The Bird of the River

by Kage Baker

  “What are you doing here?” said Alder. “You were supposed to stay on board, weren’t you?”

  “Ah! But now I’m incognito,” said Krelan, and pulled his hood forward to shade his face. “A man of mystery.”

  “You still smell like kitchen grease,” said Alder. Eliss and Tulu frowned at him.

  “Well, that too helps disguise my aristocratic origins,” said Krelan lightly. He held up a pair of copper pans. “So do these. And now, if you’ll excuse me, the lowly spitboy has an errand to run. I’m off to find a coppersmith to mend my master’s pots.”

  “He’s such a liar,” said Alder, as they watched him walk away.

  “Oh, he is not either,” said Tulu.

  “Why would you say such a thing?” said Eliss, picking up the market basket and looking around for a butcher’s stall.

  “I’ll tell you why,” said Alder as they walked. “You know what he keeps in that bag of his?”

  “Clothes.”

  “And weapons.”

  “Alder, they all carry weapons. Rich people have swords.”

  “He has throwing knives.”

  “No!” Wolkin ran in front and walked backward, staring at Alder. “I wonder if he’d show us how? Mr. Smith-the-poleman can throw knives. I saw him hit every point on a target once.”

  “How do you know he has throwing knives in his bag?” Eliss demanded.

  “I looked,” said Alder.

  “Shame on you, going through somebody else’s things!”

  “Well, he keeps leaving his old bag in our tent. And I don’t trust him. I’m supposed to protect you, aren’t I?”

  Eliss almost smiled at that. Alder went on: “But that isn’t all. He had a painting in there. A little roundy one. And you know who it was a picture of?”

  “Who?” asked Wolkin.

  “Some other rich boy. With a snake armlet made of gold. Just like the one on the dead boy who killed Mama.”

  Eliss stopped in her tracks, staring at him. You shouldn’t have told me here, she thought, not in front of the other children.

  “Gods below!” said Wolkin. “You know what he must be? He must be his brother! And he’s traveling upriver to find out who killed him and avenge his murder! And those knives are what he’s going to avenge the murder with!”

  “You’re not supposed to say ‘Gods below,’ ” said Tulu.

  “Well, you just said it too.”

  “We shouldn’t talk about this,” said Eliss.

  “She’s right,” said Tulu. “We could all be killed.”

  “No, we couldn’t,” said Wolkin, going a little pale. “I’d like to see anybody try and kill me. I know secret moves.”

  “A lot of good they’d do you if somebody came and set fire to the Bird,” said Tulu, beginning to get tearful.

  “That’s enough!” Eliss glared at Alder. “It’s probably something perfectly innocent and we’re making a lot of fuss about nothing. There’s a butcher. Come on!”

  After they had bought soup bones at the butcher’s, they stopped at a sweets stall and bought sugar-sticks to cheer up Tulu, who had been crying quietly for ten minutes and convinced herself that they were all going to die that very night. The sight of Krelan placidly waiting outside the coppersmith’s as Mr. Pitspike’s pans were mended did nothing to ease her mind. Alder, consumed by guilt, gave her his sugar-stick when she dropped hers, though Wolkin deftly scooped up the broken pieces and rinsed them off in the marketplace fountain.

  “Let’s go up on the city wall,” said Wolkin. “Maybe there’ll be some heads on pikes.”

  “But you threw up last time,” said Alder.

  “No, I was just sick from some bad fish.”

  “All right,” said Eliss with a sigh, hoisting the market basket over her arm. “But then we have to go buy tea and salt.”

  The city rampart was high and so wide there was room for little stalls along the inward side, selling things like inexpensive jewelry and smoking gear, or souvenirs carved from bluestone. There were no heads displayed anywhere, at which Wolkin professed loud disappointment.

  “What’s that?” said Alder with a frown, pointing out over the ramparts. They all went to the edge of the wall to look.

  “That’s the quarry, isn’t it?” Eliss shaded her eyes. It was a gray-blue gouge in the flank of the hill that rose behind the town. The cart road and all the lower cuttings were gray with dust, but the upper walls had been washed clean by rains. Veins of rock blue as the sea ran through the wall, like a gigantic spray of paint.

