Tyrant Trouble (Mudflat Magic) (17 page)

“The
tarbaby was bait to catch the rabbit and it worked, because that's how cute the
tarbaby was. So, then the fox popped out of the bushes and caught the rabbit.”

“Are
you sure this story has a happy ending?” he asked.

“Listen
up, stop interrupting. The rabbit was sneaky, told the fox 'please don't throw
me in the briar patch' and so that's what the fox did, tossed him into the
patch. That patch was home ground for the rabbit and so he escaped laughing.”

“And
what happened to the tarbaby?”

“Hmm.
Never thought about that.”

“Your
stories have strange endings,” he said. “Now I want to try this dance of
yours.”

“Okay,
where's the music?”

He
hummed softly.

I
caught his free hand in mine and put my other hand on the back of his neck and
relaxed so that our bodies pressed together, my face touching his cheek. He
stopped and started to turn his face to me.

“No,
fella, keep humming or the dancing lesson is over,” I said firmly, then guided
him through some slow steps.

Had
to admit to myself that I really enjoyed dancing with a guy who was the same
height. He knew where our feet were, both his and mine, and I wasn't in danger
of squashed toes. Or of getting a crick in my neck from looking up. Did I
mention we fit together very comfortably?

Tarvik
was a natural, sensed the rhythm and followed the instructions I whispered in
his ear.

“Okay,
step forward, now the other foot, turn slowly, pause. Again.”

And
again and again, him in his fur boots and dark red velvet, me barefoot in a
plain linen tunic, and although I've never been much of a dancer, he picked up
on what we were doing and did it so easily that he made me believe I danced
well. Whether that was true or not, the dancing plus the guy kept me warm in
the cold night.

As
I made a turn under his raised arm, our faces almost touched and he said,
“Where is your home, Stargazer?”

Startled,
I said, “Seattle.”

“What
is a Seattle?”

“A
big city.”

“And
this is how you dance in Seattle.” He began dancing again, but from the look on
his face I thought he was thinking more about Seattle than about dance steps.

We
circled the fire going through any number of steps, until I was breathless and
laughing and finally stumbled. He caught my elbows, held me upright, then
realized how cold my skin was and rubbed his hands lightly over my arms.

Picking
up my blanket from the ground where he had dropped it, he wrapped it around me.
“Where's your cloak? Go get it, I'll wait.”

He
looked wide awake and ready to dance until dawn. I said, “I need to sleep now.
Nance said there is a procession in the morning. I think we are supposed to
lead.”

“Yes,
my father and uncle will be starting off on their new campaign.”

“You
should leave now.”

“Oh.
But you haven't told me about this city you live in. Do you live in a castle?”

“Um,
no, I live in a house.” A nice warm little house with soft beds and hot water,
I thought, but didn't want to try to explain that.

“Tell
me what a house is and what does it look like.”

“Tarvik.”
Catching his face between my hands to hold his attention, the way one does with
a small child, and looking directly into his eyes, I said in my firmest voice,
“I will tell you a story about my house some other time. Right now it is late
and I am tired and I need to sleep. ”

“Oh!
Yes.” He turned his face so quickly that, before I could pull my hands away, he
pressed his mouth against my palm.

I
stared stupidly at my hand, where he had kissed it.

“Goodnight,
Stargazer.” He opened the gate, stepped out, pulled it almost closed behind
him, stuck his head back through the opening and said, “Perhaps it is as much
fun to dance as to fight. I will think about that.”

I
couldn't see his face in the darkness but I knew he was laughing at me.

In
the morning before the sun's rising, and certainly before mine, the outer gates
shook beneath heavy blows. I heard Nance squealing and rushing around, then
calling out for the identity of our visitor. A moment later she returned to
shake me.

“Stargazer!
It is Kovat himself! Quick, be up!”

While
I sat on my pile of blankets and sheepskins trying to recall where I was and
why, Nance rubbed paint and powder on my face.

“We've
no time to pile your hair. Here, you comb it out while I fetch a robe.”

“Why
is he here so early?”

