The knight glanced over at Shirin and Sábria, who were hurrying over. Pulling the pouch of herbs from her waistband, she tossed it at Shirin and, with a nod, pointed towards the dining hall. “Fetch her a drink.”

  In a flash of insight, Shirin understood exactly what the knight had done. There was no way Ailith would willingly drink the herbs, but weak and near to passing out, she’d down a glass of juice without thinking. An understanding grin lifted one side of Shirin’s mouth. Impressed with the woman’s cunning ingenuity, she jogged to the dining hall to find a glass of strong juice that would hide the taste of the herbs.

  After tossing the pouch to Shirin, Isobel motioned for Sábria to kneel behind Ailith. When Sábria was in position, Isobel leaned Ailith back so that now instead of leaning against her, she would lean against Sábria instead.

  Understanding what the knight intended, Sábria felt nothing but gratitude for the woman who possessed such a multifaceted personality. Putting her hand on Ailith’s clammy forehead, she guided her head back so that it was leaning against her shoulder. “Easy, Ailith. You’re feeling like you need to pass out because you haven’t had much to eat or drink for quite a while.”

  When Shirin returned with the juice, Sábria took it and held it to Ailith’s lips. “Here. Take a drink. It’ll help clear your head and hopefully stop some of the nausea you’re feeling. Once that happens, we’ll get you up to one of the tables and get some food into you. Isobel’s right. You should be able to fight longer than that.”

  Ailith tried to take the glass from Sábria, but her hand shook so hard the priestess had to take it back. “Here, we’ll do it together.” They managed to get the glass to Ailith’s lips, and she gulped down most of the juice. Scrunching up her nose, she turned her head and pushed the cup away. “Doggery root? What are ya putting that piss tastin’ herb in me drink fer?”

  Isobel pointed to the cup, “Drink it. Cori sent it. There’s a lot of other herbs in there that she says will help clear your head.”

  “Me head’s just fine if ya’d just leave me alone.”

  Squatting next to Ailith and Sábria, Isobel placed her fingers beneath Ailith’s lowered chin and pushed up, making Ailith look her in the eyes. “Can you honestly tell me you’ve been feeling like yourself these last few sevendays? Where’s the warrior I used to know? Where did she go? I want her back, Ailith. Duke Ravenkind wants her back. Your Arch Priestess wants her back most of all. Drink the herbs Cori sent you. They won’t help right away, but if you’re willing to work with us and drink them at every meal, you’ll begin to feel like your old self again.”

  Narrowing her eyes, Ailith glowered at Isobel. “What are ya doing here, anyway? Ya once told me ya never came to th’ Cibían Empire. So, why did ya show up in me life and begin beating th’ shite out of me? I don’t need ya, and I don’t want ya here.”

  “Drink. The faster we get you better, the faster you’ll have me out of your life.”

  The possibility of getting rid of the knight seemed enough to convince her because Ailith grudgingly drank the rest of what was in the cup.

  Sábria handed the cup back to Shirin, put her hands beneath Ailith’s arms, and helped her to stand. “Let’s go. You’ve given the Blades enough of a show for the day. Let’s get you to one of the tables and find something you can eat that won’t make you sick. When you haven’t eaten for a while, you need to be careful to eat bland foods until your stomach adjusts again.”

  “And if I say no?”

  Isobel walked up beside her and put her hand on her shoulder. “Then I’ll herd you over to the tables the same way I herded you to the sword.” She gently shoved Ailith’s sword and scabbard into her chest. “Buckle this on. I’m starving, and I don’t want to have to run you around the courtyard again.”

  Ailith jerked it away from her and ran the belt around her waist. “Run me around? Ya beat the shite out of me. Yer lucky I didn’t take yer head off because that’s what I was aiming to do.”

  Chuckling, Isobel patted her on the back. “You’ll have your chance every morning because I intend to start weapons practice with you first thing tomorrow.”

  Ailith, whose head was still spinning, clambered over one of the benches and sat with her head in her hand.

