Tivi's Dagger (5 page)

The shrieks of uninhibited joy which had
emanated from the captain’s creaking shack some minutes later made
me sick with jealousy, but I could not bring myself to enter that
hut. When Lana finally returned, smiling beatifically, I listened
to her excited tales of the pirate’s prowess with his sword with
much regret, and vowed that should such an opportunity present
itself again in the future I would certainly strive to take
advantage of it. He was already packing his things to leave, much
to Lana’s sorrow, so there would be no second chance.

With renewed energy I quickened my step and
caught up with Kari and Brin, giving our guide my most winning
smile, which he returned happily. My heart began to thump with
excitement and the backs of our hands brushed as we walked, once,
twice, and a third time. He did not increase the distance between
us but seemed to walk more closely by my side and I could almost
feel the warmth of his body.

Kari’s grandmother had sent him into the
world to experience love in all its forms. Would I be the one to
show it to him? Only time would tell. Our hands touched once more
and he gave me a dazzling smile which only served as fuel to my
fantasies. I smiled back and promised myself that this time, there
would be no hesitation.

***

The day passed without incident and we
arrived at the village just before nightfall. It was a sleepy
cluster of wooden homes nestling at the foot of a high peak, beside
a rushing river that plunged over a waterfall just underneath a
red-arched bridge. Candles were burning at the windows and there
did not seem to be much going on. A battered wooden sign welcomed
us to Kalati Town, population eighty-nine souls.

A pair of statues showing both faces of
Matativi greeted us at the other side of the bridge. Kari knelt at
the feet of each and said a silent prayer before leading us toward
the largest building, which appeared to be an inn. Baskets of
bright flowers and shiny-leaved creepers hung from hooks on the
wooden façade, and there was a faint sound of a stringed instrument
and smell of roasted meat and beer emanating from within.

I was weary to the bone and longing for a
comfortable bed, but still I wondered if I could sneak in a glass
or two of wine and perhaps take the opportunity to talk to Kari
some more. Glancing at my brother, I noticed the dark circles under
his eyes. He must be exhausted, having walked so far in such heavy
armor.

But all my hopes were dashed when he marched
us inside, having relegated Kel to donkey duty once more.

“
Ned and I will share a room,” he
announced. “The rest of you can make your own
arrangements.”

My shoulders slumped and I looked around,
bored already. There were few customers at the bar. Just a couple
of toothless old men whose wrinkled, weathered faces told of a
harsh life led outdoors in scalding cold. A stout, blonde-haired
woman in silver armor was cradling a tankard of beer and staring
pensively into the fire crackling in the hearth. A bushy hound lay
by her feet like a huge, breathing rug. A buck-toothed youth sat at
a table, spooning chunks of stew into his mouth as if he had not
seen food for some time while the girl who played the stringed
instrument — a crescent-moon-shaped piece of carved wood almost
like a small and crude harp — hummed along to the melancholy
tune.

“
If this is what passes for a party in
this land then I look forward to the caverns,” Lana whispered
beside me.

It did not take long for Kari to make the
required arrangements. He returned with a set of long iron keys,
one of which he handed to my brother. “The innkeep bids you
welcome. There is an outhouse with a hot spring if you would like
to bathe, and they are serving stew for dinner.”

Brin took the key, stifling a yawn. “Perhaps
later.”

A hot bath and a bellyful of stew sounded
like the best idea in the world. “Brin, I’m hungry and dirty. May I
have permission to bathe and eat before joining you in our
room?”

He glared at me, but even the Protectors’
Code had no decrees against either of those activities, so he
nodded curtly. “You have one hour. Then we will pray together
before retiring.”

“
Yes, brother.”

His glare intensified as if he doubted the
sincerity of my response, but I looked back with my most innocent
expression until finally he relented and trudged upstairs, followed
by Lana, who looked dead on her feet. She gave me a little wave and
I blew her a kiss.

Kari stretched and yawned. “They say that
the waters of this village have healing properties.”

