The Dog of the North (8 page)

The crowd burst into applause, whistles and bellows of approval. Arren noticed that Sir Langlan raised his mug high towards Illara before tossing back its contents. Illara bowed again –
seemingly directly to Sir Langlan – before skipping from the room, followed by the Dancing Bravos.

‘Well, my lads – and Lady Siedra – what did you make of that?’ asked Sir Langlan with a beam.

‘Most decorative,’ exclaimed Guigot with a leer. ‘When I am older I shall take a lady like Illara as my mistress.’

Sir Langlan raised his eyebrows. ‘You are young for such thoughts,’ he said eventually. ‘In truth Illara would be a poor consort for one of your pedigree.’

‘You appeared to take great pleasure in her performance,’ said Guigot.

‘I would not recommend you to follow my conduct or morals. Oricien, Arren, I would hope your observations are more elevated.’

Oricien rubbed his chin in a gesture reminiscent of his father. ‘I enjoyed the music of the fanfarillo,’ he said. ‘The dance was also exciting. I will recommend to my father
that she be invited to play in his hall.’

Sir Langlan paused in refilling his mug. ‘I am not sure the entertainment is entirely to Lord Thaume’s approval. He is a broad-minded man, but Lady Jilka is less flexible. But come
now, we have seen enough for the evening, and I must return you to Mistress Eulalia or risk her tongue.’

‘No! Let us stay a little longer,’ said Siedra. ‘I am not sure of Illara’s breeding but the dancing was surely worth our attention – and look, she is returning for
an encore.’

‘We have seen enough for tonight. We have all enjoyed the performance and there will be much to discuss at tomorrow’s lesson for the young gentlemen.’

Guigot chuckled.

Siedra narrowed her eyes. ‘I doubt that my father has given his consent to our excursion.’ Her eyes reflected the light from the wall sconces. ‘Were he to learn that you had
taken us to a low tavern, drunk copious beer and even forced it upon us, it would surely go ill with you, Sir Langlan. I think we will stay to watch Illara’s encore.’

Sir Langlan’s mouth gaped like a fish. He waved a hand in dismissal. ‘As you will, Lady Siedra. Do not blame me if the encore is not to your liking.’

Siedra sat back, her arms folded in satisfaction, and tossed her hair. Illara once again gyrated to an air from the fanfarillo, this time in slower measure. To Arren’s amazement she
divested herself of her sash, then pulled at her belt, causing her pantaloons to fall away; before pulling her shirt back and thrusting her chest out.

Illara was in her underclothes, although they did not closely resemble the ones Arren had seen on his sisters. Releasing her hair from its fillet, and holding out her arms, she advanced towards
Sir Langlan, soon to sit in his lap, before removing her final garments with a dextrous gesture.

Arren was at once thrilled and horrified. He turned his head away while continuing to peer out of the corner of his eye. Guigot scurried under the table as Illara reached forward to stroke his
cheek. Oricien sat rapt, staring at Illara’s breasts, less than a foot in front of him.

Laughing, Illara sprang to her feet and drifted to another table. Siedra shrieked ‘Harlot!’ and ran for the door. ‘My father will hear of this!’

Sir Langlan sat back in his seat with a heavy movement, mechanically draining his mug.

‘Come, lads,’ he said, rising swiftly if unsteadily to his feet. ‘We had best ensure that Lady Siedra has not come to mishap. We will discuss the value of tonight’s
lesson tomorrow. Lord Guigot, you may emerge and join us.’

5

The first lesson the next day was ‘Preparation for Combat’ with Sir Langlan. Siedra was not present – instead she had extra ‘Etiquette and
Deportment’ with Master Guiles – which Arren could not help but think was for the best.

Sir Langlan’s complexion was pale as he met the three boys on the courtyard. ‘Well, gentlemen: I hope you found last night’s display educational.’

‘Yes, Sir Langlan,’ said Arren. ‘Although I am not clear as to your purpose in taking us.’

‘Oricien? Guigot? Are you more perceptive than Arren?’

After a pause Guigot said: ‘We must all learn to drink beer and assess a woman in due course. I assume you intended our education to begin last night.’

‘Incorrect,’ snapped Sir Langlan. ‘The visit was directly relevant to your combat studies. How do you think Illara managed to avoid injury in the sword dance?’

‘Head and feet!’ exclaimed Oricien. ‘Her head was still but her feet were nimble.’

‘Just so,’ said Sir Langlan with a broad smile. ‘The event was not entirely wasted. Illara would no doubt prove indifferent with the rapier, but her footwork puts the three of
you to shame. Lord Guigot, would you care to share the point you have just made to Arren?’

