Lord of the White Hell book Two lotwh-2 (14 page)

They passed the Circle of Red Oaks and for a moment Javier went still and silent, studying the dense vines and ancient trees.

"It's different than I imagined," Javier said. "Much bigger. Darker too, like the Mirogoth forests."

Kiram nodded. "My sisters always claimed it was full of monsters and wild beasts."

"And is it?" Javier asked with an arched brow.

"Maybe some foxes or weasels." Kiram shrugged. "But I couldn't say for sure. Only Bahiim go there most of the year."

"Your uncle's partner, Alizadeh, would know, wouldn't he?" Javier asked.

"He probably knows everything about that place," Kiram replied.

"Do you think we could see him?" Javier asked.

Kiram couldn't imagine that the Circle of Red Oaks could be all that interesting to talk about, but then he was sure that wasn't really what Javier wanted to discuss with Alizadeh.

"We'll visit them for lunch," Kiram assured Javier.

They moved to the open market where musicians played for coins and vendors sold spring mint, salt, tea and dozens of different grains. Kiram pointed out the grinder he and his father had designed. Javier commented that he probably ought to hire Kiram to design a few for him back in Rauma. Before either of them could think further about it, the glittering rows of charm vendors attracted Javier's attention.

"I've read about the charms they sell here," Javier commented. "All damned, according to Holy Father Habalan, of course."

Kiram replied, "All the best things are."

Javier grinned at that.

They bought a few trinkets in the charm market: two clay luck whistles and a badly stamped copper talisman depicting what looked like a three legged piglet, which Javier found hilarious for reasons he could not explain.

At Mother Kir-Mahoud's stables, Javier looked in on Lunaluz and Kiram found himself missing Firaj. Cadeleonian merchants came and went with their mounts but few Haldiim used the stables since to most Haldiim horsemanship still smacked of a lurid Irabiim lifestyle.

While Javier exercised Lunaluz in the small arena, Kiram strolled ahead to the Civic Gymnasium. The green lawn of the archery range still dominated the grounds, but the decrepit shelters that Kiram remembered crouching under during rainstorms were now arching pavilions. A dozen young men in the black uniforms of the Civic Guards fired arrows into straw targets at one end of the range while several wealthy husbands lounged with their bows and quivers, waiting their turns.

The stone dancing circles remained open to the elements, but they had been expanded and new glazed tiles surrounded them. A group of twenty boys and girls stretched along with their instructor in one of the largest circles. Even from across the grounds Kiram could hear the children laugh at each other as the tried to lift their supple little legs up over their heads.

The oddly square mass of a Cadeleonian-style bathhouse rose up beside the ancient, domed training hall. Inside Kiram caught a glimpse of the huge new boiler. He supposed that public baths were better than no baths at all. When Kiram had trained here many of the poorer Haldiim who came to train for their civic duty had no facilities available to them other than the river.

He strolled across the green lawn to the narrow lanes of the runners' track.

He guessed that it would be a while before Javier joined him, so he laid his coat and vest aside and went for a run along the new racecourse. The lane cut through a small stand of willows, where Kiram passed two young women, then looped back to the training hall. As Kiram circled to take a third lap he heard someone running behind him, fast. For an instant Kiram thought it might be Javier chasing him, but when he glanced back he recognized Musni, dressed only in linen trousers and bearing down on him.

As they reached the willows Musni closed the distance between them. Glancing back, Kiram caught the assurance in Musni's expression. No doubt he expected to overtake Kiram easily. Kiram threw himself ahead, his heart pounding as he pushed himself into an all-out sprint. The cool spring air burned in his lungs.

He could hear Musni pounding the track behind him and breathing just as hard. He felt Musni's hand brush his back, tracing his spine.

A wild, competitive energy surged through Kiram and he pulled ahead. His legs burned and the first pang of a cramp bit into his side, but he pushed himself harder. The red clay track and surrounding green grounds blurred. Kiram tore past the training hall and crossed the iron posts of the starting line.

As he turned back to gloat, Musni hurtled into him and both of them fell onto the grass lawn.

"You ass." Kiram tried to rise but Musni remained sprawled on top of him, laughing.

