Without Rhythm (The Lament) (21 page)

"I put the call out. On your current location?"

"Yes."

"Anything else needed for the moment?"

Saran smiled and looked at Pran then, shrugging a little as the Captain sat up and stared, seeming surprised.

"Actually Bard Clarice, there
is
something you could do. We have a situation here. A fully trained Bard student who's school council kicked her out, so that a relative of two of them would have a better shot at being your new apprentice." There was a pause then for nearly half a minute.

"Oh? What school?" The voice from the box in front of them sounded bemused suddenly, instead of hard, like she had moments before.

"Compton?" Saran looked at Pran who nodded, finally understanding that the voice from the box was Bard Clarice. As in
the
Bard Clarice.

The High Councils Bard.

Saran spoke faster then.

"I haven't heard her play or sing yet, but she was first in her class. Tossed out on her very last day too, no matter what, that's a waste. Don't you think?"

"I do. Well, tell her that she's back in. I'll find a place for her somewhere. What's the name?"

Pran stepped closer to the box as Saran pushed the button for her.

"Pran, ma'am. Bard Clarice. Currently Apprentice Guardian Pran." She shrugged since it was really her name for the time being.

"Formerly Bard Pran and Pran Grange." That marked her as an orphan, but there was no snort of derision from the very highly placed woman on the radio.

"What?
Apprentice Guardian
?" She sounded nicely baffled at it, which got a chuckle from Saran.

"Yes, you heard that right, Apprentice Guardian Pran. Doing a decent job of it too. She's already been recommended for training if you lot are too stupid to take her back. She spent the night safe-guarding the town of Danning from a hostile force, holding one of three possible combat lines by herself. Seems to still be interested in your kind of work anyway. Go figure? You'd think after seeing what we do she'd make the switch fast, but apparently not."

There was another click and no one spoke for nearly ten minutes, when the woman came back she sounded a little breathless.

"Fixed. I had to rush some things through, sorry about the delay. The closest sane Bard is a younger one, on The Lament?"

Pran pushed the button to speak, hoping it was the right thing to do.

"Bard Benjamin?"

"Yes, the very one. You know him?"

Pran nodded, then rolled her eyes and pushed the button again, remembering that she had to actually talk.

"We performed together last night, when we were, um, liberating Danning? Part of a distraction." She was about to explain more when noise started on the other side of the box.

"Oops, well everyone is here. For now tell Bard Benjamin that you're his new apprentice. We'll get you a tryout for a better position if possible, but at the moment... This situation takes precedence. Call me if you run into any trouble."

Then the voice went away.

Guardian Saran shrugged.

"And fixed. It helps to know people sometimes. Of course, just being a Bard now, that won't get you out of the real work. Not knowing that you can handle it like you have been... Clarice wasn't joking when she said this situation takes precedence. Besides, I think Clark and Mara have kind of adopted you. It wouldn't do to just rip you away from them without warning."

The woman sounded serious, at first, but then smiled and patted Pran on the back.

"So, Bard Pran, welcome back to your real life?"

She nodded. It was like a weight had lifted from her shoulders that she wasn't even aware had been there. After a few seconds she took a deep breath and realized it was the first full one that she'd had in days.

Her whole life hadn't been for nothing. She wasn't about to be dropped off in a strange town and told to fend for herself. She was a person again, not just a lie.

It was a relief.

It took a while for things to start to come together, but Pran and Saran didn't wait on the ship, heading back to the town at a jog. It was hard to keep up, but she managed.

She was actually needed after all, and would be, for at least a little longer.

Pran ended up following Saran around for hours, struggling to watch the tree line around the town, focusing like a Guardian, even if she was a Bard again. It was exciting, but one thing being an orphan had taught her, the oldest lesson that she'd learned, was that in the end, you had to look out for yourself and no matter what you thought the world was about, it could all be taken away from you in an instant. It had happened before and could again. Some voice on a box telling her that everything was fixed? She'd believe that when...

Honestly, Pran didn't know if she'd ever believe it.

So for the moment it was best to keep trying to make sure she'd have food and a roof over her head at night. If nothing else, she was still technically an apprentice Guardian, which meant doing the best job she could at it. That was the second lesson that her life had given her. Once you had a chance, you needed to do everything possible to make it work. Even when it might not be real.

So she focused and fought to keep her mind on the trees, ears open for any change in sound, no matter how minor. Nothing happened of course, except for the other craft slowly starting to come in for a landing over the next ten hours. They had lights on them once darkness fell, but they wouldn't land in the dark if they could help it. There were, Saran explained, fields designed to do that, having powerful lights for safety. They were almost never used though. It was almost free for an airship to just hang in the air, floating and moving just enough to keep a large circle going. Lights burned energy, in one form or another, so weren't used unless needed.

There were six of the craft aloft and two on the ground in the big field. It was late when they all got back, but apparently the plan was for everyone to sleep in their own bed that night. Pran was just as glad for it, since her mind was already numb from standing watch for ten hours.

The Lament was in the same place it had been when they originally came in, near the back of the wide open and grassy space. Almost as if still trying to train her Clark explained the landing patterns to her.

"It fills back to front left to right. That way anyone coming in will know where to land, so we don't have to be in communications. Most of the time. The Lament is the command ship, even though Guardian Saran is here, since we were the first ones on the scene. She's in charge, so if anyone wants to see the person in command, we'll have to guide them to The Conscript. That can be your job in the morning. After exercises." He said it lazily, as if knowing something she didn't, but Mara laughed after a few seconds.

