For May, every
step was torture. How did she get into this mess? They should leave
the town soon - tomorrow everyone will hear the story of Clumsy Waitress
and of the thrashing she got.
Sooner or later I will have to sit, she thought. It will hurt, but I have
to do it so Zack won't find out.
In front of the palace, she almost bumped into Grace.
"Hi," said Grace. "Where were you?"
"Oh, you know... around."
Grace nodded. "Me too. Is Zack still in?"
"He must be worried about us. Let's go!"
"Wait a minute. Where's Soot?"
"She'll be back. I'm sure of it."
The guards let them in.
I raised my head when the girls entered the room.
"Hi, May. Hello, Grace. Soot is still out?"
"It's dark," said May. "Ideal time for a thief, I would say."
"You don't think she would actually steal something, do you?" I asked worriedly.
I really didn't want to spank Soot again. Well, to be exact - I did,
but it would almost certainly involve a power struggle - or a row - I wasn't
keen to experience.
"You can sleep here," said the Lord. "Tomorrow, we will see what I can do."
He went across the room to Merta.
"Oh, my, you made quite a mess here..."
The whole one side of table was covered with chalk-smudges. Merta was close
to crying.
"It's no use!" she wailed. "I can't get the drawing right!"
"Well, you might want to use a pencil and a piece of paper," sighed the Lord.
"The head maid will have a fit, I'm afraid."
Merta looked worried. "She won't spank me, I hope."
"What? No, of course not! But she won't like it, no doubt about that. Still,"
he continued, "it might be worth it. I'm not sure, but that diagram could
be powerful if it's that hard to draw."
Merta nodded. "I'll try, sir!"
"Maybe if you tried to draw it in larger size? And slowly. There's no haste."
I came over. "That's a good idea, Merta. Try it."
Merta came to the middle of the room and draw a large pentagon around herself.
From each point, a new line towards the center. Each line split in two, and
each one met another, adjacent line. Then, one line continued towards the
center from the join. And in the center...
Merta finished the small, central pentagon and looked around.
"I did it!" she cried out. "This is the right shape..."
Something started to happen. The drawing was raised from the ground and it
folded in a rough sphere with pentagonal sides. Merta was still talking,
but we couldn't hear her anymore. The shape started to rotate, but Merta
was still facing us.
And then it started to shrink, and so did Merta. Before we could do anything,
that thing became a point of light and then it disappeared.
I jumped towards the place she disappeared.
"Merta!"
Soot has waken up.
This is not my day, she thought. Still, there were small mercies. Feltar
didn't have any "equipment" as the euphemism went, since he traveled light.
But Soot was now helpless, and it was all because of Shawn.
That traitor! Not many people knew about the pins-in-the-hair trick, but
Shawn did and he told Feltar.
Which meant that she was dragged outside and her hair cut to very short length,
despite her kicking and screaming.
And then they put her here.
It was a cage - Feltar probably took it from a menagerie. It had solid bars
and solid lock. After the sun comes up, everyone will see her with this kind
of haircut. Soot was furious.
Such was the situation when a point of light has appeared in the tent and
woke her up.
When she had managed to stand up, she saw Merta lying on the ground. Her
eyes were closed and her breathing was troubled.
"Oh, brother," said Soot with a sigh. "Now how did you get into this
mess?"
"Where is she?" I cried.
"I... I don't know," stuttered the Lord. "I never thought it might do this..."
"Well, it's your fault! Do something! Find her!"
"I understand your concerns, but I'm still the Lord here! Stop panicking!"
barked the Lord. "I don't think any of the geomantic spells were truly dangerous.
But... yes! That might be it!"
I blinked. "What might be what?"
Lord ran towards the door. "Follow me!"
It was a library. Or, more specifically, it was the library. I never
saw that many books in one place.
The lord took one book. "I knew I've seen that shape somewhere. Look here!"
There were pictures on the page.
"Each of the four elements," he read, "is represented by a solid. The element
of fire is tetrahedron..."
"That's it!" I said. "That is the shape that explodes!"
"Yes, and it continues... Water is icosahedron, you might recognize that...
air is octahedron and earth is cube, but this..."
There was the shape Merta drew. It was marked as "dodecahedron".
"It's a regular solid," mused the Lord. "Just like the other four. But there
are only four elements, so the ancient civilization bound it to... ether."
"Ether?"
"Space, simply said. Now, we know that every diagram affects the corresponding
element, so the best guess is that dodecahedron might throw her through space
- she must have appeared elsewhere!"
"Where?"
