Sworn To Defiance (30 page)

Sebastian’s eyes looked like hard chips of emerald. “I do love your sister.”

“Yeah, you let that filth bind his dark soul to hers for eternity?” Caemon said while literally shaking in rage.

“Caemon,” said Ciardis, “I think—“

“No, Ciardis! You
don’t
think,” said Caemon in a harsh tone, “I knew when I met you, you were ignorant. Ignorant of weathervane history and customs, but I never thought you would be so stupid as to let this happen—“

She sucked in a harsh breath. Her heart was in pain.

But she didn’t cry. She lashed back, “Like I was so
ignorant
that I trusted you and let you use my gifts to enhance Thanar’s arcane spell and destroy the protections on the Sanctuary? You trusted him as much as I did, even more so since you knew him for far longer.”

“No, dear sister,” Caemon said with shoulders slumped as he ran a tired hand through his hair, “I never trust that dark son of a demon’s spawn—“.

Caemon’s trembling finger pointed at Thanar who had risen and stood on the outside of their circle, visibly angry. He hadn’t interfered yet but his hands were curled into fists, his wings were upraised and a light mist of dark winds hovered around his pale alabaster skin like a cloak.

“Never,” concluded Caemon, “I used him. I tolerated him. But I never—“

Ciardis wanted to think that what he was about to say was, ‘trusted him’ but she knew and Caemon knew that wasn’t what he was about to say.

And then he finished his statement, “I
never
fucked him.”

She didn’t even bother retorting. She did rush up and slap him so hard that the sound reverberated in the marble hall and her hand hurt so much, she wondered if she had bruised her muscles.

Trembling she screamed, “Leave me, get away!
Away!
”

When he ran off, she whirled around and went to a quiet corner to keep from following him and wringing her twin brother’s neck. When hands reached out to pull her back, she shrugged them off and said, “Just give me a minute please. A minute to myself.”

The hands disappeared and to her relief they left her alone. She didn’t cry. She didn’t scream. She just hugged herself. When she emerged her face was calm.

She cleared her throat and stared at the gathered group. The
Kifar
team and the home team had come together for one last meeting before half their group split to go to the western city and half stayed here to form a battle plan against the
blutgott
. She had been one of those who was supposed to stay behind, but when the emperor ordered you to get out of his city, you left or accepted the probability that your head might not be there the next morning.

“I’m going to say this and say this only once,” she said in a quiet voice, her eyes hard, her hands balled. “I will do anything to keep this group together. To save the empire and to save my family and friends. But no one judges me but myself. No one makes my decisions but me. I’m my own person and living my own life. I don’t need bullshit. I don’t need judgment. I need allies who will stand by me. Yes, I do make mistakes and I expect you to call me on them. But don’t think for one second that you can say what you want to say and I won’t speak up. I had enough of that as a laundress. I won’t do that again..”

Everyone stared at her. But no one said anything until Sebastian came forward, “You have us. As allies. As friends. As fighters.”

Terris nodded and came forward, “Caemon will come back. He just needs time.”

Ciardis shook her head and her lips trembled, “I don’t think so.”

Thanar came forward with his arms folded and hands loose, “I know so. A lot of
that
was coming from his time bound by the northern mages. He was their slave. He had no willpower of his own. To see or even think of the same possibly for his sister would be devastating.”

Ciardis dropped her head. “I didn’t think of that. Maybe I should go talk to him.”

“No, there’s no time to go after him,” said Lord Meres with a frown as he walked to the doorway leading into the arena, “It’s time.”

Meres said, “Ciardis, I’ll speak with him. I’ll have all the weeks you are in Kifar to get to the bottom of this. If there are wounds in his mind, emotional or physical, I’ll find them.”

Ciardis grabbed his hand with strictly more force than necessary and put her empathy in the strong grip of her squeeze. “Thank you.”

He nodded.

As he turned she asked, “Christian?”

He turned to her as she walked toward him. “Yes?”

“When you hesitated after I hugged you...what was that about?”