  Marnie walked over with a plate full of bread, carrots, and a small portion of pork. “Here, ya miserable skut-brained shiv. If you can’t fight any better or any longer than what I just saw, you’ll be dead after your first shift back.” Without waiting for an answer, she stalked off toward the weapons practice grounds. She was one of the weapons-masters and trained the dawning shift Blades in the evenings after dinner.

  Sábria and Shirin, who didn’t often eat with the rest of the Blades, went up to the serving tables and filled two plates for themselves. Sábria quietly spoke into Shirin’s ear, “I want to leave Ailith and Isobel alone for a while. Let’s each find a table and get a feel for how the Blades are taking a Dreyuthan knight coming in and shaking up the status quo.”

  Once her plate was full, Sábria chose a table that had mostly senior Blades. She set her plate down and then returned to where Isobel was standing with one foot up on Ailith’s bench. “I’ll wait with her while you get your dinner.”

  When Isobel nodded her thanks and strode towards the food tables, Ailith looked sideways at Sábria. “I don’t need no babysitters.”

  “I wish that were the case, but the way you’ve been acting lately tells me otherwise. Can you honestly say if I were to walk away, you wouldn’t get up and head back to the stables?”

  Choosing not to answer, Ailith picked up a roll and shoved it into her mouth.

  Isobel returned and sat opposite Ailith. She nodded her thanks to Sábria, who returned to the table full of Blades. All of the women seemed off balance, and only a couple met her gaze. Sábria wanted to get the word out about what was happening with Ailith, and the best way to do that was to tell a few Blades, who would tell a few others, and before long, word would spread.

  They ate in silence until Soirin hesitantly broached the subject of Ailith. “We’re all wondering, My Lady, what’s going on with Ailith. We’re all that glad she’s cleaned and dressed and finally sitting out here at the tables, but that Dreyuthan knight is being none too gentle with her. So, we were wondering, what’s going on?”

  Setting her fork down, Sábria folded her hands in front of her plate and leaned on her forearms. “That’s an excellent question and one I’m very glad you asked. Lady Knight Isobel was Ailith’s master several turns ago. No, wait. Let me start at the beginning. After all of the trouble we had with Nox and Ailith and the confusion and humiliation she suffered at the hands of Khaldo and her group, Ailith had a very strange reaction, one that I didn’t fully understand. Of course, I expected her to be angry for a while, but Ailith’s anger, and, let’s put it bluntly, her rage, wasn’t abating as I would expect. It was growing.”

  Many of the Blades nodded in agreement. Soirin shrugged, “I tried to talk to her on a couple of occasions, but each time she practically bit my head off. You’re right, it didn’t feel normal.”

  “Well, her behavior puzzled me and was obviously getting worse. I thought there might be some Dreyuthan cultural aspect I wasn’t aware of going on, so I wrote to Duke Ravenkind, told him what was happening, and asked for his help. He, in turn, asked Lady Knight Isobel, who, as I said, had been Ailith’s master a few turns back, if she would come and find out if there was anything she could do to help.”

  Keavey Terrowyn, who’d been listening intently, raised her brows. “She practically drowned her to clean her up and then beat th’ shite out of her tryin’ to get her to pick up th’ sword. Now, I’m not exactly gentle with th’ shivs—”

  Several of the Blades snorted at the understatement.

  Terrowyn grinned at them. “As I said, I’m not exactly th’ most nurturing Senior Guardian, but how is treating Ailith like that gonna help?”

  “I’m getting to that.” Sábria believed the fact that Ailith was the product of a long-ago breeding program was no one’s business but the few who were already privy to the information. She thought a moment, trying to decide how to explain Ailith’s condition without revealing too much about her physical makeup. “Ailith comes from a very unique community in the Blacktip Mountains. There are several groups of fighters in the mountains who have developed unique abilities over the centuries. One of those abilities is that when pushed into stressful fighting situations, their concentration narrows and their fighting expertise increases.”

  Soirin nodded. “That’s probably why she was able to fight off those men?”

