After leaving Cleff, I went to Robie’s tent. He had slept through the previous afternoon, and I had been in no hurry to wake him because I still hadn’t broken the news to him about his parents. I had no idea how to do it. As I pulled back the flap and stuck my head through, I still wasn’t sure what I was going to say.
The interior was dark and I could barely see the dim shape of Robie lying on his cot. “Robie?” I whispered.
“I’m awake,” he said quietly. He rolled over and pulled the shield from the lantern next to his bed. He turned up the wick, bringing the dark interior to life. I glanced around, noting the small desk with a single chair directly across from the bed. Those and the end table next to the bed were the only furnishings in the room. I ducked inside, smiling as he pushed himself up to a sitting position.
“Take it easy,” I said. “Your wound isn’t healed yet.”
He stared at me, his eyes glistening in the flickering light. “Thanks,” he said. “You saved my life.”
“I had help,” I admitted.
“I know. I felt him. I felt the both of you, inside me.”
I cocked an eyebrow. Of all the people I’d healed, Robie was the first who remembered it in that manner. “Interesting,” I said. “What else do you remember?”
He tore his eyes away and I saw him wince ever so slightly. “Breeze, there’s something… something I have to say to you.”
There was something in his voice, something heartbreaking that made me want to reach out and take him in my arms, like a mother with her babe. “What is it, Robie?” I said, settling onto the cot next to him.
He took my hand between his, still avoiding my gaze. “Breeze, I want you to be happy. You can be with Tam now. I won’t get in your way.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Tam?”
“Yes. I saw you kiss. I know what he means to you.”
“Robie, I-”
I didn’t get to finish that statement because at that moment, Analyn popped her head in through the tent flap. “Ah there you are, Breeze. We’re almost ready for you.” She looked past me, noting that Robie was up and then I saw her gaze drift to our hands. He was still holding mine. “Ah, you’ve told him then,” she said sadly.
Robie glanced at her and then back at me. “Told me what?” he said.
I got a fluttering feeling in my chest as I stared into his face. I licked my lips, searching for the right words. “Robie, when Riverfork was evacuated… not everyone made it.”
His gaze danced back and forth. “What are you saying?”
I sighed. “Robie, your parents were killed.”
His mouth fell open. He took a deep breath and then clamped it shut, pulling away from me. I reached for his hands. “Robie-”
“I need to be alone,” he said.
“Robie, I understand-”
“Breeze! Please, just leave me alone.”
I glanced helplessly at Analyn. She gave me a sympathetic look and then pulled her head back out of the flap. I stood up, looking down on Robie, every fiber of my being screaming to take him in my arms and comfort him. “Robie, please…”
“Not now,” he said. He blinked and tears streamed down his cheeks. “Please, Breeze. Just go.”
I retreated. There was nothing else I could do. Robie wouldn’t talk to me, wouldn’t share his feelings with me, and I knew I’d just make him angry if I persisted. He wanted to be alone, and perhaps that was best for now. He didn’t want me to see him in this moment of weakness. I knew that was part of the problem. It was his pride. But it was more than that also, I believed. There was the other thing he had said, the thing about Tam.
I left Robie alone with his sorrow in the dark solitude of his tent, quietly weeping, his heart full of things that weren’t true but knowing that if I tried to correct him, he simply wouldn’t listen. I found myself uncomfortably alone with my thoughts for the rest of the morning. I had so many concerns that my head was spinning, and I couldn’t seem to focus on anything else. I was worried about what was going on in Robie’s mind, and what he might do about it. I was worried about how the Vangars would react when they found their dragon ship burned and their soldiers dead. Then there were the refugees, and the prisoners locked up in Anora, and Tinker…
At some point, I found myself watching the workers set up targets and preparing weapons for the contest that afternoon. I moved quietly among them, sizing them up, wondering which of them would choose to enter the competition, and who would come out on top. I tried to focus on these thoughts, rather than the confusion that lay hidden within me, like a trap waiting to spring.
I couldn’t help but notice young Kale as he helped with the preparations. I had looked at him as a child at first, but when I saw him with his shirt off, driving stakes into the ground with a great mallet, I realized that he truly was a young man. I watched him working and saw in Kale another young man that I remembered from that same camp. My thoughts went tail spinning towards Robie, and the harder I tried not to think of him, the more it seemed I couldn’t stop.
When the afternoon finally came and Analyn called for the contestants, I felt the burden of my thoughts fall away. I gladly went to the edge of the camp, prepared to throw myself into my work. I meant to study the contestants carefully, looking not only for the strongest, fittest fighters, but also the wisest. Analyn had prepared several tests for just this purpose. Tests that could not be won by strength or wits alone. The winner would be fit, clever, and determined.
Analyn stood on the back of a wagon and instructed the contestants to line up in front of her. They streamed out of the camp. To my chagrin, Tam appeared among them. He was the only Tal’mar in the group, though a good number of them appeared in the crowd to enjoy the entertainment. I cocked an eyebrow at him, wondering what he was up to.
“Excellent,” Analyn said. “We have several trials for you today. The judges will be watching you for speed, strength, and wits. Those of you who aim only to win the contests may not rank highest in the scoring if the judges deem your conduct unsportsmanlike. Any questions?”
