Broken Devices

by Karen Myers

  “I bet they’re family heirlooms,” Penrys said. “Probably hurts every time they lose one.”

  She leaned back and looked up at him. “But if that’s all you want, I have power-stones. What do you need?”

  “You, brudigna? Where did you get… Oh.”

  “I’d rather not say.” She remembered the head-sized sack of power-stones gifted to her as illicit reward for her role in putting a stop to the Voice. She wouldn’t betray Dzantig, the young mage who’d handed them to her at the end of the fight, in the chaos. They were worth a fortune, anywhere physical magic was used, even if they didn’t look like much—small and dull.

  It was clear from Chosmod’s face that he was reviewing what he knew of that battle, in the official account.

  “It’s only fair,” she added, while he remained silent. “It was a Rasesni spy who first abandoned a stash when we unmasked him, Najud and I, and then it was the Rasesni Temple Academy that stole those from us when they… betrayed us. Seems only right that we ended up with a few at the end of it all. We did manage to stop the Voice and his army.”

  “Hmm.” A smile flickered on his face. “Then I won’t waste my time digging into it. Let me think about something useful we might do with a few of them…”

  A noise from the doorway drew their attention. One of the guards preceded Tun Jeju into the room.

  “Making progress?” Tun Jeju asked.

  The two students stood, and Penrys and Chosmod followed suit. “In some ways,” Penrys answered, nodding at the other two chained wizards. “But not at finding the attackers or their captives.”

  “I have one piece of good news for you, presumably from Munraz.” Tun Jeju handed her an unsealed roll of papyrus. “This was sent by a relay of messengers to the Zannib ambassador, and then forwarded here.”

  By Mir Tojit, Penrys guessed. She opened it and read the Kigali characters. Not in his own hand, and he can’t write Kigali that well yet anyway. If he’d written it in Zannib, it would have been suspicious to those who couldn’t read it, and it was never sealed. So, dictated to some Kigali scribe.

  “I’m with our hosts from yesterday morning, unharmed and free. I know nothing about my two elders. I will contact you again when I have more to tell you.”

  It was signed with two pictures in a different hand—a set of three mountain peaks, and a spoked wheel.

  Tun Jeju commented, “Admirably discreet, but still intelligible to those who know enough. If he weren’t disqualified by his honest Zannib face, he might seek a position here.”

  “You can always send him to sarq-Zannib in your employ,” Penrys said, absently. “He’d fit in there.”

  The notju let that pass. “What’s the significance of the last two signs?”

  “His old clan, Rashaban, which translates as ‘three hills,’ and his new one, Zamjilah, the ‘eye of heaven’—named for the wooden frame that holds the kazr open at the smoke-hole.”

  At least Munraz seems to be all right. She could feel her shoulders drop a bit, as if she’d been hunched up under a massive weight. But Naj-sha…

  “So, as we thought, at least some of the chained wizards escaped altogether, and Munraz is with them, apparently of his own free will.”

  She glanced over at her two students. She knew Lai Tsumai was new to that group and probably ignorant of their backup plans, but Dar Datsu had been with them for some unknown amount of time.

  “I wonder where they are?” she said, watching them openly.

  Dar Datsu flushed, then spread his hands. “I’m sorry, Penrys-chi, but I can’t…”

  “Yes, I know. And for now, I’ll honor that. But the time may come when someone will have to make a choice.” She fixed him with her gaze and eventually, he nodded.

  Tun Jeju watched this byplay expressionlessly. When it was over, he said, “And now I have other news. Please, follow me—all of you. We have a bit of history to make.”

  CHAPTER 18

  Tun Jeju and his staff led the four wizards out of the main entrance of the building and stopped them on top of the public steps. A few others were already gathered there.

  At least thirty Kigali in formal dress were gathered on the walkway and spilled out into the street. Penrys spotted four of the Char family, all but the granddaughter, but there were several other clusters as well.

  A few bystanders paused to watch, wary of the unprecedented situation.

  A quick scan confirmed it—these were all wizards. Out in the open, confronting Imperial Security in public. Peacefully. She blinked. My, that was fast.

