Life Changing Memories

Writers: Estelle, Miriah
Date Posted: 9th February 2020
Series: The Assassin's Story

Characters: Varlin, Lusilk
Description: Life Changing Memories
Location: Barrier Lake Weyr, Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 2, day 25 of Turn 10

Lusilk

After a sevenday at sea, the travelers left the small coastal trading
vessel and boarded a riverboat in the shadow of the ruined River Bluff
Weyr. In his guise of trader, Varlin had watched to make sure his cargo
of smiths' tools and raw metal was safely loaded into hold of the Maid
of the Lake, which would take them upriver to the Weyrhold and their
journey's end.

Now they were back on the water, the wheel of sturdy riverboat chugging
steadily as it fought its way upstream, against the current. Few of the
other passengers remained on deck, for the immense cliffs of the former
Weyr, riven by the quake and now a tomb for dragons, were not a cheerful
sight. Even Varlin was glad when they passed out of sight under the
canopy of the trees and into the humid, monotonous depths of the forest.

Some of the traders gathered in the bows, where the breeze was
strongest, peering ahead as if anticipating their arrival, thought it
was many days ahead yet. But Varlin remained aft, looking back at their
wake, distracted by memories of the woman he sought and had lost, five
Turns ago.

*** 5 Turns ago ***

Lusilk rolled to her side, pushing sweat-dampened hair from her brow
before laying her chin on Varlin's shoulder. "Are you sure you won't
stay another sevenday?" It was dark in the loft and it was quiet
outside, so she kept her voice low as she walked her fingers down his
bare chest. "It's supposed to be a good haul. The tithe train's
carrying more than just vegetables and fruit. There's supposed to be
high quality jewelry and gemstones from Rorigraff's mines.
Small...easy to carry..." She slipped her hand under the blanket and
grinned, "concealed. It'll be too easy."

"That's what worries me." He played idly with the long dark strands of
her hair, curling a lock around his finger. Ever since she'd told him
about the planned raid, he'd felt something about it nagging at his
instincts that he couldn't quite place. Where had that information about
the gems come from? "Nothing's ever that easy. If it's carrying valuable
cargo, he'll have doubled the guard."

"Getting timid in your old age?" Lusilk stuck her tongue out at
Varlin., then snorted softly, keeping her cocky little grin even as
she kissed his shoulder. "Oh please. Rorigraff's guards are brutal,
but they're stupid. Hardly a match for the for the team I put
together. If you're with us, it'll be even easier. Just think, those
gemstones could get us out of here permanently. We could go to the
coast or even up north. Just think...laying naked on the beaches near
Ista and never having to worry again."

Varlin did allow himself to think of it, for a moment. Leaving this life
behind, starting a new one where no-one knew what he'd done. Resting in
a warm place with no-one hunting him, without fear of Threadfall or the
guards or the starvation and illness that took most holdless folk in the
end. Being with her... Though he could smile at being called old, he'd
already survived far longer than he'd had any right to expect. It
couldn't last forever.

He shook his head and smiled, resting his cheek against her hair, his
hand drifting lower as he stroked the line of her back. "You'd get bored
within a sevenday. And I can't stay. I've got a job, up near Coral Bay."
Since Thread had begun to fall again, he'd shifted away from pillaging
tithe wagons and isolated cotholds with the local bands. Instead, he'd
begun making discreet offers of his services to those with the marks and
a need for a man with his skills to solve their problems. His reputation
was growing, slowly, and he couldn't afford to risk it at this stage.

Still, he was uneasy about leaving Lusilk to go on the raid without him.
"You could come with me. It should be straightforward. Safe. Guaranteed
reward."

Lusilk arched a brow. "That's breaking your own rules, you know. Once
you commit to a job, you finish it, remember?" She thrust her lower
lip out in thought. "No, I'm leading them. For once they're going to
let me lead the raid. You know how long I've been waiting for that?
And if I went with you, all they'd think is that I was some little
girl chasing after her man." She snorted softly. "You'd think I'd
proven myself enough by now." She looked up at him through her eyelashes, a
coy smile spreading her lips. "Besides, Cimplan absolutely hates you.
He was trying to get me into bed for months and I wouldn't touch him.
He'd be likely to stab you in the back the moment he sees you again."

