City of a Thousand Dolls (6 page)

Then he had kissed her on the forehead and told her to sit near the gate and not go anywhere while he gathered mushrooms.

He had never come back, and Nisha hadn’t seen her mother again either. Eventually Nisha had accepted that she, like the other girls, had been abandoned. Sometimes she wondered what her parents had found so awful about her that they’d left her here.

Once Nisha realized that her parents weren’t coming back, she had begged Matron to let her go into a House as a novice. To dance at the House of Music, or to train at the House of Combat, anything to give her a place to belong. But Matron had always said that the Council’s decision was that she was too old to make a proper novice. If she’d come to the City as an infant, like most of the girls here, it would be different. But Nisha had been six when she came to the City.

Nisha opened her eyes, chasing the memories away. “I don’t know, Matron. I thought it was the only place you could find for me.”

Amusement flashed across Matron’s face. “I could see why you would think that,” she said. “But we could have given you to one of the House Mistresses as an assistant too, or put you to work in the kitchens.”

“But I served you,” Nisha said, wondering at the exchange. “Why?”

A momentary bitterness twisted Matron’s mouth before her face smoothed into her normally placid expression. “I didn’t have much choice,” she said. “For reasons I can’t discuss, I was forced to be your advocate. But I don’t regret it. You have been invaluable to me as an assistant and as a source of information.” She hesitated. “And I’m afraid that your value to me has put you in danger.”

Nisha burst out with a nervous laugh. “Who cares about me?”

“No one, usually,” Matron said with blunt cruelty. “But the new head of the Council, Akash tar’Vey, does.”

Nisha held herself perfectly still, masking the jolt of surprise she felt at hearing the tar’Vey name. The new Council Head was a member of Devan’s family?

Unease crawled like a long-legged mantis over her skin. This appointment gave the tar’Vey family even more power. Made it even
less
likely that they would ever let Devan speak for her, even if he did want to go to his family with the idea.

Nisha held her breath and waited for Matron to mention Devan. But instead, Matron said something completely unexpected.

“Nisha, today the City lost a novice, one who was spoken for by a very wealthy and powerful man. A man who has already paid us a great deal of money. If we cannot find a girl to replace her, then we will have to pay him back. Akash tar’Vey believes he has found an easy way to quickly get some of the money we need.” She took a deep breath. “Nisha, the Council wants to sell you.”

Three things should never be trusted

The scales of a rival

The gold of a Kildi

And the smile of a nobleman

Bamboo caste merchant’s proverb

“SELL ME?” THE words echoed in Nisha’s head like the ring of a gong. For a moment, she thought she had heard wrong. “They don’t own me.”

“No,” Matron said, “they don’t. But you have no caste or family, like most of the servants do, and you have not been accepted as a novice in the City. You can claim the advantages of neither novice nor servant. Akash says that makes you the perfect choice.”

“You mean no one will miss me. They can just take me and sell me, like they do slaves, and no one will care.” Fear roared in Nisha’s ears. “But I’m supposed to go to the Redeeming!”

“The Council thinks they can sell you for more money than you would bring in at the Redeeming,” Matron said firmly. Then she sighed. “Nisha, listen to me. This isn’t about you. Akash is trying to get rid of me. He wants to replace me with another tar’Vey to increase his family’s power. But first he has to convince the Emperor that I’m incompetent. And taking away my eyes and ears in the Houses is the first step. So far, he hasn’t had any way to get to you, but today … that changed. If the Council wants to take you and sell you as a bond slave, no one will stop them. Unless—”

Nisha dug her fingernails into her palms, grabbing at the words. “Unless what?”

Matron leaned back and steepled her fingers. “I’ve been researching the old House rules, and I found one, written long ago, that states a novice with no formal training can get an endorsement from a House Mistress. It was meant to help us place older girls who were sent to us untrained.” Again the tiny hint of bitterness tightened Matron’s mouth. “The Council decided years ago that we could no longer afford to take the older children, but this rule was never revoked.”

“But how does that help me?” Nisha asked, wiping her sweaty palms on the fabric of her borrowed overrobe.

