaths with unknown contents that clinked when she adorned them.
Marie was backing out of her window and finding her footing on the sill when a sharp knock came from her door. Jeri shoed her out the window and closed it firmly behind her. Jeri went to the door, threw a look over her shoulder to make sure that Marie was gone from the window frame and opened it as though she were leaving.
Herald Red was standing on the other side looking surprised to see Jeri and not Marie standing there.
"Oh, hi Jeri. Um is Marie in there."
"Uh no, I was just leaving her a note, she's off with a friend." She saved him a little bit of his pride, knowing that to tell this Herald, that she was off seeing a boy would be cruel.
"Oh, well never mind, have a good evening." He said awkwardly and then turned to return to his point of origin.
Red walked around the corner before breaking out into a run for the Salle.
He was certain he would find Marie there, and when he did he was going to confront Alberich for taking advantage of a girl like Marie.
In the back of his mind his Companion was trying to reason with the normally levelheaded young man, but Red was blocking him in his jealousy of the older Herald.
Red didn't wait or pause to knock on Alberich's door, instead he barged in his face red and his breath hot. He looked around to the obvious places, the couch, the bed in the corner, but Marie wasn't in either of those places in fact neither was Alberich. Red wasn't quelled by this and went out in search of the both of them, too preoccupied to look anywhere but in front of him.
Above Red's head Marie was sprinting, leaping and dancing on clay tile, tarred thatch and tin beams as she maneuvered over the sea of roofs to the outward west wall that would land her in the middle of the Guild Houses.
She avoided the tower and wall guards easily in her dark outfit and her swift movements. As she was climbing down the far wall she looked over her shoulder just in time to see a similarly clad figure creep into the window of one of the noble's houses. She smirked to herself, and hoped that that young one didn't send up the alarm otherwise she could be caught in the wrong for his adventure. Moving quickly she made short work of the wall, and landed on two feet with a minor amount of dust kicked up by her feet.
When she was safely tucked between the walls of two small servant's houses she unrolled the third coded message from her breast pocket. The translation of this one had taken days, but in the end was a detailed set of directions to where she would be meeting them tonight. From the message she knew she would be going to cheap street, and meeting her Eyes in the burnt out ruin of what used to be a boarding house that had been hit with arson earlier that year. She had heard that many people had died in the fire, and that no one was using the site for anything. There was a shed in the back that hadn't been touched by the fire that could hold seven full sized men, she was to meet them there tonight.
Returning the paper to her front pocket she straightened the snood and swept away into the dark shadows of the alley. Finding another stone wall, she clamored up it's side as though it were as easy as climbing a tree.
From a few yards away, a keen set of eyes watched her move gracefully up the alley wall to the uncharted nature of the closely-knit roofs of cheap side Haven. The silhouette she made in the soft moonlight was inspiring to behold.
Whoever this thief was, he had muscle control and strength that Skif could only dream about. He was a good thief, sure, he had skill, but the figure he watched was a being of control and speed. Skif knew that he couldn't run across rooftops like that and not make a single sound. Yet he was watching someone do it right before his very eyes. His attention was broken for a moment when the night guards walked below the window he was still balancing on, and when he looked back in the direction the figure had been heading he saw only the reflection of the moon on the roof tiles and not even a whisper of anything else.
….
Lately Herald Alberich had been spending more time playing his other identities, and talking with Talamir and Elcarth. The distraction of duty had helped keep his mind safely off Marie for a time, but whenever he found himself with a spare moment, his thoughts would drift back to her. So he kept his docket full and he thought less of her, until he tried to sleep.
Tonight he couldn't be bothered with any of that however. His various contacts had told him that the man he had been tracking for over a month was going to be in cheap side tonight, and that was where he was currently headed. His gray on gray jerkin helped camouflage him in the shadowy streets, and he kept his hood up until he was inside the Greasy Beard Tavern.
The light was dim, due to the fact that candles were expensive and this place was cheap on everything from the firewood to the sludge they served as food.
He took a small chair and table in the corner with one small window above his head that faced the small corner of thatch that served this building as a roof.
He had been sitting for above two candle marks when his target entered only to briefly drop something into the hands of a red-cloaked figure order a beer and then settle in with a group of whores who clung to the minimal heat of the hearth.
Alberich left him there to be fawned over, and returned his gaze to the red, cloaked figure who was leaning casually over his soup at one of the main tables closest to the door. He was about to move towards the bartender, which would bring him within sight of the figure's face, when a movement beyond the window ledge caught his attention. The thatch tufts were shifting and crackling, as though there were something heavy pressing down on them. Alberich squinted against the glare of the moon and saw a boot clad foot use the corner brace for leverage before the body it belonged to slid down the side of the building with a practiced ease. As the head came by the window the shadowed face betrayed the familiar amber glow of his fox girl's eyes.
