Steven Brust - Athyra

Savn wondered if perhaps he was exaggerating their condition to himself. He couldn’t be sure, but he didn’t think so.

Polyi was in the house, and her first words were, “Are they sick, Savn?”

He thought about giving her an honest answer, but couldn’t make himself do it. He said, “I don’t know what’s wrong, Polyi. I just don’t know.”

“Should we ask someone?”

“Who?”

“Well, Master Wag, maybe?”

“I don’t think they’re sick.”

“Well somethings wrong with them.”

Savn sighed. “Yes, I know. Let me think about it.”

“What good will thinking about it do? We have to—”

“I know, we have to do something. But I don’t know—What in the world was that?” There had come some sort of rapping, scraping sound from the roof.

Polyi rushed out the door, Savn right at her heels. They turned and looked up at the roof. Polyi screamed. Savn, though he had become used to such things, felt very much like doing the same.

* * *

For an hour or so after the large soft one left, the Provider seemed fine, and even after that, she couldn’t really tell that something was wrong, but her lover began to grow agitated, then worried, and finally almost frantic. He began to fly around, nearly hurting himself against the cave walls.

She came to understand that the Provider was not well, and she wondered if the large soft one had done something to him, and if she should track him down and kill him. No, she was told, it had nothing to do with that one, it had to do with how he had gotten hurt before.

This puzzled her, because it seemed that one would either be injured or healthy; the Provider had been injured and was now getting healthy again, so how could the same injury account for two illnesses? But her lover was in no mood to explain such things, so she didn’t ask.

As he grew more frantic, however, she began to catch his mood. Desperate to do something that would alleviate his misery, she at last suggested that, if he had been cured before by something one of the Provider’s species had done, couldn’t it happen again?

Her lover calmed down at this suggestion, only to become angry again, this time at himself, because he seemed to feel he ought to have thought of that before. But he seemed disinclined to waste too much time with such thoughts; almost at once he turned and flew out of the cave.

She had nothing better to do, so she followed.

I will not marry a sly intendant,

I will not marry a sly intendant,

I’d make money and he would spend it.

Hi-dee hi-dee ho-la!

Step on out ...

Polyi clutched Savn’s arm and stared. The day’s light was nearly gone but there was enough to see, without possibility of error, what was sitting on the roof. Even to Savn, there was something horribly invasive in the jhereg’s perching on his own house; whatever they were, and however friendly they were, they didn’t belong here.

It was only much later that it struck Savn as odd that neither he nor Polyi thought of calling Mae and Pae, which would have been their automatic reaction only three days before.

At last Polyi said in a whisper, “What are they doing?”

“Watching us.”

“I can see that, chag-brain. I mean why are they watching us.”

“I don’t know.”

Savn stared back at them, refusing to be intimidated. That there might actually be intelligence behind those quick, tiny eyes made it worse. Well, he wanted to say. What do you want with me?

Could Vlad have sent them?

Maybe. But, if so, why not give them a note, like he gave to Fird?

Perhaps because he couldn’t.

But, if he couldn’t, how could he have sent the jhereg?

Savn scowled. He just didn’t know enough about Vlad’s relationship with these things. It was a matter of witchcraft, and—

Witchcraft.

Just like the spell he’d put on Mae and Pae.

He broke free of Polyi, turned, and walked away from the house. Behind him, Polyi was asking something, but he didn’t really hear her.

Vlad was in trouble, maybe dying; that was the only possible explanation.

Vlad had, for whatever reason, laid enchantments on Mae and Pae.

Vlad needed help.

Vlad didn’t deserve help.

Savn slammed back into the house and got a small cooking pot, two wooden bowls, a little barley (Vlad could pay for that at least, and he’d better!), and some three-season herb, which was another thing Master Wag had recommended against fever.

Polyi came back in. “Where are you going?”

“Vlad’s gotten sick again,” he growled.

“How do you know?”

“I just do.”

He rolled up his sleeping furs and tied them into a bundle.

“Aren’t you coming back?” said Polyi.

“Yes, I’m coming back, I just don’t know when.”

Prairiesong grew next to the road; he could pick some ; on the way. What else did he need?

“What do you mean, you don’t know when?”

“I’m going to stay with Vlad until he’s well, or until he dies, or until they find us. And, when he’s well, I’m going to make him—I’m going to talk to him about some things.”

He carefully wrapped Pae’s best kitchen knife in a towel and stowed it among his furs.

“But,” said Polyi, “that could take—”

“I know.”

“Mae and Pae—”

“Won’t even notice.”

Polyi shut up. Savn continued to pack as quickly as possible, ending up with one large roll that fit over his shoulder and a light sack that he could carry.

“I’m going with you,” announced Polyi.

Savn looked at her in the light of the stove. Her hair, which always gave her trouble, looked completely disorganized; her thin brows were drawn together in a line, and her mouth was set in an expression that he’d often seen before and thought of as stubborn; now it looked determined. He wasn’t certain what the difference was, but he knew it was there.

“Of course you are,” he said. “Hurry up and get ready. We have to take the long way around, and I don’t want to waste any time.”

The two jhereg shadowed them as they walked. It was too dark to see them, but Savn and Polyi heard the occasional thwp thwp of their wings, which made Savn nervous, though he didn’t mention it. Polyi didn’t mention it, either. In fact, Polyi didn’t say anything at all, though a couple of times Savn tried, halfheartedly, to engage in her conversation. The only thing she said was, “How are we going to see in the cave? It’s bad enough out here.”

“I left a torch just outside; maybe we can find it.” Their progress through the woods was very slow. There was no light at all save for the diffuse glow from the sky and the faraway beacons from His Lordship’s manor house, which, faint as it was, got fainter as they went further from Manor Road and into the woods above Bigcliff. Savn was afraid they would miss the path altogether and step off the cliff itself. He made Polyi take hold of his arm, and he went very slowly, feeling for low branches with his free hand and exposed roots with his feet.

“I’m glad you came along,” he said. “This would be even scarier alone.”

Polyi didn’t answer.

Soon the light from the manor house was gone entirely, and Savn was afraid he’d lose his sense of direction and wander the woods all night, but shortly thereafter they emerged, and he realized that the soft glow from the sky was enough to allow him to pick his way with care down the path to the caves.

Finding the torch proved difficult indeed, and he might not have managed it if he hadn’t bumped into the tree he’d been leaning against earlier. He scraped his cheek slightly, but was otherwise unhurt, and by feeling around at the tree’s base, discovered the torch he’d brought out of the cave.