Through The Fire: The Alawansi Book One

by Valerie Puissant

  Uma ignored Mother’s frantic plea and focused on the screaming child being squeezed too tight in mother’s arms. “Oh! Is that little Wafa? He is getting so big! Let me see that baby!” She stood up and plucked the child from Mother’s arms and handed him a ginger cookie that she produced from one of her countless pockets. His small eyes lit up and he quieted immediately. “It is okay Ruba. I have him now. You can make us some tea. I brought along some more of these cookies. There will be enough for everyone. We got to discuss the future of this here girl of yours.”

  I did not want to have tea and cookies, but I ate them anyway. The sweet confections tasted like sand in my mouth. All my siblings, who I had hugged goodnight just hours ago, now huddled in a corner munching cookies and staring at me as if I had grown a terrifying third head. I hated it. I hated feeling so apart from them. Uma dropped some marigold leaves into the hot water in my teacup and handed it to me with a pointed look. I understood and stared at the steaming liquid until it turned yellow like late afternoon sun, then I drank it, unsweetened.

  “Alright,” Uma sat back in her seat, “Now we all had some honey to sweeten our tongues, so we can speak to each other calmly and politely.” She gestured towards me. “This is a very special girl you got here. As you have already seen, she is very powerful. Someday, with the right kind of training, she might even be as powerful as me, but just in a different way. She has the kind of powers that I cannot help her with. She is not cut out to be a witch.” Both Mother and Father opened their mouths to protest, but Uma silenced them. “That ain’t to say she cannot be trained though. I ain’t suggesting that she stay here with you.” I was more curious than ever. “Ever since that child was born, I been looking in my glass, trying to see what destiny had in store for Safa, but her future has always been clouded, hidden from me.” My mouth fell open. Uma’s sight was famous. She could look into her ball of sea glass and see into people’s souls. It was a skill I had been hoping to learn myself someday. “I could not see nothing about her until she got her powers, then I finally seen the truth.” She had not told me what she had seen in her ball. I listened more keenly. “I knew right away what I seen was not no witch magic. This here girl is an elemental. The reason she cannot be a witch is because she’s a mage.” My parents stared at her blankly, just as I had when she told me. Uma took no notice of their confusion. “I wrote a letter to the only mage I know, my old friend Napu. He is Royal Mage to the king of Fadulis hisself. I have asked him to take on Safa here as his apprentice. Last week I finally got a letter from him saying he was willing to come to Bedato to meet her.”

  Father snagged the final cookie, but frowned as he brought it to his lips. “I may not know much, but I know a little something about the Alawansi. My great-uma was a witch herself and I know that mages are male. Safara is not a boy. There is no such thing as a girl mage.”

  “That is well spotted, Deka. I always knew you was sharp, no matter what people say about you.”

  Father frowned more deeply, as if considering whether or not he should feel insulted by her words. “I know Safa ain’t a boy and we do not have to try to change her into a boy. We just gotta-- What do you call it? Manage people’s perception.”

  Mother shook her head. “No, I changed her diaper. That is not a matter of perception. That is a matter of anatomy. Safara is a girl and no amount of perception can change that.”

  “If you saw her walking down the street with a shaved head and wearing a pair of trousers, then what would you think?”

  Mother snorted. “I would wonder why a pretty girl with such large breasts was pretending to be a boy.”

  Uma looked down at my chest. “Maybe we need a bit of wrapping too, but if we do all that, who is to say she ain’t a boy? It ain’t lyin if someone happens to think they are looking at a boy, and we simply forget to tell them different. I hear Safi is a real popular boy’s name.” She pronounced the name with the emphasis on the final syllable. “It is so close to her own name, I might accidentally use it when I introduce her. It is an easy mistake for an old, forgetful woman like me to make.

  Mother was still doubtful. “So you want to take a young woman and disguise her as a boy and then present her to the Royal Mage, and hope she can fool the most powerful man in the kingdom?”

