CHAPTER 125

In Nauders, winter was regarded both as a time of fear and a time of great courage. As the winds howled and icicles grew long, families would gather at the hearth and whisper tales of Torbjorn and Svara, ancestor-heroes that led them to their first victories against the Horror from the North and the armies of the Northern Avalanche while their own armies gathered at Timwaite Pass in fearful vigil. The Northern Avalanche was not defeated, merely beaten back, and it was in the winter that they liked to strike.

In Silesia, murders went up as the algid winds shrieked and moaned across the tundra, and the Rubin-Rytsar, the Ruby Knights took up their swords in protection of the innocent and destitute.

In Ardeal, strings of charms and wards were placed over every window, every door, every hearth, and everyone spoke scripture before crossing any threshold; a surefire ward against the terrors of the Void and the Long Night.

In Darnell, winter was a great nuisance, but everyone, everywhere, asked each other the same question, regardless of standing or station: "Have you enough wood to keep you warm?" and fires burned in every hearth, lamp, and brazier all day and night.

Everyone across the world in their own way tried to hold back the winter, a shared, unspoken terror, a nightmare of a memory long forgotten when the whole of the world froze solid and all life and light nearly perished in the black.

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"What... is that thing?" Sasaki muttered, as it rose to its feet.

Whatever it was, it was a revolting thing of flesh and wood, of all things. Blood seeped from ragged tears in its flesh; where pale bone should have shown through, instead the skeleton appeared to be crafted from wood.

"It certainly is not human." Kuroyuki agreed.

"A thing of sorcery, perhaps?" Sasaki asked, and Kuroyuki nodded.

"Of the most foul." her daughter agreed.

It was shaped like a woman, its hair was a twisted, colorless mess, filled with dirt, leaves, small twigs, and insects. Its face was slack on its head, the eyes were blind orbs. It wore a tattered scrap of cloth that hung from its shoulders; Sasaki guessed it was at some point a dress, but she couldn’t tell anymore.

It stumbled as it walked; a chunk of wood jutting from its shin. It didn’t seem to have a direction, or purpose. It trudged through dead leaves and frozen ground in a slow circle.

Its left arm was sleeved from shoulder to fingertips in a red bandage of some sort, Sasaki couldn’t determine its function.

"Do you know what it is, Kuro?" Sasaki asked, as it struggled across the ground.

"It is revolting." Kuroyuki replied, lips peeling back in distaste.

"That’s all you have to say?" Sasaki asked, as she gripped the handle of her sword.

"I would have to examine it to say more." Kuroyuki offered, and then added, "It is my profound hope Mother that you do not ask your daughter to do such a thing." she added.

"The gun?" Sasaki asked, but her daughter shook her head. "Your sword should suffice. Remove the left arm. It seems to gain its ... mobility... from it."

As the thing shambled past, Sasaki drew her sword and made her move; the arm flew off with no effort at all. As Kuroyuki had predicted, the thing immediately collapsed.

"Ugh. The smell." Sasaki muttered, and Kuroyuki lifted a sleeved hand to cover her face in agreement.

Sasaki prodded the thing with her blade, then cut into the thing. It seemed to be composed of a spongy red mass of flesh and clotted blood, and indeed, a skeleton carved from wood. There were no organs to be found.

"This is disgusting." Sasaki groaned. "Lend me something to cleanse my blade. This is foul beyond measure."

As Sasaki scrubbed her sword, Kuroyuki gingerly touched the skin of the thing with her fingers, mouth in a sneer of disgust and revulsion.

A brief vision flickered in her mind:

Abandoned of the Ursitoare. Vâlva Pădurii. Manikin lon Pavlenko.

Kuroyuki drew back her hand at this, and her gaze flicked to Sasaki for a moment.

The words meant something, held meaning to the one who spoke them, but whatever that meaning was, died with Alsabet. There was no doubt at all that the mage had created this thing, though to what purpose Kuroyuki couldn’t say. With the greatest of reluctance, Kuroyuki touched the cooling skin of the thing with her fingertips once again.

