by Pam Uphoff
She scooped up Warric and studied him. A handsome child, fair and bright. "So, my son, I see you are getting quite good at squirming. Am I to assume the crawling is not far behind?"
Trac nodded. "They'll be going everywhere inside of a few months. Juabe, do you think, umm, I mean, m'lady, should we . . . sorry."
Juabe relented and stopped glowering. "You let those snotty maids of Gorgette's scold you too often. What ought we to do?"
"The Housekeeper's the worst. A small fenced yard for them to play outdoors would be handy. I think little Fancy's taken, and, well, m'lady, if I may be so bold, you appear to be putting on a bit of weight, just there, as well."
Juabe froze. "Do you think . . . " she looked down at her belly. "I was thinking I needed to diet. I . . . my periods weren't very regular even before I was nursing a baby."
Tras opened her hands. "It could just be weight, I expect you'll know for sure in a few more months. A play yard will be handy, with more babies about the place."
"I suppose so." She agreed faintly. "Gorgette will be truly poisonous if Drew has a son."
"Hard to imagine how much worse she could get." Tras snorted. "She's pretty funny the way she keeps finding ways to suggest how smart of the neighbors it would be to do just what she wants Lord Drew to do."
They walked down to the garden and wandered about, planning a bit of fencing to keep the children's playground away from Gorgette's favorite parts of the not terribly extensive gardens. They finally settled on a patch around the corner of the north wing, mostly lawn with a young oak in the middle of it. Juabe hired a pair of young men to put up the fence as Gorgette glowered anyway, and the nursery was moved to another room to give ready access to it.
And she was getting bigger, in a very characteristic way. Drew treated her like glass, and walked around grinning. Gorgette called him fatuous and he agreed.
***
All told, with Freddie the younger being given a concubine and misbehaving with the maids, and Tras misbehaving with Hurald, there were nine young children in the house. At the ages of seven to eight, they all attended the local school with Juabe sponsoring another teacher and another addition to the already inadequate structure.
She retained Phippe's school master to augment the children's educations, but no amount of horror from Gorgette could keep her from raising her two sons as members of the community. They played with the village children, got into trouble with the village children and grew into individuals she adored and respected.
Chapter One
The House of Wisdom
Prince Primus Warric Menchuro sat under the hot sun. Eyes closed, just feeling the heat, sensing the dry hills rolling away from this low prominence. Absorbing it all. Knowing it all.
Does everyone feel the world like this?
And if not?
What will they do to me?
He pulled all his senses in, locked the memory of this place deep inside, hidden from everyone. Rolled it into a hard ball that no one would see.
No one must see it.
Then he stood up and started the long hike back home. They were leaving for Paree tomorrow. The capital city of the Auralian Empire. He was twelve years old, and willing or no, he was to be presented to the Court.
***
There were thirty-nine Princess Segunduses, thirty-four Prince Segunduses, five other Primuses, all female, and four priest initiates.
All the children born in the temple in his year. Their mothers were princesses of both degrees, and even commoners who'd been sent to the temple, most likely to pay off their fathers' debts with a child sired by a god or priest.
Or, like my mother, raped by a god.
Using his ears, while imitating a statue, Warric gathered that his 'year' had had an over-abundance of normals, but produced more than the normal number of first and second ranked princes and princesses. Slightly fewer than usual minor gods and no major gods at all, so far. But the main reason they want us here, is so that they can watch us for a magic breakthrough.
The minor gods were paraded across the throne room first. Dwarves and shambling giants, rabbits with their facial deformations, and pale albinos. No twins, this year. One knobby hunchback.
They were herded off, their mental voices echoing faintly in his head. He kept his face straight and showed no expression. Solid hard ball. No. One. Sees. Me.
The four young future priests were brought up and a great deal made of them before being led off to the side to stand with the priests.
The Primuses were summoned forward. They were officially adopted by the Emperor and Empress, going to their knees to kiss their rings, being introduced to the crowd of court dignitaries filling the room, and finally being given into the charge of the Solons. The Elders of the House of Wisdom led them off to the side opposite the priests, and first the Prince Segunduses were presented, and dismissed back to their families, then the Princess Segunduses were presented, introduced and told whom they were to marry.
Warric remembered his mother's stories, about how terrified she'd been, to have been engaged to a man more than double her age. They had married five years later, and were still the most loving couple Warric had observed in his brief life.
Despite that unfortunate encounter with the God, which resulted in my birth.
Father always treated me like his son, even after he had another son 'of his own' as all the snotty side of the family put it.
He hoped these girls were as fortunate in their marriages, as they were sent back to their parents. The parents were no doubt already preparing for the negotiations that would follow.
At least I'm spared the 'duty' of producing a child of the gods. I'll just be trained up into . . . something. Probably a minor bureaucrat, doubt they'll let me be a soldier like my father.
Then there was the State Dinner. His father had warned him about it. And as he'd expected, he was up on the middle platform at the end of the room. Equal with the priests, below the Emperor and the senior priests and government officials, mostly Prince Primuses. What he was supposed to aspire to. And their wives, said to be the most dangerous women in the world, used, abused, and returning the treatment when possible. What his five dining companions were supposed to aspire to.