I wiggled my toes in my boots. “I hope they
work on blisters. My feet are aching.”

We took an armful of towels from the
innkeep, but before we could take our leave, he began asking Kari
questions in rapid Methari. I watched the expressions play across
Kari’s face — serene politeness, mild surprise, raised eyebrows in
what seemed like a denial. It was a melodic language, punctuated by
sibilance and harmonious vowel sounds. In the course of their short
conversation I was able to make out just a few phrases. The first
was
Thar Mati
, which I knew
to be the name of the shrine we were going to visit. The second,
which I did not know but which they repeated often, was
kath mai
. The third was a form of
the term of address I’d heard Kari and the Mother use,
tiyallan
. Visitors, guests, or
something like that, I surmised. I had little talent for languages
and contented myself with watching Kari bow to the innkeep and
gesture toward the door with a smile.

We stepped outside into the darkness.
The sky was a blanket of gray, illuminated from above by the moon
and stars. The inn’s garden was neat and smelt of recently tilled
earth. Rows of green-leafed vegetables lined the path, peas in pods
clung to lattices, and enormous marrows lay pale against the soil.
All round us was a thick and tall stone wall where creepers grew,
and beyond which I could hear the
hush
sound of the waterfall.

I paused for a moment to close my eyes and
breathe in the unfamiliar scents.

“
This is wonderful, everything growing
so lush around us. It’s like…I don’t know…being in the middle of
Creation.”

A mischievous look appeared on his face.
“But you are an unbeliever. You do not believe in Creation,
surely.”

His accusation shocked me to the core. Had
we been in Lis, I would have been obliged to reach for my sword.
The automatic denial died on my lips and I let out a breath,
waiting to see what else he would say; this former monk who’d spent
most of his life in a monastery and had no right to know anything
about the world.

Kari carried on with his character
assassination happily. “When Brindar speaks of the Thirteen, your
body tenses and you sigh and frown. You look upon Matativi with
idle interest only, when even your brother shows a grudging
acknowledgement. It’s what I meant when I said you cover no part of
yourself, Ned. The Gods are naught but fairytales to you and this
pilgrimage is a farce. You wear your unbelief as I once did my
robes.”

My mind reeled as we walked to the outhouse
in silence. I had no idea I was so transparent. Kari was clearly
much more perceptive than I’d given him credit for, and I was
thankful that he did not seem to care what I believed in. I would
have to steel my treacherous face in case Brin — who had seen more
evidence of my feckless existence than anyone else, bar Lana — took
it upon himself to deepen my faith under his whip.

The outhouse was a crude wooden structure
with damp walls and a rocky floor, over which tiny fungi and lichen
bloomed. Thankfully, no one was inside. The pool was a natural one,
deep and steaming with the same faint rotten-egg smell as the one
we had bathed in back at Kari’s temple. Half of the candles had
melted and burnt out, and those that remained cast a flickering
yellow glow across the bubbling surface of the water.

We stripped and folded our clothes into the
wooden boxes by the door, and then eased our bodies into the depths
of the pool. It felt wonderful to immerse my tired body in the warm
water, and the aches and pains seemed to float away with the
bubbles. I rested my head on the edge and let my body float, and
Kari did the same. We looked through the cracks in the roof at the
night beyond.

“
You see many things for one who has
strayed from a monastery but once,” I said eventually. “I can think
of no other who has ever named me so quickly.”

“
Servants of Matativi must be
well-trained in navigating the depths of men’s eyes,
tiyal
. The un-named lands lie just
beyond Thar Mati and it is not uncommon to find their missionaries
and agents disguised in the silver and preaching their heresies
among us.” He shook his head sadly. “To think they were once our
brothers and sisters.”

I floated lazily, listening contentedly to
Kari’s mellow voice, remembering something I had once learned in a
history lesson about the Old Kingdom of Methar and how it had once
spanned almost the entire continent before separatists and
religious fundamentalists settled like coffee dregs at its feet and
founded the sovereign nation of Lis. The land to its north had
disintegrated not a hundred-year previously and remained riven with
tribal squabblings and skirmishes. The reasons for either of the
Splinterings had long since left my memory, and — unconcerned with
historical facts — I put the whole thing out of my mind.

