The Windsingers (29 page)

'And what part of the bargain was that, Srolan?' It was the gravel-voiced man at the corner table. 'The village council has told you, they will not pay gold for a deed done late.'

Ki's eyes flickered from face to face. Vandien stared at Srolan in an agonized suspense. Longing blotted out doubt, letting the child peer out of the man's eyes. Ki's heart leapt out to him in compassion, for in her own heart was a knowing. That which he ached for was not to be.

Janie no longer stroked the chest, nor stood straight and proud. Her arms clutched one another. Her face was pinched and her body was shrinking in on itself. A different sort of child peered from her eyes.

Srolan snatched her gaze from Vandien's face, to stare in consternation at the cloaked man in the corner. For the first time, Ki marked that no other fisherfolk shared his table.

'Well you know that I don't speak of gold!' Srolan rasped out. 'What is this treachery, Dresh?'

'Ah, well.' Slowly Dresh pushed the hood back, letting the lamplight finger his foxy features. He gave a little sigh and a mocking shrug of resignation. 'I have never yet been able to trust to the discretion of a woman's tongue. But must we be so public, Srolan? Surely our little arrangements were between you and me.'

'It appears I have a stake in it as well,' Vandien growled.

'You would have, if the chest were brought up on Temple Ebb, and if I had first access to the contents, then I was to perform two minor favors for Srolan. Do you think she frets over your scar, teamster? The vigor of youth is not enough to content her. She hungers for a youthful body as well. But I do not honor agreements tardily carried out. If you don't believe me, ask Ki.'

Srolan's eyes flashed to Ki in confusion. Ki glared at them both. Memories burst in her mind like fresh wounds. She suddenly perceived the whole tapestry Dresh had woven. Wizards and Windsingers were creatures cut of the same fabric, stuffed with the same vile weeds! 'It is true, Srolan,' Ki said. 'I have never yet been able to trust the honor of a wizard's word. Yet my mind cannot stoop to the depths of their deceit, cannot roll in the same gutter to follow their devious plans. Was this your little amusement, Dresh, to arrange this play for us? How well you wrote the parts, and how finely you assigned them! It has been better than any Temple Ebb pageant these folk have ever seen. It matters little to you that the tragedy doesn't end with the falling of a curtain. Nor do you see fit to pay your actors. From the first, we have all danced to your tune, but Vandien and I have trod it best of all.'

'Does it end with a soliloquy?' Dresh asked drily.

'It does,' Ki snarled. Her glance swept the room. Fisherfolk gaped like stranded carp. Ki saw no empathy, no regrets. She and Dresh were a-spectacle to them, a last treat of Temple Ebb, the unexpected entertainment. Srolan alone had sustained a loss among them. She had aged in these last few moments. When she croaked out, 'Dresh, please!' even the music was gone from her voice.

'My friends,' Ki said slowly. 'My first idea was the best. Let's roll our skeel out of here. Janie, run to fetch Sasha. The Romni know the truth of it: There's always another buyer, down the road apiece.'

Ki stepped up and put her shoulder to the skeel. Dresh stood up so suddenly he nearly overturned the table.

'Hold!' he cried as he strode toward her. He shouldered Berni out of the way like a transfixed sheep. Boldly he put a hand on the opposite side of the skeel. Ki felt the resistance. 'Hold up, teamster. Take your skeel, please. But not the Windsingers' chest, for it does not belong to you.'

'And you would claim it as yours, wizard?' Vandien's words were politely questioning. But in his eyes there was a threat, and in his stance and face a promise. Dresh's eyes met his. Dresh didn't flinch, but Ki saw a sudden revising of opinion. For the first time she realized how much of a size the two men were. Dresh would have been the handsomer of the two, even if Vandien had not been scarred. But there was a slinkiness to his beauty that put people on their guards, and a coldness to his eyes that ruined his face more than any scar. If Vandien were the hawk, Dresh was the intricately patterned poisonous snake. He was coiled to strike.

'Vandien!' Ki whispered, cautioning. But Vandien was beyond caution. Dresh had twisted the man's hopes, until they had broken off short. He smiled, and Ki's belly curled up at the sight. 'There are customs, wizard. Salvaged goods belong to the one who brings them up. Me.'

