The Iron Princess

by Niall Teasdale

  ‘So, where did you get the money to pay for this place?’

  Xian looked across the bathwater. ‘Obviously, I stole it. It’s quite easy when you can walk, invisible, through any wall you wish, materialise long enough to pick up some coin, and then vanish again.’

  Though the answer was not entirely unexpected, Ayah still stared back for several seconds. ‘You stole it?’

  Lifting a hand from beneath the water, Xian waved the question away. ‘I only take a little from many places and believe me when I say that those merchants are always scamming their customers one way or another.’ Ayah was still staring. ‘I’m a fox, Ayah. We’re all tricksters.’

  Ayah stopped staring and went for frowning. ‘I have money, you know? I could–’

  ‘You’ve some money and not enough for a room like this. We’d be using the public baths and I don’t think you’re ready for that in a town like this.’

  ‘I’m in the water with you. I can stand to see naked people.’

  ‘The baths are notorious for prostitution, you innocent thing, and you’re young yet to have to fend off advances from fat merchants.’

  ‘I– Um, oh.’

  Xian gave a nod. ‘Pass me the soap, would you? Have you given any thought to how you’ll find yourself a teacher?’

  Ayah picked up the bowl of sloppy, semi-liquid soap and handed it across. ‘Not really, but I figure I’ll look around for any proper schools first. If I can’t find any, I’ll check out carpenters. And… Well, after that I’d imagine I’ll need to look to charcoal burners and others in the forest.’

  Xian had pulled herself up onto the edge of the bath to slather some of the soapy goo from the bowl onto herself. She grimaced, and Ayah was unsure whether that was because of the soap – which was horribly astringent – or the plan. Maybe it was both: the grimace remained as Xian spoke. ‘You’re going to have a problem, you know?’

  ‘I am?’

  ‘Not every master is willing to teach… strangers. You were lucky that Sanden was willing to teach you Metal Form, and that no one else complained that you had learned both Earth and Metal.’

  ‘Oh,’ Ayah said flatly.

  ‘Humans have been wary of teaching the Arts to outsiders since Roshmin left the world.’

  ‘Roshmin the Immortal?’ There were eight Immortals and Roshmin had been the last of them. According to myth as much as fact, he had entered the spirit world thirty-five Great Years after the Empire of Iron was founded and he was the only one of the eight to ever be documented as anything more than a legend. The months were named after the eight when the Empire had codified the calendar.

  ‘That’s the one. He taught Emperor Anguo, the first emperor, but he chose not to teach him the way of immortality. As I heard it, he said that the burden of an endless life was one no man should have to bear.’

  ‘You’re immortal, aren’t you?’

  ‘I am, it’s true, but I am a spirit and a woman.’ Xian grinned and sank back into the water to wash off the soap. ‘Whatever, since then, since the Empire really, people have kept their Arts closer to themselves. Many think the Empire started it, holding the secret of steel close so that others might not learn how it was made, but it began before then and people have forgotten why. You may have more trouble than you think finding someone willing to teach you.’

  ‘I have to try.’

  ‘And I’m not saying you shouldn’t. Just… be prepared for discouraging results.’

  29th Day, Second Marita.

  Xian had persuaded Ayah to wait until Wood Day to start her hunt. People would be fresh from taking Sky Day off and they could use the time to get a better idea of the town. At least for Moon Day, that had meant touring the shops. Ayah had discovered that she was not a shopping sort of girl, but she had located three schools which taught Wood Form and several carpentry workshops where she might look for a teacher.

  As the sun approached its zenith on Sky Day, Xian and Ayah set off through a side gate in the town’s wall, the Forest Gate, to take a look at the Forest of Lambech.

  ‘It used to be all forest here,’ Xian said as they walked out toward the line of trees some five hundred paces from the wall. ‘The town has chewed into it for almost four hundred Great Years, since before I was born.’

  ‘How old are you?’ Ayah asked.

  ‘Ayah! One simply does not ask a lady her age.’

  ‘Oh, sorry.’

