Akira Rises (3 page)

Mary loosened her hold on Akira. She decided it was time to approach the mistress of the manor. She did not know how she could help Akira, but something needed to be done to protect the young woman in her arms.

CHAPTER FOUR

T
he baron summoned his wife to his bedchamber that night for the first time in years, intending to use her as he saw fit.

“Woman disrobe and get yourself into my bed.” His voice was cold. The heady feeling of power from earlier in the day had worn off. It was time to exert his dominance over his haughty wife. Time to make her bend to his will again.

“Have you forgotten our agreement, Rolfe?” Lady Shy fought to keep her voice from shaking, fought to hide her fear. “We agreed I would never have to share your bed in return for my silence. Are you willing to have your secret affair with your own sister laughed about, joked about at court.?” She lifted the front of her gown and started to turn away, as if expecting the timely reminder would allow her to be dismissed.

“No one will believe you, wife. They will think your waspish words bitter lies of an aging woman jealous of her husband’s numerous and beautiful mistresses.” The baron’s upper lip curled like the lip of a dog ready to attack.

Lady Shy dropped her hand from the heavy iron door latch. She turned and faced her husband. “Once upon a time, your word was good. Once upon a time, you enjoyed the king’s favor. Things have changed. What makes you believe your word would carry more weight than mine?”

“I am a baron, a nobleman. You are just a woman, or had you forgotten? What makes you believe your words would ever reach the court?”

The muscles of Lady Shy’s jaw clenched. She swallowed. A shiver of fear ran down her spine. It was becoming more of an effort to appear unafraid. “I have made certain that certain damning letters will be handed over to the king’s hand if I am to die for any other reason than old age. I have learned from you husband about black mail and protecting myself.”

“You bluff!” The baron’s face reddened. “You have nothing.”

“Are you willing to gamble I don’t have proof you committed acts of treason? You have conspired with magicians, warlocks and all manner of forbidden beings behind the king’s back. You disobeyed his express orders to enforce the treaty of a closed border between us and the beings to the north.”

“You have no proof woman. Now disrobe and resume your place in my bed as an obedient wife. It is time you remembered your place.”

Lady Shy walked up to him, head held high, eyes blazing. Inwardly, she was shaking. She stared into his eyes with a look of contempt. “You may soil my body with yours, if you are up to it, to satisfy your base urges, but you are to keep your hands off my daughter or I will do everything in my power to destroy you!”

She gasped when the back of his hand struck her face. She staggered, then defiantly stood straight again. She stared back at him again with her iciest look.

That night he used her and abused her. Satisfied that he had successfully humiliated her, he drank himself into sleep.

Baron Rolfe never forced his wife to his bed chamber again. He would never again risk the humiliation of impotency with her. He imagined correctly that it would give her immense satisfaction to witness the failure of his manhood again. She had mocked him with her eyes, and paid for it dearly. He came close to strangling her, but he could not be certain her threats were without merit. He reigned in his wrath. He would give her no reason to gain the sympathy of her sons with bruises or marks from his anger. Sexual services had never been confined to the unholy state of matrimony he had entered into. Satisfying couplings were very purchasable.

In the days that followed, reliving his wife’s look of fear after he slapped her, his sexual appetites took on sadistic tone. He found a new excitement that satisfied him. Inflicting pain and exercising power were his new aphrodisiacs, aphrodisiacs he did not need mages for.

Younger women were easy to acquire, especially in cities. Payment for bruises and bite marks usually guaranteed silence. If silence was too expensive, liabilities, and annoyances somehow disappeared. The perks of nobility and wealth suited his needs. Poverty made many women do desperate things for money to feed themselves or their families.

Murder was sometimes a desirable solution to protest over his sadistic actions. The results were permanent. Dead lips did not speak. He began to travel between cities frequently. It seemed to those who monitored his movements that he had very many suspicious business dealings that required his attention. The shift from man to monster was slow. He had the form of a man but the heart of a monster.

