The Enhancer

by McCullough, Teresa; Baxter, Meg

  Finally he said he'd arrange to have her trunk picked up, and he was sure the Duchess would provide the twins with what they needed. He called a servant to take them to their suite. Lenera was waiting for them.

  The next morning, palace servants delivered two boxes from the Duchess. She sent instructions that seamstresses would make proper alterations in time for them to wear the clothes to the funeral.

  Lenera picked out a blouse and put it on. It hung on her, almost reaching her knees. If Meeral thought Rephna's blouses were cut low -- this one was so large it scooped down to Lenera's waist. They held up dresses, slips, skirts, trying to find something that would look right but everything was huge and fussy

  Linima kept saying kindly, "How was the Duchess to know we were so small?"

  Lenera was not as tolerant. She pointed to a tear in a skirt and a stain on a blouse said, "She should have asked for the discarded clothes of someone closer to our size. We'll just have to wear what we have."

  Glumly they picked out a few items they could use -- two combs, a few hairpins. When another box arrived neither Linima nor Lenera bothered looking inside. Finally Meeral opened the box. Inside were four dresses, two suitable for a funeral, two nightgowns and appropriate undergarments. Every piece was fresh and clean. Meeral held one of the dresses in front of her. The skirt hardly covered her knees and the sleeves were much too short for Meeral. Lenera gave a whoop.

  "That's our size," she said as she snatched the dress from Meeral. It was her size though it was cut loosely, with the obvious intention of having someone fit it to the right size. Linima found the note that came with the clothes, signed by almost everyone at Spinners' Hall. Their friends had spent all night sewing for them.

  The Gurkonian ceremony was traditional and intricate, with three priests in fine white robes and a background of men and women chanting. Each priest gave a sermon but their words were so general they could have been said for a child or an old man; they said nothing that fit Rephna.

  When the priests finished the sermons, four men carried Rephna's body to a deep grave. The tree emblem of the Gurkonian church was intricately embroidered on the body sack that encased the dead girl's body. How many hours women had embroidering on the expensive material that was seen for only a few minutes!

  An apple tree was planted on the grave. Rephna's family had disowned her, but two of her brothers came. They placed a small stone plaque close to the tree. Meeral looked at the worn, sagging clothes of the two men and decided that MorToak had paid for this expensive Gurkonian funeral.

  Meeral remembered Shejani saying, "They charge you for the tree, they charge you to take care of it, and they keep the apples." Had anyone planted a tree for Shejani, Meeral wondered.

  As the Gurkonian portion of the ceremony was almost completed, two men and two women walked among the spectators with shining brass baskets, murmuring, "Make a contribution for our dear, departed Rephna."

  When the time came for the Ezant portion of the funeral, Meeral was surprised to see the High Priestess, herself. Thera told her later that, even though Rephna had not contributed much to the church in her lifetime, her death attracted so much attention that the High Priestess felt the public needed a chance to honor the poor girl.

  Zavona spoke only a few minutes about how Rephna searched for a good life, but had not lived long enough to complete her search. Zavona finished by saying that we should help each other, not knowing who will be with us tomorrow.

  Meeral tried to imagine what Zavona had said at Shejani's funeral, for surely the High Priestess was there. Had she said that Shejani found the good life - the life that was always out of Rephna's reach?

  When Zavona finished she opened a book with blank pages, "Rephna's book," she said, "for her family." She nodded at the two brothers who looked back at her with embarrassed gratitude.

  The High Priestess made sure that no one left the funeral without either writing, or, if they couldn't write, dictating to Zavona at least a line in remembrance of the woman who had died. After they had written in the book, many joined the circle of mourners dancing the funeral dance of the Ezants to the soft sound of a lute.

  Meeral watched the slow melancholy movement, then the sprightly, happy steps danced by the mixed crowd from Pactyl. So many young people! How different from the old women in the meadow back in Cyrtuno!

