Gara's head hurt. His shoulders ached, the muscles in his back felt as though they had each and every one been ripped out, stomped on and haphazardly stuffed back into place. People were being very, very loud, inconsiderate of his pounding head. The maids were buzzing with speculation. Kall-Su's housekeeper was complaining bitterly about the disregard men in general had for women's feelings and welfare. Captain Kiro and the house guard were mulling about, clanking of weapons and armor, wanting badly to do something about the dishonor placed upon their lord and castle. Kall wasn't saying anything, other than initially and sternly prohibiting Kiro from sending anyone out into the streets after Schneider, thus effectively saving lives.
Gara prodded at the egg sized lump on the back of his skull, wincing at the sharp little stab of pain that contact brought. There was no blood. Not anymore. There was blood on the wall where he had hit. His connection with the Murasume blade had always sped the recovery of his injuries. It was a symbiotic relationship of sorts. It drew life force and power from him at times and in return it kept its bearer in exceptionally good health. Though not enough to banish the aches and pains. Ten years ago and he would have had little discomfort to complain about. He should have been quick enough to see it coming and avoid it. Ten years or thirty minutes ago he should have expected Schneider to strike out at such an intrusion. His own fault for letting surprise make him rash.
He was in Kall's study, the closest large room on the floor with a chair for him to sit down in and enough room for Kiro to pace about and fret. Kall looked out the window, his back to the confusion that had entered his private sanctum. Keitlan had said, when she had been fussing over the his head, that Kall and Schneider had been ready to fight. Gara wondered if she knew what such a fight would consist of. Of what such a clash would do to this castle and this city. She couldn't know. Not if she mentioned it so casually, as if a fight between wizards was as simple as a fight between sailors in a seaside bar.
Kall knew. Kall had to be fretting over the welfare of his city if they had a vengeful and irrational Schneider to deal with.
A maid came running into the study, skidding to a stop before Keitlan and curtsying frantically before blurting out. "The door's back up on lady Yoko's room. Nobody put it up. Its sealed there like somebody melted it to the frame and it can't be budged. It's hot to the touch. Its not natural." As if anything in this whole situation was.
Kall turned around. Gara lifted a brow.
"Well," Gara said. "Personally, I'm not for kicking down any more doors on him. If they're back and she's not screaming bloody murder, let her deal with him. She does it better than the rest of us."
The guard were staring questioningly at their lord. Keitlan was frowning mightily. Kall waved a hand and said quietly. "Leave it. Go back to your beds, all of you."
"But, my lord ---" Keitlan complained.
"I said leave it."
She looked distressed, but did not argue further. She left the study, the last to heed her lord's orders. Gara sighed, rubbing his neck and not quite able to work out the kink.
"I don't understand him." Kall said quietly, when they were alone. "Is he playing some game?"
"You ask me? My head hurts too much to try and figure how his mind works. He never did make sense."
"He went to such efforts to abandon her and now ---"
"Now, he's changed his mind. Worse than a woman." Gara sniffed. "I was complaining the other day that being snowed in here was getting boring. Remind me to never wish boredom away again, will you?"
She sat with her knees to her chest with a quilt wrapped about her, before the roaring fire in her room. He leaned against the wall next to it, one boot on the wall, his face half obscured by hair. With sorcery he had sealed the window against the freezing cold outside, and the door inside against intrusion to their privacy. Their conversation was halting and uncertain after the truce. She told him about her desolation, her bereavement and the budding joy of the child that grew within her. He admitted to being able to think of little else but her from almost the moment he had made the ill fated decision to separate from her. He admitted to remorse over her pain, which astounded her. He never felt guilt. She hadn't thought he was capable of it. She asked him about Arshes -- what state he had left her in -- and he looked away, honest strife on his face. Honest, torn emotion that she could not fault him for.
She could not, at this moment, summon up the energy to do more than stare into the fire and listen to the crackle of flames, and the sound of his voice when he spoke. She was numb. Part of her cried out not to trust him, to shun him as he'd shunned her, but that wasn't a part close to her heart. Those warmer places swelled with relief that he had come back for her. Those places close to her heart were convinced that his repentance was for real.
Her head drooped and her fingers loosened their grip on her blanket. She snapped to drowsy awareness, shifting the quilt.
