Time's Children

by D. B. Jackson

  After another half bell of this, Tobias no longer doubted that the demons were leading him toward the crevice of light in the rocky coast. Others milled in the glow of the torches: men, women, even some children. From this distance, he couldn’t tell if they were demons or a mix of demons and people, but as his curiosity grew, so did his trepidation.

  Teelo and Maeli awaited him at the base of a jagged rock face below the cleft. He halted in front of them, breathing hard. Sofya still slept, unmindful of their journey and the possible danger.

  From above, Tobias heard laughter, voices, strains of music. He smelled smoke and some kind of roasting meat. His mouth watered and his stomach gave a loud rumble.

  “Where are you leading me?”

  “Didn’t you see?” Maeli asked.

  “I saw. What is this place?”

  “It’s called the Notch.”

  “That’s a name. It doesn’t tell me what this is.”

  “It’s a gathering place,” Teelo said, grave as always.

  “For Tirribin?”

  “For those who don’t belong in the city.”

  Tobias looked up, but could only see light spilling out over the stone and shining on the shifting waters of the gulf. He turned a circle, taking in their surroundings. The Tirribin had led him into a tight, small cove that would have been hard to see from the shipping lanes of the gulf, and impossible to find from the wharves. The Notch was as good a name as any.

  “Is it safe for us up there?”

  “As safe as it is for you anywhere,” Maeli said. “You know the perils of the city.” She pointed out at the water. “Do you believe you would have been safe on that ship? Children are sold as slaves every day. There is no ‘safe.’ ‘Safe’ is an illusion.”

  “Some places are riskier than others,” Tobias said, desperate to believe it true.

  The demon shrugged with maddening calm. “I suppose. The greatest danger awaiting you in this place is probably me.”

  Teelo shook his head. “That’s not nice, Maeli.”

  “I don’t care. It’s true.”

  “She’s right about it being as safe as anywhere else,” Teelo said. “And you don’t have to worry about her. She won’t do anything to you or to the child.”

  Maeli stared at Tobias, neither affirming nor denying what her brother said.

  The rain had intensified again. Tobias was soaked, and he was having trouble keeping Sofya dry. “All right. Lead the way.”

  The Tirribin turned as one and started up a stairway that had been hacked into the stone. Tobias hadn’t noticed it.

  The steps were uneven and slick, and again he feared he might fall and injure the princess. It was a steep climb. Before they had covered half the distance, his legs were quivering with fatigue. At last, though, he staggered off the last step and onto a broad, flat stone shelf. Heat from the bonfire greeted him, as welcome after the cold rain as a blanket and bed.

  Torches burned at intervals along the stone walls surrounding the tableland, revealing what had been hidden from below. This was more than a single depression in the stone face of the coastline. It was a series of shallow caverns stretching back through a fissure in the escarpment. Crude shelters had been built in each hollow, and smaller fires crackled in many of them. The aroma of cooking meat was stronger here than it had been on the strand.

  Tobias saw men and women, some single, some in pairs, many in larger groups of five or ten. They talked and laughed. Some couples were locked in passionate embraces, seemingly unconcerned with those around them. A few took note of him and the Tirribin; most did not.

  “Aren’t they afraid of you?” he asked.

  Teelo surveyed the shelf. “Some are. Most know that we wouldn’t bother them. When we’re hungry, we go to the city. We like it here; we don’t want them to send us away.”

  He and Maeli led Tobias deeper into the crevice.

  More scents reached them: spices Tobias didn’t recognize, roasted tearroot, fresh bread, something that smelled like burning sugar. Sofya stirred, woke, looked around with puffy eyes. She made a small sound – something between a cry and a laugh. Tobias wasn’t sure what it meant, but he guessed she was as hungry as he.

  As they passed another cluster of people, a different smell tanged the air. Sour, but also cloyingly sweet, with an underlying bitterness that made his eyes tear. It reminded him of… something.

  “What’s that smell?” he whispered, staring at the people.

  They ignored him, continuing their conversation in low voices. Several clutched dirty cloths in their hands. A few held the rags to their faces for a breath or two.