  She was about to join in between the twins when a voice beside her said, "Are you going to dance?"

  It was MorToak.

  For some reason, she did not want him to see her dance. "No," she said.

  They stood silently watching the dancers.

  MorToak said, "Kaldoat told me you start working with him tomorrow."

  "I'm not so sure," Meeral said, remembering how little Kaldoat understood about enhancing.

  "You're not so sure? You've been drafted into the army and you'll obey orders." MorToak's voice was low and ominous.

  "Your Colonel doesn't know the right orders to give," she snapped and walked over to the circle. By the time she felt the rhythm of the dance through her body MorToak was gone.

  CHAPTER 14

  "When is our next battle?"

  Both Linima and Meeral looked at Lenera in surprise.

  Still dressed in the clothes they wore to Rephna's funeral, they sat in the upholstered chairs in their suite at the Duke's palace, watching the fire burning in the fireplace. Meeral asked a servant to bring them some cider. The twins never wanted to ask the servants to do anything for them. They said that the servants only paid attention to Meeral.

  "What battle?" Linima asked.

  "The battle with the Duchess when we go to dinner -- properly dressed."

  "I don't think she'll consider us important enough to fight with us," Meeral said.

  She was right. When they finally went to dinner they were seated in a room off the grand dining room. No one paid any attention to them except three soldiers assigned to guard them. It would be several weeks before Meeral would have a confrontation with the Duchess.

  But now Meeral had a more important battle ahead of her, her battle with Kaldoat.

  "That Colonel is impossible," she told the twins, "and so is the Prince. How can they protect Pactyl when they don't know anything about enhancing?"

  Lenera agreed with her, but Linima was silent.

  Early the next morning the guards ushered them into the conference room of the palace.

  The Duke sat in his comfortable chair. MorToak, who was sitting next to him, rose when the three women entered. But it was Kaldoat who walked up to them and started giving orders, first to the twins.

  "I'll want you to tell me about enhancing communications" he said, "after I give Meeral her assignment." With military crispness he continued. "Meeral, I'm taking you to the military base. You're to practice your enhancing skills for ten hours a day. We'll continue our regular military drills. You will test every enhancer of level six or over to determine how far they can enhance fire. Work with the higher-level ones to get a greater range. Of course we'll continue training the archers for distance in case the Draries try a land invasion."

  Meeral shook her head as he was speaking. She would not let the defense of Pactyl be totally ineffective because this obstinate man would not listen to her.

  Noting her lack of cooperation he said. "You realize you are in the army and must obey orders."

  "Colonel," she said. "I'm not going to waste my time obeying orders that do not use the skill of enhancing in a constructive and logical manner."

  She turned and started toward the door. The twins followed.

  "Corporal!" the Colonel shouted to the guard standing near the door. "Stop her."

  Startled by the command, the guard drew his sword and stood in front of the door.

  Meeral, drawing a small flame from the fire in their suite, concentrated on the tip of the soldier's sword and waited. With a cry he dropped the sword to the oak floor. It fell with a clatter.

  MorToak stepped forward. "What's th
e matter with you, Corporal?" he snapped.

  The guard blew on his hand. "It's hot, your Highness. Burning hot." He stooped to pick the sword up, touching it gingerly. "It's still hot," he said, his voice like a bewildered child.

  "Attacking a soldier under orders. Attempting to leave without permission. That calls for a court martial," the Colonel said, looking straight at Meeral, "Who's responsible?"

  Meeral said, "I am." Her words seemed to echo in the room, for suddenly she a twin stood on each side of her. They had also said the same words. Then the twins, with a glance at Meeral, said in unison, "No. It was me."

  For a moment there was silence except for the soldier tentatively trying to pick up his sword and letting it fall to the floor again.

  Suddenly laughter broke across the room. The Duke rose from his comfortable chair and laughed gleefully. MorToak and Kaldoat turned and stared, both with faces held stiff. The corporal started to laugh, but quickly stopped.

