The Gathering Storm

“I pray you,” said Bertha, “fetch her some wine.”



Gnat and Mosquito leaped eagerly to the task, bringing a flask of wine and a tray of bread and cheese as well as a freshly plucked bunch of exceptionally sweet grapes.



Bertha left her under Breschius’ care and went to walk among the troops.



“I have troubled her,” she said at last to Breschius. “I didn’t intend to. I wasn’t thinking.”



“You have traveled a strange road, my lady. The touch of the aether must alter a person’s vision.”



“It did.” She looked after Lady Bertha, who was laughing with a pair of soldiers. Yet she was master and they were servants, evident by the way they stood each next to the others, the amount of space between them, their postures as the noblewoman made a final comment and moved on. “There is no going back to what I was before. Nor would I want to.”



Breschius nodded agreeably. He did not seem to think she was insane. “It’s true the blessed Daisan teaches us that all souls are equal before God.”



“Then why are they unequal on Earth?”



“Their position, not their souls, are unequal on Earth. God ordered the world so, my lady. That is why.”



“That’s not really an answer, is it? Did God so order the world? Or did humankind order it so and give the claim to God to justify their actions?”



“You tread close to heresy, my lady.”



“Do I?”



He smiled, and she could see that he was not one whit offended. This was a man who liked to wrestle with difficult questions. “You do. So I ask you this: What other order might obtain? How else can humankind prosper, if there are not some who command and others who serve? If we have no order in the world, then we will live in chaos, no better than the wild beasts. Even among the beasts, the strongest take what they wish and the weak die.”



“Beasts don’t think, not in any way like to us,” she said stubbornly, but she could not answer his question. God had so ordered the world, with regnants above and slaves below and the rest each in their own place. How could she change it?



“Yet I will teach any person who comes to me, no matter their station,” she said, peeling the sour skin from a grape and tasting the sweet center. “They must only show themselves willing and able to learn.”



He chuckled. “Anyone, lady? Even these two Jinna idolaters?”



Gnat and Mosquito were watching her in the manner of dogs hoping to catch their master’s intent and mood. She was still learning to tell them apart. Mosquito was the one with the round scar on his left cheek and a missing tooth. Gnat had broader shoulders, a broader face, and was missing the thumb on his right hand.



“Would you learn the sorcerer’s skill, if you could?” she asked them in Jinna. “Master the knowledge of the stars?”



They considered, looking into each other’s faces as if what one thought, the other could read by means of a lip quirked upward or the wrinkle in a brow.



Finally, Mosquito spoke. “Who would teach us, Bright One?”



“I would.”



Again they spoke to each other by means of expression alone, and this time when they were finished, Gnat replied. “We will do as you command, lady.”



“But do you wish it?”



“Yes, lady,” they said.



Breschius smiled, watching them. “What do they say?”



“I don’t know whether they wish to please me, or to learn!”



“It is for this reason that princes must defend themselves against flatterers. Slaves are in some measure like courtiers, because they fear—rightly enough—that they have no existence without the good favor of the master. Therefore, it can never be known whether they speak truth, or lie to protect themselves.”



She smiled, liking him very well. “Have some more grapes, Brother. I pray you, do not flatter me only because you think I desire it, for I do not. I think we should see if there are any likely disciplas among our party in addition to these two. If you agree to this task, I will expect you to teach what you learn to others, and to be my captain. If you will.”



He considered her with an unnerving intentness, as though he saw a different face hiding behind her own. “Will you raise an army of sorcerers and become an empress?”



“I have no taste for empire. I do not wish to rule over others and make them do my bidding. I don’t need a court of flatterers surrounding me! If I can defeat Anne, then I want to delve into the mysteries of the heavens and of Earth. There is so much to know and understand. That will be enough for me.”