by Robin Roseau
"I see."
"One of the rules is that the prisoner cannot be forced to work." And then I folded my arms and waited to see if she understood my point. It took her a moment, but then understanding dawned across her face.
"Lady Yallameenara, you are not such a prisoner, nor have you been asked to work."
“I am a prisoner here, taken practically from my queen’s own arms. I believe the ship that captured me was a warship, wasn't it, and the crew members of the navy?" She didn't answer that. "I believe the laws related to how a prisoner of a war is cared for apply." I smiled. "And so, I shall not accept any duties, because that would be labor, which is against the laws of war."
I was clearly finished, and Vérundia demanded an explanation of Larien. I thought perhaps she didn't wish to give it, but the two talked for several minutes. When they were done, Vérundia stormed out, and she didn't return any time soon. As soon as she was gone, I brushed off my hands as if I had completed a task and smiled sweetly.
I didn't know it at the time, but that was the opening salvo in a new war that would begin soon enough.
* * * *
They gave me a week, and then when it began anew, it wasn't a full assault.
It started innocently enough, with a knock at the door, and then one of the young acolytes opened and entered. I looked up from my book. "It's for you," I said to Larien.
"I do not believe that is true."
I gestured the girl over, and she handed a note to me, then stepped back, clearly waiting. It was not in an envelope, simply a folded sheet of paper. I opened it, but it was not written in any language I could read.
So I held it to the girl and gestured to Larien.
Larien accepted it and said, "Your presence is requested."
I considered carefully. "By whom."
"Vérundia, of course."
"Does it say why, or do you know why? Or where?"
"I presume you would follow Daraminesha."
"Dara-something," I said, "is this girl?"
The girl said it more slowly.
"It means, hmm. A mountain flower."
"A particular type of flower, or only any flower from the mountains?"
"Somewhere between," Larien said. "A flower that grows in a particular type of location. I am not of the mountains, so I don't know exactly. Does it matter?"
"No. Is she really going to expect me to remember that?"
"Your mouth can say this one, Yallameenara. Your name isn't so easy for us, you know."
"Well, maybe next time," I said. "Ask her where she expects to take me."
"Can't you just go with her?" Yes, we'd both been getting on each other's nerves. Of course, I'd been intentionally grating on hers, and it was beginning to show.
"Why would I do that when it is so much more fun to annoy you? I tell you what. Ask her where she expects to take me, and then I'll decide what I am going to do."
Larien stared at me for a good ten or fifteen seconds before speaking in Altearan. The girl answered in two or three words, but their words were so long, it could have been only one.
"Ah. We have study rooms," said Larien. "She is to bring you to one of those."
"Nope. Not interested. This book is so fascinating."
"You've read it three times."
"If you had given me leave to bring my own, I would have greater variety." Then I bent my nose back to the book.
"Go with her, and I might find several more books for you."
I looked up at that. "Why, you skunk. You're holding out on me."
"Maybe I am," she said. "Or maybe I've sent for more for you, but I'm not giving them to you while you are being so difficult. Or maybe there are a few in the library you could read, and I am offering to search the racks for them."
"Or maybe there aren't any books at all."
"Maybe there aren't, but in that case, do you think that trick would work more than once, and would I waste it so early?"
"Produce the books, and I'll think about it."
"You just tried that trick," she replied. "Do you think it's going to work twice on the same summons?"
"I think that might have been the wrong word," I said, settling back into my seat. "Unless you're trying to get my back up."
"You don't need help with that," she replied. "You know, Yallameenara, you could try. What would it kill you?"
"Maybe when I feel all of you are sufficiently punished for what you've done to me, I might become more reasonable. Besides, I already know what she wants. She wants me to begin learning my duties, the ones I am not agreeing to perform."
"You're a very long way from any friends, and you're not going anywhere. Maybe you should be pragmatic."
"I don't think so."
"Go with her, and I promise a book."
"Oh, you see? Being difficult is paying rewards," I said. "Before you thought you might find books, now you turn it into a promise."
"Ah, but before I suggested more than one, but now I promise only a single book."
"I tell you what. Keep the book but answer a question instead. If you answer without prevarication, I'll go with her. If not, I'm staying right here."
She huffed. "What question?"
"How many books are you holding in reserve?"
She grumbled, which amused me greatly, and I smiled. "Not very many," she finally admitted.
"That is not a number, Larien, and really tells me nearly nothing."
I could tell she didn't want to tell me. I squirmed in my seat, making a point of settling in, and lifted my book, pretending to read.
"Seven."
I looked up. "Only seven," I said in a small voice. "And after you've bribed me with those seven, do you expect to find seven more in a storeroom somewhere?"
"You made a promise, Yallameenara. I answered. And if you cooperate with whatever Vérundia wants, you'll find two of them waiting for you when you return."
"I'm fairly certain you need to come with, unless you know more than you've let on."
Larien spoke quickly in Altearan, and the girl shook her head. Then she spoke again, and the girl nodded.
