Guardian of the Crown Read online

  “They all demonstrate artistic unity,” Kerish said, and made a face. “I have to say I’m getting tired of hearing that. I don’t have the artistic training the rest of the Devisers have, so I’m always proposing new Devices, or putting them together, and being told they lack artistic unity.”

  “We have to show Willow the Device now,” Felix said, tugging on Kerish’s robe.

  “Let her look at what she wants first, Felix.”

  “If he’s so excited, maybe we should see that one first,” Willow said.

  Kerish grimaced. “Now I’m afraid you’ll be expecting something magnificent. It’s just a little thing.”

  “It’s wonderful,” Felix insisted. “Come on, Willow.”

  “All right.” She let Felix take her hand and drag her through the room, passing the few occupied pedestals and seeing only glimpses of what they bore: a book, a lantern like the ones in the Residence, a lady’s fan, more framed pictures, a sculpture similar to the one she’d seen at the review. Then Felix stopped in front of one near the back of the room and said, “See? Kerish made it.”

  Willow blinked. She was looking at Felix’s old doll Rebecca. “Um, Felix,” she began.

  “No, you have to talk to her,” Felix said. He picked up the doll and handed it to Willow. She sensed a fizzing knot of silver nestled into the stuffing of the doll’s head. “Just say hello.”

  “Um,” Willow said again, and held Rebecca up to her face. “Hello, Rebecca,” she said.

  “Hello, Willow,” Felix’s voice said back to her. She nearly dropped the doll in surprise.

  “See!” Felix was jumping with excitement. “Kerish made her do that! I had to do the voice because Posea doesn’t speak Tremontanese. Say something else!”

  “Uh…do you like to play, Rebecca?”

  “I like games!”

  Willow looked at Kerish, who managed to look smug and embarrassed at the same time. “You did this?”

  “My first Device,” he said. “The final version has to go into a porcelain doll so it can have artistic unity,” he made another face, “but I thought you’d appreciate it better this way.”

  “I do. This is incredible. Imagine how popular it will be. Rebecca, can you say ‘thank you’ to Kerish?”

  “Thank you, Kerish,” Rebecca/Felix said.

  “Now can we see the animals?” Felix said. He looked as if he wanted to start jumping again. Clearly he’d learned bad habits from Posea.

  Willow set Rebecca back on the pedestal, but Kerish picked her up and held her out to Willow. “She’s for you,” he said. “I know it’s silly, but I didn’t think she ought to be abandoned.”

  Willow smiled. “I agree,” she said, “and thank you.” His first Device. It felt so personal, but she couldn’t reject the gift and, she realized, she didn’t want to reject the gift, no matter what message that sent. Kerish turned away, but she saw him smile too.

  The bodyguards flanked them as they left the Devisers’ hall and followed one of the stone paths across the lawns and between other domed, pillared buildings that gleamed in the noon sun. “This is the largest scholia in Umberan—in Eskandel, really,” Kerish said. “Most scholias specialize in one field of study, but the Domian scholia allows men and women to work together on cross-disciplinary projects. It’s also one of the few that emphasizes natural philosophy and logic equally with the arts and history. That’s why Khurkjian Gianesh’s zoological collection is sited here.”

  “What’s that?”

  “It’s animals, Willow, lots of them,” Felix said, taking her hand to urge her along faster. “Mister Khurkjian talked to me the last time we were here, and he said he really wanted me to see his collection. Hurry, Willow, he might have gone to have his dinner and I don’t want to wait!”

  “I’m sure he’ll wait for you, Felix,” Willow said, refraining from adding because you’re a King. No sense letting Felix start thinking that he could get special treatment because of his rank. He’d learn that soon enough. She hoped the man wasn’t just humoring Felix and his enthusiasm.

  They’d left the lawns behind for an overgrown thicket that shielded them from the heat of the sun, something Willow was grateful for. She was also starting to feel hungry and half-hoped Khurkjian had, in fact, gone to dinner so they’d have an excuse to eat something too. Though she had no idea where they’d find food in this maze of buildings. The scholars had to eat, yes?

