The Patrimony

12

Arhkeethoheeks Sir Bili Morguhn of Morguhn strode out of the main entry of Morguhn New Hall; his three-quarter plate clashed and clanked as he descended the broad steps to the stone-paved courtyard. Softly nickering a greeting, the black warhorse, Mahvros IV, paced to greet his brother, Bili. After patting the big horse’s mailed cheek, the old nobleman buckled his cased axe in its place on the off withers, then came back to the near side and mounted.

To flourishing trumpets, Sir Bili led his two-score Freefighter dragoons down the hill toward the ford and the road to Vawn. At the foot of the hill, two noble officers joined the head of the column and another standard bearer—this one bearing a sky-blue standard on which was embroidered, in white and gold, the White Hawk of Vawn-Sanderz took his place beside him who bore the famous Red Eagle of Morguhn. Behind the Morguhn Freefighters, one hundred Ruby Company lancers joined the column, their long, deep-red pennons fluttering on a stiff breeze, the steel points of the polished ash shafts glittering in the sun.

From atop the gatehouse tower, Djehf Morguhn watched the departing column until the dust and the rolling landscape had swallowed them up. Then he turned his attention to the camp at the base of the hill, now a howling chaos as the remainder of the Ruby Company struck tents, loaded wagons, hitched teams and otherwise prepared to set out on the trail heading to Vawn.

“Dammit!” he growled to himself as he turned and started down the steps to the wall walk. “I miss all the fun. Papa goes off to chop Ehleen rebels and I have to stay here and command the hall garrison. What the hell does he think his castellan is for?”

Neeka had never been happier than during the brief—too brief—years of her apprenticeship under Master Lokos. Once arrived at his home/shop and shown the small room wherein lay her trunk, she quickly changed into her own clothing, bundled up the expensive, gaudy outfit in which she had left the bordello and asked leave to return the garments to their rightful owner, but Master Lokos discouraged this, saying that, as Djoy Skriffen was known to be a grudge holder, it were best that Neeka never again place herself anywhere near the evil woman’s grasp. He sent a servant boy, instead.

About a week later, ugly Iktis strolled into the shop. Master Lokos greeted the known pimp and professional ruffian coldly for the benefit of the two other apprentices and the non-Ehleen customers. He invented an errand to take Neeka through the back storerooms and into the living quarters; shortly, he and Iktis joined her.

When Iktis was seated and sipping at honeyed wine, the master inquired, “What of the barbarian dunghill, does she know you are here? You take far too many chances, friend Ahkiles. You’d be of no use to us dead, you know.”

The pocky man smiled toothlessly. “You’re as apprehensive as ever, old man. All my life has been the taking of one risk after another; that’s the life of a warrior … or a conspirator. But your fears are wasted this time. Herself sent me here.”

“Really? Why, pray tell?” snapped Lokos. “Are you to be her scout? Is she planning a second abduction from under my very roof? If so, she’d better have more than four bravos.”

Iktis waved a hand placatingly. “No, no, Lokos, nothing like that. Djoy Skriffen is cold, cunning and a plethora of other adjectives as well, most of them highly uncomplimentary, but she’s too shrewd to butt against stone walls, she recognizes and accepts this defeat.”

“No, I was to buy a quarter-leetrah of Blue Water for the bitch’s chronic biliousness and then find a chance to tell Neeka that herself holds no ill will against her. Of course, she has no idea how news of the kidnapping really was disseminated. She’s come to the conclusion that Fahlkop’s accomplices broke under torture.”

“And so that precious pair did,” Lokos shrugged, “but we already knew most of what they said.”

Iktis nodded and went on. “Anyhow, Lady Whale wishes Neeka to know that, whenever she tires of you and this kind of work, she will find a warm welcome at the whorehouse.”

Neeka’s mother, father and siblings had been swept off in one of the fevers which ravaged most cities every hot summer, and she had been reared by relatives who had lavished precious little love or affection on her and, with daughters of their own to provide for, had married her off to the first man willing to accept a minuscule dowry. In the house of Master Lokos, she had her first taste of true, familial affection, for the master and his plump, jolly wife customarily treated apprentices like the sons and daughters they had never had.

