“But, then eventually they joined forces?” Tersh asked, eager for the story to continue, suddenly feeling too awake.
Tuthalya yawned. “Oh, there is too much to tell. Eventually one of King Takalti’s descendants was a girl, and she claimed the throne for herself. Rather than pass it onto her son, she gave it to her daughter. So the King Over the Mountain went into exile, and was eventually taken in by the King Under the Mountain. They will stop at nothing until they reclaim Nesate and the western valleys.”
“And when those are reclaimed?”
Tuthalya chuckled softly, now unrolling some skins to sleep on, lying down and adjusting himself so he was comfortable. “Have you not been listening? The war will continue. So long as more than one man wears the crown, there will be war. Now go to sleep.”
Tersh lay down on her own skins, staring up at the innumerable stars, feeling her eyelids grow heavy. The blood in this land went back so long. Could she really manage to stop it and appease the gods?
NEPATA
SOME TASKS REQUIRE A MAN’S SUFFERING
The warm blood flowed over his hands, and Kareth realized he had killed the small bird he has holding. He could feel the steady rhythm of the heart slowing, and then it stopped altogether. Sebkay burst into laughter, and the two other young apprentices in the dark room followed suit. And Kareth…there was something fluttering deep inside him, growing stronger as the bird’s heart grew weaker. Not anger, but shame.
“Aren’t you going to put it back together now?” Tears were rolling down Sebkay’s ugly face.
Almost involuntarily, Kareth put the bird’s head over the open wound where he’d ripped it off, some part of him still hoping there was magic at work, that you really could take a bird’s head off and on at will. Sebkay had assured him the bird wasn’t a real thing, it just had the perfect look and feel of one, and Dedelion had been made it specifically for this trick. He was sure he wouldn’t have believed him if it hadn’t been for the other apprentices nodding their assurances that everything Sebkay said was true.
“Don’t worry about it,” Sebkay slapped him on the back as he wiped a tear away. “Dedelion has dozens of birds. You won’t get into trouble.”
“I don’t get into trouble for your lies,” Kareth could feel his grip tightening over the dead bird, forcing more blood to ooze out and drip onto the stone floor.
“Oh, don’t be mad,” the youngest of them, Natef, said with a chuckle. They all looked similar with shaved heads and dark eyes, crooked noses and buckteeth, but Natef was chubbier than the others and constantly being teased for stealing food from the kitchen. Kareth had no idea if it was true or not, but he looked like the kind of person Kareth could see sneaking into the kitchen in the early morning to take extra food.
The other boy, Imotey, was closer to Sebkay’s age, and the two were clearly best friends. Imotey was always by Sebkay’s side, agreeing with everything the older boy said, clearly never having had an original thought of his own. Kareth had been there less than a turn of the moon, but already he was weary of their company. This was the final proof he needed that they would never be friends.
“We play the same trick on all the new apprentices,” Imotey said and rolled his eyes, but Kareth couldn’t stop glaring, couldn’t join in their fun. This wasn’t a trick; it was cruel.
“It didn’t need to die,” he muttered to himself through clenched teeth. “It’s a pointless death.”
“Don’t use that fishtalk here. It’s just a stupid bird. Now clean up your mess and you can join us for lunch,” Sebkay shook his head, clearly not understanding why Kareth wasn’t laughing.
“Yeah, don’t leave a drop left on the floor or Dedelion will beat you for sure,” Imotey laughed, and he and Sebkay left the room, chuckling as they went.
“They made me kill two, and I believed them both times they told me the bird was fake…” Natef said quietly, and when Kareth said nothing in return the chubby boy finally shrugged and left as well.
Kareth slowly got down on his knees, looking at the fragile remains of the bird. He felt stupid for caring about a bird so much. If he’d cared at all, he shouldn’t have tried the trick. It had looked easy when Dedelion had done it in Imotah’s home. He’d wanted to believe it would be easy for him too. It’s just a stupid bird, Sebkay’s words still seemed to echo in the room. It still shouldn’t have died for some stupid joke.