‘I merely remarked that Illara would not prove indifferent to my rapier, Sir Langlan.’

‘Your attempt at wit is misconceived, and sits poorly with your timidity when she approached you last night. If you wish to talk like a man, you must also act like one.’

From the centre of the courtyard boomed a voice: ‘How very well said, Sir Langlan.’

Arren looked in dismay to see Lady Jilka, wife to Lord Thaume and mother of Oricien, advancing towards them. She was red of hair and keen of nose, and Arren knew that the fear she struck into
him was not unique. Sir Langlan was in for a difficult engagement, and his footwork would be unlikely to save him, unless he used it to take to his heels.

‘Lady Siedra has informed me of last night’s unauthorized expedition. Lord Thaume is keen to hear your explanation, as am I.’

Sir Langlan gave a tight grin. Arren could see guards around the courtyard watching. ‘I thought to provide the children with a memorable lesson. The boys – in particular Guigot and
Arren – are deficient in their footwork. I looked to provide them with a powerful example of the value of smoothly moving feet.’

Lady Jilka paused a moment to pick the hem of her cream charmeuse dress from the mud of the courtyard. ‘Your “powerful example” was a visit to a bordello?’

‘The Hanged Raider is not the most elevated of establishments, my lady, but I would not characterize it as a bordello. As it happens, the lads witnessed a rare display of virtuosity and
Lord Oricien in particular readily absorbed the lesson.’

‘This does not explain,’ said Lady Jilka with a touch of ice, ‘how not only the boys but my daughter were exposed to a vulgar flaunting of the private parts, or compelled to
drink beer.’

‘Aha, my lady—’

‘Well?’

‘I acceded to Lady Siedra’s wish to enjoy more of Illara’s artistry, and no one was as surprised as me as to the scope of her accomplishments. As to the beer, the tavern was
hot and I did not wish the children to go thirsty. I ensured that none of them drank to excess.’

Lady Jilka pursed her lips. ‘They may not: but you, not for the first time, surely did. You can be sure that Lord Thaume will hear of this. In the meantime, you will all accompany me
– yes, you as well, Arren! – as we go to the marketplace.’

Some ten minutes later Arren stood with the others at the front of a large crowd which had assembled. A crude set of stocks had been brought out, and Arren saw to his dismay that Illara had been
fixed within, her hands above her head and her nimble feet also pinioned. She was stripped to the waist, with a placard on her torso proclaiming ‘Shameless, Brazen, Immoral’. Lady Jilka
nodded with evident satisfaction. Arren was confused as to why the display of her breasts was praiseworthy in this context, when it had been so reprehensible the previous night; but he forbore from
raising the topic with Lady Jilka.

‘Sir Langlan!’ said Lady Jilka. ‘Let the lads observe the lesson for a while, and then return them to their studies. I myself have business at the Viatory, but we will speak
later.’

‘Yes, my lady.’

On Lady Jilka’s departure Sir Langlan walked up to Illara. Arren could not hear what he said, but Illara’s oath in reply was clearly discernible, as was the spittle she launched to
accompany it. Sir Langlan returned to his charges. ‘Come, lads, we have much to do today.’

As the boys trudged through the drizzle back to the castle, Arren felt a tug on his sleeve. ‘Arren! Wait there!’

He looked around. ‘Eilla! What are you doing here?’

‘It is market day. I am getting goods for my mother.’

Arren inspected Eilla more closely. It was several months since he had seen her, and in the excitement and bustle of his new life he had scarcely given her a thought. She had grown, he thought.
Now she was nearly as tall as him, and her dark hair hung longer to her shoulders. She was beginning to look feminine, or perhaps the sight of Illara had made such things more obvious.

He hung back from the group as they walked on ahead.

‘Are you allowed out?’ she asked. ‘Surely you cannot stay in the castle all the time.’

‘We have lessons every day,’ he said. ‘But Viator Sleech allows us to go to the Viatory when we choose, because Lady Jilka says accomplishments are worthless if our feet are
not on the Way of Harmony. I don’t go often because Viator Goor who takes the services is tedious and smells badly. But we are allowed to go to the Viatory by ourselves.’

Eilla’s eyes lit up. ‘So could you slip out to the Viatory and then not go?’

‘I suppose I could,’ said Arren, sucking in his lip.

‘We go to the Temple of the Wheel,’ said Eilla, her eyes shining with something of her old self. ‘My father says the viators are wicked parasites. I don’t care about the
viators or the Wheel, but I am allowed to go to the Temple when I choose. Can you get out on Dinksday evening?’