  In my mind I thought, “Why does no one ask me what I think about all this?” But I kept my thoughts to myself.

  Uma shook her head. “No mage worth his salt would be fooled for one moment by a disguise, no matter how good it is. Mages may be mere men, but they ain’t fools. I am not counting on his ignorance. I am counting on his good sense. There ain’t no reason a powerful child like Safi here should be turned away from her birthright. She should be trained as a mage since that is what she is. Folks have been sayin for centuries that girls cannot have elemental powers. Well, here she is, living proof that they are wrong. Once that king sees what she can do, he will not care what equipment she has under those bright sparkly robes. The disguise is just a way of giving them time to adjust to the truth. Your girl needs to go to the castle for her studies. I seen it in my glass. All we have to do is get her into town. I will take her to Bedato. The disguise will get her through the door and her powers will do the convincing. She will go to the castle for training. It is her destiny.”

  Every fiber of my being was screaming “NO!” I felt like my world was collapsing. My future had been planned since the moment of my birth. I was witch marked and I was supposed to be apprenticed to a nearby village. It was not an easy future, but it was simple and honest and it did not involve lying to anyone. Now I was going to be asked to shave my head and live a lie in a huge city that felt like it was half a world away. Fadaria was so distant it was nearly impossible for me to imagine the journey. I did not want to do this, but how could I protest when Uma had gone to so much trouble to give me this opportunity?

  My parents looked at each other briefly and I watched as they had an entire conversation with their eyes, then my father spoke. “I am not convinced that this is a good idea, but we are out of options. I give my consent as her father. You may take her to Bedato to be apprenticed to the Royal Mage.”

  Uma nodded, satisfied with their response. “I am an old woman. I have pains in my chest. My body is weak and my rheumatism is paining me something awful.” The words were recited by rote and without much conviction. Uma Adi was as healthy as a plow horse. She would outlive us all and we all knew it. “But I will take the girl into Bedato to meet old Napu. He is no fool. He will know where she belongs and he will do right by her.”

  Uma pulled the stub of a pencil and a scrap of sheepskin paper from one of her many pockets.“For me to even consider it, I would need loan of your cart. The one with the sprung wheels of course. These old bones will need a comfortable ride into the city and back.” She nodded at mother, “You will have to shave Safi’s head and outfit her with trousers and a shirt. It ain’t gotta be fancy, just clean. I cannot abide a dirty child. I will need a few coppers to settle on her new master. Apprenticeship ain’t free, you know. I will need a little extra to buy a small whiskey for myself. It is medicinal, just to calm my nerves.” Deka reached for his money pouch and withdrew several small coins. “Big coppers.” She took a small stack that I knew would not break him or starve the family while Mother got the scissors and set to work, shearing off my long dreadlocks.

  Chapter Two

  The cart rolled down the hard packed dirt road at a snail’s pace. Uma was sitting in the seat next to me nodding off at the reigns. We had been riding since the early morning, mostly in silence. The moon was high in the night sky and we still had several hours of travel left, but Uma was determined not to camp. It was as if she could not wait to be rid of me.

  I ran my hand sadly over the coarse stubble that dotted the top of my nearly bald scalp. I had never been vain about my looks. I had dark brown skin and a thin face. People always said I looked like my mother and that she was a real beauty. I supposed they were right. We did have
similar features, except for our eyes. Hers were dark and expressive where mine were pale and cold. No one had ever called me beautiful. That had always been fine by me since I had never expected to attract a husband anyway, but my hair had been my one vanity. I had been waxing and twisting the dark brown strands since I was very young and I had been proud of my waist length locks. I felt ugly, naked and slightly ridiculous without them.

