She didn’t reply, and when we reached her bedroom, we didn’t even say goodnight.
Then I was back in my own room, finding it impossible to get to sleep.
19
The Tassels
The tassels are like the fringed knots on the hem of Hob’s cloak.
Each one is dipped in poison.
We will feed them to their master.
Amabramdata: the Genthai Book of Prophecy
I knocked on the door of Tyron’s office in the administration building – the room where we’d first met. I’d asked for an appointment and he was expecting me. My month’s trial had ended a couple of weeks previously, and he hadn’t yet told me whether I’d passed or not.
Was he going to keep me on as his trainee?
He nodded towards the leather seat, and I sat down facing him across the big desk. My mouth was dry. I’d done my best – but would it be good enough? I wondered.
‘You asked to see me, so what can I do for you?’ Tyron said with a smile.
‘I’m here for two things,’ I told him: ‘firstly, to ask you if I’ve passed my probationary period, and secondly to give you the answer to the question I posed on my first day of training. I asked you why we didn’t fight in Arena 13 just man against man. I asked you why we needed the lacs. You told me to try and work it out for myself . . .’
‘So go ahead, Leif. Tell me the answer you’ve arrived at.’
‘I’ve arrived at no one clear answer. I’ve thought of several reasons, but most of them are just speculation,’ I told him.
‘Then speculate, Leif. Let me hear your thoughts.’
I had thought long and hard about what I was going to tell him. So I took a deep breath and began.
‘I think the way we fight is mostly to do with tradition and the generation of wealth. If people do things one way long enough and it works, they just carry on. Arena 13 combat is an industry. It provides work for artificers, combatants and those who service them. The gambling houses create more jobs and wealth. But I think that Trigladius combat – three swords – goes back much further: to things that happened before the defeat of man and the building of the Barrier. Back then, something happened – maybe some form of combat or entertainment – and that’s what Arena 13 commemorates. But what we do now may be only a poor shadow of what went on then.’
I looked at Tyron and saw that his face was impassive.
‘And there may also be evidence in Genthai lore which my father told me about. When I get the chance, I plan to go and visit them, and maybe I can find out some more about their rituals.’
Tyron shrugged. ‘You’ve clearly thought about your answer, Leif,’ he said with a smile. ‘It’s as good as what most people can come up with. I think about it a lot myself. One day I hope to find out more, so I look forward to hearing what you discover from the Genthai.’
He paused and smiled at me. ‘Apart from the stick-fighting, you’ve got off to a very good start. You’ve passed your month’s trial. Well done!’
Tyron reached down, picked up a parcel from behind his desk and tossed it over. ‘Open it,’ he commanded.
It was a pair of Trig boots. They were of excellent quality and gave off the pleasing smell of new leather. Now I had boots of my own – there’d be no more training in bare feet. It would improve my performance, and was another step towards achieving my ambition to fight in Arena 13.
‘They’re the best boots you can buy,’ he said, ‘but they’ll take a bit of wearing in. Expect a few blisters at first. You’ve a lot of hard work ahead of you, but I know you won’t disappoint me.’
It was a Saturday afternoon and I was sitting with Deinon at a table outside our usual café on the plaza. It had been a week of sudden showers and the flags were damp. Clouds were piled ominously on the horizon and a strong wind made the trees writhe. There were fewer people about than usual.
We were sipping juice and chatting. It was my turn to pay: I had money in my pocket and I was starting to save up. It was then that I saw Kwin coming towards us across the plaza with her boyfriend, Jon.
Ever since our visit to the Commonality, she had avoided my eyes at the breakfast table, and even when we’d passed each other in the house. I couldn’t understand why she was behaving like this. After all, I’d done nothing wrong. But pride wouldn’t allow me to make the first move. I felt wronged. I thought she should apologize, even though I knew she wouldn’t.
They passed quite close to our table, and I felt certain that she must have seen us, but she didn’t even glance in our direction. However, Jon smiled and nodded, and I gave him a wave. They sat down together a few tables away.
