Blades Falling Softly, page 13
part #1 of The Brightest Shadow Series
Looking past the human side of the aftermath, she saw a lone figure standing atop a small hill. The West Wind watched her and her alone, dark eyes absorbing everything. Before she could rethink her decision, or even make a decision at all, Anyinn leapt to meet him.
When she arrived, he simply stepped back to give her space, though she noted how he held the willow stick at his side. For a long time he stared directly into her eyes, his own a depthless ochre. It almost seemed as if he could see through all of her to some deeper essence, and when he glanced away, Anyinn let out a heavy breath.
"Do you understand what's happening here?" She asked the question in Coran, which felt crude compared to her own tongue.
"I have journeyed to many lands and encountered many warriors." The West Wind turned from her and stared out over the valley, tapping his willow stick against his leg. "I have seen more things than I believed possible. But this is something that I have never seen before. I must go to find answers, though I do not know if any exist."
"Wait. Please. Something's changed about me, hasn't it? The power has... passed to me."
"Not power, authority." As the West Wind stared into her eyes again, she remembered that Coran was also his second language. She wondered what he might say to her if he could express his thoughts fully, but his thoughts remained submerged beneath that placid gaze. "There were others like you, though everyone else has already forgotten. They believe... their lives can contain only one story. And now you are that story. Perhaps it is up to you what you write, but perhaps not."
With that, the West Wind stepped away, his mastery of sein carrying him from her in a blur that might as well have been the wind itself. This time, she did not think that he would return. That might have been the correct decision, yet she couldn't bring herself to leave.
The truce held between both sides, so Anyinn should have been happy. When Noreinu arrived much later, she clung to him fiercely.
Canumon
Negotiations began without warriors, by design. Everyone capable of using sein or even carrying a weapon retreated to their separate camps, while the central building of the lodge filled with mansthein and human diplomats. Or, in the absence of real diplomats, whatever family members, merchants, and support officers had enough authority to speak on anyone's behalf.
That left Canumon sitting outside and again unable to act, despite the fact that the negotiation technically still rested on his duel against Anyinn. Ironic that the meaning of the battle would be decided by those who had never fought in one, or perhaps appropriate. The rite was a pathetically thin justification for peace, after all the bloodshed, but Anyinn had forced it through.
He wasn't entirely sure what to make of her now, and she seemed to be avoiding him since the confrontation in which she had split the two sides. The crisis might be past, but his wife agreed that it changed nothing about the risk. While Gowanisa finished packing supplies for a journey, he bounced Laghy on one knee. The boy giggled and squirmed wildly, in defiance of everything around them.
"Do you want me to bring neth?" Gowanisa asked, leaning in from the other room. He only shook his head.
"I have a feeling we wouldn't have time to brew any."
"Right. I just... I think I have everything, but no matter what, I don't feel prepared." She walked closer, putting one hand on his shoulder and another on Laghy's head. The boy giggled and twisted to bite her fingers, but it wasn't enough to improve their mood.
"Do you have enough herbs?" Canumon asked. His wife slid her hand from his shoulder to rest on her stomach and closed her eyes. He wasn't sure if he could see a difference or if it was only hope. "You can throw out other things if you need more space."
"The problem isn't space, it's that we don't have enough." She sank down beside him, still rubbing Laghy's head. "I thought I could buy more from the army, but they're lacking most supplies beyond the basics. Everything we have will last me eight days, or sixteen if I stretch. So it all depends on whether or not we can reach a city with mansthein traders."
That seemed an open question, but before Canumon could answer someone rapped on the door. He leapt to his feet, his hands automatically shifting to a defensive position. Gowanisa snatched Laghy off his lap and the boy just squealed at what he thought was a game. There were no sounds of violence and Canumon felt no particular sein outside, but he still opened the door hesitantly.
Anyinn stood on the other side, holding a steaming kettle, which she offered with a weak smile. "My husband is busy with the other negotiators. Care for a cup of neth?"