After that dangerous night, Lady Shy feared it would only be a matter of time before her daughter would get trapped, cornered and fall prey to the incestuous, twisted desires of her loathsome husband. Lady Shy’s sons thought her reports about her husband’s unnatural desires unfounded. That they did not report her accusations and complaints to their father was a blessing.

Marcus’s warning worried her. “Mother, choose your words carefully. Father has hinted your mind is becoming unstable. He has expressed worry about you. We know there is no love lost between the two of you, but there are boundaries he will not cross. Surely your imagination has played tricks on you. Akira is always at odds with him. Perhaps she made a mistake.” Marcus’s words gave clue of how her husband planned on discrediting her, of discrediting Akira.

Lady Shy took a deep breath trying to appear as calm and sane as she could. “Marcus, have you ever seen me hysterical?”

Marcus had the grace to blush. Edgar who had let his older brother do all the speaking looked uncomfortable.

“No Mother.”

“Have you ever caught your sister lying?”

“No.”

“I know your sister has an active imagination, and we all know she rebels against your father, but she has never lied about her feelings toward him, never accused him of such deplorable conduct before. We must not jump to conclusions that she has falsely accused him out of spite and I’m most certain if I was unstable, we would not be having this calm of a conversation.” Lady Shy dared not say she saw a look in her husband’s eyes that frightened her. She sighed. “You must be watchful, and be very careful. Don’t trust everything you hear.” She forced a smile. “Observe and think for yourselves.”

Her sons walked away looking very thoughtful. They did not see what their mother saw. They did not know the evil their father had done and was still doing. They were not around enough to see his moral descent. The baron had been somewhat careful around his sons. For some reason, he did care about their approval, but more pointedly, he needed their popularity with the nobles and the king to mitigate any suspicion that he caused unrest so that the king would continue to need and appreciate his services.

Thus, Lady Shy’s sons did not know the full extent of their father’s deviousness and evil doings. It pained Lady Shy that her sons were not at home more often to see for themselves their father’s metamorphosis into a dark and sinister being. Lady Shy knew she would be in mortal danger from the dark mages who visited the manor if they suspected she worked against her husband and their collaborations. She knew in every fiber of her being that the mages in the black robes were responsible for the loosening of the inhibitions that promoted humanity.

Lady Shy recognized the look in her husband’s eyes when he looked at Akira. She would not put it past him to drug and harm their daughter in a most vile way. It would not be the first time, second time, or third time he drugged an unsuspecting woman. He was after all a man who would bed his sister, had lost most, if not all, inhibitions that governed human behavior. It made her wonder if there were any lines he would not cross to get his way. She wondered if her sons were willfully blind. She knew they were very aware he had multiple affairs and lovers. If it bothered them, they kept it hidden. It had not been an easy task to warn them to keep any love interests they had far from their father. Very carefully, she approached her sons again. It was a delicate diplomacy dance to warn her sons without seeming like she had anything personal to gain, that the family itself had much to lose if the warnings were ignored.

Mercifully, her sons did not mock those secret warnings. The disturbing truth in the warnings was evident. They had heeded their mother’s cautions to look and listen for themselves.

Marcus joked. “It’s not safe to bring a prospective bride anywhere near our Father.” Edgar laughed and added, “The old man has the appetites of a young man, and a persuasive approach with women.” Benjamin didn’t laugh at all. He didn’t even smile. “Persuasive, is that what you call it?” His sarcastic question, muted his brothers’ laughter. He added, “I don’t believe our mother was being malicious towards our father. Gods know he has given her reason. Nor does she appear disturbed or going insane.”

Edgar spoke his mind. “Is it safe to say we concur it is wise of our mother to not care if Father takes his sexual pleasures outside of their marriage. It is obvious she is indifferent to his many affairs. And if she isn’t welcoming him to her bedchamber, surely he could be expected to find comfort elsewhere. However, discretion is something we agree our father needs to practice.”

