Chapter 8

The next day, the two young people barely exchanged words. Rayna stayed her tongue out of embarrassment, and Stefan kept his peace out of anger, with the fates that kept his world utterly unbalanced. To Rayna's concerns, he was mostly oblivious, except for the few moments throughout the day when he found himself running his thumb over the two fingers that had so joyfully explored her wetness.

Today was a time of waiting and convalescing. In his head, Stefan was reordering his world view, wondering if he would ever stand up with absolute certainly in his breast, ever again. The celestial bodies were reorganizing in his head as he reviewed the math with brief spasms of amusement. The earth went around the sun. The earth shared space with the other planets, as they made their journeys around the sun in concert with the earth. The idea was pure heresy: dangerous, tantalizing and thoroughly seductive.

With pain and loss so near, fear of contagion ever present, and new presence of a nubile young woman teasing the periphery of vision, Stefan had never felt so alive in his life, or so alone. Still, the planets whirled in new orbits in his head and that gave him pleasure.

Rayna busied herself during the day, ignoring the irritation of her healing skin. By evening, she presented the sulky, but kind man a chicken stew. He ate several bowls of the dish before he complimented her cooking with a great belch. From the root cellar under the barn, Rayna produced a small cask of fruited brandy and offered him a drink. He took only a sip and passed the cask back to her to share. She blushed a touch at the gesture.

He explained to her that her skin should be nearly healed by the next day, which gave her heart. He also asked her where she could go and where she could find her extended family, but she had no true plans, and no near family still alive. She waited for him to make his offer, which she calculated would be the exchange of her body for safe passage to the trade city of Marakand.

She asked about her family, and last rites, hoping that she could at least bury them. Stefan explained his theories of contagion, and offered to burn down the house as a funeral pyre. Rayna shuddered at the thought, but felt the earnestness of the man who had all the power and resources that she now lacked.

"Do you wish to accompany me?" Stefan asked adding, "It is not safe of a single woman to travel these roads alone."

"What shall it cost me, guardsman?" Rayna responded as she felt bile rise in her throat.

Stefan considered the bite behind her question with a stone face. Only the small sigh of assignation that escaped his nostrils gave a hint of his thoughts.

He stood up and adjusted his jacket, "I want nothing of yours that is not given freely. I lack for little, but the loss of my comrade and my peace of mind; neither of which you can provide. Sleep in peace, maiden, I care not to plunder your personal treasures."

Stefan stalked off to lie down on his pallet. Rayna watched his back retreat into the darkness with relief, confusion, and anger. He didn't want her? Was she repulsive in his sight? Confused and taken off guard, she took to her own improvised bed, and snuggled against the lambskin, mourning her family, and the loss of her hair. She cried herself to sleep.

In the morning light, Rayna watched as Stefan threw coats of oil on the walls of the only home that she had ever known. She swore that she wasn't going to cry, that she could cry later when she didn't need all of her reserves to walk away from her life. As Stefan emerged, she suddenly remembered an absolute necessity and ran for the doorway.

Stefan's eyes bulged, and she stopped herself, "I forgot; I need to get the box from the house behind the loose stone in the fireplace. I swear by any god you wish I won't touch anything but the box. Without it, whatever hope I may have for a future is lost."

Stefan nodded. While she ducked inside, he wrapped a soaked rag around a large branch and lit the torch with his flint. She emerged quickly, holding the box out from her and placing it on the ground, before backing away.

"Inspect it for infection if you like," she challenged him.

Stefan looked into her face without expression, "I will. Take this torch; this last act is your responsibility."

Her face went pale, and her hand trembled as she grasped the branch. She made a circuit, setting the torch to the oil soaked wood at each of the four corners, and finally tossing the entire thing through the doorway. Tears streamed from her face, as Stefan recited the Prayer of Release aloud in the heavy chanting style of his childhood province. The flames rose.

Stefan was pleased to see a layer of dust on the box, except where her fingers had touched; untouched meant less chance for contagion. He flipped the latch with his knife and opened the lid. He surveyed the few crowns and coppers, but his attention was drawn to the folded paper. Curiosity got the better of him, and he scooped up the document to read the title: "Deed."

Rayna looked at him anxiously, expecting the worst. Stefan remarked, "This is a precious document, worth chancing a mad dash to retrieve. It may well attract a good husband for you."