"Why don't you come in?" Canumon smiled at her automatically, but his body failed to open the door as quickly as it should have while he stared at her.
In every physical respect, she looked unchanged, yet his deepest instincts told him that something had shifted. He felt as though his very senses were inadequate, like he watched the waves on the ocean and tried to divine the movements of beasts swimming deep below.
When Anyinn entered, she smiled at Gowanisa... and Laghy let out a cry. Suddenly bawling, he buried his head in his mother's chest and wailed in panic. Everyone stared uncomfortably before Gowanisa picked the boy up and carried him back to his room. Canumon tried to put out of mind the fact that it was the first time he remembered Laghy reacting poorly to anyone.
"I'm sorry, I didn't bring any cups." Anyinn sat down near the stove and kept her hand on the kettle. Canumon waved aside the issue and looked through the cabinet for the porcelain cups they'd used in that meeting that felt like ages ago. He started with a pair, then decided to take a third as well.
"I could use a good cup," he admitted as he sat down opposite her. Anyinn poured his neth first, her own, and a third after a slight hesitation.
"These cups are quite beautiful." She paused to admire the patterns around the side before she took her first sip. "They don't look like anything a local clan would make, so I take it you brought them with you?"
"The pattern is a traditional Laenan one, but I bought them in our own village, here in Nol." Canumon took a sip even though the neth was still too hot, letting it burn down his throat. "Back in Laen Karnak, they drink from cups like saucers, usually fashioned in squares."
"Squares? That seems like it would be prone to spilling."
"There's a channel to each corner. That's only for those who can afford them, of course. Standard saucers are made as cheaply as possible."
"Ah."
Anyinn lapsed into silence and they drank quietly for a time. Despite everything, it was enough, at least for that moment.
When their cups ran empty, Canumon reached to refill them, then hesitated. Instead he turned the empty cup over in his hands while he asked the question on his mind. "Out there, they all listened to you."
"I think the madness is inside me now." Anyinn took a deep breath and stared at her hand, slowly flexing each finger. "I had a... a vision I can't quite describe. But now, everything is different. Maybe I can define what this story means now, use it for peace instead of war."
"No." Canumon leaned forward, capturing her gaze. "You can't, Anyinn. Laghy knows you, he let you hold him at your home, but he cried when he saw you now. Whatever this is, I don't think any of us is in control."
"But I can carry it in another direction. Better my burden to bear than someone younger who migh-"
"Then treat it like a burden. If you really have this power, don't use it."
"Maybe you're right." Anyinn finally sat back and something of the intensity faded from her face. She lazily poured both of them a second cup and then stared out the window. "I don't feel any different. More confident, maybe, but I've always been confident."
Canumon frowned and tried to probe her soul as best he could. "You don't feel a difference in your sein? I admit that I don't, but I thought it would have to create one, if whatever this is has an impact."
"Well, maybe it's like you said, and we don't really know what we're talking about." She smiled at him and he smiled back, but they said nothing else.
Gowanisa emerged from the other room, a troubled expression on her face. Though she relaxed slightly when she saw their smiles, she didn't join them, instead lingering on the opposite side of the room. Canumon gestured to the remaining cup on the stove.
"We saved you a cup of neth so that you could savor it."
"I'm very grateful." She picked up the cup and immediately hurled the contents out the window before setting it back down. "Pour me another and I'll put it where it belongs too."
Despite the tension, or perhaps because of it, all of them laughed. Briefly. The pressure lifted from the room, but their problems ran deeper than any temporary stress. Anyinn drank some more neth and stared at the cup for a time before she set it down heavily.
"Thank you, both of you." She slowly rose to her feet and stepped toward the door, then hesitated. "I feel more myself, having spent time with you, but I think I need some time with myself now."
"Of course. Tell me if you learn anything." Canumon stepped forward to embrace her briefly, and after a pause, Gowanisa did as well. The two women shared a few whispered words he took care not to overhear, then Anyinn finally departed.
