The Chronicles: Three Sisters 08

- "He's back!" shouted Guenna.

I laid down my axe, and picked up my shirt. I used it to wipe off some of the sweat, before putting it back on. We had gone through a lot of wood over the winter, and still had a great deal of work ahead of us to replace it.

There was no need to ask who 'he' was. I'd been worrying about Inisian for months. I tried my best not to show it - for Yevna's sake, mostly. Even now I made an effort not to hurry, to appear unflappable. I don't think Guenna was fooled.

Inisian was surrounded by a small crowd, all calling out questions. Yevna was by his side. He turned his head, and saw me. His smile was broad.

- "Good to have you back." I said, enfolding him in a hug. "We were worried."

- "I was never in any danger." he said.

- "There's a lot to tell, I imagine."

- "Yes. Mother Nadesti suggested that I just tell it once, with everyone there."

We gathered in Guen's house again: Vingoldas and Hedyn, Weyl and Seva, my wife and daughters.

- "Let Inisian speak." said the old woman. "Don't interrupt, if you can help it. You'll have a chance for questions, later." She smiled at Guenna as she said this.

"Go ahead, lad."

Inisian nodded. "Well ... I went south of the lake. I didn't even have to ask to join Bacho. Two warriors met me as I approached Southend, and -"

- "Southend?" I asked.

Guen Nadesti shot me a look.

"Sorry." I said.

- "Southend is the new name for ... Nadestis." said Inisian. "Bacho's name for it."

- "He changed the name?" said Mother Nadesti. I knew how she felt. In the Uplands, a man's name, his family's ... is everything. We don't have many possessions, or much wealth. We do have our names, and our reputations.

There's an old curse in the Uplands: May your name be forgotten. Bacho was doing his best to erase the Nadestis from memory.

- "Go on." said the old woman.

- "These warriors saw my weapons - and right away, they asked if I wanted to join Bacho. It was that easy. He's taking on any fighting men he can get - and he doesn't care where they come from."

- "How many does he have?" asked Vingoldas. Mother Nadesti frowned, but she didn't reproach him; it was something we all wanted to know.

- "Thirty-five." said Inisian.

My heart fell. So many? How was that even possible?

- "Where did he get so many?" asked Vingoldas.

- "From the south, or west of Bentwood, for the most part. Bacho's none too particular. If they can stand upright and carry a weapon, he takes them on. There are a few names. BearSlayer. Bloodaxe. But most of his men are cutthroats. Back-stabbers."

"I swear, I wouldn't be afraid if I had to face two of them, alone. Their strength lies only in numbers. And their reputation."

- "What reputation?" asked Mother Nadesti.

- "They're killers." said Inisian. "Murderers."

"Every summer, Kestutis takes a raiding party. They demand tribute, recruit fighting men ... and they loot, rape, and kill." Inisian looked grim. We both remembered seeing Kestutis, north of the Three Sisters.

"That's how Bacho gets the means to reward his fighters. And he needs them, to keep control of the lake from Bentwood to Southend. I'm sorry - Nadestis."

- "I imagine that also keeps his men busy." I said. "But tell me something: were the boatmen his? Were those Bacho's men?"

- "They were. And their disappearance worries him. He thinks they were drowned, or that they were taken unawares by wild men."

- "Tell us about Bacho." said Mother Nadesti. "You met him?"

- "Oh, yes." said Inisian. "He rides about, on a horse - very fine. Never without half a dozen of his men. He slapped me on the back, told me that my fortune was made ..."

"But people talk. He murdered his wife, some four years ago. Now he has two concubines."

Poor Abrelda, I thought. Meonwe's sister hadn't deserved such a fate.

- "And Kestutis?" said Yevna. From her tone, I suspected that she already knew the answer to that question. She had spotted Inisian, on his way home, before anyone else.

- "He's unmarried. But the men talk about him, too. He lives for killing. And for rape. Lots of rape."

"He raped two married women - one in Bentwood. One of the husbands objected. Kestutis killed him. That's partly why Bacho needs so many men. It's also one of the reasons he sends his son raiding every summer."

- "How much do they know about Prospal Hill?" I asked.

Everyone sat very still. The muttering and whispering ceased. This was the question uppermost in everyone's minds.

- "Not much." said Inisian.

There was a collective sigh of relief.

"But they know that someone lives here."

- "Tell us." said Mother Nadesti.

