Techromancy Scrolls: Adept (5 page)

Verna moved through the water to me and brought her hand up to close my mouth. She had a look of mischief on her face as she said through a chuckle, “Yeah I know, not fair to the rest of us. I feel like a horse next to her.” Then she added, “She'll make some...” She paused looking for the words then settled on, “...person, a fine catch.”

They both moved to a row of submerged stone benches and I held my towel tight. I was extremely self conscious of my body suddenly. Compared to the two knights, I felt like I had the body of a child. I turned my back to them and let my towel drop. I crossed my arms over my breasts, holding my shoulders and turned to descend the steps.

Celeste's eyes were narrowed and she looked angry for some reason. Had I made her mad in some way? I sat beside them on the bench and Celeste brought her hands up and grabbed my shoulders, turning my back toward them.

I shivered when her fingers gently traced the scars on my back in the water. She growled out, “These are scars from lashing.” It was a statement not a question. I saw Lady Verna wince. I just nodded and turned myself out of the knight's grasp and placed my back against the stone bench's backrest.

She just stared at me expectantly. I shrugged. “I don't like to speak about it.” She just kept staring at me with that expectant look and I exhaled and caved. “A chamber maid snuck me into the library of the Techromancy Scrolls to show me the wonders it held when I was younger.”

Her anger seemed to double, was she displeased I had broken the rules? I shrugged again and said more to myself, “The punishment for trespassing into the library is...”

She finished for me, “Public flogging, twenty lashes. It's barbaric.” She turned me again and looked at my back. I blinked, she was mad about the scars, not about my transgression?

I relaxed a little and put her mind at ease. “The magistrate took pity and gave only ten, he stayed his hand and was gentle.”

She growled out, “To punish a child for being curious? That is what children do.” Her finger was running along the worst of the scars. “Wait, was that when little Resme was sent away?” Before I nodded she said, “I remember that day. I snuck out to the flogging. Father forbade me to watch. He thought it a travesty that anyone should be punished for seeking knowledge.”

Then she got a look of pride on her face. “You say he stayed his hand, but you are incorrect. I watched this little slip of a girl stand tall at the whipping post. She did not cry out as the whip cut unto her back. The magistrate struck more forcefully each time yet she still did not cry out. There were murmurings about the brave child for days after that.”

I pushed that day out of my thoughts and said in a tight voice, “Mother told me to be strong, so I tried to do her proud and refused to show weakness.”

She grinned at me and sat back on the bench and started washing up. She glanced at her fellow knight, “You should have seen her when confronted by eight marauders, unarmed. Instead of trying to flee or begging for mercy, she just stood there and threw their threats back at them.”

Verna rolled her eyes in humor. “So you have told me, seven times now.” They got into a shoving match and I chuckled at their childish behavior. I made an odd realization at that moment. Knights are people too. I blinked at that. I have always seen them as these paragons of right, the larger than life heroes that kept evil at bay. But – I looked at the playful women – they can laugh too.

I relaxed and grabbed one of the bristle brushes tethered to the benches and started scrubbing a week's worth of dirt and grime off of my skin.

They got me talking about the surprise of finding the spoils and prizes of battle at my doorstep in the morning. About being able to purchase mother's medicines. How I was going to the castle after the bath to sell my finds from the previous day.

Celeste brightened, “I'll accompany you if you don't mind. Until Bowyn recovers, I'm stuck at the castle for the next week or two, and I get ever so bored.”

I blushed and looked down and nodded. She said as she turned her back to me, “Good! Now that that is settled, scrub my back for me would you? I'll do yours.”

I was surprised by the wound on her left shoulder, it was only a series of angry red scars where the marauder's weapon struck. How could it heal so much in but a day?

I shook my head then looked away from her shoulder and I blinked at the flawless skin she presented me. It was marred only by short scars in three places that, as I ran my fingers across them, I realized could only be sword entry wounds. I held my breath as I moved my hands down her back, feeling the smooth skin that I would associate with a noble.

She said in a wavering voice, “Trying to make me swoon is not conducive to getting my back clean Laney.” I was breathing hard and felt flush as she glanced back with a demure look. She froze and whispered, “Your eyes. Calm yourself. Breathe.” I nodded and closed my eyes and pushed away the heat building inside me. I felt the power fade but the heat was still there. I opened my eyes and she smiled and nodded. I grabbed a brush and she turned and I started scrubbing. Verna seemed to be watching the whole exchange with great curiosity.

After the sinfully erotic experience of having a Knight of the Realm wash my back and run her hands along it, we stepped out of the baths and wrapped in our towels. I kept my back to them as I quickly dressed. I know I will surely burn in hell, but I peeked as Celeste got dressed. Her long legs and shapely butt were... I bit my lower lip and looked away.

I had an epiphany at that moment. Was that truly why I never wished to be wed like all the other girls? Why the thought of laying with a man repulsed me? Was I broken in some way? I couldn't deny the fact that I was extremely sexually attracted to a Lady of the Court. To a female Knight. Hell is too good a place for me. It was not unheard of for a man to lay with a man, or a woman with a woman, though it was exceedingly rare. I took another peek just to see her looking my way. Caught. I blushed and stood.

I swear she was grinning but I refused to look directly at her after being caught looking. The women took out a hairbrush and brushed out each others hair. Then Verna turned to me and patted the bench beside her. “Come now, your turn.”

I absently touched my dark, tangled hair, remembering when I was small, mother had a small hairbrush back then. It has since broken and we never bought another. I timidly sat, and the women, the Ladies of the Court, the Knights of the Realm, brushed out my hair.

