Protector of the Small Quartet

by Tamora Pierce

  Kel, Neal, Merric, Seaver, Esmond, and Quinden picked up their trays. Together they walked to the lowliest of the squires’ tables as the pages and squires applauded and cheered.

  So far, so good, thought Kel as she took her seat. She was tired, but happy. She could still remember the look of pride in the eyes of her parents, her brothers Inness and Anders, and her sisters Adalia and Oranie, all of whom had come for the big examinations. She could remember the grins on the faces of Sir Myles, Lord Raoul, her friends among the squires, Daine, Salma, Gower, and Lalasa. And she meant to enjoy the night, and the fresh cherry pies, and the tumblers hired by Lord Wyldon as a treat for them all.

  As she walked out of the mess hall, yawning, a hand reached out to stop her. It was Lord Wyldon. “Congratulations,” he said quietly. “You have earned your new status.”

  Kel bowed. “Thank you, my lord.” It meant a great deal, coming from him.

  “You should know, it may be a little while before you are chosen as a squire. It’s the congress,” he said, understanding the question in her eyes. “Most knights will take a little extra time to look the new squires over, since they will be here.”

  “But you think it would take me a long time to find a knight-master anyway, being The Girl,” Kel suggested, surprising herself with her new boldness. Maybe it was that funny, baffled look in his eyes that gave her the courage.

  Wyldon smiled crookedly. “I think I will no longer try to predict what will or will not happen to you, Squire Keladry. So far you have proved me wrong on every count. Even I can learn when to quit.” He bowed to her, and walked away.

  Kel was still trying to decide what he’d meant when she returned to her rooms. She had a guest: Lalasa was pouring tea for Stefan Groomsman. Jump was on his back at the stableman’s feet, offering his belly to be scratched. The sparrows had retired for the night, all but Crown, Freckle, and Peg. They were picking on a crumb-covered plate that showed the man had been there for some time.

  “I’m sorry,” Kel said, upset that he might have been waiting since the time she normally came in from supper. “Lalasa, you should have sent the birds for me... Is Peachblossom all right?” She couldn’t think of any other reason that might bring the people-shy hostler into the palace itself.

  “No, no, Squire Keladry, Peachblossom’s fine.” Stefan got to his feet, shedding crumbs. Reaching inside his tunic, he dragged out a packet tied with string. “I was told to give this to you today.”

  Kel accepted it with a frown and undid the string. When she opened the packet, she found a handful of folded papers. The top one was a bill of sale for the strawberry roan gelding Peachblossom, marked “paid in full,” witnessed by a palace notary, and made out to Keladry of Mindelan, squire. The other papers appeared to be paid bills for feed, care, and palace stabling, all for the strawberry roan gelding Peachblossom, owned by Keladry of Mindelan, squire. The sums listed covered four years. All were notarized, complete with red wax seals. If there was anything more official-looking, Kel didn’t know of it.

  “I’m that relieved,” Stefan commented as the confused Kel looked through the papers a second time. “It broke my heart to think of parting you two, let alone I doubt he’d do near so well with anyone else. Congratulations, squire.”

  He was headed for the door when Kel said, “Wait! I didn’t—who did this?” She leafed through the documents, looking for any names other than her own, Stefan’s, and the notary’s. “I don’t see who paid all this money! Stefan?”

  The door closing was her only answer.

  At the bottom of the receipts was a folded note. Her mysterious benefactor had written, “Gods all bless, Lady Squire.”

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  GLOSSARY

  Balor’s Needle: a tower, the highest part of the royal palace in Corus, used mostly by astronomers and mages.

  basilisk: an immortal that resembles a seven-to-eight-foot-tall lizard, with slit-pupiled eyes that face forward and silver talons. It walks upright on its hind feet. Its hobby is travel; it loves gossip and learns languages easily. It possesses some magical skills, including a kind of screech that turns people to stone. Its colors are various shades of gray and white.

  Bazhir: the collective name for the nomadic tribes of Tortall’s Great Southern Desert.

  blazebalm: a thick, sticky substance like paste, which burns when lit (either manually or at a distance) by a mage or archer with fire arrows.

