Lynn Flewelling - The Bone Doll's Twin

“No.”

“I’ll see to that. Rest well, my prince, and welcome. I’d like to say, too, that I remember your father as a fine man and a great warrior. I mourn your loss.”

“Thank you, Arms Master,” said Tobin. “And thank you for keeping Ki as my squire.”

Porion gave him a wink. “An old friend of yours had a word with me, just after you arrived.”

Tobin gave him a blank look, then laughed. “Tharin?”

Porion held a finger to his lips, but nodded. “I don’t know what Orun was thinking. A father’s choice of squire can’t be put aside like that.”

“Then it wasn’t my answer?” asked Ki, a little crestfallen.

“You were both right,” Porion replied. “And you might try to smooth Moriel’s feathers if you get the chance. He knows the Palatine and the city. Good night, boys, and welcome.”

Servants had lit a dozen lamps around the room and carried in a copper tub full of hot scented water. A young page stood by the bed and a young man stood ready with brushes and sheets, apparently waiting to bathe Tobin.

He sent both servants away, then stripped off and slid into the bath with a happy groan. Hot baths had been a rare occurrence at the keep. He was nearly asleep with his nose just above the water’s surface when he heard Ki let out a cackle across the room.

“No wonder Moriel had his nose out of joint,” he called, holding back the curtains of the wall bed. All the fine bedding was gone. “He must have had himself all moved in anticipation of your majesty’s arrival. All he’s left me is a bare straw tick. And, by the smell, he pissed on it as a parting remembrance, the little bastard!”

Tobin sat up and wrapped his arms around his knees. It hadn’t occurred to him that they’d sleep apart, much less in such a cavern of a room.

“Sure is a big room,” Ki muttered, looking around.

Tobin grinned, guessing his friend was having similar doubts. “Big bed, too. Plenty of room for two.”

“I’d say so. I’ll go unpack Your Highness’ bags,” Ki said, chuckling.

Tobin was about to settle back in the tub when he remembered the doll hidden in the bottom of the chest.

“No!”

Ki snorted. “It’s my duty, Tob. Let me do it.”

“It can wait. The water will get cold if you don’t get in now. Come on, your turn.”

Tobin splashed out of the tub and wrapped himself in one of the sheets.

Ki eyed him suspiciously. “You’re as fussy as Nari all of a sudden. Then again—” He sniffed comically at his armpits. “I do stink.”

As soon as Ki had taken his place in the tub Tobin hurried into the dressing room and flung open the chest.

“I said I’d do that!” Ki hollered.

“I need a shirt.” Tobin pulled on a clean one, then dug out the flour sack and looked around for a safe hiding place. A painted wardrobe and several chests stood against one wall. On the other side was a tall cupboard that reached almost to the ceiling. By opening the doors, he could use the shelves inside as a creaking, cracking ladder. There was just enough space at the top to hide the bag. That would do for now.

Climbing back down, he had just time enough to shut the doors and brush the cobwebs off his shirt before Ki sauntered in wrapped in a sheet.

“What are you doing in here, taking the roof off?”

“Just exploring.”

Ki eyed him again, then looked nervously over his shoulder. “Do you think there are really ghosts here?”

Tobin walked back into the bedchamber. “If there are, then they’re my kin, like Brother. You’re not afraid of him anymore, are you?”

Ki shrugged, then thrust his arms up and yawned until his jaws creaked, letting the sheet slide to the floor. “We better get some sleep. Once Master Porion gets a hold of us tomorrow, I’m betting he doesn’t let us stand still long enough to cast a shadow.”

“I like him.”

Ki flung back the black hangings on the bed and launched himself into a somersault across the velvet counterpane. “I didn’t say I didn’t. I just think he’s going to work us as hard as Tharin ever did. That’s what the other squires say, anyway.”

Tobin did a back flip of his own and landed beside his friend.

“What are they like?”

“The other squires? Hard to say yet. They were mostly drunk and they didn’t say much to me, except for Korin’s squire, Tanil. He’s a duke’s first son and seems a nice enough fellow. So does Barieus, squire to that little fellow who looks like a rat.”

“Lutha.”

“That’s the one.”

“But not the others?”

Ki shrugged. “Too soon to say, I guess. All the others are the second or third sons of high lords—”

It was too dark inside the hangings to make out his friend’s expression, but there was something troubling in his tone.

“Well, you’re a knight now. And I’m going to have you made a lord as soon as I can and give you an estate,” Tobin told him. “I’ve been thinking about it all day. Arkoniel says I’ll have to wait until I’m of age, but I don’t want to wait that long. When the king comes back I’m going to ask him how I can do it.”

Ki rose up on one elbow and stared down at him. “You’d do that, wouldn’t you? Just like that.”

“Well, of course!” Tobin grinned up at him. “Just try not to breed so much that your grandchildren end up sleeping in a heap on the floor again.”

Ki lay back and folded his hands behind his head. “I don’t know. From what I saw back home, breeding is great fun. And I saw some pretty girls at that banquet tonight! That one in the green dress? I wouldn’t mind having a look under her skirts, would you?”

“Ki!”

Ki shrugged and stroked his faint moustache, smiling to himself. He was soon snoring, but Tobin lay awake for some time, listening to the ongoing revels echoing outside the window. He’d never seen anyone drunk at the keep. It made him nervous.

This wasn’t what he’d looked for, all those years staring down the Alestun road. He was a warrior, not a courtier, drinking wine half the night in fancy clothes. With girls!

He frowned over at Ki’s peaceful profile. The soft down covering his cheeks caught the faint light coming in through the hangings. Tobin rubbed at his own smooth cheeks and sighed. He and Ki were the same height, but his shoulders were still narrow and his skin still bare of the spots and stray hairs that Ki was developing. He tossed a while longer, then realized that he’d forgotten all about Brother.

Barely moving his lips, he whispered the words. Brother appeared crouching on the end of the bed, face as inscrutable as ever.

“You mustn’t go wandering about,” he told him. “Stay close and do as I ask. It isn’t safe here.”

To his amazement, Brother nodded. Crawling slowly up the bed, he touched Tobin’s chest, then his own, and settled back at the end of the bed.

Tobin lay back and yawned. It was comforting having someone else from home here, even if it was only a ghost.

At the New Palace, in a wing adjoining the king’s own now-empty rooms, the wizard Niryn stirred in his sleep, disturbed by a half-formed image that would not quite take shape.

Tobin woke at sunrise and lay listening to the new morning sounds outside. He could hear crowds of people laughing and talking and whispering loudly just outside the door. From the open balcony came the sounds of riders and birds, splashing water, and the distant cacophony of the waking city. Even here, the scent of flowers and pines could not mask the rising stink of the place carried in on the warm sea breeze. Had it really only been a day ago that he’d woken in his own bed? He sighed and shook off the wave of homesickness that threatened to overwhelm him.