Helice nibbled on Charis’ ear to welcome her to a new day. “Mistress?” she murmured.
Charis urged herself awake from a restless sleep, falling deeply in the later half the night and wishing to continue her slumber. Charis rolled her body and ear away from her assailant. A couple of heartbeats later Helice snapped Charis’ sheet away from her grip leaving her huddled in her underclothe.
“Do I need to summon Clymene to assist?”
Charis rolled back and splattered her arms wide while lying on her back, blinking her eyes open.
“I slept poorly last night Helice, please allow me another bell of sleep,” whined Charis.
“Will I ask Clymene to send Astera to you, so she can deputise for you while you … recover?”
Charis raised her head from the pillow, her face inquisitive. Could this happen, is this possible? Then she propped herself up in her bed and enjoyed observing Helice readying herself.
“I can hear your mind Mistress, your thoughts are straying, and I can’t believe you have the energy for your plan,” said Helice. Warmth flooded Helice’s face, a ruddy colour on fair cheeks.
Charis’ mind snapped shut, slightly embarrassed her desires escaped.
“Better Mistress,” acknowledged Helice, buckling on her hard-boiled leather breastplate.
As she finished buckling her leather vambraces she glimpsed Charis, propped upon the bed, frowning.
“Mistress I am sure Astera will command in your absence,” Helice stressed, reaching for her leather greaves.
Charis narrowed her eyes, to hide from her own response.
“Wouldn’t the sisters think less of me?”
Helice advance on the bed and plonked herself beside Charis.
“Astera will carry out your will, never doubt. The sisters love you, never doubt.”
---
The residents of the House broke their fast, Clymene and Niobe preparing and serving their meals. Dirce and Drosis armed and armoured escorted Thais and Alexa to the Master Carpenter and Niobe to the Master Leatherworker. The twins would deliver a request to the Master Carpenter from Astera to attend to repair works in the House. The Master Leatherworker fitted Niobe’s breastplate, while Dirce and Drosis waited and together they returned to the House, so she and they could train safely.
---
The Master Carpenter arrived at the House mid-morning, Astera blindfolded her and showed her the hole in the ceiling and mentioned the holes in the roof, which also required repair. She would return in the afternoon with some materials and would require assistance from the sisters to repair the ceiling. By late afternoon the roof was repaired with Astera and Thyia’s support. The hole in the ceiling also repaired and strengthened, although the rest of the ceiling would remain the same for now. Astera thanked the Master Carpenter for personally attending to the repairs and compensated her generously with coin to Ismene’s dismay.
Astera assembled the warrior-sisters and initiates in the Training Room after the evening meal for a special announcement and on que Charis entered, fully armoured, cloak and pin on display striding towards the gathering.
All low chatter stopped, eyes lowered and/or heads bowed before she spoke. Charis eyed those gathered trying to catch each of them and acknowledge their attendance with a smile or a nod.
“Niobe, if you wish to accept our invitation to join the warrior-sisters step forward and remove your clothes, shed your past and embrace your future, swear your oath of loyalty to me and your warrior sisters,” Charis announced, in a bold confident voice.
Niobe paced slowly and nervously towards Charis, even though her seer sisters prepared her. Helice mind whispered to her to reassure her. Casting off her clothes, until naked in front of a large audience, a new sensation for her, although surviving whole and healthy from her slashing fortified her. Kyra and Nysa flashed admiring smiles and winks, Niobe emboldened by their show of support.
She considered herself blessed, capable of walking now and others able to appreciate her without scars. Niobe stepped forward until before Charis, head bowed unclothed displaying her fair skin and long black hair flowing down the middle of her back, wisps brushing the fair fleshy curves of her buttocks.
“I swear to serve Charis as my Mistress and bind my life to hers. I swear to be loyal to her and my warrior-sisters until my death. I swear to keep this oath and never break it under pain of death.”
Helice and Clymene stepped forward dressed her in under cloth, felt, warrior-sister armour, cloak and pin. Charis then placed a hand on each of Niobe’s shoulders.