He found a small basket for the bird’s remains, and then cleaned up the spilled blood on his knees and hands. He was thankful he didn’t get any blood on his black apprentice’s tunic. Black or not, Dedelion always seemed to notice when one was dirty. A few days ago Natef spilled some sauce on his tunic, and Dedelion had made him take it off and bend over in front of all the servants and apprentices to be hit with a cane ten times. And afterward, crying and unable to sit properly, Natef spent the rest of the evening washing his tunic.
Kareth hadn’t learned anything since coming to this dreadful place. It was as though he was back working in the stables under Piya. The only thing he did all day was clean and pick herbs from the garden, hanging them to dry while carefully organizing them, or he’d be yelled at for making a mistake. He missed Yunet’s half-hearted smacks to the back of his head. When he was hit here, it hurt for the rest of the day.
He kept quiet and tried to act as if he wasn’t there. If Dedelion had actually been willing to teach him some of his magic, Kareth was certain he would be eager to learn, but Dedelion just sneered at his apprentices and treated them the same as any of his other servants. Only Sebkay was ever allowed to help, and it was always behind closed doors where Kareth couldn’t spy.
Once he was finished cleaning, he took the bird outside. He didn’t want it to have died in vain, so he thought maybe he could make something good of it. The small herb garden was located in a small courtyard in Dedelion’s home. There was another courtyard, which was a large water garden one could promenade through or enjoy the shade, though Kareth was not allowed to enter that one. Here, herbs and food were grown, and Kareth visited often, since it was the only place he could go to be outside.
The middle of the garden had a small, square pool. On the west side were a few fruit trees and vegetables growing alongside them, and on the east side were rows of herbs he was still learning about. Kareth sat against the stone wall, nestling the basket on his lap. He took the bird, gently unfolding one of its light grey wings, and began to pluck its feathers.
It didn’t take long, though he knew he had already missed any chance he had of getting a midday meal. Soon, he would need to get back to his chores before one of the servants saw him. He quickly dug a small hole for the bird. He would come back some time later, once the ground had finished its work, for the bird’s bones.
He dug deep, and suddenly the ground at the edge of the hole crumbled. He pulled his hands out of the small hole in sudden surprise, as tiny white creatures began to skitter out from the sand. Scorpions. Dozens of them. They crawled over each other in a panic, their quiet burrow having been disturbed by his digging. They were very small, no longer than one of his pinkie fingers, and he realized it was a tiny nest of babies.
Kareth reached into the hole, letting one of the scorpions crawl onto the back of his hand. The white scorpion had tiny claws and a large stinger. He knew this type to be particularly poisonous, but as a baby it was harmless. Still, he was glad he had found the nest. They would need to get rid of them before they got any bigger and became dangerous. He plucked one after another out of the hole, throwing them into his basket. And all at once, an idea struck him.
Kareth spent the rest of the day hanging herbs to dry and mixing oils and salves. It was the same mindless work he did every day. He had done the same things for Yunet, but she had always explained what everything was for and had answered his questions. Dedelion, if Kareth even saw the sorcerer, just sneered and told him to be quiet.
Sebkay and Imotey spent the day in Dedelion’s inner chambers, doing only Knefut knew what. S
ometimes as Kareth passed by the carved wooden door, he could hear the crackle of fire or the bubbling of boiling liquids, and once there was some chanting—a girl’s voice. As much as he hated this place, he always slowed when he passed that door, his eyes tracing the figures that adorned it, figures of great sorcerers performing their magic for the Paref. He was envious of those on the other side, desperate to know what secrets happened there.
There was a growling pit of emptiness in his stomach when he was finally given his evening meal. He ate with the other apprentices in a small room next to the servants’ quarters. Sebkay and Imotey excitedly whispered to each other, sometimes looking at the two younger apprentices and smiling. Kareth wondered if they were planning another trick to play on them, and it was hard for him to not start smiling to himself. He tried to look sad and pathetic instead. He tried to look unsuspecting.
“You’re not still mad, are you?” Natef asked, a hunk of bread being chewed in his mouth, so it took a moment for Kareth to understand what the chubby boy was saying. As starving as Kareth was, he still did not have Natef’s appetite. The boy ate so quickly Kareth was sometimes entranced by how fast he made his food disappear. He was a true sorcerer already.
Kareth shrugged. “I not mad at you.” He did not add because he suspected Natef wasn’t clever enough to be cruel.
