by Linda McNabb
Zaine felt a shiver run down his spine and knew someone was watching him. He turned and saw Davyn leaning against a tree trunk up the hill. It was still odd to see him looking so young.
To anyone who didn’t know Davyn, it would seem that he was tapping his foot to some unheard music, but Zaine knew it was a sign that the herbmaster was angry.
CHAPTER SEVEN - MAATA
“I think it’s about time for our midday meal now,” Master Pavil announced as he shuffled off back towards the novice hall. He did not wait to see if his students were following him, but they did. Zaine hung back to see if Davyn would call him over, but when he looked over at the tree again the herbmaster was gone.
“It’s a good thing you messed up on that second one,” Kerrec said as he fell into step with Zaine and raised an eyebrow. He obviously knew that Zaine had drawn the runes incorrectly on purpose. “Have you been weaving long?”
“It was just beginner’s luck,” Zaine repeated.
“Yeah, right. If you say so,” Kerrec countered dryly, but did not press the subject.
They were almost halfway up the sloping road when the sound of crunching stones made Zaine turn. A fancy white carriage, drawn by two white horses with red feather plumes mounted on their heads, was heading towards the castle.
Zaine stepped back to allow the carriage to pass as the road was not very wide. He stared at the window of the carriage, wondering if his mother was inside it. Would she recognise him? The carriage drew alongside and Zaine had a clear view of the only occupant.
Zaine felt a twinge of disappointment when he realised that it wasn’t his mother, but he continued to stare anyway. Inside sat a girl, not much older than himself, and her white cape contrasted strongly with her deep brown skin. She sat stiffly, not leaning against the soft, padded seats and stared straight ahead. He felt someone tugging on his shirt, but he ignored them as he wondered who she was.
As if sensing that Zaine was looking at her she turned and returned his stare. The carriage continued down the pebbled road and swept around the corner towards the castle. The girl continued to stare at him through the back window of the carriage until she was out of sight.
“Who is she?” Zaine asked, and turned to Kerrec. He was surprised to see that the boy, along with the rest of the class, was down on his knees with his head pressed to the dirt. Even old Master Pavil had attempted to kneel and was leaning heavily on his staff as he tried to get back up.
“That’s Princess Maata!” Kerrec muttered as he too got up. He looked worried and a little scared as his gaze shot from Zaine, to Master Pavil, and then back again. “You’re going to be in big trouble now.”
“I didn’t know …” Zaine tried to explain, but Kerrec had already hurried off after his classmates. Obviously he no longer wanted to be seen near Zaine.
Zaine had just about reached the doorway to novice hall when horse hooves on the stones came from the direction of the castle. He turned; ready to bow low if it was the princess’s carriage again, but this time it was two castle guards on black horses. Zaine stood back as they came closer, allowing them room to pass but they slowed down and stopped beside him.
“I told you there would be trouble,” Kerrec said from where he stood at the doorway and he shook his head sadly.
Zaine frowned as surely the guards weren’t here for him. How was he supposed to know that she was the princess? His heart began to thump loudly and he started walking up to novice hall again feeling sure that the guards would have some other reason for being there.
“Halt!” one of the guards ordered and Zaine’s heart skipped a beat as he knew without a doubt the guard was speaking to him. Zaine turned to face the two guards with his shoulders back, determined to convince them that he wouldn’t make the same mistake again.
“I didn’t mean any harm …”
Zaine let the sentence fade away as the stony-faced guards moved towards him and grabbed an arm each. They turned and started walking back towards the castle, the reins of their horse in their other hands. Zaine felt a wave of panic as he struggled to loosen the iron grip on his arms.
“How was I to know who she was?” Zaine tried again, but the guards did not even look at him as they continued their steady but quick pace back towards the castle.
The road dipped slightly and the novice hall disappeared out of sight as Zaine tried to crane his neck back to see if anyone was coming to his rescue. The guards came to an abrupt halt near a small thicket of trees to the side near the river. With an almighty shove they pushed him into the trees and let go. Zaine tumbled down a slight slope and then sat up, staring back up at the two guards who had mounted their horses and were almost out of sight.
What was going on? He stood up and brushed the late autumn leaves from his shirt as he wondered what he should do now. Why had the guards left him here?
“I told you to stay inside.” A familiar voice chastised him and he spun to see the herbmaster standing a short distance away. Davyn’s voice was tinged with anger, but Zaine could tell he was more worried than angry.
“Master Pavil insisted,” Zaine explained. “I thought I was arrested because I looked at the princess.”
“That was just a stroke of luck.” Davyn walked over to join Zaine and leaned against a tree. “Now Pavil won’t wonder why you left so suddenly. You didn’t tell him I was here did you?”
“No, I’ve only just woken up.” Zaine breathed a sigh of relief that the herbmaster wasn’t angry with him. He supposed he should stop thinking of Davyn as a herbmaster. His true title was probably Runeweaver.
“I think it was a bad idea to put you in with the novices,” Davyn mused as he put his hand on Zaine’s shoulder and steered him up to a smaller path that ran alongside the road. “You’ll have to come and stay up at the castle.”
