The Ryle of Zentule

by Michael Green

  “You say that now, but you might not want to look like a princess when you get bigger,” Letty replied.

  Emma laughed, but Petri blurted, “Don’t be stupid!” Before going to help her father with Dean’s new breastplate.

  Ahmet tried to be hands-off, but the sight of so many inept hands was too much. He bent to helping everyone work the kinks out of their gauntlets and pauldrons, which were the most articulated pieces. He handed out new helmet liners and showed everyone how to attach them. Blue and Petri looked on, one with fascination, and the other with a hint of frustrated jealousy.

  “I’ve never seen this done before,” Blue said to himself. “Far more care than I expected.”

  After Letty had donned the suit, she regarded the cape. The neck was tall, and the collar ran down from the throat to the base of the cape in a red arc. The wings were white, fringed with black, like the body. She put the cape on cautiously.

  What could be dangerous about this?

  She searched the cape and found handles where interior pockets would be. She held onto them and pulled. The wings went rigid. She pulled up on them and the wings bent and stretched as she moved.

  “Hey! Watch it!” Quill yelled.

  Letty turned as her friends shrieked and leaped away from her.

  “What! What happened?” She asked.

  Just then, Letty saw the edges of her outstretched wings glinted, betraying their razor-sharp edge.

  The fringes of the cape are lined with blades.

  Quill had his hand over his cheek. A small trail of blood wound its way down his face.

  “Oh God! I’m sorry, I didn’t realize,” Letty stepped forward, but they continued evading.

  The wings!

  She let go of the handles and the wings slackened back into a cape.

  “Now who isn’t dangerous?” Ahmet asked, laughing.

  “You could have said something!” Letty yelled.

  “Yes, I could have, but now you have respect for the skin of a long dead queen.”

  Queen? The butterfly was a queen?

  “Now, all of you, practice moving around. Feel if any joints stick and we’ll get them working. Walk around, damn it!” Ahmet said to the confused faces.

  They all stretched and moved.

  “They look like people now,” Petri said.

  “They look like a bunch of mismatched, antique brutox,” Blue rejoined, staring from atop the cart.

  “This is people in my land, mouse. You must know this,” Ahmet responded with a smile.

  They continued adjusting their suits as Ahmet showed Staza how to polish the plates with a heavy cloth coated in oil. When everyone was finally satisfied, Ahmet left for one of the covered carts, returning with a long, bulky bundle, which he laid on the ground and unrolled.

  A collection of cobbled weapons appeared as the roll unwound. Letty saw another pair of mantis scythes, as well as swords and shields made from curved Bruton plates. There were crude flanged maces and axes and even a bow made of horn. Before anything else, the dozens of daggers made their way into belts and bootstraps at Staza’s insistence.

  “Arm yourselves as you please, but do not be careless with these weapons! Do not drop them on the floor, and do not swing wildly at each other as I have seen you do. Real weapons require finesse,” Ahmet lectured as each found weaponry they preferred.

  Staza and Quill had packed their old Caspian suits away, and Letty could see that they were the most uncomfortable.

  They must unlearn some of what they knew to get used to these clothes and weapons, where Emma and Dean are like blank slates.

  Emma took a bow and short sword, Dean found a mace and shield, Quill hefted a spear and brace of javelins, and, after much deliberation, Staza took a saber and parrying dagger.

  Every time Letty reached for a weapon, she saw Ahmet shake his head.

  Well, what about the axe?

  She looked up and saw him disapprove.

  At this point, everyone else was armed and staring.

  “What? He isn’t happy with any of it,” Letty said, responding to their looks.

  “You are already armed, your Highness,” Ahmet said cautiously. “Bearing a regular weapon would lower your station.”

  Letty rolled her eyes.

  “Please,” Ahmet held up a hand, “sting me not with that face. There are weapons that belong to that suit. Sadly, they are rare.”

  “I can’t use these wings. I’m likely to cut up my friends,” Letty said, staring at the tip of the cape.

