Chapter 7

 

It was midmorning, and Kyril had gone to court, as usual. Colin was out on some errand or other, and Zora was in the front parlor reading one of the books from the house’s well-stocked library. She heard a knock at the front door, and then the housekeeper escorted a guardswoman into the parlor. She was short, with a wiry build and cropped dark hair just starting to go gray. Zora didn’t recognize her, either from court or from the handful of guards she had seen in the city.

“I understand that it is your intent to make Diadem your permanent home,” the guard said. “Is that correct?”

Well, it certainly seems to be the Goddess’s intent. “Yes.”

“The laws of Diadem require that all women between the ages of twelve and fifty spend a month each spring at arms training, so that they may serve in the Guard and defend the city at need,” the guard went on. “Was that explained to you?”

“No.” Zora looked at her in surprise. “I’ve only recently arrived in Diadem. And I’m afraid I’ve never had arms training.” I doubt that turning into something with claws and teeth whenever I feel threatened counts. “What I am supposed to do?”

“We’re doing preliminary orientation today for women who are in their first year.”

I guess that means me and a bunch of twelve-year-olds. Why didn’t Lina—or Catriona—mention this to me?

The guard eyed the dress Zora was wearing. “I would suggest that you change into pants you can move in easily. I need you to accompany me to the training grounds.”

“Of course.” Zora marked her place in the book and set it aside. “I’ll be with you shortly.”

She dressed in a pair of drawstring pants and an old shirt, thankful that Akila had packed some of the student practice clothing. Leaving a message for the boys with the housekeeper, Zora followed the guardswoman down the street toward the part of town where the Guard barracks and training grounds were located.

The guard, whose name turned out to be Ciara, was friendly and—when Zora expressed her concern that she wouldn’t be able to keep up with the twelve-year-olds—reassuring. “There’s a certain amount of general training,” she said, “but nobody expects you to be expert at everything. Also, you may have more useful skills than you realize. For example, can you swim?”

“Like a fish.” Literally.

“So that’s one thing you won’t need to be taught. And we can always use a good swimmer. We get girls who are afraid to put their faces in the water—in fact, we get girls who are afraid to put their toes in the water.”

Zora laughed at that, beginning to feel that she could cope with training. Then they walked through the gate into the compound. Ciara dropped back slightly as they entered, so she was behind Zora when the attack happened. A woman charged straight at them with a raised sword in one hand and a dagger in the other.

Zora clawed her way up the wall of the nearest building—fortunately there was enough space between the stones for her fingers, so actual claws weren’t required—and was on the balcony before the woman reached Ciara. She stopped, and both of them looked up at Zora.

“Well, that certainly demonstrates your basic reaction to danger,” Ciara called up. She turned to the swordswoman, laughing. “I haven’t seen anything like that since the day Catriona first came here!”

“I think this one is even faster,” the swordswoman said with a chuckle. She looked up at Zora. “Can you get down on your own, or do you need help?

“I can get down.” I think. Zora reversed her path down the wall, moving more slowly and carefully now that she was not in a panic.

“You’re Zora, right?” the woman asked once she had reached the ground. “You’re a good climber. Do you do a lot of it?”

“A fair amount,” Zora admitted, not mentioning that she was usually something with claws when she did. “At home I used to climb trees, and the wall here has enough space between the stones for my fingertips.”

“But not for your toes when you’re wearing shoes,” Ciara remarked. “You must have very strong arms and shoulders to be able to make that climb with only your hands.”

“Being scared helped,” Zora said ruefully. So does being able to fly—apparently I haven’t lost all my muscle tone.

“So were you simply trying to escape,” Ciara asked, “or to find a good vantage point?”

Zora frowned, considering both the question and her actions. “I think it might have been a bit of both. If it had been pure escape, I’d have kept going up and then across the roof, not stopped to look down and see what was happening.”

“You didn’t feel any urge to stand and fight?” the swordswoman asked.

“I’m small, I’m not trained to fight, and I’m not armed, so no.”

The swordswoman looked appraisingly at Zora. “You’ve had no training at all, not even for self-defense?”

Zora shook her head.

“Well, at least you won’t have anything you’ll need to un-learn.” She turned to Ciara. “Start her in the beginning classes—tumbling, basic hand-to-hand, knife work, sword fighting, archery, and running.”

