1/Terreille
The journey to Dhemlan seemed like a lifetime ago to Bethaeny. She reflected once more on the day they left Draega. Not surprisingly, Fawne's warning had come only minutes before the summons to the audience hall. She and Ettia had shown up only to find that the whole coven was there to hear Meredith's announcement. Not to mention her epiphany over the identity of the witch the Prince had executed.
And then she'd announced her brilliant plan to send them to Dhemlan to spy on their so-called enemies. It made for a good story, and maybe a few months ago she would have swallowed it just like some of the others. Not anymore. She'd done a lot of thinking since Prince DeSade disappeared, and came to the realization she wasn't as stupid as everyone told her she was.
Bethaeny saw Meredith's ploy for what it was- a tactical move to keep the coven from breaking apart. What better way to unite warring factions than to give them a common enemy to rally against? In truth, that's the only way Meredith had ever ruled Hayll.
That thought had come to her halfway through the speech. When they'd had the Prince and the other Warlords in the Hall, they'd been the enemy. Blame them for everything that had gone wrong in the Territory. Punish them for everything that was wrong now.
So long as Meredith could point to Blood males, she hadn't needed to focus her attention anywhere else. Now that Meredith had lost control of them, suddenly it was all the fault of Dhemlan spies. She'd found another scapegoat for what kept Hayll from rising to the wealth and power they dreamed of.
The witches outside their underground network had actually believed her, too. They all applauded the idea of sending spies into Dhemlan for reconnaissance. More than a few had been eager to strike back at the Territory that dared to interfere with Hayll. Nevermind that there wasn't really any proof that Hayll had been invaded by the Dhemlans. That didn't matter. And Meredith would use their enthusiasm to re-establish her claim in Draega.
Meaning if she and Ettia didn't do something fast, they'd lose the opportunity to strike. By the time they got back to Hayll, it might already be too late. Bethaeny couldn't help feeling frustrated that Meredith might have found a way to thwart their efforts. Already she dreaded going back, afraid of what she'd find.
She turned to Ettia, who was sitting at the window of their rented suite.
"How long do we have to stay here?"
"It's only been three days, Bethaeny," her cousin said, exasperated. "We can't go back this early or they'll know we didn't really do anything."
"I know that. I was just wondering how much longer you thought we should wait."
Ettia stared out the window, watching people passing on the street. For the past three days, that's all she'd really done. Neither of them had left the room since they'd paid for it. Inactivity and boredom was driving Bethaeny more than a little crazy.
"Another three, maybe four. Then we can go back."
"Are we just going to sit in here until then?"
"And what would you rather do instead?"
"We could go find out what Dhemlan is really like."
Her cousin turned around to stare at her incredulously.
"Are you mad? We almost didn't make it to the inn that first day. This entire Territory is crawling with Warlords and Princes- and a lot of them wear Jewels darker than either of ours. Anything could get us killed."
"It just seems like such a waste of an opportunity," Bethaeny complained.
"What you call opportunity, I call a death sentence."
"Fine," she said with a huff. "You can stay shut up in here all you want for the next few days. But I just can't do it. I'm going to find out what Meredith hasn't been telling us about Dhemlan."
"I'm telling you that it's suicide. But obviously you're not going to listen to me," Ettia said in that tone she liked to use. Bethaeny liked to think of it as her 'I know better than you' voice.
"If you think you know best, go ahead and go. Try not to get yourself killed."
Bethaeny crossed the room, only looking back after she'd pulled the door open. Ettia looked positively annoyed with her. Good. She wasn't all that happy with her cousin right now, either.
"I wouldn't dream of it, Lady Ettia."
Out on the street, Bethaeny felt her mood lighten a little. Unlike Ettia, she hadn't found Dhemlan all that frightening. None of the other witches they'd seen were nervous about the Jeweled males roaming the city. She'd even seen landens in the crowded streets. They'd kept a respectful distance, but even they hadn't been afraid.