There were none.
“Excellent,” Analyn said. “Then we will begin with archery. Line up in front of the targets. Take your shot and then pass the bow on to the next contestant. Your score will be based on the best three out of five rounds. Let’s begin!”
“Wait!” a voice cried out at the back of the crowd. “Wait, I’m almost there!”
I cringed as Robie appeared at the back of the crowd, bobbing up and down as he lurched toward the contestants. His face was pale and he leaned heavily on a length of branch that he’d turned into a crutch. He hobbled through the crowd, waving one arm in the air. He finally arrived at the front and took his place in line. Analyn shot me a worried look.
“Robie, you’re wounded,” she said. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Of course,” he said. “I’m fine to compete.”
I snorted. “Don’t be a fool,” I said.
Robie glanced at me and then threw his gaze at Tam. “If a Tal’mar can compete, then so can I,” he said.
The implication of course was that a Tal’mar was no more useful than a wounded human. Several people in the crowd cheered. None of them were Tal’mar. Tam glared at Robie with his fists clenched at his sides, his violet eyes dark with anger.
I rolled my eyes and shook my head, but Robie ignored me. He was beyond argument at that point, and there were already too many faces staring at us. The last thing I wanted to do was make this into something personal between the two of us. Still, I would have liked to march over there and smack him upside the head like a spoiled child.
Chapter 17
The games began with more than thirty contestants ranging in age from pre-teens into their late sixties. Analyn had wisely left the contest open to everyone, knowing full well that unqualified participants would be weeded out easily enough. For most of the camp this contest was a distraction, a hard-won afternoon of entertainment and relaxation. For me, the real wo
rk was just beginning.
One of the more surprising contestants was a young human woman named Jenna. She looked about fifteen and had the appearance of a farm girl. She was a strong, attractive young woman, though not fully formed at her age. She was well-built with a sturdy frame, but not overly masculine. I could see that in a few years she’d be turning heads. In fact, many of the young men in the crowd had their eyes on her already.
I wondered how many of them were there to impress her, and how many were hoping she would fail. You never can tell with men. Some of them are threatened by a strong woman, but others find them a challenge. I reflected on that and realized that Robie and Tam both fit into the latter group. No faint-hearted male would have dreamed of pursuing a woman like me.
Not surprisingly, Tam scored the highest of anyone in the archery contest. Any Tal’mar worth his weight in copper could have shot those targets blindfolded. Tam never missed a bull’s-eye. Robie scored well also, which was surprising considering the way he winced every time he drew the bowstring back to his cheek.
After the archery contest came the log roll, in which contestants were required to move a heavy log quickly over a great distance. Robie failed miserably at this, trying to use his strength to roll the log sideways across the course. When I heard him grunting and saw sweat beading up on his red face, I began to worry for him. I was afraid the strain might exacerbate his internal injuries. Fortunately, he had the good sense to quit before he did serious damage. He turned away from the crowd’s disappointed outcries and shot a glare into the distance as he stomped out of the arena.
Tam fared slightly better, but only slightly. He was strong for a Tal’mar, but his slight frame didn’t lend itself well to pushing around heavy objects. He moved the log a few feet but finally ran out of time. He left the arena as disgusted with himself as Robie, and quite possibly with less excuse.
Some of the older men performed this task quite well, having years of experience with similar tasks. The younger men who were obviously strongest also did well. The surprising winner of this contest however, was Jenna. She was last in line, and not by accident, I suspect. After all the men had taken their turns, Jenna stepped up to the log. I heard laughter and a few of the contestants taunted her. Not dismayed in the least, Jenna bent over, picked up a long stick, and then propped it under the edge of the log like a wedge.
She lifted the stick and the log began to roll. She jumped ahead and did it again, and again. In a matter of seconds, she had cleared the entire course. Those who had been taunting her fell silent, and then a cheer rose among the crowd. Jenna had reached the end of the course. She smiled and turned bright red as the crowd roared. I nodded approvingly. The farm girl had proven herself in more ways than one.
The third effort was the barrel roll, in which contestants were required to leap on top of a barrel and then walk it across the course without falling. Most of the older men dismissed themselves from the competition after being unable to even mount the barrel. One of them, an old man with a wild gray mane and a long beard, hopped on the barrel and danced a jig as he rode it across the course. The crowd went wild over his performance, and I couldn’t help but cheer him on myself. After reaching the end, he confessed that “barrel-riding” had been a hobby of his since boyhood.
Tam gave a satisfactory performance, easily mounting the barrel and starting it rolling, but he had difficulty keeping it straight and it took some time to get to the end of the course. His difficulties put him somewhere in the middle of the scoring, which lowered his overall rank considerably. His excellent archery performance was not enough to keep him in the top tier.
Next, it was Robie’s turn, and he proceeded to nearly kill himself. He had to leave the crutch behind and I chewed my lower lip as I watched him clamber awkwardly into position, rising unsteadily to his feet on top of the barrel. The barrel lurched underneath him and he swayed back and forth for a moment. Then, to my surprise, he actually managed to get it rolling in the right direction. That lasted for all of one turn before the barrel twisted aside and shot out from under him. Robie landed hard on the flat of his back and lay there gasping for air, the breath knocked out of his lungs.
