The Blood Pact Ch. 17

Absently, I pushed the food around on my plate and glared at the two women sitting across the table from me.

After getting cleaned up from the king's attentions, I'd suddenly found myself burdened with these two asinine little twats. They were about the same age as me, comely but not beautiful; the wives of knights whom Lord Ruvano had somehow procured to keep me company. I couldn't even remember their names but apparently they were now to serve as my attendants.

"The three of you should go into the city, buy yourself some nice clothes," Lord Ruvano had said after returning me to his chambers. "Don't all women love to go shopping? It will take your mind off things."

He'd just informed me that the only reason he'd ever been interested in me was so that I could act as his spy in the King's bedchambers and now he expected me to go shopping as if nothing at all was the matter? I stabbed at a bit of boiled vegetable on my plate, imagining that it was his head.

The two women continued chattering between themselves as if I wasn't even there. Since they'd arrived to share dinner with me, neither had stopped talking for more than a brief moment. I was so sick of hearing about how handsome the victorious knight of the latest tournament was or about the gossip from their tiny little manor houses.

Rising from my seat, I slammed my hands down on the tabletop and their inane banter came to an abrupt stop.

"Get out," I said.

"M'lady?"

"Get out!" I said, leaning over the table.

Panic in their eyes, they leapt from their chairs and nearly tripped over each other as they dashed for the exit. With so little in my life under my own control anymore, it was something of a surprise to see them comply so readily. As the door swung closed with a crash, I tossed my fork to the table and turned away in a huff. The servants swept in to clear the table but for some reason I felt my blood boiling even worse than before.

"You too! All of you! Get out!"

Without question, they simply dropped what they were doing and filed orderly out of the room.

"Wait. Greta, you stay."

She stopped obediently and turned to face me as I approached but did not lift her eyes even a fraction of an inch.

"What do you need, my lady?"

"I...I need someone to talk to," I said. Out of the corner of her eye, Greta glanced toward the exit. "Please, just for a little while, not as a lady of the royal court but like we did on the day of the festival. Do you remember?"

"That would not be appropriate."

I clenched my hands into tiny fists. "Why the hell not? I'm still the same person I was then. Nothing's changed."

"Yes, so I have heard."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"My apologies, I spoke without thinking."

"No, tell me what you meant." I stomped my heel on the floor and thrust my finger into her face. "Be frank with me or I'll have you whipped!"

Greta, squirmed uncomfortably but I loomed over her, allowing her only one way to escape.

"There are...rumors that you were always a baroness and that you were sent here as a spy to help overthrow the king. That's why you showed up when you did and why you're with Lord Ruvano now."

"That's -- I -- that's a bloody lie!" I cried.

Greta stood without offering the slightest show of sympathy or belief. I was forever going to be saddled with these cursed rumors and slander following me everywhere, wasn't I? No amount of insistent to the contrary would ever change anyone's minds. To them, I was just another of Lord Ruvano's spies.

"Get out!" I cried pointing to the door. "Get the fuck out of by bloody sight right now!"

Greta moved even more quickly than the first two women had.

Alone once more, I stood gritting my teeth and occasionally beating at the air with my fists. None of my former comrades were ever going to look at me the same way any more. No one at all would ever trust me again. Damn Lord Ruvano and his games. Because of him, I was an outsider to everyone.

There was a vase full of flowers sitting on one of the tables which I kicked at in my frustration. The heel of my other shoe, however, caught on the hem of my dress. Instead of kicking anything, I fell over backwards and crashed down on my ass.

It seemed somehow fitting with the way everything else was going. Slumped on the floor, I pulled my knees into my chest and buried my face against my arms, my long golden hair tumbling down on all sides. How had I let this happen? I'd much rather me working down in the stables right now, breaking my back shoveling manure.

