Emperor Mage (16 page)

Kaddar
frowned. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Kit?"

The
dragon voiced an ear-splitting whistle. Light flared, from the rubies at Kaddar
s nose and ear, from the etched and heavy silver ring on his left

wrist.

"So
the only magic is on the things that glowed—is that so. Kit?" asked Daine,
The dragon nodded. "Your jewels are magicked," the girl told Kaddar.
     
•

He
covered his bracelet and the ruby drops with his hands. "Not by Uncle or
his mages."

"What
are they for?"

He
looked at her, tugging the drop. "Kitten really knows if there's magic
near?"

Daine
nodded. "If she feels it, she uses a sound to make it appear. Unless it's
invisibility or illusions—those she sees normally. She caught your uncle, our
first night here, sneaking around the reception while he was invisible."

Kaddar
took his hand from the bracelet. "Do you want to stay here?" he asked
Kitten. "You'd have whatever you desire. Do you know how valuable she is,
Daine? A creature that can tell when a spell is in place? Our nobles would give
you her weight in diamonds."

"She's
not for sale," replied Daine. "She's her

own
self, and goes where she wants."

Kaddar
sighed. "Oh, well. Did you know rubies

are
protective stones?" Daine nodded. "Mine ward

me from
the sendings of lesser mages, though they

may not
work against a powerful one. The bracelet

works
on drugs and poison in my food. Even * if I

eat
them, the magic turns them harmless. That one

was so
costly my mother won't tell what she paid the

Shusini
mage who made it. I think she sold family

heirlooms
to pay for it, but I don't like to ask,

because
it's saved me five times."

Daine
shuddered. "What of the temples?" she

asked,
putting the subject of Kaddar s close calls out of her mind for now. "You
were going to say why they're so neglected."

"My
uncle decreed that, since the gods are eternal and his is not, the people
should not spend their money on offerings, but on taxes. Anyone caught making
an offering to a god is fined the cost of the item. The priests, all but one or
two, and those the oldest, have been put to work for the empire as clerks and
overseers. City temples fare somewhat better than the ones here, but even they
don't look their best anymore. On the other hand, the treasury is full. That's
all my uncle cares about—more gold for weapons, and the armies, and
mages." He seemed relieved to be able to criticize his uncle without fear
of being overheard.

They
stood and followed a walk that led away from the Hag's temple. "But people
need to worship, don't they? If they haven't got someone to call on, someone
bigger who helps them with their troubles, what can they hope for? All
creatures need hope—two-leggers or beast-People."

"My
uncle says if they need to worship someone, they can worship him."
Kaddar's shoulders drooped. "He says that he can change or ruin their
lives more quickly than gods bother to."

The
hair on the back of her neck stood up. "But that's fair crazy'.1

"You
noticed."

For a
long time they walked in silence, Daine mulling over what she'd learned. They
reached the gardens that supplied the kitchens with common herbs, part of the
working areas behind the palace.

"We
have a choice from here," Kaddar said. "We can turn south and visit
things like the wood shops, forges, stables, kennels, and so on. If we turn
north, we'll come to the training yards used by the nobles and bodyguards. The
warhorses are stabled out that way. My friends should still be there,
practicing their battle and hunting skills."

She had
made him take her to the chapels, knowing he didn't really want to go.
"Why don't we see the training yards?" Shielding her eyes to look up
at him, she was rewarded by his grin.

As he
led her down the small roads that marked this area into neat squares, she
asked, "Why were you so upset by those soldiers before?" The worry
and concern that had marked him behind the Hag's temple returned to his face,
and she almost wished she'd kept quiet.

"It's
a breach in custom," he explained, nodding to the group of hostlers who
bowed to him' as they led horses past, "Traditionally, the army is
forbidden to come closer than a mile to the palace. The men said the orders
came from my uncle, who commanded regular small patrols through the palace and
gardens, starting last night." He shook his head.

"Is
that such a bad thing?** she wanted to know. "At home we have the King's
Own, the Guard, and the Queens Riders all quartered at the palace."

"TortaUs
armies have never had a habit of rebelling against its rulers—ours do.
Evidently my uncle—" He looked at Kitten. "No one s listening?"
The dragon shook her head. "Thank you. My uncle doesn't think he needs to
be wary of the army. He looks more at certain nobles who have protested the
state of things in the empire, and who live here. He should worry about the
army. Too many officers come from conquered lands and have no reason to love
any of us."

At the
archery butts they found a handful of males their own age, practicing with
short, double-curved bows. They were laughing, well-groomed young men, their
skin ranging from tan to brown to black. All were dressed simply in brown,
knee-length tunics and leather sandals. Their rank and wealth showed only in
their jewelry-—earrings, nose rings or nose buttons—and in the high quality of
their weapons.

When
Daine stayed with the Queen's Riders, she took a daily turn shooting with them,
or with the guardsmen, pages, and squires. Now her hands fairly itched to try
that short, well-made bow, but she was too shy to ask. Instead she watched,
leaning on the fence that separated yard from street, as the youths joked and
pummeled Kaddar. They didn't appear to be in awe of the heir, but treated him
as an equal. For a moment she saw Kaddar relax, becoming as carefree as any of
them. The sight of his wide grin and dancing eyes told Daine how much on guard
the Prince acted with her.

