by C. R. Daems
"I come to ask you to be my Intermediate with Ahasha," I said, knowing they had already communicated with the guild in Scio, but I felt I should ask out of politeness.
"We are honored by your trust. We should have birds trained before you reach Saxis."
"I noticed several men wandering the town and standing on the outside of our performance in black robes. At least, I think they were men. Their robes hide their faces and body shape. The robes are similar to those in Araby, except for the color. Do you know anything about them?"
"Yes, those in black follow the prophet Virtor who claims to have been given guidance from the God Xades, ruler of the underworld. He and his followers seek to punish evil in the hope of creating a good and safe world. You will find yellow-robes in Tuska, and a prophet named Drogo dedicated to the Goddess Amatera. We have not heard anything from Saxis or Dazel."
"Are they peaceful?"
"Except for some minor incidents, the followers have not caused any trouble and are quick to help if asked. Their camps are well out of town so they are easily ignored. They seem to be persuasive, because their numbers have been growing." She frowned. "Do you have concerns?"
"No, sister wizard. Those I’ve met were very nice and their goal worthy, if impossible."
"You worked a miracle. Why not them?" the old lady wizard asked with a motherly smile.
"Stopped a war. I did not change the way men… and women think."
"True, and now as the king’s wizards, we will keep watch with the Shadows."
"I hope it will be a long, boring watch," I said and was greeted with nods and a rumbling of the ground which I took for unanimous agreement.
* * *
When I returned to the wagon, Luka was waiting up, or at least, he was making an attempt to stay awake. Without thinking about it, I entered as quiet as the air I let in when I opened the door. Luka sat on a bench, eyes closed, chin resting on his chest, and holding a half empty cup of water in his lap. I kissed him lightly on the ear, and he jerked awake, spilling the water, and looking wide-eyed around the shadows caused by the half moon of Setebos.
"It’s me, my love," I said giving him another kiss on the ear.
"That’s the last time I stay awake waiting for you. You scared me near to death."
"I'm hurt, Luka. My kisses scare you?"
"You know what I mean, Ryana. I thought a ghost had brushed against me."
"Now you don’t like my touch. And I thought you loved me," I sobbed.
He reached up and pulled me into his lap. "You’re forgiven."
"I’m forgiven? I didn’t say your presence scares me, or I can’t stand you touching me." I put on my best indignant look. He laughed.
"You win. You can creep up on me anytime and touch me all you want," he said, while nuzzling his lips between my breasts. He looked up. "Oh, the reason I was trying to stay awake was to tell you Lady Roshan has asked for us to perform for her tomorrow… I guess it’s tonight now. She didn’t say anything about you, but Alida said you gave her a telling in Ashtol several seasons past."
We were both awake, so I began some serious kissing and rubbing, and found myself in bed naked, so I assumed he wasn't interested in Lady Roshan anymore.
CHAPTER SIX
CALION: Zeles - Lady Roshan
The performance went well, and again I didn’t perform. This time at my request. I convinced everyone that my part on the swings wasn’t significant enough to warrant inclusion. Lady Roshan might have liked to see my act with Yoan, but not me on the swings. While those of us not performing waited the troupe’s return, Lujza sat down next to me.
"I wonder whether my son captured a beautiful tigress or the tigress captured my son," she said, sipping a fruit drink that the servants had provided along with a variety of cheeses and breads. "Kings, first lords, and wizards know you by name and seek your counsel." It wasn’t a question but it was. Who are you?
"I’m a young girl who has had very little experience in the ways of the world but knows she is in love with your son, wants to be accepted by the Tobar clan, and to live her life in peace," I said, holding eye contact with her. "Before I met Luka, I fell in love with the Dorian clan and could see life with them. But Hesland was a smoldering volcano with everyone choosing sides and looking for places to hide. Many reached out to fortunetellers who normally wouldn’t have. Somehow I became the one to see. A mystery gypsy able to see what no one else can." I shrugged. "How do you refuse nobles and wizards?"
