Magician (63 page)

Both slaves nodded. Kasumi said, “Good.
Then you can show me the best way.”

Pug’s gaze wandered as much as
was possible with his head down, but something caught his eye. Next
to the Lord of the Shinzawai sat a game board and what looked like
familiar figures. Kamatsu noticed and said, “You know this
game?” He reached over and brought the board forward, so that
it lay before him.

Pug said, “Master, I know the
game. We call it chess.”

Hokanu looked at his brother, who
leaned forward “As several have said, Father, there has been
contact with the barbarians before.”

His father waved away the comment. “It
is a theory.” To Pug he said, “Sit here and show me how
the pieces move.”

Pug sat and tried to remember what
Kulgan had taught him. He had been an indifferent student of the
game, but knew a few basic openings. He moved a pawn forward and
said, “This piece may move forward only one space, except when
it is first moved, master. Then it may move two.” The lord of
the house nodded, motioning that he should continue. “This
piece is a knight and moves like so,” said Pug.

After he had demonstrated the moves of
the various pieces, the Lord of the Shinzawai said, “We call
this game shah. The pieces are called by different names, but it is
the same. Come, we will play.”

Kamatsu gave the white pieces to Pug.
He opened with a conventional king’s pawn move, and Kamatsu
countered. Pug played badly and was quickly beaten. The others
watched the entire game without a sound. When it was over, the lord
said, “Do you play well, among your people?”

“No, master. I play poorly.”

He smiled, his eyes wrinkling at the
edges. “Then I would guess that your people are not as
barbarous as is commonly held. We will play again soon.”

He nodded to his older son, and Kasumi
rose. Bowing to his father, he said to Pug and Laurie, “Come.”

They bowed to the lord of the house and
followed Kasumi out of the room. He led them through the house, to a
smaller room with sleeping pallets and cushions. “You will
sleep here. My room is next door. I would have you at hand at all
times.”

Laurie spoke up boldly. “What
does the master want of us?”

Kasumi regarded him for a moment. “You
barbarians will never make good slaves. You forget your place too
often.”

Laurie started to stammer an apology
but was cut off. “It is of little matter. You are to teach me
things, Laurie. You will teach me to ride, and how to speak your
language. Both of you. I would learn what those.”

—he paused, then made a flat,
nasal wa-wa-wa sound—”noises mean when you speak to each
other.”

Further conversation was cut off by the
sound of a single chime that reverberated throughout the house.
Kasumi said, “A Great One comes. Stay in your rooms. I must go
to welcome him with my father.” He hurried off, leaving the two
Midkemians to sit in their new quarters wondering at this newest
twist in their lives.

Twice during the following two days,
Pug and Laurie glimpsed the Shinzawai’s important visitor. He
was much like the Shinzawai lord in appearance, but thinner, and he
wore the black robe of a Tsurani Great One. Pug asked a few questions
of the house staff and gained a little information. Pug and Laurie
had seen nothing that compared with the awe in which the Great Ones
were held by the Tsurani. They seemed a power apart, and with what
little understanding of Tsurani social reality Pug had, he couldn’t
exactly comprehend how they fit into the scheme of things. At first
he had thought they were under some social stigma, for all he was
ever told was that the Great Ones were “outside the law.”
He then was made to understand, by an exasperated Tsurani slave who
couldn’t believe Pug’s ignorance of important matters,
that the Great Ones had little or no social constraints in exchange
for some nameless service to the Empire.

Pug had made a discovery during this
time that lightened the alien feeling of his captivity somewhat.
Behind the needra pens he had found a kennel full of yapping,
tail-wagging dogs. They were the only Midkemian-like animals he had
seen on Kelewan, and he felt an unexplained joy at their presence. He
had rushed back to their room to fetch Laurie and had brought him to
the kennel. Now they sat in one of the runs, amid a group of playful
canines.

Laurie laughed at their boisterous
play. They were unlike the Duke’s hunting hounds, being longer
of leg, and more gaunt. Their ears were pointed, and perked at every
sound.

“I’ve seen their like
before, in Gulbi. It’s a town in the Great Northern Trade Route
of Kesh. They are called greyhounds and are used to run down the fast
cats and antelope of the grasslands near the Valley of the Sun.”

