Thawed Fortunes (21 page)

If those clothes let you look that graceful,
maybe they aren't so bad.

Jain carefully moved up along the caravan
line until she could hear what was being said.

"...good to see you again, Si'mon, but we
need to talk about some of your internal policies before I can let
you set up."

Whatever the man said next was too low for
Jain to make out clearly, so she slid forward just a little more,
which unfortunately caught the attention of Bell, who grabbed her
young charge by the elbow and hauled her back up to where the other
four Daughters in the party were watching Si'mon, the village
headman, and several other people disappear into the village.

Bell was the Guadel who was primarily
responsible for teaching magic to the girls in Jain's year class.
She was generally quite nice, but the trip had revealed that
outside, where mistakes could kill people, she could be as
unbending and demanding as the worst of her colleagues.

Jain sighed, but knew better than to appear
less than attentive as Bell launched into a pointed set of
observations about the disastrous consequences which tended to
result from disobedience. Despite her attempts to focus on what her
instructor was saying, Jain found herself wondering what was being
discussed down in the village.

##

Si'mon watched as all of the guests were
cleared out of the common room so that they could speak in privacy.
A whispered conversation with the Council members on the way
through the village had quickly revealed that they wanted him to
take the lead in discussing whatever was on Matrim's mind.

It was a politically smart strategy as it
bought the Council time to confer before being forced to come up
with an official position. Si'mon could appreciate the reasons
while still regretting just how political the Council had become in
just the last couple of decades. He'd far and away have preferred
to have been open and honest with Matrim. The other man had always
been forthright with him, but it was hard to expect the Council to
play things straight with the lowlanders if they couldn't even do
so with each other.

Matrim looked at Javin and Va'ma with a
raised eyebrow. "You never used to feel that you needed bodyguards
to talk with me Si'mon. Some of the others who've come down over
the years have, but you never did."

Si'mon shrugged, hoping he was keeping his
face schooled enough that the other man wouldn't realize his
deceit. "I'm afraid that in some things I'm being overruled these
days. We've been seeing more bag'lig attacks than ever before. It
has some members of the Council acting more cautiously than
normal."

The village mayor nodded after a moment, not
completely satisfied, but apparently willing to accept the
explanation for now, and the pair talked of less consequential
matters for several minutes as mead was brought around for
everyone.

Mindful of the fact that the rest of the
caravan was waiting outside the village, Si'mon finally placed his
battered earthenware mug on the rough oak table. "You had something
else you wanted to be discussing?"

Matrim nodded. "That exile--Be'ter, I think
he said his name was, before he got over the initial relief at
having survived the trip down the mountain. Within a day or two of
arriving he clammed up regarding all things personal and started
stirring up problems. He had wild tales about your caverns being
paved in gold and jewels. That isn't much different than some of
the rumors that treasure hunters bring with them as they drift into
town, but the problem is he knew the mountains, and was telling
everyone who'd listen that you were all ripe for the picking. Said
as there had been a group of bandits up there that had been raiding
you for months before they finally got shut down."

Si'mon felt his chest tighten as he thought
through the implications of what the mayor was saying.

"When he started realizing he wasn't going to
be able to raise his own little army to go after you all, he got
mean. He put three of the more hot-headed youngsters in the care of
the healer before we finally drove him out of town. There are those
who think I shouldn't have said anything, but nobody likes to feel
like someone else's waste bin. When I saw it was you as was leading
this group, I thought I'd tell you there's been some starting to
mutter as we don't need your trade."

"Only you do. You need our trade as badly as
we need yours."

Matrim nodded. "That's about the long and
short of it. I don't expect as that you can make any promises other
than that you'll be passing on my concerns to that Council of
yours. Next time you have one as is so dangerous you can't be
keeping him around, don't be sending him down here."

The mayor's final words were heated enough
that Si'mon was glad On'li had been excluded from the meeting. He
knew Javin's wife well enough to know she'd never have managed to
keep her mouth shut.

The Guadel looked around the pleasant common
room that he'd almost come to view as a second home, meeting both
Javin's and Va'ma's eyes before nodding. "I'll pass the word on,
and see what I can do to make sure that next time we just cut his
throat."

##

Jain was sure that the meeting was going to
last for cycles, but sooner than she'd expected, Si'mon had
returned from the village, and the caravan had set up camp on a
series of wooden platforms several minutes west of the marketplace.
Wood was quite possibly the rarest building material available at
the Capital, and Jain was flabbergasted by the thought of sleeping
on it. She couldn't think of very many things that would have felt
quite as wasteful. Maybe drinking from a jeweled cup when a normal
iron one would have done the job just as well, but even that didn't
quite capture the feeling.

It was obvious from the way that the other
Daughters were staring at the platforms as they finished setting up
camp that they were equally amazed by the thought of using wood for
such a mundane purpose.

Bell walked by and smiled at them all, even
Jain. For whatever other shortcomings one might be able to
attribute to Bell, she never held a grudge like some of the other
Guadel did.

"I know what you're thinking, I was thinking
the same thing the first time I saw the platforms. The thing you
have to remember is that down here wood is the most plentiful
building material. We needed something to keep us up out of the
mud, so it only made sense to construct these."

Most of the girls seemed satisfied with the
explanation, but Jain found herself wondering what else she would
run into down here that was completely different than what she
expected.

Bell looked around as if counting to make
sure they were all there, and then pulled out a small bag for each
of them. "This is your allowance for the month. I figured that
you'd want to look around and buy some things, but you're not to go
anywhere without an officer from our Guard escort and at least four
of his men. There are more ways that you can get yourselves into
trouble down here than I could possibly list."