"What was that?"
"I asked her to detour on the way. She agreed. Have a nice walk."
I stood up, set my book aside, and followed the girl.
I grew lost nearly immediately, and I didn't have a clue how they knew their way around. But I followed the girl, who kept looking over her should to make sure I was following.
And then we entered a large cavern.
The girl had brought me to their library.
Larien had said it was vast, but I had no idea. It was far larger than the library at the palace, and I had first thought that room held every book in the world. But I came to a stop and stared. And then I began wandering, looking at the spines of all these books.
I reached for one at random, then glanced at the girl. She made no effort to stop me, so I pulled the book down and opened it.
I assumed it was Altearan, but it could have been almost anything. I couldn't read a single word. But I stared at the words for a while, anyway, before carefully closing the book and putting it back where I'd gotten it. I considered leaving it askew, but I decided this room I wouldn't abuse, and so I straightened it carefully.
She let me roam for a minute or two, but then she stepped over and tugged on my sleeve. I stopped and turned to her. She tugged again.
"All right," I said. "I've seen Larien's best bribe, I believe." And I followed the girl.
She didn't lead me much further, but I was fully turned around, three times over, by the time we stepped into another room, this one smaller, but not tiny. Vérundia was there with another of the priestesses, an older woman, but not eldest. The girl said something. Vérundia said something, and then the girl disappeared.
And I realized I had just been played. I had come, but I wasn't going to find my way back to my quarters without a guide, and so I was stuck here until Vérundia agreed to return me.
Well. One
point to Larien, maybe even two.
I stepped over to her. We looked each other in the eye, and then she turned to the older woman.
"Ullaméistra," Vérundia said.
I tried the name several times, but I didn't think I had it. Finally I made a sound of self-disgust. "Ulla," I could do.
Ulla gestured to a chair on one side of the table. I took it and folded my arms. She sat down across from me. And then, from a bowl sitting on the chair next to her, she took out an apple and set it on the table and said a word.
Great. Language lessons. I'd been through this, but this time, I didn't have any questions I wanted answered. I tipped the chair back onto the rear legs, stretched out, and closed my eyes.
I don't know how long she tried to get me to repeat the words. I ignored her and just slowly rocked back and forth on the chair, my eyes closed.
But then there was a sharp bang! I almost fell backwards, scrambling suddenly to keep my balance before dropping down to four legs of the chair again. My eyes slammed open, and I glared at her.
Ulla had a stick, and it looked like she had just banged it against the table. Arrayed in front of her were several pieces of fruit, a plate, cup, and set of silverware. She used the stick and pointed to the apple.
I folded my arms again, leaned back, although not so far this time, and closed my eyes.
"Yallameenara!" the woman said.
I opened my eyes. "Do you speak Framaran?"
She must have spoken some, because she shook her head.
"Pity," I said. I leaned forward and grabbed the apple. I held it up. "Apple."
She said the word her way.
"No," I said. "Apple."
She banged her stick and said it her way.
"Apple." I said. Then I pointed to her. Her eyes grew wide for a moment, then narrowed, and she said her word.
"Huh," I said. "This seems quite one-sided. Apple."
She banged her stick and said her word very carefully.
"So that's how it is going to be." And then I proceeded to eat the apple while Ulla stared at me. "Apple core," I said, setting it down on the table between us."
Then I folded my arms and closed my eyes.
She banged her stick.
"I'm not impressed," I said, not even opening my eyes. But she banged her stick and said her words. I just leaned back a little, although not so far as to risk tipping over again.
She said her word. I ignored her. And so she poked me with the stick.
"Ow!" I complained, opening my eyes and glaring at her. She waved the stick at me. I waved a finger at her. "Do not do that again."
She pointed to the apple core with her stick and said her word.
"Apple," I said. "You say it." She waved the stick, and I closed my eyes.
And she hit me on top of the head.
"Knock it off!" I yelled. "I will take that little stick from you, old lady. I have never lifted my hand to someone as old as you, but I'm willing to start."
She pointed to the apple core and said her word. Then she poked me with the stick. I made a grab for it, but for an old lady, she was pretty quick, and she evaded me. But then she hit me twice more on top of the head, and the second time, I climbed from my chair. "Stop it."
She waved her stick at me and then pointed to the apple core. She said her word.
"Apple," I said. And this time I was waiting. She tried to hit me with the stick, and I caught it, yanking it from her hand. "That's enough!" I yelled. "I was beat enough as a child, and I'm not taking it from you." I brandished her stick, but she cowered away from me and began speaking quickly.
Fearfully.
"Seriously, lady," I said. I threw the stick to the side of the room. "Do you really think I'm going to hit an old lady? But we're done here."
I stormed from the room, took three turns, and was utterly lost.
* * * *
I wandered the corridors for hours. I went up. I went down. I stepped out into other rooms, rooms I knew I'd never seen before, and when that happened, I turned around.
For hours, I wandered. For hours, I didn't see anyone.
