Читать книгу Talon of the Silver Hawk - Raymond E. Feist - Страница 11

TALON FROWNED.

He looked at the cards laid out upon the table and attempted to discern any choice that might create a solution. After examining the four cards he had just turned over, he realized there was no possible way he could continue the game.

Sighing, half in frustration, half out of boredom, he swept up the cards and began reshuffling them. He resisted the temptation to turn and see if the two men watching him were showing any reaction.

The white-haired man he had thought of as ‘Snowcap’, but who was actually named Magnus, stood beside Robert, who was sitting on a stool, brought into the dining room from the common room. Robert had introduced the concept of cards to Talon a week earlier.

The deck consisted of fifty-two cards, in four suits: cups, wands, swords and diamonds, each a different colour, the cups being blue, wands green, swords black, and diamonds yellow. They were used primarily for games likel-in-land, pashawa, and poker, or po-kir as it was called in Kesh. Robert had demonstrated several games and had Talon play a few hands of each to get familiar with the ordering of the suits, from the card known as the ‘ace’, which Robert explained came from a Bas-Tyran word for ‘unit’, to the lord. The lower cards were numbered from two to ten, but Talon saw no logic as to why the unit, or the one as he thought of it, was the most valuable card, more so than the lord, lady, or captain.

Talon smiled slightly to himself. He didn’t know why that little fact, that the lowest number, the single unit, was the most valuable card, irritated him. Still, he did well enough with the games Robert had taught him. Then Robert had introduced him to the concept of solitary play, using the deck for idle amusement when lacking opposing players. The games were roughly a variation on a theme, different ‘layouts’, as Robert called them, with different ways in which to draw cards from the deck. Some games required the player to build cards in rows based on rank, in alternating colours of light and dark, or in order of number, or a combination.

Earlier in the previous day Robert had taken Talon from the kitchen – there were no guests so duty was light – and had brought him into the dining hall. There he had introduced the game of ‘four lord’s.

It was a perplexing game. Four lords were laid out from right to left, and four cards were dealt face up. The object of the game was to place the cards by suit next to the lords, the only prohibition being that cards must be placed next to cards of the same number or suit. The next goal was to create ‘packs’ of four identical number cards, in a square. This continued until all four aces were together, at which point they were retired from the game. Then the twos, and so fourth until only the lords remained.

Talon had discovered early on that it was a very difficult game to win, relying far too much on the random luck of cards coming out in a certain order, rather than skill. But some skill was required in anticipating situations in which cards would be isolated from others of like value.

For half a day Talon had eagerly played the game, determined to become a master at it. Then he realized just how much random luck was involved and became disenchanted with it. Yet Robert still insisted that he play, and sat behind silently to observe.

As Talon laid out the next game, he wondered not for the first time exactly why Robert was doing this.

Magnus whispered, ‘Robert, why are you doing this?’

Robert whispered, ‘The boy’s people have little abstract logic in their daily lives. They were hunters, farmers, poets and warriors, but their mathematics were basic and all the disciplines based upon advanced logic were lacking to them. They had builders, yes, but no engineers and far fewer magic-users than any other people I’m aware of, perhaps one or two throughout the entire land of the Orosini.’

They spoke in the King’s Tongue, the language of the Kingdom of the Isles, to prevent Talon from understanding them – and Robert judged his hearing very sharp.

‘So the games are to teach him logic?’

Robert nodded. ‘They are a start. This is very basic problem-solving.’

Magnus’s pale blue eyes were fixed upon the cards on the table. ‘I’ve played four lords, Robert. You taught it to me, remember? It is a difficult game. He won’t win many.’

Robert smiled. ‘It’s not about winning. It’s about recognizing a no-win situation. See, he’s recognized that those four cards ensure that he can’t win.’ They watched as Talon gathered up the cards, leaving the lords in place, and started a new game. ‘At first, he went through the entire deck to reach the point of realizing he had no chance of winning. Now, less than two days later he’s recognizing the more subtle combinations that show he can’t win.’

