Between the Water and the Woods

by Simone Snaith

  Then it was Reese’s turn, and Emeline held her breath. He charged through the melee of bullets, flashing his shield so fast that it was a blur. Before he reached the end, his whip shot out and lashed a gun from someone’s hand. Everyone on the platform burst into cheers, some of them leaping to their feet.

  She alone sat very still and heaved a sigh of relief.

  The shooting was over now, and the boys in the front row began to talk about racing. She shifted in her seat, watching Reese detach himself from the others and ride very slowly toward the viewing deck.

  Dale immediately stood up and waved. Emeline expected Reese to simply nod at him—if anything—but he rode all the way up to their seats. An excited whispering broke out among the girls.

  “Good job, Sir Reese!” the local boys sang out.

  “Bravo!”

  Dale and Aladane rushed to the railing and leaned over; on impulse, she got up and followed. The locals moved over reluctantly to give them space.

  “We asked Mister Quaith to bring us,” Dale called down to Reese.

  “So I assumed.” His deep voice carried easily through the helmet, but he took it off and shook out his hair, which was damp with sweat. Emeline heard distinct giggling from the girls behind them and she laughed.

  Reese eyed her. “Am I entertaining you?” he asked suspiciously.

  “Aren’t you supposed to? That’s why there’s a viewing deck,” she replied.

  He broke into a wide grin and looked away. She was surprised to feel her heart flutter, and even more surprised to see the locals staring at them with a mixture of astonishment and envy.

  “Quaith didn’t leave you here alone, did he?” Reese asked, frowning slightly.

  “No, we have guards,” Dale told him.

  Is he worried for us, too? She clenched the railing. Does he think we need protection? Her chest tightened, half with fear, half with something else.

  “You were great!” Aladane exclaimed. “Are you going to race now?”

  “No, I’m not fond of racing. Running in circles is tedious.” Emeline couldn’t help smiling at the boredom in his voice. “Are you lot going to sit here all day?”

  “We wanted to go sightseeing, but Mister Quaith has to know where we are,” Dale told him.

  “Can you take us sightseeing?” Aladane asked abruptly. “I bet Mister Quaith wouldn’t mind that!”

  Reese looked startled, and Emeline cringed.

  “Aladane!” she said sharply. “Don’t be stupid. Come on, let’s go back.”

  She reached for Dale’s hand, but he was looking at Reese, waiting for an answer.

  The knight’s horse moved restlessly under him and he settled it. Then he looked directly at Emeline. She stared back at him with her chin up.

  “I suppose I could. I don’t have anything else to do today,” he drawled, finally.

  Dale and Aladane cheered as if he had done something spectacular out on the field. The local boys looked at one another in disbelief.

  “Let’s go tell Dada!” Dale turned and squeezed past Emeline; Aladane followed, nearly knocking her over. She peered down at Reese one last time. He was watching her, his brow furrowed in thought. Then he turned and led his horse away.

  As Emeline followed the others down from the platform, she saw that the girls were eyeing her up and down, whispering. She knew they were wondering why Reese had spoken to them and who they could be. One flashed her a curious smile; one gave her an encouraging wink.

  Strange: All of them had straight hair. In fact, all of the girls she had seen had straight hair. She had seen a few curly-haired men, like Innish, but no women. How was it possible that girls in the capital all had straight hair?

  The guards met them beneath the platform with mystified expressions. Emeline waited for them to ask about Reese—they’d seen everything from the ground—but they held their tongues.

  “I feel safer if it’s Reese showing us around,” Dada said quietly to Fish, who nodded. The ground shook beneath them as the knights ran relays on horseback.

  “Doesn’t racing just prove who has the fastest horse?” Emeline asked Dada over the battering of hooves.

  “Racing makes them better horsemen,” Dada told her. “They have to turn the chargers and keep them in line.”

  “I never used a horse for much more than plowing,” Fish said. “Wouldn’t know how to get one to do all that!”

