Pawn (The Pawn Series Book 1) Read online

  "Not anymore. Go sit down."

  I didn't argue with her.

  * * * *

  It was some time later that Juleena came to sit beside me. She was balancing two plates and two mugs but somehow managed to sit down without spilling.

  "You learn speak Framaran."

  "Who is going to teach me?"

  "I start. When arrive Marport, I tell someone teach you. She teach Framaran, other things." I nodded. "When someone helps you, you must say.." and then she spoke a phrase in Framaran. "Now you say."

  I tried repeating it, but I mangled it badly. Juleena spoke the individual sounds slowly, making me repeat them. Then faster, and faster until I could say it right.

  She handed me the plate, mug, and a fork. I looked at the food and into the mug. I was about to take a drink when she set a hand on my wrist, stopping me.

  "What you say now?" she asked. I looked at her in confusion. In response, she put on her own face. "I just taught you!"

  "Oh. Sorry." And then in Framaran, I said, "Thank you."

  She replied, also in Framaran, but she didn't make me repeat it. But she removed her hand from my wrist.

  I lifted the mug again, peering into it dubiously. It wasn't water. I sniffed. "What is it?"

  She spoke a phrase I didn't understand. She said it more slowly then switched back to Arrlottan. "Lora is a fruit. This is the juice. You not know lora juice?"

  I shook my head. I took a little sip. It was very sweet, and I made a face.

  "Is good!" she said. "You drink."

  "Do I have to?"

  She looked at me for a moment. Finally she said, "Drink half. I take rest." She turned and pointed. "Water that wagon."

  "Drink half of it?" I asked.

  "With food." She reached over and tapped the plate. "I know strange you. This good food. Our food different. Learn now." She paused. "Eat slow. Um. Small."

  I nodded understanding.

  "Eat fast, eat much, sick get."

  And so I nodded again.

  She was right; the food was different. I didn't have the words for it then, but I do now. The food was far richer than I was accustomed. But I recognized most of what I was eating. There were potatoes and carrots and meat, buried in a sauce, much thicker than soup. But it wasn't dried meat, and it didn't taste like gazelle. I wondered what it was. I hoped it was safe. Old meat would make me sicker than rich food. I wondered if they knew that.

  I decided there was nothing I could do about that and hoped they knew what they were doing. But still, I ate slowly.

  The juice was thick and far too sweet. Once I'd taken perhaps half of it, Juleena said, "I finish." She held out her hand. I gave her the mug, and she upended the contents into her own, handing it back. "Water in barrel." She gestured with her mug. "Can rinse mug."

  "Rinse?"

  "I use wrong word?" She screwed up her face for a moment. "Water." She made a swirling motion with her mug. "Then tip. No juice."

  I looked at her in horror. She wanted me to waste water?

  "Is good," she added. "Have lots water."

  I remembered the bath they made us take and shrugged. If we ran out of water, it wouldn't be my fault.

  * * * *

  After dinner, they built up the cook fire and everyone gathered around, much like the Arrlotta would gather in our huts. And then they told stories to each other, acting some of them out. Judging by the reactions around me, some of them were quite funny. Of course, I didn't understand a word.

  But during one of the stories, seated beside me, Juleena began to fidget. When the laughter began, she hid her face. But I looked closely, and I thought perhaps she was blushing. The story finished with everyone looking at her, most of them laughing. The person who had told the story was one of the men, and he was laughing at least as loudly as everyone else.

  "The story was about you," I said to her. She pretended to ignore me. But I was amused by her embarrassment. I wished I had understood the story.

  Some of the people played musical instruments: a drum, a pipe of some sort, other instruments I didn't recognize. Some people sang. I didn't know any of the songs, but when everyone clapped their hands in time to the music, I clapped, too.

  It grew full dark, and on the steppes, night is cold. I wrapped my arms around myself. The clothes they made me wear were thin.

  Juleena noticed. I would learn she noticed everything. She spoke, and another minute, one of the women wrapped a cloak around my shoulders. I didn't know how to make it stay, and so Juleena did the clasp in front for me.

  "She loans me her clothing?"

