by Victor Poole
"I need to get you new clothes," Ajalia observed.
"I can get them myself," Leed said easily. "I'm going with Fashel to market tomorrow."
"Oh," Ajalia said, and smiled. She was reminded, once again, of how much she liked Leed.
"Isacar is going out in the morning," Leed said, "to bring all of your boys to the temple. We're going to make an army." Leed glanced at Ajalia, as if gauging her reaction to this news. Ajalia waited, and said nothing. "We're going to recruit more boys from the city," Leed said, "and rescue the boys that the priests have hidden. Esther told us about them," the boy added. "First we have to get your other boys into shape, the cleaning boys." Ajalia nodded, and Leed seemed to relax. "Daniel thought you'd fuss, but I told him we would need a lot of soldiers who could do magic. We're all practicing a lot," he told her. "Chad's very good at everything. We're going to make a schedule, so that all the new boys will know everything they can. Everyone's going to learn flying, tomorrow."
Ajalia and Leed drew near the door where the light shone out.
"I really hope you don't mind me doing all this," Leed told her seriously. The boy's face was drawn in a somber mask. He looked like a mature general. "I told you that I was going to take care of you, and help you, and I'm going to do as I said. We're posting guards," Leed added, as if he had just remembered. "You can't see any of them," he added with a grin, "and we're all taking shifts. That's part of why we need more boys."
"Tell Fashel tomorrow," Ajalia said, pausing outside the door, "that I'll get more money for food when she needs it. And tell her that when she is ready, I will get some kitchen maids for her." Leed nodded.
"It's very exciting," Leed said seriously, "making things happen, isn't it?"
"Yes," Ajalia said, smiling at him, "it is." She went into the room, and Leed followed her. Philas started to speak, and then seemed to catch himself. He saw Leed, but his expression remained the same.
"I was going to apologize again," Philas told Ajalia, "but I don't want to be rude." He looked at Leed for a minute, and Ajalia saw a cloud of anxiety pass over Philas's brow, similar to the look of pain he had worn when he looked at her. "I hurt you, didn't I?" Philas asked Leed. Leed looked at Philas without saying anything. "He'll never forgive me," Philas told Ajalia. He wiggled under the golden bindings. "I can't reach my clothes," Philas told Leed, "but you can have all of my money, instead of an apology."
Leed's eyes flashed; he went straight to Philas, and then turned, and came back to Ajalia.
"Do you have scissors, or a knife in that bag?" Leed asked Ajalia. She got out the tiny knife she used for sewing, and Leed took it. "Thanks," he said. The boy went to Philas and began, efficiently, to retrieve money from the seams of his clothes.
"I thought you'd figured out where it all was," Philas told Leed. He watched the boy work. "He's fast," Philas told Ajalia. "His eyes are fast. I think he knows more about me now than you do."
"Of course I do," Leed said. "I'm younger, and I wasn't used to you before. Ajalia remembered what you were like before Talbos, so she wouldn't have seen how mean you got inside."
Ajalia saw Philas open his mouth to protest, but then he caught himself again, and looked ashamed. Philas looked up at Ajalia. Leed was moving around him like a miniature tailor, leaving rents and open seams behind him.
"Leed's right, you know," Philas said sorrowfully. "I did get mean."
"I know that," Ajalia said. "Leed thinks he can outstrip me, if he copies things that I say. It won't work," she told the boy again.
"I can try though," Leed said with a grin. "You said you didn't mind."
"I don't want you to wallow in excessive sorrow," Ajalia told Philas. "I want you to become king."
"What's this?" Leed said, pausing over the final seam, and looking around. "King? King of where?" he demanded. Ajalia held back a smile; she was glad she had gone and gotten Leed from upstairs. Leed, she thought, was like a detector for interesting facts. He would dig through Philas with her, and catch anything that she missed.
"The king of Saroyan," Philas said slowly. Leed glared at Philas, and then looked around at Ajalia.
"He's not lying about that," Leed said.
"That's not what I want your help with," Ajalia said. "I want to know if he's lying about changing."
Leed pursed his lips, and looked narrowly at Philas.
"Hang on," Leed said, and finished fishing coins out of Philas's clothes. Leed retreated with his sizeable hoard, and made a swift accounting of what he had found.
