Glass Swallow (12 page)

People gave the two scavengers plenty of space as they walked with their birds on their arm through the archway. They were off to deal with the return of the crow problem up at the summer palace.

‘If she could have done that, she’d have used her power on Krital, believe me,’ said Peri drily. ‘No, she’s flesh and blood—just a little different.’

‘Why do you keep on worrying about her?’

‘I suppose I feel responsible. I can’t let it go until I know she’s all right.’

Helgis scratched his nose. ‘I bet she’s spent the winter dining off gold plates and sleeping between silk sheets somewhere up in the jettan district.’

‘I hope so, but why then is there no word of her?’

Helgis shrugged. ‘Perhaps Pa doesn’t know the right people to ask? Maybe she’d gone home already. I would if I were her. There’s nothing here for her now.’

They reached the building site to find the bondsman, Mikel, on the gates.

‘Blooming waste of time,’ he grumbled, opening the doors for them. ‘Unless you can get rid of every crow in Magharna, what’s the point?’

‘A very philosophical question, Mikel. And good morning to you too,’ smiled Peri.

‘Who’s the sprout?’

‘My brother, Helgis.’

‘You as stubborn as him, sprout?’

‘Worse,’ replied Helgis cheerfully.

‘Master save us,’ exclaimed Mikel with mock-horror. ‘All right, the pair of you, get to it. If you can spare an old man a moment or two, come have breakfast with me when your birdies need resting.’

‘Birdies! You hear that, Goldie?’ Helgis stroked her feathers lovingly.

‘They’re no more scavengers than blinking chickens, if you ask me.’ Mikel eyed the sparrowhawk with respect. ‘Hens eat grubs, don’t they?’

Helgis nodded at this undeniable fact.

‘So why are these birdies of yours shunned just because they eat bigger prey? I never understood that. And don’t get me started on cats. We need more than the ones licensed to the cat men. The whole blooming city is overrun with mice and rats thanks to that stupid rule.’

‘I thought you said not to get you started,’ commented Peri.

‘None of your cheek, falcon man.’ Mikel waved them on. ‘Get to work, you pair of lazy so-and-sos.’

The crow hunt went well with both Fletch and Goldie working the site. They bagged three and scared away the rest before an hour had passed. Job done for the moment, Peri and Helgis sought Mikel out in his cabin by the gate. He had tea already brewing and a batch of fresh buns waiting. He poured them each a mug and then lifted the lid on the kettle.

‘Need some more water if we’re going to have a refill.’ He picked up an old pan and stood at the door beating it with a wooden spoon.

Helgis raised his eyebrows at Peri. ‘What’s he doing?’

Peri smiled. ‘No idea. Mikel is a law unto himself.’

‘Must be if he eats with scavengers.’

Mikel threw the pan on the floor with a clank. ‘Here she comes,’ he said with satisfaction.

‘Who?’ asked Helgis.

‘My little water-carrier. One of the scullery maids from the kitchen.’

Peri glanced out of the door to see a girl in a grey uniform and white scarf staggering over the uneven ground with a yoke over her shoulders. She didn’t look big enough to carry the two large buckets but she managed somehow, head bent to the ground.

‘How’s my lovely today?’ called Mikel cheerfully, using a much kinder tone than was his custom. He went halfway to meet her and plucked the yoke from her back.

Peri couldn’t hear any more of the exchange so returned his attention to his breakfast.

Mikel entered, hauling one of the buckets. ‘Mind if I ask her in for a bite to eat? They don’t give them much where she’s from.’

‘As long as she doesn’t object to us.’

‘Oh no, my little friend isn’t bothered by all that.’ Mikel waved his gnarled hand in a gesture that took in the whole of Rolvint. ‘She’s not from round here.’

Dipping back outside, Mikel returned, followed by a reluctant water-carrier. She kept behind him shyly.

‘You mustn’t mind my guests,’ Mikel said gruffly, propelling her forward. ‘They won’t bite. Can’t say the same for their birds but they’re all hooded and shut up tight in them baskets.’

