The Way of the Blade (9 page)

“The Waypoint system is not a mess.”

“That’s not what it looks like from here.” Guests had started to arrive — they would be coming in all day — and Shual abruptly turned back toward the house. “Tell me you’ve at least secured the god for our fight?”

“I’ll be accepting her agreement later today.”

“You know this for certain?”

“I expect that she’ll —”

“You
expect?
That sounds tenuous.” Shual flashed his hand in front of Javery’s face. “No more. I understand exactly how things stand.” He rubbed his nose and pulled at the corner of his eye. “I want you to promise me that you’ll openly welcome Canto into our family. It is vital that we present a united front to the public. Privately, you can hate him all you want, but before the people, we have to be as one. Had you succeeded with the god, this might have been different. I suppose I can only blame myself for that. I should have listened to Canto and stuck with our original plan. Now we’ll have lost respect from other town leaders, and we still have a god to get rid of.”

“You don’t have to worry about Malja. I know she’ll come around. All I have to do —”

“Then do it.” Shual whipped his body away, and the floating bells of his train smacked Javery’s legs and jingled.

As Shual walked off to examine the circle where the ceremony would take place, four autoflys passed overhead. More guests. Javery hunted down a Wrenley boy to make sure five more rows of seats were laid out.

With that task completed, he found a corner of the kitchen in which no food had been stored, no dirty pots had been stacked, no steam or fire raised the temperature ten degrees, no animal carcasses waited butchering, and no people had been appointed. He sat on a small stool and leaned the back of his head against the cold stone walls. At least another three hours before he could have a drink.

“Mr. Javery! I haven’t seen you since you were a little boy.” A large lady with dark brown skin and gray hair waddled towards him. “You probably don’t even remember me.”

Javery forced a bright smile and got to his feet. “I could never forget you, Mrs. Colthworer. You were more than a neighbor. In fact, just hearing your voice brings back the smell of your fresh baked cookies.”

“You do remember.”

“Every day after working in the fields, you had a batch waiting. That’s something a man won’t ever let go of.”

Mrs. Colthworer covered her mouth with both hands. “I wanted to tell you that I saw you speak at the Assembly Hall, and I completely support you. We live in dangerous times, and if you think that we can make good use of this Malja person, then we should do it.”

Javery clasped her hand between his. “I’ll certainly try.”

“That’s all anybody can ask of you. But I don’t want to mar the day with such talk. Your sister is getting married! You must be so proud of her.”

They chatted on for another ten minutes, and although Mrs. Colthworer had something to say about any subject, Javery let her ramble on. Her kind words reminded him that there were others out in the world who had a say in the leadership of this town. Shual was not a dictator.

Thirty minutes later, Javery walked around the ceremony area one last time. Nobody appeared panicked, so he guessed he had no fires to put out. Then he saw Malja, Fawbry, and Tommy approach.

He started for them when Druzane curled around his arm. “Introduce me.”

Javery noticed the weight of the necklace in his pocket. “My pleasure,” he said, and led the way.

Two attendants blocked Malja, and voices growled between them. When Javery reached them, he heard one attendant say, “I’m sorry but that is the rule. No weapons are allowed.”

“I’ll handle this,” Javery said to the relief of the attendants. He turned to Malja. “You do have our sincerest apologizes. Unfortunately, the boy is right. There’s a long standing tradition of keeping all weapons outside the ceremonial areas. Mostly this is to stop any jealous lovers from barging in on a wedding and causing trouble.”

“What if I sit in the back?” Malja asked. “Nobody would be bothered by me, then.”

Javery shook his head.

Druzane piped up. “If you’re okay with the suggestion, why don’t you have the lady place her blade just outside the ceremonial area lines? She can keep an eye on it there, and we won’t be upsetting any of the traditionalists who’ll be coming today.”

Javery raised his eyebrows. “That would work. Malja?”

“Fine.” Malja pulled out her weapon and handed it to Fawbry. He carefully laid it nearby.

“Perfect,” Druzane said. “And within reach, should you need it.”

Malja’s eyes narrowed on Druzane. “Who are you?”

Clearing his throat, Javery said, “This is the woman I’m going to marry. But don’t tell anyone. We haven’t officially announced it yet.”

“Congratulations,” Malja said, her voice never lifting beyond what sounded to Javery like a cold threat. “Fawbry, Tommy, let’s go find some seats.”

Once they had walked away, Javery took Druzane to the side of the house. “What is going on?” he demanded. “Why would you suggest that Malja needed to keep her blade close by? What’s with all these cryptic surprises?”

“Stop worrying. Everything’s going to work out fine.” Druzane licked her lips and pressed Javery against the house. “Nobody can see us here. You want to have one last poke before you make an honest woman of me?”

Javery pushed her back. She pouted playfully, but Javery swore he saw concern on her face, too. “Please. Tell me what’s going on.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Do you love me?”

“What?”

“I’m not sure you’ve ever said it to me before. If I’m going to marry you, I want to know that you love me — that you’ll defend me, that you’ll comfort me, that you’ll stand by my decisions even when others are against us.”

“Is that what all this mystery is about?” Javery chuckled. “You’re worried I don’t love you.”

Blushing, Druzane said, “Even us brash girls can be insecure.”

“You had me thinking ... but you said ... oh, never mind all that. Druzane, listen to me now and remember this always. I love you. Okay? I love you and I will marry you and we will save our people from the Scarites and we will be happy.”

“I love you, too.” She kissed him quick and dashed off around the house.

Javery stood alone, staring at the sky, smiling. He thanked Carsite and Pali for bringing Druzane into his life. Women confused him, but given time, Druzane would teach him all he needed to know.

