The Usurper's Crown

by Sarah Zettel

  “But these will not come again.”

  “Not these. They are bound by their oaths to me now.”

  “Can’t they break those oaths?”

  Avanasy shook his head. “They cannot. It would put them in my power again.”

  “How so?”

  Avanasy’s smile was thin. “It is one of the mysteries between this world and the Land of Death and Spirit. An oath between a mortal and a spirit or a power is not as an oath between mortal and mortal. Words between us have powers of their own. They can wound, they can tie, they can break. The arguments about why this is so are extensive. They fill books and scrolls of great antiquity. The only point which cannot be argued is that this is the truth.”

  Ingrid stared out across the docks. She had not imagined a river could be so broad. It must be to rivers as Superior was to lesser lakes. The ships waiting at the piers came in all sizes. There were huge galleons with four masts and three tiers of portholes. There were lean three-masted cutters with knife-sharp prows for slicing through the waves with all speed. Sloops and smacks and dories of all descriptions crowded in the shadows of the larger vessels. Bare-chested men in broad, peaked hats worked in and around their vessels, singing, swearing and shouting by turns. These were surely the common sailors, decided Ingrid. They carried huge bundles on their backs, or tightly packed baskets on shoulder yokes. The air was full of the smells of tar, sweat and spices. Despite the strangeness of dress and the sight of so many sails, the place felt strangely familiar to Ingrid. It reminded her sharply of the port at Bayfield.

  Between the shirtless men worked men in short coats and wide trousers, mostly white or unbleached cloth with colored bands around the cuffs and hems for trimming, but here and there was one dressed in solid black or bright green or sapphire blue. These men stood in groups, talking, or supervised the unloading of ships and the loading of carts, or sat at trestle tables beside ships’ gangways weighing samples of goods or reviewing what Ingrid supposed were bills of goods.

  But all these sights and sounds were not enough to drive the question that had formed inside her out of her mind. “So, if I had promised that … Baba Yaga that I would carry out the task she gave me …”

  “You would have been bound to her by that promise until the task had been completed, yes. If you had tried to break that promise, your life itself could have been forfeit to her.”

  “Oh.”

  Ingrid was silent for a time, breathing in air that smelt of spices, fish and garbage. Then, another thought occurred to her. “But surely those demons were sent to murder us.”

  “They were.”

  “Did they not break a promise then by failing to do so?”

  “They did. Which is why they have fled. At the time, they feared me more than they feared Yamuna.” He rubbed his forehead. “I was gambling, I confess, that they were of those breeds not noted for their courage, and that they might indeed have been coerced.” He lifted his eyes again. “If they had given their oaths freely, there would have been nothing short of their annihilation that would have saved us.”

  To that, Ingrid made no reply. At her silence, Avanasy’s face fell. “It is a dangerous place I have brought you to, Ingrid. But these are dangers beyond what I anticipated. I am sorry.”

  She shook her head. “It was my decision.” She tried to smooth down her filthy dress. “Now, where are we and how are we to make ourselves decent enough to be seen here?”

  He smiled at her sudden turn to practicality. The expression brought a more healthy color to his cheeks, which her heart lifted to see.

  “I have some gold,” he said. “Not much, but some. We can change it for local coin easily enough, which in turn will buy us a bath and whatever else is needful. As for where we are …” With a grunt, Avanasy got himself to his feet, and extended his hand to Ingrid to help her do the same. “We are in T’ien, the city that holds the Heart of the World.”

  Together they waded into the busy crowd surrounding the river docks. The warm damp air was only made heavier by the presence of so many bodies surrounding them. Although Avanasy said he had only been to Hung Tse three times in his life on errands for the emperor of Isavalta, he spoke the language well. So too, apparently, did Ingrid, for he had imparted that understanding to her through his enchantment. She could understand the language of the sailors and the wharfmen in all its rough color as they worked their way down past the piers and the warehouses.

