They all sat silent and amazed as Sil finished her tale.
Every one of them except Riani had to reconstruct their knowledge about who Sil was,
about who they had known for the last decade or so.
The revelations had brought surprise to them all. Avin in particular.
He broke the silence and took Sil’s hand.
“Wenda never said a word about, any of it, not even on her death bed.
Sil how could you bear such pain alone for so long. You could have told me. You know I would have understood.”
“She couldn’t” Riani answered for her. “She was still in love with him, still is, and too ashamed of everything
that she had done, but mostly about that.”
Riani had felt keenly Sil’s tale, as if it had been happening to her. She felt emotionally exhausted.
Gant and Jan were simply shocked, and just sat there.
Riani took her other hand.
“Sister” she said softly, and for the first time, but with a new confidence and determination spelled a glamour
that covered Sil’s Elite scarring with her usual appearance.
Sil was surprised “Aren’t you afraid that I’ll absorb it?” she asked in wonder.
“No” Riani answered, “I’m not. It will do until we find a way to reverse the damage done to you.
You are not Elite. You never were. There is no reason now for you to wear their markings.”
Avin looked at this grown up and suddenly quite powerful Riani. Something had changed in her.
“and what has happened to you Riani? You’re different.”
“I know” Riani acknowledged. “Maybe it’s do with the portal, maybe not. I can feel everything that she feels.
Its taken a while to get used to it, but I think I’ve a new talent awakening.
I think that’s why I slept for so long.
Gant pushed his chair back, shaking his head, and stood up.
“I haven’t got anything useful I can say. I need a drink, several.
Every swig will be a toast to you Sil, you courageous and beautiful woman, scars or no.”
With that he took himself off downstairs to the bar.
Jan got up to follow him,
“I think while he’s still sober enough to protect me I might find out what I can about how those two wheedled
their way up here. We don’t want any more surprises tonight.”
At the door he grinned at Sil and nodded, “Cool.” Still his highest expression of praise.
Riani ushered Sil to bed, they had to leave here tomorrow certainly, or bring danger to the Inn, and Sil needed
rest and time to recover from reliving that story.
Then she joined Avin at the table.
“Are you all right?” she asked him.
“Yes” he said quietly. She saw moisture glinting in his eyes
“I don’t know how she could bear it Riani. She barely spent a month with us in any of the years after she came back.
Wenda brought Mat up mainly, he and Jan were like brothers. I tried to be useful uncle, Gant too.
We thought she was just a traveller at heart. She was absent to protect us… Mat, from the Order of the Elite, and from herself…”
Riani nodded. They sat there not needing to speak for over an hour.
Both feeling just glad that the other was there.
Riani spoke first,
“Tomorrow I’m going back to Tinvarth. I know enough now to try and clear myself. I also think that our running from
the Elite has to stop some time. If there’s a nest of them in Tinvarth, I want to clear it out.
I could use some help. Do you want to come with me?”
He nodded, “It’s a good idea” he said “If Tinvarth can be made safe, then we’ll have a base to operate from and an
allied army, plus your mage school, at least the ones in it that are not tainted.
Do you think your brother will help us?”
“I know he will.” Riani was certain of him.
“I want Sil to come too. I think there are healers in Strant that might help her. I think… I may be becoming one of them.”
“I can’t speak for her, or for Gant or Jan, but we’ll ask them in the morning.”
She nodded. Then realising that she wanted to stay near him she said,
“I ‘m really attracted to you Avin, but I don’t want sex yet, is it alright if I sleep with you anyway?”
“Of course it is, you and your armoury. I feel much safer with you next to me.” he smiled at her, and something
unspoken settled between them.
“Riani?” he said seriously
“What?” she asked
“Let me know when you do want sex, I’m a bit worried you might be too subtle for me.”
She slapped his hand gently, and they went to find a bed to sleep in.
The next morning Gant was still snoring and sleeping off a large quantity of ale at nine o’clock. Jan was fiddling
with some sort of device at the table. Sil was fetching breakfast from the bar downstairs.
Riani woke up in the arms of Avin and smiled to herself.
She felt like she belonged somewhere, and that this was the place.
Wherever those arms were was the place.
Jan saw her stir and shouted for Gant to wake up “Hey Gant, wake up, Riani’s seducing Avin again.”
