The Tourney
Page 27
"Gouma meat, amian beans, and roshil grain bread?"
"Yes, that's right," Bott confirmed. She went over to the oven, pulling out a dish holding a thick layer of brown slime covering unidentifiable lumps.
Bott said, "Mmm," as she stripped a piece of the slimy film from the side of the dish and slid it into her mouth. "It's too bad you can't eat gouma. This is one of my favorite recipes."
Rue gulped, her stomach turning. "I'm so sorry, but I must remain as healthy as possible for my trip, and I had a very bad night last night, so I feel it's best I don't waste your food until I know more about which Vuloan foods I can tolerate."
"Perhaps I could make you some poultry then?"
"Maybe another time," Rue said diplomatically before leaving the kitchen. "Thank you for letting me know what foods I need to avoid while I'm here."
Churnó didn't speak Unity that well, but the translator cuff overcame the language barrier.
They were flying towards the city, talking quietly amongst themselves with their cuffs off to provide them with some privacy. "Was it me," Keestu asked, "Or did that look like meat boiled in slime that she was planning on serving tonight?"
"Yuck," Rue said, "When you put it that way, yes. That's exactly what it looked like. I thought it looked like algae had grown over a dish left in the fridge too long."
"Too bad we didn't have that last night, or I could have soaked that nasty stale bread in it," Keestu continued. "Might have improved both."
"Okay, now my stomach is getting turned," Gontu complained. "Please talk about something else!"
"Sorry, Gontu," Keestu said. "I was thinking that after last night, maybe I wasn't giving Bott's cooking skills the benefit of the doubt. After seeing her in the kitchen today, I know I was being too kind."
The flitter settled into the parking lot they were familiar with, but Churnó directed them down a different street. "Place you chose eat tonight two block that way then three door down on left," he said through the translator. "I have family in town, so I go that way," he pointed in a third direction. "You almost ready go back palace, you hit caller, and I come fly you back, right?"
"Okay. We ready go back, we call you just before," Rue used similar pidgin phrases hoping it helped Churnó understand.
Churnó smiled widely at them, sealing the flitter's door before he took off at a fast walk in the direction he'd indicated. Keestu noted that the sun was nearly down, and streetlights were coming on around them.
They walked the direction Churnó indicated, nodding to the nobles who recognized them and either nodded politely to them or moved out of their way as they. The Dunnes avoided all but their own kind, and Keestu noted large groups of the commoners clustered here and there chatting in Phaet with what sounded liked good humor.
This restaurant was located close to the west bank of the river that paralleled the city. It wasn't as neat as Keestu was expecting. The lit sign had a burned out letter that made optical scanning of the name difficult, and the interior wasn't as large as the place they had gone to for lunch, but it was nearly full, resonating with a muted roar of genial conversation.
Their entrance was noted, and a good-natured howl of welcome went up from the nobles, which the hostess had trouble quieting. She grinned at them with good humor, her hair neatly tied back, and had a clean gold linen apron tied around her waist over her satin uniform.
"Welcome to Vulo, Union people. We look forward to trade with you," she said in Unity. "Please come this way."
She seated them by a wall in the noble section, glaring around at the tables nearby, ordering them to do something in Phaet. One noble put his hand on his chest in mock distress, his eyes opened wide, as he responded to her command. The woman barked something else at him. Keestu glanced at her cuff for the translation, "Especially you!" She wondered what else had been said, but grinned helplessly at the others in her party as they caught the infectious good mood of the nobles around them who laughed at the scolding the hostess had given them.
Their waiter showed up, also wearing a gold linen apron. He dropped tall mugs on the table, adding pitcher of light ale and a pitcher of ice water. Keestu tried the ale, but knew better than to drink a full mug of alien alcohol without knowing more about it. Rue also chose water to drink. Vahin, Tenget, and Gontu, however, had no reservations about filling their mugs with ale.
