Waterborn

joy.

Perkar saw Apad die; Karak, the Crow God, lighted on him, one black claw on each shoulder, slashed down with his razor-sharp beak. Apad's head split like a seed.

Perkar stumbled as a wolf bit into his leg; he cut it, but it did not let go, and then his head snapped around to face the greater danger: the lion. It was favoring one leg, probably from the impact of Apad's horse. Still, it leapt, snarling, and Perkar sheared into its skull even as the weight of the beast hit him. Distantly he felt his belly split open, heard the mail tear. More pain followed, from too many places to keep track of. The last thing he saw was the Huntress standing over him, her spear flashing down toward his throat.

IX

A Gift of Bronze and Hope

For the next few days, Hezhi worked diligently on her map; she hoped to have it done before she started bleeding again, before the priests came back. Despite what she had told Tsem, she had no wish to have her fate decided without even knowing what was happening. D'en and the others were taken down the Darkness Stair. It was clear to her now that, as she had suspected, the stair descended into a part of the buried palace. She found evidence that the central portion of the palace had its foundation reinforced with thick pillars of basalt—so that it would not collapse into the underpalace. It seemed to her that it would have been simpler merely to fill the old rooms with sand, as had been done in most other places—unless there was some use for the rooms. The extra foundations suggested that the rooms down there were still open, perhaps even maintained. A sort of secret palace, where people like D'en were whisked off to for some reason con-nected with puberty. With power, she suspected. With being 'River-Blessed.' Her hypothetical 'underpalace' could be quite large, she realized. Her earlier explorations actually might have taken her very near it.

Thinking about it further, she concluded that the Darkness Stair could not be the only way in, either. If there were people down there, there must be water—and, of course, a sewer system. For the first time in a year, her thoughts returned to actually going down, beneath the city again. But she wanted a map first, some idea of where she was going. It would be easy and embarrassing to get lost, and probably fatal to Tsem.

She stopped work about midmorning and began her tasks for Ghan. He had ceased to watch her closely, these past days, and she realized gradually that he trusted her. Though he seldom complimented her work, he rarely denigrated it, either. For Ghan, this was a rare show of kindness. She suspected—only suspected, and she would never mention it to him—that he had torn the book and indentured her because it was the only way he could teach her. He was a stern, hard man, without much love for anyone, no children that she knew of, no wife. He never gave anything away, at least ostensibly, and yet it seemed to her that he had given her the most valuable gift she could imagine.

Yen came into the library about noon. He had been there, working, almost every day, though they had not spoken for the past several, only nodded at one another from across the room. Today, however, he approached her, rather shyly, she thought.

'Hello, my la… ah, Hezhi.'

'Good day, Yen,' she returned, again hoping she sounded a bit older, more mature.

He nodded nervously. 'I wanted to thank you…' he began.

'You did that already,' she told him.

'Yes, but it appears that thanks to you I will keep my position with the engineers, at least for a while. I…' Still embarrassed, he produced a little cloth package. 'I wanted to give you something. To show my appreciation.'

Hezhi's eyes widened, and she reached hesitantly for the small packet.

'Please don't misunderstand,' he added quickly. 'It's just… well, it's only a present because you helped me. I'm not…' He stuttered off, unable to finish, his dark eyes appealing for her to understand what he was trying to say.

'Thank you,' she said. 'I understand; there isn't any need to explain. Here in the palace we give presents often.' But no one other than my servants ever gave one to me, she finished, in her head. Not even the annoying Wezh, who had been trying to get her attention more and more lately.

'Ah, well, see if you like it,' Yen suggested. 'If not, I could bring you something else.'

She fumbled at the cloth, simultaneously eager to open it but aware that she should not seem too eager. When the wrapping came away, she grinned in delight. It was a little bronze figurine of exotic workmanship, quite unlike anything in the palace. It was a horse in full gallop, but instead of a horse's neck and head, the slender torso of a woman rose up, naked. Her hair was feathering behind her, as if in the wind, and in one hand she carried a spear. Her expression was fierce, barbaric, joyful.

'It's beautiful,' she breathed. 'I've never seen anything like this.'

'It is Mang,' he informed her.

'Mang?'

'My father trades with them, sometimes, with the southern ones, anyway. They follow the River down from the north to the port at Wun.'

'The Mang are half horse?'

Yen smiled. 'No. This is part of their legend. The Mang live on horseback, you see. They believe that horses are their kin. The horses are even members of their clans, if you can believe that.'

'It seems very strange,' Hezhi murmured, turning the statuette over and over in her palms.

'They are very barbaric,' Yen confided. 'I met one once. They always carry swords and spears and never take their armor off, even to sleep or… uh, even to sleep.' He reddened a bit and then went on. 'Anyway, they believe that horse and rider who die together are reunited like this, after death. They even say that there is a place, far to the east, where these creatures dwell.'

'I like this,' Hezhi said. 'I like the story, too. Thank you for both of them.'

He grinned happily, bowed. 'My lady,' he said, and then backed away toward his books.

Hezhi examined the figurine again. When she looked back up, she caught Ghan staring at her, a look of pure disgust on his face. She purpled, knowing what he was thinking. He would believe that his prediction was coming true, that all of his time with her would be wasted when she ran off with some 'young fop.'

Hezhi went back to shelving, trying to look very busy. Ghan was wrong if he thought that, wrong in many ways. First of all, Yen was no 'fop.' He was thoughtful and intelligent, totally unlike the courtiers whom Ghan so hated. Second of all, he was not courting her and she was not interested in him. Such a thing wasn't even conceivable; she was the daughter of the Chakunge. Of course, she had never told Yen that, and very tenuous nobility sometimes married younger daughters into the merchant class…

But that was ridiculous. He was much older than she, and while political marriages could create such unions, they did not happen out of attraction. Such a good-looking young man as Yen was certainly not attracted to a twelve-year-old without visible breasts or hips. She had heard Tsem and some of the guards often enough, talking about what attracted men to women, and it didn't seem to be wit or good manners.

So Ghan was wrong, and he should know better. The more she thought about it, the more angry she got, and after Yen left, when it was nearly time to go, she marched up to his desk.

'He isn't courting me,' she hissed at him.

Ghan looked up at her, his face registering puzzlement.

'What?' he asked mildly.

'I saw you look at us… at me.'

The shadow of a smile fell across his lips. 'I was angry because you were helping him,' he said. 'I have no great love for the priesthood, and they sent him here.'

'Oh,' she said, her voice suddenly very small.

'But now that you mention it, you do seem to watch him a lot…' Ghan observed thoughtfully.

'Well,' Hezhi said, perhaps a bit defensively, 'he just seems brighter than most people who come in here.'

'That's true enough,' Ghan remarked dryly, 'though that is by no means an endorsement.'

'No, I guess it isn't,' she replied.