The dark room was redolent with the smell of the same salve she had carried in her pouch for weeks. Flora Salix felt groggy, and her left side ached. Gradually, as her head cleared, the ache focused into a delicate tongue of fire that danced as she breathed, skimming her flank from her ribs to where her leg met her body. She moved her right hand under the heavy blanket until it could touch the wound. To her surprise, there was nothing there but a welt, hot under her fingers but not scarred, not bleeding, not even bound in bandages. Her palms ached as if they had been burned, but she hadn't been that careless since childhood. She was whole, and unhurt, except for that thread of pain that burned just under the warm skin of her palms and her flank. She did not know where she was. There was a low, arched plaster ceiling, dingy with smoke and age, and beyond the scent of the salve, Salix became aware of the smells of incense and herbs, the woollen blanket and the burning charcoal.
“Ah,” a woman’s voice spoke to her from the darkness, “I see you have awakened, Aemilia.”
Aemilia? Her mind worked. That was her, yes, but no one called her that. They called her by some other name, a name she couldn’t quite remember right now. No one called her Aemilia now. Not here. There was no woman who would use that name, except for one.
“Mother?” she asked, knowing her mother was the only woman who would call her by her real name. But even as the word fell from her lips, she knew it was wrong.
“No, I’m not your mother, Aemilia,” The voice sounded slightly amused. A brown-haired woman dressed in a heavy, dark robe, came and sat at the bedside. Salix knew her at once.
“Mistress Cicuta! But then – where am I?”
Cicuta, chief priestess of the Order of the Blossom, smiled. “Yes, it’s me, Aemilia. And you’re home. In the Temple of State. Not a room you’ve seen before, I realise. But it’s quiet here, a good place to recover.”
“Oh,” Salix replied, stupidly. She tried to sit up, and then thought better of it when her head swam and her side ached.
“It will be a few days yet before you are completely recovered,” Cicuta said, her blunt cut brown hair falling around her face. “I was surprised to see that young legionary bring you in with Tsuga, Aemilia. I hope you have not given away too many of our secrets.”
“No, Mistress Cicuta. Junior Tsuga and I have been very careful.”
“I was also disappointed that you were unable to keep watching over the child and the clerk.”
“Were they alright? I – I don’t remember. Was Tsuga alright?”
Cicuta shrugged, “Tsuga’s fine. As for the army clerk and the child . . . well, his friend seems to think that the young man is capable, and that you had gotten rid of any immediate danger. But in spite of that, you have failed us, Aemilia. It was you who was supposed to be guarding the infant.”
Sharp tears came to Salix’s eyes. “I thought we were supposed to be guarding all of them. And I tried, Mistress Cicuta, honestly I did!”
“Hush, child. There is no use making yourself more ill than you already are. Yes, yes, you were supposed to guard the young soldier as well as the child. I admit that the slave girl was an unexpected complication, as well as the young man’s friend. But we do have an obligation to protect the common people and maintain the peace, so that makes them your responsibility as well.” Flora Cicuta sighed. “But I thought I had trained you to do better than you did, Aemilia.”
Salix did not reply. Instead, she stared up at the heavy beam directly above her head, the one that supported the ceiling, and wished that it would come crashing down on her. After a pause, Cicuta continued her lecture.
“No, you did not do as well as I had hoped. You are here in bed convalescing, and you are not there to protect them. There are forces afoot which have plans for them, you know. Foul plans you would not want to see a baby involved in. Treacherous plans that would prove disastrous to our order, were they to come to fruition.”
Salix watched Cicuta carefully as the older woman continued, “You may be able to redeem yourself though, Aemilia. If you can find that young man and that child and keep them safe. In a week or less, you will be well. And then I will send you and Tsuga to save them. It may not be easy. The men who seek them may be dressed in the uniforms of imperial guards.”
Salix gasped in surprise. “They uniforms of imperial guards? But how could anyone infiltrate the imperial guard? They are handpicked by the Emperor himself!”
“You know better than that, Aemilia. You don’t need to go near the Emperor to imitate or steal a uniform. And besides, do you not remember your oath? We are to protect the empire even from threats brought on by the Emperor himself.”
“Yes, Mistress Cicuta, but just the same . . . “
“Just the same you would not want the infant or the young man harmed, would you, Aemilia?”
“N-no, I guess not,” Salix had to admit. The young man was foolish, yes, but honourable, and she didn’t dislike him. And the child was adorable, for all she was half-Estavaca. Salix did not want them to be hurt or killed. She had to admit that much.
“Then you will do as I say, Aemilia,” Cicuta smiled at her unpleasantly. “but first, I must tell you of the Empress Flora's prophecy. I have recently learned much.”