A Walk in the Dark Chapter 18 by Maggie Finson

“That was well done, Lady Dahlia.” Kevin told me once Sam and I had gotten back, cleaned up, enjoyed a few gymnastic exercises then had to clean up again before returning to the meeting room.

“And just how do you figure that?” I questioned shortly. “We killed, KILLED, sixteen people out there, and the farmers wouldn’t come out until we left.”

“Give it time, dear.” Alis answered with a little smile. “You and your consort eliminated one group of raiders who had been terrorizing the area for months. And before you protest again, the ones you killed had been torturing, burning, raping, even with children, for months. The “Dhro’aaa female, Kysstn, that you killed was bad enough that even her, your, own people cast her out.

“Granted, they probably wouldn’t have done that had she not committed her excesses on others of the race, but regardless. You two removed a rather large and annoying evil from the board.” She went on.

“And those farmers will remember you, Dahlia.” Kae’song took up the gauntlet of the conversation with an ease that had me almost wanting to hurt the oily bastard. “And they will tell others. That in itself is a good start.”

“I’m going to go take a bath.” I informed them all. “Then I’m going to get some sleep. Maybe all this crap will start making sense in the morning.”

But I kind of doubted that, other than the fact that Sam and I HAD done a good thing back there. Something in my nature kicked at that idea, but I was getting really good at ignoring things like that by then.

“Daughter.” A familiar, very powerful voice intruded on the peaceful sleep I had managed to get to after a nice hot, scented bath and lots of good smelling powder.

“Oh, great.” I complained. “I can’t even get a decent night’s sleep.”

“Do try to avoid killing my priestesses.” Llolth told me then grinned. Yeah, the horrible, evil, nasty goddess GRINNED. “Although the way you sent my latest little snack was quite entertaining.”

“Glad you liked it. Are we done yet?” I asked. “I really do need to have a good night’s sleep here. The past weeks have been kind of wearing. I hope you understand.”

“Of course, daughter.” Llolth nodded and actually reached out and stroked my forehead. At least she didn’t lean over and kiss me. “Just be careful in what you do. There are things that even my daughter won’t get away with.”

“I’ll try to keep that in mind.” I told her and yawned. Go figure. If you’re tired, really tired, even dreaming that you’re talking with one of the most dreaded goddesses in creation wouldn’t faze you, or at least it didn’t faze me. I was too tired to care. “Nite Mama.”

“Not yet, dear one.” She interrupted a really good ‘yawn, go to sleep’ move.

“Mama, I’m sleepy!” I complained.

“I’ve given you a protector, dear child.”

Okay, I was awake again, dammit and wasn’t all that happy with my really intelligent response to that revelation. “Huh?

“I gave you SSirrinthsss to be your guardian.” She told me with what I would have sworn was a smug look if she hadn’t been a goddess. “She will defend you even when you refuse to use the powers I have given you.”

Okay, this was creepy. I felt, actually FELT, the legs showing on my front side tighten a bit in what had to be a hug, and the thing on my back moved and tried to squirm closer if that was possible.

“She will obey your commands, daughter.” Llolth told me as if she was giving me a phone number to reach her if I couldn’t unlock the front door. “Unless you won’t do what is needed to survive.”

Worse? Ssirrinthsss the spider tattoo sent me assurances that she would defend me to the death.

Oh, wonderful.

Now I had an animated, living spider on my back that was also hugging me lovingly.

NITE MAMMA!!! Nope, not going there just now. Je Refuse, Non Importante, Nyet, No way...

“Sleep well, little one.” She answered before I could get even more outraged.

And I did. Sleep, I mean.

Hugged lovingly by eight legs that I still didn’t want to acknowledge.

But the hug wouldn’t go away, and you know? It actually felt kind of nice.

When I woke up I still remembered that one.

But you know? I felt more rested than I ever had since I’d come too in that damned cell.

Dammit Mama! I don’t NEED your help here!

Okay, I had reached the stage where I wasn’t disputing the fact that Llolth was Mommy for me.

I’ll let you go figure that one out.

But, dammit, I really did feel good. Better than I’d felt since I got pulled into this world.

Given what I’d done the other night that kind of bothered me.

“Return here at your peril.” I told the band of scraggly bandits I’d interrupted in their looting of a local village. “Go now and I will forget this. Return and I WILL hurt you.”

Some of them ran, but a few looked at me and fell on their faces. That had to hurt.

“Get up.” I told, commanded, them. I was learning really fast that even an idle wish could be taken as an order that someone just HAD to obey so was being really careful with things like that.

Why are you still here?” I questioned while looking over the bandits who either hadn’t had the nerve to run, or who were attracted to Moi. Sheesh, at times being this really sexy, inviting babe had its drawbacks.

“We will serve you, Lady.” One of them told me just before he bruised his forehead on the ground again.

“Is that so?” I asked then felt bad for the guys. “Okay, stop banging your heads on the ground, for starters. That has to hurt.”

Their leader gave me a look that plainly said he wasn’t getting it.

“Look.” I told him. “If I really wanted you guys to be hurt, I could do that without the help.

“What I need here is people who will do what needs to be done when I ask it.”