  “Tincture,” Teelo said.

  “Like the Seers use?”

  That explained the familiarity of the odor. But he didn’t recall the cloud of Tincture surrounding Osten Cavensol having such a sour quality.

  Teelo nodded. “Like that, but not quite the same.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Magi aren’t only in the courts,” Maeli said, walking backward so she could face him. “Some who have the talent never draw the attention of nobles. They need Tincture as well, but they can’t get the pure kind that your sovereign supplied to his Seer. They use this instead.”

  She turned again, and they continued on. Tobias glanced back several times.

  The Tirribin took him deeper into the Notch, passing several caverns, all crowded with shelters. At one point, they walked through a broad area set up with rough booths constructed from scraps of wood. It had the look of a marketplace, though all the spaces were currently empty.

  Soon after crossing through this open area, Teelo and Maeli halted and pointed to one particular shelter a few paces ahead. Little distinguished it from the others Tobias had seen, but the demons appeared quite certain.

  “You’ll find shelter there,” Teelo said. “That’s Kaarti’s. She lets rooms to people like you.”

  “I’m not sure she’s ever met anyone like him,” Maeli said, mischief in the tone.

  Teelo frowned at his sister. “People needing a place to stay, I mean.”

  “I understand.”

  “I’m bored,” Maeli said, surveying the caverns. “I want to go back to the city.”

  Teelo stepped closer to Tobias. “We have to leave now. We’ll see you again.”

  “I’m grateful to you. For everything you’ve done.”

  The Tirribin eyed the shelters around them. “Have a care,” he said, dropping his voice. “You’re safer here than you would be elsewhere – and you can trust Kaarti – but don’t abandon all caution.”

  Tobias hardly needed the reminder. He watched as the demons walked away from the shelter. Their gait appeared as unhurried as ever, but they covered the distance back toward the outer shelf in a fraction of the time it would have taken him. Tobias wondered if they would hunt again tonight. He shuddered at the memory of what he had seen them do – of what they had done for him.

  When they were gone, he approached the flap of canvas that covered the entrance to Kaarti’s shelter.

  “Good evening,” he called. “Is anyone here?”

  He heard footsteps scratch on stone. An instant later the canvas was thrust aside, revealing a diminutive woman with fierce green eyes, a hooked nose, and vivid red hair.

  Tobias fell back a stride and Sofya began to cry.

  The woman frowned, sighed. “Didn’t mean to do that.”

  She approached them, her attention on the babe. “I’m sorry, beautiful. Easy now. Easy. Shhhh.”

  Sofya shied from her.

  “Well, I’ve made a mess of it, haven’t I?”

  “She’ll be all right.”

  “Who are you?” she asked.

  “I was told you might have a place where we can stay.”

  “That’s why yous are here, isn’t it? It’s not who you is.”

  “My name is Tobias. This is my daughter, Nava.”

  The woman narrowed her eyes, scrutinized his face and clothes, her gaze li
ngering on his scars. “Not sure that’s who you is, either.”

  He went cold, and he took another step back. “I think maybe we should go.”

  “No need for that. I’m not looking to trouble you. But yous stick out here like priests in a brothel. Wrong color, wrong clothes, babe in your arms.”

  “Thank you for your time,” Tobias said. “I can find–”

  “A trey per night for shelter and food. If’n yous intend to stay a full turn it’s twenty treys for the total, but I don’t get the sense yous will be here that long. Either way, yous pay in advance. If’n yous decide to stay longer, but leave before the turn is up, yous lose the rent. No dealing, no exceptions. Just the way it is. I can give you back a trey or two for the food. Most times I charge for food by the mouth, but I don’t guess the wee one eats much. If I’m wrong about that, we’ll work something out.”

  “I have food for her.”

  Kaarti dismissed this with a wave of her hand. “Nonsense. Nothing yous have will be hot.” She stared, waiting.