‘Have you and Kwin had some sort of argument?’ Deinon asked. ‘I hope you don’t mind me asking, but I couldn’t help noticing that she keeps ignoring you. I thought you were good friends.’
I shrugged. ‘She had an argument with her boyfriend, I think, and then she started behaving oddly with me. She snapped at me and I told her off. She didn’t like it and hasn’t spoken to me since. She’d been helping me with my sound-code on the practice floor, but that’s stopped too.’
‘Girls can be strange sometimes. Who can understand them?’ Deinon shook his head.
‘Well, I certainly don’t.’
‘Maybe you should be the one to break the ice,’ he suggested.
‘How?’ I wondered.
‘Just say you’re sorry.’
‘But I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong.’
‘Sorry is just a word. You can say it. Then everything will be OK.’
‘You make it sound easy, Deinon.’
‘It is. She probably wants to say sorry too, but her pride won’t let her. You can be bigger than that. There are a couple of labourers on my father’s farm who haven’t spoken for over thirty years, yet people say they were once good friends. That’s how long their argument has lasted. I bet they can’t even remember what they rowed about. If one of them had said sorry, they’d still be friends today.’
On our way home we passed the shop that sold Trig paraphernalia, and I smiled as I noticed that the red boots were still displayed in the window.
I never got a chance to take the initiative and say I was sorry. The long silence between us ended that very night with three loud knocks on the wall; knocks which, unusually, came very late at night, waking me from a deep sleep.
I ignored Kwin’s summons. I knew I wasn’t being invited into her room for an apology. She always wanted something. The first time she’d wanted to find out what the new trainee was like. The second time she’d wanted to fight and beat me. The third time – what was that for? Did she simply want an excuse to go to the stick-fighting and see Jon?
The three raps were repeated, but I didn’t move. I heard a hiss from Palm, no doubt angered both by the disturbance and by the fact that Kwin was summoning me.
She knocked again. Three really loud knocks on the wall.
‘Remember what we talked about this afternoon?’ Deinon called out of the darkness. ‘This is your chance, Leif.’
So I climbed out of bed and angrily pulled on my shirt, trousers, socks and boots. My mood had changed since talking to Deinon. I wasn’t going to be the one to say sorry. I would go and see what Kwin wanted one last time, then tell her never to knock for me again. I would be cold. I would be like ice.
However, once I saw her, my resolve began to melt. Her eyes were swollen and red from crying. She was wearing trousers and Trig boots, her lips painted in her usual fashion, but she was also wrapped in a blanket and I noticed that she was trembling from head to toe.
What was this about? Part of me thought it might be some sort of trick – a ruse to get me to do what she wanted. But there were tears trickling from her eyes now. This was real.
‘Leif, you’ve got to help me,’ she said. ‘You’re the only one who can.’
‘What’s wrong?’ I asked, dreading the answer. I knew it had to be something really bad.
‘It’s Jon,’
she said. ‘The tassels have him. Soon it’ll be too late. Before dawn they’ll take him to Hob.’
I tried to make sense of what she was saying. How could that be possible?
‘I don’t understand,’ I told her. ‘How’s Jon got involved with the tassels in the first place? Did they come into the city?’
I remembered how they’d loped down the grassy slope to snatch the body of the dead girl. Had they gone into the Commonality after dark? But why had Jon been taken?
‘He went to them,’ Kwin explained. ‘It was a challenge with a big bet involved – big, big money. Had he won, Jon would have been set up for life, able to buy any lac he wanted. But he lost to the tassel champion. It should still have been all right – there were other backers from the city in on the bet. But now they’ve refused to pay up. It means that Jon’s life is forfeit. The tassels will give him to Hob.’
I couldn’t see what I was supposed to do. It seemed like something that should be reported to the Wheel Directorate or someone else in authority. The tassels were no better than outlaws. This was even worse than what had happened at the lake. How could they be allowed to get away with it?
