The Chronicles: Three Sisters 09

THREE SISTERS Chapter 9

I was still weak as a kitten, after the fever. Sulcen and the girls fussed over me, and continued to take turns sleeping. The fever didn't return, but I woke one morning, and immediately concluded that I was hallucinating.

There was a big blonde woman standing over my bed.

She was dressed outlandishly, in a black leather jerkin, decorated with pieces of cheap jewelry and bits of metal. There were two ... well, they looked like desiccated human fingers, sewn into the shoulder of her jerkin. Over her shoulder, I saw a quiver, with half a dozen arrows.

The woman was tall, and broad-shouldered. She had rather thick lips, and a wide face, but she was reasonably handsome - if you like your women wearing severed fingers. She saw my eye open.

- "There we go!" she said, cheerfully. "So you're Veran One-Eye? Payl's grandson?"

- "What? Great-grandson." I mumbled.

- "Right - that's right." said the big blonde. "Tell me: is it true that she wore a necklace of foreskins?"

I was barely awake, and a little bit grumpy. My manners weren't quite what they should have been.

- "Why do people refuse to get the story straight?" I complained. "It was her friend Meeli-DeadEyes who wore the foreskins. Payl had a necklace of teeth."

- "Human teeth?" asked the woman.

- "As far as I know."

- "That's still pretty good." she said. "And she was Borna's mistress? The real Borna?"

- "No! Where did you get that? She bore twins to Ljudevit, Borna's Hand. The boy was my grandfather." Only at this point did I notice that there were two more strange women sitting at our table.

"Who are you?" I demanded.

The big blonde smiled. "I'm the next Payl, old man."

Then she laughed, with her hands on her hips, throwing her head back. It was a belly laugh, a full-bodied celebration of amusement. I had seen one or two men laugh like that in my time - but never a woman.

"My name is Giedra." she said. "These are my friends: Eliv, and Rion." She indicated the two seated women. I had no idea which one was which.

The first had painted her face with vertical black stripes across her eyes, and a strange swirl under her mouth, across her chin. It was very distracting. The second girl - neither was very old - had painted half of her face blue. She cradled a double-headed axe to her chest, stroking it with her fingertips.

- "What ... what are you doing here?" I asked.

- "Your daughter invited us." said Giedra. "But it looks like we were too late for the first fight. There'll be more - right?"

I tried to glare at Giedra. My one eye was useful for frightening children, but the big blonde didn't seem all that intimidated. I suppose it's also harder to impress people when you're lying flat on your back.

- "Where did you come from?" I said. "Why are you here?"

- "I told you - to fight."

Giedra finally took pity on me. She pulled over a stool, and sat down next to my bed, so that I wouldn't have to look up at her.

"We're from Nareven - do you know it?"

- "West of the Three Sisters? West of the lake?"

- "Northwest. Four, may five days walk. Bacho's men came ..."

- "Five years ago." said the girl with half of her face painted. Rion, I think. She was still stroking her axe.

- "That's right." said Giedra. "They raped a girl, and took most of our sheep."

I nodded. It was a story we had heard before.

- "They came back the next year. This time, two girls were raped. Eliv was one of them." I glanced at her two friends. Eliv was the one with the stripes and the swirl on her face. She didn't look my way.

- "I'm sorry, Eliv." I said.

Giedra's friend did not respond. But the blonde let out a deep breath.

- "That's right. You know what it's like ... we heard about your wife. And your son."

I was no more prepared to talk about that with strangers than Eliv was.

- "What else happened? The second time?" I asked.

- "They killed a man, and took the rest of our livestock. They also took two of our young men along. 'Recruits', they called them."

"There was a lot of talk, after that. Most of our folk wanted to move, up into the hills. To hide. Only a few were prepared to fight."

"I can't blame them, really. There were only four men left - and they were hardly warriors. In the end, only one of them came with us."

- "A man? Where is he now?" I asked.

- "In the ground." said Giedra. "He thought that running off with three women meant that we would be at his disposal - that he could hump us whenever he wanted."

- "He was wrong." said Rion, still stroking her axe.

- "Dead wrong." said Giedra.

They were an unusual trio. It made me wonder if Payl, the Shining One, had been just as strange. But if they could fight ... I would be more than ready to accept their little ... foibles.

The door opened. Yevna came in, followed by Inisian.

Giedra picked up the stool, and moved to join her companions, giving my daughter space to approach my bed.

