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Topiara - Chapter 10
Lyara waited in the darkened doorway for her eyes to adjust to the dimness of the tiny tavern before entering. The stench of spilled ale and other, more unpleasant occurrences assailed her nostrils and made her wince and pull her cloak in closer to her body, as if the small act would prevent her from being contaminated by the filth that was everywhere. Quickly she surveyed the room and found the person she had been sent to meet, the slender aristocrat looking definitely out of place amongst the cruder commonfolk of Tandri. He gave a weak-hearted smile when he saw that she had finally noticed him and poured a second glass of ale from the tin pitcher in front of him as she slid onto the bench across the table from him.
When the young man had finished pushing the glass of ale into her hand and lifted his eyes to look into her face, he gave a gasp of astonishment. "I was hoping Lyndon would at least send me one of his almost-best, not some girl!"
Lyara had heard similar remarks all through her training, as had most of the other female chatoris, so it no longer piqued her anger. "Maybe he figured I was the best for the job," she responded coolly. "Forget I'm a girl and just tell me what you want me to do for you. I'm quite capable of telling you if I'm able to handle the job once I know what it is."
The young aristocrat shook his head firmly. "No. Definitely not. I need someone who can fight as well as guide me. The assignment is a dangerous one -- not one fit for a girl who couldn't handle a larger sword if her life depended on it," he added, pointing to the half-length sword Lyara wore in her scabbard.
Lyara's face betrayed no emotion as she carefully grasped her glass and raised it to her lips to down more than half it's contents at one gulp. But his words had stung her after all, and her displeasure erupted as she slammed the glass down on the table again, splashing some of the remaining liquid on the table. "I've killed Kauwlut raiders in the mountains and bandits on the desert with my 'little' sword, for your information. You don't need to be able to swing a heavy weight to do the damage necessary. You, on the other hand," she sniffed derisively, "look more like one of those near-sighted scholars more at home with their noses in books than someone who is hiring a Guide for a dangerous and life-threatening journey."
"You've also got a sharp tongue and saucy wit for a chatori Guide."
"I've only three weeks left of my contract, and then I'm my own master again. I can choose whether to stay with Master Lyndon and be a full Guide or leave and follow my own path." Lyara's voice was chilled. "As for my wit, I've had need of it to be sharp. Master Lyndon hasn't hesitated in sending me on dangerous assignments where a sharp wit and tongue were essential tools of survival. I don't think he would have sent me to you if he had any doubts about my abilities." She took a deep breath to calm herself and end her harangue. "Now why don't you tell me where you want to go and what you want to do when we get there. Otherwise this will have been an utter waste of time for the both of us."
The stiffness seemed to flow from the young man's face, and he slumped as he picked up his drink. "I suppose I really have no choice. If my father found out what I'm planning, he would see to it that I became an apprentice stable-sweeper for the rest of my life." The vivid blue eyes that were a symbol of pure aristocratic bloodlines focused intensely on Lyara's face. "It took an hour of pleading with your Master Lyndon just to set up this meeting. I suppose you're angry enough with me now not to want to listen..."
Lyara had taken up her glass of ale again while listening to the young man, and she waved it in front of her. "Forget that. You say you're flying in the face of your father's anger?" Her ebony eyes met the stare of aristocratic blue. "You've managed to arouse my interest with that. So, out with it!"
The young man sighed. "My name is Jilan Torbishahn, son of the King's chancellor. Two months ago, my little cousin Sidon, was visiting with some relatives in the North when the Kauwluts came looking for animals and slaves. We haven't seen him since."
Lyara nodded, carefully keeping her expression neutral in the face of her rising excitement. "So you want me to lead you to the Kauwlut lands in hopes of being able to find him and bring him home, right?"
Jilan seemed about to burst out with emotional words, but the impulse died as quickly as it arose. He sighed again. "Sidon is the third son of my uncle, and not very important to anyone in light of the circumstances. Anyone except me, that is." He looked at Lyara in anguished pleading. "Sidon is a gentle soul, easily frightened because he can't hear. I was the only one of the whole family who took the time to try to teach him anything," he smiled sadly, "mostly because, at first, I was the one saddled with taking care of him. Besides, I felt sorry for the little fellow."
"But you got attached to him?" Lyara pressed him gently.
"I discovered he had an uncanny affinity for animals, really quite astonishing what he could do with them. Ponies, dogs, any animal you can imagine, they all seem to love him and do whatever he wants." Jilan slumped again. "I got used to having him shadowing me whenever I went to the stables or the races, and I just can't imagine him being with those furred savages."