“Don’t be,” he took a long gulp of his beer, smacking his lips with pleasure as he swallowed, “mad at Sebkay. He plays tricks, but only because he’s our friend.”
“Oh.” Kareth looked down at his beer. He didn’t feel like reminding Natef how only yesterday the two older boys had put a snake in his beer. They had laughed so hard when Natef had started screaming that beer had flown out of their noses, and they had collapsed onto the table in joyful tears.
The room they shared had nothing in it save three wooden, stacked beds. Sebkay and Imotey had both claimed one each, using the top for their things, while Natef and Kareth shared one. Natef slept on the lower part, while Kareth was on the cramped top, which didn’t even have enough room for him to sit up. He would climb up the frame and crawl onto the bed, which was lined with palm leaves and had a wooden block for his head. He would have rather slept in the garden, lying on his Ancestral Cloak, gazing up at the stars.
They walked back together, and Kareth hung back, suddenly feeling worried, wondering if he should make some sort of excuse to leave or maybe just slink away quietly. His mother would have called him a coward. And Tersh…well, Kareth frowned. Tersh would have told him not to play his little trick in the first place.
Sebkay walked in, sitting down on his bed and laughing at some jest Imotey had made, but Kareth could hear nothing. He held his breath, unable to stop staring at the linen blanket Sebkay sat on.
“Are you okay?” Natef asked.
Kareth managed to nod, then quickly went to the beds, climbing the frame and crawling in, pulling his own thin linen blanket over himself, covering his head, wondering if maybe anything was going to happen at all. Imotey stopped laughing.
Kareth pulled the blanket down just enough to see Imotey holding a cloth, about to smother the torch he was holding, staring at Sebkay in puzzlement. He pointed towards Sebkay’s shoulder.
“What’s that?” he asked.
Sebkay gave one final laugh to whatever they had been joking about, then all of them followed Imotey’s gaze to Sebkay’s shoulder and saw the tiny white scorpion crawling there, the white brilliant standing out against his black tunic. Sebkay’s eyes went wide; he swatted the scorpion away and jerked back, falling backwards onto his bed.
The scorpions erupted all around him. In a heartbeat, they were crawling and skittering across his chest, arms, and legs. Sebkay screamed, a high-pitched wail of a child, jumped off his bed, and desperately swatted at the scorpions. Imotey jumped forward, dropping the torch onto the dirt floor, whacking his friend with the cloth he held, screaming just as much.
Natef watched with wide eyes, looking more afraid than either older boy, his mouth hanging silently open. Kareth scrunched his face up. He squeezed his lips together, bit his tongue, and dug his nails into the palm of his hand. He did whatever he could do to not laugh at the two flailing fools.
Sebkay pushed Imotey away from him and grabbed the torch from the dirt, swinging it at the remaining scorpions, which curled under the intense heat, and Imotey stomped on them with sandaled feet. When they were all dead or gone, Sebkay swung around and stared at Natef, who was shaking his head in fear. Then Sebkay’s gaze slowly drew upwards to Kareth, whose entire body was shaking in an attempt not to laugh.
“You,” Sebkay’s voice growled, and a gasp of laughter finally escaped Kareth’s mouth.
“I’m so sorry,” Kareth said as tears streamed down his face and he gasped for air. “Now we’re even.”
“Even? You tried to kill me!” He lunged forward, grabbing Kareth’s leg with one hand and yanking him hard out of the bed.
Kareth fell onto the ground and for a panicky moment his lungs refused to fill with air. Then he felt Imotey’s hands grab his tunic, lifting him up, and shoving him hard against the stone wall. Sebkay moved towards him slowly, holding the torch out in front of him.
“I think I should burn you alive.”
Kareth thrashed against the older boy, but Imotey pressed him harder.
“They couldn’t have hurt you,” Kareth’s voice struggled to come out, as he still fought to breathe in. “They’re just babies—”
“What do you know!” Sebkay’s fist struck him in the stomach, and Kareth groaned. “You’re just a boy, barely an apprentice.”
I wear the mark of a man. I was chosen by the Goddess of Life, Kareth wanted to speak, but the pain from the punch had silenced him.