  Xian let out a laugh which had a little of the whickering sound foxes made in it. ‘Two hundred and thirty-five Great Years. Not that old for a spirit. Quite ancient for a human. Anyway, the real forest doesn’t start at that treeline. They’ve cultivated much of the forest for several myls around the town, either for timber or for making into charcoal. The charcoal burners will be deeper in because one of the benefits of charcoal is that it’s less weighty to haul than wood.’

  Ayah grinned. ‘I knew that. Sanden told me that once. He smelted some of his own metals.’

  ‘An accomplished man.’

  ‘A master swordsman as well as an excellent smith. He never called himself Dashi Sanden, but I think he had the right.’ The grin left Ayah’s face. ‘I miss him. And my mother.’

  ‘I’m sure you do. It would be a sad thing if you didn’t, wouldn’t it?’

  ‘I suppose that’s true.’

  Xian nodded. ‘We’ll walk a little way into the forest and see if we can find a good place for our picnic.’ She glanced at the basket Ayah was carrying. ‘You’re sure you’re okay carrying that?’

  ‘Earth Form exercises,’ Ayah replied with a nod. ‘Lifting and carrying and how to use your muscles as best you can to do both is part of the most basic training. That’s why people employ Earth Form practitioners as porters.’

  ‘Well, it appears that you are an excellent one. Let’s find somewhere where we can lighten your burden.’

  They walked through the trees for several hundred paces and Ayah began to see what Xian meant about the forest. It was a little like the wood near Avrilatha, but… less. People had been taking trees from Avrilatha Wood for years, but only a few at a time and it was still relatively uncultivated. Here the undergrowth was cleared, the trees were too ordered and the wrong mix of species. This was a man-made forest hiding in the shadow of a natural one. They were still surrounded by cultivated trees when they came across a small clearing which seemed to have no purpose, but it was a suitable place for a picnic.

  ‘Plus,’ Xian said as she laid out a blanket, ‘I doubt we’ll find anywhere better without walking a myl or more. Forestry like this is never great for picnic spots.’

  The ground was covered in pine needles, brown from having fallen so long ago. The occasional pine cone had to be tossed aside before the blanket would lie flat too. It was… weirdly unnatural despite the trees and the sunny sky above. ‘It’s kind of…’ Ayah looked around at the trees and frowned. ‘It’s not like the wood near my village.’

  ‘No. I liked that wood. There were all sorts of small creatures just begging to be turned into a snack.’

  ‘So that was you! You’ve been watching me since–’

  ‘Oh, for quite a while. You fascinate me. Well, people fascinate me, but you and your mother were always a particular interest. I used to like watching the two of you when you went hunting for herbs.’

  ‘You are just a spirit voyeur.’ Settling down, Ayah began to unpack the food.

  ‘It’s not like I used to watch you having sex!’

  ‘With my mother?’

  ‘With anyone! As far as I’m aware, you’ve never had sex with your mother. I didn’t think that kind of thing was done.’

  ‘I haven’t. It’s not. I haven’t actually had sex with anyone so you couldn’t have watched.’ Ayah frowned. She could feel her cheeks heating. ‘And how did we end up having this conversation anyway?’

  ‘I believe there was a logical sequence of… Well, it was a moderately logical sequence of events. There was some logic involved. Pass the bread.’
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br />   ‘Yes. Give me a– Oh!’ Ayah’s eyes widened as she saw the woman standing beside one of the trees around their clearing. The naked and green woman. She was quite beautiful in an alien fashion: her legs were long and she had small, pointed breasts. Her hair was the green of damp moss and hung down to her behind. Her eyes were all one colour, and that colour was an almost pearlescent green. Ayah had never seen anything like her in her life.

  The woman pointed a long, slim finger at Xian and said, ‘What are you doing in my wood, vixen?’

  Xian, perhaps unsurprisingly, did not seem at all phased by the newcomer. ‘Lunch. Care to join us? Oh, wait, lauma don’t eat. It’s a shame because the cheese we brought is excellent.’

