“Come in, Kyrin,” Genessa said, smiling. She stepped back and let Kyrin and two of the Knights into her ante-chamber.
Kyrin looked around the room. It had too many decorations for her liking, but the bow on the wall caught her attention. It had been used, but was now covered in dust and being used to display flowers. The couches were soft and made of blue velvet, and a small table sat between them with tea set out.
“Please, have a seat,” Genessa said as she sat down and crossed her ankles. Kyrin couldn’t imagine wearing a long dress all day, but Genessa always wore them and often had matching jewels and elaborate hairdos to go with it.
Kyrin sat down awkwardly and looked over at the Lady, “So whose bow is that?”
“It’s mine.”
She raised her eyebrows, “You any good?”
Genessa smiled, “Ladies don’t carry weapons. It was from my younger days, and I was quite good.”
“Why can’t women carry weapons?”
“Not women, Ladies… as in the woman over the city.”
“Oh”
“Did Alric tell you why you are here?”
“Yeah, he thinks I need help with acting proper or something.
” “Yes, mostly. What do you think about that?”
Kyrin sat back in the chair, “I think I’m fine. It’s a waste of time if you ask me.”
“I see, well… as you are to be in this castle for the next year…”
“Eleven months.”
“Ok, 11 months, then you’ll need to act like you belong here.”
“Ok”
“I’d like to start by making you look like a proper lady.”
“You mean like dresses.”
“Yes”
Kyrin tensed, “Is he trying to get me ready to sell?”
“No!” Genessa said, shocked.
“Yeah well look what dressing up got you.”
“It helped me find the love of my life.”
Kyrin rolled her eyes, “Right… I’ll ask you again on your wedding night.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning nothing. Let’s just get on with it as I don’t have a choice.”
Genessa briefly tried to figure out what Kyrin meant, but then wrote it off as savagery, “I had a dress made for you. Please step into the parlor and change into it.”
Kyrin sighed and then stood up and walked into the next room. She saw the burgundy dress hanging from a clothes rack and walked closer to it. The skirt was long, as expected, and hung open at the front to expose another dark-blue skirt beneath it. A gold strip trimmed the neck and then met at the middle and followed the body down to where it split. The sleeves would be tight on her arms, which she knew would hinder any chance she had of fighting in it, but she didn’t have a choice.
She changed and then looked in the mirror and shook her head.
The skirt was fuller than she’d seen and would trail behind her a bit as she walked. She was relieved that the neck was high enough it completely covered her neck and chest, and the body was loose and not constricting.
Kyrin hated her figure, and hid it beneath thick shirts and baggy pants. Nothing in her life had been harder than when her body began to mature and the feminine curves she despised began to show.
“Are you coming out?” Genessa asked after a few minutes.
“Yeah, I guess,” Kyrin said, and then walked out into the room with the others.
Genessa’s smile faded and her words were insincere, “Lovely, Dear. Simply lovely.”
Kyrin looked down at the dress and shrugged.
“You’re quite scrawny though, aren’t you?”
“So?”
“Have a seat.”
Kyrin sat down on the couch with her legs far apart and her arms awkwardly at her side. She was obviously alert and ready to stand at a moment’s notice.
“Relax,” Genessa said.
“I am.”
One of the Knights laughed and Genessa silenced him with a glare before speaking, “No you aren’t. I have been in battle, and you are tense and ready to fight. As a proper lady you should be relaxed and calm.”
“Then you become a sitting duck.”
“No, you aren’t. You would then have men around you to fight if anyone attacks.”
She smiled suddenly, “You want me to sit here and let the men fight for me?”
“Well… yes.”
“No chance.”
“We’ll deal with that later. I actually want to look at your hair.”
Kyrin frowned, “What?”
“I’ve only seen it done up in a bun and in a braid. I want to let it down so I can look at it.”
“Why?”
“Please?”
Obviously not happy about it, Kyrin stood up and then began pulling her hair out of its braided bun. It took a while, but she finally dropped it and let it fall.
“My word it’s long,” Genessa gasped. She walked behind Kyrin and saw that her thick brown hair would easily have touched the back of her knees.
“Yeah, so?”
Genessa reached out and touched it, scowling at how soft and smooth it laid, “Why do you not cut it?”
Kyrin caught a tone change and wondered what she’d done wrong now, “I don’t know.”