“What is going on?” a low voice crept into the room. All heads turned to see Dedelion standing in the doorway. He wore the same black tunic as always, and it seemed to darken the space around him. He glared past Sebkay at Kareth. “My servants tell me my apprentices are trying to kill each other.”
Sebkay took a step back, facing Dedelion while pointing at Kareth. “He tried to kill me. He put scorpions in my bed.”
“They not poisonous!” Kareth struggled once more, and this time Imotey let him go. He straightened out his tunic and tried to stand up tall, despite being the shortest one there. “It was joke, like what Sebkay—”
“Did I say you could speak?” Dedelion turned to Natef, who looked like the tail of a rattlesnake he shook so much. “Did Kareth put scorpions in Sebkay’s bed?”
Natef nodded dumbly, his side-lock of hair swinging back and forth like a pendulum.
“Was it unprovoked?”
Natef swallowed hard. He looked first at Sebkay and then to Dedelion, and slowly nodded one more. “Yes, sir,” he squeaked.
“You stupid, fat liar!” Kareth screamed.
“Bring him,” Dedelion snapped his fingers. Sebkay shoved the torch into Natef’s hands and the two older apprentices each grabbed one of Kareth’s arms. Kareth kicked and screamed, but they only held on tighter, digging their sharp nails into Kareth’s skin. They followed Dedelion down the long hall. A few servants peeked out from doorways to watch the commotion as they went past the door to the garden and the room where Kareth normally did his chores. They went to the locked door of Dedelion’s private chambers.
Dedelion pulled out a large key from within his tunic and unlocked the door. The heavy wood slowly opened, and Kareth finally saw the inside. He had been expecting it to look similar to Yunet’s tiny hovel, filled with jars and scrolls, but instead, it was a large, empty room lined with torches along the wall and a large onyx slab in the middle. Dedelion stepped inside and the room seemed smaller.
“Secure him,” Dedelion said quietly, but his words echoed off the bare walls.
They dragged Kareth to the table and threw him onto his back. The corners of the slab had chains thread through iron rings. Sebkay grinned like a leopard as he put the first manacle on Kareth’s wrist and
locked it shut. With his arms and legs secured they pulled the chains tight and the two apprentices sniggered as they watched Kareth writhe in a futile attempt to free himself.
“Next time, I’ll fill your bed with scorpions that will make your cock turn black and fall off!” Kareth cursed.
“Leave,” Dedelion said, and the boys only had a moment to look disappointed before Dedelion’s gaze turned dark. “Now.”
They quickly left, shutting the door behind them with a loud thud, and then the room filled with silence. Dedelion walked around the table, staring at him, and Kareth looked up at the ceiling, not able to imagine what was going to happen, but desperate for it to be over.
“Do you know why I brought you here?”
Kareth stayed silent, his breathing sounded loud, and he wished he could shut his ears as easily as he could shut his eyes.
“A master only trains an apprentice if he can profit from the experience. A stone mason trains others so he has someone to help with his work, a scribe teaches so his own words will live on to a new generation. I keep apprentices because some tasks require a man’s suffering,” he leaned over Kareth, suddenly grinning. “I keep you because I want what you are.”
“What…I am…” Kareth looked up puzzled. “What am I?”
He reached into the folds of his robe and pulled out a long, golden blade, curved ever so slightly, the same blade he’d cut Kareth’s hand with at Imotah’s banquet when telling him his future. Kareth’s eyes went wide.
“Even if Imotah hadn’t told me, I would have known from your eyes,” he pointed the blade at Kareth’s silver eyes, the tip of the blade so close Kareth feared that if he blinked, his eyelid would be sliced open. “Rattlecloak. Your flesh and your blood are what I want.”
“It was only a joke,” his words were barely a whisper.
“This is not,” his face became serious once more as he grabbed Kareth’s tunic.
Dedelion moved the blade quickly. It caught the firelight and flashed. Kareth closed his eyes tight, a small yelp escaping his mouth. He felt his tunic being jerked and then, nothing. He opened his eyes and saw Dedelion cutting his tunic down the front, pulling away the linen fabric and throwing it to the floor. Kareth lay there cold and naked, shivering as Dedelion looked him over.
Pekari -The Azure Fish Page 16