  "By Gurkon," the Duke exclaimed, "You'll either hang all three of them, or find out what they want."

  Linima said in a soft voice, "All we want, Colonel, is for you to understand how to use enhancing in the best way possible. That's really what you want, isn't it?"

  Before Kaldoat could answer, MorToak said, "Yes. That's what we want."

  "Sit down," the Duke boomed as he gestured to the chairs around a table. "Guard! Tell my man out there to bring us some tea and bread."

  With exaggerated politeness, the three women and three men settled around the table.

  "In the first place," Meeral explained, "all enhancers can enhance fire. You want to find the ones who can do it at a great distance. The level has nothing to do with how far they can enhance; a level-one might enhance farther than a level-ten."

  MorToak looked at the Duke. "Is that true?"

  "Sure it is. I have a level fourteen enhancer who can't enhance anything four feet away."

  "What good is she?"

  "She can make fourteen copies of a document."

  Meeral continued to explain. "Enhancers who can enhance at a distance are the ones who will benefit from practice. Set barrels, or anything that will float, out in the harbor at various lengths from the shore. Make it a competition giving recognition to the most accurate and the one who can go the farthest. Make a game of it. Give prizes if that will help. Have them practice from high buildings, from tops of hills, even from trees. If you should find an eighty-year-old woman who could burn a ship three miles out, get your soldiers to carry her to where to a bluff overlooking the water or a battlefield. What you want doesn't depend on age or level of enhancing but the ability to be accurate and go far. You need to have a fire nearby. YouÕll need one for each enhancer. The larger the source-fire is, the larger the fire can be that is used against the enemy."

  "As to the archers," Meeral said, "one woman with a large fire near her can create a wall of fire much more effective for stopping an army than individual arrows. The arrows must be accurate, especially if we use them beyond the range of enemy cannons."

  "Fire will make it hard to see what we are doing," Kaldoat said, still unwilling to let Meeral dictate his battle tactics.

  "Get more lookouts and messengers to get information to you," MorToak snapped.

  Linima leaned forward. "May I make a suggestion?"

  Kaldoat started to say no, but when he looked at Linima he paused and nodded his head, yes.

  "Use enhancers, like the two of us, to communicate."

  Kaldoat turned to the Duke, "Does enhanced communication really work?"

  "Don't look at me," the Duke answered. "You've got to get a woman to explain enhancing to you." Facing the twins he said, "Show them how you do it."

  "Give us each some paper and quill," Lenera said, "and you go out in the hall, Twin."

  "I'll go with her," Kaldoat said but MorToak was already guiding Linima out the door, while Meeral was left wondering how Kaldoat always knew which twin was Linima after knowing them for so short a time.

  For a few minutes Lenera sat at the table with a piece of paper in front of her. She appeared to be concentrating on the quill that had just been dipped in the ink. Suddenly the quill picked itself up and wrote, "The Prince has two handkerchiefs in his pockets.Ó

  Lenera asked the Duke, "How many handkerchiefs do you have?"

  "One," he answered and Lenera picked up her quill and wrote, "The Duke has one."

  When Linima and the prince returned he said, "I told her what to write so there could be no tricks." He pulled out the two handkerchiefs. One was wrinkled and embroidered just as the one Meeral had returned to him.

  "How do you know when to write?" Kaldoat asked.

  "We feel a sort of tug in time to get the quill ready."

  "Then you must always have paper and pen with you."

  "I can use a stick -- or a hairpin. Then we have to write large when we think the other doesn't have a pen. Writing large makes it easier to figure out if we write in dirt -- or just memorize where the hairpin went."

  The Duke said, "That business woman I told you about--"

  "The one who uses woman's intuition?" Kaldoat said. "I don't believe in . . ."

  "Neither did I," said the Duke, "so I talked with her yesterday. Lulrythe is a smart women who keeps her business tricks a secret, but she finally admitted that the messages were going between two woman enhancers."

