Pathways

by Mercedes Lackey

  Amal looked startled. “What were you doing?”

  “Working on a somersault,” Lena explained, “so I can do one on Meri’s back.”

  “Whose idea was that?” Amal asked.

  “Meri’s.”

  “That’s right,” Sofia laughed, “blame the horse.” She transferred Lena to Amal and added, “Make her walk around for a bit. She’s got the makings of a flyer, and we were both having fun. I’m afraid she overdid it a bit. I apologize for returning her in this condition.”

  “We’ll manage,” Amal said. “Thank you for helping her.”

  “Anytime,” Sofia said, “and I mean that. Lena, come back to me when you can, and we’ll work some more. I don’t guarantee you’ll be able to do a flip on a galloping horse any time soon, but we’ll try. Actually, I think you’ll be a decent flyer first.”

  She walked off, leaving both girls staring after her.

  “What’s a flyer?” Amal asked, looking at Lena with concern.

  “It’s what she does in their act,” Lena explained. “It’s wonderful!”

  “Tell me that when you can walk without help,” Amal said dryly.

  • • •

  Sofia was right. Flying seemed to come naturally to Lena, and as they traveled toward Jasper’s estate, Sofia’s father started watching them practice, and then joined in so that Lena could learn to make the cross to the catcher and back. One day he invited Lena to join their act, saying it would be nice to have a cute little girl again. Sofia and Lena both broke out in giggles.

  He and Sofia went with Lena to talk to her “father”; they pointed out to Teren that his act was at the beginning of the show while theirs was at the end, so there was no reason Lena couldn’t change costumes and do both. When Lord Teren suddenly remembered that they were talking about the King’s ward, whom he had promised to keep safe, he started making reluctant noises, but Amal took Lena’s side. “Let her do it. She’s worked very hard on this, and she loves doing it.”

  “I’d rather see her helping with the peacocks,” Teren muttered.

  “Bram doesn’t need help with them,” Lena said.

  “I’ve seen you help feed them,” Teren argued.

  Lena shrugged. “I like Bram.”

  That did it. Lord Teren had no idea that Bram was anything other than a thief who was good with peacocks, so he decided letting Lena work with the flyers was a lesser evil, and by the time they approached Jasper’s estate, Lena was spending more time with the flyers than with Teren and Jasper.

  Amal called a private meeting one night. “If I’m right, we’re getting close enough to your estates, my Lords, that both of you may be recognized any day now. You need to split off and take the dogs home, don’t you?”

  “Yes, we do,” Lord Teren agreed. “But what are we supposed to do with you, and what about the peacocks?”

  “I’d bet the flyers want to keep Lena,” Amal said. “If you tell them that you and Jasper have to take the dogs somewhere to be bred or something, I’ll volunteer to stay with Lena so she can remain part of their act.”

  “But you’re two young girls,” Lord Teren protested. “I’m supposed to be keeping you safe.”

  “I’ll be in Whites next year, so it’s not as if I’m a child. I have a tent that Lena and I can share, we’ll pitch it near Sofia’s, and the Companions will be with us.”

  :I wondered when you would remember us,: Meri said.

  :I never forgot you,: Lena replied. :Did you think I never noticed you in the back of my head helping me move my body the right way?:

  :Humph.:

  “We were always going to have to split up,” Amal pointed out. “Your job was to get us accepted by the show while you were taking the dogs home. Our job is to get the King’s stupid peacocks back to Haven.”

  “They’re not actually stupid,” Lena objected.

  “I don’t care about their intelligence,” Amal retorted. “I care about their location.”

  “Very well,” Lord Teren sighed. “I’ll talk to Sofia and her father, and see if they’re willing to keep an eye on you two.”

  The flyers definitely wanted to keep Lena, and Papa assured her “father” that they would made certain that neither of the girls got into any trouble at all. Given the amount of time Lena spent practicing with them, there was no question of her having either the time or the energy to do anything improper. Amal admitted that she could both sew and embroider, and Sofia pounced on the idea of getting a new set of costumes.