  “Yes indeed, miss, that’s our quarry,” said someone at Eliss’s shoulder. She turned to see a member of the city guard standing beside her. “It turned a profit of fifteen thousand crowns last year. You can see the remarkable high-quality color in the strata we haven’t even needed to dig out yet.”

  “That’s nice,” said Eliss, turning back to look at the quarry.

  “What will you do when it’s all gone?” said Alder. “There’ll be nothing but a big ugly scar on the earth.” His tone was accusatory, but the guardsman just smiled at Eliss.

  “Oh, we’re confident the high-quality brilliant blue rock will last a minimum of another two centuries. And profits are only expected to rise, with the demand for unique decorative finishing stone in rapidly expanding communities like Salesh and Ward’b.”

  “Are you a tour guide?” Wolkin asked him.

  “Just a public servant, little boy. Are you visiting our city for long, miss?”

  Eliss pulled her shawl a little closer around her head. “Not long, no.”

  “It’s wrong to cut holes in the earth just because you’re greedy,” said Alder. Eliss looked at him in astonishment, but the guardsman ignored him.

  “I’d be happy to give you a tour of the city, miss.”

  “Thank you, but I’m a little busy,” said Eliss.

  “That’s right,” said Wolkin, grabbing hold of her arm possessively. “We need to go buy some more stuff.”

  “That’s right,” echoed Alder. Eliss, who was trying to look anywhere but at the guardsman, stared out at the hills beyond the quarry. Out of habit she focused tight, noting details. There were harpwood trees, there was flamebush—flamebush only grew where the soil was scanty and rocky—there, she could see the bluestone outcroppings all around, and the summer grass was yellow and tired-looking, because it always died first where stone was close to the surface . . . and then something moved behind an outcropping. Then another something moved. There was a line of movement. Someone rose on his elbows and stared toward the city for a moment, then dropped down.

  “There’s men!” cried Eliss. “They’re crawling through the bushes out there!”

  “Where?” said both Wolkin and the guard.

  “Right out there!” Eliss pointed. The guard stared.

  “I don’t see anyone, miss.”

  “They’re right flat to the ground—see that line of rock sticking up through the grass? Look, look!” But the movement had stopped now. The crawling men had vanished into thicker bushes, where the land sloped down into a stand of trees.

  “Perhaps it was your imagination, miss,” said the guard. He looked coldly at Alder. “Though I suppose it might have been some Yendri.”

  “It wasn’t,” said Eliss. “I know what they look like! It might have been bandits.”

  The guard glanced out at the hills once more. “If you say so, miss.”

  “We’re going now,” announced Alder, and he walked away and Wolkin followed him, pulling Eliss by the arm. Tulu ran after them.

  “Shouldn’t we tell somebody about the bandits?” she said. “Somebody who isn’t stupid, I mean?”

  “They were really there,” said Eliss, feeling dazed.

  “It’s probably the bunch my people saw and told your people about,” said Alder. “Going somewhere to do something else evil. But it doesn’t matter about this place. Who’d want to steal a bunch of blue rock? Except for greedy quarry owners.”

  “When di
d you become so self-righteous, anyway?” asked Eliss. Alder flushed and looked down angrily.

  “There’s Krelan again,” said Tulu, edging closer to Eliss. Eliss looked up and saw him deep in conversation with someone outside a tavern. He was holding his hand up and displaying something small, saying something in a questioning tone of voice.

  “Trying to find out who killed his brother,” said Wolkin with relish.

  “Don’t start that again,” said Eliss. “Come on. There’s a spice booth.”

  As the lady who ran the booth measured out peppercorns for Eliss, she hummed a familiar tune. It was a moment before Eliss recognized The Ballad of Falena.

  “Where did you learn that song?” she asked, a little crossly.

  “What?” The lady funneled the peppercorns into a jar and closed up its lid before handing it to Eliss. “The Ballad of Falena? A man from one of the coal barges was playing it yesterday. We all asked him for the words. I think it’s the loveliest thing I ever heard.”