I grew frantic, but I managed not to utterly panic. I thought about just sitting down and waiting for someone to find me, but would they? Would they even look for me? Or would they decide that they didn't care if I died?
I thought that was the most likely.
I tried going up. I knew the entrance was up, or at least I thought it was. And I stayed to corridors that were lit. I reached dead ends. I reached steps that led down. I reached the end of rows of lamps.
I tried following the pipes that fed gas to the lamps. That worked until those pipes disappeared into the walls, floors, or ceilings, and I couldn't find rhyme or reason why they would do so or where they went after that.
There weren't doors. Most of the rooms didn't have doors, only openings, and most of the rooms I found were very rough and uneven, as if formed by nature, not by hand.
Then, faintly, I heard my name.
"Here!" I yelled. "Here! I'm here!"
"Yallameenara. Stand still."
The words were very faint, and I knew it wasn't Larien's voice.
"Here!" I called. "I'm here." But I stayed where I was, calling out, "I'm here," every few seconds.
It was Vérundia herself who found me, and I'm not sure which of us was more relieved. She came around a corner and stopped. We stared at each other for a while. And then she nodded before turning around and beginning to walk away. I hurried after her.
"I didn't hit her," I said, but of course she wouldn't have understood. "She kept hitting me. I had enough of that as a child. I won't put up with it anymore, not from anyone."
She looked over shoulder at me but said nothing. And I followed her. And I didn't even know where we were until there were doors, and she led me to my quarters and stepped right in.
Larien was already there, and both maids, and they all looked worried, and then relieved.
"Tell her I didn't hit Ulla," I said quickly. I babbled for a minute or two, but then Larien stepped over to me, set fingers over my lips, and then she pulled me into a hug.
And I realized I was crying, and had been for a while.
"I thought I'd die somewhere down there," I said. "I wondered if you'd even look for me, or just think good riddance."
"Do you think we went through all this just to let you die, Yallameenara?"
"It would have been one thing to kill me, but if I get myself killed, and the priestess thing jumps lines, then it's not really your fault, is it?"
"That is not the solution we want," she said, and she held me tightly. "No more wandering around."
"No more hitting me," I said. I pushed away. "She kept hitting me. I won't put up with it, Larien. I won't."
"Shh," she said. Then she spoke quietly in Altearan. Vérundia replied, speaking for a minute or two.
"What did she say?"
"She agrees. No more hitting. She demands. No more wandering."
"No more wandering," I agreed. "But how do all of you find your way around? There's no map. There's no markers. There's nothing at all."
"We will teach you what you want to know when you learn what we want you to know."
"Whatever," I said, and I pushed away. It would have been far more dramatic if there had been a window I could stare out.
* * * *
It was only a little while later when Féla stepped to my side. "Yallameenara."
I turned to her, and she held a plate to me.
"Thank you," I said, taking it from her.
* * * *
The girl came back -- Dara-something. The flower girl. She held a note to me. I gestured to Larien, who sighed and accepted it.
"Vérundia requests your presence."
"She can request all she wants," I said. "Flower will lead me to her and then disappear. Vérundia will point to Ulla and walk away. And then I'll be stuck with Ulla and her damned stick until someone agrees to show me back here, and I bet th
ey refuse to do it until I learn some words or something. Not going."
"Ullaméistra has put away her stick."
"I don't care. I'm not going."
"Don't you want to learn?"
"Why?"
"You know why. Daraminesha showed you why, and I know you're intrigued."
"It took me years to learn to read Framaran," I said. "I'm not going to be here for years. My hair is going to grow in black, and then you'll be sending me home. I'm not going to be here long enough to learn to read."
"When you go back, think how much more valuable you'll be to Framara if you speak Altearan."
"Do you really think I'm going to want to have anything to do with this country or its people after this? It's not just that you're doing this. Your king and queen did this. So that doesn't even qualify as a good try."
"It won't take you at all as long to read Altearan as it did to learn to read Framaran. You had to learn the alphabet, and we use the same alphabet, but with accent marks. We have no words that mean different things, so that part is easier. You could be reading in a few months, and it's going to take longer than that before your hair shows enough white to convince you."
"You might be right, but when learning Framaran I wasn't angry at my teachers. I'm pretty sure that changes everything."
"Princess Juleena took you from your mother's arms," she said. "I would have been awfully upset."
"I grew up believing I'd be traded to another clan to serve as someone's wife," I said. "And I was reaching the age that was likely. This wasn't much different. But no one let Mother believe it was my idea, or that I was a traitor to my people for being forced to go."
"We are your people."
"You will never be my people."
"There are people here who knew your mother, Yallameenara. Don't you want to ask about her? Don't you care about what she did here? This was her room. No one else has lived here since she left. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"
"You want my cooperation."
"Yes, we want your cooperation."
"Fine. Tell Ralalta the truth. Find a way to prove to me she knows I didn't do this. And I'll learn the damned words. Until then, the answer is no. Get out. I'm tired of you already today."