"He's just teasing Pran. We were already told that things have gone back to normal for you. I knew they would. You're too good to waste. Not that having you as one of us wasn't nice... I could have at least gotten a few more baskets of laundry out of you."

Pran smiled, knowing that no one would be able to see her.

"I can take in some wash for a bit, if you want. Exercises too. It never hurts to have more than one skill, right?"

She didn't want to risk making anyone mad, but Saran, who was still in the wagon, waiting for everyone else to climb out cleared her throat.

"Good call. We'll use you here at command then, if your new master allows it. Running errands and watch. He'll probably put on shows in the evening, so you should work that out too. That's a Bard's job, so I don't know what practice you'll need for that." Her voice was a little tired sounding as she got herself out of the wagon. She'd ridden on the front seat, some man from The Conscript driving. He didn't talk nearly as much as Paul did, which reminded her of a few things. The first one was that she should make sure someone visited with him and the other injured people the next day. They'd get bored, just lying in bed after all.

The second was more pressing to her.

"I wonder what happened to Dovish." Her voice was low, but Clark answered anyway, sounding a bit concerned himself.

"I wish I knew. I hate to say it, but he either ran off or went into the woods and was killed. Most likely at least. I suppose he might have been taken prisoner, but no one would keep him after they figured out that he's not as bright as some. I... can't imagine it's a good situation."

That was about what Pran was thinking too. The big man just wasn't that useful to anyone and no one trying to start an army would want him in particular. Good people didn't go around trying to do that, did they?

She grunted a little and walked to her room, taking her little side pack and rifle with her, muscles still aching, but doing better than she had been the day before. Now it was soreness, but not actual pain, meaning she was healing up. Sleep was a little bit fitful, dreaming that they were under attack, waking up to the sound of Roy breathing deeply next to her at least five times. He didn't say anything, but he had to be waking up when she did. There was groaning involved at least, if nothing else.

When the light came through the window she opened her eyes to find the young man with his back turned, pulling his trousers up, shirtless. He had a nice back, lean, but with more muscle than she would have figured on someone as thin as he was.

She just stood up herself, and gathered clothing from the chest at the foot of her bed, intending to shower if possible. Her head was filled with cobwebs and shaking didn't clear it, but Pran managed a grin when her roommate turned around.

"Morning. Sorry about all the bad dreams. I hope it didn't cut too much into your sleep." She tried to sound sympathetic, but Roy waved his hands at her, almost frantically.

"Who can really sleep? I keep expecting to have to jump up and go to battle positions, only this isn't that kind of ship, so all we do if attacked is take to the air and run. I wonder if Captain Mina would let me check out a rifle, like you have? Just to have near. Not that I know how to use one. I should ask anyway." He sounded firm when he said it, which was different then his normal tone.

"Sounds like a good idea actually. Maybe see if Clark and Mara will bring it up for you?"

Roy had to work, so he headed straight to the mess hall, which is what he called the dining room off the galley for some reason, and Pran washed, making sure she was very careful with her water ration. On the good side it was way easier, not having any hair. On the bad... No hair. It had made a good disguise and fit her new station, even if it wasn't something she would have normally thought to do. No one would question her on it too much. Bards were allowed to be strange. Especially the young ones just starting out.

After she grabbed her customary bowl of oatmeal Pran was kind of at loose ends. The Guardians had already left for the day and while they'd teased her about exercises and duties, no one was around at all to tell her what to do. They'd even taken Claire away with them.

Feeling more than a little conspicuous she walked outside, away from the craft a little and noticed that the previously empty field was now full. Twelve ships were there in all and people bustled between them in an almost random fashion. The morning was cool, but the sky was clear, a stiff breeze making the ships strain on their lines just a little. The "bags" on top were all inflated, which wasn't normal when landed. It was probably so they could all take off if something happened, like Roy said. It meant the wind had a lot more affect on them than it normally would have.

Trying to be productive she ran through a set of breathing exercises, then stretches, her body protesting as she did it. No one seemed too put off by it, though a few stared at her. They waved at least when she looked up. Then, again on the idea that doing something was going to be better than sitting and being bored, she started a walking guard around the ship. It was hard to keep up the irregular movements, but it did mean that when the strange men in Guardian black came up to the ship they stopped and waited for her to come around to them, rather than going in on their own.

"Guardians Robert and Howl. Come to see Guardian Saran."

Pran had her rifle with her, pointed at the ground, since accidentally hitting a giant bag of hydrogen was a poor plan. She nodded and smiled at the men, who looked hard, but not as big as Clark was. One of them had a beard that was shot with gray, Robert she thought, since he'd given that name first. The other man was younger, but had turned to watch everything around them, letting the other man figure out where to go.

"Apprentice Bard Pran. Guardian Saran is working out of The Conscript. That's..." She looked around and pointed one ship over, directly to the left, since she was facing away from the ships.

"Right there. Do you need me to take you over? I mean, is it an emergency? They'll recognize me, I think, which will get you in faster." Maybe not, but the people had been around and seen her, if they remembered the strange bald girl in black at all.

"That would be best I think. We have a report. I..." The man stopped, took in her rifle and black outfit and then shrugged.