by Andre Norton
At the back of this court the building fronted on a street, not as wide as the avenue but in good use, and there Danus had his showrooms on the street floor, before a parlor in which he saw customers of higher caste, above the living quarters of the family.
Left side of the courtyard was a house section which held on the upper floor a dormitory for the maidservants; below, a laundry, and various storerooms. While over the wagon barns were the quarters of the male servants. Flanking the barns themselves at ground level was the armory-cum-guardhouse.
Though Danus might hire extra caravan guards, he maintained a nucleus of men employed by season bond who were responsible for the safety of the house and its contents.
Danus’s wares were stored in the household portion of the structure, a strong room which fronted on the shop section but was warded by both human—and nonhuman—methods. The latter came as a surprise to Nosh.
She had shown the merchant a portion of the stones she had found in the Ryft and he had agreed to exchange them for the clothing and whatever else she might need, apart from the food and shelter he was bound to provide for her by their agreement. At the time she did not doubt that the merchant was getting the best of the bargain—but she could not venture forth from the house in the strange attire which had served her at the refuge and during her travels. And she was willing enough to allow him a profit.
Venture forth sooner or later she must if she were to locate the forgotten Shrine of Lyr which lay somewhere within Kasgar. By asking questions of gearmen and maids and building up a map within her mind, she was learning all she could of the city so that she might not be lost in its mazes.
As any settlement of size, it had slowly divided into zones. Because Kasgar was largely dependent from the first on trade, being at the meeting point of the north– south caravan routes, as well as those running east and west, the semi-fortresslike dwellings of the major merchants soon dominated. Danus did not aspire to such palaces as existed along the main avenues of Kasgar. It was not from among men of his standing that the elected rulers, who served ten seasons and sometimes more if those under them prospered, were drawn.
There were some twelve families of such dominance and the Judges (as they were termed) were provided from among their ranks. Nosh gathered from the gossip of those around her that the Judges were limited by their own jealousy, that various combinations existed among them only to be broken and new ones formed. Among these great houses was that of Lathia D’Arcit, though as prosperous and competent as that guild mistress was, she had never achieved election herself.
The second class of citizen included such as Danus, and there existed about fifty clan families which ranked with his household. He himself employed what appeared to Nosh an unusually large number of people, all of whom were bond sworn to him for various terms of seasons. There were the gearmen and women who served in the warehouse and shops. Then there were those by whose care the house was maintained, and the guard. It seemed to Nosh she was always meeting new faces.
The quarters to which she had been shown were not with the maids as she had thought they would be. Instead she was ushered into a small room in the household block and left to explore. There was such a bed as she had never seen—a boxlike affair heaped with woven blankets. Against one wall was a small table on which stood a tall jug of water beside a waiting basin, a rank of towels on the side of the table and some jars which, when she gingerly investigated, gave off a strong fragrance and which appeared to contain a soft soap and some skin oils such as she had seen Sofina make use of.
There was another archway, uncurtained, and she slipped into a second chamber which was hardly bigger than an alcove. Here was a much sturdier-looking table, a plain chair, a shelf bearing piles of scraped skins, so thin she could nearly see through them. In this she thought she recognized a workplace. On the table was a tray divided into a number of small compartments which rested on a flat surface covered with a soft black cloth. She was sure that this was intended for the judging and grading of stones.
Back once more in the sleeping chamber she noted a chest, very old she thought from the rubbed edges of the wood, which she opened to find folded garments of a cut strange to her but manifestly intended for her use.
She laid them out on the bed, washed vigorously with the water (which was delightfully warm and far from the cold of the country streams) and then shed her traveling clothes in a heap on the floor. Save for her snakeskin belt there was little, she thought critically, which could be salvaged from that pile.
Then she puzzled out the new garments. They were of a pleasant color, a silvery grey for the leg-fitting trousers which was not cold but rather had an almost faint rose glow. Over that went a tunic dress such as she had seen Sofina wear. This had a formfitting bodice which laced with rose cords from belt to throat, but below the waist the skirt was wide cut, coming to just above the knee. There were bootlike foot covers, ankle high to cover the hems of the trousers. The upper dress was far deeper into the rose tint, being almost completely that color. But she was so thin, her breasts so meager that she could still hide the bag of Fingers well out of sight without any betraying bulge. When she redonned the snake belt with that knife Jarth had given her there sheathed, she felt strange and unlike her usual self.
There was a mirror in the room but it was small, and in it she could see no more than her head and shoulders. By unhooking it from the wall—and with a great deal of twisting and turning—Nosh did get a faint idea of what she looked like; and that broken series of reflections was totally foreign to anything she had ever known.
At the refuge her hair had reached far more than shoulder length before she had sawed off the ends raggedly, as too long braids were a hindrance in the wilderness life she led. Now she held the glass up with both hands and intently surveyed her own face. All of that she had ever seen before was once when it had been mirrored in a pool.
