Liavek 7

by Emma Bull

  She scowled in return. "I still hate you," she said.

  "So long as you do not feel indifferent to me, I am pleased. You impress me, Deremer."

  "You make me sick."

  "From what other artists and their patrons tell me, you are in good company."

  "I'll listen to you no more." She slowly stood and reached for the tent flap.

  "I've been thinking of reviewing your dance for the Crier," said Aritoli. "Favorably, of course. You are an excellent dancer, you know."

  Deremer stared back at him, her expression showing more confusion than hate. Then she flung the tent flap aside and strode out onto the beach.

  Aritoli sighed and leaned back in the chair.

  "That was well done," said Emarati's voice above him.

  Aritoli started. "Excuse me, Emarati. I'd forgotten you were here, more or less."

  "Yes. I must go. This speaking is … difficult. Ah, Mehari sends her regards."

  "She is there? With you?"

  "It was she who taught me forgiveness, for she forgave me."

  "I am pleased for you, Emarati. May you both have joy, wherever you are."

  "I do not know what lies ahead for us, but I thank you. Be well, ola Silba."

  "The crystal has gone dark," croaked the old Gatekeeper. "He will say nothing more."

  Aritoli bade Maljun to pay the old woman handsomely, and he strolled out of the tent. He blinked, his eyes unaccustomed to the light. Yet he delighted in all he could see; dark-eyed children playing on the sand, colorful birds wheeling in the sky, sunlight sparkling on the sea. Maljun stepped up beside him and they walked together back towards the city of Ka Zhir.

  "Will we be staying here awhile, Master?"

  "Eh? No, Maljun, I want to return to Liavek as soon as possible. I want to quash whatever rumors may be starting in my absence. Also, I think I may commission a painting. A group portrait. What do you think, Maljun?"

  The old manservant wore a slight smile. "An interesting idea, Master. You know …"

  "Yes?"

  "I was wondering about one rumor in particular that is said about you—"

  "Which rumor is that?"

  "The one which says that whatever deity presided over your birth figuratively placed your heart in your eyes. I was wondering if that deity might have been—"

  "Irhan? Tut, Maljun, he hardly seems old enough to have presided at my birth."

  "Appearances can deceive, Master."

  "Ah, but seeing is believing."

  The laughter of the two men was soon lost in the cries of the birds and the quiet roar of the waves.

  "The Skin and Knife Game" by Lee Barwood and Charles de Lint

  THUNDER DRUMMED IN Saffer's room as if a madman had been let loose at a set of kettle drums. Saffer groaned and burrowed her head deeper into the twist of blankets on her bed. She wished desperately for the storm to move on. As though in answer to her prayer, for one brief moment there was a lull. Then the thunder started up again.

  Poking her head up from out of her nest of bedclothes, she squinted at the bright light coming in through the window. How could she be hearing thunder when the sky was so blue it hurt to look at it? Her squint tightened, then focused on the door to her room which was vibrating with the thunder.

  "Open for the Guard!" a deep voice cried in the next lull.

  Saffer continued to stare stupidly at the door. The Guard? Sink them. What did they want with her at this hour of the—

  The thunder started up again.

  "All right!" Saffer shrieked, then immediately clutched her temples to keep her head all in one piece. In a much softer voice she added, "I'm coming." Sitting up very carefully, she stretched a hesitant foot towards the floor.

  Stumbling to the door, she swung it wide to blink at the pair of large, gray-clad Guards.

  "Demar wants to see you," one of them said.

  Saffer winced. Demar. That figured. Trust her brother to have her roused at—

  "What time is it?" she asked.

  "Almost noon."

  "Already?"

  "I wouldn't keep him waiting," the guard told her. "He's in a mood."

  Lovely. Her head was ready to split and Demar was in a mood. "What am I supposed to have done this time?"

  The guard shrugged. Saffer sighed and stumbled back into her room. Fumbling about in the small remedies bag that hung from the end of her bed, she finally closed her fingers about a little pouch that contained one of Marithana's hangover cures.

