Charis turned and determinedly walked towards the cabin. She could see Otonia and Astera consoling the rescued and guarding the relatives, everything looked under control, everything except the warrior sister she was walking away from.
Dione sobbed, she didn’t want to leave her new herd; she was safe there and she was valued there. Watching Charis’ back as she walked away, she told her horse to carry her away. Her connection with her stallion to blame for her horse-speak only because she shared her feelings of being abandoned with him.
Her stallion didn’t budge. Dione used reins and stirrups cruelly, her stallion remained stoically silent. She knew his pain, because she felt the pain she dealt him as well. The shared pain she considered her penance, not that it helped. All she could feel from her stallion was she must stay with her herd. Loneliness bad, simple, was the feeling her stallion sent her, a single defining word. How could she stay she asked her stallion? You are herd and she is your boss mare, you do not contest her leadership you are still foal, not yet filly so you belong. It was simple and plain logic, horse logic.
She wondered how she was reduced to discussing her future with a horse, well a very important horse, her stallion but still a horse. It was so simple, she belonged to her herd. That is how simple it is, she made a mistake, but was true to her herd beyond that, loyally serving her boss mare to the best of her ability. She would declare she belonged, she would claim her place back!
It took little time for her stallion to reach a trot and then reach Charis.
Charis heard a horse’s hooves clopping closer; she wondered although her face was plain when she turned. She didn’t think Dione would attack her. She was still relieved when Dione was only riding towards her and not charging her down, even without a weapon her huge stallion could easily kill with its hooves. Charis felt ashamed she thought it a possibility. Perhaps Charis needed to learn more about trust.
Dione dismounted and looked Charis directly in her eyes. Her stallion giving her more backbone then she felt she deserved but she took it anyway.
“I refuse to leave my family. I know I have been false; a lie at the start to ensure a starving and frightened young girl would be cared for to ensure she was rescued and would survive.” The words were spoken quickly. Dione noticed Charis didn’t look away and also resisted to do so leaning on the strength of her stallion. She needed to be brave.
“A young girl too scared to reveal the truth to her sisters in case they would send her away.” Her voice weakening a little, but she continued, “Since then I have been a loyal and trustworthy sister, so I wish to stay with my one true family, Mistress. I wish to be forgiven, as family I hope for a second chance.”
Charis was thinking, sorting through her emotions, was this what she was looking for from Dione? She could see Dione’s body shaking and knew she needed to respond, one way or the other.
Charis stepped forward and drew Dione to her and hugged her.
“Welcome warrior-sister, know that I reclaim you unreservedly and I am glad you felt your family was precious enough to you to fight for your place. I am not certain but I expect our prisoners will be unkind to you whenever they can. They only die when I say, can you pass this test?”
“I have called you Mistress and I will follow your lead; Mistress.”
“Let us see what secrets they will reveal about themselves when they try to bait you to anger.”
Her stallion nudged her as it followed her without command. She placed an arm around its neck. Yes I am back in the herd and she thanked her stallion and wondered if her Mistress knew her stallion considered her a boss mare. A herd is always led by a boss mare, it is natural, her horse told her and she couldn’t help but smile a little.
---
Otonia walked the girl and the two boys to the rear cabin. She didn’t want the girl traumatised any further and the boys could do with some food, being morning.
Astera allowed the female relative to bandage her wounded male relatives and then retied her. Then she waited, occasionally glancing at her Mistress and Dione in conversation. She let a smile escape when Dione returned with her Mistress. Whatever separated them for a moment was now resolved it seemed, they were a four again. One of the boys carried a water skin and left it with Astera, along with some food to break her fast and then quickly left, glancing at the captives.
“Roll over.” The female relative rolled over with difficulty but did as asked. Astera then bent down and allowed her to sip from their water skin.
“Roll away and back on your belly.”
Astera repeated that with each of them and as she finished she was able to hand it off to Charis, who immediately passed it to Dione.
“Hello young thief what will you take from us now?” said shield bashed relative.