The ragged locks of hair were as brown as tree twigs, yet in spite of being fine, they were also thick. Framed by them her face was a thin, dark-skinned wedge— broad forehead, sharp spurt of chin. The brows which overshadowed her eyes were uptilted in a fashion quite different from those of Dreen and Sofina and were darker than her hair. The lashes about her eyes were thick and her eyes were also odd compared to those she had seen in other faces, being a blue-green almost the shade of a prime jade stone.
For the rest she thought her mouth looked almost pinched, certainly very thin of lips, and her skin tight and weatherworn. No, she was certainly far from anything fair to look at, but that did not matter.
Picking up the bone comb beside the basin, she set about vigorously to order her hair, making sure the resulting braids were sleek. Well enough she would face Danus’s household now no longer in beggar’s guise.
She had been brought trays of food daily in her stay but on the third morning there came a knock at the door—she had been pleased that there was a door with a latch on its inner side. Living in among strangers as she must do now, she wanted her own privacy. Now she looked out at a maidservant.
“The noontide food is waiting, Lady. I am to show you where.”
Nosh fully expected to be led downstairs again but instead the maid took an upward way and Nosh came out on what she certainly had not expected to find here—a roof garden in which jars of flowering vines flanked those holding what appeared to be near small trees in height. Swung among these were cages of thin-barred metal in which fluttered not only bright birds but, she noted, a jewel-scaled lizard that watched her with eyes which reminded her strongly of Tarm. In fact she paused by that one cage and clicked out a greeting as she might have done to that rock dweller.
The lizard rose to its hind feet, its forepaws, so like hands, grasping the wire bars of its cage, a brilliant scarlet frill expanding behind its head. Nosh extended a finger and the forked tongue flicked forth to touch her flesh in the lightest of contacts.
“Lady!” The maid caught at her hand, jerked it back. “The creature is po
ison—do not let it near you.”
“It wishes to be friends.” Nosh was sure of that but she obediently left the vicinity of the cage, the occupant of which was now clicking madly, and followed her guide deeper into this sky-set garden.
Unlike the one inn she had ventured into during their journeying, there was no large table. Instead three low, heavily cushioned chairs were each fronted by a small one, hardly large enough to accommodate the various bowls and plates which servants bearing trays presented. Danus half arose from his seat and sketched a bow in her direction while Sofina gave a very stiff nod. There was certainly about her the air of one being forced to an action she resented.
Nosh was not used to such an array of food, and felt guilty when she saw some plates presented and being waved away, either by the master of the house, or Sofina. Her own portions were purposefully small and she consumed them all—hoping that the rejected food was shared elsewhere—or perhaps the servants of the household dined on what was disdained.
“Now,” Danus said at last, leaning back in his chair and wiping a grease smear from his chin, “you have been shown through our ware hold—do you believe you can find your way around?”
Nosh nodded, even though she was not quite sure— that survey of the dwelling had been a hurried one, most of it viewed from the courtyard with only that block containing the place of business displayed room by room.
“You are satisfied with your quarters, Lady?” This time her nod held the full truth.
“Then let us to business. I have been away near a full half season and I am not the only buyer for this ware hold. Also you must meet with my sister’s son Gunther, who is our other expert and has made purchases during my absence. If you will excuse us, Sofina?”
Sofina’s inclination of the head suggested to Nosh that she was only too pleased at their going, at least at Nosh’s.
They found their way down in the block of the store– living quarters building again and Danus led her by a narrow back hallway to that warded room where he stored his gem stock.
He held a square object in his hand from which came a click, releasing the lock, Nosh knew, as a narrow door opened. She followed close behind him only to have the merchant once within that quartered chamber turn and stare at her wide eyes:
“But—I did not yet release the persona wards!”
Nosh was puzzled. “The door opened…” she began and then he said abruptly, “Of your goodness, Lady, step back and then within again—if you can?”
She saw no reason to doubt that she could do just that and she was right. When she was once more within the room she saw him slap his fist against the wall and heard the distant clang of a brazen-toned bell. It was only a second before a man came hurrying down the hall. He reached the open door, made to step within, and was repelled as if he had come up against a solid surface so that he stumbled back, his face a mask of complete bewilderment.
Danus held the hand box toward that door and clicked it twice this time. Then the other came charging in, his astonishment becoming angry.
“What tricks are being played, Kinblood?” he demanded hotly. He was several years older than Kryn, Nosh thought, closer to Jarth’s age. As well clad as he was, he lacked that inborn air which distinguished the leader of the outlaws.
“No tricks,” countered Danus swiftly and shot a glance at Nosh. She was quick enough to guess that her own entrance without difficulty was something to be kept private now between her and the Master merchant. Apparently the ward which one could not see had not deterred her from entering though she had been carefully informed earlier that it was mage set and invulnerable.
“Gunther, it has been my good fortune to find one with seeing hands and get her to accept service for half a season—past the winter fair.”
With his hands on his hips, his chin jutting forward in visible challenge, the younger man confronted Nosh. “A legend—Kin lord—you have been deceived by a legend.”
Danus laughed. “So? Bring out your garnerings since I have been gone—and let us see proof of legends.”