“A House Mistress’s word counts for much in our world, Nisha. It’s unusual that assistants go to the Redeeming at all—if one decides to leave the City, she usually wants to go home. Your eventual price is an unknown, and Akash is taking advantage of that. If the Council thinks they can profit by letting you go to the Redeeming, they may not sell you now.”

If I can get to the Redeeming, Devan will speak for me
, Nisha thought. The idea didn’t comfort her as much as she hoped. She didn’t know what Devan intended. She might have to find another way.

“How long do I have?” she asked out loud.

“There’s a Council meeting tomorrow afternoon. If you can find someone to endorse you by then, I can offer that as a solution. But you need to hurry.”

Nisha left quickly before Matron could see her shaking. Once in the hallway, she leaned against the wall to steady herself and closed her eyes.

Sell her. They wanted to sell her. The idea filled her chest and paralyzed her muscles.

No. Oh no
.

Free servants—like her, like the assistants who served other House Mistresses and worked all over the City—could theoretically come and go as they liked, hire with different masters, and keep all that they earned. Free servants belonged to Wind caste, the lowest in the Empire. But at least they were treated like people.

Bond slaves like Zann were criminals or people with so much debt that they couldn’t repay it. Until they paid the price set on them, bond slaves were property.

Even if she somehow had the luck of a good master, Nisha would not be able to walk where she wished, wear what she wished, or say what she wished. And if the price set on her was high enough, Nisha might never be able to pay it back.

She’d never be free again.

I won’t let that happen
, Nisha vowed to herself.
I’ll run away again if I have to
. The idea made her feel sick inside. The woods were full of wild animals, outlaws, and slave traders—slave traders who could claim her as property to sell anyway. Until Nisha took a caste mark, and not a mysterious mark that no one recognized, she was fair game to anyone who claimed her. And if she waited too long, and her bond was sold, she would be considered a runaway slave. She could be sent to the copper mines, a death sentence in itself. Or they could execute her. She would be dead either way.

What was she going to do?

The cats were waiting when Nisha staggered out of the Council House.

What’s happened?
Esmer asked.
You look like you’re about to faint
.

Nisha knelt and pulled both cats close to her for comfort. She couldn’t make the words come, so she just let the memory of Matron’s news flow from her mind to Esmer’s, along with the rapid images of her own fears, and hoped the cats could make sense of her cascading thoughts. Her breathing eased as she let go of the memories, and by the time she finished and stood up, Nisha felt almost calm.

I have to find a House Mistress who’s willing to endorse me before tomorrow afternoon
, Nisha sent, as she started walking. Her rooms were back inside the Council House, of course, but she didn’t feel like going anywhere near there right now. Instead she instinctively walked to the large, winding hedge maze. Nisha often walked through it when she couldn’t sort out her thoughts.

If I don’t find someone—
The fear rose in her throat again, sharp as a knife.
I don’t know what will happen
.

Esmer, running along beside her, pulled her ears back.
I can’t believe they would do this. This place is changing
. She was silent for a moment.
But it’s getting close to Darkfall, and you can’t do anything tonight. Go to the greenhouse and make yourself some lemongrass tea. Then come back, eat your dinner, and try to get some sleep
.

It sounded like a suggestion, but Nisha knew it wasn’t. Esmer was the closest thing Nisha had to a mother, and when the gray cat spoke firmly like that, she expected to be obeyed.

All right, Esmer
, Nisha sent.
I’ll try—
Just as she was about to say more, she heard raised voices from deeper inside the maze. She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it sounded like an argument.

Nisha looked down at the cats and laid a finger on her lips. Then she crept forward, trying to follow the sound.

It wasn’t easy; the twisting passages tangled like threads, taking you one way just when you thought you were going in another. But Nisha had spent hours in this maze as a child and now, and it took only a few turns before she could hear the words more clearly.

One of the voices was Zann’s, raised in protest. “I’m telling you, it won’t matter! Vinian won’t let me near her House. They’ll never let me in there again, not after what I did.”

Nisha slid farther down the passageway. The voices were on the other side of the hedge now. If she peered around the corner, she would be able to see who Zann was talking to.

