Out of the Faold (Whilst Old Legends Fade Synchronicles) (6 page)

“Also north.”

She nodded. Glory leaned up against her right arm, half asleep. Krisa sat further away out of the full glare of the fire and Pearl played some sort of game of pebbles w
ith one of Doran’s younger men.

“And they will be Sisters?”

“Yes.”

“Yet you aren’t.”

“No, I’m not.”

Glory opened her eyes slightly and told him, “She doesn’t like the yellow robes.”

Doran and a few of his men chuckled at Karl’s sake then he said, “To be honest neither do I.”

“Do you like blue?” she asked, hopefully.

“I do, very much,” he told her with a smile.

After several minutes of silence except for the crackle of the fire Brother Karl asked, “What will you do when you finish your mission?”

“
Whatever is needed to be done
,” he told her honestly. “My father is a cousin to the King a few times removed but because he’s been educated and served in the King’s army many years, he has gained favor as an advisor. I take on the more menial tasks given my father, such as this trek across the lands, while he then draws up the reports and adds the figures.
After a good rest
I may
have another task
.”

“As will I,” Brother Karl stated, nodding. She stared off into the flames again seeming lost in thought.

“Brother Karl,” Amias Doran said quietl
y, turning slightly toward her. He
looked at her with his dark eyes.

“Yes?”

Glory had now fallen asleep and lay on the bedroll beside hers
. No one else seemed to be invited to the co
nversation due to his low tone.

“You aren’t exactly like other Brothers I’ve met.”

She tried to hide a smile of amuseme
nt, which made him embarrassed.

“What I mean is, you aren’t praying or preaching, looking for wayward souls amongst my men.”

She didn’t know if this was a question or a statement. “True,” she agreed, leaving the subject without any more detail.

“I’ve seen your papers. I don’t want to put into question their validity or your honesty but you are rather unusual.
I have never heard of a female Brother.
”

She turned to him annoyed that he would be asking, again, to prove she was a Brother.
H
e questioned her integrity. If she weren’t a Brother who would she be, a strange Brother-impersonating kidnapper who nabbed three girls for some evil purpose?

“Who do you think I am? Do you think the Sanctuary in
Brynntown
would have just opened their residence to anyone and let me wear a grey robe if I was not one of them? Do you think they would have given me custody of these three little girls if I was a criminal?”

“No, of course n-not,” he stammered, realizing he’d been somewhat foolish not to think of that line of reason.

“And maybe I pray silently?” she asked of him. “Maybe I pray all day long that if I get into some trouble, fall into a gulley or get trampled by wild horses I’ll be rescued by the King’s handsome rangers who now think I am a fraud.”

“Now, I didn’t say fraud. I just want to know…”

“
I am used to people asking me to prove myself. I carry my papers for a reason. You’ve seen them. Why would any reasonable woman take on the Brothers robes unless it was her calling?”

“That’s an excellent question. Why would you?”

“Are you saying I’m unreasonable?”

He couldn’t answer, now confused
at the twist she put to their conversation
.

She stood quickly and walked away from the fire into the darkness. He watched as she left, unsure if he should follow or let her cool off for a few minutes. He had not meant to produce
that kind of
reaction, he was simply trying to open up questions of her past,
and how
she became a Brother, to learn more about her. It ended up all wrong.

Amias tossed his stick into the fire with a sigh and stood up. He followed the sound of her footsteps along the road in the blackness of night. She turned to face him
when he was a dozen paces away.

“Come back, please. I didn’t mean to accuse you of anything. It just came out wrong.”

She stood silently watching the dark shape of him against the campfire far off in the distance now. He didn’t move closer, just waited for her response.

“I am Brother Karl Nott Treen Crenville, ordained in a proper ceremony, sanctioned by the
Sanctuary
of Nott.”

“I just wanted to learn more about you. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Thank you for everything you have done for the girls,” she said coldly. “They have valued the friendship of your men. They are good, not a wayward soul among them.”

“I’m not so sure,” he said, trying to make light of the situation. When she didn’t respond he took a step closer. “Again, I’m sorry.”

He turned to walk away, back to the camp. She watched him go, his confident stride, the thickness of his legs and playfulness when he pas
sed Pearl and ruffled her hair.

Brother Karl’s thoughts strayed from her annoyance to imaginations of her bedroll being too close to his, so close that she could press herself up against his chest in the dark and he would hold her, caress her. If she were being honest with herself she’d have to admit she dreamed of a lot more than that but she forced herself out of her lustful reverie
by dropping
suddenly and painfully to her knees in the middle of the road. With her palms flat against the ground she prayed hard.

“Please, please gods help me. Help me get these girls safely to our destination. Help me stay strong and wise, to control myself in the face of struggles,
to control myself in the face of…that
…man. Help me have power over my thoughts and words and…” she started to giggle at her prayer gone-awry. “…my knees when he looks at me from across the campfire or follows me into the dark. Oh, yes, help me then.”

She rose to her feet audibly laughing now at her new prayer. She still smiled as she returned to the fire. Pearl and Krisa were settling in, the camp was quieter. Captain Doran said nothing to her but seemed at ease, perhaps taking her
smile as a sign of forgiveness.

She sat next to him and after long moments said quietly, “My family is from the north also. Large landowners with very distant ties to the crown. In my area there are not as many devotees, few
Sanctuaries
, no retreats at all for teaching.”

