01. When the Changewinds Blow (16 page)

"I'll go along with that. Who knows? Maybe bare feet are sexy here. At least we'll have a chance for Zenchur to see it and make comments before we have to split. What about you?"

"Well, since I'm the brother, one of these Robin Hood outfits in brown ought'a do okay. The top's loose and everything's kind'a bloused, so it should give me the look. Black's strictly for soldiers, from the looks of it. The high-ups might wear fancy stuff but the common folk mostly wore this kind of outfit in earth tones, with a wide belt and these short boots. Wonder what this sucker is?"

Charley looked at it, thought for a moment, then gave a slight laugh. "I think I remember that one from last year's drama class. You didn't take that, did you? We all dressed up in those old Elizabethan outfits to do scenes from Shakespeare. If I remember right, that's a codpiece."

"A what?"

"Think of it as a boy's bra. It holds and protects your prick. Hmmm . . . Pretty stiff at mat. You don't have anything to protect there, but if you wear it it'll sure look like you do if those pants are as tight as they look. Tie it off above the hips, then-yeah, okay. Now pull on the pants."

"It feels like I got a rubber ball between my legs."

"Well, you'll get used to it. It's
perfect!
With a bulge like that and the rest disguisin' your other parts it kind'a advertises your sex like a good padded bra. Take a look in the mirror."

"Uh-yeah, okay. I see what you mean. I hope it stays in place when I walk or run, though. Be kind'a embarrassin' seein' there's nothin' there to hold it."

"You'll manage, and I'll keep an eye out. I wish I knew some of the language, though. I can't play deaf and dumb-the first time somebody shouts a warning or a pot drops I'll jump. I know English and Spanish 'cause half the neighborhood spoke it when I grew up, but that stuff you and Zenchur talk-that's like Chinese or something."

"Yeah, I know. I thought I only knew English til this came along. But you'll just hav'ta keep your mouth shut and let me do the talkin', I guess. I been tryin' to go through my head and teach you some words and phrases, but it just don't come out right. It's a whole different kind of talkin' that just don't work like 'good-bye' means 'adios'. Seems like they got a hundred ways of sayin' 'good-bye' dependin' on the situation or the words before and after. And lots of our words they don't have words for at all. It's like, well, you say somethin' that takes a sentence with us and then there's one big word that puts all the sounds together just right to make, like, well, a song, and it says it all. How in hell do I teach
that?
There ain't no way I could learn this sucker by myself."

"I know, I know, but it's like driving me
nuts.
Not so bad now, but when we get out in the world here I won't know like 'there's the ladies' room' from "There's robbers and rapists back there.' I-"

Sam held up a hand. "I hear somethin' in the cave. Maybe Zenchur's back. I'll go out and stall; you get yourself the way you want and we'll see what he says."

Zenchur
was
back, looking all business. He may have been crazy but he wasn't dumb. When he .saw Sam he nodded approvingly and said, "You really
did
see it all, didn't you? That is precisely the right outfit for Tubikosa and most of the surrounding hubs. Other kingdoms have far different rulers and so far different rules and dress, but that one is good everywhere, just marking you as being a southerner. All right-I have secured a horse and wagon as well as a spare from a farmer nearby who is quite blind to anything if money is produced. The wagon will allow us to move most of the supplies we have and will need so we can take both trunks, and it should allow for your lack of expertise with horses. The city is a good day's ride from here, so get a good night's sleep."

"If I can," Sam responded.

Zenchur went over to Ladai and began talking in that language they both used that she couldn't understand. Sam had to regret that the mercenary wasn't upset or agitated again. She would love to have known what was being said.

Finally Zenchur came back over and sat down, looking a bit tired. "Ladai cannot accompany us, of course. It is forbidden for any not of the Akhbreed to be inside the city or any town after sundown, and the kind of pig sties that they have for such people are below any standards of decency. She will close up here and join us on the road out from the kingdom."