“She says she can swim,” Ciara reported.

“Excellent. Test her for that, too. She’s all yours until she’s advanced enough for me to work with.”

Zora suppressed a sigh of relief. She had a feeling that even the beginning classes were going to be a challenge. “Why tumbling classes?” Of all the things on the list, that seemed strangest.

“It’s important to learn to fall without hurting yourself, and being able to roll away in any direction is useful as well.” Ciara smiled. “I think you might be good at tumbling, so we’ll start there. Come with me.”

The rest of the morning was spent working at basic tumbling—Zora wasn’t too bad at it, but she knew she was going to have bruises the next day. She also ached in muscles that she hadn’t known she had—and she hadn’t thought there were any muscles that Lord Ranulf’s training had missed.

She was thankful to follow Ciara into the dining hall attached to the barracks, where they each grabbed a tray of food (Zora just copied what Ciara chose) and joined a group of women seated at one of the long tables that ran the length of the room. Zora collapsed onto the bench next to Ciara, thankful for the opportunity to sit down, if only for a little while.

“This is Zora,” Ciara said to the group. “Today is her first day, but she says she can swim.”

Six pairs of eyes regarded Zora with interest, appraising her body.

“She’s small, but she looks strong enough,” somebody muttered.

“Zora,” Ciara said, “this is our swim team. They are our best swimmers, so they handle most of the jobs that require that ability.”

“And we can certainly use more swimmers,” one of the women said. “Are you bringing her with us this afternoon, Ciara?”

“That’s the plan,” Ciara said cheerfully. “We’ll go down to King’s Cove, and she can join our practice session.”

~o0o~

King’s Cove was near the south end of the lower city, outside the walls and downriver from the waterfall. The river carved an arc out of its left bank, and there was a small, sandy beach.

The women had walked down from the barracks at a reasonably slow pace—“To give our food a chance to settle,” one of them explained—and they began by doing stretches to loosen up their muscles for swimming.

In Zora’s case that also helped to loosen the muscles that had gone tight in the wake of the morning’s activity. Then everyone removed at least one layer of clothing, leaving the women in pants that were a shorter version of Zora’s, and breast bands. She followed their example, glad that she had put on a breast band when she dressed to accompany Ciara. Zora didn’t have much in the way of breasts, so frequently she didn’t bother with a breast band, but it would have been embarrassing to have been naked from the waist up when nobody else was. She followed the other women into the water until it was up to their hips and her waist.

“We’re doing strength practice today,” Ciara said. “As soon as you get out of this cove you’ll be in the main current. Swim upriver as far as you can, and then return to the cove. Just follow the other women, and don’t worry—I’ll stay with you in case you have any trouble. Remember, coming back downstream is the easy part, but you don’t want to miss the cove. If you catch the current just right, it will practically drop you on the beach here. Otherwise you’ll have to swim in. Any questions?”

Zora suspected that “Why is this called King’s Cove?” wasn’t the kind of question Ciara had in mind, so she shook her head and followed the rest of the group into deeper water.

The current wasn’t too strong at first, but as they got closer to the waterfall, the water ran faster and got rougher. Habits Zora had developed from years of competing with the other shape-changers kicked in, and she pushed herself harder, using the arm muscles developed from years of flying and running on all fours. Gradually, she pulled ahead of everyone else. It wasn’t until she hit really rough water that she realized she was almost under the waterfall, and then she barely had time to gulp a lungful of air just before the turbulence pulled her under and banged her hip into a rock.

Ouch! I’m lucky that wasn’t my head, and I’d better get out of here before it is. Zora pulled into a tight little ball, and then used her legs to push off the rock. She dove as deep as she could in search of calmer water, keeping her eyes open to look for obstacles. It was hard to see much through the turbulence, but it looked as though someone had planted a garden of standing stones underwater. She used the current to navigate through them as best she could and worked her way downstream, bouncing off quite a few rocks in the process. I am going to have so many bruises tomorrow...

When her lungs started to burn, she pulled her way up to the surface. Changing into a fish now would be a really bad idea. If I ever have time, I think I’ll try to come up with a shape that can breathe underwater and still look human—maybe add gills just below my ribcage...