At the mention of birds, the girl’s eyes flew to Peri’s face.

‘You!’ she exclaimed.

‘Rain!’ Peri got up from his seat and took a step back, feeling as if her gaze had punched him.

‘This her then?’ asked Helgis, both intrigued and delighted to meet the girl he had heard so much about. He approached the stranger and flicked his hand in front of her face, making Rain flinch. ‘You’re right: she can see with those blue peepers of hers.’

‘Leave her alone, sprout.’ Mikel dragged him back by the jacket. ‘She gets easily spooked, don’t you, lovey?’

Rain was still staring at Peri.

Mikel assessed the pair of them. ‘Met before have you?’

‘Yes, on the day I arrived,’ Rain replied softly, adding, ‘thank the Master.’

Mikel clicked his tongue dismissively. ‘You know better than that: none of that House of Indigent claptrap round me. You’ve little to thank the Master for if you ask me, working you to an early grave, he is.’

‘But I get punished if I forget.’

‘We won’t tell, will we, lads?’

Helgis shook his head.

‘No. Thought is free as far as I’m concerned,’ said Peri. He was pleased to hear that her Magharnan was much more fluent now, her words coming easily.

Mikel scratched his head as he looked from Peri to Rain, running in his mind the conversations they had had previously. ‘Don’t tell me, Rain, that he was the idiot who dumped you at the gates?’

She nodded.

‘I thought I liked you, falcon man,’ Mikel said stiffly, ‘but I can’t believe you left her high and dry. What were you thinking, pig-brain?’

‘That the city would look after her?’ Peri offered, though he knew it made for a lame excuse.

Mikel snorted. ‘Dream on, scavenger. The city’s been working her to the bone and given her nothing in return. The House of the Indigent is nothing but slavery with a charitable name, if you ask me—which no one does, of course.’ Mikel went off into his usual litany of grumbles as he poured Rain a cup, selecting the best one he owned from the shelf and scrupulously checking that it was clean before filling it.

‘Are you all right?’ Peri asked, his insides twisting with guilt. She didn’t look well: her eyes had shadows under them and she had lost weight—not that there had been much of that to start with.

‘I am as you see,’ Rain replied with dignity, taking the cup from Mikel. Peri noted that she gave her smiles freely to the old doorkeeper but spent none on him.

‘Why didn’t anyone look after you? The ambassador’s family should have stepped in.’

Her eyes slid across him to the doorway. He could feel her unspoken question as to why he hadn’t done so himself. She seemed loath to let her gaze land on his face. If it had been anyone else in Rolvint, Peri would have said she was doing so because he was a scavenger; with Rain, he guessed it was more complicated. She probably felt very angry with him for what had happened on that first day.

‘I have to explain why I left you.’ Peri wished she’d just look at him. ‘I assumed your betrothed was a Magharnan. You must know by now that a scavenger would not be welcomed in the city, even if he had helped a kinswoman. I thought I was doing you a favour leaving you as I did.’

Rain gave a tight smile directed somewhere over his right shoulder. ‘That’s all right, falcon man. I survived.’

‘But the ambassador—’

‘Is dead. No one in Rolvint owes me anything. I’m lucky to have my job.’ Her tone was bleak, the speech rehearsed.

Peri rubbed the back of his neck, feeling her distress. The girl seemed so tired, defeated by her circumstances. He had let this be done to her.

Helgis meanwhile was indulging his curiosity about the stranger. Having proved his theory about her sight, he had circled around her and discovered her hair only imperfectly hidden under the scarf. He touched a curl lightly, making her jump.

‘Helgis!’ Peri tugged his brother to take a seat beside him. ‘Forgive my savage of a brother. He’s only twelve and not yet learnt his manners.’

‘It’s nothing,’ she said in a low voice. ‘I’ve known worse.’