‘I think so,’ said Arren.

‘Good! Meet me by the North Gate at six bells,’ she said. ‘I have much to tell you . . .’

6

To Arren’s disappointment, Sir Langlan excused himself from lessons for the remainder of the day, and instead a double lesson on ‘The Way of Harmony’
with Viator Sleech followed. Siedra joined the lesson with a marked lack of enthusiasm.

Viator Sleech was a thin, elderly man with an earnest manner. His black robe was rather too long and dragged on the ground as he walked. Guigot often followed close behind in the hope of
stepping on it. However, Sleech’s devotion to the Way of Harmony was undeniable. There was little misbehaviour in his lessons, partly because the children forbore from rousing him to
doctrinal excess, and more importantly because he reported their transgressions to Lady Jilka, to their eventual dismay. ‘Today,’ he said, ‘we will consider recent events from the
perspective of the Way. First, however, we will review yesterday’s teachings on the Harmonic Elixir. Arren, what is the Elixir?’

‘It is the bounty of Hissen and Animaxia, uniting the essence of both, Viator.’ Arren picked at his nails: the subject held little interest for him.

‘Good. Siedra, when do the viators distribute the Elixir?’

‘On the Feast Days, Viator.’

Very good. And Guigot, how do the people use the Elixir?’

‘They fill their lanterns with the Elixir and it burns with the Pure Light of Harmony—’

‘Excellent, Guigot, excellent! Your inattention in class is illusory!’ Sleech’s sharp nose sawed the air with approval.

‘—in addition,’ continued Guigot, ‘in times of siege or invasion it is ignited and poured from the walls onto the heads of attackers.’

Sleech frowned. ‘While this is true in the most literal sense, it forms no part of our doctrine. At times expediency requires the lord of the city to act in haste. Never let it be said
that the Consorts endorse such profane use of the Elixir.’

‘No doubt they would prefer the city to be overrun,’ said Guigot with a smirk.

‘The contingency is remote,’ said Sleech. ‘It is many generations since an army has besieged the walls of Croad, Hissen be praised. Now, as to Sir Langlan: in taking you to a
low tavern last night, was he motivated by Hissen or Animaxia? Oricien?’

‘Animaxia represents Noise, Excess and the Female Principle, Viator. His conduct therefore represented Animaxia.’

‘Good! Siedra, was this a move towards Harmony or Disharmony?’

‘Sir Langlan already has an excess of Animaxian ether, Viator. Therefore he moved towards Disharmony.’

‘And Arren, how should he move towards Harmony?’

Arren sat up straight in his seat and pulled his gaze away from the window. ‘He should embrace Hissen, Viator. At the Viatory he will be guided towards Harmonic conduct.’

‘Excellent! Excellent! I shall have a sound report to make to her ladyship! Guigot, if Sir Langlan does not follow this course, what will follow?’

Guigot snorted and leaned his chair back at a precipitous angle. ‘Your Catechism would have me say that he will approach Equilibrium, where he will become mired, forever bereft of Harmony.
But at the Temple of the Wheel, Jandille told me that the Doctrine of Equilibrium was heresy and existed only to provide employment for the viators.’

‘Impious youth!’ bellowed Viator Sleech, in a voice much larger than his person. ‘This cannot be tolerated. For Lord Thaume’s nephew to visit the Temple of the Wheel and
spout its doctrines to a Viator of the Way!’

‘Jandille said that the world naturally tends towards Harmony. Equilibrium was invented by the viators to ensure that folk would not find Harmony by themselves.’

Sleech’s face darkened. Arren became concerned at the possibility of an apoplexy. ‘You parrot the beliefs of the Wheel, based on the teachings of the so-called martyr Golleay. Every
King of Emmen has denounced the teachings as heresy, and Golleay was broken on the wheel for good reason. I have said before to Lady Jilka that Lord Thaume is too tolerant in allowing the Wheel to
flourish in Croad. Now his own nephew proclaims the word of Golleay.’

Oricien rose from his seat. ‘You take much upon yourself, old man, to condemn the rule of Lord Thaume,’ he said. ‘Your robes will not save you from the whips or the
stocks.’

‘I speak only with the voice of Harmony!’ cried Sleech in a ringing voice, spittle spraying from his lips. ‘King Arren has spoken against the Wheel, and the Consorts have
proclaimed it a heresy – yet Lord Thaume allows a Temple of the Wheel to flourish in his city. I will speak against any man who permits the Wheel to be worshipped. Golleay was broken for good
reason, I say. Lady Jilka will hear of this!’