Since Ahuda was at her desk, the Watch Commander was already in his office. He’d be going over the assignments, choosing the Dog partners who would get a Puppy, or just agreeing to Ahuda’s choices. I asked the Goddess to give Ersken someone who’d understand his kindness never meant he was weak. Verene needed Dogs that would talk to her straight. And me?
Goddess, Mithros, let them be good at their work, I begged.
Who would I get? I know who I wanted. There were three sets of partners who were famous for their work. I kissed the half moon at the base of my thumbnail for luck.
Outside, the market bells chimed the fifth hour of the afternoon—the end of the Day Watch and the beginning of the Evening Watch. Dogs going off duty lined up before Ahuda’s desk, their Puppies at their backs, to muster out. When Ahuda dismissed them, they were done for the day. Their Puppies, six of our classmates, sighed with relief and headed out the door. Before they left, they told us what we were in for, each in their own fashion. Some gave us a thumbs-up. A couple mimed a hanging with a weary grin. I just looked away. What was so hard for them? They’d had Day Watch. Everyone knew that Evening Watch got the worst of it in the Lower City.
With the Day Watch gone, Ahuda called out the names of a pair of Dogs. They’d been lounging on one of the benches. When they looked at her, she jerked her thumb at the Commander’s door. They settled their shoulders, checked each other’s uniforms, then went inside. I knew them. My lord Gershom had commended them twice.
Once the door closed behind them, Ahuda looked at us. “Puppy Ersken Westover. You’re assigned to those two Dogs for training. Step up here.”
Ersken gulped, then stood to whistles and applause from the veteran Dogs. I straightened his clothes. Verene kissed him, and our fellow trainees clapped him on the shoulder or shook his hand. Then Ersken tried to walk across that room like he was confident he could do the job, in front of about twenty ordinary folk and the Dogs of the Evening Watch.
Hilyard elbowed me. “You coulda given him a kiss, Beka, to brighten his last hours.”
I elbowed him back some harder. Hilyard was always trying to cook up mischief.
“My kisses ain’t good enough?” Verene demanded of him. She punched his shoulder. “See what sweetenin’ you get when they call you.”
Ersken came to attention before Ahuda’s desk. She looked down her short nose at him. “Stop that. Relax. The Commander’s giving them the speech, about how they’re not to break you or dent you or toss you down the sewer without getting permission from me first.”
The Dogs laughed. One of them called, “Don’t sweat it, lad. We’re all just workin’ Dogs down here.”
“They keep the honor and glory and pretty girls for Unicorn District.” That Dog was a woman whose face was marked crossways by a scar.
One of them said, “Up there, the fountains run rose water. Here they run—”
“Piss!” cried the Dogs. It was an old joke in the Lower City.
Tamora Pierce has captured the imagination of readers everywhere with her fifteen magical novels set in the medieval realm of Tortall, as well as with her numerous other fantasy books. She lives in New York City with her spouse-creature, Tim, and their three cats and two birds. Visit her at www.tamorapierce.com.
Josepha Sherman is a bestselling fantasy and science-fiction novelist, editor, folklorist, and storyteller. Among her most recent titles are Magic Hoofbeats: Horse Tales from Many Lands and the reissue of The Secret of the Unicorn Queen: Swept Away! She also is the owner of Sherman Editorial Services, is a big fan of horses, aviation, computers, and the ever-hopeful but long-suffering New York Mets, and is a native New Yorker.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the
product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual
persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Compilation copyright © 2005 by Tamora Pierce and Josepha Sherman
“The Gift of Rain Mountain” copyright © 2005 by Bruce Holland Rogers
“The Magestone” copyright © 2005 by S. M. and Jan Stirling
“Eli and the Dybbuk” copyright © 2005 by Janis Ian
“Heartless” copyright © 2005 by Holly Black
“Lioness” copyright © 2005 by Pamela F. Service
“Thunderbolt” copyright © 2005 by Esther M. Friesner
“Devil Wind” copyright © 2005 by India Edghill
“The Boy Who Cried ‘Dragon!’ ” copyright © 2005 by Kirinyaga, Inc.
“Student of Ostriches” copyright © 2005 by Tamora Pierce
“Serpent’s Rock” copyright © 2005 by Laura Anne Gilman
“Hidden Warriors” copyright © 2005 by Margaret Mahy
“Emerging Legacy” copyright © 2005 by Doranna Durgin
“An Axe for Men” copyright © 2005 by Rosemary Edghill
“Acts of Faith” copyright © 2005 by Lesley McBain
“Swords That Talk” copyright © 2005 by Brent Hartinger
RANDOM HOUSE and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
www.randomhouse.com/teens
Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at
www.randomhouse.com/teachers
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Young warriors / edited by Tamora Pierce [and] Josepha Sherman.
p. cm.
SUMMARY: Fifteen original short stories by various authors relate the exploits of
teenage warriors who defeat their enemies with cunning and skill as they strive to
fulfill their destinies.
www.randomhouse.com
eISBN: 978-0-307-43412-8
v3.0
Young Warriors Page 26