  Tobias wasn’t certain what to do. The woman scared him nearly as much as she did Sofya. Maybe he’d been too quick to believe that the Notch would be safe for them. Then again, Teelo had brought them to this woman, and Tobias didn’t think the road would be any safer. The truth was, he didn’t know where to go or who to trust.

  Kaarti watched him for another moment, then shuffled back into the shelter. “When yous have made up your mind, let me know.” She left the canvas flap open.

  Tobias stood in the rain, weighing his options. He had few. “What do you think we should do?” he asked the princess in a whisper. Tears clung to her cheeks, but she chattered again, her fright forgotten.

  At last he carried her inside. The interior of the shelter far exceeded his expectations. It was spacious and well-lit with candles. He counted at least three separate chambers, set off from one another by canvas walls. Sound would travel among them, but they offered some privacy.

  Kaarti stood at a cooking fire that vented through a hole in the cloth ceiling, stirring a pot filled with dark stew. It smelled incredibly good.

  Swinging his sack off his shoulder, Tobias found the leather purse Nuala had given him and plucked out two silver treys. “We’ll pay for two nights now,” he said.

  “Gods, do yous have a lot to learn,” she said, her whisper a harsh rasp. “Pulling out a purse like that in a place like this?”

  “I’m sorry, I–”

  “What do you have in there? Five rounds? More? People come here – the Notch, I mean – for any number of reasons, none of them trifles. Theys down on their luck, or theys been driven from their homes. Maybe they never fit in with normal folk, and so they find a home here. Maybe they run afoul of the law. Or maybe theys trying to escape someone important – someone powerful. But they don’t make a fuss, and they don’t draw attention to themselves with foolishness.” She closed the distance between them, her breath fouling the air. “I run away from a husband who beat me. It was either that or kill him, and I hadn’t the guts. Yous are running from someone. That’s the only way to match up the way you look with you being here. That’s fine. I don’t have no problem with that. But yous got to be smart. You bring trouble on yous, it get on me, too. You catch that?”

  He nodded.

  “Two nights you said.”

  “Yes. Please.”

  She took his coins and hid them in a pocket deep within her tattered gown.

  “You’ll be in that one,” she said, tipping her head toward a chamber to the right of the fire. “I have a small pallet we can bring in for the wee one.”

  “That would be fine. Thank you.”

  “The wee one yours?” she asked, returning to the cooking pot.

  “Yes. My daughter.”

  “Where’s her mum?”

  “She died, several turns ago.”

  Kaarti paused to look his way. “My condolences.”

  Tobias dipped his chin. Inside, he winced at the lie.

  “That don’t explain why yous winded up here.”

  “No, I don’t suppose it does.” Tobias said no more, but walked around the shelter, allowing Sofya to explore with her wide, dark eyes.

  Kaarti chuckled. “That was better. It’s not easy to tell an old woman to stay out of your business with nary a rude word. Yous might do all right after all.”

  She tasted the stew, nodded her satisfaction. “That’s hot enough, I think.” She waved Tobias over and indicated a battered chair and table. “Yous sit here. I’ll bring out some bread.”

  Kaarti ladled stew into a bowl and placed it in front of Tobias, along with a cup of honey mead. She walked into what appeared to be a small larder between two of the sleeping chambers, and reemerged bearing a round of dark, flat bread, which she placed beside Tobias’s bowl.

  “It’s a little stale, but the stew’ll soften it up. I’ll be making some fresh in the morning.”

  Tobias tasted the stew, hoping its flavor would match the promise of its aroma. It did, and more. It tasted of smoked nuts and roasted root, and it was flavored with baviseed and sweetpine. The bread was nutty and chewy – the perfect complement to the stew. He was so entranced that for a spirecount or two he fed only himself, forgetting about the princess. She finally grabbed for his spoon hand.

  Kaarti laughed. “I think she’s feelin’ left out.”

  Tobias fed her a small piece of soaked bread. She chewed, gave a cry and a smile, and pointed at the bowl.

  “Nice t’know she appreciates good food.”

