An Ode to Uncertainty Ch. 23-24

"Come," she said beckoning Sigrid towards them.

The Sister stood still as a statue.

"Remember what you promised."

The words deepened Sigrid's scowl. But after a moment she relented and walked slowly towards them.

"On your knees," Mirja said, her lip curling up.

Sigrid looked around the room at all the servants lined around the walls. It was a dozen young men and women in total, their eyes passively watching, waiting to serve, if needed.

"Oh. Don't mind them. You'll get used to them watching, eventually."

Mirja was sure that she could see Sigrid blushing under the white of the cream.

"On your knees now."

Sigrid finally did as she was told, and Leopold looked on in amazement as the fighting woman coaxed his flesh out of his pants and took it into her mouth. Mirja watched for a while as Sigrid pleased her man with her mouth. Leopold was not as big as Jarl, but he filled Sigrid's mouth nonetheless. The young duke's breaths became shallower, and right before he climaxed Mirja whispered into his ear:

"Put your seed on her face. Mark her as yours."

The words pushed Leopold over the edge and Mirja had to pull his flesh out of Sigrid's mouth to make sure that his seed landed where she wanted it to. Streams of white mixed with the cream on Sigrid's forehead and over her eyes and mouth.

"That was quite the load," Mirja laughed, then she got to her knees and slowly started licking her friend's face clean.

***

Midwinter was coming closer and one late afternoon as the sun was setting Mirja walked up one of the market streets in the Merchant district. She had been missing good mandrake root for several days now and had got a tip that there was a merchant at the top of the hill that stocked roots of the highest quality.

She had spent the best part of last week either with her head in her books or in Leopold's bed. Classes were over for the semester and everyone was cramming for finals. Cyra had offered to revise with her but the trek from Leopold's place to the campus was just too long. And Mirja had to admit that having servants at her beck and call did have its advantages. And a few of the male staff and one of the maids had been kind enough to help her out with her Matrimancy exercises.

Just as she crested the hill, she heard the first laughs. Stopping for a moment she saw a couple of children running around with their faces to the sky. She blinked and tried to clear her head that had been filled with the latest of the old Matrimancy tomes that she was currently cramming.

Snowflakes, she thought a smile spreading on her lips.

The children were running around trying to catch as many as they could. Mirja raised her own face to the sky and let the little frozen petals land on her face. She didn't know how long she stood there in silence, listening to the children play.

When she opened her eyes again, she caught sight of Sigrid standing outside of a tailor's shop. She seemed to be battling with some internal demon about whether to enter the place or not. Mirja couldn't help but laugh as she watched her friend turn around a half a dozen times before finally turning away and walking straight towards her.

"Sigrid," Mirja said, reaching out for her friend's arm as she passed her, completely oblivious to her presence.

As her fingers touched Sigrid's skin, a surge of power ran through her. Mirja flinched back and when her friend turned towards her, they both had a stunned look on their faces. They stood facing each other for a few moments. Mirja drew a breath and focused her mind, running it over Sigrid's body and found the source. Something hung around Sigrid's neck, its power pulsing out towards Mirja.

They stood silent for a moment longer, the snow falling silently around them, muffling the sound of the crowd.

"What are you doing here?" Mirja finally asked.

"I need a dress."

Mirja raised an eyebrow.

"A dress? For the ball?

Sigrid nodded.

"Who is your date?"

Sigrid clenched her jaw and looked around her. Then she turned her face back to Mirja.

"Olgric," Sigrid said looking at the ground.

Mirja blinked.

"Master Olgric?"

Sigrid nodded.

"Jarl set you up with Master Olgric?"

Sigrid shook her head, her jaw clenching tighter.

"I don't understand. I thought you said you would cut Jarl's balls off if he didn't get you an invitation."

"I did," Sigrid said scratching her ear.

"Did what?"

"Cut his balls off. Or just the one, really."

Mirja's jaw fell. She looked around. No one else seemed to notice them where they stood in the middle of the street talking.

"You did what?" Mirja whispered, taking a step closer.

Sigrid finally looked up at her. Then the Sister crossed her arms over her chest and looked Mirja straight in the eyes.