I sat there for what might have been hours or simply minutes. I couldn't tell. Nothing seemed to matter any more. If Lord Ruvano had his way, I was to become the King's toy, rushing to his bed whenever the opportunity presented itself. More than just that, though, the spymaster would also want me to milk as much information from him as I could.

But I was no spy. I was barely even a real woman. Even if I could somehow overcome my failings and do as Lord Ruvano wanted, I'd still probably get myself killed when I asked too much or pressed too hard.

Suddenly, I shot to my feet. Maybe I would go down to the city after all. Without even gathering a shawl or purse, I left the chambers and started for the front gates. At the first corner I came to, a large armored figure stepped out of the shadows directly in front of me. I took one look at the scarred face glaring down at me and groaned.

"Where are you going?" Bakoro asked.

"What business is it of yours?" I snapped.

He merely placed his hands on his hips and cocked his head to the side. Shaking my own head and rolling my eyes skyward, I stepped around him and continued on my way.

"Just because you're the spymaster's dog doesn't mean you have to follow my every move," I said. "I'm his mistress -- AND a Baroness now in case you hadn't heard."

Undiscouraged, Bakoro trotted along behind me. "Oh I've heard. But the boss is a COUNT, in case YOU hadn't heard."

"You know he told you to leave me alone."

"He told me to keep my hands off, but it's still part of my job to keep an eye out for trouble."

"And you think I'm trouble?"

"For some of us." he said. "The boss also told me that if anything happens to you -- anything at all -- I'll be held responsible. I don't really feel like losing my head just because you go and do something stupid."

"So now you're my bodyguard?" I said. "How chivalrous of you."

I stormed off through the hallways, Barkoro remaining always a respectable distance behind, but never out of sight completely. As I headed down into the city, I did my best to pretend he wasn't there.

The streets were busy, all manner of burghers plying there trades and selling their wares. The coup didn't look like it had effected them in the least. Maybe our new king wasn't quite the buffoon he often seemed to be after all. By leaving the citizenry out of his coup and concentrating his attack on the palace alone, he'd ensured the common people didn't even notice the change of leadership. As long as the they were allowed to go about their business, they didn't care who was sitting on the throne.

There was a single inn near the gates of the palace that showed the signs of a recent fire. Maybe that was where King Rosenthall's men had gathered before storming the palace. Anything was possible, I suppose. I knew as much about warfare as I knew about being a spy.

Walking those streets, I received many more looks from all the townsfolk than I ever had as a man. Far different from the hateful stares inside the palace, however, these were looks of awe and reverence. The people stepped respectfully out of my way, the men knuckling their foreheads and the women curtsying. A smiling young girl selling flowers even presented me with one of her finest as a gift for no reason whatsoever, disappearing back into the crowds before I could even thank her.

As if all the attention wasn't bewildering enough, I also had no idea where I was going. I seemed to remember a few shops which might have suited my needs, but I'd never been shopping for women's clothes before. Regardless, I walked those busy streets with unerring accuracy until I came to a nondescript shop on the eastern edge of the city. Without second thought, I went right in through the front door.

At a table strewn with bolts of cloth and ribbon, an old woman with skin a dusty shade of beige and hair of stark white was hunched over a half-finished dress with needle and thread. She jumped up at my entrance and smiled broadly, deepening the countless creases that covered her face.

"Yes, yes, I been expecting you," she said. "I take measurements in back room. Go, I be with you in moment."

I went for the back room even though I knew this made no sense. Why would she be expecting me? How had I even known this place was here? Why had I even come to the city in the first place? I was no more interested in shopping now than I had been when Lord Ruvano had first broached the idea. It was with a deepening sense of dread that the truth began to dawn on me.

At the front door, Bakoro was just entering the shop. In his armor and with a sword at his side, his head almost scraped the timbers overhead and his every move threatened to overturn whole tables of dainty fabrics. He started to follow me toward the backroom as well, but the seamstress jumped in front of him with arms spread.

"No men allowed in back. Lady will be undressed."

