Derian felt himself growing jealous when he saw the comparatively easy time Barnet was having teaching Firekeeper this new language. Barnet noticed, and went right to the point one afternoon after Firekeeper had fallen asleep.
“Don’t let how quickly she’s learning bother you,” Barnet said. “She’s working from the foundation you put in place. You had to teach her the idea of a wholly spoken language, and that word order and all the rest mattered.”
Derian forced a smile.
“Not that she pays much attention,” he said.
“More than you think,” Barnet said seriously. “I’ve noticed that she tends to drop words—especially articles—and mangle sentences only when it doesn’t alter the meaning too severely. She’s very, very careful when the meaning might be altered—at least when she cares about the issue—and that’s pretty much whenever she bothers to speak. She isn’t much for small talk.”
“No, she isn’t,” Derian agreed, feeling better.
Barnet glanced at Firekeeper and confirmed she was really asleep, not just dozing.
“I’ll make you a bet,” he said.
Derian cocked an eyebrow.
“I’ll bet you that Firekeeper refuses to refine her knowledge of Liglimosh any more than she did her Pellish.”
“No bet,” Derian said with a laugh. “If you can convince her of the need for proper grammar, you’re a better instructor than I am.”
Days melted into each other. For a time, the only indication that they were traveling at all was the varied shapes of the distant land. Then the weather became noticeably warmer, more so than could be explained by the mere passage of time.
“We’re getting further south,” Barnet confirmed. “I’ve talked to the sailors, and most of them have never seen snow—and what they have seen has been the result of a rare storm, the kind that’s talked about for years afterwards. They’ve different plants in Liglim, and different animals, too. You think Harjeedian’s snakes are big? I get the impression those are considered moderately sized specimens.”
“How long until we come into port?” Derian asked.
Rarby happened to be passing by. On the whole, except for Barnet, the shipwrecked Islanders avoided the three captives. Now he gave Derian a tight-lipped smile that said he hadn’t forgotten their fight in the hold of the riverboat.
“The captain says we’re coming into port for fresh provisions tomorrow. You’ll be kept on board, of course, but don’t worry. We’ll be at our destination by the end of the moonspan.”
Derian fought a sudden desire to run. The moon had been on the wane last night. They didn’t have long to wait.
A BARELY SUPPRESSED AIR OF EXCITEMENT told more clearly than any announcement when
Fayonejunjal
drew near to her final port of call, but Firekeeper didn’t need this to awaken her spirits from the final clinging wisps of despondency.
The air was filled with wonderful, heady, gloriously strange scents, the most dominant of which was rotting vegetation. Strange bird cries tantalized her ears, mingling with the more familiar shrill screams of the gulls. And there, close enough that she could see individual pebbles on the beach, was land—real, solid, unrocking land.
It hardly mattered that she would still be a captive once they were ashore. What mattered was that she would no longer be aboard this pitching, sliding, shifting, unpredictable ship.
Derian came and stood beside her.
“Harjeedian asked me to tell you that we would be taken ashore.”
Firekeeper heard the odd inflection in his voice.
“Taken?”
“Remember how the New Kelvinese got around the city?”
“Carried by other people,” Firekeeper replied, “on boxes between poles.”
“They’ll be using something similar for all of us,” Derian said. “I expect that we’ll be in—well—cages.”
Firekeeper heard the tension and unhappiness in his voice, and knew it was not solely on her behalf. Derian didn’t like the idea of being put in a box.
“Can we promise parole?” Firekeeper asked. “We have kept on ship.”
Derian frowned. “I offered, but Harjeedian didn’t want to take any risks—and he seems to be taking your threat not to be swayed by hostages pretty seriously. He’s nervous now that we’re close to those ‘teachers’ he keeps mentioning.”
Derian had talked enough with both Harjeedian and Barnet by now to be fairly certain that the word Harjeedian translated as “teacher” meant something more, a concept that included “commander” or “superior,” along with that of instructor.
“I talk to him,” Firekeeper said. “Wait.”