He turned back with rueful smile on his face. “I was afraid when I shouldn’t have been.”

“Afraid of what?”

“Afraid for the moment, that you had forgotten what I was. That you had forgotten I was
koreschie
and would flinch away the moment you remembered.”

Ciardis flinched but not in fear, instead of empathy. Shaking her head she rushed back into his arms and tightly hugged him. “Never.”

She said never as she flashed back on the time she had seen Christian fully transform. His hands and skull had turned transparent until she could see the muscles and veins under his skin. As his power flowed out through his arms, the veins underneath had glowed an otherworldly purple while the ghostly power of his gifts had flowed until Thomas, the evil satyr’s, neck. With that power came the pestilence of the
koreschie
race that had eventually killed the satyr. She didn’t think she’d ever forget that moment. To see someone so beautiful turn into something so deadly.

In her mind she felt the slight twinge of fear which she quickly overpowered and pushed down into the bottom of her mind. She trusted Christian. He was her friend. He would never hurt her. She knew all of this, but Ciardis wondered if she was the only person to get the slightest twinge of doubt even in the arms of a trusted friends. Self-preservation was a powerful concept. But she wouldn’t let it override her own desire to keep her feelings private. So she masked her face and she could feel her features smooth and her eyes even retain that bit of happiness.

Ha, I’m getting better at lying
.

She felt Thanar snort in her mind.
As better as a crafty five-year-old could be. Sure
.

She mentally stuck her tongue out at him.

In Christian’s arms, she felt him smile through his voice as he leaned down and returned her hug. “I do not doubt it now.”

She leaned back. “Good.”

They exchanged nods and parted to walk together through the doors that Lord Meres opened from them.

C
iardis almost stopped in her tracks she was so amazed. It was a good thing she didn’t stop because the next moment she had to duck and turn so fast that she ran into Christian and they both dove to the floor. They weren’t under attack. At least, not unless you considered flying shoes a method of attack.

Peeking up from where she lay flat on the floor beside Christian who was alternating between curses and groans, she stood and helped him up when she confirmed that no more shoes were headed their way. Then she stared at the three nobles, two mages and what looked like a soldier struggling in a pile against the table. Everyone in the room that wasn’t the soldier seemed to be struggling with him. His sword lay on the table untouched and Ciardis noticed that he seemed to be refraining from reaching for his knife strapped against his waist even though he was fighting against five other people. Instead the soldier had his hand splayed on the face of a rather fat gentleman, holding him back with firm fingers, as the man wind milled his arms in a futile effort to reach the armored soldier.

If Ciardis hadn’t known any better she would have said she wandered into the wrong room. This couldn’t be the war council of the preeminent group of nobles and mages in the empire. The group of individuals who were destined to lead the fight against the
blutgott
. She stared harder as the nobles fought dirty, or rather their version of it. When one nobleman yanked on another noble’s topknot to try to get in the way of a rather-determined mage, the mage pulled on their robes so that the noble couldn’t get at the soldier first. If the general situation hadn’t been so dire, she would have laughed her head off. Because they looked ridiculous.

Then a voice cleared their throat. Ciardis turned to see Lord Crassius leaning against the far wall, almost invisible behind the entrance doors.

She blinked. “Lord Crassius, what in the world is going on?”

He looked over at her. “These are the nobles and mages elected to the war council. They had a...disagreement.”

“Already?” said Christian incredulously, “The meeting hasn’t even started.”

“Nobles
and
mages?” Ciardis murmured.

“Aren’t most nobles practicing mages, anyway?” she continued.

“Most are,” conceded Lord Crassius, “Especially since the Initiate Wars. Makes it easier to protect their land.”

Ciardis eyed the tussling group, “Then why are only two of those people wearing quite distinctive mage gowns, when I can sense that the three nobles are at the very least as powerful as they are, if not more powerful?”

Thanar came up with a smile. “Another effect of the oh-so-lovely Initiate Wars.”

“What do you mean?” asked Christian with a baffled frown.

“Something a
koreschie
doesn’t know? I’m shocked,” said Thanar.