“Please take a knee,” and as Niobe complied, Charis continued, “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. Stand Warrior-sister Niobe and be welcomed and honoured.”
Hugged and kissed by her seer-sisters first and then the rest of the warrior-sisters and finally the Initiates her joy increasing with each embrace. Witnessing Niobe raised encouraged the Initiates, showing them, they too could be so honoured. Finally, Charis passed her a note and assigned her a mission to deposit the note in a certain tree.
---
Alcmene shared in the celebration from the Inn in Oxrest. Dione decided they may as well travel there first to determine if any female bodies, younger rather than older were available for substitution and usable in the pyre. Some discrete enquires revealed no one needed burning properly in Oxrest as they always tended to their own.
Dione tried to convince the village to adopt the ancient method of burning the dead and made it known she would pay the costs. This story, the best she could invent that wouldn’t place them under any suspicion. While bordering on religious fervour, the pending Death Season could explain their fanatism to anyone questioning or suspicious.
+++
The next morning after breaking their fast Dirce and Drosis escorted Thais and Alexa to the Master Carpenter.
Niobe approached Ismene and Agape in her warrior sister armour. Both gawked. Niobe’s appearance intimidating and exhilarating as they were still trying to appreciate, Niobe the warrior sister.
“Ismene and Agape, we have an errand to complete. To the Stable and saddle up please, including a horse for me.”
“Yes, Sister Niobe,” they replied, after some delay, still getting used to their newly raised warrior sister.
Dirce and Drosis escorted Niobe, Ismene and Agape to the farm without incident. Niobe established a Seer link with Helice and Clymene and commenced dagger training, including Ismene and Agape. Both Initiates surprised with her teaching instinct and skill.
Niobe didn’t read the note, her task restricted to delivery. Charis hoped the correspondence, while cryptic would be interpreted by her assassin sisters.
You can trust your words to the Goddess.
Where there were seven, there are now five.
---
Dione, Alcmene and Zoe rode out of Oxrest after breaking their fast at the Inn. They headed to the Spur hoping to cross and come upon Farstay on the other side. The Goblins concerned Dione, although since the Goblins collapsed their cave entrance they should remain contained for at least a few months more.
Dione turned in her saddle as a yelling followed them at a run. The yelling belonged to a young skinny child, perhaps ten or twelve years.
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Her youthful high voice, puffing between words. “Thank you for halting Mistress. I have heard you will pay coin, so the dead can be burnt instead of the burial. Is that true?”
“Yes, we wish for the old ways to return,” Dione answered.
“My parents have sent me. My Aunt has been kicked in the head by a mule. She isn’t dead but is brainless and will soon die. My parents would want her to be burnt when she dies as they love her and wish to see her soul rise.” Her words steady.
“We could return when she dies,” offered Dione.
“No, please take her now, she won’t be much trouble as she just sits and drools. My parents can lend you our donkey to carry her until her death.”
“Go fetch your Aunt and tell your parents we will purchase the donkey for thirty coins as we don’t want to be bound to return as soon as your Aunt dies.”
“I will tell them, I will return by mid-morning, thank you again Mistress.” Off she ran.
Dione calculated they would lose some significant time, then again, if anyone enquired, a live body on the back of a donkey, easier to explain than a dead body. They rode back to the village at an amble as they choose a comfortable wait in the Inn instead of anywhere else.
The extra wait didn’t result in any other offer of bodies, although the young girl did return when she promised entering the Inn searching and quickly finding Dione in the otherwise empty Inn. The girl bolted from the Inn and retuned trailing a mule. Dione waiting at the Inn’s doorway, assumed the staring drooling female adult on the donkey, the Aunt. She also noted the girl holding her; the Aunt unable to ride without assistance.
“Tell your parents we will have to rope her to the donkey, her last days very uncomfortable. Is that acceptable?”
“You can tell them yourself as they wanted to meet you and thank you for your kindness,” said the young girl as she waved to an outside corner of the Inn.