The senior Solon present sighed and looked over his charges. "I suppose you think you're something special." His eyes were dark, his thin face skeletal beneath his shaven head.
Two of the girls lifted their chins. Warric tried to look neutral but interested. The Solons studied him, ignoring the girls.
One of the younger solons spoke. "I am Derrik Hannesse. You will be my charge this year, Warric Menchuro is it? Yes. A class of one. Not unusual, I regret to say. Five Princesses, on the other hand is very unusual." He glanced at one of his companions. Only then did Warric realize that there were some women among the solons. The long straight lines of the robes concealed figures, and all were shaven of beard and hair.
"Yes. We shall have a busy time, with our embarrassment of riches." Her clear high voice removed all doubt as to her gender, and Warric started studying the rest of the solons for distinguishing characteristics.
Warric wasn't the only one of the youngsters to remain silent during the meal, intimidated and wary. Only one girl cried, scanning the hall below for a glimpse of her parents. Warric wanted to cry, and tried to conceal his observations. He was pretty sure he spotted his father, step-father, that was, and the top of a dark head that was probably his mother. All the others had been left at home. He felt a pang of jealousy for Marius, his half brother, friend and companion in and out of trouble. But most of his homesickness was for Trace. Sturdy, reliable, smart, resourceful at getting both into and out of trouble. And Trilly. Trace's sister. Tough and scrappy, and determined to get into trouble with the rest of them. Brown pigtails and freckles. He gulped and pulled his thoughts away from home before he started crying and disgraced himself in front of everyone.
They were stuck there, shoving food around until the Emperor
stood, spoke briefly in welcome and dismissed them.
The Temple of the Gods was the centerpiece of Paree. The Royal Palace flanked it on the barely taller hill to the right, the Offices of Government to the left. The House of Wisdom moldered several miles away in a less than desirable part of town that flooded every spring.
"Which is why we all live on the second floor and the third floor has all the libraries and school rooms." Solon Hannesse steered him to the left at the top of the stairs. "Maro? This is the new boy. Where'd you put him?"
Maro—yet another identical shaven face and head—plopped a pile of linen on the table in the hallway. "Fifteen. Umm, small and thin." He disappeared back into the room behind him, returned with a key and more folded cloth. A rather dingy white.
"First years wear white." Hannesse explained. "We'll be testing you for actual class placement, so you may actually be a white for more or less than a year. Grab all that and come along."
By strict instruction, Warric had brought nothing to the presentation but himself and the clothes he stood up in. He was glad to see what looked like it could work as a toothbrush was plunked on top of the clothing, and dismayed to see the straight razor.
"Do the students shave their own heads?" he asked.
"Ah, good. I was afraid you couldn't speak. Yes. We have a barber who will do the honors the first time, but you will have to take over from there."
Warric nodded, stopping at the door labeled fifteen. Hannesse picked the key from the top of his pile and opened the door for him. "Open the window to air it out, and leave everything here except for a single robe and shortpants. We'll get you shaved and changed, and no, you don't get to keep your fancy suit of clothes. I'll take you around tomorrow for testing and class placement."
He sat perfectly still for the barber, a rather jolly fellow who waved a tiny razor about with abandon, but didn't nick him a single time. He changed into the white robe and short pants, and eyed the results in the mirror. Another kid dressed the same came up and stood beside him. One of the girls.
"My mother would die if she saw me like this."
Warric nodded. "I can just hear my friends laughing." He ran a hand over his head.
She blinked and blushed. "Oh, you're the boy." Her blush deepened.
"I expect it doesn't matter for a few more years." He looked back and Hannesse gestured him to follow.
"This is the laundry. You will work here once a week. Over here is the kitchen, except in the spring when it is upstairs in the main lecture hall. As you've no doubt noticed, we flooded a month ago, and everything still smells musty. You'll be kitchen help once a week. Other than that, you take care of your own room. Out there—the privies. Cleaning them is punishment detail."
The privies were at the back of a stone paved and fenced yard. A gate led to a weedy path to a muddy looking river. He could see the high water mark on the walls, and was glad to have missed the spring flood.
"Now, come up to the third floor. That is the main lecture hall, there." He pointed at a double door. "History, government and current affairs classes for the most part. There's a late current legislation class in session, so I can't show you the room itself. Rooms one through forty to the left, forty-one through eighty on the right. Rooms one, ten, twenty, forty-one and sixty are the libraries. Different subjects in each room. They all have desks for writing, you cannot take the books from the room. C'mon." He opened room forty-one and Warric followed him in.
A solid wall of books. "The classics of the ancients. Copies of fiction, mythology, religion of the ancients, from before the Exile." They got a dirty look from a young man at one of six desks, and Hannesse lowered his voice. "You'll probably read every single one of these before you graduate. Depending on what you specialize in, you may also read a lot more."
Warric looked at the books with reverence, His father had nearly as many, but they were new, written in the last century or so. They have five rooms for books?
A rumble of noise turned out to be the main lecture hall emptying. Apparently of most of the residents of the school.
