Chaos Trapped

by Eric T Knight

  “The boy is that powerful?” Quyloc asked.

  “I saw him hold back a dust storm, biggest one I’ve ever seen. And I heard a dozen variations of how he defeated one of Kasai’s lieutenants. He was throwing some serious power around that day. I think he’s only scratched the surface too.” He shook his head. “There’s something about him, something different. I don’t know. This will sound strange, but it’s like only half of him is here with us.”

  “And the other half?”

  Roland pointed up. “Up in the clouds.”

  “I want to know more about this word of power you said he’s searching for,” Quyloc said.

  “I don’t know that much. The Sertithians get a little tightlipped when it comes to their gods and such, and that weird storm during the ritual of appeasement got them all spooked. But the idea is that if there is one word of power, there might be more. It’s risky, but Kasai has them worried. They think he’s going to come after them.”

  Quyloc looked at Rome. “I think it’s clear that this boy is one of the ones Ya’Shi spoke of.”

  “I was thinking that too.”

  “The question is, why is Kasai after him?”

  “Do you think Kasai is working for the Devourers?”

  Quyloc shrugged. “He could be.”

  “He unleashed the ingerlings on Tu Sinar,” Rome said.

  “I think that was revenge,” Quyloc replied. “He was getting back at those who made the prison.”

  “Then why is he going after the Sertithians? Is he expanding his territory? There’s not much up there but grass and horses.”

  “I don’t think that’s it. But it must have something to do with what’s coming. We just don’t have enough information yet.”

  “I wish you had a spy in Fanethrin,” Rome said. Quyloc had twice sent men to Fanethrin—Kasai’s capital—to see if he could learn anything about Kasai’s doings, but both men had never been heard from again. He’d given up after that, and Qarath had settled for keeping a wary eye on the Guardian from a distance.

  “How do we get the boy to come to Qarath?” Rome asked.

  “The boy said he would come once Kasai was dealt with,” Roland said. He stood up, his knees popping. “If we’re done for now, I’d like to go home and see my wife. Maybe scrape off some of this dirt.” He left the room.

  “All we need to do is defeat Kasai then,” Rome said, cracking his knuckles and giving a wry smile. “How hard can that be? After all, we beat him before.”

  Quyloc didn’t answer. He had gotten up from his chair and was looking out the window, a distant look in his eyes. Rome poured himself a glass of water and kept quiet. He knew when Quyloc needed to think.

  “Maybe if I led some men up there,” Quyloc said after a while.

  “What are you going to do against Kasai?” Rome asked. “If you’ll recall, you threw the rendspear into the vine.”

  Quyloc drummed his fingers on the table. “The spear would be helpful.” He rubbed his eyes. “Sometimes I can feel it in there. Unless I’m imagining it.”

  “It’s too bad you can’t travel in the borderland like you used to,” Rome said. The borderland was what they called the dunes under the velvety darkness, where the Veil between the normal world and the Pente Akka was.

  A shadow passed over Quyloc’s face at the mention of the place. “It was getting too dangerous anyway. I don’t want to get captured by the hunter again. I think twice is enough.” He lapsed back into thoughtful silence.

  “Are you thinking about trying to get the spear back?” Rome asked him.

  “Without it there’s nothing I can do against Kasai.”

  “Let’s put that idea on hold for a while, okay?” Rome said. “I can think of all kinds of ways that could go wrong.”

  “I never thought I’d live to see the day when the fearsome Black Wolf counseled caution,” Quyloc said with a hint of a smile.

  “I’m more comfortable than I used to be.”

  “You mean old.”

  “What’s the news on Aislin’s progress?” Quyloc had a man keeping an eye on the girl, watching her training with Treylen.

  “Let’s put it this way. I’m glad she’s on our side.”

  “She’s that strong?”

  “Stronger. The problem is control. She doesn’t have a lot of it.”

  “You’re saying she might wipe us all out by accident?” Rome said lightly.