  Reese reappeared after a long while. He was wearing a black leather vest over a white shirt, and black pants with black boots. His whip was still coiled at his hip, but his hair had been toweled dry. His lack of layers, bells, and accessories made Emeline smile.

  “It’s kind of you to take us around,” Dada said as he reached them.

  There’s more to this than kindness. He’s scared for us. Somehow she could see it.

  Reese nodded stiffly. “I’ve informed Quaith.” He looked at the two guards, who stood respectfully silent. He considered for a moment, and then said, “As it happens, I’ve rescued this calamitous crew twice before. You can return to your duties.”

  The guards ducked their heads and strode back toward Quaith’s carriage. Reese looked down at Dale, who was practically hopping in place. “What do you want to see?”

  “Now hold on, he got to choose the first time,” Fish said. “Bird wants to see the underground water system.”

  Reese stared and then gave an incredulous snort. “The plumbing?” he said with disgust. Dada and Fish looked embarrassed, and Emeline’s blood boiled.

  “How is the underground system in Aliddser?” she blurted. Reese froze for an instant, and then gave her a sharp look. She smiled back at him defiantly.

  “Is that where you’re from?” Dale asked, picking up on the name.

  The knight said nothing, glaring at her. She started to wish she hadn’t spoken. Bless water, he was the one who knew her secret!

  “Either my reputation has preceded me,” he said coolly, “or someone has been asking around.” She felt her face burn and opened her mouth to say that she had simply overheard gossip—that it didn’t matter to her—but Dada spoke first.

  “You can show us whatever you’d like, Sir Reese,” he said respectfully, and then gave Emeline a curious glance. “Equane is a tiny village, so everything will be new to us.”

  Reese’s face thawed. He gave Dada a wry smile and stepped out into the road, pointedly looking back at them to follow. He led him toward a large iron grate that lay flush with the road; through its bar, rushing water was only just visible, far below their feet. The sound of it was drowned out by the carriages and other noises of the city.

  “The water in the houses travels through pipes into an underground level. Then it goes through a whole series of filters and comes back around and we use it again, as disgusting as that sounds,” Reese said. “A man named Bastine designed it maybe a hundred years ago, and everyone insists that the filters work and the water is clean. That’s all I care to know about it.”

  Emeline smiled as Dada and Fish crouched down to peer through the grate.

  “Well, there you go, Bird,” Fish said. “Doesn’t sound like we ought to go down there.”

  “If you plan to do that, you’re on your own,” Reese told them.

  “All right, it’s someone else’s turn,” Dada said as the two of them stood back up.

  Dale looked up at Reese then as if he were going to name their next request.

  “We saw Emeline’s magic,” he whispered, instead. Dada stiffened. “I don’t have it,” he added unhappily.

  “I see,” Reese said, glancing first at Dada and then Emeline. She worked her dress with anxious fingers.

  “Have you told anyone about it?” she asked him.

  “No,” he replied seriously. Emeline sighed with relief, and heard Dada do the same. “In fact, I should warn you that yo
u’re already in a position to make serious enemies on both sides of the council. Because even without revealing her magic, you will threaten the Sapients by claiming to have seen an Ithin—or two, in fact—and you will threaten the Theurgists just by being witnesses to Rellum’s attempted murder. Do you understand? Everyone already knows who you are. Quaith gave you guards because he’s afraid of what could happen to you.”

  It was sobering to hear it so plainly. Emeline studied Dada’s face as the boys shuffled nervously. His brow was furrowed deep.

  “Could Rellum Sapient help protect us?” Dada asked. “He traveled with us all that way.”

  Reese scowled and shook his head. “Rellum is not a bad man, and he’s right about many things. But remember, he wants to be king. Your testimony and, especially, her magic could destroy everything he stands for. You can’t trust him.”

  “I don’t want to destroy anything or threaten anybody,” Fish said, irritated. “I just want to tell them about the Ithin and ask the king to protect Equane.”

