High The Vanes (The Change Book 2) (12 page)

I crept along the wall which was hiding me until I was in hearing distance. The one sitting down spoke.

“Are you sure this is the place? There’s nothing here.”

I was taken aback. The voice was just like that of the Guard we had encountered in the house. It was the voice of another young woman.

“Yes, I am sure,” the other figure replied. Again, a young female voice.

I lifted my head to look at them. Just as I did the one standing on the wall began to turn in my direction. I ducked back down, my heart racing. Fortunately, she did not see me.

“I told you,” the second voice continued. “This place is supposed to be the ruins of a city.”

“Nonsense,” the first voice said.

“An old magister once told me all about it. He said it was once a city.”

“You can’t trust them old people. They make things up.”

“Still. These walls do look like they was once buildings. Specially from up here. Come and see.”

I heard the sound of feet scrabbling.

“You got a vivid imagination, you have. I don’t see no city,” said the first voice.

I picked up a loose stone and threw it as hard as I could away from me. It clattered to the ground some distance away.

“What was that, four?” The second voice, sounding panicky.

“It was over there. Better go and see.”

They both jumped down and set off in the direction I had thrown the stone. I kneeled up to get a good look at them. They were almost exact copies of the young woman in the house. Quite short, very slim, short black hair, dressed in a blue shirt and dark trousers. They were definitely Guards. What were they doing here? Had they found their dead colleague? But how would they have known to come here? Still crouched behind the walls, I scuttled round until I was in front of the entrance to the tunnel. I took one last look. They were still walking around where I had sent them, far off from where I was now. I ducked down and scrabbled through the tunnel.

“Where have you been, my lady? It grows late.”

I put my finger to my lips, hissing, ‘‘Shush.”

Eluned looked at me.

“Guards,” I whispered. “Outside. Two of them.”

She immediately turned and grabbed a thick piece of wood.

“No, no,” I whispered. “They didn’t see me. I sent them off to the far side.”

“They know we are here,” she said, quietly.

“How can they?” I said, my voice little more than a whisper.

“They have found the other one. They will search everywhere.”

“You don’t know that. Why would they search here? I think they have just happened to find this place. One of them said she had been told about it but the other one doesn’t believe it is the ruins of an old Roman city.”

“How many, my lady?”

“How many Guards? Two. And both like the one in the house the other day. Hardly more than children. Small. Thin. High-pitched voices.”

“If that is so, they will be no trouble. They will soon move on. The one I killed should not have been a Guard. She was too young. Far too young. She was no warrior.”

I looked at her. Was that the slightest hint of remorse I caught in her voice?

“Why do your people choose girls to guard them? My people trained women to fight. To defend their homes, their children. But we did not make children fight. That is wrong. Girl children should be at home, assisting their mothers. Not out here, pretending they are warriors.”

“The one you killed was more than a girl, Eluned. She was only two years younger than me. She will have completed her education two years ago. She has probably been in training since then.”

“Then why did she have the body of a child?”

“That I don’t know. And from what I could see, these other two looked the same. One of them called the other ‘four’, which is probably the last part of her Ovidian name. So she must be the same age as the dead one.”

“This is not natural, my lady. I do not understand.”

“It isn’t natural. Not for you. Not for me. Unless the Apostles have started to interfere with a girl’s physical development.”

“That is not possible. We become what we become. A girl becomes a woman. A boy becomes a man. How can you stop that?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know.” My voice was becoming louder. I lowered it again. “I’m just guessing. We have now seen three Guards and they are all like young girls in their development, despite the fact that they are old enough to be women.”

“If they are doing this, your people are truly frightening. Now I see why it is so important that you complete your task.”

“If they are doing what I think they are doing, then they are no longer my people.”

“They will always be your people, my lady. You cannot change that.”

“But why stop women’s development? And then make them Guards? What purpose can that serve? Surely a Guard should be the strongest person you can find, whether a man or a woman?”