Schneider bent over her, whispered at her ear. "Go to sleep, Yoko." And swept her up, blanket and all to carry her to her disarrayed bed. She half struggled, not sure of his intentions. He laid her down and when she stared warily up at him, he merely shook his head and said.
"I should have waited until day to find you. I'm sorry I robbed you of sleep."
He looked as if he had not seen it himself in quite a while. She wondered how long he had ridden without stop to reach her. Knowing him and the information that goaded him, he probably had not stopped at all. She sighed and relaxed into her pillows, shut her eyes and was asleep.
She woke up to light coming in from the shimmering seal about the window. For a while she lay, with pleasant warmth at her back, her mind a still fuzzy from sleep, trying to put a name to the oddness in the room. She faced the door. Which was splintered and gouged and merged most unnaturally to the abused frame about it. There were spidering cracks in the plaster on the wall around the door frame. Plaster and wood littered the carpet before the door.
She made to sit up, but there was a heaviness across her waist keeping her down. An arm encircled her. Her head rested comfortably on another. She twisted her head and looked into Schneider's face. She drew a sharp breath, everything coming back. And in the light of morning she was not so certain how she felt about it. About him. She could not stop staring at him. All tussled silver hair and black lashes fluttering on his cheeks. Oh, how she adored him when he was asleep. When he couldn't hurt her with words or promises or deeds. He was only dangerous when he was awake and aware. She might have laid here forever with him in slumber and been happy.
He opened his eyes when she was looking at him and smiled at her. A charming, sleepy smile that made the corners of her mouth curve up in response.
"Good morning." He murmured.
That remained to be seen. A great many things remained to be seen.
"Are you sorry yet? To have forgiven me?" he inquired.
"I don't remember saying that I had." She responded.
He did not reply to that. His eyes fixed on hers, searching for the key to her thoughts. She lowered her lashes to keep it from him. Not ready yet to give him all her secrets. But she would give him one. One that they shared. She reached for the hand at her waist and drew it down between them, pressing it against her tummy where the life they had made resided.
"Our baby lives here." She said. He drew in breath. He looked a little spooked, a little unnerved. He drew his hand away after a moment and brought it up to her cheek. He touched his forehead to hers, a gesture of such affection that it made her forget his uneasiness at the mention of their child.
Her stomach growled, telling her that she had overslept her normal breakfast hour. The rest of the castle was probably already astir and no doubt salivating to know what had transpired behind her sealed bedroom door.
"If I don't get something to eat soon, I'm going to start gnawing on furniture. Perhaps you might undo the door." She said blandly and he arched a brow at her. He leaned over her and waved a finger at the door. The odd merging between shattered door and frame melted away and the door teetered, then toppled forwards into the room.
Which left little privacy for dressing, with her room open to the hall. So she merely pulled a sweater over her nightgown and a skirt over that. All of which Schneider watched as if she were performing some erotic dance for his benefit. It made her fell oddly embarrassed and elated. She had to wonder if he would react the same when she was waddling about like a house on legs.
"Well," she said when she was dressed. "Shall we go and face the multitudes?"
He shrugged.
"You will be civil and you will be contrite. You promised."
"Civil maybe." He said. She turned and fixed him with a narrow glare. He pretended to look elsewhere.
"And you'd better hope Gara's all right."
"He is."
"Hummpph." She marched out of the room and he followed. A chamber maid saw them, stopped in the middle of the hall, then turned and scampered off the way she had come. A guard came up the hall and Yoko smiled cheerfully at him, taking Schneider's arm in hers to assure no one got the wrong idea.
"Good morning." She nodded.
The guard nodded back warily, stood against the wall and let them pass, then fell in a few yards behind them. Schneider cast an amused glance back.
"Oh, charming. An escort."
Down stairs to the main hall. There were a few guardsmen at the tables. A few ninja sitting around their master who occupied one of the high backed cushioned chairs near the hearth. Keitlan was fussing about Gara. She stopped in mid-finger shake to stare at Yoko and Schneider, open mouthed. Yoko disengaged herself from his arm and hurried forward to confront Gara.
"Are you all right?"
The master ninja waved a hand at Keitlan. "Mistress Keitlan was just inquiring about that herself. I'm fine. He pulled the punch." His eyes went past her to Schneider, who inclined his head and shrugged.