  "No. This is yours now."

  "If you let me take my clothes, I wouldn't need your gifts."

  "You dress Framaran now."

  They continued to tell stories for a little longer. But then Juleena gave an order. They all rose. Some stretched. Two turned to the fire and began to bank it for the night. I hoped they did it properly.

  Juleena turned to me and offered her hand. I let her pull me to my feet then said the phrase she'd taught me earlier. She smiled and clapped me on the back. Then she wrapped an arm around my shoulders and led me away.

  There were huts, but they weren't at all like the huts I knew. They were smaller, much smaller, but they were easier to assemble, using only two tall poles and some rope. But I looked at them dubiously; I didn't think they would be very good in a storm. And they were far too small to have a fire inside. What did they do in the winter?

  And they didn't use skins for the side and roof. Instead, it was some sort of fabric. I didn't think it would be waterproof. Not that rain on the steppes was common, but storms do come, and then it can be a cold, cold night if you can't stay dry.

  "This ours," she said, coming to one of the huts. She opened the flap. "Sit bed. Boots here." She tapped a spot with her own foot, just inside the hut door. "You there." She pointed to the right side.

  I looked around. The huts were small, but if there were only two people per hut, there weren't enough huts for everyone. "Only us?"

  "Only us," she said. "Other tents four." She used a Framaran word for their huts, I decided.

  I stepped past her then turned around and sat on the edge of the bedding. I removed my boots, set them where she had indicated, and then waited. Juleena stepped inside, pulling the door closed and tying it. It became very dark, and I could see almost nothing. But I listened as Juleena removed her own boots then she shifted. I heard more noises.

  "Framara bed different Arrlotta bed," she said. "I help." She did something on my side of the bed, then she reached out and found my arm. "Feel." She drew my hand, setting it flat on the bed near the other end of the hut. "Sleep here." She moved my hand. "Blankets top. Understand?"

  I nodded, but realized she couldn't see. "Yes."

  "Take clothes down," she directed.

  "Down?" I asked. "Oh. I should take my clothes off?"

  "Yes. Off. Sorry."

  "All my clothes?"

  "No. Leave. Um. I show." There was rustling, and I could just see barely well enough to realize she was removing clothing. "Teach words." She said a word then found my hand and pulled it to her. I realized I had just learned the word for a cloak. I repeated it a few times.

  "Yes. Morning I ask. See remember you." So I said the word a few more times. I removed my own cloak. We set our cloaks aside. She said another word then pulled my hands to her shirt. That came off. I learned a third word for her trousers and a fourth for the strange garment they wore under their trousers instead of socks. These socks covered not just the feet but all the way to the waist.

  Then there was a long pause as she worked to remove one more piece of clothing. I knew it was the part under the shirt. I was wearing one, too. It held my small breasts just so. The Arrlottan didn't wear something like that. We simply wrapped our chests so we didn't bounce uncomfortably, and I barely needed even that. But the Framaran women wore something far more complicated from their waists to their breasts. When they had put me
into it, I was quite unsure. But it had been comfortable enough, and while I personally needed little support, I imagined a woman with a larger breast would appreciate it.

  I fumbled with my own corset. Juleena moved to my bed and said, "I help." It took her a little time until she had released me from the garment. She set it aside.

  At this time, I was down to underthings. There was a thin shirt of the softest materials I had worn under the corset and equally thin, very short pants of the same material. I had felt the material when they dressed me earlier, and I felt it again, now that it was all exposed.

  Juleena helped me under the covers, then I heard her move into her own bed. I waited until she was settled before I said, "Juleena."

  "Sleep now."

  "But-"

  "My head tired Arrlotta words," she said. "No more tonight."

  "But-"

  "Promise sleep," she interrupted. "I tell story."

  I giggled. "You're going to tell me a bedtime story?"

  "Promise sleep."

  "I promise." Then I squirmed around for a moment, getting more comfortable. Juleena waited until I grew quiet, then she began to speak.

  In Framaran.

  And thus ended my first day with the strangers, including one I was growing to call friend.

