The Warrior's Tale (24 page)

The wizard tugged hard at his beard. 'According to Greycloak - or at least the musings your brother returned with - it's no less a trick than conjuring up that ribbon which at the moment is giving you so much difficulty. If you know the law for how one is accomplished, you can do the other with equal ease. Janos claimed there is a single
natural
force - and not gods - that controls magic, and indeed, all else in our everyday world
...
heat from a fire, the flow of water, the stuff that makes up gold - particles, he called it - is the same as conjuring a wart off a nose, or commanding the rain to fall or cease.'

'I don't understand,' I said.'

'But you will,' Gamelan answered. 'The more I teach you, the more apparent it will become.'

'Then, why are you envious?' I asked. 'Seems to me that what you're saying is Greycloak freed everyone from rote, and much greater things can be done - things even
he
never dreamed of - with that freedom.'

'Quite true,' Gamelan said. 'But consider this. Consider a young wizard who in the rebellious years of his youth glimpsed for a moment what Greycloak saw clear. But, then he thought he was fool for even thinking that. How could he know more than his teachers, his masters, or the ancient Evocators who had passed down their wisdom?'

'Are you saying that you could have unravelled the same mysteries as Greycloak?' I asked.

'No. Even I am not that conceited. A genius like Janos comes only once in many lifetimes, if at all. But, still, it haunts me that such could be so.'

'Other discoveries await,' I said. 'Even Greycloak's most enthusiastic admirers say what he found is only a beginning.'

'Yes,' Gamelan said. 'Which just makes me more envious. All the discoveries that follow will be made by young men and women who will not be burdened by a lifetime of wrong thinking. I'm too old, Rali. And, now I'm blind as well. What's worse, to an ancient like myself, is that when Janos made the gift - no matter how involuntarily - he took away my gods. For that is at the heart of his teachings. The gods - if even they exist - are bound by the same laws as the most common beggar at the door of the meanest tavern-keeper in the land.'

Shock
ed, I said: 'What do you mean if
the gods exist? Do you doubt it?'

The wizard shrugged. 'They have appeared too many times in our history to actually doubt them,' he said. 'And not just to fools and liars, but men and women whose word cannot be doubted. However, if what Janos Greycloak suspected is true, they aren't gods, at least not in the sense we understand - which implies reverence, and worship.'

I looked wildly about for a place to hide when the lightning bolt struck - a bit like you are at this moment, Scribe. But none fell. I calmed myself.

'If they aren't gods,' I said, 'then what, in whoever's name I ought to evoke just now, is our purpose? Whose will, whose plan, are we following?'

And the wizard answered: 'According to Greycloak, there is no purpose. Our will is our own. And there is no plan, save what we make for our own lives.'

'But what of good and evil?' I sputtered.

'No difference,' Gamelan said.

'Then what's the use? Why not just give up?'

'Do you want to?' Gamelan asked. 'Greycloak believed it doesn't matter one way or the other.'

But it mattered to my Guardswomen, I thought. It mattered even to the slippery Cholla Yi and his
crew of pirates. Most importantl
y, it mattered to me.

I shook my head. Then, remembering he couldn't see, I said, quite loud, 'No. And be damned to Janos Greycloak.'

Gamelan laughed, harshly. 'He very well might be
...
if he's wrong.'

He lifted up his stick and rapped the deck. 'Now, back to work. And put your
mind
to it, woman. If you were as lazy in your sword practice as you are with simple ribbon pulling, your head would have been hoisted on a pike long ago!'

Several weeks passed before we were ready. Even then, both of us would have preferred more time; but the mood in the fleet remained so draped in miasma that any spark we might light would be smothered if we waited much longer. Gamelan had me practise casting the bones each morning. I'd describe their pattern and he would tell me if they boded good or ill. Mainly, they seemed to fall in a shape that Gamelan said predicted neither, but urged us to wait instead. I found the whole bone-casting thing vaguely humiliating.

