Part 2 Chapter 7

CHAPTER 16

 

 

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ertia in fact does know about Bevil’s habit which is why, at every chance, she acts seductive towards him if she needs something from him. This weakens his resolve in a way given his desire for women and also lets him think that she is aware of his secret without her stating it outright which weakens him further. It has a high success rate but not always to the extent she likes: he sometimes controls himself enough to tell only some of what she wants and hold back the rest no matter how much she tries.

  Olraym leaving and Thorne soon after has muddled her plans, but she has not given up. There must be something she can do.

  She leaves the hall after watching her mother through an arch walk what Sertia guesses is a brothel to find Bevil. Thinking on her choices one that she thinks of for only a short time is doing what she knows Thorne did before: hiring the Starlight Cult to kill Thorne. But such a thing might make things worse. They could fail to kill Thorne just as they did Olraym and, success or failure, it might eliminate Thorne as a suspect in the attempt on Olraym.

  No, she has to find a better way, but with Olraym gone it creates the question of his return. Sertia herself doesn’t want to be on the throne, all eyes on her all waiting for her word, her solution. Though she considers herself able to rule she doesn’t like the thought of being in front of everyone doing it. No, better doing it from the side-lines, that way if anything goes wrong they can blame someone else.

  She decides to find Kaila, who is usually in her chambers this early in the day, for a different perspective. Whatever Kaila tells her it may have its uses even if she doesn’t agree with it.  Besides it might be fun to be with her.

  Sertia catcher her just as she leaves her room in the servants quarters. At seeing Sertia Kaila looks both surprised and delighted. She curtseys Sertia and walks to her, Sertia notices that it is done with a slight jaunt in Kaila’s step. While Sertia cannot help but feel aroused by this she has more important things to think about. A look from her tells Kaila this and she stops. The two walk together and Sertia immediately tells Kaila of her worries and what she needs to happen, as well as any backup ideas should the unthinkable happen.

  Kaila gives some ideas most of which have occurred to Sertia before and others which she thinks are out of the question.

  After giving up hope of finding any solution from Kaila Sertia says goodbye and, after giving a kiss, walks away while Kaila turns back. Sertia knows Kaila is disappointed by their time together being cut short and hopes to rectify it soon, but not now.

  Sertia leaves the castle knowing she is being watched leaving by guards at their posts. She pays them no attention, it’s not like anyone will ask them where she is going. Outside the castle, out of the sight of the guards, she follows her mother to the Fair Maiden. Like her mother she doesn’t care who sees her heading to the brothel or who sees her enter. Before coming to the entrance she spots Moira and Bevil exit; Moira looks angry and disgusted a rare combination of emotions on her face even at the worst of times while Bevil walking behind her looks humiliated with himself.

  Once out of sight Sertia walks to the brothel being careful to know where Moira and Bevil are so they don’t by chance turn and see her. Sertia reaches the brothel entrance and walks in much the same way her mother had done earlier.

  When she enters she sees the same bad lighting and colourful furniture as Moira did, but whereas Moira looked at it with disgust Sertia looks at it with delight. She finds all this funny and pleasant. Miantha and her sister Dow are just returning to the office and reception desk respectively and Miantha still has that grin from before with Moira and Bevil, neither of them seems to notice Sertia’s presence which Sertia thinks is because of the bad lighting.

  One of the brothel’s w****s suddenly enters from a door at the far side; one that Sertia guesses leads to the bedrooms. The w***e looks worried as she rushes to the office, the transparent clothing she is wearing does nothing to cover herself, but none of the three women seem to care. The w***e and Miantha talk for a while, though Sertia does not know exactly what is being said, from the way they move she can make a guess. While the w***e seems to be apologizing with all her sincerity for what appears to be multiple times Miantha seems to have enjoyed whatever it is the w***e is sorry about. Sertia guesses that it has something to do with Moira and Bevil and by the way Miantha is laughing it must have been very funny.