His laugh was a soft vibration in his chest, and he shifted onto his
side, leaning over her as he bent his head to kiss that infuriating,
irresistible smile. "Mmm. He can try." The likes of Cimplan were no
threat to him, the man hadn't the brains or the skill to take him
unawares but... His hand stilled in its caress of her warm skin and he
looked down at her, eyes suddenly serious. "Be careful on this raid,
Lusilk. Stay alert, and make sure you have an escape route. Don't let
those gems blind you to danger."

She gave a soft sigh at the kiss, her fingers lifting to run through his
hair. "I'm always careful. You taught me that." Sure there had been a
few close calls, but the members of the little band of thieves had
taken care of the idiots that weren't careful; it hadn't been her fault.
"Don't worry. When you get back, I'll be happy to show you all the
goodies that you missed." She slid her leg against his. "_All_ the
goodies."

"I can't wait to hear the gloating." Shards, he'd miss this over the
coming sevendays; it was a long journey to Coral Bay, and it looked like
it was going to be a lonely one, too. He tried to put aside his concern.
Lusilk was quick and clever, she'd have planned this well and there were
few who could best her in combat. She deserved this chance. His lips
brushed her cheek and he drew her close, feeling the heat of her as he
murmured in her ear. "For now, I'm going to make sure you don't forget
me while I'm away."

Giving a warm, pleased sigh, Lusilk wrapped her arms around him and
whispered, "Then you better make sure it's memorable. Else I might be
_forced_ to turn to Cimplan." As if she would. The man was detestable,
but therein lay the humor of it. She'd miss him and this during the
sevendays he was gone, but perhaps when he returned, she'd have really
proven herself.

***

Those memories stirred in Varlin, of kisses and gasps of passion and the
feeling of her smooth strong body moving against his, as vivid now as
they had been that day, three months after they'd parted, when he
returned to her mother's cothold.

Weary and footsore as he was, he picked up his pace as he passed
familiar landmarks on the road. It had been longer than he'd hoped. The
man he'd been hired to dispose of, a troublesome farmer who'd disputed
ownership of a valuable piece of land with his local Holder, had been
popular in the area and he'd had a hard job getting the fellow alone.
Still, he'd succeeded eventually, and a fat pouch of marks rested hidden
in the bottom of his pack as payment. He'd have something to show off to
Lusilk, at least, even if it couldn't compete with gemstones. After they
were reunited...

He'd not heard anything about a tithe train getting robbed, though, and
the silence nagged at him. Surely if bandits had taken a valuable haul,
there'd have been gossip. Could the Lord Holder have covered it up to
save face?

The cothold seemed quiet as he approached, with no sign that he'd been
noticed. Varlin kept a wary eye out for ambush, but the indefinable
sense that she was watching him was...missing. His sense of unease
deepened as he ducked his head and stepped through the doorway, looking
around for Lusilk or her mother.

The cottage had been ransacked. Furniture overturned and broken,
cabinets emptied of goods. The fireplace was held nothing but long cold
ash and dust lingered heavy in the air. Scorch marks dotted the stone
walls, leaving a lingering scent of char and smoke. There was nothing
to show that anyone now lived in the cottage, but a chilling, large
brown smear spread along one wall.

"Ain't here." A rough, gravelly voice was heard along with the metallic
glowing sound of a blade being slid out of a sheathe. There was a
clatter of wood as an spry older man stepped out of the only other room
of the cottage, eyes narrowed. He saw Varlin's face and blinked.
"Ah...I thought I recognized you. Got here too late. There's no safety
here no more "

The last rays of sunlight flashed on the blade of the holdless man's
knife as it slid into his hand and he tensed, but made no move as the
older man emerged from the gloom. For a long moment he didn't speak, his
eyes flickering over the destruction before him, two words echoing
through his mind like a slow, unrelenting drumbeat.

**Too late. Too late...**

"Derilt?" he asked, his voice toneless. His fingers loosened on the hilt
of the knife. He'd seen the man before, once or twice, at the cot.
Someone else who'd needed a quiet place to stay where no-one asked
questions. He never had. "What happened here?"

