Oath Bound (Book 3) (6 page)

“Now that you have a
Junior and a Squire,” Tikka told Vandis, tipping a wink, “I think you’re ready
for some children of your own! You’re not getting any younger. It’s high time
you let some lucky woman make an honest man of you. Are you seeing anyone?” A
chorus of female voices followed, demanding to know, and heat crept up Vandis’s
neck.

“No, I’m not.”

“Well, do you know who I
like?” Tikka said. “I like that Lady Kirsten. She wouldn’t take any of the shit
you fling, and she’s pretty, for a Big. You should let her know you’re willing
to go to bed.”

Vandis shook his head.
They always did this. “I’m not, though. I’m fine being single, and now I
do
have kids of my own, right here.”

“It’s hardly the same.
What about you, Dingus?” Tikka prodded. “You must be seeing someone. So
handsome, and so nice with the baby! Raven’s tail, I can’t imagine you’re by
yourself.”

“Yes, ma’am, I am,” Dingus
said, eyes on the floor, face like a hot coal.

“Well! Well!” Tikka threw
up her hands.

A change of subject was
most definitely in order. “Kessa here took second place in the All-Order Arm
Wrestling,” Vandis offered.

“
Did
you? Sweetie,
that’s wonderful!”

Kessa grinned and flexed
so her muscle popped out. Tikka made admiring sounds and reached up to feel,
and the women in the room fell to praising Kessa.

Dingus’s attention was
mostly on Hilo, to whom he fed tiny bits of fish and vegetables, and then
cherry pie when dessert came, but he kept glancing at Vandis and frowning.

Vandis allowed himself
one slice of pie and pretended it wasn’t happening. He ate quickly. If he
didn’t leave soon, he wouldn’t. As soon as the last bite slid down his throat,
he stood. “I hate to eat and run, but I need to get going. The sooner I leave,
the sooner I’ll be back,” he said, that last mostly for his Junior’s benefit.

“Behave yourself,” Kessa
joked, and he stooped to let her kiss his cheek.

“I will if you will. You
know the rules by now, don’t you?”

She smiled at him. “Don’t
take any crap, make sure they draw back stumps, and listen to Dingus.”

“And watch out for
pickpockets, wooden royals, and ‘No Bigs’ signs.”

“Yes, Vandis. Be safe,
okay?”

He nodded and squeezed
her shoulder. “Tikka, a minute, if you can spare one?”

“Of course. Let’s go up
to the shrine.”

Dingus looked distinctly
hurt, but Vandis tried to shake it off and followed Tikka through the levels of
her cozy, brightly-decorated house, up to the very top, a simple platform high
in the canopy with a little incense burner carved like the white oak and a
figurine of the Lady.

“Do you like my statue?”
Tikka asked, pointing out the figurine. “Neen’s partner Loo made it for me
before he went back to the Men’s House.”

“I do like it,” Vandis
said, stooping to admire the dark, polished wood. It looked a little more
Ishian than the Lady was wont, but She wouldn’t have minded.

“He’s Hilo’s father. Neen
decided she wanted a break, but she
will
mope and sigh. I hope she’ll
have him back for good. He was an excellent addition to the household, and so
good-looking, too.” She finished with a wicked grin so broad only an Ish could
have managed it.

Vandis shook his head,
grinning too. “You’re just a dirty old bird at bottom.”

“I’m enjoying old age. I
get to say things and people write them off because I
am
old.” She
rubbed her hands together gleefully. “Now, what would you like to say to me,
friend?”

“Thank you for doing
this. I really appreciate it. They shouldn’t need much from you.”

“Of course!” she said.
“But I feel as if you want to tell me something else. Is it about your Junior?
I noticed you didn’t say good-bye to him.”

“Will you send him up to
me? Dingus is… he’d rather hear good-byes in private, I think.”

“All right. I’ll send
him,” she agreed, and headed for the trapdoor.

“Write to me,” he said,
fidgeting. “If there’s anything I need to know.”

“I’ll do that,” she said,
nodding, and went down.

In a few minutes Dingus
unfolded his lanky body from the trapdoor and rose, glancing around before his
eyes settled on Vandis. “Thought you were pissed at me,” he muttered, sticking
his hands in his pockets.

“I wasn’t.” Vandis
scowled. “Why’d you think a thing like that?”

Dingus gave him nothing
but big, hurt eyes, and he felt like he’d kicked a puppy.

