Two Kingdoms 15: Gallery

[DoctorM]

Author's Note: This is the fourteenth part of an AU construction about a very different post-1120 Gwynedd where the coronation challenge at Kelson's coronation went rather differently--- very differently. This segment falls after "Crystal" but a bit prior to "Tower".  As always, input and comments are very much appreciated.

TWO KINGDOMS 15:  GALLERY

Thirty feet, Charissa thinks. Thirty feet across to the building and the open doorway on the other side. Behind her, her fedayin are in position. Valoret on a winter's night, and the city is silent.

The Shadow Queen turns back to one of her bodyguards. "'Ash khbarek?"

"We've secured the houses on both sides," the Moor says. "We're in on the first floor now."

The Shadow Queen nods. From the covered bridge between the buildings, she can see her Moorish guards moving along rooftops and in the shadows of the alleyways.. "Go tell them," she says. "Ground floor only. Nobody goes upstairs unless I call."

"Khatun, this is foolish. Let us secure the building first." That's Yusuf al-Fayturi, the commander of her Moorish guards.  She shakes her head.

"No. This is for me to do." Charissa is waiting at the entrance to the bridge. Al-Fayturi and three more of her guards are there. They're in armour, their fidai sashes red across their chests against darkened chainmail and leather.

"Khatun, when Lord Colforth finds out—"

"He'll spit nails. And I'll tell him it was my decision."

"And your husband, Lady—"

"Will know enough not to say anything."

Al-Fayturi throws up one hand. "Khatun, you don't need to do this. Go over with an escort. Let us take the building before you go. You're brave, God knows, and you can use a knife. But there could be anything over there.  It could be the Haldanes, or the Torenthi. It could be the syed Rhydon. 'Ash katdir? What are you doing?"

"No," Charissa says. "It won't be Rhydon. This isn't Rhydon. There were proofs with the message. It's not the Haldanes, either.  This is for me to do. If anything goes wrong, you'll know. You're my fedayin, and I trust you absolutely.  You're my blades. You always will be. But tonight, this is only for me." She pulls her gloves on. "Tomorrow, now— I want you back here. Go through every house on this street. Bring any other syed you need. Look for any trace of a Portal. You find it, you burn it out."

"Sayyeda." He brings up a hand in salute. "Just...Ila y'uwn. Thella fräṣek. God aid you. Take care of yourself."

She half-smiles in the shadow. Al-Fayturi hates this, hates being further than a blade's length from her out here in a new city.  "Ila ysellemek," she says. "May God ease your path." 

He half-smiles back. "And yours, Khatun. Tṭreq salaama."

Charissa pulls the hood of her cloak up and steps out on the covered bridge. She knows her Moors are there behind her, hands on sword hilts, staring hard at the far end of the bridge. Al-Fayturi and most of the others are syed, what the western Moors call Deryni, and she can feel the hiss of Deryni power waiting there behind her.

Cold on the little bridge between the buildings, and there's frost on the lattice-work. Over there is the doorway. Doors and corners. That's where they get you. That's Christian's voice in her head, something from years ago, the two of them in Vezaire,  barely twenty, and Christian teaching her about knives. Doors and corners. She lets her hands hang by her sides. Her stiletto is in one. She's calling up Deryni power now, and she can feel it around her off hand, She's wearing hose and boots under the cloak tonight. If it comes to it, she can run. She's not about to die trapped in silk and wool.

Thirty feet. Up the slight arch of the bridge and back down. And through the doorway, into deeper shadow.  Witch-light forms behind her, two pale blue balls of light,  following along a foot or two above her head. She's shielded, and there's a pale shimmer that moves over her body.  Proofs in the message, she tells herself. It won't be Rhydon. I know what I'm going to.

Down the hallway, and a turn. She's probing outward, her mind feeling for any motion, any thoughts, any sense of other Deryni.  Her men will be on the ground floor, gathered by stairways, waiting for her to call.  Nothing there at the turn, nothing moving at all.

Doors and corners.

