Tyrant Trouble

CHAPTER 20

  Winter in the Olympic Mountains. All I knew about the mountains was that in winter they were snow-topped and postcard pretty from a distance.

  Was this strange land above or below the winter snow line, I wondered. Maybe if I was a hiker or skier I would know how to figure that one. Wasn't. Didn't. I didn't think I had climbed that far and guessed that I was still well within the mild climate of the peninsula, but who knew? The climate in this country was somewhat different from the typical Northwest, about the same temperatures but less rain and a lot more sun. Maybe if some sort of gods wanted to hide a place and planned to visit occasionally, they would want it sunny.

  Or maybe it was those elves living upstairs, maybe they improved the weather.

  Kovat's world was neither past nor future. I knew for certain I hadn't time-traveled because the night sky was correct for the present time. But this country was not visible to the outside world and therefore it had to be controlled by magic. Okay, I grew up in Mudflat, so I accepted that when it comes to magic, non-magic rules don't apply.

  Days shortened, the sun dropped lower in the sky, shadows lengthened, and the city returned to its winter pattern. Cook fires moved indoors. Thin twists of smoke rose from the hole in each roof. Light snow drifted nightly across the hills, glittered in the sunrise and melted to brown mud by midday. There was more sun, yes, but the temperature range was about the same as Seattle. People were faceless shapes above scurrying rag-wrapped feet, covered in tattered shawls from headtops to ankles.

  Like the snow, the warriors of Kovat's army drifted back, a few returning each day, exhausted, hungry, ill. Some wore armor beneath their torn capes, others returned dressed only in blankets and animal skins.

  From the return of the first man, we knew the truth. Until then, we pretended to believe the lie. Now the pretending ended.

  Kovat the Slayer was dead.

  The last time I touched his chart, I felt nothing, no heartbeat, nothing. As I couldn't explain this heartbeat phenomena and hoped I was wrong, I didn't mention it to Tarvik. Now I knew I was right.

  The returning warriors reported, “Kovat fell dead across the banquet goblets. We could not save him.”

  “You stood there and saw my father murdered?” Tarvik demanded.

  “We saw his death. At first we did not know the cause. But when we found all of our weapons were stolen and hidden by Erlan's men, we knew. Erlan murdered your father. His warriors would have slain all of us if we had not fled.”

  “Then why did Erlan return to our city before you?”

  “We could not travel together,” one of them explained. “We escaped on foot. We all wanted to make it back here to warn you, my prince. Erlan had our horses. His scouts pursued us. Our one chance of reaching you was to separate. We followed circling paths to outwit his army. But they spread their scouts wide. I couldn't make it past them.”

  And so it was with all of them. They returned to their home city, where their families lived, possessing little more than loyalty. Their horses were gone and whatever else they owned had been traded to wandering herders for food. To give him credit, Tarvik was smart enough to know that loyalty was what he most needed.

  “We will winter here and make new weapons and rebuild our army. Come spring, we will take what horses we have and perhaps find others on our way,” Tarvik told them.

  “Why are you rebuilding an army?” I asked him when we were alone in the castle courtyard.

  “To go south. I will lead them.”

  “How come?”

  “To capture slaves, weapons, horses, whatever the tribes of Thunder possess. You will chart my stars and tell me when I shall be victorious.”

  “I will not. Look at the way these people live. Not your warriors. Look at your workers, your servants, everybody living in the huts all around us. Without them you have no one to rule. Grow up! Your horses have stone stables and woven blankets and full food troughs. How about treating your people as well?”

  He frowned and glared at me. “They have always lived thus. They do not starve. And without an army, who would protect them?”

  “Protect them! What if Erlan returns while you're off playing warrior?”

  “That is right, Stargazer,” he said, his voice flat. “My first battle is with Erlan. My father's death must be avenged. But I cannot attack Erlan without replenishing my weapons. I will capture an outer village first. We will seize supplies.”

  “Tarvik, you have lost possession of your mind!” I screamed, aware in some corner of my own mind that we were both changing, Tarvik becoming more confident and more in control of his emotions, me flying into Nance-like fits of temper.

  He leaned toward me, his face almost touching mine, the muscles of his jaw tightening. To be the same height as Tarvik was to be same height as a field rock. I could glare back but we both knew which of us was unmovable.