“You will have it, great lady.” He answered then started that banging his head on the ground thing again.

“Stop that!” I almost yelled. “Watching you guys do that gives me a headache. From now on, no banging heads on the ground when I just happen to show up, or at other times either. Got it?”

“Yes. Lady.” The guy answered, obviously out of his depth with a Dhro’aaa who didn’t want to be bowed and scraped to. Okay, he would have been out of his depth, anyway and that was still something I was trying really hard to get across to them. And myself.

“look.” I told him. “Take your people over there, sit on the benches and wait. I’ll come and fix the worst damage you did to yourselves in a minute. But just go over there, SIT, and DON’T do anything else, okay?

“You don’t seem like an evil goddess.” The guy pointed out and was watching me for a response.

“I can’t help who my mother is.” I grumbled then gave him one of those ‘girl’ looks reserved for idiots who just had a chance of redemption and blown it in a girl’s eyes. “Now get your butt over there and make sure your people do it too.”

Wonder of wonders. The guy did it.

“Well look at it this way.” Sam looked at the scraggly bunch and shrugged. “Now you seem to have some followers.”

“You aren’t helping things here.” I grumbled while giving the men a quick look. “I don’t think those idiots could fight their way out a wet paper bag if they were given a sharp knife to do it with.”

“Neither could we when we first got here, love.” He pointed out. “Maybe they’re trainable, you never know until you try.”

“Okay, okay.” I gave up on that one and gave the five men a close looking over. They all flinched when I did that and I just shook my head. “If you lot are going to serve me you need to stop the scared rabbit thing every time I look at you. I don’t have the time or patience for that kind of thing.

One of the villagers, a girl actually had timidly left the shelter of the ramshackle building she had run into when the bandits arrived closely followed by me and Sam. I smiled at her and asked. “Do you have any soap?”

“Soap, m’lady?” She questioned nervously, obviously ready to bolt again at the flutter of a feather on the breeze, but to give her credit, she did stay where she was while giving me puzzled looks.

“Yes, soap.” I answered then added. “And clean clothes that would fit those over there. I tossed her a couple of copper pieces because I knew she wouldn’t let me get close enough to hand them to her. “Go get the soap, please.”

The girl scurried away but returned with the requested soap while hesitantly telling me. “It will be a while for the clothing, Lady. No one else wants to venture out right now.”

“I understand.” I told her while taking the soap and tossing it to the former brigands.

The one who had first addressed me caught it and gave me a confused look.

“First things first.” I told him while gesturing to a pond some distance away. “Bathe.”

“Lady?” He questioned.

“You heard me.” I told him and tilted my head towards the pond. “Bathe. If you guys are going to serve me you’re going to at least be clean enough that having you around doesn’t clog my nostrils, got it? Now go take a bath. All of you.”

Some of them looked at the pond, the soap, then me as if they couldn’t believe what they were hearing. Another looked longingly at the horizon then shrugged and got up to move towards the pond. Eventually all of them were nude and scrubbing at themselves industriously.

“I know they stank.” Sam told me while watching this with confusion on his face too. “But you have something other than getting rid of the smell in mind here, don’t you?”

“Well, yeah.” I answered. “I’m just making this up as I go but a good cleansing is as much symbolic as practical here.”

“What?” He gave me an odd look. “You aren’t going to tell them that they’ve just washed their sins away or something, are you?”

I gave him that famous River Tam look then shook my head. “Give me a break here, Sam. No. What I’m doing is getting them clean enough to be presentable to Kae’song and the others. Not to mention that the smell did kind of offend me.”

Okay, so I’ve gotten fastidious lately. Sue me.

“As for the washing the sins away,” I shrugged, “Is it my fault if they just happen to believe that crap?”

He started laughing about then.

I sighed and looked back at the five in the pond. “Keep scrubbing!”

I felt a light tug at my cloak and turned to look down at the girl who had supplied the soap. She looked a little frightened, but not terrified. “Lady, the others want to know if it is safe to come out and thank you.”

She was pretty, and couldn’t be much more than twelve years old. Also, it was obvious that she was the ‘designated sacrifice’ if I wasn’t in the mood to be nice. That gave me a pang that actually hurt then I felt a little anger that grown people would put a child in such a position. But she had been the first and only villager yet to even approach me in the past weeks when Sam and I had been doing our patrols of the area. And truth be told, at twelve in this kind of life, she probably was far from being a child at all.

“Sure.” I told her and gave her a smile. At her look of incomprehension, I rephrased my answer. “Yes, it’s safe. Sam and I won’t harm any of you if you offer us none. Your people are safe from us.”

She accepted that with a little smile and lifting her skirts scampered back into the building she’d been hiding in. A few minutes later she reemerged in the company of an older couple and other young ones.

“Lady,” She curtsied, and looked up at me. “I am Lila, and these are my parents, brothers and sisters. She rattled off names that I filed away for later but at the time they all just kind of went in and seemed to hide, if you know what I mean.

I greeted Lila’s family politely, and other villagers began trickling out by twos and threes. It wasn’t exactly the old welcome wagon, but at least they weren’t running in terror at the sight of me and Sam, which was different.