"Councilman Gephard came tonight to explain all the legislation currently under consideration. Our alumni return regularly, to keep us up to date, so our new graduates can step right into a position in the government."
Two youngsters in yellow robes worked through the departing crowd. "Solon Hannesse, is this the new boy?"
"Warric, this is Farester and Jack, who have been with us for a year. As you see they both graduated early. Why don't you go with them? Curfew is in just a half an hour or so, and I suspect you'll want to get your bed made before all lights must be out."
"Yes, sir." Warric eyed the boys curiously. Farester had started his teenage growth spurt and was noticeably taller than Jack or Warric.
"So, what part of the country are you from? What's your family?"
"Northwest, Breesdon. My father, well, my mother's husband, is a retired army officer with property out there. Where are you two from?"
"I'm from here, my family's big in the city government." Farester shrugged. "Not that they ever cared about me. I was the embarrassment, even the servants felt snubbed when they had to care for me. Now, of course, they're all envious of me and how I'll be in the Imperial government."
Jack nodded. "I was fostered out to a farm family, my mother's supposed to be a Princess Primus. Who knows?" he shrugged. "What room are you in?"
"Fifteen."
"Ugg, poor sod, you get the morning sun, and you'll bake all summer. In the winter we'll all envy you. I'm in twenty-two, Jack in thirty-four. The first bell in the morning is to wake up, the second to get to the kitchen for breakfast. Sometime between you're supposed to make your bed, clean yourself up and dress. See you!" That last was spoken over a deep chiming and the boys pelted down the hallway as an older man started extinguishing the hallway lanterns.
Warric fumbled his key into his door lock and sort of made his bed by the light of the hallway before it went completely dark. He closed the door and waited for his eyes to adjust as much as they could before he sighed and admitted to a problem. He looked out the open window. It looked the wrong way. He was just going to have to try and find his way out to the privy in the dark. He could find the stairs and the front door without any problem. The barber was over there, the laundry, the kitchen, and they had walked back and out a corridor that ought to be . . .
"Young man, what are you doing out of your room?" A high clear voice.
"Sorry, ma'am. I'm new here today, and well, I didn't get any free time to get to the privy."
"Ah. Come this way."
He tried to follow the faint footsteps in the dark. Bounced off a few walls and corners. A door opened and faint light flooded down a hallway. The skyglow of the city was enough to see by.
"Tomorrow, try to be more prompt."
"Yes Ma'am, thank you." He hurried across to the privy, and then had to prop a door open to see where the hole was. There was a bucket of water to pour down it, so it wasn't too rank, as privies went. Probably a pipe down to the river, if he had to guess. He fumbled his way back upstairs, and counted paces, guessed, and then felt for the raised room numbers. Fifteen. He crawled into bed and tried to sleep. Missed his own bed. His brother. His mother tucking him in. The rumble of his father's voice from somewhere down the hall.
He'd known this was going to happen all his life. There was no point in crying now.
He cried anyway.
It was the last time, though. There were only forty students. The staff nearly outnumbered them, and at times when visiting lecturers stayed in the building, did outnumber them. Only the evening lectures were full, otherwise he took classes with five or six other students. His own education was considered very good for his age, so he skipped the basic classes the five girls his age had to attend.
"It's this hideous tradition of not educating girl children." Solon Prentice was in charge of the girl students, and tended to compete with Hannesse and his male students. "Well, some
times it works best to have separate classes, that is, all girls or all boys. I prefer mixed, myself. These girls are going to have to learn to be rough and tough, and deal with men early on. But this year the beginning classes will have all girl basic students and your Warric will fit in well with the second and third years."
Hannesse just grinned. "I'd feel sorry for you if I just didn't have to practically whip the fifth years to keep up with those two other girls of yours."
Warric was in third year maths, second year everything else. Farester and Jack were just the opposite. So he was faced with strangers, his first day, as he found his classes.
A quartet of older boys looked him over in Classics.
"You're the new boy, huh?" The tallest of the lot frowned disapprovingly down on him.
Warric wondered how many years he'd spent in the basic classes, but wisely didn't ask. "Yeah, so . . . is the food always so bland?"
"Yeah. Get used to it." He looked disappointed when Warric didn't react to being loomed over.
"Radius, take your seat please." The old man who bustled in smiled at them and set down a pile of notebooks. "Welcome to Classics. I am Solon Entralgo. This year we will read The Excerpts From The Chronicle first, and then In the Beginning. Hopefully we will have time to go on to The Bible and The Koran. So, six of you this year. Excellent. These are former students' copies of the Excerpts. As part of the coursework, you will copy them yourselves, check them against the Library edition, and keep them for most of your life. They are an invaluable resource."
"Radius, you look bored already. I trust you brought last year's incomplete copy? No? Bring it tomorrow, else you are likely to have to start over."
Radius looked appalled. "But I burned it!"
Entralgo sighed. "Why am I surprised? Radius, you will be in my class until I approve of your copy. This time, please remember that this is an opportunity to gain something for yourself. No more celebratory burning of notes."