Derian might think she had paid no mind to Harjeedian since the day of the snakes, but in reality she had watched him closely. A wolf always paid attention to the will of the Ones, and in this situation, Harjeedian was very clearly a One.
She found Harjeedian in his cabin, settling his snakes into boxes that even her eye could see were beautifully made. Each snake had its own box, the interior padded with straw so the snake’s scales would not be damaged.
“Harjeedian,” Firekeeper said, pausing in the doorway. She hadn’t violated his territory since he had warned her away, though privately she felt wronged.
The man turned, and she saw that he was dressed differently than he had been during the voyage. He wore fabric trousers, loose over hips and leg, but buttoned at the ankle. Over these was an equally loose shirt, the bindings heavy with embroidery in which the snake motif was frequently repeated. On his head was a small conical hat adorned with a sculpted snake. This coiled around the brim before making its way in lazy loops to rest its head on the top.
Even if Firekeeper had been inclined to be fooled by the loose tailoring—so unlike either the long robes of New Kelvin or the breeches, waistcoat, and jacket worn by men in Hawk Haven and Bright Bay—she would have noticed the sumptuous fabrics and come to the correct deduction.
“He is in formal dress,”
Firekeeper said to Blind Seer.
“Yes, and if your dead nose is not warning you, he is as nervous as a new mother when her litter first emerges from the den. Take care.”
Firekeeper did catch a whiff of Harjeedian’s tension in his sweat, but even more she saw it in the tightness of his skin over his high cheekbones, in the way he narrowed his eyes at her, daring her to give him any trouble.
“Yes, Lady Blysse?”
The words were perfectly courteous in tone, but not in the least cordial. There was a guarded element as well, as if Harjeedian sensed the impending challenge of his will.
Firekeeper did not lock eyes with him, but looked humbly at his shoes. “Derian say you put us on land in cages.”
“That is so,” Harjeedian replied, not bothering to correct her wording as Derian—or even Barnet—would have done.
“We ask no.”
“And I say it will be so.”
“Why?”
“Why do I say so or why must it be so?”
“Why second thing.”
“Because I do not wish anything to happen to you.”
“Happen?”
“Like your getting lost or thinking you might escape.”
Firekeeper tilted her head to one side.
“We give parole.”
“I do not wish to find that this is the time you choose to violate that parole,” Harjeedian said.
“I can promise again,” she said, still doing her best to look humble.
“True,” Harjeedian said, “but I also have no wish for any to see you before my teachers do. The cages will be covered for this reason.”
Firekeeper frowned. She didn’t like this at all, but she could see there would be no convincing Harjeedian without further persuasion. She made a move as if leaving, then paused.
“You be important for bringing us here?” she asked.
Harjeedian gave a thin-lipped smile.
“Yes.”
“I think you be more important if we walk with you,” Firekeeper said, “than if we in cages. If in cages, some say, ‘I can do this thing. How hard is it to put wolf in box?’ If we give you parole and we walk with you, then they think you have power.”
Harjeedian’s hands kept moving about their chores, but Firekeeper could tell she had given him a thought worth considering.
“And you would renew your parole?”
“Unless life is threatened,” Firekeeper said, “by you or yours. Parole until we reach this place of teachers.”
Harjeedian finished settling his last snake into its box and began tightening down the lids.
“Can I believe you?”
Firekeeper looked at him levelly.
“We give parole on ship. Land is not so different. We not know where we are, where to go. But choice is yours. We only ask.”
She padded away then without another word, for though she was willing to ask Harjeedian to change his mind, she was not willing to beg. However, she was not surprised when shortly before
Fayonejunjal
docked, Harjeedian came and said they would be permitted to walk to their destination rather than be carried in the cages.
He recited a long list of rules for how they must behave, but Firekeeper only listened to these with half an ear. Her heart was singing at her victory, and beside her, Blind Seer panted with openmouthed approval.
The
Fayonejunjal
was so large that they were taken to shore in smaller boats rather than the ship coming in to the dock. Derian went with Barnet in one boat, while Firekeeper and Blind Seer traveled in another. The sailors in their vessel were all of Harjeedian’s race, silent and unspeaking, the ease they had acquired with wolf and woman vanished now that they were restricted to a comparatively small boat.
