“We have your runaways Magistrate. They decided to fight, well they tried to ambush us,” Charis said.

“You continue to amaze. I am grateful,” the Magistrate replied.

“I am not sure how to report this. Unfortunately, your Inquisitor co-operated easily and freely with the High Priest. It was plain to us they were working the ambush together, one covering the other. I am not sure how this explains the behaviour of the Keep’s Guards and the Inquisitor in the Main Hall though.”

“Thank you Charis, this is disturbing news indeed.”

“What do you want done with the bodies Magistrate?”

“Burn them both at night, ensure their souls are lost,” the Magistrate answered.

Charis observed his trembling, barely perceptible, anger, fear, or both. His voice level and even she needed to acknowledge and respect his self-control, after all, a loyal devotee converted in less than a day by an unknown evil, would shock most.

“I thought now, before the sun fades, perhaps the Inquisitor would need to face Judge before being sent to Jury?”

“Yes you are doing some good thinking for me; let them both face Judgement now.”

Charis well satisfied with the answer called to her Daughters. Both bodies of evil to burn immediately and with haste before anyone could inspect the bodies to find any evidence of after death cuts. They took them both outside the Keep, cleared some of the top soil from the existing pyre, and threw the bodies on and added some dry brush and pieces of firewood.

The Daughters stood hypnotised by the strong blaze taking hold of the pyre. They swivelled towards a yelling and hurrying figure racing towards them wearing the livery of the Baron. When he arrived, he stood beside them and observed what they did.

“Mistress Charis I believe the Baron will want to see you …” he trailed off.

Charis accepted her fate. The flames of the pyre burnt down before she followed the servant of the Baron, ignoring his hints and coughs until ready.

---

Charis stood before the Baron. Neither spoke while the Baron paced. Charis noticed lines on his face, new ones she realised.

“You certainly acted quickly to burn the bodies of the traitors?” he questioned, as he swivelled smartly to face her.

“We needed to make sure there was enough Sun, to ensure they would face judgement before Judge, Baron. Time was against us,” Charis replied.

“I needed some explanation for the actions of my Guards. They weren’t the best a Baron could call to arms, even so, they were loyal, and they needed to be to stay by my side over these past two seasons.”

“I apologise, Baron, I supported Charis in burning the bodies during the day, I didn’t think beyond my own needs in this. This entire past week has been confusing for me and it will take some time to examine each of its parts I suspect,” the Magistrate offered.

“With your permission Baron the Daughters of the Duchess will leave at first light tomorrow, we conclude our faithful service in your defence. Your Keep is now provisioned to ensure your subjects survive Death Season and faithful Judge Knights now protect you and defend you against the evil we found when we first arrived many days ago,” Charis bowed.

“So sudden, what is the urgency? You will not stay for my Coronation or my Wedding?” the Baron asked.

“I would caution against too generous a celebration and the fewer mouths you feed the better for your stores I would believe, including the Daughters of the Duchess. Do you grant us your leave?”

“Yes and safe travel with our thanks. While occasionally, your actions have given me pause you have proven yourself. You will always be welcome,” the Baron replied.

“We will certainly miss you and you are certainly right about mouths to feed.”

Charis recognised her voice, the Baroness’ presence, an unwelcomed addition to the Great Hall. Charis did not turn or acknowledge her.

“I will need to return at some time. My father willed me his Blacksmith and while assuming I paid for board, the Innkeeper saw it differently and sold me her Inn. The Blacksmith is in care, I fear the Inn will be vacant until after Death Season. I and the Daughters of the Duchess bid you farewell,” Charis finished quickly.

She pivoted on her heels and strode out through the Main Hall’s double doors. Much to complete to ensure the Daughters would be ready to leave by morning Charis worried.

By late afternoon, the wagons from Hillperch arrived at the Keep. With the supplies they carried, the Keep and the village now secured to survive Death Season as long as no celebrations consumed too much of it.