Keitlan put her hands on her hips and looked disapprovingly at Schneider. Every set of eyes in the hall was staring at him.
"So this is the father." The house keeper said, disdain dripping from her voice. Yoko blushed, glancing back to him. He did not seem offended. He merely lifted a brow and pulled out a chair for Yoko at Gara's table.
"That I am." He agreed, sitting down himself next to Yoko.
"Oooh, well fine of you to show up after all the pain you caused the poor girl."
"Keitlan." Yoko pleaded softly, "Please, could I have some breakfast. I'm starved."
"No doubt. Running about in the night. And in your condition." She cast one more dark glare at Schneider, who lifted his lips in a predatory smile in retaliation, then turned to snap at one of the gawking serving girls to run and fetch food.
"So here you are." Gara said, turning a mug in his big hands.
"Here I am. Cold and miserable a place though it be."
"Its not so bad." Gara said. "Better since Yoko got her hands on it."
"Cold and miserable, no matter what face you put on it. What do you mean since Yoko got her hands on it?"
"Oh, I just helped with a little redecorating." She said shyly. Gara snorted. He looked as if he wanted to say something but held it back. Keitlan sat a mug of milk down before Yoko and with considerably more force slammed a mug of amber ale before Schneider. It sloshed over the sides and onto the table. She gave him a look, just to make sure he knew she hadn't done it by accident, then moved aside so the maid could lay heaping plates of eggs fried with vegetables and meat, potatoes, fried apples and bread before them.
"So, where is Arshes." Gara finally asked, voice light, but eyes intense under his lashes. Schneider shrugged between mouthfuls.
"Keladedra, probably."
"Probably? You don't know?"
Schneider cast him an irritated look. "She does what she wishes. I'm not her keeper."
"Not anymore." Gara muttered.
"Who is this Arshes?" Keitlan demanded, hovering behind the table. "The woman he left poor lady Yoko for?"
"Does everyone know everything here?" Schneider asked in exasperation.
"As if there's not a clear enough explanation for a grieving woman with child. You ought to be ashamed to show your face."
"Mistress Keitlan! That will be enough!"
Kall-Su strode into the hall, captain Kiro on his heels, impeccably dressed in stern blue and black. The housekeeper blushed, bit her lip in consternation and retreated to the hearth where her girls were seeing to the seasoning of the mid-day stew. He stopped at the end of the table, expressionless. Schneider leaned back in his chair and stared at him.
"Am I to expect anymore destruction to my castle, or are you done with that?"
Schneider smiled blindingly, which made Yoko uneasy. She kicked his ankle under the table to remind him of his manners.
"I'm done. But you never know. The cold makes me cranky."
Yoko kicked him harder. He moved his foot out of her range.
"Oh, by the way, I'm told I was unbearably rude last night and that I ought to be remorseful for it. I'm sure you understand the depths to which I regret it."
Kall's lashes fluttered down. He was not immune to the irony in Schneider's tone. Anyone who knew him wouldn't be.
"This is a dreadful, drafty monastery you have here, Kall. I'll never understand why you picked such a comfortless place to call home." He got a number of dark looks from men at arms and servants for that comment.
"I'm sorry it does not meet with your approval."
"Hummm." He tore the crust off a piece of bread and popped it into his mouth, still watching Kall-Su. "Don't just stand there like an idiot. Sit down."
Kiro's lips clenched in anger, most upset by the disrespect given his lord, but wise enough not to call Schneider on it. Kall himself did not evidence irritation. Not in the set of his face at any rate. His eyes were shuttered by the gold tipped fringe of his lashes. He moved around the table to put out a chair opposite Schneider.
"I hardly expected to see you here after --- our last conversation."
"I changed my mind."
"Indeed. If Yoko is agreeable to this change in your mood, then I have no dissension with it."
Schneider lifted a brow caustically. "You can't imagine how much relief I feel to hear that. I would hate to have -- dissension with you, Kall. And after you were so very forthright with me."
"Rushie." Yoko smiled at him tightly. "Play nice, please."
He blinked at her innocently. "I thought I was being nice. Civil. Wasn't that what you asked for?"
She looked across the table to Kall, who was beginning to look a bit doleful at Schneider's acerbity. "He's just snappy because he hasn't had much sleep the last few weeks."