There was a thin, rustling sound, and Nisha realized that the second person was whispering. She couldn’t make out the words, but from the way Zann was sniffling, whatever she was being told wasn’t good. She sounded near tears.

The girl drew a ragged breath. “All right, I’ll do it. But you’d better keep your promise.”

Nisha edged around the stiff branches and peered out just in time to see … nothing. Whoever Zann had been talking to had disappeared, leaving only a rustling hedge behind.

Zann herself was sitting on the hard dirt, knees drawn up, head buried in her arms. She was crying. Nisha felt a burst of sympathy, and without thinking, she took a step toward her. A twig broke under her foot, and Zann looked up.

“
You
,” the girl spit, her face contorting with fury. “This is all your fault.” She pushed herself up and ran deeper into the maze.

Nisha, Esmer, and Jerrit looked at one another.

What was that about?
Jerrit sent.

A headache pounded at Nisha’s temples, and she rubbed her forehead.
Who knows?
She clearly doesn’t want to tell me
.

She turned her steps toward the House of Jade and the greenhouse. Esmer was right. She needed tea and sleep.

While she could get tea in the Council House kitchens, Nisha didn’t care for the strong black mixture the other servants drank. She preferred to make her own herbal teas.
Besides
, she thought, rubbing her arms against the chilly air,
at least the greenhouse will be warm
.

The greenhouse was nestled next to the House of Jade, a beacon lit in the dimming light. It was almost Darkfall. Nisha pushed open the door, and the heavy warmth enfolded her like a cashmere blanket.

She felt some of the tension leave her shoulders. She wasn’t good at growing things, but something about being surrounded by the plants made her happy. It was better than being within brick walls any day.

When she was younger, Nisha had tried meditating in the greenhouse to achieve the calm detachment of the House of Jade novices. Sometimes Sashi, one of the Jade girls, would sit with her and offer advice on how to focus on breathing, giggling at Nisha’s grunts of frustration.

When Sashi meditated, her face radiated peace. Nisha had never been able to figure out how she did it. Sitting still made Nisha twitchy, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t seem to find the same kind of detachment. Next to Sashi, Nisha felt like her emotions were leaking out of her skin.

She plucked a few slender stalks of lemongrass for her tea and made her way to the long back workbench. Sashi was sitting there, as Nisha had suspected she would be. The girl’s dark-green Jade asar was wrapped simply, and her dark hair slipped down over her graceful golden neck as she bent over the herbs on her workspace. Her calm expression never changed as she sorted the herbs by touch.

Nisha liked being around Sashi. She had been born blind, but never showed any hint of bitterness about it. If Sashi had been born a noble, a Flower caste girl, she would have been an embarrassment and tossed away. No noble could possess a physical defect so obvious. Had Sashi been born in one of the villages, she would probably have been seen as a burden. But in the House of Jade, the discipline of the mind was more important than the weaknesses of the body.

Nisha took a deep breath and tried to slow her anxious heartbeat.

Sashi straightened up and turned her unseeing eyes toward Nisha. “Who’s there?” she called.

“It’s just me, Sashi,” Nisha said quickly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Sashi relaxed. “Oh, hello, Nisha. Just let me finish up with this lavender. I have to take a new batch of perfumed sachets to the House of Beauty soon.” She shook her dark head. “Those girls always ask us for the silliest things. Do they really need every piece of clothing to smell like lavender?”

Nisha found herself smiling. “Well, you know what the Beauty girls would say to that.”

“Beauty is
serious
business,” Sashi finished, then laughed, a sweet sound, like the echo of a sitt-harp. “I’ll be glad to become an official healer’s apprentice so I can spend more of my time making medicines.” She picked up another slender stem of lavender, stripping off the tiny flowers and adding them to her pile. “Lavender smells pretty, but smelling nice isn’t the most important thing in the world.”

A hint of sadness strained her words, and Nisha looked more carefully at her friend. “Sashi?”

Sashi’s fine, silky hair was coming loose from its tie. It fell over her eyes as she turned away. “It’s this last year of healer training,” she said. “The master healer tells me that I excel in every area except one. My emotions are not completely under control yet.”