  Char Nojuk walked up the steps to join them. He gave the two chained wizards a jaundiced look, and they backed up nervously, but he otherwise ignored them. He spared a brief nod for Penrys and Chosmod, then he turned and faced Tun Jeju.

  The notju bowed and presented him with a sealed scroll. Char Nojuk returned the bow and carefully broke the seal on the document and read it aloud in a carrying voice.

  “Be it known that the King of Earth and Sea today revokes the ban of his Imperial predecessor on the craft of lup and the practitioners thereof. In token of which, the Supreme Deity Lemju has increased the domain of Suimiju, patron of Toilekja Dugom with its Engineers and Pharmacists, and decreed that all the temples of Suimiju throughout the great empire of Kigali provide suitable resources for lupjuwen recognized by their own guild, in the tradition of all craft guilds.

  “We welcome the support of all the lupjuwen of Kigali in the service of the King of Earth and Sea. Long may they serve.”

  The imperial chop in red ink accompanied by the red wax seal with golden ribbons was visible to Penrys as Char Nojuk displayed the document to the crowd, turning from side to side until all had glimpsed it. She could feel the electric excitement running through the wizards, and the surprise of the passersby. She glanced down at her commonplace clothing and grimaced. Would’ve been nice to get a warning before being on stage like this, however tangentially.

  Char Nojuk turned back to Tun Jeju and raised the scroll to his forehead. Then he bowed deeply and when he straightened again, he shouted, “Long life to the King of Earth and Sea.” The wizards standing a few steps below him repeated the wish three times, louder each time.

  Tun Jeju waited for the clamor to die away, and then presented Char Nojuk with another document, this one without the wax seals and ribbons. The samkatju read it over quickly, then faced the crowd. “This is the new foundation document for our Guild, which I accept on its behalf.”

  After letting the crowd react for a few moments, Char Nojuk raised his hand for silence. Tun Jeju summoned forward a man in the crimson robes of a temple priest from the support staff at his side, and presented him to Char Nojuk. The priest nodded to Tun Jeju, and then to Char Nojuk, and presented to the latter a pair of large bronze keys, holding them horizontally in both hands.

  “The temple of Suimiju stands ready to receive its new guild.”

  Char Nojuk took the keys from the priest’s hands and raised them to let the crowd see them. Then he bowed to the priest and said, “We thank the temple, and we shall visit it when we’re finished here.”

  Tun Jeju then raised his hand and waited until he could be heard.

  “We thank the King of Earth and Sea for this opportunity to fulfill his mandate, as witnessed here by all of you, and by the foreign nations of Rasesdad, Zannib, and Ellech.”

  Penrys realized she was doing double-duty as a national witness. She followed Chosmod’s lead in bowing deeply to Tun Jeju, as all the crowd did. She admonished Dar Datsu and Lai Tsumai. *You, too. You count as wizards by this decree.* Belatedly, the two students joined her bow.

  The notju held his bow for a count of five, and then straightened up, and everyone followed suit, including Penrys. What happens if someone doesn’t bow deep enough or long enough? Nothing good, I bet. She almost giggled but managed to hold a straight face.

  Char Nojuk turned to her and said in a conversational tone, “Maybe now we can get some action finding my n
ephew. Come along.”

  He hobbled down the stairs without bothering to look back, his gait impaired by a stiff knee.

  She shrugged and looked at the three wizards. “That means all of us, I imagine. Modo?”

  He smiled. “Reminds me of my old teacher, the one I had as a boy. Didn’t dare say ‘no’ to him, either. Let’s go see how a guild is born in Kigali, eh?”

  Penrys paused and looked back at Dar Datsu. “Rin Tsugo should be here, if he wants the chained wizards to have a proper place here in Kigali. Someone should tell him so, and summon him.”

  The young man looked at her. “By himself, with all those wizards?”

  “Why should he come alone?” she countered. “The imperial mandate made no distinction between types of wizards or any mention of Kigali bloodlines. I may be foreign, but who’s to say any of you are? If he wants acceptance, he has to come and fight for a place in the governing structure.”