“Wha..? Oh my head, “ Gant sat up and fixed Jan with a pleading gaze,
“I don’t care if she’s entertaining the Duke’s second legion…leave me alone.” he disappeared back under the covers.
Avin sat up on the bed and pulling Riani close to him said, “We need to tell them something.
Shall I say I’m afraid of the dark?”
Riani kissed him fully on the mouth leaving him surprised and slightly confused.
She jumped out of bed, pulling on her leggings and tabard.
She went and sat next to Jan.
“I needed to be with him. I’ll let you know if we need privacy. Don‘t be embarrassed.”
“Embarrassed? Me!…well yeah, I was a little. I’ve never woken up to find the boss in bed with a woman, man or a
simulation before. Always thought he was a monk."
“Shows how wrong you can be then doesn’t it?” said Avin, joining them.
“Sorry Jan, we decided last night to sleep together to see if we liked it. Sex is yet to be experimented with,
so you needn’t fear a cabaret from us. Anyway, we’re off today.”
“Where to?” mumbled Gant from under his blanket.
When Sil gets back we’ve got a proposition to make to you all.
“She’s back” said Sil carrying a tray of bread, bacon and cheese. She was followed by a young lad carrying a tray
loaded with a huge pot of tea and some cups .
“Just shout if you need more tea” he said as he deposited the tray on the table. I’ll be in the kitchen ‘til about eleven.
“Thanks” Sil shouted after him. “What proposition Avin?”
“Riani is going back to Tinvarth, to Strant” he said. “I’m going with her,”
Sil smiled a secret smile, “Are you two in love?” she asked searchingly, her eyes roaming to first one and then the other.
Avin and Riani looked at each other and for some reason could not seem to stop looking at each other.
He touched her face, she touched his hand touching her face.
Gant peered at them from his bed and groaned,
”Sil, is a herring a fish? Look at them!”
Jan nodded sagely, “I think so. And they aren’t even having sex yet.”
“Aren’t they? Looks fairly erotic from here.
Wherever we’re going next you two are having your own room.” muttered Gant dressing himself.
Seeing the bacon his eyes shone and he wandered over to Sil and kissed her cheek.
”Now that is how I like to be woken up. He made a huge sandwich of bacon and cheese and stuffed it into his mouth.
“Anyway…” Avin tried to continue.
He was new to defending any of his actions to anybody.
Consequently he‘d felt out of his depth simply getting out of bed and walking towards his breakfast this morning.
He realised what a public declaration he and Riani had made by sharing a bed, and thought that he should probably be embarrassed.
He wasn‘t. He continued with the current job of being “the boss“, seeing no point in any further discussion of his sleeping arrangements.
“We want to go back and clear Riani’s name.”
He told Gant and Jan how she had been exiled to the Northern Edge. Gant nearly choked on his sandwich.
“Strant?” he said, “and your brother is Steward to Arrin the Bastard?”
“Yes” confirmed Riani, “but Duke Arrin had always been very nice to me.”
“Oh me too!” Gant bellowed, “right up to point where he threw me in the same Portal and sent me to Minthrall as
well, and …yes…maybe he was a little bit off colour the day he stuck a long sword through his brother‘s guts
and then said I‘d done it!”
“That was you!” Riani exclaimed, the coincidences and weavings here were truly remarkable.
The only two people to be exiled from Strant in twenty years sitting here having breakfast together.
Riani told them that she wanted to get to the bottom of the mystery of her exile, but also that she wanted to start
doing some damage to the Elite Order instead of running away all the time.
Her part in the story had all happened in Strant.
If she could help clear out Strant, then they would have a chance of doing something about them.
Sil was keen to go “The Elite aren’t standing still, they want to grow as an Order, and maintaining more people,
means access to more magic.”
“Like mage schools” Riani added, understanding where the investigation might need to start.
“Exactly” Sil confirmed.
Gant was being serious now.
”I’m in” he said “but nobody need think this will be easy.
Arrin killed his brother to get the Dukedom.
One of the witnesses at my trial was a mage with a Seerorb.
He showed me killing poor old Harol, and I didn’t do it.”