Hair was a source of great importance in Kyrstalis. Short hair advertised one who was for sale and waiting for bids to make her a wife. Long hair meant the girl was either already spoken for or wasn’t currently for sale. Kyrin wasn’t about to cut it and deal with the unwanted advances if she returned to Kyrstalis Dimension.
Genessa moved to face her again and was no longer enjoying her new task, “You aren’t giving me a lot to work with, but I can try to make you a lady.”
Kyrin caught a tone“How so?”
“First we cut off this mop you call hair.”
“No”
“No?”
“No, I don’t cut it.”
“Why not?”
Kyrin looked at her angrily, “No.”
“Fine, but it’s ugly,” Genessa said, and sat down again.
Kyrin sat also, not caring that she’d sat directly on her hair.
They sat in awkward silence for a while before Genessa sighed, “Go ahead and change back into your… thing. I’ll tell Alric that you cannot be changed.”
“Fine by me,” Kyrin said before walking back in to change. She just wished they would leave her alone and let her work her year in peace.
When she walked out, Genessa and one Knight were talking in the corner, and the other Knight was nowhere to be seen. Kyrin watched them for a moment. They hadn’t heard her come out. She shook her head when she saw the way they looked at one another, and how the Knight gently took Genessa’s hand and kissed it softly.
“You’re bought and paid for,” Kyrin said from behind them.
Genessa jumped, and the Knight dropped her hand and looked over at the girl.
“So you’re just asking for a severe beating,” Kyrin told her.
“It’s… not what… I’m sure it’s not what it looked like,” Genessa
said quickly.
Kyrin shrugged, “I don’t really care what you do. However, you should be more careful and not get caught. I’ve seen women stoned for less than that.”
The Knight was too terrified to even speak, so he suddenly turned and walked out of the room.
“Just saying…” Kyrin said, and followed him out.
Before Kyrin had even returned to her room, Finn was waiting for her, “So where’s the dress?”
“I don’t think Genessa likes me.”
“Why do you say that?”
Kyrin shrugged and started re-braiding her hair.
“I’ve never seen hair that long before.”
“It’s going up.”
“You should leave it down,” Finn said, watching her.
“Why?”
“It’s nice.”
She ignored him and finished braiding it, then tied it into a bun at the base of her neck.
“I have a brother about your age.”
“Ok”
“You might like him. You hang around us old folks all day.”
“You aren’t old.”
“No, but you may have more in common with him.”
“I’m not interested in meeting your brother.”
He smiled, “Why’s that?”
“Just not.”
“Well maybe you should come to dinner one of these nights. You can meet my wife and kids too.”
She turned to him, “You have children?”
“Yes, three of them.”
He watched as her entire demeanor changed, and she sat down to clean the ceremonial dagger that she carried with her.
Not sure what to make out of her reaction, he continued, “Mom’d love to have you. They have heard about you in the town, but no one’s met you.”
“No”
“Because of my brother or because I have children?”
“I just can’t imagine you doing that.”
“Having children?”
“Yes”
“Why not?”
She shrugged and watched him.
“Well, she and I wanted more children, but we haven’t had any luck.”
.“She wanted them?”
“Yes, very much so.”
“Or did you just not give her the choice.”
He frowned, “I’m not like that.”
“Sure you aren’t. Just because women can carry your children, doesn’t mean they should be demeaned like that.”
“You have the wrong idea about marriage and children.”
“No I don’t! I’ve seen how men act and how the women have no choice when he decides to humiliate her with pregnancy. It’s disgusting and I thought highly of you, until now.”
“She had a choice. It was a mutual decision, and pregnancy is not humiliating.”
“No, not for you.”
“Wait a minute!” Finn said, starting to get angry. Before he could continue, a rush of footsteps sounded through the castle and both of them ran out into the hallway.
Kyrin watched as all of the Knights began to gather outside on the lawn.
“What’s going on?” Finn asked a passing Knight.
“Remeau was attacked.”
Finn grew furious and headed out onto the lawn also, followed by Kyrin. Alric was seconds behind them and began shouting orders for the Knights to mount up. They were heading out immediately.
“I want to go,” Kyrin said to Finn as he got his horse ready.
“Why?”
“Why not?”
He thought for a moment and then nodded, “Fine.”
Kyrin picked out a silver mare and mounted it quickly, then headed out behind the Knights. When Alric saw her a few miles out of the city, he simply shook his head and then turned to speak to Finn. She kept an eye out and stayed ready, in case they were attacked on the way.