  He hesitated, until Penrys pushed at him impatiently. “Go! You know where we’re headed.” The crowd below them was already moving south to the temple district. “I’ll tell them to expect you.”

  Dar Datsu glanced at Lai Tsumai as if reluctant to leave her alone in this company and the woman make a shooing motion with her hands. “She’s right. Go get them.”

  His shoulder sagged in acquiescence and he trotted down the steps and headed east.

  “Think I have time to change?” Penrys muttered to Chosmod, and he shook his head. With a sigh, she beat some of the dust from her breeches, and hiked down the steps to join the back of the exultant crowd of wizards as they marched off.

  Penrys’s inclination to stay in the rear of the crowd of wizards with Chosmod and Lai Tsumai was overridden by the men and women that poured out of the nearby side streets to join it, constantly pushing then further up in the ranks until they were near the front. Clearly the word of the events had been broadcast widely by mind-speech.

  There was a jubilation in the air, almost a feeling of dance at odds with the advanced age of many of the wizards, as their families came out into the open in Yenit Ping for the first time in many generations. Some had even brought children to witness the spectacle.

  The normal traffic on the streets they took to the temple district pulled out of the way, uncertain about what was going on, and clearly puzzled about what linked these particular people together.

  Penrys could tell when the word spread among the ordinary people, no doubt from the bystanders who had heard the announcement. Little cries rose up, and Penrys heard words like “Lupjuwen! The emperor has recognized a guild of wizards!”

  They seemed more astonished than alarmed, and the wizards surged quickly past, almost faster than the news could spread, until they reached the wide avenue parallel to the river and faced the blocks of temples. Char Nojuk led them and maintained a careful hold all the way on the temple priest of Suimiju, bright in his crimson robes.

  The priest directed them across the avenue, stopping all traffic, and then past the first block of temples to the second one, nearer the river. The temple of Suimiju was solid and substantial, not as highly decorated as some, but capacious.

  Penrys read the characters inscribed over the closed double doors. “The Benevolent Suimiju—Heavenly Department of Industry, Sub-Department of Practical Knowledge.” As Najud would say, the Kigali even have their gods organized.

  Her stomach cramped. Where are you, Naj-sha? You should see this.

  On either side of the doorway more characters were inscribed. As she started to work her way through them, she realized these must be the guilds assigned here—Engineers, Chemists, Pharmacists, Metallurgists—domains famous for experimentation, research, practicality. Makes perfect sense. They’ll just add “Wizards” to the list.

  Penrys and her companions were carried up the temple steps by the pressure of the crowd behind them. She stumbled and an arm shot out to support her. The elated face of Char Dami appeared. “This is no place to fall,” she admonished Penrys, then she turned her attention to her father, poised at the top with the temple priest.

  Char Nojuk faced the crowd that stretched across the avenue and held his hand up for silence. When a wave of quiet had swept over them, he held the two bronze keys aloft again so that all could view them, then he inserted one in each door and turned them ceremoniously. The click each one made was clearly audible, and Char Nojuk pushed both the doors wide open, and walked in as if he were coming home. The other Char family wizards followed him, and Penrys was swept in with Chosmod and Lai Tsumai.

  Behind them every wizard in the crowd donned a new dignity and, family by family, they ascended the steps and followed Char Nojuk into their new guild home.

  Inside, there was a vestibule with wide stairways on either side. Through a further door, Penrys glimpsed an actual temple interior, but the rest of the building was organized for practical matters.

  Chosmod muttered in her ear, “I’ve never tried to enter one of these sub-department temples, as a foreigner, but I’ve heard how they’re laid out. The bottom floor and any sub-levels will be for the temple itself and its operations—the priests, supplies, dormitories, kitchens, and so forth. But all the other floors will be for whatever guilds are supported. Not for their actual craft work, of course, but for their guild functions. Even when the guild memberships are too large for their temple and meet elsewhere, they still conduct the ceremonial parts of their government in the temple buildings.”