"You missed one," Philas told the boy. Philas glanced over at Ajalia. "There are two jewels inside the sole of my shoe," he said. Leed was at his feet at once, and digging at the bottom of Philas's shoes. The boy let out a shout of triumph, and retreated once again, two gleaming emeralds in his hand. Philas looked very much like a dresser with the drawers all pulled out. His clothes were awry, and his skin showed in a few places. The heel of one of his shoes had been twisted open. Philas looked like a ravaged doll.
"That was honest of you," Leed told Philas. "I think he might be all right, now," Leed told Ajalia.
"We'll see," Ajalia told the boy. "Apologize to me again," she told Philas. "Watch him for me," she told Leed. Philas's face went ablaze.
THE
KINGS OF SAROYAN
"But," Philas said meekly, his eyes a little rimmed with terror, "Leed doesn't know everything."
"I don't care," Ajalia said. "I don't think you should mind, if you mean that you're sorry." Philas chewed on his lips for a moment, and then he nodded slowly.
"I guess," Philas said hesitantly. He drew a deep breath, and his cheeks were brilliant red.
"I think he is sorry," Leed told Ajalia frankly. "I've never, ever seen Philas blush."
"Philas is an accomplished liar," Ajalia said, without malice. "Hear what he has to say."
"All right," Leed said. "But I think he's all right. I think you're all right," Leed told Philas. Philas looked a tiny bit less terrified now.
"Ajalia met Delmar, and I could see that she liked someone, and I was jealous, because no one ever likes me, and I felt good around Ajalia, and so I tricked her into thinking that the someone she liked was really me. And it was a lousy thing to do," Philas said to Ajalia. "And I'm sorry, and you'll never forgive me, and Delmar is welcome to punch me when he comes back."
"Does Delmar know you did all this?" Leed asked. Ajalia thought this was a little disingenuous of the boy, since he had been around her at the time, and had observed much of the jostling between Delmar and Philas, but she said nothing.
"He knows most of it," Philas said. "I told her I wanted to say I was sorry to him," he added quickly, "and I mean it. I'm sorry for being an ass," he told Ajalia. "I don't think you want an apology," he said to Leed, who interrupted quickly.
"I don't," Leed said fiercely.
"But I hope you can take the money and jewels as payment for me being so rude, and I hope we can move forward now, and you'll give me another chance, even though I don't deserve one." Philas finished this sentence in a great rush, and then he took in a deep breath. "And that's all," he said lamely. Leed turned to Ajalia.
"I don't understand why you needed me," Leed told her. "He's obviously not lying."
"Yes," Ajalia said, "but I want him to learn magic, and if you think he's going to go sour again, we'd better not do that." Leed looked at Philas with renewed interest.
"Oh," Leed said, and Ajalia knew the boy was looking at Philas's soul. "You cleaned him up inside, didn't you?" he asked Ajalia. Ajalia nodded.
"I've put light into people before," she told the boy, "but it seems to wear off on most of them. I want to see what happens if we teach Philas to connect himself."
"To connect to the earth and sky," Leed said, nodding. Ajalia knew the boy understood what she wanted.
"I looked in the book," Ajalia said. "That's why I cleared out the darkness in him first. I got to the part about embrasure." Leed nodded, and stuck the money and jewels into his pock
ets. He kept one hand there, and Ajalia knew he was holding on tightly to the treasures. Leed went and stood in front of Philas, and began, in a very business-like manner, to speak to him.
"What Ajalia is saying," Leed said, "is that she has a lot of light and color inside. You already know this, since you tried to poach her from Delmar." Philas's lips thinned a little, but he said nothing to contradict what Leed had said. "Because there is so much light inside of Ajalia," Leed said, "she can lend it to people, but the light gets used up over time. It's like water, running through in a stream. If the water is running out of a small pool, and if there is no inlet, the water will all run out." Leed glared importantly at Philas, who was watching him, and listening. "Are you following me here?" Leed demanded. Philas did not smile. Philas nodded meekly. Ajalia frowned. She was impressed. Perhaps, she told herself, Philas would turn out all right. She did not want to think that Philas would turn out all right, because she had thought the same about Coren, and Coren had started to lie again within a day.