Peri swallowed hard. He knew what she meant: the dormitories of the House of the Indigent were rough places by all accounts. Someone who stood out as being a little different would be in for serious bullying. Now that he examined her for the evidence, he noticed that the backs of her hands and forearms were bruised. His heart dropped down to his boots: he’d been partly responsible for this too. Perhaps he should have taken her home with him as she had wanted. At least in the barracks there would have been his family to look after her. He had been a fool.

Rain tried to ignore the black-robed falcon man but he seemed to fill the room with his calm reasonableness. He’d expected her to be welcomed by the jettans. He had a sound answer for everything he’d done, or not done. He’d apologized but he didn’t really regret his actions; he was too calm, too smooth for someone racked with guilt. He represented everything she hated about Rolvint: its adherence to silly rules of association, its lack of care for a stranger.

It didn’t help that he was still the most attractive Magharnan she’d met. She had thought him kind, but that had been short-lived. She preferred the gruff old bondsman; at least he didn’t drop her at the first opportunity.

She turned to Mikel. ‘Thank you for breakfast. In fact, it’s my birthday today. Now you’ve made it special.’

His eyes twinkled at her. ‘What! A stale old bun! We can do better than that.’ He patted his pockets and drew out a penny. ‘Here, lovey, buy yourself a ribbon with that.’

Rain held the coin as if it were priceless. ‘Thank you. But would you mind if I saved it?’

‘You can do what you want with it: it’s your penny now. What are you saving for?’

‘To go home.’

‘Ah.’ He shifted uncomfortably. ‘And how much have you got so far?’

She gave him a tremulous smile. ‘One Rolvint penny. But it’s a beginning. My father always said that every journey starts with just one step.’

‘True enough.’

‘I know that if he doesn’t hear from me soon, he might come looking for me; but I can’t count on that. I’ve got to make my own plans.’

‘Sensible girl.’

‘Have you thought of applying to the government to pay for your return?’ It was Master Calm-and-Reasonable again.

Rain gave a short laugh. ‘What do you think I’ve been doing the last few months, falcon man? The first thing I did was ask the matron at the House of the Indigent to make an approach on my behalf.’

‘And did she?’

‘Oh yes. She has no more desire for my presence cluttering up her halls than I have to be there. She petitioned the foreign ministry but was told that as I merely accompanied the craftsman and was not the one bidden to do the work on the palace myself, the Magharnan Master had no further responsibility to me. In short, it was my bad luck to be a victim of your bandits and I had to be grateful that I hadn’t been left to starve.’ She gave him a brittle smile. ‘They did mention that they had buried my kinsman at their own expense. So generous of them, don’t you think?’

‘How much do you need to get home?’

‘I’m not sure. It’s a long voyage and I don’t think ships make the journey unless chartered to do so.’

‘Chartering doesn’t come cheap. You’re talking thousands of gold signets.’

Rain knew full well that her own efforts to pay for her passage were pretty futile and she was unlikely to see a silver jettal, let alone a signet, in exchange for her work, but she would not just give up. She shrugged. ‘Oh well, I’d better keep on economizing on the hair ribbons then.’

‘Rain! Rain! Get your lazy carcass back here!’ yelled a woman outside.

‘My summons.’ Rain rose from her seat by the fire and dipped a curtsey to Mikel. ‘Thank you for breakfast.’

The old bondsman passed her another bun. ‘Here, keep that for later.’

‘You are the kindest man.’ Rain reached up and kissed him on the cheek.

Mikel blushed and held his hand over the spot reverently as if to preserve her touch. ‘Get along with you.’

Rain nodded slightly to the falcon men in farewell, but did not look at them. She had had it drummed into her that she should not turn her unearthly blue eyes on ordinary Magharnans so it had now become habit. Besides, she did not want to see Peri: he was too big, too calm, too good looking …

Now where had that traitorous thought come from? She had to stop it before she got herself in more hot water. She had already been reprimanded for numerous infractions of Magharnan customs; to be caught hankering after one of the scavengers would probably have her thrown out of the city.

He wasn’t handsome. He was arrogant. Too tall. Yes, that was it. He was no more good looking than the rear end of a donkey …

Who was she trying to fool?