‘Very well. So he’s got potential, talent even. That doesn’t address the question of what it is you plan to do with the boy.’

‘Patience, my impetuous friend.’ He glanced at Magnus, who watched Talon with a fixed gaze. ‘It would have been better had you more of your father’s temperament than your mother’s temper.’

The white-haired man didn’t shift his gaze, but he did smile. ‘I’ve heard that from you more than once, old friend.’ He then looked at Robert. ‘I’m getting better at reining in my temper, you know.’

‘Haven’t destroyed a city in the last few weeks, have you?’

Magnus grinned. ‘Not that I noticed.’ Then the stern expression returned. ‘I chafe at these games within games.’

‘Ah,’ said Robert. ‘Again your mother’s son. Your father has taught me over my entire adult lifetime that we can only deal with our enemies when they present themselves. Over the last thirty years we’ve seen so many different assaults upon the tranquillity of our lives that it defies imagining. And there’s only been one constant.’

‘Which is?’ Magnus turned his attention again to Talon’s game.

‘That no two ploys of the enemy have been alike. The servants of the Nameless One are cunning and they learn from their mistakes. Raw power failed, so now they achieve their goals through stealth. We must respond in kind.’

‘But this boy …?’

‘Fate spared him for a reason, I believe,’ said Robert. ‘Or at least, I’m trying to take advantage of an unexpected opportunity. He’s got … something. I think had this tragedy not befallen his people, he would have grown up to be simply another young Orosini man, a husband and father, warrior when the need arose, farmer, hunter and fisherman. He would have taught his sons the ways of his ancestors and died in old age satisfied at his lot.

‘But take that same lad and forge him in the crucible of misfortune and heartbreak, and who knows what will occur? Like fired iron, will he become brittle and easily broken, or can he be turned to steel?’

Magnus remained silent as Talon began another game. ‘A dagger, no matter how well forged, has two edges, Robert. It can cut both ways.’

‘Don’t teach your grandmother to suck eggs, Magnus.’

Magnus grinned. ‘My father never knew his mother, so the only grandmother I’m aware of did a fair job of conquering half the world; I wouldn’t have dreamed of teaching her anything.’

‘And you have your mother’s nasty sense of humour, too.’ He turned from the King’s Tongue to Roldemish to say, ‘Talon, that’s enough. It’s time for you to return to the kitchen. Leo will tell you what needs to be done.’

Talon put the cards away in a small box and handed the box to Robert, then hurried to the kitchen.

Magnus said, ‘I’m still uncertain what you think this boy will contribute to our cause.’

Robert shrugged. ‘Your father showed me many things when I was young, but the most important lesson of all was simply the very nature of your home. Your island provided refuge and school to all manner of beings I couldn’t have imagined in my most youthful dreams.’ He pointed towards the kitchen. ‘That boy may prove to be nothing more than a valuable servant, or perhaps a well-crafted tool.’ His eyes narrowed. ‘But he also could be something far more important, an independent mind loyal to our cause.’

Magnus was silent for a long moment. Then he said, ‘I doubt it.’

Robert smiled warmly. ‘We had doubts about you when you were younger. I remember a certain incident when you had to be confined to your room for … what was it? A week?’

Magnus returned a faint smile. ‘It wasn’t my fault, remember?’

Robert nodded indulgently. ‘It never was.’

Magnus looked toward the kitchen. ‘But the boy?’

‘He has many things to learn,’ said Robert. ‘Logic is only a start. He must come to understand that even the most important issues in life can often be seen to be games, with a sense of risk and reward and how to calculate them. He must learn when to walk away from a conflict, and when to press his luck. Much of his nature, what he was taught as a child among his people, must be taken from him. He must learn about the game of men and women – did you know his future wife was being arranged for him while he waited upon a mountain-top for his manhood vision?’