Looking over my shoulder, I saw Bakoro yielding grudgingly, his eyes still on me as I passed out of sight. I walked right to the end of the short hallway, past several other small rooms, and stepped into the last one. It was a simple chamber with a narrow window, a chair and a rough pallet. After coming all this way without pause or deviation, it was only in the middle of that chamber that I finally came to a stop.

"Sister," I heard a familiar voice say from behind as a woman's hand touched my shoulder.

I spun, setting free all that seething fury that had been building up inside me all morning. She must not have been expecting me to lash out at her because my elbow caught her in the side of the face and sent her tumbling to the floor. I stood over her, hands clenched in fists, breathing deeply.

"Stephanie!" the woman on the floor said. "It's me: Nikelle!"

"I know it is!" I hollowed back. "You've been gone for days and now, from out of the blue, you summon me here with that blasted compulsion of yours? I already know nothing good will come of this!"

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to contact you sooner but I needed time to seek the advice of the sisterhood," Nikelle said, rubbing her jaw. It was already turning quite red where I'd struck her. "I don't know if I am still under suspicion in the palace, but I thought it best to hide here for the time being. The seamstress who owes this shop is a friend of sorts."

"Another assassin?"

"No, just a kinswoman from the southlands." Nikelle climbed to her feet. "The sisterhood has acknowledged that fate has been against us on this mission. Our failure to kill Sir Ruvano is not being held against us. There was likely nothing we could have done at that late hour which would have prevented what was to come."

"I told you! I told you I didn't want to go, but yet you sent me in there all the same! Now you tell me I never would have had to?"

"That's no longer material. What's done is done. You survived. We can now regroup and devise a new plan."

"Hold up one second!" I said pacing and waving my arms wildly. "I'll grant you that Lord Ruvano was the key to everything. He's a bastard and a fiend as well, manipulating people's emotions until they don't even know which way is up. But I no longer care about saving this kingdom from him or anyone else! It can rot in the hands of your Mordengern for all I care. The only plan that interests me is finding a way to save myself!"

"Like it or not, you're still a Blood Dagger," Nikelle said. "And we have a mission to perform."

"And after that, then what? Will I be sent off on another mission, and another, and another after that until one day my luck runs out and the man I'm supposed to kill finally kills me instead? I'm not a fucking assassin, Nikelle!"

She looked thoughtful for a moment, an expression I'd seldom seen her wear. "Help me, Stephanie." She looked straight into my eyes. "Help me and I'll let you go your own way afterward."

"What do you mean? Is that possible?"

She took a deep breath. "I haven't told the sisterhood everything that has happened. They don't know about you. Help me and they'll never have to. If you don't, I will be forced to call in more sisters and then they will most assuredly find out about you."

"That's blackmail!"

"I don't see why you're so reluctant to help. You won't have to do anything differently than you are already. Simply remain where you are, doing what you are doing, and keep your eyes open for opportunities which will allow us to strike again. Until then, you can live like a princess. Isn't that what every little girl dreams of?"

"I was never a little girl..." I said. She didn't believe for a second that I was really Mathis. I would have liked nothing more than to strike her again. However, she had never lied to me. If I did as she wanted, I might finally be able to get out from under this curse she'd put on me. All I'd have to do is make another deal, become a spy to someone else's cause, take on yet another master in addition to all the others I already had.

"Remember: keep your eyes open," she said without waiting for me to agree to anything. As she slipped out the door, she added, "I'll be in contact with you again soon."

I went after her but the seamstress barged into the room from the other direction, pinning me inside with measuring tape and paper. She was certainly quite spry for being as old as she looked. Reluctantly, I allowed her to strip me to my shift and take the measurements for all the pretty new dresses I would no doubt be ordering. What would I do with Nikelle even if I was able to catch her? Trying to reason with her was like talking to a rock. I was simply glad to be rid of her for a time. At the moment, she and Lord Ruvano were on equal footing as far as I was concerned.

To Be Continued...