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“I don’t know,” she replied. “I have such dreams of my own.”
He let her go finally. She sat up, twisting her head from side to side with a crackle of neck bones.
“They never tell you some things,” Briar said bitterly. “They tell you mages have wonderful power and they learn all kinds of secrets. Nobody ever mentions that some secrets you don’t ever want to learn.”
“All you can do is learn good to balance the bad,” Rosethorn told him. “Learn and do all the good within your reach. Then, if you wake in a sweat, you have something to set against the dream.”
Two days later the caravan to Laenpa rolled out of sight of the flame-colored cliffs of Chammur. They had entered a mountain pass where the stone colors were tan and gray, without so much as a hint of orange. When he realized he’d seen the last of the ancient city, Briar felt as if a weight had fallen from his shoulders.
“Let’s take another route home,” he called to Rosethorn as she rode ahead. “South or north, I don’t care.”
She nodded without looking back. Her attention was on the tumble of dirt and gravel to her right. She was seeking plants she might not know.
Briar’s own search for new growth in ground frequently scoured by floods and avalanches was interrupted by Evvy’s giggle of delight. He dropped back to where she rode, a scruffy student queen on camelback. She reigned from the top of her beast’s hump, Asa and the kittens in an open basket on her right, where she could keep an eye on them, and a traveling desk on her lap. Her stone alphabet was open on it. She showed the slate to Briar. On it she had written the large and small Q shakily.
“Q is for quartz!” she cried gleefully as her camel gave her a reproachful glare. In her other hand she held the surprise Briar had left her for when she got that far: not a single stone but a cloth strip to which six small quartz stones were fixed. “Crystal, blue, rose, green, smoky, and roo-rootle — rutilated!”
Briar grinned up at her. It was fun to make her happy. “You are easily amused,” he informed his student.
“I’m learning to read,” she replied gleefully, fingering her quartzes. “And I’m going to be a pahan of stones. Who wouldn’t be amused?”
“Your camel, for one, if you keep bouncing,” Briar reminded her. “Do you know what things you can do with quartz, young pahan?”
“Nahim Zineer told me some. You can see, you can have peace, it can help for love spells …” She continued to recite. Briar listened contentedly. Listening to his student, he felt as if life were an adventure for the first time since he’d left Chammur. The only drawback was that with Evvy, there was no way of telling what the adventure would be — but that wasn’t such a bad thing. It would put some interest into those long hours on the road east.
He couldn’t wait to introduce her to his foster-sisters. He’d finally met another girl who was every bit as difficult as they were.
GLOSSARY
amir — prince, ruler of Chammur
belbun — Chammuran term for four-legged rat
bindi — paint, metal, or jewel placed between the eyebrows
bunjingi — miniature tree form in which trunk is long, with a few branches balanced at the upper end
cham — large sum coin in Chammur; silver equals twenty copper davs; gold cham equals twenty silver chams
Chammur Newtown — section of the city built on the open ground between the heights and the Qarwan River, colonized first by the wealthy, then the middle class
Chammur Oldtown — most ancient part of the city, the apartments and buildings in and on the heights, slum dwellings now except for the amir’s palace and Fortress Rock
dav — copper is smallest coin in Chammur; silver dav equals three copper davs
doa — daughter of (noble house only)
doen — son of (noble house only)
eknub — foreigner
hammam — bathhouse
hedax — rank similar to lieutenant
Lailan — Chammuran goddess of water, mercy, healing
Mohun — Chammuran god of silence, stone, dark and secret places
Mohunite — completely veiled follower of Mohun (both sexes)
mutabir — head of law enforcement and courts in Chammur
pahan — teacher, mage
Shaihun — Chammuran god of desert, winds, sandstorms, serious mischief and destruction
shakkan — miniature tree form like an elongated S pointing to right of viewer
souk — market
takamer (m), takameri (f) — rich person
tesku — leader of a street gang
thukdak — Chammuran slang for street rat
zernamus — parasite like a tick, one that survives by living off the rich