  "Can I get dressed, or is it a come-as-you-are sort of party?" she asked as she sprinkled some of the mixture on her palm. Pulling a face, she swallowed it dry.

  "Five minutes," the guard said, then closed the door.

  Saffer replaced the little pouch in her remedies bag. She rubbed her hands over her face, then ran her fingers through the short hair on the top of her head. The seven braids hanging behind her felt heavier than the Levar's purse this morning and she draped them carefully over her shoulders to take their weight off her aching head.

  Going over to the window, she stared out for a few moments, trying to remember what she could possibly have done that would entail her brother sending a couple of his men round to pick her up. Odd's end. She hadn't been in a decent scrape since Dumps had left the city to work the railroaders' camps with his card tricks.

  A sound at the door—still loud, but identifiable as a knock now—roused her enough to get dressed, hurriedly splash some water on her face, and join her unwanted traveling companions. About the only good thing for this morning, she thought as she trailed along between them, was that Marithana's hangover cure was beginning to take effect.

  •

  Demar took one look at Saffer and frowned. She was decked out in the current fashion—baggy Zhir-styled trousers and a tight shirt, topped with a loose jacket, all in pastel shades of mauve and pink. Her face was puffy from the previous night's drinking and her hair was a snake's nest of braids spilling to her shoulders.

  "You look like a clown," he said.

  "Oh, don't be such a dried old toad. This is all the rage."

  Demar sighed. When she tried her best winning smile, he didn't allow himself to react.

  Demar had Saffer's chestnut brown hair, but he was taller than her by a head. He was lean and rangy, thick-wristed, with a lightness to his step that came from years with the Guard. Looking at his sister with her lopsided smile made him think that half those years had been filled with pulling her out of one scrape or another.

  "What is it you think I've done this time?" Saffer asked finally.

  "You'd better come with me," Demar said.

  Saffer gave him an odd look. "Oh, don't go all sinking officious on me," she began.

  Demar cut her off with a wave of his hand and led her down the hall. He wouldn't speak until they entered another room in the guardhouse. Lying on a cot in the center of the room was the bruised and battered body of a young man. The guard who had been tending him left the room when Demar gave her a nod. On another cot by the wall lay a girl a few years younger, one leg twisted and thin.

  Saffer blanched, but she stepped forward to take a closer look all the same.

  "Are … are they dead?" she asked.

  "The girl is. The man's taken a bad beating, but he'll live." Demar studied his sister, watching her reactions. "Do you know them?" he asked.

  "No. Should I …" Her voice trailed off as she got a closer look at the man's face. "Kerlaf," she murmured. She turned to look at her brother. "I met them last night. I had a commission at The Luck's Shadow and he was there with—" she glanced at the body of the girl "—with his sister, Ayla. Demar, how did you know I knew them? Odd's end, I only met them last night."

  "The man had your name on his lips when he was brought in."

  "Truly, Demar. I went straight home after the party and collapsed on my bed until your thugs dragged me out of it." Her gaze drifted back to the pair on the cots. "Poor Kerlaf. He really cared about Ayla. You could just tell by
the way he took care of her."

  "So the last you saw of them was at The Luck's Shadow?" Demar asked.

  Saffer nodded.

  "That's a wizard's inn, isn't it? Is he a wizard?"

  "Ayla was—sort of. I never really got to talk with them about it. But they were there with me. I met them on my way to the party and they looked so bedraggled that I brought them along and snuck them in. They looked like they could use a bit of fun."

  That was Saffer, Demar thought. Always willing to pick up any stray dog.

  "What happened to them, Demar?"

  "Nobody knows. A couple of guards found them in Fortune Way and brought them in just an hour ago. When the man—you said his name was Kerlaf?"

  Saffer nodded.

  "When he mentioned you by name, I had you brought around straight away. They're not from the city, are they?"

  "They used to live here a long time ago. I got the impression that they'd been away and only just returned, but I didn't get much of a chance to talk to them. I was working, you know." Her gaze drifted back to Ayla.

  "And you're sure there's not more to this than you're telling me?"

  Saffer looked away from the dead girl's face. Swallowing hard, she shook her head.