‘I know little of the ways of the Orosini,’ confessed Magnus.

‘He knows nothing of the most common knowledge in the city; he has no sense of duplicity and deceit, so he has almost no instinct for when someone is lying to him. Yet he has a sense in the wild that would rival that of a Natalese Ranger.’

‘Caleb told me he hunted like no city-born man,’ agreed Magnus.

‘Your brother spent years with the elves; he should know.’

‘Agreed.’

‘No, our young friend Talon is an opportunity. He is, perhaps, unique. And he is young enough that we may be able to educate him to be something few of us can be.’

‘Which is what?’ asked Magnus, clearly interested.

‘Unlimited by our heritage. He’s still able to learn, while most of us at his age are already convinced we know everything.’

‘He does seem a ready student,’ Magnus conceded.

‘And, he has a sense of honour that would serve a LaMutian Captain of Tsurani descent.’

Magnus raised an eyebrow. Those of Tsurani descent were as hidebound where honour was concerned as any men living. They would die to discharge a debt of honour. He looked for a moment to see if Robert was exaggerating and realized that he wasn’t. ‘Honour is useful, at times.’

‘He has a mission already, even if it has yet to come to the surface of his mind.’

‘Mission?’

‘He is Orosini. He must hunt down and kill the men responsible for the obliteration of his people.’

Magnus let out a long sigh. ‘Raven and his band of cutthroats. No mean feat, that.’

‘The boy’s already a hunter. When he is ready, he’ll seek them out. I would rather have him do so with better weapons than his bare hands and native wit. So, there is much we must teach him, both of us.’

‘He has no skill for magic, I imagine, or else you would have sent him back to Father instead of bringing him up here.’

‘True, but you have other skills besides magic, Magnus. I am not jesting; he has a nimble mind and there are far more complex tasks to discipline thought than playing games with cards. If he is to serve us, he must be as tough in spirit and intellect as he already is in body. He may not have any skill in magic, but he will face it, and he will face minds far more adept in backstabbing, double-dealing and deception than he could possibly imagine.’

‘If it’s double-dealing you’re worried about, you should have brought in Nakor to tutor him.’

‘I might still, but not yet. Besides, your father has Nakor down in Kesh on some errand or another.’

Magnus stood up. ‘Ah, then the prospect for war between the Kingdom of the Isles and the Empire of Great Kesh is now excellent.’

Robert laughed. ‘Nakor doesn’t wreak havoc everywhere he visits.’

‘No, just most places. Well, if you think you can ready the boy to chase down Raven and kill him, good luck.’

‘Oh, it’s not Raven and his murderers I’m concerned with. Hunting them is only part of Talon’s training, albeit his journeyman’s piece. If he should fail, then he would lack the true test of his skills.’

‘I’m intrigued. What lies beyond?’

‘Talon will avenge his people when he kills everyone responsible for the obliteration of the Orosini. Which means he may not rest until he faces down and destroys the man behind that genocide.’

Magnus’s eyes narrowed, the pale blue becoming icy. ‘You’re going to turn him into a weapon?’

Robert nodded. ‘He will need to kill the most dangerous man living today.’

Magnus sat back on the seat again and folded his arms across his chest. He looked towards the kitchen as if trying to see through walls. ‘You’re sending a mouse to beard a dragon.’

‘Perhaps. If so, let’s ensure the mouse has teeth.’

Magnus shook his head slowly and said nothing.

Talon hauled water up the hill and saw that Meggie waited for him and that she was frowning. She was the antithesis of Lela, tiny where Lela was voluptuous, fair to the point of pallor where Lela was dark, plain where Lela was exotic, dour where Lela was exuberant. In short, at not even twenty years old, she was more than halfway to being a middle-aged scold.

‘Took you long enough,’ she said.

‘I didn’t realize there was a rush on,’ said Talon, now comfortable with the idiomatic Roldemish he was being told to use almost exclusively.

‘There’s always a rush on,’ she snapped.