'You are mistaken, teamster,' Dresh said smoothly. He glanced about at the village folk, warming them with his smile, including them in this debate. 'It was the village that knew of the chest. It was the village that set you after it.' Dresh paused to fit a wedge. 'Srolan does deserve their thanks for hiring you. Perhaps I could help the village make her a reward.' Fanatic hope kindled again in Srolan's eyes. Dresh smiled at his success. 'The chest belongs to the village, I think. If I hired a teamster to bring my goods from here to there, and the teamster is late, does that mean the teamster may keep the goods? I think not.' Again his smile swept the room, but he let it rest over long on Ki.

'That is so,' Helti agreed cautiously, and here and there heads nodded hesitantly. Even Srolan looked at Vandien with her heart in her eyes and begged, 'Leave it here for me. It is my final chance.'

'The chest cannot be taken from the village!' Dresh decreed. 'It belongs to the village! If they had not told you of it, you would never have recovered it. Who told you where to look, and what to look for? The village folk alone knew that. On that basis, it must belong to them.'

'To me, then!' Janie's voice began as a shriek and ended in a whisper. Dresh's eyes snapped to her face in shock. 'By your own reasoning, wizard! It is mine! I alone knew where it was, I alone knew what to look for! And I helped bring it up! Mine, wizard, and you will kill me before you touch it!'

There was no rationality in Janie's eyes. She advanced fearlessly on Dresh, and he retreated. In madness there is power and Janie wielded it. Her hands settled on the chest's corner, a priestess blessing relics.

'Janie. Now, Janie, calm yourself. Listen to me...'

'Shut up!' Janie screamed savagely, and Srolan fell silent before her wrath.

Srolan turned anxious eyes on Vandien. 'Do something,' she pleaded. 'Make her see reason.'

'Do what?' Vandien demanded. 'It seems to me that Janie is correct. I've no wish to take the chest from her.'

'It's mine!' Janie asserted again. She glared at Dresh who had ventured forward a step.

'I've no wish to kill you,' Dresh said reasonably.

'Then don't,' Vandien growled.

'She leaves me no other course!' the wizard flared. His fingers waggled in agitation until he clenched them into fists.

Vandien grinned. 'Be ready with the team, Ki. Janie, shall we load it?'

But the eyes she turned on him didn't know him. 'It's mine!' she warned him.

'She's broken,' Ki said in a hushed voice. 'They've finally broken her.'

'It is mine' she screamed in an inhuman voice.

She was echoed by an inhuman roaring. Cold swept through the inn borne on a wind that snatched their breaths and snuffed not only candles but the fire on the hearth. The fear-stricken cries of the fisherfolk were drowned in its immense vibration. It was a blinding, numbing wind that paralyzed all Ki's senses. A heavy wooden table skidding across the floor struck her on the hip. She found herself on hands and knees in cold darkness. Other people blundered blindly around her. A foot trod heavily on her hand and a knee struck her in the ribs. She scrambled away in the confusion, but could find no safety. The roaring wind ceased, but the darkness remained. Confused cries filled the room.

'Vandien!' Ki cried out. An answering shout came from across the room. In darkness she blundered toward him, only to trip on an overturned bench.

'It is mine!' shrieked a voice scarcely recognizable as Janie's.

'It is mine,' responded another voice. The resonance of that voice nullified all other sounds. There were a few more scufflings, then silence. Ki brushed the hair from her eyes and rose silently. In the darkness, yellow flame blossomed. Two slender well-formed hands cupped it. They transplanted the fire to a candle on one of the few tables that remained standing. The tall figure straightened. The flame on the candle struggled and tugged at the wick, trying to illuminate the darkness. A hushed expectancy grew. Then another yellow flame bloomed within those tapered fingers. The inn gasped as the fingers snapped it away. The ball of fire arched through the air, to land on the hearth and burst into a roaring blaze. 'Make light from that,' the voice commanded, and those few who had found candles crept forward to kindle them.

The inn was a shambles. Tables and benches were overturned. Broken crockery grated underfoot, while the sour smell of spilled ale mingled with the fishy odor of slopped chowder. As Ki's eyes adjusted to the semidarkness, she saw folk huddled like frightened sheep. Their eyes darted about furtively, seeking someone to blame. A hand squeezed Ki's shoulder and Vandien stood beside her. 'Look at Janie!' he whispered.