Yevna came and perched on the side of my bed. I was taken aback. She seemed to have grown, somehow. She wasn't taller, or heavier, but I had a sudden sense of ... presence.

- "Papa - how are you feeling?" asked my eldest.

- "Better." I said. "Much better, now that I've met your new friends."

- "We'll let you talk to your father, Yevna." said Giedra. "See you later, Papa."

As the big blonde and her companions left, Inisian came closer, to shake my hand.

- "I'm so glad you're both safe." I said.

- "We're glad that you're alive." said Moruith's son.

- "Everyone says that you're a hero. You and Guenna." said Yevna. "And that Sulcen saved your life."

- "She did." I said. "But you've obviously heard the tale. I want to know where you went - and what happened."

Yevna turned to Inisian. "Will you get them?"

As he stood up to leave, I asked: "Get who?"

- "You'll see." said Yevna. "We went north of the Three Sisters, just as you said. Moruith's house is still standing. We found Dengelle living there."

- "Who?"

- "Dengelle. Svijo's sister."

- "Ah - I remember." When we first met Inisian, his brother had just been murdered by a local thug leader, named Rymvi SmallFoot. Svijo was a reluctant member of his little band, and Svijo's sister their even more reluctant cook, washerwoman, and communal bed-warmer.

Just before our flight to the Hill, we had found Svijo killed, and his house occupied by Kestutis and his reivers. We assumed that his sister had met a horrible fate - but there was nothing we could do about it.

- "She survived." said Yevna. "They raped her - repeatedly - and left her for dead. They also ... cut one of her ears off. I have no idea why. She supported herself by hunting, with a bow. She's a bit ... deranged - but she's fine with me. I'll take care of her, Papa. I promise."

Inisian came back, with a short, slender girl. I recognized her. I hadn't remembered her name, but I knew her face. How odd that Svijo's sister should bear the female version of Dengel Nadesti's name.

She was frighteningly pale, with filthy black hair hanging in tangled strands on either side of her face. Her eyes were a deep blue - and slightly mad.

- "Dengelle's going to stay with us - Inisian and me. We're going to live with Moruith."

I nodded. That made perfect sense.

- "Dengelle." I said. "I'm sorry."

Yevna responded quickly. "He means he's sorry that we couldn't save you, Dengelle." Then to me: "She knows that, Papa."

My daughter returned to her story.

- "People hate Bacho, Father. Everywhere we went, they had been there before us. Killing, raping, stealing ... Kestutis is loathed. Despised. So many have suffered at his hands ... Folk fear them - but they hate them, too."

- "How many are prepared to fight?" I asked.

- "You'd be surprised." said my eldest. I was surprised, again, by how mature she seemed. She was no longer my child.

"Giedra and her friends were ready to fight on their own - even though there were only three of them. I told them of Payl - and we used your name, too."

- "My name?"

- "Everywhere they go, Bacho and Kestutis ask for news of you. Of us. We met dozens of people who'd heard your name. Many think that you're the one man who's fought back against Bacho. You're a bit of a legend. Giedra thinks so, anyway."

"She loved my tales of Payl. But you she'd heard of. And she wanted me to re-tell ... our story - almost every night."

- "She looks capable." I said.

- "She can shoot." said Yevna.

- "Better than you?"

Yevna shrugged. I laughed, and took hold of her hand.

"You did well."

I hadn't seen Inisian leave, but now he returned, with another girl. Yevna saw my eye shift, and turned her head.

- "Ah! Father - I'd like you to meet ... Nameless."

I was looking at a thin, almost scrawny young woman, no bigger than Dengelle. She was equally filthy. If I'd had to bet, I would have wagered that she had last bathed on her second or third birthday.

But her eyes ... Dengelle looked slightly crazed; this girl, though, was intense. Her big brown eyes were fixed on me. I wouldn't even dare to start a staring contest with her.

- "You are welcome." I said. It was an old, old expression, from a time when accepting a stranger at your fireside could have unpleasant consequences. I have no idea why I said that - it just seemed appropriate.

Nameless stared at me, for another uncomfortable moment. Then she nodded.

- "Kestutis killed her parents." said Yevna. "Looted her home."

- "I'm sorry." I said. It was becoming a habit, this day.

Nameless was not mute.

- "I will fight, alongside you." she said.

I didn't laugh. Nor did I ask her name. It's an old Upland custom, to go Nameless. Not so common these days, but more widely known in my grandfather's time.