Marie slid quickly off the thatch roof and slid down the white washed corner of building passing briefly by a small window that allowed her to catch a quick glimpse inside the tavern, where she came straight into the piercing gaze of Herald Alberich.
To have missed his company and presence in the Collegium for so many weeks and then to see him here in cheap side, in a tavern known for it's lousy beer and cheap women made her start and almost loose her grasp on the beam she clung to. He was leaving the his table, no doubt to confront her, she had to get out of that alley quickly, but her path took her directly past the tavern's front door. She dropped hastily to the ground and decided to try for her original route. Hitting the loose pebble road she stumbled a little before hurrying around the building and breaking into a dead run.
Alberich was going for the door, when a whore came up to him trying to entice him, he side stepped her and came out the front door just in time to look down the road and see a wisp of black disappear around the corner. He followed suit knowing that she had run down a dead end alley, but when he reached the turn only seconds later, she was no where to be seen.
He sighed, and made for another of his frequented stops, hoping to find out something of use. He would have to deal with Marie later.
The shed was more like a small barn, but it would serve for tonight's meeting. Marie had reached her destination by scaling a wall and jumping another before Alberich had caught up with her footpath. Now she stood under the eave of a small house only a few feet from the shed. Cautiously she reached behind her and took out her sickle blades, tucking them under her arms, close to her body as she crept around the back of the building, and pulled herself through a low shutter-less window.
Inside she saw the bare floor illuminated through the obvious holes in the ceiling. Listening very carefully, she raised her head to the cross beams of the simple structure and made a hard clicking and tittering sound with her tongue. Immediately three chirps sounded back to her in the darkness.
Marie gave a final chirp and brought her blades into plain sight, as four sets of feet lightly thumped to the packed earth floor in one sweeping movement. Each held identical sickle blades in their hands, that caught the moon light and shone bright in the secretive place.
"My Lady, you have come." The four voices intoned as one.
Marie blinked and turned her head away as a bright glow filled the room as one of the Eyes uncovered an oil lamp. The soft golden light illuminated her spies and she was happy to see the familiar faces of her kin.
"Aaron, Jemia, Vorn, Bryn I am glad to see you alive."
"As are we to see you Marie."
The voice was Bryn's. Bryn was one of Marie's best friend growing up and the two friends hadn't laid eyes on each other in almost ten years.
Marie saw the sorrow in her eyes, and knew that there was bad news to be heard tonight.
"Tell me." She said.
"Forest was captured at the Rethwellan border and tortured into giving information to the Sun Priests about the Red Wanderers. When they showed up in Rethwellan they had been preceded by stories from Karsian traders that they were murderers and brigands. They were chased back into Karse where the soldiers were waiting. My Lady, Forest was found two days later in a mud bog, his teeth had been pulled."
Marie swore harshly, but gestured that Bryn should continue.
"The soldiers came too close to Jkatha for the tribes to like. As far as we know the tribes of Jkatha have taken in your mother's kin as refugees. They will remember The White Crows and the Red Wanderers from the first battles."
Marie sighed in relief that her people were not doomed as she had originally suspected.
Vorn had been with her during their escape from the badlands into Valdemar's no man's land. He had taken charge of Jake and Gruen and the others when she had stayed to fight the surmountable forces of Karse that had followed them to the front door of Valdemar. Now he stood tall and healthy before her, the wounds he had sustained that day were healed and he actually smiled at her.
"My Lady, our people are making their way to Haven as we speak, they will be here within the next cycle of the moon. We are well, thanks to your swords." He said honorably.
"Our dead gave me their strength that day." She answered.
Jemia was the next to speak, and when she did it was plain to Marie that Vorn's success had been a small candle flame in the wake of the living threat of Karse.
"Great Lady, there are more than just red shadows that the Sun Priests have cast. They are employing magicians, who can conjure many frightening things. However there is hope behind the clouds, there is change occurring in Karse, but it will be many years before it is of use to us. I cannot stay beyond this night, I must return to Karse if we are to lay influence in this change."
"I grant thee leave, be careful, be swift, and be watchful." Marie said in her authoritative voice.
Jemia bowed low and then slipped back into the shadows and then was gone. Marie turned then to Aaron, who had always been the silent one amongst her people, but for some reason would talk to her for hours. Their friendship was like that of twin siblings, and there was nothing they wouldn't say to the other. Aaron had always been in Valdemar ever since her father Ivorn had died. Marie had sent Aaron to Valdemar knowing that eventually Karse and Valdemar would be at war again. Anyone who went to war with Karse would aid her people, even if indirectly.
