by Guy Antibes
That seemed to put a wider grin on Jac’s face as he continued to watch the game.
“I’m glad you know the duke. Some of the new boys were grumbling about your lineage. It doesn’t make a difference to me, but it does to them, to know you are on speaking terms with Duke Bariani. The introduction clears the way for something I want to do.”
“What is that?” Ricky asked.
“It’s something I want to do when spring is over. Don’t worry. It will be fun. I don’t have everything arranged yet.”
“Then I’ll look forward to it.”
“You should.”
The referees pointed out that the timekeeper flag was now red. The half had ended.
Ricky noticed that all the jerseys were muddied up except his own when the team gathered around Sippa.
“We are still ahead six to three. We are playing well enough, but the opposition might not be as tough as other teams on our schedule. I’ll be experimenting with different positions in the second half. Valian will start at the point.”
That was all that Ricky wanted to hear as the coach went through the other positions. In Ricky’s view, he fielded the weakest team possible. At least he’d get his uniform dirty and get in some real playing time.
He looked at the spectators and noticed that the Duke had already left. Saganet and Effie gave him an encouraging wave. The team lined up. Ricky noticed that two of the three boys who had attacked him in Saganet’s class sneered at him from the opposing team’s side. He would have to be careful around them.
The referee walked up and dropped the ball in the center of the field. The team with the lower score would take the ball first.
Ricky stood back a few paces per the rules, ready to rush the ball as soon as the other team touched it with their stick. The orb thudded to the turf, and Ricky rushed the ball. Two bodies slammed against him and ground him into the muddy ground. They both kicked him before the referee arrived.
After taking inventory to see if he had any broken bones, Ricky staggered upright. He shook his head for a moment to clear the pain and shock from the attack. He stood alone, as the play had moved past him. Ricky eyed the two opponents running together down the field. One of them looked back and sneered.
Ricky didn’t want to run away, but he took off on the opposite side of the field, nursing pain in his lower leg. Suddenly, Benno gave him a gentle push from the side.
“I’m your helper,” Benno said. “I saw what those two did. They deliberately smashed you. I’m surprised no one called them for it. Don’t worry. I’ve spread the word.”
Ricky jogged towards the play up ahead. “Thanks,” he said as he shot forward. Knowing that he had a bit of protection, he ignored the pain and intercepted a pass from the opposing team. He used his speed to slip past the final defender and took a shot on the goal.
Unfortunately, the crowd sighed along with Ricky when he missed the box. He turned around and slammed into one of his attackers. Ricky pushed hard against him, and the other boy tripped. Ricky stepped on him without actually stomping as he sought out the broomball. Benno nodded to Ricky after the second attacker rolled on the ground after going for the ball that the opposing team’s defender hit all the way past the center line.
Ricky waved his hand, and the broomball shot his way. He stopped it and looked up the field, quickly directing the Doubli attackers to new positions. Ricky smiled as he used his anticipation skills to get his teammates in position. Ricky passed the ball, and in seconds, Doubli scored another goal.
He hardly heard the crowd as he focused on finding opportunities. His assailants knocked him over one more time, but they paid for their aggressiveness with penalties. The game ended with the score doubled for each, Doubli, 12, opponents, 6.
With the final whistle, Ricky joined his teammates in celebrating the victory. Ricky had gotten his taste of a rough version of broomball. When they stopped cheering, and both teams went to the middle of the field to shake hands, Ricky’s pains began to re-emerge.
The two assailants refused to shake Ricky’s hand. It didn’t matter. The first team had performed well on its first challenge. Sippa said it would only get harder, but Ricky limped to his room to get cleaned up, struggling into his regular clothes. He left the uniform at the gymnasium along with all the others, caked in mud.
“Taranta’s thugs?” Benno asked as he walked with Ricky to their dormitory.
Ricky nodded. “They tried to beat me up when they started at Doubli after Winter Break. Dean Doubli kicked them out. It appears they found another school. There were three of them.”
“So the other will show up another time?”