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The thing burbled and giggled and hissed on its leash in its wicker cage; Alsabet was loath to listen to its sly temptations; but could not force herself to banish the thing from her. Too useful to lose; too blasphemous to keep near. It alternated between entreaties to free it, promises of wealth and power, the revelation of secrets, and the endless litanies of threats and promises of punishments it would enact upon her soul should she drop her guard for the slightest moment.

Of this last she had no doubts whatsoever; a demon, no matter how diminutive, could wreak unknowable and untold horror. It was important to ward yourself completely, carefully, and diligently when it came to dealing with them. The first thing she did when she made camp was etch several small boulders with runic circles, creating a warding boundary that would prevent the demon’s escape if it somehow managed to find a way through the protections scribed on the cage and in the jar inside of the cage that contained the giggling blasphemy.

Alsabet was halfway through her simple dinner when the thing’s voice crept across the small clearing.

"Shall the hunter become the hunted? Shall the hunted instead be the hunter? Shall the ring begin to turn? Will you turn the wheel? Do you have the will to turn the wheel?" it giggled to her slyly, malignantly.

"Please, " Alsabet began, rolling her eyes ostentatiously, "If you’re going to be fucking runic, could you at least do it silently?" She asked, irritation and exhaustion pressing the tension in her voice. "Unless you’d prefer to simply tell me what it is you want without fucking around." She paused, and then added, "Not that it’s fucking possible for you to speak clearly. Even the honestly spoken word is layered in veils of deceit with your kind."

"The Witch has a sister, yes?" It rasped at her, and the woman jerked. She’d not once mentioned the fact that she had a sister. Not once, not to anybody.

"Now what are you on about?" She began, waving her hand dismissively. "I’ve no idea what you’re saying-" She was interrupted with the thing’s rasping snarl.

"The witch has a sister. The sister hunts the witch. The witch could hunt the sister."

Alsabet’s hands clenched involuntarily. She’d heard the rumors; her twin sister had been recruited as a Witch Hunter. Now that Alsabet had gone rogue, it was certain a Witch Hunter would be dispatched after. It might even be, as the demon suggested, her own sister.

What would happen in such an encounter? Dimly remembered memories of a childhood long gone and nearly forgotten recalled a tightly-knit bond between the two of them. Kat couldn’t bear to be apart from Alse. Or was it the other way ‘round? It’d been too long, and they had been children, besides.

Would Katarina kill her? Would she even recognize blood ties?

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"This ... thing must be destroyed." Kuroyuki declared, rising from her examination. "With fire."

Sasaki glanced over from her cleaning. "I agree, it’s disgusting-"

"Now, Mother. Without a moment’s hesitation." Kuroyuki urged, her voice shaking with revulsion.

Sasaki nodded, and the two of them hastily collected branches, twigs, anything that could burn. As Sasaki started the fire, Kuroyuki used her own power to increase the intensity of the blaze subtly, so that Sasaki would be unaware of what she was doing.

"Why-?" Sasaki asked, but Kuroyuki stepped back from the pyre, shaking her head.

"It is vile, mother. An abomination crafted from sorcery, a thing that should never have been made." Kuroyuki’s pronouncement was spat with such disgust that Sasaki gave her daughter a baffled look.

"I don’t understand-" Sasaki began, and Kuroyuki whirled on Sasaki, eyes blazing.

"Are we in disagreement?" Kuroyuki asked, anger seeping into her voice.

Sasaki shook her head. "N-no, Kuro. You’re right, it should be destroyed." Sasaki agreed, hands raised in a placating gesture. "It’s your reaction that I-" She began.

Kuroyuki folded her arms across her chest, but after a moment, she let out a small sigh and relaxed her posture.

"My apologies, Mother." She finally admitted. "I let my emotions get the better of me. Please excuse this impertinent child."

