Before Rani could continue her thoughts, Hal raised a hand. The gesture commanded instant silence. Every eye in the hall was directed to the dais, waiting for the bids to begin.
“Honored merchants,” Hal said. “Welcome to the silk hall. Welcome to the first new market established in our fair land since the dread fire of three years past. May Lor look kindly upon all our dealings here.”
Lor. The god of silk. Never had one of the Thousand Gods risen to such prestige in so short a time.
Hal continued. “When I first brought octolaris to fair Morenia, many said that we could not build a silk trade. We could not rival the great masters of Liantine. We could not challenge our neighbors to the east.” Hal inclined his head graciously toward the knot of master spiderguildsmen and one, the oldest, narrowed his eyes to accept the salute.
“And yet,” Hal said, returning his attention to the gathered luminaries, “you have surpassed my greatest expectations. In three short years, you have grown the silk trade. You have bred your octolaris and fed them their precious markin grubs. You have harvested their silk, spun the thread, woven the cloth. You have built a guildhall in the center of a city that was in ruins, a hall worthy of our finest masons and sculptors. And now, a mere three years since the first silk spiders arrived in Moren, we stand ready to auction off the fruits of your labors.”
A roar of approval tore through the crowd, and Hal smiled patiently as he waited for silence to return. “Before we open the auction, there are a few individuals whom I must recognize—people without whom we would not be present today. First and foremost, always in our thoughts, is Queen Mareka, the woman who had the courage to give us our octolaris, even when she risked her own power and prestige. Of course, my lady cannot stand beside me today, but nonetheless, I raise this cup in her honor and drink to her glory.”
A cheer echoed in the hall, obliging and obedient, but lacking the same unbounded enthusiasm that Hal had commanded for himself. Morenia had accepted Mareka because Hal had presented her, but the kingdom had no love for its queen. It did not like the fact that she was a mere guildswoman, even if she came from an exotic guild in a foreign land. It did not like that she had tricked their king, that she had manipulated him with the oldest of a woman’s wiles, snagging her crown by sparking a king’s heir inside her womb.
Still, the kingdom had mourned when Mareka lost that child in her sixth month, when her infant son was born too soon to breathe the bitter winter air. And they mourned the daughter that she had borne, the tiny girl who had not lasted a single night.
But now Mareka was once again with child. Eight months along, and all seemed fine. The royal physicians had confined the queen to her chambers, demanded that she rest and conserve her strength, that she drink the blood of new lambs throughout the spring, that she make offerings to Nome, the god of children. Mareka said that she could feel her child stir within her, that she could feel him kicking strongly, all through the long nights. She was certain that she carried a boy, the heir that Halaravilli needed so desperately. She husbanded her strength, fed her considerable will into the child growing within her, and she waited, waited, waited.
No, Mareka could not be at the silk hall. And she might not be pleased with what she saw, even if she had attended. Mareka had been a promising apprentice in the distant spiderguild, a willful girl, intent on serving her guild with all her might. Her loyalties might be tested too much by seeing the accumulation of silk, the vast wealth that her former masters would despise. Better, Rani thought, that Mareka not attend this first silk auction.
As if Hal were setting aside the memory of his queen’s torn loyalties, he swallowed the wine from his toast to his lady. Then, he looked out over the hall and said, “It is fitting that we bless this market before we earn our first profits here. That blessing might be done by any priest, but we know another who is well suited to invoke the Thousand Gods on this auspicious day. The octolaris who have brought us to this momentous occasion came from Liantine, and the blessing should come from there as well. My lady? Will you invoke the gods’ good graces upon our ventures?”
Berylina Thunderspear. Rani had not realized that the Liantine princess was attending the auction. Following the line of Hal’s gesture, Rani saw the dark corner where he settled his gaze. Berylina took a hesitant step, moving as if her king’s gesture pulled her from a pit of shifting sand.
