by Jane Routley
Thomas shrugged. “Give me your shoes, Shine. I’ll clean them. Then there’ll be nothing to find if they do look.”
Dear Thomas. When he’d been young, a cart accident had crippled his leg and, seeing that he had no future in farm work, Eff had taken him on as a houseman. One of Eff’s flashes of brilliance. He would have been wasted hoeing weeds anyway, for he was very clever, managed to learn letters and figures with only a little help from Eff, and had been a better uncle to me and Bright than anyone in the family. And unlike Eff, he always remembered to see there was enough food in the place. He drew me two pails of hot water from the water tank and I carried them up the stairs. Not much chance of getting any help. The servants from the village would all be in with the mages. That was the real reason they were here. Our pay was lousy.
Through the half-open door of the great hall came laughter and the sound of the village band playing sultry music. I saw the shadows of people dancing on the table in the dim light. The night before a Blessing ceremony was one of stern chastity for the women of the family as they conserved their energy to bless the crops, but the rule didn’t apply to the men or to any of the retainers. Soon a trail of half-drunk couples would be wending their way up into the Eyrie bedrooms to try for the next crop of Blessing babies.
The last thing I wanted was to witness the village girls working their charms on Scintillant. I went on upstairs. As I was heading down the upper hallway towards my room, the door of Eff’s bedroom opened and the nice-looking fellow who’d caught my eye on the steps came out. His eyes widened when he saw me, but that was the only sign of guilt he gave.
“What are you doing?” I asked sternly, knowing that Eff was up at prayers with the rest of the Lucheyart women. Surely this fellow wasn’t a thief? A spy for the Elders, perhaps. My aunt read, and secretly wrote, a lot of radical mundane-rights articles.
“Forgive me, lady. I was lost.”
The ‘lady’ confirmed my suspicions. People only call a mundane ‘lady’ when they want to get around her.
“It’s Marm, as well you know,” I snapped. “Who are you and who is your lord?”
“I am Hagen Stellason and I have the honour to attend the Avunculus as a secretary, Marm.”
A secretary? Rubbish. What would Great Uncle Nate be doing with a secretary?
Hagen bowed again and gave me a smile full of meaning as he rose from the bow. “Might I have the great pleasure of asking for a flower from you, Marm?
Cheek of the fellow. Did he think lust was going to blind me to his lies? Yet I love an audacious man, and he was handsome.
“Not tonight,” I said, suppressing a smile. I turned and pointed up the hall to the staircase that led to the servants’ quarters. “You’re on the wrong floor. That is the way to your room. Or”—I pointed to the closed door of the great hall—“back to the great hall if you wish to win a flower tonight.”
“Yes, Marm. Thank you, Marm,” I sensed irony in his tone, the rooster. I watched him climb all the way up the stairs to the attic before I went into my own room.
“Shadow,” I called softly as I put the buckets down on the floor. “Where are you, ghost?” There came a knocking on the wall under the window and when I pushed open the panel, the ghost tumbled out at my feet.
“You did not tell me how to open it,” he panted. “I couldn’t get out.”
I made soothing noises and showed him where to press the inside of the panel.
“I don’t suppose you saw who came in, did you?” I asked, wondering if Hagen had searched my room and why. I often wondered if they thought I was a radical too. Sometimes I even wondered that myself—though I preferred to think that I was simply practical. Let’s face facts; serfdom makes for rubbish farm work.
“No,” snapped Shadow. “There was more than one. The first one was tapping on the walls and I think he found that Lover’s Hide thing. The second scared him off. He was much quieter. I suppose it was lucky I was trapped, because I couldn’t be sure when he left.”
So handsome Hagen had probably been in my room as well. How very thorough of him.
I wondered who the other one was. My heart twitched at the (unlikely, and I knew it was unlikely) thought that Scintillant might have been one of my visitors.
“More action in my bedchamber than I would have expected,” I said, lighting a candle. “Pity I was away. Well I’m going to wash and go to bed. Undo me, will you?”
“No party?” he asked, pulling out the lacing at the back of my body shaper. “I can hear music downstairs.”