As she
waited, Zek climbed onto the fence to observe. Kitten wriggled under the bottom
rail and sat up to watch. It was the flash of the dragons blue-gold scales that
drew the attention of the young men. Kaddar, recalled to his duties, introduced
Daine to everyone. The foreign names and tides flew in and out of her ears. She
hoped no one expected her to remember all of this information, but nodded and
smiled cautiously. She did not like the way they looked her over, bold eyes
lingering on her face, her chest, and everything from the waist

down.

Of
course, she thought, red-cheeked from embarrassment and irritation. They don't
usually see women with no veils, and in breeches.

"Daine
is from Totta/l" Kaddar said warningly, noticing the same thing that Daine
had, "She came with the peace delegation to care for my uncles'

birds."

"I
have birds, sweetling," teased one youth. "Would you care for them,
if I asked you nicely?" He barely flinched when Kaddar jammed an elbow
into his ribs.

"Tortall—that's
where they have a female as Kings Champion," remarked another.

"Maybe
Tortallan men are easily beaten," said one. "No Cartbaki men are bested
by a woman."

Daine
inspected her fingernails. Anger was a warm, comforting fizz under her
cheekbones and along her spine, driving off the gloom she had felt since her
visit to the chapels. "And are you willing to bet on that?" she asked
gently.

"Bet
that we could beat your Lioness?" asked someone.

"Oh,
no—she's busy, I can't bother her to teach a lesson to boys. I'll beat you. At
archery."

They
laughed, even Kaddar, and her blush spread, Kitten was muttering to herself,
not at all happy with the way this talk was going.

"Sorry,
Daine," said Kaddar, "but we have only men's bows. You couldn't draw
one."

Her
blue-gray eyes glittered up at him. "Oh?" She let herself into the
yard. "You'd be surprised what I can do," she told the grinning young
men. "Have you longbows?"

The
young nobles laughed, or groaned. One of them teased, "Oh, I'm
scared."

"Careful,
Kaddar, she might be one of those Queen s Riders, the ones that letjmalts joinT

"Or
so they say. I've never seen one of these Rider maidens, have you?"

Daine's
smile was sweeter than ever. "I work for the Rider Horsemistress. Trust
me—there are females in the Riders, and they work for a living." To Kaddar
she said, patiently, "A bow?"

The
prince took her into a shed at the side of the yard. "They will be too
strong for you" he remarked as she checked the unstrung longbows placed in
wooden racks on the wall. Much as she wanted to try the recurved bow they used,
she felt she ought to stick to the weapon she knew best.

"I'll
judge what's too strong for me, thank you" Running her fingers down two
bow staves, she shook her head. The next felt better, but when she lifted it
down she could tell that the balance was off.

"We
assumed those tales of women fighting among the Riders were only tales. No
woman has ever asked to enter our armies."

"With
you so open and welcoming of the idea, I'm not surprised." She found one
that might suit her and examined it carefully, warming the stave in her hands
as she checked grain and texture. "This will do. Have you strings?"

He
stalked to a cabinet, reminding her of an offended cat, and opened a drawer to
reveal coils of bowstring, each in oiled paper. She picked one out.

"Women
aren't up to the discipline of military life."

Looking
over quivers full of arrows, she chose a handful. "You must tell Lady
Alanna that sometime. I'd do it from a distance."

"I
hope you lose," he muttered as she went outside.

In the
yard she. backed up to the fence, since her bow had greater range than theirs.
The targets were eighteen inches across, with two rings and a bulls-eye—a
difficult shot even for a good archer. The Carthakis watched as she stuck her
arrows point-first into the ground, keeping two. These Kitten held as Daine
looped the string around the foot of the bow and stood that end between her
feet

"She'll
never bend that," she heard someone mutter.

If only
she had her own bow, the one that even the Lioness had trouble bending! Holding
the stave in one hand, the free end of her string in die other, she easily slid
the loop over the top end of the bow. When she had taken her stance, left side
toward the target, Kitten handed over the first arrow. Daine put it to the
string, careful to keep the arrow pointed at the ground,

"Stand
back, or I'll hurt you," she warned her observers, then added,
"Tortall and the Queen's Riders!" She swung the bow up, and loosed.
Bow down, second arrow from Kitten, to the string, up and loose. The target was
in her mind, not her eyes; she didn't have to take the time to aim that these
males did. Now, pulling the arrows one by one from the ground, she fired until
they were gone. Done, sweat gleaming on her forehead, she told the Carthakis,
"You may check my aim"

At
first nobody moved. Finally one of them went to look. Their judge carefully
examined the arrows, by eye and by touch, where they were clustered in the
center target. At last he called, "We must cut them loose from the
bull's-eye. They are too deeply embedded to be removed by hand."

The
young nobles crowded around her. She was incredible, they told her; could all
the Tortallan women shoot like that? When she mentioned she'd like to try the
recurved bow, six of them were offered at once.