“Mage evidence was crucial in my conviction too” added Riani, remembering. “A man called “Sevaren”
“The very tosspot!” said Gant “He sunk me too.”
Avin sat back considering,
“So…the good Duke is probably an Elite member himself, or maybe just depending on them for his power base.”
Jan was still fiddling with the little gadget, “I’ll come of course” he said absently, flicking at switches.
“Sil, just stand over there for me will you?”
Sil moved to the required location without question, she was used to Jan and his love of gadgets and usually shared
his enthusiasm. “No, haven‘t got it right yet” he carried on moving wires around inside the machine.
“When it works it‘ll be great I just need to get the calibrations aligned.”
She went over to see what he was doing. She examined the device and said after a few minutes “very nice work Jan!”
She was obviously impressed.
“What is it?” asked Avin curiously, then knowing he‘d never understand the even its name he added
“Or rather …what will it do when it works?”
“It’s a molecular identification device.” he beamed.
Jan had had a lot of experience in explaining technology to Avin and so was fairly quick with his explanation.
“An Elite mage is always carrying around a huge pack of other people’s energy patterns, like luggage.
This will eventually identify Riani as Riani’s energy pattern and show me a picture of it.
It will also tell me that it can’t do that for Sil…”
“Because Sil has more than one energy pattern….” finished Avin.
“That means that however powerful a glamour they make, we can identify them. Even a non mage can identify them.”
“Yeah, I’ve been working on it all night. It’s a useful piece of kit.” he said regarding it with pride, almost with affection.
“It’s only detail, it’ll be working in a few hours or so.”
Avin had no doubt that it would. When Jan was working on something he didn’t stop until it was completed.
Obviously realising that he had a comparison now in Sil for the readings had sparked the idea in him.
Avin left him to it and turned to Riani and asked
“Is there somewhere you know in Strant where we can head for and make our base?”
“Yes” she said after thinking for a while. There’s a disused barracks just outside the city, quite close to the mage school.”
“I know it!” nodded Gant “Good place, and its got a cellar.”
“Its always beer with you isn’t it Gant?” interrupted Jan, though he was almost talking to himself,
his eyes not looking up from the kaleidoscope of lights now beeping from the machine in front of him.
“In the cellar” continued Gant, ignoring him “is a passage leading right into the City, under the walls.
It was made to allow for quick defence of the City by Harol. He must have known something was up.
I doubt whether Arrin even knows about it!
“Alright, we need to get there though.” Avin looked at Sil, “Portals on Tinvarth?”
“Not many” Sil shook her head. The ones in the mage school and the castle aren’t first choice.
We don’t want to be noticed arriving, especially with two exiles.
There’s one in Kanar, about twenty miles away on a hill.”
Avin thought that hey may need some sort of story or disguise in case they were questioned.
He looked at Riani appraisingly, “Can you dance?” he asked.
“Why?” she was stunned by the question.
A second later she was dressed in wide pink pantaloons, and a short top exposing her midriff, her face veiled and her hair woven with jewels.
“We need a disguise” he explained. “I thought a travelling troupe of entertainers.”
A second later Avin was standing in full Jester regalia and an upturned bucket dripping water on his head.
“Good idea” said Riani, in her own clothes again. “I think merchants would be less conspicuous.
“What can we sell?” asked Jan puzzled. At last offering his full attention to the discussion.
Avin had corrected his own appearance and produced from the air a large bag. which he emptied out onto the table.
Jewels of every shape and size.
“I” he said with an actor’s flair “shall be the very, very rich merchant.”
He grabbed Riani’s hand and pulled her towards him “and you Riani, you will be my shrew of a wife.”
“Gant and Jan, you are hired muscle, well… Gant anyway, and Sil, you can be my cook.”
“Alright then we’ll try that” said Gant, “at least if you two are supposed to be married it gets you a room.”
They gathered up their few belongings and headed for the Est portal. Riani was feeling apprehensive about another
trip so soon after she had spent so long recovering from the last one. Avin read it in her face.
“We’re all with you, I wont let anything happen to you “
“I know” she said “It’s just that it took so long for me to recover last time. Perhaps this time will be better.”
“See you all in Kanar” she smiled as she buried her head in Avin’s cloak and held on to him with all her might,
waiting for the lights to pull her to pieces again.