S
o I fetched the ponies and labored for the remainder of the day. I had no need to check the bodies for anything of use. Neeco had already done that for me. I had merely to take his pack. But I hitched a pony to the bodies, one by one, and allowed the pony to drag them to a cliff. I rolled the contorted figures over the edge. Let them lie below, prey to the buzzards which would feast. Neeco's body I sent hurtling downwards last of all. Perhaps his family would have preferred that he lie with them but I could not allow it. By his own actions he was not of us. Let him lie with those friends he had taken.
After that, I returned a while to stay in my dale. There was no need to do anything for Ithia. Her body had crumbled to a fine pollenlike dust by the time I gained my vengeance and returned. I took up a pinch of that and added it to my amulet. The remainder I burned as I wept. Then I used the ponies to aid me as, one by one, I laid the bodies of my kin and friends to rest. It was exhausting and brutal work and I think I was a little mad. I hummed to my bees as I worked, talked to them and discussed what I should do next.
When I was done, I shut up the cottages and the keep as best I could. If I ever returned they should not be ruined with the damp or infested with vermin. Lastly I dealt with the horses. The bandits had their own thin abused beasts. And then there was the team of great-horses. I rounded up all of them, tying them into a pack-train. Taking up the reins of the first of them I led the string down our dale and into the inner valley. The entrance to that was narrow. I left the beasts to feed and blocked their gateway. They could live out their lives in safety there, even if I never returned.
At last I straddled a pony and returned to the hives. I would take my winged-ones back to the place where Ithia had found the new queens. They should be safe even if I died or must leave. I used the sledges and the ponies, moving the hives in two journeys. Each time I halted just short of my goal. When all were there and I could delay no longer, I called the warriors, who surrounded me. With them came the two stranger queens, one alighting on each of my shoulders. In one hand I carried Welwyn's queen.
I reached the shrine and stared about. It was plain, but there was a simple beauty in the curves of stone and the shades of the pavement about the shrine. The small open center building was set in the midst of a five-pointed star. This was outlined with strips of a lighter stone, a warm pale honey. The inner portions ranged from a darker honey to a gentle honey-brown. Somehow the very colors soothed me.
The queens flew ahead, alighting on the edge of a small basin by the building's doorway. They reached out to call me and I obeyed. Even as they, I drank some of what the basin contained. Then I lifted my head and gasped. It was meadâof a sort. But such a sort as any wise woman of the bees would have given her right arm to brew. I could feel strength and healing pulse through me. Still stronger grew the link between my winged-ones and I.
I turned to face the building's entrance. “To the giver of the feast, fair thanks.” That was well enough said, but the rest did not seem right. I improvised. “Bright sun and a
great hosting of flowers on the morrow. May your wings ever bear you safely and may you have always clean water for your hive.” That seemed right. I bowed again and waited.
From the shadowed entrance there came a soft sweet humming. It shifted key and became a voice.
“Enter and be welcome, daughter of my hive.”
I moved forward slowly, allowing the voice time to deny me yet, or to give other commands. Nothing came as I passed under the door-frame. A golden light pervaded the room. And in it I saw.
So small a building it had seemed from the outside. But within, it appeared to shimmer, stretching far out before me. At the end of that distance one sat on a great chair, carved in a wood like molten honey. Many would have feared the figure she made. But I saw only the outstretched hand and the kindness in the many-faceted eyes. I stumbled forward, her arms closed about me, and on her shoulder I wept out all my sorrow and loss.
At last she stood, putting me gently from her. “You have wrought well, daughter of my hive. In turn it shall be well-wrought for you. Time shall pass. For that time you shall remain here in safety.”
“How long?”
She smiled. “I do not count time here. The wheel turns and when it has come full circle your time will come with it. Be patient and at peace.” Her hand lifted to trace a sign. Thenâshe was gone, but now within the building I had entered I could see a small plain room open to one side. Within was a bed, a washbasin, and such other things as I might need. A table to one side held food. Nectar bread and honey, with an ewer of water, the chill beading the sides.
And so I took up my abode. Welwyn's queen I placed on a ledge where I could see it when I rose each morning. My lady of the shrine spoke truly. Time seemed to slip away so fast it was as if the seasons blurred. Summer rushed past. The bright leaves of the coming Winter appeared, then the
first snows. I had feared I would be cold when that came, but some spell about the shrine held back the chill from those within. I was grateful for the care given, yet I did not wish to lose all touch with my own lands. I found bark, melted wax, and made tablets on which to scratch notes of time as it passed and things which I learned.
My lady was kind enough to talk with me now and then, to teach me what I asked, and I learned hungrily as I had learned from Ithia. Of my craft-mother I asked, but of her the lady would say nothing. In that timeless place I could feel my gifts flex and strengthen. Summer cameâfor the third time I believed. If I was right, then I was now sixteen. My lady summoned me.
“Time has turned for you, daughter, and it is your time. Go from my shrine and seek.”
I bowed my head, then looked up. “Lady, what do I seek?”
Her smile was kind. “What all desire. A hive of one's own. Pastures wherein to gather nectar. New daughter-queens to follow you.”
I considered that. I thought I was being told that I should go and find a home, a mate, and children. Or at least an apprentice. Into my mind there came warm laughter.
“Even so. Listen well, daughter of my hive. Beyond my place evil has come to walk. Yet from it shall come good if you face it valiantly. One there shall be whose kin-name you know. Remember, the wheel turns. Do not reject good honey though bees from that hive have stung in the past.” She lifted a hand and pointed. “Go, and remember what you have learned here.” A golden rune flamed in the air and my warriors came to cluster about me. I bowed and turned.