  “You are deadly enough for now, and you should practice alone for a time. Eventually you will find the wings move like they are your own.”

  Letty wanted to argue, or even cast the cape aside for the absurdity it was, but she relented, realizing how rude she was being, not only to Ahmet, but to the long dead queen.

  I’m wearing the daggers though, even if he doesn’t like it.

  Once everyone could run and jump in their new suits, Ahmet clapped. “Finally, you are useful. Now we can talk about reciprocity.”

  “What?” Emma asked.

  “He means payment,” Dean said.

  They spent some time going through their packs and rooting around for things Ahmet would like. In the shuffle, Letty found Andy’s notepad, which she had stuffed at the bottom of her pack.

  I should have a look at this tonight, on watch.

  She slipped the notepad into an inner pocket sewn in the cape.

  “How about this?” Dean asked, gesturing to an array of two flashlights, two pairs of sunglasses, a compass, and a math textbook that came with them unintentionally, hiding at the bottom of a pack. Ahmet was intrigued by everything, save the text, which Dean added to the pile on a whim.

  “As we are enriched, so to, I hope, are you,” Ahmet said, as he took everyone by the wrist in succession. “The deal is struck.”

  “Can we go now? We don’t have time for tea!” Petri yelled.

  “Yes, dearest!” Ahmet said, putting his new glasses on over his helmet. “No time for tea—it’s a disgrace,” he mumbled, “but we should get going. As much as I love a day trading and arming, we are behind.”

  Dean interjected offhandedly, “You said the sun glasses were foolish before. I don’t understand why you’d want them now.”

  “Never let them know what you want! The price goes up,” Ahmet responded.

  They packed up the equipment, and Ahmet showed everyone where they were expected to sit or stand in the caravan. “No more lying down on the job,” he said, going from cart to cart, inspecting the brutons.

  They were finally back on the road.

  Letty found herself tired and sore after only an hour of walking, though the others were complaining far sooner.

  “They are like children!” Petri whined, as both Emma and Dean made up excuses to sit on a cart.

  “Why aren’t we allowed to sit? The carts have seats,” Dean muttered.

  “More work for the brutons, and besides, you need the exercise,” was Ahmet’s response.

  The rest of the day was one long, slow trudge, until finally, Ahmet and Petri led the caravan off the road and down past a culvert. There was a daub farmhouse hidden behind tall brush. Another couple of Elazene came out and waved at them.

  “It must be getting time to stop,” Letty said.

  “This armor is killing me,” Emma complained. “It wasn’t that heavy at first, but now I’m dying.”

  “This is how we get stronger, Em,” Letty replied, taking her helmet off for a breath of fresh air.

  “I don’t know how they do it,” Dean said, as he slid down the side of a cart to the floor.

  “A hard life makes hard people,” Quill added.

  They watched Ahmet and Petri go out to meet the new pair of Elazene near the house. Facing a certain direction, they raised their hands and made precise gestures. Soft chanting could be heard on the wind.

  “Can you make out what they’re saying?” Letty asked.

  The
others shook their heads.

  “Can’t you see it’s brighter? The way they’re facing is a little brighter than any other direction,” Emma said.

  Letty looked up at the colors and, after a long moment, realized that it was indeed brighter.

  “Is it like the sunset?” She asked.

  “That’s what they call it,” Blue answered.

  The Elazene changed directions, and Petri pointed to the sky and said something indiscernible. Then they were quiet for a time. Finally, Ahmet and the others exchanged parcels.

  “What was Petri pointing at?” Emma asked.

  “They might be looking for the moon,” Letty guessed, scanning that quadrant of the sky.

  Blue snorted a laugh and plunged back down into the cart.

  Ahmet and Petri returned with fresh food from the farmhouse. Ahmet was missing his glasses.

  “I was right—Elmahad wanted the glasses. If you return to the surface, please bring more; I suspect they would be quite popular down here,” he said.

  “But why?” Dean asked, exasperated, “there’s no sun!”

  “Perhaps not, for a twilight ant,” Ahmet said, smiling towards his daughter, who laughed.

