Moons' Dreaming (Children of the Rock) (30 page)

Tob pushed open the gate
—
its two posts adorned with six different species of fish cut into the wood
—
and started across the yard. Several geese took offense and fled, hissing, toward the pond at the back of the house. Their complaint brought Pross
’
mother out onto the porch.
“
Tob?
”

“
Good morning, Jaea,
”
Tob replied cheerfully.
“
Where
’
s Kessit, please? My father has a delivery for him.
”

“
Oh. You
’
ve just returned.
”

Her voice
made Tob suddenly uneasy. She came down from the porch, her hands twisting together until the knuckles bulged white beneath her skin. Tob tried to ignore her tension.

“
Yes. Dad hopes we can get the stonewood unloaded before dark. That
’
s why he needs Kessit. And Pross, of course.
”

Compared to Tob
’
s mother, Jaea was a small woman. When she stood directly in front of him and put her hands on his shoulders she had to look up slightly to catch his eye.
“
Tob, where
’
s Jordy now?
”

“
He was going to the inn.
”

“
He
’
ll know then,
”
she said. Tob wondered if she was talking to herself, since the comment made absolutely no sense to him.
“
Is he expecting you there?
”

“
Yes, Jaea.
”

Her hands on his shoulders squeezed him once. He was sure it was meant to be a comforting gesture, but he didn
’
t want to think he might need comfort at the hands of Pross
’
mother. If he hadn
’
t just been home he would have feared bad news about one of his little sisters, or even Cyril herself.

“
Go to your father,
”
Jaea said.
“
Tell him Kessit will be at the inn this afternoon. Get along with you now.
”

Jaea was a pretty woman. Her rich brown hair was only lightly streaked with gray, and she had a pleasant face. Tob knew it was absurd to be suddenly, uncontrollably, terrified of her. Yet all he could do was nod, spin around, and bolt through the gate.

* * *

Stockings drowsed comfortably in one of Herri
’
s loose boxes and the oranges and ale were safely stowed in the kitchen before Jordy was ready to sit down with his friend near the hearth in the main room. By that time, a small group of people had collected around Herri
’
s two largest tables, some because they made a habit of taking their
midday
meal at the inn, others drawn by the sight of Jordy
’
s wagon in the yard. Amid a general murmur of greetings, Jordy sat down next to fisherwoman Canis.

She laid one hand briefly on his arm.
“
What news of the kingdoms, carter?
”
Her words, pitched at a normal conversational level, still silenced everyone in the room.
“
Will there be battle?
”

“
I wish I knew,
”
Jordy said. He searched the faces around him.
“
There
’
s been no word of trouble from the borders. Did they say anything when they came? Did they show interest in any of the other young people?
”

“
My sons were on the river, and my grandson is not yet weaned, thank the gods. It
’
s as well you had Tob with you, or they may have taken an interest in him.
”

Jordy scowled at her.
“
He
’
s still a boy.
”

“
He
’
s as big as you are, Jordy,
”
said the smith
’
s mild voice. Lannal had the hard-muscled arms and shoulders necessary for his craft. His diffident personality tended to startle people who did not know him well.

“
Tob is nearly my height,
”
Jordy conceded,
“
but he hasn
’
t filled out yet. Strength counts for more than size.
”

“
Tell the guard that,
”
Canis countered.
“
They seem to go on first impressions.
”

Herri emerged from the kitchen, a plate in one hand and three mugs of dark beer in the other. He put the plate of cold chicken and bread pudding in front of Jordy, then took a seat next to Canis. He passed one mug to Canis, one to Jordy, and kept the third for himself.
“
Kessit is going to be lost without him. Pross did all the planting last year, did you know that?
”

“
Aye, I knew.
”

Across the table from them, Lannal cleared his throat nervously.
“
Jaea and Kessit tried to reason with the corporal, Jordy. After they took Pross away, Jaea went to the Greenmother in Garden Vale. She wasn
’
t there, but the Head of the Brownmother House thinks she
’
ll be willing to go to the king and speak in Pross
’
s behalf.
”

Jordy almost choked. Canis pushed his beer toward him and he took a long swallow. When he could speak, he exclaimed,
“
Greenmother! Jaea should know better. I
’
ll grant the Mothers due respect as teachers and healers
….”

“
Since when?
”
Herri interrupted him.
“
You won
’
t even offer one a civil good morning.
”

Canis laughed.