They were typical farmers, dressed in well worn, plain functional clothes, dirt under their cracked fingernails on callused hands and shoes that could have seen better days. The humble couple shuffled towards Dione, Alcmene and Zoe.
The farmer doffed his hat in salute; made of rabbit skin and easily his newest piece of clothing, although well worn.
“We heard of your offer to burn the dead and then your offer to purchase the donkey. Death Season is upon us and we worry about our daughter,” he nodded towards his last surviving child, “as you can see she is a bright and lively thing and we don’t know if she will survive with us.”
Dione held up her hand to try and stop the farmer’s next words. He continued, ignoring her.
“Would you care for her, take her? She can help you with her Aunty and then follow you on the donkey. Please Mistress, we beg of you.” Mother and Father then dropped to their knees the father twisting his hat between nervous hands.
Dione received a nod from Alcmene. Charis knew this may happen close to Death Season. Alcmene lent towards Dione’s ear, they needed to explain to the parents their path isn’t a safe one and their daughter could die from violence the next day.
“Better to die quick then starve Mistress, we lost two younger children last Death Season,” they replied.
“Well girl, for better or worse you are with us, care for your Aunt and make sure she doesn’t fall. While we wish to burn her, we don’t wish to kill her sooner than her body determines.”
The girl quickly hugged her parents and climbed up on the donkey. She didn’t carry any bed roll or extra clothes with her. Dione kept silent not wishing to embarrass her. They rode out of the village and by late afternoon were well into the foothills of the Spur.
+++
The next night came and went with the Daughters breaking their fast depending upon where they were and what company they kept.
The girl drooled as she feasted on the chunk of bread and thumb sized block of cheese proffered to her to eat and her smile between tearing bites a reward for Dione. Zoe amazed the skin and bone child crouched over her food survived for twelve years, then she remembered Jocasta and realised children everywhere always jousted with death and now understood the child’s parent’s solution. Gift their child to strangers and possibly, she would survive another Death Season. Zoe appreciated even more the extended family tribe she grew up with and the security of food and skills it offered after witnessing the starving girl scoff down her meal.
---
Niobe made admirable use of her warrior-sister status and shared herself with Helice and Clymene in the Seer’s Room to strengthen her Seer bond with them.
Jocasta spread the rumour. Charis, nowhere to be seen for days, discussion and conjecture rapidly spread. Everyone aware of the truth of course, Charis the Young, Mistress of the Daughters of the Duchess, disguised, secretly departed Hillperch on a secret mission for the Duchess. Personally, requested apparently. How else would you explain her disappearance!
The rumour gathered a fire of its own, an inferno of gossip. A minstrel took up residence in front of the Knight’s Rest Inn earning coin singing his lament.
Charis the Young,
Has gone say some,
Mission of danger,
For the Duchess’s favour
Skulduggery or peaking,
Escorting that needs sneaking,
None knows indeed,
Will she truly succeed,
Charis the Young,
Mistress of the Daughters,
Daughters of the Duchess,
Warrior sister one.
Mid-morning, two days later, Jocasta carried a note to the missing Charis, now confined to her room.
We are now the Team, we are being guided, a broken knife is being fixed.
Charis commanded Niobe to stay at the farm over the next few days as messages may need exchanging at the tree. Helice and Clymene continued her dagger training using their Seer link, including Ismene and Agape.
The House settled into a routine of training, protection and guarding. Charis concerned about Dione and if she could find three suitable bodies. Constant updates from Alcmene though took the edge from her concern. Confined to her room, Charis found time to train and more importantly time to revisit her trunk at the foot of her bed and the special treasures within it. The town recognised Astera as the acting Mistress of the Daughters of the Duchess during Charis' absence.
---
Dione and party crested the Spur at dusk, satisfied with the day’s travel considering the Aunt on the donkey slowed them down. They were also rewarded by the view, finally able to gaze out over a different valley sprawling below them, highlighted by the red orange glow of a sinking sun.