‘Have you told your father?’ I asked Kwin.
She shook her head and the tears streamed down her face.
‘Tell him,’ I said. ‘Surely he’ll be able to do something . . .’
‘He can’t do anything. Nobody can. The tassels are Hob’s servants and nobody dares interfere in Hob’s business. If I tell him, he’ll stop us trying to help. There’s only one way we can help Jon.’
‘How can I help? The only money I have is what your father gave me.’
‘Someone has to fight the tassel champion again. It’s like stick-fighting in some ways, but it’s blade against blade. That’s why you’re the only one who can help me. You haven’t taken the oath yet and you’re fast enough to win.’
‘You want me to fight?’ I asked, finding it hard to believe what I was hearing.
Kwin nodded.
‘What if I lose?’
‘Don’t worry, I’ve already agreed the terms, but it’s got to happen tonight. If you win, Jon goes free. If you lose, I’ll be forfeit, not you.’
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. ‘That’s stupid. If anything happened to you, I wouldn’t just be kicked out – your father would kill me.’
‘It’s happened already, Leif. I’ve made the deal. If I don’t go back with you now, I’ll die anyway . . .’
What did she mean? What was I being dragged into?
I stood there, trying to understand what had happened, while Kwin eased the blanket off her shoulders and dropped it on the bed. She was wearing a short sleeveless jerkin, and I saw a long fresh cut on her left shoulder. Although it wasn’t deep, it looked swollen and angry, and yellow-green at the edges.
‘The tassel champion uses poisoned blades; they’re dipped in skeip berries. There’s an antidote, but I’ll only be given it if I return immediately. Without it, I’ll be dead before morning.’
My throat constricted with emotion. I couldn’t bear to think of anything happening to Kwin. Seeing her hurt like that affected me more than I could have believed possible. My body began to tremble and I couldn’t trust myself to speak.
But then the feeling passed, to be replaced by a wave of cold fury that swept down me from head to toe. Nobody would hurt Kwin while I was around. I couldn’t walk away from this, no matter what it cost me.
‘Of course, I’ve had to sweeten the wager with money,’ Kwin continued.
A small canvas bag was attached to her belt. It had been hidden by the blanket. She patted it with her right hand.
‘It’s gold. It belongs to my father. If we get it back before dawn, he’ll never know it was missing. So, will you help?’
My mind twisted hither and thither, trying to find a solution. Of course I would fight to protect Kwin, but was there another way?
‘Couldn’t you just get your father to pay off the first wager? Surely he’d do that rather than let you put yourself in danger . . .’
‘My father’s rich, but even he doesn’t have that kind of money. Those who defaulted are big players – bankers from the gambling houses who were supposed to share the bulk of the cost if Jon lost. But now they won’t pay up. It’s part of the struggle between Hob and some of the money men in this city. They aren’t all in Hob’s pocket, and they’re not prepared to pay the price of losing this time. What Jon stood to gain is nothing set against what they’d have won.’
I began to pace back and forth beside the bed, trying to think.
‘You can win, Leif. Trust me. You’re faster than the tassel champion. I know you can do it,’ Kwin told me.
‘What about Jon? He lost. So could I.’
‘He was not at his best,’ she said. ‘It was the oath, you see. He’d sworn not to use blades outside the arena. Breaking it made him feel guilty. He was defeated before he even started. Inside his head he’d already lost the fight. We’d been arguing about it for days.’
‘Arguing? You mean you wanted him to fight and he didn’t?’
Kwin shook her head. ‘No! Of course not – just the reverse. I never wanted him to get involved at all. Then, when I found out how bad he felt about breaking his oath, I did my best to persuade him to withdraw from the contest. But he wouldn’t listen. He never listens to a word I say. That’s why we’re always arguing. But he doesn’t deserve to die for his mistake. Nobody deserves to be given to Hob. So please, Leif. Please help him.’
I frowned, but I was determined now. ‘I’ll fight,’ I told her.