The building is empty, the walls and floors bare. She wonders if there'll be furniture where she's going.  Left and up four shallow steps. Colder now, outside air. She can sense something now, a tiny green point of light in her mind, something single and immobile. Something waiting. She wonders what she'll say when she's there. She's still thinking in the Darija of the western Moors.

Smiti Charissa, she could say. My name is Charissa. Metsherrfin. I'm honoured to meet you. She half-smiles behind the cloak and the ripple of her shields. She walks across inlaid floors out into cold air and looks at the opened doors onto a long gallery.

*****

Down the length of the passage there's a single figure at the far end, all up-hooded in a grey cloak, standing in profile at one of the latticed windows. Charissa walks halfway down. She stops at one of the other windows.  She motions the two balls of witch-light in close. The greenish light in her mind's eye fades away. She glances out the window and back. The figure in grey hasn't moved. She nods. "Roiste."

The figure turns to face her. "Tolan. Or am I supposed to call you 'Gwynedd', now?"

She can hear the Connait lilt in that voice, hear something close to sadness, too. "I'm still duchess of Tolan," Charissa says, "I'm never giving that up. I don't use 'Gwynedd'. You know what you can call me."

The figure pushes the hood back. Long red hair falls free. "And here's a queen," Kyri de Roiste says. "Here's a queen come out in the dark and the cold to an empty house. I wondered what you'd think when I sent you a message."

Charissa pushes her own hood back. She turns to Kyri de Roiste, "What I thought was that a friend wanted to see me." She motions with two fingers and the little balls of witch-light drop down almost onto her shoulders.

Kyri is staring at her face. "Oh, Christ," she whispers. "Oh, Christ."

The Shadow Queen shrugs. "It's just a scar. Does it make me a monster?"

"It doesn't," Kyri says. "Not a monster. It makes you more...you. That's worse."

"Christian rather likes it."

"Of course he does." There's an edge to Kyri's voice. "He always likes things like that about you. He likes you looking evil.  He likes it when you're Queen of Ice and Darkness. He likes it when you play at being Night's Lady, and he can be your leman."

"Night's Lady," Charissa echoes. She almost grins. "Is that what the Council thinks of me? I like that name. Did they send you all the way here to see if the scarface girl really is a monster?"

Kyri shakes her head. "They didn't send me. I came on my own."

"I wondered about that part. That would be something that Denis Arilan and Stefan Coram would try to make you do. Something to punish you. Make you come out to bring me an ultimatum. Or send you out to kill me."

"No. I won't carry threats for them.  And the other thing, that I couldn't do. Not unless you really were the Mad Queen, and you aren't yet. Even if you did burn Rhemuth down."

Charissa shrugs. "Burning Rhemuth wasn't my plan, it wasn't my order. But after it was done...I thought it was well done. Made somebody a duke for doing it." She looks out one of the windows and feels the cold coming in past the glass. "Tell me what they're thinking around the Council table."

"You know what they're thinking. They don't know what to do with you yet, but you already know what they're thinking."

She taps at the glass with two gloved fingers.  "I'm fighting two wars. Tell me if the Council wants to make it three."

"Barrett...doesn't. Barrett thinks you're dangerous, but he doesn't want the Council to be just a cheering club for the House of Haldane. He worries, though. Barrett worries that if you are a monster, all the hate in Gwynedd for Deryni will come up to the surface."

Charissa nods.  "Barrett de Laney is a great man. He always was. What about the rest of that lot?"

Kyri is looking out one of the windows. "Vivienne you can guess at," she says. "Vivienne thinks you're a disgrace to being Deryni and a disgrace to womanhood. She wants you punished, or maybe just put down. Sometimes she sounds like she wants you flayed alive."

"And Laran?"

"Laran is what he always is. Laran thinks whatever the last person he talked to thinks." She traces a finger through the damp on the glass. "Tiercel hates you, of course."

"And whatever did I do to Tiercel de Claron?"

"You're a woman, and you talk. You talk back. He hates women who talk back."

Charissa looks over. She holds up a hand, thumb and forefinger a hairsbreadth apart. "So it really is that small."

