Penumbra - Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty
Anjh stood amid the mats and impedimenta of the therapy floor, now entirely transformed into an arena for training. He leaned on his long two-handed sword as he stared into the mirror before him. Then raising the weapon over his head, he began the down stroke, the one designed to cleave anything less than a behemoth into equal parts. Carefully watching his reflection, he shifted minutely the position of his right leg to compensate for the immobility of the left and to maintain his equilibrium as his weight moved forward into the blow.
“That’s the way, captain,” Harad was behind him with a hand pressing against the back of his right thigh. “Keep the body poised over this point and it should work.”
Anjh lowered the sword and critically examined his hand position. “I think we need to work some more on the right leg. It’s still not as strong as it was before and I’m not comfortable with this new grip yet.”
“Might as well take advantage of the power in that left hand,” was Harad's laconic comment. “You’ve got to use every advantage you can find if you’re going out there again... and coming back.”
The swordsman smiled tightly and turned again to the mirror. “Next you’ll suggest that I dispense with the blade and simply rip the guts out of the Ferals with the left hand alone. You and Sandro have an exaggerated idea of its power.”
“Not me. I’ve seen what you can do with it. Just don’t forget, if you get downed or lose your weapon in the fight, that hand may save you. And don’t try to shift your position in a hurry; that’s a weakness. Take your ground and hold it. That’s the only way.”
“Harad, do I have to remind you that I’m a veteran, that I’ve fought more than once on more than one type of terrain? I’m aware of my weaknesses, none more so, so back off.”
Harad hesitated before he responded. “It’s just that... well, I heard that her ladyship is...” He blushed darkly and stuttered into silence.
“With child? This house is as full of gossip as the city. Are the servantsl chattering again? Maybe I’m not giving them enough to do - them and the rest of this crew. It’s true enough, but has nothing to do with my professional plans. Now, watch my back muscles as I do that down stroke again. I need to know if they’re twisting to the side. You know I can’t feel what’s happening on the left and I have to watch out for symmetry.” He tore off his shirt and lifted the great sword. “By the way, make sure you send Sandro to me this afternoon. The shoulder is showing a tendency to stiffen and catch and I’m certain it’s a hardware problem. And I want to talk to him about a special glove for this murderous hand, one that will give me a more secure grip on a hilt.”
“Yes, I will. Can I ask why you’re training so hard right now? Have you heard from Lamason Caffolas?” Harad spoke lightly to hide the guilt he felt for having deceived his chief.
“Not yet but he is sure to send word this week. I feel it. Things are finally beginning to break my way.” Anjh discretely neglected to mention that he had arranged a private meeting with Naufrage for the earliest convenient time.
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Brisevent Rispa paused to smile at the two guarding the lift to the third floor. They were a matched pair of Prydain, male and female, in their later teens and glowing with health and carefully contained pride at being chosen for this special duty. They saluted their tribal Elder and, snapping to attention, the girl chirped brightly, “Go right up, Brisevent. The lady is expecting you.”
The woman who met him at the lift’s door was beautiful. She was fair with skin of a startling whiteness and silver-gilt hair in short ringlets making a luminous halo around her smiling face. A modest gown of gray silk covered her from neck to ankle, skimming her body just enough to suggest a lithe grace underneath. Rispa inwardly applauded his kinsman’s choice of companion and kissed the narrow hand she extended to him.
“Brisevent Rispa, I welcome you to our house and bid you treat it as your own.”
“You know my name?”
“I would be a poor hostess if I did not know who lodges under this roof. I’m very glad you are here. My name is Jaithlym.”
“Jaithlym? The one who controls the Akamma?”
“I am she.”
“But how...?”
Jaithlym smiled brilliantly. “It’s not all that hard. We have modern devices of communication here; after all, this is an Ordmun designed house. I can manage my affairs very nicely from this room if necessary. And according to what Anjh tells me it will be necessary for the next year. Do sit down and I shall order refreshments. Would you like tea or chocolate?”
“Whichever is convenient, my lady.”
“Oh, don’t call me that. That’s just one of Harad's little jokes that some of the others have picked up. I am Jaithlym, especially to the man who reared my beloved to adulthood.”
“Then you must call me Rispa for I may be a nuisance to you for a while yet and we might as well be friends. With your permission, I would like to stay here for a week or so in order to be available to Anjh if he needs me and try to persuade him to abandon his quest to return to this endless War.”
“You are most assuredly welcome for as long as you would like to stay. And your stated purpose is close to the hearts of all of us here. No one in this household wants Anjh to go back. He’s not nearly well enough and we’re all doing what we can to divert him from his perilous goal. You know, this city is not the best place for a man like Anjh; it’s too crowded and there’s no place for him to spend his excess energy except on the second floor with all those weapons. I would like to entice him to an island I own near Ban Khatour for a few months of further recuperation. Is there any reason why we should not go there? Any Prydain reason, I mean?”