"I never threaten people. I just inform them about what will happen should they take a certain course of action. So. When Jarl failed to get me an invitation to the ball, I drugged him. Then Olgric cut his ballsack open and extracted the ball and sowed it back up again." she reached inside her shirt and pulled out an amber piece that hung from a silver chain.

"Master Olgric helped you?" Mirja said incredulously.

Sigrid nodded.

"He kept mumbling about justice all the while he did it," Sigrid said eyeing the thing she held up.

Inside the amber Mirja could see an ovoid object. She shivered.

"Remind me to never cross you."

Sigrid nodded, put the piece of Jarl she was carrying around back inside her shirt and crossed her arms again. Mirja considered her friend. The she closed her eyes and reached out with her mind to Jarl. She shut off the siphon draining him and reconnected the link with him, it was easy as her fingers touched the lock of his hair that she always wore intertwined in one of her bracelets. If she had had the link to him active, she would have immediately noticed when Sigrid and Master Olgric had done their deed. Now it was too late.

Twenty-four

"This is for you," Mirja said handing her a leather wrapped bundle.

Sigrid frowned and took it. She was about to ask what it was but kept quiet and unfolded the old leather. The smell reminded her of something that she couldn't put her finger on. Her fingertips ran along the patterns.

I know this pattern, she thought, her hands starting to tremble slightly. It can't be.

She unclasped the last buckle and opened the leather bindings up. A pair of longdaggers lay before her eyes. They were so black that they almost looked blue. The light from the flittering candles on the table seemed to seep into the blades to never come back out. Sigrid raised her eyes and looked first at Mirja, then at Leopold.

It was the third night she was spending at the young duke's palace in less than a fortnight. She had very much enjoyed the previous two nights when Mirja and her man used and abused her as they wished. So, when Mirja had asked her to join for a third time she had not hesitated. The food had been cleared off the table and Sigrid had expected that she would already be under their command, but instead Leopold had left them for a few drops and when he came back, he was carrying the leather bundle.

"The blades of Saint Agatha," Sigrid breathed, her fingertips hesitantly touching the tightly wrapped handles. The leather was still surprisingly soft considering that the blades had been lost two hundred years earlier when Saint Agatha had disappeared without trace.

"Where did you find them?" she said, looking accusatory at the young duke.

"In the basement," Leopold said, flinching slightly.

"You had the blades of Saint Agatha in your basement?" Sigrid said aghast.

"It's a big basement", Leopold shrugged. Then he looked at Mirja. "Mirja asked me if I had something that would be suitable for you. And I thought of those. I didn't know what they were, but I had seen them when my father showed me the treasury when I was little. They reminded me of the ones you bear."

Sigrid glared at the young duke for a moment, then shifted her gaze back to the blades. Her heart started beating harder.

If I can get these back to the Citadel, the Sisters would bring me back into the fold.

Her lip trembled at the thought of once more kneeling before the Altar of Penance and she couldn't stop a tear from tumbling down her cheek.

"What else do you have down there?" Mirja said.

"I don't know ... things?" Leopold answered.

"You probably have the Arc of the Binding stuffed into some wooden box down there," Mirja laughed.

"Possibly."

Sigrid looked up at Leopold. It hadn't sounded as if he had been joking. He was so strange this young man with his narrow face and long moustaches.

"These must be brought back to the Citadel at once," Sigrid said bowing her head.

"Or ..." Mirja said with a strange tone in her voice. "You could keep them safe. For now. Until someone can take them back. You still have to protect the prince do you not?"

Sigrid sighed on the inside. Mirja was right. She couldn't abandon her post. Even though there hadn't been any sightings of the wraith for over two months now it didn't mean that the threat was gone. In fact, Sigrid was convinced of the opposite. The ball was only two weeks away and she could feel things moving. The signs were everywhere. Strange men and women were moving around in the city. The butcher of Rimfell was only the first she had spotted. She had recognized several others who clearly had no good intentions towards the city or its inhabitants.

Something is going to go down, and I would bet on my mother's life that it will happen at the ball.

At least now she was invited.

One less problem to deal with.

"I do want something in return though."

Mirja's voice brought Sigrid out of her ruminations.

"In exchange for the blades," the dark-haired woman added, a thin smile on her lips.

Sigrid blinked trying to clear her thoughts.

"What?"

"Your necklace."

