The twins flicked their eyelids, and Alexa spoke. “Let’s start at the start. Thais and I aren’t Temple-trained Seers. Our Sisters in this very House taught us, so we know them somewhat intimately. Our former lives as undiscovered twins had always been one of looking over our shoulders and never trusting anything which looked too good to be true. We spent most of Death Season with an, in the main, grumpy old lady who tried to rediscover her family’s Hedge Mage magic with some hard-earnt success while trying to teach us at the same time.”
Lysisa turned her attention to Thais when she suddenly continued.
“Her ancestors wrote the spells in her Spell Book, assuming you already knew how to cast them. There existed a tradition in her family of a mother teaching daughter, so the spell book is almost useless at teaching you a spell from nothing, the beginning. Therefore, any new spell needed to be tested and tested again, never believing what the magic offered until thoroughly investigated. You can say some of the old lady’s ways rubbed off on us, reinforcing our already healthy distrust of anything too good to be true.”
“The loyalty of my evil servant, too good to be true,” Lysisa said with finality. After a moment, she rushed another question at the twins. “Why did the Seers participate and want it to be true?”
“You already know the answer, don’t you?” suggested Thais.
Lysisa’s face screwed up slightly, so Thais obliged with an explanation.
“Seers have been unable to give and receive intimate affection all their lives, and then they find out not only they can, but to increase Seer skills they have to.”
Thais paused for a moment to allow Lysisa thinking time, wondering if the Seer was truly slow or pretending.
“All Seers understand the consequences of sexual male contact, proven and a given. Then Temple rules and taboos over the centuries concerning female contact ensured other opportunities for intimate touching and affection in a Seer’s life were unacceptable. Next, you uncover an amazing, mind-blowing, shall we say, sexing way. Add an absolute orgasmic innocence, which you release to your partner instead of self-gratification. The training of a new Seer is always a special reward and coupled with your technique, shall we say, a heady mix and they want more, so they tell themselves it is safe, convince themselves. We also suspect an Adept Seer can only progress further by consuming the releases from Apprentice Seers, hence why Clymene and Alcmene attended to you immediately after Niobe.”
Lysisa opened her mouth to speak, stalled and asked anyway. “Why didn’t you and Alexa speak up?”
“Ah yes, well, we certainly joined the conversation. Unfortunately, Alexa and I aren’t Temple Trained Seers, and our opinions aren’t always valued. Spending most of our time in the elder’s cottage tinkering with Hedge Mage magic when we aren’t melding stone doesn’t help, of course. Take, for example, the question of granting you Items. We didn’t check with Clymene or Alcmene. We asked Astera. We apologise for these next words … you were our experiment, and the Seers took advantage when they could realise a benefit.”
Lysisa’s head spun, an experiment, desperate Seers needing to sex and Charis. “How will Charis’ return make a difference?”
Alexa smiled and tapped her chin with a finger. “Our Mistress’ return, well, for starters, she is wise and normally has most of the answers.” Momentarily holding the same finger up in the air, she continued. “Don’t be fooled, though. In reality, she is just good at listening and hears from everyone and anyone, regardless of any influence, before making a final decision. Also, she doesn’t mind making mistakes if something can be learnt from them, although her speech after the defeat of the evil is a little concerning. Different from the Charis we once knew but waking up after weeks of sleep can explain the change we believe. So, we will wait five or six days to get her thinking back together and see then.”
Lysisa didn’t feel reassured. In fact a little dismayed. “How can you be so calm? How come I can’t hear your thoughts or other Seers for that matter, yet the amount of chatter in the Seer Circle at times overwhelming?”
“Seer Links. You start exploring with the one Seer Link and, in fact, celebrate when you can recreate what you … had with your twin. As your Seer Skill grows, the limitation of one Seer Link is, frankly, a handicap. You need to cast away the sibling-to-sibling thinking of the Temple. You are no longer one half of a pair. You can be one of many. When some discover this, they initially fail to control their discovery. This requires practice, and practice some more when you feel you are done. And we are calm because panic will not change the future, only freeze your ability to react.”
“I thank you both. Can I try …”
Alexa and Thais nodded. Lysisa projected her Seer Link towards, or what she thought was, towards Alexa. After numerous failures, she closed her eyes in frustration.
“The initial head touching head flesh contact reduces the margin of error because you have no positional awareness of your Seer Link. Unfortunately, as a Seer Twin, genetics help to instinctively make a connection, so this ‘skill’ never develops. It explains why two Seers meeting in the street don’t accidentally discover what we have. The other impediment is the taboo against touching within the Temple.”
Pensive Lysisa asked, “Niobe’s Seer Skill huge, most accomplished, when I first Seer Linked with her surely, she could randomly … Link?”
Alex and Thais joyfully laughed, with Lysisa, not at her. “After, um, training with Niobe, your Seer Skill is probably greater now than any of the Seers currently serving in the Temples. The Temple teachings have suppressed the capabilities of Seers, not developed them in our non-Temple trained opinion. The only question to be answered is if this is deliberate or fanatical ignorance.”
A dead weight sunk within Lysisa’s stomach. Her fleeting memories of joy as twins, learning their Seer Skill, happy after months of training with their Seer Skill improvements. Their delight when they could Seer Link across the Temple Courtyard, for example, now something trivial. The striving to please their adopted mother, the Mother Superior possibly a charade. Here in this House is where true Seer Skill … she was about to say being taught, not taught she decided, discovered. Temple teachings didn’t handicap Alex and Thais, so they didn’t accept a prescribed understanding and, therefore, were free to grow in any way and any direction. Thinking she lost her virginity and accepting she would never be a Seer, upon reflection, provided Lysisa with a death of her past. An acceptance of the future as yet unwritten and starkly, initially a bucket of crap. Now though …
Alexa and Thais exchanged glances, deciding Lysisa’s time of self-reflection needed to end. “Do you feel up to talking some more? Following us back to our cabin so we can question you about the Mage blue gem and the Vampire blue gem? You know the interview you promised.”
“Now? What about the Main Cavern Door?”
