Errant

by Armas, Florian

  Chapter 13 -Codrin

  I left Jara speechless, and headed for home, thinking that the main judgment and reactions would come later. One day, I will show you the letter where Big Mouth paid for my head. On the road, Cernat asked me nothing about the assassination attempt. The irony of their last attack was that together with my life, I saved Cantemir, for the second time, and that brought from Orban’s first Secretary a level of trust that I needed for my plans. Are they aware? I tried to understand if they could guess about my links with Cantemir and indirectly with their main enemy, Orban, even when I mentioned only the assassins’ attack on me. I don’t work only for Cantemir, I protested, as if my thoughts would have any effect on them. Now, I worked for many powerful people: the Mesters and Knights in the most important cities in the northern part of the former Frankis Kingdom, and some second or third Secretaries, but I tried to avoid them as they were politically connected to both Cantemir and Mohor. Now, I no longer protected caravans (with the notable exception of Panait – there were too many bonds between my friends Delia, Panait and me). They brought me to Dan, Delia’s brother in law and Devan’s Chief of Guards who, by chance, in my second week of freedom, asked me if I could protect an important embassy to Severin, and at first, I thought it was just about their alliance with Mohor. Soon, I heard that Devan had ordered an engagement ring from Tomis: a small one, for a fifteen-year-old girl, and I found that Saliné was their choice.

  I don’t work only for Cantemir. I came back to him and to my double identity, which was becoming more dangerous now, because Jara and Mohor could have some second thoughts about the letter. Yet I work mainly for Cantemir. It was a strange situation; most of my interactions were with the Mesters and Knights I knew, in four important cities, and their entourages, but whatever information I gathered was delivered to Cantemir. Everything became so interlaced, until he considered me more than his eyes and ears, and slowly immersed me in the political game, talking of many things over a bottle of wine. Trust, from saving his life, played a role, and the information game too, but also I learned what was important for him, and sometimes an outsider could give a clearer overview, simply from not being involved too much. The only city missing from my briefs was Severin. Each time Cantemir asked about Severin, I just intimated that such a small city did not attract my attention as protector, and in a way, it was true, I never worked for Mohor or anyone else in Severin – Tudor was an unknown entity there.

  My path to Knighthood was going forward slower than I liked, but I could not see other opportunities outside my political game. The required land was not enough to become a Knight; vassalage or recognition were mandatory. I wanted to be an independent Knight, so I needed recognition, and the Mesters and Knights I knew could help me; they had certain political influence.

  A few weeks later, Mohor’s embassy to Arad was turned away, without being allowed to enter the city. Cantemir decided to cut any links with Severin and that helped to keep my identity hidden.

  After a last journey to Histria, the snow came earlier than usual, and kept me stuck at home along with a loneliness that was almost physical – nothing like this had touched me before. I was a happy child or a fugitive, but I was never alone. Only Cernat, Milene and Dana kept me afloat from time to time. And the spring predicted a perfect end of the year… My solitude ended when I met Saliné again – Cernat had sent a message for me.

  “You must come, Codrin,” Saliné said gently, her hand caressing my face, and I reacted by taking her in my arms, trying to avoid answering. “It’s the main party of the year, and we can stay together at the table again. I am helping mother to organize it, and I will be your official Court Host. This year we gather three days after the winter’s solstice, in two weeks from now.”

  There were too many ghosts in my mind, and there was a strange resemblance to Jara’s wedding invitation in Saliné’s way of requesting my participation, but I had no real chance of escaping both Saliné’s charm, and my own desire to be with her again.

  “I wish you came here more often,” I whispered.

  “You are the gentleman, so you have to chase the lady,” she smiled, yet there was a trace of sadness in both her voice and smile, and I understood that for whatever reason she was not allowed to come.

  Then why am I invited? “I don’t belong to the gentlemen’s select club,” I sighed.

  “You are better than they are,” Saliné said quickly. “And I take your answer as a yes,” she ruffled my hair.

