Chapter 22 #2
“I’m grateful for the reprieve, even if it’s temporary.” I ignore Nouis, returning my attention to the Holy Mother.
“Let it not be said I treat guests at my table poorly,” the Holy Mother says, tilting her head to the side as the servant comes back with a bowl of water and some boots. “You may tend to yourself before we speak.”
With that, the Holy Mother retreats into a larger sanctum within the tent, her two Holy Guards moving silently with her – quite the feat with all the dark leather and armour.
Nouis is on top of me the moment she’s gone. His hands grab hold of my wrist, his nails digging in with painful bite.
“What were you thinking?” Nouis hisses at me.
“What are you talking about?” I scowl as the servant with the water clears his throat.
Nouis releases me and the bowl of water is placed before me.
I sit down on the floor, taking the cloth provided as I hurriedly scrub at my bare feet.
Nouis kneels down in front of me, his hand landing on the hilt of the sword at his waist.
“Speaking to her with that attitude is blasphemous and disgraceful,” Nouis snarls. “She’s the Holy Mother.”
“I wasn’t aware,” I say with a snort. Nouis’s hand lashes out and wraps around my neck. He squeezes and then he shakes me. My hands fly up to his fingers, eyes going wide as he forces me to look at him.
“This isn’t a game. Everything we’ve always wanted is so close.
Do not let your stubborn, wilful pride get in our way now,” hisses Nouis.
“Just let her play out this fantasy of talking with you. When it’s over, she’ll attack Halice and you’ll be here, safe from the fighting and able to give us details of every trap we’ll face. ”
Nouis releases his hand and stands back, raking a hand over his hair.
“We are so close. So close,” Nouis whispers, eyes flickering from side to side in ragged mania. “Halice will be ours, you just wait and see.”
He says “ours” and “we”. He doesn’t mean it, even if he doesn’t realise it. He means his. Only and always his.
I finish wiping off my feet and shove them into the boots that are definitely a size too small. I lace them up tightly. I don’t give Nouis the chance to get his hands on me again so I march past him and into the second tented room at the back.
I push the curtain aside as I stride in, Nouis barely half a pace behind me. There’s a small square table laden with food, and two chairs placed on either side. The Holy Mother holds a glass of wine in one hand as she appraises me. She gestures elegantly to the other chair.
“Better?” she asks, with one raised eyebrow.
“Indeed,” I say and cross to the chair. But I remain standing, placing my hands on the back of it. “Most accommodating.”
The Holy Mother watches me with the intensity of a hawk. She offers me a tight smile.
“So, shall we get to business? Help yourself to the refreshment.”
“Thank you. Do all those you plan to invade and conquer get such warm treatment?” I ask. Nouis looks like he could murder me at those words but the Holy Mother barks with laughter.
“You’re the first and only, so I suppose they do,” she says with a smirk. She sets down her glass of wine.
“They tell me you are intelligent. Clearly you’re also filled with the rash naivety so common in those of your age,” the Holy Mother says.
“And you are filled with a false confidence that comes from being unchallenged for too long,” I answer.
The Holy Mother narrows her eyes at me and scowls.
“You are impertinent.”
“No, you’re just not used to someone standing against you,” I counter.
“You have been surrounded by people who jump to your every command for so long you’ve forgotten how people behave when they have been insulted.
Not to mention that your insults are the lowest of the foul atrocities you have committed against me.
So if my words make you uncomfortable or seem aggressive, forgive me if I don’t care. ”
The Holy Mother lets out a slow breath and links her hands over her lap.
“Emotional,” she says finally. “I see. Shame.”
I let out a sharp breath. Then I laugh and shake my head.
“I have no interest in your worthless judgements, so keep them to yourself, Marchella,” I answer. The response is immediate, as though I have just spat lightning through the room.
“You will speak to the Holy Mother with respect!” snaps one of the Holy Guards as he marches two paces forward, his hand dropping to his sword menacingly.
“You will remember your place, guard,” snarls Nouis, squaring up and threatening to draw his blade also.
“ENOUGH!” I shout over both of them. I turn to look at the Holy Mother who looks irritated by my command but also their behaviour.
“You, wait in the other room. Now!” hisses the Holy Mother, commanding him from the room. The tall Holy Guard kneels swiftly before his Holy Mother, before standing and swiftly marching from the room.