The castle. Zaine looked up at the huge white-stone building that loomed well above the trees even though it was still a fair distance away. He was more used to barns and haylofts, and now he was going to be staying at a castle.
They walked in silence up towards the castle, but when they were near it Davyn turned off the cobbled path and steered him around the side.
The back of the castle, although much less grand, was still far grander than any hayloft could ever be. Davyn paused as they came to where a small wooden door was set into the white-stone walls. There were six runes carved into the door, looking more like a decorative pattern to anyone who did not know any better, but Zaine recognised them instantly. He spoke the words that the book had taught him and the door swung open.
“Don’t do that!” Davyn hissed anxiously and shoved Zaine quickly through the door, slamming it shut behind them. “You never know who is watching and I don’t want anyone to know about you.”
Zaine muttered an apology, but Davyn didn’t seem to be listening. They were in a narrow stone corridor that branched off in a dozen different directions. Davyn chose the one that was the furthest to their right and hurried down it. They passed through half a dozen more doors before Davyn finally stopped at one that looked different to the rest. There were no runes on this one, just the imprint of a hand – like a footprint in the mud. Davyn laid his hand in the imprint and the door swung open.
“It will open only for me,” Davyn explained as he looked up and down the corridor again before pulling Zaine inside.
The door clicked shut behind them and Zaine noticed that there was no door handle on the inside either. Zaine looked around at the room and saw that a thick layer of dust covered most things. It was obviously where someone lived, for there was a bed, a table and several comfortable-looking chairs. A bookshelf stood at the far end of the room next to another door and Zaine wondered where it led.
“I lived here until I was sent to watch over you,” Davyn explained as he swept the dust off the table and then had to open the far door as they both started coughing.
Zaine hurried over to the door and leaned out to gasp in some clean air. As he stopped coughing, he saw that o
utside was a lush green garden with pebbled paths. Before he’d had a good look, though, Davyn had pulled the door shut and propped open a small window high above the door.
“I have to go and see someone. Stay here,” Davyn ordered as he walked back towards the door they had come in. “I’ll bring some food back for you in a while.”
Zaine didn’t even have time to think of anything to say before the herbmaster was gone and the door clicked softly shut. He wandered around the small room for a few minutes before his mind went back to the garden he had seen briefly. The only window was above the door, and it was much too high for Zaine to see out. He looked at the row of books in the bookshelf, wondering if he could look at them to pass the time, but the memory of how much trouble the rune book had caused him in the past stopped him from even going near them.
Instead he dragged the chair over to the door, intending to stand on it so that he could see out into the garden. He placed his hand on the door to steady himself as he put one foot on the chair, and then fell sideways as the door swung open under his touch.
Zaine got up, wondering if Davyn hadn’t shut it properly, and peered out into the green shrubs and trees. He stepped out onto the pebbled path that ran past the door. Surely it couldn’t hurt if he just looked around for a few minutes? If he left the door open and stayed in sight of it, there wouldn’t be any problems. Having convinced himself that he wasn’t really disobeying Davyn’s orders, Zaine walked a few more steps down the path.
A soft bang made him spin around and Zaine was horrified to see that the door had swung shut. He was stuck in the garden now! He walked back to the door and looked up at the window. He knew it was nowhere near big enough for him to get through and he let out a sigh of frustration. He didn’t want to upset Davyn when he had already gone against his wishes so much in the past. Why couldn’t he have just sat and waited inside like his friend had asked him to?
Zaine sank down against the outside wall of Davyn’s small home and looked around. Off to his left he could see a dozen or so doors, just like Davyn’s, with nothing to mark each one as different from the rest. In front of him was the large well-tended garden with pebbled paths. In the distance he could hear the sound of running water and assumed there must be a fountain of sorts somewhere in the garden. Having heard the water, Zaine was instantly aware of how dry his mouth was after breathing in the dust. He knew he should stay and wait for Davyn, but what if the herbmaster didn’t return for ages? He needed a drink now!
Jumping to his feet, Zaine picked up a few white pebbles from the path that ran past the door and laid them on a rock next to Davyn’s door. The white pebbles formed the shape of the first rune he had ever learnt and he knew he would recognise it when he came back from getting a drink. He stood listening, hoping Davyn would return and save him from having to go wandering through the garden, but the only sound he could hear was the gentle splash of water somewhere out of sight.
Walking as softly as he could, Zaine headed in the direction of the sound that would quench his thirst. The trees, bushes and flowers were far too well looked after for this to be an unused garden. If nobody came here, then why bother to keep it so well? So that meant he was likely to run into someone if he stayed in the garden too long. That wouldn’t please Davyn at all. Zaine walked slowly and cautiously, ready to leap into the bushes at the first sound of footsteps ahead of him.
It only took a minute to reach the source of the falling water, a stone statue in the middle of a large fountain, and he paused at the edges of the bushes to check there was nobody in sight. There was nobody around, so Zaine hurried over to the fountain and cupped his hands to drink. He didn’t really care if the water wasn’t too clean. He’d drunk out of the creek back at the farm often enough not to care about a few bugs.
After a few mouthfuls of what must be the sweetest water he had ever tasted, he sank back on his heels in relief. Now to get back to Davyn’s door and wait for him …
“You there!”