"And I hate all this endless snow." Schneider added.
"How did you travel across the mountains?" Kall asked. "The passes are all snowed in."
"I noticed. I made a new one."
"A new one?"
"A new pass." Schneider waved a hand airily in a southerly direction. "The old ones were intolerable. I was in a hurry."
"You made a new pass?" Kiro repeated his lord. "How did you ---?"
Schneider just stared at him.
"Are you saying, you blasted a new pass through the great northern range?" Kall said, with slightly widened eyes.
"Are the lot of you deaf and dumb?"
"You made a large, easily traveled pass through the mountains at a time when there is a possible army out there with aggressive intentions towards anything connected with you?"
Schneider shrugged. "Without Angelo, Larz isn't stupid enough to strike against me. The only people stupid enough to do that it seems are sitting about this table."
Gara laughed. Kall chewed on the inside of his cheek, not convinced.
"Perhaps, my lord, we should send out men to watch this new pass he has made." Kiro suggested warily. Kall nodded, waving a hand to indicate he do it now. The captain spun on his heels and marched towards the doors at the end of the hall.
"You worry too much." Schneider said.
"You don't worry enough." Gara replied, since Kall wouldn't respond to the complaint.
Dark Schneider had taken up residence in Kall's castle as if it were his own. Oh, he was not particularly imperious to anyone other than Kall himself -- old habits died hard -- but he most definitely acted as if he were certain he were the center of this particular universe. His moods and sulks were by far more important than anyone else's, with the possible exception of Yoko. His entertainment more pressing than the entire functioning of a city. His complaints more dire than any one else's. It was all familiar. Kall had spent a lifetime dealing with it and did not particularly mind the moods or the ego. He did not appreciate the wit being practiced upon his person, especially in the presence of others; that little penchant disturbed his sense of honor, but there was no more help for it now than there had been years past. Schneider did what Schneider pleased. And when Schneider was bored, which he claimed constantly to be here, snowed in in Sta-Veron, Schneider had to find things to entertain himself.
Yoko might have helped the situation greatly, had she extended her forgiveness to the bedroom. She had not as of yet, invited him to join her in her recently repaired room. Keitlan, in her general disapproval of him, had seen him placed in rooms of his own all the way across the castle from Yoko's. His abstinence from Yoko also seemed to include every other woman in the city. It seemed a condition of her good will, which amazed Kall to no ends, since Schneider had never curbed his outrageous flirting for any other living creature.
He had wondered into Kall's library a few times, while Kall was at his books, and drifted about the book lined shelves, trailing his fingers over the spines of books, pausing to read a title here and there. He did not exactly make Kall nervous, but he did make him excruciatingly aware of his presence. There was no concentration while he was on the prowl.
"Come across any new spells of the ancients in all this?"
"A few." Cautiously. Wizards, even friendly ones, were not generous creatures when it came to the sharing of spells. "I've been more interested in the lore of the very old world, before man civilized it with his technology. I was intrigued by your stories of this Mother and the lady of the forest."
Schneider glanced thoughtfully over his shoulder at him. "And what have you found?"
"There are so few books that have references to those old magics. A lot of myth which is often hard to separate from the fact."
"Par for the course."
"There are many references to forest deities and spirits in what is called -- Celt, myth. I thought I might go south during the spring and see if I could find any books dealing more with that culture."
"Celtic? Fairy circles, toadstools, banshees and the like. Waste of time more than likely. But make yourself happy. You found no reference to Mother?"
"Not even an obscure one. Perhaps you might give me more details of the entity."
Schneider looked out the window, frowning. "I think entity is too small a term for it. It may very conceivably be a collective of entities, rather than one single being."
"And its orientation?"
"I don't think it has one, other than the welfare of the earth. I think it would do -- whatever was necessary to further its own capacity to protect -- or maybe nurture the earth."
"Is it a extension of the world, or a separate being?"
"I don't know. The first, I think. And if not then its connection is so strong that whatever state it is in, the earth will reflect and vice versa. I wish it were otherwise."
"Why?"
"Because then I could kill it."
Kall stared at him, wide eyed. "I don't understand. It freed you."
Schneider did not answer. He stared out the window with such a look of rancor that the clouds themselves seemed to turn pale and hurry on across the sky. He refused to speak more on the subject and wondered away not long after.
