Changing Fate [Fate series] (2 page)

"At least,” Galin agreed.

"It's a shame Briam isn't more interested in real life,” Akila said wistfully. “I had hoped that the Sky Father would chose him as His new priest."

"Lord Briam is not the stuff of which priests are made,” came the tart reply from the doorway as Marfa entered. Marfa had definite opinions on the subject of the twins’ characters; she had been housekeeper and priestess as long as Akila could remember, and she had raised Akila and Briam. Unlike Galin, Marfa looked every day of her age and then more; she seemed at once ancient and ageless. “But the new priest will come soon; I feel it in my bones.” She moved to her place at the north side of the altar. “Shall we begin?” Galin and Akila moved to their places at west and south, as Marfa picked up the basin at the center of the altar and moved it to the Earth Mother's side.

"In the beginning was Earth, Mother of all life.” Marfa took a bit of a mixture of rich brown earth, green leaves, and dry twigs from a small bowl on the Earth section of the altar and placed it into one of the shallow divisions of the basin, which was divided into four parts. “From Her body all are born and to Her all return at the proper season. Honor the Mother, thank Her for Her blessings, and remember that our roots are in Her body."

Marfa passed the basin to the Sky Father's portion of the altar, and the three of them stood in silence during the time the priest would have done his part in the ritual. Then Akila reached out and took the basin.

"Fire is the daughter of Earth and Sky, Lightning, the first-born of the children which link them.” She took a twig from the earth division of the basin and lit it from the small lamp that always burned on the Fire section of the altar. Placing the twig into the fire division of the basin to burn, she continued, “All life is changed by contact with Her, yet Her essence never changes. In all the changes of our lives, remember that, though the form may change, the reality is eternal.” As the form of the twig converted itself to a line of ash, Akila passed the basin to Galin.

"Water is the son of Earth and Sky, Rain, the second-born of the children which link them.” Galin picked up a vial of water and slowly poured some of it into the water division of the basin. “Water flows through all that lives, yet Water never changes, however far He may travel. The reality is eternal.” Galin placed the basin carefully back in the bare center of the altar, between the carved portions allotted to each of the Elements. He reached out to take Akila's and Marfa's hands, and they stood there silently until the last rays of the sun passed below the sanctuary windows. Then they dropped hands and silently left the room. The basin would sit on the altar overnight, and in the morning Akila, as part of her duties as the youngest of the priesthood, would clean it in preparation for the next night's ritual.

Akila had hoped to find Briam in the courtyard outside the temple, or at least in the Great Hall—after all, it was dinnertime and he was supposed to preside at the high table. But when she arrived in the Hall with Galin and Marfa, there was no sign of Briam, although everyone else in the castle was there, the tables were set up, and the food was ready. Marfa muttered something under her breath. Galin's ‘irresponsible idiot’ was slightly more audible.

"We may as well all sit down,” Akila sighed. “I'm sure he'll be here momentarily.” She led the way to the high table and took her seat. Galin sat to her right, Briam's empty chair was to her left, and Marfa sat to Briam's left. Akila put her hands in her lap, fingers interlaced, looked into her cupped palms, and reached out with her mind. As she had expected, she heard a faint thread of melody, apparently played on a lute.

Briam!
she sent out a mental call, accompanied by the sensation of her empty and complaining stomach and the feeling of embarrassed annoyance that she always got when she was in a room full of people waiting for Briam.

The lute music stopped with a startled jolt, and she could feel Briam come back to an awareness of the world around him. “He's on his way,” she whispered to Galin.

"Good,” Galin replied. “It would be helpful to have
him
make the announcement that we start harvesting tomorrow."

Akila nodded. “It would certainly look better that way, since he
is
supposed to be in charge here."

"It would look even better if he were to show up on time for dinner,” said Marfa.

Briam entered the room at a brisk trot just in time to hear the last remark. “I do apologize,” he said, slipping quickly into his seat and nodding for the servers to begin. “I am composing a new piece, and I'm afraid that I lost track of the time."