Charley emerged and immediately caught Zenchur's eye dressed as she was. "Ah! More accuracy!" he exclaimed. "It is perfect for the city, although I'm not certain that something plainer but looser might not be appropriate for the trip. Still- we have the wagon. Ah! I see you have the scarf as well. That is good. It is considered something of a sacrilege in these more conservative kingdoms if a woman ever appears in public with her head uncovered-or a man with his head covered. The makeup, the jewelry, gives the correct impression, too, I think, although I suspect you hit upon it by accident."

"I could'a used some press-on nails but like I did my best with that Stone Age Emery board and file set," she responded. "I just feel so damned
helpless
not speakin' anything but English, though."

"A good point," he agreed. "That is where you are both vulnerable, I fear. More than likely him who seeks you will have supplied some English phrases to the rogues and scoundrels who are looking for you to claim the reward. Do not feel too hesitant about using English when you must, since they will not understand it or recognize it-they are merely being taught sounds-but some will undoubtedly come up to you and whisper an English phrase, possibly a question requiring a response. If you
do
respond you give yourself away, see? Both of you should remember that. Hopefully we can find some second-rate magician down on his luck with some language spells there that can give the two of you working knowledge of something useful, but until then you must depend on my translations and do
not
react to any English spoken to you by any not now present. Do not drop your guard! The price is most certainly good enough that they will kidnap you and ask questions later."

"Thanks a lot," Charley responded sourly.

"I should warn you, though, that the way you are gives you a good cover but at something of a price. Women in these conservative kingdoms do not wear jewelry or makeup and dress rather plainly in public, you see. To do otherwise marks you as an-what would be the word?-
entertainer.
That is, I am afraid, not a position of respect."

"Well, that's not so bad. I can't sing or dance much, but I can fake it."

"Uh-Charley," Sam said slowly, "I don't think that's exactly what he meant. I think he means like an entertainer of men-one at a time."

Charley looked blank for a minute, then said, "Oh. You mean-
you mean I'm dressed like a two-bit whore?"

"No, that is not the word," Zenchur said, unfazed by her reaction. "I am trying-
courtesan
is too much of the noble sort-prostitute? I do not know what this two-bit means."

"Cheap," Sam told him. "As cheap and common as you can get."

"Yes, that is about it. Oh, I see your reaction, but here it is something of an honorable profession, you see, for those who are, pardon, too slow and unskilled to do much of anything else. It is, in fact, one of the few businesses here run by women, since when one is too old or loses one's looks she becomes a manager of younger ones or a housekeeper for them or something like that. You see, true basic unskilled labor is something that Akhbreed just do not do. Young girls who are ignorant or orphaned or who refuse arranged marriages or the like do not have the menial jobs to fill and all must contribute Unless you are very old or disabled you must have a function, a job. Few are natives. Most come from distant hubs or from some of the Akhbreed settlements in the wedges. Many of the wedge settlements come from different Akhbreed stock than the ruling race, as is obvious to look at you. Many do not even know the Akhbreed tongue and if you are not raised with it you do not learn it more than a little to get by. It is a very difficult language. So it would not be unusual if you did not know Akhbreed. In some circles it is considered an advantage."

"Oh, great! A great cover, huh? But every damned man I meet is gonna figure he only has to wave some money around and I'll sleep with him. Oh, no! I draw the line at that!"

Zenchur grinned. "It is not a big problem. You see, it is improper to make a direct offer, as it were. As you are passing through, they will think you are along with us for serving business clients, as it were. The offers would be made to either your brother or to me."

"My
what?
Oh-I see. Yeah. It's hard to remember how much alike we look now."

"Yes, and since the brother cannot speak Akhbreed, either, then they would come to me. You look quite lovely. I am certain to get offers not only to lie with you but to purchase rights to you. I shall, of course, refuse."

"You better! What's that about purchasing rights?"

"Akhbreed are all free by definition and cannot be bought or sold. However, you would be under a contract if it were for real and someone else could purchase that contract. An employment contract, essentially. Without it you would be illegal to sell your services and that is a crime with very hard punishments."

"Sounds like slavery after some lawyers got done changin' the words," Sam noted.