Following her up the hill, Talon asked, ‘Why did you come down to meet me?’

‘Kendrick said I was to find you and tell you you’d be serving again tonight in the dining room.’ She wore a shawl of drab green which she gathered tightly around her shoulders as she walked before him. The days were growing cold and the nights colder; autumn was turning to winter and soon snow would come. ‘There’s a caravan from Orodon to Farinda staying over tonight, and it seems there’s someone important travelling with it. So, Lela and I are assigned to the common room with Lars, and you and Gibbs to the dining room.’

‘You could have waited until I got back to the kitchen to tell me that,’ Talon observed.

‘When I’m told to do something, I do it at once,’ she snapped. She picked up her pace, hurrying on ahead. Talon watched her stiff back as she walked in front of him. Something struck him oddly for a moment, then he realized what it was; he liked the way her hips moved as she climbed the hill. He felt that same strange stirring in his stomach he often felt when he was alone with Lela and wondered about that. He didn’t particularly like Meggie, but suddenly he found himself thinking of the way her nose turned up at the tip, and how on those very rare occasions she smiled at something, she got tiny lines – crinkles Lela called them – at the corners of her eyes.

He knew that something had passed between Meggie and Lars for a while, but that for some reason they were barely speaking to one another now, while everyone spoke with Lela. He pushed away his discomfort. He knew what passed between men and women – his people were open enough about sex and he had seen many women naked at the bathing pool when he was still a child – yet the actual fact of being close to a young women caused him much distress. And these people were not Orosini – they were outlandish – though after an instant’s further thought he has to concede that now he was the outlander. He did not know their rituals, but they seemed to make free with their bodies before they were pledged. Then he realized that he didn’t even know if they did pledge. Perhaps they didn’t have marriage like the Orosini at all.

Kendrick had no wife as far as Talon was aware. Leo was married to the heavy woman, Martha, who oversaw the baking, but they were from some distant place called Ylith. Perhaps here in Langadore men and women lived apart, only … he shook his head as they reached the outer gate to the stabling yard. He didn’t know what to think. He resolved to speak of this with Robert should the opportunity arise.

He noticed that Meggie was standing in the porch, waiting for him. ‘Fill the barrels,’ she instructed.

Softly he said, ‘I know what to do.’

‘Oh, do you?’ she returned, her meaning obscure.

As she turned to hold the door open, he waited, then moved past her. As she closed the door behind him, he put down the large buckets of water and said, ‘Meggie?’

‘What?’ she said, turning to face him, her face set in a half-frown.

‘Why do you dislike me?’

The openness of the question took her aback. She stood speechless for a moment, then she brushed past him, her voice soft as she said, ‘Who said I didn’t like you?’

Before he could answer, she was gone from the kitchen. He picked up the buckets and carried them to the water barrels. He really didn’t understand these people.

After dinner that night, Talon sought out Robert, who stayed in a room at the back of the inn, on the first floor. He knew he had a life-debt to this man. He knew that until he was released from that debt, he would serve Robert de Lyis for the rest of his life, or until such time as he saved Robert’s life. But he was uncertain as to the plans Robert had for him. He had been numb with grief and overwhelmed by the changes in his life since Midsummer, but now with winter fast approaching, he had come to think about the future more and wonder what his fate would be after the spring came, and the next summer was upon him.

He hesitated before the door; he had never intruded upon Robert’s privacy before, and did not even know if such an approach was permitted. He took a breath, then knocked lightly.

‘Come in.’

He slowly opened the door and leaned in. ‘Sir, may I speak with you?’

Robert’s room contained only four items of furnishings, a bed, a chest for his clothing, a small table and a stool. He sat upon the stool in front of the table, consulting a large object, which appeared to Talon to be many parchments bound together. Next to it rested a candle, the room’s only illumination. A water basin and a pitcher indicated the table’s other function when Robert was not using it for his work.

‘Come in and close the door.’

