Caught in Crystal: A Lyra Novel (10 page)

“I heard him say he would come back for his meal, but he has not appeared.”

“He changed his mind after he had to shove his way through this crowd, and decided to eat in his room.”

Corrana’s brows arched. “He is so wellborn? He did not look it.”

Kayl shrugged again. “He pays well, whatever his birth. And he seems an unlikely person to attract your attention, lady.”

“Perhaps.” Corrana seemed to be speaking more to herself than to Kayl. “Yes, you may be right. I will not keep you longer.”

Kayl nodded and returned to her work. A few minutes later, she saw Corrana making her way up the stairs. She tensed slightly, wondering whether the woman would knock on doors until she found Glyndon’s room, and what would happen if she did.

No disturbance occurred, and gradually Kayl relaxed. The rest of the evening passed in a dull blur of faces and mugs and the damp, smokey smell of the cloaks hanging around the fire. Corrana’s appearance in the robes of the Sisterhood had given the villagers something new to speculate on, and they stayed even later than they had the previous evening.

Finally the last of the customers left. Kayl sent Mark and Dara off to bed at once; she had no intention of suffering through another day like this, and if they didn’t get enough sleep they’d be arguing again as soon as they awoke. Then she collapsed onto a bench with a huff of relief.

“Kayl.”

She jerked at the sound of the quiet voice, and almost slid off the bench. Turning, she peered into the shadowed corners of the serving room. “Who’s there?” she said sharply.

“Me.” Jirod’s form appeared beside the black hole that was the doorway to the kitchen. “I’m sorry I startled you.”

“What are you still doing here?” Kayl said, only a little less sharply than before.

“I wanted to talk to you.”

“You might have asked earlier.”

Jirod returned her gaze steadily. “If I had, you’d have said you were too busy or too tired. Wouldn’t you?”

“Probably,” Kayl said, and sighed.

“She wouldn’t have been lying, either,” said a voice from one of the shadowed corners. Kayl turned, startled, to see Bryn strolling toward her.

“What is this, a plot?” Kayl said, half seriously.

Jirod gave Bryn an annoyed look and turned to Kayl. “May I sit down?” he said, ignoring the Wyrd woman.

Kayl nodded. Jirod came around the tables and folded himself onto the other end of the bench. Bryn took the seat across from Kayl without asking, and Jirod gave her another look. “Well?” Kayl said. “What is it?”

Jirod glanced at Bryn and hesitated, then said carefully, “I heard Utrilo was here again this afternoon.”

“He was here, all right,” Bryn said before Kayl could reply. “Throwing his weight around as usual—all of it. What’s that got to do with anything?”

“I was worried about Kayl,” Jirod said with a cold dignity that betrayed his embarrassment at having to say it aloud, in front of Bryn.

“I appreciate it, Jirod, but you can see there’s nothing to worry about,” Kayl said. Silently, she blessed Bryn for distracting Jirod long enough for Kayl to see the situation in perspective. Otherwise, she would have snapped his head off.

“I—” Jirod stopped short, and glanced at Bryn yet again. “I’ll come see you tomorrow, Kayl, if that’s all right?”

“You’re always welcome, Jirod,” Kayl said sincerely.

Jirod nodded farewell, a little stiffly, Kayl thought, and left. As the inn’s door closed behind him, Bryn shook her head. “I don’t think he likes me,” she said mournfully.

Kayl laughed. “Do you blame him? You upset all his plans for a quiet tryst.”

“I’ll call him back, if you like,” Bryn offered, showing her pointed teeth in a wicked grin.

“I don’t think he’d come.”

“You’re very patient with him,” Bryn said. “Or is it just my viewpoint that makes him seem overprotective?”

“No, he’s just as bad as you think he is,” Kayl said, and sighed. “I’m glad you were here; I’d have lost my temper otherwise, and Jirod didn’t do anything to deserve that.”

“Long day?”

“Dara and Mark have been running me ragged, Utrilo Levoil was looking for an excuse to fine the inn, and people keep asking questions about Corrana that I don’t have answers for. What do you think?”

Bryn nodded sympathetically. “I think you should get some sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow, or the day after.”