“
Seddern
?”

“Close,” she told him, impressed. “So when I was marked at birth it came as a shock to my parents.
They were never followers but the Faold
was spreading throughout the south and to the crown lands so my father was encouraged to support my destiny by the King’s advisors as a political move. If his own people began to follow the faith it would be helpful to have a daughter in the
Faold
.”

“But they didn’t raise you as a believer.”

She glanced at him then tilted her head in a partial nod of a
greement. “I have been educated.
I have studied the gods and their scriptures. I was ordained a true Brother.”

“I understand,” he told her. His dark ey
es lingered on hers with intent. She blushed.
“What is your real name?”

“Brother Karl,” she replied, stan
ding to retreat to her bedroll.

“It doesn’t suit you.”

She pulled her pallet a few inches closer to Glory’s sleeping form and smiled again as she remembered her prayer from the road. “Gods please help me.”

No, she wasn’t a typical Brother, in more ways than one. She was female for one, a strange and quirky set of circumstances led to
that peculiarity. She was not raised a believer so still struggled with a lot of the teachings of the Brotherhood but was so dedicated to her position for family reasons that she insisted on living as a true Brother. That meant no relations with the opposite sex. She sighed, thinking of the man sitting behind her. He wasn’t worth the trouble it would cause for her, her family and the girls, so she resigned herself to private thoughts of the handsome Captain. That’s all he could be to her.

The Marshalls
were
an unexpected blessing to them.
The men, though road-toughened, were charming, thoughtful and helpful to the girls. Captain Doran expected them to be gentlemen and they
were
.
The group was lighthearted and made the long hours in the saddle seem shorter. The girls often switched riders, getting to know each of them in turn.
They shared jokes and stories and got into a routine of
riding, cooking, and sleeping.

The dark nights in front of the campfire
were
special to Karl, listening to the men’s voices, knowing they reserved their more tasteless stories until after the girls were snuggled in asleep. She
often just lay
there pretending to sleep but watched him.
He laughed easily with his sergeant, Kel, his dark eyes shining in the campfire. Glory had told her he was the most handsome man she knew, and Karl was beginning to agree. His ruggedness just added to his charm.

He was protective. If he heard any sound nearby he would send out a man with a quick motion of his
hand to investigate. He kept the fire going until late, watching over her and the girls. She had been so thankful it had been him
who had
come along that muddy road.

It took three days to get to a town large enough to support an inn. The men were to lodge there and leave first thing in the morning so the girls said their
sorrowful
good-byes and expressed their thanks then sadly followed Karl further into town.
They had enjoyed their companionship so much they didn’t want to leave them.

Brother Karl and the girls stayed at the local Sanctuary, the girls disappearing into the depths of the Sisters’ quarters. Brother Karl was given a private room along the Brothers’ corridor
but
snuck down to see Glory, Krisa and Pearl whenever she could. The girls were so unhappy at the Sanctuary she promised herself at the next town
they’d stay at an inn instead.

While there Karl got a new wagon and a second horse with authorization from the Brothers. Enough food and water was placed in the back to last almost a week. The girls were bathed and their clothes laundered and mended. They were each handed a worn copy of teachings to study on their way north.
Pearl had thumbed through hers then tossed it with little interest into Glory’s bag. Glory wrinkled her nose at the stories and did the same with her copy. Krisa
simply stared at hers and looked off into the distance, thinking of her father.

That
evening a messenger arrived for Brother Karl.
He waited at the outer door of
the Sanctuary while Karl read the note
. It said simply, “
His Majesty’s Marshall Unit offers to escort the party of Initiate Sisters Pearl, Krisa and Glory with their guardian Brother Karl of Crenville. Departure at dawn from North Gate.”

She felt relieved that their good-byes the day before hadn’t been final yet she believed this man was trouble for her and she knew she ought to stay away from him. She couldn’t dispute the safety of traveling with them though. And they were so kind to the girls. And he was mu
ch too distracting
and handsome
. The girls would be thrilled. She repeated her new prayer silently several times then said to the messenger, “We accept.”
He bowed and rushed off.

It was still dark
in the morning
when Brother Karl tiptoed down to the Sisters’ quarters to find the girls asleep soundly.
She shook each of them and got them dressed as they stretched and rubbed their eyes. Their sacks were already packe
d and in the back of the wagon.

The horse drawn cart rumbled its way down the road toward the north gate just as the first hint of orange lit the sky to the east. The quiet of the still-sleeping town was broken by the sound of many horses clopping toward them, the jangling of their tack and the creaki
ng of leather saddles and gear.

The girls gasped in delight at seeing the Marshalls they’d grown so fond of and thought they’d lost forever. Glory clapped her hands and the men smiled, Amias Doran tipping his hat to the girls each in turn.

“Ladies,” he grinned. “We present ourselves as your Royal Escort, if you should accept.”

“Oh yes,” Glory beamed. “Thank you, sirs.”

Krisa bounded out of the back of the cart and took up her usual position behind her favorite new friend
, Pat
. He was one of the Scouts who had discovered Brother Karl on the road when she first encountered them.
Karl had overheard
Krisa
tell Glory in whispers one night that she was going to ask him to marry her when she
came of age at
fifteen years old. She didn’t yet have an understanding of what being a Sister meant and it broke Karl’s heart to know what the girls were going to miss out on in life. An innocent crush would en
d in a tragically broken heart.