  “Or if she gets angry,” Quyloc said soberly.

  Rome frowned. “You’re serious.”

  “Dead serious. She’s far too young to have so much power. And I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but she’s at that age where little girls start to turn into young women. In my experience that can be an emotional time for them.”

  “You’re telling me,” Rome said. “I have a girl that age, remember?”

  “Now imagine her with the power to level this palace.”

  Rome winced. “What do we do?”

  “There’s not a lot we can do. Keep an eye on her. Try to keep her calm. I wish we didn’t have to push her so fast. But we might not have much time left before the Devourers make their move. Lowellin’s attack makes me think that time is coming sooner rather than later.”

  “Not too soon, I hope. We don’t have the wind boy here yet, and we still have no idea where the kid is with stone power.” Rome scratched his chin. “I miss the days when it was you and me handling this stuff. I don’t feel so good about trusting everything to three kids barely out of diapers.”

  Chapter Twenty-four

  “What do you think?” Anelda asked Aislin. Aislin’s new dress was finished, and she was trying it on for the first time. There was a full-length mirror in Anelda’s sewing room, and Aislin was standing in front of it, looking at herself. “If I may toot my own whistle, I outdid myself on this dress,” the old woman said.

  Aislin turned one way, then back the other. She liked the way the dress swirled around her legs when she did that, the way the fabric shifted and caught the light. But for the rest of it? She had no idea. Though recently she’d begun paying attention to the dresses that the women in the palace wore, they were still so alien to her. She had no real sense of how they were supposed to look.

  “I like the color,” she said finally.

  Anelda snorted. “The most beautiful dress I’ve ever made, and she likes the color. Well, child, you’ve done your bit in keeping me humble this day. Come on now. Off with it and I’ll wrap it up for you to take with you.”

  While Aislin put her old dress back on, Anelda wrapped the new one in a piece of scrap cloth and tied it up with a piece of twine. She handed it to Aislin. “If this doesn’t turn his head, set your sights on a different one, because that will mean he can’t be got.”

  Aislin mumbled her thanks and left the room. She was walking through the dim room filled with the dressmaker dummies, the package containing her new dress clutched under her arm, when the door opened. Without thinking she ducked behind one of the dummies, then peered around it.

  Through the door came three figures that she quickly recognized. She frowned. Why did it have to be them?

  “I can’t believe you’re having that old crone make your dress, Tessa,” one of the girls said. She was the shortest of the three, stout, her blond hair curled in tight ringlets.

  Tessa gave an exaggerated sigh. She was quite a bit taller than the other two girls, her black hair long and straight. “Me either. But Mother insisted, and I couldn’t change her mind. If Father was here…but he’s away for days still. He might not even make it back in time for the party.”

  “It’s so creepy in here,” the third girl said. She had brown hair and was holding one hand to her face, her expression twisted as if she smelled something rotten.

  “It’s horrible, is what it is,” the blond girl said, her eyes flicking to Tessa’s face, gauging her reaction to her words.

  “She does make nice dresses though,” Tessa said, fingering one, a floor-length dress of bl
ack silk.

  “Hopefully she doesn’t die while making yours,” the brown-haired girl said with a snigger.

  “She better not. If she wants to die, she can do so after finishing my dress.”

  “I’m sure you’ll be the prettiest girl there,” the blond girl said.

  Tessa snorted. “How difficult will that be? Have you seen the cows roaming this city? Yuck.” She tossed her hair. “Brecken is as good as mine.”

  Aislin’s ears perked up when she heard his name. Her dislike of the girl grew instantly more intense.

  “The poor guy has no chance,” the blond girl said. “He’ll be clay in your hands.”

  “Once he is, I simply have to get him to do something with his hair. It’s so irritating how he’s always shaking it out of his eyes.” Tessa turned away from the dress she was looking at, and that was when she saw Aislin.

  “Who’s there?” she called out. “What are you doing sneaking around and spying on me?”