  Finally, Avanasy found what he was looking for. He touched Ingrid’s forearm and gestured for her to wait by the seawall. She nodded and backed away while he strolled onto the docks toward a man in a white coat with narrow green lapels and deep cuffs who sat behind his table weighing out what looked from Ingrid’s vantage point like thimbles of tarnished silver. He looked up at the sound of Avanasy’s voice, and from the men’s expressions, Ingrid became confident that a period of pleasantries and bargaining was about to begin.

  She let her attention wander to the business of the port. A rhythmic song rang out as sailors hoisted heavy loads aboard one of the galleons. A cart loaded with live chickens in their coops turned a corner in a flurry of feathers and frantic clucking. A drunken man wove his way unsteadily through the throng clutching a wineskin to his bosom. Ingrid rolled her eyes. There was a recipe for disaster in this crowd.

  Disaster was not long in coming. The drunk, rather than choosing the path of least resistance, seemed determined to force his way through the thickest part of the traffic. He was shouldered off to one side, and then the other, but before he had gone many yards he collided straight into one of the few women who walked near the docks, sending up a spurt of clear liquor between them, which drew a laugh from the passersby. The woman drew back in an obvious attempt to regain both distance and dignity. The drunkard himself batted at the woman’s robe, in either an assault, or an attempt to wipe away the dampness. Angrily, the woman pushed him away, shouting something that was lost in the general laughter and noise of the crowd. But, even as she did, traffic began to flow around her again, one man brushed against her, and Ingrid saw his hand reach quickly into her sash and secret something in his own sleeve.

  “Thief!” shouted Ingrid, before she even had time to think. She jerked herself upright and leveled an accusing finger at the man. “Thief!”

  A general shout rose from the crowd. Some drew back and others surged forward, and the thief himself tried to dart into the crowd. Ingrid leapt forward, putting herself squarely in his path, and grabbing his sleeve as he tried to push past her.

  “Let me go!” he shouted. “Are you mad? Let go!”

  But the assaulted woman reached into her sash, and found her property missing.

  “Thief!” she echoed Ingrid’s cry. “Thief! That man has my purse!”

  Then it was not just Ingrid who held him. Two of the passing sailors seized the thief roughly by the shoulders, pulling him from Ingrid’s grip. Avanasy was beside her all at once, urging her back. A third sailor, with a moth tattooed in blue on his shoulder, searched the thief roughly, coming up with a bag of scarlet leather.

  “My purse!” cried the woman, running forward to snatch it from the sailor’s hand.

  The crowd did not take this declaration well, and the shouts turned ugly. The thief was shoved from hand to hand and his pleas were lost under the general roar. But someone’s grip must have slipped, because the thief darted through a cluster of sailors and pelted up the alleyway between two warehouses, the mob in hot pursuit behind him.

  “Are you all right?” Avanasy asked Ingrid.

  Before she could answer, the assaulted woman stepped up to them and bowed deeply, holding both hands before her, palms pressed together as if for prayer.

  “May your sharp eyes be blessed,” she said breathlessly. “I and my family are in your debt.”

  Ingrid glanced sideways at Avanasy, her eyebrows raised, but she quickly recovered herself and curtseyed to the woman. “You’re welcome. Anyone would have done the same.”

&nb
sp; “But anyone did not,” replied the woman, straightening up. She was a slender woman, a few inches shorter than Ingrid. Her eyes were almond-shaped, and a rich almond brown hue in her round face. Her black hair had been piled high on her head and bound with peach-colored ribbon that exactly matched the skirts and cuffs of her robe. “I am Cai Yun Shen. May I have the honor of knowing to whom I owe the return of my property?”

  Caution nibbled at the edge of Ingrid’s mind. “I am Ingrid,” she said. “And this is my husband Avan.”

  Cai Yun looked from one of them to the other, but did not ask about their abbreviated names. “And you are strangers to this province?”

  “Travelers only,” said Avanasy.

  “Then please allow me to extend to you the hospitality of my family’s house. My uncle will be pleased to personally thank you both.”

  Ingrid felt her face begin to warm, and opened her mouth to protest she had not done so much, but felt Avanasy’s gently warning touch on her shoulder.