Kyri is trying hard not to laugh. "No," she says. "Not...that. Just very poorly deployed."

Charissa grins. "Well, not a problem I have."

"No. You wouldn't.  You're a married woman, now. You married your leman. He must  be good at something."

"More than you know. The rest?"

"Denis Arilan says you're probably the daughter of the Antichrist. Thorne would never turn against you. Thorne is always your friend. I'm... I'm here."

Charissa's voice is soft. "I know. You're here. That means something." She's running an idle finger over the glass, tracing out Kyri's name. "And so that leaves Stefan Coram."

"You know what he thinks. He thinks you'll destroy Gwynedd and everything you touch. He thinks the Haldane are the hope of Gwynedd and that you're ruining God's plan. He thinks God wants him to stop you and everyone who supports you."

Charissa's face draws shut, "Stefan effing Coram thinks I'm the monster. Coram's more arrogant and self-righteous than anyone in all these kingdoms. I want to be queen. Stefan Coram wants to be God's right hand. I'm dangerous to cross. Stefan Coram thinks that whatever he does is God's will. He's one of the kind that'll kill you to save your soul. He knows he's the hero in the story. That makes him a lot more dangerous than I am."

"It's not like there's been a vote. Coram might not wait, though. He has a lot of support in the Council's agents. They could come for you."

The Shadow Queen turns to her. "Show me something. If I were a monster, if I'm what they're afraid of, show me what you'd do."  The shimmer of her shields vanishes.

Kyri stares and takes a breath. She shrugs her cloak open and walks the few steps down to Charissa. She holds up two stiffened fingers. "I'd have to be looking at you," she says. "I'd have to see your eyes. I'd have to tell you I was sorry, and it would have to be done in a moment. It would be the heart."

She pushes the two fingers inside the black cloak. They hit something hard behind fine cloth, something hard enough to hurt. Kyri frowns.

"Chain mail," the Shadow Queen says.  And there at Kyri's neck is something cold and pointed, live steel moving light as a whisper over her skin.

Kyri breathes out. She's still holding the queen's gaze. "So now what will you do? Draw blood just to show you can?"

The tip of the stiletto traces along the line of Kyri's neck, and behind her jaw. Charissa looks down at her and tilts her head. "No. That's trite. I just want to  show you. Whatever any of them do, whatever weapons Coram's people bring, it won't be enough."  Charissa looks at her and sighs. "Those green eyes... Always those green eyes of yours. Now-- tell me what it feels like. Tell me and be honest."

Kyri stretches her neck up. She's tall enough for a woman, but Charissa is taller. Very softly, she says, "Soothing. It feels...soothing."

The stiletto is suddenly gone, gone back into the queen's sleeve. "I like that. Next time...next time it'll be my turn. Call it a trust exercise."

Kyri touches the side of her neck. "You do these things... Does your man like them when you do it to him? Is that what you're like together?"

"Oh, we share everything, Christian and I. Always and ever."

"You would, the two of you.  Maybe I will call you a monster."

"Charissa. You can just say Charissa. You always could."

The Shadow Queen's witch lights drift up toward the ceiling. "When you see the Council," she says, "tell them that I'm a queen. Tell them I'm building a kingdom. Tell them that. And you're Connaiti. You of all people should understand about vendetta and blood feuds. Tell them I'm at war with the Haldanes, and with Wencit, too.  When it's done, I won't just be a queen, I'll be the queen. I'm not going to burn everything down, just some of it. I'll do what I need to do to win. Tell Barrett I'll protect Deryni everywhere I can, but I am fighting to win. Tell them the scarface girl doesn't much care what they think. If they want it, I'll fight a third war."

Kyri shrugs her cloak closed. "I wanted to see you again," she says. "I've known you all these years and I never know what you're thinking. You're not a monster, and maybe you won't be ever. But I can't decide if you're better or worse for not being that."

"I'm a queen who came out in the dark and the cold to see you. You know where I am. And I'm not hard to figure out. I'm really not."

"When I leave," Kyri says, "are they swarming everywhere, your Moors? Do I have to walk past them?"