I quickly wiped a tear from my cheek. I had no idea why I was crying. I pushed back the odd feelings and just reveled in the attention. My hair was almost dry when they finished with me. Then with quick, deft hands, Verna braided my hair and Celeste tied it off with a ribbon of violet and emerald, the colors of the keep.

The muscled woman said, “She cleans up nice huh Celeste?” I looked down then chanced a look at the other woman grinning and nodding in agreement.

We stepped over to Hannah and looked into the huge polished silver mirror that they kept near the entrance. The silversmiths visited weekly to keep its surface almost glassy smooth. I stood in front of the two tall women in armor, I looked almost like a child compared to them, even though they could only be two or three years my senior.

I absently reached up and touched the braid going down my back. Cleaned up and wearing my new green tunic, I looked above my station, like a castle servant, not a serf. I smiled then looked away, it did not pay to be vain, only hard work can put food on the table.

We bid farewell to the bath matron and I saw the two chargers lashed to the post near my wagon. Verna mounted her steed in one fluid motion, then she held her hand down and Celeste grasped forearms with her as she said, “I'm off to the wall for the rest of the day. Church tomorrow?”

Celeste nodded. “Aye.”

Then Verna reached toward me. I blinked then grasped her forearm as she said, “Goodbye Laney. I'm sure we will meet again.”

I replied, “Goodbye Lady Verna. It was very nice to meet you.” She smiled, nudged her horse and galloped off.

I turned to see Celeste looking at Goliath's shod hooves as she stroked his flank. She smiled up at me and said, “You aren't the only one to clean up nicely. This stallion looks to be the pick of the lot. Very handsome.”

I grinned with pride for the horse I have owned less than a day. “Yes Goliath is. I've never owned a horse of my own before. It is almost surreal.”

She squinted in confusion. “But you have a wagon, how was it pulled before?”

I shrugged. “Mother had an old nag. We had to sell her for food a few winters back.”

Again she looked unhappy. She kept getting that look around me and I wondered if I were displeasing her somehow.

She studied me a minute then exhaled and prompted, “To the castle?” I nodded, trying not to show my excitement. I'd been to the castle hundreds of times, trading and selling eggs, but the servant's entrance was nothing compared to the wonders in the salvage intake courtyard. There were so many wonders to see before the Techromancers hauled them off to be repaired, reclaimed, or recycled.

My first time there, someone had brought in a windmill with a motor that generated electricity when the wind blew. In a couple short months two or three windmills had appeared on the highest tower ramparts. The Techromancers were quick to reproduce working designs. It was free electrical energy with no magic cost, courtesy of the winds of the realm.

I had once asked mother why we even bothered with electricity and generators when so many people with magic potential lived in the castle. She explained that energy was energy, whether magic or electric. But we could generate electrical energy whereas we could not generate magic energies. So when a magic user is at their limit, they need to rest, sometimes for days to regain their strength. But as long as a generator is turning by any means, then electric power is produced. The wizards of the Before knew this, that is why so many devices unearthed from that era were powered by electricity.

We had Techromancer apprentices in the castle who's daily duty was to link crystals with their own magic potential and seal the sparks in ceramic pots. These vessel's magic potential turned the generators and alternators that powered our village. I absently touched my tunic, feeling the crystal shard on its string beneath the cloth. If a vessel lost it's potential it would be returned to the castle for the apprentices to re-energize with their own magics again.

Lady Celeste trotted next to the wagon as we approached the castle. I said, “I need to see if I can speak with a scholar. I think I have learned things of value of the Before. Would one speak with me? Or should I just leave a note at salvage intake?”

The look she gave me was full of mischief. “Oh, I think I have an idea of someone you can speak with. I'll go fetch them while you do your business.”

I smiled and tried to hide my excitement. I, Laney Herder would speak with a scholar or, I didn't dare to hope, an actual Techromancer... besides Celeste of course. Techno Knights are minor Techromancers who answer the call to defend the weak instead of devote themselves to study.

I couldn't imagine the intelligence of the scholars, having full access to the scrolls and tomes of the library. Mother was the most intelligent person I knew. I often wondered how she became so well versed in about every subject, but she would never speak of it. She always seemed to have tomes around to read but I know not where they came from. She promised to tell me when I reached majority, but she had gotten too sick by then.

We reached the line to the inner portcullis at the intake arch, but Celeste moved past it saying, “With me Laney.” People averted their eyes in respect as she trotted past and I felt more than a little self conscious as I had Goliath follow her.

The steward at the gate bowed as she passed him and his helpers with their clipboards. She simply said, “She is with me steward,” before they even asked. His head still low I saw his eyes flick up to me in confusion but they let me pass. My head was turning every which way taking in the racks of wonders from the before as we passed them. There was a fairly intact, rusted back end from a conveyance that caught my attention.

I looked up just in time to stop Goliath before we slammed into Celeste who had stopped and was dismounting at the Purser's huge, iron bound, oak table. I put on the brake and scrambled down behind her. With her left hand, she discreetly made a wiggling motion with her fingers behind her. I took that as a silent prompt that I should be behind her on the left. I had never been in the company of a noble before and I silently thanked her in my head for not letting me make a fool of myself.

She spoke with her commanding tone, “Purser William, please attend my friend, Laney Herder, while I go retrieve someone to speak with her.”

He was quick to respond in military precision, “Yes Lady Celeste.”

She grinned back at me, “I'll return shortly.” I nodded and she strode off like a woman on a mission.

The silver haired man had the look of a soldier but had the smile and laugh lines of a cheerful fellow around his mouth and the corners of his blue eyes that twinkled with vitality. He was in his fifties but held himself like a man in his thirties. I had met him on my last visit to the intake courtyard. They were so impressed with my first load that he wanted to handle my second load personally.