Jana Episode 19: The Conclusion

[The conclusion was somewhat complicated, and I cannot remember the details in their entirety. Some minor characters suddenly become important, but I can't remember which ones!  Here goes, anyway.]

As Jana and Inanna flee northwards on two horses of the slain mercenaries, they need to get past several groups of the mercenary bandits, at various taverns along the way, and they learn more details about the invasion, and also about a covert action taking place in preparation for the invasion.  They also learn that the King's son has been discovered in the care of a certain important Captain in the army, who is currently with troops in the south.  This could only be a reference to Jana herself, and so somehow Leila and the boy had been discovered by the King, and have been taken to the palace.  Presently, it is discovered that there is a plot to kill the infant by a team of snipers, to demoralize the Horse People, or at least the King.

Jana is shocked, but she manages to stay calm.  But when she reluctantly reveals this to Inanna, she is furious.  Even never having seen the little boy in question, being fiercely protective of everyone, she is now so angry, she races off northward, with Jana chasing her, asking her to be careful.  They run down a roadblock, and Jana has to cover her with her arrows, and when they reach the easiest ford at which to cross the river, there are horsemen chasing after them.  They dismount, and Jana urges greater stealth as Inanna and she lead their horses to the water's edge, trying not to be noticed by the border guards, but as the horses reach midstream, the pursuing guards raise the alarm, and both girls are hit by arrows.  One horse is hurt badly, and dies in the water.  Somehow the horse that Jana is on gets across the river and up the further bank, and Jana barely manages to grab Inanna and get ashore, an arrow in her shoulder, and Inanna too is hurt, and soon the horse stumbles, and they have to walk, expecting to encounter a Rider patrol at any moment.  But they never meet one.  Jana is puzzled by the unprotected state of the border, but they drag themselves and the injured horse to a guardpost that is empty.  Jana binds up Inanna's injury, and then falls exhausted.

Some hours later, Inanna has recovered enough to nurse Jana back to consciousness, and to tend to the horse according to Jana's instructions.  In the wee hours, a patrol comes through, and mistakes Jana and Inanna to be foreigners, since they're dressed as people from the west.  With great difficulty, Jana establishes that she is the legendary Captain Jana.  Apparently the permanent patrols have been withdrawn to the Capital.

Jana is running a high fever.  She explains as well as she can about the plot to assassinate the little boy, but finds it difficult in her fevered state.  The two women are put in a carriage and driven at top speed to the City of the Horse People, just in time to witness an arrow kill Leila, who is walking in the gardens with the little boy.  But someone manages to rescue the baby, and the sniper is attacked and killed, after which there is a major battle at the river.

Too sick to participate in the battle, Jana remains in bed, but all the news coming in indicates that it is going well for the Horse People.  Apparently the citizenry have gotten up the courage to resist the mercenaries, and being attacked on two fronts, the Mercenaries are losing all their battles.

To Jana's surprise, Queen Ione's daughter, Princess Ianthe, has returned to the City of the Horse People.  Inanna, now serious, asks Jana to clarify the relationship between herself and the Princess.  "Why did you stop loving her?" she asks.  Jana really has no good answer; she had merely given up romance for about a year, but then Leila had come back into her life, and they had been companions until Jana had come to the aid of Inanna's village.  And now Leila was dead.

Ianthe visits Jana and Inanna, bringing the baby with her.  The King has asked Inanna Princess Ianthe to marry him; the baby's mother has found another lover, and matters are confused.  We leave the story at the point where Inanna and Jana are bewildered that there seems nothing to prevent them from pledging to each other, if Inanna could tolerate the uncertain life of being the lover of a military woman.

Kay

Jana Episode 18: Behind the Lines with Inanna

Jana, calling herself Janus, now, masquerading as a man, and Inanna [I'm not even sure that was the name I called this character! Still, it had to be something very feminine.  She was nothing if not feminine, and passionate], were marching from village to village southward, along a major road that paralleled the river, a couple of miles west of the border.  Everywhere they stopped for news, they found miserable subdued folk, in deathly fear of the mercenaries, and the young men who had been absorbed into the society of the mercenaries.  Jana made a convincing young man.  Inanna, unfortunately, was feeding her fury at the bandits who had killed her father, raped her mother, and raped her as well, all on the main street of their village.  Her own abusement had not proceeded very far before the bandits had had to flee.  The fellow who was upon her had been beheaded by Jana, which was one reason that she had attached herself to the young Captain.  Inanna's folk were, in the distant past, originally immigrants from this land, and she could speak the language haltingly, but out of desperation, she was getting very fluent in it very quickly.