“Haven’t you realised yet Alexa and I are the help? Your girlfriend and her Goblin Sisters are in charge. They have stone working skills and knowledge. All is set now to put the door together, the pieces are ready, and we can’t do much more. Their strength is obvious, so they don’t need us, and we are wondering when they will call by for Sweetears.”
Lysisa’s face and neck flooded red as Sweetears wrapped her arms around, fondling hands coming to rest upon breasts somehow, followed by a kiss upon the Seer’s neck.
Alexa leant forward, trying to secure Lysisa’s attention due to the ... distraction. “We would like to start while all is still a little fresh in your mind. We know Charis will ask when she arrives. Therefore, any explanations will be less stressful and more accurate if we report our investigation to her instead of you answering her questions directly. What do you say?”
Lysisa turned to kiss Sweetears, opening the stone cabin door and waving the twins outside.
Sweetears held Lysisa back by the hand. “Grow strong, Prettyone,” she whispered, nodding toward the twins. Lysisa did a double take and slowly nodded in reply.
The Apprentice Seer then led the twins to the Elder’s Stone Cabin. The twins had her at instead of you answering her questions.
---
The four riders greeted the dawn on the trail East, a large yellow-orange half-circle sun on the horizon. Dione was outriding as usual, her stallion enjoying the extra activity, trotting out and then galloping back, sometimes staying out for many heartbeats longer than other times. With a quiver full of arrows, courtesy of the Smithy, Zoe scanned for any game while in the saddle, not expecting any this close to the trail and occasionally darting off, hopeful given the change of season.
“Helice, ride ahead when Zoe returns and chat to Dione for a while, please. I need some time with our huntress,” sent Charis.
Helice smirked. “A while is difficult to determine, so please let me know when, by erm, probably Seer Link, yes, Mistress?”
Half a bell passed before Zoe rode back to the trail joining Charis and Helice, complaining about the lack of game. Helice took her leave, trotting ahead to intercept Dione, who was also returning.
“Zoe, I thought we might double time it to Farstay, visit the Priest there and then head over the Spur instead of taking the trail around to Maplethorn. Do you think there will be a problem with the Snow Wolves?”
Zoe shifted in her saddle, throat inexplicitly dry. “Death Season being over, I doubt they would tarry in the nearby Mountains, let alone a little further south on the Spur Mistress.”
“Can you tell me about your encounters with them?”
“Yes, Mistress. The Pack Leader is brilliant and able to understand we don’t mean her and the pack any harm. I believe they could be true allies. They helped during the Walking Dead attack on the Cavern willingly. They pursued the Female Vampire into the Cavern to be captured.”
“Well, over the Spur we go, and on the off chance they’re still about, and you can find any tracks, we will try to follow them.”
“Yes, Mistress.”
Charis needed haste. Instructing Dione to lead off on her stallion, each followed single file. Given their food consisted of hard tack, they stayed in the saddle, the only stoppages taken to water the horses. With each rider equipped with a Borrow Stone and Charis’ vision, they rode well into the night. Then set up camp in the dark with Charis, administering healing to sore bottoms as requested. Charis wished to escape the temptation of taking a trail to Clayvale and locate the family of a certain young man, his death still haunting her. The first overnight camp was short of the first turnoff. On the second day, Charis steeled herself and rode past each turnoff to Clayvale. Once well passed the last, she made camp, giving up at least a bell of night riding, which none questioned appreciating the extra sleep.
Her Sisters found out why the next day. As early morning they galloped past the Stockade, Helice relieved perhaps more than Charis to avoid the fanatics within. Before dusk on the third day, the cottages and low wall of Farstay greeted them.
Charis called a halt at the ‘border’ of Farstay, dismounting and stepping slowly towards her first real test after her cleansing. She maintained the imagined reality to an extreme to ensure the Vampire harvested and drained all possible evil sources of power. While reasonably sure the Vampire consumed all the evil residue to feed herself, the Village Priest’s circle of protection around Farstay provided the only true test without raising a hue and cry. Crossing this imaginary line would confirm that the evil that previously polluted her was now washed clean.
Charis’ head checked side to side at the village ‘gate’ as her boot slid forward. Encountering no resistance, Charis took a complete step past the ‘border’, again with no rejection. She dropped to her haunches, hands on her face to cover the tears welling up, the relief overwhelming and unexpected. The clopping of horse hooves alerted her. She hastily wiped her eyes and stood.
Helice handed the horse reins to her Mistress. “Mount up, Mistress, I believe we have business with a certain Village Priest, and I am certain he awaits us with an unnatural keenness.”
As Charis mounted, Dione and Zoe trotted past.
Eyebrows raised. “Where did you send them?”
“I took a liberty asking my Sisters to ride ahead and check the stables and prepare for our arrival,” answered Helice.
Charis shifted in her saddle, squeezing the leather of her reins. “Why would you ask them?”
“You seemed to be having a moment. I tried a Seer Link, and your mind, Mistress, unfortunately, closed tighter than one of Zoe’s knots.”
Through gritted teeth, Charis asked, “Are you ‘looking’ after me?”
Helice chuckled. “No, Mistress. I will if you wish me to. Call this allowing you to have free time to consider the end to a beautiful day of riding in the countryside.”
Charis pointed her finger at the smiling Seer. “You are looking after me.”
Helice shook her head. “No, I’m not, and I have to tell you, I would know if I were.”
Helice spurred her horse to a trot and, after several moments, reined her horse to a stop, shouting over her shoulder, “Hurry up, Mistress.” She then spurred her horse to chase after Dione and Zoe leaving Charis oscillating between fuming and baffled.
“Helice …”
“If it makes you feel better, then believe I am handling you. So, given that, get your bottom to the stable so we can partake in a meaningful discussion with the Village Priest in who we placed our trust.”
“Partake? Where did you find that word?”
Helice’s laughter echoed across their Seer Link. At the same time, Charis spurred her horse into a reckless gallop to join her Sisters at the Stables. Her moment indeed passed, leaving a glowing ember of wrath in the belly to partake in a meaningful discussion. And Helice did look after her, she decided.