Kayl nodded. She sat and watched the Wyrd leave. She didn’t feel tired, but she needed to be alone, to think. Too many pieces of her past had come hurtling back into her life too quickly. Corrana’s appearance had dealt a major blow to a mental wall already eroded by time and the monotony of life in Copeham; Glyndon’s arrival had smashed it into jagged fragments. Kayl stared into the dying fire and let the memories wash over her.

The initiation court was dark and silent. The pool at its center reflected the pale starlight of a moonless night. Kayl stood beside the glimmering water, shivering slightly with anticipation. This night would determine the course of her future training, and her place among the Sisterhood.

In the covered walkway that ran around the edges of the court, the Elder Mothers were gathering. Kayl could hear the faint rustling of the shapeless black cloaks they wore over their silver robes. The first voice sent a shock of surprise down her spine, though she had thought she was expecting it. “Who are you, that waits in the Court of Stars?”

“I am Kayl Larrinar, Your Serenity,” Kayl said, and her adolescent voice cracked slightly.

“What do you ask of us?” came another voice, disembodied by darkness.

“I ask a place among the Sisterhood of Stars.”

“Then demonstrate for us your knowledge. Who are the men of the raven?”

“The Shanhar, who came out of Kith Alunel and who live now in the Mountains of Morravik by the Melyranne Sea.” Kayl was relieved that the first question had been an easy one.

“Describe the olskla plant, and explain its uses.”

“It is a small plant, dark green, with—with white flowers. A tincture made from the root brings down fevers, if the roots are harvested before the plant flowers.”

“Olskla flowers are gold in color, and you neglected to mention that the plant blooms but once in every hundred years.”

Kay felt herself flushing in the darkness. “Yes, Your Serenity.” And the testing went on.

The questions came more and more rapidly, jumping from history to healing to cookery to sword-skill to magic, without apparent pattern or reason. Kayl answered as well as she could, hoping that her weakness in esoteric lore would be more than covered by her undeniable mastery of more practical knowledge.

The examination ended at last. A rustle ran around the edges of the court, and a voice from in front of her said, “You have satisfied the assembled Elders of the Sisterhood. Look up, and take whatever the stars bestow.”

Wondering, Kayl tilted her head back. At first she saw only the stars; then, high above her head, a patch of sky began to glow silver. As it grew brighter, shapes flickered within the light—the silver eight-pointed star of the sorceress, the branching tree of the healer, the bright, slender blade of the warrior, and the broken chain of the demon-friend. The glow sank toward her. Kayl held her breath, willing the sword to be the final shape.

The light grew brighter still, and then something swished to earth in front of her with a blinding flash of brilliance. Kayl had to close her eyes. When she opened them, a silver sword stood in front of her, driven point-first into the paving stones of the court. She reached out and took the hilt in her hand.

The sword vanished, and she was holding only a milky stone. As she stared at it, the covered walkway shimmered into view as the Elder Mothers discarded their black cloaks and lit their tiny oil lamps. Kayl felt a stir of triumph. She had done it!

Mother Dalessi was the first at Kayl’s side. “Welcome, daughter,” she said, and kissed Kayl’s cheek. “You are truly one of us now.”

“Harder! Swing that sword as if you meant it!” the drill-master shouted at the hot, sweaty group of sixteen-year-olds. “Come on, you useless children, work!”

“Bitch,” muttered the girl next to Kayl as they lunged and drew back. “She enjoys this.”

“Ritha ri Luethold! Extra work on the exercise tonight, two candlemarks’ time. Cut left! and right! and left!”

Kayl swung the weighted sword with grim intensity, trying to achieve the same accuracy, power, and elegance as the instructor. There was a rhythm in the strokes, and if she could just feel it clearly enough… The pattern started to come together, and she was so intent on it that she missed the instructor’s command to turn and was nearly brained by her neighbor’s next stroke. Embarrassed, she accepted the instructor’s caustic reprimand without comment and resumed her place in the line.

When the lesson ended, the drillmaster called her over while the rest of the advanced class went grumbling off to the baths.

“Just what were you trying during the exercises, Larrinar?” the woman demanded.

Awkwardly, Kayl tried to explain. To her surprise, the drill master listened patiently until she finished, then said, “Why?”

Kayl took a deep breath. “Because I want to be the best.”

“Do you.” The instructor studied her with interest. “Well, we’ll see. In the meantime, you can join the ri Luethold girl tonight for the extra work. And you’ll do the same every night until you stop making mistakes in the exercise pattern. You may go.”