  I fled to the temple.

  This time he didn't send a gold trinket to appease me. For three days I saw nothing of him, heard nothing from him.

  Nance and I tried to ready the temple for increasing cold. We moved the cook fire inside so its smoke drifted upward through the ceiling hole. I tried to describe fireplaces and chimneys.

  “If your fire burns against the wall, does the wall turn black?” Nance asked.

  “The fire burns in this box place with it own chimney. A tube? Tunnel? I don't know, what's a hollow pillar that goes up and through the roof? It's a chimney but I can't explain. Anyhow, it takes the smoke out like the hole in your ceiling.”

  “But then you cannot walk around it.”

  As I was not a builder, I didn't know how to explain why a hearth and chimney served better than a hole in the ceiling, even though I knew that if we had a fireplace we would not constantly breathe smoke. Modern city smog was clean compared to breathing wood smoke all day.

  What I really wanted was a metal pellet stove, capable of giving off some heat, but I knew less about those things than I did about fireplaces. Faced with the problems of maintaining small comforts, as well as preparing the temple for the service of the Winter Solstice, I had little time to wonder what Tarvik was doing.

  He no longer came banging on our gate to relieve his boredom, but as he needed to assume his father's rule quickly, I thought the castle politics must be taking up his time. It wasn't as though I missed the brat.

  Not that I would admit to myself or to Nance. But there were times when I found myself standing motionless with a polishing cloth in my hand, my tasks forgotten and my mind filled with questions about Tarvik. He smiled more easily now than when we'd first met, teased me with his wide grin. Caught me in an occasional hug, then laughed at me when I pushed him away. And when he was angry, he became quiet and thoughtful, and I was less sure of where his mind wandered.

  The boy was turning into an adult, which made him a lot harder to figure out.

  And what about me? No way was I going to spend my life here. I was fond of Nance and I admired old Lor. No matter what I thought of their bloodlust, I respected the loyalty the warriors gave Tarvik. But be stuck here forever?

  “I shall never make a proper templekeeper of you,” Nance scolded, grabbing the cloth from my hand. “If you cannot polish the lamps, do you think you could mend your cape lining?”

  “Nance, you know I can't sew. I will polish.”

  “What is it that sets you dreaming?”

  “Dreaming?”

  “You should see your face, Stargazer. Your thoughts are certainly not on lamp polishing.”

  Too much Tarvik on my mind. I needed to avoid his company. Oh right, at the moment, he was avoiding mine. And yet, my mind kept bringing up questions. He had been raised to be a warrior and I knew from watching the tournaments that he was very good at fighting and insanely fearless. But he also knew how to dance and to cook and to paint pictures. What an odd collection of skills. If I'd met him in Seattle, would we have hit it off? Sure, I was attracted, but not insane. It didn't matter how m
uch fun he was, he came with a weird life filled with impossible attitudes.

  The service of the Winter Solstice fulfilled Nance's dreams, overflowing with chants and rituals, and ended in a ceremony blessing Tarvik as the new ruler. He wore a fur cape against the temple's damp chill, and on his thick hair was his crown, the narrow gold circlet encrusted with dark red garnets.

  Nance chanted until I thought Tarvik himself would fall asleep. Kneeling before the altar, he settled into his cape until his chin rested on his high fur collar and his eyelids drooped. After Nance chanted her last, “praise to the Daughter of the Sun,” Tarvik hurried from the temple.

  “Where's he headed?” I asked her after the temple emptied.

  “He and his men will be up all night celebrating.”

  Drinking. Right. Okay, some male rituals are the same in every land, I guess.

  “Does he inherit his father's position?”

  Their politics were vague, not to them, but definitely to me. They didn't seem to follow any pattern familiar to me, not that I was ever much good at history. I did know Tarvik and Nance had the titles of prince and princess by Kovat's decree, and Alakar, descended from the same line, was not a princess because Kovat hadn't declared her one. And Kovat had been a warlord and hadn't used the title of king, so nothing I'd read or seen in films quite matched the situation.

  “Tarvik now rules his father's lands. To rule over others, he will have to defeat enough of them to cause them to accept him as their leader.”