“I shouldn’t think so - just so long as he is with you to guard your good name - and his.”
“Believe me, I have every intention of staying as near him as I can. I worry about him; Rispa, do you realize that he suffers constant pain from his wounds even yet?”
“No, he wouldn’t mention it. I’m afraid we Prydain take too much pride in our ability to control pain without drugs, so he wouldn’t tell me if he’s having a problem with that.”
Jaithlym looked seriously into Rispa's face, “He can feel the missing parts of him, sometimes acutely. That’s when he seems short of breath or cries out in his sleep with the agony in his arm or leg. And even though he never speaks of it, I can often see the signs in his eyes during the day.”
“I see. That would explain a great deal that had puzzled me. He’s changed more than I expected. - He has become a man who hunts death - did you know?”
“Yes, he admitted as much when I pressed him and that frightens me even more. If you can persuade him to stay safe, you’ll have not only my gratitude but that of every Prydain in this house, no, make that the gratitude of every being in this house.” Her sincerity was unfeigned. “Not to mention that of the Lamasoni; they’re terrified that he’ll go get himself killed again before he can provide the services they expect from him.”
“So the Laimak don’t want him out in the field again, either? He mentioned something of that but I, like a fool, overlooked it. I wonder what they really want with him... I’m afraid that I’m being condemned by my worries to be a prying old man. Now, if you will forgive my invasion of your privacy, I shall pry some more. Why did a woman like you, with a settled place in the world and power in the Lamason Council, agree to bear a son to a Prydain? He did inform you completely of the restrictions and demands?”
“Yes, he was most scrupulous and gave me as long as I wanted to decide. And, as you’ve seen, I’m already guarded. I think you suspect me, Rispa. I think that you suspect I’m doing this on the order of the Council as a part of some nefarious plan they’ve advanced to destroy the Prydain or something of the sort.”
“It would seem likely in view of their plots to exploit Anjh as you yourself have implied,” he chuckled. “Will you tell me I’m wrong?”
She leaned forward to refresh his cup and answered without hesitation. “You’re wrong. I’m independent of the Lamasoni and there is nothing whatsoever sinister about my choice. I love your kinsman. Is that so hard to believe?”
“We Prydain believe that love - romantic love - is the ultimate illusion. Can you explain to me why you think you love him and what that has to do with deciding to carry his son? How do you hope to benefit from your decision?”
“I’m not at all sure I can explain my reasoning to someone holding the philosophy you do. To begin with, you may have heard that I have a saying that has been my guide in my working career. ‘I always get what I want’ has been a touchstone for me as I’ve scrambled to my present position of security. And, believe me, Rispa, I am secure.” She laughed. “I have all the money I’ll ever need and can buy anything I want. I have involved myself with the Lamasoni basically to stave off boredom. It amuses me to dabble in their little schemes. And they have made me something of a mascot, a good-luck charm. When they invited me to the ceremony honoring Anjh, I only went because I had nothing better to do that day. It was no part of any plan of mine to react as I did. When I saw him, I wanted him - more than I had ever wanted any man in a... somewhat venturesome life. So, I set out to get him... I chased him with invitations and chance encounters for months and he never accepted, never acknowledged that I existed. You can imagine how I felt; I’m not accustomed to being ignored. I had almost decided to have him kidnapped and spirited away to that island of mine to see if that would get his attention,” she laughed again, a little shakily. “Then came that terrible day on Mount Nothscar when we all knew that he was dead and I have never felt such despair in my life. I wanted to run after his spirit and destroy myself to be with him. That was when I realized that I loved him, that it wasn’t just a game any more.” She paused and blinked back the sudden tears that threatened to overflow her aquamarine eyes.
“When I learned through my kinswoman Diranda that he had been preserved in stasis,” she continued, “I found Nolex and his rather unconventional ideas and worked privately to arrange for the Ordmun to offer their devices and their expertise, and then, when the matter came before the Council, I... I bought him.” She flung the words defiantly at Rispa.
“Bought him?” He raised his brows quizzically.
“That’s what it amounted to. The Council was concerned about the cost of the implants, the prostheses. So I offered to pay for them if I was given... er, unhindered access to Anjh. I know how to use my money and I offered them a deal I knew they would leap at. I thought if I was there for him when he needed someone, he could eventually learn to love me. And I was right.” She finished with a flourish of virtuous justification.
Rispa looked at her for a long time. “And you have reason to believe he loves you?”
“He must or I wouldn’t be pregnant by him now.”
In his heart, Rispa was a kind man. He could see no reason to disillusion the charming woman across the tea table. Nothing would be gained by telling her that reproduction among the Prydain had little to do with love and everything to do with duty. It would be especially cruel to mention such truths at this particular time. Still, he probed her feelings a little more deeply.