  Felix shouted and pulled free of Willow’s hand, only to be brought up short by one of the bodyguards. “Wait here, your Majesty,” he said, and Willow once again took Felix’s hand while the bodyguard forged ahead, out of the thicket and into an open space Willow couldn’t see much of. When he returned, Felix dragged Willow forward and into the open clearing beyond, where Willow stopped and stared in amazement. “I can’t believe this,” she said.

  Giant cages of elegantly worked iron dotted the open space through which the path meandered, all of them occupied by creatures Willow could never have imagined. She’d seen some of them in the one picture book she’d owned as a child, before Nan had destroyed it as punishment for some chore Willow hadn’t done right, but others were completely unfamiliar.

  A giant black cat lay sprawled under a tree that grew up within its cage and emerged from the bars over the top. A boar rooted around in the soft ground, moving its head restlessly from side to side to let each of its tusks have a turn at digging. A pair of monkeys climbed the bars of their cage and swung from the top, chittering at each other and their neighbors. Something that looked like the monkeys’ older, fatter brother sat with its back against a boulder, surveying the landscape and settling its gaze unnervingly on Willow.

  The musky smell of animal bodies filled the clearing, making the air feel even warmer than the sun’s rays could account for. She could see more cages beyond the first, lining the path, and moved forward in a daze interrupted by the monkeys shrieking at her. “This is…” she began, and her voice trailed off. It was nothing she’d ever imagined. “Don’t they feel confined, living in those cages?”

  “They do not stay long,” an unfamiliar voice said. “We study, and then return them to the wild before they can grow too familiar with captivity.” An older man approached them along the path, his dark beard streaked with gray at the chin. He was bare-headed and wore a very plain robe, and he was trailed by a Kazhari sighthound wearing neither collar nor leash. The pure black animal paced him as exactly as if it were on a lead.

  “Good morning, Mister Khurkjian,” Felix said. “May I pet Maresh?”

  “Of course,” Khurkjian Gianesh said, and Felix ran to the dog and began scratching behind its ears. “She likes you.”

  “I like her almost as well as Ernest,” Felix said. “This is Willow. She’s my guardian.”

  Willow had never heard him call her that before, and to her embarrassment she felt her eyes grow moist. “Mister Khurkjian, it’s good to meet you,” she said, bowing respectfully to cover her embarrassment. “Felix is very impressed by your animals. Thank you for letting him visit.”

  “It is I should thank you,” the man said. His voice was deep, his Tremontanese barely accented. “Felix knows much about many creatures. His interest exceeds that of most of my students.”

  “He certainly talks about them enough,” Willow said, and Khurkjian laughed.

  “Come, let me introduce you,” he said, “and please call me Gianesh. My mother was Tremontanese and I cannot be formal with anyone who reminds me so much of her.”

  It took only five minutes for Willow to realize that, first, Gianesh cared very much about every animal in the place, and second, that he was in no way humoring Felix in his interest in those animals. The two fell into a conversation in which Gianesh asked nearly as many questions as Felix did, though Willow judged he was assessing Felix’s understanding rather than asking for information. Willow admired the creatures and tried not to sound too ignorant in her questions. She lingered by the great black cat, who eyed her with mild interest a
nd yawned as if she knew Willow was no threat. “What kind of cat is she?” she asked Gianesh.

  “Najabedhi,” Gianesh said. “In Tremontanese…the word is not exact, because you have none in your country, but it is cousin to the wild cats that live in your hills.”

  “Panther,” Willow recalled from that long-lost book.

  “Yes. But bigger. As you see. You know she is female?”

  “It was just a guess.” The cat’s relaxed presence, that languid pose, suggested she could go from lying down to a full leaping attack in half a breath, but why that had made Willow think “female,” she had no idea. Alondra had said something about najabedhi once, but she couldn’t remember what.