Sigrid studied her friend. Then she reached around her neck and lifted the thing off and handed it over to Mirja who took it in her hands as if it was an invaluable relic.

"I would have given it to you without anything in return," Sigrid said feeling the truth of her own words.

She had not found any pleasure in maiming Jarl. It was just something that had to be done. He could not go through life thinking that he could break his word without consequences. Mirja stared wide-eyed at her. Then the Kelivese woman put the amber ovoid in her palm and closed her eyes. Sigrid could feel a suction on her soul as Mirja breathed in. Then it was gone, and a weight was lifted from her heart.

"Thank you," Mirja said smiling faintly.

They all sat in silence for a little while. Sigrid ran her fingers over the hilts of the sacred longdaggers on the table in front of her.

"You should carry them," Leopold said.

Sigrid looked up at the young duke. Then she nodded, stood up and replaced the sheaths with Saint Agatha's. The blades weighed more than her own, but they were so well balanced that she couldn't notice it while wielding them.

True masterpieces, she thought before sheathing them.

"Would you mind if I keep yours? As a memento?"

Sigrid looked at the young duke. Then she shrugged, wrapping her daggers up in the leather.

"Dinner is served," one of the servants said and they all moved into the dining room.

Sigrid was ravenous as always and found a few new favorites on the table this evening. It always felt like she was five months pregnant after each meal at the duke's place. She sat in silence and listened to Mirja and the duke talking.

"More ominous news from the border today," Leopold said, shaking his head. "Twelve dead in a cross-border skirmish. That makes over fifty in the last week. Things are escalating. And those bastards won't even admit it's their doing."

"No?" Mirja said, a concerned look on her face.

Leopold shook his head in frustration.

"They claim they have no operatives that far south. As if we wouldn't know they have troops stationed west of the gorge. What do they think we are? Imbeciles?"

The young duke sighed again and stared at the piece of meat currently sitting on his fork. Then he put it down on his plate.

"Most people don't realize how close to the brink we are every day. They go on, living their lives not knowing how their betters plot and plan. How they vie for dominance. How little it would take to make it all come tumbling down."

Sigrid felt that feeling in her stomach again. That teetering on the edge. Was she imagining things?

"That's horrible. Is there nothing you can do about it?" Mirja said.

Leopold shrugged.

"Not more than what we do every day. Keep up appearances. And try to look the Burdogawi in the eyes without flinching. In fact. That's why these balls are so important. It keeps up the appearances. No one wants to be the one that stops the wine from flowing. War tends to be bad for business. Unless you are from Yennow, of course."

"Poor thing," Mirja said, but Sigrid could see the look in her eyes.

She got up and stood behind the young duke, slowly massaging his shoulders.

"You are too tense. We should make you relax. Shouldn't we?" Mirja said smirking at Sigrid.

Sigrid felt the all too familiar warmth spread through her body, centered on her quim. The anticipation was the best part.

"How do you want her today?" Mirja said, kissing the young duke on the neck.

"I liked it when she had her clothes on," Leopold whispered.

Sigrid's quim tingled at his words. She had never told any of them how much it had excited her when they made her get on her knees and take the duke into her mouth in full view of everyone. If she could have chosen, the servants would have stood closer and truly watched her submit. But she would never admit that. Mirja slowly walked over towards her. Every step made Sigrid's quim quiver.

"Stand up," Mirja said smirking down at her.

Sigrid did as she was told. Mirja took her by the hand and led her over to the other side of the table. Then she forced her down onto her knees and pushed her head down towards the cold stones of the floor. Sigrid saw two of the maids looking at her. She locked eyes with one of them, a young woman with her head tied back in a hard bun. Sigrid kept looking at her as she felt someone yank her pants down exposing her bare bottom. When the tongue ran up from her quim to her rear, she shivered but still kept looking at the maid. The girl looked back, her eyes still locked on Sigrid's.

"You like to use her rear, don't you?" Mirja's voice came from behind her.

Then Mirja's tongue found Sigrid's rear and slowly pushed in. Sigrid closed her eyes for a moment enjoying her friend's tongue in her tight hole. With a whisper Mirja made her rear slick and a short while later she felt the pressure of the young duke's glans against her sphincter. She exhaled slowly as his flesh penetrated her.