Benjamin raised his eyebrows. “Restraint would be better. Our mother’s warning that he would cuckhold anyone of us, his own sons, isn’t out of the realm of possibilities. His lewd comments reveal just enough to keep me wary.” He waited for his brothers to argue. They did not.

Marcus nodded affirmatively. “I find it difficult to believe mother when she says our sister is not safe from our father’s lusty nature. He has boundaries.”

Edgar’s eyes noted the doubtful expression on Benjamin’s face. He said to his older and younger brother, “Me thinks it is difficult to believe something we don’t want to believe.”

“Tis so, Edgar,” Benjamin said. He eyes locked with his older brother’s.

Marcus recognized the truth of Edgar’s comment.

CHAPTER FIVE

T
he morning was gloomy. The rain started before the sun rose. It started as a drizzle and progressed to a downpour. A sleepy servant stoked fires to take the chill from the air, and went back to bed. It was too early for the occupants of the manor to be up and about. While the rest of the house's occupants slept Lady Shy welcomed her daughter into her private chambers with a kiss to her cheek. She closed her door softly.

“Akira, I’ve a dagger for you.” She handed the sheathed weapon over. “Keep it on your person at all times. I fear for your safety, my darling.”

Akira hugged her mother.

“Your father is becoming more dangerous to us both. The potions he drinks have addled his brains. I’m afraid he no longer controls the black mages. I’m afraid they control him. I fear darker times ahead.”

Akira nodded her agreement. “The vultures come more and more often. What has that bastard done now? Has he hurt you?” Akira had long called the black robed mages vultures. It seemed fitting.

“No, I’m unharmed. It is nothing I can put my finger on, but I’m most fearful for you. I fear we have waited too long to flee, to escape this household. We need to be far and away from here. There is more and more unrest. The peasants are organizing against your father. There are dangerous forces at work.”

“Yes, you are right mother. My friends in the villages have confided that I should be very careful of where I travel. It pains me to see them suffer. Father has demanded a larger share of their crops. They are hungry already, and their children are weak. If a plague comes, they will perish quickly. If the winter is hard, it will be unbearable for them.”

“I know. It pains me excessively that we can do nothing to help them. We shall have to try help them from a distance. I’ve made arrangements to meet a man who can help us. I know your father is meeting with the black robed mages today. He sent for them. I do not know what evil he is planning with them, who he feels is a threat to him more than any other enemy he has made. He will be preoccupied if he follows his usual habits. It seems his influence on the local clergy is slipping. I think they tire of his hypocrisy of supporting the church, while using mages to maintain his power. I fear the mages want to get rid of the clergy. Several friars have gone missing. Your father will keep himself hidden with the mages for most of the day. The servants are preparing a welcoming meal. He will entertain them before they start their sinister doings and dealings. He will be stocking up on potions to satisfy his constant cravings.”

Akira held her mother’s hands. “Can we leave this morning?”

“No. As soon as I’ve assurance we have a guide, and an armed guard to escort us, then we can leave. To run on our own is too dangerous. Matilde has arranged for me to meet today with the man who has agreed to help us. He will meet me at the home of Matilde’s brother.”

“Can I come with you?”

“No my darling, if we are both gone it will raise suspicion. You must stay here and make my chambers look occupied. You will say I’m ill and want to see no one. You will bring food to my chambers as if you are personally nursing me from a malaise.”

“I can do that. but it is a terrible day to travel. The roads will be muddy and slippery. Can it not wait another day?” Akira wished she could accompany her mother. Thunder rumbled in the distance. The late summer storm seemed to be gaining strength. Akira shivered, as she often did when the dark mages started arriving.

“No, the man I must meet travels in secrecy, and he will not stay long in any one place. The rain will help us. Few people will be traveling. Less eyes watching.”

“Who is this man who would help us? Can he be trusted?”

“He is a man who has sympathies with the peasants. He comes from the mountain regions.”

Akira lowered her voice even more. “Is he a member of the secret society you give information too?” Akira pinned her mother’s gaze with her blue eyes. Akira knew more than her mother dreamed.