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By Root 2583 0

I acquire an escort on Dobrek, a good-natured youth of no more than sixteen. He had black hair which he wore in a topknot in emulation of Kazan Atrabiades, and a grin that stretched ear to ear at his assignment; here was one who had decided I was no Vila bent on stealing his heart— or at least he reckoned it worth the risk. Although we shared no common tongue, we had youth in common, and Lukin was open and cheerful, eager to communicate where Zilje and her sister had turned shy or reticent. For everything wesaw, everything I touched, I made him tell me the word in Illyrian. To this day, there are plants I can name only in that tongue, and fish and birds, too.

It was Lukin who showed me the stable, pointing with pride to Kazan's two horses. I watched his eyes shine with delight as a battle-scarred old gelding nibbled from his palm, and was reminded with a pang of Hyacinthe. Not as I had left him, brave and lonely, but as he had been at Lukin's age, merry and daring with a knack for horses.

Beyond the stables, a group of men were gathered around a stone furnace, bare-chested and sweating in the late-morning sun. I pointed inquiringly, and Lukin led me over to see. There was a great bustle, and Kazan was supervising the operation, ordering the fire fed and the bellows worked while two men in leather aprons tended the crucible. The acrid odor I'd smelled earlier was molten metal.

"What are they doing?" I asked Lukin. He went over to fish a silver coin out of a coffer, showing it to me, and pointing to a mold where silver ingots were cooling on the ground. I stared in perplexity as he turned the coin, showing me both sides and offering a helpless explanation in Illyrian. Although the coin was worn and the workmanship crude, I could make out a man's face in profile on one side, and on the other, the device I'd seen on Kazan's shield, a bird of prey clutching a branch.

At length I shrugged, and Lukin returned the coin.

"You want to know why we melt good coin, eh?" It was Kazan Atrabiades himself, who'd come to glower at me. He'd laid his good clothes aside and was bare-chested as the others. "The Serenissimans—" he turned his head and spat reflexively, "—they make a law against Illyrian coin that shows the face of the Ban or his arms, old or new, living or dead. Only in Epidauro is it safe, and not there any more, maybe. Any man who trades in Illyrian coin, he have his money taken, and Serenissiman officials, they do not pay. They put him in prison if he makes complaint. So people are scared, eh, and poor even though they have coin. We take in trade, we, and melt it.”

I thought how simple a means it was to oppress a vassal nation. And I thought of Kazan's arms, hung with pride and care in his room, and the device they bore. "You served in his guard," I said. "The Ban of Illyria."

His scowl deepened. "It is not your concern, you, what I did," he said, and turned to Lukin, issuing an order in Illyrian. My escort nodded, and indicated to me that we should leave. By that time, I was glad enough to do so, for my ribs had begun to ache. The sun stood high overhead, and its heat coupled with the blast from the furnace made my head swim. When I looked at Kazan Atrabiades, I saw strange, twining shadows about him. Only sunstroke, I told myself; but I remembered the kríavbhog, and was uneasy.

In the house, Marjopí took one look at me and shook her head in disgust, giving Lukin a bucket and a sharp command. He grinned at her and trotted off good-naturedly, while she gave me an ungentle push toward the room I'd been given. I lay down on the bed, and a few moments later, Marjopí came in with a basin of cool water and a linen towel. She dipped the towel and wrung it, laying it on my brow, shook her head once more, and left me.

I slept clean through until supper, waking when a servant lass I'd not seen before came creeping in to awaken me in the twilight. She pointed to the door, saying only, "Kazan." It was enough. I rose and smoothed my crumpled dress, washing myself with the tepid water remaining in the basin, then went to meet him.