  “Exactly. The interesting part about it is that she doesn’t always have those enhanced abilities. They only appear during very stressful, chaotic life-or-death situations. Unfortunately, there’s another trait that’s not often seen but can be triggered by extreme emotional anger, rage, and or humiliation. Khaldo and her group triggered that condition. The warriors get locked into a circular kind of mental trap where the rage feeds on itself and grows. Apparently, forcing them into normality, which might entail using extreme emotional tactics under controlled conditions, can have the effect of reversing the trigger. Don’t ask me how it works. It apparently…hopefully, just does.”

  Geller, who’d remained silent up to this point, held her full fork poised in front of her face and pointed her little finger at Sábria. “That’s one of th’ things I love about being in th’ Temple. We got people from all walks of life, from cultures that we’ve never even heard of before, and we can learn from every single one of ’em. So, tell us how we can help. Do we need to get her angry?”

  Everybody had stopped eating now and were all listening intently to Sábria’s answers.

  Sábria had chosen this particular table because these were all leaders in some way or another; older, experienced Blades with good heads on their shoulders. She believed that none of them had known about the abuse Khaldo and the others had handed out to Ailith. To take it a step further, there was no doubt in her mind that if they had known, they would have put a stop to Khaldo’s cruelty. “All you need to do is treat her as though she were a normal shiv. I saw a few of you in the stable yard helping fill in the ditch,” she glanced around, and some people nodded. “Did you see Marne dealing with Ailith’s temper?”

  Again, several of the women nodded. “Aye.”

  “I think the fact that Marne’s reaction was exactly what Ailith expected from a senior Blade helped to ground her. She needs to get back to the point where she can join Jenx in training again or be assigned another handler until the healers release Jenx back to full duty. So, all I ask from you and from every other Blade in the Temple is to treat her as you would any other shiv. And I also ask that you treat Lady Knight Isobel with the same respect as you would give to Commander Shirin. She’s a remarkable woman who’s doing her best to help Ailith in a very difficult situation.”

  The after-dinner bell sounded, sending some of her audience hurrying to the practice yards to meet with Marne and others to ready their uniforms and weapons for the deadnight shift.

  Everyone except Terrowyn excused themselves and took their plates to the cleaning tubs.

  When they were alone, Terro leaned across the table and spoke so quietly that Sábria had to lean in herself to hear. “I take it ya know what ya were describin’, aye?”

  Sábria studied her Blade a moment. Before Terrowyn had arrived at the temple, she’d been a very young soldier in the Emperor’s army and had fought in many pitched battles. If she hadn’t actually faced a berserker, she’d certainly heard about them from her fellow soldiers. “What do you think I was describing?”

  “Ailith’s a berserker, Milady, and I think ya know, ya need to keep that to yerself. I watched her fightin’ just then, and we both know there was a point when th’ change happened. I saw ya pullin’ yer blade, readying yerself to step in if ya needed to. Since she’s in my squad on deadnight, my question to you would be, is she a danger to th’ rest of us, to my people?”

  “No.” The answer was firm and immediate. Sábria held Terrowyn’s gaze to make sure she had her full attention. “In all of the records pertaining to berserkers in Dreyutha, there’s not a single mention of one attacking his or her comrades. They don’t go crazy, as the tales wrongfully suggest. They become hyper-focused and their abilities are enhanced. That’s all.”

  “But yet, she attacked th’ Lady Knight.” Leave it to Keavey Terrowyn to get to the heart of the matter.

  “She did, because she’s locked into this spiral of rage she can’t get out of on her own. Isobel, the Lady Knight, found some records that suggest she might be able to push Ailith into a correction of sorts by deliberately pushing her into extreme emotional states in a controlled way. She’s doing that and is also using herbs Cori Lesfur sent along that should help as well.”

  That brought Terrowyn’s brows up into her bangs. “Cori sent them? Well, if I trust anyone’s instinct fer herbs, it’s her.” Terro sat back and slapped the table. “Ya tell me what ya need, My Lady, and I’ll do it. And if ya think it’s right, I’d be fine with havin’ the skut-brained shiv in my squad again when the time comes.” With a glint of amusement in her eyes, the Blade picked up her plate and took it to the tubs.

  Sábria found herself finishing her meal alone until Shirin came with two slices of apple cobbler. She set one in front of her and kept one for herself. “How did it go?”

