The House of Yeel (13 page)

“What are those?” she asked.

“They light the way,” Legrach said, holding
up his glowing ball. He slipped the ball into a metal cage hanging
from one of the wall pegs. “We get them from the water. Plants
growing in the sea use them to attract fish to eat.”

“Oh.”

“Speaking of eating, if you
want food, it’s there in that wall shutter.”

“Thank you for the offer.
Maybe I should try just a bit of the food here, and see if I can
eat it?”

“Sure.”

Jymoor carefully opened the wooden container
mounted on the wall which Legrach had indicated. Inside, she found
a collection of reddish string and a bowl of water. She saw slices
of silvery flesh inside the water.

“Must be fish?” she asked.

“Fish and plants from the sea,” Legrach
said.

Jymoor took a bit of the string and smelled
it. It had a spicy odor unfamiliar to her. She plucked a bit out
and tasted it. The flavor was less spicy than the smell and
pleasant enough. The string melted in her mouth.

“Seems very good. I should
wait and make sure it doesn’t disturb my stomach just in
case.”

“As you please,” Legrach said.

“Thank you.”

“So, tell me about this Artaxiad. He built
this fortress?”

“No. Artaxiad of the Meridalae ruled over us
on the mainland. Vot created this water-fortress, which we call
Ascara-home, as a place to base our challenge to his power.”

Jymoor leaned forward. “You said of the
Meridalae? Artaxiad was of the Meridalae?”

“Yes. He ruled this world for them.”

“When I came to seek Yeel’s
aid, he had to defeat a member of that order just to leave his
fantastic home,” Jymoor said. “They had trapped Yeel there for a
long time.”

Legrach nodded. “The Meridalae attempt to
spread their influence across every world they find. They still
attack us here from time to time. Vot has given us our freedom and
nurtures our people. Only through her, and others of her kind such
as Yeel, can we hope to throw off the yoke of the Meridalae
wherever men may live.”

“Wherever men may live,” she
echoed. “I didn’t realize there were other worlds with people on
them until I met Yeel. Do you know of my world? Do you know of the
nation of Riken?”

Legrach shook his head.

“How many worlds are there?”

“Ask Vot. She has mentioned at least four or
five in my presence. But I have never dared to ask her to share her
great knowledge with me.”

“All the better to catch an erlak with,” a
harsh voice erupted from behind her.

“What?” she said, turning to see the
speaker.

“You couldn’t catch an erlak
given a thousand such harpoons!” another voice said
playfully.

“Who is that?” Jymoor
couldn’t see anyone in the chamber, although the clutter was so
dense she supposed someone may have eluded detection. She looked at
the door, expecting the speakers to walk in at any
moment.

Legrach laughed. “What does
it matter? They’re long gone by now.”

“What? I don’t understand.
Ghosts speak within these walls?”

“Ghosts…only the ghosts of
recent conversations. Sometimes the words of others carry through
the air. How else could I speak with you now?”

“Well, yes, but…” Jymoor
looked all around. She didn’t see anyone else. “How recent was that
conversation?”

“At most a day ago,” Legrach
said, smiling. “Please take no offense, but talking with you is
like talking to a child! I know, though, it’s only because you’re
new to this world.”

“I understand. Thank you for telling me about
your home.”

“I’m glad to help you. I
hope, also, that you will be able to help us. Are you
female?”

Jymoor’s eyes bulged a
bit.

“Oh. Yes, actually I
am…”

“I thought so! Will you bring us many babies?
We need more warriors to fight the Meridalae!”

Jymoor’s mouth quivered a
bit.

“I…well I…perhaps I should
discuss that with Yeel and Vot first?”

“Of course. Their wisdom can be trusted,”
Legrach said. “I can leave you alone to become accustomed to the
room if you wish.”

“Oh. I assumed this is…Oh.
Do we stay together here in your room?”

“The room is not mine. I do sometimes sleep
here. You are to stay here for now. Unless the room is not
pleasing.”

“Whose stuff is all this?”