Clymene embraced Charis immediately upon exiting the Keep. She returned the embrace and they strolled to the Daughter’s Barracks arm in arm. Charis asked Helice to remove their goods and chattels from the Keep, utilising the sisters who didn’t attend the burning to assist her. Charis observed two real Judge Knights assigned to the Gate and a couple more patrolling on the wall as she and Clymene approached the Barracks.

As Charis and Clymene entered, an immediate silence enveloped them. The Daughters of the Duchess lined up near their assigned bunks. The Barracks appeared tidy Charis wondering where the bodies of the Guards ended up although she suspected the pyre. As Charis strode down the centre aisle, hands clasped behind her back, each of the Daughters bowed as she approached them. She reached the end of the bunk beds and stood before the Barracks Commanders Room and turned to face them her hands now idly in front of her.

Admiring her, warrior-sisters and initiates alike, their gaze held by her presence.

“I have never been more proud of you my warrior-sisters. I also witnessed the dedication and devotion of the Initiates. I will make it known now in my absence Astera is Mistress of the Daughters of the Duchess, she has proven her leadership already, and I wanted to confirm this honour upon her before all so there is no doubt. Disobey her and you disobey me.”

Charis paused for a moment to make sure her words carried and to glance knowingly at Astera.

“The Baron has granted us his leave, we will be moving out at first light and not a heartbeat later. Absolutely no celebrations tonight and I single out Helice and Clymene in this regard.”

While everyone wanted to laugh and smirk, no one did.

“Mistress all has been prepared. The foodstuffs were unloaded from the wagons and placed in the Keep’s storerooms this afternoon; we didn’t need to call for volunteers from the Keep they appeared ready and willing to assist. The wagons are now loaded with all the weapons and armour captured from the false Judge Knights, the goods and chattels from the Keep including one large chest containing personal items of value to you Mistress,” Astera declared.

Charis quickly wiped a budding tear away.

“Mistress with over thirty horses, some of them courtesy of those very same men, we needed to requisition back some hay and oats to ensure they won’t starve before we stable them at Hillperch. The saddles and tack of the horses not required as mounts are loaded onto a wagon. Each sister has been assigned a horse and where the horse is unfamiliar to them, they rode it within the Keep’s walls to ensure they can control the horse,” Dione finished.

Charis glanced at each of the faces, her pride in them filling her, energising her after a trying day.

“There are twenty dead false Judge Knights confirmed, one is still missing. The Priests and Stable Boys accounted for. On our journey back we still need to be on guard, I do not want to lose a sister on our homeward journey,” Charis replied.

“Yes Mistress,” the Daughters of Duchess whispered in reply.

“Astera will set guard shifts for the barracks as I need some rest. Finally and truly, I am blessed to be in such fine company as the Daughters of the Duchess and Initiates.”

She about faced, escaping into her room searching for sleep. It was well prepared with fresh under clothes, water basin for the morning; fresh sheets on the bed, she smiled appreciating the promise of rest. Charis turned then to the knock on the open door, Clymene requesting an audience.

“Enter.”

“Mistress, before you settle you need to know after the Magistrate and his Priests rode off and as we were approaching the village a severely wounded women was found by the trail. She carried two arrow wounds, one to an arm and one to her chest. The chest wound missed vital organs, although she did lose an unknown quantity of blood. The Militia from Hillperch voted to care for her and asked me to bandage her, which I did. As far as I am aware, the Militia carried her into the Keep after we arrived. Since you are missing a false Judge Knight and a woman appears with battle wounds, perhaps she was a lone female with them, which is perhaps why she has escaped justice.”

“Or perhaps she has some items on her, which can influence those about her to aid her rather than harm her regardless of any sensible facts. Thank you, I best make enquires at the Keep.”

“Sorry Mistress, you did mention the missing false Judge Knight. I assumed you thought it important.”

“It is timely you have raised it. She will journey back with us if I can convince the Baron to release her to our care and we will need to prepare a wagon for her and ensure as few sisters as possible attend to her in case her influence is powerful.”

“Yes Mistress.”

Charis hurried from the Barracks to the Keep in short time. When she entered the Main Hall, the servants stopped their fussing around the tables and around the important persons of the Keep. The preparation for the evening meal underway the table eagerly awaited the food, until Charis’ appearance.

