Kingdom Born

Chapter 12: A Family’s Thanks

I must have dozed off. I jerked awake as a scrape echoed down the narrow stairwell. I
grabbed for my dagger and checked for Isaac. He was flat on his back in the cot, dead to the world. I wouldn't let them take him back to that hellish life.

The woman who had met me by the fountain came carefully down the stairs balancing a plate of food and a pile of clothing. She looked over at me, sitting on the ground with my back to a chest, then headed over to Isaac's limp form. She was burly with large arms, characteristic of all smiths that I had dealt with. There was little of Isaac's features in here except for the same shade of hair colour.

"I can't ever repay you for returning Isaac to us. The woman who used to be my sister sold him off for Bittergrass." The look of disgust on her face hardened another piece of my soul. "She wouldn't tell me where she had sold him. I didn't think she even remembered. Thank you for his return, Phara Longsword." She set the food down, and offered me a clean tunic and breeches. "I don't know about the fit. No one in this family is as tall."

"You have nothing to apologize for. May the Goddess smile on your household." I sheathed my dagger and offered her the standard greeting expected at new found friends' homes.

"Looking at him you would never think that he...that they...." The smithy stopped and held a hand to her face as she choked with emotion.

"He wasn't abused that way," I assured her.

"Thank the Goddess." She breathed a sigh of relief.

"You can keep him safe now?"

"No one else need know. I can dye his hair and keep him out of sight until the searching dies down. You must be an important person." Her eyes changed from those of gratitude to suspicion. No woman with a family would take in such a troublemaker especially if they could jeopardise the family.

"Just an old enemy...when it's quiet I'll leave."

"Don't let her." Isaac wiped the sleep from his eyes. "Righthander told lies to a Kingdom man and sold Phara as a criminal."

"How do we know that she isn't a criminal?"

"Righthander has Phara's husband. I saw him."

Edna's face tightened into a mask. Her eyes glared through me. I could read her eyes plainly, How could I leave when my husband was still trapped. I turned my face away unable to take the scorn that I felt deep inside my soul. Emotionally I felt like I should still be in captivity with Karl, but the more logical side told me that I could do him more good out here free. Still that didn't brush away the guilt I felt.

"The Patrols will be heavy and very thorough for about three days. After that you can take a chance on avenging your husband." I turned my head back to Edna, but she raised a hand to forestall any argument. "Three days. You can rest and plan. Isaac will provide you with all of the information you will need. If he can't my family will get it.

First, you need a bath. The river stench doesn't fade away for weeks and it hits you in the face when you start down the stairs. Second, we will have to disguise you. There are not too many women in Coveport with flaming red hair. Third, you need to eat..." My stomach was growling loudly once more.

"This is more than I can expect from your family."

"We never thought that we would see Isaac again. Come upstairs. We have a water barrel in the far right corner. No one but the family comes back here but we've got nosy neighbours." Edna handed me a rough towel and pointed to the stairs.

Slowly I got to my feet feeling every injury and strain that I had accumulated in the night's run. Age was beginning to slow me up. Isaac jumped off the bed and grabbed for my arm.

I jerked away from his touch, "Free men are not so familiar with married women."

Both Edna and Isaac stiffened as if I had struck them both a blow across the face. Isaac turned around with stiff shoulders and threw himself on his bunk and began to cry. Edna paused by his side for a moment then followed me upstairs.

Before she could start in on me, I gestured her away from the stairwell. "I don't know how long Isaac has been missing, but they had been training him to be a brothelman. He doesn't know what is appropriate behaviour any more. The first lessons will be painful but they are things he needs to learn. Maybe one day he will be more like the boy he once was, but he will never be the same. Some scars never heal properly."

Edna's anger was diluted a bit but it still raged. "You strike at children."

I turned away.

"Thank you for caring." She continued. She led me to a rain barrel and handed over a cake of soap. "We will stand on guard. If anyone comes we'll tell you."

I splashed quietly in the icy barrel. Inwardly I longed for a warm bath but I made do. I tried to keep my mind off of what horrors Karl was enduring but it was a vain exercise. I grew angry. I wanted to scream out, lash out, draw blood from someone. I sank down into the barrel letting the water close over my head. I stayed under until the pain in my chest forced me up.

Edna's daughter, Eddai, stood before the barrel and looked at me with concern etched across her face. "Mother told me to help you disguise yourself." She held up a pair of scissors and a packet of dark powder.

I grabbed onto the back of braid and felt the length with my fingers. Karl loved to care for it and he got mad when I threate¬ned to cut it short. I didn't want to...but it was something that had to be done. I nodded and turned my back to the girl. The scissors cut apart my soul. I didn't even know I was crying until my warm tears dripped onto my naked breasts. Since that night in Sandshore less than a week ago, tears now seemed to be a part of my existence.

She mixed the dye. The strong scent of spinach filled my senses and the cold mixture was smeared onto my scalp and brows. I don't know if I thought anything at all while I waited for the colour to set. Afterwards, Eddai scrubbed my hair clean. She reached for a mirror and held it up to me.

A black haired, pale faced woman with green eyes stared back at me. She looked so...unlike me. I climbed out of the barrel and quickly rubbed myself down with the nubby towel Edna had handed me. The foulness rising up from the mound of clothes assaulted my nose. The guards could have followed me by their senses alone.