"The Kauwlut aren't so savage that they won't eventually realize him as an asset rather than just a slave, Jilan. I take it he does train the animals?"
"Oh, yes," Jilan responded with pride. "He can have a pony tamed in less than a day and broken to bridle and saddle in less than three."
"Once the Kauwlut find all this out," Lyara soothed, "he'll become a valuable member of the clan. He'll be given the respect that he probably would never have seen here in Tandri, and live a good life."
"But what if he's working in a deep mine, nowhere near the animals? What if someone is using him as a drudge to be punished when a young Kauwlut does something wrong?" Jilan was showing more desperation and fear than he had at first, exposing his darkest dreads about his cousin's welfare.
Lyara shook her head. "In the first place, the Kauwlut have no mines; they steal their weapons from the Talandri they raid. In the second, the punishment drudge you mentioned is a custom of Talandri aristocracy and something the Kauwlut would never even consider."
"He belongs here, in Tandri, not in some tent-camp out in the middle of nowhere!"
"Have you any idea of how large the Kauwlut lands are to the north? They control everything all the way north to the Djerani coast, from one side of the continent to the other. Do you intend for us to visit each and every tent-camp to search for him?"
Lyara's words had stung Jilan, and it was his turn to slam his empty glass down in anger. "You're just like everybody else! I've heard the arguments before, from my father, uncle — even from the King! It's not fair, I tell you!" he stood up, nearly upsetting the table in the process. "He's just a little boy, lost among strangers who don't understand his problems and with customs he could have no way of understanding."
"Sit down, before you draw a crowd!" Lyara hissed, pulling at his sleeve until he finally flopped back down onto his bench. "Listen. I had to test your resolve before I could even consider the assignment. I had to know the extent of your determination before I could allow myself to get into a position of having to depend on you for my life." She smiled gently into his angry face. "Besides," she added softly and little sadly, "I can remember a little Kauwlut girl, taken from her father's tent in the middle of the night, taken to strange lands and made to learn an unfamiliar task because she wasn't able to remember the skills she was learning from before." Lyara paused with an indescribable expression. "I can imagine how abandoned she felt when her people never made any effort to come to get her."
Jilan looked up into her face, all traces of his anger gone. "Poor child. Did she ever find her way home again?"
Lyara shook herself free of her mood with a sniff. "No," she answered a little too briskly, drawing a sharp look from Jilan, "she never did. Even now, she lives and works for those same Talandri who killed her family and carried her away so many years ago."
"You sound as if you knew her rather well," Jilan commented, convinced her words were in earnest.
Lyara looked him straight in the eye. "I did, very well indeed." Then she leaned forward and refilled both her own and Jilan's glass. "I'll take the assignment, if you still want me. That is," she added with a gleaming smile, "if you think a girl can lead and fight."
Jilan looked at his glass for a moment before he grasped it. "I guess you sound as if you can do the job. To Sidon," he exclaimed, raising the glass high.
Lyara raised her glass aloft and tapped Jilan's. "Yes. To Sidon," and together they both downed the contents.
oOoOo
I figured you would be interested in this one, in light of your background," Lyndon remarked kindly as he watched Lyara tie the clothes pack to Surefoot's saddle. "I always thought you would eventually go looking for your past."
Topiara, dangling in its pouch beneath her tunic and between Lyara's breasts, warmed as if in response, making Lyara stifle a grin at her Power's delight. "I'm doing this for the boy, Master, not for myself. Perhaps because I can remember being in the same situation myself long ago. But," she turned to look at her Master, "I'm not looking to find any of my lost kin in the process."
"Sure," Lyndon grinned, and both of them knew that he in no way believed her obvious untruth. He then grew serious and pulled from the pocket of his short cloak a large pouch that jingled with many pieces of specie. "Listen. I know your contract with me will most likely run out long before you return to Tandri, if and when you ever do return. You've done well, and been one of the best Guides I've ever had the pleasure to train." He held out the pouch to her. "So, this is your portion of the payments earned this past year a little early, including your share of the payment Jilan put up for this assignment." He pushed the heavy pouch into her hands. "Take it, Lyara. You've earned it. And when you return to Tandri, if you ever do, please consider rejoining us as a full instructor."
Lyara was speechless; but, in the depths of her mind, Topiara whispered, "You're free now, don't you see? But you need this assignment before you are ready to go to the South." A picture formed in her mind of the rolling, green hills of the Kauwlut homelands, and she felt a vague stab of homesickness.
"Lyara? Lyara?!"
The mental vision disappeared abruptly as Lyndon shook his chatori's arm. "You're doing it again," Lyndon said in concern. "Your eyes got glazed, and you didn't seem to hear me for a moment."