  Carthak: the slaveholding empire that includes all of the Southern Lands, ancient and powerful, a storehouse of learning, sophistication, and culture. Its university was at one time without a rival for teaching. Its people reflect the many lands that have been consumed by the empire, their colors ranging from white to brown to black. Its former emperor Ozorne Tasikhe was forced to abdicate when he was turned into a Stormwing (and later killed). He was succeeded by his nephew Kaddar Iliniat, who is still getting his farflung lands under control.

  centaur: an immortal shaped like a human from the waist up, with the body of a horse from the waist down. Like humans, centaurs can be good, bad, or a mixture of both.

  Code of Ten: the set of laws that form the basis of government for most of the Eastern Lands.

  Coldfang: an immortal that resembles a giant lizard with pebbled skin. Its colors vary. Its power lies in its ability to track a thief until capture, no matter how cold the trail or how long it takes. Its weapon is bitter cold; its pace is slow but inexorable.

  Copper Isles: a slaveholding island nation to the south and west of Tortall. The Isles’ lowlands are hot, wet jungles, their highlands cold and rocky. Traditionally their ties are to Carthak rather than Tortall, and their pirates often raid along the Tortallan coast. There is a strain of insanity in their ruling line. The Isles hold an old grudge against Tortall, since one of their princesses was killed there the day that Jonathan was crowned.

  coromanel: a flat, crown-shaped piece fitted over the tip of a lance. It spreads the power of a lance’s impact in several directions, to make the force less severe.

  Corus: the capital city of Tortall, located on the northern and southern banks of the Oloron River. Corus is the home of the new royal university as well as the royal palace.

  River Domin: runs through fief Mindelan.

  dragon: a large, winged, lizard-like immortal capable of crossing from the Divine Realms to the mortal ones and back. Dragons are intelligent, possess their own magic, and are rarely seen by humans.

  Eastern Lands: the name used to refer to those lands north of the Inland Sea and east of the Emerald Ocean: Scanra, Tortall, Tyra, Tusaine, Galla, Maren, and Sarain.

  Galla: the country to the north and east of Tortall, famous for its mountains and forests, with an ancient royal line. Daine was born there.

  Gift, the: human, academic magic, the use of which must be taught.

  glaive: a pole arm including a four- or five-foot staff capped with a long metal blade.

  Great Mother Goddess: the chief goddess in the Tortallan pantheon, protector of women; her symbol is the moon.

  griffin: a feathered immortal with a catlike body, wings, and a beak. The males grow to a height of six and a half to seven feet at the shoulder; females are slightly bigger. No one can tell lies in a griffin’s vicinity (a range of about a hundred feet).

  Human Era (H.E.): the calendar in use in the Eastern and Southern Lands and in the Copper Isles is dated the Human Era to commemorate the years since the one in which the immortals were originally sealed into the Divine Realms, over four hundred and fifty years previous to the years covered by Protector of the Small.

  hurrok: an immortal shaped like a horse with leathery bat-wings, claws, and fangs.

  Immortals War: a short, vicious war fought in the spring and summer of the thirteenth year of Jonathan’s and Thayet’s reign; named for the number of immortal creatures that fought, but also waged by Carthakis (rebels against the new Emperor Kaddar), Copper Islanders, and Scanran raiders. These forces were defeated by the reside
nts of the Eastern Lands, particularly Tortall, but recovery is slow.

  King’s Council: the monarch’s private council, made up of those advisers he trusts the most.

  King’s Own: a cavalry/police group answering to the king, whose members serve as royal body-guards and as protective troops throughout the realm. Their Knight Commander is Lord Sir Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie’s Peak. The ranks are filled by younger sons of noble houses, Bazhir, and the sons of wealthy merchants.

  K’mir, K’miri: the K’mir are the matriarchal, nomadic tribes of the mountains in Sarain. They herd ponies and are ferocious warriors and riders. The Saren lowlanders despise the K’mir and are continuously at war with them. There is a small, growing population of them in Tortall, where Queen Thayet is half K’mir and a number of the Queen’s Riders are also of K’miri descent.

  mage: wizard.