The musicians played the wedding overture, a single horn producing the traditional melody, to announce the ceremony would soon commence. Javery snapped from his thoughts and walked a brisk pace toward the back of the ceremonial area. He took a seat two rows behind Malja so that she would hear him clearly when his turn came.

Once the guests had settled, the musicians paused for two beats before launching into the wedding song. Upbeat, proud, and full of pleasant harmonies, the song floated in the air as if it had been written in the Great Well. The clouds parted enough to shine the sun’s warmth upon them. It appeared that Carsite looked favorably on this wedding.

Canto stood from his seat in the front row and entered the ceremonial circle. Dressed in an immaculate, white robe with a matching hat that had frilling which reached to his shoulders, Canto looked every part the handsome groom. His parents watched from the front row. Javery had to shake his head at that — typical Father.

In modern weddings, the parents from both sides of the couple partook in the ceremony. However, Father insisted on a traditional wedding — one in which the groom’s family was mostly ignored. Canto should have fought that idea, but he wanted to keep softening Father.
So he can take what should be mine.

Father entered next. Walking down the main aisle, passing the guests with his long train and floating bells, he stood as straight as he could manage and jostled his shoulders to make sure the bells jingled. Mother should have been with him, but apparently he decided some traditions needed modifying. She sat in the front row next to Canto’s parents.

Finally, Soralia made her entrance. For Javery, everything stopped. He no longer heard the musicians or thought about his pompous father or even concerned himself with Druzane. He only saw his sweet Si-Si, her incredible glow, her undeniable joy.

She stood upon a piece of infused metal so tiny none could see it. Her main job at that moment was to keep her balance while her maiden, Reety, held her hand and pulled her along the aisle. Her robe looked even tighter, and Javery prayed to Carsite that his sister did not pass out. Two flags poked out of the back of her dress — each arm horizontal and the flag hanging to display the two families’ colors. Gold and blue for Canto’s side. Green and white for Soralia’s.

Once in the circle, Father and Reety helped Soralia down, and she held Canto’s hand as they turned to the side. Reety used a white sash to tie the metal piece to the chair of Canto’s father — a sign of respect and the joining of families. The officiator stood before Canto and Soralia, their profiles to the guests, and the tale of Carsite, Scarite, and Pali was told.

As the officiator worked his way through the well-known story, Javery noticed Druzane standing by the food table. That was odd. Not only because, other than the hired hands for the day, all the guests sat in chairs, but because she did not watch the wedding at all. At first, Javery assumed she stared at him, burning into his mind her desire for the engagement announcement. But her eyes never locked with his. In fact, she appeared to be checking the sky, sneaking glances while also looking beyond the ceremonial area into the orchard.

He ignored her, trying to focus on his sister’s wedding, but she did it again. A glance into the sky. A peek into the orchard. Anxiety over the engagement? Possibly, but that didn’t sound right to Javery’s ear.

Then Malja turned around and looked upward. She studied the sky for a moment, turned back, and observed the orchard. She whispered something to Fawbry, and then he, too, glanced around. He shrugged and whispered back, shaking his head.

Javery didn’t want to look
. I’ve got my part in the ceremony to do. I’ve got to announce my engagement. I’ve got to
— But Druzane did it again.

Snapping his head around, he looked into the sky and saw two dark dots.
It couldn’t be
. He started to stand but remembered the wedding going on and froze half out of his chair. He caught Druzane’s eyes this time. She trembled out a smile — anxious, eager, even excited, and certainly seeking his approval.

With apologies to the woman sitting next to him, he exited the row and walked to the back. He pretended to dab at his forehead and look at the sun. In the sky he counted three dark dots now. And they were growing.

He paced at the back, peeking between the ceremony and the sky. Canto and Soralia and Father took no notice of him. The entire audience watched the wedding.
That’s good, I think.
Unless those dots turned out to be what he feared.

He caught Druzane’s eyes and motioned for her to come over. She looked back as if to say that she was stuck, but he didn’t care. He pointed to the ground next to him, his face tight and red. With a bashful bow and her hand on her stomach, she backed away from the table and quietly walked up the side.

When she reached Javery, her own face had turned fierce. “What do you think you’re doing? Your moment is about to be here.”

“What do you know about those dots in the sky?”

“Dots? What do mean?”

He grabbed her arm. “I saw you watching them. You know I did.”

“My love, calm down. I told you that I was going to help you and I have. They weren’t supposed to come until after the ceremony, but you can’t really trust them.” Her words smacked into Javery, stunning him like a blow to the head. “Don’t act shocked. You said yourself that Malja single-handedly destroyed a wellspiker. What’s two or three of these idiots?”

“But people might get hurt.”

“People always get hurt. You don’t really think you can fight a war without injury, do you?”

“Of course not. But —”

“Enough.” She checked that they had not disturbed anybody. “We can talk about this tonight. But we have a wedding to finish.” Without giving Javery a chance to respond, she gracefully walked back to the food table.

Sitting down where he had before, he thought of all the ways this could turn bad. He wanted to be livid with Druzane, but she had done this drastic thing for him. And it might work, too. Except, he wanted to make sure that the least number of people were hurt.

He leaned forward and tapped Malja’s shoulder. “Something bad is going to happen. You’ll be needing your weapon.”

Malja gazed into the sky again. “What are they?”

Even the feel of the word on his tongue sent chills across his chest. “Scarite.”

Chapter 9

Malja

Malja turned fully around in her seat. “Scarite? You mean, your enemy?”

The woman sitting next to Javery suddenly paled. He patted her shoulder. “It’s okay. They’re not real Scarite.”