  “It’s not a bad arrangement,” he mused. “Not very different from our temples in Dzongphan.”

  The priest led them up the left stairway to the third floor, and then out into the building-wide landing with its matching stairway ascending the other side. Interior corridors penetrated back into the building to left and right, on either side of a large hall in the center whose double doors stood open. He waited at that open doorway with Char Nojuk until as many people as could fit were waiting silently in front of them, and the remainder, on the stairs, had ceased talking.

  Once more, he bowed to Char Nojuk. “At the request of Tun Jeju and in recognition that the lupjuwen at present have no other arrangements, we have set aside this entire floor for the use of the guild. May prosperity and benefit to the emperor result from all your works, under the benevolence of Suimiju.”

  Someone in the crowd raised a cheer, and the building rang with the thrice-repeated sound, echoing in the enclosed space with its hard surfaces.

  Even Penrys felt her heart lift. Don’t be ridiculous, this isn’t for you. But she couldn’t keep from smiling at the joy and satisfaction in the minds around her. Not that she failed to note the wariness and trepidation that was also present.

  Char Nojuk led the way into the large central hall, and Penrys was pushed along with the rest of them. The raised platform at the end was clearly designed for speakers, and he walked up the four steps alongside it and faced the crowd as it filed in. The space could have held twice their number, but Penrys suspected this was only a small portion of the wizards in Yenit Ping, the ones close enough to have joined them at little notice. She positioned herself off to the side at the front, near the steps to the platform. Lai Tsumai was uneasy at being hemmed in by a crowd of wizards like this, and Penrys assured her, “They’ll have to go through me first, and Modo and I are foreign witnesses,” she told her. Yeah, and that was true last time, with Rin Tsugo, and look how much good it did. But these are different wizards. I hope.

  One by one, older men and women separated themselves from their companions and walked onto the speakers’ platform to join Char Nojuk. By the time the crowd had settled, there must have been a dozen of them. Char Nojuk functioned as the moderator of the meeting, but did not assume the role of guild leader—that clearly belonged to one of the others.

  The first hour or so was spent explaining the happenings of the last few days, in particular the invitations to foreign wizards made by Tun Jeju, the disaster with the chained wizards in the villages and cities in response to t
he query by Imperial Security, and the accumulation of chained wizards happening in Yenit Ping.

  Char Nojuk, in telling his part, eventually summoned Penrys and Chosmod up to attest to his words, and Penrys insisted on Lai Tsumai accompanying them. Many had apparently been unaware of the existence of chained wizards and frankly stared at Penrys, as well as Lai Tsumai with her Rasesni features, in the background.

  A voice cried out from the center of the hall, “How are the tekenga lupjuwen different from the rest of us?”

  Now is not the time for complicated explanations. “A bit more than three years ago, wizards with a chain, like this one”—she bared her neck so all could see—“began appearing, in places like Ellech, Rasesdad, Zannib, Ndant, and Kigali, and maybe elsewhere. They all had a chain like this that can’t be cut or removed. They came from a variety of nations and were randomly distributed, and none of us have any memories before that point.”

  That created a buzz throughout the crowd. Penrys held up her hand to request quiet again. “I’m from no one knows where and appeared in Ellech. Lai Tsumai here, apparently of Rasesni origin, appeared in Kigali—Kigali is all she knows. Many of the chained wizards in Yenit Ping are of Kigali origin, and many are not—they all think of themselves as Kigaliwen.”

  She took a deep breath. “I’ve invited the leader of their brotherhood to come here, to this assembly. It may take him a while to get here.”

  She backed away behind the other speakers while the crowd debated the propriety of letting the chained wizards participate.

  Chosmod caught Char Nojuk’s eye and gestured that he wished to speak. When he was beckoned forward, he planted himself solidly and said, “I am a mage out of Rasesdad, here at Tun Jeju’s request. My colleagues from Ndant, and Ellech, and Zannib—we were requested to advise Imperial Security on ways to normalize the relation between Kigali and its wizards, once it realized that you existed. Of course you existed!”