  There were far fewer people than at the wedding, and stealthily, I moved between the valets swarming the room until I arrived at the main table, just behind Saliné and Vio. Mohor was the first to see me, and nodded, well disposed.

  “Jara, Mohor,” I saluted.

  “Welcome, Codrin.” Mohor’s voice was casual. “This time you are at the main table.” There was amusement in his voice, not enough to alarm me yet uncomfortable, but nothing could be read on his face.

  “Welcome, Codrin,” Jara said, almost simultaneously.

  “Codrin!” Vio shouted, rising from her chair and jumping into my arms. My ‘stealth’ strategy had failed; all the people were now gazing at me with various expressions, from contempt to amazement. I was a strange appendage, one moving arcanely between the main table, fools and jail.

  “I am glad to see you, Vio,” I raised her up; the show was already here. “Saliné,” I said, when free again, stepping toward her.

  “Codrin,” she nodded graciously, without leaving her chair, and I stopped abruptly, my body ending in a slightly contorted position from the sudden stop, and that brought some more smiles.

  Etiquette... Under the impression that my place would be next to her – she was supposed to be my Court Host – I stumbled, seeing it occupied by Bucur, Big Mouth’s son. I stared around uncertainly until I saw the only free seat, at the other end of the table.

  “I suppose that’s my place,” I asked Saliné, trying to be casual; she was one of the ‘organizers’.

  “He’s finally realized his place,” Big Mouth interjected, drowning out Saliné’s attempt to reply, and he guffawed loudly, followed by several others. Her words got lost in the noise.

  “I am not that smart, but I am sure Saliné reserved my real place for me,” I said, before realizing that she had tried to speak too, and I understood that my answer hurt her, but I was angry, and went slowly to occupy ‘my place’. In another distressing repetition of the wedding night, it was impossible to have any conversation with my neighbors. This time mainly because they ignored me completely – my rank was not high enough to merit their attention, so I had to split my time between eating and looking around. Saliné is upset, I realized after a while. So am I. The music finally provided some diversion; it was a dancing party, and I went back to her.

  “May I have this dance?” I asked Saliné, deciding to make the first step, thinking that she would explain what had happened.

  “The vagrant wants to dance,” Veres derided me, and I surprised some short glances between him and Big Mouth. “With a Grand Signora. I can’t allow this to happen. She deserves better dancers.” He stood up, just a few paces from me, ready to interfere physically, with the unintended consequence of extracting some smiles from the people around – his fighting weakness was well known, and all that unwanted attention left me alone for a while.

  You want to provoke me, I decided to ignore Veres. Not you, Big Mouth. You are just a tool.

  Saliné’s face looked troubled, and it took her a while to answer. “I am sorry Codrin, but I promised to dance with Bucur.”

  “Bad luck,” I shrugged, trying to remain calm. “I’ll come for the next one.”

  “I promised him all the dances,” she said in a weak voice, her eyes pleading at me to understand something that I could not. “I will explain to you later.”

  At that moment, Bucur interrupted us, asking for his promised dance, and I had to step back, making room for him. “You can dance with the little girl,” he pointed
maliciously toward Vio, lending his hand to Saliné, who followed him speechless. I was much taller than Vio and the effect would have been strikingly odd. The laughter around us proved it.

  “May I have the dance, Vio?” I asked promptly, before she could react.

  “Show us the drunken crane steps that you name dancing,” Veres mocked us, and the laughter went louder, led by Big Mouth. It was not easy, but I ignored him again, gripping Vio’s hand to calm her.

  “Don’t worry, Veres,” Vio grinned at him, her fingers answering to my grip in the same time, passing back that she was calm with all those provocations. “They will sing The Snail for you later, so you can dance too.” Dancing was the last thing Veres could try with his sluggish moves, and his face reddened in silence. Even Big Mouth was at loss of words – there was no such thing as The Snail song, but from that evening, Veres was called Snail.

