"Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation."
Judges 10:14

********

In the coolness of his darkened church, Brother Llwyd sank into a pew and knelt, lowering his face into his hands, seeking the peace of his faith even as he silently prayed for some answers.

"Why, Lord?"

He looked up at the altar where this very morning he'd performed the second funeral in the past two days. Two deaths. Two healthy young men with wives and children. Two lives cut short by an illness that cut them down within a day of each other. Others had fallen ill, but these had been the first to die. Why them? What was happening to Penally?

"Brother? Are you in here?"

Llwyd turned without standing and peered back at the entrance. A tall figure stood in silhouette against the bright backdrop of the morning sun. "Branwen?"

The scarred woman came over and sat beside him. Over the months an unlikely friendship had grown between the monk and commander of the White Raven mercenaries, and she shared his concern over the outbreak of the mysterious disease. "I heard. I would have attended but I had a delegation of concerned citizens." She made a sour face. "They finally realized what you and I had seen. It's not a widespread outbreak. Mostly men. Very few women or children, and only those who live close to the tavern."

"They blame Elis?"

"Aye. Heryn's nephew getting revenge is their thought. Most pushed for burning the Bleddyn down around the poor bastard's ears. I had to "persuade" them it was a bad idea." Llwyd chuckled softly. Branwen's powers of persuasion were known to make grown men tremble. It had cost her, however. She'd been ill herself lately and she seemed pale and exhausted, and when she brushed an errant hair away from her face, Llwyd felt a twinge of alarm at the slight trembling in his friend's hand.

"Are you alright, Branwen?"

"I'll be alright. Gethin chided me this morn because I'd not gone to bed right after I'd eaten the tray of food he'd got for me last eve. But I'm sure I've seen this before. The answer is in the Company records. I KNOW it is." She slapped the back of the pew in front of them in frustration. "If my eyes weren't so damn old I would be able to read faster. I should let Gethin do it, but damn it, I'm not ready to step aside yet. His time will come soon enough."

Llwyd covered his astonishment at the outburst. He'd never seen the cool warrior in such a state. "I sent for Captain Blackthorn. Maybe he can help us."

"I'm not sure. Damnit, I know I'm right! There's something about this that seems familiar."

Another figure entered the church. "Commander? Perhaps you should get some rest? You've hardly slept." Gethin, the dashing lieutenant that Branwen had selected to be her successor, offered his senior his arm. She waved it away angrily and pulled herself to her feet, then turned to look at the monk. "Come to my quarters tonight, Brother. Perhaps two sets of eyes will find the answer."

She walked away and out of the church, leaving Gethin and Llwyd to exchange worried looks before the warrior bowed and hurried after the woman warrior. Llwyd sank back to his knees and once more looked up at the altar.

"Libera nos, Domine."
"Deliver us, o Lord."

07/2000


Fiat Lux II - Part V

"And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee."
Genesis 33:12

*********

The Road, as always, echoed softly with the sound of their horses' hooves and the creaking leather of their gear. Ian knew from experience that if they stopped and were perfectly still, they would hear the faint murmurings of all those who had ever passed this way. He glanced at Skye. Some of those he'd taken upon the Road with him had reacted with fear. But not Skye; she had a faint smile on her face as she looked about with inquisitive eyes. She swung her face back towards him.

"Ibrahim."
"Hmm?"
"You've mentioned him once or twice. How did you meet him?"

Ian chuckled. "I met him long ago. I was still with Ferret then. The first full Winter after he found me." He checked on the globe of blue light that lit their way through the mist before continuing. "I'd not been with him a year yet, and he contracted the Otters out to the Iberian wars. It astounded me..it was winter, and the air was still warm. Not summerish, mind you, but still warmer than here."

"Mmmm, it sounds wonderful"

"Aye, to a seventeen year old who'd spent the last Winter running the woods on his own, it was miraculous. Anyroad, we had no trouble finding work. The Moors and Christians are constantly fighting against each other and among themselves. We hired out to one of the Muluk Al-Tawa'if.. "the party kings"; Ferret chose the Dhul-Nunid caliph of Toledo, bargaining our services for a good sum and some Toledo steel. They make swords there, I tell you, Shurrukai.. "

Skye rolled her eyes. "I might have known it would go round to weapons talk. Tell me later; Ibrahim first, love."