“Baron and Magistrate, I would ask a small favour,” Charis announced.

Amused, they both gave her their full attention.

“A wounded woman arrived with the wagons today. As you appreciate, my company only recruits women and given she is wounded if we see her to Hillperch and affect her recovery she may be grateful and consider joining our company.”

“From what I’ve been told she has not recovered as yet and there is no Priestess of Ure on hand to assist her. I would be thankful for your offer, as I don’t want another to die this season if I can prevent it. To assist, my servants will carry her to your Barracks first thing in the morning as I know you are keen to leave us,” the Baron replied.

“Thank you and I apologise for the interruption.”

Charis pleased they didn’t question her sudden return, which likely surprised them, although the Baron may have already thought about the woman to respond as quickly as he did. It didn’t matter now everything was organised.

As Charis passed through the Barracks, she confirmed to Clymene an injured guest would arrive in the morning. She then snuck to her room and closed the door behind her. There was a gentle knocking and as she acknowledge it and allowed them to enter, she realise it was her two initiates. With well-practiced hands, they remove her armour, her felt, and her underclothe. They then hand washed her and tenderly dried her. They asked her to lie on the bed and then massaged her aching limps and body with light oil they found somewhere. When done, they placed a sheet and a blanket over her naked body and left the room. Charis went to sleep before she could wonder.

+++

A gentle knock on the door woke her up. The false dawn upon the day confirmed the start of another, although to Charis she felt as if she recently slipped into sleep. The two initiates reversed the process of the night before, underclothe, felt, armour, cloak and Daughter’s pin. The Initiates allowed her to wash her face and then offered a meal to break her fast. Ready at first light, Charis realised with the Barracks empty, their Mistress would present last this day. With trepidation, Charis shuffled out of the Barracks, before her the company assembled ready to leave, on horse or driving a wagon. She also noticed the wounded woman loaded onto a wagon with a straw mattress underneath her and blankets over her.

As they approached the open Keep’s Gate, Judge Knights bowed their heads as they passed. Finally, the stuffy, respectful, rule abiding Knights she knew!

They made excellent time along the trail to Hillperch and prepared for camp. Charis followed the tradition she knew, learnt from the waggoneers many months ago, a circle of wagons around a central fire. Although this time, a modest cooking fire, not a huge blaze, which could be seen from afar. The Initiates handicapped by the dark without Borrow Stones, the warrior-sisters weren’t, therefore the less heat and light the better.

The next two days and nights followed the same pattern and then they were within sight of Farstay. Charis determined their patient was beyond death now and ordered Helice and Clymene to search for any items under the pretext of changing bandages and the like. They found two and deftly removed them, bandaging the small wounds. With the items removed, an evil stink wafted from the woman now. It was impossible not to notice something was off with her, you wouldn’t trust her for example, although you wouldn’t understand why.

Charis called Otonia to her, they were going to ride in the wagon with the woman and position their feet near her head as they chatted to her to ensure the strongest influence of their bronze loops. They would care, feed her, and change her wound dressings to cement the friendship.

---

The pain in her chest prevented her from sitting up, which forced her to be still upon waking. Night, she guessed, dark at least and she rested in the back of a wagon, it seemed. At least the straw mattress cradled her entire body saving her from the ache of rough jostling and jolting of the wagon on a trail. Her arm ached as well although regaining strength. She decided to remain unconscious or pretend until she could learn more.

+++

The next morning she awoke thirsty and by chance, a water bucket and cup rested beside her. To reach for it would reveal she was conscious. She wasn’t sure how they cared for her to keep her alive. The sun high, the wagon probably stopped for the middle of the day meal she surmised. Where did her care go, her throat now parched and she was developing a headache. She reached for the cup, dipped it in the bucket, and drank, quickly.

“Glad to see you have regained your senses,” Charis announced.

“Yes, we were worried you would never wake up, we’ve been dripping water into your mouth for days now. Welcome back, we are here to help. Others found you wounded and they gave you in to our care. Are you well enough to nibble on some food?” Otonia asked.