---
While surprised by the four female riders this early in the season, the Stable Hand accepted the business gladly. He drew each mount to a stall and provisioned feed and water while he began the grooming. The owners marched off in the direction of the church, one with a determined tilt to her head, he noted, wondering if the reclusive Priest would endure.
“Zoe, would you check the Inn and ensure we have rooms when finished here? Order meals also. We shouldn’t be too long.”
“Yes, Mistress.” Zoe looked to Dione as she left with a quizzical face. Dione shrugged.
Charis bashed the closed church door with the butt of her dagger and waited. Dione thought the Mistress a little impatient, pausing only a few heartbeats before Charis struck the door again, this time much louder.
Shuffling and footfalls, then the definite clunking of the crossbar and, like magic, the Church Door opened.
A small juvenile face cautiously looked out.
“It is late to visit the Church of Judge. Please come back in the morning.”
Sensing his intention, Charis had already placed a boot inside the doorframe before the door could be closed. As the boy looked up, Charis pushed the door open wider and forced the small defender of the church into retreat.
“Wait, you can’t just …”
Charis’ right hand clasped his jaw, and the shock silenced him.
“Go fetch your Priest boy and be quick, I haven’t much time, and then we won’t bother him again.” She then released the boy’s jaw, and he scampered off in a mild panic.
Charis placed her weapons by the doorframe, Helice and Dione following suit.
“Not you, Helice. Stay at the door, fully armed and ready. And Dione, your rope isn’t a weapon, so pick it up and follow.”
“Yes, Mistress.”
Charis and Dione strode to the back of the church, a body length away from the Main Alter. The church was still without a ceiling. In Charis’ opinion, the exposed beams lent a sense of strength and beauty to the building.
The Priest appeared, leaning against the doorframe of a doorway behind the Alter. His hair was wild, eyes rimmed by redness with dark bags under them. As he staggered closer, Charis instinctively took a step back, holding her palm out. He reeked of sweat and body odour. He continued his advance, face perplexed, mind churning for several heartbeats while blinking several times, trying to focus his eyes upon his visitor. Charis noticed him mentally squeak like a mouse, his head in retreat while his body continued forward following its last order.
Charis shook her head. “You are ill-kept and in poor health, Priest.”
“Miss Charis, yes … I have been busy studying.” And then, staring at Charis wide-eyed, he remembered why. “To cleanse you of evil, yes, you have an evil taint, and now I believe I can help. Yes, I am sure.”
“Perhaps not, as I am standing before you. Am I not?” replied Charis dryly.
He stood perplexed, his face going through several contorted expressions as he tried to reconcile the reasons for his study against the problem of Charis standing before him. The show finally ended when his hands grabbed at his greasy hair while looking directly at Charis.
“We are here to collect the Holy Books of Judge we lent you as we require them, and your failed research is now at an end.”
His jaw dropped and quickly recovered to enable him to jibber. “No, you can’t. There is much I have yet to study. You gave them to me. There was never any mention of returning them. You can’t have them.”
His head nodded curtly in affirmation, his mind clarifying as the real threat to remove the source of his future knowledge finally dawned upon him.
Charis circled him, inspecting. “You don’t seem to be honouring this gift. Are you treating your faithful the same way you treat yourself?”
“Time, I don’t have enough time. There is much to learn, so very much. I can’t waste time on my appearance. My flock know of my devotion to them. They understand.” He clasped shaking hands before his mouth in some sort of plea.
His flock probably ignored him and the Church during Death Season, thought Charis as she spied the boy spying on them from an almost closed doorway.
“Come here, boy,” demanded Charis, finger pointing to a piece of the floor before her.
He cautiously opened the door wider and looked at his Priest. His Priest didn’t pay anyone or anything any attention, deep in thought, lips moving, and yet none could hear his speech. The boy edged closer to the spot, although still well out of reach of Charis, his jaw reminding him why.
“I thought you were responsible for the Priest’s health and wellbeing. You have failed, boy.”
“He doesn’t listen to me, so it’s not my fault.” Tears streamed down, leaving trails upon his dirty cheeks.
“I will listen. The boy’s words will be my mantra. I promise.” The Priest babbled, grasping at the possible chance.
Charis leant against the Alter. “Do you have a Novice or an Acolyte that would benefit from your teachings?”
“What? Why?” Throwing his arms up, questioning.
Charis again catches the Priest off balance.
“This is what is going to happen. You will listen to the boy. You will recruit a Novice or Acolyte to train in your teachings.” Pointing to her pin. “If any of my Daughters visit, you will allow them into your church, and if they request, they will be permitted to view the Holy Books.”
“Yes, yes, anything, just leave the Holy Books.”
Charis folded her arms. “Well, yes and no. Boy, go fetch the first book.”
The Priest’s jaw dropped, and he couldn’t decide between stopping the boy or grabbing Charis to plead his case. His body was trying to move in two directions simultaneously and going nowhere.
“We will return every so often to return the book we have taken. Then take another in its place. If at any time we visit you look anything like you look now, we will take all the books.”
His face drooped, moisture gathering around his eyes. “I need them all. They form a complete knowledge, and there is always a need to refer to other volumes. A missing book will stop my learning.”
Charis smiled, and half raised a fist. “Perfect. You can use that time to devote to your faithful and reflect upon what you have learnt.”
The Priest’s face went white, drained of blood, aghast and defeated simultaneously. Then he suddenly bowed his head, quickly flowing up with another, rapidly nodding, bobbing his head, and trying to grasp Charis by the hand.
“As you say, I am honoured to be able to study them.”
Charis eyed him intently. “Priest, I warn you now, if you and the Holy Books go missing, I will make it my holy duty to hunt you down.”
His eyes opened wide like saucers, and he swallowed. The boy returning broke the Priest’s trembling, his eyes glued to the disappearing Holy Book as the boy handed the tome to Dione, at Charis’ direction. The Priest extended his arms toward the book, half brave and half afraid, his pain of loss evident.