Firekeeper, however, intended no trouble. What she had said to Harjeedian was true. What use would it be to run before she learned something of the lay of the land? Of course she knew in what direction was north, but that meant nothing if a large river or ravine blocked their way. For now she was actually content to be a captive, if seeming such would enable her to ultimately plan an effective escape.
The small boats grounded themselves directly on the sandy shore, grating against the bottom and coming to a rather jarring halt. Firekeeper was grateful for an end to the rowing, for though the rowers had been skilled, the motion of the smaller boat had brought a return of her nausea. She had no wish to have these new people’s first vision of her to be of her on her hands and knees, vomiting up whatever remained in her stomach.
She leapt to shore as soon as the boat was grounded, only to make another unpleasant discovery. The ground would not stop moving. It pitched and dropped, much as the deck of the ship had done. She stood very still, bracing herself, biting back a wail of frustration and fear. Had the very land rejected her?
Nor was Blind Seer immune to this sensation, as he had been to the seasickness. He took a tentative step, and it was as if his foreleg buckled beneath him. He sat, then dropped to a lying position, and gave a slight whine.
“It will pass,” Barnet said, sounding amused. The boat on which he and Derian had traveled was grounded a short distance down the beach. “Wait just a few minutes.”
Barnet stood squarely on his booted feet, giving no impression that the ground was moving. Firekeeper looked over at him.
“Sure?” she asked.
“I promise,” Barnet said. “It’s not uncommon, even for veteran sailors, to feel the land moving after long voyages. It’s just that your body is a bit slow to adjust. I promise that by the time the rest of the vessel is unloaded, you’ll be yourself again.”
Firekeeper wanted to ask who else could she be, but she thought she understood his meaning. She certainly didn’t feel much like herself with her feet unsteady and her head swimming.
Harjeedian joined them. He had come ashore on the first boat, along with his snakes and Waln. The Islander now stood some distance down the beach, recording crates of goods as they were unloaded, every line in his body screaming his need to be thought important.
In truth, although Wain had worked his passage along with his fellows, his status had been different. He had often worked alongside the captain, and Firekeeper had heard them arguing the merits of hull designs, sail shapes, and navigational techniques. At first she had listened, trying to gather information that would help in an escape, but listening to them was like listening to wolves discussing subtleties of a scent trail. She simply lacked the means to even begin understanding.
Harjeedian took inventory of his captives, but not even the slightest smile twitched his lips when he saw how Firekeeper was struggling to adjust to being on land. For this she was grateful. Had he been in the least mocking, she might well have tried to rip his throat out, and piss on the consequences.
“We’re here,” Derian said. “Do we have much farther to go?”
Harjeedian pointed. “Do you see that building? The tall one?”
Firekeeper turned to follow his directions and noticed for the first time a strange edifice rising over the confused mass of foliage and stone that must be yet another variation on a human city. This building was like nothing she had seen, even in New Kelvin, a place that gloried in strange architecture. It rose in steps or layers, each somewhat smaller than the one below, so that the outer surface looked like an enormous, rather steep set of stairs.
“That building stands at the heart of our destination,” Harjeedian said. “It is a long walk, but my teachers have arranged to have the thoroughfares cleared before us.”
Firekeeper understood almost nothing of this, but she heard the pride in Harjeedian’s voice. It was the pride of one who shared in a powerful pack and—perhaps truly, perhaps mistakenly—believed this made him powerful himself.
“We can walk,” she said, taking a step and discovering to her surprise that this was true. “Blind Seer and I.”
“Me, too,” Derian said. “The ground has almost stopped moving.”
“Then we go,” Harjeedian said. “An escort is meeting us, and I remind you of your parole. You are not to threaten them, nor are you to go outside of the perimeter they set.”
Firekeeper shook her head and gave him a wolfish grin.
“Big words, like a young wolf’s howl, but I understand. Lead. We walk with you.”