Many craft masters used their apprentices for servants and household drudges, but Lokos was a wealthy man, employed a large retinue of servants and saw to it that every minute his apprentices were not eating, sleeping or devoting to duties in shop, workrooms or garden, they were reading his extensive collection of works on pharmacology, human and animal physiology, differing theories respecting the treatment of wounds, injuries and illnesses, horticulture of herbs and a vast array of other interrelated subjects. Some of the better books had been written by Master Lokos himself.

There were four apprentices, all male, when Neeka first arrived. Kohmos, the eldest, was really a journeyman in all but name as he had less than two months until the end of his contract. Djahn, though but a year older than Neeka, was already into the sixth year of his apprenticeship. Zindaros, at fourteen, and Sbaidos, at thirteen, were both still in their first year.

The male apprentices had their quarters in a small attic dormitory, but Neeka’s room was close by the master’s suite. The only other resident on the same level was a man who filled two highly exacting niches in the household—majordomo and head cook—and who called himself Koominon. Neeka had quickly noted that the master treated this mere upper servant as an equal, as he did the outwardly disreputable pimp, Iktis.

It was not until many months later that she came to know the reasons for these and many other discrepancies in the behavior of Lokos, for the master was wisely very closemouthed with any save sworn members of the Heritage Society—ee Klirohnolimeea.

Djordj had advised Neeka not to get involved in Lokos’ known radical political activities, but the girl had no choice. Her master, assuming that since the Society had helped her she would welcome a membership, informed her long after the fact that he had sponsored her for and she had finally been accepted in the Society for the Preservation of Our Ehleen Heritage.

“After all, child, you are a kath’ahrohs—which may not mean much in Kehnooryos Mahkehdohnya where most folk are, but means very much here, where increasingly few are not to some extent mongrelized with the so-called Kindred and other strains of barbarian. Of the over eight thousand souls listed as permanent residents of Esmithpolisport, only some fourscore are kath’ahrohs, Neeka. I am not, God help me, nor is my dear wife. Indeed, no one in this house is save only you and Koominon.”

“Is Koominon a member?” asked Neeka.

Lokos had smiled and nodded. “Koominon is one of the founders of our chapter in this thoheekahtohn, and a life member of the advising Council. The poor man has suffered more, and even more unjustly, than have you under the barbarians, Neeka. He has been cruelly bereft of hereditary lands and position, family and … and more.”

Lokos and Koominon led the way to Neeka’s first meeting of ee Klirohnohmeea through a disreputable district of shanties and hovels to a large building of weathered gray granite. Portions of the walls had evidently been knocked down long ago and had been rebuilt in cheap brick. Entrance was effected through a tiny door set into a pair of larger doors. Within, Lokos lit a small lamp he carried and Neeka saw that the building—whatever the purpose for which it may have been built—was now a warehouse.

The first three columns supporting the high, vaulted, soot-encrusted ceiling were roughly fashioned of brick, but the next two, despite the dim, flaring light of the lamp and layer on layer of dirt, could be seen to be of fine, red-veined marble. And the floor beneath their feet, in those places where shifting of heavy cases had scraped away the filth of ages, was of a delicate gray-green stone.

At her questioning look, Lokos spoke. “When the barbarians conquered this city, over two hundred years ago, this was a palace, the seat of the hereditary lords of the city, lands and port. Lord Graikos Pahpahthohpoolos fought the barbarian hordes street by bloody street after the city walls were breached, and he and his brave men made their last stand here. So fiercely did they fight that the barbarians finally brought up siege engines to knock down the walls. The palace, when at long last conquered, all its defenders massacred, was too damaged for habitation, and it sat vacant, tenanted only by ghosts and vermin, for many years; then, as the usurper Esmiths had improved the harbor and trade increased, rough repairs were effected and this noble edifice was converted to a warehouse.”

After that, Neeka was very glad that Lokos walked before her and Koominon behind, for it seemed that each patch of darkness, each shadow cast by the lamp was a skull-faced warrior in antique armor, skeletal hand gripping rusty sword or rotted spearshaft. Under her breath, she breathed half-forgotten prayers to Christ, to His Holy Mother and to every other saint she could remember, temporarily forgetting that identical prayers for deliverance had availed her nothing those endless days and nights in that horrible cell in the fortress walls.