Smoke became visible before they arrived, and Kyrin knew what they would find. As they approached the small village, the death and destruction became apparent. No building stood undisturbed and bodies were strewn around the streets in various stages of mutilation.
No one spoke as they dismounted and went in search of anyone who might have lived. Kyrin watched them and then headed off away from the others. Ash crunched beneath her boots as she wove in and out of rubble that used to be houses.
She stopped suddenly when a small body came into view. The child was obviously dead and covered in the ash from his burnt-out house. She poked him with her boot and then moved out without a second glance.
A soft groan off to her side caught her attention, and she headed toward it. Lying up against the remains of a wall was a warrior in full battle gear with his sword set off to his side.
She walked over and then squatted down beside him, “You alive?”
His eyes opened and he managed to nod, though he was in a great deal of pain. She studied him for a moment and noticed that his armor was dented and warn, and he had a tattoo on the side of his face with the mark of the crow.
“You from Qualsax?”
He again nodded and managed to mouth the word, “Help.”
Kyrin checked around her carefully to make sure no one was watching. When she was sure she was alone, she pulled a small empty vial from her pouch and pulled the stopper.
“Help,” he whispered again between gasps of breath.
She held the vial up to the blood pouring from his mouth, and then returned the stopper when it was full. After placing it back into the pouch, she checked again to make sure no one was looking.
Stealing from the dead wasn’t truly stealing, so she went through his pockets and put the handful of coins he carried into her bag, along with a necklace with a sparkling green amulet that he wore around his neck.
His eyes grew wide when she grinned down at him and then laced her fingers and put her hands over his heart.
“Vasiieth,” she whispered, seconds before lightning shot out of her hand. The Qualsax Warrior’s screams pierced the quiet day for only a second before his heart stopped, and Kyrin stood up.
His screams caught the attention of the Valhara Knights, and they all ran toward her as she stepped back away from him.
“Are you ok?” Alric asked, running up to her.
“Sure, why?”
“We heard a scream.” He looked down as Finn knelt beside the newly dead Warrior.
“He’s from Qualsax.”
“He’s dead?”
“Yes, newly dead,” Finn said, and then looked up at Kyrin.
“Did you kill him?” Alric asked.
“Why would I kill him?” The other Knights watched her. They knew she was rumored to be an evil and thought nothing about killing.
“That’s not what I asked. Did you kill him?”
Lying came easy to her, “No.”
“Do you swear?”
“Yes”
He nodded and then turned back to the Knights, “Keep looking, there may be more.”
Kyrin was already a long way off, still looking through the rubble.
“He’s still warm,” Finn said, standing slowly.
Alric nodded, “I’m sure he is. She killed him. Stay with her.”
Finn ran off to catch up with Kyrin. They had barely finished searching the village when the sun began to set. A call was heard, and they all headed back to the horses to meet up with Alric.
Alric looked at those gathered, “It’s too late to bury them now. We’ll camp here tonight and then bury them in the morning.”
Finn sighed when Kyrin spoke up, “Why bother burying them? Predators will clean them up.”
Alric cringed and ignored her, “There’s a lake nearby if you need to wash up. I want camp set up within the hour, and Unit 4 will take the first watch.”
Kyrin stood back and watched as the Knights went to work. They put up a big tent and started to stake it down to the ground. She was curious why they needed shelter, when there wasn’t any storm in sight. She saw a smaller tent being put up beside it, and a cook fire built.
Once they were done, Finn came up to her, “The smaller tent is yours. We’re going to go clean off so stay here.”
“I don’t need a tent and why can’t I go?”
“Because we’ll not be dressed. We’re covered in blood and ash.”
She shrugged, “How different can you be naked than I am?”
He was speechless for a moment, “Have you ever seen a naked man?”
“Well, no.”
Her innocence always shocked him, especially in light of how she’d just killed a helpless enemy, “No, stay here.”
Kyrin scowled and watched them all walk off together. She looked around the now empty camp and debated what to do. The dead bodies littering the village floor were full of potion ingredients, but she figured if they were willing to bury the dead, they probably didn’t want their bodies pillaged first.
She walked over and peeked into the smaller tent. Inside was a soft mattress set out for her, covered in blankets and fluffy pillows. She shook her head and then walked back out. The moon set behind the nearby mountains, and in the dark she felt less conspicuous than she had wandering the empty camp in the light.
When she heard the others coming back, she walked toward the campfire to wait for them. Alric and Finn were laughing about something when they walked up, and when they saw her, they went over to her.