“Perhaps they think they no longer need Guards. They make these terrible creatures and send them out here. To what your people consider to be an empty wilderness. What was that girl in the house guarding? One girl, alone. No weapons. Reading her book. Our presence terrified her. The ones who rule your people think they have nothing to fear. It was the same with my people. Many years ago our wise men believed they had nothing to fear. We stopped training warriors. All became farmers. Artisans. Makers of ploughs, not swords.”

“And?” I said, knowing what she would say.

“Now there are only maybe two or three of my people left. We were not safe. Enemies came. No one knew how to fight them. That is what happened to Nefyn’s parents. They were sent to fight. They had no idea how to do that. Now they are dead. Now Nefyn is dead, his people – the Votadini – have gone. That is why he wished to lie with me. So that his people could survive.”

“He chose a strange way of going about it.”

“I might have agreed if he had only asked. But that is not a man’s way of doing things.”

There was a noise in the tunnel. We both turned to look.

This time I stopped her. She ran over to the entrance, her arm uplifted, ready to strike down whoever came in. I stepped in front of her. Before she could move me out of the way, the first Guard was in the Room. She scrabbled over to the fireplace, looking back at us. The second Guard appeared in the entrance. Her face registered shock.

“Why, my lady?” Eluned yelled.

“They are no danger to us,” I said, taking the log from her hand. “We may be able to learn from them.”

I beckoned the second Guard out of the entrance where she had stopped, frozen. She scrambled into the Room and ran over to join the other one. I approached them, holding Eluned’s log before me. They shrank away from me.

“Right,” I said. “Names. And I don’t want your Ovidian names. I want your family names.”

They looked at each other with a puzzled expression.

The one I had heard called ‘Four’ spoke first. “I am Niobe0344.”

The other one said, in a monotone, “I am Procne1043.”

Nothing else.

“Those are your Ovidian names,” I said. “They don’t interest me. Tell me your other name.”

They repeated their Ovidian names. I was going to make slow progress.

“I have an Ovidian name. Semele0442. I have discarded that name and now use the name my family gave me. Eluned, what is my name?”

Eluned stared at me. She was holding herself rigid, like an animal waiting to spring. Her fists were clenched.

“Answer me,” I said.

“You are Non, my lady,” she said, through clenched teeth. “Shall I kill them now?”

The Guards threw their arms around each other.

“No. You are not going to kill them now or later. I will find a way to make them speak. I know they can speak because I heard them talking outside.”

I walked up to them and put my hand on the shoulder of the younger one. She stiffened. “I heard this one called ‘Four’. That is the last part of her official name. So the other one -” I moved my hand to the shoulder of the other one “- is probably known as ‘Three’. The last part of her name, which tells me she is one year older than this one. Am I right?”

The one I named ‘Three’ nodded, very slightly.

“Three and Four. That will do for now, I suppose.”

I threw the log back to Eluned. “Without hurting them – too much – make them undress.”

Eluned caught the log and approached them. “Undress, my lady?”

“As we did with the other one. Just down to their underwear. Leave them some dignity.”

She pulled them apart, despite their feeble attempts to hold on to each other. She pushed Four into the corner, where she tripped and fell in a heap to the floor. “Remove your clothing,” she said to Three, patting the end of the log in the palm of her hand.

“I would advise you to do as she asks,” I said, pulling over one of the chairs. “Your colleague resisted. You know what happened to her.”

The young woman slowly removed her jacket and shirt, Eluned taking them as she did so. Then she took off her shoes and removed her trousers. Finally, as with the other Guard, she was left standing in nothing but a pair of black briefs. She covered her chest with her arms. Eluned grabbed one arm and tried to pull it away.

“Leave her, Eluned. Let her try to cover up. Watch the other one.”

I looked at the semi-naked creature cowering before me. I pushed the other chair towards her and sat down. “Sit.” She did so, still covering herself.

“There are many things I do not understand about you,” I said. “Or your friend. Or your dead friend. You are, I take it, female. Yes?”

