A great boon it tis to find repose within the magnificent, wonderful, house of the Master Crispen Genn.
After an hour of watching the writing appear on the pages fatigue of a day spent running through a forest over took Cass as she teetered somewhat on her feet. Jarn caught her and lifted her effortlessly into the air and laid her gently on the couch. “Sleep my love, I will stand watch until you have rested.
She smiled at him and was trying to protest but he placed a finger to her lips. “Rest Cass, we will need all our energy if we are to find a way free of this creature and the wastes.” Slowly she nodded and before her eyes fully closed she saw him straighten and move back over to look at the book with one eye and the door with another.
Her dreams took her back to the last battle they had fought for the Reeve. It was a cold morning on the moor as she stood behind Jarn. To their left were Prarn and Mauv, and to their right were Starn and Jess. Behind them were two hundred more Sword and Shield pairs. The Reeve of Shire Tymlon had come out in force. His desire, was the same as all the other Reeve’s, the High Master’s gardens which was in the possession of their Reeve, Martin Shalyn.
When the Evisceration had happened the High Master disappeared. In the wake of the cataclysm and the Master's disappearance the High Master's stewards divided up his territories and called them the Shires, and they called themselves the Reeve's. At that time all the other Reeve's had sought to take the lands that had rich resources of metal, fertile ground, and people not knowing the importance of Gardens.
The ancestor of their Reeve, however, had only sought one thing, the land where the Master's Gardens lay. It had other rescores but the true treasure was the MoonDew caterpillar. Its only habitat and sustenance was around the MoonDew flower. The MoonDews had only ever grown in the lands owned by the High Master. When the Evisceration came, all of the flowers were destroyed along with all the caterpillars, except the ones kept in a secret garden in the north. These tiny insects are prized as they produce a thread that is strong enough to not be pierced or cut, even by the thrust of a lance from horseback. The nectar of the flowers can also be made into a serum that grants the Swords and Shields advanced strength and dexterity. This is what had drawn the apposing forces, The MoonDew flower and the tiny creatures it nourishes.
The opposing archers stepped forward and drew back their bows. “Position Ten.” Cass shouted. The pairs of Swords and Shields all ran together. They ran as if performing the moves of a dance. The Shields moving gracefully on the tips of their toes. Their boots specially designed to bend and were squared off at the toe to allow them this ability. They gathered in groups of four. They sat on their knees in a diamond formation and their Swords knelt down beside them on the inside of the diamond. The Shield’s flipped their cloaks up over their heads and covered the Sword and Shield in front of them, the cloaks more than voluminous enough to cover both Sword and Shield.
The arrows flew, but when they struck the diamonds, the bolts merely slid off the Shield’s cloaks. When the volley was over Jarn bellowed, “Position one.” Immediately all the Swords rose and grabbed and lifted their Shields up into the air with the grace of a dance and set them down behind them. Then they all ran forward gracefully to their starting positions, the Shields clasping each hand on their Swords shoulders.
“Fire!” Bellowed Reeve Martian from his station on the wall. The twang of his archers bows rang and a thousand arrows flew over the heads of the Swords and Shields. As the arrows passed overhead Jarn shouted. “For the Reeve, Dance!” The men and women ran forward in their graceful stride. The arrows only seconds ahead of them tore into the opposing front ranks. As the soldiers fell the Swords and Shields danced among them, taking down those that the arrows missed and finishing off the wounded.
Cass unhitched her cloak from her harness as a man charged at Jarn. She pirouetted around Jarn and wrapped her cloak around the opponents sword and slid down into a split pulling the man’s arm down with her, Jarn’s sword slid through the empty air that her head had occupied just half a second before and pierced through the soldiers neck. Cass was already tumbling into a standing position, allowing her cloak to unfurl and release the dead man’s sword. Jarn was already removing his sword and moving on to the next opponent. The soldier dropped lifelessly to the ground behind them.