  “Then why the crown?”

  “That's his crown as heir. The first son of the line of Kovat always has the title of Garnet Prince. He wears the crown for high ceremonies. Kovat's crown is much more grand.”

  “Is that how Kovat controlled the other warlords, by defeating them? Oh. Guess that's why he was called Kovat the Slayer.”

  “Perhaps the next great ruler will be Tarvik the Terrible,” Nance said and giggled. “Tarvik designed his crown himself and Kovat had it made for him.”

  “I remember it. He wore it at the banquet after the games.”

  Another skill, designing patterns for metalwork. If Tarvik could give up his destructive hobbies and keep the creative ones, and I could find a transporter to swish us magically back to Seattle, we'd have nothing to argue about, I thought. I'd gladly let him keep his warrior training for one day so I could watch him march into the Decko house swinging his broadsword around. Okay, nice dream.

  “Tarvik loves garnets,” she said. “His dress robes are always that color.”

  Right, he wore a velvet tunic, dark red in the fireglow, the night he taught me the country dances.

  The next afternoon, with the sun a pale ghost behind the gray overcast in the southern sky, Tarvik sent for me.

  “Am I to come also?” Nance asked the guard who stood outside our gate.

  “The prince has requested only the templekeeper called Stargazer.”

  After they escorted me to the castle gate where Tarvik waited, he dismissed his guards and walked ahead of me outside the wall, tersely commanding me to follow.

  No explanation. Just, “Come along.”

  Where was the boy who had washed my skinned elbows with mead, then hugged and kissed and comforted me? I'd had my share of guys who chased until they got close, then backed off with lame excuses, the old, “I'll call you,” and never did thing. Somehow I thought the tarbaby and I had gone past that point, that we were friends.

  We crossed the outer courtyard and circled the wall, our feet slipping on melting frost. I was surprised to see workmen drawing lines in the frozen ground on the far side of the castle.

  “What are they doing?” I asked.

  “What I promised you. Building you a castle of your own.”

  I stood speechless, memory deserting me.

  Tarvik stopped and turned to face me, his yellow hair lifting in the wind and catching in the fur collar on his cape. His eyes narrowed, with laugh lines at their edges, and the corners of his mouth turned upward.

  “Have you forgotten so quickly, Stargazer? I told you once if you served me well, I would build you a castle. You have saved me and my whole city. Without you, Ober would have stolen my mind. I might have ruled as Erlan's slave or I might have died. The wisdom of your stars exceeds the magic of Ober and even the guidance of the Daughter. You will be the most important person in my land and will advise me in all things.”

  I let out my breath slowly. It formed a cloud in the cold air and disappeared. My own castle? That sounded way too permanent. I was hoping when the confusion settled, I could convince Tarvik to take me back to the stream where we met to see if I could find the way out.

  My outdoor skills were nil. Without his help, I would never find the exact area, hey, one patch of forest looks just like another patch of forest which is probably why hikers are always getting lost. The entry had to be somewhere near the place where I had first seen him.

  Tarvik folded his hand around mine, lifted my hand, turned it over and put a small leather pouch in my palm. It was closed with knotted leather strings.

  “What's this?”

  “Something I put together for you.”

  The strings that closed the pouch were tightly knotted.

  “Have we had an argument?”

  “I hope not.”

  “Then why the gift?”

  I stopped working on the strings and looked at him until he finally met my gaze.

  “Yes, all right,” he said and took back the pouch and unknotted the strings and returned it to me. “I don't like you angry with me.”

  “I'm not angry. And I don't need gifts every time we disagree.”

  “Stargazer! Open it. It isn't an apology. Just something I thought you could use.”

  Use? Now I was curious. I could feel small tumbling items in the pouch and cupped my hand below the opening and poured them out. They caught the daylight, sparkled, stunned me.

  Speechless, I pushed them around with my fingertip. They were jewels, each as clear as water and as brilliant as a star and each was a different color. Jewel mines in the Olympics? Not that I had ever heard of. Whatever they were, gemstone or crystal, each was cut and faceted to reflect light.