The next morning, when Kall had finished breakfast in his chambers and walked on his way to the library, Schneider whisked up beside him, draping an arm across his shoulders.
"We're going out."
Kall looked up at him warily, getting steered past the door to his library against his will and down the hall towards the stairs. "I had wanted to finish a passage I was reading-" he tried to explain.
"You read too much. See what my being gone has done to you? Turned you into a book worm."
He could not imagine what was so alluring outside that Schneider had to drag him out to see it. But through the hall and out the main doors they went. The sky was clear of clouds and the air had a fresh, almost warm sparkle to it. Ice and snow glinted in the sunlight. One had to wonder if this suspiciously spring like day had been induced by means other than natures.
Kall cast a skeptical glance to Schneider. "You didn't --"
"Not even a little. It did it all on its own." He grinned happily and tromped down the steps and onto the muddy ground of the yard. There were horses saddled and waiting and quite a few white garbed men who Kall recognized as being Gara's ninjas. Gara himself strode up from the direction of the stable, all in white, with the murasume blade on his back and a grin of anticipation on his broad, scarred face.
"Good god, you dragged him out. I would have placed money against it."
"Against me? Are you a complete fool?"
"Never proven." Gara was in fine spirits. Schneider was practically bursting with them. Kall had no notion what had the two of them in such a jovial mood, save the dubious occurrence of a warm winter's day.
"What exactly are the two of you about?" Kall asked, looking askance at horses and ninjas.
"War games." Schneider said with glee. "We're going to go and destroy things."
"Which things, exactly?"
"Nothing of yours. You and Gara and his ninjas against me."
"I'm not dressed for this."
Schneider rolled his eyes and a heavy fur lined white cloak appeared out a thin air. A Sartor spell. Schneider's favorite waste of energy.
"Look at it this way, you get to take out all your frustrations at me."
"I don't want to take out any frustrations on you."
"Oh, you are such a bad liar, Kall." He got pushed towards a horse. Gara was already up and reining his mount in a tight circle about the yard. There was really no fighting it. Gara had obviously been telling Schneider about the wargames he and his ninja had been holding in the snowy wilderness outside Sta-Veron. He climbed up into the saddle. The stable master had been kind enough to saddle the chestnut he had favored of late. The horse snorted and paced about in excitement over the company of all the other horses.
Kall knew to shield his eyes against the sudden flare of sun on boundless snow. But several of the ninja cursed, snowblinded when they left the gates of Sta-Veron. They rode towards the woods to the north.
"So what is the object of this wargame we are to play?" He asked when Gara and Schneider rode beside him.
"Simple." Gara said. "I've sent one of my men ahead with two flags. We're red, he's black. Find the enemy flag and keep it before he gets ours and we win. The rules are. No flight spells. No killing my men --" He gave Schneider a pointed stare. "No calling elementals for help in finding the flags. We've got to do it on our own."
"Oh, lovely. Sounds like a wonderful way to pass the time."
Yoko sat on a stool in the kitchen, where it was warmest in all the castle, and where today, the back door was open to let in the sunshine and the fresh air. She was putting garland on a tray of pastries. The cook and Keitlan were kneading dough for the mornings baking. The castle was pleasantly quiet today, what with a good portion of the castle guard gone to inspect the new southern pass with captain Kiro and the resident wizards out with Gara's ninja to play wargames in the woods.
"So," Keitlan said, her hands rhythmically turning the dough. "Have you decided yet, whether to forgive him?"
Yoko was well used to the woman's bluntness by now and only blushed at the most indelicate questions. "Who's to say I haven't? He's here, isn't he?"
"As if your mere wanting it would keep that one away if he chose not to be. If you'd forgiven him, you'd have let him into your bed by now."
Yoko did blush at that.
"I wouldn't keep him from mine." The fat old cook remarked.
"He'd run screaming from your bed, Marge." Keitlan laughed. Yoko half smiled at the vision.
"Can't I forgive him and not sleep with him?"
"Man like that?" Keitlan sniffed. "Not likely, girl. If it were that easy, you'd probably not be in this state now. I don't much like the way he treats my lord, and I'd take a stick to him if I could for what he did to you, but I've got to admit that he'd be a hard one to turn away when he sets those eyes on a body or blinds a woman with that smile."