As soon as she was gone, Gowanisa marched back to the other room and hefted her pack onto one shoulder. "We need to leave."
"Because of that?" Canumon asked. "Surely you can trust Anyinn. You know her."
"I know Anyinn. Was that who was just here?" Her eyes burned defiantly, and though he disagreed, he couldn't find the words to do it.
When Canumon opened the door, he saw Anyinn vanish into the hills north of the lodge. Hopefully she would find some insight there, or at least the strength to resist the light burning inside her. If she became another Hero, as terrible as the others, he wasn't sure if he could fight her. In some way, he felt that it would be his duty to do so.
Gowanisa didn't press the matter, but resolutely continued to pack several final items. From the other room, Laghy began to cry again, desperate for their attention. This time, Canumon ignored him, all his attention consumed by a movement from the southern camp.
Kanavakis marched at the head of a column studded by Catai, armed and advancing toward the lodge. The warmth of the neth that had lingered within him vanished. He pushed the door open and turned back to Gowanisa.
"You were right. Run. Now." As he heard her move, he ran to intercept the mansthein soldiers.
Anyinn
It had been years since Anyinn had needed to meditate on specific memories, yet as she drifted into her sein, she found herself clinging to details. The further back she remembered, the more her mind was dominated by a pale haze. Unless she gripped them tightly, facts twisted out of her grasp and became seductively simple stories. Yet even those she held tightly...
Then, with a certainty that horrified her, she knew that the Deathspawn were attacking. The carefully gathered memories of her time with Canumon and Gowanisa made her shrink back from the word, but that didn't mean her impulse was wrong.
In a flash she was on her feet and running back to the Straedi lodge. For all the importance that had been placed on it, the complex wasn't so large. Sprinting down a hill toward it, she soon saw that the conflict spawned the only place it could: outside the doors to the negotiation chamber. She could see Deathspawn soldiers there, including several Catai.
Two of the Deathspawn held Canumon prisoner, bound in chains, so she raced to his defense first. Several lay nearby, nursing broken arms, so he must have fought them first, but unsuccessfully. Rage flowed through Anyinn and she drew her sword as she reached the enemy.
Just before her blade connected, she redirected the edge and instead struck the man in the side of the head with the flat of her blade. She couldn't allow herself to think about that fact or fall into the simple rage: her goal was to rescue Canumon and nothing else.
Though the Catai should have had more time to react, they were so shocked by her appearance that she managed to strike down the entire group of them with non-lethal blows. Canumon dropped to one knee, staring at her in similar shock, then he abruptly shook his head and pointed inward.
"Anyinn... inside, you have to..."
She turned and pushed aside another of the mansthein, but there was only time to witness. Instead of a coherent scene, she saw only fragments: spatters of blood, broken tables, axes entering bodies already dead. Without fully understanding, she stepped inside, her body trembling except for her sword arm, which remained utterly still.
Of course she saw his body. She had known that she would. Noreinu didn't lie sprawled across the floor or over one of the desks, he slumped against the door to one of the other exits, as if he had died helping others escape. A long time ago, she had met him holding the door open for a group of elderly clan members, smiling kindly and so very young.
Before she realized it, Anyinn had grasped one of the Deathspawn by the head and brought his skull against a stone pillars. It cracked first, but she pulled him back and struck again. Only as she resolutely bashed the man's head into the pillar did she start to feel any rage.
In fact, there was only rage. She watched her body as if from a great distance, aware of her anger without sensing it. Shouldn't she have been weeping for the loss of her husband of so many years? Instead, her eyes burned with something that made every Deathspawn soldier retreat from her.
Except one, who grabbed her by the arm. Anyinn nearly skewered him with her dangling sword before she realized that it was Canumon. She glared at him, yet he didn't flinch, unlike all the others. Slowly Anyinn disengaged, letting go of the bleeding skull.
