An Ode to Uncertainty Ch. 19-20

*

The cold wind tore at Sigrid's clothes. This was the fifth night in a row she spent at the duke's palace. She knew that the duke called it a mansion but if Jarl and Sigrid's place was a mansion, this was definitely a palace. She had to admit that she loved the building with all its twisted towers in their garish marble and gold even though the colors made it difficult to hide against. But she was hoping that went for the wraith as well.

She wouldn't have been here tonight if Irese hadn't had other plans. Then she would more likely be between the wonderful woman's legs tasting her wetness in anticipation of what Irese would do to her later. The compass had been utterly dead for the last week. Not a stirring of the two indicator dials. It still worked as a normal compass, but Sigrid didn't need that.

She drew a deep sigh and pushed the fantasy away. The duke's palace was on the top of Schwabe Hill, just west of Palace Hill. If she imagined she could almost see Jarl's mansion just behind the lower north side of the Imperial Palace. But in reality, the huge block of stone that was the Imperial Palace blocked the view of anything on the east side of Palace Hill.

Hunkering down against the wind Sigrid set in for another long wait. She was just looking down through the window where Mirja and the duke were enjoying each other's bodies once more when she felt the stab at the back of her mind. She blinked. Picked up the device that Master Olgric had given her. It had been dead for the last week. She had gone back to Master Olgric once to make sure that he hadn't tricked her, but he had assured her that it did work. But only occasionally for some reason he didn't understand. Now the two indicator dials were pointing in the same direction. She found north and a looked the dials. West. She looked up. She saw the Imperial Palace. No. Further west.

It can't be.

Fear started rising but she quickly pushed it away.

Fear never serves me, she thought and looked over towards the point where she knew Jarl's mansion was.

It was at least half a bell if she ran now given that she had to take the long way around the outer wall of the imperial palace. She considered her options. And decided. Cracking the window open with one of her knives she dropped down into the room below landing lightly four steps behind a naked Mirja who was riding her duke hard.

"Mirja," she said sharply and took a few steps forward.

The young duke lifted his head and just as Mirja turned around he started shouting.

"Guards! Guards!"

Mirja turned around again towards her lover and put her hand over his mouth.

"Hush. This is my friend. Sigrid."

But the doors were already opening and two guards with swords drawn charged in. Sigrid cursed and drew two daggers.

"Let's all calm down," Mirja said standing up in the soft bed with the duke still lying flat underneath her.

The guards stared at the naked woman in front of them but some of their professionalism remained and they tried keeping an eye on Sigrid at the same time.

"Calm down!" Mirja shouted and got everyone's attention.

Even Sigrid had to admit that some of the tension in her arms disappeared and had she thrown her daggers then, she probably would have missed.

"Sigrid," Mirja said with a scowl. "What in the name of the seventh are you doing barging in like this."

"Jarl is in danger. The−" she stopped herself and then mouthed wraith.

Mirja's eyes widened and she stepped down off the bed and walked up to Sigrid.

"Are you sure?"

Sigrid nodded.

"I need to get there quickly," she said looking at Mirja. "I know that you sometimes move faster than ... what is possible. Can you help me?"

Mirja studied her intently for a few heartbeats, then she nodded and turned towards the bed grabbing a robe that lay discarded on the marble floor.

"What is happening?" the young duke squealed.

Mirja walked up to him and kissed him on the mouth, then she caressed his face.

"Nothing you have to worry about. Now go to sleep and I will be back in no time. All right?"

The duke tried forming words, but nothing came out. Then he nodded.

"Follow me," Mirja said looking back at Sigrid.

They ran out of the duke's palace and out into the wide boulevard that ran down towards Palace Hill. Or rather, Mirja ran barefoot on the cold cobbles and Sigrid walked quickly behind her.

"In ... here," Mirja said breathing heavily walking up to a large unadorned door and knocked.

A moment later a small slot was opened and then the door opened inwards. Sigrid followed Mirja into an incense smelling room. They went up narrow stairways that were where everything seemed covered in purple velvet. Sigrid was about to ask what this place was when she caught a glance of a woman taking a man into her mouth through a slightly open door.

"Here," Mirja said and opened a door in what looked like a regular wall.

The door slid open silently and they both stepped into a pitch-black room. Sigrid could feel the walls on both sides so it couldn't be wide and Mirja was right in front of her.