My hand touched against Kari’s briefly and I
held my breath. Was I wrong in the feeling that was creeping over
me, that he liked me? Then his little finger curled around mine and
as the water lapped at my ears I heard the thumping of my own
heart, the sound of my shallow breaths. That slight, soft touch was
like a spark that ignited a fire of intense longing and
anticipation that swept through my whole body. For long moments we
floated together linked only at the finger, while time seemed to
wash away.

I turned to look at him. He was smiling,
that beautiful wide smile and those expressive eyes that had
captivated me from the moment I’d seen him. I realized in some
small part of my barely functioning brain that his seducing me was
not part of the plan.

“
Nedim,” he whispered, and I cupped
his cheek in my free hand and planted a soft kiss to the right of
his mouth. His skin was rough with stubble. With a sigh I realized
how much I had longed for the touch of a man, and then his lips
found mine and I thought no more.

We kissed hungrily as our bodies floated to
face each other. I buried my fingers in his damp hair, that
glorious mass of dark, silky curls, as he stroked my chest hair and
brushed the backs of his hands lightly against my nipples. Our
tongues tangled together. I was almost mindless in my sudden need
to touch him. I hugged his body against mine and found his stiff
prick. His body trembled as I kissed his neck, his face, his lips
again while my hand played up and down his shaft, faster and faster
until, with a strangled cry, he threw back his head and spilled his
seed into the water, the pulses in his cock matching the thumping
of my heart.

He was more beautiful than ever in that
moment; the candlelight across his features which bore the agony of
ecstasy and release, the long, shuddering sigh and the tremors in
his hands as he settled them on my shoulders. Then his lips at my
neck, whispering something in Methari that sounded like a
prayer.

I was so transported that it took a second
for me hear the rattle of a key, to realize that someone was
fumbling at the door.

Quickly I released Kari and scooted away.
Striking a nonchalant pose against the edge of the pool, I hoped
the darkness would hide the hardness of my prick from whoever was
coming in. The pool bubbled and steamed. Kari seemed to have lost
his senses and floated about, gazing at me with a sleepy
wonderment.

The door opened with a creak and Kel entered
with a towel over his arm, blowing on his fingertips. “Ah, here you
are. Telthor’s balls, Ned, it’s freezing outside! We men of Lis are
not made for this frigid mountain air. These blasted peaks are
conspiring to hide the sun from us, I swear it! I fear my skin will
grow as pale as a miner’s from the lack of it. Do you not
agree?”

I swallowed, trying to bring my breathing
back under control. “I certainly do.”

Kel rubbed his belly and emitted a belch.
“That stew was truly delicious. You should eat as much of it as you
can, for according to Brindar we won’t be eating anything but
forest plants and dried meat from now on.” With a sigh, he eased
off his clothes and slipped in between us, glancing from me to
Kari. “Are you well, Kari? You seem…”

“
Mm? Uh, yes. I am. Well, I mean. It’s
been a tiring day.”

“
You’re telling me.” Kel floated on
his back and allowed his limbs to drift out bonelessly. “Your
brother would do well in the slave trade, Ned. I’m beginning to
wish I had not agreed to come. Do you think he really
would…?”

Invoke a Rite,
I was sure he was going to say, but then he appeared to
remember Brin’s strict instructions that the Rite was not to be
mentioned in front of
foreigners
. “Er…nothing,” he finished, clearing
his throat.

The ridiculousness of the whole situation
suddenly seized me — the sudden thought of Kel bathing in Kari’s
recent emissions, and the hardness and frustration in my groin that
would not go away even while I was forced to make idle
conversation…I burst into laughter and sat there covering my eyes
while the water lapped at the side of the pool and my shoulders
shook helplessly.