  A lauma? Well, Ayah knew stories of the lauma. They protected trees, occasionally luring those who harmed their homes into the forest to be done away with. Looking at the creature, it was difficult to believe that anyone could be fooled into following her. ‘We mean your trees no harm,’ Ayah said, smiling. ‘I’m Ayah and this is Xian.’

  The lauma looked at Ayah for a second and then sniffed. ‘No, well, you seem a nice sort of girl. And clearly not a fox spirit.’

  Xian heaved an exaggerated sigh. ‘Our reputation is an unkind one. I’m surprised to see a lauma in this kind of wood.’

  Apparently quite happy now, the lauma sat down, cross-legged, on the edge of the blanket as though she commonly conversed with humans and fox spirits. ‘It’s a good enough patch. I don’t like it overmuch when they take my trees, but they always replant and never deprive me of everything.’

  ‘You’ve got them well-trained. How many did you have to suck into a tree before they got the message?’

  ‘None. Oh, I’ve seduced a few humans into my embrace over the years, but the foresters here are respectful.’

  ‘Huh.’ Xian glanced at Ayah. ‘I don’t suppose the stories you’ve heard of lauma tell of what happens to the humans they seduce?’

  ‘Uh… Now you mention it, I don’t believe any of them do.’

  ‘We pull them into trees,’ the lauma said in a matter-of-fact voice. ‘We don’t need to breathe, but humans do. We pull them into a tree and leave them there. Really, it’s a terrible thing to do to a tree, but needs must.’

  ‘Oh,’ Ayah said. Well, most of the people so entombed had done something bad to deserve it…

  ‘Lauma,’ Xian said, ‘are spirit creatures, just like the amaroqs.’ She held up a hand before the lauma could protest. ‘But also entirely unlike amaroqs.’

  ‘Well, yes. She’s not trying to bite my face off for one thing.’

  ‘I mean that lauma have intellects rather above that of a common dog and a sense of responsibility. Just because a being is a spirit creature, you should not assume that the “creature” part is significant.’

  Ayah gave a shrug. ‘I take people as I find them. Or creatures as I find them.’

  ‘That is a welcome change from the attitude of most humans,’ the lauma said. ‘You do have something about you…’

  Glancing at Xian, Ayah lifted her brows in question. The fox spirit shrugged. ‘Spirits listen to you,’ Xian said. ‘That is not something most humans can claim. The one in the pool in Saventi, for example. You calmed it and that is not something many can do. This lauma clearly does not entirely trust you since she has been rude enough not to name herself, but she is happy to sit and chat. Tell me, nameless one, is Leshak still walking the deep forest?’

  The lauma gave a sniff. ‘My name is Videen. I did not wish to be rude. And Leshak is still here. Men would have to clear the whole forest to be rid of him and he would fight them the whole time they tried.’

  Xian gave a grin. ‘That he would.’

  ‘You know Leshak?’

  ‘We’ve a passing acquaintance. Now, Ayah is looking for a teacher of Wood Form and may seek it from some of the foresters or charcoal burners near here. What can you tell us of them?’

  30th Day, Second Marita.

  What Videen told them of the humans who worked in the forest was not giving Ayah great hope for the future, but what she was getting from the schools was making her downright depressed.

  ‘Our beginner’s classes are for those aged four Great Years or younger. You’re too old.’

  ‘We only take students from Omashi. Live here for a few years and then come back to see me.’

  And then there was the rather blunt: ‘I don’t teach girls.’

  ‘I don’t mind admitting that I’m discouraged,’ Ayah said as she re-joined Xian outside the last of the schools Ayah had found.

  ‘What did this one say?’ Xian asked.

  ‘He’s full. He can’t take on another student right now.’

  Xian lifted her gaze to the battered-looking building. The sign, held over the door on a wooden post which stuck out from the wall, was hanging on only one of its chains. ‘Oh, yes, of course. Clearly this place can afford to turn away customers.’

  ‘He did suggest I try some of the carpenters…’

  31st Day, Second Marita.

  ‘I only take on new apprentices in autumn.’