Charissa smiles. "Leave like you came. My people have the ground floor, they have the streets and the houses on either side. No one's going to come looking for you. No more Portals here, though. Next time, I'll pick the place."

"And it'll be my turn to hold a knife."

"Like I said. It's about trust."

Kyri pulls her hood up. "I'll tell them," she says. "If they want to come for you, I won't be with them. Thorne either."

The Shadow Queen presses a gloved fingertip to her lips and touches it to Kyri's forehead. "Lady Roiste," she says.  And in Darija, "Ila yhennik." 

She watches Kyri walk down the gallery and through the doorway at the far end, back to wherever some hidden Portal is. Doors and corners, she thinks.  That's where life waits for you.

She flicks two fingers. Her witch-lights float close, their colour shifting to bright white.  She closes her eyes and reaches out past walls and stairs to the red light in her mind's eye that's Yusuf al-Fayturi. I'll be downstairs now. Let's go home. It's cold up here.

[DesertRose]

Very well done, DoctorM!

(Is it bad of me that I laughed so loud that I scared Carys at the bit about Tiercel?)

[DoctorM]

Very well done, DoctorM!

(Is it bad of me that I laughed so loud that I scared Carys at the bit about Tiercel?)

Thank you!

And I think someone probably needed to say that about Tiercel for a while...

[revanne]

Such good story telling. I love the way that you build up the story layer by layer and then get us to see things from a different perspective.

[DoctorM]

Such good story telling. I love the way that you build up the story layer by layer and then get us to see things from a different perspective.

Thank you!

[Laurna]

When she said it won't be Rhydon, I was sure it would be Coram. And I was thinking we just might have an Arcane encounter. which might have been a bit out of step with the rest of the story. The encounter with Kyri is much more interesting, It gave us incite in the Council's thoughts and how they might be spending their evenings arguing the merits/evils of the Night's lady of Talon around the table. I do wonder at how many burnings of cities will they decide to draw the line. 

[DoctorM]

When she said it won't be Rhydon, I was sure it would be Coram. And I was thinking we just might have an Arcane encounter. which might have been a bit out of step with the rest of the story. The encounter with Kyri is much more interesting, It gave us incite in the Council's thoughts and how they might be spending their evenings arguing the merits/evils of the Night's lady of Talon around the table. I do wonder at how many burnings of cities will they decide to draw the line.

There's  a past with Kyri that will probably be explored.

And I think we will see what the Council does...and how the politics of the Council are working.

[Jerusha]

Very, very well done, Doctor M!  An interesting view of Stefan Coram - I look forward to reading how this plays out.

[DerynifanK]

You do a great job of building tension here then the surprise. I would not have expected the person she was meeting. Very interesting, that meeting between Charissa and Kiri. I hope at some point we get to learn their history. Charissa says she is building a kingdom but destruction seems to accompany her. And I never hear any concern about the people of these kingdoms and what is happening to them. I rather agree with Barrett, there is a good chance that she will bring to the surface all the hatred of Deryni in the 11 kingdoms that others had worked so hard to eliminate. I actually prefer builders to destroyers. But well written Dr. M. You are full of surprises.

[DoctorM]

Very, very well done, Doctor M!  An interesting view of Stefan Coram - I look forward to reading how this plays out.

Thank you! I remember reading 'High Deryni' for the first time long ago and finding Coram...unsettling. So I will be working with this.

[DoctorM]

You do a great job of building tension here then the surprise. I would not have expected the person she was meeting. Very interesting, that meeting between Charissa and Kiri. I hope at some point we get to learn their history. Charissa says she is building a kingdom but destruction seems to accompany her. And I never hear any concern about the people of these kingdoms and what is happening to them. I rather agree with Barrett, there is a good chance that she will bring to the surface all the hatred of Deryni in the 11 kingdoms that others had worked so hard to eliminate. I actually prefer builders to destroyers. But well written Dr. M. You are full of surprises.

I will be going into their history. I liked Kyri as a character, and I can see the backstory in my head. And I'm glad you liked it...and found a surprise or two.