Innkeeper Chronicles 3.5: Sweep of the Blade Read online

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  the vampire planet. It took them another decade or so to wrap up their

  previous engagements. Finally, they bestirred themselves and went to

  find out what happened. When they arrived, they found the orbital fleet

  exactly where it was supposed to be, in system. The ships were intact

  and filled with vampires.”

  Maud swirled her wine om her glass and smiled. “Nobody has ever met

  a Mukama.”

  “No,” Nuan Cee admitted.

  “But here we are, enjoying the fresh air of their homeworld.”

  Nuan Cee startled.

  “House Krahr was one of the original greater houses,” Maud told him.

  “They were entrusted with this planet to make sure no Mukama ever

  breathed its air again.”

  She set her empty glass on the table.

  “When we started this story, I told you that a stable society is resistant

  to change. The Holy Anocracy is stable, honorable Nuan Cee. They

  won. Why would they change? Their way of life worked for them for

  thousands of years. They never stopped building castles or wearing

  armor; they just make them stronger. They never abandoned their faith,

  because it sustained them in their darkest hour. They cherish their

  children, they guard them like their greatest treasure, and they teach

  them to fight from a young age, because history taught them that

  children are both precious and vulnerable. Without children, the Holy

  Anocracy has no future. Above all, the vampires distrust

  outsiders. Nothing good ever came to them from beyond the stars. You

  are an outsider fighting against thousands of years of inertia. A single

  strange bird flying at a massive flock trying to change its direction. The

  kind of change you are seeking can only come from within, from

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  someone deeply respected, someone rooted in their society. Neither

  you nor I have that kind of clout. But I will speak to Arland the next time

  I see him. If I see him.”

  “Oh, you will see him,” Nuan Cee said. “He is coming down the hallway

  now.”

  Maud took a deep breath.

  A moment later Arland loomed in the doorway, carrying a large gray

  case. He saw her. “My lady.”

  Helen waved at Arland. He took a step into the room, but the lees

  swarmed him, pushing him out into the hallway.

  “You left her alone!”

  “People were mean to her.”

  “She was sad!”

  Maud glanced at Nuan Cee. He smiled at her.

  Arland looked at her above the lees, a pained look on his face and raised

  his arms in mock surrender.

  “I suppose I should find out where he was.” She sighed.

  “Come see me any time, Matilda,” Nuan Cee said.

  “I will,” she promised and meant it.

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  Chapter 5 Part 2

  March 9, 2018 by Ilona

  Maud stepped through the doorway into the hallway. Behind her the

  door slid shut, cutting off the lees and their outraged cries.

  Arland glanced at Helen. His eyes darkened. “Who?”

  “It was a formal challenge,” Maud said.

  “I’m getting ripper cushions,” Helen told him.

  Arland turned to Maud.

  “Lady Helen challenged someone in the nursery, was warned not to fight,

  and did it anyway. Now there will repercussions.”

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  “Did you win?” Arland asked.

  Helen nodded.

  “All is well then. If you go through life never doing anything deserving

  any repercussions, you’ll never know victory.”

  Helen grinned.

  “That is some fine parenting, my lord Marshal.” Maud loaded enough

  sarcasm into her tone to explode a space cruiser.

  “I try,” Arland said.

  The three of them looked at each other. Awkward.

  “May I walk you to your quarters?” he asked.

  “You may.” It was that or continuing standing in the hallway.

  They walked through the hallways, then to the covered bridge, Helen

  running back and forth, sometimes in front, sometimes behind. The

  storm still raged, lightning flashing overhead, ripping through the dark

  sky.

  “I’m sorry,” Arland said.

  “For what, my lord?”

  “For not being there during dinner. It wasn’t my intention.”

  “I don’t need your protection or assistance, my lord. I’m not a

  prisoner. I’m here because I choose to be here. If I felt I couldn’t hack it

  on my own, I would’ve left already.”

  They crossed the bridge into the tower and stopped at the end of the

  chamber, where the two hallways branched off, one leading to her

  quarters, the other to his.

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  “I know that you don’t require my protection, my lady. If I thought you

  did, I wouldn’t have extended the invitation. I’m not looking for a

  maiden to save. I’m looking for a partner.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him.

  He ignored and kept going. “However, it was my intention to escort you

  to dinner and to spend the meal with you. I regret that my duties

  detained me and that I was unable to make you feel welcome in the feast

  hall of my home. Please accept my deepest apologies, my lady.”

  If they got any more painfully polite, they would draw blood simply by

  speaking.

  “No apologies necessary, my lord. It was time well spent. I was

  fortunate enough to experience the hospitality of House Krahr first

  hand.”

  He waited.

  “Nothing to add, Lord Marshal?”