- "They think that it might be refugees from Nadesti. They believe that you're dead, Mother Nadesti. I'm sorry. But there are a few who think that Veran and his daughters might be here. That's one thing that causes them to lose to sleep. Where is Hammerfist? they ask."

- "Thank you, Inisian." said Guen. "That will do, for now. We'll gather tomorrow. I'll want to know your thoughts on what we've just heard."

Vingoldas was one step behind Sulcen and me as we left the old woman's house.

- "What do you think?" he asked me.

I shook my head. "I don't know, yet. I'm sorry. Some of this is re-opening old wounds - I thoughts my scars were thicker. Some of it is new. I need time to digest this."

- "I understand, One-Eye." he said.

Sulcen took my arm as we walked home. She had never done anything like that before.

- "I understand, too, husband." she said.

***

- "One day, they're going to find us." said Seva. Her brother, Weyl, nodded in agreement.

- "Hedyn?" said Mother Nadesti.

- "I don't know, rightly. But if'n they find us ... we're done."

I let Vingoldas speak before me. I wanted to know what he would say, of course. But the truth of the matter was that I didn't know what to say, myself.

- "We need allies." he said.

"It's a simple matter, Mother. If they bring a dozen men again, and try to climb the Hill, we can stop them. But that will tell them, for certain, that we're here. And on the day when they try to climb the slope, and at the same time come by boat, along the river ... or if we don't see them coming ..."

"Then Hedyn's right. We're finished. We can't defend against so many."

Guen Nadesti looked at me. There was nothing more that needed saying. I simply nodded. She swallowed, and then glanced at her daughter.

"The nearest folk are Duenerth's kin -"

- "They won't help." said Sulcen.

It was the first time she had spoken in council. Many of the others present were shocked to hear her voice.

- "Could we hire men?" asked Seva.

- "There are no men." snapped Yevna. "Bacho's hired them all."

- "An' what would we pay 'em with?" asked Hedyn.

That was when my youngest daughter spoke up. She hadn't said a word, yesterday.

- "If we can't get any men, then we should recruit women." she said. "After all, that's what Payl did."

***

There were quite a few discussions and debates on the Hill that night, and the next. Almost everyone had an opinion - including my daughters. And weighty decisions were made in haste - some of which would come to have enormous consequences.

Guen Nadesti called one more meeting. Only Vingoldas and I were there.

"Hmmph. So what do we do?" she asked.

- "Veran's daughter was right." said Vingoldas. We need to find more fighters. Male or female - it doesn't matter. The Hill can support more people - but if they aren't warriors, they can't help us against Bacho."

- "Veran?"

I had thought long and hard about this. Guenna was right. And so was Yevna. But I was still terrified.

- "Yevna is willing to go. Inisian will go with her. If they travel north of the Three Sisters, and then west, they can cross lands where Bacho doesn't hold sway. If they stay well clear of Bentwood, they should be safe."

"With luck, they can find warriors who are looking for a place."

- "You'd let your daughter go?"

- "We have to. You can't send a man to recruit female fighters - assuming there even are any."

- "And we can send another pair to the east." said Vingoldas. "Seva and Weyl."

Guen frowned, almost exactly as I had when Vingoldas had first broached this suggestion to me. Seva had responded quickly when she discovered what Yevna intended. The redhead wasn't about to be outdone, and she would drag her brother along in her wake, whether he liked it or not.

But it was certainly possible that the fiery Seva might just attract like-minded females. And Yevna couldn't be in two places at once.

I wasn't as confident about the siblings' ability to look after themselves. I had much more faith in Yevna and Inisian.

- "Won't that leave us under ... manned?" asked Guen. "Can you still defend the Hill?"

- "We'll have Hedyn, and Veran's two other daughters." said Vingoldas. "And two of the young children are of age now to be watchers. Or sneakers. We'll have more eyes, in case of trouble."

Guen turned to me. "Your girls can fight?"

I couldn't lie to her. "Guenna can handle a bow." I said. I just didn't mention that she was unlikely to hit anything. "Tanguiste can make herself useful in a variety of ways."

Mother Nadesti was no fool. She heard every word I wasn't saying.

- "So if they come in force ..."

Vingoldas put it plainly. "We have to trust our luck, a little while longer."

***

- "Should we have a wedding for them?" I asked Tanguiste.

- "Ah. I think ... you should talk to Yevna about that."

- "What? Do they want to get married before they leave? Or when they return?"

- "You'd better talk to her." said Tanguiste.