“Do
you think I am going to ask Kovat why he comes to his own temple and demands to
see you? Hold quiet, that sash is wrong, there, oh, where are your sandals?”

“Never
mind the sandals.” I left her hiding behind the door. The cold ground of the
courtyard beneath my bare feet helped wake me up.

To
my amazement, Kovat waited alone by the gate, wrapped in a fur-lined cape
against the winter morning. If there was some required greeting with which to
hail a warlord who called at daybreak, no one had told me, and so I kept my
mouth shut. Also, I was fighting back a yawn. Have I mentioned the deplorable
lack of coffee in this place? That alone had convinced me I wasn't dreaming because
even in nightmares, coffee exists.

Kovat
said, “Come near and listen carefully, woman. I will not speak with you again
until my return.”

Remembering
my manners, I managed the standard clerk phrase. “How may I help you?”

“You
say you are of the line of the Daughter.”

Had
I said that? I didn't remember but I wasn't about to argue with the man.

“She
saved my life. She saved it when all the potions and prayers of the magicians
of Thunder failed. And she stopped the fever spreading through the city. In the
years that followed, I had no reason to regret discarding the false magicians
and their god and building this temple for her. The Daughter's prayers
protected me and my army from disease as well as defeat. Whether your powers
are as great must still be proved. You have powers I have not encountered
before. What I must ask is if your calling binds you to truth.”

“I
can only read what the stars choose to show me.” I didn’t know what he wanted.
I did know I didn’t want to annoy him. His face was red with anger but not at
me, not yet.

“What
is true will prove itself. For now, I must trust your stars. I will give you
the birth hours of my brother, his wife and his daughter. You must look at
their futures.”

“That
takes time. Maybe a day?”

“I
am leaving today. You will do this as quickly as you can. The women will winter
here at the castle with my son. If there is anything in their stars of which he
should be warned, you will do so. All else you will save for my return.”

He
recited for me the birth hours of Erlan, Ober and Alakar. By this time I knew
these people, with their lack of a written language, kept their family
histories in their heads, and with a surprising amount of detail and accuracy.
I repeated slowly the information he told me.

“Make
no error. If you guide me well, I will repay you. Fail, and you will not have
another chance.”

Sick
of his threats, I blurted, “If the Daughter had made an error, would you have
removed her head?”

He
scowled back at me. “Perhaps she was a god. Perhaps she was human. I do not
know or care. What I know is that the god of the Sun shared his secrets with
the Daughter. When you have saved my life, ask me again. Until then, you are in
my debt for sparing you this long.” He started to turn away, then stopped and
pivoted toward me on his heel. “The man who guards Ober, you have noticed him?
Of course you have. I knew him well once but he is changed. I do not know the
hour of his birth but I know the day.”

I
nodded, too angry to speak but intrigued by this additional request.

“If
you can explain him to me on my return, I will be impressed.”

And
so would I, because my curiosity about the man who remained hidden in his cloak
and hood was super sized. Nance thought Ober's guard was either a servant or a
slave. Or death. What sort of chart would death have? Okay, death wouldn't have
a birth date, but an executioner or an assassin would.

After
Kovat told me the man's day of birth, he hurried out of the gate, walking with
that same swinging stride that reminded me of Tarvik, light-footed. The rising
sun flamed his hair to gold.

When
the sun topped the courtyard wall, Nance and I led the procession. We walked in
front, followed by a small group of guards and then Kovat and Erlan and their
captains seated high on their horses. At the edge of the hill, where the path
dropped away to the valley, we stepped to the side of the road and watched them
head off to battle, still chanting, our arms raised, our hands pointed toward
the sky. From his tall horse Kovat looked down and my glance met his stare. His
eyelids were oddly twisted and narrowed.

I
worked at keeping silent while my mind shrieked, “Help!”

Nance
and I remained at the ridge and chanted Kovat and Erlan down the hill and
across and out of the valley, trailed by their armies. We both drooped beneath
our layers of paint and fur and jewels, dead on our feet from loss of sleep. We
kept our bodies and faces rigid as our temple guards escorted us back to our
courtyard. The clatter of the bolt on the gate after our return to the temple
was the last sound I wished to hear until evening mealtime.