'It's all very well for you,' I told Gamelan. 'You're an Evocator. You even
look
like an Evocator. Dignified, grey-bearded, the very image of stern wisdom. No one would dare think you were silly, dropping a bunch of smelly old bones on the deck, then kneeling over the filthy things, staring, and mumbling and twisting your beard. But I look like - well,
me
, dammit! Not particularly wise, certainly not dignified, and the last time I checked, below my eyebrows, I'm hairless every place but one, and that makes a very short beard, indeed.'

'If you're saying a woman lacks the necessary demeanour to be an Evocator,' Gamelan said, 'then I suppose we had best give up the whole thing.'

'I didn't say that!'

'That's what I
heard.
And now that I think on it, perhaps this whole thing is ridiculous. Perhaps the women-haters are correct. Perhaps it
is
true that your sex lacks the same mental powers as men, and, I must admit
...
without a beard, you probably—'

'Give me those damned bones,' I snarled. I grabbed them from his hand and tossed. 'I still think this is stupid. From what you were saying about Greycloak and his laws of magic, bone-throwing makes no sense at all. How can a future be predicted, if there is no god-like plan to spy out? In fact, this whole exercise seems like one big—'

'What is it, Rali?' Gamelan asked.

'The bones,' I said.

'What about the bones?'

'I don't know, they
...
look
good.
I can't explain why. They just do!'

I described the pattern. Gamelan laughed. 'You are
exactly
right! Bright dawns are ahead, my friend. Bright dawns, indeed.'

And that is how I became a bone-caster. One moment I was an ignorant, the next a sage.

An hour later, I heard the lookout halloo - an island had been sighted. Excitement fired the fleet. The island was a poor, rocky
-
shored thing with a slender pebbled beach hugging a few tired peaks. But any land at all stirred thoughts of home and hope. A scouting party was quickly sent out and it reported the island was uninhabited, but seemed to offer some food and drink. We went ashore, leaving only a skeleton crew on the ships.

The gleeful mood, however, was short-lived. Within moments of landing, a cold, sticky mist enveloped us. There was little vegetation, and all of that sickly. What trees there were bore only a few bitter-tasting nuts. Stringy birds mocked us from the peaks with cries as harsh as a fishmonger. The water was drinkable, but barely. It came from a half-dozen steaming pools circling a small geyser that sat at the base of one of the squat peaks. The geyser fountained inter
mittentl
y and weakly - only rising as far as my head.

I stood near the geyser, alone save for my blind wizard friend, thinking dark thoughts of magic and bone-casting in general. If this was the new luck that had been foretold, it was a mean-spirited thing. I heard cursing from a large knot of sailors who had gathered at one of the pools to fill casks with the foul-smelling water. I didn't blame them for the cursing - they were only voicing my own thoughts - but I became alarmed when I saw Cholla Yi and some of his officers standing nearby. The admiral was normally such a harsh master no one would dare complain in his presence.

One of the sailors - a big burly fellow with a bloated pillow of a nose -dipped up water, drank, then spat it out with an oath. 'Whore's piss,' he said in a voice so loud that only a crop-eared thief could have missed it. He flung the dipper down. 'They got us drinking whore's piss, now, mates. And if that ain't enough, they're making us fill our holds wi' itso's we'll know what fine la
ds they think we be fo
r weeks t' come.'

One of his companions, a tall, skeletal villain with a chin as sharp as a dagger, spoke up just as loudly. 'It ain't gonna change 'long as that big bitch is givin' th' orders.'

He turned and looked directl
y at me, as did the others. Cholla Yi and his officers strolled away as if they'd heard nothing. I heard him laugh at something Phocas said, and then they disappeared behind a jumble of rock. All the men were looking at me now, bold as you please. Without another word being exchanged between them, their hands went to the knives at their belts.

Sensing danger, Gamelan tugged at my sleeve and whispered: 'We had best go.'