The kennel master, a thin,
droopy-eyelidded slave named Rachmad, came over and watched them
suspiciously “What are you doing here?”

Laurie regarded the dour man and
playfully pulled the muzzle of a rambunctious puppy. “We
haven’t seen dogs since we left our homeland, Rachmad. Our
master is busy with the Great One, so we thought we would visit your
fine kennel.”

At mention of his “fine kennel”
the gloomy countenance brightened considerably. “I try to keep
the dogs healthy We must keep them locked up, for they try to harry
the cho-ja, who like them not at all.” For a moment Pug thought
perhaps they had been taken from Midkemia as the horse had been. When
he asked where they had come from, Rachmad looked at him as if he
were crazy. “You speak like you have been too long in the sun.
There have always been dogs.” With that final pronouncement on
the matter, he judged the conversation closed and left.

Later that night, Pug awoke to find
Laurie entering their room “Where have you been?”

“Shh! You want to wake the whole
household? Go back to sleep.”

“Where did you go?” Pug
asked in hushed tones.

Laurie could be seen grinning in the
dim light “I paid a visit to a certain cook’s assistant,
for . . . a chat.”

“Oh. Almorella?”

“Yes,” came the cheerful
reply “She’s quite a girl.” The young slave who
served in the kitchen had been making big eyes at Laurie ever since
the caravan had arrived four days ago.

After a moment of silence, Laurie said,
“You should cultivate a few friends yourself. Gives a whole new
look to things.”

“I’ll bet,” Pug said,
disapproval mixed with more than a little envy. Almorella was a
bright and cheerful girl, near Pug’s age, with merry dark eyes.

“That little Katala, now. She has
her eye on you, I’m thinking.”

Cheeks burning, Pug threw a cushion at
his friend. “Oh, shut up and go to sleep.”

Laurie stifled a laugh. He retired to
his pallet and left Pug alone in thought.

There was the faint promise of rain on
the wind, and Pug welcomed the coolness he felt in its touch. Laurie
was sitting astride Kasumi’s horse, and the young officer stood
by and watched. Laurie had directed Tsurani craftsmen as they
fashioned a saddle and bridle for the mount and was now demonstrating
their use.

“This horse is combat trained,”
Laurie shouted. “He can be neck reined”—he
demonstrated by laying the reins on one side of the horse’s
neck, then the other—”or he can be turned by using your
legs.” He raised his hands and showed the older son of the
house how this was done.

For three weeks they had been
instructing the young noble in riding, and he had shown natural
ability. Laurie jumped from the horse, and Kasumi took his place. The
Tsurani rode roughly at first, the saddle feeling strange under him.
As he bounced by, Pug called out, “Master, grip him firmly with
your lower leg!” The horse sensed the pressure and picked up a
quick trot. Rather than be troubled by the increase in speed, Kasumi
looked enraptured. “Keep your heels down!” shouted Pug.
Then, without instructions from either slave, Kasumi kicked the horse
hard in the sides and had the animal running over the fields.

Laurie watched him vanish across the
meadow and said, “He’s either a natural horseman or he’s
going to kill himself.”

Pug nodded. “I think he’s
got the knack. He’s certainly not lacking courage.”

Laurie pulled up a long stem of grass
from the ground and put it between his teeth. He hunkered down and
scratched the ear of a bitch who lay at his feet, as much to distract
the dog from running after the horse as to play with her. She rolled
over on her back and playfully chewed his hand.

Laurie turned his attention to Pug. “I
wonder what game our young friend is playing at.”

Pug shrugged. “What do you mean?”

“Remember when we first arrived?
I heard Kasumi was about to head out with his cho-ja companions.
Well, those three cho-ja soldiers left this morning—which is
why Bethel here is out of her pen—and I heard some gossip that
the orders of the older son of the Shinzawai were suddenly changed.
Put that together with these riding and language lessons and what do
you have?”

Pug stretched. “I don’t
know.”

“I don’t know either.”
Laurie sounded disgusted “But these matters are of high
import.” He looked across the plain and said lightly, “All
I ever wanted to do was to travel and tell my stories, sing my songs,
and someday find a widow who owned an inn.”

