Tinker's War (The Tinkerer's Daughter Book 2) (18 page)

I cringed as Robie appeared at the back of the crowd, bobbing up and down as he lurched toward the contestants. His face was pale and he leaned heavily on a length of branch that he’d turned into a crutch. He hobbled through the crowd, waving one arm in the air. He finally arrived at the front and took his place in line. Analyn shot me a worried look.

“Robie, you’re wounded,” she said. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Of course,” he said. “I’m fine to compete.”

I snorted. “Don’t be a fool,” I said.

Robie glanced at me and then threw his gaze at Tam. “If a Tal’mar can compete, then so can I,” he said.

The implication of course was that a Tal’mar was no more useful than a wounded human. Several people in the crowd cheered. None of them were Tal’mar. Tam glared at Robie with his fists clenched at his sides, his violet eyes dark with anger.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head, but Robie ignored me. He was beyond argument at that point, and there were already too many faces staring at us. The last thing I wanted to do was make this into something personal between the two of us. Still, I would have liked to march over there and smack him upside the head like a spoiled child.

Chapter 17

The games began with more than thirty contestants ranging in age from pre-teens into their late sixties. Analyn had wisely left the contest open to everyone, knowing full well that unqualified participants would be weeded out easily enough. For most of the camp this contest was a distraction, a hard-won afternoon of entertainment and relaxation. For me, the real work was just beginning.

One of the more surprising contestants was a young human woman named Jenna. She looked about fifteen and had the appearance of a farm girl. She was a strong, attractive young woman, though not fully formed at her age. She was well-built with a sturdy frame, but not overly masculine. I could see that in a few years she’d be turning heads. In fact, many of the young men in the crowd had their eyes on her already.

I wondered how many of them were there to impress her, and how many were hoping she would fail. You never can tell with men. Some of them are threatened by a strong woman, but others find them a challenge. I reflected on that and realized that Robie and Tam both fit into the latter group. No faint-hearted male would have dreamed of pursuing a woman like me.

Not surprisingly, Tam scored the highest of anyone in the archery contest. Any Tal’mar worth his weight in copper could have shot those targets blindfolded. Tam never missed a bull’s-eye. Robie scored well also, which was surprising considering the way he winced every time he drew the bowstring back to his cheek.

After the archery contest came the log roll, in which contestants were required to move a heavy log quickly over a great distance. Robie failed miserably at this, trying to use his strength to roll the log sideways across the course. When I heard him grunting and saw sweat beading up on his red face, I began to worry for him. I was afraid the strain might exacerbate his internal injuries. Fortunately, he had the good sense to quit before he did serious damage. He turned away from the crowd’s disappointed outcries and shot a glare into the distance as he stomped out of the arena.

Tam fared slightly better, but only slightly. He was strong for a Tal’mar, but his slight frame didn’t lend itself well to pushing around heavy objects. He moved the log a few feet but finally ran out of time. He left the arena as disgusted with himself as Robie, and quite possibly with less excuse.

Some of the older men performed this task quite well, having years of experience with similar tasks. The younger men who were obviously strongest also did well. The surprising winner of this contest however, was Jenna. She was last in line, and not by accident, I suspect. After all the men had taken their turns, Jenna stepped up to the log. I heard laughter and a few of the contestants taunted her. Not dismayed in the least, Jenna bent over, picked up a long stick, and then propped it under the edge of the log like a wedge.

She lifted the stick and the log began to roll. She jumped ahead and did it again, and again. In a matter of seconds, she had cleared the entire course. Those who had been taunting her fell silent, and then a cheer rose among the crowd. Jenna had reached the end of the course. She smiled and turned bright red as the crowd roared. I nodded approvingly. The farm girl had proven herself in more ways than one.

The third effort was the barrel roll, in which contestants were required to leap on top of a barrel and then walk it across the course without falling. Most of the older men dismissed themselves from the competition after being unable to even mount the barrel. One of them, an old man with a wild gray mane and a long beard, hopped on the barrel and danced a jig as he rode it across the course. The crowd went wild over his performance, and I couldn’t help but cheer him on myself. After reaching the end, he confessed that “barrel-riding” had been a hobby of his since boyhood.

