by Victor Poole
Isacar watched Ajalia, his chin and mouth very still.
"Tell the person that the Thief Lord has heard of the good sense and the steadiness of Fashel, and desires to establish his household. Say that he asks permission to see Fashel tonight."
Isacar stood up.
"What if they will not part with her?" he asked. Ajalia looked up at him, and smiled.
"Then you and I will have fun together, extracting her," she said, "but I think that Fashel's owner will show sense."
Isacar took a deep breath, and Ajalia thought that she could see him reviewing what she had said, and straightening out the message in his mind.
"Fashel belongs to an old woman," Isacar told Ajalia. "The old woman lives with her rich son and his wife."
"Bring Fashel here, if you can," Ajalia said. "I will be waiting."
"She is not far," Isacar said, and his eyes had begun to gleam with excitement. The young man turned, and walked quickly away.
Ajalia leaned her head back on a step, and closed her eyes. She laid a hand on the sack of things beside, her, and she thought of where Delmar was now. Daniel came through the front of the temple, and came and stood below Ajalia on the steps, looking up at her. She heard his feet, and turned her head.
"That looks really uncomfortable," Daniel told her. Ajalia was stretched out along the steps, her head on the top of one, and her legs extended over the shallow steps below. Daniel looked at her for a while, and then sat down.
"Leed is up there," Daniel said, nodding towards the temple, "telling all of the boys about his travels."
"He only went to Talbos," Ajalia told Daniel, but Daniel scoffed.
"Talbos is everywhere," he said. Daniel looked as though he felt a little low. Ajalia studied the boy.
"What is it?" she asked. Daniel sighed, and pushed his toe along the step.
"You've got a new favorite boy," he said, matter-of-factly. Ajalia turned her face up to the sky, and wiggled her shoulders; the edge of a step was cutting sharply into her bones. She yawned. "Well you do," Daniel said defensively.
"I told you from the very beginning," Ajalia said, "that you would not be my favorite."
"I don't think it's fair that Leed came back," Daniel said. He sounded resentful.
"Daniel," Ajalia said, sitting up carefully, and taking out the pins in her hair, "Leed is what he is, and I treat him the way that I do because he thinks for himself. He sees himself as my equal."
"But he isn't," Daniel said angrily. "He's a boy, like me. He should know better."
"Leed is like I was," Ajalia said, "when I was a child." Daniel looked quickly over at her, his eyes searching her face.
"I didn't think you were ever a child," Daniel said. Ajalia looked at Daniel, and saw that the barest rim of white had begun to grow out over his chest.
"You're getting a white brand," she said, pointing. Daniel looked as if he were going to cry.
"It doesn't even matter," Daniel said, unshed tears in his voice. "No one wants me. I'm not special, even if I do have the brand."
"You're special to me," Ajalia said. Daniel scoffed.
"You don't need me," Daniel said scornfully. "Don't tell me stuff about how important I am. You're only trying to make me feel better."
Ajalia imagined the earth beneath the steps; she found a length of blue and a cord of red, and closed her hands around them. She thought of the red and blue cords twisting up into the air, and Daniel's eyes followed the curving shapes that the colors made.
"That's pretty," he said.
"Leed can't see them," she said. Daniel looked over at her, frowning. "He can't," she said. "I used the lights inside, and he didn't follow what I did with his eyes. He knew I'd used the power, but he didn't see it with his eyes."
Daniel's lips were pursed together, and his eyebrows were drawn close.
"The other boys like him better than me," Daniel said.
"That's good," Ajalia told him. Daniel frowned at her. "It is not good," she said, "to be popular, or friendly, when you are in charge."
"Yes it is," Daniel told her. "People listen better, when you're nice."
Ajalia shook her head from side to side.
"You need to be respected," she told Daniel. "And you need the bad people to fear you, but you do not need to be liked." Daniel was looking at her, a shadow of anger in his eyes.
"But it's different for you," he said. "You can be like that, and everyone likes you more for it."
"No they don't," Ajalia said. "It is very lonely to be in charge. It will be no different for you."
