Without Rhythm (The Lament) (24 page)

She played several, singing softly a few times when requested. Bard Gina did most of that part of it, requesting some difficult pieces as if to see what she could do. Then left suddenly, only to return two songs later, holding two instrument cases. At first Pran wondered if she was going to play too, or show off her own skills, which she was welcome to do, but instead the woman handed the cases to her between songs.

"Try these. Guitar first." It was a very old thing, the case made of well kept leather though, the body of it dinged in a few places, but still sound. It had to be tuned first, which Pran did quickly, starting to play less than five minutes later.

Then the Bard requested she play something original. Pran had to think for a second, remembering one of the two pieces she'd actually written out before. It had a song to it, so she could sing too. It was a nice enough piece, but a little bland, now that she'd actually seen something of the world. The other piece she'd written was simpler and from when she was younger. The Lonely Song.

She did that one next, then moved into a traditional drinking song, not singing the bawdy words, but getting most of the audience to stomp along lightly. It was needed after the first two, or everyone's energy would flag. They weren't exactly happy pieces. Nothing about her life really would have been.

Gina just watched her as if for weaknesses, and suggested she try the lute in the other case. It was of decent but not top quality, made for someone about her size, so probably not Gina, who was smaller than she was by half a foot.

"These used to belong to Bard Thom. That name probably doesn't mean much to you, but he wrote The Seven Circles. I think he'd like for you to keep these for him. At least until you get your own?" She didn't add more, but Pran nodded.

"I'll try to do them, and Bard Thom, proud ma'am." She didn't turn the gift down, even though it felt strange, being given anything at all by a stranger.

"Thank you. Him too of course."

Gina finished what was in her cup and stood, her back popping as she did.

"A conceit of the old, Bard Pran. Someday, not too far in the future, someone will speak of you and I'll be able to tell them about how I aided you, in some little way. Not a huge thing to some, but making the world a better place is all the comfort I have left I fear. You being able to make music freely is definitely that."

Pran let tears come to her eyes, not trying to hide them. It was, just about at least, the nicest thing anyone had ever done for her. Others had given her chances to make something of herself, but very few had ever just helped her like that. Just given her things to make her own life easier and better.

She played for hours after that, until her fingers started to get sore and everyone needed to be off to bed.

Pran headed that way herself, happy enough for once, that she didn't even expect the bad dreams to get her as she laid in the dark. They did, of course, because even being able to play again, she wasn't a different person. The next morning showed that when she was woken by a knock on her cabin door. Roy answered it, but it was for her.

Clark stood in the dim hall, the light through the window not bright enough to really see by yet, but enough to be able to tell that morning had just begun to break.

"We need another body on the guard line. There's a meeting on The Conscript in an hour, but we can't leave things undefended." He didn't say more, which was good.

Pran wouldn't have heard him over her yawning anyway.

"Right." She stood in the dark, then stooped to try and find her boots. It took a few moments. She put them on and yawned again, grabbing the rifle that she'd kept by the head of her bed.

They walked out without saying more, heading toward the mess hall. The lights were brighter in there, a cheery warmth coming from the galley already. The morning cereal wasn't out yet, so she grabbed a handful of dried fruit and started munching, loading a bit more into her side pouch, in case she missed lunch too.

Clark didn't say anything, just waving her outside to find the others as they got ready to move out for the morning. He did give directions then however.

"Walking guard or hiding position. Six hour shift, stay alert. Pran will take the back of the field here." He looked around, but none of the other dark forms said anything about that. He explained anyway.

"She's a Bard, so we want her close if she has to call an alert. Steady though, so we can count on her to do her part. The rest of you will be on descending sectors..."

That part he didn't have to explain, because they all apparently knew what that meant. Pran didn't, but she knew the rough area that she was supposed to watch, having run the whole line the day before. The others vanished then, but Clark grabbed her arm as she moved to go to her area too.

"I'll walk with you. Just until we set the route."

It was a little more than that, she realized, since he called out to the guard on duty with a low whistle. She could have made the same sound, now that she'd heard it, but before that she wouldn't have known it was a thing. The idea was, most likely, that anyone coming out of the dark not giving the proper signal would probably be stunned and restrained for questioning. It was a headache she didn't need, so was glad for the Guardian's company.

"Pran, you understand what to do?" The man sounded calm and certain, as if she really would.

She smiled though.

"Of course. If I see anyone I run away, screaming for help at the top of my lungs." She meant it as a joke, but the man patted her on the arm.

The other Guardian who was still standing there chuckled. It was a woman, but not one she recognized.

"About right. Smart one here. New apprentice?"

"She was. She's back to being a Bard now, but when I knocked on her door in the wee hours of the morning she didn't tell me to go soak my head like she should have, so I figured it was worth a try. I'll explain it all in a bit. You have the watch."

"I have the watch." Pran said the words, but tried to fight her mind into the whole highly focused state that she needed to stay in for the morning. At least the whole thing wouldn't be in the dark. She tried to move through the brush, seeing the path that the others had used after a while. It looked like an animal trail, but there were boot prints on it. It made a path that was largely hidden for her to follow. She also tried to move without rhythm, which she felt awkward doing at first. After a few hours it felt easier. Probably because she was doing it wrong, but she got a lot of practice looking at the trees and bushes, while trying not to move in a pattern that she could recognize.

