Second Guard (6 page)

Drayvon’s mouth dropped open in surprise. He rose angrily from his seat, fists clenched. Tali stood in challenge. The rest of the table went silent.

“No harm done, son and daughter of Intiq,” Zarif said, in a low voice. “Let’s not quarrel our first night here.”

Drayvon narrowed his eyes at Zarif. “Quarrels are for girls, Moon Guilder. Find me when you’re ready for a real fight, you and your little river-rat friend,” he said, glaring
at Tali as he turned and stalked out of the Great Hall.

The meal concluded in silence.

“May I walk you back to your room?” Zarif asked Tali after their plates had been cleared away. As bone-weary as she felt, Tali knew she would have a hard time
falling asleep after their encounter with Drayvon. She suspected Zarif felt the same way.

Tali nodded. “If you’d like. Maybe you can help me navigate the maze. I simply followed the herd to find the Great Hall. The way back won’t be so easy.”

As they stood and turned to leave, they came face to face with Chey, who had raised a hand of farewell to his tablemates as he headed toward the door. For a brief moment, his eyes met
Tali’s, then flew away and seemed to focus on something beyond her shoulder. She searched for words, but found none. She was too tired, too confused.
I only make things worse.

“Chey, we apologize—” Zarif began, but Chey held up a hand to stop him.

“Please, it’s not necessary,” Chey said.

“But—”

“Truly, I prefer not to speak of it.”

Zarif nodded, then changed tack. “I was about to accompany Tali to her room,” he said. “Will you join us?”

Chey shook his head. “Sorry, but I must go to the stables to see…a friend.”

Tali bit the inside of her cheeks. Of course he would want to spend time with his fellow Earth Guilders after what had happened. Though she could not blame him, still she felt a twinge of hurt
from his decision.

Chey must have seen something in her face, for he tilted his head to catch her eyes. “Perhaps you two might accompany
me
?”

Tali looked at Zarif and saw the same relief in his eyes that she felt herself. “We would like that very much,” she said.

It was not a far walk from the Great Hall to the stables. Evening had fallen and the first stars blinked among the sky’s periwinkle hue. Tali thought of filling the silence but decided
instead to hold her tongue. Her companions were equally quiet, as if they’d all decided enough had been spoken that day.

As they entered the stable grounds, Chey seemed to relax, his shoulders falling, his face softening. Several covered buildings and open pens dotted the vast enclosure, sheltering the animals
required to supply the Alcazar with food and transport. Tali heard the soft clucks of chickens as they settled in their roosts, while a strutting banty rooster made one last turn around the
yard.

They passed through a stable where horses whinnied and stomped their feet. One rubbed its face against the rough wooden stall door to rid itself of a pesky fly. Tali expected to be put off by
the smells as they crossed the enclosure, but found herself enjoying the tangy aroma of wet hay and the earthy scent of horses and leather tack. Chey greeted the stablekeeps by name, though he
engaged in no further conversation with them, and Tali wondered whom he’d come to meet. Perhaps an Earth Guild pledge who had chosen not to train?

Finally, they entered a smaller outbuilding where a single lantern lit a dusty slice of evening inside. As they walked down the passageway, a deep, threatening growl rose from the middle stall,
causing the hair on Tali’s neck to stand on end.

Zarif, too, stiffened by her side. “What in Elia’s name is in there?” he asked.

Chey’s face broke into a smile. “The friend I mentioned,” he said, unlatching the stall door. A blur of gray fur came bounding out, knocking Chey onto the hay-littered floor.
Tali and Zarif both took several steps back in the cramped quarters, pressing themselves against the rough walls. Chey laughed when he saw their faces. He wrestled with the oversize dog that
tumbled over and around him, while Tali and Zarif watched in bewilderment.
They play like brothers.

“Don’t worry, he won’t hurt you.” Chey said, stroking the back of the huge packhound that eagerly circled his legs. “I came across him on my journey. He was in a
standoff, actually.”

“A standoff?” asked Zarif, brushing hay from his robe.

“A pack of children with stones.”

“How cruel!” said Tali. “Was he hurt?”

“They gave him a few good bruises before he busted through the circle, knocking a few kids down on the way,” Chey said, scratching the dog behind the ears. “They got what they
deserved, didn’t they, boy?” The grateful animal wagged its tail and looked at him devotedly.

“I am surprised that Earth Guilders would treat a packhound that way,” said Zarif.

“They were not children of Machué,” Chey said quietly, glancing at Tali. “They were Sun Guilders, truth be told. Near the Zipa markets.”

Tali’s hand flew to her mouth, embarrassed for her guild once again that night.

“Perhaps they were afraid because of his size,” Zarif offered, trying to mend the moment.

Tali shook her head. “The children of Intiq should know better than to harm a work animal. The Sun Guilders I grew up with would never allow their children to behave like brutes.”
She looked at Chey, hoping he would understand that Drayvon’s earlier remarks did not represent her guild any more than the children throwing stones.

Chey nodded. “Well, he seems to have come out the other side of it anyway,” he said, rubbing the dog’s ears. “I wish I knew how he came to be lost in the first place.
Surely there is an Earth family missing him somewhere.”