She wanted to find out why. Maybe if she figured out what was so different about this place she'd be able to take those ideas back to Hayll with her. Because she knew now that she wanted to live in a place like this. It spoke to her in a way that Meredith's court never had.
Eager to discover what made her feel that way, Bethaeny started walking. She had no idea where to go or what she was looking for, but anything had to be better than standing around here. That and she may well get run over if she hung around for very long. Despite how early in the morning it was, people were everywhere.
For a while, the crowd carried her along. Around her, witches and Warlords chatted with one another. Some talked of personal things- a birth of a child or an upcoming Offering ceremony. Others were debating literature or reviewing a performance they'd seen recently. Bethaeny tried not to let her jaw hang open as she eavesdropped.
But it was so hard not to be stunned. She'd heard whispered hints from Fawne and the others that the lower castes outside the court were a little less…fractured between the genders. Bethaeny had found it hard to believe, having never seen it herself. Until now.
She struggled to understand the nuances of how everyone interacted with one another. Back in Hayll, they'd all studied Protocol. She memorized every rule about how to treat this caste and that rank. None of what she learned seemed to fit with what she was seeing here.
After an hour of walking, Bethaeny was feeling a little overwhelmed. She noticed a small park that appeared open to the public, and veered off towards it in hopes of some quiet. A few other witches and Warlords were gathered around some benches on the other side of the garden. She decided not to join them, and chose an isolated bench under a large tree.
The garden with all its flowers and well-tended beds was a stark contrast to the last garden she'd been in. A shudder ran through her as she remembered the dead grass and weeds choking out a few pathetic bulbs that tried to grow. It was fitting that the gardens of Draega were dead. Much like the rest of the city, Bethaeny thought dismally.
"Lady, are you well?"
She looked up, startled by the unexpected male voice so close to her. A Green-Jeweled Warlord stood only a few feet away. She hadn't even heard him approach, but he looked genuinely concerned. Bethaeny swallowed the instinct to cringe away in fear.
"I…um…yeah, no. I guess I'm okay."
Concern changed to bemusement.
"You don't seem so sure, Lady."
"I just had to take a break from all the people," Bethaeny admitted once she could stop stuttering like an idiot. "I'm not used to crowds like this."
"Your first trip into a large city," he asked.
"You could say that. I thought I lived in a city, but it's not like this at all."
For a moment, he said nothing. And then he shrugged at her.
"No, I imagine it's not. I've heard that Draega is dead these days."
Her heart jumped up in her throat at the mention of Draega. He knew where she came from. Mother Night, what should she do now? Escape was her first thought. But then he would alert everyone else in range. Ettia was right- she never should have left the inn.
The Warlord must have noticed her panic, and held up his hands.
"Relax, Lady. I didn't mean to scare you."
"W-what did you mean, then?"
After a quick glance around the park, he gestured to the empty space on the bench beside her.
"Do you mind if I sit, Lady?"
"Um…no?"
He sighed, but sat anyway. Bethaeny had never been this close to a Blood male who outranked her and didn't wear a Ring. It was terrifying and exciting at the same time. She clasped her hands together between her knees to keep them from shaking.
"I understand why you might be afraid," he said. "A lot of witches and Warlords who come here from Hayll are the same way. But you're safe here."
Bethaeny wasn't quite convinced of that yet, but she managed to talk around the lump in her throat.
"How did you know where I was from?"
"Your accent, for one. But mostly, it's the way you were looking around. You looked…lost."
"You were following me?"
"It's my job."
Okay, that raised an alarm. Blood pounded in her ears as she considered what kind of job a Warlord might have where he followed witches around. She leapt off the bench and started to back away.
"I…I think I should go."
"No, you don't understand," he insisted, getting up as well. He took a step towards her. "Please, sit down."
Bethaeny shook her head.
"No, thanks."
"I swear you're not in any danger if you just let me explain."
The group of witches and Warlords on the other side of the garden were looking at them now. Too much attention. This outing might be her last if she didn't get away now. Bethaeny panicked, and whirled around to make a run for it. She smacked head-first into two other Warlords who'd been standing behind her.