She pretended she couldn’t talk and shook her head to complete the deceit.

“I am sure you will speak up when you are hungry,” Charis replied.

She noticed both of these warrior girls seated on either side of her, their ever-present boots beside her head their bottoms squatting on the wagon seat, both facing backwards. From there they could scrutinise her every move. She also realised the two additional wounds on her, minor cuts at important places. They or someone else knew about the magic and took them. An awful twist developed in her stomach, weak, alone and possibly in danger for her life.

They stopped again for the night and when she smelt the stew cooking, she desperately needed to eat and asked, resisting no longer. They spooned it to her, gently and carefully, they comforted her. Both talked constantly about their possible friendship. They ensured she was under a blanket for the night to keep her warm. How thoughtful.

She awoke in the morning and needed more food, much more food. She wondered if they would feed her twice. They were being nice to her, again she asked, hopeful they would say yes.

They did, they did feed her twice; she celebrated her new friendship. Did they steal her magic though? They continued to chat to her, the things they would achieve together, and as a three; the God’s favour would grace their partnership. Yes, she thought the three of them together would mean good fortune and luck.

The wagon travelled on. With food and drink plentiful, available from her new friends and the wagon ride bearable her chest began healing. The food she ate contained plenty of meat. She tested her arm and it flexed without too much stiffness and pain. She was considering escaping although she needed to regain more strength still. She wasn’t sure she wanted to leave her new friends, with their food and their care, and her at ease lying in the wagon.

Night passed easily with another nourishing meal and water to wash it down. Her friends were making more plans and she considered herself lucky they included her. When she improved, they would form a team. In the morning, she broke her fast and then her friends asked if she felt strong enough to stand and if so, they could try to exercise her legs before the wagons rolled on again to start the day’s travel. She wanted to try for her new friends and found she could sit up and then shuffle herself to the edge of the wagon.

They assisted her down and supported her, such compassionate friends. She endured a brief promenade and enjoyed standing on two feet at last welcoming their support. When they assisted her back on to the wagon, they made a chair for her out of their crossed arms and lifted her up. She couldn’t help smell them, pleasant, better than her old friends did. Her new friends treated her as an equal and sincerely asked her opinion on things.

“Your old acquaintances; did they like us?” Charis asked.

My old acquaintances, yes I remember them, they didn’t treat me as well as my new friends, what harm in telling them she pondered.

“No the crusty old High Priest thought you were girls playing with sharp objects and not dangerous at all, he wanted to play games with you for his amusement until a special visitor arrived.”

“Oh, who was the visitor?” Otonia asked.

“He was the man who made or at least delivered the magic trinkets, he was going to deliver a heap to us. Well a heap to the others, they may have given me one or none, knowing them. Do you know what happened? Where or who gave me these cuts?”

“No, we found you that way; we thought they were battle or torture wounds,” Charis said.

Then she was back on the wagon lying on her bed and ready for the next day of travel.

When they stopped again for the middle of the day meal, her friends near her like always, they brought her food and drink, extremely thoughtful!

“Is the High Priest scary or a blowhard?” Otonia asked.

“Oh no, he was scary and powerful. He could draw the dead back from the earth and they would creep about and do as he ordered. Sometimes they didn’t and his big bad man knights would need to destroy them. They would strike their heads off or destroy the head.”

“Eww doesn’t sound very good. Could he do anything else?” Otonia sounded deliberately eager.

“Yes, we were being held and questioned, he approached one the guards and made sure he alone talked to him. Next we know the guard is our best friend and ally and letting us out of the dungeon. Another time we were in a village and he gave a speech to the guards there as a High Priest of Judge and inspired them, we heard the next day the guards slaughtered most of the village before they were stopped. He is or was scary for sure!”

It was another day and night to Maplethorn and the Daughters deliberately kept prying eyes away from the caravan when on the village green. Charis spent some coin at the Inn, which she did at Farstay to keep the village on side.

They could hear the Bells from Hillperch; they were close to home now. Early afternoon Dione noticed riders trying to catch them, merely three therefore Charis assigned Astera, Thyia, and the two Initiates to the rear of the caravan as a precaution. They weren’t required and Charis thought it best to ride to meet him. Her new friend weakly wished her well from the wagon.

