Harmodius.
There was a solvable problem.
Lissen Carak – Amicia
Amicia stood on the wall watching the world burn. She didn’t notice him until he was at her shoulder.
‘It was a matter of time,’ he said, as if they had been in conversation all morning.
She wasn’t sure, in truth, if she wanted to say anything. She didn’t want to look at him – didn’t want him to see how committed she was, or how angry.
‘He has to show his allies that he is making progress.’ The captain leaned on the crenellation and pointed to the western edge of the woods. ‘His men are building a pair of trebuchets. Before the end of the day, we’ll be feeling their power. Not because it will actually help him win, but because it will make his allies see him as-’
If she kept listening to him she would . . .
She turned on her heel and walked away.
He hurried to catch up to her.
‘People are watching,’ she hissed. ‘I am a novice in this convent. I am
‘Why?’ he asked. He seized her arm in a steel grip. He was hurting her.
‘Let me go,’ she said. ‘Or you are no knight.’
‘Then I am no knight. Why? Why change your mind so suddenly?’ He leaned towards her. ‘I have not changed mine.’
She hadn’t meant to have a conversation. She bit her lip, and looked around for a miracle. Sister Miram. The Abbess. ‘Don’t you have to do something? Save somebody? Give orders?’ she asked. ‘Why not go and save the farms?’
‘That’s unfair!’ he said. and let go of her arm. ‘No one is watching us. I would know.’ He shrugged. ‘I cannot save the farms. And I’d rather be here, with you.’
‘You want me to have that on my soul, as well? That in addition to breaking my vows, I am endangering the fortress?’
He smiled his wicked smile. ‘It’s worked on other girls,’ he said.
‘I imagine it works all the time.’ She put her chin as high as she could manage. ‘I do not choose to be your whore, Captain. I don’t even know your name. Girls like me don’t get to know the names of the great lords who try to put their knees between our legs, do we? But I am choosing to say no. You are not afraid of Jesus, and you are not afraid of the Abbess. So I cannot appeal to you along those lines. But By God, messire, I can protect myself. If you lay a hand on me again, I will hit you hard.’
He looked at her.
He had tears in his eyes, and she hesitated. But she’d made her decision, and she carried it through. She walked away, and didn’t look back.
It was difficult for her to decide
Despite the look, like agony, on his face.
Lissen Carak – Harmodius
He couldn’t shut it out. Once two entities of power are linked, the link is forever. He couldn’t shut Thorn out, but he could wall him off.
That is, he could mostly wall him off.
Harmodius was sitting cross-legged under an ancient apple tree that stood alone on the battlements, in a stone circle. It was a beautiful thing, in full flower, and it was redolent with power. The seat under it was placed to absorb the power that flowed, as if from a well or a spring, around the place. Somewhere just under his feet, was the well spring. It appeared neither green nor golden. It merely
Harmodius drank as deeply as he dared.
Would it really hurt to talk to his former master?
It was dangerous. If he opened the link, Thorn might try to overwhelm him with raw power.
But sitting here, on the bench by the apple tree, he didn’t think Thorn could take him before he could close the link. He wasn’t like the boy. The boy-
To hell with it.
Harmodius thought for a moment.
Harmodius didn’t think he could damage his cause by honesty. No more than by having any contact with Thorn.
Harmodius laughed aloud.
He sat back against the bole of the tree and examined the conversation.
‘I think that went well,’ he said aloud.
But Thorn had planted something in him, a seed in damp soil. It was like finding a beautifully wrapped package on your doorstep.
He put the packages in a room in his memory palace, and he carefully walled that room off from his consciousness. He twinned off a second self to remain in the room.