THE CHILDREN OF THE SPIDER, Part 7
Lord Ashe and I needed to speak - and it was the kind of conversation that required privacy. We found that privacy beyond the village gate, at the shrine to the Old One.
Given who Lord Ashe was, and what I was about to become, that made sense.
One thing about answering to a man who used to be a Seeker of the Old One's Wisdom is that he'll accept explanations that others wouldn't. In fact, he might even accept explanations that some would consider insane. As we stood before the shrine, I told my friend and lord what I could. Once I was done, Lord Ashe put a contemplative hand on the gritty stone of shrine. He was obviously lost in thought.
"I'm sorry, my lord," I added. It was not enough, but it still had to be said. I owed him that.
Lord Ashe shook his head. "Ben, this isn't the time I would have chosen to lose you."
I took a deep breath. "I recommend Raven as my replacement. She'll serve you well."
Lord Ashe nodded, but said nothing.
"I may never return," I added. "I hope you understand."
I couldn't allow Lord Ashe and his family and vassals to be dragged into what was coming. My family had a long reach. If the other clans took interest or offense, they might also become involved. Lord Ashe couldn't afford to wage a battle with the Spider-Folk while he was also caught up in fighting the Creed.
Lord Ashe looked me in the eyes. "I've always accepted your judgement, Ben. So let's part as brothers."
We embraced. It was a fierce exchange.
"May the Old One and the First Spider be with you," James whispered to me.
Jonah had reappeared. There was no sign of Dani, but I suppose both she and Jonah had responsibilities that took precedence over whatever else had happened between them.
"Lord Ashe," I said formally, "allow me to introduce my nephew - Jonah Anthony Parker. He is an Ensign-Herald of the Spider Legion, and ninth in line to the mastery of House Parker. He has come from Nyack on the orders of the man who is my father and his grandfather. Jonah asks the boon of speaking to you."
We were in a guardhouse not far from the gate. The commander of the gate samurai was allowing Lord Ashe its use.
Standing next to me, Lord Ashe took a moment to look Jonah over. Then he glanced at me.
"I can see the resemblance," he told me with a slight smile. Then he turned his attention back to Jonah.
"You had a woman recently," Lord Ashe told Jonah thoughtfully. "A young Blood woman. She smells of the woods and fields. She may be falling in love with you. I hope you treat her respectfully."
Even for a Blood, Lord Ashe has startlingly keen senses. And he sometimes uses them to keep others off-balance, especially when they first meet. As near as I could tell, that's a trick he's picked up from Lady Emma. Emma just smiles when I accuse her of corrupting him.
"So what do you want of me, young Spider?" Lord Ashe asked.
Jonah bowed. If Lord Ashe had rattled him, Jonah was doing a pretty good job of hiding it.
"My lord, the lord-commander of the Spider Legion has asked that I speak with one of your concubines - a woman of the Spider-Folk named Jessica. It's a family matter that's related to Jessica's mother. I ask your permission to do so."
Lord Ashe frowned and glanced at the senior of his wives. Lady Emma, wearing the gray robes of a truth-teller, nodded to her husband.
"Jessica may not want to speak with you," Lord Ashe warned Jonah. "And I will not force her to do so."
"My lord, that's a chance I'll just have to take," Jonah replied respectfully.
Lord Ashe nodded his head. I think he liked Jonah.
"You have my permission," he told Jonah.
We met in the courtyard of the local temple of the three goddesses. The senior priestess had kindly allowed our presence. It was an appropriate place for a concubine to formally meet a man who was not in her lord's service. Since it was unthinkable that Jessica and a stranger be alone together, Lady Emma and I were also present.
Lady Emma, of course, represented her husband. I represented my family. And that was strange enough.
Jessica was on her feet when we entered the courtyard. Her hands were clasped behind her back and her body language was belligerent.
"Lady Jessica..." Jonah began.
"Call me 'lady' again and I'll beat you senseless," Jessica interrupted in a dangerously calm tone of voice. "You wanted to talk... and you were allowed two words. Now, turn around, go home, and tell the entirety of the Spider-Folk, and especially everyone in House Stace, that they can kiss my ass."
Jonah didn't even blink. "I'll do that."
"You're now up to five words," Jessica replied flatly. "That's more than I desire. Go."
This time, Jonah just nodded. Then he pulled something out of his jacket and held it out to Jessica.
A small necklace with a teardrop-shaped pendant dangled from Jonah's fingers. The pendant swung gently in the low light. Both the chain and the pendant were made of dark, non-reflective, steel. A tiny spider symbol was etched into the pendant. Actually, it wasn't a particularly decorative piece of jewelry. If anything, it had a heavy, grim, and fatalistic look about it.
"I don't want any damn gifts," Jessica said coldly.
I put a hand on Jonah's shoulder and caught Jessica's eye.
"It's a Spider-Folk reliquary," I told her softly. "It holds a portion of someone's ashes."
Jessica gave me a long look. Then she shook her head and sighed.
"Who's ashes?" she asked me.
I shrugged. "Jess... I could only guess."
Jessica looked away from me and back at Jonah.
"You're a tricky bastard," she told Jonah irritably. "Very well, I'll fall into your trap. Who's ashes?"