  Slowly I sorted them out, touching each one as I whispered its color and name. “Yellow Mercury, red Mars, green Saturn, lavender Neptune, blue Jupiter, and oh my god is this a diamond for Venus? And this.” I touched a stone that was a soft copper-gold and sparkled with little gold flecks. “My grandmother had earrings of this. She called it sandstone. Perfect for Uranus.”

  “Do you like them?”

  I could hardly breathe. “You remembered all the colors I painted on the pebbles.”

  Two more pieces slid into my hand, two round flat bits the size of coins, a silver moon and a gold sun.

  “Does that mean you like them?”

  I think I managed to say thank you. I slid the jewels back into the pouch and put it in my pocket before he could change his mind. I had never had jewels to wear and never thought about wanting them, but markers made of jewels? It was as though I held stars in my hand and it frightened me a little to covet anything so much.

  “The castle could take a while to build. I thought you might like to have the markers now.”

  “But I don't need a separate castle. I'm fine in the temple with Nance.” I didn't add that I wasn't planning to stay around that long.

  “The temple will be closed.” Tarvik turned away.

  “Why?” I caught at his arm to turn him to face me.

  This time he wouldn't meet my gaze.

  He said softly, “The Daughter saved my father once, but now she has forgotten him. She no longer looks after the line of Kovat. I will seal the temple and leave it as a memorial to him.”

  “But I don't understand! I'm the one who advised Kovat to go to battle before the full moon.”

  “You said if he did, he and his army would be victorious, and so they were, Stargazer. They defeated a powerful warlo
rd and captured his treasure hoard. That is why he gave a victory banquet for his army and his brother's army. But you told him then, and I heard you say it, that you saw only the success of his army, not his own fate. You saw correctly, Stargazer. The Daughter deserted him.”

  “But what about Nance?”

  She took her role as templekeeper seriously. This was going to be a huge shock for her, losing her temple, but maybe we could set up something in the main castle to keep her busy. I'd have to think about that. Oh God, now I was going to be a career counselor to barbarians. In horoscopes back home, where I knew job categories, I gave a lot of career advice, but here? Even if I had her birth date and could draw her horoscope, what sorts of jobs were available for a warlord's niece?

  He pressed his lips together and stared past me.

  “I don't need a separate castle. If you have to close the temple, Nance and I can share a room in your castle.” I could not read his thoughts on his face because he was trying to hide them from me, not a good sign.

  “There is a city beyond the mountain's shadow ruled by a cousin of my father. He sent his messenger last summer to ask for Nance in marriage. Kovat promised the Daughter that Nance would remain in the temple, and he told me then that he would not break that promise. But now the promises to the Daughter don't matter. She deserted my father. It would be a good marriage for Nance. I need this man as an ally.”

  “Nance is not a gold bracelet! You can't give her away like some trinket!”

  He frowned and I saw in his smooth face the twisted scowl of Kovat. “Of course I can. I rule this city.”

  “But Nance is your friend! Your cousin! Practically like a sister to you!”

  “Nance will have her own castle. She should be pleased with that.”

  “But you will ask her,” I insisted. “It's up to her.”

  He clenched his fists and said in his low voice that was so much more frightening than a shout, “Stargazer, you drive me to fury! I am building you a castle. I will give you slaves and power. But you are not the ruler. I am.”

  I, too, could clench my fists and scowl, and you bet that's what I did.

  “I don't want a castle or slaves or power or anything else from you. Listen up, little boy. I want you to promise me that Nance is free to make her own choices.”

  “That is not possible.”

  He would not meet my stare. Instead, he swung around on his heel and marched away from me, leaving me alone on the windy hillside.

  “Well enough,” I shouted after him. “Close me up in this prison you're building for me, but you can't make me tell your fortune! You're on your own, fella!”

  And so it ended, as did all our fights, with both of us furious, neither of us willing to give an inch. This time it was Nance's inch and I'd fight to keep it for her. When I returned to the temple, I asked Nance about this cousin of Kovat, hoping she would tell me he was some great guy she'd always had a thing for.

  “A horrible old man with breath like swamp water,” she said. “Why do you ask?”

  “Tarvik mentioned him.” I was too cowardly to tell her the rest of it.

  The pouch of jewels burned in my pocket. I would throw it back in his face, I decided, unless he changed his mind about Nance.