“Sorry we took so long, Kyrin,” Finn said. “We decided though that if you need a bath, we’ll go and make sure no one bothers you.”
“I don’t need a bath,” she told him.
Alric looked down at her ash and sweat covered skin and then smiled, “You sure about that?”
“Yes”
“Is it the water you don’t like, or being naked?”
She wouldn’t admit it, but in the last few weeks in Valhara, she’d begun to like the feel of water and looked forward to when the large tub was set outside of her room for her to bathe in, “I don’t like any of it.”
“But you’re covered in ash.”
“Does that bother you?”
He thought before answering, “Yes.”
“Fine, but I go alone.”
“We really should go. What if you run into trouble?” Finn said.
“I can bathe alone.”
“We’re not going to peek.”
“Either I bathe alone or I stay like this.”
Alric finally sighed, “Very well, but we will come after you in 20 minutes if you’re not back.”
“Dinner will be ready when you return,” Finn said, and then pointed off into the dark. “The lake is that way.”
Kyrin found the lake easily and checked around before stripping and setting her clothes off to the side. She hesitantly dropped her flail beside the clothing and then stepped into the warm lake. The moon was shining on the water, making it look like it was pitch-black and bottomless. She smiled and dipped into the water, reveling at the feel of it. She’d never in her wildest dreams imagined she would ever find enough water to submerge in.
She pulled her hair out of the tight braid and then ran her fingers through it, combing out the knots and anything that may have gotten caught in it. Just as she’d finished, she felt something brush against her ankle in the water.
She jerked away and began swimming quickly toward the shore. Seconds later, the feel of something scaly wrapped around her ankle, and she was pulled into the black water. Kyrin struggled to get her ankle free, but whatever was holding her leg only tightened. Without being able to speak, she couldn’t get a spell off, so she struggled to get free.
Deep in the water, an eye appeared, an eye almost as big as her head. She gasped in a lung full of water and then began striking out at it, trying to dig her fingernails into the giant orb. When she finally managed to draw blood from the beast, tentacles appeared and began pulling at her limbs, trying to tear her apart. She was out of air, and her vision was beginning to fade. It was like looking through a tunnel.
Her head was pounding, and her lungs ached to draw in a breath. She could see the surface of the water, and the rippled form of the moon. Her left foot broke free of the tentacle holding it, and she kicked hard, sending her foot through the beast’s already injured eye.
When she broke the surface of the water, she gasped in air and found renewed energy. All she needed now was to get her hands together, but the beast was still pulling painfully at her limbs, though its movements were now more hectic and jerky than before. Managing to get her mouth near her wrist, she bit the tentacle and green blood oozed out of where she’d bitten, and the tentacle let go.
The second her hands touched, she shouted, and the entire lake seemed to erupt into a bright flash of lightning. The beast immediately let go of her, and she felt its dead form slide down her body as it sunk in the water. Fish began to appear along the surface, killed by the spell that finished off the beast.
She swam to the shore and collapse onto the sand, still gasping in breaths of air. Her arms and legs ached from the beast pulling at her, and there were burns on her ankles and wrists where it had grasped her. The foot she sent through its eye was throbbing and in a great amount of pain.
Once she could breathe again, she managed to pull on her clothing and then turned back to the water. Tentacles from the creature were floating lifelessly across the black face of the water, along with other creatures that called the lake home. She wasn’t sure how to get out of this one. Only magic could destroy everything in a lake at once.
Kyrin knew she couldn’t hide the injuries. They were too great to keep from all of the Knights. Carrying the boot from her injured foot, she limped back toward camp, hoping the rest were asleep and she could crawl into the small tent and nurse her wounds in private.
She chastised herself for not seeing him. One of the Knights was guarding the camp and off behind a grove of trees. He saw her limping toward the camp and immediately called for help as he put his arm under hers to help her into camp. Her foot was hurting worse, and she wasn’t able to bear any weight on it at all.
“What happened?” Finn asked, kneeling down beside her when the Knight helped her to sit by the fire.
“I’m ok,” she said, and held her foot out to the fire to look at.
The Knights became furious when the fire lit up the damage to her foot. The skin was hanging loosely and peeling away from burned and blackened flesh.
“My god,” Finn whispered, and called for someone to fetch one of the Priests.
“No,” she managed to say, and then she put her hand out to him. “I’m ok. I can handle this.”
He was leaning down to get a closer look, “What did this?”