Talon did so and stood awkwardly before Robert. ‘Is it permitted?’ he asked at last.

‘Is what permitted?’

‘For me to ask you a question.’

Robert smiled. ‘Finally. It is not only permitted, it is encouraged. What is on your mind?’

‘Many things, master.’

Robert’s eyebrows went up. ‘Master?’

‘I do not know what else to call you, and everyone says you’re my master.’

Robert waved to the bed. ‘Sit down.’

Talon sat, awkwardly.

‘To begin with, it’s appropriate for you to call me “master” in front of anyone well known to us, but when we are alone, or with Pasko, you may address me as “Robert”. Understood?’

‘I understand that is what I am to do. I do not understand why.’

Robert smiled. ‘You have as keen a wit as you do an eye, Talon of the Silver Hawk. Now, what is it you wished to see me about?’

Talon composed his thoughts, taking a few moments to weigh his words. Then he asked, ‘What are your plans for me?’

‘This concerns you?’

Talon lowered his eyes for a moment, then remembered his father’s words, that he should always meet another man’s gaze and always face a problem directly. ‘It concerns me.’

‘Yet you have waited for months to ask.’

Talon again fell silent. Then he said, ‘I have had to consider much. I am without a people. Everything I know is gone. I do not know who I am any more.’

Robert sat back. He drummed his fingers lightly upon the table and said after a while, ‘Do you know what this is?’ He touched the large bound sheaf of parchment.

‘It is writing, I think.’

‘This is called a book. In it is knowledge. There are many books with many different kinds of knowledge in them, just as each man is a different kind of man.

‘Some men live their lives, Talon, without having to make many decisions. They are born to a place, grow up in that place, marry and father children in that place, grow old and die in that place. This is how it was to have been for you, is it not?’

Talon nodded.

‘Other men are cast adrift by fate and must choose their own lives. That is how it is with you now.’

‘But I am in your debt.’

‘And you shall replay that debt. Then what?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Then we have a common purpose, for in discovering how you may best serve me, we shall also discover what your destiny is.’

‘I don’t understand.’

Robert smiled. ‘That’s not necessary, yet. You will in time. Now, let me tell you some things you should know.

‘You will spend the next year here, at Kendrick’s. You will do many things, serving in the kitchen as you have, and in the stable, and in other capacities as Kendrick sees best. You will also, from time to time, serve Caleb or Magnus, should they need you while they are staying here. And from time to time you will travel with me.’ He turned, putting his hand upon the book once more. ‘And we shall start tomorrow by teaching you to read.’

‘To read, Robert?’

‘You have a bright mind, Talon of the Silver Hawk, but it is untutored. You were educated in the ways of your people to be a good and true man of the Orosini. Now you must be educated in the ways of the world.’

‘I still don’t understand, Robert.’

Robert motioned for Talon to stand. When he had, Robert said, ‘Go away and go to sleep. You will understand over time. I sense a potential for greatness in you, Talon. I may be wrong, but if you fail to develop that potential, it will not be for a lack of effort.’

Not knowing what to say, Talon merely nodded, turned and left. He paused outside Robert’s door and thought to himself, Potential for what?

Talon waited, sword ready. Magnus stood a short distance away, observing. The boy was already drenched with perspiration and was sporting several red welts on his shoulders and back from the blows he had taken.

Kendrick stood before him, a wooden training sword in his hand, motioning for the boy to attack one more time. He had allowed Talon to use a real blade, claiming that if the boy could cut him he deserved to bleed, and so far he had proven his ability to avoid being touched. But Talon was fast and learned quickly, and he was getting closer and closer to reaching Kendrick.

Magnus had said nothing during the training exercise, but he watched every move closely.

Talon attacked, this time holding his blade back as if readying for a downward strike. He suddenly spun away from Kendrick’s right side – his sword side – and slashed down and sideways with the blade, a vicious swing at Kendrick’s unprotected left side. Kendrick sensed the move only at the last instant, and barely got his own blade in place for a block, but suddenly Talon reversed himself and slashed in a backhand at Kendrick’s right side, which was now unprotected since he had over-extended himself for the block.

