Medice Ceres

Chapter 13

The shed that imprisoned them was only just big enough to lie across, the floor dusty and dirty. Cobwebs lined the upper corners and dried mouse droppings littered the lower corners. This place may have once stored grain. The only light came from a small high window. The setting sun cast a reddish rectangular spot on the opposite wall, illuminating the fine suspended dust in the beam's path. Soon that would fade away to leave them in complete darkness.

Ceres lay down on the filthy floor, pulled her knees up, and trembled. Waithe lowered himself down and drew her against his shoulder. Sensing her terror, he spoke softly. "Fear not, my fair Ceres, this be not our fate."

Her breaths came quick and shallow as she shuddered. "Aye, my brave protector, I have confidence in your abilities. It is this close dark place that distresses me. I know not why, but it is a thing of terrible nightmares for me."

He turned his eyes up and whispered. "Phy, if you would hear me, come to your friend Ceres. Let your light shine."

Within a moment a gentle green glow filled the shed as Phy appeared above them.

Ceres' breathing slowed and deepened as her shudders eased. "Thank you, my friends." She turned to him. "I feel I must ask your forgiveness, Waithe. When I stopped you on the porch, I feared that you and several of those men would have died. And then I would have been here alone. I must learn to trust your judgment in such things."

"Do not trouble yourself, Ceres. While the outcome of battle be never certain, true be your assessment. I had hoped to cast doubt, to get them to back down. My bravado was but a bluff. But if they would call my hand, I would have dropped my knife and here we would be regardless." He glanced about the shed. "Easy enough it is to open this prison, but those men outside who stand guard may still die at my hand. We need to leave this village before morning."

A sly smile came to Ceres. "No one may die if they sleep instead."

Waithe lifted an eyebrow. "Aye. What have you in mind, my Lady of Magic?"

She smiled. "If the Spirits are willing, this village shall sleep deeply tonight."

Waithe and Ceres leaned back against a wall, settling in until the dark of night when they would attempt their escape. Only faint twilight came in through the small window now. Phy hovered above, casting a comforting green glow about the room.

She turned to him. "If I may ask, Waithe, in your vision as I cured the land, I saw not only your little daughter but also your wife. Beautiful she was."

He smiled broadly. "Aye, indeed so. And an even more beautiful heart, not unlike your own, my dear Ceres. I think you would have liked her. She was a comforting light in a world darkened with war."

"The Tau mark she bore, do you think that the reason someone would kill her?"

"It be the only sense I make of it. But she threatened no one but Darkness itself."

She cast her gaze downward. "And now that I bear the Tau, do killers stalk me? Those men at Delta..."

"They wanted to take you away, not kill you. Lord Eudus said they came by ship from Kust, and I feel they may have served Lord Scias. Strange, though, that he would go to such expense and effort to obtain an unwilling Lady of the Order. There be much more to this that we do not understand."

"I hope the Medice archives would tell us more." She shook her head. "My dear protector, I have made your life very difficult."

"My dear Ceres, you have made my life one of purpose! But enough of that concern, let say we leave this place behind?"

She nodded and then raised her head toward Phy above her. "Forgive me, my friend, but I must call the Spirit Lun. I know you despise her, but please abide me this."

Ceres drew her knees in, closed her eyes, and began to hum softly. She said, "Waithe, stay near me lest you sleep as well."

After several moments, she frowned. "Lun be in one of her difficult moods. I will have to be more insistent."

After another moment a pale orange light appeared beside Ceres. Lun, the Spirit of sleep and dreams, Waithe presumed. Phy retreated to a far corner, her green light flickering erratically. A shimmer surrounded Ceres and Waithe, this one not of sparks, but rather like a gray fog. The fog spread outward, paying no heed even to the walls of the small shed.

Ceres opened her eyes as Lun's light faded away. Sounds of snoring outside the door and a wry grin from Waithe brought a smile to her face. 

Waithe pulled a knife from his boot and held it aloft. "They did not think to check my boots."

He inserted the knife into the small gap between the door and frame and slid it up. The pole that had barred it closed clattered to the ground. He opened the door to a crack and peered through it, then opened it fully and took a single step out to look around.

He turned back to Ceres with a bow and exaggerated gesture. "My dear Lady, this party has long lost its allure. Let us take our leave."

Ceres took his hand and went out into the night, stepping over a snoozing guard. Phy illuminated their path in the darkness as they made their way to a corral to retrieve their horses and belongings, only stopping to extract Waithe's long knife from the wooden porch pole. In silence, they left this village behind.

Once dawn came, Waithe veered onto a seldom-used path through a thick deciduous forest to the northwest, intending to resume their northward journey once well away from the village that had imprisoned them.

With the sun high in the sky they rested on the shore of a small serene lake. Phy blinked into view and swirled around Ceres, stopping suddenly, then swirled again. Her green light pulsed. Waithe felt his heart quicken, what made Phy so agitated?

Ceres sat still and stiff, her eyebrows came up as she held her breath. "Waithe, we have to go back!"

"Ceres? We should not deliver ourselves back to those who would take you."

She cast her eyes down and shook her head." Nay. But something terrible happened. I feel we must return."