Author's Note: This one was a beast. I know I promised that there would only be two chapters to finish this, but it turned out to be so long that I'm going to chop each one approximately in half. So there will be three more after this one, instead of one. I don't think this will bother anyone, but just so you know.
Reviews are always welcome. Thanks for reading!
"Did you discover which clan the assassin originated from?" Yeul asked the next day over lunch.
The spymaster squared his shoulders. He stood across the table from the seeress, his hands clasped behind his back. "His fair coloring places him as a member of one of the northern tribes. However, we have no way of knowing which one; his body bore no cords or tattoos marking his alliances."
"Perhaps he is a mercenary," Caius said softly, musingly. He stood to Yeul's right and was pointedly ignoring the empty plate Yeul had set aside for him. "A paid killer who had simply defected."
The spymaster looked doubtful. "If he was a mercenary, then he wasn't a very good one. It looked like he hadn't put up much of a fight against you at all."
Caius looked away, unwilling to reply, and caught the slight smile of amusement of Yeul's face. As he watched, she turned to glance at him, sharing the joke.
The spymaster didn't notice. "What would you have me do now, seeress?"
She folded her hands. "Take the assassin's body to the mouth of the valley and leave it there for his masters to find," she said smoothly. "Perhaps this will deter Paddra's enemies from any further attempts to destroy us."
He bowed and left.
Yeul glanced at Caius's empty plate. "You should eat."
"Who are Paddra's enemies?" Caius asked, ignoring her comment.
"I do not know. I have not seen their identity; only that it would not be wise to retaliate."
"The army and the killer came for you," he reminded her softly.
"Yes, you are right." She shook her head. "But it is against my vows to break the predicted timeline to simply change my own destiny."
"No," he agreed. "That is why I am here: to protect you."
She blinked at him, looking, for a moment, surprised. "I hope that is not all that you think you are," she said quietly.
Now it was Caius's turn for surprise. "What more am I?"
Yeul looked down at her food. "I apologize if I am out of place," she said softly, "but I had hoped... that one day we might call each other friends."
"Friends," Caius echoed slowly. He wasn't sure what he thought about this. He was fairly certain that the previous guardian had been simply that: the seeress's guardian. He had never heard of any familiarity between Yeul and... well, any person, really. The idea nearly shattered the fragile image of the distant, confident girl that Caius had always known.
But at the same time, Caius had almost expected this. Hadn't Yeul's vulnerability and earnest nature slowly leaked out through the past year? And last night...
Last night I offered comfort, Caius thought. Yeul accepted. Were we not already halfway down the path to companionship?
"I am sorry." Yeul pushed back her chair and stood. Instantly Caius's attention was on her. "I assumed too much. Forgive me, Caius."
"Wait." He shifted, turning his body towards her. "I would like that," he said slowly. He looked up, meeting her gaze. "Friends."
Her face slowly brightened as she absorbed his words. "Friends," she repeated warmly.
In the days that followed, Caius and Yeul fell into the same daily routine as they had followed before, prior to the attempted murder. Each morning they rose with the sun and Yeul fasted through breakfast, dedicating her mornings to devout prayer and meditation in the Temple of Etro. Caius spent the same hours in fierce training, determined not to let his sharp combat skills dull even with the hard-won honor of being the seeress's guardian. He was bitterly disappointed in his performance so far; he had failed Yeul once when his summoning went awry, and a second time when he had allowed the assassin to come so close to killing her. If given the luxury, Caius might have gone to the seeress and asked permission to be released from her service.
She would decline, he thought as he twisted his sword in a blurred spiral, deftly slicing long scars into the granite pillars that were his usual sparring partners. She would tell me she does not see me at fault, regardless of my guilt.
Regardless of the fact that he sometimes wondered if he was inferior to his predecessor.
"If I have not lived up to your trust in me, then I apologize," he told her quietly over lunch one day.
Yeul blinked at him, having just taken a bite of bread with mild yellow cheese. She chewed thoughtfully and swallowed. "You have not disappointed me."
Caius stared down at the table. He had predicted her response.
"You do not believe me," she observed.
"I know that I have not truly earned my place by your side," he replied.
"I see," Yeul murmured. She waited until he looked up into her eyes before turning away. "Please eat," she said, pushing her empty fruit plate in his direction. "You must be hungry."
He shook his head, but he was bothered more by the informal proposition of sitting next to her, eating, like equals.
He was not Yeul's equal.
But every day she invited him to break his fast with her. And every day he refused.
Yeul continued, gently, to press against the boundaries in their relationship. Nearly two weeks after Caius disposed of the assassin, he woke in the middle of the night, certain he had heard a noise. Yeul stood outside his doorway, waiting for him to become aware of her presence. "I could not sleep," she murmured when he sat up. The fingers of her left hand were resting lightly against the wall.
Caius quickly tucked the knife away. "What is on your mind?" He queried.
She shuffled forward to stand at the foot of his bed. Her eyes were almost black in the shadowy room. "At night, I... I think about the man who came to kill me," she admitted softly. "The fear returns and often my dreams are..." Yeul looked away and Caius nodded, understanding.
"I was wondering," Yeul said slowly, "whether my worries might be calmed if I learned some way to defend myself."
