Untalented (5 page)

“I’m going to talk to that man.”

“The king’s guardsman?” Nalini’s voice pitched up two octaves. “What for?”

“You don’t have to come with me.” Saroya paused. “On second thought, it might be helpful if you did, but I won’t force you to.”

Nalini bit her lip in the dim corridor. “If the doyenne catches us …”

“I’ll say I dragged you after me.” Saroya arrived at the stairs. “So. Are you coming?”

Nalini hesitated but followed Saroya down the stairs. They exited the dormitory building and crossed the courtyard to a smaller building that housed infrequently used guest quarters. Despite the late hour, lantern light still flickered in several windows. Saroya hoped her quarry was in one of those rooms. She eased open the outer door, and entered the building. A long corridor with a series of identical doors lay before her. Suddenly her plan seemed half-baked, even to her. How would she find him without waking everyone up?

“Can I help you?” The deep voice sounded right in Saroya’s ear. She stifled a startled squeak, and turned to find one of the guardsmen studying her. He did not look amused to find two girls traipsing about.

Saroya shored up her courage. “We’re looking for your leader.”

“Captain Callor? At this hour? What could you possibly—”

Saroya interrupted him before her nerve failed and she turned tail and ran. “My friend here has a question about the journey to the city.” Nalini’s eyes bugged out.

“It can’t wait until morning?”

“No. She needs to send word to her parents before she leaves and won’t have time to write in the morning.”

It felt like such a slim excuse, but Saroya gave him her best pleading look. Beside her, Nalini fidgeted.

The guard sighed. “Fine. Follow me.” He led them to the door at the end of the hall, and knocked. “Captain? You have visitors.”

The door opened. The tall man who stood in the doorframe took them in with single assessing glance that lingered on Saroya before he turned to her roommate. “Nalini Ferlen, if I remember correctly?” His voice was soft but authoritative.

“Yes, that’s me.”

“I am Eiden Callor. What can I help you with?” The other guardsman moved back to his post by the entrance. Callor continued. “It’s late and we start a long ride tomorrow.”

Nalini nodded, with little enthusiasm. Saroya knew Nalini was not the most accomplished rider. “Umm … Well, my friend …” Nalini looked like she wanted to sink into the stone floor.

Saroya risked a timid “Sir?”

Callor turned. “And who are you?”

Saroya swallowed. What must he think of her flight from the dining hall? She looked down at her feet. “Saroya Bardan,” she muttered.

“Speak up, girl.”

She looked up, met his eyes—gray, like flint.

“You have something to say? I have little time to waste.”

“I would like to go with you to U’Veyle.”

Nalini gaped at her.

“You are the same age as your friend?”

“Yes.”

“And you will be leaving the Adepts this coming spring?” Saroya nodded. “Then why are you not already on Doyenne Ganarra’s list of students making the journey?”

Saroya flushed and looked down again. Why must he make her say it? She took a deep breath and looked him in the eye.

“I’m Untalented.” She felt queasy, as she saw all the days ahead of her when she would have to repeat those words to men such as him. All the doors closing.

“I see.”

Do you really?
He watched her still, and though she most wanted to disappear, she held his gaze. “The doyenne does not believe I will benefit from any higher learning in the capital,” she admitted. “I’ll work for my keep if I have to—cook, take care of the horses, anything. Please … I need to go with you.”

His eyes narrowed, and she thought he would speak again. Instead, he shook his head slightly. “In the courtyard at dawn,” he said to Nalini. Then he shut the door in their faces.

Saroya stared at the wood in front of her. She couldn’t look at Nalini. She turned and headed back to the dormitory, felt moisture on her cheeks. Nalini put her arm around Saroya’s shoulders.

Saroya’s voice quavered. “I guess that’s that, then.”

The gray light of dawn brightened the sky as Saroya waited in the hallway outside Doyenne Ganarra’s chambers. Bridles jingled in the courtyard below the window, and stable hands shouted as they saddled recalcitrant mounts. Nalini had run off to grab a quick breakfast before the travelers left.
Without me
, Saroya thought.

The doyenne’s assistant poked her head out into the hallway. “You may enter now.”

Saroya slipped past the heavy wooden doors. All of last night’s jokes about punishments aside, Saroya was quite sure the doyenne could make the rest of her stay uncomfortable, if not unbearable, if she felt a transgression was large enough. Worse, what if she kicked Saroya out right now?

The assistant held open the door to the doyenne’s inner chamber. Saroya kept her expression neutral as she curtsied before the large desk in the center of the room. The watery dawn light silhouetted Doyenne Ganarra against the windows, the candle sconces not bright enough to illuminate her countenance.

The doyenne steepled her fingers underneath her chin. The silence lengthened. Saroya shifted her feet. Finally, the doyenne sighed.

“I summoned you here, child, to chide you. It was unforgivably rude to leave the dining hall in front of our guests. Disappointments are many in life and you need to learn how to handle them.” Doyenne Ganarra paused, pursing her lips. Saroya steeled herself for the expected lecture. “Instead I find myself having to reward you.”