Tam gave a satisfactory performance, easily mounting the barrel and starting it rolling, but he had difficulty keeping it straight and it took some time to get to the end of the course. His difficulties put him somewhere in the middle of the scoring, which lowered his overall rank considerably. His excellent archery performance was not enough to keep him in the top tier.

Next, it was Robie’s turn, and he proceeded to nearly kill himself. He had to leave the crutch behind and I chewed my lower lip as I watched him clamber awkwardly into position, rising unsteadily to his feet on top of the barrel. The barrel lurched underneath him and he swayed back and forth for a moment. Then, to my surprise, he actually managed to get it rolling in the right direction. That lasted for all of one turn before the barrel twisted aside and shot out from under him. Robie landed hard on the flat of his back and lay there gasping for air, the breath knocked out of his lungs.

I rushed over to analyze him and found that he had undone some of my careful medical work. “He’s bleeding internally,” I said. “Give me a few minutes.”

I bent over him, drawing all my focus in to slow the bleeding. Then, carefully, I encouraged the tissue to swell and grow back together. Patiently, I set his body on the right course to healing once again.A short while later, I opened my eyes and stood up. I was surprised to see that it was dark outside. The effort had apparently taken longer than I thought. The crowd had vanished. Analyn was nearby, and she rushed over as soon as I moved.

“Will he be all right?” she said.

“I’m afraid so,” I said sarcastically. “Which means I’ll probably be patching him up again in a few days.”

Analyn laughed. “You know, you don’t have to make this so hard.”

I stared down at his peacefully sleeping face. “He’s the one making it hard,” I said. “The fool doesn’t know when to quit.”

“Is that so?” Analyn said, cocking an eyebrow. She grinned and then called for help moving him back to his tent. I went with them, and then followed her back to the fire at the center of camp. She handed me a sheet of parchment as she settled onto a log by the fire.

“Those are the scores,” she said. “Don’t take them too seriously.”

“Why?” I said. “Wasn’t that the purpose of this whole contest? To find the most eligible recruits?”

“The contest served many purposes,” she said with a shrug. “That was but one of them. The results are valuable, of course, but I value your assessment of the contestants far more highly than I do any score.”

I glanced over the sheet, not seeing any surprises. “How should I choose then?” I said. “Most of the people who did well in one contest did lousy in the rest. If I were to average out the scores, they’d all be almost identical.”

“That was my conclusion as well,” Analyn said with a chuckle.

I frowned. “You’re not helping me much.”

“All right, then, here’s my best advice: don’t choose anyone based on their score or their average. Build a team of contestants with individual strengths. You’d be hard put to find a better archer than Tam, but no one in that contest was as clever as Jenna.”

“Agreed.” I glanced over the list again. “If I’m to choose Jenna for her wits, then I’ll need to choose another based on brute strength.”

“You have several choices there,” Analyn said. “Perhaps you should also consider temperament. A high score means nothing if the recruit won’t work with others.”

“True,” I said. “You know, as much as I hate to say it, It’s hard to overlook Kale’s performance.”

“He did quite well,” Analyn said. “He performed in the top tier across the board. He’s also a very motivated young man.”

I slumped into the chair next to her, staring into the crackling fire. “I can’t, Analyn. I can’t bring him onto the team.”

“Why not? You’ll break his heart if you don’t.”

“Perhaps, but it’s better to be alive with a broken heart than buried in a shallow grave.”

“Do you think so?” she said. “You don’t know Kale the way I do. He looked up to his uncle as a hero. Kale has always dreamed of becoming a soldier. When he was four, he used to climb on the back of his father’s horse and race across their farm, shooting his bow at whatever targets he could find.”

“Four?” I said in disbelief.