Caius stared at her. "I don't understand."
"If someone slips past you, or if I am attacked while you are gone - "
"That will not happen," he said in a low voice. He would not let himself fail again.
Her head drooped a little and he wondered if some of the bitterness had leaked into his words. "I was hoping for advice," she said faintly. "I am dependent on you for my safety. Perhaps I would be less of a burden and I would sleep better if I knew..." Her voice trailed again into the silence.
Caius considered her. Despite his own inclination to immediately turn her down, he saw the wisdom in her suggestion. If Yeul could defend herself during the attack on Paddra, then he would not have paused to look back at the gate so often, simply to verify her safety. If Yeul knew some self-defense, he would not feel as distracted each morning when he trained away from her.
The knowledge will give her the self-assurance she pretends so well, he thought.
Yeul spoke again. "You are the only one who I would ask to instruct me."
Or she may be offering me a chance to prove myself, to make better my mistakes. Uncertain how he felt about this, Caius relented. "Very well," he conceded. "But not tonight; we will start tomorrow."
Her face cleared in relief.
The days turned into weeks. Each night when her attendants were asleep, Yeul slipped into Caius's room and he taught her how to protect herself. He showed her the weak parts of the human body, how to tip an opponent off balance, and the fastest way to disarm an attacker. Caius never demonstrated the usage of weapons to her but she was satisfied; when asked, she confessed that she was no longer afraid of falling asleep.
In return, Yeul never failed to invite Caius to eat with her. He always refused until, one day, he tiredly gave in. That day Yeul gave him the biggest smile he had ever seen.
That was also the day before Yeul prophesied of the monster.
Caius knew Yeul's vision was another foretelling of misfortune when she stiffened, inhaling sharply. Instinctively he shifted closer. Below the dais the people waited, every eye turned upwards to the seeress in her throne. For several long moments, there was complete silence.
Yeul's eyes opened slowly. "Ugallu," she said softly, her voice all-too audible in the quiet. From the back of the Audience Chamber, there was a faint cry of dismay. Caius's frown deepened; ugal lu were the ancient Pulsian words for walking death.
Whispers filtered through the air and the numberless faces turned to look at neighbors, to exchange frantic, worried glances. Yeul clenched her hands into fists and stood, her expression undaunted. "Do not be alarmed," she told the crowd below her. "The future hides much. I will look further." She shot a look at the scribes, who were hurriedly recording her every word. "The sermon is over for today."
Dismissed, the voices grew until they ricocheted through the voluminous room, echoing as the crowd quickly fled through the double doors. "This is strange," Yeul murmured. She looked over at Caius who, though standing two steps below her, was perfectly at eye-level. "I am not sure I interpreted the vision correctly."
His eyes narrowed. "What did you see?"
She walked down to meet him, waving away the guards and attendants who began to follow. "A beast," she said in a low voice, "lean, with legs for speed and claws for killing."
Yeul fell silent as they exited the Temple of Etro and Caius didn't press her as they made their way through the streets to the complex where Yeul, her caretakers, attendants, and Caius lived. He followed as Yeul climbed the stairs to their quarters. "The Ugallu is coming here," he stated as she moved through the arched doorway.
"Yes." She took off her crown and placed it in a fur-lined box before shoving that box under her bed. "But I don't understand; I have seen Ugallu before, but in the future. It does not belong in this time."
"A contradiction," Caius remarked.
His words seemed to catch her off-guard. She blinked and twisted around to look at him. But she wasn't actually seeing him; her eyes were distant. "Yes," she said. "A contradiction. An impossibility. It should not be here."
"Do you know who sent it?" He asked. "Is Ugallu another attempt at assassination from one of the city-states?"
Yeul shook her head. "No, the answer I need is: what will the Ugallu's presence accomplish?" She sat down on her bed and closed her eyes. Caius watched as her eyes darted back and forth beneath her eyelids.
"...death," she muttered.
Caius stepped forward. Yeul raised her head, blinking dark green eyes at him. "Death," she repeated, only marginally louder. "The Ugallu is a monster that Paddra does not have the power to withstand. I see the blood of my people washing the streets, felled by the Ugallu's jaws. There is no life in the city, and... and my flesh shall sate the beast's hunger." Her voice wavered.
"No." Caius's eyes narrowed. "Grant me leave to hung the Ugallu. I will take his life and keep you safe."
She shook her head haltingly. "Your survival is not certain," she said, her voice more breath than sound.
He pressed his lips into a frustrated line. Yeul glanced up at him. "Promise me you will not go," she whispered.
There was fear and anxiety on her face. Caius examined her for a moment before nodding once. Something lightened in her face and she nodded in return. "Thank you."
"So. What is to be done, then?" He asked.
Her expression clouded again. "The Ugallu has created a hole in spacetime simply by existing in the present. If Paddra is not destroyed by the Ugallu's bloodlust, then the tear will expand, eventually consuming the city; we will be absorbed into the Unseen Realm."
Yeul fell silent. Caius glanced out the window, his eyes studying the distant silhouettes of the taller buildings in Paddra. The sun was setting, coloring the mountaintops a rosy gold.
"I will think of a solution," Yeul said quietly.
To be continued...