“He doesn’t look as if he’s missed many meals,” Tali offered, trying to hold her ground as the dog padded over to her. The top of his head, as large as any man’s,
nearly reached Tali’s shoulders. Short silver fur, the same shiny color of a Tequende trade coin, covered a long, muscular body. His ears stood at attention, except for the tips, which folded
over like fancy napkins. Tali had to admit he was beautiful, if alarming in size.

“Have you given him a name?” Zarif asked, still pressed against the wall, eyeing the dog’s large jowls, which dripped saliva into the hay.

“Not yet,” Chey answered. “I kept thinking he might turn around and find his way back home. But it seems he’s here to stay.”

Tali reached out a tentative hand to gently stroke the packhound’s head. The dog licked her palm, nearly soaking it, and Tali laughed as the great beast leaned into her small frame,
obviously in search of another caress.

“He’s like a giant cat,” Tali said, surprised by such affectionate behavior from a fierce-looking animal. “Perhaps you should name him Kitten.”

Zarif and Chey both laughed. “Poor dog. What would his fellow packhounds think?” asked Chey.

“You could call him Boulder,” offered Zarif, slowly reaching out to touch the dog’s ear. “I’ve only seen packhounds from a distance until now. He’s truly
enormous…and he looks like he could knock down more than children.”

“Packhounds look fierce, but they’re really quite friendly,” Chey answered. “They only behave aggressively to protect their pups and sometimes their human
families.”

“Does your family keep packhounds?” Tali asked.

Chey nodded. “Most Earth Guild families do. They eat little for their size and their strength is unmatched. We use them to pull plows and haul salt from the mines. We depend on them for
much.”

“We traders depend on our cats,” said Tali. “They’re quite useful at keeping our boats and stores free of mice and other pests, and they usually feed themselves in the
process.”

“We keep no animals in Fugaza save bluejackets. Even the horses are kept outside city walls,” Zarif said.

Chey looked at his new roommate in surprise. “I am sorry for you, Zarif,” he said.

Zarif’s face mirrored Chey’s. “Sorry that I was not raised with animals?”

“Yes,” Chey answered, filling a nearby bucket with fresh water from a trough and offering it to the dog. The hound stuck his face deep into the water, slopping the bucket around the
small stall as he drank. His lapping noises filled the space, almost as if he was adding his point to the conversation. Though Zarif tried to keep his face neutral, he seemed to be struggling to
understand the charm of such a hairy, slobbering beast.

“I think it’s perfect,” Tali said.

“What?” they answered simultaneously.

“Boulder,” Tali said, as the dog turned and licked her face. Both boys broke out into laughter and Tali wiped her face with her sleeve.

“‘Boulder’ it is,” Chey said, and threw a stick out into the darkening night. The newly named Boulder tore after it and returned faster than Tali thought possible. He
dropped the saliva-covered stick at Zarif’s feet.

“I believe Boulder is inviting you to play,” said Tali, enjoying the rueful look on Zarif’s face.

Zarif raised an eyebrow, then hesitantly bent down to pick up the slimy stick between two fingers. “Well, then, let’s go play,” he said, gesturing them all out the stable
door.

They walked past the Alcazar and down to the southern beachhead, where Boulder played tag with the moonlit waves so joyfully that the three weary pledges had no choice but to relax and share his
good cheer. For a long while they took turns throwing the stick for the eager beast, who would disappear under the stars and then reappear as if by magic.

T
he next day, Tali met Zarif for an early breakfast of warm porridge with nuts and berries, swished back with bitter coffee. Tali’s teeth
seemed to ache without the cane sugar she usually added to sweeten the dark liquid, but she knew that without coffee a headache would soon follow. Chey had taken his breakfast earlier in order to
give Boulder a morning run before training began, but came back to join them when the bell clanged its summons.

As they walked down to the training grounds, the breeze off Lake Chibcha bit Tali’s cheeks and she was grateful for the alpaca wool poncho she’d been given as part of her pledge
uniform. Devoid of their traditional guild clothing, the pledges now looked more alike in their practical tunics, boots, and breeches, though Tali decided she’d still recognize Zarif as a
Moon Guilder and Chey as an Earth Guilder, even if she hadn’t known them previously. Zarif walked tall, chin up, as if balancing a book on his head; Chey, on the other hand, had more of a
wide-stanced, lumbering gait, as if shouldering something heavy. She smiled to herself then, wondering if her own manner of walking somehow revealed her as a Sun Guilder.

The pledges had been instructed to gather in the weapons arena, a large circular enclosure on the north side of the Alcazar. The weaponry, dull in the gray light of early morning, lay stacked
against the arena railings waiting for use. A tall wooden platform shot up in the middle of the training pits like an arrow in a bull’s-eye, allowing Alcazar instructors to evaluate the
progress of several pledges at once. Centurio Jessa quickly climbed the ladder as the crowd below tilted their heads up to hear her words.

“At the end of the year, your competence in four training areas will be tested during the Final Tournament.” She paced the small platform, her gloved hand running along the railing.
“Weaponry. Horsemanship. Endurance. Combat. You must not ignore the demands of any. My fellow centurios and I are here to provide you with instruction and knowledge. We are not your
suckle-maids or mothers. You must determine your own schedules and learn to evaluate yourselves. Train and excel!” she commanded, gesturing them to begin.