The Holy Mother and I lock eyes again. I take the upper hand here, speaking clearly and with purpose.
“I am emotional, true. I have earned the right to be emotional. Because of you, I have been drugged, kidnapped, and chained. I have been beaten, abused and almost killed more times than I care to count. I have lost my colleagues and my friends in a brutal, unprovoked, planned mass slaughter. My father was murdered before my eyes, my sister held in a coma meant to torment and manipulate me. Your relentless wave of violence continues to this very moment, because you want to obliterate the freedom of my home, and the peaceful people who live there. I am emotional, and I have every right to be. But that does not mean I’m weak, slow or stupid.
It does not preclude me from effectiveness or brilliance.
I am Renza Di Maineri, Maestrus of Halice. I am emotional, and I am motivated.”
I take a deep breath, refusing to break eye contact with the Holy Mother. She blinks, entirely unbothered by my little speech.
“Why did you bring me here?” I ask, forcing myself to stand tall.
“To speak. I am a mother after all. It’s my job to provide chances for change amongst my children,” the Holy Mother says. “I wanted to provide you with the opportunity to surrender.”
“I didn’t need to come here to refuse you,” I answer coolly. “Your envoy was accepted.”
“True,” agrees the Holy Mother, “but I admit, I wanted to meet you – the woman that sent back my cardinal’s rotting corpse and had his mangled head deposited before my feet as I ate my breakfast. I wanted to look that woman in the eye, that new threat to peace on this continent.”
“Me?” I laugh. “Bellandi was part of your scheme to conquer Halice.”
“What happened in your city was an atrocity, but to blame us for such events—”
“I heard it myself, from Bellandi’s own lips. I have the proof,” I say, talking over her. “Bellandi admitted he was acting on your orders.”
The Holy Mother pauses at that. She takes a deep breath, leaning forwards to study my face intently for a long time before she speaks.
“If you surrender and open your city to me now, we can save so many lives,” the Holy Mother says, completely ignoring what I said before.
“And you claim to care about those people. Won’t you save them?
You know you can’t possibly fend off our armies.
Surrender and we can move in quickly, get the trade and faith of the city back on track. It’s for the greater good.”
The trade and faith of the city? So that’s her aim? How interesting.
I chuckle and shrug.
“You haven’t thought things through, have you?” I say as though bemused. “You don’t know Halice or it’s people at all. Let’s say, for argument’s sake, that you win. That you defeat our armies and take control of the city.”
I walk around the chair and finally sit down. I take the pitcher of wine and pour myself a glass. The tent remains quiet as I do so, but I don’t let it linger to test it.
“Have you forgotten the Great Rebellion? The people will not be so easily subjugated or lied to,” I continue calmly, as though amused.
A smirk flirts with my lips as I pick up my glass.
“The people hate you. It’s rooted deep in their bones.
That opinion will not change when you force yourself into our streets.
They will reject your faith as they reject you.
As a result, your army will have to stay for years in Halice to secure your authority, probably decades – and after your aggression against a peaceful neighbour do you really think trade will flow into Halice as it once did?
Particularly when the Maineri Bank has such strong ties to Coari as a new trading partner, rendering your country frankly unnecessary.
You stand with no allies and no trade. You would be entirely alone.
Instead of Halician trade making you wealthy, the city will be a drain on your resources for years to come.
Armies tied up in controlling the populace, the expense of that upkeep, ensuring the people have enough food and work to prevent a revolution born of desperation – believe me, it’s not as easy as I make it look. ”
I sip my drink and the Holy Mother scowls.
“Fate will provide for all people,” she snaps.
“Perhaps. Either way, it’s your job.”
“Fate and I are one and the same.” The Holy Mother’s face pulls at the words. I let out a low, slow chuckle. I deliberately let that settle, allowing the smirk to twist around my lips.
“And they say I’m blasphemous.”
I leave a pause for the words to really sink in. The Holy Mother leans forwards and takes a deep breath.
“Once you surrender the city to us, you could smooth the transition—”
“No,” I interrupt flatly. The Holy Mother takes a deep breath but continues as though I haven’t spoken.
“You could ease the transition of power. Restart trade, ease the famines and malcontent in the city. Together we could get the city back on track after the people strayed from their faith and path.”
“I could,” I muse, “but I won’t. Because if my city has fallen then I am amongst the dead. Halice will not be beaten if there’s still breath in my lungs.”