“No party,” I said. “Blessing time is really about mundanes seducing mages. Gentry like me are kind of irrelevant. To everything, really.”
“So tell me about this Blessing festival. From your cousin, I got the impression that people have a lot of... um... sexual intercourse during Blessing time.”
“Sexual intercourse,” I echoed, unable to help laughing at the prissy way he’d put it. “You mean they pleasure themselves stupid.” Then I felt mean for laughing, because, after all, he was speaking a language foreign to him, which must be why he often seemed over-formal. So I added, “The Blessing is a fertility festival. People believe it’s easier to conceive a child at this time of year. Certainly this is when the peasants eat the most meat and when they’ve got the best chance of mating with a mage and breeding another mage.” I pulled the shirt over my head. “Do you want any of this water? Where have you gone?”
“Yes, thanks. Later,” said Shadow. He had turned his back and gone to the window.
I was beginning to suspect that he had some kind of problem with nudity. Different customs, I thought with a shrug. I’d heard there were some tribes in the cold South who pleasured with all their clothes on. Maybe the ghost’s land was another such cold place. I sat in my bath and started sponging myself down with lovely warm water. It made up for the chill in the fireless room.
“So are you going to try to get pregnant? Am I in your way here?” asked the ghost.
“Oh, no! I’m not even eating meat.”
“Meat? What has meat got to do with it?”
“You can’t get pregnant if you’re not eating meat. It’s simply not possible. Everyone knows... Is it different in your land?”
“We’re fertile no matter what. So why are you not allowed to get pregnant?
“Allowed? It’s not that. I’ve been stuck here at Willow all my life, and I want to see the world first. And I don’t want to go off like my mother and leave my child to be brought up by other people. Especially not this family.”
“This family?”
But I’d had enough of personal talk. I felt uneasy enough voicing the shocking fact that I didn’t want to have children. Talking about wanting to see the world first reminded me that I had no plans to leave Willow for as long as Eff needed me. Depressing.
“This second pail of water’s for you,” I said, pulling my night shirt on. “You can use the basin and this washcloth. Help me pour the dirty water back into the pail. There’s a clean wash cloth and towel in that chest.”
He took the washing things behind the screen. The sound of him splashing around made me curious, but when I peered over the screen to see what his naked body was like, he squeaked and held the towel over his prick.
“Do you mind?” he said.
“What?”
He sighed. “Ghosts do not like to show their naked bodies,” he said patiently.
“Oh, fair enough. I was just curious. You look like a normal man.”
He signed again. “Yes, I have no tentacles anywhere. No, not even out of my behind,” he added, adjusting the towel so I couldn’t see his buttocks.
I left him to it. If I stood in the right place, I could still see him in the mirror without his knowing. He was nicely shaped, but it was difficult to get over the sickly paleness of his skin. The sweet way he was enjoying his wash made me feel unfair for spying on him. He was as dependant on me as a child would be and deserved the same respect.
I thr
ew myself down onto the bed. My legs ached. Never walk two miles in evening shoes.
“Are you any good at massaging feet, Shadow?” I called, as I heard him pouring out the water.
“I have had some experience,” he said.
“Would you rub mine, now you’ve finished washing?”
“Certainly.”
“I hope you won’t be offended if we don’t make love afterwards,” I said, as he approached the bed. “I only want a massage.”
He looked startled, but since that seemed to be his second most common expression, I didn’t inquire.
“I do not mind at all,” he said, as he settled himself on the bed at my feet. “I think it would complicate matters if we were to become sexually involved.”
“Sex-u-ally involved,” I laughed as I sounded out the entire huge phrase. “You’re so adorable. I begin to see what my mother saw in ghosts. You’ve gone all red again.”
“This is a taboo subject among my people. Sexual intercourse, I mean.”
“Really? How do you get baby ghosts?”
“We do it plenty,” he snapped, though his mouth was turned up at the corners. “But without talking about it all the time. Are there no taboo subjects for you people?”
“It’s not really polite to bandy about the name of the man who sired you. Although everyone talks about my sire. Not wanting to have children is definitely wrong.”
