As if by magic, the tortoise Sunstone appeared at Lindhall’s side, making his begging groan.
“No, Sunstone. You know very well they aren’t good for you,” Arram said with a smile. Little muscles all over his body were starting to relax. He hadn’t even known how tense he had been until this moment. He glanced at Lindhall. “How did Master Hulak know I was coming home?”
“Come—you know we masters talk all the time,” Lindhall replied, dusting Arram’s table with his handkerchief. “Ramasu kept us apprised on how you fared. We were concerned,” he said in answer to Arram’s questioning look. “We weren’t certain that the camp was the proper place for you.”
Thinking of Kottrun’s attack, Arram grimaced. “It was…educational,” he replied.
“So we feared. Will you go again?” Lindhall asked. He sipped his tea.
“I learned a great deal of surgery quickly,” Arram told him slowly. “I’d like to learn more, and make sure of what I’ve learned already. But perhaps I could do that in a city infirmary, and do the rest of my healing studies during plague seasons.” He looked away from Lindhall as his chin began to tremble. “It’s a horrible place.”
For a long moment the older man said nothing. Then he remarked, “Certainly I will benefit from your knowledge, however acquired. The patients are smaller here, but perhaps their reason for coming to us is more…bearable. Speaking of patients, I have three meerkat pups left with me by a traveling show. The adults were stolen, but—”
Arram grinned. “Meerkat pups?” He’d seen pictures and heard descriptions, but he’d never seen one in person. “Where, the menagerie?”
Lindhall chuckled. “No, these are pups. We’ve been fighting to keep them alive for three days. Are you sure you wouldn’t rather rest?”
But Arram was already on his way through the sitting room to Lindhall’s private nursery, stepping nimbly around Sunstone. Preet cheeped at Lindhall as if to say “What can you do?” and perched on the older man’s shoulder, ready to see these marvels for herself.
Arram went back to his room near suppertime with a small meerkat nestled in his shirtfront. He was trying to decide if it was worth the trouble of returning the youngster to the heated nursery before he went to the noisy dining hall, or simply looking for whatever Lindhall and the students had tucked away for snacks, when someone rapped on his door. He opened it, expecting to find a mastery student with Preet, who had gone wandering when the nursery proved too warm for her.
Instead he saw Varice, pretty in a pale blue cotton dress under her white robe. Her golden curls were pinned up, but some had tumbled forward over her shoulders. He wanted to touch them more than he’d wanted anything in his life. He moved forward to hug her—surely in a brotherly way—and remembered the meerkat in his shirt just in time. She was also holding a large basket with both hands.
She smiled at him. “I asked Master Ramasu how you were, and he said flat with exhaustion. When I didn’t see you at any other meal, I thought I’d bring you supper. There’s plenty if Master Lindhall wants some.”
He took the basket. “Oh, he’s at some meeting at the masters’ dining hall. Will you join me? We can eat in the study.” He led the way there, keeping his arms and the basket well away from his small charge. Once inside the study, he put the basket down with relief. It was heavy.
“Why are you walking so strangely?” she asked. “Did someone hit you?”
Arram grinned at her. “No. I’m being careful of my friend.” Unbuttoning his shirt, he showed her the meerkat pup. “Master Lindhall has the other two,” he explained. “He said he hopes they don’t get lively during the meeting.”
“I’ve seen the adult ones in the menagerie,” she said, gently lifting the pup out.
“These were abandoned. Lindhall hopes the adults will accept them once we’re certain they don’t have any illnesses.” He watched her a little nervously as she set the pup on one of Lindhall’s many cushions.
She stepped closer to him and said, “I missed you so much. I can’t believe how much.” Smiling, she stood on her tiptoes, twined her arms around his neck, pulled his head down, and planted her lips on his in a very no-nonsense way. She had kissed him on the mouth a few times before, just as a friendly salute. This was far more than friendly. Arram closed his eyes and sank into the kiss. Her lips were very soft. He held her comfortable body tightly, lifting her clean off the floor so their mouths were on the same level. She was running her hands over his shoulders and the side of his face. For once in his life he could barely think.