Inanna soon stumbled on a plan.  She asked Jana to allow her to pose as a prostitute at an inn.  Jana was furious, and absolutely forbade it.  Inanna stared her down, and remarked that it appeared that the young man seemed to imagine himself as having proprietary rights over her.  "We have not sworn to each other, or anything of that sort," she said scathingly.  "I own my body, and if I lie with one of these bandits, and learn more than these ignorant villagers know, that will be a lot more than we have found out over these two days!"  But Jana --- or Janus, now --- was still stubborn.

Inanna put her hands on her hips.  She said she would travel alone.  If Jana showed up, she would simply say that 'he' was an idiot fellow, who would not take "no" for an answer.  Jana could offer to work at the stable, and if Inanna felt like it, she would allow Jana into her room, when she was done with what she needed to do first.

The very first village they came to, Inanna marched up to the innkeeper, and offered to wait tables.  It was quite easy to suggest to him that she could help entertain some of his guests, for a fee.  The first night, she took to her bed a youth brought in by his father or uncle, and softhearted Inanna was moved to be kind to the boy, and when Jana crept upstairs once the boy had left, Inanna was in tears of sorrow because the innocent boy had hated to leave.  The second night, a group of mercenaries had come in, terrorized the inn, and learning about Inanna, decided that they would take turns with her.

Inanna could not get much out of the group leader except that something big was about to take place.  He dressed himself, and called down the stairs for his second in command.  This man was a sadist.  He was very rough with her, and she lost her temper, and killed him with her knife.  Leaning out the window, she signaled for Jana to come up.

Silently, Jana and Inanna threw the body out of the window, and Jana ran down the back stairs.  Jana was feeling fey, and made a weird sound in the courtyard, to entice the bandits to come out.  Inanna, too had hidden near the door, and as each of the bandits emerged, the couple had killed them, and seven bandits were dead.

The innkeeper was horrified.  They will set fire to the inn, he said.  Jana assured him that they would never learn of what happened here.  Some of the men helped to drag the bodies into the woods, and Jana and Inanna took possession of two of the horses, and galloped back up the road.  They had learned that the mercenaries planned an attack on the City of the Horse People the following night.

Kay

Jana Episode 17: Border Wars

The border to the west of the Horse People was an enormous river that flowed northward, and emptied into the sea to the west of Queen Ione's lands.  Between the river and the settled parts of the Horse People's desert lands was an enormous band of forest.  Bands of bandits were reported as crossing through the forest, and raiding the settlements at the edge of the forest.  Receiving news of an enormous band heading for a showdown with the Horse People, Jana's rider group was dispatched, together with several other groups, all under Jana's leadership, and after a two-day battle, and heavy losses on both sides, the enemy bandits tried to haul their dead away, but were pursued back across the forest, and into the river.  The dead they left behind clearly indicated that at least half of the enemy fighters were mercenaries.

Things settled down briefly, and Jana left her troop with her adjutant, and came home for a short break, to see Leila, who pined for her mistress, and the little boy, who was a delightful infant, roaming about the house, getting into everything with a happy smile.  Jana and Leila were fast asleep when there was a banging at the door, and they found a messenger from the troop come to tell Jana that there had been yet another raid on a village. The boy was exhausted, and Jana and Leila helped him recover before Jana headed back south.

With the help of the villagers, Jana set up a warning watch, with young fellows along a chain of trees, watching from in hiding all up and down the river.  That night, there was warning sent along to the Rider camp that a raid was in progress. Jana and her troops were only in time to attack the raiders already trying to get back through the forest.  The village had dead all up and down the main street, and one young woman was lying on the ground, having just been raped, along with her mother.

Jana's words comforted the villagers, and she set the young victims to care for the more elderly victims, promising to return soon, to see how things were getting on.  When she had grabbed a short nap and gotten back, a number of villages had taken things into their own hands, and had formed a sort of spy militia.  The young woman whom Jana had spoken with earlier had lost her mother--the woman had killed herself.  The woman, Inanna, volunteered for the spy network.  It decided that the most likely next target was a village a little to the north.

Inanna had attached herself to the young Rider Captain, who appeared to be a young man.  With a few other members of the spy network, they stayed the early part of the evening in the village inn, and as the attack happened, Jana's riders fell on the bandits, and there was slaughter.  The remnants of the attack force were chased to the river, and it was soon clear that the Horse People would need to cross the river, and see what was happening.

In the night, Inanna discovers that Jana is a woman.  But this discovery only makes her more attracted to the young rider captain, but she is horrified at herself for falling in love with another woman, and furious at Jana for deceiving her.  Inanna is beautiful, and Jana is thoroughly off balance.  Meanwhile, Inanna is seething with vengeance, and wants to go across the river with Jana, and wreak havoc.  She does not know how to fight, and begs Jana to teach her.  The traditional weapon of women of the Horse People is the thrown knife, and under Jana's tutelage, the girl quickly discovers a talent for the thrown knife.