Since all three of his table companions had been able to guess that for themselves, they did not bother to comment. The boy who was serving them barely repressed a snicker. Marfa glared at him, and dinner continued without incident. Akila and Galin discussed the work schedule and crew assignments for the next morning. Briam ignored them and ate in silence, his mind presumably still on his music.

When he stood up to leave at the end of the meal, however, Akila prevented his departure with a quick hand around his wrist.
You have an announcement to make, brother dear
. It really did help sometimes that he was her twin; not only could she call him from a distance, but, when they were in physical contact, they could speak mind to mind with words. This ability was very useful when most of Briam's thoughts were elsewhere, as they were tonight. She prompted him through the announcement of the harvest schedule virtually word by word. When he was done speaking and had escaped back to his lute, Akila wondered if he had any idea of what he had said, or indeed, if he even grasped that the harvest would begin the next day.

Judging from a conversation she overheard a bit later, she was not alone in her doubts.

"Quite an unusual heir our lord has.” The voice was male, but not one Akila could put a face to. “Of course, it's not like he has much choice, having only the one son."

"Lord Briam's not so bad.” That voice Akila did recognize; it belonged to the arms-master, now old enough to be semi-retired. “He's a good fighter when he puts his mind to it."

"And what do you have to do to get his attention on fighting?” the first man challenged. “Threaten to smash his lute?"

The arms-master chuckled indulgently. “It's not quite that bad. Good dancers are frequently good fighters, and he's quite good at both. No, Lord Briam will do well enough as long as Lady Akila stands by him. She's got the common sense of the pair."

"Of the family, belike. At least she stays here and pays attention to what's going on, instead of being off campaigning half the year. How much land can one man hold, anyway? And our lord sees more of his horse than he does of his children. Small wonder that his son is a dreamer and his daughter takes more after Galin than her own father."

"We can use more than one of Galin—or Lady Akila. We couldn't support more than one of our lord."

"True enough. But I'd pity those children, if it weren't for the fact that if they mess things up,
we
will be the ones to be pitied."

"Don't you worry. They'll do all right, as long as they have each other."

They moved out of earshot then, leaving Akila puzzled. Why should anyone pity her and Briam? And why should they think that the twins would want to see more of their father? Life went much more smoothly when he was away than when he was home finding fault with things and filling the castle with extra soldiers, some of whom were greatly lacking in manners.

Akila had just finished putting the chapel in order the next morning when she heard a commotion in the courtyard. She hastily went out the door, which was adjacent to the west wall at the very back of the keep, hoping that whatever the fuss was, it would be something minor. Halfway down the courtyard there was a group of maidservants, all crowded together around something. Several of them were crying, but Akila recognized the one closest to her as one of the laundry maids, who cried when a leaf fell from a tree. She pushed her way unceremoniously toward the center of the disturbance, looking for someone who could give a coherent answer to a simple question.

At the center of the group she found Galin, kneeling beside Marfa, who lay on the ground with her leg at a very odd angle. Marfa's eyes were closed and her face screwed up with pain, but she wasn't making a sound. Typical, Akila thought. Marfa never had much patience with anyone who made a display of her emotions.

Galin looked up and saw her. “Akila, Marfa has fallen and broken her leg."

"Oh, no!” Akila said, trying to sound sympathetic rather than the way she really felt, which was frightened and overwhelmed. If Marfa couldn't do her work, Akila would be overburdened indeed. And if she couldn't take her part in the daily ritual ... it was bad enough being short one member of the priesthood, but with two missing the ritual would be impossible. And bad things happened when the rituals weren't done. “What did she fall off of?"

"Nothing.” One of the maids answered, sounding terrified. “She just fell down in the middle of the courtyard. My lady, do you think it be witchcraft?"

Akila looked at her in disgust. “No, Berna, I do not think it anything of the sort!"

"Indeed not,” Galin agreed calmly. “It is not uncommon for women of a certain age to break bones like this."

One of the kitchen maids said quickly, “That's true. The same thing happened to my grandmother last year."

"Your grandmother died,” Berna pointed out.