Saroya blinked.

“The edict is clear,” came a voice from behind her. Startled, Saroya turned—Eiden Callor stood in the far corner in front of a bookshelf. “All students completing their studies in the spring are to journey to U’Veyle.”

“To pursue their Talents with their guilds. This one has no Talent. I interpreted—”

“I don’t have the luxury of interpretation. Talented, Untalented, rich, poor, fair, ugly—none of these words appear on the parchment I gave you. ‘All students.’ Those are the only words I care about.”

No one spoke. The words whirled around inside Saroya’s head, gibberish consonants and vowels, until their meaning coalesced. She gaped at the doyenne. “You mean—?”

“Yes, child. You are going to the capital. Eiden Callor is pressed to leave. Go and get your things together.” The doyenne shook her head.

Saroya hurried from the room. She dipped a curtsy to Callor, who nodded as she passed. U’Veyle! She was going to U’Veyle. Entering the hall, she found herself grinning for what felt like the first time in days, despite Doyenne Ganarra’s parting words.

“Such a waste.”

Saroya and her mount had come to an uneasy truce. After riding with the convoy for a week, the long hours in the saddle bothered her less. The stables contained slim pickings for mounts when she rushed in the morning they started out. Her only options: an old, tired mare who would as soon bite you as let you saddle her, or a young gelding notorious for shying without warning.

She still wondered if the mare wasn’t the better bargain. The gelding spent the first day balking at every noise in the bush, or every shout of the king’s men. “Control your horse, or move him to the back of the group,” Eiden Callor ordered. She hung back from then on.

Nalini kept her company. She chattered away while bumping along in her saddle, gripping the pommel in one hand while her other sawed the reins from side to side. Saroya felt sorry for Nalini’s horse.

At twilight, they would make camp in a meadow, or a hostelry if they happened to arrive at a village by sunset. Eiden Callor, with his men seasoned travelers, would not stop at any town for convenience. It didn’t matter if they passed a comfortable-looking inn in late afternoon. He would press on until darkness. Then he chivvied them up again at dawn to continue the journey.

Tonight, they stopped in a small clearing at the side of the road, after traveling all day through wooded countryside. Some students muttered complaints, but one disdainful glance from Callor silenced even the worst grumbler. All except for Martezha. Saroya had never heard such bleating in her life. “The ground’s too hard.” “This food is disgusting!” “The cold night air is damaging my singing voice. How can I possibly impress my guild if I arrive hoarse? Not to mention exhausted, I mean, can nothing be done about the infernal snoring?”

“Maybe your precious vocal cords would work better if you opened your mouth less.” Had she said that out loud? Saroya shot a glance at Martezha, who just continued grousing.

Saroya unsaddled and hobbled the horses while Nalini went to get water and light the fire. This had been their routine ever since the first night, when Martezha told Saroya to get away from her campfire. “Go make your own, useless. You should be preparing us dinner.” And that set the tone for the trip. The others followed Martezha’s lead and shunned her as well. Without Nalini’s help, Saroya would be eating cold rations.

By the time Nalini and Saroya started preparing their meager fare, the king’s men had already eaten and begun patrolling the camp’s perimeter. Any excuse to avoid Martezha and her friends. The men were careful not to get dragged into fetching and carrying for her. Besides, brigands took advantage of the unwary.

Saroya unrolled their bedding while Nalini roasted the hare. She stood up, kneading the small of her back.

Nalini looked up from the pot. “What are you going to do when we arrive in U’Veyle?”

“Find a room somewhere and then get my bearings? There’s got to be plenty of work out there.”

Nalini divided up the meat, and they tucked into the food.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you, Nalini … Building was one of my better subjects—”

“That doesn’t mean anything now.”

“At any rate, I was wondering … Would your family maybe sponsor me for the Builder’s Guild?”

Saroya held her breath. A favor was one thing, but this … Nalini seemed to have come upon a tough piece of meat. When she finally swallowed her mouthful and spoke, her voice was flat.

“You want me to tell them you’re a guild-worthy builder.”

“Your family is so well known among the builders. If they vouch for me, the guild is sure to accept me.”

“I can’t do that, Saroya.”

“Why not? I know how to build.”

“Building isn’t just putting planks and stones together, or drawing interestingly shaped houses. The guild will see through you in a second. You’re asking me to lie for you.”

“I’m not! If I can just get my foot in the door, I’m sure someone will apprentice me.”

“It’s bad enough I’m not following the family tradition of building. If my parents found out I lied to them over something like this—they’d disown me.”

“But—”

“No. Don’t ask me again.”

Saroya stalked off to the stream to rinse the dishes. She understood Nalini’s misgivings, but it was just … Gah! She wanted to scream. Even her best friend wouldn’t lift a finger to help. How was she supposed to make her way in the world, when everybody refused to look beyond the fact of her Untalent? Was a small fudging of the facts so awful when set against an entire life wasted?

When she got back, Nalini was wrapped in her bedroll, asleep, or maybe just pretending. Saroya turned in as well, but sleep didn’t come easily.