  Aislin stepped out from behind the dummy. “I wasn’t spying on you,” she mumbled.

  “What’s that?” Tessa snapped, striding over to her and towering over her. She was more than a head taller. “Speak up. What’s a servant girl doing in here anyway?”

  That angered Aislin. She looked up into Tessa’s eyes. “I’m not a servant girl.”

  Tessa raised one eyebrow. “You sure about that? You look like one.”

  “I’m not,” Aislin repeated. She wished she had something else to say, but she couldn’t seem to come up with anything.

  “My mistake,” Tessa said, looking her up and down. “You can’t be a servant. Even the servants here are dressed better than you are.”

  The other girls laughed, and Aislin felt her face turning red.

  “What are you doing here anyway? What is that you’re holding?” Before Aislin could react, Tessa had snatched the package from her.

  “Give that back!” Aislin reached for it, but Tessa held it up out of her reach and pulled out the dress.

  “Look at this,” she crowed. “Our little mouse has her own dress.” She looked down her nose at Aislin. “Why would a little girl like you have a fancy dress like this? Shouldn’t you be playing with dollies or something?”

  “I’m not a little girl.”

  “Says the little girl.” Tessa looked at her friends. “Isn’t she adorable? Like a little doll that squeaks.”

  Aislin felt her anger start to rise, but she remembered what Rome said, and she fought to hold it back. She had to be careful not to hurt people. “I’m going to Liv’s party. She’s my friend,” Aislin said through gritted teeth.

  “Now I remember where I’ve seen you,” the blond girl said. “You’re that little freak she’s always running around with. Honestly, I don’t know why the macht allows it.”

  “Don’t call me that. I’m warning you.”

  “Enough,” Tessa said abruptly. “You’re boring me. Take your dress, little girl, and go away.” She tossed the dress at Aislin’s head and walked away, the other two following her.

  Aislin left Anelda’s apartments and stomped down the hallway. She paid no attention to where she was going, saw nothing around her. Her thoughts were filled with Tessa’s words. The few people who passed her got pained looks on their faces and hurried away.

  When she next was aware of her surroundings, Aislin found herself at the end of a hallway. There were doors on either side, but no windows, making the area dim. Under crossed swords hanging on the wall was a low bench big enough to seat two.

  Aislin slumped onto the bench and sat there shaking. She looked at the dress in her hand and suddenly hated it. All her troubles came from this stupid dress and the stupid party. She should never have agreed to go. What was she thinking?

  Abruptly, she stuffed the dress under the bench, then lurched up and hurried away. A terrible desire to cry came over her as she did so, and she had to bite her knuckle hard before it went away. Why should she care about a dress so much? What was happening to her?

  She wandered around for a bit then, trying unsuccessfully to find her way out of the palace. So many of the halls looked alike, and she never paid much attention to them anyway. She was getting close to breaking down and asking a servant for help, when she heard a shout from behind her.

  “There you are!” It was Liv. She came running toward Aislin.

  Aislin groaned inwardly. She didn’t want to see her friend right now. She was too confused, too upset. She only wanted to get out of here and go be by herself.

  “I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” Liv said breathlessly. “I heard you were getting your new dress today, and I’m simply dying to see it.” She looked Aislin over and got a confused look on her face. “Where is it? Anelda said she was going to have it for you today. Didn’t you get it yet? You’re not anywhere near her apartments, you know.”

  Aislin looked away. “I already got it,” she said in a low voice.

  “Then where is it? Don’t tell me you lost it.”

  “I didn’t lose it.”

  “Girl, you are perplexing me,” Liv said. It was something Aislin had heard Bonnie say to Liv a number of times when she was irritated with her.

  “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  Liv’s expression grew concerned. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

  “I said I don’t want to talk about it.”

  Aislin tried to walk away, but Liv caught her arm. “What is it? You can tell me. I’m your friend.”

  Aislin almost pulled away. She almost ran. But for some reason she found that she needed to talk about it. She needed to let it out.