  "Twins?" Lenera asked.

  "No -- sisters who have always been close friends. One of the women traveled with her husband on business. When they settled down in Lurdoa City the woman asked Lulrythe if she could pay her to send a message each day to her sister, who would deliver it to Lulrythe. Lulrythe was glad to. She knows when the price of wool is going up or when the price of wheat is going down weeks before the news comes to Pactyl by wagon train. She makes lots of money with that information."

  "Do you think she'll cooperate with us?" MorToak said.

  "I persuaded her she should," the Duke said with a smile. "Do they get a tug like we do?" Lenera asked.

  "Apparently not. Every evening at sunset the sister in Pactyl turns over an hourglass. The time it takes for the sand to run out is just the length of time for the sun to travel west and begin to set in Lurdoa City. The sisters take turns sending messages."

  "I need to talk to her," MorToak said. "I want to send a message to the capital. The letters I sent about the Drarie attack and destruction of the ships won't arrive for days."

  Kaldoat said, "I wish I could communicate with my troops at the harbor, then I could start . . . " Kaldoat stopped. "Meeral. Do you need both of the twins with you?"

  Meeral looked from one twin to another. They were both looking at Kaldoat. Suddenly she knew how Kaldoat was able to tell them apart. Linima's face glowed with admiration for this stubborn man, while Lenera was eyeing him critically.

  "No,Ó Meeral said. "One is enough."

  Kaldoat immediately said that Linima would come with him; Meeral dropped her head to hide her smile. When she looked up, Lenera was whispering to her twin. Linima first shook her head indignantly, then began to giggle and nodded her head in agreement. The giggle disappeared when they found MorToak staring at them sternly.

  "If you're planning mischief," MorToak said, "don't. I have never met a pair of look-alike twins who didn't change places with each other, just to see if their teacher -- or lover -- would notice the difference. What we are doing is much too important to risk confusion."

  Meeral decided that Linima won the prize for the deepest blush.

  "And while I'm at it," he said, addressing Meeral in gentler tones, "I understand you were quite upset after you destroyed the Drarie ships and killed so many men. There may be more killing ahead for you. If you feel squeamish about it, just remember all the citizens of Pactyl you saved, and will save, if the situation gets worse."

  "I wouldn't worry about her," the Duke said as he reached over and took Meeral's arm. Gently he pulled up the sleeve, exposing the thin line of the k
nife-scar the sailor left her. "The man who did this is dead."

  Fortunately the enhancers arrived in small groups from the military base. Meeral knew none of the first seven women. They listened attentively to Kaldoat. When he finished instructing them, he introduced Meeral and hurried to work with the men.

  "We will practice enhancing fire over greater and greater distances with increased accuracy," she said, but only one woman was listening. The others looked around, watched the men working with Kaldoat or whispered to each other like silly young girls.

  Meeral turned her back on them. She concentrated on a flame from the nearby fire and moved it to the water where it danced for a few seconds, then she shot it in a straight line, out into the bay. It left a trail of steam. She heard the chatter fade behind her. By the time the flame reached the most distant piece of timber, no one was talking. She turned back and faced them. She said nothing but looked from one woman to the next as Shejani would look at unruly servants.

  "Those pieces of timber out there represent an enemy who will destroy your home with a cannon ball. Draw a straight line in the water and send a flame out to the closest one."

  She pointed to a woman at the far edge of the group.

  "You first," she said.

  Steam rose from the woman's flame as it wavered hesitantly on the water. First she was too much to the right, then the left.

  "Steady there," Meeral said. "You'll learn to do it.

  Others tried their skill; some were good, some terrible. One of them was obviously hopeless.

  "Can you write?" Meeral asked her.

  The woman showed a moment of indignant anger, then changed to a respectful tone. "Yes, Major."

  It was the first time anyone had called Meeral by her military title.

  "Write down everyone's name and what they do, how far they go, how straight, how accurately they get the range. Can you do that?"