I helped him onto the platform as Rilla, Chart's mother and my master's body servant, stepped out of the library and kneeled at the doorway For the first time I noticed the swirls of grey hair in the neat loop of her 'unmarried' braid. It was meant to be her disgrace, but she wore it with quiet dignity My master extended one foot and she slid off his scuffed silk slipper, then the other, placing them neatly on a small woven mat.
'We are not to be disturbed,' my master ordered. He held out his hand and I helped him over the lip of the threshold.
Rilla looked up at me and raised her eyebrows. I twitched my shoulder into a shrug, then hurriedly pulled off my woven straw sandals, grabbing the doorframe for balance. Black dirt striped my feet around the pattern of the straps. I licked my fingers and rubbed the top of each foot, but the dirt just smeared into streaks.
'Stay still,' Rilla said softly. She took a cloth out of her pocket and wiped my left ankle.
'You don't need to do that,' I said, trying to pull my foot away No one had touched my bad leg since the splints had come off three years ago.
She held my foot still. 'A Dragoneye has servants,' she said.
'Best get used to it.' She scrubbed my other foot clean. 'Now give me your sandals and go in.'
Four years ago, when I came to my master's house — a half-starved drudge willing to become a boy for food and warmth — Rilla was the only person who showed me any care. At first I thought it was because I was a cripple, like her son, but later I realised she desperately needed my master to have a successful candidate. 'No one else will have us in their house,' she once told me, stroking Chart's dusty hair. 'I've seen a lot of boys come through here, Eon, but you're our best chance. 'You're special.' At the time I thought she had guessed the secret, but she hadn't. And even if she did know, she would never say anything. Rilla was bound too tightly to my master, his tolerance of Chart a hundred times more compelling than any bond of indenture.
I handed her the sandals, smiling my thanks. She shooed me into the library
'Close the doors, Eon,' my master said. He was standing at the cabinet sorting through the keys he wore around his neck on a length of red silk.
I pulled shut the doors and waited for further instruction. He looked up and nodded at the visitor's chair in front of the desk.
'Sit down,' he said, shaking a key free.
Sit down? In a chair? I watched him insert the key into the lock. Had I heard correctly? I crossed the soft, thick carpet and gingerly laid my hand on the back of the chair, waiting for a reprimand. Nothing. I glanced across at my master. He had a leather pouch and a small black ceramic jar in his hands.
'I said sit down,' he ordered, closing the cabinet doors.
I perched on the very edge of the leather seat, my hands tight around the carved armrests. I had always imagined a chair would be comfortable, but it was hard against my rump bones and made my hip ache again. I shifted around, trying to recapture the warm ease I'd felt in the garden, but it was gone. I looked at the closed double doors, imagining the stark landscape outside. Did the
garden take my pain? Did its Moon energies call to my hidden self? I shivered. My master was right: I could not afford to enter it again. Not so close to the ceremony On the desk in front of me were two small, black lacquered death plaques. I tried to read the names carved into the wood, but I could not make sense of the upside-down characters. I quickly looked away from them as my master sat in the chair opposite me. He placed the leather pouch and jar next to the two memorials.
'So it is tomorrow,' he said.
I nodded, keeping my eyes fixed on the desk.
'You are prepared.'
It was a statement, not a question, but I nodded again. An image of old Armsmaster Hian flashed through my mind. Now was the time to ask my master about the Reverse Horse Dragon Second.
'I went to a ghost-maker today' my master said softly.
I was so startled I looked up and met his eyes. A ghost-maker dealt in herbs and potions and, it was said, in the spirits of the unborn.
'She gave me this.' He pushed the pouch towards me. 'If it is taken as a tea every morning, it will stop the Moon energy But it can only be taken for three months. Then it becomes poison to the body'
I hunched down in the chair.
'Your Moon cycle must be stopped for these ceremonies,' he continued. And if you succeed tomorrow, then —'
'I am about to bleed,' I whispered.
'What?'
'I have all the signs.' I ducked my head lower. 'It's early. I don't know why'
I saw my master's hands clench the edge of the table. It was as though his anger weighted the air between us.
'Have you started?'
'No, but I have the —'
He held up his hand. 'Quiet.' I watched his long fingers tap the wood. 'If it has not started, then all is not lost. She said it was to be taken before your next cycle starts.' He picked up the pouch. 'You must take a cup now'
He leaned back and pulled on the bell cord hanging behind the desk. Almost immediately the far door opened. Rilla stepped in and bowed.
'Tea,' he said. Rilla bowed again and stepped out, closing the door.
'I'm sorry, Master,' I said.
'It would be most unfortunate if the whims of your body undid four years of planning.' He steepled his fingers. 'I do not know why you have the gift of full dragon sight, Eon. It must be some plan of the gods. How else can I explain my impulse to test a girl on my search for a candidate? It goes against all that is natural.' He shook his head.
I knew he was right; women did not have power. Or if they did, it was from the shapeliness of their body. Not from their spirit. And certainly not from their mind.
'But you have more raw power than all of the Dragoneyes combined,' he continued. And tomorrow that power will attract the Rat Dragon.'
I looked away, trying to hide a sudden rising of doubt. What if my master was wrong?
He leaned closer. 'When he chooses you, there is a bargain that must be made. There is no advice I can give you — the bargain is different between every dragon and his new apprentice. However, I can tell you that the dragon will seek an energy in you that he wants, and when he takes it, you will be united.'
'What kind of energy, Master?'
As I said, it is different for everyone. But it will be linked to one of the seven points of power in the body'
My master had taught me about the points of power: seven balls of invisible energy that were positioned in a line from the base of the spine to the crown of the head. They regulated the flow of Hua, the life force, through the physical and emotional body. It seemed that the whispers around the candidate school were true — a Dragoneye did give up some of his life force. No wonder they aged so fast.
'When I was chosen by the Tiger Dragon,' my master continued, 'the bargain I made was the energy that no man gives up lightly' His gaze met mine then slid away. 'So be prepared — it will not be easy. You cannot gain the dragon's power without giving something valuable in return.'
I nodded, although I did not truly understand.
And then when your bargain is made and you are the Rat Dragoneye apprentice, we must be even more careful. You cannot place a foot wrong, Eon, or we will both die.'
There was fear and hope in his eyes, and I knew he saw the same in mine. The far door opened again. My master sat back as Rilla entered, carrying a black lacquer tray laid with tea implements. She placed the tray on the desk.
'Only Eon will be taking a bowl,' my master said.
Rilla bowed, unrolled a round gold mat and arranged it in front of me. It was a representation of the Dragoneye compass, intricately painted with the twenty-four circles of energy manipulation. As a candidate, I had been drilled in the first and second circles of the compass
— the cardinal points and the dragon-animal signs — but only apprentices studied how to use the other
