Scales

Chapter Two (Part III) | Table of Contents | Chapter Three (Part II)

NRSG: A good day, everyone, and welcome back to BattleAxe! Last time, we saw what an awful person Axis, our ostensible protagonist, is. Well, let us see what happens now!

Chapter Three: The Lady of Tare

We open on “Embeth, Lady of Tare”. Yes, thank you.

Distinct POV’s: 12

She makes her way through the “darkened corridors of the palace.” Most people are still back in the Chamber of the Moons, but she has managed to leave. We are told that “courtly etiquette” held everyone in their seats until Priam and Judith had left.

Embeth had not expected Axis to be at the banquet, and she felt “a jolt of surprise and pleasure” when she saw him, as he was not due to be back until “Frost-month” (November). She is glad he is at the palace instead of at the Tower of the Seneschal, as at the Tower, there would be few places to meet privately and few excuses to be there. Oooh, they are secret lovers! Poor Embeth; I just hope Axis is not that bad in their relationship.

She is “some eight years older” than Axis (so 37 years old), and she is “good-looking”. She has been friends with Axis since the Seneschal sent him, “as an eleven-year-old youth”, to be trained in arms at her husband’s household in Tare. Ah, that explains something. Though I do not know what to think of them having been friends since Axis was eleven, and now being in a romantic relationship…

She says she was also young then (19), and she was glad to be able to make friends with him. When she got children, Axis was their companion as well, and now, one of her sons, “Timozel”, serves under Axis. Ah yes, “Timozel”.

A Better Commando Name: 16

I do not have as definite a reason for this as for the other names, but it just sounds too much like an alteration of “Timothy” for me to like it.

Five years ago, Embeth’s husband died, and the relationship between her and Axis changed, so “now they [are] occasional lovers.” And that is occasional because they can rarely meet, and also because, of course, Axis has the shame of being a bastard attached to him. Embeth wants to protect her reputation “for she [is] still young enough to remarry and give another man sons.” The rare nights they do meet are only accomplished “with extreme secrecy—and [are] the sweeter, perhaps, because of it.”

Embeth has not brought a candle with her, and instead relies on the “occasional lamp along the corridors”. She lifts her skirts to keep them from rustling, “glad she [has] chosen her black silk for the feast.” She shivers a little because of the cool night air, “or perhaps it [is] because she [is] drawing closer to Axis’ room.” Well, I would not know.

Also, why did we need all the exposition at the beginning of this chapter? Could you maybe not, Douglass?

Embeth thanks Artor that Axis has his own room in the palace as the BattleAxe and does not have to sleep in the barracks. She smiles to herself as she wonders if she would still have tried to “sneak into his bed in the barracks.” She pictures herself being discovered there in the dead of night “with her gown unlaced and her breasts bared”, and she barely manages not to laugh. I really do like this; it just makes her feel more like a person.

And then, Embeth “[is] caught from behind, a strong arm pinning her around her waist, and a hand planted firmly across her mouth to prevent her crying out.” Oh no. For a moment she “stiffen[s] in shock”, and then she relaxes against the man who holds her. She says she would know “the feel of his hands and the smell of him” even deep in the “AfterLife”. It is Axis.

And why did you do this, Axis?? Did you really want to come across like you wanted to abduct her? What is wrong with him? And of course Embeth cannot find anything wrong with this. Douglass forbid Axis be put in a negative light.

On another note, I do not like the capitalisation of “AfterLife”.

A Better Commando Name: 17

Axis then “whisper[s] in her ear” that she walked right past his room, and that he wondered if “perhaps [she] had another assignation further along the corridor.” That is still not a good reason to act like this, Axis! Cut to Axis’ POV, as he feels Embeth smile.

Stick to a POV: 18 (I missed one instance last chapter)

He pulls Embeth back a few steps until they reach a door. Axis pushes it open, and they step through into “a plain chamber”. We are told that the “palace steward” had instructions to give Axis nothing richer. After the door closes, Embeth turns around so she stands against his chest. They stay like this for a second, “their deep friendship more important for the moment than desire.” If you say so, Douglass.

Finally, Embeth pulls herself free and looks carefully at Axis. She says he looks exhausted, and she asks how far he has ridden. Axis grimaces and lets her go (finally!), and pours her some wine. He says it was from Nordmuth, which took three days.

Embeth accepts the wine and takes a sip. She says that is an “exceptionally hard ride”, and circumstances must be extreme for Axis to undertake it. Also, his early appearance is another sign that things are wrong, and she fears for Timozel.

Embeth turns away and walks “into the small bedchamber”. Axis has dumped his “saddlebags and gear” in a corner and Embeth “resist[s] the urge to straighten things out.” That is another quite nice character moment. His “small traveling harp” that he always carries with him stands to one side of his bed. His axe stands against the far wall. Even though that is the symbol of the Seneschal, he, “like most Axe-Wielders”, carries a sword as his primary weapon. Sensible, I would say. It lies in its scabbard, which is “slung over the bedhead”.

Embeth wonders how many people he has killed with it. “How many men the Brother-Leader had ordered him to destroy in the name of Artor and the Plough.” She loves and respects Axis, but she is quite in awe of his position as BattleAxe, and “more than a little scared” of the power of the Seneschal and Jayme. Oh, I do like this. It is nice to have someone be scared of what Axis represents, and also think about the darker aspects of what his position entails. Also, Axis will never stop killing, unfortunately.

Now Embeth says that the news cannot be good if Axis was called back so quickly. We transition to Axis’ POV.

Stick to a POV: 20

He walks up behind hair and rubs the back of her neck. He marvels at “how soft her skin [is] and how silky-slippery her brown hair.” He says he knows little, and that court rumour would be as accurate as him by now.

Cut to Embeth’s POV.

Stick to a POV: 21

She doubts this, but understands “his reticence”. He rarely talks about his experiences as BattleAxe and never says where he goes and what he does, which I can understand. She relaxes “against his gently massaging fingers”. She asks if Timozel did well.

Axis calls her “my Lady of Tare”, and says he did and Embeth should be proud of him. If “Ganelon” (Embeth’s late husband) were alive he would be proud, too. He says, while kssing Embeth, that Timozel grows tall, and strong, and “wiser with each passing week.” He slowly “turns [her] around”, and kisses her on the mouth. Romantic, I guess.

Axis says that Timozel ought to arrive along with the other Axe-Wielders “in two or three days time”. He says that right now, he is far too exhausted to talk anymore, so presumably they switch to sex after this.

Cut to Axis’ POV.

Stick to a POV: 22

He says that he always finds it hard to talk about Timozel to Embeth. He wonders what he will tell her if “Timozel ever [finds] himself skewered on the wrong end of five handspans of sharpened steel”, and how he will tell her. He forces his mind away from the image. End scene.

Oh, this line will certainly get a very nasty callback later on… Well, that is it for today.