If a person had been shamed, or embarrassed, they might want to leave their name behind. Or, they might wish to earn a better one. Either way, 'Nameless' was often an upgrade on a person's birth name. And there were some truly unfortunate nicknames ... Grandfather used to talk of a poor bastard named ThreeNipple ...

This girl was running from something - her past, most likely. But she might also be looking for a more promising future.

There was no way that I could stay abed, with all these newcomers on the hill. I couldn't have them thinking that I was some sort of invalid. Despite Sulcen and Guenna's protests, I was on my feet that very afternoon.

Tanguiste understood. She hovered nearby, taking my arm when she saw me tiring, and steering me to a seat. When Tan said 'That's enough for today', I listened.

I arranged an archery contest, with the women, to see what they could do. Giedra was a fine shot, as Yevna had told me. Her friends Eliv and Rion, though ... they would be better off hurling the bow at our enemies, and keeping the arrows.

Dengelle was reasonably accurate, even though her little bow wasn't very powerful. The real surprise was Nameless, who was deceptively strong, and could pull any bow on the Hill. She also had a sharp eye.

- "Impressive." I told her.

Then I sparred with the women - one at a time.

- "You're wounded, old man." said Giedra. "you should be in bed."

- "One eye, one hand." I said. "But I wager I can still take you."

I shouldn't have said that. I was wrong, for one thing. Plus, Giedra took it personally. She gave me a solid thump with the stick we were using in place of edged weapons. The big blonde was physically powerful, and reasonably agile. I might have been fast enough to hit her back, had I not been wounded. Maybe.

Her friend Rion, the axe-stroker, was a maniac. She swung at me two-handed, without a thought for her own defence. I blocked two blows, and dodged half a dozen more. When she began to tire, and couldn't recover quickly enough, I stepped in and touched her with the point of my wooden weapon.

- "Granted, it won't be so easy for someone to block an axe." I told her. "But your eyes and your arms told me, every single time, where you were going to strike. If we can get you to disguise your intentions, you could be very dangerous."

Eliv wasn't dangerous, with a sword or a long knife. An axe was out of the question. I settled for teaching her two simple moves: a stab at the throat, and a stab at the groin.

- "Keep your weapon directly in front of you. don't swing. Don't cut. Just lunge forward. Stab. Again - stab."

Dengelle, Svijo's sister, would have to stick to a bow. She was timid, and frightened, at close quarters. She wasn't fast, and certainly wasn't ruthless enough.

Nameless, though, was a revelation. She was lightning-quick, and light on her feet, but could strike with power. I didn't come close to hitting her back.

- "Where'd you learn to fight?" I asked her.

Nameless only shook her head. That question struck too close to home, apparently.

- "She's awesome." Yevna said to me.

- "She certainly is."

- "Better than me?" asked Giedra.

I looked her in the eye. "You're good, Giedra. Stronger than Yevna, though she's a touch faster, and better with a bow. Nameless is beyond both of you. I wouldn't bet on Vingoldas or Hedyn against her. I wouldn't bet on myself, even with two eyes and two hands."

Over dinner that night, Guenna asked my opinion.

- "How do they look, to you?"

- "Nameless is a marvel." I repeated what I had said to Yevna.

- "What about the others?" asked my daughter.

- "With time, I might be able to turn Giedra's two friends into useful fighters - especially Rion. Dengelle ... probably not. But Giedra herself, and Nameless - they can stand with the best of us."

Only a week later, Seva and Weyl returned. They had one man with them, Hocon by name. I only had to look at him once, to know what he was.

Hocon was the runt of the litter, the low man in the pecking order. He was short, and slim. But it was his eyes that told the tale. Hocon was accustomed to giving way to stronger, more forceful men. He had been bullied, pushed around - perhaps even mocked, probably for his whole life.

We could train him to fight. But I had to wonder if he would stand, in a pinch. He looked as if he had never stood up for himself in his life. I explained my misgivings to Guenna.

- "But he had the courage to leave home. To come back with Seva and Weyl." she pointed out.

- "Maybe." I conceded.

But Seva brought back more than a single man. She had news.

- "The Izumyrians have invaded Hvad." she said.