  “A wise man knows when to shut up,” he said. “I have a mother and two

  female cousins. I know that tone of voice. Anything I say now will be

  wrong. I will humbly wait to be banished or forgiven.”

  “Humbly?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why, my lord, I’m surprised you know the meaning of the word.”

  He looked at her. She looked back. They crossed stares like swords.

  “Are you going to fight?” Helen asked in a small voice.

  Oh, for goodness sake… “What’s in the box?” Maud asked.

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  “Dinner,” he said. “I didn’t get to have one and from what I understand,

  neither did you. Join me?”

  She considered stomping off to her room in all of her pissed off glory, but

  really it would be childish. Also, she was starving.

  “Yes,” Maud said.

  Arland grinned at her. She nearly raised her hand to shield herself.

  “Just a dinner,” she said.

  “Just a dinner,” he said. “Also, I downloaded the Saga of Olasard, the

  Ripper of Souls, onto my viewer. It’s animated.”

  It hit her. Helen had never seen a cartoon before. Then his words sank

  in deeper. “Umm, there is that one part in the catacombs…”

  “Oh, no, they took that out. It’s made for children.”

  “Oh good.”

  The door to Arland’s quarters was identical to hers, heavy, reinforced,

  old. He swung it open and stood aside. She walked in. It was a mirror

  image of her room, a masculine version of it, but where her chambers

  were devoid of personal touches, this place belonged to Arland.

  A small alla tree grew in the corner, its branches heavy with white

  blo
ssoms. It was in good health, so someone was watering it. A stack of

  actual paper books set on the table by the massive bed. She saw a copy

  of a popular YA novel from Earth and bit her lip to keep from laughing. A

  variety of knickknacks lay here and there, a long, wicked dagger, not of

  vampire make; a piece of misshapen metal; a small wooden figurine

  carved in painstaking detail. Wing, one of the creatures staying in Dina’s

  inn, carved them out of wood. If she squinted just right, it sort of looked

  like her…

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  Arland swung his hand before a wall. It split open, revealing a linen

  closet. He grabbed some large floor pillows and tossed them on the rug.

  A fuzzy blanket followed.

  “Viewer,” he ordered.

  A screen slid from above, covering the opposite wall.

  “Saga of Olasard.”

  An animated vampire knight appeared on the screen, wearing elaborate

  armor, holding a bloody sword in one hand and a severed head in

  another and roared.

  Helen’s eyes grew huge. “It’s like a book! But it’s moving.”

  “Pause,” Arland said. “Helen, I gave you access. You can tell it to pause,

  rewind, and fast forward.”

  She looked at the pillows and then back at the screen. “I need my

  teddy!”

  “Let’s go get him,” Maud said. “We’ll be right back.”

  A couple of minutes later Helen and teddy were situated on the

  pillows. By the time they had come back, Arland opened the box he

  carried. Ribeye steak, with ribs still attached for the ease of holding. Half

  a dozen vampire side dishes, thinly sliced meat, roasted vegetables, little

  tiny pies… The smell alone made Maud’s mouth water.

  Arland produced a stack of plates. Helen loaded hers up, crawled onto

  the pillows and started her movie.

  Maud made her plate, propped a pillow against Arland’s bed, and sat on

  the floor. Arland sat next to her with his own dinner. Their arms almost

  touched.

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  Maud attacked the food. For the first five minutes nobody

  spoke. Finally, she ate enough to take the edge off hunger.

  “Where were you?” she asked quietly.

  “Dealing with an idiot. One of Karat’s knights challenged her in direct

  violation of my orders.”

  So that’s why Karat wasn’t at dinner. “How did it go?”

  Arland shrugged. “He’ll walk again. Some day.”

  She smiled at him.

  “As Marshal, I had to deal with it. And by deal, I mean I had to watch

  that farce of a fight and then slap him with sanctions.”

  “A man who never does anything deserving repercussions will never

  taste victory,” she said with a straight face.

  “That idiot couldn’t find his way out of a boot with flood lights and scout

  support. Trust me, victory is not in his future.”

  On screen a massive creature charged Olasard, who heroically jumped

  impossibly high into the air, swinging a sword with glowing runes that

  was almost as big as he was. Helen clutched the teddy to her and took

  another bite out of her steak.

  “Went a bit overboard with his sword,” Maud murmured.

  “More dramatic this way,” Arland said.

  She liked this, Maud realized with a shock. She liked sitting here on the

  floor with him, watching Helen. It felt almost like a late-night pajama

  party. Comfortable.

  Safe.

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  It had been so bloody long since she’d felt safe. There was the time in

  Dina’s inn, but Gertrude Hunt had been under assault almost the entire

  time.

  They could’ve done this in her quarters, just her and Helen, but it

  wouldn’t be the same. It was him. He made her feel safe.

  Alarm screeched at her senses. To let your guard down was to die. What

  am I doing?