They advanced through the ranks, aiming for the opposing Reeve’s command post. Then they felt it before they heard it, as the ground vibrated below their feet. “Calvary!” Jarn shouted. “Position twelve.” The Swords knelt down with their backs straight as a table. The Shields all stood on their Swords backs and waited. Very quickly over the rise of the hill they had been ascending, a line of mounted men in armor wielding lances and shields come over the ridge charging the stationary pairs. The Swords crouched balling up as much energy in their muscles as they could. When the riders got in range and lowered their lances, a short spear of about five and a half feet in length, to strike the Swords, the men uncoiled and launched their Shields into the air straight toward the oncoming lance. As they were launched the Shield flipped through the air and unclasped the cloak from their necks and pinched the corners to let the air catch in the material and billow it out. The billowing also caught their momentum. They used the energy of the sudden pull of the cloak to extend their legs out straight. The Shields flew toward the lances with their cloaks ready to catch it. As the material of the cloak encompassed the lance, the Shield placed one of their feet under the chin of the rider and the other behind his head just before the cloak caught the lance and they then used the lance’s inertia as it pulled on the cloak to spin in the air and brake man’s neck. Then they just as quickly let go of two of the corners of the cloak, freeing it from the lance, and the Shields sailed over the dead men’s bodies almost in exact synchronization with each other.
Their Swords followed them leaping in the air and driving their weapons into the back of the horses heads. Each pair landed near eachother as the clamor of tons of flesh and metal erupted behind them. When they landed they deftly avoided the next rank and allowed the mass of fallen bodies behind them to trip up the second rank of horses and men. Again there was a sound of the mixing of metal clanging, bones braking, and life ending behind them. While that happened they reset in the same starting position for the third wave of horse and man.
The rest of the remaining calvary, the mighty Lightning Riders of Reeve Tymlon, broke and retreated. Without skipping a step the Swords and Shields continued the dance through the ranks of the opposing Reeve’s forces until the army’s morale broke and they fled the field.
Unfortunately no battle is without losses. No matter how highly trained the Swords and Shields were, there were always those who fell. These pairs worked so closely together since they were babies. In such situation it would be impossible for deep connections and feelings not to develop. They were never acted upon because of the Reeve’s law, except in these moments.
Cass turned around and saw two Swords cradling the lifeles body of their Shield in their lap, shoulders shaking. It was always worse for the Shields however. She saw three Shields, Coni, Larna, and Olise wailing, screaming, rocking the bodies of their fallen Swords back and forth. Cass started to go over to them, to console them, but her foot caught on something. When she looked down she saw Jarn’s lifeless eyes looking up at her. Her vision became blurry and her legs lost their strength. She fell to her knees and a scream from the pit of her soul erupted from her. Then she was being shaken and held and her eyes flew open.
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”Cass! Cass! What is it, what’s wrong?” Jarn said as he held her close to him. She couldn’t answer, the relief of his voice broke her grief but poured out her tears like her eyes were pitchers. He just held her and ran his hand through her hair. Eventually she regained enough of herself to pull back and look at him. He smiled at her and she immediately kissed him and held that kiss for long moments. When she finally drew away she just kept looking at him.
“Cass, what happened?
She sighed and shook her head, trying to push that image of him dying from her mind. “It was a dream. I dreamt of the last battle that we were in, with the forces of Reeve Tymlon, everything happened just as I remembered it, so much so that I thought it might just be a vivid memory, but then at the end as I watched the Swords mourn for their Shields and Shields for Swords, my foot struck something and…” her voice caught in her throat. “…I looked down and saw you, laying on the ground, dead.”
Jarn leaned forward and embraced his wife. “It’s okay Cass, I’m not dead, I’m here with you right now.”
She let him hold her for as long as she could. After a while, however, it began to dawn on her that he had not slept yet. She let go and pulled away and looked at him. “You must sleep my love. I will stand watch until you wake.” He looked like he would protest. She did not give him the chance. She put her finger to his lips and stood and pushed him gently onto the couch. He did not put up much of a resistance. “Very well my dear, I will sleep. I have seen no other movement except the words appearing on the page.”
She looked over at the book and back at him. “Did you learn anything more about this Master Genn?” She asked us a quiet voice.
He shook his head. “Not a lot, I have been focusing on the door and listening for any indication of movement from the other side and so I haven’t been watching each word. The pages do seem to turn on their own though when he fills one. It seems this Master Genn was one of the Masters directly under the High Master before the Evisceration happened. This Crispen Genn was Master of the Moondew flowers. It had been he who had brought them from some far off land. He was therefore the wealthiest of the Masters next to the High Master.”
She looked at him with awe and nodded. Memories of the stories her father would tell her of the fabled Masters and their power. “You must sleep now my love. I will wake you if there is danger.” He still almost protested, but she could see the weariness overtake him. She stood and gently pushed him down onto the couch. He smiled at her but almost immediately his eyes closed and he fell into a deep sleep. She smiled fondly and laid her head on his chest for a moment, reveling in hearing his heart still beating.