  Dada nodded, glancing at Emeline. “I believe we should tell the truth about the Ithin and let the council make of it what they will,” he said slowly. “But we will say nothing of my daughter.”

  He gave her a pointed look and she nodded quickly. But her spirits sank at the reminder.

  “But you saw the Ithin too!” Aladane told Reese.

  “And you captured Loddril!” Dale said. “The assassin!”

  “Yes, I’m not very popular either. Not that I ever was,” he replied. “But as a Lash Knight, I have a good deal of protection.”

  “But not us, because we’re just poor villagers,” Fish grumbled.

  “But we’re with a Lash Knight,” Dale pointed out.

  “You are.” Reese folded his arms, and asked, “What’s next?”

  Emeline smiled. “Why don’t you tell us what we should see?” she asked him.

  capital was a city of gardens, statues, and—to Emeline’s joy and dismay—fountains. Vines and flowers sparkled temptingly in sprays of water everywhere. She worked hard to ignore their lure as Reese walked the villagers to an enormous thoroughfare.

  A wide strip of garden ran down the center of the road, a sort of narrow park between lanes. He led them across to it when the way was clear, and Emeline saw that it had orderly pathways lined with flowers—phlox, aster, dahlia—and simple statues of kings, queens, and other important figures. There was even one of the plumbing inventor Bastine.

  “This is the first place I was taken when I came to the capital. As you can see, anyone who stays here long enough gets a statue,” Reese declared, waving a hand at them all.

  “How long have you been here?” Dale asked, and Emeline grinned.

  “Three years. Not long enough.”

  “Where do you live?” Aladane asked him.

  “In the King’s Hall, in the knights’ quarters. Unfortunately, I have to share them with the other knights.” Reese crossed his arms as Dale grinned up at him. He didn’t seem to mind their questions; in fact, Emeline had a feeling that he liked the boys.

  Dada wandered over to a stone-carved map of the city, and Emeline followed, looking over his shoulder. The capital was rectangular, with the King’s Hall in the dead center. She was surprised to see many groves of trees on the map, including right by the city gates. They were certainly not there now. Was it fear of Dark Creatures that had them all cut down?

  “If you see a red carriage, let me know,” Reese said, looking at the traffic going by.

  “Why?” Aladane asked.

  “So we don’t have to trudge all over the city. They’re carriages for hire.”

  “Oh, we don’t have much money,” Dale told him in a confiding tone. Emeline cringed.

  “I’m aware,” Reese replied. He continued slowly down the path, watching the road, and they followed. Emeline found herself walking alongside him, and she glanced up, feeling strangely, suddenly shy.

  He was so tall, with such big hands; his large, blunt fingers had many calluses. She tried to imagine him as a small boy, strawberry-blond and running wild on a farm. It was hard to do.

  “Are you studying me?” he asked suddenly. She flinched, embarrassed, but his voice was lower, and she realized that the boys were not listening. Dada and Fish were talking to each other behind them.

  She said nothing for a moment; he was watching the road. “Is there a Lash Knight academy in Aliddser?”

  “You are awfully interested in my hometown,” he retorted. “If you must know, it’s full of alehouses, brothels, and sheep. No academies. No fish.”

  “Brothels?”

  He turned back from the traffic with an amused expression and shook his head.

  “Never mind that. I went to the Belastia up near the Dinene. The oldest and most respected academy.” He said this matter-of-factly and without arrogance, which surprised her.

  “Look, there’s a red one coming!” Aladane shouted. Reese looked up and waved at the bright-colored carriage in the distance, stepping to the edge of the road to hail it. The rest of them waved, too, but the carriage for hire plowed along as if it had no intention of stopping.

  “Hey, over here!” Dale yelled. Fish and Dada joined in the shouting, and Reese looked away, obviously uncomfortable. Emeline could see that the driver was fiddling with something in his seat, not noticing them; they were definitely going to miss it.