  Maren: a large, powerful country east of Tusaine and Tyra, the grain basket of the Eastern Lands, with plenty of farms and trade.

  Midwinter Festival: a seven-day holiday centering around the longest night of the year and the sun’s rebirth afterward. Gifts are exchanged and feasts held.

  Mithros: the chief god in the Tortallan pantheon, god of war and the law; his symbol is the sun.

  ogre: an immortal with aqua-colored skin, shaped like a human, from ten to twelve feet in height.

  River Olorun: its main sources are Lake Naxen and Lake Tirragen in the eastern part of Tortall; it flows through the capital, Corus, and into the Emerald Ocean at Port Caynn.

  pole arm: any weapon consisting of a long wooden staff or pole capped by a sharp blade of some kind, including spears, glaives, and pikes.

  Queen’s Riders: a cavalry/police group charged with protecting Tortallans who live in hard-to-reach parts of the country. They enforce the law and teach local residents to defend themselves. They accept both women and men in their ranks, unlike the army, the navy, and the King’s Own. Their headquarters is between the palace and the Royal Forest. Queen Thayet is the commander; her second in command, Buriram Tourakom, governs the organization on a day-to-day basis.

  quintain: a dummy with a shield mounted on a post. One outstretched “arm” is weighted with a sandbag, while the other is covered by the shield. The object in tilting at a quintain is to strike the shield precisely, causing the dummy to pivot 180 degrees. The jouster can then ride by safely. Striking the dummy anywhere but the target circle on the shield causes the dummy to swing 360 degrees, so the sandbag wallops the passing rider.

  rowel: a star-shaped revolving piece on a spur, which cuts into a horse to make it pick up its speed.

  royal ladies: fifteen or so young, active women of noble birth who can ride and use a bow as well as dance and converse with all manner of people. Queen Thayet takes them on visits to small, isolated fiefs or meetings where there is a possibility that they will be needed to help her with danger or handle emergencies that may arise.

  Scanra: the country to the north of Tortall, wild, rocky, and cold, with very little land that can be farmed. The Scanrans are masters of the sea and are feared anywhere there is a coastline. They also frequently raid over land.

  Shang: an order of warriors, mostly commoners, whose principal school is in northern Maren. They specialize in hand-to-hand combat.

  Southern Lands: another name for the Carthaki Empire, which has conquered all of the independent nations that once were part of the continent south of the Inland Sea.

  spidren: an immortal whose body is that of a furred spider four to five feet in height; its head is that of a human, with sharp, silvery teeth. Spidrens can use weapons. They also use their webs as weapons and ropes. Spidren web is gray-green in color, and it glows after dark. Their blood is black, and burns like acid. Their favorite food is human blood.

  Stormwing: an immortal with a human head and chest and the legs and wings of a bird, with steel feathers and claws. Stormwings have sharp teeth, but use them only to add to the terror of their presence by tearing apart bodies. They live on human fear and have their own magic; their special province is that of desecrating battlefield dead.

  tauros: a seven-foot-tall immortal, male only, that has a bull-like head with large teeth and eyes that point forward (the mark of a predator). It is reddish brown, human-like from the neck down, with a bulls splayed hooves and tail. It preys on women and girls.

  Temple District: the religious quarter of Corus, between the city proper and the royal palace, where the city’s largest temples are located.

  Tortall: the chief kingdom in which the Alanna, Daine, and Keladry books take place, between the Inland Sea and Scanra.

  Tusaine: a small country between Tortall and Maren. Tortall went to war with Tusaine in the years Alanna the Lioness was a squire and Jonathan was crown prince; Tusaine lost.

  Tyra: a merchant republic on the Inland Sea between Tortall and Maren. Tyra is mostly swamp, and its people rely on trade and banking for income.

  warhorse: a larger horse or greathorse, trained for combat—the mount of an armored knight.

  wildmage: a mage who deals in wild magic, the kind of magic that is part of nature. Daine Sarrasri is often called the Wildmage for her ability to communicate with animals, heal them, and shapeshift.

  wild magic: the magic that is part of the natural world. Unlike the human Gift, it cannot be drained or done away with; it is always present.