Sasaki let out a sigh. She wanted to know what the thing was, but Kuroyuki wasn’t forthcoming. Maybe a different angle should be used.

"What was its purpose?" Sasaki asked, and Kuroyuki raised an eyebrow in response.

"It was made to hunt a specific person." Kuroyuki responded after a moment. "But that person is gone, so it lost its purpose and turned into..." She gestured to the pyre.

"I’ve never seen you so upset, Kuro." Sasaki forwarded hesitantly.

"It’s a monstrosity. A perversion. A thing ... crafted with sorcery and birthed from a demon."

Sasaki’s blade was in her hand, and her eyes scanned the forest alertly. "A demon? Here?" She asked, raising her blade. She had no idea if her techniques would even work on a demon, but she was willing to try.

"...no. Not here. It appears to be gone from this world." Kuroyuki offered, her eyes glazed over as she probed the world with senses Sasaki lacked.

Sasaki sighed, and sheathed her blade. "Then let’s be off." She encouraged her daughter. "We’ve got some miles to put in."

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That morning, Olivia had woken up feeling ill, and was having problems keeping anything down. It got so bad that a healer had to be sent for her, and the revelations the healer brought would have dropped her to her knees, had she not been in bed at the time.

"You’re not sick, Lady Cardinal." The priestess stated briskly. "You’re pregnant." She glanced about the Lady Cardinal’s apartments. She smiled in a dry and businesslike way. "I assume congratulations are in order."

Oliva gaped at the woman in baffled shock. "It’s not possible. I’ve never lain with a man."

The healer rolled her eyes. "Of course you haven’t." She replied drily.

Olivia shook her head. "You don’t seem to understand, so I’ll spell it out for you: I don’t feel that way towards men."

The healer sighed. "Well, I would suggest that you re-evaluate your stance, because you’ve been pregnant for the past two months. If you like, we can use divination to tell us who the father is."

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Olivia frowned angrily. "I would like that very much." She said, and sat up from her bed.

"I’ll use your washbasin, then." the healer said, and shook her head.

"You’re not the first Lady Cardinal to have an ... unexpected pregnancy, so there’s no need to dissemble with me. You seem to be new at this, so I’ll give you some advice for future... issues: some discretion in these things is usually present."

The priestess scattered some lily petals into the washbasin, placed a small emerald in the bottom, and then filled it with water.

"If you like I can provide a ... purgative that will help you rid yourself of the inconvenience... Though it is both expensive and painful, so you probably want to prepare yourself."

The woman closed her eyes and prayed, her hands moving in specific gestures. The ritual complete, the woman looked into the pool of water and frowned. "That can’t be right."

Olivia moved to the healer. "What is it?" She asked.

"Nothing, some woman’s face appeared. I must have been distracted when I invoked the divination. I’ll do it properly this time."

The woman invoked her divination again, and Olivia peered into the bowl. An image coalesced, and Olivia’s eyes widened.

"Katarina..?" She gasped. An ice-cold wave of shock washed over her and unbidden, her mind went back to their last night, and the feeling of Katarina stroking Olivia’s belly with her fingertips.

"Unbelievable." she whispered, hands going to her belly.

The healer regarded Olivia with some skepticism.

"Women cannot make children together." She stated dryly. She was incredibly patronizing, as if Olivia was unaware of the fact.

Olivia nodded, "I know that." and then added. "Her Radiance is a Living Saint, though. If anyone could subvert the impossible, then it would be her."

The healer regarded her with some skepticism. "I’ve heard of this Living Saint. It doesn’t seem likely, though."

"It all fits." Olivia replied. "Her Grace and I were lovers and she left two months ago. I’ve never lain with any man. Your divination reveals her face. " She let out a sigh. "Now on top of everything else I have to manage, I have to decide if I want to keep this child." She said quietly.