Lyara shook herself mentally. "I was just thinking and remembering," she explained lamely. "Maybe I am doing this for myself as much as for the boy."
"You had best be careful of these spells of yours; they could come at the wrong time, and you could get yourself and Jilan killed."
"I'm alright, Master," Lyara smiled convincingly. She pushed the heavy pouch of specie deep into the folds of the clothes pack. "I'll be able to use this to get supplies, so thank you." She was finally finished backing, and so she turned one last time to face Lyndon. "I'll consider your offer when I return," she promised and extended her hand. "I'll miss you."
"Here is another who will miss your company if you don't return to us," Lyndon remarked as Iliria came from the stables and began trotting toward them at the sight of Lyara. "May your gods take good care of you in your efforts," Lyndon finished solemnly, taking Lyara's hand firmly. "May the trail before you be smooth and trouble-free. Remember, you always will have a place in the Guides if you want it, Lyara." He pulled her into a brusque hug and then turned on his heel to walk quickly back to the Hall.
"You weren't going to leave without saying goodbye, were you?" Iliria demanded.
"Of course not. Lyndon said you were brushing down your mount, so I would have found you in there if you hadn't come out."
"Is it true what they say?" Iliria's face mirrored her concern. "Are you on your way to the Kauwlut homelands?"
"Yes." Lyara could think of no reason not to admit the truth. "My client wants to search for someone up there."
Iliria shook her head. "The Kauwluts are so savage when they get one of us, Lyara. And you've killed enough of them to know what they're like. Are you sure you aren't playing with your own death this time?"
Lyara shook her head and smiled. "You of all people should know why I couldn't turn this one down, Iliria. I feel so much for that child taken from his Talandri home..."
"There would be no convincing you otherwise even if I wanted to try." Iliria put her arm across Lyara's shoulder. "But you promised me you would help me with my final assignment, remember? How are you going to do that if you're dead and frozen up on the steppes?"
"I'll haunt you if you don't do well, then," Lyara quipped, her voice light and joking. "I'll be back before then, Iliria. Lyndon wants me as an instructor anyway. I couldn't disappoint my two closest friends now, could I?"
"Just come back to us, Lyara," Iliria said, hugging her friend close. "May your gods care for you as much as we do."
"And may yours do the same, my friend," Lyara returned the hug and then mounted Surefoot. "Until we see each other again." She pulled at the reins and waved at Iliria, then kneed Surefoot into a trot that took them quickly from the Guides-Hall courtyard and into the city.
oOoOo
"How did you explain this journey to your father?" Lyara asked Jilan as they walked their ponies side by side through the gates of Tandri and out into the verdant autumn countryside.
"I didn't," the young Talandri said with a grimace. "I didn't dare even tell him I was going to leave Tandri for fear he would figure out what I had in mind."
"Wonderful! That means there may be a search party sent after us when they discover you've actually left," Lyara sighed in disgust, "and that's all we'll need."
"They won't even begin to wonder for several days. When you called me a book-bound scholar in the tavern, you've no idea how truthful you were being. Father knows I'm in the habit of spending days at a time in the book stacks of the university every once in a while. He won't even think to come looking for me there for at least four days -- six if he remembers the last time I did research there."
"Only if he doesn't make the connection between your disappearing act and the noise you made when Sidon was captured, that is." She leaned forward and gave Surefoot a scratch behind his right ear, a favorite caress. "Alright, we're outside the city. Now I need to know where Sidon was captured in the first place, so we can cross over into the Kauwlut lands there and begin our search."
"There's a small village about two day's ride from the Kauwlut lands called Korlan. My uncle's summer residence is about a day's ride north of there in a small valley."
"I've heard of Korlan," Lyara remarked, "but I've never been there. Isn't it in the middle of the Thinian Forest near the western coast?"
"That's right. Uncle Jaran spends the summers hunting mountain wolves and overseeing the valley farmlands for my father."
"It's late in the year. Is your uncle in residence now, or is he back in Tandri?"
Jilan made a wry face. "He cut short his summering when Sidon was taken, and he came back to Tandri about three weeks ago."
"Good," Lyara exclaimed. "We've got a long way to go to Korlan riding hard and fast, so we can get there before the snows start. Surefoot is used to a fast pace, can your pony handle it?"
"Fleetwind here is one of my father's fastest racing ponies. You couldn't set a pace that he couldn't keep up with," Jilan said with pride, patting his mount on the side of the neck.
"Then let's ride," Lyara shouted and kneed Surefoot into a fast trot, with Jilan doing the same to stay at her side.
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