  The w***e soon calms down and turns to leave when she finds Sertia standing at the brothel’s entrance. She freezes which alerts the other two, but once they see who it is they both calm down. They obviously know Sertia.

  Miantha tells the w***e to leave which, after another quick look at Sertia, she does through the door at the far side. Miantha laughs and walks out of her office, she stops next to Dow.

  “My Lady,” says Miantha, though her humorous and mocking tone suggests she thinks of Sertia differently that may be allowed, she thinks that she can say anything to her without being humble in any way, “that lovely young lady that just left was Isursa, a favourite of our friend Bevil.”

  This peaks Sertia’s interest and she wants to talk to her, ask her about Bevil. She doesn’t say any of this but Miantha and Dow are aware, still she acts interested but not too much and covers it with shock and concern, none of which the sisters believe.

  “I was wondering if I might speak to her, find out what is going on and try to keep her quiet.” Miantha nods and the three enter the hall through the door. The walk is slower than when it was Moira, Sertia looks into the bedrooms but slows down as she does wanting to get a good look inside. By the time Sertia gets to Isursa’s room the sisters have been waiting for just over a minute but they don’t mind. Inside Isursa is brushing her hair still wearing that same transparent silk, she is facing away from the three so doesn’t see Sertia and the sisters enter much the same way Moira did. A cough from Dow stops her and she looks over to them, at the sight of Sertia she smiles like the sisters did, she knows her too.

  “Lady Sertia, it was you before, I’m sorry I couldn’t see you well in that dark room,” Sertia walks to her and cups her face then kisses her forehead; Isursa closes her eyes to enjoy the pleasure.

  “It’s ok dear, that room is dark,” the two stare into each other’s eyes, “I want you to tell me something.” Isursa becomes both confused and hopeful, “about Mr Bralag.” Her confused is gone instantly and replaced with anxiety, they my know each other but she doesn’t want to get into trouble for whatever reason. Sertia lets go of Isursa’s face.

  “I’m not sure I should.”

  “Oh come now silly girl,” says Miantha as she walks next to Sertia, “just tell Lady Sertia what she wants to know, she may reward you for it,” that last part is said with a hint of amusement and envy. Dow smiles, she seems to have gotten over her fear of Moira’s presence.

  Isursa doesn’t speak for a moment; she considers what to do and what might happen. If she does talk she might get Bevil and possibly Queen Moira in trouble which in turn might get her in trouble, but if she doesn’t Miantha and Dow might throw her out on to the street. She would have no money and no place to go and considering what she is wearing she will most likely be raped and killed within a week.

  After thinking of this she tells Sertia all she knows. She tells her of Bevil’s visits, what he says and what he wants from her, she tells her of today’s visit and of how it ended. She tells her of what Moira wanted and what the two said to each other before they left, which isn’t much but seems to be enough for Sertia. It doesn’t take long even with the interruptions from Miantha and sometimes from Dow.

  After Isursa is finished Miantha’s little promise of a reward is correctly predicted. Sertia leaves half an hour later with a few less gold than when she went in.

 

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Half an hour after losing sight of Harke Olraym and Trugaime begin to slow down. They haven’t said much to each other except when Olraym says to Trugaime they have lost sight of the attacker, or to say they should go off the road one way or another.

  During the day they do nothing but ride onwards through forest roads that split into more that lead to small towns and villages, not saying much to each other, to themselves inside they say more than they thought could be said. They stop for a short time and all four eat what little they can, Olraym didn’t bring much and it has to last long enough for the trip. During the night when they and their horses are too tired to move further they find the nearest place to stay, making sure it is off the path and hidden from sight. Usually it is another cave or the remains of a distant Highlands outpost made from stone and wood that is damp and broken, gone due to either a battle than occurred centuries ago or because of time. Either way they are no longer used by anyone.