  She put her fingers in her mouth and whistled Mama’s piercing, knife-sharp whistle. Reese jumped, instinctively clapping his hand on his whip, and the driver jerked his head up, turned the wheel sharply, and pulled over to stop just in front of them. Reese gave Emeline an oddly urgent look, as if he wanted to say something; she stared back at him, waiting, but he was silent.

  “That’s my girl,” Dada told Emeline with a grin.

  The red carriage was taller and longer than most of the others Emeline had seen, and there was a step up to get in through the door. There were two girls her age already inside, who gawked at them a moment before they slid over. Reese held the door open for them to climb in, and he caught Emeline’s hand to help her up the step.

  To her surprise, the quick touch was electrifying. What was this? She avoided looking at him, afraid of what her pinkening face might reveal.

  “The market,” he told the driver, and climbed in afterward. With the two passengers already inside, the group of them only just fit; Emeline found herself squished between Dale and Fish. The carriage had two rows of cushioned seats, with small racks overhead for items to be stowed.

  “So this is how you get around if you don’t have your own steam-carriage?” Dada asked Reese, the girls obviously listening. One of them was studying the Equanians’ clothes with a frown. Reese nodded. “Seems like it would get expensive.”

  “I guess you could just walk,” Fish told him. The girls smirked at each other.

  “Or you can simply not go anywhere,” Reese said airily.

  Emeline frowned at their fellow passengers; they both wore silver-and-blue motley gowns and self-satisfied expressions, and they had very straight hair. They smiled at Reese, recognizing him as a knight, but he ignored them. His head was very close to the ceiling, and Emeline grinned at the thought of what might happen if the carriage hit a bump.

  “Where are we going?” Aladane asked.

  “To see more things you can’t buy,” Reese admitted. “But it’s another very public place,” he added, with a quick glance at Dada. “The big market plaza, otherwise known as the crown jewel of the capital.” The sarcasm rolled off his tongue so naturally that Emeline suspected it was simply a habit for him.

  “Do they have books?” Dada asked.

  “Of course,” one of the girls spoke up. “They have all the new books at Halatine’s.”

  “And you can have your hair done at the Ironers,” the other one told Emeline with a ki
nd smile. She smiled back uncertainly. The carriage stopped and the two girls rose, stepping carefully over everyone’s feet and out the door.

  “Good day!” they said to Reese, and he nodded.

  “What do they do to your hair?” Dale asked Emeline. She shrugged.

  “I don’t know. It doesn’t need cutting yet,” she said. She caught Reese’s eye and saw that he was smiling.

  The carriage stopped a few minutes later at the edge of an immense square. Reese was certainly right that it was a public place: There were crowds and crowds of people, moving in throngs like Emeline had never seen. They hustled along, carrying packages, pushing carts, shopping, and calling to each other. Some were walking small dogs on leashes, and others were lingering in the gardens at the square’s center. The air rang with voices.

  “All the latest fashions! Right here! The softest gloves!”

  “Fresh strawberries from Willen! Who’s for fresh strawberries?”

  “Only the finest parchment and ink!”

  Dale and Aladane gaped out the window. “That’s the most people I’ve ever seen,” Dale declared.

  Dada and Fish looked dismayed.

  “I’ve got a headache just looking at that,” Fish said.

  Reese opened the carriage door and stepped out, handing a single payt to the driver as the rest of them spilled out behind him. Emeline stumbled into Reese, but he didn’t budge; he was as solid as a wall. Flustered, she turned quickly to look out at the storefronts lining the square.

  They were two-storied and built of gray-white stone, but their bottom floors seemed to have no front walls; instead, they were wide open to the shoppers who came and went, reminding her of stalls at the market in Equane. But that was where the similarities ended.

  “Now remember, boys, we’re just sightseeing,” Dada told them. “Don’t start asking for things.” Dale and Aladane nodded as one, but their eyes were shining with dangerous excitement.

  “I’d like to look at some of those bullet-guns,” Fish said.