“Watch it, Thanar,” said Ciardis in a tone that said he would be in trouble with
her
if he didn’t back off.

Thanar opened his mouth to say something but Christian held up a hand, “It’s alright, Ciardis. I can handle anything the daemoni throws at me.”

Thanar raised an eyebrow as if to say ‘really?’

Christian said, “But yes, I don’t know this answer. My race is famed for our interest in knowledge...mainly for the beneficial aspects pertaining to our curse, but my interest in this lies elsewhere. If I am to help with this cause, I’d like to know why two more individuals than I previously expected and an unknown third, have entered into the fray.”

Thanar grunted.

Ciardis elbowed him in the side. “He has a point. We only expected three nobles to join our council. And yet here stand three more—two mages and a soldier.”

“Fair enough,” Thanar said, “Mages are required to have their own representatives that are independent of the primary leading parties on any imperially sanctioned war councils that come about.”

“Why?” Ciardis said with a frown.

“Ask the Kade mages,” said Thanar dryly.

Christian’s eyes lit in understanding.

“The who?” said Ciardis with a frown.

Thanar looked at her with what she could only describe as a patronizing grimace.

Ciardis didn’t care as she asked, “What do you two know that I don’t?”

Thanar rolled his eyes. Sebastian came up on the tail end of the conversation, “It’s not important why, right now. Just know that is it. If you want I’ll give you a history book that will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about the Initiate Wars on the way to Kifar.”

Ciardis cocked a head. “That would be good.”

Then she side-eyed Christian with a tentative smile. “Of course is someone wanted to explain along the way, I wouldn’t be adverse to a little tutorial.”

Christian laughed. “Message received, Lady Companion Weathervane. I will gladly tutor you on the history of our wonderful empire. I warn you though, there’s more crammed in a couple centuries than you would ever have believed.”

Then she turned back to the scuffle. Saying to know one in particular as she stood between Thanar, Christian, Meres and Sebastian, “Is no one going to help that poor lad out?”

The armored soldier was now at the bottom of a pile and take blows to the face. Ciardis wasn’t so worried about him that she would jump in though. He could have easily taken all of them on with the steel blades he had on him and near him. And his opponents could have just as easily killed him with their magic. She sensed at least
one
fire mage in the fray which would have had no problems toasting the soldier in his armor if they had truly been angry with him.

“No, I don’t think so,” said Lord Meres.

“He seems to be holding his own,” agreed Sebastian.

“I’m wondering if they’ll ever finish. What’s the goal after all?,” said Christian. 

“I think it’s a fight to first blood,” mused Thanar.

“Maybe,” said Sebastian as the four men tilted their heads to watch the rather fat and florid gentleman do an acrobatic feat Ciardis didn’t think he was capable of as he managed to land on the soldier’s back where he proceeded to use his vantage point to reach around and poke him in the eyes with a squeal of retribution.

“Ouch,” commented Christian.

“Points for ingenuity,” said Thanar.

“Yeah, can’t say he isn’t using his weight to his advantage,” said Sebastian.

“With that armor and the fact that he’s at least two hundred pounds, he’s likely to break that soldiers back,” said Lord Meres. It was an observation rather than a complaint.

Ciardis huffed. “And none of you are concerned?”

“No.” was the general consensus.

Ciardis sighed in irritation as she muttered, “
Males
. This isn’t a spectator’s sport.”

“It’s getting there,” said Vana as she came up and eyed the combatants. A screech went through the air at that moment and Ciardis couldn’t stand it a moment longer, she started forward, determined to pull the people apart and stop them from mauling that poor man who was obviously trying not to lose his temper and start beheading people.

Somehow he had managed to throw the fat man off his back and currently had a different one in a headlock. The victim’s face was turning purple.

Ciardis’s lips twitched.
He’s being a lot less gentle now. He must be getting tired of them climbing all over him
.

Then Thanar and Meres flowed past her to do the dirty work. Ciardis crossed her arms and watched with a tapping foot as everyone but the lone woman was thrown across the room into opposite corners in short order.