Ascendant (16 page)

This was a
question Cully knew the answer to, because he had asked the same question when
his family first came to the castle. "Down to a pipe in the ground, to
another big pipe under the courtyard, then it goes down the hill to a marsh
next to the river. The water coming out of the castle is, uh, dirty, which is not
good to dump into the river, so it goes through the marsh first, and that,
cleans it somehow? Before it gets to the river. It's all pretty smart, the
royal engineers take care of the plumbing. They had the whole courtyard tore up
a couple years ago, to replace pipes." He wrinkled his nose at the memory.
"It kind of stunk bad for a few days, of course, the royals all went to
the countryside that time. Can't have the Quality around while the castle's all
tore up."

"But you
had to stay here?" Koren asked sympathetically.

"Oh yeah,
brother, don't you know it? When the royals and all the other high and mighties
leave the castle, that's when the hard work gets done. Like to broke my back
hauling stones this summer, when the princess went, well, you know, on her
tour. The royals always get out of the palace in the summer, cause it gets too
hot here. The princess has a couple summer palaces, up in the hills where it's
cool. I never seen them places, they must be nice."

Koren thought
Duke Yarron's castle was the most fabulous place he'd ever imagined, until he
came to Linden and saw the royal castle. The palace inside the castle walls,
where the royals lived, was grander still. And he didn't remember Duke Yarron's
castle having 'plumbing', he had bathed there in a small metal tub, although
servants had brought the hot water to him, along with scented soaps, freshly
cleaned towels..... Now it was back to reality for Koren Bladewell. He glanced
around the bath room. "Does the wizard always bathe in cold water?"
He asked, shivering at the thought of being in that stone room, during winter,
taking a cold bath. In warm weather, Koren's family had bathed in a swimming
role in the creek that ran though the farm, the water came out of a spring up
in the hills to the east, and was always chilly. Only in winter did the tub get
hauled out of the attic and set up in the kitchen for bathing.

"What?
No, you birdbrain." Koren wondered if the other boy would eventually run
out of different ways to say Koren was stupid. Cully nudged the metal box under
the tub with his foot. That's the heater for the tub, and see that stovepipe,
going up the wall? It goes through that box up there," Cully pointed to
the ceiling above the tub, "where the rinsing water is. You pull this chain
here, and," he demonstrated, "warm water pours all over you, to rinse
off the soap."

Koren shook
his head in amazement. This 'plumbing' was truly incredible. How did people
think of such things? The contrast between people who had luxuries like
plumbing, and people like himself, could scarcely been greater.

"Nothing
but the best for the Quality." Cully grumbled jealously. "Come on,
I'll show you how the heater works."

The other side
of the heater was a wood stove, in a room behind the bath room's wall. Cully
explained that Koren would need to fire up the stove in the mornings, and run
water into the tub, to prepare the wizard's bath in the mornings.

"He takes
a bath
every
morning?"

"Sure,"
Cully nodded, "all the Quality does that. You'll need to wash up every day
too."

Koren's
eyebrows fairly met his hairline. "I have to take a bath every day?"
His head was spinning. Perhaps being a wizard's servant was much harder than he
had imagined.

"No.
Well, if you're going to the palace, to carry messages for the wizard, then you'll
need to be clean. They can't have the likes of you and me stinking up the
place. And you'll need to wear clean clothes, with a freshly pressed shirt. Oh,
don't worry about that," Cully hastened to add when he saw the other boy's
distress, "there's a royal laundry you can use, that's where you'll do the
wizard's laundry, too. Most days, unless you're going to the palace, you can
just wash your face and hands," Cully winked, "and that's good
enough. But make sure you wash the back of your hands, and scrub under your
fingernails, they check that. The Quality don't miss anything, not if they
could complain about it."

Koren looked
skeptically at the wood stove. He would have to haul wood up the stairs. During
the winter, it would be best to keep a small fire going all the time, with the
coals banked to the side, so the heater didn't have to start cold. All that
metal would take a long time to heat up. "Can't the wizard just," he
waved vaguely toward the bath room, "heat the water by himself, with a
spell or something?"

"Oh
sure," Cully nodded knowingly, "I seen him do that once, when the
heater box was being fixed. But he says it takes a lot of effort, even for a
master wizard, and once he's in the tub and the water starts getting cold, he
can't use the spell on the water with him in it, could he?" Cully winked.

"I guess
not," Koren frowned. he knew absolutely nothing, maybe less than nothing,
about magic.

Cully slapped
Koren on the shoulder again.
“
You
can count on me, bucko, we servants need to stick together, the Quality takes
enough advantage of us by themselves.
”
Cully glanced out the window.
“
Sun
’
s getting low, I best be
going. You know where the candles are, you
’
ll
be all right tonight, the wizard should be back in a few days. Take care of
yourself, and don
’
t
touch anything!
”

Kyre Falco
just happened to be around the corner when Koren left the wizard
’
s tower the next morning.
Just happened to be there, just happened to be wearing his oldest, shabbiest
set of clothing, and just happened to be carrying two delicious sticky
buns.  He just happened to have been waiting there for half an hour,
growing impatient for the servant boy to come out of the tower.
“
Oh, hello. Koren, is it?
”
Kyre said with what he
hoped would be seen as a cheery smile.