"Same thing that always happens. Lord Rorrigraf found a weak link." The
older man sighed, nudging a pile of shattered wood. "From what I
understand, someone got word to him, gave him information. Pretty sure
it was that fecking weasel Cimplan seeing as how he's got a position in
the guard now. No one's much likes him in the guard, but plenty of
folks who worked with him and sheltered him got either burned out,
killed, or arrested. "

He gestured around the cottage. "Lusilk got word when they were comin'.
Got a hold of me since Lusena's youngest was probably mine. Got here
with some runners, but Lusena, she didn't want to leave, tried saying
that this place was her home. But Lusilk, that girl held a knife to her
own sister's throat and threatened to slice it open, saying it'd be a
mercy compared to what the guards would do to her. That got Lusena and
the girl on the runners with me. I got em out, but they was so close
that Lu, well, she stayed to distract 'em. They was really wanting her."

Derilt gestured to the smear on the wall, a look of pride mingled with
regret on his face. "From what I was told she took three 'fore they beat
her down. Would have been better off if they'd killed her then and
there. She's being held and word is that Lord Rorrigraf has sworn to
break her and make her his personal drudge. He wants all of us and she's
not giving names." He looked around again. "But eventually, she'll
break. She'd have been better off slicing her own throat."

Varlin had listened to the man's tale, stone-faced, though there was an
almost imperceptible twitch at the corner of one eye as Derilt spoke of
what Lusilk had done to her sister. When the man said that she was held,
though, he drew in his breath sharply. "She's alive."

For a moment, hope rose in him, loosening the tight grip of pain in his
chest. He knew Derilt was right, that it was far better to die than fall
into the hands of Rorrigraf's men. That wherever Lusilk was, she would
not be the same woman he'd left behind, not any more. That escape from
that Hold was simply not talked of. You forgot about those who were
caught, and thanked your stars it hadn't been you.

Still...he thought of that heavy purse of marks in his pack, and that
name. Cimplan, rewarded for his service with a guardsman's knots. His
mind began to work again, forming the outline of a plan. This was a job,
he thought, harder than most, but not impossible. His first task, as
always, would be to gather information. There were always weaknesses. He
couldn't think of where Lusilk was now, of what was being done to her.
There would be time for that when his work was done.

He gave Derilt a speculative look. "What will you do? Will you leave
Rorrigraf's territory, or stay...and help?"

Derilt exhaled long and slow, appearing to truly consider Varlin's
words. He looked at the man, then at the wreckage of the cottage. "I'm
getting old and slow and I've been in these parts my entire life. Had
a thought to fix the place up and retire here. But when Lusilk breaks,
I'm a dead man. Can't really stay, I sheltered here too often for it
to be really safe. But I can help get others out. I've a few contacts
on riverboats and ships. That's the best help that I can do." He
paused, looking at Varlin, face grim. "Don't do it, lad. It'll be your
death if you tried to help her. She was smart and quick, but she's
lost."

"She's not lost yet, or we'd both be dead. The Lord Holder's been
wanting me hunted down for a long time." Varlin shrugged off the pack
and went over to right the table by the ash-choked fireplace. A cloud of
dust rose and one cracked leg wobbled, but it stood. He pulled out the
pouch of marks and set it down with a heavy click of wooden discs. "Take
what you need to get Lusena and her girl to safety. Buy passage North if
you can, his reach doesn't extend that far. The rest I'll make use of."

He looked up at the older man with a smile that gleamed like a cold
blade. "If nothing else, I'll see that bastard Cimplan gets what he
deserves."

Derilt considered the marks for a long moment. "It's already done.
They're on a ship headed north. Lusilk gave me all she had to arrange
it. She and her mother may have fought like wild felines, but Lusilk
loved that little sister of hers. What was left over was enough to set
them up good and proper." He approached, opened the sack and plucked
out a fair few marks. "But, if you're bent on trying to throw your
life away, I can at least try to make arrangements to get you out, if
you live. I've a contact that's highly connected in Sunstone Sea Hold.
Served with him on a ship some turns back. He can get a ship ready to
pull you and her out for the right amount of marks." He pulled up a
rickety chair and sat carefully on it as he pushed the sack back
towards Varlin. "You'll need the rest for bribes and such."

He sighed, rubbing his chin. "Aye, he needs it. I'll help you if only
to know that it's been done. Can't put word out for any help, though.
Everyone's scared now. We'll be on our own."

Varlin took the pouch and weighed it speculatively in his hand. "Then
we'll just have to make them more scared of me than they are of Lord
Rorrigraf. And when word gets out how Cimplan met his end..." He turned
his gaze on the older man, blue eyes cold as shards of ice. "We'll have
all the help we need."

Last updated on the May 31st 2020

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Life Changing Memories