With a satisfying ‘thunk’ the flat of Talon’s blade slapped into the innkeeper’s back, eliciting a grunt of pain and Kendrick shouted, ‘Hold!’

Talon turned, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath and watched as the innkeeper studied him. ‘Who taught you that move, boy?’

‘No one, sir. I just … thought of it a moment ago.’

The innkeeper reached back and rubbed where Talon had struck him. ‘Fancy move, and beyond most swordsmen’s imagination, let alone their capacity, yet you pulled it off the first time.’

Talon didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t sure if he was being praised or not. He was getting to be almost fluent in Roldemish, but some of the nuances and idioms were still lost on him.

Kendrick handed his practice blade to Talon and said, ‘We’re done for today. Put these away and see what Leo has for you do to in the kitchen.’

Talon wiped his forehead with the sleeve of his tunic, took the weapon and hurried off towards the kitchen. When he was out of hearing, Magnus said, ‘Well, what do you think?’

‘He’s a cat, that one,’ said Kendrick. ‘I would have wagered a bag of gold he couldn’t touch me for at least two more lessons. At first I could whack him at will. Then he started anticipating my blows. Defence first, instinctually, knowing that survival comes before victory. He’s a smart one, too, as well as fast.’

‘How good can he be?’

Kendrick shrugged. ‘If you want a battle-butcher, I can have him ready to storm a wall in a month. If you want a swordsman, he’ll need better masters than I.’

‘And where would I find such?’

‘Give him to me for the year, then he’ll be ready for the Masters’ Court in Roldem. One or two years there and he’ll be one of the finest swordsmen I’ve ever seen.’

‘That good?’

Kendrick nodded. ‘More. He may be the best if something doesn’t ruin him along the way.’

Magnus held his iron-shod staff and leaned against it, staring at where Talon had last been visible, as if maintaining the image of the fatigued youth, dripping with his own perspiration, his hair lank and plastered to his head, hurrying to the kitchen. ‘What sort of something?’

‘Drink. Drugs. Gambling. Women. The usual.’

Kendrick looked at Magnus. ‘Or whatever plots and intrigues your father has lying in wait for him.’

Magnus nodded. ‘Father’s left the boy’s fate up to Robert. Talon is not part of our plans … yet, but father heard Robert’s report on him and counts him a fortuitous opportunity.’

‘Fortuitous for whom?’ asked Kendrick. ‘Come, I need to bathe. That lad worked me more than I expected.’

Magnus said, ‘Had Robert and Pasko not found him, Talon would be dead with the rest of his tribe. It’s Robert’s judgment that every minute from that moment on is borrowed time. The boy’s got a second chance.’

‘Ah, but who is going to use that chance?’ asked Kendrick. ‘That’s the question, isn’t it?’

Magnus said, ‘We’re all used, in one fashion or another. Do you think for a moment my life could be any different?’

‘No, you were fated by nothing more basic than who your parents were. Your brother, however, had choices.’

‘Not that many, really,’ said Magnus. ‘Caleb had no gift for magic, but he could have been something more than a soldier.’

Kendrick said, ‘Your brother is more than a soldier. Elven-trained as a hunter, master of more languages than I know of, and as skilled a student of men as lived. I wish I’d had him with me back when we put down the rebellion in Bardac’s Holdfast; trying to get information out of the prisoners at Traitors’ Cove was no spring fair, I can tell you. Caleb can tell when a man is lying just by looking at him.’ Kendrick shook his head, ‘No, there is nothing about any member of your family that I’d count as begging. And I think it’s much the same with the boy. I think he could be many things.’ He slapped Magnus lightly upon the shoulder. ‘Just don’t ruin him by trying to make him too many things, my friend.’