Zoe would dismount the Aunty off the donkey at the end of the day and feed her water by dripping it into her mouth. She also tried to soak bread and encourage it to slide down, which wasn’t as successful. Then in the morning the Aunty seated and tied back on the donkey and the young girl placed behind her to embrace and balance her using some rope before they started riding for the day.
They re-occupied an old camp site of their own. Zoe inspected the site and claimed it was at least six months old, therefore the location still belonged to them. It overlooked the Goblin cave entrance and provided an excellent view of the village of the Farstay. Dione decided the young girl could remain hidden at the camp since no one else knew about it. The hobbled donkey would care for itself and with her Aunt off the donkey she could care for herself.
Dione, Alcmene and Zoe rode to the village and declared their interest in burning the dead instead of burying the dead. They didn’t cause much of a fuss as the villagers were too busy trying to gather food to survive Death Season. The village gravedigger did offer a body already buried for a small amount of coin. Dione couldn’t ask any details accepting it as is. When they inspected the body, they concluded it belonged to a young mother, who died in child birth. The child was buried beside her and being strangers to the village who picked this place to die, no one cared if they were carried off or not.
Dione wrapped the bodies separately in a sheet each for this purpose. The earth was hardening as the cold was being invited in by Death Season, thus it took some effort to recover them. They weren’t too decomposed, still the cloth held the corpses together, both ends tied off, preventing any loss while they carried the bodies on their horses, back to camp. Dione ordered the others to ride directly to camp while she swung by to check the Goblin Cave to ensure the collapsed entrance remained undisturbed, which she confirmed to her relief.
They still set up watch shifts, with Dione and Alcmene taking the late night and early morning shifts utilising their borrow gems to see in the dark. They broke their fast early as Dione contemplated galloping along the foot of the Spur to make reasonable time while not being on the trail. Several farms backed onto the Spur, with crops already harvested and gathered hence their fields cleared and hardening from the cold.
Some farm cottages remained within eye sight, while others were too distant. Dione constantly scanning for an ideal camp site, which would enabled them to spy on the trail. She declared camp before dusk and with the remaining daylight continued the search while Zoe and Alcmene set up.
+++
Dione conferred with Charis to make sure she wasn’t searching for an ambush site, more of an observation site. In the morning she settled on their present camp site. While away from farm cottages it still provided a view of the trail. The single flaw to this location, if for reasons beyond anyone’s control the assassins followed off the trail on the southern side they could remain unobserved. To solve this Dione asked Charis for more sisters.
While the day was young she rode hard with Alcmene and Zoe to Maplethorn and asked about bodies to be burnt. After the previous couple of villages, the request sounded natural and sincere to those being asked and this time three bodies were offered. Dione paid a small amount of coin to each family, which was unexpected and welcomed. Each body was excavated and wrapped. One was a skeleton of unknown sex. The next was still fleshy and female of indeterminate age, although the family told her she was no older than thirty years and the final body was a large male recently buried, which was problematic, given his size and weight.
They needed to act quickly regardless as they needed to ride back to camp before dusk. In the end Alcmene rode out by herself as they couldn’t leave the young girl alone. The skeleton and the fleshy female were roped over Zoe’s horse, while the large male was roped over Dione’s stallion. They were well away from the village when they rode past a fallen tree. Dione rode back and dumped the large male near it and asked Zoe to dump the skeleton as well. They prepared a pyre from the tree and it was dusk by the time they finished consequently they camped near it.
Dione hoped Alcmene made the distance to their camp to keep the young girl company before nightfall. She convinced herself not to worry as Alcmene was an expert rider. Alcmene upon reaching camp advised Charis by contacting Clymene she and the young girl were now separated from Dione and Zoe although nothing could be done about it now.
Niobe, Ismene and Agape were dispatched to travel through the Gap and find Dione’s camp with haste the same morning Dione left for Maplethorn. They needed to call by the tree and leave a note first. They stayed on the trail to Oxrest and rode off the trail before dusk to setup camp well away from prying eyes. Niobe excited and nervous leading a three, checking in with Helice and Clymene often for reassurance.