"Hold my hand tight. I haven't done this before," Mirja said sounding slightly worried.

Sigrid was about to protest when Mirja grabbed her hand hard, fingernails digging into Sigrid's skin. Then there was a jerk and Sigrid had push back bile that rose in her throat. Mirja pushed past her and opened a door letting in blinding light.

"It worked!" Mirja said in exultation. "We're in the Farrowhawk parlor. It's two streets down the hill from Jarl's house. Now go," she said pushing Sigrid out into the light.

Sigrid blinked. It still felt like her guts had been wrenched up her throat and then pushed down again. She stumbled down a velvet clad stair and bumped into several indecently dressed young women on her way out to the street. As the cold night air hit her face, she felt slightly better. Taking two long breaths she stalked forward and five paces later she was running. As she reached the intersection, she had her senses back completely and dashed forward towards Jarl's mansion. Not going for the front gate, she instead turned the street before and with a few quick steps went up along the wall to the second floor where she knew there was always a window open to the maid's chambers.

A startled maid yelped as Sigrid pushed past her out into the hallway. She hesitated for a heartbeat looking down the hallway towards the dining hall, then she turned and sprinted towards the master bedroom. She took the stairs four steps at a time. Her heart beat hard against her chest as she saw the shape of a man laying on the floor. Sigrid drew her longdaggers mid-step and glanced down at the man as she passed him. She stopped and leaned down. He was snoring lightly.

One of the house guards. Strange.

The door to the bedroom was closed. She heard sounds of alarm behind her. Likely the maid had alerted the rest of the house guards to her presence.

Probably better that way.

She held her breath and pushed the door open. The sight that met her was not what she had expected. The princess Else was naked on the bed riding a man that was not Jarl. He was familiar somehow, but Sigrid couldn't place him. She stared at the princess' bouncing breasts for a moment before she collected her thoughts.

The threat is still here. But I was so sure it was Jarl that was threatened.

There was a movement at the corner of her eye. She tensed. And focused on not focusing her vision. A shiver ran through her as she saw the shadowy figure standing at the foot of the bed, not a moment later it turned towards her and Sigrid thought she could see two gleaming eyes.

Twenty

"Guards! Guards!"

The princess' shriek echoed through the huge room. Sigrid tried her best to ignore the naked woman on the bed whose eyes were fixed on her. On her. Stupid woman. The princess clearly didn't see the wraith as it moved slowly towards the big window.

You're not getting away this time, Sigrid thought and dashed across the room.

She focused her vision to one side of the shadowy figure, the more she practiced the better she got at seeing it, now it looked almost like a human wearing a strange billowing translucent cloak. There was something so familiar about the shape that she couldn't pin down. Sigrid reached the window before it did. She wouldn't be able to stop it if it wanted to throw itself through the glass panes. But it stopped and moved towards the door.

Two guards burst into the room with swords drawn. Sigrid decided it was better to take command.

"It is there! Just by the bed! Don't let it get away! Block the door!"

Her voice carried command and both guards looked nervously around the room. The princess had thankfully shut up and was pulling one of the covers up over herself, at least she was smart enough to realize that it was not her that Sigrid was after.

"By the seventh!" one of the guards gasped and grasped his sword hard enough to make his knuckles go white. "What is that?"

He must have seen it.

"A wraith," Sigrid hissed between clenched teeth, slowly stalking forward. "Don't look straight at it. Look just to one side of it."

Four more guards piled into the room.

"You. Block the windows," Sigrid told the first two guards and they quickly complied. "The rest of you block the door."

I've got you now, Sigrid thought, a grin appearing on her lips.

The wraith was moving slowly backwards, into one corner. Sigrid twirled her two longdaggers and stalked closer.

"What's going on here!" the princess shrieked.

Her lover decided that was the moment to tumble down on the floor rolled up in sheets. The wraith moved quickly and Sigrid heard the tip of its blade pass inches from her face. She ducked low and slashed with her right hand. Something caught and ripped.

Just clothes.