Magnus said nothing. He stopped to let Kendrick move ahead of him, then turned and looked into the sky as if trying to read something in the air. He listened to the sound of the woodlands, and then cast his senses outwards. Everything was as it should be. He turned and looked back. What had briefly troubled him? Perhaps it was Kendrick’s warning about the boy. Still, a sword was not forged until the metal was heated, and if a flaw existed in the steel, that was when you found it, in the crucible. And every blade would be needed for the war to come if his father’s plan wasn’t successful.

Talon heaved the last of the flour sacks onto the pile he had been constructing. A wagon-load of provisions had arrived from Latagore and he had spent the afternoon unloading it, hauling them down the steps into the basement below the kitchen. Besides enough flour for the winter, there were baskets of vegetables and fruits imported from other lands, preserved by some fey art that Talon didn’t understand, though he had overheard enough in the kitchen to know that such magic preservation was costly beyond the means of any but the noble and wealthy.

Leo and Martha had taken command of a variety of small boxes, containing spices, herbs and condiments that the cook counted more valuable than their weight in gold. All their provisions for the winter, with what they could grow in the garden and harvest in the autumn, and what Talon and Caleb could hunt, meant a winter of good food, far beyond what the boy was used to.

‘Talon!’ came Lela’s voice from above. He hurried up the broad wooden steps, and saw her standing next to the wagon, a rapt expression on her face. ‘Look!’ She pointed skyward.

Snow was falling, tiny flakes blown about by a gentle but persistent breeze, most of them melting upon reaching the ground. ‘It’s just snow,’ Talon said.

Lela threw him a pout, one of her many expressions which caused his stomach to go hollow. ‘It’s wonderful,’ she said. ‘Don’t you think it’s beautiful?’

Talon watched the flakes falling for a moment, then said, ‘I never thought of it. In my village, snow means months inside our houses or hunting in drifts as high as your chest.’ For some reason, just mentioning the word ‘chest’ caused his eyes to drift to Lela’s ample bosom, though after an instant he averted his eyes. ‘My toes always hurt after a hunt.’

‘Oh,’ she said in mock disapproval. ‘You have no sense of beauty. I come from a land that never sees snow. It’s wonderful!’

Talon smiled. ‘If you say so.’ He looked into the rear of the wagon and saw that it was empty. ‘I need to go tell the driver I’ve finished.’ He closed the large wooden doors down into the cellar, then moved around to the kitchen door. Once inside, he realized how cold the air outside had become, for the kitchen seemed hot and close to him.

The wagon driver and an apprentice teamster sat at a small table in the corner of the kitchen, eating the meal Martha had prepared for them. They looked up as Talon approached. ‘Wagon’s unloaded,’ he said.

The teamster, a gaunt man whose nose looked like a buzzard’s beak grinned, showing that he was missing two front teeth. ‘Be a good lad and unhitch the horses, will you? We’re not done quite yet and it wouldn’t do to leave them shivering out in the cold. We’ll be staying the night and heading back north first thing in the morning.’

Talon nodded, and turned back towards the door. Lars intercepted him. ‘You shouldn’t have to see to his team. That’s his job.’

Talon shrugged. ‘I don’t mind. No guests to worry about and it’s either see to horses or scrub pots in here. Not much to choose from.’

Lars said, ‘Suit yourself,’ and returned to his duties.

Talon went back outside. The few moments in the kitchen had turned the air outside from brisk to uncomfortable. He hurried to the wagon and led the horses to the mouth of the barn. He had developed a fair hand in dealing with the fractious animals, and while his few attempts at riding had been less than pleasant, he found stable-work easy and mostly enjoyable. The heavy wagon had been drawn by a team of four, and it took a bit of convincing to get the animals to back up enough to put the wagon neatly out of the way. He quickly unhitched each animal, took it inside and got it into a stall. Then he set to brushing each of them. Even after having stood motionless for nearly a half-hour while he unloaded, the horses were still damp from their long pull to the inn that afternoon. Steam rose from their backs as he brushed, as the air turned bitterly cold.