“Do not worry. Your secret is safe with me.” He was a good massage-boy, with nice strong thumbs. “I suppose sex between men is taboo too. This is why Lord Bright has been exiled, is it not?”
“Bless, yes! How did you know? About Bright, I mean. He’s very discreet.”
“I could see they were a couple. It is quite common among our people. No one worries about it. Love is love.”
“That’s very reasonable of you.” I felt oddly comfortable talking about this dirty subject with him. “So do you pleasure men? What do you do exactly?”
“No, no! It is not mandatory. Just accepted. But I understand why it’s disliked here. Your whole culture seems to be about getting women pregnant. I get the impression it’s difficult for you to conceive.”
“Of course. Isn’t it the same for your people?”
“No, it is quite easy.”
“Really? Now that makes sense.”
He laughed. “I am glad you think so.”
“Eff told me that my mother had no intention of getting pregnant, that she wasn’t even eating meat and yet your countryman’s seed made her flower. You must be very fertile. Well, I don’t want to compound her mistake by getting pregnant to another ghost. So no loving. Lady knows what they’d say about another half-breed.”
“Wqhucla ir hariti,” said the ghost. “Look, no sexual relations is totally fine with me. I am not some kind of animal, you know.”
I felt the sting of rejection. Most men adore making love and get sulky when you don’t want to. Was I so ugly? I told myself to toughen up. You can’t be attractive to everybody. And who knew what ghosts liked?
“I guess I do look rather strange to you. Like you look to me.”
“Exactly,” said the ghost as if relieved. “Nothing to be hurt by. Let us just be friends. Hey, now tell me about this Blessing ritual. Can your mages really make seeds more fertile?”
“The peasants certainly think so. If the seed doesn’t get blessed, they won’t even sow it. Auntie Eff says it’s all rubbish, but—”
A loud knocking sounded at the window. Shadow gasped, dived off the bed and rolled underneath it.
I pulled open the curtains and was astonished (and delighted, curse it) to see Scintillant hovering outside.
“Happy Blessing time,” he shouted, waving a bottle of sparklewine at me. “Let us tread the Blessing path together.”
I shook my head. “Tired,” I mouthed at him and made to pull the curtains closed.
Of course it didn’t do any good. Mages can do exactly as they like and Scintillant simply lifted the latch of the window with magic and pushed it open.
I pushed him back as he tried to come in.
“No, you don’t,” I said.
“Oh, Sweetie. You’re looking so lovely tonight.”
“Go away. I’m sure there’s plenty of others slavering for it.” I shouldn’t have added that last bit. It sounded petulant.
“Jealous, darling?”
“No. Just tired,” I snapped.
“Oh, Sweetie, I’ll pep you up.” He stroked my cheek with his finger tip. “You know I can.”
No point in arguing with him there.
“Look, I don’t feel like it,” I said.
“You’re mad at me, aren’t you?” He stroked my cheek. I pulled away from him. “Oh, sweet thing, what did naughty Scinty do to you?”
Annoyed by this baby talk, I pushed and managed to dislodge him from the window.
He floated in the air outside, laughing.
“Get out of here,” I shouted. “I’m not giving you a flower this Blessing. Do you get it? You’ll have to have one less notch on your belt.”
This made him laugh even more. “Who told you about the belt?”
The moment I spoke, I was annoyed with myself for telling him. “Lumi showed me. Get out of here and leave me alone. “
“The rat.” He sounded even more amused. “She gets so jealous.” He put his hand on the window sill. “Did you get jealous too, sweetie? I like the sound of that.”
A red spike of anger went right to my brain.
“Piss off, weasel dick,” I shouted. I tried to slam the window shut, caught his fingers which made him yelp, opened the window to push him back and slammed it again, this time unimpeded.
“You rotten little—” roared my cousin. A gust of magic flung the window open. The curtains flew back into my face and I lost my balance and staggered backwards.
“Curse you,” I shouted, straightening up only to discover that his light had gone.
Really gone. After I stuck my head out the window to check, I felt like crying. Did he have to give up so easily?