"We'll burn them. You can never really get the smell of the river out of things." Eddai gathered up the clothes. I bent over after I secured the towel around my breasts and gathered up my fallen hair. Over a foot of red mane lay in the mud around the barrel.
"Burn this too." I placed the tresses on top of her load, "Your family doesn't need any more jeopardy."

I quickly dressed in the fresh clothing Edna had brought down. The pants were far too short and the shirt barely touched the tops of the waistband but felt much better than the fermenting aroma of the leather armour. I crossed back to the stairwell and disap¬peared into the dark hole. At the bottom, Isaac lay curled in a tight ball on the cot. I pulled a heavy wool blanket off a shelf and wrapped it around me, settled against the far wall that faced the stairs. My mind ran back to the abrupt changes in my life.

Who would have thought that in less than three weeks that I would be disgraced and banished from my home; hunted and defiled in Coveport by an enemy whom I would have died for less than ten years ago? Where was Karl? Was he all right? Was he alive?
My mind skittered away from that thought. I recalled a moment not long after Kyle's birth when Karl gathered me in his arms and just held me in quite comfort. The Healer had forbidden any other intimacy until my third month of recovery, but it was just as satisfying as our coming together. Karl gently touched the fragile red head of our new life. "What will he be?"

"What ever he decides, he'll be the best." I returned sleepily, kissing the warm little head, then kissing his father's lips.

"You are the most practical person I have ever met. It makes you who you are."

"Is that a compliment?"

"Yes. I feel safe with you. Kyle will never love you as much as I do" His hands cradled my swollen breasts and traced a path down the lose skin at my stomach. I tried to push his hand away but he caught my palm, threaded his fingers with mine and pressed it gently against my womb. "I love you, Sunny."

The pain that welled within my heart was greater than the pain of my child's birth. Physical pain can be lived through. This pain . . . it felt like my soul had been ripped free and I was left to bleed into the gutters. How was I to live without him? More importantly, could I live without him? I shook my head. I didn't want to find out.

"Goddess, guard him against what ever trials he has to face. He is only a man but he is my life. If you have ever loved me, take care of him until I set him free." My voice cracked with my emotions.

"What will you do if you don't get Karl back?" I opened my eyes to see a short black haired older man with a small child in his arms. Deep concern was the only emotion on this stranger's face.

I shook my head, "I don't know. If I can't find Karl I will arrange for a message to be sent home about the care of our son. I'll remain here and search for him." I paused feeling the man's disapproval. "If they kill him, I'll hunt who ever did it and then I'll come back for Righthander."

"The city is closed. There is a reward for your return. They say that you killed a man."

"He was breathing when I escaped."

"Your husband means everything to you."

I looked over at him not sure what he was leading up to. "Yes"

"Then you'll understand when I say that my family means everything you me. I will do what I have to, to keep them safe. Do you understand?"

I nodded. "I won't place your family in danger. I will leave at dusk."

He nodded. "I am Dirk, Eddai's husband. Thank you for returning Isaac to us. I know Eddai has never recovered from what her sister did. You don't have to worry. We'll hide him and if we have to, we'll leave Coveport." He looked over at the sleeping boy.

"He is young; he'll recover."

"I am glad that you honour your Oath of Protection that you swore on your wedding day; but you shouldn't let that Oath overshadow your other responsibilities."

"You're treading on ground that is best left alone, Dirk."

"I know, but it is repayment for Isaac's return. Your children need you just and much as your man. If you lose one, you shouldn't ignore the other. A child only needs you for so many years. If you cannot be there for them as they grow, you might as well forget that you ever had them because they will want nothing of you . . . even if they understand why you turned away from them."

Dirk's words were cutting with the kind concern and stern warning he gave me. He turned and climbed the stairs without looking back at the devastation he had left in his wake. What was I supposed to do? Leave Karl in that hellish place? If Dirk's words were true, I hoped that the Goddess would see that Kyle forgave me for choosing his father over him. I couldn't bare to see Karl's mannerisms grow in him and know that the man who had made him was locked in a brothel. I was strong, but no woman could be that strong.

Isaac rolled over on his back. "Uncle Dirk's just scared. Get Karl out of the Palace. If you love him, get him out as fast as you can." He climbed off the bed and made for the stairs trying to hide a tense fear that no child should ever know. "Thank you, Phara."

I slept during the afternoon hours dreaming of horrors and sadness. I found parchment and ink in one of the trucks and wrote Captain Delmarta a note to bring our cargo to the smithy. Edna and her family could take what they wanted and hide the rest for us when Karl and I returned. I handed it over to one of the children, then descended back into the hidden chamber to get some rest.

Edna called me back to the smithy. She handed my a well oiled scabbard and small boot dagger. "This sword was made for a patron who never came to pick up. I would like you have it."

I pulled the blade easily from its covering. It was beautiful workmanship. The hilt was delicately detailed but not enough to make it hard to hold. The weight was evenly balanced. "You could get ten gold for this."

"The Iron Guild limits me to twelve silver. Take it."

"You have given me too much as it is. I am going to repay your for your assistance." I explained what I had done. Edna protested but by then there were noises of carts outside her door. She bowed her head to me and accepted the responsibility of my gifts graciously.

"Isaac is drawing a map of the Golden Palace. I have a rough map of the city. I'll bring these to you before you leave. May the Goddess guard and keep you." She offered his hand in friendship. I grasped her forearm, returned her well wishes, then began to work through a strenuous practice session with my new blade. Sweat dripped from me when I was finished. I wiped my brow then sat in the smithy, staring into the red hearth flames, to wait the coming of the night and Karl's freedom.