  * * * *

  I woke as I always did, the sky lightening, giving more light in the hut than there had been last night. The camp was quiet, and I thought perhaps I was the first awake. But when I rolled over, Juleena lay on her side, watching me.

  "Good morning," I said in a soft voice.

  She smiled and replied, but it was in Framaran.

  "Does that mean 'good morning'?" I asked her.

  "Yes. No. Different words. Same idea. You say." And so she taught me the words a Framaran says to another upon waking. "Mean. Um. First word. More good."

  "Better?" I prompted. "Best?"

  "More, more good?"

  "Best," I repeated.

  "Best," she agreed. "Second word. Um. Not sick."

  "Healthy?"

  "Maybe. Body good. Head good." She pointed to her own head. "Um. Happy head."

  I laughed at the idea of my head being happy.

  "Say again," she ordered. And so I did, the words I decided meant "Best health."

  "Say only morning," she said. "But not all. Only friend. Family." Then she taught me other greetings.

  Then she said, "You questions have."

  "Yes."

  "I answer all questions." She smiled. "Ask Framaran."

  "I don't know enough Framaran to ask!"

  "You want answers Arrlottan."

  "Yes."

  "Then must pay."

  "Pay? I have to pay for answers?"

  "Yes."

  Then she waited, and finally I asked her, "Pay with what?"

  "Words. Twenty new words, one answer."

  "What?" I shrieked. In response, she only grinned.

  "I speak Arrlottan only teach words, answer questions, tell you do. No more Arrlottan."

  I tried glaring at her. Then I began adding up the words I knew so far. I said "thank you" and held up a finger. Then I told her "best wishes" for two more fingers. But she reached over and held my fingers.

  "No. I answer questions. You learn words. Done. Start now."

  "That's not fair. You just taught me a bunch of words."

  "Pay yesterday questions." Then she began counting. "What Jalek like? When will we marry?" She repeated the questions I had asked yesterday, lifting a finger for each. "You owe many words."

  "We'll start over," I said a little sullenly.

  "See? My way best. She began to climb from bed."

  "Wait. You have to teach me words."

  "No. Must say old words."

  "Fine." I repeated the phrases she taught me. Then as we dressed, I said the words for the pieces of clothing. I stumbled with pronunciation of a word or two, but I got them out.

  "Good," she said. By this time we were sitting on our beds, facing each other. "You count words in Framaran. No count, no answer. Learn numbers."

  Then she held up a closed fist and said a word. Then a single finger up through five fingers. She added her second hand and counted up to ten.

  "What was that first word?"

  She cocked her head. "Oh. No Arrlottan word. But important Framaran word." She held up one finger and said "one" first in Framaran then in Arrlotten. "Yes?"

  "Yes."

  Then she closed her hand so there were no fingers and said the first word. I stared. "Oh. It means nothing."

  "Yes. No. Um. Yes. But only number. Like one number. Understand?"

  "Yes."

  "Good. Now you say." Then she taught me the numbers from zero to ten. We went through them a few times until she was happy, then she quizzed me, holding up three fingers and waiting for me to say the word, then seven, then each of the other numbers. Then she said, "Your turn." I didn't understand, so she said "six" in Framaran, and I held up six fingers.

  "Good. Half question plus one. I teach you count ten tens. Understand?"

  I shook my head. "Ten tens?"

  "You understand soon. What number after ten?"

  "Eleven?"

  "Yes. We say ten and one." She repeated it in Framaran then waited for me.

  "Good." She smiled then lifted her feet. They were clad in the stockings, but she touched a toe and waited for me.

  "One."

  "Good." She had me count off her toes to ten, then she added a finger.

  "Ten and one." And soon I reached, "Ten and nine." She taught me twenty, then thirty, and finally I reached one hundred.

  I smiled jubilantly. "You own me five answers!"

  She laughed. "No. Owe one answer." Then she counted off the numbers I had learned, skipping eleven, twenty-one, and the other, similar numbers. "Ten and one not a new word," she added. It came out to exactly twenty words.

  "And."

  She laughed again. "Yes. One answer and one word. Make good question."