I rushed over to analyze him and found that he had undone some of my careful medical work. “He’s bleeding internally,” I said. “Give me a few minutes.”
I bent over him, drawing all my focus in to slow the bleeding. Then, carefully, I encouraged the tissue to swell and grow back together. Patiently, I set his body on the right course to healing once again.A short while later, I opened my eyes and stood up. I was surprised to see that it was dark outside. The effort had apparently taken longer than I thought. The crowd had vanished. Analyn was nearby, and she rushed over as soon as I moved.
“Will he be all right?” she said.
“I’m afraid so,” I said sarcastically. “Which means I’ll probably be patching him up again in a few days.”
Analyn laughed. “You know, you don’t have to make this so hard.”
I stared down at his peacefully sleeping face. “He’s the one making it hard,” I said. “The fool doesn’t know when to quit.”
“Is that so?” Analyn said, cocking an eyebrow. She grinned and then called for help moving him back to his tent. I went with them, and then followed her back to the fire at the center of camp. She handed me a sheet of parchment as she settled onto a log by the fire.
“Those are the scores,” she said. “Don’t take them too seriously.”
“Why?” I said. “Wasn’t that the purpose of this whole contest? To find the most eligible recruits?”
“The contest served many purposes,” she said with a shrug. “That was but one of them. The results are valuable, of course, but I value your assessment of the contestants far more highly than I do any score.”
I glanced over the sheet, not seeing any surprises. “How should I choose then?” I said. “Most of the people who did well in one contest did lousy in the rest. If I were to average out the scores, they’d all be almost identical.”
“That was my conclusion as well,” Analyn said with a chuckle.
I frowned. “You’re not helping me much.”
“All right, then, here’s my best advice: don’t choose anyone based on their score or their average. Build a team of contestants with individual strengths. You’d be hard put to find a better archer than Tam, but no one in that contest was as clever as Jenna.”
“Agreed.” I glanced over the list again. “If I’m to choose Jenna for her wits, then I’ll need to choose another based on brute strength.”
“You have several choices there,” Analyn said. “Perhaps you should also consider temperament. A high score means nothing if the recruit won’t work with others.”
“True,” I said. “You know, as much as I hate to say it, It’s hard to overlook Kale’s performance.”
“He did quite well,” Analyn said. “He performed in the top tier across the board. He’s also a very motivated young man.”
I slumped into the chair next to her, staring into the crackling fire. “I can’t, Analyn. I can’t bring him onto the team.”
“Why not? You’ll break his heart if you don’t.”
“Perhaps, but it’s better to be alive with a broken heart than buried in a shallow grave.”
“Do you think so?” she said. “You don’t know Kale the way I do. He looked up to his uncle as a hero. Kale has always dreamed of becoming a soldier. When he was four, he used to climb on the back of his father’s horse and race across their farm, shooting his bow at whatever targets he could find.”
“Four?” I said in disbelief.
“Indeed. His mother told him that he couldn’t ride a horse alone until he could mount it by himself. What do you think he did? Do you think he waited until he was ten or twelve like the other children? Of course not! He looped a rope over the horse’s neck, led the beast to an old stump, and climbed on! He spent the rest of his childhood riding. Of course, no one dared tell him to st
op. That’s how it’s been ever since.”
I burst into laughter. “He must have been a difficult child,” I said.
“You have no idea. His mother’s hair was gray at twenty-five!”
We shared a good laugh over that and eventually fell silent. Analyn produced a knitting case and started working on a shawl that she had been making. I watched her, still struggling with the idea that I might actually let Kale be on my team. He was so young, so naive. I couldn’t bear to see something happen to him, especially so soon after his uncle’s death. What might that do to the rest of the family? And yet, did I dare deny him? He was clearly one of the most useful contestants, and he had the motivation and ambition that I hadn’t seen in anyone since… well, Robie.
“And what about him?” Analyn said as if she had read my thoughts.
“What?”
“What about Robie? Will you have him on your team?”
“How can I not?” I said. “If I deny him, he’ll just follow after us and get himself killed, and probably get the rest of us killed with him.”
“And yet you can’t have him on your team, because he won’t be ready for it,” Analyn said. “In which case he’s just as likely to get himself and the rest of you killed. It seems you have a conundrum.”
“Because he’s a hardheaded fool,” I muttered.
“Indeed. If only there were some other way… something you could give him other than a place on the team. Something that would keep him here and satisfied, knowing that you would come back to him.”
I frowned. “Back to him?” I echoed. “What are you talking about?”
“He doesn’t want to leave you alone with Tam. You understand that, don’t you?”
My eyebrows shot up. Robie and Tam had both made their feelings for me very clear, and the fact that they didn’t like each other much made perfect sense in that light. I just hadn’t seen it until Analyn hit me over the head with it. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. I had played on Robie’s jealousy a little, but I had only meant it in jest.
Tinker's War (The Tinkerer's Daughter Book 2) Page 14