"And powerful." Old Marge added. "There's something about a man who flaunts power and its no hollow boast."
Yoko knew all this without having to be told. She thought about it daily. She was not mad at him anymore. She had not the nature to hold a grudge. Her forgiveness did not have strings attached. But she did have a desire not to be burned again, after surviving the first searing pain of his betrayal. She wanted to be near him, but she hesitated abandoning herself to the euphoria sexual contact would bring. That left her too open to be hurt again.
"I don't see why sex is so important anyway." She grumbled. "Why does everything have to come down that that? It was wonderful, but I could live very well without it, if I had to."
Both Keitlan and Marge laughed, as if they knew something she did not.
"Oh, Yoko. You are naive, aren't you." Keitlan said, when she'd caught her breath. "Men and women are two different breeds of animal. Of course We could do just fine without ever a man in our beds again, save for the warmth on a cold night. But to hear them talk, they'd die if they didn't get their regular portion. It's more important to them than the food they eat. If you want to keep a man, you cater to his needs and keep him happy in the bedroom."
"That's ridiculous. I know plenty of men who don't have to have sex all the time. Why father never had it. Well, at least he didn't after mother died." She amended, blushing at the mere mention of her father and sex.
"Girl, your father is a priest. They don't count. Your wizard is no priest."
"I thought you didn't like him."
"I didn't say that I did."
"Then why are you pushing me to let him into my bed?"
Keitlan put a flour covered hand to her chest. "Me? I was just explaining the nature of men to you."
"If you don't want him, I'll take him." Marge cackled, slapping a loaf of dough into a pan.
Yoko sighed. "I want him. I'm just afraid."
"And what about this other woman he went off with?"
"Arshes Nei."
"Does he love her?"
"He raised her. He does love her and I wouldn't ask that he stop -- even if I could - just to placate my fears. She loved him before I was even born. It just seems so unfair."
"You're not willing to step aside and let her have him are you?"
"Years ago, maybe I was. She was so intense in her feelings for him -- it intimidated me. If -- if he meant what he said to me, then no, I wouldn't just step aside. I don't know what I'd do. I wish she loved Gara as much as he loved her. Then we wouldn't have this problem."
"Lord Gara loved this woman too?" Keitlan's brows rose in interest. "Oh ho, this just grows more and more entertaining."
"Its not entertaining." Yoko said vehemently.
"No, not for you, dear." Keitlan patted her hand, leaving a powdery smudge. "But for the rest of us -- the staff hasn't been so excited in years. We've never been so happy since lord Kall-Su brought you here."
"Oh, that's just great." Yoko huffed. But it felt good to know that she was wanted.
There was a commotion from the main hall. The voices of men raised in alarm. Keitlan dropped her dough and dusted her hands on her apron, hurrying for the kitchen door. Yoko followed, curious, for it was too soon for the wargames to have ended. There were city guard in the main hall, and castle men at arms.
"What is this ruckus?" Keitlan demanded wading into the midst of them fearlessly.
"Where is lord Kall-Su?" Demanded one of the city guard.
"Out, as if its any of your concern." The housekeeper said smartly. "What business do you have?"
"Then captain Kiro."
"He's gone as well. Spit it out man."
There was a whispered pause as the men looked amongst themselves, shifting uneasily, then one of the guardsmen dumped a burlap sack on the floor and from it rolled three severed heads. Yoko drew breath, bringing a hand to her mouth. Keitlan gasped.
"Get those horrid things off my floor." She screeched. "What do you think you're doing, bringing those here?"
"They were left at the city gates." The guard said tightly. "And six more bags like them. Bandits left them with this." He held out a blood stained parchment. Keitlan refused to take it. The man told her what it said. "These are the heads of the townsfolk of Thelda. They were killed in retaliation for the execution of the marauders captain Kiro caught in the God's Tooth range last week. They say there will be more."
Keitlan nodded, finally taking the missive gingerly in her fingers. "Get those out of here. Give them the treatment honest men deserve. Send someone out to find Lord Kall-Su and tell him what happened." She glanced back to Yoko. "You shouldn't be here, lady. This is no sight for your eyes."
Yoko shook her head, sniffling back bile and tears. "I've seen worse. Much, much worse."