He was also barely breathing. Gently, regretfully, he drew back, setting her on the ground.
“Well!” she said, brushing her gown into order. There was a very pleased smile on her face. “Finally! I waited and waited for you to make the first move, like the gentleman is supposed to. If I’d realized you only needed me to do it, I would have proceeded ages ago!”
He smoothed her tumbled golden hair with trembling hands. “Those were hints?” he asked plaintively. “I thought those were…kisses like you’d give a brother.”
Varice laughed. “You have very odd ideas about how I kiss my brothers, then!”
He wobbled. “I’m sorry,” he said apologetically as they nearly tripped. “I haven’t eaten since—I think this morning, but it wasn’t much.”
“That won’t do. We’ll get you fed and then—” She bumped him with her knee. “We can discuss other things.”
Arram beamed down at her. “I hope so.”
“I know so. I am tired of waiting for you to do something, Arram Draper,” Varice said as they turned toward the food.
He stopped. “You remind me. I brought you something.” He hurried to his room for the favor he’d requested of Sarge. Ramasu had explained that the gladiators commonly burned their used-up gear, so foes in the arena or among the bettors could not steal it to use for spells to bring them down. Arram had persuaded Sarge and Ramasu to let him have a token, properly spelled to remove Sarge’s essence, for Varice. He gave the silk-wrapped bundle to her. She gasped when she opened it. The glove was a nasty, dirty thing, worn out at the fingertips and the seams, but Sarge’s name was inked on the back, and it had clearly been hard used.
Varice crumpled it in her hands. “Is this—?”
“One of his training gloves,” Arram told her.
She yelped and flung her arms around his neck for another kiss. Arram could have continued all night, if someone had not rapped on his door. Quickly they released each other and straightened their clothes before Arram gathered up the meerkat and went to see who had come to call.
It was Ozorne. Immediately he tried to embrace Arram, only to stop when he saw the meerkat pup. His face, already alight when he saw Arram, brightened even more. He reached a finger to the small creature. “I heard Lindhall had pups,” he said softly. “There are two more?”
“With Lindhall,” Arram said. “This one was asleep until a moment ago.”
“Did Varice wake him? She wasn’t at the dining hall—”
“I’m here,” Varice called from the study. “I brought Arram supper.”
There was nothing else to do, and truly, Arram didn’t begrudge his best friend for interrupting his time with Varice. “Will you join us? Varice is staying—you know she brought enough for twelve.” He passed the meerkat into Ozorne’s hands.
“Oh, oh, yes, of course,” Ozorne said absently, stroking the pup’s head. He looked at the two guards behind him. “I’ll be dining here. You can wait.” He slid into Arram’s room and closed the door. He lowered his voice. “Listen, I wanted to say, about what happened…”
“There’s nothing to say,” Arram said. “We came out of it alive, that’s the important thing. Sergeant Okot?” he thought to ask. He was surprised Ozorne’s chief guard was letting him wander.
“Not back from Mother’s yet,” Ozorne replied. “I’ve been informed I’m in for it when he is, and I’m not to leave this building except for lessons.” He gripped Arram’s a
rm with a many-ringed hand. He cradled the pup against his chest with the other. “And there’s plenty to say,” he said firmly, looking into Arram’s eyes. “We’ve been friends for a long time. I’ve always been glad of it, but…you saved my life in that tent. I panicked, Arram. I couldn’t think of a single working—”
“You would have,” Arram assured his friend. “When you’d caught your breath—”
“But I didn’t,” Ozorne protested. “You saw how the wind blew, and you did what had to be done before that madman gouged our eyes out. I will never forget that. I can’t think of anyone who would do so much for me without wanting something—except you.” He frowned. “Do you want something?”
“Supper,” Arram replied.
Ozorne laughed. “I have never had friends like you and Varice. I don’t know anyone who’s ever had friends like you two!”