The following thirty heartbeats were a blur. Now that Sigrid had the thing cornered it fought like a fiend. She found that when she squinted slightly, she could see the outline better and there was a slight glimmering that was the thing's blade. Sigrid pushed on, blades whirling in front of her. In one step she thrust, then slashed, thrust again. Sheathed one longdagger and let four fingerdaggers fly. There was a grunt and the wraith stumbled. Sigrid grinned and drew her longdagger again, feinted to the right, ducked and thrust. She almost had the thing in the corner now. She feinted high and went low. Up. Up. Down. Slash. Blood pounded in her ears, she had to focus to remember to breathe. Their blades clashed. Sigrid could feel the presence of the guards behind her but ignored them. It was only her and the wraith now. If her sisters could see her now, fighting an invisible creature.

And winning.

The wraith's blade came whirring through the air, Sigrid ducked and thrust with both daggers. She realized half a heartbeat too late that the wraith's blade had changed direction mid-air. She had been too eager. As the shadowy blade connected with her shoulder an ear-shattering scream echoed through her skull. It was a shriek of a thousand years of torture compressed into a single incomprehensible word. Sigrid staggered back and put her hands over her ears. The scream didn't stop. Her shoulder burned like a hundred furnaces. The pain was unbearable and finally her mind gave out and everything went black.

*

There was nothing. Sigrid tried screaming but without air there was no sound. She screamed until she realized that she had no lungs to scream with. Then she stopped and looked around without eyes. Still nothing. She closed eyelids she didn't have and went back to sleep.

*

"I think she's waking up."

Sigrid tried opening her eyes, but this time her eyelids were far too heavy to move. She didn't recognize the woman's voice. There was a pressure on her wrist and Sigrid felt her own pulse as the woman pressed her fingers to her skin.

"Good."

She knew that voice. Master Olgric.

"Leave us, nurse Xandrine."

There was a scurrying of feet and the closing of a door. Sigrid felt the strangely acrid scent of the Master. She hadn't thought of it before, but she realized it had always been there. She had just been so focused on his gaunt face and eyes that she had completely ignored his scent. There was a stinging on her upper arm that quickly went away and then a burning sensation in her veins.

"You can open your eyes now."

Sigrid tried again and this time her body responded to what she told it to do. She looked up at the Master.

"That was a very close call," he said pressing his lips together. "You should be more careful with your body. It is far too valuable to me to die."

She tried talking but her throat was parched.

"Drink this," the Master said proffering a small mug filled with something heavily scented.

He helped her lifting her head and downing the warm, spicy content of the mug.

"Good. Now sleep."

Sigrid tried holding her eyelids open, but they became heavy as lead once more.

"She should be waking up any moment now."

Sigrid recognized the nurse's voice.

"She'd better be. We've been waiting for over a bell now."

Was that Jarl's voice? Sigrid slowly opened her eyes and looked up at the ceiling. It was far above her and gleamed white in the sunlight.

"Ah. See. Be gentle with her now. She will be very tired."

The face of a young woman looked down at her, then disappeared and was replaced with Jarl's face.

"The Master says we should be happy that you're alive. You really should be more careful," Jarl said furrowing his eyebrows.

Sigrid did her best to scowl at him but was fairly certain that she failed miserably.

"Hush. She did what she did to protect you and your unborn child."

Mirja's face appeared next to Jarl's. Over the next quarter of a bell the two of them argued about if Sigrid's course of action had been the right one or not. In the meanwhile, Sigrid got most of her bearings back and was even able to sit up in bed. Her left shoulder was still completely numb and whenever she tried moving her left arm, pain lanced up into her skull.

"Do you know what happened after I fell?" Sigrid croaked.

The two others stopped arguing and looked at her. Mirja sighed and Jarl crossed his arms across his chest. He looked a lot more muscular than he had before. Sigrid was surprised that she hadn't noticed before.

"Six of the house guards died and four more are in bed with injuries. No trace of the culprit."

Jarl's words hit hard.

I failed.

Sigrid's head fell.

"But without you, it could have been even worse," Mirja said, taking Sigrid's hand and slowly running her fingers over the back of it. "And Master Olgric has promised that you will be out of this bed within the week."

Sigrid sighed and lay down.

"You very likely saved Else's life," Jarl said, nodding slowly. "And my unborn child's."

There was a weak smile on his lips, but Sigrid just turned away. She closed her eyes and a while later the two of them left.

*

The Master had been right, and before next Cleansingday Sigrid was out of bed and felt almost completely restored. She guessed that it had a lot to do with the potions that the Master prepared for her each evening. They put her into dreamless sleep for the better part of the night and day.