  Yama: the chief goddess of the Yamani pantheon, goddess of fire, who created the Yamanis and their islands.

  Yamani Islands: the island nation to the north and west of Tortall and the west of Scanra, ruled by an ancient line of emperors, whose claim to their throne comes from the goddess Yama. The country is beautiful and mountainous. Its vulnerability to pirate raids means that most Yamanis get some training in combat arts, including the women. Keladry of Mindelan lived there for six years while her father was the Tortallan ambassador.

  Contents

  Master - Table of Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Corus, the capital of Tortall; Summer, in the 17th year of the reign of Jonathan IV and Thayet, his Queen, 456 H.E. (Human Era)

  1. Knight-Master

  2. The King’s Own

  3. Centaurs

  4. Owlshollow

  5. The Griffin

  6. Lessons

  7. Old Friends

  December, in the 17th year of the reign of Jonathan IV and Thayet, his Queen, 456

  8. The Price Of a Maid

  9. Midwinter Luck

  Spring, in the 18th year of the reign of Jonathan IV and Thayet, his Queen, 457

  10. The Great Progress Begins

  11. Cleon

  Fall-Midwinter, in the 18th year of the reign of Jonathan IV and Thayet, his Queen, 457

  12. Tournament

  13. The Iron Door

  14. Friends

  In the 19th and 20th years of the reign of Jonathan IV and Thayet, his Queen, Spring 458-Spring 459

  15. Tilt-Silly

  16. The North

  Summer, in the 20th year of the reign of Jonathan IV and Thayet, his Queen, 459

  17. The Kraken

  Winter, in the 20th year of the reign of Jonathan IV and Thayet, his Queen, 459

  18. Ordeal

  Cast of Characters

  Glossary

  Acknowledgments

  To Ms. Gloria Barbizan and Ms. Dorothy Olding—

  strong businesswomen long before women’s liberation

  Corus, the capital of Tortall; Summer, in the 17th year of the reign of Jonathan IV and Thayet, his Queen, 456 H.E. (Human Era)

  one

  KNIGHT-MASTER

  Despite the overflow of humanity present for the congress at the royal palace, the hall where Keladry of Mindelan walked was deserted. There were no servants to be seen. No echo of the footsteps, laughter, or talk that filled the sprawling residence sounded here, only Kel’s steps and the click of her dog’s claws on the stone floor.<
br />
  They made an interesting pair. The fourteen-year-old girl was big for her age, five feet nine inches tall, and dressed informally in breeches and shirt. Both were a dark green that emphasized the same color in her green-hazel eyes. Her dark boots were comfortable, not fashionable. On her belt hung a pouch and a black-hilted dagger in a plain black sheath. Her brown hair was cut to earlobe length. It framed a tanned face dusted with freckles across a delicate nose. Her mouth was full and decided.

  The dog, known as Jump, was barrel-chested, with slightly bowed forelegs. His small, triangular eyes were set deep in a head shaped like a heavy chisel. He was mostly white, but black splotches covered the end of his nose, his lone whole ear, and his rump; his tail plainly had been broken twice. He looked like a battered foot soldier to Kel’s young squire, and he had proved his combat skills often.

  At the end of the hall stood a pair of wooden doors carved with a sun, the symbol of Mithros, god of law and war. They were ancient, the surfaces around the sun curved deep after centuries of polishing. Their handles were crude iron, as coarse as the fittings on a barn door.

  Kel stopped. Of the pages who had just passed the great examinations to become squires, she was the only one who had not come here before. Pages never came to this hall. Legend held that pages who visited the Chapel of the Ordeal never became squires: they were disgraced or killed. But once they were squires, the temptation to see the place where they would be tested on their fitness for knighthood was irresistible.

  Kel reached for the handle and opened one door just enough to admit her and Jump. There were benches placed on either side of the room from the door to the altar. Kel slid onto one, glad to give her wobbly knees a rest. Jump sat in the aisle beside her.

  After her heart calmed, Kel inspected her surroundings. This chapel, focus of so many longings, was plain. The floor was gray stone flags; the benches were polished wood without ornament. Windows set high in the walls on either side were as stark as the room itself.