The princess had grown in the three years she had spent at court. She had slimmed away her childhood roundness, melted into the softer curves of womanhood. She had gained more poise as well, become almost accustomed to the glare of public attention. She made her way to Hal’s dais without blushing, without fidgeting, without clutching at her simple gown of grassy green.
Some things about the princess, though, would never change. Her teeth still jutted out over her lower lip, lending her a horse-like expression. One of her eyes wandered, so that even now Rani could not tell if the girl looked out over the assembly or gazed privately at her adopted king. Berylina’s hair had escaped her demure braids, and it billowed about her face like unruly straw.
And yet there was a peace about the princess, a confidence that she had never shown in her native land. When she stood at the front of the dais, her voice was quiet, so soft that the assembly needed to catch its collective breath. But her words were calm, certain. Her voice was steady as she said, “May Lor watch over all the dealings in this hall and guide all men to truth and justice in their dealings. May First God Ait guide all who traffic here. May Pilgrim Jair appear before us as a guide and model of all that is right and good, for all the days to come. In the name of all the Thousand Gods, let us pray for guidance and success forever and ever. Amen.”
“Forever and ever, Amen,” Hal repeated, smiling kindly. Few present knew the full risk that he had taken, accepting Berylina into his house. Few knew that Berylina’s father, Teheboth Thunderspear, had threatened war, had threatened to harry Morenia’s coasts with all the ships at his disposal. Hal had managed to negotiate a sort of peace, reminding Teheboth that the king had not placed any value on the princess when she lived in his palace, had not honored her in any way. Ultimately, at Rani’s prompting, Hal had resorted to one great negotiating maneuver, offering to return Berylina to her father, to send the princess back to Liantine against her will.
Teheboth had retreated from his negotiation then. After all, what did the house of Thunderspear want with an ugly daughter, a damaged girl, a religious fanatic who followed the paths of the Thousand Gods, even when those paths led her into shame and into poverty in the Morenian court? Hal had bristled at Teheboth’s dismissal, but he had let the final correspondence go unanswered. Berylina was safe, and war had been averted. What more could Hal truly demand?
In the silk hall, Berylina completed her whispered blessing and stepped down from the dais, immediately retreating to her darkened corner. Rani noted that Father Siritalanu waited for her there. The priest had been instrumental in the princess’s escape from Liantine, and he had overseen her religious instruction here in Morenia. The man was loyal to her beyond all reason, consistently claiming that he loved her spirit, her pure faith. Rani shrugged. Spirit, faith, lust for her body. … What difference did it truly make? The man had helped the awkward Berylina settle into her new home.
From the dais, Hal recognized others, raising his cup to salute the master mason who had built the silk hall. He recognized Davin, the ancient retainer who had designed an irrigation system for the delicate riberry trees that hosted the octolaris’ sole source of food. He recognized the hordes of workers that tended to the octolaris, feeding the spiders their grubs, tending to their cages. He also recognized the seven workers who had given their lives in the past three years, succumbing to the spiders’ deadly poison as the Morenians learned the dangers of their newfound commodity.
And then Hal turned toward Rani. His eyes sought her out in the crowd, honed in on the crimson that she wore in his honor. Her throat constricted at his serious gaze, and sh
e could not keep from clutching Tovin’s arm.
“And,” Hal said, “we recognize Ranita Glasswright, without whom we could never have raised the octolaris to success. Ranita brought us the riberry trees; she conceived the strategy for breaking the spiderguild’s monopoly, and she followed through when all action seemed impossible.” He lifted his golden cup and stared at her over the rim. Rani swallowed hard and raised her chin. It felt as if she were answering Hal with proud defiance, challenging him to count out all the costs that had been paid that day in Liantine. She had bargained for the trees, but her bidding had cost Morenia—cost the kingdom a brave soldier who had stayed behind at the spiderguild.
Rani drove away thoughts of Crestman, forcing herself not to dwell on the fate that the young soldier had chosen. Not to dwell on his enslavement in the spiderguild. Not to dwell on the look of betrayal on his face as she closed the deal for the trees.