  • • •

  Lena tried to spend her “free” time with Bram. The fact that he ate meals with the flyers—and now Lena and Amal—helped, because she really didn’t have free time. She also had no privacy; the nearest thing was when she and Amal were in their tent at night. Even then, they were limited to very quiet conversation.

  “Try to spend time with Bram, will you?” she asked. “Get him to regard you as a friend, or at least as someone who firmly believes that he and the peacocks should stay together no matter what.”

  Amal thought that over. “You want him to have the two of us as friends in Haven.”

  “Exactly. I also want all four of us: you, me, Kyra, and Meri, to persuade the King that he should insist that the gift of peacocks include Bram to take care of them. I expect the Council member will be honored to have his son offered a position in the King’s service—and if he’s not thrilled at first, he can be told to be.”

  Amal chuckled. “I’m glad you’re on our side. I’ll do my part on the ground while you do yours in the air.”

  “I really do love it,” Lena admitted. “It’s not quite like being a bird, but it’s as close as I can get.”

  With their division of labor agreed upon, both girls slipped into the routine of the show as it traveled on. Lena didn’t think she had ever been happier in her life.

  • • •

  :Lena!: There was an insistent voice in her head, but it wasn’t Meri’s, and Meri knew better than to distract her when she was in the middle of a cross. Lena missed the catcher’s hands and twisted to land on her back as she fell.

  “What’s the matter with you?” the catcher yelled down. “You don’t lose focus up here—it can get you killed!” He added less angrily. “Are you injured?”

  “I don’t think so,” Lena called back, gently and carefully testing her ability to move each joint. “Give me a minute.”

  :Lena!: This time she recognized the voice.

  :Clyton? What are you doing here?: Clyton was the Companion of Samira, Amal’s older sister, but they were out on Circuit somewhere. Come to think of it, where are we?

  Two Heralds entered the tent. Samira was just behind Robin. Oh, right, it must be near the end of his first Circuit, so he’s taking lead now.

  Robin ran over to the side of the net. “Lena! What happened?”

  “Clyton Mindspoke me, and I fell.”

  “It was a pretty good save,” Amal volunteered. “I looked up when I didn’t hear the catch; she was falling, but she twisted in midair, and it looked like a good landing.”

  Lena groaned, more from embarrassment than pain, rolled to the side of the net, and checked the state of her hands and wrists before grabbing the edge and flipping out. Her legs and feet seemed to be uninjured as well.

  Samira glared at Amal. “Why are you still here?”

  “Uh—” Amal looked blank.

  Robin burst out laughing just as Sofia swung out of the net and her father advanced on them.

  “Why are you interrupting our practice?” he demanded furiously. If he recognized Heralds, he showed no sign of it. “Do you want to get someone injured—or killed? Who are you, what are you doing here, and what, by all the gods, do you think is funny about this?”

  Robin sobered instantly. “You are correct, sir. I apologize for the interruption—”

&n
bsp; “Clyton said she was falling,” Samira said in an unsuccessful attempt at explanation.

  Robin spoke hastily. “This is Samira; Clyton is her Companion. Lena has Animal Mindspeech, and Clyton spoke to her without realizing what she was doing, and I gather that caused her to fall.”

  “It’s like having someone suddenly shout at you,” Lena explained, “but I’m not injured.” She shrugged. “Probably bruised, but that’s nothing.”

  “And I was laughing because . . . I’m Robin, Chosen of Dathus, but I grew up in a family of traveling players. Lena, do you know what the date is? or where you are?”

  “No,” Lena shook her head. “I think it’s still summer . . .” Her voice trailed off.

  Amal looked somewhere between sick and faint. “Oh, no!”

  “Just realized you’re out of range, did you?” Samira said sardonically. Amal sat down suddenly on the ground and buried her face in her hands.

  Robin continued. “They don’t know the date or their location, but they know the next show time, the next rehearsal time, and the next meal time—probably in that order.”