Lord shrugged. "I hope it wasn't far. We know she's not that strong, so it
should be nearby..."
Soot grabbed Merta and shook her. "Come on! Get up! Get us out of here!"
Slowly, Merta opened her eyes. "Soot?"
"Yes! Look, can you get us back the way you came?"
Merta shook her head. "I can't... remember... the diagram."
"OK! So draw that exploding thing and get us out of here the old-fashioned
way!"
Merta closed her eyes. "I can't... can't hold her... help me..."
I gasped as the pain shot through my chest.
"What's that?" asked the Lord worriedly.
"Bro?" asked May.
I cried with pain and tore open my shirt. The little sword on my neck was
glowing red.
"Put that away!" yelped May.
I tried, but the sword seemed to be terribly heavy. I couldn't lift it.
With last stab of pain, the sword suddenly jerked and pulled me a few feet
aside. Then it fell down. The pain was gone.
"What's that, Brother?" asked Grace, curiously.
"Mrs. Tain gave that to me," I explained. "It's supposed to help me protecting
Merta..."
I gasped. "That's it! She must be in that direction! Lord, what's that way?"
"In this direction is the back gate," said Lord slowly. "And the woods...
Nasty place at night!"
"Merta must have been in pain," I said, slowly. "That's why I felt pain,
too. But now she isn't - and I'm worried. Really worried."
Merta opened her eyes and jumped to her feet. Soot sighed.
"Don't scare me like that! For a second, I thought you were dead!"
"Many people wished me dead. But I'm just not the type to grant their wish,"
answered Merta.
Her voice was different. Clear, more pronounced. Merta sounded like apoplogizing
all the time, but this one...
"'Is a voice of commander', wasn't that what you wanted to say?" said Merta
calmly.
Soot blinked. "You are not Merta," she said.
"Of course not," said a voice from outside.
Soot turned around. Shawn stepped out of the shadows.
"Queen Raia, I presume?" he smirked. "My name is Shawn."
Soot saw him baring his sword.
"We never had the pleasure. And we will probably never have again."
I was running at top speed. I left Grace and May behind, they couldn't help
me here. There are things a knight must do alone.
There was the gate - and I could see a faint light of a distant fire.
The sword started hurting me again, but I took that as a good sign. At least,
it meant that Merta is still alive.
Merta was giving Shawn a puzzled look.
"I thought everybody has forgot," she sighed. "A shame, really. I always
enjoyed a good opponent."
"Uh, excuse me," said Soot, "but what is going on here?"
"He wants to kill me," shrugged Merta.
"He did call you..."
"She's Raia!" cried Shawn. "She is the Witch Queen from ancient legend! She
almost destroyed the world once and she will do it again!"
"Ancient legends, young man," snarled Merta, "are nothing but a bunch of
lies. You would attack a helpless girl because of a legend?"
Shawn staggered a bit. "You can't fool me!"
Merta sighed. "Drop that sword, you fool."
And Shawn did. Soot was surprised, and so was him.
"What did you do?"
"Shut up. And open the door."
This was a voice with power, thought Soot. And Merta could use that power.
Shawn took a key from his pocket and unlocked the door, although he was clearly
fighting the force of Merta's order every step.
"You are a nasty piece of work," said Soot. She couldn't help it, anyone
who could do this to the man she despised couldn't be that bad.
Merta turned towards her. And she gasped.
"I don't have much time left," she said. "You go back to sleep. Forget about
me."
Soot wanted to tell her something, but she suddenly slumped on the cage floor,
unconscious.
"There are all sorts of books!" said Grace. "The Mayor in Ceris had a library,
too, but nowhere this good."
"You like reading?" asked the Lord.
"Yes. I'm good at it. What's this? Old myths?"
"I was looking through that one today," said Lord. "It is about ancient legends.
There is some stuff about Geomancers, that's why I took it."
"What does it say?"
Lord paused for a moment. "Well, several thousand years ago, people known
as Geomancers appeared. There was always only a handful of them, you know.
The legend says that if there was too much of them, they would start to weaken.
The less there were, the more power they had. So... They killed each other
a lot."
"Geomancy brings up the worst in each," recited Grace. "I must have read
that somewhere. So it's about this, right? Geomancer has to kill or to be
killed."
"There is not much here about Geomancers as such," said Lord. "They didn't
want worldly power. They could provide for themselves and they could defend
from any enemy but another Geomancer. They helped a few people, but they
harmed or killed many. They were not at all liked. But then, Queen Raia appeared."
"Who was she?"