The Priest winced, fingers scraping his face as Dione packed the book into her backpack and then swung the backpack onto her shoulder. At a flick of Charis’ wrist, Dione left her side and calmly walked to join Helice.
The Priest’s eyes were still fixated on his loss, moving further away and not until Charis called to him a third time did he look at her.
“We will return any time, so don’t fail yourself and your faithful. With good sleep comes good work. Take it from someone who knows.”
The Priest didn’t get it. All he knew for sure was his set wasn’t complete, so he wasn’t complete.
The boy handed the Priest a warm bowl of soup, prepared many bells ago, although ready and waiting upon the stove just in case. Charis looked on with some satisfaction and then left the church, followed by Dione and Helice.
Hands crossed behind her back, Charis strolled into the dark of the night, heading towards the Inn. Helice, a step behind, chuckled and shook her head. Charis cocked an ear without commenting. Dione stared at both, trying to figure out their relationship, concluding their time away drew them together beyond the excepted normal for lovers, friends or bodyguards. Although their physical appearance differed, observing them together, Dione concluded they could easily be mistaken for a genuine Seer Twin pair.
Dione’s heart wept a little. A massive black stallion was her only trusted companion, and yet since the chase of the Dark Priest, only her actions after to save her Sisters possibly averted any recriminations. Perhaps the joy of finding Charis alive overshadowed … the need for difficult conversations, for example, little things like riding away with the chests without permission and, as far as she could tell, ignored so far. Charis issued commands to her and Zoe while conversing with Helice. The relationship difference is vast, whereas before, Charis avoided treating any Daughters of the Duchess unequally.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Hurrying to catch up, Dione shivered a little now, Charis’ ‘dealing’ with the Village Priest incredibly terse and to the point, ordering the man to adopt a new lifestyle and rearrange his household! Why did she trust him to do so?
“Mistress, won’t the Priest run with the remaining Holy Books?”
Charis didn’t pause or look back, Dione noted.
“No. The Priest is a collector. As much as he thirsts for knowledge, he will always want the missing one. He will distract himself with thoughts of how to get it back, and if it is true that all are needed at once to learn from, perhaps during those times when he can’t, he will return to a balance.”
Dione pushed another question at Charis. “What if he does turn to violence, though?”
Charis’ sigh was audible. “We are always prepared to defend ourselves, but I hope it doesn’t come to that. Before being revealed as evil, I retained my senses and mind, allowing weeks of self-reflection. You can’t do it alone when you are responsible for many people’s lives. It would be best to gather good, tested, and true people around you and trust them to be responsible for some of those people. The Priest needs to grow some trusted helpers and take some time to stay healthy. Otherwise, he won’t wake up one morning or be like me, easily dominated by evil.”
Dione’s hands shook. She needed to place one within the other to steady both. The words good tested, and true people reverberated through her. She would need to retell the pursuit of the Dark Priest favourably and highlight her sisterly service once being chased rather than chasing.
Charis pushed passed the Inn Door striding into the Inn, spotting the only customer, a lonely Zoe, at a table with a pot of something in the middle, surrounded by four trenchers and idly twirling a dagger. Zoe nodded and began serving, the table empty of general conversation or even orders from Charis and after eating, by silent general agreement, the four stood and retired quietly to the single room Zoe secured. The only contents are two sets of double bunks and, on a table, a sizeable water-filled clay bowl. Charis shrugged and grabbed a low bunk while Helice climbed into the bunk directly above her. Zoe chose low; Dione left with the top bunk above her.
“Mistress, you know you haven’t spoken to either, and they have noticed,” sent Helice to Charis.
“The time for conversation isn’t far away, and I am saving my vocal cords.”
+++
Each Sister checked their equipment, packing saddle bags and backpacks in the morning as separate pairs, the room divided by an invisible line. Zoe tried to quip about the gruel being the leftover from the previous night served in the same pot, which died after Dione’s agreement and, in the end, the only conversation. A leftover bracing chill from Death Season escorted the four to the stables. Charis was pleased when their readied horses appeared well cared for as instructed. The stable hand receiving an extra payment in recognition, smiling broadly, he nevertheless kept them under his gaze until they exited the Western Gate and only then relaxed. The silent tension palpable, he wondered if the resolution would require bloodletting.
Once clear of the village ‘gate’, the four Sisters mounted, led out by Dione, backtracking, heading for the Lonely Keep until Charis whistled and pointed. Dione left the trail, pushing through a freshly flowering field, climbing a gentle slope until she rode across a game trail leading further into the foothills of The Spur. Charis slowed, her memory returning to the field of months ago, a lonely, scared girl desperately scrambling to stay alive, apologising for being alive given the recent death of her new companion. Dione guided them North following the game trail, and even after cresting The Spur, they didn’t break for a mid-day meal. The riders continued North until the challenge increased tenfold due to climbing into the Mountains proper, at which point Charis called a halt, satisfied, and prepared their camp for the night a bell before dusk.
“Zoe set a trap line to the North, and I will set one up to the South. Dione, groom the horses. Helice, find a hidden place to overwatch the camp.”
Charis’ orders are the only words spoken. Even Helice cautioned to silence once Charis chastised her with raised eyebrows.
Zoe and Dione passed each other occasional looks, concerned that their Mistress wasn’t the same as before. Separately they wished for Seer Skill to talk over her odd behaviour with another and, as a minimum, warn those waiting in the House. Frustrated, they couldn’t chat between themselves without making the whispered talk obvious.
Charis spoke again to set the night watch order; Dione, Helice, Zoe and Charis and fortunately, the night passed without incident, although Dione and Zoe noted Charis separated them. When Charis relieved her, Zoe didn’t return to sleep, venturing out to check her trap lines and rewarded with two catches, ensuring their next meal would be freshly cooked rabbit. She considered staying out to check her remaining traps, deciding to return and talk out whatever Charis believed was worth the silent treatment. Zoe didn’t bother sneaking back into camp as she wanted Charis to notice her return and acknowledge her presence, if not existence.