"Enough!” Akila snapped. “Galin, get some men and a stretcher and have her carried to her room. Berna, got get the midwife. The rest of you, get back to work."

Akila took Galin's place by Marfa's side as everyone else scattered. She took Marfa's hand, and the bony fingers closed convulsively around hers. “Don't worry, Marfa,” Akila said soothingly. “Everything will be all right."

Marfa's eyes opened and looked straight into Akila's. “It's starting,” she said softly. “Be brave, girl."

"What's starting?” Akila asked. But Marfa closed her eyes again and did not speak further.

Fifteen minutes later, Akila stood with Galin outside Marfa's room, waiting for the midwife. A horrible thought occurred to her. “Galin? When she said last night that she could feel in her bones that a new priest would come—"

"I'm sure this is just an unfortunate coincidence,” Galin said soothingly. “After all, Marfa is not a young woman, and it is not at all uncommon for women of her age to suddenly suffer broken bones."

Akila frowned. “I do hope you're right,” she said, “but I have a very bad feeling about this."

The rest of the day was a nightmare. Quite apart from her sympathy for Marfa's pain, Marfa's incapacity put all of her duties on Akila's shoulders—and on the first day of harvest, those duties were considerable. By mid-afternoon Akila had a pounding headache and had retreated to her room, hoping that a few minutes of quiet would relieve the worst of the pain.

"Akila!"

Akila groaned. Briam's shout echoed up the stairwell, bouncing off the stones of the tower and mingling with the sound of his pounding feet on the wooden stairs. She hoped that whatever Briam wanted was something trivial. Knowing Briam, it could be something as simple as his inability to find his riding boots, which Akila had seen him kick under his bed when he took them off last night.

"Akila!” Briam arrived at the doorway of her room gasping from his run up three flights of stairs.

Whatever he wants
, Akila thought,
it's probably not that he can't find his boots.

"There's an army heading this way!"

Akila started at him in surprise, momentarily forgetting the pounding in her head. “Are you telling me that Father is actually coming home in time for harvest this year?” she asked. “He hasn't done that since we were eight! How far away are they?"

"Down where the trail starts to get steep and narrow,” Briam replied. “They won't be here for at least two hours, and probably closer to three. “But, Akila,” he paused for emphasis, “it's not Father."

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"What?” Akila started at him incredulously. “Briam, nobody else ever comes here. This place didn't even have a wall around it until Father built one!"

This was quite true. Eagle's Rest had been a secluded spot to begin with, and was now reachable only through large areas of their father's land, but even so he had built a wall around it and reinforced its defenses until it could withstand a siege without serious difficulty, assuming, of course, that it was adequately provisioned. But on the first day of the harvest, “adequately provisioned” was the last possible description of their status if they had to close up the castle.

If there really was a hostile army coming up the pass, Eagle's Rest was in trouble. “How could an army get so far without anyone's warning us?” Akila wondered aloud. “Briam, are you sure it's not Father? Maybe he's just hired some new mercenaries you don't recognize."

Briam looked uncertain, but he shook his head. “I could see the banner,” he said stubbornly, “and I can certainly tell the difference between red and blue."

"Blue?” Akila asked.

Briam nodded. “A blue banner, with a wolf—at least I think it was a wolf. And I'm sure it wasn't red with an eagle!"

"Red and blue are fairly easy to tell apart,” Akila agreed.

Briam gestured to the window. “Don't you think that you ought to go take a look?” he asked.

Akila rotated her shoulders. They were still a bit sore from her work on the potion yesterday, but the muscles still worked. “All right,” she said. “I'll go.” She indicated the cauldron, which still occupied half the windowsill. “Get this out of the way, will you."

Briam looked dubiously at the potion. “What is it?"

"It's an experiment—and if there is a hostile army coming this way, we may need it, so be careful with it.” As Briam gingerly lifted the cauldron and set it on the floor in front of the window, Akila closed and bolted the door, then stripped off her clothes and tossed them onto her bed. Naked, she perched on the windowsill, then dove out of the window.