Chapter 16

What becomes of the broken hearted?
An open window, open just a crack let in the morning scent of lyger blossoms, it was well known that lyger stimulated virility, and it was often found around the palace grounds.
Min often sat studying her every line reflected in the mirror that sat across from her bed, noting the rigors of age and lamenting a wasted youth, if her mind had been settled she would have put it down to wisdom, but in her heart, there was a black void where she dare not look.
Min shook herself as she got up out of her double bed and undressed in the dim light of her boudoir. Her body was tight with a more than modest breast that sat well upon her torso. However, the canvas of her back told another story, as scar tissue almost ravaged every single part of it, making it a challenge to observe the parts that were untouched by whatever the cause of the trauma was.
Each morning, as she sat bohemian before her dressing table, she flicked through the papers that had to be signed off for the day, and always she would come to a small card that read “don’t let them win!” Each day she would take a little longer bathing in the steam of her shower as she contemplated the cryptic note. She felt that it was trying to warn her, but she couldn’t think of what it was. Sometimes her memory would stray to another time, a life ago, when life was sweet and her beloved held her in his strong arms and sometimes there would be another small set of arms between them as a tiny usurper would infiltrate so very slowly, and so very assuredly between the two.
The memories were warming, it made her smile, but alas smiling hurt, and each time she smiled her head hurt, and dark almost black blood would be coughed up. The memories were like tiny ninjas, always hiding on the peripheries, always waiting, and each time she had the good memories, the notion would come on, and again. Her head would throb, it would drive her mad as if drums were being played in the deep caverns of her mind and then she’d spew dark blood from her mouth, and slowly she began to loathe having her good memories.
But try as she might she could not silence those memes.
A morning spent grooming, would be a tonic on her spirit, she thought as she selected her uniform it was tailored from the best fabric, from the silk roads of her old home in Catalunia as a young woman walked into her chambers, without first knocking or signifying she was there. it was one of her handmaidens, a young doe, from Georgia province, who sometimes was uncomfortable with herself and seemed awkward “What is it Grozette?” She asked, “sorry captain, the door was open!” She said in her doey accent that was characteristically nasal
“ No!” Min answered,
“It was not!” the Captain stood there stony-faced as the young woman began to wilt. She sighed and felt sorry for her, she too had been an outsider once. “have breakfast with me!” she said inviting her to sit at the table in her restroom. It was an honour that not many shared.
Her quarters were modestly decorated with fabrics silks and tapestries; she craved company, it was a superficial life at court, it was not a choice she would ever have picked for herself.
It was lonely at the top,but there it was.
Sitting down to a modest breakfast they both swapped stories, anecdotes until a warm feeling of being mellow pervaded and made them relaxed, grozette said: “I heard faeries have been spotted at the warriors’ gate and Li k!” She stopped as she almost had forgotten that once they were married.
“Oh, I’m sorry! put my big foot in it again haven’t I!” Said the young doe in an apologetic fashion
“It’s ok!” Answered Min I can’t ignore the past or the fact we bought a daughter into this world, “What was she like? Li Elkie?” Asked Grozette, there was something all too familiar about Grozette; it was something She vaguely remembered that was connected to changelings? A cold suspicion began to fall over Min like a curtain that ended a play at the theatre …. she shrugged off the sentiment easy, her stare was abstract as she stared at her with her cold dead eyes, in much the same way a shark eyes up its next victim.
“Are you a changeling!” Asked Min Coldly, as the part of her was activated that could act without conscious.
Grozette nodded Sheepishly. There was no point in lying!
Her face changed as she placed a long dagger on the dining table “give me a reason, not to?” she said coldly without emotion. As her breathing deepened and body went taunt like a tiger ready to pounce
Grozette shuddered and recoiled.
“ information Captain let’s play a game, called the truth, for 2 minutes you talk, and I talk!”
She gave pause for thought; it would be irrational not to find out why this spy would enter the lioness’s den, she thought
“So you’re not one of the Shae, then!?”
Grozette shook her head; it was hyperbole and imperialism that painted all changelings as dangerous, this was misleading as all changelings were not from the same species.
“Y’know if I let you go, my life would be forfeit!”
“I don’t see it that way!” Said the strange entity that sat at her table, looking no more threatening than the young doe wearing her gingham silk dress “I’ve seen the evidence of what ails you. “
“ go on!” Said Min,” we’ve heard that factions in your government are moving to assassinate the Queen!” She paused “you as the captain of the Queens-guard should’ve already suspected this!”
“Go on!” She Said
“This is to establish a Caliphate, in which the Pa ’mina Primavera would sit on the highest echelons!”