The other villagers had retreated from the skeel. Of Dresh there was no sign. Janie alone stood protectively by the wad of animals. One hand rested possessively on the chest as she glared at the one who sought to take her treasure. Defiance and despair had driven out caution. Her shoulders were squared as she defied the blue-robed Windsinger.

'Rebeke,' Ki breathed in dread, and Vandien replied, 'I thought so.'

Rebeke ignored them. The dancing firelight struck a sheen from her finely scaled face. Her hands were innocent of weapons as they hung peacefully at her sides. She needed no threats; her face radiated her power. She scanned the room once, eyes fingering a moment on Ki. But she found no opposition. Folk turned their eyes away, or crouched with bowed heads. Even Srolan winced away like a kicked cur. Slowly Rebeke turned her gaze back to Janie. She did not break the silence, and no one else dared. Long she stared at the womanchild with eyes that reached and touched and probed. A little of the tension went out of Janie's stance, but still she repeated, 'It is mine.'

Rebeke smiled as a mother might smile on her curious child. 'Yes. I can see that. But it is also mine.'

'No!' The defiant shout shook the room and trembled on the air. Villagers cowered, expecting retribution. Rebeke waited until the echoes had ceased. No trace of anger marred the serenity of her browless face.

'Killian spoke of you. For you must be Janie.'

Janie hesitated, then tossed a grudging nod.

'Do you believe I will take the chest from you?' Rebeke asked her.

Janie's eyes flickered over the assembled villagers. She found no support. Her eyes locked with Vandien's, but she looked hastily away. He had offered her the only taste of friendship she'd had. She wouldn't draw him into this.

'She...' Vandien began.

'Silence!' Rebeke said calmly. Rebeke made no gesture, but Ki felt the impact as Vandien reeled against her from the unseen blow. No other saw it.

'You say the chest is yours,' Janie said as Rebeke continued to gaze at her questioningly.

'And yours. I said it was yours as well. Having said that, do you think I will take it from you? I have come for the chest,' Rebeke spoke to the villagers now. 'But I have also come for Janie and Sasha. Run and fetch your sister, Janie.'

'By the Hawk!' Vandien swore, but his voice rose no louder than a croaked whisper. Janie stared at Rebeke and did not move.

'Didn't you hear me, Janie?' Rebeke repeated, smiling more gently. 'I've come to take you and Sasha away. You don't belong here. Any fool can see that, and I am far from being a fool. Your own spirit knows it. The chest called to you because of it. And only one of your spirit and determination could have dragged it up. Because you are a Windsinger, Janie. You were never born to drag up smelly fish from cold water, to bend your back to the wind as you sliced the wet meat from their bones. You were born to find power and wield it. You were never meant to be part of this village. It is beneath you. You knew it from the time you were a small child. And the village knew it as well. Am I right?'

Janie's eyes were riveted to Rebeke's smiling face. She teetered on the edge, for Rebeke called to her hungry heart. The only one who might have wished to call her back was voiceless.

'Why hesitate? What holds you here, sister?'

The simple kinship offered overbalanced the scales. 'I must fetch Sasha,' Janie began hesitantly.

'Didn't I just say so?' Rebeke's laughter was warm as a summer wind. 'Hurry, for we have far to go this night. Take no time to pack, just bring the child. All else we have prepared for you.'

'Prepared...' Janie's voice trailed off in awe. The implied welcome warmed her cheeks. Life flowed in her eyes, bringing animation into her face. 'You will wait for me?' she asked fearfully.

'Hurry!' Rebeke chided her with a smile. Ki looked at Janie's glowing face. She was the peasant child in the tale, who finds herself the true daughter of a queen. A smile bowed her mouth as she looked down on them crouching in the dark before her mentor. Her eyes paused on Collie, but the silence that had prevented him from mocking her now prevented him from asking her to stay. 'Hurry!' Rebeke warned her again, and Janie broke free of Collie's eyes with a laugh.

'Janie! Go with us, and be Human!' Vandien croaked. The slamming door answered him.