Instead, she gazed into her king’s eyes and folded herself into a decent curtsey, looking for all the world as if she had been born to a life of finery and pomp. Hal acknowledged her obeisance, and then he sipped from the goblet. Of course, he gave no clue about the reason he had summoned her earlier in the week, no hint about that mystery.
“And my lords and ladies,” he continued. “There is one more whom I must recognize, one more who made today possible. I would not stand before you without the help of Baron Farsobalinti, Grand Master of the Order of the Octolaris.” Farso had been the first of Hal’s knights to don the brooch of the Order, and he had led the way to Hal’s financial success. The baron had presented his ten bars of gold; he had cajoled and shamed and bullied his fellow nobles into doing the same. But Farso had done even more than that—he had explored trade routes for Morenian silk, rooting out merchants who would trade in the new goods, discovering guildsmen who would adapt their broader woolen-goods looms into narrower, sturdier silk machines. He had hired the foremen for the silk hall’s construction, supervised the Touched workers who had carted straw and clay, lumber and stone. Farso had worked tirelessly for the past three years, giving of his days, his nights, his heart, and his soul.
The steady labor and constant worry had taken their toll on the young nobleman. Gone was the sunny youth who had served his king with a child’s dedication. Instead, Farso’s hair had begun to tarnish with untimely silver; fine lines spread out beside his eyes, as if he had strained them poring over account ledgers in the dark of night.
Nevertheless, Farso stood straight and tall on this victorious day, and even as he stepped forward to accept the king’s accolades, he flashed a grin at the woman by his side. Mair’s response was a smile of her own, an expression that only broadened when the babe in her arms began to fuss. Mair shifted Laranifarso, Farsobalinti’s own son, and cast her glance from her husband to her king.
Even with the pressures of the silk trade, Farso had found time enough to marry. Over a year had passed since he had vowed to honor his wife, and still Mair and Farso gazed at each other with the fierce eyes of new lovers. Lovers, that was, until Mair decided that Farso had done something foolish, had overstepped his bounds in some way. Then her tongue was as sharp as ever, full of the screeching condemnation that she had mastered as a leader among the Touched, the casteless poor who filled the streets of Moren. For now, though, she stepped back, offering up the moment of public recognition for her beloved to receive the honor of his king.
Despite Mair’s best efforts, Laranifarso continued fussing, and the Touched mother shifted him from arm to arm. Rani knew that Mair was fully aware of critical eyes in the silk hall. Some of the elite watchers might condemn her for bringing her son to the auction. Some might question her ability to manage her own child, to stop the fussing that threatened to grow into a full squall. Nearly every person in the hall scorned Mair merely for her marriage to Farsobalinti, for daring to create a union between a nobleman and a Touched girl. In fact, Halaravilli had presided over their union, attempting to deflect vicious gossip by invoking his title Defender of the Faith to bless them.
Rani shook her head as she watched her oldest friend ease back from the dais. Mair had been realistic about the courtly bias against her. She had never expected to be anything more than Farso’s mistress, nothing more than his cherished leman. Even though Farso insisted that she meant much more to him, the past three years had not proven easy. They had not flowed smoothly, despite all of Mair’s seeming blessings.
The Touched woman’s struggles for acceptance had tainted the way that Rani thought of the Morenian court. Of course, Rani had no hopes for marrying into the noble caste herself. She knew that. She knew that the only man who might have had her, Halaravilli, had other obligations—to the kingdom, to the court, to his queen. Besides, Rani had her own responsibilities. Not only was she growing her fledgling glasswrights’ guild, but she was also responsible for the players.
At Tovin’s urging, Rani had become the players’ sponsor throughout all of Morenia. She had tried to explain to him that such recognition was not necessary in her homeland, that Morenia did not have Liantine’s restrictions on travel and trade. But Tovin had shaken his head, holding to his own traditions. Despite Rani’s repeated attempts to dislodge the limitations in the usually-creative player’s mind, he would have nothing of her arguments.