"Keep squirming." Musni grinned at Kiram. "It feels good."

Kiram stilled, too tired to fight. The pungent tang of sweat and cut grass rolled over him.

Musni shifted but didn't rise. He pressed the damp heat of his bare chest against Kiram. Almost casually he pressed his hips against Kiram. Kiram's entire body responded to the familiar weight. They had wrestled like this so many times before.

"Get off me," Kiram insisted.

Musni's expression was no longer teasing but aroused. The fragrance of honey wine drifted on his breath. He held Kiram fast.

"Seriously, Musni," Kiram said. "Get off of me."

"Why would I want to do that?" Musni asked.

"Because you want to keep breathing," Javier's voice was a low growl.

Startled, Musni recoiled from Kiram. Javier stood less than a foot from Kiram's head with one hand clenched around the hilt of his sword.

"Who the holy fuck are you?" Musni demanded.

"He's a friend of mine." Kiram scrambled to his feet, placing himself between the two men. "Javier, this is Musni." Kiram suspected that he could have been shouting gibberish for all the impact his words seemed to have. The look of cold murder on Javier's face was matched by the angry contempt in Musni's expression.

"What the fuck are you glaring at, Cadeleonian?" Musni snapped at Javier. "You're in the Haldiim district! We have our own laws here and if you don't want to see lovers embrace then you shouldn't be here!"

"I wasn't seeing lovers embrace," Javier replied. "He told you to get off him."

"What's between Kiram and me is none of your concern." Musni's hand dropped to his hip and Kiram suddenly realized that he had reached for his knife.

Out of the corner of his eye Kiram glimpsed the black-clad forms of several Civic Guards walking from the archery range towards them. Kiram caught Musni's hand and pulled it off his knife. He looked to Javier.

"How's Lunaluz?" Kiram asked in Cadeleonian. Javier blinked, then he too caught sight of the approaching group of guards. He released his sword hilt and let his coat fall closed.

"He's still tired after our ride from the academy," Javier said. "He just wanted me to feed him and brush him. Make much of him."

Kiram nodded. Javier at least could be counted upon to control himself.

"So." Kiram released Musni's hand. "Let me make the introductions again. Javier, this is my childhood friend, Musni. Musni, this is my friend, and schoolmate, Javier."

The two of them exchanged a cold smile but made no move to shake hands.

"How's the racing?" one of the four Civic Guards called out.

"Better than minding your own fucking business, obviously!" Musni sneered back at the guard.

"What is wrong with you?" Kiram demanded of Musni. "Are you looking for a fight?"

Musni just gave Kiram a crooked grin as if he couldn't be held accountable for himself. "A fight or a fuck. Whichever you want, lover."

"Neither," Kiram replied flatly. He guessed that Majdi had been right about Musni. It was disconcerting to see how much he'd changed in a year.

The Civic Guards-there were four-surrounded them in an almost casual manner. One of them seemed very familiar with Musni and after a couple of minutes of conversation the man convinced Musni to join him in the new bathhouse. The other guards watched their comrade escort Musni away, then one of them turned back to Kiram.

"You're Mother Kir-Zaki's youngest?" the guard asked. He was older and appeared to be a career guard with his deeply tanned skin and tightly braided white hair.

"Yes, sir," Kiram replied.

"My son had a wonderful time at your party last night," the guard said.

"I'm glad. Please thank him for coming." Kiram had no idea who the man's son was but he smiled and Javier followed suit.

"Welcome back home. You and your friend be safe." The guard turned and followed his fellows back across the grounds to the archery range.

"Well," Javier said quietly. "That was awkward."

"You think?" Kiram found his vest and coat and dressed despite the sweat clinging to his back and chest. He certainly wasn't going to use the public bath now. "Did you have to go for your sword?"

"He had you down on the ground. How was I supposed to know that it was some kind of love play for the two of you?" Javier's face colored just saying the words.

"It wasn't anything even close." Kiram scowled at Javier.

"No?"

"No," Kiram replied.

Javier raised a brow as though he found this all suddenly funny. "It would have been if I'd been the one lying on top of you."

Kiram smiled in spite of himself but then shook his head. "Last night you couldn't bring yourself to dance with me at a party but today you're going to make love to me on a public race track?"