  For different reasons neither Vio nor I knew the local dances, and we learned by failure, raising some more smiles. A stranger and a child. The second dance was already acceptable; in the end, the Warrior Dance lessons, and having innate good coordination, saved both of us. By the third dance, Vio was smiling again.

  At least one thing done well… After seating Vio, I tried to slip out while people were still walking around. No one saw me. Almost.

  “Codrin,” Jara stopped me. “I am sorry, but Aron asked for Saliné to be Bucur’s Court Host at the party. We could not refuse him, and found it prudent to settle you away from them.”

  “I understand; vagrants are dangerous people. I suppose Bucur will obtain the favor again; Big Mouth doesn’t make such moves for nothing, and he is good in exploiting your weakness.” I realized that behind my anger, my words could be in fact true, and he was planning something related to Saliné. Are you involved in this, Jara?

  “It might be,” she said wittily, trying to make my irritation look unnecessary and excessive. “Let’s go back, the show starts now.”

  “The last one did not end well for me,” I said, dryly. “This looks the same. I am played again by my hosts and the fools are waiting.” I had seen them preparing their show in the opposite room. They were unknown to me; the last team was unlikely to visit Severin again.

  “You don’t believe that,” she smiled, and landed her hand on my arm. “I know you are upset, but Saliné did not know the rules about dancing, and fell into Bucur’s trap. She had to keep her word. It’s her first party, and important to her. A court is similar to a war zone, only the weapons are not the same. You need to find your way here too, Codrin. You will not protect caravans all your life.”

  “Oh, that so important etiquette. For some, it counts more than people. No one bothered to warn me that I lost my Court Host. But who am I to ask you to keep your word?” With a calm that was not real, I tried to move away from her.

  “Codrin, please stay. Aron’s request came just before the party started. Saliné will explain everything to you. We have a family dinner after the party, and you are invited. Just one more turn to wait,” Jara said gently, pushing me back by the arm.

  As usual, the end year party finished at sunset, and, while most of the people were leaving, Jara came to me with Vio.

  “Vio and me will be your hosts,” she smiled, and I understood that Bucur was invited too, and Saliné will continue to host him.

  “Big Mouth forced you to invite Bucur,” I mocked her.

  “No, I invited Bucur before knowing about Aron’s request.”

  “You planned all this,” I stared at her. “Bucur is your second choice, if the arrangement with the Devans fails,” I suddenly understood.

  “That’s not true, but let’s not discuss about it now.” She nodded briefly toward Vio – who standing half-pace in front of Jara missed the sign – telling me to keep their negotiations secret.

  “Please stay, Codrin,” Vio interjected before I could answer, and grabbed my hand, feeling that I wanted to leave. “Saliné wants to talk with you. I don’t know why all this happened,” she glanced disapprovingly at Jara who frowned slightly in silence, “but Saliné is upset too, she wanted to be your Court Host at her first party. And I want too that you stay.”

  Everybody else was seated when we arrived; there was a square table, able to seat two people on each side, and the cast was already set. There were free chairs only next to Mohor, and on one side, so everything was clear. Saliné smiled, staring at me, and just by habit, I briefly smiled back. The smile was bitter. Vio had the impulse to sit first on my lap, as usual. She stopped in the middle of her move, and I noticed Jara nodding approvingly at her.

  “Sorry,” Vio said, after she sat down. “There are new rules, but I can still do this for my brother.” Her hand found mine over the table, and she smiled at me.

  “Brother!” Veres sneered.

  “More than you will ever be,” Vio frowned at him.

  “When you grow up and become more intelligent you will learn to stay away from vagrants,” he mocked.

  “For sure you two don’t have the same level of intelligence.” My hand gestured between him and Vio. Unaware of the real sense of my words, Veres grinned, satisfied, until Vio could no longer stop her chuckles, and his face reddened. “Don’t worry, Vio” I channeled things back to her ‘new rules’. “Your mother is just using me to make you and Saliné fit for high society.”

  “That’s why she invited you?” Vio asked, starting a chain of tiny physical reactions that died fast around the table. She pouted in a mix of innocence and amusement, a sign that her question was deliberate, not just a simple slip.

