CHAPTER 21
“Before the Treaty of Mnemon, the kings of Turuna recruited children as soldiers.” They marched, now, slowly, and Jani’s voice carried in the cool night air.
“My great-uncle says magic was a weapon of war, then. I’ve thought about it. I’m sure all of you have. What could an army, even a squad of second-cyclers, do to one of our current armies? Only the king had such an army, however, and he called the members of that army sordellas.” She paused, and Blay took up the story.
“After Mnemon el’Nankek disappeared, Pepis pi’Kanjea the Tyrant ruled with fear and terrible power for a hundred years. When he finally died, the clans disbanded the sordellas. They signed the Treaty of Mnemon to prevent anyone from creating another army of children. In the thousand years since, any clan breaking the treaty by recruiting children has been crushed by the combined might of all the other clans.”
“You forgot to mention Pisor — the Sword of Kings,” Lujo commented. “We all know Mnemon el’Nankek, the last kingmaker, took the sword with him. But, well, when Dinal pi’Kanjea — Pepis’ ancestor of seven generations — was king, his sordellas brought him the swords of his enemies, at his command. He kept them as trophies.
“One day, they gave him a sword that lacked a pommel. When Dinal took the unadorned sword, he regained all the magic he had possessed as a child, but his very life became bound to the sordella who had given him the sword. ‘I am the kingmaker,’ said the boy soldier. ‘You rule until I no longer wish it, and then you die, and I will choose a new king. If I die, so do you. If anyone other than the king or me touches Pisor before I die, he too shall die.’”
Tirud snorted while drinking water, and they all laughed as he choked.
“How trite!” Jani said.
Lujo went on as if the interruption had not happened. “Dinal did not believe the sordella, so he had the kingmaker killed and died for his folly. One of the other sordellas took Pisor from the dead king and became the next kingmaker — creating and destroying kings. Mnemon el’Nankek was the last kingmaker, and soon after he made Pepis the Tyrant, he vowed never to make another king so long as he lived.”
“In Pophir, they say Dinal had the blood priests forge Pisor,” Nolen said. “It had the power to drain children of their magic and to bestow that magic on an adult. The kings used it to create the blood priests’ magic. Instead of unmaking the king he had made, Mnemon stole Pisor from Pepis and fled into the desert with it.”
“There are many stories,” Lujo said.
“But I thought using magic in war wasn’t allowed,” Retus said. “Is it?”
“No using magic,” Blay said with a severe expression, pointing his finger at Lujo, who flinched.
“What ... ?” Lujo sputtered.
Blay laughed and pointed his finger at each of them in turn. Chaos erupted as they ducked and cursed. A thin stream of water hit Butu in the face before he could escape. It wasn’t a lot — less than a mouthful, but more than a bead of spit.
“What was that?” Nolen said, wiping his face with the back of his hand.
“You know how us adults’ll tell you that most Turu keep a magic talent even after they grow up? That’s one of mine.” Blay grinned. “So now my secret is out.”
He sobered, absently patting the camel next to him. “The most common interpretation of the Treaty of Mnemon is that you can use magic as long as no enemies are close enough to notice. No one is going to care if a sordenu survives a trip across the desert by sucking water from his finger. If you use a hide-and-seek chant to help you ambush an enemy army, though, you’ve just broken the treaty, and the Ahjea will disown or kill you and all your accomplices if anyone finds out what you did.”
“You only get in trouble if you get caught,” Butu said, remembering what Zurburan had said.
“Exactly.”
Tirud shifted, and Butu thought he saw him open his mouth to object.
“How much water can you make like that?” Retus asked.
“Enough to keep a man alive from day to day,” Blay said. “Useful enough to me but not especially useful for the sordenu as a whole, I’m afraid.”
“Jani’s would be more useful,” Butu mused. “But it would also violate the treaty.”
“Oh? What can you do, Jani?” Lujo asked.
“I can still hide whenever I want,” Jani said.
“Wish I’d had that talent the night before training started,” Nolen said, laughing. “It would’ve saved me a night on the obstacle course. What’s yours, Tirud?”
The tall sordenu shook his head. “I have none.”
“Surely you must...” Butu began.
“I don’t,” Tirud growled. “Not everyone is so lucky as Jani and Blay. The closest thing I have is being a bit taller than most, but that’s got nothing to do with magic.”
Nolen and Butu exchanged disbelieving glances. Even Jani seemed mildly surprised.
“The first night, when Phedam and I met you behind the barracks,” Nolen said, “how did you sneak out?”
This was a story they hadn’t mentioned to Butu before. This was probably why Nolen and Phedam spent so much time with Kira.
“You didn’t have to use magic to get out, you know. I walked out like I was about proper sordenu business.” Tirud grinned. “Most times, people don’t look at you twice if you seem to belong, but that isn’t magic.”
You have to learn to see, Butu thought. Whoever was guarding the barracks assumed Tirud knew the rules better than they did.
“Enough,” Blay said, cutting off Nolen’s next question. “You think practicing magic will keep it from fading, Butu? Well, all of you will have plenty of chances to practice soon enough. You’re a squad of green sordenu, now. The only way to season you is to send you into the field. Some lessons can’t be learned from old blood priests.”
The younger sordenu all grinned at the prospect, but Tirud looked grim.
“So, we were picked for this mission because we can still use magic,” Nolen reasoned. “That makes it more likely we’ll be able to find water. I was the oldest kid in Pophir to win the water-finding contest two years running. This won’t be so hard.”
“It isn’t as if you’re doing it for honey cakes and the thrill of victory,” Tirud said. “It’s different if you have to find it to stay alive, much less if you just have orders. I’ve crossed the shanjin before, so it can be done, but it won’t be easy.”
This must be why he knows where we’re going, Butu thought. Maybe Tirud is more than just a sordenu.