Down a flight of worn, stone steps lay a cellar, also stacked with bales and crates, but then what looked to be but a stretch of blank wall pivoted at the touch of Koominon’s hand and swung shut behind them as silently as it had opened. They went a few paces along a narrow corridor, down another, steeper flight of stairs, these set at a right angle to the corridor, then along a wider passage to a bivalve door of verdigris-covered bronze. Koominon drew a dirk from beneath his cloak and tapped sharply with its steel ball-pommel on the green-crusted door in a distinct pattern of raps and pauses.

“Open your mind, child,” Lokos mindspoke Neeka. “Lower your shield that they may be sure who and how many we are.”

Neeka did so and, shortly, one of the high, broad doors swung back. Lokos led the way into another corridor, this one with a down-sloping floor and a clean tang of the sea about it. The ramp curved gradually to the left and, at the foot of it, was another bivalve bronze door. Both halves of the door swung open before them, flooding the sloping corridor with warmth and light from the torches, lamps and braziers within a large, oval chamber.

Out from a knot of soberly garbed men and a few women strode Komees Petros. Taking both of Neeka’s small, cold hands in his large, warm ones, he bent stiffly from the waist and kissed the right one, but retained his hold when he stepped back, straightening.

“Neeka, until we investigated, none of us were aware that you were of noble birth, that your late father was an ahstoonohmos.” He half turned to the group and added, “We have no such title here, not any longer, but we did in ancient times; ahstoonohmos is a hereditary office and its holder is the deputy to the lord of a city or a district, being roughly the equivalent of our vahrohneeskos, though an ahstoonohmos is salaried and does not actually hold land, as does a vahrohneeskos. This poor child’s entire family died in an epidemic of summer fever. Her care and her dead father’s office were both then assumed by his younger brother, her uncle; he gave her in marriage to a lowborn cur dog of a priest, who then sold her to a ship captain and put about the word that she had deserted him.”

The nobleman went on, giving a brief account of Neeka’s nearly two years in Esmithpolisport. He was an accomplished raconteur. Consequently, there were few dry eyes amongst the throng when he was done.

Koominon had disappeared during the monologue. When he reappeared, he was cloaked in the vestments of a priest of the Old Ehleen Rite and all those present repaired to a canvas-enclosed section of the room for the religious service which always opened a full meeting of the membership. Then, while some members were preparing precooked food and others were laying boards on trestles and bringing chairs and stools from the enclosed area, a woman and three men—Komees Pehtros, among them—took Neeka aside and began teaching her the complicated hand grasps and signals, the childish-sounding passwords and the significance of the oaths she soon must swear.

The oaths were sworn before dinner. They were designed to be solemn and awe-inspiring to those who were deeply religious, but the nobility of the north could take religion or leave it alone, generally the latter, and Neeka’s firsthand knowledge of the frankly mercenary philosophies of the Church and churchmen, gained from her brief marriage, had rendered her deeply irreligious. So, though she behaved as she assumed she was expected to behave, she actually found the oath-taking ceremony as childishly silly as the secret signs and words.

At dinner she was seated beside the woman who had earlier shared in her instruction, Lady Rohza Ahnthropoheethees, widow of a former shipping magnate, scioness of a house of the petty nobility and a distant relative of the one-time ruling house of Karaleenos when still it had been an independent kingdom. As big and as powerful looking as Djoy Skriffen—with broad shoulders, slender hips, flat thighs and buttocks, very small breasts and a set of craggy features—Rohza affected masculine garb, right down to jackboots, hanger and dirk. She spoke loudly and often, shouting down the length of the table in her deep contralto, frequently slapping her thigh as she guffawed at her own and at others’ witticisms.

There was something about the middle-aged woman that put Neeka’s little white teeth edge to edge; not even the evil virtually oozing from Djoy Skriffen’s very pores had so afflicted her. It was not that the brawny Rohza was cool or unkind to Neeka; indeed, the very reverse was the case—her attendance was so warm and constant that she seemed to Neeka more like a courting swain than a dinner companion. With almost every word she spoke to the girl, the woman’s big hands were placed lingeringly on shoulder or knee, neck or arm. Such uncomforting familiarity prevented Neeka from truly enjoying her dinner, and, at future dinners, she saw to it that she had other dinner companions.