“I did what I needed to do, to survive, nothing more, nothing less and at least I don’t kidnap people.” Her voice was level and calm, Charis insisted she did, so they could be frustrated first.
“Little thief.” The relatives spoke the words in turn, with many variations. After some time Charis laughed loudly, great belly laughs. They stopped, wondering.
“So intent on your game, it seems one of you is no longer able to join in.”
The relative wounded by Astera’s spear was now silent and as Charis’ foot rolled him over, there was fresh blood soaking his bandage and his skin white from shock.
“Save him, use the ointment you used on me, please?”
“He is past anything we can do; it was your bandaging not ours.”
“You heartless bitch!” she shouted. Charis smiled trying to play the part.
“Instead of swearing at me, you should probably ask how knife wound is going.”
“I am well enough.”
“I will use a horse shall I and drag your dead man to start a pyre.” With that Charis roped his feet to a horse and slowly walked the horse around the cabin.
“You can’t just wait for us to die! We aren’t like the two that you killed.”
“But you do kidnap girls don’t you?” asked Dione.
The female relative’s head snapped around to look at Dione but didn’t say anything. Dione took that as a yes.
“They will take some time to die; perhaps I should ask you to stab some holes in them while Mistress is away. After all they called me names and hurt my feelings.”
“Well waiting is boring.” Astera approached them, spear held with two hands ready for use.
“You can’t? You can’t! We are helpless.” They all said in their defence.
“Well if you were special or knew something perhaps we won’t. The girls are escorted by Judge Knights for example.” offered Dione.
“Don’t look at them fools.” Shield bashed already starred eyes wide open, confirmed by wounded shoulder as he also looked at Dione wondering.
Charis returned and at Dione’s signal knew there was some success, so spoke quietly to her first.
“Well we don’t seem to need you anymore and since we don’t know what to do with you, I suggest we lock you in the cage and leave you to fend for yourselves.” Astera moves to the female relative and starts to help her stand.
She looks around in panic, trying to resist Astera’s attempts at picking her up.
“You can’t do that, we will die.”
“You did the same to Dione and the girl we just released was barely fed.”
“But she was a thief! We intended to keep her alive but those watching her must have died.”
“Why girls being escorted by Judge Knights?”
The female relative baulked, her jaw lowering slightly, reacting to the question.
“We don’t know.” she whispered in reply.
“Well we don’t know either, continue to take her to the cage.” Astera displayed her budding strength and hauled her to her feet against her wishes. Then Astera let her escape from her grasp and she dropped back to the ground, on her wounded shoulder and she yelped in pain.
“Astera, what happened?” Charis opened her arms and opened her hands in some false wonder, “Dione help Astera take that one instead,” pointing at shield bashed, “to the cage first, that way if he is dropped he won’t hurt any wound.”
The female relative looked up at Charis, eyes pleading. If she could, she would have held her wound, because she knew it was seeping blood again.
When Astera and Dione returned, Charis asked them to take wounded shoulder away to see if the girl needed to take out some revenge before he was added to the cage.
“You can’t do that?” Charis almost laughed at her shocked face, “She could kill him?”
“Are you going to stand if I help you?” The female relative nodded.
They both walked to the relative with his head crushed and Charis tied his legs with a rope and used the horse to drag the body to join the other. The first one to die was already on the pyre as they needed to face him down so the stolen eye couldn’t be easily seen. Charis noticed the female relative blanch at the crushed skull of her relative, so she wasn’t that used to death.
“Do you wish me to crush your skull instead of locking you in a cage?”
The other woman stopped and looked at Charis wondering, who was this young whelp? Otonia joined them then and she wondered what this meant as this other one didn’t seem friendly at all, in fact she held no sympathy in her eyes.
---
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The female relative wasn’t greeted by Otonia; she felt herself being pushed back by her, tripping backwards to land hard, almost knocking the wind from her lungs. She stared up wildly at the two women that now controlled her fate. Then they crouched down on either side of her head. One inspected her bandage and let her know the bleeding had stopped. The other, the one that pushed her, carefully swept her hair away from her face and actually looked upon her kindly now.