  “The indoor cages now, I think, and then you will join me for a meal?” Gianesh said, indicating a low-roofed building surfaced in gleaming white plaster that reminded Willow of the Serjian Principality’s outbuildings. The bodyguard had to duck to enter the doorway, and Willow was about to follow him when she heard the man say something in Eskandelic that had to be profanity and rush back out, making his partner stand protectively behind Felix. The guard spoke rapidly and with great feeling, and his eyes were wide.

  Kerish drew in a breath and stepped closer to Willow, but Gianesh laughed and prodded Felix, who was grinning. To Willow’s surprise, Felix came out with a few halting words in Eskandelic that made the guard relax, though only fractionally. He shook his head again, and Gianesh said something that sounded like he was teasing the big man.

  “What’s going on?” Willow murmured to Kerish.

  “He says—” Kerish pointed at the distressed guard—“there’s a giant snake in there.”

  Willow sucked in a breath and grabbed Kerish’s arm with both hands. “What?”

  “He’s in a cage, Willow,” Felix said. “His name is…it means Thunder. He’s a python!”

  “Kerish—” Willow said, not letting go of his arm.

  “It is quite safe,” Gianesh said. “He is not venomous. He kills by squeezing his prey. But the cage is strong.”

  “Is it,” Willow said.

  “Come on, Willow, he’s what I wanted you to see,” Felix said, prying her fingers loose from Kerish and urging her along. “There are lots of snakes. It’s what Mister Khurkjian studies most.”

  Willow directed a pleading look at Kerish, who glanced at Felix and then shrugged. Willow closed her eyes and tried to still the hammering of her heart. Then she let Felix drag her into the building.

  It was dark and cool inside and smelled distantly pungent, like burning sage. She let her eyes adjust to the dark, then had to bite back a scream, because dangling from a branch right next to her head was the biggest snake she’d ever seen. She guessed it was about eight feet long, judging by how much of it was hanging off the branch. Its body was thick enough that she was sure she wouldn’t be able to fit her hands around it, assuming she wanted to touch the thing, which she absolutely did not. The bars were closer together than in the cages outside, which comforted her only a little. She took a step back, hoping her fear didn’t show—Felix would be so disappointed in her—and said, “It’s certainly big, isn’t it?”

  “It’s the biggest,” Felix said. “They eat rabbits live. They squeeze—”

  “Thanks, Felix, I can imagine,” Willow said with a shudder. “How about we look at some of the other snakes?”

  She let Felix’s chatter wash over her, appreciating only that he never seemed to run out of things to say, trying not to think about just how many millions of snakes Eskandel seemed to be home to. Finally, Felix said, “Isn’t that interesting?” and Willow nodded, not sure what she was agreeing to, but it sounded like the sort of thing someone would say at the end of an event—or in her case, an ordeal. “Let’s eat now,” he added, and Willow nodded more fervently.

  She sat and ate without saying much, mostly listening to Felix’s questions and responding to Gianesh when he spoke to her. He was good at drawing people out and at gently reminding Felix that there were other things to talk about than animals. “For example, Kerish is beginning to make a name for himself in the scholia,” he said with a wink.

  “Yes, and the name is ‘you there with no romance in your soul,’” Kerish said wryly. “I blame Tremontane for teaching me pragmatism. I just think there are so many things Devices could do that aren’t restricted to the arts.”

  “I liked the idea of a Device-powered fan for the reptile house,” Gianesh said. “My friends are sun-lovers, but they are still so uncomfortable in such heat.”

  Willow realized the “friends” he was talking about were the snakes. “Why can’t Kerish just build one?” she said, suppressing a shudder.

  “I can, but I’d have to justify it to the Magister,” Kerish said. “Though I did bring this.” He fished out the glowing golden button. “I was thinking I’d build the Device and test it, and then have something to show the Magister. He’s proud of the zoological collection, and he might make an exception if he can see the Device benefits it.”