“You weren’t put off by what had happened to him?”
“Why should I be? He’s still Anjh. In fact it was when I saw him the first time lying on that gurney - dead - that I was sure I wanted him forever, that I would bear his children - a thought that had never occurred to me before about any man. He had been unattainable, you see, a figure to pursue for the challenge of it and now there he was ... I can’t explain... he was unable to... Rispa, we’re happy together. Don’t be mistaken; there’s nothing false about my feelings for him.”
“Very well, I’m convinced of your pure intentions,” this time it was he who laughed softly. “Would you like to be attended by a Prydain physician or have you one of your own kind? I can easily send for an expert in this field.”
“Would that make Anjh more comfortable? I mean if I am being seen by a Prydain? He is so concerned over the fact I’m carrying twins.”
“Twins? Two infants? Impossible!” Rispa burst out in astonishment. “That can’t be true. It’s never happened in our history and we keep careful records. It simply isn’t possible. One of you is mistaken.” He bent his gaze on her darkly, “Or have you deceived him and conceived with another man? What use are guards if the treasure is already stolen?”
Jaithlym, stunned by his words, sprang to her feet. “What are you saying? That I would betray him? How dare you! You insult me under my own roof. - Go ask him yourself what he saw when we lay together. Ask him; he was the witness, not me.” She swept furiously from the room.
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As Rispa absently rode the lift back to the first floor, his head was aswirl with confusion. How could this be? Could he possibly have so misjudged the woman’s honesty? It was true that no such births had ever occurred in the long existence of the Prydain, but was it true that none such could occur? The knowledge that he would have to question Anjh on so intimate a matter weighed on the old man’s mind and depressed his spirit. But he was no coward he assured himself as he entered the public lift for the second floor.
When he arrived there, he did not at first see his quarry. There were groups of men and women, mostly Prydain, practicing with various weapons or vigorously going hand to hand on the scattered mats. With the ease of long experience he avoided missiles and blows and grappling hands as he progressed across the room toward the trio at the wall of mirrors. Anjh, stripped to the waist, watched as an Ordmun technician used some arcane tool on his left shoulder. Harad was weighing two great swords, one in each hand, choosing the more appropriate for his captain. None of them noticed Rispa at first.
“That should do, sir. I put another servo in and ‘e oughtta go smooth as new now.” The Ordmun smoothed down the covering that helped the mechart limb blend with the man’s body.
“If it continues to give me trouble, I’ll use the hand at the other end to strangle the nearest Ordmun myself.” Anjh assured Sandro with a clap on the back. As he turned, he caught sight of the Brisevent and a look of surprise crossed his face.
“Welcome, Brisevent Rispa. Come to see how the training looks these days? We have a galaxy of new tools and methods; feel free to wander around and ask questions.” He went back to his consultation with Harad.
“It is for you I have questions, my boy,” Rispa said. He was grateful now that they had made up their quarrel when the younger man had come early to his rooms to inform him that the birth-debt was paid. “Could we find a private place?”
“Certainly.” Pulling his shirt over his shoulders, Anjh led the way to the meditation room. “Is there something wrong?”
“Something far wrong, I fear. I have just come from visiting Jaithlym.”
“Is she all right? Nothing has happened to her?” His voice was quick with alarm.
“No, the lady is well but she tells me something strange. She claims that she is bearing two sons for you. Do you know anything of this?” he felt foolish even as he asked.
Anjh looked at the Elder levelly, “I know everything. She spoke the exact truth. She is carrying two sons of my begetting.”
“This cannot be. You know it’s impossible; it’s never happened.”
Anjh shrugged, “It’s happened now. I saw them form and I saw them embed in the womb before I told Jaithlym what had happened. She knows of this because I told her.”
“You saw? Are you sure?”
“Entirely sure.”
“Why didn’t you tell me when you informed me of her pregnancy?”
“It was none of your concern. The debt is paid. The rest is a private matter.” Anjh closed his face against his old mentor.
“Nothing about the birth-debt is private; you know that. I cannot believe you, Anjh.”
“Then think me a liar; it doesn’t matter. In less than a year, Jaithlym will be delivered of two boys and the genetic tests will prove that they are mine.” He gripped the cane that had been propped against the table and limped over to his desk. “My blood father thought me a coward. I’ve spent a good portion of my life trying to disprove him and I no longer have the inclination or time to fight another libel. I will put no obstacles in the way of your testing my word and her fidelity in any manner you choose.”
Rispa, more bewildered than ever, blurted out, “I’m sending for a Prydain physician to examine her.”
“Do as you wish.” Coldly, Anjh turned his attention to a sheaf of papers on his desk.