  “It was Tessa,” she snapped.

  Liv’s eyes narrowed. “What did she do?”

  Aislin stood there staring at the floor, her hands clenched into fists by her sides. “She…she…” The words hurt too much to say.

  “She made fun of your dress, didn’t she?”

  Surprised, Aislin looked up. “How did you know?”

  “Because I saw her and her friends coming out of Anelda’s apartments, and I know how she is.” Liv’s eyes flashed. “Ooh, that girl makes me so angry. I want to go find her right now and punch her in the nose. She can’t treat my friend like that.”

  Aislin blinked, surprised by how much better Liv’s words made her feel.

  Liv grabbed Aislin’s hand. “Let’s go find her. Right now.”

  Then Aislin surprised herself. “No.”

  “Why not? You don’t have to say anything. I’ll take care of it.”

  “Because I’m too angry.” As soon as she said the words, Aislin knew they were right. “I don’t know what I’ll do.”

  Recognition crossed Liv’s features. “Right. Your power.”

  “Maybe we should just go find my dress instead.”

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Aislin and Liv were sitting on the front steps of the palace when a cart drawn by a single horse pulled up. Sitting in the cart, holding the reins, was a boy a couple of years older than the girls. Aislin barely even glanced at him, but she realized Liv was staring at him.

  “Hey!” the boy called, waving to them. He was browned by the sun, and the muscles in his arms stood out. “I have a load of ale and wine casks for the party. Where do I take them?”

  Liv stood up and walked over to him. Aislin followed. When she got to the cart, Liv crossed her arms and scowled at the boy. “That is not the way you address the princess,” she said icily.

  “What?” The boy got a confused look on his face. He glanced at Aislin, saw no help there, then looked back at Liv. “You’re the princess?”

  Liv raised her chin. “I am.”

  “Uh…sorry. I’m sorry.” He hurried to take his hat off and almost dropped it. “I meant no disrespect. I thought you were…you were…” He wasn’t able to finish the thought.

  “What? A servant perhaps?” Which really wasn’t unreasonable. She and Aislin had been playing in the stables earlier, and she’d fallen and had
a large streak of manure on her dress.

  “No, no of course not,” the boy stammered. He looked around. “Is there…can you please tell me where to take these? I said I’m sorry.”

  “Hmpf,” Liv said. “I guess that will have to do.” She pointed. “You need to go around to the side. You’ll find the servants’ entrance over there.”

  Still apologizing, the boy snapped the reins and hurried away as fast as he could. Once he was gone, Liv turned to Aislin and beamed. Her irritation and imperious manner were completely gone.

  “Isn’t he gorgeous?”

  “What?” Aislin said. She had experienced Liv’s sudden mood changes a number of times, but they still caught her off guard.

  “The boy I was just talking to. Are you blind? Did you not see him?”

  “You think he’s gorgeous?”

  “I do. I wonder if I could get him invited to my party.”

  “You want him to come to your party? Why?”

  “Why? Because he’s cute. Because I think I like him.”

  Aislin tried to sort it all out. “But…I thought you liked Randel? Isn’t that what you said?”

  “Randel?” Liv laughed. “He’s much too old. That was only a flutter, and I got over it a long time ago. I’ve moved on.”

  Aislin frowned, confused. “You like that boy now?”

  “Maybe. I think so.”

  “But you weren’t nice to him.”

  “Of course not.”

  Aislin felt terribly frustrated. None of this was making sense. “I don’t understand at all,” she said crossly. “I thought you were supposed to be nice to people you liked.”

  “Not if it’s a boy. Not at first anyway. At first you need to pretend you don’t like him.”

  “But why?”

  “He has to think he can’t have you. That makes him want you more.”

  Aislin winced. “I don’t think I want to talk about this anymore. It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “It probably will when you’re twelve.”

  “You’re not twelve yet either.”

  “No, but I’m awfully close.”