“I don’t doubt it,” Ricky said.
“Let us know if you spot him. They laid you out at the start of the half.”
“I noticed,” Ricky said with a weak grin. “I need a hot bath.”
“We all do,” Benno said. “I had lots of fun. You did well once you started to coach us from the field. That worked better than Instructor Baldico yelling at us from the sideline.”
Ricky smiled and tapped Benno on the shoulder. “The whole team did well. I like that part. I’ve always had to rely on myself, before. I enjoy working with the team, too.”
~
Sippa gave them a day’s rest. Jac asked Ricky to join Benno, Ubbo Cassia, a friend of Jac’s, who came with Jac from Dimani, and him on a day roaming Tossa. The four boys walked the streets of the city in high spirits. The game had taken a toll on all four of the boys. Ricky still felt pain from the purple bruise on his calf, but he couldn’t miss going out with friends.
He had done much the same thing with Loria last year when they were closer, but this was different. He didn’t have to worry about behaving in front of a girl. In fact, he worried more about his friends misbehaving.
They passed Karian’s row of shops and slipped in. Karian served a customer but came over to them once he finished the transaction. “Ricky, you brought some customers my way?”
After introductions, Jac invited Karian to the next broomball game towards the end of the next week.
“I’d be happy to come. I know a few professors at Doubli. Perhaps I’ll escort one of them to the game.”
“A woman?” Jac asked.
“Mina Doria, if you must know,” Karian said. “We are good friends.”
Ricky smiled. “Very good friends. How is business?”
“I’ve done well, young Valian. Have you been to the warehouse lately?”
The question made Ricky blush. “Not recently.” He gave Karian a pleading look.
“If you had, you would know I’ve put in a small restaurant next door. It is street food served inside. You’ll like it.”
“Where is this warehouse?” Benno asked.
“On the other side of the academy,” Ricky said. He turned to Karian. “We’ll go another time. Is the food good?”
Karian gave Ricky a confident grin. “Of course. Enjoy your day.”
The four of them exited into the sunlight.
“Let’s go to the North Market,” Benno said. “We can look across the River and see Shantyboat Town.”
Ricky cringed at Benno’s remarks.
“What is Shantyboat Town?” Ubbo Cassia asked.
“I grew up there,” Ricky said. He felt it was better to get the bad news out immediately.
“His grandfather raised Ricky, if you could call it that. He left Ricky on his own to fend for himself until Dean Doubli rescued him,” Karian said. “Ricky is the most powerful sorcerer at Doubli and has successfully overcome his grandfather’s years of neglect.”
“You’ve done a great job at the undoing,” Jac said. “Show us your humble beginnings.”
Ricky managed a smile, and they trekked north and west to the Market, where the goods on sale made them all tarry for a while, with them all sampling the street food that Karian claimed to offer at his new little restaurant.
Finally, they reached the northern edge of town. Ricky pointed across the river towards Sh
antyboat Town.
“Floating slums,” Ubbo said.
“That’s what they are,” Ricky said. “People go there who would rather live outside of Tossa’s laws but still be able to work in the city.”
“Bandits, thieves?” Ubbo said.
“Some. I had to steal, at times. It’s a hard life. We even had a water seller, who circulated among the boats selling fresh water. You wouldn’t want to use the river water that flows underneath the town,” Ricky said. “I had a little plot of land in the forest beyond that grew fresh food. My grandfather has a townhouse in the city. He kept that a secret from me. He kept a lot of secrets from me.”
“It sounds like something out of a novel,” Jac said.
“Writers get their ideas from somewhere,” Ricky said. “I used to have my own boat, but it burned up. Other people took over my grandfather’s boat. If a boat is abandoned, it gets taken by another tenant.”
“No rent?” Jac asked.
Ricky shook his head. “Shantyboat Town is outside Tossan law, but even though there might be lawbreakers on a boat, I never had any problems. There were fights and brawls, but I kept away from those.”
His friend looked across the river at the town. “Freedom, but at a cost.”