Jana decides to cross the river by herself, to do some spying, and finds herself accompanied by Inanna. Jana argues with Inanna to return home, but she refuses, and pretends that she has lost her mind, as she dances along, throwing her knife at the boles of trees in the forest.  Stripping naked, with their clothes tied in bundles, Jana crosses the river, with Inanna on her shoulders, singing at the top of her voice, despite Jana's entreaties to her to be quiet.  They are intercepted by a border guard who has his arrow aimed at Jana's head.  But after confusing the guard with some doubletalk, Inanna kills him with a knife through his throat.

The pair put their clothes back on, and approach a small town, and the inn of the town.  They discover that the country has been overrun by mercenaries from the far north, the same fellows who had planned to take over Queen Ione's land, headed by the Duke.

Kay

Jana Episode 16: Stefan, Alicia, Leila and Jana

[The previous episode, Episode 15, is here.]

When Stefan finally regained consciousness, as we saw earlier, Penelope's face was the first he saw.  Penelope's mother and Sofia (Queen Ione's personal maid, a girl of about 14, the oldest surviving servant in the Palace) both attested to Stefan (when she had left the room briefly) that it had been Penny who had cared for him in his weeks-long convalescence.

It wasn't long before Stefan and Penelope confessed their love for each other.  They were married in an austere ceremony on the Palace steps, as soon as Stefan was able to walk.  Stefan would never be as strong as he was; the blade had hurt his abdomen, and according to the primitive medicine of the time, they had managed to put him together too slowly to enable the stomach to heal completely.  But his mind was whole, and his legs were whole, but he could not remain standing for long.

Ianthe, meanwhile was beginning to relax in the City of the Horse People, but she could meet Jana only occasionally, and had to be satisfied with spying on the exercises of the riders through a high window.  One day, she begged to be allowed to visit the humble Horse Officer in her home, and was conducted there by Jana herself, and met Jana, and Ole and Eva, her adopted father and mother.  She learned all about how Jana had been abducted from among the warrior women of the north during a raid, and Ole proudly declared that Jana was destined to be a great warrior, despite being a woman.  Jana was, of course, deeply embarrassed by all this, but Ianthe listened, and remembered.

When the time came for Ianthe to return to her people, the bandit raids had increased in frequency, and Jana could not leave her work.  It was natural that Ianthe asked for Ole and Eva to accompany her to Heliopolis.  Once Stefan, Ianthe, Penelope and her mother, were all gathered in Heliopolis, Stefan finally felt comfortable with leading the kingdom, with the able assistance of his sister, and the advice of Ole and Eva.

With her adopted parents gone, Jana was utterly alone.  She was welcome in the palace, but now the King, long a widower, was learning that he missed the company of the lively princess from the north, and Jana tactfully avoided spending too much time in the palace.  Her mind naturally turned to that lovely young woman who had entertained her in the traveling village in which she and Ianthe and their squadron had spent that night.  After a sweep of the eastern border, Jana took her troop up to where the village had been relocated, and when she approached it, Leila saw her from far away, and ran to meet her, joy written all over her face.
"Take me with you, my lady!  Oh, please take me with you!  You are such a sight for Leila's eyes!"
"But what of your beloved mistress Alicia, the chief's daughter?"

Leila's look of joy waned somewhat.  It appeared that, while the chief's daughter had sent for Leila a few times and comforted her in the way of women, the young woman could not forget the princess from the north.  Alicia lusted for Princess Ianthe, and she had begged her father to conduct her to the City of the Horse People.  They had left for the City some weeks before, and the girl had not returned with her father.  She had evidently stayed with the King, and Ianthe.

Jana and her company spent the night, and in the morning, Jana got permission to take Leila into her service.  Permission was given, provided Alicia was informed as soon as possible.  Jana and her troop, with the addition of the gleeful Leila, returned to the City of the Horse People.

Jana made Leila comfortable in the home of her parents, and went to the Palace to greet the King, and inform Alicia, the Chief's daughter, that with her permission, Leila would come to work for Jana.  The Chief's daughter had become even more beautiful in the intervening months, and she seemed to enjoy life at the palace of the King of the Horse People very well.  So Leila set up the home of the Horse Officer to her liking, and to the world they were householder and slave, but in the dark of night they were lovers.

Some time later, when Jana visited the Palace, the Chief's daughter came to her privately, and revealed that she was pregnant with the King's child.  Jana was shocked, but realized that it was natural, because the young woman was tempestuous and lusty, and if the King had asked her, she would have certainly gone to his bed.  "The King must not know!" she said to Jana, her eyes full of alarm.  Jana sighed, and asked what she wanted.  She wanted to be hidden until the child could be delivered, and return to the Palace, as if she had never given birth.  Jana pointed out that the child would be heir to the throne, but Alicia was adamant: she was no mother, and the child should be brought up by someone more responsible than Alicia.  To cut a long story short, Jana arranged for the Chief's daughter to be conducted to Heliopolis, where she knew Ole and Eva would see to the welfare of both mother and child.