She looked at me, surprised at my question. She nodded.

“Yes. You are, according to your name, twenty-one years old. Old enough to be a fully formed young woman. Yes?”

Again, she nodded.

“Yes. Yet you have the body of a what? A ten year old girl? And so does she.” I pointed at Four, still crouched in the corner where she fell, Eluned standing over her. “And so did the one we encountered some days ago. Three twenty-odd year old women, who look – and sound – like ten year old girls. Who are planted out here in the wilderness to supposedly be ‘Guards’. You have no weapons. You seem to fear everything and everyone. What purpose do you serve?”

“My name is Procne1043,” she said, barely audibly.

“Yes, yes. You were told in training that, if captured, you were to tell your captors nothing except your Ovidian name. I understand that. Now, I have just asked you a question. I would like you to answer. If you don’t, then I may ask Eluned to assist me. Would you prefer that?”

Three looked at Eluned, who brandished her log, a smile on her face.

“I’m sure you don’t want that. So, my question. What purpose do you serve?”

In a tiny voice, she said, “I don’t understand the question.”

“That’s better,” I said. “I can work with that. Let me see. You are Guards. Yes?”

She nodded.

“I was right in assuming that. The clothes that we are all wearing now – except you at the moment, of course – are the uniform of a Guard. Ours are unfortunately a little ill-fitting since we are proper young women, unlike you. So, my question is this. Why have the Apostles … Wait. Perhaps it would be better as two questions. First question. Have you had something done to you to make you remain like a ten year old girl?”

She looked puzzled again.

“Look. I am twenty-two. Eluned is near enough that age in her terms. Do we look like you?”

She shook her head.

“We are what twenty-two year old women should look like. Girls develop into women. The results should be pretty obvious. Are they?”

Again in her little girl voice, Three said, “You look like child-bearers.”

“Child-bearers?”

“Some are chosen to be child-bearers. They become like you. Chest. Hips. It is their purpose to bear children so that the Change may continue.”

“And the rest?”

“If you are not chosen to be a child-bearer you receive the treatment.”

“The treatment? What is that?”

“Injections. To stop our bodies becoming like yours. There is no point if we are not to bear children.”

“At what age does this treatment begin?”

“Ten years.”

I looked across at Eluned, who had dropped her arms to her side. She looked appalled. “This is pure evil, my lady. Pure evil. Can this be true?”

“I fear you have the evidence before you. This was not happening when I was within the Change. Unless it had started. Perhaps it explains why Taid wished to take me away so suddenly. Maybe he had heard what they were planning to do.” I turned back to Three. “So you had these injections when you were ten?”

Four sat up. “It was not painful. It is better to be as we are. We assist the Apostles without interruption.”

It dawned on me what she meant. I stood up. “I need to take some air. Cover yourself with your shirt. Watch them, Eluned.” I ducked into the tunnel and crawled out.

Hearing a noise behind me I turned, expecting to see Eluned emerge from the tunnel. When I saw Three’s head I ran back and stood beside the entrance, ready to stop her.

“Where do you think you are going?” I shouted.

“Stop!” she said, scrambling out. “I’m not escaping. I need some air. As you did.”

“Did Eluned allow you to leave?”

“I told her I felt faint. She took my shirt off me and let me go.”

Eluned had presumably assumed that she would not get far dressed only in her underwear.

“Who are you?” the girl said. “You and the other woman? Why does she call you ‘my lady’?”

“Too many questions. It’s a long story. To her I am someone special. She calls me the ‘Expected One’.”

“Why?”

“Because that’s what she believes I am.”

“And are you?”

“What? The Expected One? I have no idea. Eluned certainly thinks so. Others think so, too. I haven’t seen much evidence to prove it, I’m afraid.”

“You are of the Change, aren’t you?”

“Yes. Or rather, no. I was. Several years ago. I left.”

“You left? How? Why?”

“Again, Three. Too many questions.”

“Charity. My name is Charity. Four calls me Three because she does not know my name.”