  “Very well. I forgot to mention to you that I wanted to keep the breeding program private, just among those of us who already know. I hope—”

  Shirin had just taken a bite, and the sweet blend of cinnamon and other spices had her groaning with pleasure. Holding up her hand, she silently asked Sábria to wait until she could chew and swallow. “Oh, Goddess, the bakers outdid themselves tonight. Anyway, no need to worry on that account. I was thinking the same thing. I’d even include the fact that she’s a….” She looked over her shoulder and, even though there was no one close by, decided to play it safe. “Even though she’s a b-word, I think that should remain Ailith’s personal business as well.”

  “I absolutely agree. And on that note, I assume you saw Terro speaking to me after the others had gone?” At Shirin’s nod, she continued, “She guessed that Ailith is a berserker.” She didn’t feel the need to hide the word since there wasn’t anyone close to their table. “And that’s something that will serve us well when Ailith goes back to her squad.”

  Shirin cocked her head. “How did she guess?”

  “She was in the army as a young woman, remember? You know the stories told around the campfires at night, the ones told by older veterans to frighten the new recruits?”

  “Ah. Of course. I’ll make sure to keep Ailith in Terro’s squad then, even if we need to temporarily assign another handler there until Jenx recovers.” Shirin glanced over Sábria’s shoulder and saw that Isobel had finished her meal. She’d risen and had her hip hiked up onto the table speaking quietly to Ailith, who was still seated on the bench. “Looks like something’s happening. It’s been a long and stressful day and I imagine Isobel is ready to be taken to her room. She quickly ate the last few bites of her pastry and rose as well.

  Sábria glanced over her shoulder and then stood. She picked up her plate to take her uneaten cobbler with her. “Well, I, for one, am glad the day is done. Shall we escort them to their room?”

  “Absolutely.” Shirin held out her palm. “After you, My Lady.”

  With a quick grin and nod, Sábria walked over to Ailith and Isobel. “Did you two get some cobbler?”

  Isobel, who’d always had a sweet tooth, glanced back at the tables. “No. Is there any left?”

  Her voice sounded so uncharacteristically plaintive that Sábria chuckled and handed the knight her plate. “Here, I’m sure Shirin won’t mind bringing three more servings for us?” She smiled at Shirin, who was already turning toward the dining hall.

  Sábria glanced down at Ailith. “I know you like pastries, too, but you should only have a few bites tonight. Your stomach might rebel if you eat too much sweet pastry.” She sniffed the air. “Although it does smell wonderful, doesn’t it?”

  A glower was Ailith’s only response.

  Thirty-Three

  Two days later Isobel was running through the Market District with Ailith by her side. The knight was starting to see a change—a positive change—and she believed the combination of the herbal remedy Cori had sent and the strict adherence to Isobel’s demands, ones where grey was temporarily taken from Ailith’s thought processes, had combined to help Ailith along the road to recovery.

  Killian, who was sitting at one of the outdoor tables in front of The Broken Tooth with Emlyn, called out as they ran by. “Come on, Ailith, I’ve seen you run. Get those legs moving.”

  Ailith glanced her way but didn’t respond. The constant barrage of anger was lessening somewhat, but it was still there. She picked up her pace, expecting Isobel to do the same.

  Instead, the Lady Knight dropped back and waved Ailith on, “You go on ahead. I’ll come at my own pace. I have an errand I need to run, so I’ll meet you in our room when I get back.”

  Surprised, Ailith stopped and turned. The knight hadn’t allowed her out of her sight for two straight days and she wondered why she was doing so now. She put her hands on her hips and glared.

  Isobel pointed towards the Temple. “Go.”

  “Fine.” She turned and picked up her pace, practically sprinting the rest of the way back. Running had been one of her favorite activities before Nox and Khaldo had ruined everything. She had to admit that the last few days of eating three meals a day and taking Cori’s herbs had given her back some of her old strength. Her mind still felt a little foggy though. Things that normally wouldn’t have bothered her in the past sparked something inside her and at times that spark flared into a red, blinding rage.