In what had become a rare display of emotion
since Be'ter had been exiled, Mali shot Jain a look that seemed to
say that leaving Va'del to go sightsee around the village was proof
of the fact that she didn't really care about him. Jain suppressed
conflicting emotions of anger and guilt and focused on the fact
that Va'del had been so tired when they finally arrived at the
campsite that it was virtually guaranteed he was asleep by now. Her
staying or going wouldn't make any difference to Va'del one way or
another, and she knew that if he'd been awake he'd have told her to
go with her friends.

Va'del wasn't like Be'ter had been; he didn't
expect to control anyone's every waking action. It really was too
bad that Mali's punishment had been reduced due to good behavior.
The trip would have been much more pleasant if Mali had stayed up
in the Capital.

A short time later, all five Daughters were
walking through the dusty market area of the village. Jain was
nearly overcome by the amazing variety of colors and scents that
surrounded her. Her sisters all seemed equally overwhelmed, with
the sole exception of Mali, who was so quiet as they walked between
booths that the others almost forgot she was even with them.

It was sometimes hard to remember that this
new, quieter, more withdrawn Mali was the same person who'd spent
so much time tormenting Jain previously. These days Mali didn't
even try to speak to her old friends. Jain almost thought once or
twice that Mali really had changed, but every so often some of
Mali's anger would leak through and dispel the illusion. Jain was
convinced that Mali hated her and Va'del both. The only thing that
Be'ter's exile and certain death had changed was how obvious Mali
could be with regards to her dislike of others.

Cor'an suddenly grabbed Jain's hand and
pulled her over to a small booth where an old man was displaying a
variety of beaded necklaces. "Have you ever seen anything like
them? These here, with the shiny black stones."

A quiet laugh from behind them made Jain spin
around. Mali had followed them over to the booth, and one of the
guards was standing patiently behind them, but neither of them had
been the source of the chuckle. A tall, red-headed girl was smiling
at Cor'an's excitement.

"My pa was right when he said that you
mountain people don't know anything about bargaining. Hello, my
name is Miriam."

"Hi, I'm Jain, and this is Cor'an and Mali.
You mean the prices aren't fixed?"

Miriam held her hand out to be shaken. "No,
they aren't fixed, although the only reason they aren't is so that
the unscrupulous can try and take advantage of those with poorer
bargaining skills. Josh is more honest than most, but don't let him
charge you more than four or five pennies for anything he's got on
display."

The man behind the booth snorted and made as
if to argue, but Miriam waved him quiet. Jain got the feeling that
the argument was one that the pair had jokingly batted around many
times before.

"You can all spend your money on things here
if you want, or you can come to my father's inn, where I promise
we'll give you a meal that will treat you to a wide variety of new
tastes at an entirely reasonable price."

Jain felt a flash of suspicion. "Why should
you do that when it would be so much easier to charge us too
much?"

Miriam smiled. "Well, honestly you're all so
exotic down here, that just having you in my father's inn will
double his business today. Nothing brings in the boys for a meal
like pretty young ladies."

Ka'ti and Alis had both drifted over to the
booth, followed by the rest of the guardsmen. At the mention of
food, Alis squealed. "Oh, real food! We've lived on the same boring
trail rations for days now. Please say that you'll all come."

Everyone was so busy agreeing to go, that the
clamor of voices almost drown out Mali's gasp. Spinning to see what
had startled the other girl, Jain saw nothing out of the ordinary
other than three or four men in blood-red cloaks, all of whom were
rapidly headed in the other direction.

Miriam followed their gaze and then said
something under her breath that almost sounded like a curse. "Don't
worry, the Baron's men won't do anything to you. His minions
haven't tried anything this far north. Pa says that we're too fat
of a plum to pluck. The Baron isn't willing to risk offending the
rich gem merchants who line his coffers with tax money on their way
here to trade with your people every year."

Mali nodded, seemingly reassured by the
explanation, but Jain noticed that she looked back towards where
the red-cloaked figures had been several times as they all headed
off to the inn.

##

Va'del awoke with a groan as his stiff body
told him it still hadn't forgiven him for all of the damage done to
it recently.

On'li must have heard him because she was
waiting with a cup of hot tea when he finally managed to pull
himself out of his tent.

"Drink up, it's all but free down here. Are
you feeling any better?"

"I'm fine, I just got a little cold last
night, so I'm extra stiff this morning."

The Guadel nodded as she handed him the tea.
"I understand that, blankets which are perfect for icy mountain
tops are too much for down here. I must have spent half the night
pulling them off when I got too hot, and then wrapping up in them
again a cycle later when I realized I was cold again."

Mar'li looked up from where she was making
breakfast. "The fact that the platforms are so hard didn't help at
all either."

On'li rubbed her right hip in sympathy. "It's
true, but they do help keep us up out of the dirt and insects.
We'll still have to leave most of our gear outside for a couple
days to kill anything that tries to come back home with us, but at
least this way everything doesn't end up a distressing shade of
muddy red."

Mar'li and Va'del both chuckled as On'li
turned and pointed south. "We're headed that way today, for a
number of reasons really."

Safely positioned behind On'li, Mar'li rolled
her eyes, and Va'del nearly choked on his tea. Mar'li really was
quite funny when she finally got used to someone. Not only that,
she was particularly right in this instance. On'li meant well, but
she sometimes liked to hear herself talk a bit too much.

Once Va'del finally finished coughing, On'li
continued without missing a beat. "We always assumed that the
pressure driving the bag'ligs towards us was coming from below, and
that Ja'dir's people were too stupid and trusting to realize that
they were getting the runaround down here."

Va'del nodded. "That was all in the original
briefing we got before heading out, if not in so many words. What
other answer is there?"