  “And I thought we were having dinner, not a training session,” Mohor said in his casual tone, so difficult to read sometimes; there was a veiled subtlety in him.

  “See this knife?” I asked, staring absently, my thumb moving slowly on the blade. “It’s good for cutting bread, spreading butter on it, or for killing – a versatile tool.”

  “May I suggest that a man is even more versatile?” Mohor asked.

  “Man can be a tool, too.” I left the knife back on the table, trying to end the discussion; it was stirring too many bad feelings.

  “I was taught to be more ... reserved,” Vio stubbornly turned everything back. In another situation, she would have extracted smiles; now it was different. “What about Saliné?” she continued, staring at me as if I was the one to know.

  “Well, you have to ask Jara about that,” I replied. “Perhaps she planned something new today.” Unable to control myself, I glanced at Bucur, and everybody became aware of it – they were staring at me. So what?

  “The steak,” the chef announced in a proud voice, and in tacit approval, things moved instantly in a more benign direction.

  Between the mundane acts of cutting the food into chunks small enough to put in your mouth, sporadic strings of conversations sparked, in a peculiar way, involving mostly the two persons on the same side of the table, which for me meant Vio. Saliné was at a diagonal, the farthest person from me, and I did not feel compelled to enter in a conversation that took a more general turn until Jara addressed me.

  “Codrin, would you stay here overnight?” she asked. “The girls would be happy to read some stories again. We have a larger library here.”

  “We sometimes read together. A real pleasure,” Bucur interjected before I could answer, and he stared at Saliné, who let a trace of smile appear on her lips.

  It was then that I realized her reactions had a new degree of social maturity; I could not tell if she smiled because of remembered pleasure, in approval or just for acknowledgment; it was so neutral, so far from her usual expressive reactions. They are reading together... “As I see, Jara, you’ve organized their literary activities very well,” I said coldly, and I was left with Vio, in a way that did not bother me. Just one more turn...

  Anticipating the end, I planned to go out onto the terrace in the break before the dessert, just to be left alone; it was relatively warm for winter, which is to say that it was not frozen.<
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  “Codrin, would you join me on the terrace?” Saliné whispered behind me, and I started; both because, lost in my inner world, I did not see her coming, and because she was thinking about the terrace too.

  Outside, we leaned against the wall, which leaked some warmth from the room, her shoulder touching mine.

  “What does mother want to teach me through you?” she asked, amused.

  “Ask Jara,” I said, not at all amused.

  “I am asking you.”

  “What different places we have in society?” This time I was annoyed, and my voice resonated accordingly.

  A sudden cold blast from the mountains hit the terrace, and Saliné shivered, crossing her arms over her chest. Instinctively, I acted as many times before, passing a hand over her shoulder, taking her in my arms. She leaned back on my body, and after a while, she shivered no more.

  “Then she is doing what any other mother would do.”

  Stubborn... “Yes,” I cut the discussion short.

  “What is bothering you?”

  Bucur. “Nothing.” Are they preparing Bucur for her if the marriage with Devan fails? I made that agreement for nothing... And I can’t tell Saliné why I am upset. They are betraying me, and she thinks I am acting childishly.

  “Would you stay overnight? We have a lot of books.”

  “It appears there are plenty of people to read with, too.”

  “Ah, that nothing,” she chuckled, then turned, embracing me. “You are right; mother is preparing me and Vio to survive the court. It was not needed in our house, but now... I made some wrong steps, not knowing the rules, and ended up hurting you.”

  “Are those rules so important?”

  “Yes, they are. For women, even more than for men; we are more vulnerable, but I understand what you mean, some things are more important than rules. A girl’s first party is like sparkling wine; it takes her mind away. You can’t have a second first party, can you?” she smiled. “Aron and Bucur played us against each other. It was my fault that I let it happen and a hard day for you. That sparkling wine was too strong,” she sighed. “I am sorry.”