The healer regarded her critically. "If this is as you say, a divine miracle given by the Blessed Katarina the Living Saint, then I think it would be a fool’s choice to rid yourself of it." She remarked. "I’m a healer, not an expert in matters of faith- I leave that to the pastors and clerics- but if you were to terminate this pregnancy, would it not be heretical to reject a miracle?" She asked.

"On the other hand, I’m not personally convinced it’s her, so if you want the medicine that will allow you to rid yourself of it, I can provide it. Be aware that the longer you wait to use it, the greater the risk to yourself."

Olivia nodded, distracted. "I’ll think on it and let you know." She said dismissively.

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In Katarina’s old apartments, the room that led to the balcony was a conservatory where the- where Constance had cultivated several varieties of lily. Olivia’s apartments, a mirror of Katarina’s, was where she held her study. Olivia sat at her desk, looking out at the fat snowflakes that fell from a leaden sky.

"You bitch." She spat spitefully to her partner, "I can’t believe you got me pregnant."

A flicker of movement at the corner of her eye caused her to turn; a woman in a slinky black dress, with long black hair disappeared from the doorway to her study.

Olivia bolted from her chair; that was no maid, she wasn’t dressed in the proper livery for that. Besides, the woman, even seen from the back, was familiar to her.

She hurried from her study and from the second floor she looked everywhere for the woman, but she’d vanished from sight. That woman had been seen in the company of Katarina several times, coming and going at her leisure.

As Olivia searched, she spotted one of her maids slipping in the front door to her apartments. She looked up at Olivia and started visibly.

"Your Grace!" the maid exclaimed, and bobbed a quick curtsey. "I have a summons for you, from the Grand Cardinal."

"I’m ill." Olivia replied irritably. "I’ll see her when I’m feeling better."

"..." The maid seemed like she had more to say, but there was an obvious air of reluctance.

Olivia sighed. "There’s more?" She asked peremptorily.

The maid nodded. "Her Captain of the Guard is waiting outside to escort you."

Olivia’s shoulders slumped. Too many things from too many directions. She was queasy and uncomfortable; that woman that had followed Katarina around had suddenly made an appearance in her study, She was pregnant somehow by her lover, which defied all attempts at reason, and now... this.

"...fine." She muttered. "Get my winter cloak." She made a meaningless gesture of resignation, and descended the stairs as her maid hurried off to retrieve Olivia’s cloak.

She opened the door to her apartments and eyed the captain. "What’s this about?" She asked, and he scratched the short squared beard on his chin indifferently.

"No idea, Your Grace. I was told to escort you to Her Grace the Grand Cardinal."

"Fantastic." She muttered sarcastically. "I’m just warning you now, I may throw up on you."

He raised an eyebrow at that. "You’re that ill?" He queried, a look of concern touching his face.

"No, in retaliation." She muttered crankily.

He barked a laugh. "You remind me of my wife, when she was pregnant with our firstborn."

Olivia twisted her face up as if she’d bitten something sour. Just then, her maid returned with Olivia’s winter cloak, a wine-red thing trimmed in fur and emblazoned with a stylized sun in golden thread.

"Let’s have at it, then." Olivia gestured, and the three of them made their way to the Grand Cardinal’s office.

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"You and I have never really argued very much, have we?" The Grand Cardinal greeted her with a question, and instructed her captain to give Olivia’s maid some hot spiced wine elsewhere.

"While you and I have different agendas, those agendas typically don’t end up at cross-purposes to each other." Olivia replied levelly.

"Well, maybe that should change." The Grand Cardinal offered, and gestured to a chair by the fire. "Warm yourself my dear, and let’s see if we can argue."

"What?" Olivia objected, but the Grand Cardinal simply eased her bulk into her own chair, and gestured again at the chair across from her.

After Olivia had settled herself, The Grand Cardinal smiled at her. "Congratulations." She offered solicitously. Olivia shot back up from her chair, anger warring with shock.

