by Tracy Falbe
“Very good manners,” Jan commented.
“I’m just looking to enjoy my travels,” Thal said. He almost mentioned that he wanted to play cards but he thought it might be premature. Best to let Andreli bring that up he reasoned.
Thal’s mildness did not match the fresh gossip Jan had heard at the monastery. He figured he would keep an eye on the stranger but not add to the monk’s dramatic suggestions. Baron Rosenberg liked his scenic vale to enjoy quiet living. Agitating the superstitions of the folk was not to be done lightly. And it would inevitably mean more work for Jan.
Turning to Andreli, Jan said, “Do you think you’ll be moving on soon?”
The Gypsy sighed. He knew he had worn out his welcome. “You wound me, Captain. I thought that we were friends. Can I not petition Baron Rosenberg for permission to settle, even in the hills?”
Jan scoffed. “Spare me any saintly proposals about becoming swineherds and paying taxes. And I do come here as a friend. You know I enjoy your liberal charms, but it is your way to move on.”
Andreli knew gentle suggestion would not stay gentle forever.
“Your advice is kindly given. I shall take it to heart, but surely we should enjoy a few more hands of cards before we part,” he said.
“I want more music,” Jan said.
The dancers roused themselves back to action. The audience clapped as they increased their tempo. Jan eyed the young women closely and enjoyed their individual attentions as they broke from their group one by one and circled him and touched his shoulders and swung their hips.
Their enticing solos went on and the music became more seductive. Thal’s head swam with more than just the effects of alcohol. He realized he wanted the dancers to come to him, especially Medina, who had been so friendly by the river.
To his silent dismay, Jan pulled Medina into his lap. She nuzzled his neck as the music ended.
“Andreli, let’s save primero for another night. Your Gypsy angel needs to play a game with me,” Jan said.
“You’ll find she knows all the rules,” Andreli said.
Jan stood up and kept Medina close with an arm around her waist. He withdrew with her across the camp to a dark tent. Lucas tossed some coins to the other dancers and told the musicians to keep playing. He took out another bottle. Andreli and Petro held out their cups, but Thal excused himself.
Once on his feet he felt the effect of the beer more strongly but he adapted and liked the extra swagger in his step. He wondered the camp. The crowd was loosening up now that the dancers were done, but a few would stay up to listen to music. Thal drifted toward the tent where Medina had gone but then stopped. He could hear faintly what was happening. The big guard captain was on top of her, but she did not seem to be in distress. Realizing the situation he moped back to Emerald’s wagon.
His hostess was kicked back by her fire with her feet raised up across a small barrel. Her hands were behind her head as she gazed up at the stars. Twigs crackled in orange flames next to her. She smiled her big-toothed smile when Thal stood over her.
“Lose at cards already?” she inquired.
“There’s no game,” he said. He had been looking forward to it, but now he was troubled. “Why does Medina go mate with that man?” he asked.
“Oh you’re jealous,” Emerald surmised and sat up.
Too confused to be properly jealous, Thal said, “She just met him. Is this how people mate?”
“My innocent babe,” Emerald purred. “Sometimes yes it’s done this way. But Medina’s met him before. He visited all through the winter. It’s something young women do sometimes. A girl that age is going to be lying with somebody, so she might as well help her people. Don’t worry about her. She knows what she’s doing. Andreli taught her well and we’ll always take care of her.”
Andreli? Thal thought and wondered how much he controlled everyone.
Hoping to soothe him, Emerald said, “She might fancy you.”
“Why would she want me? I don’t have anything,” Thal said. He was increasingly aware that he was not an alpha among men.
“You have plenty to offer a woman I suspect,” Emerald said and patted his thigh.
“Were you like Medina when you were young?” Thal asked, trying to gauge how normal it was.
“Maybe I still am,” Emerald proposed. Flustered, he looked away, uncertain if he was repulsed or interested.
Emerald hauled herself to her feet with a groan and rummaged through a chest under her little canopy. “Let me help you out. A young man wants to know when he’ll find love. I know this.”
Into the firelight she raised a big deck of cards. “I can show you another type of cards. Let’s read your future with the tarot,” she said.
Chapter 7. Wheel of Fortune
“Is love your word for mating?” Thal asked as she lit an oil lamp.
“Love’s more than mating. It’s romance as the poets say. It’s caring. It’s devotion,” Emerald explained while gently shuffling the cards. She set the deck between them on the rug.
“Cut the deck,” she commanded.
“Aren’t you going to show me the cards and how to play them?” Thal asked.
“This isn’t like primero,” she said and wagged a finger over the deck.
Intrigued, he cut the deck and she gathered the cards into a stack by her knee. She directed him to draw one off the top and turn it over.
The card had a picture of a craftsman carving a pentagram on a door. More pentagrams in circles ran down the edges.
“The eight of pentacles,” Emerald said. “You can profit from your skills.”
“The card tells you that?” Thal said skeptically.
“I know that because YOU turned over this card,” she said a little reproachfully. Thal folded his arms and waited. She turned over the second card and placed it perpendicular to the first card. The card had swords on it along with a picture of a sleeping woman with shadowy swirls around her head.
