The Sword of the Lady

Tiphaine stared at her for a moment.?Ah… my lady, how long have you had this in mind? Just as a matter of curiosity.? ?Since… oh, March 6, 2008.?

They both blinked at her, and Tiphaine spoke:?That?s… the day I brought Mathilda and Rudi back, during the Protector?s War. The day we arrived at Castle Todenangst.?

Sandra nodded.?Well, of course, I?d had the begi

Tiphaine burst into laughter; Sandra was slightly surprised. She hadn?t seen that happen during business hours more than once or twice in the quarter century they?d known each other. The Grand Constable of the Association went down on one knee and drew her sword, bringing the cross hilt up to her lips in salute. ?Even for you, my liege-lady, that is… it?s just so fucking brilliant!?

Conrad had been standing with his mouth open. He shut it, sat down again, and his gargoyle face split in a grin as he reached for one of the blueberry tarts, absently brushing powdered sugar off his jupon. ?Well, I will be damned. I wasn?t thinking dynastically. And when you do, that?s exactly how it looks.?

He cupped a hand to his ear.?You hear that? It?s old Norman laughing fit to split his mausoleum open.?

Sandra sighed, the quiet glee fading from her face. ?And I still miss telephones,? she said.?Now we know they?ve arrived safely at this Readstown place. That?s the edge of civilization, and they?re about to plunge into the unknown. How long will it be before we know what happened there, or later??

TheSwordoftheLady

CHAPTER TWELVE

?A hhhh,? Rudi Mackenzie said, and let himself slide blissfully deeper into one of the tubs to which the Readstowners had shown their guests. ?Ahhh, indeed,? Odard said happily, sitting up in his own bath and scrubbing at his nails with a small brush.? Warm hospitality.?

Rudi nodded, with his hair floating around his neck and shoulders. ?Now this, my friends, is an improvement over squatting in a cold creek with your ballocks crawling up, that it is,? he said.?Or a cloth and a pan of hot water by a fire with your backside freezing.? ?Or just plain dirt and smell,? Fred Thurston said. With a wide white grin:?I remember the first time I came back from a three-week field exercise with my Junior ROTC class. My mother said: How are you? And I just said: Mom, I stink.?

The smile faded; Rudi judged that he was thinking of his father again, or perhaps his mother and sisters, trapped in Boise with an elder brother who?d turned to parricide to make the position of President hereditary. Lawrence Thurston had been about to call real elections. That and the birth of a son to Martin?s wife had sealed his fate.

If his mother suspects that Martin killed his father that will be a grim thing indeed, the Mackenzie thought. Having to treat her son as before, knowing herself watched and every word and glance weighed to see if she suspects.

He didn?t suppose Martin would hurt his own kin without need… but he?d shown himself to be a pellucidly ruthless man. By killing his father, and by allying with the Church Universal and Triumphant.

Though that may simply be the arrogance of a young man who thinks he can ride the tiger without ending up inside it.

The thoughts ran on as he lay watching the younger man?s misery fade, or at least burrow deeper:

Or does Fred wonder if they believe Martin?s tale that he was responsible? That would be an extra twist of the knife in his chest, surely it would. Not likely though, I would say. His mother struck me as a very clever lady indeed. And none too friendly with Martin?s wife, who I think has been whispering ambition into his receptive ear for years now. ?This rather reminds me of the baths at Mt. Angel,? Ignatius said, after a swift glance at the younger Thurston?s face.?The layout is similar.?

He?s a kindly man, the good Father, Rudi thought. A gentle one, even. Except when there?s a sword in his hand, the which you would not think unless you?d seen him fight. And then he is a thing of terror to anyone on the sharp and pointy end. ?That it is,? he said aloud.?Though not as prayerful, to be sure. It was an interesting thing, the first time I scrubbed my hide with a brother reading Scripture from the lectern.?

The Mackenzie heir was a frequent guest at the great fortress-monastery, and had studied there in its famed university and libraries, and its equally famous combat schools. The Clan and the Order were old allies, from the days after the Change, and from the wars against the Association. ?It?s not much like Castle Todenangst,? Odard gri

… ?Even the guest quarters for humble vassals from Gervais had sunken tubs with silver fittings,? Odard went on, looking slightly dreamy at the thought.?The Lord Protector and Lady Sandra didn?t steal anything but the best when they were looting the decorative features for Todenangst. This is comfortable, though.?

Albeit a little different from the way Mackenzies would have handled it. For one thing, the womenfolk were in a separate section, but Rudi was used to that; there were plenty of folk back in the western lands who had such taboos. And the bulk of their party of both sexes were elsewhere, this apparently being the gentlefolk?s part of the manor. The tubs were of the old world, enameled cast iron on claw feet and meant for single bathers, but amply sized for his six-foot-two, and the water was gratefully hot and smelled slightly of herbs, aromatic steam rising from the surface and misting on the room?s tile floors and walls. There was plenty of it, too, from a big sheet-metal tank with its own wood-fired furnace that also served to keep the room comfortably warm. ?This was part of the fire department, in the old days,? Ingolf said, scratching his hairy muscular chest.?Dad started joining the buildings together that first year and moving?em around. Everyone had to live close. It was still damned cold here in March when the Change came, that?s the tag end of winter here. We knew it would be worse come next winter and all the old-style furnaces were kaput, and we could only make so many new ones, what with everything else that had to be done. I remember thinking how cool it was to be able to go from place to place inside, you know how kids are. Convenient for playing hide-and-seek in a blizzard, too!?