  Early on the third day the route they go through takes them along a set of four mountains, small and not too provocative but still nice to look at.  They are mostly green and flat at the bottom, then the further up they go the rockier the mountains become until the very top in which case they are not flat lands at all and they are covered in snow. Bordering the mountains is a river that zigzags around the areas between them. This river, which Olraym and Trugaime are now following, is known to be deep enough in areas to drown even the tallest of men. Some think even a tall man riding a horse will be under the river bed long before crossing. It is for these beliefs and theories (none of which Olraym wishes to test) that the two of them are riding next to the river. It is a longer way but safer in the long run. 

  With this recent attack Olraym realises that what Trugaime said in the dungeon is true, they will never leave him alone. While he knows that what he needs to do will force him to extend his time away from Tov’ra, away from his family, he knows he must try something. He says nothing about his decision to Trugaime, thinking she will never agree to it and may rebel against it. He believes she wouldn’t kill him even when she finds out given what she did when he was attacked by another Cultist but still he doesn’t thinks she is with him completely.

  He has yet to ask how well Trugaime and the other Cultist knows each other. It is obvious they know each other, all Cultists do since they all live together, and everyone knows that. But Olraym just wants to know how well, how strong Trugaime’s relationship with the other Cultist is. They could just be friends but it had looked more than that. He thought they could be lovers, but given their age difference that seems improbable but from the look of them if they were it was a short affair. So he settles on the only other relationship he can think of: family.

  After coming to that conclusion he still doesn’t ask her about it, wanting her to tell him on her own terms in her own time. But still he would like to know, if only to know more about Trugaime herself.

  His new destination may not be exactly where he needs to go but it’s a start and someone there might know where he must go next, although knowing the place as he does it will be for a price. One he might not want to pay.

  After leaving the mountains and its borderline river Olraym turns off a small dirt path onto a thicker, smoother one. Trugaime follows without question a few feet behind but looks confused. She catches up to him and gives him a look. He lets her know he notices her look but says nothing about it. Minutes later Olraym points to wooden sign ahead of them which in turn help Trugaime with her still unanswered questions. The sign is old and a little battered; the post the sign is nailed to is mouldy and discoloured, parts of it in the middle are broken putting the sign at a weird angle. It is almost as if the sign is a warning of what its destination is like, a preview of things to come. And in Olraym’s opinion it could not be more right. Though the sign itself is battered the words on it are, amazingly, still readable even from a good distance, it reads: ‘BURDEN’. 

  It doesn’t take long for Trugaime to go from silent questions to loud ones.

 

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They watch him. Deep within the forests of Divinwood they watch him. They watch him leave Tov’ra with the Cultist woman. They watch him as he is attacked by the other Cultist. They watch him as he rides to Burden.

  The two hooded figures that are giving Olraym his dreams and visions gather around a wide open space in Divinwood along with ten others. They all are wearing similar clothing: a long hooded robe that has different shades and patterns of green, they all seem to be of plant life that surrounds them.

  The space itself is perfectly circular though nothing seems to have been cut down to form this shape. Inside this perfect circle are twelve slabs of rock sticking out of the ground placed in a straight line going from one end to the other. The twelve figures each stands on one of these rocks. They can hear the occasional crunch from outside the circle’s perimeter or sometimes an animal growl but pay it no attention; they know that no one or nothing is going to enter the circle.

  “Is he aware?” says a male voice coming from the one at the far right of the line right against the border. His robe pattern seems to look like vines on a tree and he does seem slightly taller than the others, but other than that he looks indistinguishable from them.

  “Only of what we have shown him, One, nothing more,” says one four spaces away from the first, it is a female voice. It is the one from Olraym’s dreams.

  “Should we give more?” says another female two spaces to the other female’s left.

   “No Seven not yet, only when it is absolutely needed,” says One. The female, Seven, seems to nod in agreement although it is indistinguishable under the hood.

  “His time in Burden will be difficult, it will decide if what we have shown him will come to pass,” says a male figure next to the figure called One.

  “We must wait for him to decide,” says the female figure from Olraym’s dreams. The others seem to agree, then once done they all step off their rocks and leave the circle, going in different directions either alone or in groups of two or three.