The Walls of Ugelor

As the men from Losk went back to their rooms or passed out drunk in the halls, Rachel walked the walls of Ughelor with a bearskin over her. It had become a ritual, nearly as sacred as the rites and sacrifices she practiced in the Deep Chapel. From the walls she could see the birds of the night and the creeping creatures. The villages that pledged fealty to Cador were a grounded constellation of lights scattered across the horizon. Tonight the brighter light was just beneath her. The men who remained behind at the camp were looking up, surprised to see the woman who they had thought a prisoner that morning. The unpleasant weather made them sourfaced.

Outside the camp itself was another person, the watchman, she presumed. He was better armored than his slovenly compatriots. Rachel looked at him and wondered why one of the knights had been left behind. They might be cleverer than you thought, she considered. As she watched longer the night-gaze offered by her gods strengthened in her, and she was able to make out the features of the watchman's face. It was no man, in fact, but a woman, only her red hair was worn short. She was tall, but her features fine and freckled. She held a sword. Ready to strike down any demon that emerges from this castle, Rachel thought mirthfully. As she stared down at the woman, the woman stared back at her. She smiled.

"Good evening," she called down.

"Good evening," the woman answered.

"I am Rachel of Losk," she said.

The woman nodded. "Your father described you to my companions," she said. "He spoke of your beautiful dark hair."

Rachel laughed and ran her hands through it. "It was a gift from my mother," she said. "But I brush it every night. Yours, too, is beautiful, my lady. I admire its color. Are you married?"

"No, my lady. I took a vow of chastity when I pledged myself to knighthood."

"Curious, for a woman," said Rachel. There was a stirring in her. It could have been a command from the spirits gathered round her, but it could as easily be her own impulse. "It's not easy for me to maintain a conversation from so far away. Why don't you come up and see me?"

The woman glanced around herself. The men of the camp had noticed their conversation, but stayed behind their fires, thinking it could protect them. "My companions told me to remain outside," she said.

To guard the camp, or to keep from embarrassing them? I've never known a man who wanted to march into battle alongside a woman, thought Rachel. She smiled for the wouldbe knight. "I'll not tell them," she said in a conspiratiorial whisper. "There's a rope here. I can lower it for you, if you think you can climb it. Else I'll have to wake the men to open the gate."

The woman thought on it. She perhaps considered the offer a dereliction of duty, but knew as well as Rachel did why the knights had insisted she remain behind. "If you wish it, my lady," she said. "We come here for your good."

"I'm so glad," said Rachel, clapping her hands together. She knelt and extended three fingers, circling them through the air and uttering a word. A rope long enough to reach the ground slid out of the shadows into her hand. She tied it around the crenellation and threw it down. "Only tell me if I can do anything to assist you," she said.

Setting herself to it, the woman did not seem like she needed help. The rope would make it easier for her, lighten her burden and make every pull upward stronger. Then the woman was nearly at the top, planting her boot between the spire and her hands on either side. Rachel took one of the hands and pulled her through. "Thank you," said the woman.

"You know me, but I'm afraid I don't know you," said Rachel, insinuating that her companions had not even mentioned her.

The woman frowned and knelt before her. "I've been rude, my lady, I apologize. I am Onwen of Cogel. The goddess Breselia appeared to me in a dream when I was young, and told me it was my destiny to aspire to martial virtue." Breselia, goddess of wisdom and war. Interesting that she had demanded such an unwise path of one of her maidens.

Rachel gasped with glee. "An envoy from a goddess," she said. "It's an honor to have you in Ugelor."