Lujza looked at me for a long time without speaking. "Yes, I believe you do love my son. And yes, it is safer to stay on a runaway wagon than to try to get off. But nobles and wizards are not stupid. They believe what you tell them, or you would have been flogged for pretending to be real and not sought a second time."
"If you wish me to leave, I will." She was right—more than she knew. I was a dangerous person to have around, even with the gypsies being under the king’s protection.
"No, my dear. You're my son’s wife and a member of the Tobar clan. I believe Luka captured you when you were vulnerable. That is obvious to me." She gave me a wry smile. "I'm just a nosey mother trying to get to know her new daughter."
"No, protecting your son and your clan."
"No, protecting my son, my new daughter, and our clan.
* * *
Not long after the troupe returned from their performance, a middle-aged man in military dress and wearing a sword and long dagger entered the room, looked around, and then headed straight for me.
"Are you Ryana, the gypsy fortuneteller?"
"Yes, sir. I am."
"Inform your clan leader they are to remain here until you return. Then follow me," he said in a very officious and cool tone. I nodded, found Santo, and gave him the message. I followed the officer down the hallway, up some stairs, and down another hallway. Lady Roshan's new residence was bigger and looked more elegant than her place in Ashtol. Soon the man stopped at a door with two guards, knocked once, and entered. A minute later he opened the door to wave me in.
"Lady Roshan, will see you now."
When I entered, he closed the door and moved nearer to Roshan. It appeared he was the captain of her security and trusted.
"Ryana, I missed your knife throwing skit. And you’ve changed clans. It was only by accident that I discovered you were in town."
"It's true, Lady Roshan. I’m married and with my husband’s clan, and they do seem reluctant to have me throwing knives at them," I said and received a good natured laugh.
"He was a very brave man. As you have probably noticed, I’ve been elevated to a second lord, largely due to your vision of the future. You did not tell me what I wanted to hear or even good things to come. You gave me hard truths. So, what do you have for me this time, Ryana of the Tobar clan?"
"I do not know Lady Roshan. If you would sit, I could look," I said, apprehensively. This woman had hard questions last time and was not one to take lightly. She nodded as if expecting the same routine as last time, and pointed to a table and two chairs off to the side. She sat after I did and put her hands on the table. A small smile creased her lips, sort of like a hawk considering a mouse trapped under its talons.
I placed my hands over hers, closed my eyes, and dropped into the moment, ensuring if the captain moved I’d know it. Then I turned my thoughts to Roshan.
"Last time we talked, Hesland was splitting into two worlds, and you had no choice but to choose one. You chose the one the shadow watched and benefited. Then there were only two world views. The choice, this or that. Today there are many views different from yours. They are easy to ignore because each is weak. No one threatens you. It is not them that you should fear. It is one who can find a common cause. Watch for that one. That one can destroy you."
"Does the shadow also watch?"
"Yes, the shadows and the earth watch, but from afar. But the watch is yours as are the privileges you can lose."
"When? Who?" Her voice rose in a demand.
"Ther
e are many potential futures behind a mist I see, none clearer than another."
"Then how am I supposed to defend against the one?"
"You are not alone, but with privilege comes responsibility."
"How dare you!" Roshan stood abruptly, jerking her hands from under mine and knocking her chair over. The captain drew his sword and stepped forward. I remained frozen in the moment, capable of killing the captain, who thought me a simple gypsy, but unable without jeopardizing my clan.
"No!" Roshan shouted. "Put away the sword, captain. Neither you nor I is impressing her."
"If you wish me to tell you that you will become the First Lady of Calion, everyone will love you, and you'll live for a hundred years, I will. And then you will have reason to have me thrown into your dungeon."
Roshan gave a snort and nodded towards her chair. The captain quickly set it upright and she sat again.