Ricky nodded. “It isn’t easy to break out if you can’t find work,” he said, “or a benefactor, as I did.”
“You’ve done well for yourself,” Jac said. “I’m still a little hungry. Why don’t we head back to the market before we return?”
Ubbo gave Ricky an inscrutable look. Of his three friends, he seemed the least tolerant, but he kept his silence. Once they bought sausages on a stick, his silence ended, and his good humor returned.
When Ricky made it back from his Tossan excursion, he found a message tacked to the message board on his floor. Gobble wanted to meet him at the visitor's room in the Administration Building an hour after the dinner time. Ricky wasn’t particularly hungry, so he wandered over to Saganet’s cottage to tell him.
“He has something up his wicked sleeve,” Saganet said.
“Maybe,” Ricky said. “He did tell me that he’d talk to me before he left for Applia. Maybe that’s it.”
“Since he’s meeting you on academy grounds, you don’t have to worry about abduction, but I’ll still escort you to the Administration Building, just to be safe.”
“I’d appreciate that,” Ricky said.
He fidgeted for the next while. Saganet fixed his own dinner while Ricky sat on the living room couch and ate a snack. Ricky’s appetite hadn’t increased, but he appreciated Saganet helping him. He needed to face Gobble alone, but not too alone.
~
“Ricky, I didn’t know if you would show up to talk to me,” his granduncle said when Ricky walked into the visitor’s room.
Gobble sat down and motioned for Ricky to join him. Ricky didn’t want to, but he forced himself to relax in his granduncle’s presence.
“I am leaving for Applia in the morning.”
“Are you out of Tossa for good?” Ricky asked.
Gobble narrowed his eyes. “Not quite.”
“Someone has taken over our boat.”
“My boat,” Gobble said, testily. “What happens to my shantyboat is none of your business.”
Ricky didn’t rise to object. “What will you be doing in Applia?”
Gobble calmed a bit. “I will be working for the city.”
“Taking orders from Duke Noacci?” Ricky asked.
“Basically, yes,” Gobble said. “That brings me to why I am here in the Doubli Academy Administration Building. I know that you have designs on the duchy of Naparra.”
“Who told you that? I don’t even know where Naparra is.” Ricky did, but he wouldn’t let Gobble think he knew.
His granduncle cleared his throat and sat closer to the front of his chair. Now Ricky would learn the real reason for Gobble showing up.
“I won’t tell Duke Noacci that you are studying at Doubli Academy.”
“And for that service, I suppose you want compensation?”
“I am but a poor man, trying to make my way in the world. You know I have few means.”
Gobble’s proposal disgusted Ricky. His granduncle had tried to put the touch on Mistress Merry before. He wouldn’t get any farther this time.
“Few means. Like the townhouse that you’ve lived in since you absconded with the money that should have been mine when my parents died?”
Gobble turned red. “I have no townhouse.”
“That is a lie. I’ve seen you walking out of your door myself. I have a friend that has a residence on the same street.”
“Saganet, I imagine.”
Ricky nodded his head. “Saganet. He pointed you out one day. I also noticed you escorting two lovely ladies, probably for hire, to a sorcery performance last year. They hung on to each of your arms as you led them to the expensive seats up front. Do you want me to describe the performance? One of the things that you took from me was my heritage, granduncle.”
Gobble sputtered. “You must be mistaken.”
“Your face is too red. I know I’m right. I won’t have you extorting money from my benefactor. You left me destitute, and I’ve managed to overcome that just a bit. I was at a loss at what you would want to see me for, but I realize you really had a strategy to get more money. You won’t be getting it from me or Mistress Doubli.”
“But Duke Noacci…”
“Do you think the duke hasn’t investigated you? It wouldn’t take an idiot to link me to you and then link Duke Noacci through you to me. I’m sure he knows who I am. However, if I were a real threat to the current Duke of Applia, he would have had me silenced early on.”
Gobble shot to his feet. “And as soon as you do become a threat, he will strike.” Gobble made a distasteful face.
