Sharon Green - The Crystals of Mida

“Perhaps it would be wise to learn of a city’s ways before reaching Ranistard,” suggested Rilas. “An error made elsewhere would not have the effect of one made in Ranistard.”

“An excellent thought,” I said.

“I have heard tell of the city of Bellinard, more distant from here, perhaps, than from Ranistard. It might well prove profitable to enter Bellinard first, to see what might be seen. Yes, I shall think closely upon this.”

I reclined upon the leather of my tent floor, considering the possibility of entering Bellinard. We would have to see the city first to decide how to enter it, there was much to think about. I saw, without true sight, the entrance of two of my warriors bearing hot meat for the captive. The meat was cut small and fed to him by both warriors as they gazed upon him with pleasure. The captive accepted the meat from their hands with little gratitude, and had his need not been so great, well might he have refused it. His jaws worked as he chewed the meat placed in his mouth, yet his eyes fastened themselves not to my warriors, but to me. I paid little heed to his unvoiced fury, and thought about the matter of Bellinard.

As the captive continued to feed, another warrior entered the tent and presented herself to me. She had been one of the warriors in the tower of the Crystal, and she held in her hand the life signs of my warriors who had been, and those of Rilas’s Attendants.

“I bring the life signs as you directed, Jalav,” she said, handing them to the Keeper with a sign of respect. “Yet were we unable to find the third of our warriors’ life signs. It was to be discovered neither in the Tower nor in the stones below the Tower. Do you wish us to seek further?”

I shook my head, dismissing her, knowing full well the whereabouts of the life sign of her who had borne me. It lay with the Crystal of Mida, marking those who were destined to feel the edge of my blade, the heat of my rage. Mida would guide me to the life sign of her daughter, and there I would avenge the theft of glory. Rilas, knowing in some manner the turn of my thoughts, sat silently with her pipe, the life signs given her wrapped carefully about her free hand.

A disturbance by the captive caught my attention. The captive had consumed the meat brought for him, yet refused the drink which followed the meat. My warrior stood before him with the pot in her hands, and he looked at her with contempt.

“Do you take me for a fool, girl?” he demanded of her. “Sooner would I die of thirst than drink again in this camp! Take that from me, and do not return with it!”

“I see no reason for reluctance,” the warrior answered. “There is naught in the pot save fresh spring water.”

“And I am to believe that!” The captive laughed, shaking his great head at her. “I would indeed receive my due, were I to be so foolish. Be gone, girl child, and allow me my rest”

The warrior, indifferent, left with the pot, the second warrior accompanying her. The captive watched them gone, then gazed silently upon me with amusement, as though to say that he had bested us. I drank my daru, and smoked my pipe, and did not disabuse him.

The effects of the drug reached him sooner the second time, as is the way with the drug. His amusement left him slowly as he attempted to deny the beginnings of what he felt, and I smiled as I watched the onset of his willingless movement, and laughed when full realization at last claimed him.

“The pot contained naught save fresh spring water,” I informed him as he again fought the leather which bound him. “The drug was in the meat given you, cooked in to enhance the taste of it. Did you not find it enjoyable?”

“No!” he cried, throwing himself about in his despair. “You cannot force me to endure such treatment again! I am a warrior! A warrior!”

“You are merely a sthuvad,” I informed him from where I lay upon the leather of my tent floor. “A sthuvad is for the enjoyment of warriors, not a warrior himself. Is it that you were borne by a warrior and given to those of the cities to raise, that you speak of yourself as a warrior?”

“I am only of the cities,” he said, his eyes darting about, seeking escape. “I knew naught of your pack of female vipers before I was taken, yet I shall never forget what was done to me. Never!”

“We have found,” Rilas observed calmly, “that those who are taken and thereafter released seldom speak of their capture to others. I have often wondered why this is, yet I feel that in such a manner are the Midanna given further service. Few would travel within our reach should word of our practices be spread about. You, too, I believe, will say naught.”

The captive sent her a hate-filled look, proving the truth of her words, then fell back to the leather of the floor, writhing in his need. Laird and a hand of others appeared, laughing lightly, to once again remove him to the use tent. The meal had been taken by my warriors, and now they would seek entertainment.

The Keeper and I sat for some hind, discussing the why of the taking of the Crystal. Had the thing been done by enemy Midanna, the reason would easily be seen, yet for city males to wish to take it was beyond understanding. The Crystals had been given to the Midanna to guard, given by the heralds of Mida many and many kalod earlier, against the fey Mida would once again wish to use them, and city males would have no interest in them. None knew the proper use of the Crystals, yet was it thought that Mida would in some manner speak through them, informing her warriors of her wishes. The Hosta saw to one Crystal, and the enemy Silla saw to the other, though no word had come that the Crystal guarded by the Silla had been taken or attempted. I saw the need to send warriors to the Silla, to learn of the condition of the Crystal they guarded. I spoke of this to Rilas, and she agreed, insisting that the deed be done by Attendants. Knowing how keenly she and her Attendants felt the loss, I thought it best to accede to her wishes. The Attendants would be sent, and should they learn of something to aid me in my search, I would be quickly informed.

Rilas then retired to her tent. I found Fideran’s absence left a loneliness behind, so I went out into the darkness beyond my tent. The darkness was well lit by the presence of the Entry to Mida’s Realm, and the glowing, rounded gap in the darkness that ever changed its place made pale the tiny rends to all sides of it. To the despair of all Midanna, the Entry was not always in the skies, yet Mida knew of the needs of her daughters, and at such times allowed a memory of the glory of her Realm to shine through the tiny rends. My eyes gazed upon the Entry to Mida’s Realm, and I knew a sadness that all could not hope to be allowed through to the everlasting days of battle and happiness that were the rewards of the Midanna. I then heard the laughter of my warriors who had found interest in the use tent. I recalled the look of the captive, then smiled and also recalled my earlier resolve. My steps led quietly to the use tent, and I went in.

The use tent was warm with the bodies of my warriors, crouching within, and much did they laugh and compare the captive with others taken before him. A fire had been made for the brewing of daru, and many of my warriors sat upon the leather to one side of the captive, sipping from the pots of daru and calling instructions to the captive or the warrior who possessed him. The instructions were entirely in jest, yet the captive felt the barb of them deeply enough to attempt escape once again. His attempts caused further laughter, so alike were males and their ways—a simple jest often returned life to the most enfeebled of them.

I moved through the press of my warriors till I stood above the captive. He had been used hard, and had he not been of the strength he was, he might not have survived. His wrists and ankles bled from his struggles, his face had lost its color, his covering was stained and twisted about upon him. Only his eyes remained the same, filled with an endless store of fury and hate. I stood beside him quietly, my eyes examining his form with pleasure as my warrior continued to make use of him. His own eyes came to me, and did not leave me again.