They talked sweetly to her now, they could be friends and they could help each other. Three women to take on the world; her relatives working outside the villages and towns, while the warrior-sisters working from within. Plus they could all be friends.
---
Charis and Otonia used their bronze loops like before and they did gain her friendship but whatever secrets this woman between their feet was protecting she wouldn’t share them, even with her new friends.
It interested her that some could resist the bronze loops, but it was frustrating that their friend didn’t tell them everything, so perhaps some time spent with them would make the difference.
Using stored wood from the cabin, they built a pyre and set all the bodies to fire. Looking into the fire Charis remembered the Lady in White and one of her many predictions she shared.
How could she be right? Even riding at break neck speed, if Charis was skilled enough to not fall off her horse she would not be able to return to Bearwatch by the middle of the day. She would miss the ceremony of the Lady. This grieved her but then the Lady predicted as much so she reconciled with the impossible.
She released the one from the cage; the other was already being cared for. The released one, the wounded one and the female relative were fed then. The girl was not happy about the kidnappers’ change of circumstance, while the boys just kept well away from them. The ropes binding their feet released to allow them to ride, their hands would be tied to the pommel of the saddle once mounted.
As they were mounting up one of the teenagers walked slightly different, shielding one side of his body. Astera, ever watchful grabbed him by his shoulder and turned him to face her, dagger in her hand, not threatening but prepared. There were tears in his eyes and the other teenager was running over when Astera noticed a small blood stain between his legs.
“Are you wounded boy?” asked Astera.
“That ain’t no boy you stupid bitch. It is another bitch like you! Another bitch to serve and entertain her betters, another to” and that is as much as he spoke as a spear point appeared in his mouth via the back of his head.
“I couldn’t listen to his hate speech any longer.” answered Otonia. There was a loud scream of joy and cheering from behind Otonia from the girl.
Wounded shoulder then ran for the cabin, only stopping when one of Otonia’s knives sprouted from the back of his head falling face forward instantly dead.
With the distraction the woman relative held a knife to the throat of the girl who was distracted cheering at another one of them being slain.
“I thought we were friends?” said Charis.
“I think I was somehow confused there, we are commanded by someone more powerful than you can imagine.”
“Oh I can imagine a lot!”
“He is magnificent, our choice from many offers as they knew we are special and could help them …” She slurred the last word wondering what was happening. Then she couldn’t stop closing her eyes and felt her body collapse, dropping the knife on the way down.
The girl grabbed the knife and drove it through the woman’s eye. Raising the bloodied knife in triumph and turning to look at them all waiting for their blessing.
“What is done; is done. I am concerned though we are killing too many, too often, too easily without regret.” said Charis turning away from the slaughter as she couldn't believe how fast three captives turned into three deaths.
“Plus it was a waste of ointment, we didn’t use enough in their food it seems.” said Astera.
Their bodies were added to the pyre after their eyes were secretly claimed by Charis. While the girl was being supported by Otonia, the two boys or were they girls were consoling each other wondering what was going to happen next.
“We will ask you two some more questions later. For now I want to be away from the pyre and as close to the village as the remaining daylight will allow. Mount up we leave immediately.” commanded Charis.
They made their way along the stream, each able to ride a horse, with three spare horses tethered behind the three new girls to leave the warrior-sisters free if they encountered any trouble. The three horses were loaded with much booty from the cabin, including weapons and armour, which fortunately for Charis the relatives weren’t wearing. They found the trail to the village. As they continued along the trail and approached the village there was no issue with arriving at dusk and losing their way. The village green was being honoured by the biggest pyre in the village’s history.
Charis immediately realised this was the pyre for the Lady in White. They were burning her as a protest against the dark. Very few wished to be burnt at night as you wanted your soul to rise towards the sky and see the sun to join Judge. At night, the sun only glimpsed and twinkled through the dark curtain, there was no other light to guide your soul so only the most brave and holy would select this option. This was a special blessing to give heart to your friends and the people you didn’t get to meet while you were alive; it was a challenge against the dark.