"I told Zack the gist of it, but Raia was a very powerful Geomancer who had
another strange power on top of that. The legend says that her eyes were
like jewels and that everyone she looked upon had to obey her. She found
a way to drain power from other Geomancers and then, one day, she killed
a king of a small country and declared herself a queen."
"What happened next?" asked May, taken in by the story.
"The remaining Geomancers realised that Raia's powers are great, and they
joined their forces to kill her," said Lord. "They prepared a trap, and caught
Raia unprepared. They decided to annihilate geomancy completely, just to
get rid of that one person!"
"They must have been very afraid of her," said Grace.
"But the legend says that Raia realized what they were doing. She tried to
stop them and there was a battle. A massacre."
"Did she survive?" asked May.
Lord shrugged. "You know, it's strange. Her defeat is the whole point of
the legend, but when it gets there... it says nothing. Maybe she survived,
maybe she didn't. But the Geomancers succeeded and geomancy stopped working.
Raia must have lost her powers even if she survived. But I think that Geomancy
must have started to work again since then, because..."
"Because of Merta," said May. "She might be the first Geomancer in a long
time, right?"
The camp was empty. The fire was dying out. The sword still hurt.
I heard a groan and I turned around. There was a cage on wheel. The door
was open.
I jumped towards the slumped person inside.
"Soot?"
She blinked. "Zack? What are you... doing here? And where am I?"
"A camp behind Cant," I said. "What happened to you?"
"I remember... being captured," said Soot. "They were taking me to Feltar.
After that - a blank. I must have lost consciousness."
She moved her hand towards her hair and froze.
"What's this?" she asked. "My hair!"
I looked. Yes, her hair were short. "Who did that to you?"
Soot blinked. "I'm not sure. Feltar, I think. But that bastard had something
to do with it, I just know it!"
"Who are you talking about?"
"That's not any of your business!" she snapped. "It's my problem!"
I didn't want to press the point.
"Is Merta here?"
"Merta?" blinked Soot. "Why should she be here?"
"I... I just feel it," I responded. I wasn't that sure, myself.
Soot looked around. "The door is unlocked," she said, puzzled. "That's not
normally something to do to your prisoners."
"Well, we can use that! Get out!"
Soot shook her head as she came out. "It will take ages to grow these back,"
she complained. "And what am I going to do with all the hidden weapons I
stored in there?"
"Feltar might torture Merta at this very moment!"
Yeah... that could explain the pain I was feeling.
Feltar's tent was unmistakable - it was twice the size of others.
On our way, we stumbled upon the body.
Grace was coming out of the bathroom.
Lord has provided them with a room to spend the night in and it was a good
room. Grace, as a maid, could appreciate the decor, or, indeed, the amount
of sheer work rooms like this generated. But the bathroom was nice, and,
unlike bathrooms Grace knew before, she could actually use it.
She entered the room. May was standing with her back to the mirror, inspecting...
Grace gasped. "May! What happened to you?"
May looked at her. "I'm... I'm sorry. Please, forget you saw that."
"What? I can't do that! I know Zack spanked you this morning, but that doesn't
explain this in the least!"
May sighed. "I tried... a part-time job. It went bad. It was either a spanking
or he would put me into prison!"
"But the Lord would get you out! You wouldn't risk anything!"
"Yes, but... Zack would find out." May sighed. "I don't want him to find
out."
"Why? He cares about you, you are his sister - the only real sister he has!"
"That's why! He would be disappointed!" May started crying. "Don't worry.
It doesn't hurt anymore... not that much, at least."
"He will find out," said Grace.
"Don't you dare say a word! If you do, I... I... I spank you too!"
"I'm not afraid of that," smiled Grace. "But I won't tell anything. I think
he will find out anyways."
"He would spank me again if he found out!"
"What, on top of that?" He's not like that, and you should know it!"
May sighed. "Well... he would want to hear the whole story. If he heard I
tried to be a waitress and how I messed it up..."
Grace couldn't hold a chuckle. "You? A waitress?"
"As bad as I got it, I deserved it," said May. "And that's a lot when I
say it!"
"You really hate being spanked, don't you?" asked Grace.
"Yes!"
"But the thing with Mrs. Tain's cup..."
May fidgeted. "Well, the thing is... spanking is like... a diet. Or a bad-tasting
medicine. You don't want it, but sometimes, there's just no other way. And
in that case, you must be sure you can... rely on someone. Someone who will
make you swallow the bitter pill or to force you in dieting."
"Or spank you," nodded Grace.
"Or that, yes."