All the while the young duke used her, Sigrid kept her eyes on the maid. The young woman bit her lip and her hands twitched from time to time. After Leopold's seed ran into her Mirja was there to clean her up.

Sigrid stood up and pulled her pants up.

"You," she said walking towards the maid.

The two others were too occupied with getting the young duke's flesh hard again that they didn't notice as Sigrid walked over to the maid.

"Did you like watching me?" she said in a low voice, her face close to the girl's.

She was a pretty thing. A bit fragile looking, but she had likely passed her twentieth birthday. Pale grey eyes flickering left and right trying to avoid Sigrid's gaze. She nodded hesitantly.

"Good," Sigrid said, grabbing the maid by the hand and pulling her after her into the next room.

There was a divan by one of the large windows. Sigrid dragged the girl over to it. Then she turned the girl towards her and kissed her. Her lips felt cold against Sigrid's own. Sigrid pushed her tongue in between the girl's who finally relented. Sigrid put her hands on the back of the maid's head and kissed her deeply. After a while, the girl's tongue met her own. Breaking off the kiss, Sigrid grabbed the maid's collar and in one swift motion she ripped the girl's dress off. The maid looked shocked, Sigrid took the opportunity and pushed her down onto the divan. The young woman stared with wide eyes at Sigrid as she went onto her knees between the maid's legs and reached up and pulled her undergarments down, exposing a fine-lipped quim. Sigrid kept her eyes locked on the maid's as her tongue found the girl's pearl. The maid's mouth fell open as Sigrid started pleasing her with her tongue.

She enjoyed the maid's quim for a long while, bringing her over the edge at least twice before she heard footsteps behind her. She still looked at the girl as her own pants were once more pulled down and her rear invaded.

***

"Divine!" the young seamstress exclaimed as she pulled the last air out of Sigrid's lungs.

She gasped for air but there was none to be had, the corset had made sure of that. Stars swam in front of her eyes as she looked in the mirror.

I look like one of the dolls that princess Else decorates the baby chamber with.

She shivered. But some sacrifices had to be made. Running her fingers of the fine fabric she turned to Mirja. Her friend beamed at her.

"She's right you know? You do look divine."

The seamstress nodded in satisfaction and then went down on her knees starting to fiddle with one of the seams.

"There's no place for my daggers," Sigrid said, the effort making her ribs ache.

Mirja raised an eyebrow.

"You didn't honestly think that you would be allowed to bear arms to the emperor's ball, did you?"

Sigrid froze. She had not even considered it. But now when Mirja said it out loud it sounded so stupid.

"Of course not," Sigrid said, shaking her head. "I was just observing. It is a useless garment."

"Maybe so. But I am sure that you will catch more than one eye," Mirja said, her lip curling up.

Sigrid scoffed. But somewhere inside her, a small voice laughed in delight.

"Only one week to go now. I am just so glad that finals are over. I thought my head was going to explode," Mirja said throwing her head back. "How is Jarl by the way?"

Sigrid pressed her lips together. She didn't see much of the prince lately. They only met while she was escorting him from the Elemancy building to the mansion and back again next morning. At least the Mistresses had given him a break. Which was not to be said for Master Cerdic. The old man seemed almost frantic in his efforts and now that the College was on winter break, the two spent every waking hour together doing whatever it was mages did.

"Fine," she said running her fingers of the fabric again.

It made her fingertips tingle and that voice inside her bubbled with laughter again. She sighed. This was a distraction. What she needed to do was to be out there trying to find the wraith. But the compass was dead and Master Olgric had made sure that it had not broken. The thing just wasn't to be found. And every day Sigrid spotted another troublemaker somewhere in the city.

Trouble is coming. There is no doubt about that. But how is it all connected to the wraith? And why hasn't the thing shown itself again?

"I'll just take this out back. Won't be a moment," the seamstress said standing up, holding a lace ribbon that was supposedly going to the hem of the dress.

She hurried away and left her alone with Mirja. Sigrid was in her own thoughts when she felt Mirja's fingers on her hand. Looking up she saw the dark-haired woman standing at arms-length distance running her eyes over Sigrid's body.

"You look absolutely amazing," Mirja said with a smile.

Sigrid pressed her lips together. No one had ever said that to her.

"It makes me want you right here and now," Mirja whispered into her ear.