As if she had heard us discussing her, Yevna came into the house at exactly that moment.

- "There she is." I said. "Yevna - I was just asking your sister about your marriage plans."

Tanguiste coughed, very loudly. "I'll ... I'll let you two talk." She left us alone.

- "What on earth was that about?" I wondered aloud.

- "Papa ..." said Yevna.

She hadn't called me that in years. For a strange moment, looking at the gap where her front teeth should have been, I saw Yevna as a child, helping me get her little sisters across the lake. There was a reason, I guessed, for her to call me that.

I sat down. "Did I say something wrong, love?" I asked.

Yevna shook her head.

- "No. It's just ... we're not getting married."

With remarkable self-control, I resisted the near-overwhelming urge to jump up and shout 'What?'.

- "Oh?" I said, instead. "I thought ..."

- "I love Inisian, Father." she said. "I always will. There won't be any others, for me. But ..."

I didn't interrupt her.

"If I'm to recruit female fighters, I have to be strong, and ... independent."

- "Ah."

- "Payl never married Ljudevit - isn't that true?" said Yevna.

- "So you're the Shining One, now?" I replied. I regretted the words the moment they passed my lips, but I couldn't unsay them.

- "No. Hardly. But I have to be like her. At least a little." she said. "I have to be a my own person. Not just some man's wife - even if I love him."

- "Does -"

- "He knows."

My eldest daughter had thought this through. She knew her own mind.

- "Then you have my blessing, Yevna. For what it's worth."

I stood then, and held my daughter tight - as I should have done every day after her mother died.

"I just want you to be happy." I whispered.

- "I am, Father. And I will be."

She sounded so sure.

***

Two months later

I worried. Guenna worked on her archery, under my supervision, and with a little help from Vingoldas. Tanguiste tried, but she didn't have the arm strength to draw a bow, and her accuracy ... well, she couldn't hit the side of a house.

She and I had a frank discussion about it.

- "I'm sorry, Papa."

- "Don't be. Your talents lie elsewhere, Tan. Everybody on the Hill knows it. Other than Guen Nadesti, you're about the only person we can't afford to lose."

- "Papa ..." She shook her head.

- "Don't 'Papa' me. It's the truth. People may look to Vingoldas and me to protect them. But you represent hope. The future. The very thing we're defending."

"I don't know how you do it. I truly don't. But everyone here looks to you. Be prepared - you're probably the next Mother Nadesti."

- "You're exaggerating." she said. "But that's not what we're talking about. What should I do in a fight? I'm worse than useless with a bow."

- "Tan - listen to me." I put my hand on her shoulder, and looked my beautiful daughter in the eyes. "You can carry messages. Don't scoff - it could be vital. If an enemy gets past us, of if we're about to be defeated, you can give everyone else a few moments warning."

"Some may want to sell their lives dearly. And some may prefer not to be taken alive."

That sobered her up. Tanguiste had seen her mother suffer, and her brother murdered. She didn't need any imagination to know what could happen to women, and children.

- "But you can also rally the non-combatants. If the fight is evenly matched ... if the outcome hangs in the balance - you could create a distraction, or ... I don't know, exactly. It's impossible to predict. But you're bright enough to think of something that could help."

- "You're not just trying to cheer me up?"

- "No. Well ... maybe a little. But I mean what I said."

- "Thank you, Papa." said Tanguiste. She kissed me on the cheek, and left me sitting in the sun.

I returned to what I did best: worrying about Yevna and Inisian. Every so often, Weyl and Seva would intrude upon my thoughts, and I would wonder about them. But most of the time, I feared that my daughter and her ... husband-not-husband were in danger.

Tanguiste distracted me, when I got into these moods. Guenna was quite good at reminding me that there was nothing I could do to change the situation.

Then, one day, I found support from an unexpected source.

I was sitting on a stump, just outside our house - worrying, as I did pretty much every day. That was when I felt a warm hand on my shoulder.

It was my wife. Sulcen. In all the time we had been married, I could count on the fingers of one hand the occasions when she had initiated conversation, or spoken to me without being spoken to first.

But in all our time together, she had never touched me - unless I was already touching her. I didn't resent it, and certainly never held it against her. Sulcen had come a long way, and I'd come to believe - and accept - that she was unlikely to come any farther.

I didn't want to overreact. I was afraid to startle her, like a bird who had landed nearby, or a squirrel who was foraging between my feet. But Sulcen stayed where she was, and I could feel the slight pressure as she gently squeezed my shoulder.