  Demar sighed. "Will you take responsibility for them, Saff? They hadn't even a copper to their names."

  "I can put Kerlaf up at my place, I suppose, but Ayla …"

  "If she stays here, she goes into a pauper's grave."

  "Send her to an undertaker in my name," Saffer said. "I'll go by later to make the arrangements." Though who knew where she'd get the money.

  "I'll see to it," Demar said. "You'll want some help getting him back to your place?"

  Saffer nodded.

  "I'll get those two 'thugs' to help you."

  He could tell that she wasn't in the mood to smile, but she touched his arm to let him know that she wasn't just being sulky.

  "But if you hear anything … ?"

  "I'll tell you right away."

  "That's all I wanted to hear." Taking her by the arm, he led her back to his office.

  •

  After seeing that Kerlaf was comfortable in her room, Saffer spent the rest of the afternoon making the funeral arrangements for Ayla. It took the last of her money, plus some that she had to borrow from Meggy Thistle whom she ran into in the Levar's Park. She'd also been at the party at The Luck's Shadow the previous night and was an old friend of Saffer's.

  "Mind you," she said as she handed Saffer the coins, "I'll need this back before the end of the week. I thought I'd wander up toward Trader's Town for a week or so and see how well the railway men are paying these days. I was going to ask you if you wanted to come. We could've had a bit of fun and collected a copper or two while we were at it. I've heard they're starving for good entertainment."

  "Don't I know it," Saffer replied. "Dumps is up there right now, cardsharping his way through their wages. Say hello to him for me if you see him."

  Meggy shook her head. "Not likely, Saffer. I want to stay on the good side of the railway men."

  "I'll get this back as quick as I can," Saffer said, holding up the money Meggy had lent her. "Thanks again."

  Meggy nodded, but just as Saffer turned to go, she caught her arm. "Now I remember," she said.

  "Remember what?"

  "I had something to tell you and it just drained out of my mind the moment I saw you. Remember the big woman at the party last night, the one that looked more like a baker than a wizard? She had the little yapping dog that thought it knew every tune better than we did."

  "I remember her. Her name was Teshi, wasn't it?"

  Meggy nodded. "She was by looking for you."

  "For me? What for?"

  "She didn't say. Maybe she has another commission for us."

  "Then why didn't she talk to you about it?"

  Meggy shrugged. "I don't know. Anyway, I sent her round by your place."

  Wonderful, Saffer thought. Her brother thought she was up to no good, she had a patient in her bed, she'd just spent all her money on a funeral for someone she hardly knew at all, and now a wizard was looking for her. She just hoped that she hadn't done something stupid at the party last night while in a beer-silly mood.

  "She's probably been and gone by now," Meggy said.

  Saffer nodded glumly, not believing it for a moment. After thanking Meggy again for the loan and promising to pay it back as soon as she could, she hurried off for home.

  •

  According to her landlord, the wizard had been and gone by the time Saffer returned to her room. Upstairs, Kerlaf was still imitating a man-sized lump on her bed. After fussing about with his pillows and blankets, she went and sat in her window seat. There she indulged in a soliloquy while plucking the odd note from her cittern and staring off through what little view there was from her window.

  "It's not so much that Demar doesn't trust me," she said, "as that sometimes I wonder if he isn't right. Maybe I do just bring trouble on myself." She plucked a few notes from the cittern's double strings, then a chord. Ting, ting, kring. "I didn't have to bring them along to the party, but they did look so forlorn, and I just knew there'd be all that food there that was only going to get thrown out in the morning." Kring. "And no one really seemed to mind, what with Ayla being a … was it an herbalist or an astrologer?"

  "She was an astronomer, actually."

  Saffer blinked with surprise at the reply to her question. She looked at the bed, but Kerlaf hadn't moved, little say spoken. Then her gaze went to the door.