"No, no. You do not have to agree to such a contract and you do not have to agree to its reassignment. Of course, then you would have two weeks to find some other form of work or you would be arrested."

"Arc there any male-
entertainers?"
Charley asked him sarcastically.

The sarcasm was lost on him. "Why yes, there are, certainly."

"That what you're gonna make me?" Sam asked, not liking this a bit. She could see a scenario where Charley was sold into a brothel, helpless without friends or language, while she was somehow compromised and taken away.

"No, no. One is enough. I will make you an apprentice for their purposes. An apprentice-trader. Basically a hired hand, a helper. With my type of business and my wanderings it will draw no attention." He paused a moment. "Come. We have some light left. Would you like to see what this place really looks like?"

Charley looked a bit anxiously at Sam and saw that Sam was suddenly tense as well, but then the object of all this said, "Sure. Why not? You sure we won't be spotted?"

"It will make no difference, as no one likely to see us is likely to have anything to do with us. Come-follow me."

"It'll have to be damned slow in this dress," Charley grumped, but went along.

Sam was genuinely curious after all this time cooped up in a cave but she was also wary. Zenchur had more than enough time to betray them and perhaps have people lying in wait for them outside. She decided to go along partly because it really didn't matter-better to know now than be kidnapped sneaking out later and let the bastard completely off the hook. If this Boolean was half as powerful and half as devious as they'd pictured his kind to be then
something
would happen in then-favor. If not, then there really wasn't much hope anyway.

It was hot and very humid just beyond the cave entrance; they were sweating in no time.

The eerie mist was still there; maybe it was
always
there, for some reason or other. It stretched out for mites from the rocky outcrop, featureless, with nothing seeming to grow up from it or in any way disturb it, but it was not endless. Off in the distance rose low hills of green and what looked like pleasant pasture land. For all Charley could tell, it might well be right oat of Lincoln County in northern New Mexico, with perhaps the high mountains just beyond the horizon. It appeared overcast almost everywhere.

"The mist is a natural phenomenon," Zenchur told them, sounding not at all tense or threatening. Maybe he was having second thoughts about double-crossing a sorcerer. "It surrounds the hubs and in a sense insulates them from the wedges. That green region you see beyond is a wedge. It looks like Habanadur, although it's been awhile since I was there. The people are herders, primarily-impossible to describe unless you have seen one, I am afraid, but not particularly pleasant to our eyes. They herd large, hairy herbivores called
blauns,
and exist entirely by drinking the blauns' blood and milk."

Charley shivered, and saw that Sam wasn't reacting too well to that one, either.

"They are a rather fierce race when provoked, and quite tough," the mercenary went on, apparently not taking notice. "The Akhbreed kings treat them with some respect and they act as soldiers and enforcers for much of the region. They consider it pragmatic; they still hate the Akhbreed but fear the magic too much. Of course, most of the other races identify them as tools of the king and hate them as much or more than they hate the Akhbreed. You can see why unifying such people seems impossible."

They made it up a trail-Charley needing some helping hands-to the top of the bluff and looked inland. This land was quite rocky, with thick forests and probably rushing streams. It looked lush but wild, yet, looking in toward the mountains and forests, it seemed like the overcast thinned and there were hints of sun.

"Is it always this cloudy?" Sam asked him, remembering his comment about frequent storms and bad weather.

"No, not always, although it is cloudy more than clear most places outside of the hubs, except in desert regions and places like that. This is part of the after-effect of the changewind. You saw it. It will influence the weather for vast regions."

Sam nodded, then turned to look back out over the mist. "Hey-wait a minute!"

The other two turned and looked out as well. The green, rolling hills in the distance were gone; now there was an enormous wall of snow-capped peaks reaching into the clouds and beyond, reflecting back a hazy purple cast to them.

"What happened to the hills?" Charley asked. "There were no mountains there a minute ago!" She turned and looked back at the forest as if to reassure herself that she was still somehow at the same location, then back. The forest was still there, and so were the mountains.