  When they went back down to the docks, they found a lot of tumult and noise going on at the Bird of the River. A lumber dealer had spotted the immense snag and made Mr. Riveter an offer for it, and now had moved a crane into place to lift it from the barge’s deck onto the pavement outside his warehouse. Mr. Riveter stood overseeing the process. Tulu ran up and tugged on his hand.

  “Daddy, Eliss saw something—”

  “Little queen, Daddy’s busy right now. Wait until this is done. We just made three thousand crowns!” He waved her away distractedly.

  “Tulu, it can wait,” said Eliss.

  “No, it can’t,” said Tulu. “Bandits could kill us all!” She looked around and, after a moment’s hesitation, ran down the companionway to Captain Glass’s cabin.

  “Tulu!” Eliss shoved the market basket into Alder’s arms and ran after her. By the time she got down the companionway, Tulu was already hammering on the door of the aft cabin. “Tulu, maybe we should—”

  There was a sound of vast movement beyond the cabin door, as though some immense center of gravity had shifted. It’s only the snag being lifted off the deck, Eliss told herself. A moment later the door opened a crack. The captain’s voice came through indistinctly.

  “What?”

  “Please, Captain sir, Eliss saw some men crawling through the bushes from the town ramparts and we think they’re bandits but nobody will believe us but you know how good she sees,” said Tulu.

  There was a moment’s silence. They could hear the captain breathing like a bellows on the other side of the door. After a long moment the sound grew a little quieter, and the captain’s voice was more distinct when he spoke. “Eliss saw that?”

  Eliss cleared her throat. “Yes, sir. They were crawling along, and we showed a guard, but he didn’t see them.”

  There was a low rumble like a growl. “All right. Go up on deck, both of you.”

  “Yes, sir.” Eliss grabbed Tulu’s hand and they fled. No sooner had they set foot on deck than the captain’s voice came roaring up the companionway after them, so loud it gusted dust and straw up the steps.

  “MR. RIVETER!”

  “Sir!” Mr. Riveter spun around. He ran to the companionway.

  “Go ashore. Now. Go to the captain of the city guard and make a report. Tell them we heard rumors Shellback’s operating near here. Tell them one of our crew spotted armed men outside their walls. And double tonight’s deck watch. See the arms locker is in good order.”

  “Right away, sir!”

  After receiving Mr. Riveter’s report, the captain of the city guard himself came aboard, in his fancy armor, and interviewed Eliss. He did not speak like a tour guide. He listened gravely to her account of what she had seen and made notes on a tablet. Then he thanked her and left. She felt embarrassed and flustered.

  Eliss was having a nightmare. She was dreaming that Wolkin and Alder were swimming, but that the water began to vanish and was instead green leaves. Wolkin scrambled back aboard but Alder couldn’t hear her screaming that he had to come back, and he began to go down and down into the swirling leaves, and she knew he’d sink right to the bottom and never come up again. Everyone came to the rail and shouted but Eliss couldn’t get the words out, somehow, to warn him. She woke herself up making a guttural noise. Her arms and legs were stiff; she was covered in a cold sweat. She reached out for Alder and didn’t find him.

  “Alder!”

  “Ssh!” He was crouched at the mouth of the tent, peering out. Now she heard the shouting from the docks. She threw aside her blanket and crawled to kneel beside him, drawing the door’s flap a little further open to see out. The lumber merchant’s big warehouse was on fire, with flames leaping from the door and white smoke curling from the high grated windows. Men were running frantically to the dockside water cannon, swiveling it round and dipping up buckets full of water to prime the pump. Some of the deck watch had run ashore and were helping them.

  There was a thunder of feet and Mr. Riveter came running up on deck naked. He saw the flames.

  “All hands on deck! All hands! Now!”

  They heard men emerging from the other tents and the lean-tos. Shadows crossed back and forth on the tent wall.

  “What’s on fire?”

  “Are we under attack?”

  “Look, they can’t get the water cannon working!”

  “Fetch buckets! Go ashore and help!”

  “Spears! Spears! Spears! Starboard watch, arm!”

  “Daddy! Daddy, here!” Eliss recognized Wolkin’s voice.

  “YOU GET BELOW!”

  “But—”

  “Wolkin!” That was Mrs. Riveter’s voice, thick with fury, from the companionway. Wolkin’s little shadow went skittering back across the deck. Mr. Riveter’s shadow bound on the shadow of a loincloth.