  “The honor would be ours,” he said to Cai Yun. Then, to Ingrid, in English he added, “Hospitality is not something we can lightly refuse here. It would be a grave insult.”

  Ingrid nodded her understanding. At that same moment, she thought she saw Cai Yun’s eyes narrow ever so slightly. What disconcerted her? Was it the language? Why would that be?

  But all Cai Yun said was, “Then, if you will please follow me.”

  “Gladly,” said Ingrid, despite her troubled propriety. They were still filthy, covered with the residue of their travels. The idea of entering a decent home in this condition did not leave her at ease.

  But Cai Yun did not seem to notice, and Avanasy walked with his head up, apparently unconcerned. Ingrid tried to put it out of her own mind and pay attention to the city passing around them. She soon came to realize she was in a city far larger than any she had ever been in. For all she knew, the place might be as big as Chicago. The narrow streets were filled with people and lined with houses of stone and wood with tiled roofs, some as much as three stories high. The tallest and the richest rose behind walls of carved and painted stone, and Ingrid saw the tops of rich green trees, leading her to believe the walls enclosed gardens as well as homes.

  They had not been walking many minutes before Cai Yun stopped before one of these private walls. The opening in it was a narrow, dark wooden door carved all over with patterns that might have been swirls of wind, or might have been winding ribbons. She would not have given them a second thought, except she heard Avanasy’s sharp intake of breath at the sight of them.

  Inside the gate, as Ingrid had thought, there was a garden. It was a lush, green lawn overshadowed by drooping trees with leaves of all shades of green and red. Rich ferns and reeds clustered about still, brown ponds blooming with lilies and purple flags.

  Beyond the garden waited a house Ingrid could only describe as grand, which made her shabbiness feel even more apparent. Two stories tall and far broader than it was high, it was a beautiful building of painted wood with wide, red-lacquered eaves, covered with flowing decorations of green and gold. Rather than windows, it seemed that whole panels of the walls folded back like screens to open the rooms to the sea breezes that drifted over the walls.

  Avanasy’s eyes looked about ready to fall from his head, he was staring so hard as they walked up the flagstone path. “I have never seen a house so elaborately protected,” he murmured. “If these sigils are real, this place is protected by more magics than the Imperial winter home in Isavalta.”

  Ingrid wanted to ask him why anyone would protect their home so heavily, but Cai Yun was watching them again with her narrowed eyes, so Ingrid responded with a smile.

  “What beautiful gardens you have,” she said. “My husband was just remarking on them.”

  Cai Yun smiled, apparently satisfied. “They are indeed lovely. I have spent many peaceful hours here, and am always glad to return when I have been away.”

  “You travel a great deal then, Lady?” inquired Avanasy.

  “My family makes its living by ships,” answered Cai Yun, a trifle coolly, Ingrid thought. “I have sailed some distance with them.”

  They had reached the verandah now. Two servants, a man and a woman in identical coats and trousers of unbleached cotton with black cuffs, opened the doors and bowed deeply.

  “Welcome, mistress,” said the woman to Cai Yun. “Your uncle has been awaiting your return and asks that you join him in his library at once.”

  “Gladly, Shien. Now, these two travelers are my honored guests. You and Jiu will show them to a good apartment and see that they are brought clean clothes and all that they will need to refresh themselves.” She spoke with the casual ease of one used to command. “As they are northerners, you will see them housed together.” She blinked up at Avanasy. “That is customary for a husband and wife in your land, is it not?”

  Avanasy did not frown, not quite, but a flicker of suspicion crossed his face. “It is,” he acknowledged, and Ingrid wondered what he was thinking.

  “Welcome to this house, master, mistress,” said Jiu. “If you will come with us please.”

  “I will relate the full story to my uncle,” said Cai Yun. “He will be anxious to meet you and thank you for your vigilance.”

  “I’m just glad I could help,” murmured Ingrid, and she was glad to be able to turn quickly away to follow the old servants.