  I thought carefully. In the meantime, Juleena moved from her bed and began to roll it up. I watched what she was doing and then did the same. There were straps that held it in a roll, and she helped me apply them. Then we put on our boots and stepped out of the hut.

  "Juleena, what is the price to let me ride an Arrlottan horse?"

  She turned to me, surprise on her face. "That question?"

  "Yes. That's my question."

  "Why?"

  "Your horses are too big and too stupid."

  She frowned. "Say slow."

  "Too big," I said. I mimed straddling a huge, huge horse, and she laughed.

  "Understand. And other part?"

  "Your horses are stupid. They don't know anything."

  "No. Not true."

  "He didn't understand when I told him what to do. I had to spank his ass to make him move." I acted that out.

  She laughed again. "Understand. Is like talk Framaran. Framaran horse no speak Arrlottan." She poked me in the chest. "Yallameenara learn Framaran horse words."

  "Please, Juleena. Please let me ride one of our horses."

  She frowned. "You Framaran now."

  "Fine," I said. "Please let me ride a horse I know how to ride. Please let me ride a horse more my size."

  She sighed while watching me. She had been smiling and laughing, but now she spoke quietly. "Afraid."

  "I'm not afraid."

  "I afraid."

  "Of what?"

  "You run. You run bad. Bad Framara. Bad, bad Arrlotta."

  "You would catch me if I ran," I said quietly.

  "You ride Rillo, I catch."

  "Rillo?"

  "Your horse name Rillo."

  "Ah."

  "You ride Rillo, I catch. Easy. Rillo slow. You not know Framara horse words. I not teach."

  "Then how am I supposed to learn?"

  "Home. Teach at home." She sighed again. "You ride Arrlotta horse. You run. I catch?" She shrugged. "Maybe. You sure I ca
tch? You sure, sure? Maybe no. Think escape. Try run. I catch, bad for you. I no catch. Bad everyone."

  "I won't," I said. "I promise. I won't. I already promised to obey you." I spoke quickly, repeating my promises. "Please, Juleena. I won't run. You would catch me. And if you didn't." I looked away. "You'd poison the water."

  I turned back to her. "Please, Juleena. I'll learn Framaran. I'll obey you. What else do you want?"

  "This bad idea," she said, looking at me carefully. Then she sighed. "You ask price."

  "Yes." Hope soared, and I began to smile.

  "Song. You learn song. Not count answer words. Sing fire tonight."

  "Yes," I said. "Thank you! Thank you!" I reached forward and hugged her tightly. "Thank you!"

  She returned the hug, but when we finally separated, she clasped me by my shoulders and said, "Please not make me sad, Yallameenara."

  "I won't. Promise."

  She smiled, but it was tentative.

  * * * *

  It felt so much better to be on a proper horse. Juleena said I was Framaran now, but I didn't feel Framaran. I felt Arrlottan. She let me pick the horse I wanted. I thought she'd try to pick for me, but she admitted they were all good horses, and she wouldn't be able to pick one that was slow.

  "I won't run," I said.

  I wished I had my horse, but it wasn't here. But grandfather had given the Framarans four horses, just like all the clan chiefs had. I picked one of those, a spirited filly named Zana. I spoke quietly to her, and she blew in my face.

  She danced around once I was atop her, kicking up her feet a little. I let her get it out of her system.

  The Framarans hadn't mounted yet. Instead, they were all watching me. I smiled over at Juleena. Then, without a word or a single switch of the reins, I began to put Zana through her paces. She backed up. She moved from side to side. She spun in a circle, first one direction, then the other. Then we began to trot around, moving quickly, demonstrating the agility of a horse of the Arrlotta, ridden by someone born in the saddle. Finally we came to a stop facing Juleena.

  She clapped for me, smiling. "That is good," she said. "Arrlotta good horse person." Then her smile turned into a grin. "Framaran good horse person, too. My turn."

  She turned to her own monster of a mount and vaulted aboard it's back. If it wasn't done quite as well as an Arrlottan, that was only because of the sheer size of the animal. Juleena gathered the reins and then began to move her mount through its steps.