  “The water cannon’s been broken!”

  “Bloody hell. It’s like Synpelene.”

  “What?”

  And now they heard the screams coming from behind the city wall. Torches bloomed along the ramparts, and Eliss heard a distant voice calling for archers. There was a dull concussion on the air followed by the muffled boom of an explosion. More screams from within the city.

  “It’s a trick! It’s a trick, they’re attacking inside!”

  “Wait! You can’t let my warehouse burn!”

  “To hell with your warehouse, I’ve got family—”

  “We’ll save the warehouse!” Mr. Riveter called across the night. “Go!”

  Someone came up to him and spoke quietly. Their two shadows merged into one. “You don’t suppose it was the greenie boy, do you?”

  Alder flinched.

  “Don’t be stupid,” muttered Mr. Riveter. “He’s one of us. He knows we didn’t cut down the damned tree.”

  “I’m just saying, is all.”

  Furious, Eliss started to scramble out, but Alder grabbed her wrist. “Don’t,” he said. “Just don’t.”

  “Are you all right in there?” That was Krelan’s voice. He squatted down and peered in at them. He had clearly dressed in haste and was clutching a long kitchen spit.

  “We’re fine,” said Alder.

  “Good. All right, I’m going ashore to help fight the fire—”

  “No, you aren’t,” they heard Mr. Riveter say before he turned to run down the gangplank. “You stay on deck, do you understand?”

  “Yes, sir.” Krelan stood up. Eliss crawled past Alder and stood beside him, staring across at the fire. It wasn’t any bigger, which was a hopeful sign, and the Bird’s crew had formed a double bucket line. They were beginning to be able to get close inside the warehouse entrance, and there was as much steam as smoke boiling from the windows now. On the other hand, the fighting inside the city was getting louder.

  “Well, there goes my chance to be a hero,” said Krelan. He made a few lunges and blocking moves with the kitchen spit. I wonder why he has a set of throwing knives instead of a sword, thought Eliss. Aloud she said: “This is just like Syn
pelene.”

  “You think so?” Krelan came close and spoke in a quieter voice.

  “Don’t you? Somebody knew the city. Somebody broke the water cannon and then started a fire. While everybody was trying to put out the fire, they attacked on the other side of the city. I’ll bet they came through the sewers again.”

  “No,” said Krelan. “I had a lot of time to kill, waiting for the coppersmith this afternoon. Just out of curiosity, I went and looked at the city drains system. The vaults come out right over there in the open.” He pointed to a section of wall just beside the city gate. “Hadn’t you wondered why the docks are a little, er, fragrant? I asked somebody, and he laughed and said this is a working city and they don’t care about smelling like a lot of roses. But anybody trying to crawl into this city through its sewer would be spotted at once, you see.

  “Not that I don’t agree with you that somebody gave them advance intelligence of the city defenses,” he added thoughtfully. They heard orders shouted within the city, and then abruptly the noise stopped.

  “Doesn’t seem to have done them much good,” said Alder.

  “Does sound like they’ve been squashed, whoever they were.” Krelan looked at Eliss. “What was that I heard about you spotting bandits in the forest?”

  Eliss blushed. She told him about what she had seen from the ramparts. He listened intently and applauded when she had finished.

  “Sharp eyes,” he said approvingly.

  “We both have them,” said Alder.

  Dawn was briefly red, as the sun fought to burn through the pall of smoke in the river bend and at last vanished into a cloud cover. The air was hot, breathless; thunder rumbled around the horizon.

  The lumber warehouse had been saved. Within the town, however, there were now six heads on pikes on the ramparts. The Bird’s crew, venturing ashore, learned that the raiders had broken through the city wall right into the quarry manager’s office. Several of them had made off with the manager’s strongbox, while others had streamed out the door. Some had gone straight for the town’s arsenal, and had been in the act of affixing explosives to its doors when they had been caught and slaughtered by the city guard. Others had broken into a shop that sold bluestone souvenirs and taken a case full of gold-mounted jewelery, leaving a trail of dropped earrings all the way back to the quarry manager’s office.