Otonia nudged her horse closer to Charis after many heartbeats of waiting.
“We must go Charis, we have three who we have to question and determine what needs to be done with them.”
“Yes, my homage is done.” she replied quietly.
She turned her horse away from the pyre and towards the cottage. Charis decided that although they would be cramped they needed to keep a close eye on them all.
As they piled into the cottage the elder couldn’t believe what was happening.
“You all won’t fit!” she protested.
Charis realised the truth of it and she needed to better organise the sleeping arrangements.
“Dione and Otonia, please check the Inn to see if they have a couple of rooms available for the night?”
“You, your name?” asked Charis.
“I am Thyia and I need to kill more of those animals. Teach me to fight and I will be forever grateful. I can ride a horse and before I was taken by those animals I was loved by my family and was learning the tailor’s trade in Northreach. My family would believe me dead since I was taken from Judge Knights. I don’t want to be a victim.” She was almost frothing at mouth, there was certainly spittle and Charis was wondering how she wouldn’t be killed in her first combat.
“Why were you being escorted by Judge Knights?”
“My father hired them. I was to be safely escorted to Parium, to be married. There was nothing arranged, I was to join the court if I could, see who I could ensnare to help build my father’s business. But I feel I would rather kill evil bastards.”
“Astera see if we have a room at the Inn please. Take Thyia there, so she can recover from today’s ordeal. Ask Dione to share a room with her tonight and then return with Otonia.”
To her credit she didn’t object so maybe there was some hope thought Charis.
“You two, names?” asked Charis
They looked at each other, seeing who would go first and finally one spoke.
“I am Alcmene and my sister is Clymene.”
“You are sisters? Yes there is sameness; the baldness provides enough of a difference to make someone looking at you doubt. With a mother each that helps with the illusion.”
“We are twins, we have for twelve years been trained as Seers of Saph. Our ‘mothers’ weren’t our mothers. They were halves or singles; they lost their twin to death and were doing menial tasks in the name of Saph. They convinced us to run, to live a proper life. Our skill as Seers was poor; yet they still persisted with our training and we were still to be allocated to a Temple to be glorified or a life prison if, like us you were disillusioned. We must tell you the Seers will be looking for us.”
“Did the Lady in White recognise you as Seers?”
“I am not certain if she did. What was said to our mothers is now lost.” answered Clymene.
“If you are to survive you will need to train and learn weapons, wear armour, live rough, be uncomfortable, kill or be killed, see blood, see guts. Are you prepared to face that and succeed? I can also give you some coin and send you on your way?”
Alcmene and Clymene looked at each other and then looked back to Charis.
“We will stay. We promise to work and train until we prove worthy.” answered the both of them, in sync and in one voice. Charis was briefly surprised and quickly covered the reaction.
“You must swear an oath of service to me. This will bind us to each other do you wish to so swear?”
“We, Alcmene and Clymene swear to serve Charis as our Mistress and bind our lives to hers. This we swear to Saph who we honour still, although we will no longer step inside her Temple.”
“I accept your fealty to me and I promise in return to value your life and protect it as much as possible to the limits of my power and ability. Further I will never ask you to do anything that would dishonour you or me.” Charis then reached out and hugged each of them.
“Why didn’t you ask the same from Thyia?” asked Alcmene.
“I don’t think she has fully recovered from her capture, she is still affected and needs to heal. I need to give her time to do that, if it is possible. You may have observed Dione also suffered similar treatment so I am hopeful that she may assist in her recovery. When a person swears fealty to me they must do so fully aware of what they are committing to.”
Astera and Otonia entered the cottage and looked at the three of them.
“Sisters, please welcome Alcmene and Clymene to the warrior-sisterhood. They will need a lot of training and equipping, so we need to turn all the booty we have collected so far to coin and see them outfitted. For now please take them with you and you can sleep four in a second room. I need to stay here with the elder as we have much to discuss.”