  The inside of the house, at least on the first floor, seemed to be composed of only a few separate rooms. The rest of the space seemed to be broken by gleaming wooden pillars and screens of carved wood or painted silk. Ingrid felt as if she was in some grand pavilion rather than a true house.

  Up the broad, shallow stairs the rooms were smaller, with solid walls and doors. Jiu and Shien led them down a corridor to the far corner of the house, opening a pair of doors to reveal a room of rose-colored wood and water blue silk. The two servants bustled about, opening the broad windows and sheltering them with intricately carved screens. Jiu hurried to fetch water while Shien opened a rosewood press and laid out two sets of robes, one white and green, one white and blue. Black sashes accompanied each robe. As Jiu returned with water for the porcelain ewers, Shien also laid out towels, soaps, combs and brushes in such profusion that Ingrid was not sure she could decipher uses for them all.

  It took some doing to convince the pair that she really wanted them to wait outside during their ablutions, but Ingrid was firm. She apologized repeatedly for her coarse and foreign ways, but she shooed them out just the same. She wanted a moment to think, and to catch her breath with Avanasy. She did not want to be fussed over by a stranger.

  At last, however, Shien closed the door behind herself murmuring that she would see to their meal, and bowing to Ingrid’s thanks. The door shut, Ingrid let out a sigh of relief and set about stripping her filthy dress off down to her petticoats. She had peeled off her outer layer and tossed it aside, only to look up and see Avanasy smiling at her.

  “What is that for?” she inquired with mock stiffness.

  “You. A world away from your home, and you are stopping thieves, graciously smoothing our entrance into the homes of the wealthy, and ordering servants about, and yet I believe you think nothing of it.”

  Ingrid shrugged, pouring water from an ewer into a basin. The faint scent of jasmine rose from the cascade. “Compared to what I have seen you do today, it’s a small thing.”

  “No.” He came to stand next to her, his hands resting on her shoulders. “It is a great thing indeed.” As if to prove what he said, he kissed her lingeringly, a gesture Ingrid willingly accepted.

  “Do you have any idea where we might be?” she asked when they parted. With towel and soap, she set about scrubbing her face, neck and arms. The water turned from clear to gray with distressing speed.

  “If I am not mistaken,” said Avanasy, filling his own basin, “this house belongs to a pirate.”

  “A pirate?” repeated Ingrid, lifting her dripping face in surprise.r />
  Avanasy nodded, stripping off his shirt and laying it aside with Ingrid’s dress. “They are a plague on Hung Tse, and most embarrassingly on T’ien and the Heart of the World, but they flourish, well paid and well protected.”

  “You don’t sound as if you believe we are in much danger.”

  “I don’t. They have their own honor in many ways, and judging from our Lady Cai Yun’s reaction, whatever was in that purse was valuable to the master of this house. I think we will be safer here than we could have been in hired rooms and public baths, and much less observed.”

  “It is no worse than demons, I suppose,” admitted Ingrid, bending once again to her wash.

  But she heard no indication that Avanasy was doing the same. “Ingrid, what is wrong?” he asked softly.

  For a time, Ingrid did not answer. She washed her neck and arms, wrung out the towel, folded it onto the side of the basin, picked up a fresh towel and began to dry herself.

  “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I … It’s all so strange. As soon as I think I know what to expect, everything seems to change, and I know nothing. I even find … I wonder …” She bit her lip. She had not meant to say so much.

  “What?” asked Avanasy, drawing close. “Wondering perhaps how much you know of your husband?”

  She could not look at him. “I don’t want to feel this way, I swear to you, Avanasy …”

  He just shook his head to silence her. “It would be strange indeed if you did not. You have seen me threaten torture and murder against my enemies. You have been swept from one land to another with barely a word, and you have been torn in two since you came here.” He ran his fingers lightly over the braided wristlet. “What sane woman would not have doubts about what she had done?”

  “And what do we do about it, then?”

  “We trust,” said Avanasy. “We hold each other close. We hold close the hope that this chaos must end and the world will be righted again.”

  Ingrid knew her smile was wan. “I will do my best.”