I looked at all of them, and they were still timid with fear even if they were showing themselves. With a little sigh I moved carefully forward to take Lila by the shoulder and looked around. “This girl has shown more courage in the past while than I’ve seen grown men manage. Treasure her, she is worthy of that.

“My name is Dahlia.” I leaned down to whisper in her ear. “If you need my help, use my name. I may not get here right away, but I will come. Just make sure the need is an important one when you do call.”

“I thank you, Lady Dahlia.” She answered solemnly then gave me a look that young children often surprise adults with it was so composed and ‘knowing’. “I won’t call you for small things. I have the feeling that calling you won’t be a small matter at all, will it?”

“No, probably not.” I agreed and gave her a slow smile. “But remember all the same.”

There was something about that girl. She had potential, a lot of it, to be something other than a mere village woman in her future. I made a mental note to keep track of her in the future.

My five newly acquired — what should I call them? Henchmen? Hirelings? Followers? Whatever, they returned from the pond not smelling like walking, breathing cess pools and wearing clean tunics, leggings, and boots. I nodded at them and noted that without all the dirt and other filth, they were younger than I’d thought at first.

“Better.” I told them as they started to retrieve their mismatched and poorly cared for weapons. “Leave all that. If you’re going to be with me, I won’t have you carrying around junk.”

One of them thought about arguing and I stopped him with a look. The others decided it would probably be better to do as I’d said.

“Good.” I tossed one of them several silver pieces. “Give those to the villagers to pay for your new clothes and the damage you and your former friends caused here. And make sure they get all of it. I don’t think they would accept it from me. Then get back here because we all have some things to discuss.”

Sam just stood there and watched the whole thing with a halfway amused expression while resting a hand on the hilt of one of his swords. The one I sent with the silver returned and joined his companions who were nervously watching for what I would do next.

“You didn’t make such great bandits, you know.” I told them and shook my head. “It’s a wonder you hadn’t been caught before now. I’ll tell you the only reason you five aren’t dead along with the others who didn’t run is that I saw you actually trying to protect someone while your companions were committing their mayhem. So you have one chance here to convince me that you shouldn’t just be turned over to the nearest garrison.

“I don’t mean with protestations of loyalty to me, or any of that other bowing and scraping either. I want your oaths that you’ll give up the banditry, I’ll know if you’re lying or even if you have the slightest doubt about that. Fail to convince me and it’s the garrison for you.”

Sam moved forward to give them each a long, hard look and they did their best not to cringe as he did. When he produced a small dagger they almost soiled their fresh clothing. “Your hands.”

The five hesitantly offered their hands and Sam put a small cut on each man’s right hand. I stepped up and whispered. “I don’t need blood for this, Sam.”

“Yes you do.” He answered while stepping a pace back and holding out a plain wooden cup. Each of the five swore their oath to me and let a little of the blood from their wounds drip into the cup. Part of me was going ‘EEEW!’ but I carefully kept that back where it wouldn’t bother anything and well out of sight.

“One at a time.” I ordered them and waited.

“I, Yannis Thorv, swear to you, give my oath by word and blood that I will never again take up banditry. If my oath is broken let my blood flow as it does into this cup.”

The danged stuff actually steamed as it joined the rest in the cup. The other four stumbled through the same oath and the cup was looking like it held bright red heated wine. I nodded, dipped a finger in the stuff and marked each of them on the forehead. Then something compelled me to lift the cup to my mouth and drink. Urk! But what should have been gross to the nth degree wasn’t for some reason. It was a little salty, with the tang of iron, but I didn’t immediately throw up like I expected to do. “I accept your oaths and bond of blood. Now hold still while I heal those cuts and bruises.”

They did, I did, and so I ended up with five guys who though incompetent as bandits did possess useful skills in other things. Yannis was educated and from a family of means that had hit hard times. Ilsu had been a herder, Jance was an ex carpenter, Llew a smith, and Osgol a leather worker.

“All right, let’s go.” I told them and turned to watch the villagers for a moment. “These five are mine now, and my promise is one they will hold to. They won’t trouble you again.”

We set a slow pace since the five new kids were on foot. About halfway back to Kae’song’s citadel we had to stop for the night. Neither Sam or I were inconvenienced but the five humans with us were. I set them building a fire and started sharing out provisions when Yannis sidled up to me and whispered. “Uh, Lady we have company.”

I looked up and sure enough, three cloaked and hooded figures stood silently just outside the reach of our firelight. Ssirinthsss began to stir but I calmed her, still not used to the idea of wearing a living tattoo, and only a little surprised that our visitors had managed to come upon us unawares. One of them was a pretty potent magic user.

“I’d offer to share our fire, and rations.” I told them and shrugged. “But for some reason I think you’d decline both.”

“That is correct stranger.” The one I had pegged as the magic user answered in a melodious voice as she pulled her hood back to reveal a face so much like mine it was unnerving. “Who are you, High Caste and what exactly is your game here?”

Maaan. Just when you think things are starting to look up. I stared at the High Caste Dhro’aaa female who was questioning me and let out a sigh. “Well you see, it’s like this…”