“Yes Mistress it will be done.” replied Astera. Otonia was about to protest, but challenging your leader, was she, leader? Otonia asked herself? In any case a challenge in front of new followers was never good so she just bit the inside of her lip and waited for Astera to take them away.
With that, only three left the cottage. All that remained were Otonia, Charis and a smiling elder.
“Charis why did you swear them to fealty, we do not know them, they are complete strangers to us.” asked Otonia.
“I know our bond is different and it is our shared experiences and love that bind us. I know you have a difficulty in accepting me as leader, but I accepted the burden on a certain trail when we were talking to a certain Magistrate. I accepted it for right or for wrong, I don’t know yet, as I admit I have made mistakes, but my purpose is to not see any with me die if I can help it, even if it costs me my life.”
Charis paused as emotion was welling up inside her. Otonia was special to her, her first new friend; her lover and the first she saved from certain death to for fill her own oath to herself. Otonia couldn’t help herself and embraced Charis.
“I will call you Mistress to set a good example, but know that I consider you friend and lover above that, always.” sobbed Otonia.
“I know; I feel the same, but as leader or Mistress as I seem to be I have made this decision. They are Seers of Saph, even if poor ones and the Lady in White asked me to look after them, not them specifically, just the next two I met. I didn’t think much of it because I thought they were boys and when would I ever meet a pair of Seers that would what to join with me!” smiled Charis relieved somehow by sharing this secret.
“Do you actually have a plan Mistress?”
“Would you think less of me if I said no? My first plan was to make a three and then it was four and I was wondering if it would go back to three, but it seems we are now six and it would be nice to be seven. Beyond that, I still hope to take us all to the city, me to study magic and others to excel where they can. But I don’t think that is a plan, but after talking to the Lady in White I feel guided somehow, but I can’t explain it.”
“Well that was probably a long answer to my short question. I thank you for many things, this is just one more. I better follow Astera, otherwise she may interrogate me!” she replied eyes smiling.
Watching Otonia leave Charis felt a little happier and then the elder slapped her lightly on the shoulder.
“Enough of that, you have a purpose now, learn magic, kill the strangers, find those that control them and kill them also. For now, the eyes, what do you have?”
Charis then retrieved the eyes she collected from the dead that day and passed them reverently to the elder. It seemed appropriate for the elder to borrow Charis’ magic to cast the Borrow Spell.
Each attempt failed. The pairs of eyes recovered were not the ingredient the spell required. As each pair failed they were thrown into the fire of the stove. All that remained was the single eye from one of the two kidnappers.
“There was such hope in me and now it is lost.”
“Charis you still have hope, it could simply mean that the ones the eyes were taken from didn’t have the ability to see in the dark, so the sight was no different to yours or mine.”
“So, do we use this eye to test the spell or do we save it?”
“We use the eye to test the spell. I think one eye would only affect one of our eyes, although it could affect none. We don’t know.”
“You or I?” asked Charis.
“I will cast it on myself, if it affects only one eye and leads to difficulty seeing then you can guide me, but if it affected you, your leadership would be difficult, especially with Thyia, she will not be pleased when she learns of the other two swearing to serve you and she not being offered the same.”
“Agreed, let us see what we have.” Although the logic made sense, she needed this to work and experience it.
The elder followed the words and gestures and held the eye in her right hand, while borrowing magic from Charis.
The affect was immediate.
“Oh this is different. My right eye can see by a light coming in from the window. Where the wall blocks it, the sight is reduced but still useful.”
“Go outside.” suggested Charis.
They went outside and the elder smiled widely as she was seeing everything, although in shades of grey, it allowed her to move with confidence in the dark.
“All the outside is in shades of grey. I have to cover my ordinary eye otherwise it tries to see and confuses my sight. I can move without bumping into anything and if both eyes were the same you could easily fight. It is wonderful!”
“I wonder how long it will last?” asked Charis. This was more to herself than asking a real question.
“I will try to stay awake tonight as long as I can and glance out of the peep hole in my roof to see if I can still see in the dark!”
“I will try to go to sleep and prepare for the new sisters.” replied Charis.