  I also felt very angry. No one had even bothered to ask me what I wanted before they committed me to this brand new path in life. It was as if the world said “Surprise! Your whole life has been a lie. Those magic powers you have been waiting for so eagerly? They are deadly dangerous and terrifying to everyone around you. Biggest surprise of all, you are such a freak, you do not even get to be yourself any more. You have to pretend to be someone completely different.” All the study and hard work had been for nothing. I was angry at Uma for not preparing me for this. I was angry at her and my parents for forcing me to play this dangerous game. How could they willingly hand me off to a strange man I had never met? I turned and glared at the dozing old woman. Uma’s head lolled towards my shoulder, but I scooted myself over to the far side of the wagon so she could not rest on me.

  She leaned too far and startled herself into wakefulness, sitting bolt upright in her seat. She looked over at my frowning visage. “I know you are upset that things ain’t going the way you expected, but I want you to know I ain’t doing any of this lightly. I know what I am asking of you seems impossible and it ain’t fair, but I just know it is the right thing.” She sounded like she was trying to convince herself as much as she was trying to convince me. “If there was any other way, I would do it. There just ain’t. This is what we gotta do. Napu can help you. I just know he will.” She slapped the reins against the back of the sleepy ox. “You go on and lean against me, girl. Try to get some sleep. You got a long day ahead of you and you need your rest.” I did not lean against her. Instead I folded my arms and moved as far away from her as I could. She chuckled. “There is that fire inside you comin out. You hold onto that. It will give you the strength that will see you through this.” We rode on in silence a bit longer. “I know you must have some questions for me now that you have had some time to think about this.”

  “No Ma’am.” I spoke to her through clenched teeth. When this all started, I was too shocked to say anything. Now, that I had had some time and silence in which to gather my thoughts, I did want some answers. How was I going to manage this deception? How long was I going to have to keep up this ruse? Why could I not decide my own fate? I was just too angry to ask my questions and much too angry to sit and listen to the answers.

  “Look like you got plenty on your mind to me, Safa girl. You better vent your spleen now. After tomorrow, it is gonna be a long time before you see me again.”

  I rolled my eyes. I had never rolled my eyes at an adult before, least of all my grandmother, but I was seething. “I am glad one of us is so confident that I am not about to be hanged for this little scheme.”

  Uma nodded as if satisfied that I was finally speaking again. “What we are doing here ain’t exactly illegal. Women folk ain’t supposed to be able to practice the kind of magic that you can do. As a matter of fact, in all my born days I ain’t never seen a gal who could do it. Even if they find out my handsome grandson is really my beautiful granddaughter, they ain’t got no laws in the books against it. You ain’t going to lose your life over this, girl. I know it. I seen it in my glass. This life will not be easy, but your name will go down in history.”

  I wanted to scream. “I trusted your word when you told me I was to become a great witch. I trusted you when you told me I was witch marked. How am I to trust you now that your vision has suddenly changed everything?” I wanted to demand answers but I did not. The answers would change nothing. I was going to Bedato to meet this old mage, no matter what I wanted. I lapsed once again into brooding silence.

  At some point, I must have dozed off because the sun shining through my eyelids woke me in time to watch as we passed through the gates of Bedato. I had never been to the city before. I had spent every one of my nearly seventeen years in a village with fewer than twenty households. I momentarily forgot my troubles as I stared at the wonders that surrounded me. The day was just getting started and the streets were still silent. I watched in fascination as shopkeepers set up their storefronts for the day’s business. I wanted to get off the cart and explore the wares for sale on the avenue, even though I had not a cent to my name. The streets here were covered in smooth stones and the buildings were wood and mud brick, limewashed white. Many of them were two stories high and they were so close together that they blocked out the sun in places. I gaped in awe at each new wonder.

  Finally, Uma turned down a street filled with houses and rode up to the largest house on the row. “This here is the house of the Lord Mayor. My friend Napu will be here.” I felt my stomach leap into my throat. I looked down at my shabby and patched shirt and my frayed trousers. I had never felt particularly beautiful or fancy in my plain brown dress, but I had never truly felt shabby until this moment. I did not want to go into the Lord Mayor’s house looking like a beggar. I wanted to run but I did not know where to go. I did not want to go home, not really, I just did not feel like I belonged here. That was the problem, I did not really belong anywhere. “Well quit sitting there, with that queer expression on your face, g-- boy! You look like you got trapped wind in your belly. We gotta get moving.”