The walls of the room were covered with alternate panels and layers of small compartments, all tightly closed with twisted screw locks. There was no daylight but a bar overhead came into blaze which slowly increased in power a light which it was plain Danus also controlled with the hand box. In the center of the room were four stools spaced at the four sides of a table which, like the one in the small chamber off Nosh’s sitting room, was divided into sections around a square of soft black.
At Danus’s gesture Nosh took one of the stools. Danus settled on the one to her right. Gunther, his expression not in the least lightened, went to the nearest section of wall compartments and worked with the lock of one, being careful to station his body between his busy hands to shield what he was doing from Nosh.
He returned with a narrow tray which held a flashing assortment of stones, most of them small—only few of good size.
Putting the tray down on the table with a force which was nearly a slam, he said to Danus, his head carefully turned away from the girl, “Part of what Hamel brought in from the south. Some of the better stones are still being cut.”
Danus moved the stones around with a fingertip and urging the larger ones out on the square directly below the light before he spoke to Nosh.
“Well, my Lady?”
With her own forefinger Nosh separated the first of the stones from its companions. “Sun stone—nearly first grade—the flaw lies in that the sun is not quite centered.”
Gunther stirred but Danus had already picked up the stone and had screwed into an eye a round of crystal through which he viewed the gem.
“Just so,” he agreed. “However, the flaw can be corrected with proper setting and will bring a good price.”
The dealings of merchant slyness were none of her concern, only the truth of the gem itself mattered.
Nosh leaned closer to the display. There was one— the color was new to her—dark, very dark, and yet with an oversheen as if black had somehow been burnished to dull silver on its surfaces. She was intrigued enough to pick it up, not sure she could even give it a name as she did not remember having ever seen its like before. Picked it up—only to drop it hurriedly.
“What is it?” Danus asked, already reaching for it to be viewed more closely. On impulse she caught his wrist before his fingers could close about it.
“That,” she said with all the certainty her talent gave her, “is of death!” Now she looked up to Gunther… “Who brought this to you?”
His lips did not entirely lose the sneer they had shaped.
“It is from the south—Hamel…”
Nosh’s head moved slowly from left to right and back again denying his words.
“Blood and death have followed where this went. Long ago it was a part of great power—dark power— and the stain of that lies still on it. To handle such,”— she looked now to Danus—“is like holding a noxious sweet cake, the poison of which clings. Do not, if you value your trade, offer this one for sale.”
“It is all stupidity!” Gunther’s voice rose near a shout. “The stone is unique—Lord Markus would pay dearly to add it to his collection. I tell you it will bring this house such a sum as all these others,”—his hands swept over the other stones—“will not equal.”
Danus had not touched the disputed gem. He looked from Nosh to his nephew and back again, plainly undecided. When he spoke it was to Nosh:
“Of this ill you are certain, Lady? Can you ‘read’ it?”
She knew he referred to her dealing with the rathhawk amulet. “No, Master merchant. It is very old, it has passed through many hands…” Now she spoke to Gunther. “This came to you as it was, already shaped and polished, is that not so?”
He nodded reluctantly.
“Did this Hamel tell you where he got it?”
“He said something of trading with a stranger from overseas. Hamel knows stones, he could see it was different from most….”
/> “You say it came from the south,” the girl persisted, “but it is of northern work—and wrought so very long ago. I repeat, Master Danus, this you would sell only to bring ill to the buyer.”
Danus picked up the stone, almost as if he, too, feared that the evil it carried could taint him.
“Do you believe this?” Gunther pushed away from the table.
Danus did not even look at him. “I have seen this talent at work. It is true—and it can harm or save. What of the rest, Lady?”
She was glad enough to see that black stone pushed to one side and read the others with care. They were prime stones and Danus smiled with satisfaction, complimenting Gunther on his purchases. Though Nosh did not believe that the younger man held her in any greater esteem for the fact that she had verified his own estimates of value.
Danus said no more of the fact that she had been able to enter the strong room in spite of the ward and she had half forgotten about that until they were done with their sorting. But she decided to let the Master merchant bring the matter forward.
What she wanted was a chance somehow to locate that forgotten Shrine of Lyr. She must in no way be tempted out of her own quest.
CHAPTER 16
“That is the way it is, Hold Heir.” Danus had flattened both palms on the table in his shop and was leaning forward, an unhappy look on his usually placid face.
“Master merchant, Lord Jarth swore a bond with you—also remember that you sit here now because his men fought to save you and yours.” Kryn had had some need for control of his sense of justice in the past but that was being harshly strained now.
“Lord Kryn, what was true last season when I set forth for the north was one thing, what exists now is another— and not one of my doing or foreseeing. There is trouble in Kasgar—at the guild assembly last night there was much talk of it. Five ten-days ago the Council made this rule when there were three strangers taken in arms in the Great Shrine. One of them cut down a priest. Though they were slain at once, it was proven that they were not of Kasgar—though none could swear as to whence they came. Each merchant arms now those of his own household who are trained. To sell arms to an outsider, robbing our own people of what may be needed—that I cannot do.