“My turn, “said Grozette as she curtailed mins narrative and began questioning her “tell me about your
daughter?”
Reluctantly Min began to answer the changeling’s questions “She was murdered by her father!”
“And you saw this with your own eyes, yes?” Inquired Grozette.
“Not exactly.” She said as slight giddiness began to take hold of Min.
“ others saw this happen in real time, eyewitnesses!”
“No!” Uttered min, realizing she had never entertained this train of thought before.
“Tell me your fondest memory of Li Elkie?”
At this point, her head began to throb as if a symphony were playing inside her mind and it was in step with her own beating heart. She started to think about the memories, but instead, a feeling of nausea took hold of her. As she began holding her hand over her mouth as dark blood once again began froth at the corners and her navel wretched as it began to swell. She began to vomit blood that was almost black.
“intriguing!” commented grozette, “Yes tis’ as I feared!” She said as she caressed mins hair.
Min looked at her with vulnerable eyes, “who are you,” she pleaded?
“an agent of the truth.” She said “a personification of anti-chaos. “
There was silence as the doe held her hands. Min looked at her apologetically as almost a splinter of her personality seemed to be talking without her full control. She heard herself say “I’m sorry, Y’know I can’t let you leave here alive,” As she seized the knife from the table and pierced the skin of Grozette, the woman stood there and gasped as the blade stuck half in, half out of her. Her eyes glazed over and turned pitch black, as black as her gingham silks, then the enigmatic dark women seemed to burst like a balloon, and a cloud of bats swarmed about the Palace they were impossible to round up , Grozette had outwitted her, this time, as she swarmed away to safety to later reconstitute herself .
——-
Ūna and vee cheerily walked the morning road as the morning sun baked the stone cobbles, it was strange behavior from them as neither one was in a fit state to ride, and so the drunken pair meandered about the picturesque countryside That was periodically sheltered by tall wyne trees. They were followed by the long shadows of Ibliss and Rex.
The birds sat high in the eaves of the trees as they serenaded the young wanderers, a bustle from the hedgerow joined the harmony of the birds as a tapestry of wildlife was felt in all things, including things on the grander scale.
“Well not many, not many “ ūna slurred her speech as she interrupted herself mid-sentence by blowing a raspberry … “can say they !” She gesticulated raising her index finger whilst at the same time stumbling like a baby faun finding its legs for the first time. she took another step and let out a shriek as she tripped over her drunken feet “eeeeeeeeh!” She cried as she ended face down in a ditch by the roadside. Vee laughed heartily perhaps he was enjoying it a little too much he thought as he stood over her offering her a strong arm to pull her out of the thicket of redferns, he felt emasculated, but his jubilation was short lived as he too stumbled on the morning dew and pivoted forward unexpectedly propelling himself down the bank. There was silence as only the voices of them groaning rose from the ditch like the tormented souls rising from the well that led to the underworld, and then laughter the comical pair were giggling like two immature school children, as they dusted themselves off and lay there for the moment.

Vee vee went quiet as if he was thinking, ūna could hear gears of his mind whirring . “wha, whassup vee! whassup eh!!!??!” “ You can tell me!!!” said ūna as they laid there in a stupor “ major !” He said looking deep into her eyes as he almost melted into them, he was not nearly as drunk as ūna was . “ when all this is over, would you, er ….like…consider going out with me on a date?” He chose his words well, and he put them positively so that he was certain that she would not be offended but flattered. There was silence it was sobering it was longer than he expected “ I take that’s a no then!” He said dejectedly.
“Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees!!! “She cheered as her eyes lit up as if a heavenly glow had enthused them. She rolled on top of him like some type of possessed she-devil,” yesh yo gojous men , I will!!” She said as she covered his face with kisses. Mwah, mwah a content smile broke over the young attachés face he was beaming from ear to ear.
They laid there for a while, each one not sure about what to say next, resting in the peaceful morning. watching the clouds pass by overhead without a care. “so, err, how do you feel about Florentine cuisine?” He said breaking the silence, looking over at ūna only to realise that she had passed out and was sleeping off going toe to toe in a drinking contest with a band of surly ruffians. He looked at her, studied the lines and edges of her face, as he thought out loud “you’re not going to remember any of this later, are you?”
The young attaché let his chivalrous side show as he scooped her limp body up in her cloak and set her down gently on a mauve blanket that was made of soft minken wool. He looked once more upon her face; she was beautiful. He had thought so since he first laid eyes upon her.