Daniel thought about this.
"Delmar likes you," he said.
"I wouldn't say that he likes me," Ajalia said. "He loves me, and he cares deeply about me, but that is not always the same thing as liking me."
"That doesn't make any sense," Daniel said. "Anyone who loves you has to like you, too."
"Do you like me?" Ajalia asked the boy. Daniel's lips pushed out, and he frowned.
"Well, I have to say yes," he said slowly.
"But you don't like me very much right now," she suggested. "You're angry, aren't you? And you feel threatened."
"I've done a lot of work for you," Daniel said suddenly. "I don't always feel as though you know that."
"So you don't like me now," Ajalia prodded. She sounded patient, and friendly, and Daniel watched her warily.
"No," he said finally. "I don't like you at all right now." He watched her, to see if she was going to shout at him, or look hurt. "You have to be angry now," Daniel told her.
"Why would I be angry?" Ajalia asked. "You have good reasons to feel alone, and unloved."
Daniel gave a little jitter when she said this; he looked as though she had pressed down on a sore spot.
"I don't feel very unloved," he said cautiously.
"I love you," Ajalia said bluntly. "I'm going to protect you, and watch out for you, and I'm going to talk to you when you feel lonely or afraid. I'm responsible for you," she told Daniel. "You are not responsible for me." Daniel was watching her very carefully. Ajalia thought that Daniel would cry, if she looked at him, or touched him.
"Have you said all those things to Leed?" Daniel asked. Ajalia shook her head. "He was down here for a while, just now," Daniel said. "I could see you talking to him." His eyes went to the front of the temple, but Ajalia kept her gaze out on the street. "What were you saying to Leed?" Daniel asked.
"He wants me to teach him how to fight," Ajalia said. "He's afraid, and he wants to know how to protect himself." Daniel thought about this for a long time.
"Oh," he said. The boy looked as though he felt quite a lot better. "So you haven't told him that you love him," Daniel said.
"No," Ajalia said. "I might tell him that, if he asked."
"Do you love him?" Daniel asked cagily. Ajalia thought that Daniel was trying to weigh how much she cared about him, by measuring her care for Leed.
"I will do what I can to protect him," Ajalia said. "I am going to hunt down the man who hurt him, and I'm going to do what I can to destroy that man's life." Daniel thought about this.
"I don't know if that's a good thing to do," he said.
"Destroying someone's life?" Ajalia asked. Daniel nodded. "Well, Leed won't know that I've done it," Ajalia said.
"You wouldn't tell Leed? Why not?" Daniel asked quickly.
"Because Leed would be angry," Ajalia said. Daniel watched her.
"How do you know that?" he asked.
"Leed is a lot like me," she said. "I was like him, when I was a child. Sometimes I can understand how he feels about things, or how he will feel, if I do something."
"So Leed is like a little brother," Daniel pressed.
"Daniel, this is not a competition," Ajalia said. "I am not going to tell you that you are the best, and Leed is the worst, or that Leed is my very favorite, and you are not. You are third," she said, "in my order of priorities, when it comes to boys. I have three particular boys, and you are one of them." Daniel's l
ips were pushing in and out, and his eyes were fixed in a strong frown.
"Why am I third?" he asked, after a pause.
"Because the others came first," Ajalia said.
"And what about Isacar?" Daniel asked. "Is he going to be more important than me? He's older than me," Daniel added.
"Isacar will assist me personally," Ajalia said. "I have not given him rule over the house. I will not manage your relationship to Isacar," she added. "If Isacar wants to be in charge, and you cannot stop him on your own, or make him answer to your authority, then you will answer to his."
"But I came first," Daniel urged, "like you said. And he's older than me," he said again.
"I do not have time," Ajalia said, sighing, and stretching out her arms, "or the energy, to hold your hand through this. I gave you a job that I knew you could do. If Isacar sees weakness, or inefficiency in your management, he will attempt to assist you. If you take his assistance as a threat, he will probably take over most of your job." Daniel was staring at Ajalia, a stubborn look on his face.