“I’m not angry with you.
I just thought you’d rather have a few minutes with me.” He raised his
eyebrows. “Was I wrong?”

“No.” Dingus’s lips
ticked up at the corners, and the minute, familiar smile slammed into Vandis’s
chest.

He stuffed his cap down
over his hair.
Barber,
he reminded himself sternly, trying not to think
of how much he’d miss his son-who-wasn’t, and cleared his throat. “As hard as
you were watching out for me, I want you to watch yourself and Kessa. Heads
down, eyes open.”

“Yes, Vandis.”

“I gave Kessa some for
her expenses, so you don’t have to spend your stipend. Remember, it’s against
the law for you to carry more than ten sovereigns at a time—that’s total, not
just the gold pieces.”

“I got a lot more than
that in my pack. What if—”

“Keep it out of sight and
store it as soon as you can. Mind what I told Kessa about the ‘No Bigs’ signs.
They don’t want you kicking the citizens around, even by accident.”

“I’ll keep my eyes open,”
Dingus promised. He paused, licking his lips. “Vandis…”

“It won’t be more than a
month.”

“Please. Be careful.”

Vandis shut his eyes and
breathed.
Getting sick and tired of hearing that,
he thought, but aloud
he only said, “I’ll see you soon,” and climbed to perch on the railing around
the deck. He wished it’d feel a little less inappropriate to hug Dingus. The
boy looked like he could use it: somehow smaller than usual. It wasn’t as weird
with Kessa. She’d been kissing Vandis on the cheek almost since day one, and
she didn’t have the same restlessness Dingus exuded. He settled for a hard
squeeze on Dingus’s shoulder. “Soon, okay? Don’t worry.”

“See you soon.” Dingus
hunched, looking like he wanted to say something more, but Vandis didn’t think
he could stand to hear it and still leave. He let himself fall slowly back with
a wave and a grin, which startled out the laugh he’d been hoping to hear.

He plummeted, guilt
dragging him down, and at the last moment shot up and through the canopy,
scattering needles behind him. Rain pattered off his protective wrapping of
air—it kept him dry, for the most part, but a cloudburst or a hailstorm would
leave him wet and bruised. As he climbed, he made a quick check of all his
fastenings, buckles to bootlaces. Once he had everything secured to his
satisfaction, he flattened his body, stroked his arms down to his sides, and
blew into the low deck of clouds, curving eastward. From below, they looked
like gray wool muffling the sky, but from within they were thick-soup fog.
Once, he’d let himself fall through one, wanting to feel what it was like, but
he’d regretted
that
in a hurry. It had soaked him, and up high was like
the cold heart of Hell.

He burst through the
cloud-top, leaving his own streak of condensation behind, and flew out of the
sunset. There were times he pitied everyone he left on the ground, but in
truth, he liked that nobody else had ever seen
this,
nor ever would. The
world above the clouds was Vandis’s alone, his personal gift from his Lady.
Down below, they might have a gloomy day with buckets of rain or piles of snow,
but above there’d be sunshine every day, pure blue and pure white, except at
sunup and sundown. Now Vandis’s little shadow zipped along ahead of him, a
distorted dark patch on glorious, golden-edged mounds of soft purple, shocking
pink, and hot orange. The air was clear and clean, sweet and chilly in his
mouth and lungs.

Thank You for letting
me see
this
,
he said to Her, a prayer.

With whom else
should I share it but My own Vandis?
She answered him, and his heart
leapt at the sound of Her voice.

I’m well out of
Windish by now. Think I should pop over to Muscoda and scare the shit out of
Lech Valitchka?

She gave Her wicked
little laugh, the one that darted straight to places Vandis would rather ignore
and reminded him of the things he hardly dared to think.
I so truly love
the way your mind works. I’m glad I chose you and that’s a fact—but all the
same, I’d rather you not go. It would be terribly dangerous.

Oh, I don’t know,
he said.
I could just fly past his office window...

He’d soil himself.
She
cackled again and prodded at Vandis’s mind, giving him a strange, tickling
sensation.

A broad smile stretched
his lips. That he could please Her, even in the smallest of ways…

You do, My own.
Speaking with you is such a pleasure.
This time, Her mind-touch was
more in the way of a caress.