Some months passed, and the child was delivered, and Ole insisted that it should be brought to the Horse People, or it could become politically troublesome.  Jana reluctantly agreed to bring up the child.  When Leila saw the child, she loved it so much that Jana realized that this was the best possible arrangement.

[The story continues in Episode 17.]

Kay.

Jana Episode 15

In Heliopolis, Stefan is left holding the fort, with Penelope, and Penelope's mother, and of course Sofia and little Nina.  (Penelope's mother had been brought in for questioning, after Penelope had revealed that she had overheard plotting against the Queen.  Over time, Penelope's mother had become less defiant, and was now supportive of the beleaguered little royal family.)

The Duke, of course, was in the dungeon, and the Duke's son, a hothead, was on house arrest, from where there was daily news of agitation, propaganda against Stefan, and lots of rabble-rousing.  Basically, the Duke and his son were separately seeking a confrontation with Stefan, seeing him as the only one obstructing their right to the throne.

Stefan had gotten a message from the Duke in the dungeon, demanding the right to trial by combat.  At that time, this right could not be denied, and Stefan decided that he would grant it, and that he would face the challenger himself.  (As far as the Duke and the people knew, Stefan was no warrior.  Rumors that he had been tutored in arms by a girl, Jana, had been dismissed with laughter.)

Penelope was completely against the idea of a fight.  But her mother, having learned that Stefan was not completely helpless, reluctantly agreed to support the young prince, a mere boy of fifteen.  The Duke, predictably, was represented by his champion, his son.  When all parties assembled at the field of arms, they were amazed to see that not only was Stefan able to hold his own, but he was the significantly better swordsman.  Unfortunately, when he was delivering the death blow, at the last second the Duke's son was able to get in a slice to the prince's abdomen. The two opponents lay in the dust, one dead, and the other unable to breathe.

Penelope ran screaming down to the arena, and ripping her garment free, bundled it to stanch the prince's wound.  Only then did the people run down to aid the stricken prince. Penelope screamed for medical assistance, and made the surgeons crudely sew up the slashed abdomen, and presently he was lying in a chamber, surrounded by attendants, but Penelope sat by his side, watching the physicians, questioning them, urging them to greater efforts, holding Stefan down when they attempted bolder means for saving the boys, and controlling the spread of poison from the wound.  (At that time, the existence of bacteria was unknown, and the word poison was used to describe all that which had to be controlled, to prevent the spread of the damage that had been caused, and clear the path to recovery.)

Over the weeks, as Stefan lay unconscious, as his temperature returned to normal, signaling the defeat of the spread of poison, it was Penelope who remained faithfully at his side, dressing his wounds, feeding him food and drink, cleaning him off as needed, and hers was the face he saw when he opened his eyes.

Meanwhile, Jana, after a brief period of rest with her parents, was given a squad of her own, and presently became well known for great success in controlling bandit raids from the southeast.  The people of those parts were grateful for the help in securing their herds of horses, and Jana's fame grew.  Few knew that she was a woman; dressed in leather armor, she appeared to be a handsome young man.  As the army recruited younger men, the newcomers of Jana's own squadron were unaware that they were being led by a woman, since she was seldom addressed by name.

Kay

Continuing Jana!

When I first started this Blog, the intention was to serialize the stories I had been writing furiously over many years.  One of the first stories to actually be completed was the story of Jana, which was not updated past Episode 14 on this Blog.  (I can't remember whether I completed it after I started this Blog or before.)  Anyway, I am aghast that I abandoned any readers (not more than about 25 of them, luckily) who never got past that Episode!

Part of the problem is, of course, that back then I wrote everything on paper, and I have moved a couple of times since then, and living alone, I have to manage all my papers myself, and I'm a totally unorganized person.  (At least, that's how I feel; some friends think of me as super organized in things that matter!) Towards the end, I typed the story into my first computer, took it into work in the dead of night, and printed it out in the tiniest print imaginable, and brought it home to read through.  Then I made changes, printed out those, and interspersed the new pages ... you get the idea.  It was a mess, because of the size of the print actually making things much worse than they would have been otherwise.

I can't find the original manuscript, but I remember the story, so I'm going to read Episode 14 real quick, and then relate the remainder of the story.  Be patient if I keep going back to change what I write, because it has been fifteen years since I wrote the original story.  If I do find the original manuscript, you'll get to read it.

I'm going to put a summary of the story thus far right below here, as soon as I finish reading Episode 14.

Kay