“I don’t know what it was.”
“Were you attacked in the lake?”
“No, it was on the way back.”
“Go,” he said, nodding to two of the Knights, who immediately set off into the night.
Kyrin began to tear off the bottom half of her tunic, and then wrapped it tightly around her foot. When she stretched her hands out, it exposed the burns around her wrists where the tentacles had grabbed her.
Finn spoke softly, “We need to get you looked at. You could lose that foot if we don’t have it healed.”
“I just need to lay down.”
He nodded and then helped her to her feet, and acted as a crutch, so she could get into the tent. Finn stepped out just as the two Knights returned.
“What did you find?” he asked them.
“We went all the way to the lake and didn’t see anything.”
“She lies often. Did you look at the lake?”
“It was too dark. Clouds are covering the moon.”
“We’ll go look in the morning and see if we can find what attacked her.”
“Yes, Captain,” they said, and returned to the fire. Finn debated for a moment and then went and grabbed a plate of food. When he made it back to her tent, she was already fast asleep.
***
“Kyrin?” Alric whispered, and touched her arm softly.
She looked up from the ground beside the mattress in the tent and sat up when she saw him.
He sat back against the side of the tent, and she was surprised to see the sun was up.
“Want to tell me what happened last night?” he asked.
“I was attacked.”
“Then you managed to kill an entire lake?”
“No, I can’t kill an entire lake.”
“Finn went to the lake this morning and found a dead tentacle orb along with thousands of dead fish.”
“Coincidence”
“Well it just so happens that the eye of the orb contains an acid. Something that would do similar damage to your foot.”
“Ok, so the big eye attacked me.”
“Water attacks are hard for melee.”
“What are you implying?” she asked, irritated.
“That you have more poisons than we imagined. Did you poison that lake?”
“Is it illegal to do?”
“Well, no.”
“I was attacked. I had to do something to get away.”
He nodded, “I understand that. I just wonder why you lied to Finn about being attacked in the water.”
She shrugged and looked down at her foot, which was completely healed, “I wish you’d stop doing that.”
“Healing you?”
“Yes”
“Why? Is it so hard to accept that I want to help you with no strings attached?”
“Nothing comes without a price.”
“Well I fully plan on proving you wrong.”
“Where were you anyway?” she asked, and then winced when she realized she shouldn’t have asked.
“I was going to talk to Sithias, but was called back when Finn was worried you might lose a foot.”
“I would have been fine.”
He studied her and then nodded, “Ok. Some are breaking up camp, and the rest of us are going to bury the dead. Just hang around until we’re done, and then we go back to Valhara.”
She nodded and started to unwrap her foot.
“Oh, another thing,” he said, turning at the door. “How long before that lake water is good again?”
“Should be fine this morning.” “It should?”
“I mean it is.”
He seemed unsure, but turned anyway and left her tent. She followed him out and was immediately handed a plate of food by Finn, “You need to eat.”
“Are you mad?” she asked, taking a bite with her fingers.
“Not mad, more frustrated.”
“At me?”
“At the entire situation. I knew we shouldn’t have let you go alone at night. Then you lied to us for no good reason, all to hide poison use.”
She didn’t know what to say, so she ate quickly and then went back into the village to see what she could find to do. It took hours for the bodies to be buried, and once a prayer was said over the grave, they all mounted up and started for the town.
Kyrin got the impression that others were talking about her behind her back, but each time she looked toward them, they were facing forward silently. She wasn’t sure why the paranoia, but she didn’t like the feeling and was ready to get back to her room.
It wasn’t until the next day that anyone really talked to her again. She woke up to a light knock on her door. She sat up from the floor and then yawned and called for them to come in.
Finn came in and sat down on the floor beside her, “Wondered if you were going to wake up today. Lord Alric had to go into the temple, but he thought when you woke up that you could maybe see about another session with Genessa.”
She cringed, “Really?”
“Yes, she has a lot she can teach you.”
“She hates me.”
Finn smiled, “No, she doesn’t.”
“Why aren’t they married yet?”
“It’s complicated.”
“So you don’t know is what you mean,” she said.
“No, no I know why. I’m just not sure it’s any of your business.”
“Is something wrong with her?”
“No”
“Are his other wives refusing?”
Finn almost choked, “Do what?”
“His other wives… if they hate the new wife it can cause a delay.”
“What makes you think Lord Alric has other wives?” “Of course he does. He’s rich.”
“So rich men have many wives.”