Leed began to pace up and down the middle of the room, his fingers still in his pocket, and closed around the things he had taken from Philas.
"So what Ajalia has done," Leed said, "is to remove the obstructions in your stream. You had a lot of obstructions," Leed said, "because of the drinking, and the lying." Philas nodded. His eyes were following Leed as the boy walked up and down the room. "Now," Leed said, "You are very old, and set in your ways." Philas's lips twitched at the edges, when Leed told him that he was very old, but he straightened his face, and listened soberly. "You have established a pattern of lying, and of tricking others, to get things that you want."
Leed stopped walking, and drew his hand out of his pocket. He folded his arms, and looked sternly at Philas.
"You are apologetic now," Leed said, "because you see that what you have done has hurt Ajalia, who is innocent." Ajalia did not feel innocent, but she restrained herself from interrupting. "All you have to do," Leed lectured, "is to use your bad ways for good. For example," Leed said, "Delmar is a liar."
"How do you know that Delmar is a liar?" Ajalia demanded. She did not disagree with Leed, but she did not think that Leed would know that about Delmar. Leed barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes. He looked patiently at Ajalia.
"Because he lies," Leed said, as if that explained everything. "Fortunately for Delmar," Leed told Philas, "he has many occasions on which to lie in useful ways. He can lie to spies, or he can mislead his people, and have a stronger government because of it. We're at war right now," Leed said, "but you would never know, because Ajalia is too innocent to realize how many people are going to die, and because Delmar is an excellent liar. You can't see in the streets how fraught everything in Slavithe is right now."
"I don't think I'm innocent," Ajalia put in, but Leed shushed her, waving a hand.
"Philas knows what I mean, don't you Philas?" Leed demanded. Philas, glancing apologetically at Ajalia, nodded. Ajalia's mouth turned into a grim line. I am not innocent, she told herself, and glared at both of them. "So anyway," Leed said, "you are already a liar, and if you don't lie for something good, like becoming king, you'll end up lying for something bad, like sex. Or tricking Ajalia again. And then she'll never forgive you," Leed added, frowning. Philas looked at Ajalia again.
"How am I going to lie, in order to become king?" Philas asked. He looked quite interested now in what Leed was telling him. Ajalia was impressed with Leed's way of speaking. She was sure that if the boy had led off with a lecture about magic, Philas would not have listened so closely, or attended so well.
"You'll do what Ajalia did here," Leed said easily. Leed glanced at Ajalia. "You'll probably have to stay here, in Slavithe, until the war is over," the boy said, "but that will only take a few weeks. We're going to hunt down the witches ourselves," Leed told Ajalia. "I didn't tell you that yet. Don't tell Delmar," he added. "I want to tell him myself. Anyway," he said, resuming his pacing, and looking sidelong at Philas. "You'll have to stay here for a while, and then, once things are settled, and I'm not needed to take care of Ajalia, I'll come to Saroyan with you, and be your helper. Like Ajalia was, for Delmar."
Philas looked both amused and intrigued.
"And what help would you be to me?" Philas asked. He spoke in the voice of a monarch, testing a subject. Ajalia saw for the first time what Philas would be like, as a king. She knew then, when the picture of Philas on a throne, a crown upon his head, and a scepter in his hand, filled up her mind, that he would be king. It was no longer a possibility to her, but a fact.
"I will do for you what Ajalia did for Delmar," Leed said patiently. "I will believe in you, and tell you what is most important, and I will watch the people there, and take care of things. You know that Ajalia killed people, for Delmar," Leed said seriously. "Delmar would never have taken power without her. He was too close to things, and he did not know—well," Leed said, "he still doesn't know how much the people here want him to be the Thief Lord. Ajalia saw that, and made it so."
"And you think people there will want me?" Philas asked. He looked like a child who is asking for love; Ajalia saw, in an instant, a long stretch of the future, and of Leed walking beside Philas as she moved with Delmar, guiding him, and shaping him into a glorious monarch.
"Of course they will," Leed said simply, without any pause. "Anyone would." Philas glanced askance at Ajalia, and smiled a little.
"But I don't think Ajalia wants me to be king," Philas said.