My lady's advice and teaching had always been good before. I would believe that it was so again. I went to my room and changed clothes, donning trews and a tunic. If evil walked outside the shrine there might be need for me to run. That would be easier without long skirts. About my
waist I girded the dagger and sword I had taken from Lord Lanson's home. Welwyn's queen caught my eye. If I failed in this quest I might not return. Once I had thought to gift it to my lady. I had not done so then; now I should.
Picking up the figure, I carried it to the place where the wall would draw aside. It did so and I paced forward into the inner room where lay an altar. I laid the queen thereon and spoke softly.
“I go to battle evil and who knows the roads I may take or if I shall return. I offer this as a guest-gift. It is a poor thing compared to those gifts you have given me. Yet is it the best gift I can give and it is given with love.”
I felt power surge in the room. Before my eyes Welwyn's queen shivered. It turned bright eyes to study me before rising on powerful wings to perch on my shoulder. For a moment wings caressed my cheek. My gift was accepted but returned to me for a little. I walked in Light and the strength of the Hive supported me. I went from the shrine, tears still wet on my cheeks.
About me flew a hundred warriors and two queens. On my shoulder I bore another. I left the star pavement and felt the warm air about me. If evil walked here I saw no signs of it. Perhaps I would find it beyond the shrine's valley. I hitched up my pack and strode out. In an hour I was near the valley's mouth and I became more cautious in my movements. It was as well.
I dropped into cover and swallowed the desire to spit like a cat. I had hoped that beyond the shrine the land healed. Mayhap it did, but there were still predators who hunted. I spied now on a group like Garlen's band. There were fewer of them and they looked both more hungry and more desperate. More evil also. Their leader was a burly middle-aged man wearing the remnants of what may have once been a uniform.
But soldier or not, he had no more control over his men than Garlen had owned over his band. From where I crouched I could hear the grumbling.
“'Sa waste'a time. Who's gonna ransom this one? I say we finish him then make fer the coast. Mebbe we could wave down some Sulcar ship.”
There was a guffaw from the leader. “Take a ship from the Sulcar? You're crazy, Malen. No. There'll be a ransom for this one. We have only to wait a bit longer.” His grin broadened. “If he's bin lying to us then you can do what you will. But until then he stays in one piece, understand. We can take a toy to play with anytime. One who's worth gold is far rarer.” There was a growl of agreement from those about him as the men settled back to dicing.
I craned to see as they moved a little. I looked for the face but it was the tabbard I saw first. On it I saw the signs of noble rank. I stared, sitting back on my heels, mouth agape. Into my hands, oh Lords of Vengeance, was the enemy of my house delivered. The sigils were those of the House whose son had ravished my gifts into my great-grandmother's line. My anger burned as I studied the figure of the deer with only one branch of his antlers remaining. That was supposed to show that the House held to peace but would fight at need.
Truer was the other sign, a dagger thrust into a heart. I sneered, then felt Welwyn's queen shift, her wing brushing my cheek as if to remind me of something. I remembered my Lady's words and looked again at the prisoner himself where he huddled.
With my eyes clearer, I saw one who was barely yet a man. Why, he could not be more than two years older than myself. And when he turned his face from his captors I saw the fear he hid from them. I could understand fear, but not the terror he showed me. Why would he fear so greatly unlessâunless he had held them off with tales of a ransom which would not come. If that was so then well might he fear.
He was wiry rather than heavy-set. His hair was a fall of dark honey, a little too long, but I supposed as a bandit's
prisoner he had little chance to cut it. He had hazel eyes set in an oval face and cheekbones which etched his face into strong lines beneath the wings of hair. There was no evil in that face. No viciousness in the eyes. None of the wet lips in lustful pout I had seen in Garlen's band, and that I saw in the faces of those about this boy. I saw no evil in him and again my lady's words came into my mind.
“Do not reject good honey though bees from that hive have stung in the past,” she had said. Well then. I would not. All that day I watched and listened. Evening came chill. It was early Spring and in the South that could yet be freezing at night. I was warm enough in my heavy cloak but I saw how the boy shivered. The leader came to stand over him, wearing a cloak of his own.
“Aye, shiver, Lorcan. If your ransom is not here by morning you'll have better cause to shiver then. We've waited long enough and I owe your noble father an ill deed or two. He had me whipped for stealing and I do not forget.”
“Would you waste the gold my kin will pay?” I liked this Lorcan's voice. It was quiet but there was a man's note in it. Nor did he grovel or whine for mercy. I listened to the bandit's reply with interest.
“What gold? My men have been gone for months. I think your kin may have taken them. Maybe you are not required. Two older brothers, wasn't it? Nay. I think you are now a waste of our time. If Belo and Todon are not back by the morrow you shall be ours. My men grow restless, and a good leader knows when to deal with that.” He walked back towards the camp-fire after casually kicking the bound boy.
Lorcan turned his face away and I saw in his eyes a black despair. His lips moved in what I was sure were prayers. I slid back silently. I was sure now I was right. Perhaps his cadet branch of the House of Paltendale was impoverished, or gone in the war with all his kin dead. I believed there would be no ransom for the boy, as their
leader had half-guessed. What would come to Lorcan in the dawn would not be pleasant. I found I had made up my mind. Enemy of my House or not, I would save this boy if I could.
As I decided, I felt in the back of my mind a sweet approval. It was right I do this. On my shoulders the three queens hummed. I consulted them. Myself, I could think of no better plan than to do to this group of evil men as we had once done to Garlen's band. They were no greater in numbers. But I considered. The boy, Lorcan. I knew this kind of bandit now. If any survived our first attack they would blame the boy and try to slay him before he could be saved. I must see if I could free him first.
“Why not both plans together, daughter of my Hive?” came my lady's voice through Welwyn's Queen. “Do not forget the warriors about you.”