“Indeed. His mother told him that he couldn’t ride a horse alone until he could mount it by himself. What do you think he did? Do you think he waited until he was ten or twelve like the other children? Of course not! He looped a rope over the horse’s neck, led the beast to an old stump, and climbed on! He spent the rest of his childhood riding. Of course, no one dared tell him to stop. That’s how it’s been ever since.”

I burst into laughter. “He must have been a difficult child,” I said.

“You have no idea. His mother’s hair was gray at twenty-five!”

We shared a good laugh over that and eventually fell silent. Analyn produced a knitting case and started working on a shawl that she had been making. I watched her, still struggling with the idea that I might actually let Kale be on my team. He was so young, so naive. I couldn’t bear to see something happen to him, especially so soon after his uncle’s death. What might that do to the rest of the family? And yet, did I dare deny him? He was clearly one of the most useful contestants, and he had the motivation and ambition that I hadn’t seen in anyone since… well, Robie.

“And what about him?” Analyn said as if she had read my thoughts.

“What?”

“What about Robie? Will you have him on your team?”

“How can I not?” I said. “If I deny him, he’ll just follow after us and get himself killed, and probably get the rest of us killed with him.”

“And yet you can’t have him on your team, because he won’t be ready for it,” Analyn said. “In which case he’s just as likely to get himself and the rest of you killed. It seems you have a conundrum.”

“Because he’s a hardheaded fool,” I muttered.

“Indeed. If only there were some other way… something you could give him other than a place on the team. Something that would keep him here and satisfied, knowing that you would come back to him.”

I frowned. “Back to him?” I echoed. “What are you talking about?”

“He doesn’t want to leave you alone with Tam. You understand that, don’t you?”

My eyebrows shot up. Robie and Tam had both made their feelings for me very clear, and the fact that they didn’t like each other much made perfect sense in that light. I just hadn’t seen it until Analyn hit me over the head with it. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. I
had
played on Robie’s jealousy a little, but I had only meant it in jest.

A feeling of guilt swept through me as I realized that I’d been toying with Robie’s emotions. In a sense, I was just as guilty of causing his behavior as he was.

“Earlier, Robie said he wanted me to be with Tam,” I said quietly. “He said we belonged together. That’s what we were talking about when you came in.”

It was Analyn’s turn to raise her eyebrows. “And you believed that?” she said. She leaned closer, staring into my eyes. “Robie has been chasing you since he was a boy. Do you honestly believe that in one day he could change his mind about all that?”

“So that’s what all of this has been about,” I said quietly. “Him running off after us, and entering the contest like a fool…”

“You’d be surprised what some men will do to gain the attraction of a mate.”

I leaned back in the chair, pressing my hands to my face. “What am I supposed to do, Analyn? If Robie keeps this up, he’ll get himself killed.”

“I don’t know,” Analyn said. “You might want to start by searching your own feelings for these two. If there’s one thing I know about men, it’s that they won’t give you any peace until you’ve given them an answer.” She set her knitting needles down and rose from her chair. “I think I want some tea. Would you like some?”

“I suppose.”

“I’ll be right back.”

She wandered across the camp towards the mess tent, and I turned my attention back to the list, rolling Analyn’s cryptic statement through my mind. A moment later, Tam appeared next to me. I hadn’t heard his approach and he startled me as he materialized at the edge of my vision. I twisted my head around and saw him smiling down at me.

“Don’t be startled,” he said. “I’ve just come to talk with you.”

“About what?”

“The others are getting ready to leave. I tried to convince them to stay a few more days, but they’re restless. They’re worried about the queen. They will leave by dawn.”

“And you?” I said.

“That depends. I have committed myself to your team, if you’ll have me.”

“But your obligation lies with them,” I said. “Your duty is to the queen.”

“Yes, but she would not begrudge me this commitment. It’s only for a few weeks.”

“But you made a commitment to the queen,” I said. “You told her you would bring information as soon as you had it.”

“I know!” he said. “That’s why I’m here, Breeze. I want you to leave this place and come with me. You belong with the Tal’mar; with me.” He said that last part with such sentiment that I hardly recognized him. He looked nearly as crestfallen as Robie had in the tent earlier.