Charis heard Zoe approach the camp well before she could spot the huntress, therefore a warning of sorts. There was ample time to calm her thoughts and review the questions she had already worked through during their several days of riding while Seer Linked along the way to cross-check perceptions and hopefully reveal facts. Zoe held up her catch and began preparing the first, Charis helping herself to the second one, knife in hand, beginning the familiar and relaxing task.
“What have I done wrong, Mistress? You talk to me only to issue orders. Otherwise, I am ignored.”
Charis replied in a steady and controlled voice, “Should I trust someone who breaks their oath to me? Who, when asked, doesn’t tell the whole truth?”
“I …” Zoe’s hands stilled, knife poised in one, rabbit carcass in the other.
“You can’t defend the truth of my questions?”
Head bowed, eyes squeezed shut, Zoe mumbled, “I am under another oath.”
“How important to me is honouring an oath Warrior Sister Zoe, Daughter of Charis? Any oath.”
Zoe shifted her eyes from the bloodied rabbit to the calm frozen expression on Charis’ face and, for the first time, sensed real fear needing to tighten her loins to hold her water on the verge of release. The hand on her knife gripped tighter, knuckles white while her body was coiled, ready to spring into action.
“Do you wish to renounce your oath to me and follow another? If that is the case, I bare you no ill will and would wish you well.”
The second question asked so soon after the first confused Zoe, both regarding oaths, although in her mind, the offer to renounce her oath to Charis was repugnant and yet, perhaps at the same time, suggesting Zoe was no longer welcome.
Weakly, in a high-pitched voice, Zoe said, “I … am not sure what you are saying … Mistress.”
“I am being open and plain. You either honour your oaths or ask to be released from them before you break them.”
Cold hard neutrality decorated Charis’ face. Zoe placed her knife beside the now bleeding first rabbit, not entirely trusting herself, only noticing then Charis held no knife, both hands busy disembowelling the second rabbit while talking of oaths, no emotion or empathy. Zoe finally sensed the seriousness of the discussion, not a threat of conflict, the days of silent treatment having built up an unhealthy dose of paranoia. Charis simply, after an answer, what did Zoe want?
“I would hold my oath to you, Mistress, always.”
Charis pounced with her question. “What can you tell me about saving your Sisters from several packs of Snow Wolves as reported to me by your oath-sworn Sisters?”
Zoe’s eyes studied a trickle of blood flowing from the rabbit’s carcass. “As I explained to my Sisters, the Pack Leader accepted us as allies.”
“So, did the Pack Leader understand your words, or do you understand the howls of wolves now?”
“I … just had a sense …” Zoe squeezed her bladder tight, and a trickle escaped.
“You see how you can’t answer? You say you hold your oath to me, and when tested, I get hesitation and no real answer. Therefore, naturally, I wonder where you stand.”
“I am faithful to my oath, Mistress. I always will be.”
“In the miracle of everyone being saved, no one thought to ask how, so now I ask, and I sense some details are missing, and those details are yours to tell. Or not?”
“I cannot, Mistress. I am under another oath.” The trickle of rabbit blood stopped flowing, Zoe noted.
“I wonder how you can give an oath to a Pack Leader. They tell me you are scarred, show me, Sister.”
Zoe was as trapped and dead as the rabbit at her feet. To refuse a command from her Mistress, a simple one unworthy to break your oath for, only raised suspicion. To agree, to reveal would invite more questions. Her eyes teared. Zoe slowly unlaced her armour and then her leather shirt, gradually revealing her chest. Charis noted the reluctance, her disappointment growing. The claw scars bright red welts running from breast to breast across a picturesque valley of light freckles.
“I can heal those if you wish.”
Zoe closed her shirt quickly and then realised her mistake with eyes the size of saucers.
A sad inflection to her voice, Charis asked, “You treasure and wish to retain them, so perhaps your oath to the Pack Leader holds the greater value?”
“No, Mistress, you misunderstand.”
Charis raised an eyebrow, and Zoe faltered.
“I … am caught between two oaths, Mistress. I am sorry, I don’t know what you want. I can’t break one oath and don’t want to break the other oath. I request you release me from my oath to you as I have no other choice while I am before you, unable as I am to answer your questions.”
Be brave, Charis told herself, follow through, and maintain an inner calm when you desire nothing less.
“Finally, a decision, and I am glad the deliberation painstaking indicating how important each oath is to you. I accept your choice, although I still wonder how you can give an oath to an animal, which can’t speak and is so binding you feel the need to ask for release from your longer standing oath to me and your Sisters.”
“This isn’t how it should be. I don’t wish to leave you, Mistress.” Zoe openly sobbed, realising her fate decided under rising dawn, a bright new day, uncaring about the decisions of humans and their consequences.
“Warrior Sister Zoe, daughter of Charis, I am honoured by the service you have given me, and I hope I have fulfilled my obligation to you. I hereby accept, with no ill will and in fact only wishing the best for your future wherever it takes you, your request …”
“No, Mistress!” A shouting plea interrupted Zoe’s oath release.
Charis looked over her shoulder, Dione red-faced, hands upon her shaking head, messing up its tangled hair.
Raising an eyebrow, Charis plainly explained. “I am honouring your Sister’s request. She feels the conflict between two oaths and has made a decision. I am saddened, to be truthful, but I respect her choice.”
Dione marched forward, fisted hands at her sides. “You are being cruel by making her choose. Leave it be, leave it as a mystery. In all other things, you know Zoe will honour her oath to you as well as I do.”
“When she finds herself in conflict with the other oath, what then?”
“I …”
“So, Dione, even you can’t answer. I hope you see the situation this places me in. I need to trust those who swear an oath to me completely. Anything less, and there will be ifs and buts. So, no, a single oath, all or nothing, but I’m not cruel. I just need to make sure a deliberate choice is made, and I believe Zoe has reached that point now. Although I think I should dispense with words in the future and just scar future Daughters as such wounding makes for a stronger oath.”
“Not stronger, Mistress, just equal, and I have no way out,” pleaded Zoe, hitching her chest while sobbing.