"What'd you do to her, Shaede? She looks half scared out of her wits."
One of them was looking over her shoulder at the Prince who'd first approached her. His Jewels were Sapphire. The other one with him wore the Purple Dusk. Mother Night, she was going to die here. She had absolutely no chance against these men.
"I was just trying to explain what we do and she flipped out."
"I've told you before that you have to be more careful with these witches," the Sapphire Jeweled Prince said, exasperated. He gestured to Bethaeny with a wave of his hand.
"You have no idea what they've lived through in Hayll. You can't treat them like witches from Dhemlan."
Fear had her rooted to the spot. Even though she knew she was probably dead, Bethaeny couldn't move a single step. And then the Prince redirected his focus to her.
"Lady, I apologize for Lord Shaede's behavior. He's still in training and hasn't quite got a handle on how to talk to witches from Hayll yet."
"O-okay."
"I'm Lord Willem, Second Circle in Queen Claudia's court here in Amdarh. My unit is in charge of making the transition easier for refugees from Hayll. Lord Shaede is one of my junior members."
Slowly, the words penetrated the mist of panic and Bethaeny was able to let go of the breath she'd been holding. He certainly sounded reasonable. Maybe they weren't here to hurt her after all.
"I don't understand. What do you mean by 'transition'?"
"It's not easy to come to a new Territory and learn a whole new life," he answered. "The Queen set up a group of witches and Warlords in her court who could provide guidance needed to give you the best chance possible."
"But why?"
"Because she's not Meredith," he said without a trace of hesitation. "And takes responsibility for the well-being of all people in her Territory. Not just a few chosen favorites."
Lord Willem's description of Meredith was bitingly accurate. But was he just telling her what she wanted to hear? It would be an easy way to get a witch to lower her guard for…whatever they planned to do to her. Her thoughts must have been obvious.
"I see that you're wary of our intentions, and that's okay. Here's the address of a place where witches and Warlords like you meet in the city," he said, handing her a card. "It's a very public place- you'll see for yourself if you go. If you want to find out more about what we do, I'd recommend that you start there."
He stepped back and signaled to the other two Warlords, leaving Bethaeny holding the card. Then he gave her a short bow.
"Lady, we leave you now, but I hope that we'll see you again."
All three of them left. Bethaeny stared at the gate out to the street for several minutes afterwards, half-expecting one of them to return. But when she saw no sign of them at all, she had to believe that Lord Willem meant what he said. She stared at the card he'd given her.
Although she didn't quite trust their intentions, she could check this place out. If it seemed at all like a trap, she would turn away and go back to the inn to wait this out with Ettia. But if it wasn't a trap, maybe this was the break she was looking for to understand this place. It was worth a try. Bethaeny squared her shoulders and left the garden to find out.
2/Terreille
Ettia stared out the window at the street and railed at Bethaeny for being stupid. What possessed her to want to explore the city? Three hours and no sign of her.
"Dammit, she's probably gotten herself in trouble or worse," she muttered to herself.
When they'd first left Draega, Ettia had almost looked forward to coming here as an adventure. That excitement fled very quickly after they arrived in Dhemlan. Not trusting the public landing webs in Amdarh, they'd dropped from the Winds several miles from Dhemlan's capital.
On the way into the city, they'd been approached several times by other travelers on the road. So they said. Could have been rogues looking for the chance to take advantage of two witches alone. Ettia believed that more.
For example, a Warlord wearing Purple Dusk had been vociferous in his offer to provide them with a ride to Amdarh in his coach. What could it have mattered to him whether they had to walk or not? Long day or no, there was no way in hell she was going to get into anything with anyone in this Territory.
Bethaeny would have. Just like she went out there today alone. Her cousin was still so damn naïve sometimes. She was convinced that Dhemlan was some utopia they should emulate back in Hayll. It totally escaped her that they'd only been here a few days and knew nothing about the Blood in Amdarh. It could be as bad- if not worse- than what they'd left behind in Draega.