Koren bowed
his head formally.
“
Good
morning, your Grace.
”

“
Call me Kyre, please, I am
so tired of that
‘
Sire
’
and
‘
Your Grace
’
and
“
Your Highness
’
stuff, who can keep track
of it?
”

“
It seemed to be important
to you yesterday.
”
Koren said warily. He still did not know how to deal with royalty, it was a new
experience for him.

“
Oh, that. Sorry about
that. My father
’
s
advisor made me memorize the ducal bloodlines yesterday. My head was so full of
names that are supposed to be
so
important,
”
Kyre rolled his eyes,
“
and I didn
’
t recognize the Bladewells.
Would you like a sticky bun? The kitchen gave me two of them.
”

“
I- yes, thank you.
”
Paedris was out somewhere
with the army, Koren had slept in the tower by himself, and the only thing he
’
d eaten the previous night
was the remains of the loaf of bread Cully had brought. He didn
’
t yet know where to go in
the castle for food.
“
Where
is the kitchen?
”

Kyre couldn
’
t help frowning. What a
backwater oaf Koren was, didn
’
t
know his way around the castle at all? Then he covered his frown with a smile.
“
Come on, I
’
ll show you, it
’
s in the back of the
dining hall. Do you ride? I was on my way to the stables, I feel like riding
this morning.
”
The stables were in the opposite direction from the wizard
’
s tower, but Koren didn
’
t know that.
“
What say I show you around
the city?
”

Koren
hesitated.
“
I
think I am supposed to be cleaning the tower-
“

“
Oh, you can do that later.
Lord Salva isn
’
t
expected back for several days. I hear he helped the army win a smashing
victory, should be a grand parade when the soldiers come back into the city.
”

Koren replied
around a mouthful of sticky bun.
“
I'd
love to ride a horse, your Grace.
”
His first morning in the castle was shaping up very well indeed.

The royal
stables were so large and grand that, when seeing them from the outside, Koren
at first thought the building was part of the palace. Inside, Kyre introduced
Koren to the stable master, loudly letting everyone know that Koren was his
friend, and a guest of the Falco
’
s
that day, since Koren would normally only be allowed in the royal stables to
care for the wizard's horse. They walked over to the stall where Kyre
’
s horse was stabled, and
Koren admired the animal while they put bridle and saddle on. The horse was a
deep chestnut brown, with a white blaze on its forehead.
“
See this blaze, it has the
shape of a falcon, see the wings here? These horses are bred in my family
stables in Burwyck.
”
Kyre announced with great pride. Koren thought the white blaze on the horse
’
s forehead looked more
like a blob of spilled milk than a falcon, but he didn
’
t say so.

“
Now, we need a horse for
you.
”
Kyre
snapped his fingers.
“
Stable
hand, you there, come here, good fellow. We need a horse for Koren, the wizard
’
s personal and most
trusted servant, you know.
”
Koren almost blushed with pride as Kyre talked.
“
A gentle horse, hmm, to get you settled?
These horses are bred and trained for war, they are not like the nags you are
used to on the farm-
“

They were
interrupted by a commotion several stalls down the stable, a horse was snorting
and kicking the walls, rearing up on its hind legs as three stable hands
struggled to hold onto the reins. The horse was black, pure black, and a good
two hands taller at the shoulder than even Kyre
’
s horse. As Kyre led his horse out of the
stall, the great black horse lashed out with a foreleg, knocking over two of
the stable hands, and broke free, charging down the stable row toward Koren. In
a panic, Kyre hurled himself into the stall, pulling his horse in with him.
Koren flattened himself against the wall, but something made him reach out a
hand to brush against the black horse
’
s
flank as it raced by. The horse skidded to a halt on the well-worn floor, and
turned its head to look at Koren. It snorted; not threateningly, not friendly,
merely curious.

“
Good horse. Good horse.
”
Koren said in a soothing
voice, and he walked forward, despite the stable hands behind him shouting that
the horse was dangerous, for him to get away, and run for his life. The horse
stood still, its nostrils flaring, tilting its head side to side, unsure of the
boy walking slowly closer. The horse lowered its head and allowed Koren to
touch its muzzle, a shiver ran down the horse
’
s spine as Koren laid his hand on it.
“
They have the bit too
tight, don
’
t
they?
”
Koren
said, as he undid the bridle, and let it fall to the straw on the floor. The
horse tossed its head and whinnied like a pony, shivering from nose to tail.
Impulsively, Koren climbed up the wall of the stable, got a firm handful of the
horse
’
s mane,
and swung himself onto the horse
’
s
back. The stable hands gasped as Koren prodded the horse to gently walk down to
the end of the stable, and back to its stall. He let himself drop to the ground
in front of the stable master, who was staring, open-mouthed with shock.
“
Sir, the bit was cutting
his lip.
”
Koren explained, as if it were the most obvious thing under the sun.

“
Wizard
’
s servant, eh? I don
’
t wonder if you have a
spot o
’
wizard
in you, too. No one has been able to ride that horse, lad, he
’
s been nothing but trouble
since the day he was born.
”
The stable master held out his hand, but the horse shied away, until Koren
patted his muzzle.