Scales

Chapter Nine | Table of Contents | Chapter Eleven

NRSG: A good day, everyone, and welcome back to BattleAxe! Last time, our protagonists readied themselves to go on a journey, and we saw how we are supposed to favour Axis over Borneheld.

Before we begin, I would like to make a correction to the timeline. For everything to work out, the story must begin on the 7^th of September, and last chapter should take place on the 15^th of September.

Chapter Ten: Across the Plains of Tare

We open on Embeth, who tells us about the stories she heard about how fast and far the Axe-Wielders can move. She always thought those were the product of drunk soldiers, but “after five days of riding sun-up to sundown” she realises the stories are true. So it is now the 19^th of September.

We get some exposition: there are over 3500 “mounted men”, some 300 packhorses, several hundred riderless horses that are continually switched around (my, Douglass realises that horses actually cannot go on forever!), and “seven very sore women (none of whom had fallen off at the first overflowing gutter).” What a hilarious callback to Axis’s remark last chapter. There is also Gilbert and the white cat from earlier. Every evening she appears and “[winds] about [Axis’s] legs, purring loudly and contentedly despite his curses.” Every morning she walks away and only appears in the evening.

Embeth looks around. Gilbert is riding “morosely” along some twenty paces behind them. He is sulking at being sent away, and rather does not talk to anyone. Merlion is probably complaining about being sent to Arcness. Faraday copes better, she has put on a sensible skirt, and she has her hair in a “thick plait”. Merlion “remonstrated” with her on both things, but Faraday held her ground.

Embeth says they appear to be slowing down, and there is a hollow some 475 metres ahead, so she thinks Axis will make camp there. She has also seen several Axe-Wielders talk to him. Merlion grumbles that she hopes so, and we get a note that she looks “tired and dishevelled and fifteen years older than when she had set out.” She says Axis has no idea that women should not travel so fast, and her maids can barely attend to her needs.

Faraday and Embeth smile to each other, and the former says they are, of course, riding “at a soldier’s pace.” We then get more exposition: Axis has ignored them all, he spends most of his time at night talking to the officers, and eventually drops into sleep late at night. The women sit at their own campfire, “a small pocket of femininity among the thousands of men surrounding them.” Merlion trusts Faraday “to retain her virtue”, but she keeps a careful eye on her maids, because they are very willing to sneak out.

How very interesting all this is. Never mind that it has very little to do with the actual plot, which yet has to start.

A horseman rides back and draws level with them. It turns out to be Timozel. Embeth is happy to see him, and he greets everyone, saying that he trusts they “have enjoyed [their] excursion thus far.” Faraday “tak[es] an instant liking to him.” We then get a description of him:

“He was a year or two older than her, and still with the slightly thing and big-boned frame of a youth yet to fill out into maturity. He had the look of his mother with a shock of rich brown curls and dark blue eyes, but must have inherited the wide mobile mouth and hooked nose from his father.”

So I assume he is about twenty. Also, “wide mobile mouth”?

Anyway. He handles his “rangy bay gelding” with the skill of an experienced equestrian, and his axe and his sword make him look like a man instead of a boy. Timozel and Faraday look at each other, and there is sexual/romantic attraction between them. Embeth says that it is a shame Faraday was already betrothed, because “[n]ow she [will] never have the chance. Not with Borneheld to watch over her.”

Timozel says that Axis has decides to stop a little earlier, as he is pleased with the progress they are making, and there is a very good campsite. And Axis has requested them to join Axis for the evening meal.

Timozel “[keeps] his tone light and charming”, but he does have his reservations. Though Embeth does not realise it, he has been “aware for some time” of her affair with Axis. Oh my, the plot thickens! This has soured his admiration for Axis, but he hides his doubts well, and no one has an idea “of the simmering resentment beneath his good-natured and courteous exterior.” Given that this is the only person who we have yet seen dislike Axis, I think we can reasonably guess he is the Traitor.

Embeth is amused, because she doubts that Axis put the invitation “so politely”. She turns to Merlion, who needs to take the decision, as she is the oldest of the three. Faraday pleads with her to do so, as the evenings are dull, and she would like Timozel’s company. He says it would be his pleasure, and bows to Merlion.

Merlion is impressed by “Timozel’s display of courtly manners”, and she says they might have more polite conversations of he joined them. She has also missed “masculine company” in the evenings, and Gilbert barely counts. She says she will accept the invitation.

Cut to the after the evening meal. They watch the campfire for a bit, and we are told Gilber, Timozel and Belial have joined Axis and the noblewomen “so that, in the best courtly tradition, the number of men exceed[s] the number of women.” The noblewomen have washed their hair. Embeth and Merlion have put their hair on top of their head, while Faraday “ha[s] left hers in the long braid, wispy tendrils brushing her cheeks.” All of which has very little to do with the greater story.

The meal was simple but good. Axis is in a good mood, for once. We are told this is the first time that he has taken out the entirety of the Axe-Wielders, and he has been constantly fretting about all kinds of details. But everything has gone well, and “[y]ears of planning and training [are] paying off.”