"Well, how do I stop that from happening?" he asked her.
"When he helps you, and I assume that he will help you, learn from him, do not thank him, and take it for granted that he will obey you in my house," Ajalia said. "Isacar is an excellent servant," she added. "He has experience, and great discretion. He is older than you," she said, "and that means that he has valuable experience. He will not disrupt the order of my household. I have told him that you are in charge, and he is aware that he will find gaps in your management."
"But then he'll try to take over!" Daniel said, alarm rising in his eyes. "Why did you tell him that?"
"Isacar will see for himself that there are no regular meals in the house," Ajalia said patiently. Daniel had been a great boon to her, and she was willing to train him up. He was young, and he had a good head on his shoulders, she thought, and most importantly, he was loyal to her. She had a brief vision of what Daniel would be like in ten years of service beneath her, and she swallowed a smile.
Ajalia stood up, and picked up the falcon's dagger, and the white rock that she had carried with her to the steps. She did not like to put the dagger or the stone into her bag; she was sure that if she did, they would no longer be in the top of her thoughts, and she wanted to keep them in her hands until she had decided exactly what to do with them, to keep them safe until she met with Delmar again. She did not trust the dagger or the stone out of her own possession. She was sure that the stone, particularly, would vanish like smoke the moment it was out of her sight.
"Isacar is a valuable addition," Ajalia told Daniel. "We have to set up a house of state, and we will likely be entertaining powerful visitors from other lands. To keep up the appearance of power, and wealth, requires a particular set of skills, and a certain kind of attitude."
"And Isacar can do all that," Daniel said, his cheeks folding a little with irritation.
"He can do some of that," Ajalia said, "and you can do the rest."
"You think I can do important things like that?" Daniel asked, his expression brightening.
"Yes," Ajalia said. Daniel stared at the moonlight on the white stones, and his eyes started to look peaceful again.
"All right," he said, and stood up. "Did you take one of those clear red stones?" he asked her. Ajalia looked up at him, and nodded. "Try doing magic on it," he said with a smile.
"Why?" Ajalia asked, drawing the clear red stone out of a pocket in her bag. "And I thought you couldn't do magic," she added, glancing at Daniel. A shy smile was peeking out of his face.
"I can do a little, now," he confided. "I was watching you and Delmar before, and I've got a brand of my own now."
Ajalia turned over the red stone, and thought of the cords of energy that twisted above her in the sky. She drew down a line of blue power, and touched it to the red stone. The stone let out a violent orange spark, and began to glow white. Ajalia looked at Daniel.
THE MEETING OF THIEVES
"Did your stones do this?" she asked. Daniel nodded, his eyes shining. Ajalia examined the stone, which was giving out a strong white light. The light fell in a radius of about ten feet around Ajalia; her fingers made harsh shadows on the ground, from where they covered the stone. "Do the other boys know?" she asked, tucking the stone quickly away into her bag, so that the light would be hidden.
"No," Daniel told her, an adventurous and sly look on his face. "I stowed the basket of stones up in the secret room below the ceiling. The other boys aren't allowed up there," he added quickly. "I haven't let them play on the top floor. I don't think any of them know yet, about that room." The dragon temple, Ajalia had found, had several secret hiding places build into the walls, and concealed below the ceilings. She had shown Daniel the first of these, and she was sure that by now he had found all the rest.
"Good boy," Ajalia said. She was thinking of the temple where she had gone to fetch Sharo, and how the broad stone walls had thrown off white light when she had filled them up with magic. "Keep the stones secret for now," she told Daniel, and the boy nodded.
"I covered the basket, when I took them upstairs," Daniel said. "The boys thought I had brought food."
"I'm going to speak to Isacar about the kitchen," Ajalia said. "We'll set up house properly now."