  The wizard Teshi stood there. She was a short, friendly-looking woman, plump with short curly gray hair, dressed in voluminous robes that glimmered with a rainbow effect. Huge gaudy rings, all gold and silver and with far too many large gems, glittered on her hands. Her eyes twinkled, but there was something in their blue depths that made Saffer feel a little intimidated. She found it hard to look away. It wasn't until Teshi broke eye contact to look at Kerlaf that Saffer blinked and set aside her cittern. Then she spotted the little mop of gray fur with the big dark eyes that had accompanied the wizard.

  "I don't want to seem rude," Saffer began, "but—"

  "What am I doing here?" Teshi replied.

  "Something like that."

  "It's because of Kerlaf's sister," Teshi said. She turned from the bed and sat down on its edge so that she was facing Saffer. The little dog began to explore the room. "She does star charts," Teshi explained. "Did star charts. I was planning to commission some from her, but then I heard the horrible news. This sort of a thing … You'd think we were in Ka Zhir or something."

  She gave Saffer's clothes a sharp look, but Saffer managed to ignore it. Saffer thought about her patient and his sister. News certainly travelled fast. Half of Liavek had probably known about it before she had.

  "I took rather a liking to them," Teshi finished, "and thought I would see if I could do anything to help. Whoever did this shouldn't be allowed to get away with it."

  "Well, the Guard's looking into it," Saffer said.

  "Yes, but they have so many things to look into. If we can lend them a hand, I doubt they'd mind."

  "You don't know my brother."

  "I'm sure I don't."

  Saffer shook her head. "That's not what I meant. Demar's in the Guard and he told me I was absolutely not to meddle in this. Odd's end, he'd kill me if—"

  "We caught the attackers and delivered them without his having to lift a finger?"

  "He wouldn't be happy."

  "Nonsense."

  Before Saffer could argue any more, Teshi had turned back to Kerlaf. She laid her palms on either side of his head. The air seemed to glimmer around her for a moment, then Kerlaf's eyelids flickered and his eyes opened. Saffer left the window seat and stepped close. He had, she decided, the nicest pair of clear blue eyes that she'd ever seen.

  "A-ayla … ?" he murmured.

  "Ah … she's not … ah …"

  "She's dead," Teshi
said softly.

  Kerlaf's gaze went back and forth between them, then his eyes clouded with pain. "I … I remember," he said and he began to weep.

  Saffer had never had a grown man cry on her before. She gave Teshi a beseeching look. The wizard nodded and gathered Kerlaf up in her arms.

  "Maybe you should get him something—tea, or soup," she told Saffer.

  Saffer backed away to the door. "I'll see what the landlord's got on," she said.

  But they weren't listening to her. Kerlaf's body shook with great shuddering sobs. Teshi held him against her, murmuring comforting noises. Biting at her lower lip, Saffer hurried downstairs to the kitchen, grateful for something to do. The wizard's little dog followed at her heels.

  •

  By the time Saffer returned with a steaming bowl of beef broth, Teshi and Kerlaf were sitting on either end of the bed. Kerlaf's eyes were bleak with his loss, but he was no longer weeping. Saffer remembered her first look into them last night and then again a few moments ago when Teshi had brought him around. The guileless clarity that had attracted her was gone, replaced with a sorrow that went beyond despair.

  "Can you remember what they looked like?" Teshi was asking him. "The people who attacked you."

  Kerlaf blinked. It took a moment for him to find his voice. "It wasn't people," he said finally. "It was a woman—the one who ran the boarding house."

  "What woman?" Saffer asked.

  "Her name was Bica. We rented the room when we arrived yesterday afternoon—it was cheap and clean, and when you don't have much, that's enough."

  "I don't know her," Teshi said. "But this isn't my part of town. Saffer?"

  "I know of her," Saffer replied. "Everyone in the Alley does. She's this crazy old woman who runs a rooming house a few blocks down from here. I don't know anybody who's stayed there."

  Teshi's eyes narrowed.

  "No," Saffer said. "It's not because she's dangerous or anything. She's just—too weird. My friend Meggy was going to rent a room from her, but she got the creeps and never moved in. The thing is …" Saffer hesitated, looking at Kerlaf. Odd's end, you'd think he could take care of himself against some old spinster. "She's not tough or anything, you know? Just a crazy old woman."