It was a soldier, and it was very obviously dead. At least, Soot said so.
In these matters she was presumably more experienced than I was. In some
other matters too, probably...
"What happened to him?" I asked.
"He looks like he's been stabbed," she said. "But this... look, either he
stabbed himself or someone took great pains to make it look so."
Soldier's hand was still grasping the sword.
"Here is another," said Soot slowly.
There were two more, as we came closer to Feltar's tent.
I tugged open the flap.
Merta turned around. She hesitated.
"What," she started, but then her knees gave way and she suddenly collapsed.
I jumped to her side, while Soot stood against Feltar.
"What did you do, you bastard?" she demanded. But Feltar didn't say anything.
He was just staring.
"No!" he cried. "I want her back! Give her back!"
"Some of your soldiers are dead, Feltar," said Soot. "I think the others
have run away. What happened? What did you do to them?"
Feltar started reaching with his hand. "She will be back! She's coming back!
And this time, noone will stop her, you understand?"
"What are you talking about?" asked Soot. Evil as he was, now Feltar was
almost looking pitiful.
"I can't... tell you," he breathed. "I can't tell you! But you won't stop
her! Now I see! What a fool I was!"
Soot slapped him.
"How DARE you cut my hair!" she cried. "Let's look how you will like
it, having some of your useless appendages cut..."
But she didn't count with Feltar's insanity. Or desperation.
His hand reached the oil lamp and he threw it on the ground. Flames appeared.
Feltar sent Soot sprawling and started to run.
Before I got both girls out, he was gone.
The way back into town reminded me our escape from the prison a few days
earlier. Soot was running with me and I was carrying Merta in my arms.
"Something happened there," I said. "What could scare him that much?"
"These guys think that fear is something that happens to other people," shrugged
Soot. "Er... Zack?"
"Yes?"
"Look, I'm sorry that I disappeared like that. Were you worried?"
I blinked. It was probably not a good time to tell her we were not.
"Uh... yes. A little."
Soot nodded.
Then I felt another pang of pain. I stopped and laid Merta on the ground.
She opened her eyes.
"Zack?" she asked.
"Merta! Are you OK?"
She nodded a bit. "I feel bad. I'm sorry I disappeared like that."
"Never mind! You are safe, that's what's important!"
She frowned a bit. "Will you spank me?"
"What? Of course not! It wasn't your fault!" I smiled. "It's the nature of
the Lady to get into trouble she can't solve on her own, Merta. And it's
the nature of the Knight to solve them. It's as easy as that."
And as I said that, a crossbow bolt pierced my left arm.
I cried out and both me and Soot turned around.
A man was standing in the darkness. He was holding a crossbow. Well, obviously,
otherwise he could hardly have shot me!
"Away from her!" he shouted. "She is dangerous!"
Soot's eyes gleamed. "Well, if it isn't Shawn!" she cried. "I think I have
a favour to repay!"
"You don't understand!" cried Shawn. "You are in danger!"
"You, my dear, are the only one in danger here!" bellowed Soot. "Look
at my hair! I couldn't get even with Feltar, but I will sure as hell get
even with you!"
"Were you spanked a lot as a kid?" asked Grace.
May nodded. The girls were lying in the bed, which was big enough for three
people although three are hardly the proper number.
"All the time. Last time dad spanked me was..." She blinked. "It was the
day you came to my home. In the morning. It's how long? Two days?"
"So in the last three days, you got three spankings, and each one from a
different person?" said Grace with a smile. "Good for a girl who hates spankings
that much."
"I always get in trouble!" sniffed May. "And I get spanked all the time!"
"Do you deserve those spankings?"
"Yes," sighed May. "That's the worst part, really. I always tell myself that
this is the last time, but then I do something stupid again and over I go!
And every time I swear I won't cry since I'm a big girl now and -"
"You always end up crying," said Grace, sympathetically.
"Yes. I mean, it hurts."
"But it's the way the world works," shrugged Grace. "Girls get spankings,
and guys have 'responsibility'. If a guy did what you did, he wouldn't get
a choice - he would be just thrown directly in prison. But since you are
a girl, they just assumed you are only a naughty kid who didn't know better,
and that the whole affair can be dismissed with a spanking."
"But it's not fair!"
"Well, he gave you the choice - the guy would have a worse time."
"The choice is the worst thing!"
"I wonder," said Grace. "I'm not sure who has it better, really."
Shawn jumped towards Merta, but Soot stopped him with a kick. He fell.
"Soot!" I cried. "Stop that!"
"I'm going to kill him!" she shouted.