She was sitting up at a small table eating breakfast that Xandrine had brought her when he entered through the door. He had been visiting her twice a day to take tests, inject or make her ingest something. But this time he was carrying a heavy tome with him that he put down on the table. She drew in his scent, it had become so familiar of the last week, that mix of a hundred strange chemicals and something else, that she had concluded was likely something magical.

"How are you feeling today?"

"Completely restored," Sigrid said honestly. "Can you let me out now? I have to get back to chasing the wraith."

The Master raised an eyebrow.

"And what makes you think that would be a good idea?"

Sigrid was completely unprepared for his words and her mouth opened and closed.

"Given how your last encounter ended, I would suggest you do not go up against that being again, not until you have something that gives you an advantage."

He's right, she thought her shoulders sagging.

She had been so intent on going back out there for a rematch.

"Furthermore. There have been no sightings of the thing since the events at the princes' mansion. I have an acolyte keeping his eyes on the tracking device at all times and nothing."

He shook his head.

It's hiding. I hurt it. I scared it.

There was some satisfaction at that thought and it brought a smile to her lips. Master Olgric stood up and put his hands on her temples. She felt a chill run through her body. He nodded slowly.

"I think you are fully restored. Very good healing properties. Another strong indicator. Sit up on the edge of the bed."

Sigrid swallowed down the last of the eggs on her plate and got up on the edge of the bed.

"Lay down, pull your gown up and spread your legs."

She hesitated for a second. She wasn't wearing anything under her gown, and she was fairly certain that the Master knew that. He raised one bushy eyebrow. She shrugged and did as she was told.

It's not like he hasn't seen it before, she thought as his hand ran over her bare stomach.

"Using Animancy for determining pregnancy is not as accurate as using Matrimancy, but I do not want any of those wenches getting involved," he muttered as he slowly pressed down his fingers into her stomach.

It wasn't unpleasant, just strange. She thought she could feel a tingling sensation every time his fingers moved. And the thought of him seeing her quim made her strangely aroused.

Clearly a sign that I am fully recovered, she thought with a smile.

She couldn't help but wish that he would take that massive tool of his and put it inside her. She still remembered the last time. It had been very pleasant indeed. The Master grunted once more and moved his fingers. She lifted her head and looked up at him. He shook his head.

"It may be too early to tell," he said with a sigh.

Sigrid kept her legs spread as the Master stood up. She thought about what Mirja had said about voicing her desires.

"Shouldn't you put your seed in me again?"

Master Olgric looked down at her in surprise.

"It would increase the chances, would it not?"

He blinked. Then he nodded.

"You are right," he said continuing to nod. "Are you sure that you are ready for it?"

Sigrid nodded eagerly. Maybe a little too eagerly.

"Very well," the Master said, starting to unbuckle his belt.

Sigrid breathed heavily as the Master's flesh was revealed. He stepped towards her and she blushed as his fingers touched her quim.

He would know how excited she was. She lay back and closed her eyes to not see the expression on his face. Then she felt him press against her wet lips and slide inside. She couldn't help but smile as he invaded her. Just laying there letting him pleasure himself using her quim and finally spilling his seed in her made Sigrid more relaxed than she had been in weeks. She opened her eyes as he slid out of her again. He nodded curtly and pulled his pants up again under his robe and fastened his belt buckle.

"Let's hope it sticks this time."

For some reason Sigrid wished that it wouldn't so that he would have to take her again.

*

Sigrid drew her cloak tight. She had never worn a cloak before but Master Olgric had insisted that she did. She had, after much argument, agreed. On the condition that it was easy to cast off. She had tried the buckle many times and it only took an instant to let it drop from her back. It was tightly woven wool treated in a manner that Sigrid had not fully understood. It was light, yet very warm.

Magic, I guess.

She quietly thanked the Master as the cold winter winds swept through the vast city bringing the smoke of a hundred thousand hearths to her nostrils. She hadn't thought it would be possible for the city air to become any worse. But oh, was she wrong. Even though it was not freezing the winds pulled all heat from the houses making everyone frantically trying to heat up their abodes. And the air suffered, especially up here on the rooftops. Sigrid pulled a cloth over her face and sighed once more. Bringing up the compass she tapped it slightly.