That encouraged me to reach back, and touch the tips of her fingers. To my amazement, she didn't flinch, or pull away. Instead, she spoke.

- "They'll come back." she said.

Sulcen and I had been married for more than a year and a half. Our relationship was neither passionate, nor intense. Instead, I would describe us as comfortable - a bed of glowing coals, rather than a roaring fire. No sparks or leaping flames between us..

She was considerate, and attentive, in her own quiet ways. Sulcen was also kind, and very tolerant with my girls. Many a time, I suspected, she would have preferred to be alone, in silence.

For my part, I tried to be as patient and as gentle as I could. I wanted Sulcen to know that I desired her, as a woman, and yet I feared to awaken old memories. I was never rough, or abrupt with her, when I spoke to her as when I touched her. Slow wooing - that was always the way I approached her.

In some ways, I saw myself as her connection to a healthy life. I didn't want to lose Sulcen to her memories, or to her pain. For some reason, an image kept creeping into my mind.

I pictured myself holding one end of a rope. Sulcen held the other, but she was trapped - up to her waist in a sucking bog. If I released the rope, she would die. If she let go, she would die. I had to pull, steadily - but not too hard. I couldn't yank at the rope, or pull with all my strength, for fear of tugging it from her hands - and losing her forever.

This was not something I could ever tell her. Especially because I had the terrible feeling that if she lost hold of the rope, she would never pick it up again. I didn't speak to Guen Nadesti about this - but no doubt she would have understood.

Perhaps I was missing Yevna, or just worried about her. Or perhaps my patience failed, one early summer night. But I pulled a little too hard on the rope, trying to draw Sulcen closer to me.

I finally summoned up the courage - or the stupidity - to ask her the question.

- "What happened, Sulcen, with your first husband?" I asked, trying to keep my voice level.

My wife didn't answer me immediately. She stood up, though, and looked at me.

"Why did you kill him?" I said, softly.

Sulcen didn't say a thing. She simply walked from our house.

She slept outside, that night.

The next day, she didn't say a word. Nor did she reply when I spoke to her. She wouldn't meet my eye. I knew, the moment I had spoken, that I had erred. What I didn't know was how to repair the damage.

The next night, she slept outside again.

- "What did you say?" asked Guenna.

- "Is there anything we can do, to help?" asked Tanguiste.

After a second day of the silent treatment, I began to suspect that Sulcen could keep this up for years - if not forever. On the third night, she went outside to sleep again.

I followed her. I was not the most proficient of trackers, and silent movement had never been one of my skills. I was a lakeman, a boatman. Yevna was the forester, not I. But Sulcen was not trying to conceal her trail. It was child's play to find her.

When she lay down, I moved towards her, slowly. I made a little noise, deliberately, so that she would not be alarmed as I drew near.

I lay down beside her.

Sulcen looked at me, from two feet away, for the longest time. Then she got up, and went back to our house.

I didn't sigh, or show any sign of exasperation. I just uttered a few curse words under my breath, got up and followed.

By the time I entered the house, she was already in our bed. I went over, and lay down beside her.

Sulcen got up immediately, and went outside.

Perhaps I deserved it. It didn't help that my daughters were watching from their own beds. This time I did sigh, as I rose wearily to my feet. Sometimes there is no good idea, no clever stratagem, except to persevere.

I went to the same spot where I had first followed Sulcen. She was there. This wasn't about hiding from me.

Again, I approached, and lay down beside her. She looked at me, again, for quite a while. I was prepared to wait, if necessary - or to get up again, if she did. To my surprise, it was Sulcen who spoke first.

- "Are you going to follow me all night?"

I was tempted to say 'And all day tomorrow, if I have to'. But this wasn't about clever retorts. Instead, I told her the simple truth.

- "I'm sorry."

Sulcen studied my face for a long time.

- "Why? she asked. "Why are you sorry?"

- "I shouldn't have asked you that." I said.

- "You should have asked much sooner, if you really wanted to know." she said. "Why didn't you ask me before we married?"

- "I was afraid. I didn't want to upset you."

- "If it upset me, I would have said so." Sulcen's eyes bored into mine. "By waiting so long, you've shown me that it upsets you."

My mouth might have dropped open, at that point. This was not the Sulcen I had come to know. This woman was fierce. Angry.

"You really want to know?" she demanded.