Zora came up in mid-river, gasping for air, and discovered that her hair had come out of its braid while she was underwater and was now plastered across her face. She hung upright in the water, kicking just enough to stay afloat while she took deep breaths and worked on getting her hair out of her face. She had just managed to get the whole mass of it to run back from her hairline and down her neck and back when Ciara grabbed her arm.

“Are you all right?” she asked anxiously.

“Yes, I’m fine.” Zora said. “I should have tied my hair tighter, that’s all.” She was certainly in no danger of drowning.

Ciara jerked her head in a ‘follow me’ gesture and angled downstream toward the cove. Zora trailed after her, scarcely needing to move to stay on course.

Everyone else was already on land, doing arm and leg stretches. “Be sure to stretch out your arms very thoroughly,” Ciara told me. “I’m amazed you got as far as you did without having them cramp up on you.”

“Where did she get to?” one of the others asked.

“Farther than I can go,” Ciara said grimly. “Next time, Zora, do not outpace your partner.”

“I apologize,” Zora said hastily. The last thing she needed was to have the people she was training with angry with her. “I was concentrating on swimming, and then I got pulled into—is that a rock garden below the waterfall?”

“You got into the rocks?” Ciara asked in horror. “You should never go that close to the waterfall. It’s much too dangerous!”

It certainly is, and you didn’t answer my question. This probably isn’t a good time to keep asking. I’ll find out another way. Somehow. Aloud, Zora simply said, “I’ll remember that.”

~o0o~

The next few weeks were some of the happiest in Zora’s life. The training was challenging—and she had never realized how much she could do while still remaining in human shape. She started spending more and more time training with the guards. It wasn’t that she was naturally good at anything other than swimming—not at first. The most difficult part at the beginning was remembering to do everything in human shape. Zora had never realized before just how much she and her friends relied on shape-changing abilities at home. She had never had to stand her ground and defend herself using nothing but human shape. But if a normal human can learn to do this, she thought grimly, I can learn it too. It was hard work, and she had bruises on top of her bruises, but each day she got a little bit better. And that encouraged her, so she worked even harder and made even more progress.

She was telling Colin about it one night at the supper table, which was the only time she saw the boys now. Colin was interested; Kyril wasn’t. He was practically sulking because he couldn’t spend much time with the Queen. Apparently she was required to train this month as well, which made sense to Zora. If all the women were required to train, certainly the Queen should be setting an example. I wonder if arms training is more to her taste than her other duties. I’ll have to ask her when I see her next.

“I haven’t seen her,” Zora remarked, “but I suppose she’s in the advanced classes.”

“No,” Kyril said. “All they let her do is archery, so that’s the only class she’s in. She was complaining about it the other day—she says it’s boring. But at least she doesn’t have to hold court and hear petitions. All the women who would be bringing them are in training all day.”

“I certainly am,” Zora said, “and I’m going to bed as soon as I finish eating. I didn’t think there was anything more exhausting than shape-changing, but this comes very close to it.”

Kyril shrugged. “Father wasn’t training us for war.”

“That’s the disadvantage of a matriarchy,” Colin remarked. “You may not need a chaperone, but you can’t count on the men to defend the city.”

“But it’s their home too,” Zora said. “Why wouldn’t they be willing to defend it?”

“It’s not really theirs,” Kyril said. “Men generally don’t even own property here. It’s not illegal for them to, but it’s not customary. We may call this Father’s house, but it actually belongs to Catriona’s mother.” He lowered his voice. “We can’t even trust the servants.”

“Sure we can,” Colin said with a grin. “We can trust them to tell Catriona everything that goes on here.” He added softly, “Everything they know about, anyway.”

It seemed to Zora that there would be disadvantages to those restrictions, but she fell asleep while she was thinking about it. And in the morning it was back to the training yard as soon as the ritual in the plaza was over. Zora was doing well with tumbling, and she was also taking basic hand-to-hand combat and beginning knife fighting. The swimming sessions after lunch were almost a break for her, since they used skills she already had.

She was learning the fighting skills, and her teachers seemed happy with her progress. She was already valued for her swimming ability, but she was starting to be appreciated for other skills as well, and she realized that it was the first time she had really felt useful since Kassie’s Choosing. Zora hadn’t realized at the time how much of the pain she had felt had come from feeling useless and unimportant.