  “Of course,” Lena pointed out. “The show is the most important, followed by rehearsal. And we get called to meals.”

  “It’s all my fault,” Amal wailed. “I’m a total failure!”

  “No, you’re not,” Lena argued. “Your job is to chaperone me, and nobody can say you haven’t done that.”

  “She’s right,” Samira acknowledged. “It was Kyra’s job to keep in touch with the King’s Companion. Did she tell you she had lost contact?”

  Amal shook her head. “I don’t think so,” she said weakly.

  “Have a heart, Samira,” Robin said. “It happened yesterday. It’s not as if they’ve been missing for weeks!”

  Lena started, “I’ll go back if—”

  “You’ll go back if I have to drag you by the hair!” Samira muttered.

  “You’d be pecked half-to-death if you tried it!” Lena shot back.

  Robin sighed. “Sir,” he asked Sofia’s father, “could I ask you to call a company meeting? This is rather complicated, and it involves several members of your company.” Papa sighed and nodded. One look up into the rigging had everyone there diving into the net, while Sofia ran out to round up everyone else.

  • • •

  It wasn’t long before everyone was sitting around the fire where the midday soup was simmering. Lena sat between Sofia and Bram, with Amal on Bram’s other side.

  “Lena,” Robin said, “perhaps you’d like to explain. I believe I heard you trying to set conditions for your return earlier?”

  Lena nodded and turned to Sofia’s father. “It’s like this, Papa. It all started when Bram’s father decided it was a good idea to give the peacocks to the King, without Bram to take care of them.”

  Papa looked slightly ill. “Those peacocks?” He gestured to the birds wandering around them. “They belong to the King?”

  “Technically, yes,” Lena admitted, adding hastily, “but he’s not angry at anyone. He just wants them back before they’re publicly known to be missing. When the peacocks went to the Palace, nobody really knew how to deal with them. Bram always cared for them at home, and he made it look so easy that his father didn’t realize the job needed any special knowledge or abilities. Anyway, the birds were miserable, and Bram has Animal Mindspeech, so they talked to him, and he went to rescue them.”

  “And ran away to my show with them.”

  “Yes, but they’re safe and happy here. They were missed, of course, and because I have Animal Mindspeech, the King asked me to find them, which I did. By then you were two days travel away from Haven, and this is where the dogs come in.”

  “What dogs?” Robin had apparently missed that part.

  “Lord Jasper’s greyhounds,” Lena said. “It was two years ago, so you weren’t with Samira then, but when Lord Jasper’s father died, his mother ordered all the dogs killed, so they came to Haven with me for sanctuary. Jasper’s mother just entered a convent, so he and Lord Teren came to Haven to take the dogs home. You were all heading in that direction, and the King wanted to get the birds back quietly, which meant not sending people who didn’t know how to care for them to drag them back by force. So Jasper, Teren, and I came up with the plan of setting up an act and joining your show so we could find out who took the birds and why, and the King added Amal because he said I needed a chaperone.”

  “Where did you get your incredibly well-trained horses?” Papa asked suspiciously.

  Lena took a deep breath. “From the Companion’s Field. Amal is Kyra’s Chosen—”

  “She’s a Herald?”

  “No, sir,” Amal said quickly. “Just a Trainee.”

  “And Meri doesn’t have a Chosen, so she decided to come along for the fun of it,” Lena finished.

  Papa started chuckling. “So you all ran away to join the circus,” he said. “But I’m guessing there’s a problem now. Are you late getting back to Haven?”

  “Very,” Robin said. “Can you cancel the rest of your route and go straight to Haven to perform for the King?”

  “We could,” Papa said slowly, “but from what I hear, Companions can travel very quickly.”

  “Oh, they definitely can,” Robin agreed, “and if all we had to do was get the girls back, we could do it in a few days of very hard riding. But Amal was assigned to this, and Lena lives at a temple. What we need to get back quickly is the birds.”

  “Who can’t fly much at all,” Bram said.