“It belonged to Artaxiad, but now it belongs
to the people of Ascara-home.”

“A powerful man stayed in
such a small room? Perhaps space is limited here because you all
have to live in the fortress?”

“I didn’t mean just this
room. I meant everything. What used to belong to Artaxiad now
belongs to us. Vot did not want it for herself, though of course,
if she should ever ask for anything, we would gladly provide
it.”

“I need no time alone. Can you train me to be
a knight?”

“I don’t know how to be a
knight. I could train you to be a fisherman or a
warrior.”

“Yes. A warrior. That’s what
I hope to learn,” Jymoor said.

“I can train you. Though I think your time is
best spent bringing us infant warriors.”

“We’ll have to talk about
that with Yeel.”

“Very well. I can begin your training
tomorrow, then.”

“What weapons do you know?”

“This, the fenlar,” Legrach said, showing
Jymoor the harpoon he carried.

Jymoor took the weapon and held it. It was
very light, lighter even than a wooden spear, Jymoor thought. The
pointed end must be hollow, she decided.

“How did you make this?”

“Vot told us of them,” Legrach said. “They
grow on a large sea predator we sometimes hunt. We can also find
discarded ones in carcasses it has fed upon. The tip is very sharp.
We fill it with venom which Vot makes for us.”

“It does feel like a quick
weapon, and deadly too, if poisoned. Though I was hoping to also
learn the sword and lance, or perhaps even the mace, since I’m to
take on a role in my homeland as a knight…or at least a leader of
knights.”

“I don’t know if I
can.”

“Trust me, with this armor
I’m stronger than I look. I could wield a mace.”

“I don’t know those
weapons,” Legrach said.

Jymoor drew her short sword and handed it
over.

“This is the sword,” she said.

Legrach looked it over, checking its edges.
He nodded.

“I have seen these, or ones
like them, much larger, in the hands of our enemies,” he said. “The
Quan. They often fight for the Meridalae. They’re larger than
you.”

“They live on the mainland?”

Legrach shook his head.
“They don’t come from here. Like you, they come from other places.
Brought by the Meridalae.”

“How long will Yeel be gone? Do you know
where Vot and Yeel are?”

“I don’t know. But we can go
to the feasting room and wait for them.”

“Okay.”

Legrach led the way out. He opened the wooden
doors, revealing the closed water net beyond. The touch of his hand
made the net retreat, sliding away like a slug retreating from
flame. They returned to the empty stone hallway.

Three men with greenish skin walked in the
passage. The eyes of the strangers lingered upon Jymoor as they
passed. She decided it was natural enough for them to stare at an
obvious stranger with skin of a different color. Perhaps they had
never seen anyone from her world before.

Legrach took her through the corridors. They
took several turns and passed many water nets. Other than the nets
the passageways looked abandoned, since they were devoid of any
furniture or decoration. They passed a group of open stone windows
lined up on one side of the passage.

Jymoor paused to peek out one of the stone
windows. The sea lay far below, rolling in a slow wind. She caught
sight of a shadowy form moving below the water for a moment, then
it was gone. She wondered what a whale from this world might look
like. Legrach had said she would be safe from monsters if she
stayed out of the ocean. That implied that the water creatures here
might be dangerous.

They walked through another water net into a
large chamber. Jymoor immediately identified it as a dining room. A
massive table of worn green stone dominated the center, running
long enough to hold twenty on each side.

A pleasant smell filled the air. Jymoor saw a
door without a net.

“The kitchen must be that way. I can smell
something cooking.”

Legrach nodded. “The meal is of yranthan and
stid. Creatures from the sea. Vot provides for us mostly from the
sea.”

Jymoor heard a sound, like a
scraping of leather on smooth stone. She turned and saw Yeel step
into the chamber, with a beautiful woman behind him. The woman had
long greenish hair and a narrow face like Legrach, though she stood
much taller, at exactly Yeel’s height. She wore a flowing dress of
some unknown fibrous material of the now familiar copperish hue.
Surely this was Vot.