"Gypsy Ryana of the Tobar clan, you are an enigma. You tell fortunes for coppers, yet nobles and wizards seek you out. You see more than you should and hold many secrets, yet you are still alive. You are a commoner and worse, in the opinion of most, yet don't act accordingly." She sat back in her chair, watching me. "What do I owe you for this telling?"
"Two coppers," I said. She laughed.
"For two coppers, you'd let someone whip you to death rather than divulge your telling, yet another mystery." She rose and walked over to her desk, removed something and returned. "Here are your two coppers, Ryana." She smiled and threw a bag to the captain. "Give that to the gypsy Santo. Tell him, it's to ensure his clan gives me another performance when he returns to Zeles."
* * *
"My pay for the telling," I said dropping the two coppers in Santo's hand.
"So, what did you tell Lady Roshan?" Alida asked, as Santo counted the toras in the bag the captain had given him.
"I told her she'd become the First Lady of Calion, everyone would love her, and she'd live for a hundred years."
"She overpaid you," Alida said, trying to look serious.
"I guess this twenty-five toras has nothing to do with bringing you along," Santo said while still staring at the gold coins in his hand. I shrugged. What could I say? It was obvious the nobles didn't want to advertise they were asking a gypsy for a telling—which suited me fine. There were too many nobles like Phellen running lose on Hesland.
CHAPTER SEVEN
TUSKA: Kaslos - The yellow robes
A season passed without anything exciting happening, which suited me. I had enough to do learning to be a wife, the member of a new clan, and preparing for a new act. We had visited Kadal, Silicci, Bywick, and were now in Kaslos, the capital of Tuska Province, for a planned sixday, three performance stay. The twenty days of travel had been good for our ball act, and we had made significant progress. We now had our program set, which consisted of individual performances combined with a four-member-team coordinated routine. All that was left was consistency—never dropping a ball or missing a pass from a team member. Maria had suggested we develop a few comic routines if a slip did occur, which made it look like it had happened on purpose.
"What do you think, Kata?" I asked as we took our first break of the morning. Kata had become the unofficial captain of the team. She had a naturally creative mind and had developed most of our routines. I was relieved, not wanting the responsibility.
"I love that damn wooden ball. It's the most fun I've had in years. We have three sixdays before we reach Lampo. With Maria's comic routines in the event we screw up, I think we can pull it off. In any event, Lampo is small and a good place to try out a new act. The balls are a great act and nobody has ever seen anything like it. We just need to perfect it. The other clans are going to be racing to develop something similar as soon as they see it. So, I think we have a cycle advantage," she said, throwing the ball up and catching it on her head, where it sat like it had been stuck there. Letting it roll forward off her head, she caught it on her foot, tossed it to the other foot, and then back up to her head. She smiled. "Alright, now that we are warmed up, let’s try our team routine.
The evening performance was well received. I was now a permanent member of the swing team and had become one of the flyers, ones who performed acrobatics after leaving one swing before being caught by a person on another swing. Only being able to drop into the moment made it possible—there were no nets during the performances. The initial training concentrated on how to hit the ground if you missed. The odds were about fifty-fifty you would break something, but probably not your neck. Alida became part of the magic and juggling acts. Everyone had several duties during each stop besides helping to pack, unpack, and set up for the nightly performance. And although you may be a member of several acts, the acts at each performance varied so that your chances of being in more than one were low. Then there was the games, cooking, cleaning, repairing—not to mention developing new acts and improving old ones.
As I watched the crowd, a habit I had developed when I sought the answer to who was killing Sisters, I was struck by the absence of wizards, assassins, and even thieves. I know the wizards were a bit nervous since they had discovered the Sister of Death—a non-wizard—had learned how to kill them. And no one was currently hunting Sisters, but it still seemed strange. The fortunetelling tent had the usual number of women looking to hear something to dream about, a few men with business questions, and a few looking to be amused. They usually left glassy eyed.
