Bill Ironforge's Arc

Chapter 3 of 5

The Empress sent her word to the five chiefs at first thaw. Bill knew they would ride hard for his gate, armed and hungry for her blood. He had days, no more, to make his stronghold hold together. He climbed to the workshop where Lisa kept the ledgers and Mary bent over her scale studies by the fire. "They're coming," Bill said. "All five clans. I need this house to stand as one when they arrive." Lisa set down her pen. She ran his household when he traveled, and she did not soften hard truths. "Then this house has to be one first," she said. "You brought a stranger under our roof. You bargained her life against your clans. And you never told me why." She stood. "I told you I'd want the reason. Soon is now." Bill looked at the stone fireplace, at the two women who had carried his home through the winter. Mary rose from her bench, quiet, her twilight scales catching the light. She touched Lisa's arm. "He won't say it plain," Mary said. "He never does. But look at what he made." She nodded toward the hearth, the long table, the worn floor. "He took an enemy and gave her broth with his own hands. He'd do the same for any soul who walked in cold. That's the man. That's why we stay." Bill's jaw worked. He was not a man who explained himself. "I can unite five clans or I can bury them," he said. "I chose the harder road because I can't do it without the two of you beside me. I should have said that months ago." Lisa was still a long moment. Then she crossed to him and pressed her palm flat against his chest. "You're a fool for holding it in," she said. "But you're my fool." Mary stepped in on his other side. "Ours," she said. They stood together by the fire. Bill had two wives who read his silences and stood at his back. He took Mary's scaled hand and Lisa's, and the three of them turned to face the door and the clans beyond it. The bond that had grown in the caretaking of an enemy now held firm as forged iron. But the peace lasted only until dusk. A rider came down from the pass, horse foaming. He fell against the gate with his message. "The chiefs have met on the trail," he gasped. "All five. They ride together, not scattered. They've sworn one thing between them." He looked up at Bill. "They come for the Empress's head. And any house that shelters her burns with her." Bill's household was whole at last. Now all five clans marched as one against it.