And
if wishes were horses et cetera, right? Before the brothers and their armies
were out of sight, the guard knocked on the gate. And before I could shout, “Go
away, Tarvik,” Nance hurried across the courtyard to call, “Who is there?”

The
guard spoke clearly in a loud formal tone. It meant he was not at ease with our
visitor. “The lady Ober waits here and requests an audience with the
templekeeper.” He was our friend for life, that guard. Don't know if he
suspected Ober's man of attacking him, but his announcement sounded like a
warning.

Nance's
mouth opened in a wide “o”. We looked at each other, speechless, and then she
slid the bolt and peered through the crack.

As
she was still in temple dress, she said, “My lady, did you wish to enter the
temple?”

I
heard Ober's voice say, “No, I would like to speak with the templekeeper who
assists you. Your courtyard will do.”

She
could not see me standing behind the gate at Nance's side, and so I mouthed,
“Let her enter,” to Nance, then stepped back to the center of the yard.

Nance
slowly opened the gate to a width no greater than needed for one person.

With
that amazing calm she could draw around herself when she needed it, Nance said
in her temple voice, “This place is sacred and forbidden to men. Your guards
must wait outside but you may enter, my lady.”

Ober,
wearing an embroidered cape of green velvet, walked slowly through the gate,
saw me and came toward me without so much as a nod to Nance. Nance closed the
gate behind her. Ober's copper hair was piled on her head beneath her hood. A
few stray tendrils curled around her face. The colorless eyes stared at me from
that spooky white face and I hadn't a clue what she wanted.

She
said, “What is your name, templekeeper?”

“Stargazer.”

“And
you came from the outlands.” Her eyes never left my face as she added, “And
what is it Kovat wants of you?”

As
I had no idea what she was talking about, I kept my mouth shut. He had expected
me to be in the procession, he accepted me as a templekeeper, he hoped I knew
magic, and he humored his son by letting me live. Which of these facts mattered
to the wife of Kovat's younger brother?

When
I didn't answer, she said, “He spoke with you early this day, before leaving on
his journey. I though perhaps he left a message for me.”

Ah,
so that was what she wanted to know. What would she think if I told her he gave
me her time of birth so I could read her plans? “He came to remind myself and
the priest of the Daughter that he required our blessings for his army.”

She
did not believe me, which showed in the narrowing of those weird eyes. No
smile, no frown. “Nothing more? No message for his son?”

“His
son is at the castle, right? Where Kovat could speak directly to him?”

Still
ignoring Nance, Ober turned and walked back to the gate. She stood facing it as
though she had no ability to open a gate, and so I went around her to open it
for her. I was perfectly willing to wait on her like a servant if it hastened
her departure. Inviting her to join us for tea never crossed my thoughts.

We
were closer to each other than I cared to be. She turned and spent a moment
staring at my temple garb, and the paint Nance had smeared on my face.
“Stargazer. I know that word. Kovat spoke of magic circles in which the stars
were drawn. Is that what you do?”

That
question hit too close. “I don’t know anything about magic.”

Which
was not quite true. However, I knew everything about circles and stars, and I
could imagine Tarvik raising his eyebrows and saying, Liar.

She
thought so, too, it was clear in her expression, but she said nothing, only
walked slowly through the gate and toward the castle.

I
closed the gate, slumped against it, made a face at Nance who looked about to
shriek. We dragged our weary selves to our chamber. For once I was too
exhausted to wash away the face colors and dust before sinking into my pile of
skins and blankets. Yet after I closed my eyes, thoughts battled sleep for my
attention. And the loudest question was this: What did Kovat expect me to find
in the star signatures of Erlan, Ober, Alakar and a man called Deathwalker?

I
asked Nance, “What do you think of Ober?”

I
had expected a reply about false pride or greed or dishonestly, perhaps, but
not what I got. Nance rubbed her eyes and said in a weary voice, “She must be a
sorcerer.”