“And if you’re lucky, you never will,” Varice called. “Will you let him collapse of starvation, or will you come to the table?”
Arram had just settled the pup in a basket nest by his place when Varice asked, “Why are you back so soon? You said your mother meant to keep you until late Saturday?”
“She did,” Ozorne replied, then grinned as they took their seats. “But I’d had about enough of her chatter regarding the eligible girls I must try to meet this week, when she started over lunch. Lucky for her and me she’d invited Chioké to share the meal. Right away he started telling her how much trouble I was having in my classes with Cosmas and Dagani. How I was going to miss Cosmas’s next examination and it will hurt my marks. Well, no Tasikhe will score badly in an examination! I tell you, my mother practically shoved me out the door!” Ozorne chuckled as he shook out his napkin. “I wish I had Chioké’s way with her.”
“You could try his technique,” Varice suggested, filling his cup with pomegranate juice.
Arram frowned. Gently, not wanting to upset his friends, he asked, “Ozorne…you trust Chioké? Truly trust him?” He explained about the conversation between the mage and Kottrun.
Ozorne was silent for a moment before he said, “It could have been that he was trying to rig fights. I know he does that.”
Arram was shocked. “And you condone it?”
Ozorne chuckled. “Arram, don’t you know? It’s good to have something on those who might try to gain power over you. Just in case. You gave me something to hold over Chioké, should he get artful with me.” He patted Arram on the cheek. “I even have something on Mother.”
“And me?” Arram asked, trying to hide his outrage. “Varice?”
Ozorne kissed his cheek. “No. I believe in the two of you without reservation. A fellow never had better friends, Arram.”
“Ozorne!” Varice announced patiently. “Arram! The food grows cold!”
“Your hearts are as true as gold,” Ozorne said, grinning as he slung an arm around Arram’s shoulder. “Let’s eat.”
Arram sat cross-legged at the low table between his two best friends. Preet landed on his shoulder and squawked in his ear. Unseen, Varice rubbed one of her knees against his as she passed a dish of couscous. Ozorne was laughing as the meerkat tried to work free of his basket.
He listens to Varice and me, Arram told himself, offering Preet a piece of flatbread. I have years and years of studies before I’m a master. Something will work out so we can leave Carthak. Or perhaps Ozorne will convince the new emperor to put an end to slavery; then I can stay.
In the distance, he thought he could hear an old woman’s cackling laughter. A Hag’s laughter.
GLOSSARY
Apalite: citizen of the Carthaki district of Apal, formerly a nation-state to the far south and east of Carthak district (home of the capital), sister district/nation-state to Amar
beak head: hole in the point at the front of a ship used as a privy by sailors
belowstairs: palace slang for high-security cells under the oldest part of the palace, some particularly magicked to hold the strongest of mages
B.H.E. (Before Human Era): name given to the years before H.E., the Human Era. B.H.E. means the time when humans and immortals lived together, before increasing strife between them drove a group of mages to assemble in Carthak in order to create a working of magic that would exile the immortals to the Divine Realms (supposedly their original home). Common belief is that they succeeded in 852 H.E. and began in 836 B.H.E, though some are of the opinion that the spell covered only the Eastern Lands and the Southern Lands to the Roof of the World, the Yamani Islands, the Copper Isles, and perhaps the easternmost parts of the islands and countries west of there. It is even thought there are both very small and very large and powerful immortals tucked away in the lands supposed to be covered by the spell, which, in any case, has lasted a long time without renewal. It was destroyed when it was worked, and only partial copies remain.