Rayna let out a breath that she hadn't realized she was holding; the taciturn guardsman was neither a rapist nor a thief. She took the paper and the box, and added it to her own bags. She mounted the mare from the barn and joined up with the impatient Stefan who was already mounted and waiting with his own two horses. Despite her best preparations and determination, she couldn't keep the tears from streaming. The smoke of the pyre was visible for many lengths.

They rode. For three days they rode, saying little and trying to take solace in the silence of their own lamentations.

Chewing a crisped game bird that night, Rayna felt she couldn't endure the quiet any longer. She pointed to the scroll that was tucked in Stefan's belt, "What is that and why do you read it every eve we stop?"

Not only was she curious, she hoped she chose a topic for which he would actually say something. Stefan gave her a studied look as he swallowed the last good-sized bite of his meal.

Stefan made a decision, "It is a lesson about math and astronomy."

"Astrology?"

Stefan shook his head, "Astrology is an old wives tale meant to separate a gullible man from his money. Astronomy is the study of the celestial bodies in the heavens, and how they move."

Rayna wasn't impressed, "I went to the fortune teller, and everything she told me came true."

"Did she predict the death of your family, or your salvation?" Stefan asked in an even tone.

"No, but I didn't ask her that." Rayna retorted defensively.

"The most critical event in your life, and she couldn't see it in her charts?" Stefan asked again, this time rhetorically.

The conversation was not going as Rayna had planned it. Now she had another reason to be upset, and she hadn't seen it coming. This man was rude; he was condescending, haughty, cold, and repugnant.

Stefan continued, "Did you look at the chart that your fortune teller used?" When she bobbed her head to say 'yes', Stefan drew her further, "Was the earth in the center of the chart with the stars and planets surrounding?

"Of course, it was; that is the universe," she snapped at his stupidity.

After wiping all of the grease from his fingers onto his pants, Stefan pulled out his scroll and unfurled just the title, "Can you read this?"

"I can't read," Rayna admitted, feeling diminished for no good reason that she could understand. Who reads?

"This master teaches that the sun is the center of our universe, and that the earth is a planet. All of the planets, including the earth, make a circle around the sun."

Rayna snorted, "That is just ridiculous!"

Stefan shook his head slightly, "No, Rayna, the earth going around the sun is not ridiculous, it is heresy."

She heard two words, her name and "heresy." The first brought a flutter to her heart, and the second brought a twist to her gut. He remembered her name, and actually used it for the first time. She knew she was being silly, but it felt so good to hear it.

Heresy was another issue. People died horrible, gruesome deaths for the charge of heresy. The priests brought in professionals with grand fanfare to draw out the pain and suffering as long as possible for condemned heretics. She was riding through the countryside with an admitted heretic who seemed proud of the fact. Would she have been better off dying of the plague with her family?

Inquisitiveness jumped in front of her good sense, "Why is the position of the sun and planets heresy?"

The question amused Stefan, much to Rayna's consternation, "The priesthood's authority is based on the absolute certainty of man's position in the universe. This astronomy proves them wrong, and with it, all of their authority dissipates. They would destroy the knowledge and the knowledge bearer to maintain their temples."

Rayna was dismayed, "I thought the priesthood was there to protect us from evil."

Stefan fought back the boisterous belly laugh, "Priests are no different than you or me. They are vainglorious, arrogant, insecure, and hungry for power. Never trust a priest, Rayna, never."

Now she was incredulous, "How do you know this?"

"How do I know this? I was raised in the priestly school; I was raised to be a priest, but was rejected before my final vows, foolish girl."

"I am not foolish!" Rayna roared back, unsure of where in her soul the anger arose.

Stefan sobered up, "No. No, you are not foolish, and I apologize for the word; however, you cannot read or write, which leaves you ignorant."

"I'm not stupid," Rayna scorned.

"Stupid is not the same as ignorant. 'Ignorant' means that you don't know, and 'stupid' means you know you're ignorant but refuse to do anything about it," Stefan waited to measure her reaction.

Rayna straightened her back, "So, which am I, guardsman, stupid or ignorant?"

"That is your choice, maiden. Understand your position: women are not expected to be learned beyond the household or bargaining in the market. I know of only one other woman who can read, and she lives far from here. In fact, among the superstitious mobs of these plague lands, they might judge you a demon and burn you alive for the ability to read."

Rayna hesitated as his words swirled around her head, "Yet, you imply the offer to teach me?"