  “Is something the matter?” he asked quietly.

  The anxiety saddled her and galloped off. This was ridiculous. The

  simple act of relaxing was so alien to her, that her mind went into

  convulsions thinking she was in danger.

  Maud opened her mouth to lie.

  No. She promised herself she wouldn’t.

  “This is strange,” Maud said. “Being safe is strange.”

  Arland reached behind him, pulled a blanket off the bed, and draped it

  over her. “It will pass,” he said quietly. “Eat a little more. Food will help.”

  She picked up her plate. Her instinct screamed at her to get out of the

  room. Instead she moved closer to him. They were touching now.

  He draped his big body against the bed, relaxed, calm. Maud took

  another bite.

  “The tachi were on the verge of leaving,” she said. “You served them

  salad.”

  “They are vegetarians.”

  “They like meat. They just won’t eat it in enemy territory.”

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  “Are we the enemy then?” he asked, his voice calm and measured.

  She took another bite and moved half an inch closer to him. “They’re

  trying to decide. They like patterns in their food. The more elaborate,

  the better. Where is your maven?”

  “Dead,” he said. “She was murdered three years ago just as she

  prepared to be a Band Bearer for an important wedding. Her name was

  Olinia. She was my youngest aunt.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  “Her assassin is dead. The person who betrayed her is dead as

  well. That’s how I met Lady Dina.”

  On screen Olasard loped off three heads from evil vampires in a single

  swing. Helen waved the bone around, imitating it.

  “Can I ask you something?” Maud asked.

  “Of course.”

  “Why do you have a copy of Twilight in your room?”

  Arland became completely still. “Um.”

  “Lord Marshal?” she prompted with a small smile.

  “I wanted to know how women from Earth see vampires.”

  “Why?”

  He paused, obviously choosing his words carefully. “Your sister is a

  fascinating woman.”

  “You don’t ever have to apologize for being attracted to my sister,” she

  told him. “She is amazing.”

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  “She is. To my shame, I must confess that it might have been more than

  just Lady Dina’s fine qualities. A certain rivalry may have played a role.”

  “Sean Evans,” Maud guessed.

  “I decided back then that I do not like werewolves,” Arland said. “I have

  yet to change my mind. Ghastly creatures.”

  They sat together in comfortable silence, while she picked at her

  plate. He was right. Food helped. Of course, if she relied on food to

  stave off her anxiety, she would soon have to get a new set of armor.

  “We do not get many outsiders here,” Arland said. “Kacey, my cousin’s

  wife, is the first human I had ever seen. As adolescents we were all

  fascinated by her. She was different. When I visited the inn, I had never

  before met anyone like Lady Dina. Feminine, wrapped in mystery, yet

  firmly in control of her domain.”

  “The mystique of the innkeepers,” Maud murmured.

  “Yes. Sometimes meeting someone so different obscures the real

  person underneath. One becomes more fascinated with what a person


  represents than who they are.”

  “Mmmm.” Where was he going with this?

  His voice was intimate and sure. “What I’m trying to say is, I see you. I

  would love you if you were a vampire or a human, because of who you

  are. You don’t need an inn or a broom to fascinate me. You only have to

  look my way and you’ll have all of my attention.”

  Something fluttered in her chest. Something left over from before

  Karhari and her marriage.

  Maud tilted her head and gave him a narrow smile. “What if I were a

  werewolf?”

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  He sucked in the air, pretending to think it over. “I would love you still.”

  She laughed quietly and rested her head on his shoulder.

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  Chapter 6 Part 1 and 2

  March 23, 2018 by Ilona

  The door chimed.

  Maud sat up on the bed, instantly awake, and for a confused moment,

  tried to open the door with her mind. Then reality sank in: she wasn’t

  back at Dina’s inn. She was in her quarters in House Krahr’s castle.

  The door chimed again.

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  Last night she’d stayed in Arland’s room way too long. They’d ended up

  talking about the space station long after Helen had fallen asleep. She

  pulled on soft sweatpants.

  “Time?” she asked.

  Glowing red numbers ignited on the wall above the fireplace. 9:30. The

  planet had a thirty-hour cycle, each hour being fifty minutes, each

  minute fifty moments. It was early. In Earth time, around 6:30 am.

  The door chimed.

  “Open.”

  The door slid aside, and Karat swept in, wearing black armor. Not her

  best military set, either.

  “How was my cousin?”

  Maud blinked at her.

  “You spent most of the night in his rooms.”

  “You’re spying on me.”

  “Of course we’re spying on you. We know you went back to your room

  with Helen. We also know that the current usage in his room was

  elevated until well after midnight, which is atypical of him, so we

  deduced you used the private passageway. I trust, everything went

  well?”

  Vampire cousins. “The armor stayed on.”