Black God (of Death): one of the Great Gods, those who reign over all the world under various names. The Black God is usually represented by a tall human shape in a black robe and cowl. He is seen as soft-spoken and kind, the reliever of pain and suffering. People come to his realms to rest, recover from, and forget their lives before they are reborn into new bodies. His priests and priestesses are robed in the same manner as he is. They prepare and bury or burn (depending on the family’s choice) the dead and look after widows and orphans without family. They say prayers for the dead and look after graves. It is also their jobs to look after pigeons and doves, who supposedly carry the spirits of the dead to the Peaceful Realms, where the Black God reigns.
broken seal: street slang for losing one’s virginity, as in “she broke her seal” or “he broke his seal”; from breaking the seal on a document
cackleheads: slang for feces-brained
canoodling: sexual experimentation or having sex
cantrip: academic word for a spell
commandeer: command, seize for use (usually military)
Common: Common Eastern, the language shared by Tortall, Tyra, Maren, Galla, and Sarain
Crone: aspect of the Great Goddess, goddess of the underworld, aging women, wisdom, secrets, healing, the waning moon, and the natural fading of life
cross juggling: pattern in which the right hand throws the balls to the left hand and the left hand to the right hand, so they cross in the space between hands
detail: soldier’s slang for duty or work
Divine Realms: home of the gods and the creatures known as immortals; also called the Realms of the Gods
Ergwae: people of Carthak’s deep mountain valleys and western deserts, known for ornately woven and braided white turbans and embroidered scarves worn by men and women alike
Graveyard Hag: patron goddess of Carthak, a minor trickster and goddess of surprise changes in fate elsewhere in the Eastern Realms and Copper Isles; goddess of the crossroads and of gambling, represented by dice and a dicing cup, rats, and hyenas; also known as the Lady of the South (polite form of address), taken from the position of her statues in her temples and arenas
Great Mother Goddess: one of the Great Gods, those who reign over the world under various names. The Great Mother is usually represented by one of three aspects: the Maiden, goddess of girls and virgins, the hunt, the waxing moon, and spring; the Mother, goddess of women, childbirth, sex between women and men, summer, gardening, marriage, the full moon, and protection; and the Crone, goddess of the underworld, aging women, wisdom, secrets, healing, the waning moon, and the natural fading of life; also called the Three-Fold Mother and the Gentle Mother (this last more popular in the past two hundred years than at present).
gumat: city street toughs, Carthak
Hag-curst: reference to the patron goddess of Carthak, the Graveyard Hag
Harvest: August 1; the celebration before the hardest work of the harvest begins. The first fruits of the harvest are offered to the gods, and feasts are held.
Hekaja: Carthaki goddess of healing
immortals: creatures exiled to the Divine Realms 795 N.E. (Northern
Empire)/211 B.H.E. (before the Human Era), including winged horses of both kinds and all three sizes, merpeople, giants, ogres, centaurs of both types, Stormwings, unicorns of all three sizes, basilisks, Coldfangs, griffins, spidrens, tauroses, sunbirds, winged apes, and wyverns
insensate: without senses, unobservant
instructor: teachers in the Lower Academy who are juniors and seniors in good standing in the Upper Academy and who teach classes in exchange for wages, dormitory housing, and library access
Jinda: person from the distant western realm of Jindazhen
kaygow: rude term among Hulak’s people for a scavenger animal
Kyprish: adjective for the people of the Copper Isles; from the name of their national god, Kyprioth
Lady of the South: alternate, more polite form of address for the Graveyard Hag by those who don’t want her attention; taken from the traditional position of her statues in her temples and in arenas
leatherfoot: soldier slang for a long-term soldier whose boots and feet have reached the same level of hardness
Lower Academy: junior school for the Carthaki School for Mages, usually for students ages ten to fifteen
lozenge: pill
Matasarab: Thak for festival of the spring equinox
mead: Northern-style honey wine
member: penis
Midwinter: holiday that occurs on and around the longest night of the year; the morning after the longest night marks the return of summer’s sun. It is celebrated by a week of feasting and gift-giving.
Minoss: god of justice, courts, and trials
Mithros: Great God of the sun, law, and war
Mortal Realms: part of the universe where those beings and creatures who are born and will die exist
nit: copper Carthaki coin
Old Thak: original language for early Kingdom of Carthak; now mage language taught throughout Eastern and Southern Lands and Scanra
orris: another term for iris, a scent sacred to Hekaja and to healers, as well as myrrh, myrtle, and poppy