The players needed sponsors, Tovin had explained at last. They needed to be subject to rules, to restrictions. Only with such limitations would good people accept the traveling acting troop. Only with such reassurance would people open their homes and their hearts to scoundrels on the high road, to folk who had no home beyond the tents they carried with them, who had no history in the castes of Morenia. Only with a sponsor would people agree to Speak to the players.
Despite the warmth in the silk hall, Rani shivered when she thought of Speaking. Her tremor was not from fear, but rather from naked longing. Only that morning, she had Spoken with Tovin, telling him of the merchant ceremonies that she had witnessed in her youth. Tovin’s voice had woven a curtain around her, spinning a cottony nest of safety and security. Even now, she could feel his words thrumming through her chest, taking her deeper, deeper, into her knowledge, into her memories. …
Swaying, Rani forced her attention back to the present, back to the silk hall and the dais where her king proclaimed: “And now, let the bidding begin. Our first lot is this bolt of crimson silk, the first ever spun in Morenia, dyed in honor of our crown. What am I bid for fair Morenia’s venture into the silk trade?”
“One gold bar!” Farso cried out, and the crowd took a collective step forward. Three merchants shouted over themselves, topping the bid, and Hal graciously nodded toward each successive bidder, gesturing toward them with the ceremonial baton of the auction conductor.
Rani looked at the excitement in Hal’s face, at the energy that thrummed across his shoulders. He had waited for this day impatiently; harrying the octolaris wranglers, demanding that silk be collected twice daily, bullying Davin constantly into building bigger looms and better ones. He had paced in front of the breeding spiders’ cages like an expectant father, waiting with frozen breath as he learned that the first clutch of spider eggs had hatched successfully on Morenian soil, that the riberry trees had borne fruit, that the markin moths had spun their clumsy cocoons, produced their sightless white grubs. Long days and longer nights had slipped away as Hal pinned his kingdom’s hopes on the poisonous spiders, and now he hoped to gather in his reward.
It appeared that both merchants and noblemen were willing to oblige their king. Twelve golden bars were bid on the bolt of cloth. Thirteen. Fourteen.
“Twenty-five bars of gold!” Tovin shouted into the hall, his player’s voice rising to the rafters. The strength of his bid shattered the air, silencing the buzzing watchers.
“What is that, Tovin Player?” Hal turned to the broad-shouldered man, taking only an instant to flick his eyes over to Rani. She understood the momentary question there, the flash of doubt as he demanded to know if he were bein
g mocked. She could only meet Hal’s gaze steadily. She knew nothing of Tovin’s intentions.
“Twenty-five bars of gold, Your Majesty. The players bid twenty-five.”
Rani ran her merchant’s mind over the figure. Tovin could pay it. The players had more than that in store after three years of touring Morenia. Exiled from their homeland, they had proven thrifty, relying on existing costumes and curtains. The players’ only cost had been a score of new glass panels, and Rani had been more than happy to supply the glass for those, to supply the lead and paint and silver stain. After all, she sponsored the players. She supported them. And she learned from them, all for free.
Rani closed her hand on Tovin’s forearm, feeling the energy pulse through the man’s taut muscle. She watched Hal measure her motion, watched him calculate the genuine offer behind the player’s words.
“Very well. Twenty-five bars of gold. And is there anyone who will bid more? Is there anyone who places greater value on the first fruit of the Morenian looms?”
Merchants looked at each other, fingering the pouches of gold at their waist. One man shook his head and eyed the other bolts of cloth, bolts that would not command the same premium as the first. A nobleman cleared his throat, drawing attention, but then he flushed and stepped backwards.
“Very well, then,” Hal proclaimed. “Twenty-five bars of gold from Tovin Player! The first bolt of silk is sold!”
Cheers rang out to the hall’s ceiling, and the crowd surged even closer to the dais. Hal acknowledged the enthusiastic congratulations, and then he stepped down, handing the traditional baton over to the silk official who had been appointed to conduct the body of the trades. Another lot—this one of undyed silk—was displayed before the crowd, and bidding began anew.
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