From what she'd seen, there was nothing here she wanted to bring back to Hayll. The Dhemlans had taken things a step too far. Blood males seemed to wander wherever they felt like it and did whatever they wanted. Ettia had observed several groups out on the street- no witch in sight to keep them in line. And the ones who were with witches seemed to be the ones in charge instead of the other way around.
Absolutely not what Ettia wanted to see happen in her Territory. If Bethaeny did manage to come back alive today, she better not want it, either. But there was nothing to do about that but wait until her cousin came back. Or she heard that she was dead. Ettia sighed.
The minutes turned into hours, and eventually, the sun set over the city streets outside. Ettia swung between fits of annoyance that she hadn't heard anything from Bethaeny all day to fear that something had happened to her. Her cousin had half their funds, and she only had enough to pay for another night here at the inn without those funds. What would she do, then?
Those thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door opening. Bethaeny whisked inside and closed it behind her. Before Ettia could rip her apart with a blistering lecture, her cousin rushed over.
"Oh Ettia, I wish you'd come with me today! You'd never believe the things I saw out there in the city."
"If it's anything like what I saw from here, I'd say I didn't miss much," Ettia replied sharply.
"You can't tell anything from inside a window. You really can't. This place is what we're looking for."
A sinking feeling grew in the pit of Ettia's stomach. It was just as she'd feared, or worse. Bethaeny had fallen prey to whatever snare the Blood males here had set out for witches. And she'd try to take their ideas back to Hayll with her if Ettia didn't do something to stop her.
"No, cousin, it's not."
"How can you say that? You haven't even talked to anyone since we got here."
"Sometimes it takes an objective point of view to see what might be hidden beneath a phony smile and fast talk, Bethaeny. Meredith and Valinna talked a good game when they first rebuilt Hayll, you know."
Her cousin threw her a defiant look and cleared off a space on the table. She called in a pile of things- books, mostly- but overall an assortment of oddities. Was Bethaeny mad to purchase all of this stuff with what little marks they'd brought with them?
"What in the hell is all this? And how in the hell did you pay for it?"
"Most were gifts, so relax. I didn't spend much of anything."
"Gifts? From who?"
"Witches and Warlords like us, Ettia."
"What do you mean 'like us'?"
"I mean Hayllians who've come to live here in Dhemlan after escaping Draega," Bethaeny answered while picking through the pile. "There's a whole community of refugees living in Amdarh under Queen Claudia's protection."
Ettia held up her hand to stop her cousin from going on with her explanation. "Wait, wait just a second. None of that makes any sense."
"What's there not to make sense? Hayllians weren't happy living under Meredith so they came here and the Queen decided to help them find the life they wanted instead."
"See, that. There's no reason why Lady Claudette or whatever her name is would care whether or not Hayllians were happy in Dhemlan."
"It's Lady Claudia, and she does care, Ettia. That's what Queens are supposed to do. Care for the people they rule. It only seems bizarre to us because we've never seen it before."
That sinking mushroomed into a heavy stone in her stomach. Someone had gotten to her cousin.
"And just who was feeding you all of this? Some 'helpful' Warlord or Prince I'll bet."
"There were Warlords and Princes there, but it wasn't just them, cousin. The community is fairly balanced between the genders. They even have a few Queens who serve in Lady Claudia's Eighth Circle."
"Whatever that means."
"It means something a whole lot different than what it means in Draega," Bethaeny tossed back at her. "Why are you being this way?"
"I'm just trying to look out for what's best for us."
"And you've already decided this isn't it."
"Why are you so sure that it is?"
Her cousin rummaged around in the pile again, and pulled out one of the books. She thrust it into Ettia's hands and crossed her arms.
"Read it. Just the first page."
Reluctantly, Ettia opened the book. The room was getting dark, and she created a ball of witchfire. As she scanned the first few paragraphs, it took her a few minutes to realize what she was reading.
"This is a book on Protocol."
"Yes, it is."