“Are you all right?” whispered the ghost from under the bed.
“Of course,” I said, through the annoying lump in my throat. Stupid ride rat. I hoped his feelings weren’t too hurt over the weasel dick remark. For Lady’s sake, why did I even think that? Scintillant didn’t have real feelings. Only ride rat urges. And I was better off if he was offended.
I must have let out a groan as I closed the curtains. Shadow reached out and touched my foot.
“Are you sure you are all right?”
“Yes,” I said. “I’m just a stupid woman with a weakness for someone completely unworthy.”
“So, like everyone else in heaven and earth,” said Shadow.
I couldn’t help smiling at that. “So this happens to ghosts too?”
Another knock on the window sent Shadow shooting back under the bed before he could answer.
My heart leapt for joy at this sign of Scintillant’s attachment to me, but when I opened the curtains I found Lord Illuminus, Scintillant’s older brother, floating there by crystal light, looking concerned. Concerned for me? I doubted it.
“What’s happened?” he asked as I opened the window. His voice was distinctive, rough as gravel, but warm at the same time. It was the only thing I liked about Illuminus. “Are you hurt? Was Scintillant trying to force himself on you? You shouldn’t have to push him out. You’re a woman of the lineage, not some peasant girl.”
Ah ha. Illuminus was obviously trying to get one over Scintillant. The usual family politics.
“Oh, Lord Illuminus, I was never in any danger from Lord Scintillant and you know it. It was a Blessing tiff. Don’t go telling Lord Impavidus.”
Because the odd thing was that despite all his snobbery, Impi was very strict about the Great Pact and made Auntie Splendance deal very severely with any forcing of mundanes by mages.
“Impavidus doesn’t need me to go running to him with tales. He knows what Scintilla
nt is. He’s really not good enough for you, Shine.”
I stared at him. This from Illuminus, who had never said a polite word to me before.
“You look a bit upset, Shiney.” He put his hand through the window and took my hand before I knew what he was doing.
“I’m fine,” I said firmly but politely. “Thank you, Lord Illuminus.”
“You don’t want me to stay with you,” he said. “I’d be very honoured.”
Blah, what was this? I wasn’t even fertile and yet the men were all over me. And Illuminus, of all people! I mean, he was well enough looking, but eww, what a snob.
I turned my face away. “That’s very kind of you, Lord Illuminus.”
“Call me Illuminus, please,” he said softly. He had caught my hand again and was covering it with sloppy kisses. “I don’t know what it is. Tonight my eyes are open to how very attractive you are.”
He’d have to be a bit more consistent if he wanted to get into my bed this Blessing Time.
“Thank you, Lord Illuminus,” I said firmly, pulling away again. “But I’m exhausted and really want to sleep alone tonight. I’m sorry to disappoint you after you’ve been so kind.”
“My loss, sweet lady,” he said benignly. “Sleep well.” He used magic to close the window. I pulled the curtains shut and lay down in bed.
The gleam of Illuminus’ crystal shone through the curtains for a few moments before he flew away.
I sat up.
“He’s gone,” I said softly.
“Are you sure?” hissed the ghost, not moving beneath the bed. “Who was that? Is he a friend of yours?”
“My cousin Illuminus,” I said. “Lord Illuminus Lucheyart. Slime rat.”
“That man tried to kill me,” moaned the ghost. “Hwitl ka ka. I am a duck who sits.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
“WE WERE AT the mine because we’d hoped to find clues to crystal smuggling there. Earlier they’d told us to stay out in the desert, but then instructions changed. We slipped in over the border hoping come and go quickly without anyone knowing.”
Strange how he talked about the border as if there were some kind of definite moment when you were out of the Endless Desert and into the Empire of Light. There was no physical boundary and almost no people in those trackless wastes. Bright’s fort at the edge of the desert was the border post. It had only been set up fifty years ago to keep an eye on the comings and goings of the ghosts, but given that it was a pinpoint of settlement in a vast area of sand, all kinds of comings and goings could be taking place out there. Though the lack of water would be a serious limitation.