The hollow shelters them from the wind. Axis stretches out before the campfire, and thinks about Faraday. He says “smoothly” that it has been bothering him that her face is so familiar to him when he does not think they have met before. He wonders if “she [will] admit to her ill-mannered stare the night of the banquet.” You made her do that, Axis, and now you ask her to apologise for it? I hate you.

Faraday is uncertain how to address him in response to this. “BattleAxe” is too formal, “Axis” too familiar, and she can hardly call him “my Lord”, because of his birth. Then, she begins to speak, which confused me for a moment, given that there is no dialogue tag there. She says that Axis probably saw her at Priam’s nameday banquet, and she is afraid she was staring. She says it was because of how legendary a reputation the Axe-Wielders have in Skarabost, and she ends with this:

I apologise from my heart for my bad manners that night, Axis Rivkahson.”

1)      I very much do not like that she apologises here. After all, she quite certainly did this because of Axis’s unconscious attraction, something he is also quite aware of. He should not expect her not to stare at him, honestly. And, because of that, he is making her apologise for something that he did. Yes, very feminist indeed.

2)      Why in the world does Faraday think this is a good idea? Yes, I know it is so Axis can feel good about his parentage, but it still does not make sense that Faraday would do this! She knows that he has trouble at court over this, after all, so why? This is just very poor writing.

Everyone is rightly shocked at this. Embeth says she has never known anyone to address him like this, as he is “extraordinarily sensitive about the circumstances surrounding his birth”, and no one ever refers to his mother or his illegitimacy to his face. And yet, Embeth has to admit that she is stunned not only be Faraday doing this in the first place, but also by “the girl’s exquisite handling of what was undoubtedly an embarrassing moment for her.”

“In the end, Faraday had done the impossible; she had referred to Axis’ illegitimate status in such a graceful manner as to make Axis’ connection to his mother a virtue rather than an embarrassment.”

I… do not entirely see how Faraday was especially graceful with handling this. As far as I can tell, she simply used it his mother’s name as his surname. That certainly would not be an embarrassment, but I do not think it was especially graceful, either. And also note that her “exquisite handling” involved her making Axis look better, even though he is being unreasonable here.

Axis looks as stunned as Embeth feels, but she can see that “emotions battle[] inside him.” Cut to Axis’ POV, mid-paragraph, as we are told that he first felt “anger and humiliation” because Faraday referred to Rivkah so openly, but now he is confused because she does not seem to mock him. He tries to say something, but cannot, because of the “complex mix of emotions” that he has.

Faraday “clearly under[stands]” what she has begun, and that she needs to go on. So she does. She says that she heard Rivkah was “a woman of remarkable qualities” (when?), and that he must be proud to have such a woman as his mother. Yet, she is just as sure that Rivkah would be proud of him, and that she would like him to bear her name.

I am quite certain that “yet” should not be there. Other than that, this is nice to say of Faraday, but as this began as a way to apologise for something he has done… I cannot find it quite as touching as Douglass meant.

Embeth goes teary-eyed over this, saying she never presumed to say this, and saying that Faraday spoke of “Rivkah’s pride and love for Axis as if it were undoubted fact.” She does not often feel this deeply moved, especially not by one so young, and she wonders if she should not have been so reticent.

Axis is “profoundly affected” by Faraday’s words, and he thanks her. The two share a meaningful glance, and Embeth, who is watching them, “[feels] a sudden chill of premonition.” She whispers “not this”, and she says that it should not happen with Faraday bound to Borneheld, and with “the bitterness that already exist[s] between the two brothers.” So yes, dear readers, Axis or Borneheld will kill the other because of their relationship with Faraday. Hmmm, could that be related to this line in the prophecy:

“A wife will hold in joy at night

The slayer of her husband;”

And so I can tell that she will be married to Borneheld later on, and that Axis will be the one who lives. Thank you for giving your plot away in advance, Douglass. (At least this particular issue will disappear quite soon…) Embeth thinks, that if it can be stopped soon, “the tragedy might be averted”, and she has to speak to Faraday very soon.

She tries to lighten the mood by suggesting that Axis play his harp and Timozel his lute. There is a sigh of relief at this. Timozel asks the ladies to sing along, and he is “unsure what to think about the scene he [has] just witnessed.”

Axis is apparently unexpectedly good at “music and song”. Embeth does not know who taught him the harp, but he could play it proficiently even at the age of eleven. If I remember well, this will actually be quite relevant. Timozel, “[a]lthough far less skilled” (because of course), can accompany well enough and Faraday, Embeth, and Merlion are all good with their voices. For the rest of the evening, they pass the time with “ballads and songs of love and adventure”.

Gilbert does not participate, citing his “inability to keep a tune”. He applauds them whenever they finish a song. He keeps looking at Axis and Faraday, however.

“Jayme had told him to report everything he witnessed, everything, and Gilbert meant to do just that.”

Oh my, how threatening. And here, the chapter ends.

Well, this was another useless chapter. The only halfway interesting thing here is Faraday openly mentioning Axis’ parentage, though that is tainted by it being part of Faraday apologising for Axis’ actions. All of this could have been either deleted or severely cut down.

Until next chapter!