Zaine spun around so fast as he stood up that he lost his balance and he had a fleeting glance of white before he fell backwards into the fountain. The basin of the fountain wasn’t very deep and he struck the bottom hard with his back and swallowed another mouthful of the sweet water that he didn’t need. He instinctively floated back to the surface and lay there, bobbing in the water, with his legs still hanging over the side of the fountain.
Now Davyn would be really angry, and with good reason. He cursed himself silently as he wondered what he should tell whoever it was.
“Are you okay?”
Zaine opened his eyes and saw that the person had come over to the fountain and was leaning over him. With a start he realised that it was Princess Maata. He leapt out of the water, sending more than a few drops of water over the princess.
“Your Highness …” Zaine stared at her for a split second as he saw she was now almost as wet as he was, and then dropped to his knees. “I … I … was thirsty.”
CHAPTER EIGHT - A LONG-AWAITED MEETING
At first there was no reply and Zaine wondered what punishment he would get for drenching the princess as well as staring at her earlier in the day. Then he heard a sound that made him want to look up, but he kept his forehead firmly pressed to the soft grass that surrounded the fountain. It was as if she was coughing or choking, but then he realised that she was trying to stop herself laughing.
“I think I preferred it when you stared at me,” she said, and laughed out loud. “You should have seen how funny it looked when you fell in the fountain.”
Zaine lifted his head and slowly rose to his feet, eyeing the princess carefully as he did so. She was holding her side as she laughed, and the sparkle in her deep brown eyes told him that he wasn’t in trouble. Now that he could see her close up he saw that she was more strongly built than her delicate white dress indicated. She would look far more at home in a riding skirt and embroidered shirt like some of the farm girls wore back down near the farm.
“I’m Maata,” she said simply as she returned his stare and then extended her hand.
Zaine, unwilling to offend her by refusing, laid his palm flat against hers in the ritual greeting of strangers. It wasn’t the soft, unworked hand that he had expected, and he could tell instantly that this princess was no stranger to hard work. Calluses such as these were not earned by tending a few roses and riding horses.
“My name is Zaine, Your Highness,” he replied as he withdrew his hand. “I didn’t mean to offend you earlier. I didn’t know who you were.”
“That’s okay,”’ the princess said graciously and smiled. “What are you doing out in the gardens?”
“I was thirsty,” Zaine repeated his earlier explanation, wondering just how much he should tell her. Surely her next question would be how he had got into this obviously private garden. He did not want to lie to her, but he didn’t want to upset Davyn any more than he already had. “I really must be going …”
“So soon?” The princess sounded disappointed and a small frown creased her smooth brown forehead. “I can send a messenger to tell Davyn where you are if you like.”
Zaine’s mouth dropped open and he couldn’t help the stare of disbelief that he knew was on his face. How had she known he came here with Davyn?
“Oh don’t look so worried. I know who you are. They have to tell me everything. I must say that you don’t look anywhere near as dangerous as they said you are. Anyway the resemblance is so strong I would have worked it out by myself.” The princess was staring intently at him with a puzzled frown as if she found him confusing. “He should have just kept you away from here.”
A voice carried softly through the trees, and the princess frowned.
“My tutor is looking for me,” she said with a sigh. “I didn’t want to do my lessons today.” She looked resigned to the fact that her tutor would find her. Then suddenly she grinned at Zaine. “Can you hide me?”
“Hide you?” Zaine asked in confusion.
“You k
now – a rune circle.” She paused and then frowned. “Or don’t you know any?”
Zaine was torn. He knew he should take the order of a princess without question, but would Davyn mind? What harm could it do, though, as it was just the same as the circles he had been doing every night on the way to Willow Castle?
“Stand beside me please, Your Highness,” Zaine said as he picked up a twig and began to draw runes in a small patch of dirt. With just a few flicks of the twig he had the circle complete. There was no need to check the runes, as he knew there would be no breaks or mistakes.
The princess had to stand very close to him since there was very little bare ground to draw on, and Zaine could feel the power of the runes surrounding them. The few times he had woven any runes he had felt the same. It made him feel complete, as if a missing piece of him had finally been put in its place.
The princess’s tutor came into sight; a short, weasel-faced man walking slowly along the pebbled path. He frowned at the water all over the wooden seat, which stood to one side of the fountain, then wandered off along the path again.
“My thanks,” the princess said. She waited for Zaine to rub out one of the runes with his foot before she stepped out of the circle. “You weave like you’ve been doing it a long time.”
“Not that long,” Zaine replied as he scrubbed out every rune. He liked making the circles even though he didn’t really want to be a runeweaver.
“I like how you don’t call me ‘Your Highness’ all the time,” the princess said with a smile. “Call me ‘Maata’. It will be nice to talk to someone without all that pomp and ceremony for a change.”
There was an awkward silence for a full minute before the princess spoke again.
“Did you know your mother is arriving this afternoon? In fact she should be here anytime now,” Princess Maata added casually, watching for his reaction.
“I heard. I really should be getting back.” Zaine was the one to break eye contact and he stared at the dirt in which he stood. “Davyn will be back soon.”