She had grabbed one of the Catai, and his durable skull had survived the impacts, but with a slightly different decision she would have killed someone. That fact seemed like a simple error to her, something that needed to be corrected. But no, Canumon was right. If she wanted to bring justice to all the Deathspawn who had done this, murdering them herself would not be enough.
"Anyinn, you need to stay in control." Though they were surrounded by soldiers, Canumon was staring at her as if she was the greatest threat. "I know what they did, but if..."
"You're too late, human." One of the Deathspawn in a Laenan jacket stared at her with a revulsion she didn't understand and didn't care to understand. "Whatever you were planning to force on us, it's over."
"Kanavakis, don't." Canumon turned on him with the rage that Anyinn couldn't let herself feel. "You've killed your own people here, and for what? Were you ordered to do it?"
"What else could we do? Their 'Hero' had complete control of both sides, so I had to cut out the infection. But she left the defenseless-"
Stepping past the man's guards, Anyinn drove her sword through the Deathspawn. At the last moment she pierced his shoulder instead of his chest, but the momentum from her thrust drove them out of the room and across the walkway, scattering several other soldiers. Some had begun to flee, but her target struggled, pinned to the wall by her blade.
Abruptly Anyinn stepped back, staring at the terrified expression on his face. That should have meant something, yet she saw only the filthy Deathspawn who had killed her husband. It would have been justice to kill him then and there, and yet...
"I can't." She stepped back, letting go of her sword. "He deserves it, but if I do..."
"You're making the right choice, Anyinn." Canumon spoke softly, brushing her sleeve as he moved past her. "But you'll still have justice for Noreinu. Because I can."
If she had chosen to stop him, she could have moved with brilliant speed and exerted her will over them all. Instead, she turned away, barely seeing Canumon strike the Deathspawn leader's neck from the corner of her vision. To her surprise, she felt a chill roll through her instead of any satisfaction, as she should have been the one to kill him... Anyinn clung to that dissatisfaction and tried not to think.
When Canumon came to stand alongside her, he offered her sword hilt-first. He had taken the time to clean the blade, leaving it shimmering instead of covered in blood. She took a deep breath and accepted it from him, her fingers coming home around the hilt.
"Are we going to fight our way out?" Canumon asked. She realized that he was at her back and they were still surrounded by enemies. Once, she had wanted to fight together like this, except it had been an idle dream instead of a nightmare.
"All of you, go." Anyinn swept her blade at the remaining Deathspawn and watched them flee in terror, some tumbling down the hillside in their haste.
There was almost no one left alive in the lodge, except for the two of them. Her mind refused to reflect on that fact, but she could tell that Canumon was still thinking desperately. He looked back toward the chamber of corpses, covered his eyes, and then finally turned to her.
"This will mean war unless we stop it, get ahead of the story somehow. I suppose it all depends on what the Zeitai and the Dark Lord really want. Why haven't they appeared yet?"
"Because it isn't the proper time." Anyinn straightened her back and stared into the mountains. "Don't worry, Canumon. The story will be whatever we say that it is."
She had meant the words to comfort him, yet she saw an incomprehensible flicker of fear on his face. Considering that there might be some threat that she had missed, she turned back to listen to him, but he only stared at her for a long moment. Something higher in the hills caught his eye and he took a step forward.
"Gowanisa..." The sound of his wife's name sent Anyinn spinning, already sure of what she would see.
Part of the undefended Deathspawn camp had been taken by warriors of the Tayn clan, now herding together noncombatants. She could see the rage in their faces and several of them already lay dead, throats cut. Part of her thought that rage was good and right, while another part never saw them at all.
In the center of the group, Gowanisa fought back, but she was outnumbered and her opponents didn't hesitate to target Laghy in her arms. In the end Feinouya herself struck her arms, dislocating a shoulder. Gowanisa let out a cry of rage as her son fell to the ground, but there was nothing she could do against the clan head's overwhelming strength.