"I brought it up," Ajalia snapped. "And I brought Leed down. You're going to have to teach him to be clever, and to understand things," she told Leed.
"Oh, yes," Leed agreed, frowning at Philas. The boy sighed. "I guess I'll have to find him a wife at some point, won't I?" he asked Ajalia. Ajalia shrugged.
"That won't be hard," she told Leed. "Wait until you get to Saroyan. Interesting women will appear. All you will have to do is talk Philas out of the wrong ones."
"What if I don't want to listen to you?" Philas asked Leed, his eyes narrowing.
"Oh, you'll listen to me," Leed said. Philas looked a little resentful of the boy's confidence. Philas still looked, to Ajalia, like a young child who is checking to see if he is loved. Philas's eyes and face were those of a mature man, but his eyes shone, and his lips quivered just a tiny bit.
"How do you know that?" Philas asked. Ajalia went towards the doorway, and looked out at the entrance of the dragon temple. She wondered how the evening meal had gone, and how Fashel had fared on her first foray in the kitchen. She hoped that Delmar would return soon. She imagined Coren lying down on the bed in Denai's room, and falling asleep in his bonds. She wondered how Coren would fare, if Delmar wanted to sell the boy as a slave.
"Because I'm right," Leed said. "You're only miserable because you really need to be king, and you can feel that in your heart, and anytime you're doing anything other than becoming and being the king, you feel lost and angry. I think that's why you drink so much."
"No one needs to be king," Philas said, frowning. "Some people get into power, because they are born there, or because their friends help them."
"He is not really this stupid," Ajalia told Leed. "Philas is one of the more senior slaves in my master's house. He understands power. I think he is afraid of himself. I think he is afraid that he is actually rotten inside, and that he will spread corruption and evil to his people." Ajalia studied Philas, who was blushing with the attention they were paying him. Ajalia was reminded of the way Chad had stood, turning red with pleasure, when she and Calles had talked of the wardrobe Calles would make for the Thief Lord, and for Chad and the others.
Ajalia thought about Calles, and about the young woman, Sharo, who had thought herself a fitting bride for Delmar. She smiled.
"Can you teach him to connect to the lights?" Ajalia asked Leed. She turned her eyes again to the front of the dragon temple, and watched for Delmar.
"Sure," Leed said. "Do you believe in magic yet?" he demanded. Slowly, and glanc
ing down first at the bonds around his arms and chest that he could not yet see, Philas nodded. "Good," Leed said. As the boy began to speak again, Ajalia saw a pair of shadows slip into the dragon temple. She left the room, and crossed towards them. She was not sure at first that it was Delmar, but when Denai spoke, and the door of his room opened, and then a burst of long light fell out when Denai lit a lamp, she saw the outline of Delmar. He was crossing towards her through the hall, and his hands were wet with blood. Ajalia felt a rush of heat in her chest. She hurried forward.
"Are you all right?" she asked.
"The woman fought back at a bad time," Delmar said. "We didn't want to hurt her, but then she got hold of a knife. Denai has an ugly cut on his face, but I'm all right." He raised his hand, a shy smile on his face, and waved his wet fingers. "I don't want to get blood on you," Delmar said.
"There's the well in the back," Ajalia said, leading the way to the back enclosure that lay behind the dragon temple.
"Denai will take Coren out to the harbor," Delmar told her quietly. He glanced back at Denai's open door, where the light spilled out. Ajalia followed his gaze, and saw the light snuff out. A shadow appeared, and then, when Denai came into the thin moonlight, she saw the muffled outline of Coren slung over the horse trader's shoulder. The dripping reins of a bridle hung from Denai's arm, and Ajalia thought that he would carry the boy to the stables, and ride with him to the Slavithe harbor.
Delmar sighed, as though a great weight were lifting from his shoulders.
"It's too bad," Delmar said. "He could have stayed. I can't risk the lies he will tell about me, or about our mother." Ajalia nodded.
"I think he might have been more obedient," she said, "if the black pits in his skin had stayed."
"What black pits?" Delmar asked. Ajalia realized for the first time that Delmar had not returned until after Coren's awful blemishes had transformed, under the power of the mixed blue magic, to deep, smooth marks of red.