Though she was, of course, not privy to the meetings or decisions of the Heritage Council, Neeka could see nothing of a practical, political nature that was accomplished by ee Klirohnohmeea. It seemed little more than one of those secret fraternal organizations with which noble Ehleen society abounded in the north, in Kehnooryos Mahkehdohnya, save only for the religious aspect which the northerners lacked and which, she shrewdly guessed, was a part of this group’s format only because it was forbidden by law.

True, at almost every meeting of the full membership, certain hotheads loudly prated daydreams of armed uprisings against the hated Confederation, but a dream that sort of talk assuredly was, for very few of the members had had any sort of war training, and if the Heritage had any popular support in Esmithpolisport, Neeka was never able to discern it. A conversation one day with Komees Pehtros confirmed her suspicions.

“Engaging together in an illegal act tends to bind the membership more tightly together, Neeka. But were it entirely up to me, I’d do away with anything pertaining to the Old Faith, for I was a young ensign in the Nineteenth Infantry Regiment during the Great Rebellion and I personally witnessed the perverse extremes to which religious fanaticism can go. Faced with such, I can see why High Lord Milo had no choice but to proscribe the Ehleen Church and all its clergy. Indeed, child, I would have done the same in his place. Crucifixion, burning, even impalement was really too good for many of the black-robed animals.”

“Even Koominon?” asked Neeka.

He shook his head. “Father Ahreestos, who calls himself Koominon, is truly a devout, good and humble man. That he, who never subscribed to the perversities which condemned his faith, was tarred with the same brushstroke is a tragedy. That he insisted on remaining in direst peril here is even more of a tragedy, for he could go far, could contribute much, were he to enship for a place wherein the Faith still is legal—Kehnooryos Mahkehdohnya or Greeah Ehlahs. Here, he is living on borrowed time and, soon or late, will suffer a long, agonizing, messy death. And ee Klirohnohmeea will be in a large part responsible, for did he not have a congregation, he might depart for more salubrious climes.”

“Then … then you must tell Master Lokos this,” insisted Neeka. “Tell him quickly, for he is Koominon’s friend. He will persuade him to leave.”

Again the komees shook his head. “No, Neeka, Lokos will not. Lokos is a good man, a kind man, and completely lucid in most matters, but in affairs of ee Klirohnohmeea, he is a deranged fanatic.” Seeing her horrified expression at hearing her master so maligned, he added, “Oh, it’s not entirely his fault, Neeka. The tortures and mutilation to which he was subjected for his very small and inconsequential role in the Great Rebellion, and the sufferings and privations of his long imprisonment, addled him a bit, as they would have addled any man.”

“Mutilation?” Neeka queried, puzzledly, for Lokos had a normal complement of fingers, toes, and ears; his face was scarred and his scalp, but so were those of most adult males, and she had naturally assumed that those scars and a limp noticeable in damp weather resulted from youthful warring or dueling.

The komees’ lips firmed into a grim line. “Have you never wondered why a man who loves children and young people as much as Lokos never sired any of his own, Neeka? The reason is that he cannot. After they had flogged him until the white bone shone through the bloody tatters of flesh from his neck to his buttocks, they gelded him. That he survived such treatment at all is a miracle.”

Wholly dedicated to never again being dependent upon anyone for her sustenance, Neeka applied every bit of her not-inconsiderable intellect and her youthful vigor to her new craft. Within only three years’ time, Master Lokos confessed in mingled pride and consternation that she had absorbed as much as or more than any other apprentice had done in twice the time. Thereafter, Neeka did much of the workaday compounding and distilling, leaving the master free to attend customers, instruct other apprentices and do the research and experiments which were his passion.

When she had read every book in his library written in either of the two languages she had mastered—Ehleeneekos and the various regional dialects of Mehrikan—Lokos taught her to read the flowing, cursive script called Ahrapsahbos, in which most modern medical texts were written by the justly famous Zahrtohgan physicians.

Therefore, Neeka knew immediately just what the prism dangling from those black fingers was and just what it was for. Summoning the last ounce of will, she fought back up, back out of the beautiful, sleepy world into which the scintillating prism and the soft, soothing words of the skilled man had drawn her.

“Sahlahmoo ahlaik,” said Neeka, when she was certain she had regained her self-control. “Ahlahn wah sahlahn.” When he made no reply to the greeting, she added, “Fehemtinee?”