Kayl went. “But I will be the best,” she whispered to herself as she hurried after her classmates.

“Me, too,” said a voice behind her.

Kayl stopped and turned, raising her sword automatically. She found herself facing a tiny, black-haired imp of a girl. Kayl recognized her in a vague sort of way; she was in a different section of Kayl’s own age group. “Sorry,” Kayl said, lowering her sword.

The girl grinned. “S’all right; I duck quick. What’re you going to be best at?”

“I’m a sword-wearer; what do you think?” Kayl replied with a touch of annoyance. She hadn’t meant to be overheard, and she was afraid she was going to be laughed at.

“There’s lots of possibilities,” the black-haired girl said seriously. “There’s swordplay, and knife work, and bare-hand, and throwing, and archery, and that’s not even all the fighting skills. So—which one are you going to be best at?”

“All of them,” Kayl said sharply, hoping that when she had her answer the girl would go away. “Fighting and tactics and—”

The girl interrupted with a crow of delight. “I knew it! I knew you were the right one! Come on, come on, you have to meet Varevice.”

She grabbed Kayl’s arm and succeeded in pulling her several steps before Kayl found the presence of mind to dig in her heels. “Wait a minute! Who are you? And what do you think you’re doing?”

“Didn’t I tell you? I’m Barthelmy. Varevice and I are putting a Star Cluster together.”

“Aren’t you in the same group as I am? It’ll be two years yet before we’re allowed to make up our Stars!”

“There’s nothing that says we can’t practice now. Besides, you have to start early if you want to be the best,” Barthelmy said sagely. “And we’re going to be the best.”

“And you want me to join? What makes you think I’m the best at anything?”

“You’re not, yet. None of us are. But we’re going to be.”

“How can you tell?” Kayl asked, intrigued.

“Well, first you pick out the people who are good. That part’s pretty easy. Then you pick out the ones who work, even though they’re already good. And
then
you look for someone who really
wants
to be the best.”

“Oh? And what do you want to be best at?”

Barthelmy tossed her head, sending witchlocks of black hair flying in all directions. “I’m a demon-friend,” she said defiantly. “And someday I’m going to go to Varna and make them let every one of their
sklathran’sy
go free.”

Kayl laughed in spite of herself. “All by yourself?”

“Of course not. I’m not
stupid
!” Barthelmy said. “That’s why I need to be part of the best Star in the whole Sisterhood.” She looked at Kayl anxiously. “Well? Will you at least come meet Varevice?”

Kayl hesitated, then nodded. She felt warmed by Barthelmy’s interest, and it couldn’t hurt to go along with her now. It would be two years before any of them were assigned to permanent Stars.

“Good!” Barthelmy said. She linked elbows with Kayl and did a little skip-kick as they started walking. “Now all we have to do is find the best healer, and we have our Star!”

Kayl sat beside the narrow window, grinning broadly and swirling the wine in her cup as she watched the others. All four of their tiny lamps were burning scented oil tonight in celebration.

“We did it!” Barthelmy crowed, raising her cup high.

“You’ve said that at least eight times since Mother Anaya told us we could be a Star,” Varevice pointed out, but she raised her own cup to join the salute.

“Well, I haven’t tired of hearing it yet,” Kayl said, joining them. “Come on, Evla, you too!”

Evla rose. Her slanted green eyes narrowed in amusement as she raised her cup. “How could I not? Someone must uphold the quality of our Star Cluster, and I would not leave that task to you humans!”

Kayl laughed with the others. Evla had faultlessly imitated the aloof and occasionally superior tone adopted by many Shee when speaking with the human inhabitants of Lyra.

“To the best Star in the Sisterhood!” Barthelmy said, and drained her cup.

“To the success of two years of hard work,” Varevice said with satisfaction as she followed suit.

“To the friendship that brought us together, and the work that will keep us so,” Evla said softly, and sipped at her wine.

“To all of us,” Kayl said. She looked at their familiar faces and felt a lump rise in her throat. “To all of you. My family.” She held her cup aloft a moment more, then drained it dry.

“You’ve made quite a name for yourselves in the last three years,” Mother Anaya said. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you, Your Wisdom,” Evla said for all of them.

“Normally we wouldn’t ask you to go out again so soon, but this is… rather special.” She paused. “You do have a choice.”