After swim practice Zora used the Guard bathhouse with the other swimmers, which gave her an excellent opportunity to observe the guards who worked in the city and to pick up news and gossip. She learned the names and faces of the guards—as well as the fact that the Shield-Bearer, in addition to being the Queen’s Regent, was the head of the Guard and the Queen’s official bodyguard. Catriona, the Sword-Bearer, was second in command, and her official duty was to guard the Queen’s Heiress, as the Shield-Bearer guarded the Queen. In the absence of an Heiress and with the Shield-Bearer busy with her duties as Regent and counselor to the Queen, Catriona ran the Guard, but Zora was so junior that she never encountered either of them, and she suspected neither of them would notice her if they did happen to see her.

After Zora was finished at the compound, she went back to the plaza in front of the palace for the evening ritual, and then went home, ate whatever the housekeeper put in front of her, and collapsed into bed.

So when the end of training was announced for everyone but the swimmers, who had a holiday before their summer training, Zora didn’t question her good fortune. She planned to spend at least two days catching up on her rest. After that, she would see what was going on in Diadem outside the Guard compound.

~o0o~

Zora managed to stay in bed until midday the next day, but Kyril was still home when she got up.

“I thought you were at court,” she said, surprised to find both him and Colin in the dining room.

Kyril shook his head. “The Queen was busy with something this morning, and she told me she wouldn’t be able to see me until after her daily meditation. So I’m going to see her this afternoon instead. Will you come with me, Zora? Please? I think something is bothering her, but she won’t talk to me about it. Maybe you can find out what it is.”

So Zora changed to dog-shape and accompanied Kyril when he went to visit the Queen. Lady Esme was with her, doing needlework. She wasn’t very good at it and kept pricking her fingers, which made Zora wonder why she didn’t find something else to do. In addition, one of the green-robed veiled priestesses sat next to the Queen, and members of the Queen’s guard walked through the courtyard at irregular intervals. Kyril and the Queen had discovered a mutual passion for a board game he had given her. Apparently they had been playing it every afternoon for the last month from the time the Queen finished her meditation until she had to prepare for the evening ritual.

The thing that told Zora what was worrying the Queen, however, wasn’t at the palace. It was in the streets. Every house, garden, and street in the city was cleaned, and flowers surrounded windows and doors. One of the Great Rituals must be nearly upon us. Nobody mentioned any ritual in front of Kyril, of course—Zora had noticed during her time as the Queen’s dog that there were no priests in Diadem, only priestesses—but flowers didn’t last long once they were cut and made into decorations. As long as Zora was a dog, she couldn’t say anything, but she made mental notes of what to tell Kyril when they got home.

As the Queen and Kyril were finishing their game, the Queen asked Kyril if he would do a favor for her.

“Of course,” Kyril said promptly. “Anything. What would you like?”

“It’s silly,” the Queen said, “but nobody has had time to go hunting lately, and I have a sudden craving for venison. You said you can hunt, and I wondered if you would be willing to go out tomorrow and bring back a deer. There should be some in the woods to the east.”

“It would be my pleasure,” Kyril assured her, kissing her hand as he rose to take his leave. “You shall have venison for supper tomorrow.”

“The day after tomorrow will be soon enough,” the Queen said earnestly. “After all, it will need to be cooked.”

~o0o~

Zora started laughing as soon as they got home and she changed back to human. “I’m glad you didn’t tell her how much better venison tastes when it’s raw and fresh.”

“That’s only if you’re a wolf,” Kyril pointed out.

“So? Are you planning to hunt for deer as a human? You’d be out all day—” Zora stopped, hearing what she was saying. “She’s trying to get you out of the city for the day. The festival all the houses are decorated for—it’s tomorrow. Whatever it is, it’s tomorrow, and she wants you out of the way.”

“The Choosing?” Kyril said in surprise. “It can’t be time for that already...” His voice trailed off.

“Didn’t you see all the flowers around the windows and doors of every house we passed? Flowers don’t last long once they’re picked. What exactly is the Choosing?”

Kyril grimaced. “The Choosing is the ritual by which the Goddess, through the Queen, chooses the Year-King.”

“That would explain why the Queen is trying to make sure you are far away. The last Year-King died, and she’s still upset about that.”

Kyril frowned in thought. “So you think she’s trying to get me out of the way so I won’t be Chosen?”