No one came to relieve her and finally hunger drove her to eat a bit more of the fruit, which was hard to do while paying attention. She didn't have much, because she was thirsty and hadn't thought to get a water bottle. It was a mistake and they had them on the ship. Most of the other Guardians carried one on watch too, so they wouldn't have to leave for a drink. Just as she was about to do that she found them. Two people, hiding in a bush.

At first she nearly shot them, then came very close to screaming for help, before she recognized one of them as the woman that had been with Bard Benjamin the day before. Apparently she was busily doing something similar at the moment, with a man that looked only vaguely familiar from the night before. He'd come to listen to her play for a while.

From the amount of clothing they had off it was pretty clear they were either total master spies or really inept lovers out for a secret tryst. While she was tempted to think the latter, Pran pointed her weapon at them anyway. They were in an area that everyone knew not to go into after all.

"Halt. Get your clothing pulled up and stand please. If you try to go for a weapon or run, I'll shoot you."

They were both too embarrassed to say anything, at first, though they both managed to rally after a they had clothing on.

"Um... Is there a problem miss?" The man said, his eyes going first to the rifle, then to the bit of fuzz on her head. It was pretty distinctive, meaning he obviously recognized her.

"This is the guarded area. Which you clearly know. I need to turn you two in, in case you're spies."

The woman grimaced then, her face going tight.

"Damn it. You're just nothing but trouble, aren't you? First you catch us out in the forest sneaking back from town and now this. Do you hate me? Is that it? I slept with your boyfriend so now you want revenge?"

The funny part wasn't what she said, but how she said it, as if it were a real thing, and not just her trying to make herself seem like less of an idiot.

"Which one of the men is supposed to be my boyfriend?" It just came out, she figured that it would be Bard Benjamin, or even Clark, but got a bit of a surprise.

"Apprentice Roy? Aren't you two an item? Sharing a room and all?"

"Nope. Do you recommend him then?" She meant it to be flip, but the mental state of focus she was in made it come out sounding serious and a bit practical.

The woman shrugged.

"For someone his age he actually wasn't that bad. A bit on the homely side, but have you seen his body?"

She had, so Pran didn't answer, just gesturing for the two in front of her to walk.

"I'll take it under advisement. Face me and walk backwards. If you stop I'll shoot you." It sounded pretty tough, but she probably didn't need to be. The woman was just a little catty seeming, so she didn't want to give her any ammunition to start name calling with.

They did what she said anyway, looking properly concerned about the whole thing, even forgetting that they might be in trouble for sneaking off like they had. If they were going to do it, well, at least one of them had to have a bedroom, or a handy supply closet or something. Then she remembered that the woman, Tammy, was being punished already. That probably meant she wasn't supposed to leave the ship at all.

It wasn't Pran's problem though.

On the good side they didn't get halfway to The Lament before a real Guardian came running up, Kinetic pistol in hand. Mara.

"Caught them trying to attack?" The words were so dry that they nearly sounded real, even to Pran.

"Having sex. Back in the brush. I need to get back to my watch, in case that was just a distraction. I doubt it, but you know, I don't want to look bad."

"Got it. You should be going off shift soon anyway. The meeting is over, I think that..." She pointed as a group of six men and women, all adults, jogged toward them.

They had to explain the situation again, but one of them, an older woman with solid brown hair, but a lined face seemed to think it might be a real threat.

"Could be spies. I've used that ruse myself when caught before. I was younger, but people normally cut you a lot of slack if you're having sex when they walk up on you. Or look like you were. We should take them to The Conscript and have them locked in the cell there for questioning."

Oddly enough the rest of them agreed. Well, not the two that were going to be locked up, but if they were really innocent they could take it as a chance to finish what they'd been doing. Mara helpfully pointed that out as they both walked backwards toward the ship in question.

The whole thing suddenly seemed a lot more serious, with the Guardian taking over, keeping her pistol trained on them the whole time. Pran followed suit, but doubted that she'd get a shot off if they tried anything. Mara would probably shoot them both first. They, for all they were shipmen, seemed to get that idea as well.

"Come on Mara, you know me... We've been on this whole tour together..."

"I do. Notice how we didn't just kill you already? That's the slack you get for being a shipmate. You'd better have your story straight. What the heck you were thinking I don't know."

The woman, thankfully, didn't bother trying to explain it. She just walked backwards as carefully as she could and followed directions, her face looking hard and more than a little scared when they locked her in the cell along with the man next to her.

The interesting part, for Pran at least, was that Mara left
her
to guard the cell, and came back about half an hour later, with not one, but three Judges in tow. It would have made more sense for the Captains to be there, so they could rake their crew members over the coals or put them on potato peeling duty for a month, or whatever the punishment was really going to be. Instead it was Judges, dressed in white robes and looking as serious as anyone Pran had ever seen.

"Allow us into the cell please, miss." The woman that spoke was older than Claire, who stood slightly behind her, but only about the same age as Mara, who she was speaking to. The door got opened and they all entered, which made the dimly lit place a little hard to see in.

That was, it seemed, a problem for the Judges, who needed light to work. It seemed odd to her, but they decided to move the whole thing to the dining room, which meant that everyone could sit down and relax a little. Not her, of course, or Mara, but the others. Even the prisoners, who weren't restrained at all, just sat in chairs at the same table as the others.

The oldest one of the three, a man that might just be moving toward fifty from his appearance, but who was decently trim and fit looking, if not handsome, stared at them as he started to ask his questions. Almost from the start it wasn't going well at all.