Vandis flushed. He hadn’t
meant for Her to pick that up.
You’re right, though. It’d be dangerous.
Besides, I want to get this over with.
He turned himself slightly north and
pressed his arms more tightly to his sides, willing more speed. Whatever force
pushed at his forehead, he hurried to press past it. He never flew this fast
over a city, or low to the ground; a couple of times he’d done it over
Dreamport, and he couldn’t believe the bitching afterward. He’d never
heard
any loud noises, and he definitely didn’t remember breaking any windows.

Pressure rippled down his
body, so fast he could hardly perceive the motion. He only felt squeezed,
continuously, inside his thin air shield. It wasn’t precisely pleasant, but
damn! His soul sang with the feeling of speed, and when the sky cleared beneath
him, he saw the ground slipping away, mile after mile.
Do You think they’ll
be all right?
he asked.

Worrywart,
She
murmured.
Do you not trust them?

Of course I trust
them. It’s everyone else I don’t trust. What if somebody hurts my kids?

Would they go
unpunished?

Vandis snorted aloud.
Hell,
no. But that wouldn’t heal the wounds they took. It’d only help me, no matter
who I pulped.
And hadn’t that been a bitch to learn? He could hammer all
the bailiffs he wanted, but it wouldn’t take Dingus’s nightmares away; he could
thrash all the soldiers he felt like, but it wouldn’t return to Kessa what
she’d lost.
I can’t fix them,
he thought to Her.
I want to, but I
can’t.

Kessa does quite
well for herself.

Yeah, she does.
He
smiled, thinking of her: unbowed, whatever had happened to her. Unbroken.
But…

Dingus,
She
finished.

I don’t know what You
were thinking with that.

I don’t know what
you think you’ve got to complain about.

I am
not
complaining.

Are you not, then?
Because it sounds awfully like that to Me.

Vandis scowled and put on
a little speed to keep from being caught in an updraft over the mountains.
I
can’t ask a question?

You surely may, but
you weren’t.

With a heavy sigh, he
pushed just a hair further to the north.
Why the hell’d You choose me for
him? I mean—You could’ve chosen someone who’s even halfway not an asshole.
Somebody kind, and instead… me.

And aren’t you glad
of it?
She demanded.

You know that I am.
Darkness unfurled over the mountain, and a silver splinter of Oda’s face began
to carve its long slash in the dome of the sky. The stars glittered fiercely in
the thin air around him.
You know how I feel.

Oh, that you love
him? Yes, I do know that.

He fought his desire to
fidget. A little miscalculation up here could be deadly.

That’s why,
She
said.
I knew you would.

Vandis muttered a
wordless, crabby sound. There was a wash of light on the horizon now, soft and
yellow, and at the speed he traveled, it exploded in front of him almost as
soon as he saw it, blotting out the stars. With an effort of will, he braked,
pack and cloak sliding forward until the buckles put a stop to it.

I knew he’d love
you, too. And, My own, it was in My mind to give you that.

He cruised over Dreamport
now, at the very limit of the city. The maw of the Pit yawned beneath him. The
Pit had once been a granite quarry, deep and wide enough to have supplied stone
for several of the castles, as well as for the royal palace complex, but two
centuries ago the owners had abandoned it. The city’s destitute had moved in to
fill the hole nobody else seemed to want. In the dark of night, it emitted a
smoky, sullen red glow from hundreds of cheap-peat fires. It always nagged at
him, even to glance at, and let off a smell that offended his nose despite how
high he flew. Disease crawled through the shacks in the Pit, and crime strutted
peacock-proud in its depths. The Knights pumped a stream of money into the
community there: missions, healthcare, suppers, and it never seemed to make a
lick of difference.

He’d say they have it
worse than he did,
Vandis thought,
but I can’t imagine having Dingus’s
life any more than I can imagine living there.

He’s wise enough,
for a young one,
She said with satisfaction.

Yeah, he is.
The
city itself spilled out of a shimmering bowl: a huge volcanic crater with the
seaward side collapsed. It flooded three fjords and part of a fourth. A
multitude of blazing lighthouses warned any approaching ship of submerged rocks
or fjord walls, and the traffic in and out of the harbors looked, from this
altitude, like swarming fairies—or so Vandis imagined. She let an appreciative
breath into his mind, and he smiled. The Ennis River cascaded over the landward
side of the crater and drained into Crater Bay under the long shadow of the
City Redwood, which had been planted—so it was said—on the very day of the
founding. Even now, late at night, the complicated lift system that drew goods
and passengers up the sides of the hollow mountain was in operation, and the
wharves hummed with activity. Dreamport, the greatest city of Rothganar, never
slept.