By the time water and fodder had been placed in the stalls, Talon knew that the weather was turning serious. He went out into the stabling yard and looked up at the sky. The sun was setting, but he could see that the clouds were growing darker and thicker and the snow more insistent. He thought the teamster and his apprentice needed to be quick on the road to Latagore or else they would find themselves in snow up to their hubs in the next few days. If they were lucky. If a big storm was heading their way, they could find themselves snowed in for the winter at Kendrick’s.

Supper passed uneventfully. After the kitchen had been cleaned and the bread readied for baking in the morning, Talon was about to retire to the room he shared with Lars and Gibbs, when Lela approached him. ‘Don’t go to your room, yet,’ she said in a whisper. She put her hand upon his arm and led him to the pantry between the common room and the dining room. She pushed the door to the common room slightly ajar.

Gibbs was sitting quietly before the hearth, staring into the dying embers as he nursed a mug of ale. Lela closed the door, a mischievous smile in place. ‘Lars needs the room for a while.’

‘For what?’ asked Talon.

Her eyes widened and she giggled. ‘For what? You don’t know?’

He frowned. ‘If I knew, would I ask?’

She playfully put her hand on his stomach and gave him a gentle push. ‘He and Meggie are there.’

Talon said, ‘Why?’ Then before she could answer, he realized. ‘They need to be alone?’ he asked.

‘Of course, you fool!’ she said playfully.

‘With my people it is different,’ he explained. ‘We live in community buildings during the winter, and often a man and woman will lie together under bearskins. Everyone else pretends not to notice.’

‘Around here we notice,’ she said. Looking at him with a glimmer in her eye, she said, ‘You look troubled. What is it?’

Talon’s mind returned to Meggie’s quirky smile and upturned nose, and the way her thin frame swayed slightly when she walked. At last he said, ‘I don’t know.’

Suddenly, Lela’s eyes widened. ‘You’re jealous!’

Talon said, ‘I don’t know that word.’

‘You want Meggie for yourself!’ she said with a merry laugh.

Suddenly Talon’s face was flushed and he wanted to be just about anywhere else. ‘I don’t know what you mean,’ he stammered.

Lela gave the boy an appraising look for a long minute. Then she said, ‘You’re turning into a handsome young man, Talon.’ She put her arms around his waist and pressed closer, her face just in front of his. ‘Have you known a woman before?’

Talon felt his pulse race and he found himself speechless. Eventually, he shook his head.

Lela laughed and thrust herself away from him. ‘You are such a boy.’

Abruptly, Talon found himself angry. For some reason the remark stung and he almost shouted, ‘No, I am a man of the Orosini! I went upon my vision quest and …’ He paused. ‘I would have had my manhood tattoos upon my face had my family not been killed.’

Lela’s expression softened, and she stepped back towards him. ‘I’m sorry. I forgot.’

His anger soon fled as she pressed herself against him and kissed him, her soft, warm lips causing stirrings that threatened to overpower him. He grabbed her hard, and pulled her into him, eliciting a squeak of protest. She pushed him back slightly and said, ‘Gently.’

Talon blinked in confusion, his mind swimming in feelings he could put no name to; he ached to pull her back into an embrace.

She grinned. ‘You know nothing of the game of women and men.’

‘Game?’

She took him by the hand. ‘I’ve seen those games Robert and Magnus have taught you. Now I think it’s time to teach you the best game of all.’

Feeling fearful and flushed with anticipation, Talon clung to Lela’s hand as she led him through the common room towards the room she shared with Meggie.

Seeing what was transpiring, Gibbs grinned and hoisted his ale-jack in salute. As they climbed the stairs to the now-empty guests rooms, he said, ‘Got to get another girl working here; that’s all there is for it.’

Lacking any other comfort, he elected for one more ale before finding a place for himself for the night.