Dione embraced Zoe and, with piercing red-rimmed eyes, stared at Charis.
“If Zoe is to be released from her oath, then I wish to be released also.”
Charis didn’t consider the possibility of one joining the other. She believed Dione was selfish enough to require her interrogation. Therefore, Charis needed to adapt her questions quickly.
“I would hold none to me who don’t wish to be, but before I release you, I just need to ask you some questions while you continue to honour your oath to me, if acceptable?”
Dione knitted her eyebrows together briefly before curtly nodding the once.
“You pursued the Dark Priest until almost your death and the death of the Sisters who followed you, including the one you currently embrace. In fact, you wished to follow immediately and almost disobeyed the command of your Mistress not to do so. Why?”
Dione straightened her posture before answering. “We didn’t die, which is plain to see, and we managed to rescue you, so it ended well.”
Charis forced a broad smile upon her lips. “Chance and luck certainly favoured you, which you needed, given the lack of planning, failing to consider and heed wise council, consider other options, lack of concern for your life, your Sister’s lives, need I go on. Your Mistress didn’t order you back. Why not, do you think?”
“She …” Charis looked at Dione over her eyebrows. “Ahem … Mistress Astera supported our pursuit. There was no question about that.” Dione nodded to herself, confident of her position.
“What would have been your answer if your Mistress ordered you back?”
Dione snapped back. “She didn’t.”
“But if she did!” Charis raised her voice a little, although enough.
Dione became momentarily confounded. What of their history? The Ladies Three? They all lived to tell the tale and fight another day. As an embodiment of evil, the Dark Priest needed to be destroyed. We expended every effort to ensure his death. Same as the, she Vampire which Charis destroyed. Same as the, she Vampire, she repeated in her mind.
“I still would have chased. We were so close, you weren’t there, and neither was Mistress Astera. We really were that close, and I saw the Dark Priest on multiple occasions, and we must slay evil.”
“No, Dione, you were close, putting your Sisters in danger with each passing day, and if your Mistress ordered you to return and you didn’t, you would be named oath breakers. Your Mistress sensed you wouldn’t heed her command and didn’t want you to fail that test because an oath breaker would have been difficult to return from, whereas the living can mourn the dead. I much prefer Zoe’s choice where she is asking to be released before she needs to cross a line of no return.”
Zoe subtly separated from Dione while still maintaining their embrace until Dione stepped forward, waving her hands at Charis. “But you would still be lost if we weren’t out there. We wouldn’t even be having this conversation.”
“How did you know your chase would end with the finding of me?”
Dione folded her arms. “We or I didn’t, but it still ended that way, so good fortune.”
“Do you think the Goblins rescued you because they needed you, their only possible opportunity to return me so their leader could fulfil his self-imposed oath? If not for you, I am sure he would’ve cared for me longer and found another way to deliver me. I am certain of this because he could have slaughtered Helice, Raisa and me at any time, and no one would have known. I agree my return is the sole reason we are talking now because, without the Goblin rescue, your Sisters certainly would have died in a crumbling cottage, while you would have had to make a difficult choice between death or dishonour.”
Charis finished preparing the second rabbit and, without missing a beat, placed the stretched-out dressed flesh over the now blazing campfire lit at the beginning of her watch and now larger than really required. She then rescued Zoe’s half-dressed rabbit from the leafy ground and proceeded to continue the preparation from where Zoe left off, knife in hand.
“Morning Sisters, why the long faces? From the bit I overheard, it sounds like we made some mistakes, so perhaps we can learn from them,” Helice said, the cheer in her voice not overly appreciated by at least two in the audience.
“Mistress doesn’t seem to think so,” Dione groused.
“Do you believe your pursuit and how you conducted it still the correct way to do such a thing considering you can now recall the ordeal only because, against all odds, you were all just plain lucky to survive? There is nothing you would have done differently, nothing to learn?”
“Always Mistress,” replied Dione quietly.
“Perhaps it would be useful to discuss this with Mistress Astera? Also, with the Sisters who accompanied you. I suspect they followed you because, along with Otonia, we were the Ladies Three, so they assumed you would be in command.”
“Yes, Mistress.”
Charis knew as Mistress, she and Astera needed to learn from this folly, in particular appointing a mission or quest leader. To mention this now would give Dione a false sense of shared blame when she needed to take full ownership and grow.
“Mistress, I don’t wish to be released from my oath,” said Zoe, her heart beating rapidly, uncertain if Charis would accept.
Charis reached over, turned the second rabbit on the fire, and then recommenced preparing the first one. Helice decided that she should at least check the camp’s perimeter as they could be surprised by a troop of cavalry given the intense depth of conversation occurring.
“So, how do you intend to honour both oaths?”
“I was able to rescue my Sisters and ask for help from the Snow Wolves because we could communicate. I cannot tell you how because of my clawed oath, but I sensed they wish to be true allies with us if they can be sure of our intentions.”
“Well then …” Charis glanced at them all in turn, including Helice, still busy preparing to leave. “Let’s eat?”
Dione exchanged glances with Zoe while Helice shrugged and casually reached forward using her knife to cut a portion off the second, now first cooked rabbit. Charis, for her part, placed the first rabbit, soon to be a second cooked rabbit, over the campfire. She then stood and stretched.
“I will check my trap line now and see if I can get lucky with my special bait.”
“You need me to accompany you, Mistress?” Helice asked.
Charis waved her back and continued her walk away from the camp, the rising morning sun lighting the way. Dione and Zoe paid the most attention, waiting until sure.
“What is your part in this, Helice? What is going on?” Dione asked.
“We all thought about where we were, although don’t ask me where we really were. A place of sunshine and forest, every day a pleasant day, truly magical. In the end, though, we were a burden and expelled. The Elven Lord apologised but there wasn’t much of a discussion. The next thing I remember, travelling in the back of a wagon. I couldn’t contact Charis or Raisa using our Seer Link, although I didn’t become too alarmed as we couldn’t Seer Link when in the Elven Forest either.”
Helice paused while she nibbled on another slice of warm juicy rabbit.