There was no menu in this restaurant, as their waiter returned, dropping baskets of fried vegetables and dips at all of his tables. Next, he brought a large platter covered with plates, each of which had a small bread bowl perched on it. When it was their turn to be served, Keestu eagerly tasted the thick stew of ground meat and legumes mixed with a red spice.
"Oh," she said, "That's good!"
She was greeted with a chorus of agreement from the others. When her small bread bowl was nearly empty, she spotted their waiter bearing a kettle and ladle, offering refills of the stew. Keestu struggled with her conscience for only a few moments, before she held up her fingers, pinching them together to show she wanted a smaller portion. Their waiter nodded, slowly ladling more into her bowl. When it was half full, Keestu nodded, putting her hand over it to signal that was enough. The waiter smiled at her before refilling Gontu's bowl to the brim. Keestu noted the men were on their second mugs of ale.
An assistant waiter was moving around with fresh pitchers of ale, but Gontu and Tenget reluctantly had theirs filled with water. However Vahin, to Keestu's surprise, had his mug filled a third time.
As she finished her meal, Keestu realized that much of the clamor had died down. Many diners had left, while others were playing games while chatting in more muted tones than they had used earlier.
They were getting the receipt for their meal when two male nobles entered, laughing loudly. One of them called out to the restaurant, and Keestu looked at her cuff. "The Prató's get," was all that it understood and translated. She wondered if Pulon had been sent to find them.
"He just said something about the Prató's child," Keestu informed her table.
"We better check it out," Gontu said, wobbling momentarily as he stood.
Vahin nodded in jovial agreement, and they approached the nobles, one of them very drunk. He put his finger to his lips with exaggerated care as he grinned at them, hushing them while motioning for them to follow. He staggered into the night and around to the back of the building. Keestu looked around before she followed him, alert for a trap. She saw that Tenget and Gontu, while feeling their drinks, also scanned their surroundings before entering the alley.
Keestu was completely unprepared for what she saw there: Shariel, her back to them, had her hands in the trash barrel, and was pulling out leftovers and eating them with the same single-minded intensity as she had the food on her plate at home.
Disgust warred with pity in Keestu. She understood that Shariel's mother was a horrible cook, but Shariel herself appeared to either lack the discipline needed to keep her eating under control or she suffered from a serious medical disorder. She was eating as fast as she could, and Keestu realized she must do this every time she was locked in her room for the night, for it gave her many hours in which to get to the city and return unnoticed.
The drunk noble sniggered loudly next to them, and Shariel whirled, her cheek and chin smeared with stew. Keestu saw horror, shame, and anger on her face before she shouted something at them in Phaet, which was muffled by the mouthful of food she had just crammed in.
Keestu turned away, finding that their erstwhile guides had vanished, no doubt fleeing the wrath of the Prató's daughter.
She grabbed at Tenget's arm, pulling on it while emphatically nodding her head towards the lighted street. They began heading that way, but stopped when they heard shouting coming from that direction.
"Down the alley," Gontu decided, urging them past Shariel, who was still shouting at them in Phaet. Keestu didn't bother to try and read the translation on her cuff in the darkness.
They were almost to the end of the all
ey, when their way was blocked by a group of six Vuloan nobles armed with stun staves, spears, and short swords. "So," one of the guards growled at them menacingly in Unity, "You're digging in the trash with the Prató's glutton offspring!"
Before any of them could respond, the guards were rushing at them. "Spread out," Gontu shouted. "Find a weapon if you can!"
Keestu looked frantically around the alley, but saw nothing she could use as a weapon. She looked back to see Gontu planting his feet in front of Rue, who he'd shoved towards Keestu. Tenget sprang forward to face the threat with Gontu, while Vahin searched behind them for anything useful to use to fight. Finding nothing, he moved forward and resolutely formed a second line between Keestu and the onrushing Vuloan nobles. Keestu checked behind her again, grateful she heard no more sounds of pursuit from that direction. She felt her first stab of fear as she realized even Shariel had vanished.