Master Fahreed consciously lowered his eyebrows, unconsciously raised in surprise at hearing the Zahrtohgan language spoken by this strange, sinister woman. Not many unbelievers expended the effort to learn the difficult, guttural tongue, which was why Zahrtohgan physicians must, in addition to being accomplished mindspeakers, learn so many languages and dialects, since the Great Council of Masters might send a given physician and his apprentice to any one of a far-flung range of posts.

Big, white teeth glittered as he smiled. “Ywah, fehemt.” Then he switched to fluent Ehleeneekos. “But if we wish to continue to understand each other, it were perhaps better we speak this tongue or Mehrikan, for,” he smiled again, “noble as is your effort, your accent is atrocious.”

Neeka shrugged and leaned back against the table. “That is apt surprising to me, master. I have spoken your language but little, and that was years ago with one who possibly did not speak it well himself; but I have no difficulty in the reading or the writing of it.”

She waved at the prism. “A Mookahdir, is it not? I have, of course, read the treatises of the Illustrious Master Wahdjeed al-Ahkisahee on the production and use of the Mookahdir, but this is the first one I have ever actually seen. You were attempting to send me a-journeying, were you not? May I ask why?”

Fahreed spoke bluntly, as was his wont. “I am sworn to exert my efforts toward the preservation of health and life. I was but attempting to make your death unnecessary.” He sighed. “It is certainly but the Will of Ahlah, that I should fail.”

“My death? What do you mean?” Neeka demanded a little louder than she meant to, feeling a cold prickling coursing the length of her spine.

“The rightful lord of this place, Sir Tim, feels you to be responsible for the senseless poisoning of his friend, Rai, the sergeant. He is a man of action, not subtlety, and he would likely have run his broadsword through your body by now, had I not promised to neutralize the threat you present to him and to his lawful accession by other, less sanguineous, means. But now …” He sighed once more and drew from within his robes a small dagger with a thin, tapering, four-inch, double-edged blade of light-blue Zahrtohgan steel.

Neeka saw certain death in the black man’s quick, sure movements, and she felt apprehension but, oddly, no fear. She thought briefly of those instruments on the table behind her that might be utilized as a weapon, then mentally dismissed them all, for the physician was a tall man and no doubt strong and agile. The rigorous pre-apprentice training administered in the Emirate of Zahrtohgah eliminated those applicants weak or clumsy of body or slow of wit.

In a friendly, conversational tone, she asked, “I thought you were sworn to preserve life and health, master? How can you justify my murder with that oath?” While speaking, Neeka realized that it was not a sham; she truly did feel a friendliness, almost a kinship, for the knife-armed man before her. That was why she did not scream or mindcall for help, for such would not save her life and might easily cost his as well. With real shock, she admitted to herself that die or no, she did not want to cost this man his life. She was tired of killing simply to stay alive; a quick, clean death seemed a pleasant prospect to her after these years of being forced to pervert and prostitute her craft and her person in virtual slavery to the cursed ee Klirohnohmeea.

Master Fahreed paused in his slow approach and frowned. “I consider this an execution, woman, not a murder, for if you are of the guild I suspect you have violated oaths no less worthy or binding than mine own. Where do you prefer the knife—heart, throat, or brain? Fear not, there will be but a single, brief pain, if you cooperate with me.”

Neeka began to fold down the front of her garments. “I did what I did because I then felt I had no choice—if I did not do what they bid me, I feared I would be returned to a certain coastal city for trial and probable execution. During the twelve years I have lived in this hall, I have shielded my own life behind the corpses of no less than five men who never had harmed me in any manner, simply because an evil, depraved lunatic of a woman demanded their deaths. But there will be no more deaths on my conscience, for my life is no longer precious to me.”

She had bared her body to the waist, and now she lifted her left breast and leaned back again, steadying herself with an elbow on the worktable. She smiled and said, “You are doing the best and most proper thing, master, and I go willingly. Strike hard and true.”

With a nod, the tall black man stepped close, felt until he found a spot that suited him, then placed the point of the knife where his fingers had been and thrust with controlled strength. The thin, needle-pointed blade entered easily, thin lines of blood welling up about the watered steel. Neeka gritted her teeth, forced herself not to flinch and thereby complicate or lengthen the man’s job. She closed her eyes, thinking of her tragically wasted life. How different things might have been if only dear old Lokos had lived but one more year.