  They sat down to a fresh dinner of seared meats and loaves of sourdough.

  “This is like something we would eat on the surface,” Emma said, breaking a loaf apart and smelling the fresh bread.

  “Well then, you must have good taste,” Petri said, trying to hold back her laughter. She looked to her father, who also enjoyed a joke the rest of them didn’t follow.

  The watch that night was uneventful. Letty had started the shift with her eyes glued to the sky, in search of signs and shapes she felt might really be there, but all she saw were the pulsing colors.

  Maybe they can see something we can’t.

  She sighed and reached into her cape pocket for Andy’s notebook.

  She flipped past the pages she had seen already and settled on his sketch of a woman in robes. The woman was holding a set of unbalanced scales and, with her other hand, held an arrow to her right eye. There was Latin script on a building behind, and French on fallen newspaper clippings. She read the papers, ‘La révolution n'a jamais pris fin. Le Lyceum se bat sur.’

  Letty thought back to French class.

  The Revolution never ends? The Lyceum is fighting?

  She wasn’t certain of her translation.

  The Revolution? Maybe the French Revolution? But what’s the Lyceum? I’ve never heard that word before.

  She turned the page and read a long account of adventures endured by an English Seer.

  He’s had some of the same problems we’ve had and, going by his account, we should be careful in Degoskirke.

  The next sketch featured a sailboat, though it was far from finished.

  Letty turned the page and was disturbed by what she saw.

  It looks like people turning into mice.

  She read the words, “They were once us.”

  So, the mice were human at one point? Did something curse them?

  “That’s not how it happened,” Blue commented, and Letty nearly jumped out of her skin. “Sorry to bother you,” he said snickering, “not much to do, so I figured I’d read along.”

  Letty calmed her heavy breathing. “Fine, but what do you mean, ‘This isn’t how it happened?’ Were the mice people once?”

  Blue tugged nervously at an ear. “Well, yes, that part is true. But the spontaneous turning into mice, that’s not right.”

  “So, what did happen?” Letty asked.

  Blue nearly pulled a whisker from his face. “I’ve already said too much. That’s one vow that won’t go broken.”

  “Why can’t you tell me? You’ve made a vow?”

  “Open your ears!” Blue snapped, and then drooped his whiskers before continuing, “That’s right, all sentient mice, once called masons, occasionally called builders, keep this vow. Even if we go to war with one another, or abandon our duty to the Seers, this is one thing that is kept till death,” Blue said, quietly.

  “You didn’t tell me anything about it, so don’t worry. I won’t even mention it to the others,” Letty said, trying to comfort him.

  Blue shook his head and gave her a sad look before scurrying into his basket of silks.

  Letty sat in thought for a while, the notepad flapping lazily in the wind.

  “Were you talking up here?” Staza asked, coming to relieve Letty.

  “What? Oh—yeah, I was just thinking out loud—looking at Andy’s notepad,” Letty responded.

  “How do you like the new clothes?” Staza asked, a slight edge in her voice.

  “Oh, I don’t know yet. I’m glad we don’t have to hide anymore, and I guess it’s good armor,” Letty answered.

  “That’s true,” Staza said holding her wasp’s helm at arm’s length while inspecting it. “Just don’t expect them to keep us safe from a purple blade.”

  Letty nodded before asking, “Do you think I look absurd in this?”

  Staza lowered her helm and looked on as Letty stood up. “I think it suits you,” she said.

  Letty scowled all the way to her bedroll. She continued scowling as she took off the suit.

  I look like a princess in this thing. It could be worse though; I could look like a giant green wasp.

  Letty grinned and tried to sleep, but her thoughts returned to Blue and his curse. She did finally fall asleep, but her night wasn’t restful.

  Letty awoke to Petri’s ladybug helm. The girl was prodding her with an outstretched finger.

  “Yes,” Letty muttered, listening for a sign of the others. It was largely silent in the caravan.

  “You wanted to rise early for practice,” Petri said, before leaping over the side of the cart.