"You know?" She shouted at the other woman, who wordlessly gestured at the chair Olivia had vacated.

"What, you think I don’t?" The Grand Cardinal replied, allowing a sliver of incredulity in her voice. "Really Olivia, you should have covered your bases and at least bribed the priestess to keep her mouth shut."

Olivia sank back into the chair. "Would it have worked?" She asked the Grand Cardinal.

"Of course not. I make it a habit to know the comings and goings of what the Lady Cardinals of the Book of the Golden Lady are getting themselves up to." She replied comfortably. "Yours isn’t the first sort of thing like this to happen, and it probably won’t be the last. Your outrage is refreshing.... At least in its naivete."

"Does anyone else know?" Olivia asked.

"Probably not. I bribed the priestess myself."

"Thanks." Olivia retorted sarcastically. "I might gift you some vomit in repayment." She growled, and the Grand Cardinal laughed.

"So? What are the others up to?" Olivia asked, and the Grand Cardinal chuckled.

"That’s for me to know." she replied. "I find I’ve become a great repository of secrets and scandals; sadly none of which led me to ..." She paused, "...that business with Constance." She spat bitterly. "Who would have known that all it took was one Witch Hunter in the same room as her to reveal her nature?" She offered. "But we’re not here to talk about that."

"What do you want?" Olivia asked.

"Are you going to keep it?" The Grand Cardinal asked.

Olivia returned her question with a baffled look, and then held up her hand so that the lily-shaped scar was plainly visible.

"I have a job to do. A responsibility to fulfill. Something neither you nor Katarina seem to have taken into consideration before laughing your asses off at this situation." Olivia spat.

"Her Radiance." The Grand Cardinal corrected.

"Fuck you." Olivia replied hotly. "I was her lover, I’ll address her by name."

"Fair enough." The Grand Cardinal allowed. "Just as long as you do it privately."

Olivia snorted and glared into the fire.

"So you’ll ... deal with it?" The Grand Cardinal offered delicately.

"I.... can’t do that." Olivia muttered petulantly. "It’s her child. How would it look for me to do such a thing?"

She turned her eyes on the Grand Cardinal. "Why do you even care? I have the tenure, if I wanted to take a sabbatical, I could."

The Grand Cardinal nodded thoughtfully. "You could." She offered. "You have options. You could retire to your estates, either here or in Begierde, and have the child in relative secrecy. You could return to the Von Wolfes and allow your family to raise the child in your stead. Or, if you wanted to, you could simply hire a governess, a wet nurse and all that rot and do it yourself. None of these things are impossible or implausible or even unreasonable for you to do without even the hint of scandal." the Grand Cardinal offered.

"So what do you want?" Olivia asked.

The Grand Cardinal chortled. "You’re the one who doesn’t seem to know what to do, Olivia."

Olivia flipped her hand dismissively. "I knew all of those things before I even came here." she scoffed. "What I want to know is what you plan for this child."

The Grand Cardinal smiled at that. "I’d like you to consider something else."

"What." Olivia offered curtly.

"Bianka lon Pavlenko." The Grand Cardinal replied.

"That harridan?" Olivia spat, and the Grand Cardinal laughed until her whole body shook like a bowl of pudding.

"Katarina’s mother. She’s in dire need of a proper heir. Turn the child over to Bianka."

"Why in the Golden Lady’s own holy light would I do something like that?" Olivia objected. "She’s practically impoverished my family’s standings to the point of penury!"

"Katarina lies in a coma at the heart of the Temple of the Lily. Her state is precarious. The priestesses can do nothing. They pray, and they anoint her body with sacred oils and healing unguents, but I look into their eyes and I know they’re just going through the motions. They’re terrified, Olivia. The first Living Saint in eight hundred years is in dire straits right in front of them and they can do nothing, nothing, to change it."