  “He’s right,” Lena agreed. “They can barely fly. And we want to take Bram back so the King can give him the job of caring for them.”

  “Makes sense to me,” Robin said. “So we need to travel by road. Amal, get the maps from my saddle, will you?” As Amal ran to do his bidding, he added, “It seems only fair, sir, that you and your troupe be compensated for your care of the King’s ward and his property.”

  “Ward?” Papa asked.

  “He means me,” Lena admitted. “The rest of my family is dead, so the King is my guardian, but I’ve lived at a temple since I was ten. And I told the Prior where I was going, so they know where I am. Nobody’s worried about me. Really.”

  Amal came back with the maps, and Robin and Papa put their heads together. “If we could take this road tomorrow morning,” Papa said, “it would be much faster, but sometimes it gets blocked. . . .”

  “Lena?” Robin held the map up. “Is this section of road clear?”

  Lena reached out to Mindspeak the birds in the area. “It’s clear now.”

  “Rain?”

  “None in range.”

  “Vultures?”

  Lena started laughing. “No, Robin.”

  “Insane magicians?”

  “No!” She turned to the show folk. “Don’t mind him. He’s joking.”

  “Right,” Robin said. “The vultures and the insane magicians were last year. All we have this year is a journey to Haven at our best possible speed.”

  “With a Royal Commission at the end,” Lena said brightly. “It’ll be fun.”

  Cobblestones

  Fiona Patton

  Fog was not common in Haven, and it had been an unusually foggy spring. The more religious citizens of Valdemar’s capital city took it as a sign of flood, famine, plague, fire, or some other imminent catastrophe; the merchant class treated it as a trade-disrupting personal insult by Nature; and the working poor faced it as one more unwelcome challenge to lives already stretched near the breaking point.

  The Watch, however, welcomed it. Most citizens, religious or otherwise, tended to stay indoors when they couldn’t see their hands in front of their faces. That meant most of those hands were not getting into the kind of mischief that led to full cells and exciting shifts.

  Tucked up beside his sister Kassie’s pigeon
coops on the roof of their tenement building, a two-month-old twin boy in each arm, Sergeant Hektor Dann of the Haven City Watch allowed that he had plenty of excitement these days without adding angry blacksmiths, suspicious shop owners, drunken students, and perennial pick-pockets loudly protesting that they’d only just found the purse lying on the pavement. Stretching out his back, he peered blearily at what would have been a maze of city streets if he could have seen them and thought about the day to come.

  The sun was coming up, and the quality of the fog was, if not thinning, then at least lightening. It would soon be time to return downstairs, give his children over to their mother, and spend another long day without them. He hadn’t reckoned on missing them so much during Ismy’s pregnancy, but now he understood the haggard smile he’d often seen on his father’s face. He loved his boys, but they never seemed to sleep.

  Edzel stirred fretfully in his left arm, and Hektor bounced him gently to settle him. The twins took it in turns to be colicky, and today was Eddie’s turn. In his right arm, Ronald snuffled in his sleep. The twins also took it in turns to be croupy, and it looked like it was about to be Ronnie’s turn at that. Both boys had already developed a healthy set of lungs and a clear opinion on when to use them, but at least up here on the roof, they wouldn’t be disturbing anyone except Kassie’s pigeons. And they’d seen it all before. Hektor remembered his father carrying his four younger siblings up here. Sometimes he had followed them, sitting with his back against the stairway wall, listening to his da’s deep, rumbling voice as he’d sung first Jakon and Raik, then Kassie, then Paddy, back to sleep. Later, Aiden had carried Egan and Leila up here. Now with Thomar and Peston, new twin boys of his own, he and Hektor either passed on the stairs or shared the roof duty together, standing, looking out at the slumbering city and murmuring the songs their father had sung to them. He imagined their other siblings would do the same when it came time for them to start families.

  “It’s gonna get awfully crowded up here,” Hektor noted. “But you two’ll be all finished wi’ this silliness by then, yeah?”

  Ronnie yawned widely before turning to bury his head in his father’s shirt.