  Uma Adi, dressed in her simple, yellow flowered dress and ever present wool shawl, walked straight up to the front door of the grand home as if she owned the place and knocked. The sun had barely cleared the horizon. Most people were just sitting down to their morning meal. It was not a decent hour for receiving visitors, yet Uma did not seem to notice the time.

  A man dressed in fine clothes answered the door and looked down his nose at us. “The servant’s entrance is around the back, but we are not currently hiring.” His speech sounded odd to my ears. It was as if every word trumpeted through his wide nose.

  “We ain’t the help, young man. My grandson is here to see the mage.”

  The man gave me a second look. “Oh, no. The mage left me strict instruction that I was not to disturb his slumber. You will need to return at a more opportune time.” He attempted to close the door on Uma Adi because he had never met her. She stuck her hard soled boot into the door jamb and pushed it open far enough to slide in and pull me in after.

  “I am sure you meant to ask us in to wait. Now you show us into your parlor and have your girl make us some tea while you go and wake the mage.” The servant stood there staring at us, his mouth agape. Uma nodded. “Okay, I guess we will find our own seats. Can you at least go and fetch the tea or do I have to boil the water myself?” She gave him one of her looks. It was the kind of look that mothers had been giving to children since the dawn of human memory. It was the withering kind of look that forced the body into obedience, no matter what the mind said.

  “Please come this way, madam.” He led us down a corridor in the grand house and turned at a set of double doors on the left side. He grasped both knobs and threw open the doors, then jumped in surprise as a giant man in a green velvet robe stood from behind a desk.

  Everyone I had ever met had dark brown skin. In fact, I had read everyone in the kingdom of Fadulis had dark brown skin, but this man was the color of wet sand. His lighter skin made him look washed out and peculiar. His hair was short and dark brown and it clung to his scalp in loose waves. His features were strong and even and they could almost be considered handsome if his skin had not been so unfortunate. His eyes were a peculiar shade of greenish brown that reminded me a bit of swamp mud. The servant nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw the man. Clearly he had not expected anyone to be in the room. “Sir! I did not realize you had risen. Please forgive the intrusion.”

  He attempted to close the door but Uma would have none of it. She pushed past the stricken ser
vant and strode across the polished wooden floor. “Who in the hell are you? Napu wrote to me and told me he was coming here to fetch my grandson, Safi. The boy is twelve now and it is time he was apprenticed. I only want to talk to the master. I ain’t interested in talking to no underlings. Where is that old fool?”

  “Dead now, a year and a half. I am Wylan. I was Napu’s apprentice. He is gone and now I am the king’s mage.”

  Uma’s mouth dropped open. She strode to the nearest chair and sat in it heavily. “Napu is gone? Oh merciful creator. How?”

  The giant man lowered his head and spoke quietly. “One night, after supper he simply placed a sealed scroll of parchment on the table and told me not to open it until the morning. He went to bed and never woke up. When I opened the papers, I found they were instructions for what I was supposed to do in the event of his death. One of the tasks he set me was this very visit. The letter said he had foreseen it would happen, and so it has.”

  Uma nodded approvingly. “That was a good and proper end to a life well lived. Gods, but I will miss him. I did not see him in my glass this last time I looked, but I just thought--” She shook her head. “I guess it is no matter what I thought. If he ain’t here, I do not think this will work out. I cannot leave my grandson with just any old mage. I will just take Safi here and we will be on our way.” My heart both sank and leaped with joy. I was not going to be delivered into the hands of strangers and expected to spend the next several years living a lie. At the same time, I wondered what would I do instead? Where could I go where I would not cause mayhem and destruction?

  The tall mage inclined his head slightly. His face was impassive as he spoke. “As you wish, but your letter did say the child had the strongest elemental magic you had ever seen and that he needed to be trained. I am looking for an apprentice at the moment.”