  Ayah looked at the man with the wood chisel in his hand and suppressed a sigh. ‘But your sign–’

  ‘Oh, I never remember to take down the sign.’

  ‘Right.’ Turning, Ayah left the workshop to find Xian waiting for her outside.

  One look told the fox spirit the results of the latest attempt to find an apprenticeship. ‘Shame. He does excellent carved furniture.’

  Ayah looked in through the window of the shop where there were several large examples of the man’s carving on display. ‘Yes, he does. Same story as the last three. Apprenticeships start in autumn. But I’m willing to bet I’d have no more luck if I came back this Poleda.’

  ‘I did say it would be hard.’

  ‘Yes, but I didn’t expect it to be impossible!’

  ‘Try a few more tomorrow. Right now, you already look defeated so they’ll have no reason to offer you anything other than excuses.’

  Frowning, Ayah turned toward the centre of town and their hotel. ‘I guess you might be right, but there has to be someone who’ll teach me.’

  Xian nodded slowly. ‘Yes… If you have no luck tomorrow, we’ll try someone I know in the forest.’

  ‘You heard what Videen said about the foresters.’

  ‘He’s not a forester.’

  ‘Okay… Why didn’t you mention him earlier?’

  ‘Because to get him to teach you, we’ll have to go deep into the forest. Then we’ll have to find him. Then we’ll have to persuade him that you’re worth his time. And then you’ll have to put up with the grumpy old… man.’ Xian seemed to have had some difficulty coming up with a suitable noun and that made Ayah wary.

  ‘Why do I have a feeling this man really is a last resort?’

  ‘Because you’re not stupid.’

  Forest of Lambech, 33rd Day, Second Marita.

  Ayah had expected there to be no obvious point where you went from cultivated wood to the true Forest of Lambech, but when they came to it, it was a lot more obvious than she had expected. There was no fence or wall, or even a ditch to mark the boundary, but there was an invisible line where the trees suddenly got older and the ground clutter deepened.

  They had walked several myls to get this far and only now did Ayah start to realise why the Forest of Lambech had the reputation it did. There were stories about the place going back centuries. Maybe millennia. It got difficult to tell how old a legend was when you had records only so far back and those maintained by people in a foreign empire. There were amaroqs in there which would hunt you down in the dark, and Xian had said they might have to stay several days to find the man they were looking for. There were stories of worse things than amaroqs…

  Overhead, the canopy was dense and little light penetrated down to the ground. Still, the underbrush was fairly dense. Thorny little bushes tugged at Ayah’s trousers and she was thankful of the hardwearing material. Even Xian
had dispensed with her perennial red dress in favour of sturdier travelling clothes. There were sounds which Ayah did not recall from Avrilatha Wood. The wind rustled the leaves overhead, though Ayah did not remember it being windy when they had walked in that morning. Other things moved other plants closer to them. Ayah found herself glancing around at every sound. The trees seemed to loom above her head…

  ‘It’s just a forest, Ayah,’ Xian said. ‘It’s old and it’s big, but it’s no different from the wood beside your village. There are trees and bushes and animals. Don’t let it get to you.’

  Ayah frowned. ‘I…’ Somewhere, a bird started singing. After a second, Ayah recognised the song: a green treetapper. They were all over Avrilatha Wood and here was one chirping sweetly in the darkness of the Forest of Lambech. ‘I won’t. You never said who this friend of yours is.’

  ‘His name is Leshak. I asked Videen about him, if you remember. He’s… Well, I wouldn’t exactly describe him as a friend. He’s old and grumpy. He’s been watching over the forest since the forest was a wood. Some say he sprang from the first tree. He doesn’t say that though. He’s not that pretentious. Besides, it doesn’t really make sense.’

  ‘He’s a spirit?’

  ‘Quite an old one. He’s… a little set in his ways, but I think he’ll agree to teach you what you want to know and he’s a master of Wood Form in a way most humans never achieve.’

  ‘Oh. Well, okay. I guess.’ Somehow, the idea that Ayah might, finally, find a master to teach her seemed to have just become less likely.

  ‘There are a few rules.’