Ettia kept reading a little more, not quite sure what to make of the words on the page. Bethaeny continued to wait as she turned to the next and even the one after that.
"It's not anything close to the Protocol books we have in Hayll, is it," her cousin said.
"I have to agree."
"When I was talking with several of the witches in the Hayllian community and they gave me a whole set of Protocol books they use in Dhemlan. Actually, they use those in just about every Territory outside of Hayll."
Ettia continued to skim the pages as she listened to Bethaeny with half an ear. She didn't want to believe what she was reading. If she did, she'd have to admit that what she'd concluded about the Dhemlans was wrong. The Protocol she was reading now hinted at the kind of society reinforced by a structure of castes and ranks, but without the oppressive feel of Draega.
A thought itched at her. It seemed too…perfect…to work in reality. All well and good to write in these checks and balances of power, but in Ettia's experience, no one ever lived entirely by the rules. Someone always found a way to slide around them and take advantage of someone else. What then?
"Well?" Bethaeny prodded. "What do you think?"
"It makes for a nice story, but I have a hard time believing that everyone abides by it."
"I swear, Ettia, they do. I saw people doing it."
"What people?"
"Well, the Hayllian community for one. But I saw the Dhemlans following those Protocols, too."
"And that reminds me- how did you end up finding a community of Hayllians in a city this size in the first place?"
Bethaeny mumbled something under her breath.
"What?"
"You won't like the answer."
"Well you damn well better tell me, anyway."
"Fine," Bethaeny said with a sigh. "I was exploring the city and got a little overwhelmed by all the people. So I found a garden to take a breather. And that's when I met this Warlord and Prince."
She knew it. Just knew it. Of course it came back to some Blood male. Ettia suppressed her desire to shout at her cousin, and waited for her to continue. After a sideways look, she went on with the story.
"They all serve in Lady Claudia's Court, and recognized that I was from Hayll. No lie- I kinda panicked that I'd been discovered. But all they did was give me a card and told me I might find what I was looking for if I went to see the address on the card. It turned out to be this community of Hayllians."
"Are you finished?"
Bethaeny nodded.
"Did you think even for one moment that they could have been sending you into a trap?"
"Of course I did," she said, making a face. "I'm not stupid."
"But you went, anyway."
"Yeah, I went."
"And by some miracle, this place they sent you to turns out to be some utopia for Hayllian runaways, where everyone lives by this-" Ettia held up the book, "-and leads a happy life in Amdarh. Have I got it right?"
"I know what you're thinking, cousin, and you're wrong."
"Am I? What better way to lure in an unsuspecting witch than to send her to some puppet community that tempts her with a dream life?"
"It's not a fantasy. It's a real place."
"Oh I bet it's quite real. Sacrifice their control over a tiny portion of the city so they can keep the rest of it. I'll be that this Lady Claudette doesn't even exist."
"Lady Claudia."
Ettia shrugged. "Whatever."
"Come with me tomorrow," Bethaeny challenged. "Just for an hour at least. You'll see that it's all true."
"I'm sorry, cousin, but I have no desire to end up caught in this trap like you are."
"Mother Night, all I'm asking is for you to see it."
"No. And you're not going back either. I promise you that."
Horror filled Bethaeny's eyes as she realized what Ettia was saying.
"No, you can't."
"I mean it. Today just proved me right that going out into the city is too dangerous- especially for you. So tomorrow and the next day, we're both staying right here. End of discussion."
"But…"
"I said no."
Bethaeny lowered her eyes to the floor, a mix of disappointment and anger playing over her features. Ettia didn't care if her cousin was happy about the decision, so long as she understood that she was going to obey it. Finally, she raised her eyes again and shook her head.
"You're making a mistake, Ettia."
"You'll thank me when we get back to Hayll."
"No, I won't."
Her cousin said nothing more, and stalked over to her room. Bethaeny paused once to stare at her, and then turned away. The door closed behind her, leaving Ettia in accusing silence.
"Yes, we'll find out."