Pug laughed. “I think you would
find tavern keeping dull business after all this fine adventure.”

“Some fine adventuring. I’m
riding along with a bunch of provincial militia and run right smack
into the entire Tsurani army. Since then I’ve been beaten
several times, spent over four months mucking about in the swamps,
walked over half this world—”

“Ridden in a wagon, as I
remember.”

“Well, traveled over half this
world, and now I’m giving riding lessons to Kasumi Shinzawai,
older son of a lord of Tsuranuanm Not the stuff great ballads are
made of.”

Pug smiled ruefully “You could
have been four years in the swamps. Consider yourself lucky. At least
you can count on being here tomorrow. At least as long as Septiem
doesn’t catch you creeping around the kitchen late at night.”

Laurie studied Pug closely “I
know you’re joking. About Septiem, I mean. It has occurred to
me several times to ask you, Pug. Why do you never speak of your life
before you were captured?”

Pug looked away absently “I guess
it’s a habit I picked up in the swamp camp. It doesn’t
pay to remind yourself of what you used to be. I’ve seen brave
men die because they couldn’t forget they were born free.”

Laurie pulled at the dog’s ear
“But things are different here.”

“Are they? Remember what you said
back in Jamar about a man wanting something from you. I think the
more comfortable you become here, the easier it is for them to get
whatever it is they want from you. This Shinzawai lord is no one’s
fool.” Seemingly shifting topics, he said, “Is it better
to train a dog or horse with a whip or with kindness?”

Laurie looked up. “What? Why,
with kindness, but you have to use discipline also.”

Pug nodded. “We are being shown
the same consideration as Bethel and her kind, I think. But we still
are slaves. Never forget that.”

Laurie looked out over the field for a
long time and said nothing.

The pair were rousted from their
thoughts by the shouts of the older son of the house as he rode back
into view. He pulled the horse up before them and jumped down. “He
flies,” he said, in his broken King’s Tongue. Kasumi was
an apt student and was picking up the language quickly. He
supplemented his language lessons with a constant stream of questions
about the lands and people of Midkemia. There was not a single aspect
of life in the Kingdom that he seemed uninterested in. He had asked
for examples of the most mundane things, such as the manner in which
one bargains with tradespeople, and the proper forms of address when
speaking to people of different ranks.

Kasumi led the horse back to the shed
that had been built for him, and Pug watched for any sign of
footsoreness. They had fashioned shoes for him from wood treated with
resin, by trial and error, but these seemed to be holding up well
enough. As he walked, Kasumi said, “I have been thinking about
a thing. I don’t understand how your King rules, with all you
have said about this Congress of Lords. Please explain this thing.”

Laurie looked at Pug with an eyebrow
raised. While no more an authority on Kingdom politics than Laurie,
he seemed better able to explain what he knew. Pug said, “The
congress elects the King, though it is mostly a matter of form.”

“Form?”

“A tradition. The heir to the
throne is always elected, except when there is no clear successor. It
is considered the best way to stem civil war, for the ruling of the
congress is final.” He explained how the Prince of Krondor had
deferred to his nephew, and how the congress had acquiesced to his
wishes “How is it with the Empire?”

Kasumi thought, then said, “Perhaps
not so different. Each emperor is the elect of the gods, but from
what you have told me he is unlike your King. He rules in the Holy
City, but his leadership is spiritual. He protects us from the wrath
of the gods.”

Laurie asked, “Who then rules?”

They reached the shed, and Kasumi took
the saddle and bridle off the horse and began rubbing him down. “Here
it is different from your land.” He seemed to have difficulty
with the language and shifted into Tsurarri. “A Ruling Lord of
a family is the absolute authority upon his estate. Each family
belongs to a clan, and the most influential lord in the clan is
Warchief. Within that clan, each other lord of a family holds certain
powers depending upon influence. The Shinzawai belong to the
Kanazawai Clan. We are the second most powerful family in that clan
next to the Keda. My father in his youth was commander of the clan
armies, a Warchief, what you would call a general. The position of
families shifts from generation to generation, so that it is unlikely
I will reach so exalted a position.