Dione touched Helice’s arm lightly. “So, Charis and Raisa weren’t awake even when they were first placed in the Inn?”
“Neither, therefore, I needed to formulate a plan with little guidance from them. Alcmene and Clymene contacted me, celebrating our newly recruited Apprentice Seer and how she tamed an evil Vampire Spirit and we would be using its evil presence to revive Charis and Raisa out of their trances and I needed to maintain the illusion I slept as well. The Apprentice Seer would advise her Vampire Spirit accordingly. I didn’t need to contact Charis. Her view has always been, evil is evil and needs to be destroyed so I needed to plan a trap to achieve that. The instructions you received from Rhea were actually from me.”
“So, while you planned for the evil’s destruction, you ignored the Seer’s plan to recapture the evil after serving to wake Charis and Raisa only because you knew Charis would want the evil destroyed,” gasped Zoe.
“My analysis wasn’t sidetracked, shall we say, by self-interest. With the aid of her loyal Vampire spirit, our Apprentice Seer became well accomplished in the pleasuring of Seer Sisters, which they wished to preserve if possible. After all, they could always destroy the gem as an ultimate fail-safe.”
“Yes, we heard the rumours,” Dione said.
“I needed to predict Charis’ actions and reactions given I couldn’t contact and inform her of the plan. The weakening of the Vampire Spirit plan, the same as weakening the Mage, was the first precaution, requiring the separation of the gem from the Apprentice Seer and then checking for the spirit’s return each time between chests. We thought its separation from the gem would cause it to flee back. Instead, the spirit continued forward, regardless of the risks to itself. So Charis needed to harness all the magic of the Seer Circle to defeat it, which Clymene prepared beforehand as another precaution.”
“Surely the Seers could harness its power?” asked Zoe.
“Evil is evil, Charis would never have permitted it. If you remember, the Mistress was tainted by evil, so she will not tolerate it under any conditions or guarantee. She has been … affected by the experience and is, if anything else, more determined and protective now than ever before, so perhaps you are seeing that change in her now.”
Zoe looked at Dione, turned to Helice to ask a question, and stopped, turning back to eating. Dione distracted herself by turning the now cooked second rabbit to prevent it from burning to a crisp.
“Zoe, the Mistress, holds all oaths binding, so if you gave an oath to another, she is more than happy for you to honour it as long as you can still tell her the truth within its limits. So, she needed to be sure you told all you could of your encounter with the Snow Wolf Pack Leader. Even as I listened, I found it difficult to believe that a wolf, even a Snow wolf, would be able to bind you to an oath, and you would obtain a sense they wished to be allies. Something is missing. The ‘missing’ is the issue.”
“Thank you, Helice. I see now the folly of my answers and Mistress only tried to extract what I could reveal without breaking my other oath,” said Zoe.
“Your confession is over it seems.” Dione flashed a look at Zoe, who returned a relieved smile. “I need to talk to Mistress Astera and apologise to many, including you, but I will do so in front of all I have wronged if you can suffer the delay?”
“Certainly Sister, such a thing goes without saying between trusted Sisters.”
---
Charis located the start of her trap line; the first couple of traps were still set and empty. The third was more interesting, sprung, yet empty. Charis smiled; she concluded they must have been watching her set them. The fourth and fifth are the same as the third. Three rabbits were stolen, and she was now left empty-handed. How will she feed everyone? Charis smiled some more, proof the Pack Leader valued Zoe for a reason yet to be discerned, good enough to serve as bait when according to all, the Winter Wolves should be long gone into the Mountains by now. Charis scouted the sixth trap like she did the previous five, downwind and from an unexpected direction. Satisfied with her discovery, Charis approached the sixth trap from the direction of the fifth trap, although stealthily as befitting any stories they may have heard about her. Hands-on her hips, she shook her head, inspecting the sprung and empty sixth trap, fussing around, waiting patiently.
“You are an accomplished trapper Mistress Charis, so thank you for the morning meal.”
Charis turned slowly in the direction of the voice. She took a breath. A mature, although superbly athletic female stood several body lengths away. The torso wrapped in a large, tanned, finished black bear skin was equally impressive.
“I have been looking forward to this meeting. It seems we have an enemy in common, which you and yours have assisted with already. I do appreciate your help, so thank you.”
“Firstly, I need to mention your attack on little wolf.”
Charis smiled at the naming, an assumed ownership right. Charis, of course, adopted something similar, if by accident, well before the Daughters were chartered. A new name symbolised a new beginning and an assumption of importance by choosing ancient names. An illusion backed up with an appropriate standard of dress. In the case of the Daughters, this typically meant weapons and armour supported by a comfortable level of wealth. This naming, though, is possessive and endearing.
“Why do you smile, she is my oath sworn as much yours,” said the Wolf Pack Leader somewhat perplexed.
“While I acknowledge the strength of your oath upon her, I assume she would never be able to keep up with a wolf pack, which makes me wonder how you do, although I don’t expect you to tell me. I am sure Zoe knows why, which is the reason you swore her to an oath.”
“You …”
“I consider the information I have as much as the information I don’t or can’t be told about.”
The Pack Leader wondered how someone so young would come up with that way of thinking.
“Can I ask that the two with you reveal themselves or at least have the courtesy to move from behind me?”
“Zoe did say you were a hunter long before you were a Mistress.” She snapped her fingers.
“It helps that you aren’t in your natural form.” Charis took an educated guess. Zoe was able to talk to the Pack Leader, which suggests language, but a human wouldn’t be able to run with a wolf pack. So the Pack Leader needed to be a wolf, even though a human stood before her. Charis observed a confirmation of sorts as the Pack Leader’s face quickly recovered from its surprise. Of course, the other option is a human who rode a large enough wolf, which, given the lack of nearby wolves and the absolute command displayed by the woman in front, is highly unlikely.
“Careful Mistress Charis too much guessing will give you a false conclusion.”