It was either that or watch her die.
We crossed the city, heading north; soon we’d left the last of its dwellings behind and were climbing a muddy track towards the camp of the tassels.
There was a crescent moon shining through a break in the cloud, and by its faint silver light I could just see the spires of Hob’s citadel rising above the brow of the hill. I glanced back down at the rooftops of Gindeen, homes filled with ordinary families.
A sad, dilapidated dwelling loomed up ahead of us. Its windows were broken and the front door hung ajar at a crazy angle. A hooded figure came out into the moonlight and beckoned to us, and we left the track. The rough grass was uneven, and I kept stumbling over large tussocks. Once I stubbed my toe on a rock, and when I grunted with pain, laughter cackled somewhere close behind.
So there were two of them, I realized, one in front and one behind. Two? I was deceiving myself. This was where they lived. This place was crawling with them. Then I saw the hooded tassels waiting silently, gathered in the darkness on the bare, bleak hillside.
There must have been two or three hundred of them. The arena was a patch of open ground with a slight slope, but it was dry, and covered with fine cinders that crunched underfoot.
I was just wondering whether I’d be expected to fight in darkness when a torch suddenly flared to my left. Within moments a dozen torches were alight, each held by a tassel.
Faces watched me; some were hooded, while I could see others in all their hideousness, the features barely human and twisted with cruelty.
Not all the tassels stood upright. Some seemed to shrink away from the torches. These were small and oddly shaped, and crouched on all fours.
The creatures parted at our approach, but then closed ranks behind us, sealing us within a circle.
There was a saying that was used by city-dwellers: He who sups with a tassel must use a long spoon.
Well, it would be impossible to follow the advice this time.
A tall cowled figure waited for us at the centre. His face was in darkness, and when he spoke, his voice was filled with a mixture of authority and contempt.
‘Is this the one?’ he asked Kwin, inclining his face towards me.
Kwin nodded. ‘He was a stick-fighter in Mypocine, but he has no blades of his own.’
‘Have you brought the money?’
Kwin handed him the canvas bag. He opened
it and poured the coins into his palm before counting them carefully.
Then he nodded, and a tassel came forward carrying a small jar. Kwin went towards him and he dipped his fingers into its contents and began to rub a dark ointment into the cut on her shoulder – the antidote to the skeip poison. Kwin sucked in her breath sharply and grimaced with pain.
I gripped her hand and she squeezed back. Her eyes were filled with tears.
‘I’m OK, Leif. The pain will pass in a moment.’
Then the tall tassel gestured to the two on his left. ‘Get them ready,’ he commanded.
As he walked away, a tassel came towards me with a short length of rope. To my astonishment, he knelt at my feet and began to tie one end of the rope to my right ankle.
‘What’s this?’ I demanded of Kwin.
‘They tie our legs together,’ she told me. ‘Your right leg to my right leg. The rope’s just long enough to let me get behind you. You’re my lac. I’m the target. If he cuts me, we’ve lost. That’s how I got the cut on my shoulder.’
20
Fighting by Instinct
Above all avoid a fall. It brings the risk of injury or death.
The Manual of Trigladius Combat
‘You didn’t say anything about this!’ I accused Kwin, staring down at the rope. ‘You didn’t tell me I’d have to fight like this!’
I was angry. What else had Kwin failed to tell me? By now the tassel was attaching the other end of the rope to her ankle.
‘It’s my problem. Don’t worry, I’ll match you step for step.’
‘Will he be defending someone?’ I said, nodding towards the tassel.
Kwin shook her head.
‘How do we win?’ I asked.
‘Make it impossible for him to continue.’
There was a cold flatness to Kwin’s voice when she said that; she was clearly trying not to think about what might happen. I think she saw the dismay on my face, because she gripped my left arm tightly and put her lips close to my ear.
‘Give him half a chance and that’s what he’ll do to you!’ she hissed. ‘If he stops you, he can cut me. It’s as simple as that.’