"As milady commands." He laughed, the sound echoing around them. "By this time Ferret was letting me try my wings. Second time out in command of a patrol, we were looking for an overdue supply caravan. We found them five miles out from Toledo, under attack from a mixed band of brigands. By the time we got there, most of the guards were dead, and the bandits had surrounded this one figure who was holding them off with a fan, one of those poles with big feathers. A fan!" He shook his head in wonderment, still bemused after all these years at how funny it seemed. "This little man-he's a small man, Ibrahim- in blue robes and a fan was holding off fifteen men from some chests. They were so engrossed in taking him they never saw us coming. We charged down on them, cut them down, and then I turned to this man, and was promptly hit with the fan in the head. My horse's hooves had smashed a side of the chest while trampling a bandit."

Now Skye laughed. "Was he hurt?"

"Only his pride. And then I made a big mistake. I looked at the chest and saw it was not full of gold, but of scrolls. Piles of them. 'Are you crazy, little man?', I shouted. 'You nearly died over books?' He batted at me again and again, called me an uncouth barbarian, much to the delight of the men. Then he stopped.

'Your ears!'
'What about my ears?' Keep in mind, I was still new to command and the subject of my origins was still a touchy one for me.
'You're an ifrit!'
'No, I'm half-elf.'
'Same thing.'
'No it isn't!'
And then he proceeded to debate the point with me all the way back to Toledo, citing passages from Greek and Roman and Arab scholars as we rode."

Skye gave that loud laugh of hers; the Road echoed once more. "He became a friend, then?"

"Oh yes. It turned out Ferret had sent for him. He was to work with our healers and teach them what the Moors had learned about herbs and medicine. And Ferret offered him a bonus to teach me what he thought I should have learned long before. So we spent long hours, just talking. My father's tutors taught me knowledge of war. Ibrahim taught me knowledge of life."

"I'd like to meet him someday"

He reached over and took her free hand. "A holiday, you and I. I'll show you Espana." He leaned over, kissed her quickly, then winked.

"But first, Penally, heh?"

He stopped Horse and Skye drew rein and waited. Ahead of them, the blue orb seemed to dance about in mid air. "Way's clear, love". And with that, he gestured, and with a rush of air, they were sitting on a dirt road just north of the village of Penally.

08/2000


Fiat Lux II - Part VI

"For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart."
Psalm 11:2

*********

They'd been on the dirt road to Penally only a few minutes when Ian heard the stone. He and Skye were at a spot where the road narrowed and was flanked on both sides by tall rocks, when suddenly the half-elf heard the distinct clatter of stone on stone.

"'Ware, love! Ambush!"

Skye spurred her horse over to the cover of some nearby boulders while Ian headed for the opposite side of the road. A thrum in the air sounded near his ear and suddenly an arrow shattered against the rock wall near his head.

"Archer!"

He looked back across at Skye. "Aye, so I noticed, love." His wife, by this time, had strung her own bow and nocked an arrow, scanning the cliff above for good targets. Someone must have made a mistake because she grinned, loosed, and was rewarded with a yelp of pain from the arrow's destination. She had another arrow nocked and ready before the cry of pain had faded.

"Ian?"

"I'm fine, shurrukai."

"I don't think there's many of them." An attacker's arrow went flying past her and she spat into the dust. "And the few of them are bad shots, to boot!"

"Hmm..well, in that case." He stepped out into the middle of the road.

"IAN!"

The bandit archer took the bait, standing to draw his bowstring back and aiming at the easy target. He never took the shot. Instead, he looked down at his chest where Skye's arrow had suddenly struck home, and then plunged over the cliff to the road below. There were muffled shouts and the sound of scrambling feet as the surviving attackers sped away.

"Well shot, Skye!"

"Don't you 'well shot" me, Ian Blackthorn! What WERE you thinking!"

"Well.."

"Don't try to talk your way out of it! You could have been killed!"

"You said..."

"Not a word!" She slapped at his chest." DAMN it, Ian!" She slapped his chest again. "Ow!"

"I'm wearing my mail. And you said they were lousy shots. So, unless one got me in the eye, I was in no danger."

She glared at him, then turned and marched over to her horse. "And scared me within an inch of my life!"

He followed suit, gathering Horse's reins into one hand and then swinging up into the saddle." I had every confidence in you, love."

Skye continued to glare at him as she led Fyre over to the body, then swore in disgust. The shaft had been broken in the fall, but she pulled the head out and shoved the broken arrow in her saddlebags. At least the tip and the fletchings would be reused. She looked the body over. " A pretty well fed brigand, wouldn't you say?"

"Aye. I hadn't heard there were any problems around here lately. But this would be a good spot for a band to operate from."

"I thought so , too." She mounted her horse. "Well, we can tell your friend Branwen about them. Doubtless her troops could use some practice." She started off down the road, then called back. "And you have large eyes, you know!"