"Now that I have this piglet talisman," Javier held up the little copper disk, "who knows what I might find the poor judgment to do?"

"Why don't we visit my uncle for lunch and you can show your piglet to Alizadeh?"

"I'd like that."

They left the broad streets of the civic buildings, open markets and teahouses behind. Kiram led Javier past simple private homes and down the narrow lanes that Cadeleonians rarely traveled. Almond trees hung their fragrant clusters of blossoms low and from time to time couples leaned close beneath the trees and flirted.

A block from Rafie's house Javier caught sight of two men kissing and he stopped in his tracks, staring at them. From Javier's expression Kiram would have thought he was witnessing a miracle. They were handsome enough, though neither of them struck Kiram as worthy of the gaping Javier seemed to be giving them.

The young lovers broke apart and one caressed the other's arm and then, hand in hand, they retreated into a house.

"Did you see them?" Javier asked in a whisper. His gaze lingered on the almond tree where the two men had stood. "I've never seen that."

"A kiss?" Kiram asked.

"Not like that. They were like lovers in a poem, but both men." Javier looked at Kiram suddenly and his expression seemed both tender and searching. "Like us."

"Adari," Kiram said. "That's the Haldiim word for men like you and like me, who are drawn to other men. Lots of adari live on this street." Kiram continued towards Rafie's house and Javier walked beside him. Doves sheltered in many of the trees, but here Kiram sighted crows as well. The glossy black birds seemed to return Kiram's gaze.

"Your uncle Rafie is…an adari?" Javier asked.

"Yes," Kiram replied. "His husband Alizadeh is one as well."

"And everyone knows?" Javier asked.

"It's not like it's illegal here in the Haldiim district."

"Maybe not illegal but still." Javier trailed off.

"Shameful?" Kiram supplied and Javier's expression told him he'd guessed correctly. Kiram stopped at Rafie's door but didn't pull the bell just yet. "It's not even shameful. It's just normal. Why did you think all those men were dancing with each other at my party last night?"

"There weren't many women there and Cadeleonian dancing seemed new to most of them. I just thought they didn't know any better." Javier stared at Kiram with a strange look of dawning comprehension. "All of them at your party were adari? Not just that Hashiem?"

"All of them," Kiram confirmed.

"Even the young Bahiim?" Javier asked.

"Vashir?" Kiram raised his brows. "Especially Vashir. I told you he was courting twins."

"Twins could be women," Javier pointed out.

"He said that he wanted to ride you, Javier."

"Like an animal," Javier protested. "He called me an animal."

"He meant it as a sexual overture." Kiram couldn't keep from smirking. "I suppose I should have told you that last night when he asked me to. But I thought you knew."

"No." A shadow of anxiety crossed Javier's face. "Did they know about me? All of them?"

"No, Majdi's the only one who knows. Well, Rafie and Alizadeh obviously know that I'm close with you but I haven't told them anything. No one else would even suspect. You're just too Cadeleonian."

Javier seemed to relax. "It's strange how different things are here."

"Too different?" Kiram recalled how overwhelmed he had felt the first few weeks he had lived in the Cadeleonian world of the Sagrada Academy. And he had even known what to expect; he'd studied Cadeleonian literature, language and history. He'd spent days wandering through the Cadeleonian district of Anacleto in preparation.

"It just doesn't seem possible that all of this could be real." Javier studied the red physician's star above Rafie's doorway. "This all seems like something I would find in one of those ancient Yuan travel journals."

"Like the one that said that all Haldiim are born women?" Kiram asked.

Javier smirked at that but nodded.

"I do know what you mean," Kiram said. "There were times at the Sagrada Academy-especially early on-when I couldn't quite believe what was happening."

"Like what?" Javier asked, as if he couldn't imagine anything about Cadeleonian society as strange.

Like you, Kiram thought but he decided against it. Instead, he chose the most obvious difference. "The complete absence of women for one thing. I couldn't believe that there could actually be an entire academy without a single woman scholar or student. That's just unheard of in any Haldiim school. And then there was all the riding. To most Haldiim riding horses is a sure sign that you're from a family of thieves or raiders of some kind."