“I guess there is no reason for you to stink up this room anymore, is there?” Ricky said.
Saganet opened the door with a mirthless smile on his face. “I’ll show you the way out.” He looked at Ricky. “Stay in this stinky room for a bit more.”
Gobble glared at Ricky and shouldered his way out the door. After collapsing on a love seat, Ricky stared unseeingly at the opposite wall. He had hoped he could have stayed beneath the sight of the Duke of Naparra, but that had never been the case. He clasped his head with his hands. Would his life ever be his own? He couldn’t return to Shantyboat Town. He couldn’t. On the one hand he couldn’t imagine a life different from the one he led now, but on the other, it seemed his life was always in peril.
Saganet sauntered in as if he had just come back from a marvelous meal somewhere. “He tried to get money out of me on the way out the gate. What a snake!”
“I guess that’s what he does. If he leaves Tossa, the city will be a better place.”
Saganet shook his head. “He’s not selling his townhouse, or I would have heard of it. Gobble won’t give it up. I’m sure he views that house as his refuge if all else fails. I can’t blame him for it.”
“Nor can I. We both have had refuges haven’t we?”
His guardian smiled. “My cottage is your refuge. My townhouse is your refuge. The library’s current location is a refuge. It’s not as if you have no options.”
Ricky nodded and smiled. “I guess I have a few places I could go.”
“Which brings us to the broomball team’s visit to Applia. Are you going to go?”
The prospect of entering Duke Noacci’s territory daunted Ricky, but if Noacci wanted to eliminate him, it wouldn’t matter if he lived in Tossa or Applia. “I am,” Ricky said. “It seems I’m always at risk. I’ve gotten used to it, so I don’t see a reason to let down my teammates.”
Saganet sat down and worked the fingers of his hands as he thought. Ricky just waited for him to speak.
“I have to agree with your reasoning, but neither Gobble nor Duke Noacci knows Duke Bariani is one of your sponsors.”
“He isn’t a sponsor, not really,” Ricky said
. “He just wants to use me.”
“How do you think you so easily returned to Tossa? The duke was able to make a few things happen. Don’t mistake his petulance about your refusing to claim Noacci’s title with a lack of interest in your welfare. He treads carefully. You may think he’s bumbling about, but don’t underestimate him. If he hadn’t carefully considered your words, he would still be after you to challenge your relative.”
Ricky pressed his lips together. Saganet exposed his misreading of the duke, but luckily he hadn’t acted on his feelings towards the man. “I’m still not ready.”
“I worry that you are getting closer. Your role in putting down the Applian rebellion couldn’t have escaped Duke Noacci’s notice, although the details of his predecessor’s death is still a secret. General Farlotti confirmed that a few weeks ago. I will volunteer to accompany the team to Applia as a chaperone helping Insippa Baldico. You won’t mind, will you?”
“Not at all,” Ricky said. He didn’t voice his reservations about having his guardian watch his every step regarding the team, but if something went wrong, he’d rather have Saganet to support him than anyone.
“Perhaps at some time, you should have a conversation with Duke Noacci, if you are up to it.”
“Me?” Ricky blurted out. “Won’t he draw his sword and plunge it into my heart?”
“Why?” Saganet said. “Noacci pays people to do that, just like his predecessor in Applia, just like King Leon and, truthfully, just like Duke Bariani. Lord Taranta was not your usual noble villain, Ricky. He enjoyed getting his hands wet.”
“Wet,” Ricky snorted. “His wife hires her thugs, too.”
Saganet nodded. “Her young, noble thugs.”
~~~
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
~
R ICKY RETURNED THE BOOK ON POWER-LINKING or what he tried to think of as mind alignment, to the warehouse. Mara worked on a book using a few sorcerous light balls suspended in the air.
“I found a way to use those a little more discreetly,” Ricky said.
“Really?”
“You put the light into a normal lamp that has a glass flue and a shade. I tried it out at Karian’s fancy shops and then put lights in my lamp in my dormitory room now.”