She paused. "We mollified Bianka with our gifts last time, but if she catches wind that Katarina is imperiled, she could tear Hesperia apart in civil war. The Urthan are attacking Aston from the north right now. Beastmen are rallying an army- an army!- in Phillipa, back in Rothgar. Ardeal has fallen to the taint. Blackwall, Tassili, and Montesilvano will be next. We’re holding on by a fingernail’s grip. Do you think- that with all this going on- that a civil war right on our doorstep would do us any favors?"

Olivia forced a sigh, and stared into the flames.

"Katarina has a brother." Olivia replied. "Their bloodline is-"

"Matriarchal." The Grand Cardinal finished for her. "If your child is a girl, we can give Katarina’s child to Bianka and instead of a civil war we could potentially raise an army of over five hundred thousand troops in the time it takes to send a letter from Darnell to Begierde."

The Grand Cardinal let out a sigh. "Also, The Anglish have better records than the Ardeals do. I can..." She clamped her lips shut and turned away from Olivia.

"Tell me what you were going to say, just now." Olivia prompted.

"Do you know of Ardeal’s history?" the Grand Cardinal prompted. Olivia shook her head.

"It’s much too lengthy- and pointless- to go into detail here. But the long and short of it is that the lon Pavlenkos believe they lost the ‘Doamna’ bloodline, so they have no right to the title."

Olivia gave her a baffled look. "I don’t understand at all."

The Grand Cardinal rolled her eyes at this. "The Ardeals believe that only those of specific bloodlines can own land." She pressed. "The more land you hold, the more impressive your title. Right now, Bianka holds the only title of any real worth, the ‘Boiyar’ title. Really, it’s Katarina’s title now, but she won’t legitimately inherit the Boiyar line unless she has a girl child." She gestured at Olivia’s midsection.

"But, I happen to know for a fact that Mihaela lon Pavlenko didn’t just give birth to a male heir. She had a daughter. The ‘Doamna’ bloodline- at least as far as the Ardeals are concerned- was preserved."

"And this is...." Olivia prompted.

"The one card I absolutely do not want to play under any circumstances." The Grand Cardinal replied. "If I reveal to Bianka what I know of the bloodlines, then instead of gaining an ally, I gain a threat. She might see eye-to-eye with us now because of the concessions and awards we’ve given her, but the moment she finds out that Katarina carries not only the Boiyar title but also that of Doamna..." She took a breath. "Everything will probably go to shit."

Olivia struggled with what she’d been told. It was baffling, confusing, and didn’t much make sense to her. "What’s a ‘Doamna’?" She asked.

The Grand Cardinal rubbed her eyes. "Grand Princess. Technically speaking her Radiance Katarina is the legitimate ruler of all of Ardeal and Urdistan." She paused, and then added, "Plus she has ties, both in blood and in alliances with Nauders."

Olivia sat back in her chair. "Well." She muttered. "That certainly put things into perspective."

"If you give birth to a daughter, turn her over to the Pavlenkos." the Grand Cardinal urged. "Tell them that she is Katarina’s daughter. Bianka will turn all of her efforts into raising her granddaughter, and she will be our strongest ally. If the child is male, or if you decide not to carry the child to term, I will have to tell Bianka what I know, and I will have to pray very hard that she does not decide to reward my knowledge with a spear in the back."

The older woman took a long and shaky breath. "That’s the political side to all of this." She muttered, and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Faith, however..." She let out a sigh.

"The Goddess is talking to us again, Olivia. We are relearning what it means to be bathed in the light of Her radiance. Katarina worked a miracle in Her name to get you pregnant. How will the Goddess react if you decide the best course is to terminate?" She asked quietly. "Suppose Katarina herself wakes up? How will she?"

She let out a sigh, and rose to her feet. "I wanted you to think about all of these things. Don’t make a decision now. Don’t choose to do it simply because I say to. Think these things through slowly, carefully, and pray to the Goddess, and arrive at your own decision." She gestured to Olivia to stand. "Whatever choice you make, I’ll support you."