  “I am happy to provide you with space for your experiment,” Gianesh said with a smile. “And a cool drink to finish this meal.”

  Having said goodbye to Gianesh, they returned to the carriage, where they waited while one of the bodyguards erected a canopy to shield them from the sun. The other stood watch, his eyes restlessly scanning their surroundings. “I have to admit I feel safer with them around,” Kerish murmured to Willow.

  “So do I,” Willow said, but remembered her earlier thought about who they were really intended to protect and wasn’t sure if that was true.

  Felix fell asleep on Willow before they’d left the scholia grounds. Willow pushed his damp hair back from his forehead, noting again that the mariseed oil was fading quickly. Should they let it go, or dye it again? “I think I want to take a nap, too,” she said quietly.

  “It’s the heat. A lot of people do nap in the early afternoon,” Kerish said. “But I meant it about seeing the ocean. If you still want to.”

  He wasn’t looking at her, he was watching another carriage approaching theirs, but Willow heard tension in his voice, as if his words didn’t match his meaning. He couldn’t possibly believe they could go back to what they’d been, could he? What did she want, really? She took advantage of his attention being directed elsewhere to look at him, at his so-familiar profile and the sweep of his hair that needed to be trimmed as much as hers did. She wanted—

  Someone stood up in front of the approaching carriage and raised something to shoulder height. Willow had just enough time to recognize it was a crossbow, and shriek a warning, before he fired directly at Felix.

  Chapter Six

  One of the guards lurched across to throw himself in front of Felix. The other cursed and leaped from the carriage. The assassin threw down the crossbow and fled into the crowd. The guard took off after him, shouting something over his shoulder, and the carriage sped up until it was pushing people out of the way, fast enough that the jolting made Felix stir and then sit up. Kerish grabbed the guard and pulled him upright slightly, but he was already sitting up, swaying and clutching his shoulder. “Willow?” Felix said sleepily.

  “Lie still,” Willow said. Blood was seeping up around a hole in the guard’s leather armor, from which extended the butt end of a crossbow bolt. “Everything’s fine.”

  Kerish and the guard had a quick conversation, Kerish’s words clipped, the guard’s pained, then Kerish spoke to the driver and the carriage sped up again. “Assassin,” Kerish said, unnecessarily as far as Willow was concerned. “We’re going back to the Residence and praying to ungoverned heaven there was only one.”

  “What about the other guard?”

  “He’ll catch the man.” Kerish didn’t sound convinced. “We need to get Haroush back to have his wound treated and get Felix to safety.”

  Felix’s face was white, and he didn’t seem to realize he was clutching Rebecca. “He’ll be all right, won’t he, Willow?” he said, his eyes fixed on the wound.


  Kerish stripped off his robe and tore a large chunk out of it. He offered it to the guard, who pressed it against his shoulder. “He will,” he said.

  “Stay down, Felix, just in case.” Willow put her arm around his shoulders and hoped it gave him comfort. “We were careless,” she said. “We shouldn’t have taken the same route both ways.”

  “I didn’t even think of it.”

  “Well, I should have.” Willow scanned their surroundings. They were approaching the black arch of the entrance to the Residence complex, which made her more nervous. This was a natural ambush spot, the one place anyone leaving or entering the Serjian Residence’s neighborhood would have to pass. She squeezed Felix a little tighter and flexed her wrist, feeling the pressure of the knife that would be useless against another projectile attack.

  No one waited to attack them at the arch, but Willow kept having to remind herself to breathe, in and out, to relax some of the tension that made her useless rather than alert. When they reached the gate to the Residence, the guard, despite his condition, made Felix walk in the shadow of his great bulk, his halting steps making Willow want to scream with frustration and snatch Felix up and run inside with him. Finally, finally they reached the front door, and Willow took Felix’s hand and hustled him up the stairs to the safety of their room. “It’s all right, Felix,” she said, hugging him tightly and feeling his heart beat as rapidly as her own.