I knew we'd never take ten steps before those knives were in our backs. I was ready to draw my sword and make a fight of it - and even went so far as to shift my stance, when my boot glanced against a hard object. I looked down, meaning to kick away anything that might tangle my feet, and saw an empty conch shell - the size of a child's head. A feeling of great calm descended. My blood was hot - not with the fighting rage I'd bent to my will long ago, but with a kind power that was more like a river charging through a narrow course.

Instead of drawing my blade I bent and picked up the shell.

I spoke to Gamelan, but made my voice loud enough for all to hear. 'Here's another conch, my friend. I'll bet a fat purse of gold against a thin copper coin that its flesh is as sweet as its brother's.'

Gamelan's brow wrinkled. '
What are you—' He stopped abruptl
y. 'Oh.' I pressed the shell into his hands, and he quickly felt its shape. Then, raising his voice as well: 'Yes, it is another. I'm sure it'll be just as good as that last one we found not an hour ago.' He smacked his lips. 'Delicious. And do you know, its flavour quite reminds me of a rare shellfish our cooks used to serve up on feast days in Orissa. Food fit for the gods themselves.'

I looked at the men, widening my eyes as if I'd just noted their presence. Then I made my features stern and called out to them in my best commander's voice.

'You there. Stop what you're doing and come here at once.'

They were so startled their hands fell away from their knives. I motioned to them, impatient. 'Be quick about it, men. We've a hungry crew to feed.'

They stumbled forward, stiff as a rich child's mechanical toy. But before they reached me, Pillow Nose had begun to swagger and he and his skinny companion moved to the front.

I gestured at the shell. 'Start collecting these,' I ordered. 'You can use some empty water casks to put them in for now.' The men gaped at me. 'Don't dally. Do as I said. I'll make it right with your officers, so you needn't worry about that.'

Pillow Nose sneered. 'Why'd anyone want a cask of old shells?' he said. He turned to his friends. 'She'll be havin' us stewin' rocks, next.' The men laughed, but there was a deadly edge to it.

'Don't talk foolishness, man,' I retorted. 'These are delicious.'

I plucked his knife from his belt quicker than he could blink. I plunged the knife into the shell, willing it to find life. I imagined a tidal pool, teeming with all sorts of swimming and crawling things. I felt something flinch under the blade. I dug in and scooped up, and out came a fat animal - thick and squirming on the knife.

'Wait a moment, and you'll see for yourself,' I said.

I knelt by the edge of the geyser and plunged the speared flesh into the steaming water. I thought of a pungent fish stew my mother used to make. And in my mind the sulphurous water was that rich stew, which I was using as a broth to cook the shellfish. I had no doubts at all, when, after a few seconds, I rose again and dumped the meat on a flat rock. Quickly I sliced it into many pieces. An enticing odour filled the air.

I speared a piece with the knife and took a bite. 'Mmm,' I sighed in real delight. 'Just like my mother's best dish.' I wasn't lying. It really did taste that good. I speared another hunk and held it out to Pillow Nose. 'Try it,' I said.

The sneer was gone as he took his knife. The others crowded about him. 'Go on, Santh,' his skinny friend urged. 'Give it a try.'

Pillow Nose - or Santh - popped the flesh in
to his mouth and chewed. Instantl
y a look of delight widened that great nose across his face. 'Why, it's good!' he exclaimed.

'Looks like there's enough for everyone to have a bite,' I said, indicating the sliced-up morsels.

They all jostl
ed forward, grabbing what they could, and practically licked the rock clean.

'You say there are more of these about, Captain?' Pillow Nose asked. There was grudging respect in his tone.

'We've only found one other,' I lied. 'But there's certain to be many more. I was just consulting with Lord Gamelan, here, on how best to find where they breed.'

As soon as I said this, my confidence weakened. How could I possibly accomplish what I'd just all but promised?