“Well, we meet again Magistrate. I thought you were staying a while with the Baron,” Charis said, waving to him as she rode to him.

“I stayed and presided over the Baron’s coronation and wedding. Then I departed with some urgency, as I need to discuss some troubling business with you. Do you still escort the woman found by the trail?”

“Yes, she has recovered somewhat although unnerving to those who approach her.”

“In what way is she unnerving? Show her to me please,” he asked.

As he rode alongside her, Charis noticed the Magistrate shift uneasily in his saddle feeling the same unease when near the false Judge Knights in the Keep, perhaps. They paused before reaching the wagon, allowing the wagon to roll away from them. He glanced at Charis and sat astride his horse in thought, clearly delaying to remain unseen.

“I am sad and happy to inform you she is the missing false Judge Knight. I don’t need Temple records for confirmation, you are right about the unease she gives off. The same we felt at the Keep with the false Judge Knights.”

“Then as we did there, I release her into your custody,” Charis offered, taking a calculated gamble, noting early on the Magistrate and his escort.

“No, I need you to cover her face as I ride myself and my escorts past your caravan. I would appreciate you staying beside the wagon, and then I can pretend to cut the trail and avoid it as my escorts will surely notice her presence as you and I have. I would be in your debt if you would stop before reaching Hillperch and burn her.”

Charis didn’t feign the shock on her face; she knew he wouldn’t want to escort her in case, like the others she was a fallen Judge Knight known to his escorts. What surprised her, he asked her to execute someone within the Temple’s responsibility.

“Can you not reach in now and slit her throat and we will do the rest?”

“No, I am riding and conversing with you, friends well met, I cannot show any interest in a wagon containing nothing important.” Then he rode back to his escorts and true to his intentions, he rode wide of the caravan, the wagon carrying their guest in particular.

Charis’ interest centred on the items the fallen Judge Knight carried which they found or at least found enough. She wasn’t interested in cold-blooded murder though. She also wasn’t interested in defying the Magistrate.

---

Thyia and Drosis led one wagon away from the rest taking the trail to Oxrest and after a couple of bells, entering a familiar farm gate. Drosis drove the wagon into the Barn, and with Thyia, unloaded the weapons and armour up into the loft. The horses shortly after were unhitched, fed, watered, and dressed down released to pasture to join some old friends. The wagon remained in the Barn, now home. The two visited the farmer to say what they left behind and then left to make it into Hillperch before the Gate closed at nightfall.

Astera guided the wagon caravan through the Town Gate to find Alcmene waiting with waggoneers ready to take over the driving of the wagons to the Leatherworker’s Shop, since the Town Council restricted this to the Waggoneers Guild for the protection of all, from runaway wagons. They were unloaded and then driven away to the stable, parked nearby and the horses stabled. The wagons lent from the Merchants needing to be returned in the morning. Dione, Clymene, and Dirce took the extra horses to the Daughter’s now completed stable.

Alcmene prepared the House for the Initiates; asking the Leatherworker’s to relocate to the half-completed shop near the Stables with their equipment and shop front relocated as well in the available time. Alcmene organised bunk beds in the former workshop area, as Initiates were restricted to the ground floor by rule. The urine odour overpowering the workshop area required Alcmene to spread copious amounts of perfume to try to quell the offensive scent. She realised this wasn’t ideal or long term.

Acquiring the lower level made it easier to unload the wagons at least and faster. The warrior-sisters took special care and delivered the Mistress’ chest to her room, with her personal things placed carefully in her room. They also added the newly acquired items in the existing Chest for safekeeping. The Initiates organised their own sleeping arrangements using the double bunks. All parts moving to the devised plan.

Astera asked Clymene and Alcmene where Charis, Otonia, and Helice were. They advised her they needed another day and Astera was in charge until they returned.

Astera addressed each Daughter of the Duchess personally and ordered them to sleep after a brief meal, as tomorrow the Daughters would need to work to ensure everyone settled in.