"Your mother's," Jonah replied quietly. "My grandfather - Ben's father - asked me to give you this."
For just a moment, I could see uncertainty replacing the anger and bitterness in Jessica's eyes. She became at least part-reasonable. And she almost... almost... reached out and took what Jonah was offering.
But then the anger returned. "I never knew my mother," Jessica told us. "She means nothing to me."
Despite her words, I could see the lie in Jessica's eyes. She cared. She cared deeply and wanted to know more about her past. However, there had been too much time and pain. She wouldn't allow herself to risk being hurt.
Then Jessica turned and left the courtyard.
"That went about as I expected," Lady Emma said mournfully.
I nodded in agreement. People who don't know Lady Emma think of her as a cynical and heartless woman. That's perhaps part-true, but I've more than once seen the gentler side of her. She's one of those people who thinks that her true self must remain hidden.
We were still in the temple courtyard, sitting on a pair of benches that lined the wall next to the gate. Now that Jonah's meeting with Jessica was over, the normal day-to-day temple traffic of worshippers, guards, servants, and acolytes had resumed. In the center of the courtyard, a pair of blade acolytes were sparring with wooden practice katanas. Against the far wall, two temple guards were using a shaker-box filled with sand to clean rust from a chainmail hauberk. A Folk artisan was touching up the decorative paintwork on a doorframe. The shutters of a nearby cook-house had been thrown open and I could smell bread baking and hear occasional scraps of conversation from inside. A small group of young women - barely more than girls - were making an offering before a statue of Lady Grey. The women were barefoot, wearing veils, and glad in thin red shifts that did little to conceal their slim bodies. The statue of Lady Grey was so old that the facial features were worn away into a smooth oval.
Jonah was slumped over, his elbows on his knees and his head bowed. The reliquary still dangled from his clasped hands.
"I at least hoped she would take this," Jonah said with a sigh of regret. He made a gesture with his hands that caused the necklace to sway back and forth.
"You did your best," Lady Emma told Jonah with a sympathetic smile. "Jessica just isn't ready yet."
Jonah nodded and then sat up and tucked the reliquary back inside his armored jacket.
I got to my feet. "You've done your duty," I told Jonah.
Jonah also got up. I extended a hand towards Lady Emma - and then belatedly realized that I no longer had the right to do that.
She smiled and took my hand anyway.
*I see into your heart, Benjamin,* she told me mind-to-mind. *And I can feel your regret and fear.*
Then she put a hand on my cheek. Again, that was now wildly inappropriate, but Lady Emma Ashe doesn't really care about 'appropriate'.
*Stay alive, my friend,* she told me with worry deep in her blue eyes. *Please stay alive.*
After Jonah and I left town, he finally broached the question that had surely been bothering him for some time.
"Lord Ashe and Jessica," he said after he was sure we were well out of earshot of any keen-sensed Blood, "I take it they're being careful?"
Jonah was being circumspect, but I knew what he was saying. The same question had concerned me back when Jessica first became Lord Ashe's concubine.
"He and I haven't discussed it," I told Jonah, "but they are."
Jonah nodded and said nothing more.
The subject of children when a Blood and a Spider are lovers is an awkward one. The pairing is unlikely to produce offspring, but when it does...
I banished the thought from my mind.
It was sundown, and Jonah and I were waiting at a crossroads several miles south of Crowe. A wandering Crowe patrol had already questioned us, decided we were harmless, and continued on their way. All around us, the countryside was up in arms. Clashes with enraged bands of Creed were being reported all along the frontier. To the east of us, we could see the smoke of scattered fires. Rumors were rife, but there was no sign of a Creed war-horde. At least not yet.
I squinted at what was left of the sun. It was just a red-orange sliver protruding over a low hill. Starkly silhouetted at the top of the hill was a fortified farm. A pair of youngsters - Folk farmhands probably - were driving a small herd of cattle into a barn as an elderly holder stood guard.
"It won't be long," Jonah assured me.
We were waiting for my family's teleporter.
"How does he know when to pick you up?" I asked curiously.
Jonah shrugged. "He has some sort of psychic talents. That's the best I can tell you."
"Is he a Wilder? Or a mage?"
Jonah chuckled. "Neither," he told me.
That puzzled me, and it was clear that Jonah was enjoying being mysterious. I opened my mouth to ask another question... and then our ride appeared.
A pulsing field of globular blue and white energies appeared before us, accompanied by a bellows-like sound of displacing air. Then, with a deafening bark, the teleporter popped into existence. He was at least five foot tall at the shoulders and weighed as much as a large bear. His face was covered with patched brown and black fur and his tremendous jaws were hanging open. A wide tongue as big as a shovel lolled out of his wide mouth. A strange, tuning-fork-like protrubence jutted up from between his blue eyes.
He looked at us with eager joy as his stubby tail began to wag.
Approaching me, the teleporter gave me an interrogative sniff. I was careful not to make any sudden moves.
Turning my head, I looked at Jonah in amazement. "Jonah... where in the name of all that's holy did father..."
Schlurp!
That huge tongue had just given me a long, slobbering, lick. I was drenched from chest to forehead.
"...get a Lockjaw?" I finished as I wiped drool from my face.
Jonah just shrugged helplessly. Then the Lockjaw licked me again.
I guess he liked me.