The first of the men were on them, and Gontu sidestepped the first stun staff thrust at him, grabbing it with one hand as he delivered a backhanded punch to the man carrying it with the other. There was an audible crunch as the man's nose broke, and he fell to the ground, yelling what Keestu assumed were curses in his own language. Gontu kicked him soundly in the stomach after he landed, and the man curled quietly into a ball, unable to cry out with the breath knocked out of him.
Meanwhile, Tenget had met his first assailant and was grappling with him over his stun staff. Neither had punched the other, and Keestu watched in horror as the short sword of another man chopped down on Tenget's left arm, severing it just above the elbow. Tenget screamed, reflexively kicking out at the man who'd maimed him as he fell to the ground, blood spurting from the wound.
Seeing Tenget gravely injured and that they were now greatly outnumbered, Gontu turned to Keestu, yelling the one word she never thought she'd hear from him. "Run!"
Rue didn't hesitate and whirled, grabbing Keestu's arm and hauling her away. Two of the men made their way around Gontu, who threw up his hands in surrender at the sight of the bloody sword being brandished in his direction, before he knelt and began frantically wrapping something around Tenget's stump to stop the bleeding. Tenget, meanwhile, was groaning in agony, though he, too, retained enough wits to try and help Gontu stop the bleeding.
Keestu hesitated again, and the men caught up to them, so she planted her feet as she'd been taught, and waited as the first man charged up to her. The guard, haughtily assuming she would surrender as Gontu just had, didn't aim his stun staff at her. Keestu kicked him in the groin as hard as she could, seeing shocked surprise on his face as he dropped to the ground. His companion shouted something in Phaet at the others, who turned in her direction with fresh hatred in their eyes.
Gontu, still trying to bind Tenget's arm, caught Keestu's eye. "I said run, Keestu! Get back to the restaurant and call for help!"
This time, Keestu turned and ran. However, before she reached the restaurant's dubious safety, more armed Vuloan nobles appeared at that end of the alley.
Rue seized Keestu's arm again, slewing her around towards a block fence that separated the alley from someone's yard. There was a trash receptacle propped against the wall, and Rue scrambled up on it, clambering over the fence. Keestu followed her, running blindly through the dark yard, hoping she didn't twist an ankle in the uncertain footing.
A loud crash sounded behind them as their pursuers knocked over the trash bin as they began climbing the fence, still chasing them.
Seeing a stack of firewood, Rue stopped. "Keep going. I'll be right behind you!"
Keestu nodded, saving her breath. Rue was grabbing a long thick branch as Keestu ran past her.
She reached the front of the house and saw just beyond what she'd failed to hear over the fight--the river. If they could find a way to ford it, they could hide in the forest until order was returned.
Hearing running behind her, Keestu loped in a slower but steady pace across the open bank, allowing Rue time to catch up to her. She saw the half-full massive orb of Vulo II rising and spared a moment to gawk at the impressive sight.
Shaking herself out of her reverie, she pointed and called, "Here," seeing in the light of the rising planet the outline of a line of stones that looked like they reached all the way across the river. She jumped out onto the first rock, wobbling a little bit before hopping to the next, and the next. She was nearly half way across, when her foot slipped on an algae-covered rock. She bobbled for balance, but began to regain her footing, when something hit her hard in the low back.
Keestu flailed for balance and twisted around, surprised to find not Rue behind her, but one of their assailants. His handsome face was contorted with anger and effort, and the end of his stun staff came swinging up again, this time towards her head, hitting her so hard on the chin that Keestu's vision grayed out as she lost her footing. She splashed headlong into the water and was swept downstream.
The cold of the water revived her instantly, making her bare hands and face hurt. Her muscles, warmed by her run, quickly became sluggish in the cold water as Keestu thrashed around, trying to keep her head above water. She hit a submerged boulder, barking her right shin painfully, and then another with her left shoulder as she was tossed helplessly by the current.
Something grabbed at her hair, and she reached out, finding a branch and tried and pull herself out of the water. The thin branch broke off, and Keestu submerged again, pushed under by the current, holding her breath until it hurt, and then finally breaking through to air again as the water shoved her in another direction.