After a few minutes an unusual sound made her lift her head and look to the book. The page was just beginning its downward arc to join the other finished pages beneath it. She took one last look at Jarn, kissed his forehead and stood and went over to look at what was being written.
“The good Master Genn many a children did he have. One in particular, his oldest daughter, Unise loved to dance. She was trained at the school of the High Master himself and was at the top of her class. Wherever she would she would dance and the joy she felt while she was dancing infused all around her.”
Cass watched the letters appear on page in a very neat and well trained penmanship. The story of the young girl dancing brought fond memories to her mind of her teacher Shield Alyse. She had been like a second mother to her and had shown her what tenderness was. A tear escaped her eye as she thought about her. Her memories were invaded by a noise behind her. She turned, her hand instinctively raising her cloak in front of her. She saw nothing except the entry parlor through the open door to this room. She breathed normally, calming her mind to take in every beam of light, every decibel of sound. Then the noise came again. It was a scraping noise as if something hard were being dragged along the ground.
The noise stopped just in front of her. Something solid, yet it felt like a hand, struck her across the face. Cass stumbled to the side but instinctively rose up on the squared off toe of her boot spun in the air and removed her cloak and whipped it in the direction of the attacker. The cloak hit open air. Next something solid hit the foot she was standing on and she fell hard to the floor. Before she could cry out something wrapped itself around her throat cutting off her air. Panic flooded her mind, adrenalin coursed through her body. She pushed with her feet and moved toward the pedestal. She moved toward it but not very quickly. She pushed and pushed, all the while her vision growing dimmer and dimmer. She almost passed out, but the thought that this thing would kill Jarn after it took her life and a jolt of adrenaline gave strength to her legs and she launched herself to the pedestal. Her should hit the wooden stand with great protest. She heard glass clinking above her then a dark liquid spilled over her face. Some of it got into her mouth and she began to cough as the metallic taste of ink flooded her mouth. It was the fact that she was coughing that made her realize that she could breathe again.
She scurried away from the pedestal and looked back at it. She saw the glass inkwell and quill on the floor and the dark stain of the ink on the tiles. Next to the pedestal though there was a figure outlined by dark ink. It looked like a young woman in her early twenties with an obvious deformity in her lower leg. The woman tried to pirouette but her deformity made her fall. She slapped the floor and then stood and walked toward Cass dragging her leg. When she got to her she kicked Cass in the boot. She motioned with her hand for Cass to stand up. Slowly, cautiously, Cass stood. The girl tried to pirouette again but fell. Again she slapped the floor, got up and kicked Cass’s boot again. Then she pointed at Cass.
“You want me to do it?” Cass asked apprehensively. The woman just pointed again at Cass. Cass nodded and then raised up on the squared off tip of her boot and didn’t three pirouettes. The woman made a clapping motion with her hands and then tried again and still fell. This time her hands went to where her face was slightly outlined by the ink and her shoulders began to shake.
Realization flashed across Cass’s mind like lightning. “Unise?” She said aloud uncertain where the understanding came from. The shoulders stopped shaking and the hands dropped from her face and she nodded her head slightly.
The tenderness that Shield Alyse had taught her flooded into her heart and she knelt down before the girl. “Hi Unise, my name is Cass. Can…can I help you dance?”
The girl just stared at her. After a few moments her head slowly nodded. Cass stood and reached out her hand. Unise took it and stood. “Okay, so, assume the Auron position.” Cass said automatically not thinking that this child night not even know what that meant. To Cass’s amazement though the woman’s arms went up over her head and she rose up on her good foot. Cass reached out and grabbed her deformed leg and held it to balance her. Using a duck walk, Cass held the leg as the woman slowly spun around.
She spun three times and then stopped. Her face looked down at Cass and she threw her arms around her neck. Cass held her and felt her little shoulders shaking.
“You are a beautiful dancer Unise, thank you for dancing for me.” The woman drew back and looked at her. Her lips parted in a smile and she reached into her pocket and pulled out a gold key that shone with its own soft light. The girl placed it into Cass’s hand and then stepped away toward the pedestal. When she reached it, she disappeared, the ink that was covering her fell into the stain that was already there.
Cass sat there for a long time staring at the key and then the book. She stared in disbelief as the pages continued to turn and the memory of what just happened. After a while she heard her name shouted and booted feet rushing over to her. “Cass, are you okay?” She looked up at Jarn and nodded slowly. All she could get out of her mouth in that moment was. “I found a key.” She said as she raised the glowing key so he could see it.