A flush warmed Jordy
’
s neck, but he ignored it, and Herri. Lannal dropped his gaze to the table.
“
The Greenmothers claim more influence than they actually possess,
”
Jordy insisted.
“
It
’
s not a Greenmother
’
s place to speak to a king on our behalf.
”

“
No,
”
Lannal offered,
“
it
’
s a wizard
’
s place. But we haven
’
t any.
”

“
We don
’
t need any!
”
Jordy said, exasperated.
“
We can speak for ourselves!
”

“
We can speak,
”
Herri agreed in his most reasonable tone.
“
But who says the king will listen?
”

The great wooden door swung open, spilling gray daylight across the floor. Tob offered a few polite nods to the adults present as he headed for his father
’
s table. Jordy tried to see him as a stranger might. He was a bit large for his age, but then he took after Cyril
’
s people. He had his mother
’
s black hair and midnight-blue eyes as well as her skin, the pale brown of fall grasses, which would deepen towa
rd bronze over the course of a
summer spent on the road. Cyril
’
s father and brothers would have towered over Jordy by a head or more. Tob showed every indication of inheriting that trait as well. Still, there was no mistaking him for a mature young man. His face was still a child
’
s face, smooth and slightly rounded. His muscles lacked definition and his voice, when he spoke, was still an unbroken treble.

“
Dad, I saw Jaea. She said she
’
d send Kessit, but I think there
’
s something wrong.
”

“
Pross is gone. He
’
s been taken to be one of the king
’
s guard.
”

“
Taken?
”
Tob repeated blankly.
“
Just like that?
”

Canis stomped one booted foot on the floor.
“
Of course, just like that. That
’
s the trouble! In my father
’
s day, we didn
’
t have guards terrorizing honest, hard-working people. In my father
’
s day, we rarely saw the guard at all. All they did was keep the roads free of wandering Abstainers. We had wizards to work weather magic, and a Greenmother in every village.
”

“
We also,
”
Jordy said dryly,
“
had plague.
”

“
We can blame everything on that,
”
Herri said, and began gathering up mugs for refilling.
“
Which accomplishes nothing. As Jordy keeps telling us, we can
’
t recapture those days.
”

Another impatient stomp interrupted him. Canis gave Jordy a sideways glare as she addressed the room at large.
“
Recapture! He treats half of what we used to have as exaggeration, and the rest as sheer fantasy. Of course he wouldn
’
t want to recapture that.
”

“
What I believe or don
’
t believe makes no difference,
”
Jordy shot back in his own defense.
“
Whether the gods and their power are real or not, we no longer have wizards to work with them. Whether the kingdoms used to coexist peacefully or not, they lost their stable borders in the years after the plague, and none of the kings wants to re-establish them.
”

“
They might go on gathering youngsters for the guard,
”
Lannal said quietly.
“
But if they do, who
’
ll be left to raise food?
”

No one had a ready answer to that.

Tob drew his hood down over his forehead and watched the water drip past his nose. Contrary to their hopes of the morning, but in keeping with his father
’
s more recent mood, the clouds had darkened as they had struggled to unload Kessit
’
s stonewood at his shop. By
midafter
noon the rain had begun. Tob hated unloading in the rain. Every time they moved the tarp to get at one item, water leaked in somewhere else. Tob was certain his boots had doubled in weight from the mud they picked up in one farm yard after another. Everything took longer than usual, no one invited them in for a drink or something to eat, and Stockings
’
always questionable ability to watch where she was going deteriorated completely in the wet. This meant Jordy had to squelch along beside her, one hand on her halter to guard against her stumbling to her knees in some puddle. That left Tob perched on the driver
’
s seat, reins slack in his hands, guilty because he couldn
’
t help with the horse, miserable with the damp. He wondered if it was raining where Pross was. Would he learn to fight on horseback, and go galloping across the country, taking other young people away from their homes? No, that didn
’
t seem likely. Probably, he
’
d just be a regular guard, destined to march off to a disputed border somewhere.

Tob stared at his hands. He
’
d never known anyone who had killed another person. Would it feel the same as it felt to slaughter a sheep? He didn
’
t think so, but he couldn
’
t be sure. Pross would learn the answer, if he wasn
’
t slaughtered himself first. If he survived, would he be allowed to come home? If he did come, would he have anything to say to a boyhood friend who knew nothing of man-killing?

Too many questions. From the way the adults had been behaving all afternoon, Tob knew they expected the worst. Everyone spoke to Kessit as though his son were already dead.
But he
’
s not,
Tob wanted to yell. Guards didn
’
t go to a lot of trouble to carry off some woodworker
’
s son simply to kill him. If they wanted someone dead, they cut him down on the spot. Or so people said. Tob had never seen such an execution. He thought his father had, although Jordy called it murder.