Emerald took her time before saying anything until finally she asked, “Do you have bad dreams?”
He nodded but was more concerned by his visions when he was awake. Deciding to trust Emerald because he needed someone to talk to, he shared a few details about his waking vision earlier that day.
She was startled although she tried to hide it. Emerald was accustomed to people sharing uncomfortable and even unsavory personal details, but Thal’s experience was disturbingly extraordinary.
“Draw another card,” she said.
With her guidance he flipped a card and set it below the sword card. This picture showed a human skeleton in black clothes flanked by bare trees.
“The card of death,” Emerald said with well practiced drama.
“I’m to die soon?” he asked.
“We all die, Thal, but this does not mean your doom is nigh. But something in your life has died. You’re shifting to a new phase. You may have a new purpose,” she explained.
Her interpretation dispelled some of his skepticism. He stared at the death card and suspected that he did have a new purpose in life.
Emerald studied him. His silence was informative. She drew another card and placed it perpendicular to the death card. Her light gasp yanked Thal from his thoughts.
“This is a powerful combination,” she murmured.
The card showed a beautiful woman with wavy golden hair. White robes flowed around her body and she held a staff of crystals. Above her, berry-laden rowan boughs hung down from a sunburst-filled blue sky. She wore a crown of blue flowers.
Emerald said, “This is the High Priestess. You must have secret knowledge. Seeing the Priestess right after the death card means you’ve gone through great change and will in time understand more about it.”
She spoke with confidence, and Thal wanted to be comforted by her apparent authority.
Emerald added, “The Priestess tells you that women will influence your life.”
“Like my mother?” Thal said.
“Mothers influen
ce all lives,” Emerald said.
“Yes, but is she alive?” he asked.
The question flustered Emerald. Spreading her hands, she said, “This is not something the cards can tell, but if you ask that question you must have reason to think she might not be alive.”
“She could be old,” Thal muttered. His heart ached. He wanted to see his mother.
Emerald waited patiently while he stared into space. His eyes gleamed in the darkness and she wondered what secrets he beheld.
Softly she advised, “The Priestess is ruled by the moon. When next it is full will be the best time for you to gain your secret knowledge.”
Thal nodded and drew another card. He turned over a man in heavy armor upon a prancing white horse with a flowing mane. Instead of a lance he bore a large chalice.
“Oh that’s a promising thing to see after the Priestess,” Emerald said. “The Knight of Cups brings you exciting changes, maybe even romantic love,” she hinted with a bawdy tone.
“And that’s a good thing?” Thal asked. He understood that he was feeling physical attraction to women but romance was presumably more desirable.
The Gypsy lady grinned and said, “In the beginning it’s always good, but the Knight also bears a warning that you could be easily led astray. I know that when a girl gets a man’s heart, she can be very demanding and selfish just for her own fun. Beware of that if you want to be happy.”
Thal appreciated how the older woman was helping him think about these confusing things.
Emerald turned over a new card. “The Tower,” she whispered. “I’ve never seen so many powerful signs over one man. You’ve experienced great loss or will soon know ruin. You must be careful, my friend Thal,” she said with much sincerity.
“Should I be afraid?” he wondered. His future was a blank canvas and he had no paints to color it.
“Have courage and be ready for change,” Emerald said.
Having much to think about, he said, “Enough of this.”
“One more card,” Emerald said.
Without his permission, she flipped a card. A naked man and woman were embraced in a garden with birds singing around their heads. “The Lovers,” she said and smiled.
“So I will find a lover,” he said.
“Oh, a young man like you will have no trouble finding a lover,” Emerald said. “But this card means more than just the pleasure of flesh. The Lovers tell you to be guided by your feelings when you make important choices.”
“I feel that I should think on what you have told me,” he said.
She tapped the top of the deck. “Want to see another card?” she coaxed.
“No.”
“But we might discover your next steps in life,” she said.
He yawned. The day had been long and stimulating. The moon had set and the darkness felt safe and restful.
“I’ve had enough for now,” he insisted.
“Very well,” she said, disappointed.
“I think you want to learn more about me than I do,” Thal scolded.
“You’re a very interesting man to read,” she admitted. “The tarot cards seem to fit you more closely than other people.”
Thal fingered the edge of the Priestess card that was still in front of him. “Do these cards tell the future for other people?” he asked.
“More or less,” Emerald said dodgingly.
“And do they pay you to tell them what they mean?” he said.
She nodded.
“What do you want of me?” he said.
“A kiss on the cheek,” she said. Her wide grin made him smile as she tapped her face impatiently.
Thal leaned over the cards to her. Emerald fluttered her eyelashes, and he suddenly realized what Medina had been fishing for that afternoon. He pressed his lips against Emerald’s soft face. The warmth of the human connection washed away his concerns for a moment.
He sat back, grateful for Emerald’s gentle coaching.
“You can kiss more of me if you’d like,” she said.
“I’m not ready,” he confessed.