  Letty sat up and looked at her suit of armor, which sat a few feet away.

  I guess we should.

  She yawned and stretched before getting to her feet and giving Emma a soft kick to the ribs.

  “Letty,” Emma whispered.

  “Yeah?” Letty bent and leaned in to listen.

  “I need to go to the bathroom.”

  “So?”

  “There aren’t any bathrooms.”

  “Are you telling me that you’ve been holding it this whole time?”

  Emma was silent.

  “There are shrubs everywhere, go find one.”

  Letty stood back up and looked out at the countryside. She spotted Ahmet, off the road and gesturing at the sky.

  “Come on guys, let’s get up.”

  Minutes later, they were all roused, dressed, and after waiting in line for the most private shrub, they had time for stretches and some sparring. No one would train with Letty while she wore the cape, so she had to do without it. There were several comments about the armor being lighter than expected, though, despite that, a half-hour’s sparring had exhausted the surfacers. Letty used the lightest blade available, as it felt the most familiar. Staza showed her how to grasp the handle for the most control. Petri wandered by and scowled.

  A short while later, Ahmet halted their practice.

  Once they were on the road, Letty listened to the conversations between her friends. Quill and Dean were keen on the details and workings of their two worlds; today it was government that fascinated. Afterwards, they talked about trains and ravagers, airplanes and cyclostones. Staza mainly talked at Emma, who was intimidated by the aggressive girl. Blue and Ahmet occasionally argued about local history or exactly how useless the surfacers would be in case of attack.

  Gratefully, the day came and went with a fine lunch and a single encounter: A ravager patrol passed within a hundred feet, but seeing the banner flying over the carts they ignored the caravan.

  “It’s about time we found some luck,” Ahmet muttered loud enough for Letty to hear.

  By the end of the day, most of the conversation had devolved into complaints about walking. Even Staza and Quill were wearing thin.

  “We don
’t march for days at a time in Caspia; Our territory isn’t that large,” Quill said to Letty as he rubbed his raw feet.

  They had taken to sitting in the cart and putting their feet against the hull to cool them.

  “Letty, I don’t think I’ll be able to practice tomorrow. I’m starting to get blisters,” Emma said.

  Staza scowled, until she pulled her boots off and saw her own feet. “Just give it a few days. We’ll grow used to the walking,” she said.

  “A few days?” Emma whined.

  “Blue? I need to ask you something?” Letty called out for the quarrelsome mouse.

  “What?” Blue asked, appearing at the cart’s rim.

  “About how long until we reach Degoskirke?” Letty asked.

  The faces of her friends turned to the mouse in anticipation.

  “Less than a week, I should expect. Though, the Elazene hasn’t shared his itinerary with me. He might have other stops planned along the way,” Blue said.

  “A week?” Dean moaned.

  “Less than,” Blue answered, “perhaps five more days of direct travel. Though, I do not trust the Elazene. They are far too superstitious and all that solemn talk about your new insect suits…” Blue trailed off.

  “What reason have you to doubt him?” Quill asked cautiously. “Ahmet has been clear since we first agreed to be his guards.”

  “No hard reason, only experience, and perhaps one minor detail. Have any of you heard the Elazene say we are headed to Degoskirke?”

  There was an uncomfortable pause.

  “Of course,” Letty snapped, casting annoyed glances at her friends. “That was our agreement from the beginning. Anyway, there’s nothing stopping us from finding out. We’ll ask him again tomorrow, just to make sure.”

  Quill and Staza nodded, but Letty heard Emma and Dean whispering to each other. She approached their side of the cart.

  They went silent.

  “We’re just a little homesick, Letty. Nothing to worry about,” Emma said.

  “That’s what you’re whispering about? Good. I was worried you two were taking a liking to each other,” Letty said, with one raised eyebrow.

  Emma rolled her eyes and Dean crossed his arms.

  I swear he’s blushing, and she wants to deny it, but she’s actually afraid of hurting his feelings now. God, look at her squirm.