  Together, Tobias and Sofya ate two bowls of the nut stew and two large pieces of bread. He helped Kaarti clean up, carried the princess to their small chamber, and settled her down to sleep before lying down on his pallet. The past few days had been more harrowing than he would have thought possible, and he should have been terrified by every sound.

  For many reasons, though – their distance from the city, the assurances of the Tirribin, his belief that Orzili’s men thought him dead – he felt safer here, surrounded by canvas rather than stone or wood, than he had anywhere else he’d been since Mearlan’s death. He knew it couldn’t last. A rocky strand and steep stairs wouldn’t keep Orzili at bay for long. For tonight, however, he allowed himself to relax. In time, he fell into a deep slumber.

  He and Sofya slept well into the morning, only waking when the aroma of their breakfast wafted past the cloth walls.

  Tobias changed Sofya’s swaddling and carried her out of the chamber. Kaarti was bent over the fire, frying minced meat, eggs, and butterbread.

  “Thought this might wake yous,” she said. “Should be ready soon.”

  Tobias thanked her and stepped outside, to the edge of the cavern. Dark clouds still hung over the coast and rain fell in windswept sheets of silver and gray. The air had turned colder. This might not be the day to begin their journey to another city.

  People walked past Kaarti’s establishment in both directions, some carrying sacks of food, others burdened with what could have been everything they owned. Most took no notice of Tobias and Sofya, and even those who glanced in their direction quickly looked away. Given what Kaarti had told him about the Notch the night before, he wasn’t surprised.

  Kaarti called them back for breakfast, which was as good as supper had been. The woman watched them, eating nothing from the full plate in front of her. Tobias fed the princess and himself, trying to ignore Kaarti’s scrutiny.

  “Yous come from the castle, don’t you?” she said at length, keeping her voice low.

  Tobias glanced toward the mouth of the cavern before answering.

  “What makes you say that?”

  “You look soft.”

  He bristled.

  “Not weak,” she said. “You have them scars, and you had to be strong to survive whatever they come from. But you look like you haven’t never had to scrounge or beg.”

  Her remark rankled, but he couldn’t deny it. After a fivecount he nodded.

  “Some folks
can spot things like that. I can. Others wouldn’t know any of it. ‘Round here, though, there’s more like me, you catch? You be careful.”

  “I will.”

  “So did you?”

  “Did I what?”

  “Did yous come from the castle?”

  He wasn’t sure he liked the innkeeper, but for some reason he trusted her. “I did. I served in Mearlan’s court.”

  “What you told me about the wee one’s mother being dead. That true?”

  There were limits to his trust. Fortunately her question was vague enough to allow him to tell the truth. “Yes, that was true.” He considered her, feeding Sofya more bread. “What did folk here think of the overthrow of the Hayncalde Supremacy?”

  “Most folks here don’t care much one way or another.”

  Tobias allowed her words to hang between them.

  “Some care,” she whispered. “Folk don’t come to the Notch if they have too much stake in what goes on in the city. But staying apart is one thing; seeing the Sheraighs come in and kill our sovereign is another.”

  “I thought as much. We’re here because it wasn’t safe for me in the city anymore. You say we don’t belong, and you’re probably right. But if we’d remained there, chances are I’d now be dead.”

  “And the wee one?”

  “This is about me, not her.”

  “Yous are telling me this why?”

  “Because I want you to know that I was loyal to Mearlan and to Hayncalde. I still am.”

  “All right,” Kaarti said. “What will yous do today?”

  “I don’t know yet. We need to get away from here. Even the Notch won’t be safe for us for long. I need to find some way to leave. And I need to know if the wharves are still closed.”

  “Outer Notch, then,” Kaarti said, disapproval in her tone.

  “If that’s where I have to go, so be it. What’s inland from here? Where does the Notch end?”

  “More caverns. Good for hidin’, but there’s no way out.”

  “So we’ll have to go back to the strand.”

  “I suppose. I don’t think about it much. Folks in Inner Notch don’t look to leave. They’s here for good. Outer Notch? Folk there are like the tide. They come and they go. Though word is, since the Sheraighs come, they’s stuck here.”