She continued to tumble helplessly, and concentrated on holding her breath when she went under, gasping with increasing effort when she came back out. Her hands were numb, stiff, and nearly useless now from the cold, and she had lost much of the feeling in her face.
Her consciousness waned again, and Keestu realized with a sudden jolt of terror that she was going to drown. She rallied a little, trying to push herself towards one shore or the other, but the current was too strong and she began idly wondering if she would be aware of the water rushing into her lungs or if she'd be completely unconscious when she died.
Something hit her upper back with a sound thump. Keestu, nearly overcome by the cold, ignored it. Something hit her again, and this time, Keestu realized it was man-made as it fell around her. A loop of rope tightened around her, and she was being hauled towards the shore.
Coughing violently, Keestu tried to help her rescuer, but couldn't grasp anything with her frozen hands. However, she feebly kicked her legs and moved closer to the shore. She kicked again, adrenaline giving her some additional strength as she realized she might live after all. She kicked several more times, each time feeling the pull of the current receding. She couldn't hear any voices above the roar of the water, but finally, somehow, she was out of the water, laying face down on the bank, coughing violently, while a small group of people gathered around her.
She finally rolled on her back with difficulty and looked up, expecting to see noble clothing, probably part of the group who'd attacked her and her entourage and for a moment didn't care that she would be bludgeoned rather than left to drown in the frigid river. However, the man who leaned down to her with concern on his face was wearing a thick brown homespun jacket. He was a Dunne.
Keestu fainted then.
Chapter fifteen
Keestu came to slowly. She was wrapped in two rough blankets and was laying half covered by straw in the back of a wagon, which was jolting along at a good pace. She became aware of the sounds of harnesses jingling, and then the steady footfalls of the draft animals pulling the wagon.
Voices murmured close by, but she couldn't understand what was said. As she strained to understand, memory returned to her. She was on the planet Vulo, light years from home. She, her handmaiden, bodyguard, physical defense trainer, and protocol adviser had been attacked. For what reason, Keestu didn't know. What had the one said? "You're digging in the trash with the Prató's glutton daughter?"
The man she'd seen after being pulled from the water was riding with her in the back of the wagon and helped her to sit up.
He spoke to her in Phaet. Keestu shook her head helplessly.
"Ah, you are forced to learn Unity, then?"
"No," Keestu responded. "I am from the Union."
The man gave her a startled look. He turned to his companions and translated her statement. The other three men in the back of the wagon crowded closer to get a better look at her.
"You fell in river? Why weren't you attended by Prató's people?"
"We were chased by nobles, and I was clubbed and pushed into the river by one of them," Keestu told the man.
He gasped. "Noble pushed you? Why?"
"I don't know," Keestu said. She felt warmer in the blankets and straw, but was still shivering. Feeling began returning to her hands, and they hurt. Her right shin stung, and an ache in her left shoulder and low back told her she'd be in worse shape in the morning.
The man whispered with his companions again, then turned back to Keestu. "We take you home for night. We help you."
"Thank you," Keestu said, closing her eyes in relief. When she opened them again, she saw pity and understanding in the man's features. Only then did she realize she was crying.
The man urged her to sleep, and Keestu burrowed into the straw, trying to warm up more so she could rest. She closed her eyes, but they flew open again when the image of Tenget's arm being cut off entered her mind unbidden. She didn't even know if her trainer was still alive; he had lost so much blood. She didn't know if Rue, her best friend, was still alive. Or Gontu. Or Vahin. She had never been in a real fight before tonight, and the suddenness and brutality of it shocked her. As the shock wore off, and she realized how close she had come to dying, Keestu began to shake, her entire body shuddering rhythmically as she tried to come to terms with her situation: She was alone and light years from home in enemy territory. It would be days before the lack of reports made the crew of the Jewel contact the Autocracy to come and look for her. Days in which her enemies could hunt her down and finish the job. She shut her eyes again and lay in the straw, quietly crying and shaking. Finally, as complete exhaustion set in, the paroxysms stilled, fatigue claimed her, and she fell asleep.