Emerald laughed. “That’s first I heard a young man use that excuse. The girls aren’t going to wait for you long, Thal. I suppose you don’t realize how handsome you are.”
He touched his chin. The stubble was longer and he had figured that he looked rather scruffy. “Good night,” he said.
******
Every evening the fattening moon stayed in the sky a little longer and extended the camp festivities. More people visited from the village. Music, games, drinking, and dancing entertained everyone. Emerald engaged a few people in tarot readings, and Thal got his chance to play primero. Jan and Lucas came back on the same night that two imperial couriers were camping nearby. Andreli and Thal played with the four men. Thal lost his few precious coins most efficiently but felt that he had learned more of the nuances of the game. He was surprised in the morning when Andreli happily staked him again and told him to be ready that night.
But the weather turned cool and rainy. For several days the drizzly weather persisted and kept the camp quiet. Thal hunted again with the men and dogs and poached another deer. He helped with chores and spoke sometimes with Medina. This time he recognized how she was flirting with him. Although curious about her bodily charms, he remained carefully platonic. Knowing how she contributed to her community subdued his attraction. He was used to being the revered mate of glorious alpha females, and the chance to be one man among many did not fire his enthusiasm. He wanted to be more to a woman than just an entertaining trifle.
He spent more time examining his fur. Softly he mouthed the words on it, and each time he heard them he felt closer to understanding them. Emerald’s tarot reading had been correct about secret knowledge.
When a morning dawned full of sunny excitement, Andreli expected to enjoy a busy night. The Gypsy leader got out his pistol and started cleaning it. Thal observed with interest. Gerling brought over his pistol and borrowed a rag from Andreli.
Gerling was the portly man who Thal had taken the pistol from when he first entered camp. Thal still sensed some apprehension from the man who had witnessed his feral energy up close, but Gerling was making an effort to get past his first impression because of Andreli’s fondness for the newcomer.
He showed Thal how the pistol worked and let him trigger the firing mechanism a couple times without gunpowder so he could see the spark.
The wooden stock of Andreli’s hefty pistol had a dark patina and the brass embellishments had been lovingly polished. He handed it to Thal who weighed the weapon in his hands.
“How did you get this?” Thal asked.
“I salvaged it from a battlefield,” Andreli said.
“A very fresh battlefield,” Gerling put in while scrubbing his barrel.
“You have to be quick to get a weapon. Something like this does not stay on the ground long,” Andreli said. He took the weapon back from Thal and continued, “Lousy barons shouldn’t fight their battle so close to my camp if they don’t want things to come up missing.”
“Have you ever killed anyone with it?” Thal said.
The question startled Andreli. “A man? No! I shot at an old bear once to scare it off. To tell the truth, it’s hard to hit a bull in a shithouse with this thing, but just holding it will triple anyone’s respect for you. By the Saints, that’s true.”
“Unless you haven’t the sense to be afraid,” Gerling said, alluding to his first encounter with Thal.
“I was afraid. That’s why I had to take it from you,” Thal explained.
Gerling chuckled. “Most practical of you.”
The men showed Thal how to load the guns, but they did not fire them. Gunpowder was hard to come by and not to be wasted.
Thal watched with envy as the men lovingly put their weapons in their wagons. Most people in camp had noticeably cleaned and organized their possessions and were packing.
“Where will we move to?” Thal wondered.
Andreli
shrugged. Whatever direction he had in mind he had not revealed to anyone yet. “You’re always so full of questions,” he said.
“I have much to learn,” Thal said.
“You’ve mastered losing at cards,” Andreli noted.
“You told me to lose.”
“I know. It makes our guests happy so they’ll bring back more coin and play again. But hold back tonight. Give us a chance to clean them out. We must bring in our harvest before we move on,” Andreli explained.
Thal understood. He felt bad about squandering coin even if it was part of Andreli’s plan. He would try to restrain his play as directed, but he felt edgy and inclined to action. A craving for excitement nagged at him.
At dusk Captain Jan showed up with Lucas and another companion named Gruder. They were keen to gamble and did not waste time with the dancing girls.
The pleasant weather drew out a couple dozen people from the village, mostly young men but also some young married couples who browsed the few oddities for sale. Lanterns were strung between several wagons and singing and dancing ensued. The gamblers were ensconced away from the noise on rugs by Andreli’s wagon. Jan had brought bottles of wine and was kind enough to share.
Thal enjoyed the strong fruity drink. As the alcohol relaxed him he realized that he was nervous. The round moon glimmering like an opal in the purplish sky kept drawing his attention. In another life he had howled his songs and listened to the chorus of his pack. In his mind he could almost hear the wolves far back in the hills. He tried to push away the thought. His broken heart still bled for his forsaken kin, but he was a man now and had new concerns.
A flush of heat coursed through his body. With a shrug he eased his fur off one shoulder and tried to concentrate on the cards. He had a deuce and a four of different suits. When his turn to bet came, he folded.
“Not so eager for cards tonight?” Jan inquired, a touch disappointed.
“Everyone folds sometimes,” Thal said.
“He needs to save a few coppers to get back on the road to Rome,” Andreli said.