Deciding to set up camp, he put her to sleep, lit a fire and prepared to make himself a late breakfast.

Yum Yum, he thought to himself as he ate his second helping of scrambled lyger berries, it stained his lips blue, he tried to wipe off the evidence with a napkin, but it remained, a tell-tale portent of his gluttony. Perhaps over exceeding his Levels of satiety as the young man reclined for a moment and even loosened his belt so he could rest easier, he recalled his mother telling him that his eyes were too big for his tummy often in a scornful manner, he smiled to himself, while the memory lingered.
The nostalgia was short lived as He spied from the corner of his eye Ibliss & Rex staring at him lecherously ogling the meager leftovers, he turned to Rex “ how on Mars do you know, you’ve got no eyes for heaven’s sake!”
Feeling guilty he found some fruit for them to eat, as something hard like a pebble hit him on the back. It made him jump, as Ibliss glanced over at him with his bug eyes to see what was the bother.
It was a weird creature quivering, on the burgundy grass, The closer he got the more he could clearly identify the creature as a Bat, one of the Bats that suckle on Casper nectar in the thicket at night.
He looked at its black eyes as it seemed to squeak “help me!”. More and more Bats fell from the sky. He shuddered a talking Bat he thought to himself, was this some liquor-fuelled hallucination? He took cover from the deluge under a blanket; the other Bats eclipsed the sun. It stayed dark for a good minute or so before he looked out from under the blanket.
Bats, Bats quivering, flapping without flying?
They seemed to be strewn about in a circle and in the center was a young woman lying forlornly on her side. She had dark grey slate hair. The Wounded female turned to look up at Vee in despair, as she held her side, as blood gushed out between her fingers onto her grey and black gingham silk robes and also a knife lay on the ground. “Please!” she begged tremulously, as she convulsed into some type of seizure, she had a strange accent as if Meese were not her mother tongue.
He knew he’d have to stop the bleeding.
Luckily Vee’s mother was amongst other things an accomplished vet and had a knack for healing. It was a gift she had tried to pass to him. He recalled many people bringing their poorly animals to her modest family home and sometimes people also, so he remembered some of the methods she used to employ, bring the blood up she would say, stimulate the heart, she had an unmatched knowledge of herbology. He looked around the camp quickly and found a weed he recalled was called wizards hair he wet it in his hands, and made a poultice, “I need you to stay awake” he said, as he prompted her to put gentle pressure on the wound.
The injured stranger, he made her comfortable and used a duffle bag as a pillow. He remembered he had a small bottle of moonflower and Casper Whiskey tucked away as he lifted the women’s head and gave her a drink it seemed to perk her up a bit. She coughed and spluttered.
From behind him, he could hear Únas voice “Master is that you?” She said as she seemed to appear from nowhere and started laying on healing hands trying to recite her incantations “echo, echo, echo…!” She chanted as she hummed some very acoustically low words it was as if the vibrations were flowing out of ūna as if she were sending ripples that could be felt in time and space and were bending the molecules of the air. At last, she stopped and slumped to the floor, “I hope that’s enough!” she said as she looked positively green around the gills.
Vee gave the curious batwoman another gulp of whiskey. “only time will tell!” He said.
———-
It begins as a wind that tussles the wheat in the fields of a small inconsequential place called Churchill.
A wind that hums gently and starts subtly like the inertia given by the beating of a hummingbird’s wings.
The stranger traversed the pasture, a descant figure in the distance. It was peaceful being alone, a lesser being would have been lonesome, but he almost thrived in the quiet uncomplicatedness of it all.
Slowly he waded through the sea of lavender wheat caressing the chaff as he felt it coarseness slip between his fingers. He was ready now. To lose himself in it.
Difficult as it was trying to ignore his mind straying into his memories.
he had waited so very long for this moment, and soon it would be fulfilled, sink or swim, kill or cure, there would be no quarter asked and
None would be given.
The long stems of wheat were up to his waist, he wore Yeomans clothing, but it was apparent that he did not belong to them, as it was clear, he was no commoner, a crimson hood hid away his identity, as he did not wish to be anyone but a stranger.
He made his way Slowly assuredly up towards the hill, this he told himself is where it all began, and this is where the tides would be turned, where the demons would be put to rest.
As a gentle breeze flapped the sashes of his saber which he wore on his back in Mercian fashion.
He made his way to the apex of the hill. Erected there was a tent, not like a typical tent more akin to a marquee, it’s canvass awning was crafted out of the best satin, it’s curtains ruffled in the breeze as he neared its entrance, and inside a man stood, a dark man, an executioner called Tumjai.