But the next kick didn't land as Shawn rolled away.
"Soot!" I pulled her back.
"Let me go!"
"I understand you are angry, but this won't solve anything!"
"Trust me, it will!"
Shawn stood up. He started to back away.
"You are making a mistake," he pleaded. "You must get away."
And suddenly, he was holding a sword.
He charged us and he was bearing on puzzled Merta.
And suddenly, I was standing beside her and my own sword clashed with
Shawn's.
Never before I held a sword and I didn't exactly understand how to use it,
but it seemed to have a will of its own. Whatever Shawn did, the sword didn't
let him reach Merta. My left arm was bleeding, but I felt no pain.
While the sword was busy fighting, I tried something more old-fashioned.
I aimed well and kneed Shawn in the stomach.
His eyes crossed, he said, in a tiny voice "Why?" and then he slumped to
the ground.
The sword disappeared, as if it never was. Soot blinked.
"And what was that, may I ask?"
"And who is he? You know him?"
Soot actually blushed.
"Well, we... used to date. Some time ago."
"Do all your boyfriends end up crazy?"
"Only some of them! It's not a hard rule!"
I nodded. "Now, to get out of here before he wakes up..."
I stumbled. The wound started to take effect.
The last thing I've heard was Merta. "Leave it to me," she said.
"Grace?" asked May sleepily.
"Yes?"
"Please, promise me you won't tell Zack what happened."
"I promise, May. But I have a favor to ask."
"Yes?"
"May, I'm not... not exactly a good girl all the time. I'm like you - I can
agree with spankings in general, especially applied to the bottoms of girls
I don't care about, but I don't like being spanked myself. But - sometimes
I need to. Please, when the time comes, don't let me get out of my spanking."
May nodded. "And you won't let me get out of mine. I hate them, but right
now..."
"If a spanking can stop you from inventing such stupid ideas, I'm on."
They hugged.
And soon after that, they fell asleep.
When I opened my eyes, I was lying in a bed. Soot was standing near,
so was Merta. My left arm hurt as hell.
"You were lucky," said Soot. "Shawn is a good shot, but I think he didn't
want to kill you."
Merta touched my forehead. "I'm so sorry to trouble you, Zack!"
"She drew something after you fainted," explained Soot, "and then we were
back in the palace! Useful trick, that one."
"What about Shawn?"
"We left him there. He will manage. Until we meet again," she finished, darkly.
"Lord was here," said Merta. "We told him what has happened, and he thinks
Feltar will leave us alone."
"For a while," said Soot. "But when he comes back, he comes here. We have
to leave."
I nodded. "Where to?"
"There's Rego. A port town. Busy. Lord thinks we should take a ride to one
of the islands. Feltar can't pursue us there."
"The islands... I heard they are warm this time of year..."
Merta nodded. "It will be great!"
I took her hand. "I will do anything... to make you happy... my Lady."
And then I slumped back into unconsciousness.
End of Chapter 6
And now...
It's!
May's Readers' Corner:
Greetings to you all! Well, first to tackle the readers' letters!
Ah. Well, A letter. OK, we only got one. Bummer...
Mr. Johnny Query asked about the next time Soot will get spanked. Well,
I wholly agree that her attitude just begs for spanking! But she is careful
and she knows how not to cross the line. She can afford to be disrespectful
and avoid a punishment, I don't think it's fair. I think Zack is a bit intimidated
by her.
I really have to talk to him about that girl...
Hmmm... that seems to be all for today - except that there are still no
pictures. Too bad...
Oh well, write letters and post your comments. And if you happen to draw
a nice picture - we take those, too, please!
May
May's Retrospective Readers' Corner:
Wheee... it's really tiring to write this for every single chapter.
There's nothing to talk about anymore! I want to go home!
What? A wooden spoon with my name on it? You wouldn't!
OK, I know you would...
Feltar is Fulgur's first true villain in this story - and his name, like
Merta's, means absolutely nothing. Some readers even claimed they don't like
him. Well, big surprise - Feltar wasn't created to be liked. He was made
to be hated and despised - and also to hate and despise others.
Oh, sheesh... What can I say about this chapter? Did something interesting
happen in it? Almost everything juicy is marked "classified" by Fulgur! And
I can't tell you any juicy tidbits about him, since he stands next
to me with a wooden spoon in his hand!
Writer's block, if I ever saw one. Censorship of the free speech!
Fulgur, please, can I pass onto the next chapter?
I can? Great!
May's Readers' Corner:
May's Retrospective Readers' Corner:
OK, I know you would...