***

To most Uplanders, Lowland Hvad was like the back of the moon: they knew next to nothing about it, and cared even less. My family was different, of course. Payl's mate, Ljudevit - though she had never married him - had been Borna's Hand.[1]

Borna was a legendary figure. After taking bloody vengeance on his father's killers, he had clawed his way to the top. Ban of Yeseriya, then Ban of Adarion by conquest and Ban of Yelsa by marriage ... with control of three of the seven Lowland provinces, he had succeeded in making himself Overlord of all Hvad, eventually taking the title of Voivode. The Izumyrians called him Duke.

My brothers knew these tales as well as I did. They had chosen to go to Hvad, to offer their services to Richwin, the present Duke - Borna's great-grandson.

They say that talent often skips a generation. Or, that the first generation does the work, the second enjoys its fruits, and the third squanders the advantage. In the case of Borna's descendants, that was certainly true.

Borna handed a united Duchy to his son and heir, Ered. But that fool promptly adopted the ancient custom of gavelkind.[2] He left the title of Duke, and the town of Hvad, to his eldest son, the second Ered. His other sons were given Adarion, Yelsa, and Yeseriya.

Ered the Second could not divide the town, or the title: his son Richwin inherited the lot. But the damage had been done. Three of the six other provinces were ruled by his kinsmen - cousins - but they were not so close.

Seva was happy to be the centre of attention, while she told us what she had learned.

- "Richwin gathered an army, and gave battle. He was heavily defeated, and killed." she said.

I wondered if my brothers had been there.

- "The Izumyrians have captured his castle, and Hvad town. They also control Yelsa and Adaron."

- "Adarion." I corrected. It didn't matter; few Uplanders had ever been to Hvad. In my lifetime, I had only met two people from Hvad: a tinker, and a guslar.

- "What does that have to do with us?" asked Giedra. Though just a newcomer, she obviously had no intention of being a silent member of our councils.

- "It's good to know." said Vingoldas. "Go on, Seva - do you have any more to tell?"

- "That's pretty much all I heard."

- "Well," said Mother Nadesti, "Giedra is probably right. Nothing to do with us."

We had our own problems, on the Hill. Winter was coming, and we didn't have as much food stored as we should have. Part of the problem was that Yevna and Inisian hadn't been here to hunt. Seva, too, had been away. Vingoldas, Hedyn and I hadn't hunted much at all, as we needed to be on hand in case of an attack.

Now, we also had more mouths to feed. It would mean short commons for everyone but the elderly and the children until we could make up the difference. Seva and her brother went hunting, as did Inisian and Nameless. Yevna didn't pair up with her man, because she hunted with Dengelle.

When my daughter came home empty-handed for the second day in a row, I lost my temper.

- "What are you doing?" I demanded.

- "What are you talking about?" she snapped back.

- "You know damn well what I'm talking about!"

Tanguiste appeared, as if by magic.

- "Keep your voices down." she said, soothingly. "Or move a little further away."

Yevna and I didn't move. She just stood there and glared back at me.

"What is it? Why are you angry?" asked Tanguiste.

- "We need meat - we need it desperately." I said. "But your sister thinks it's more important to play nursemaid to her friend Dengelle."

- "She's helping me!" said Yevna. "Dengelle can hunt, Father! She supported herself after ... after her brother was killed."

That shut me up. What Yevna had not said hit me harder than what she did say. After Dengelle was raped ... over and over, and then left for dead.

"She learns quickly, Papa." said Yevna. "She can track, and she can shoot. And I promised that I wouldn't leave her alone."

There was no answer to that. My daughter was doing what she thought was right.

- "I'm sorry." I said. "I shouldn't have ... spoken."

- "She doesn't get in my way." said Yevna. "She doesn't slow me down. We've just been unlucky for a couple of days."

I nodded. Tanguiste gave us both a hug, and my anger dissipated, leaving me feeling slightly foolish.

We had to build a new house, as well. Yevna moved in with Inisian and Moruith, and took Dengelle with her. That arrangement worked out better than I had expected.

Hocon, the new man, went to stay with Seva, Weyl, and their mother. Somehow, we ended up with Nameless. I couldn't really protest, when Yevna had moved out of our house. But a stranger in the same room was bound to make me feel a little self-conscious, if I wanted to stir the furs with my wife.

Sulcen, though, took an immediate liking to Nameless. I didn't hear them having a conversation - I'm not sure if they spoke at all. But there was an affinity there, a sort of bond, between kindred spirits.

The new house, of course, was for Giedra and her friends. Despite the big blonde's strong personality, I decided early on that I liked these women warriors. Fierce, for certain. And dangerous to be around. But they weren't too proud to pitch in and help, and to get their hands dirty.