*********

It was nearly midday when they finally reached Penally, yet the edge of the village seemed unusually quiet. Skye had just given Ian a questioning glance when an angry roar could be heard from the center of town.

"I don't like the sound of that."

"Neither do I. Come on!"

08/2000


Fiat Lux II - Part VII

"O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself."
Psalm 94:1

"Brother! Come quick! They're going to kill him!"

Llwyd grabbed the boy by the shoulders and spoke gently. "Easy, Janno. Who are they going to kill?"

"Master Elis, because Ieuan took sick last eve after he came home from the Bleddyn, and he died in the night. Huw and the others are on the way to the tavern now!"

"You did right to come for me, Janno. Now, go fetch Branwen or Gethin and send them to the Bleddyn." He rushed for the chapel door." I'll do what I can to stop them."

*********

An angry mob of villagers was gathering in front of the Bleddyn Tavern as Llwyd approached from the chapel. Huw, tall for a Welshman, was at the head of it, of course. Llwyd shook his head in frustration. Huw had a temper as tall as he and a talent to get others to agree with him. The monk began trying to push his way through the crowd, hoping he could make Huw listen to reason, or at least long enough for the soldiers to arrive. He was halfway towards the front of the mob when the tavern door opened, and Elis stepped out. An angry roar rose in the hot air.

"Away with you all! I told you, I have nothing to do with these men dying!" The tavernkeeper was much shorter than Huw, but the young man was holding a short sword, and the men stepped back slightly." I am not my uncle! I grew up here, I know you all, don't you see I wouldn't.." A stone flew from the back of the crowd and stunned Elis as he turned his head slightly and the sword clattered to the ground. Once more the mob roared.

"Stop! Don't do this! Huw, you must stop!" But Llwyd was now swept along with the others as they surged forwards. He could hear Huw telling the men to get a rope. "Huw! NO!"

A sudden humming noise over the villagers' heads was followed by the loud THUNK of an arrow sinking into the tavern door inches from Huw's hand. "Branwen!", Llwyd shouted. "Thank God you were in time!"

"Not Branwen, Brother. But friends nevertheless."

The men now began to spread out as those closest to the rear fell away. There, arrow nocked in her bow and aimed once more at Huw was a fiery-haired woman; next to her, sword at the ready, stood Blackthorn. He smiled at Llwyd. "Good day, Brother. We got your message, and it appears as though we've arrived just in time. Now..." he looked at Huw, "let Elis go, heh? My wife here is a very good shot but her hand might slip if she holds the bow like that much longer."

"It won't slip, Ian." Skye hissed softly.

"Humor me, love. He doesn't know that. Follow my lead" He raised his voice once more. "Well, lads, what will it be, an arrow or two to the family jewels? Or perhaps you all just go home and cool down intact?"

There were some angry murmurs in the crowd, and Huw grew red faced and drew breath to argue.

"Huw, don't be an ass." Llwyd pushed his way through now easily. Go home! Go home and hope Margred doesn't find out what foolishness you've been about this day!" He shoved the big man gently aside and bent down to examine Eris' head. "Go on!"

If Huw was inclined to argue the point, he didn't get a chance. The arrival of Gethin and a squad of garrison soldiers ended the matter for now. Ian sheathed his sword as Skye returned the arrow to her quiver, then the pair joined Gethin as he went to help the monk. "Sorry I was so long, Brother."

The monk nodded as he helped Eris stand. "You got here. That's all that matters."

"Gethin? I'm Ian Blackthorn, this is my wife, Skye. If you can spare the men, we left an ambusher lying on the road outside the village. You may want to have it brought in; maybe someone will recognize it."

"Of course. And Branwen will be glad to see you both. Especially.." His voice trailed off, and his face was full of concern. Llwyd's throat tightened.

"Gethin? What happened?"

The mercenary looked down. "She's had another attack. Just this morn. I..I think she is likely to die soon."

Skye frowned, then looked at the men." Perhaps there is something I can do. I have some skill at herbs."

"Would you?" Llwyd smiled hopefully. "We'll go now. Eris, you stay put and don't open for business tonight!" The innkeeper nodded as he rubbed his head, then stepped back inside and shut the door. Llwyd turned back to Ian and Skye. "I'm sure just the sight of Ian here will do wonders." He waited as the Blackthorns got their horses and led them away.

"Sir?"

Gethin turned and regarded one of his men. "Yes?"

"That's the one Captain Branwen was talking about?"

Gethin looked back up the street at the backs of the three.

"Yes. That's the one."

08/2000