Daniel grinned at her, and she nodded a dismissal. Daniel, who now seemed thoroughly light of heart, vanished into the darkness of the dragon temple, and Ajalia dug in the contents of the long sack of things that Coren had stolen. She found what she was looking for, and drew it out. She held a small, cunningly-shaped wooden box in her hand. Isacar had told her that this box had been a gift from Simon to Tree, on Tree's birthday long ago. Ajalia opened the lid, and slipped the glowing stone into the wooden box. She closed the lid, and the white light vanished with a snap. The box had a strange little knob that fastened over the front of the hinged lid; Ajalia closed the knob, and put the box into the bottom of her bag. She took out the leather pouch of money that she had used to set Clare free. Ajalia remembered suddenly that she had never seen Chad leave; he, Sun, and Clare had been standing near the bottom of the stairs at the back of the hall, the last time she had looked. She remembered that they had not been there when Isacar had dragged Coren up the stairs. The dragon temple had one hidden gate in the back fence of the enclosure behind the temple, but she did not think Chad knew about the gate. Sun or Clare, she reflected, could have let Chad out through the back, and, she remembered, Coren had arrived sometime after she had been speaking to Leed. Chad, she thought, might have gone out the back, when he had seen Isacar and Coren coming into the dragon temple.
Ajalia waited in the darkness for Isacar to return; she no longer felt tired. The glowing stone in her bag filled her with an inarticulate longing. The magic she had learned to use was real enough, but the shining surface of her knife, and the glowing walls of the other temple, and now the curious red stones that gave out light like strong lamps, were the first physical objects that she had encountered that could store or react to the magic. This, she remembered was not strictly true. Tree's heart stone had held magic, and, she thought, the pits where the poison tree juice was store been explained to her as containing magic. The black juice itself, she thought, was probably magic also.
While she waited, Ajalia took out the thin white translation stone, and studied the letters on both sides. She took out one of the documents that had been written in the old Slavithe, and began, very slowly, to read.
When the moon had fully risen up into the sky, Isacar appeared in the street with a young woman in tow. He brought the young woman to the steps, and then went and stood behind Ajalia. Ajalia had stood, when she saw the young man coming with his wife, and she reached for the pouch of coins.
"Do you have the necklace?" Ajalia asked the young woman, who, she judged, was about nineteen.
"I have," the young woman said shyly, looking at Ajalia cautiously from underneath her eyelashes.
"Let me see it," Ajalia said.
The young woman glanced at Isacar, who nodded. She slowly took a thin length of twine from her pocket, and held it out. Ajalia took the necklace; it was made of twine, and from the twine hung a small piece of carved stone. The carving was in the shape of a rough animal; Ajalia could just see outlines of little legs, and the shape of a curved head. She did not know what the animal was; she was not sure if the animal was one she didn't know, or if the carving was clumsy.
"Isacar," Ajalia said, without looking up. Isacar bobbed his head a little, and leaned towards Ajalia. "How much does she owe?" Ajalia asked. Isacar glanced at the young woman, and then murmured in Ajalia's ear. Ajalia took her leather purse, and handed it to Isacar. "Count it out," she said, and began to tie the necklace around her neck.
"Please, miss," the young woman said, her face clearly overcome with shame. "It is only a piece of stone that my grandmother gave me."
"Go with her," Ajalia told Isacar, who had taken a handful of money, and held the pouch back to Ajalia. "See that she pays the debt, and bring her back here."
"You don't have to help me," the young lady said. She was looking at Ajalia with something like indignation in her eyes. Ajalia looked at Isacar's woman, and she liked what she saw. The young lady looked neat and comely; her hair was held back in a tight braid, and her eyes were earnest and strong.
"Can you cook at all?" Ajalia asked the young woman. The young woman moved her head back, as if she had been struck lightly in the face. Her eyebrows drew together, and her lips parted.
"Yes," she said hesitantly.
"I need someone to manage my kitchen," Ajalia told the young woman. "Is your name Fashel?" The young woman nodded, her mouth in a thin line. "I have several young boys," Ajalia said. "There is myself, Isacar, and a horse trader in the house. And I have three young women, but one is getting married soon, and will be out of the house. And there is Delmar," she added, as an afterthought. Fashel gave a little start, and her eyes widened, when she heard Ajalia mention the new Thief Lord's name.