The meal that night was lively with songs and dancing. I hadn't participated in the dancing with the Dorian clan, but Luka loved to dance and was teaching me. I was beginning to relax and feel like a real member of the Tobar clan and my shadow-self mercifully asleep.
* * *
I sat on the steps of our wagon, idly watching as a man in a yellow robe and hood, which made it difficult to see his face, walked into our circle of wagons. He stood looking around, as Dmitri, Kata’s husband, noticed and went to meet him.
"Good sir, how may we help you?" Dmitri was always good natured, gregarious, and willing to help, clan or not.
"Yes, sir. I’m a lowly follower of Amatera, the Sun Goddess who makes all life possible and wishes it to be cherished. Amatera has given the prophet Drogo, in Her name, the task of ending war and violence. I would ask a donation to help the followers of Amatera towards achieving that goal."
"A worthy goal," Dmitri said, reaching into his pocket and giving the man several coppers. "It isn’t much, but I’m not a wealthy man."
"I would think the gypsies would contribute toras to the cause, as you have been the target of much hate and violence."
"That is true, but we are not rich and a few toras to your Goddess will not change that. We are much like you and do our best to create peace by being peaceful ourselves."
" Amatera gives us life and expects us to help maintain it through nonviolence. If you do not wish to help, you cannot expect Her followers to help you in trouble."
Santo strode up and stood akimbo. "Enough. Dmitri has given you what he can afford, and you should be grateful. Your goal it admirable, but the gypsies do not have extra money to waste. You should leave, now."
"I pray Amatera will not consider you against peace," he said. When neither Santo nor Dmitri said anything, he turned and walked away.
"That sounded much like a threat," Santo said.
"Probably just an eager recruit, thinking because his prophet’s goal is a good one, he can change the world."
"I wish him good luck, but I don’t plan to ask the clan to give up their clubs and knives," Santo said as he walked away.
* * *
The next day, Kata, Alida, Maria, and I spend a good part of the day working with the wooden balls. The individual routines were progressing reasonably well, but the passing of the balls sometimes had us in hysterics. On one such sequence, I did a backward flip with the ball between my feet. Halfway through the back flip, I shot the ball high into the air for Kata to catch on the back of her neck. While the ball was in the
air, she let the ball bounce off her head and before it hit the floor kicked it into the air for Maria, who pushed the ball she had spinning on her finger into the air and hit it with her head in my direction. In theory, the three balls were propelled into the air simultaneously and would be caught in a variety of positions: kneeling, lying flat, in the air...
All three balls made it into the air about the same time. My ball, which Kata would catch on the back of her neck, hit her in the head knocking her half unconscious. Maria’s pass to me wasn’t high enough and landed before I came out of my flip. I landed on the ball and went flying across the floor. The ball to Maria was a little long, but she managed to stagger back and trap it between her feet. But she was off balance, landed on her ass, and screamed, "I caught it!"
We laughed till tears ran down are faces. And laughed more when several clans, who had been watching, began clapping.
"If all else fails we can replace the clown act," Kata said between laughs.
* * *
The performance went smoothly that night, the games afterward were reasonably profitable, and the fortunetelling had a steady line all night. On performance nights everyone tended to retire early as they were long days: practicing routines, setting up, the performance, games, and cleaning up afterward. I lay on the bed listening to Luka talk about modifications he intended to make based on watching us workout.
"Well, not so much what you were doing, but what you were trying to do," he said with a grin. I gave him a good-natured punch in the arm, and had leaned over to kiss his beautiful face, when Kasi alerted me to men approaching. I was still dressed as I was getting ready to leave when Luka decided to retired for the night. I grabbed my knives, ran to the door, opened it, and shouted.
"Clan to me!" A call every man, woman, and child would answer regardless of what they were doing. Seconds later doors were flung open and people began jumping from their wagons with knives or clubs in their hands. A few minutes later some twelve men filtered through the wagons into the circle.