Zora remembered the way Lina had talked about murder in the chapel. “Absolutely.”

“Does she think I’ll spend the summer watching her with another man?” Kyril asked, suddenly furious.

“If the Goddess wills it,” Zora said firmly, “you had better.”

“We’re all going hunting at dawn, then,” Kyril said grimly. “I’ll be back for the ritual, and we’ll just see what the Goddess wills.”

~o0o~

True to his word, he dragged Colin and Zora out of bed an hour before dawn. “Eagle to spot the deer,” he said, “wolves for the kill. I’ll bring clothing, so I can change to human without having to come home first. Colin, you can change to a horse, can’t you? We can deliver the venison to the palace kitchens, then we all meet back here and clean up for the ritual.”

“Use claws for the kill—or a knife if you can,” Colin said. “A deer with its throat torn out by a wolf would be hard to explain to the kitchen staff.”

“All right, I’ll get a knife,” Kyril said. “Just hurry up!”

Colin and Zora went upstairs, climbed out of their respective windows onto the roof, and changed to eagle-shape. A few minutes later, Kyril came out of the house, carrying his dagger in a leather sheath, and went into the stables. A minute after that a wolf carrying a sack in its mouth came out of the stables, looked up at the eagles, and set out quickly through the dark streets. Colin and Zora dove off the rooftop, struggled to gain altitude, and then flew above Kyril to watch for anyone who might see or try to stop him. Fortunately the three of them appeared to be the only people out that early.

The sun had barely cleared the horizon when Zora spotted a group of deer drinking from a stream. Colin doubled back to lead Kyril to the spot, while she climbed above the deer and dropped to strike a nice fat buck, hitting it at an angle that knocked it over and broke its neck. Sometimes weighing much more than a natural eagle has advantages.

Kyril arrived as Zora picked herself up. Since she doubted she was going to be able to get back into the sky from the ground, she changed to Princess, while Kyril changed to human, dressed in a tunic from his sack, and dealt with the buck. Colin landed and changed to a horse, and Kyril slung the deer over the horse’s back.

They returned to Diadem without incident and dropped the deer off at the palace kitchen. Fortunately the servants were too distracted to see that the horse had no bridle or reins, and the three of them hurried home before anyone noticed anything odd about them.

~o0o~

While the boys bathed and dressed in their best clothes, Zora considered what shape she should take for the ritual. She knew she needed to be there—even if it wasn’t required for the entire population of the city, Zora felt sure that the Goddess wanted her there. She didn’t think going as a dog at Kyril’s heels—especially if he was likely to be chosen—was a good idea, but she wasn’t sure that attending in human form was any better. At the daily rituals it had been becoming harder each day to make sure that the Queen’s part, the one Zora was not supposed to be singing, remained inaudible to everyone around her, and she didn’t know how a Great Ritual would affect her. But I have already changed shape three times in one day. I’ll go as a human—and trust in the Goddess.

Zora dressed in her good clothes—after all, this was a festival—and followed Kyril and Colin to a plaza in the middle of town where the ritual was being held. Even if we had just arrived in town, we could have found the right place merely by following the people. Everyone in the city seemed to be crowded into the plaza; the only empty space was on top of a wooden platform where the Queen stood. Kyril, who was standing next to Zora, stared at the Queen and apparently forgot to breathe.

She really is beautiful. Suddenly she doesn’t look like me at all. Lina’s hair was loose and falling around her shoulders, and she was dressed in a simply cut but richly embroidered gown of deep purple fabric. It was sleeveless, with a V-shaped neckline cut down to her breasts, and it was held together with a golden cord tied just under her bust. She looked remote—as if she was listening to something other than the hymn the people were chanting—and so calm that Zora wondered briefly if she had been drugged. Surely not. She needs to be able to hear the voice of the Goddess. Then the people fell silent, and the Queen began to sing, and only the song existed.

It was like nothing Zora had ever heard before, and it was beautiful beyond belief. It seemed as though all of creation was singing, and the music filled her body and soul. She had become hollow, providing a space for the music to echo back and forth in. The words were in a language she didn’t understand, but still she found her lips starting to shape them. Fortunately, before she actually uttered them, power swept through her in one great overwhelming wave, and she lost consciousness.