“I am young. I can afford to guess a little wrong as I don’t know much of the world and most underestimate me. I have met an Elf Lord, and now I have met a Snow Wolf Pack Leader. It seems to me they would like to help, but only if it suits their purposes. I sense that the damsel in distress soon after my Sisters were threatened with harm by the Wolf Pack, probably a little too convenient. So, I would rather you tell me you would like one in your pack to accompany us. It could be known only between you and me to start, but eventually, I would need to reveal it to all my Sisters as I don’t like secrets much.”
“You speak very plain. I am surprised by your openness and wonder why?”
“As I said, I am young, and youth are always in a hurry, keen to get as much as possible done, so I would rather say what is on my mind if in good company.”
“Interesting, our first meeting, and you consider me good company. I’m flattered.”
“I am largely relying upon Zoe’s assessment, but I have seen nothing yet to have me doubt her. I acknowledge you need to be sure about any future ally or at least friend and would welcome any appraisal. If we aren’t a match, then that is useful as well. It doesn’t mean we automatically become enemies, at least not to me. It just means our ways of achieving our outcomes often differ too much. Although there is nothing to say, we can’t find some common ground occasionally. The Elf Lord is probably my friendly acquaintance if you want an existing comparison, and we seem to help each other.” Charis couldn’t help but finish with a smile.
“Yes, the Elves are a purposeful race if single-minded about that purpose. I have never heard of one take an interest in a non-elf, though.”
To help build trust, Charis demonstrated the answer. She pulled back her hair to reveal her silver jewellery topped decapitated ears, which produced a knowing nod from the Pack Leader.
“I must correct my assessment then.”
“He acknowledges the lineage, but I suspect it means very little to him.”
“Yes, only twenty-one true Elven Lords stalk the world, and those elves of interest to them would need to have blond hair, which you haven’t, although equally unique in colour, might I say. Can I touch it?”
Charis shrugged, “Sure.”
Although the Pack Leader had already begun her approach before waiting for the answer.
Charis would have been unsure of the Pack Leader’s reaction if Charis had withheld permission. What did alarm Charis, though, the two until then stand-offish companions boldly stepped forward to do the same. They were younger or appeared younger; some facial similarity with the Pack Leader, perhaps daughters to possibly different fathers?
“Is all your hair this colour?” asked one of the ‘wolf daughters’.
Charis thought the question strange, but what harm could come from answering?
“Yes, all of my hair. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”
“It just is.” the ‘wolf daughter’ replied, revealing her pure white loins by sweeping a bear skin, similar to her mother’s, away from the usually private area. The three strolled around Charis, touching her hair and running their fingers along her cheek. Eventually, they stopped and stood back, observing Charis.
“My daughter will return with you. She will report to me her observations if that is acceptable.”
“She will need to swear an oath to me before my Sisters.”
The ‘wolf daughter’ quickly looked at her mother for some sort of retort. Instead, her mother indulged in thought, considering Charis’ request.
“If this assists with your consideration, as with Zoe, any conflict between the oaths just needs to be declared as soon as possible. But I don’t see any issue from now on as I won’t ask any question of you and yours to test your oath to me. I can’t see any other situation where it could be an issue.”
“Yes, my daughter will swear an oath to you Mistress Charis, and in our way, it will be a blood oath to bind both parties. Be warned. It doesn’t allow her life to be thrown away as she is precious to me.”
“The oath my Sisters swear to me is not one-sided, so all will be well, I am certain.”
“I will trust you on this.”
“There is the question of attire and hair colour, especially hair colour. It would draw a crowd by itself …” Charis paused as the white turned to deep dark black.
“I trust peasant black will be suitable?”
“Yes, certainly,” stammered Charis, who looked at the Pack Leader.
“We have certain secrets, like you do, for example, your Seers. We witnessed several of them ‘arriving’ to rescue Zoe and her Sisters from the wolf pack. Do you care to explain?”
“Not immediately, but your daughter will find out shortly in any case. I just can’t have her know more than she should before she joins. Otherwise, my Sisters, several in particular, will know by her reaction or, in this case, lack of reaction.”
“I am good at acting,” confessed the wolf daughter.
“I will bare that in mind for the future, but there is no need to test this ability when the truth is revealed soon enough.”
“I agree, daughter.”
Her daughter pouted slightly in disappointment but otherwise held any thoughts on the matter to herself.
“I am wondering about clothes now. When do you wish to be revealed, with me now or sometime in the future?”
The daughter dropped the bear skin, revealing an athletic body, pale yellow complexion, pouting a little, disappointed perhaps since Charis didn’t fixate upon her. The daughters were hovering around the edges, slipping in and out of shadow, their physical appearance generally speaking challenging to assess, aided in part by their bear skins which covered them head to toe under an attached hood and long length.
After visiting the forest and securing a bag of sorts, the still-naked wolf daughter sauntered into a ray of sunshine. She then proceeded at a leisurely seductive pace, retrieving one piece of clothing at a time from the bag and slowly dressing—fortunately, the clothing was simple and functional, loin cloth, long pants, shirt and boots. Buying time by feigning interest during the display, Charis formulated a theory she decided to try and confirm.
“What is your story?” Charis asked.
“My story?” questioned the wolf daughter.
“What will you tell people, especially your future Sisters about yourself? Remember you will begin as a Novice until your skills and knowledge are known, and loyalty is proven.”
“I cannot be a Novice! You will know now that I am …”
“Daughter!” growled her mother. She turned to look at her mother and bowed her head.
“I sense you are beyond that, but this is where your acting needs to be demonstrated,” Charis said, trying to soothe her ego.
“You found me lost, I cannot remember my past, and you have taken me in to see if the Daughters of the Duchess has a place for me. How does that sound?”
“Yes, very vague on detail and allows you to remember bits if it suits you. Are you following me now? Does Zoe or any other Sister know your face?”
“Possibly.”
“Well, the story still holds, and as they approach you and quiz you about recognising you elsewhere, you can remember portions as you see fit.”
“Agreed.”
“You ready to leave? I intend to follow the trap line back, see if we have any catches for the mid-day meal, and then I will introduce you to Zoe, Dione and Helice as the first test of your story, their memory and possibly your acting ability.”