Jymoor looked at the woman, first in open
curiosity, and then with a sense of dread. Did Yeel favor the
company of Vot? Would she be able to pursue him if this amazing
woman already held his heart?

“I trust you have found Ascara-home to your
liking?” Yeel said to Jymoor. “This is Vot.”

Jymoor bowed before Vot.

“Hello. Yeel tells me you seek our aid,” Vot
said in a strong voice.

“Well…Yeel thought it best I
accompany him here…”

“We will do our best to help
you though Ascara-home is at war here in our world, so we cannot
spare much.”

Other men entered the chamber and took places
at the table. They looked like warriors. Still more men brought in
food and set it about the table. It looked to Jymoor like two kinds
of fish and a variety of sea plants.

“This is the yranthan. Perhaps you should try
it first. It is milder than the stid,” Legrach said, indicating the
dishes.

Jymoor looked around the
table at the other guests. Suddenly it struck her that she and Vot
were the only females present. Her face suddenly
flushed.

She turned to Legrach and spoke in a low
voice.

“Should I be here? Is Vot the only woman
allowed to dine here?”

“There is no rule,” Legrach said.

“Then why don’t the other
women sit here too?”

“There are only you and
Vot,” Legrach said.

“Oh,” Jymoor said,
trivializing her confusion. “Perhaps that is why you’re so eager
for children.”

“Of course,” Legrach said. “Vot can only
bring us ten or twenty each time.”

Jymoor coughed on her food.

“What?”

“Yes. She brings us many, but we need many to
fight the Quan.”

“You have no women? Aren’t
any of the children female?”

Legrach shook his head. “Vot
brings us only warriors for the battle. No women.”

Vot overheard the conversation and looked
over toward Jymoor and Legrach.

“So you are a temporary
traveling companion of Yeel’s,” Vot said.

“I’m an extremely close
companion to Yeel,” Jymoor answered quickly. “We are nearly
inseparable, after what we’ve been through together!”

Vot smiled.

“Ah. Yes, it is amazing the
friendships that can be formed through shared
adversity.”

“Friendship? The word hardly does our
relationship justice!” Jymoor said. “Why, it was I who released
Yeel from his imprisonment!” Jymoor added. She looked pleadingly at
Yeel.

“It is true,” Yeel said. “I hope we can
continue to work together.”

Jymoor accepted Yeel’s
verification eagerly. She smiled defiantly toward Vot.

“Can Jymoor bring us infant soldiers?”
Legrach said. “She said it might be discussed over dinner.”

Jymoor’s victory face
fled.

“That’s probably not a good
idea,” Vot said.

“Yes, she doesn’t have that
capability,” Yeel said.

Jymoor opened her mouth to agree, then closed
it, then opened it again to disagree, then fell silent, trying to
decide which was worse: being enlisted as a baby maker or being
seen as useless.

“Isn’t she is female? Aren’t
females involved with babies on her world as well?” persisted
Legrach.

“Yes, but I’ll serve a
greater and more immediately useful role as a leader of our
soldiers,” Jymoor said.

“I don’t think so,” Legrach
said. “One fighter is good, but the hundreds of children you could
bring would be the greater contribution, on the whole.”

Jymoor looked at Legrach again, confused.

“She could not give you that
many,” Yeel said. “Her fertility is less than Vot’s. She could
bring perhaps a dozen at most.”

A cloud grew over Jymoor’s
face. Legrach nodded.

“A dozen at a time is less than Vot, true,
but—”

“No! A dozen total! In her lifetime!”
explained Vot.

Legrach’s eyebrows
rose.

“Oh. I’m sorry,” he said
quietly. “I should have realized. Of course, Vot is exceptional;
look at everything she’s done for us. She is the reason Ascara-home
even exists! I should not have expected such lofty things from you,
Jymoor.”

Jymoor’s jaw set in anger.
Her face turned red.

“I am not Vot. This is not
my home. Yet I play an important role in the future of my nation,
together with Yeel, we plan to turn away the horde—”