"Aaron, my most trusted Eye, what have you to tell me?" Marie asked him.
"I have watched you since you arrived in this city, and I will watch you still." He said
"Why do you watch me?" Marie asked
"I watch you as I watch others. Others who watch your every move, others who tell Karse where you are, where you go, who you are with."
"Karse knows." It wasn't a question Marie was asking.
"Yes, Karse knows. Karse will send arrow men, Karse wants you silenced. There are many who watch you, and so I watch them. You are never alone Lady, trust in that."
Marie nodded a bit stiffly in reaction to the news that Karse was intending to send assassins to kill her. That they could penetrate the borders of Valdemar meant that someone was paying large amounts of gold for their services. However the fact that she almost never left Collegium, meant that the eyes that watched her were in the Collegium. The realization made her skin crawl.
Vorn would stay within Haven and aid Aaron, while Bryn was headed back into Rethwellan. Marie gave Bryn one of the thorn boxes and hugged her friend as they had done so many times as children before watching her sprint through the city and out of sight.
Vorn was staying in an inn on the other side of Merchant's Row, near to the Smithery Stop. He was posing as a journeyman, and knew the ins and outs of every tavern and inn in the city. His expertise had already earned him a small band of friends who were willing to risk a little for him. Vorn had always been a ladies man, so it came as no surprise when Vorn told Marie that most of his friends were of the female variety. In fact the reason for Alberich's delay in catching her earlier that night was because Vorn had asked one of his "friends" to stall him for a few minutes. Marie blinked, but then smirked at her Eye's efficiency.
"Some things never change." She muttered.
"Only the things that matter Lady Fox." He teased before slipping through the window.
Marie and Aaron were climbing a high wall some time later on their way back to Collegium when he finally asked her a straight question.
"When you arrived in Collegium Square, I was there. I saw you acknowledge the dark man from Karse, Herald Alberich is his name. I watched you take your leave from him. The more I watched you the more I came to understand. He is the man you bestowed your gift to, isn't he?" Aaron asked evenly.
Marie stopped climbing and looked over her shoulder at Aaron. She didn't say anything, nor move her head, but the softness in her eyes told Aaron that he was correct.
Neither one spoke until they were safely within the grounds of the Collegium, and Marie was unbinding her snood, letting her braid loose. She walked in the direction of Companion's Field, and found Orestes under the same tree they had shared the shade from earlier that day.
The Companion inclined his head in Aaron's direction, and Aaron being a gentleman bowed back.
This is one of your shadows?
Yes.
He is very good at what he does, I have not sensed him before.
That is why he is my Eye.
"What is your Companion's name?" Aaron finally asked.
"Orestes. He chose me during the last battle, and he had a role in saving our family."
"He is magnificent."
"Yes he is."
Orestes whinnied his thanks, and pawed the ground in a happy gesture.
"Aaron, it is good to see you." Marie told him quietly.
"I know the feeling." He answered.
"Were you there when Alberich and I were alone?" she asked suddenly.
"Yes, I didn't know if he meant you harm or not, Herald or no Herald he is intimidating."
"And do you still think he could do me harm?"
"I do, but not the kind that makes graves. Only the kind that makes grief." Aaron explained.
Thinking back to what Talamir said, Marie continued to defend the weapons-master.
"He still has it."
"I know, I've seen it in his hand, it has been well cared for. Did you ever tell him?"
"Not then, there wasn't time for that, and I was much too young to fully understand it."
"I remember. I also remember not being able to speak to my best friend for two years while the Clan shunned you. Was all of that time worth it? Is it worth it now?" he pestered.
"It has always been worth it."
There was a pause,
"Will you tell him?"
"I will when he wants to be told." She said.
Aaron nodded.
"I've missed you Marie, but I understand why you sent me here, it was the right thing to do. I must admit, I was surprised and even angrier with Inan then you were when I found him here. He never saw me of course, but I couldn't understand for years why he wouldn't have come back for you. I love you like my own twin, and I know that I would have come back for you in a heartbeat." He expressed.
"I know, and I am grateful." She said.
"I must go before dawn, but know that wherever you go one of us will be watching your back."
Aaron hugged her tightly before sprinting in the direction of the palace.
Why haven't you told Alberich the significance of the carved fox?
I fear the reaction.
Alberich loves you.
I know, it isn't his reaction I fear.
You still believe that you cannot love him?
I was not raised to fall in love with men, only to care for them or kill them.
Humans have the greatest capacity for love of any being in this world, and I know your soul little love, you have love for him, you must simply learn to use it.
Orestes, the real question is will Alberich let me?
….
A/N: neuprimny osten is Czech for "Hollow-hearted Thorn" thanks for reading and reviewing.