Pawn (The Pawn Series Book 1) Read online

  "I no let happen," Juleena replied. "You safe, Yallameenara."

  I didn't say anything. I was safe? Yes, just like we were friends. I decided then and there that if I had another chance to run, I was going to take it.

  Promises Made

  Maybe I wasn't a stupid girl, but Juleena wasn't a stupid woman, either. She had to have guessed the effect our conversation would have on me. And while she didn't outwardly treat me any differently, I noticed she watched me more closely. They all did. There were always at least two people separating me from freedom, and usually more than that. And while my horse may have been more agile than theirs, I was fairly sure theirs were faster, at least for a short run. And I knew my horse couldn't fight like theirs.

  At least for the next day or so, I was watched far too closely to make a real attempt to escape.

  * * * *

  In the morning, I gave little interest in the proceedings. I didn't examine the path. I didn't ask how they were going to see to the wagons. I didn't offer to help with the horses.

  Juleena judged my mood, and whether she thought about asking my help or not, she didn't actually ask.

  It took two days to move everything to the top of the gorge wall: people, horses, wagons, supplies. I went up in the middle of the first day once there were plenty of people at the top to keep an eye on me. And once I was there, they didn't let me near the horses.

  And they kept a very close eye on me.

  I was left no duties, no freedom, and little to do. I spent most of it looking at the first edge of Framara.

  There were trees. And more trees, and more trees after that. In my entire life, I hadn't seen as many trees as I could see at one time in our camp at the edge of the gorge.

  Twice, I wandered around the camp, eventually wandering in the direction of the forest. Both times, at least two of the Framarans had intercepted me and gently guided me back to camp. I tried gesturing I just wanted to get a closer look, but that wasn't to be.

  It had been worth a try, anyway.

  It was late afternoon on the second day when Juleena plopped down on the ground beside me. I barely glanced over at her. Her hair was matted, and she'd clearly been sweating. She looked exhausted.

  "How are you doing?" she asked in Framaran, one of the phrases she taught me.

  My response was a lie. "Good."

  We sat quietly. I tried to pretend she wasn't there, although it was difficult to truly ignore her. Still, I said nothing and didn't look at her.

  "Dinner soon," she said. As it was late afternoon, and I could smell the cooking fire, I thought the statement was redundant. And so I didn't respond. And so there was another silence, and if it was awkward, I wasn't sure I cared.

  "Yalla." I said nothing and gave no indication I had heard her. "Please, look at me."

  I turned to face her, my face a blank mask.

  "Make new promises," she said.

  "I've already promised to obey. What else do you want?"

  "We each make promise."

  I wasn't in the promising mood, and as she already told me there was a good chance that regardless of what I did, I was going to be killed for things I didn't do, I wasn't in a mood to keep any promises I made, anyway.

  "I will promise nothing bad will happen to you."

  That didn't sound like a promise she could keep. I considered carefully. "You'll keep me healthy? You'll make sure I don't get kicked by a horse?"

  She made a sound of frustration. "Hard words. Please help."

  I sighed. "You're promising you won't whip me to death if there's another raid."

  "I promise no one touch you bad way. No one."

  "You can make this promise? You're not the queen."

  "My mother be angry me. But she not blame you. Not your fault. None this your fault."

  "If you had been right, if my grandfather was the chief of all Arrlottans, I would still be an Arrlottan girl. My life means nothing except what babies I can make. I am no longer a member of Three Cats Tribe, and if my grandfather had promised against my life, I don't think it's a promise he would keep."

  She puzzled through that then asked me to say it again in pieces. Finally she understood. "Mama keep promise." She said it with a great deal of surety. "Maybe yell me. Maybe mad me. Not you. Keep you safe. Promise."

  I eyed her carefully. "What's the catch?"

  "I don't understand."

  "What do you want from me? You said we would both make promises."

  "Ah. Yes. Need three promises."

  "I get one promise but you want three."

  "Promise you safe big promise. Listen and decide." And so I nodded. "First, promise obey. Later must promise obey queen."

  "Is that one promise or two?"

  "One."

  "I already made that promise."

  "You ready break promise," she said. "You run if can."

  I didn't try to deny it.

  "Don't blame. I would try if you. But now we fix. Okay. Let fix."

  I sighed. "And the other two promises?"

  "Promise try friends. Try best."

  I thought before answering. "Are you making that promise, too?"

  "Yes. Didn't think. Yes. We both promise."

  "And third?"

  "Promise learn Framaran. Work hard. Speak everyone."

  I sighed. "What if I don't want to make these promises?"

  "Then I only promise try keep you safe. Is problem. Hard words. Try explain. Is about people think. You smile. You speak Framaran. You laugh. You and I friends. People think good you. But you not, people think bad. Easier protect people think good." She paused. "Queen too. Make queen happy. Queen want protect you. Understand?"

  "I guess," I replied. "So I should pretend we're friends."

  "No. Be friends. Real friends." She smiled. "I fun. You like."

  She let me think about it. I was still feeling sullen, and the mood wasn't going to disappear just because she snapped her fingers. But finally I said, "All right. I promise I'll try to be friends. And I'll try to learn Framaran."

  "And you'll obey me and the queen."

  "And I'll obey you and the queen," I said.

  "And I promise to keep you safe. And to be friends." She held out her hand, and we clasped.

  "Good," she said.

  But then I looked back at the trees. She moved closer and put an arm around me. "Need time."

  "Yes."

  "Give hour. Fire tonight. You sing."

  I sighed.

  Overwhelming

  It took ten days to travel from the Wizard's Gorge to our destination. At first, we didn't see any other people as we passed single file down hunting paths deep in the forests of Framara, the wagons actually pushing aside the underbrush in our passing. I spent much of the time looking around nervously. There were so many strange sounds, and every time I heard something nearby, I startled. My entire life was spent on land where you could see for miles. But here I couldn't see more than ten or twenty paces into the underbrush, and frequently not even that far.

  It wasn't that the danger was any closer. The great cats could hide in the tall grass of the steppes and surprise you in a heartbeat. That didn't happen often; the cats knew humans were dangerous prey. But one must always be vigilant.

  But here, the creatures could drop on you. They could just drop on you from overhead. And there were so many different noises and so many different creatures. From time to time, someone would point into the trees or into the brush and say a word, naming the animal. I couldn't keep up with all the different animals, and not a one of them familiar. Many of them were small or harmless. And there were a great many different types of birds.

  But there were also snakes. Snakes could be harmless, but they could also be quite deadly.

  And there were some animals that were clearly predators, including two types of cats I had never seen. We'd only gotten glimpses of them before they each disappeared from view, fading behind the brush.

  And if the sounds during the
day were loud and unfamiliar, at night it was even worse. I couldn't even categorize all the different sounds.

  No one else seemed to even notice. Well, that's not entirely true. A few times one would declare, "jaguar" or "screech owl." But it was said casually, giving a name, that was all.

  But Juleena understood how unusual this was for me. She assured me repeatedly, "You safe. Animals not hunt us."

  I think I was glad they hadn't let me escape into the forest that day at the gorge. Maybe the animals wouldn't hunt such a large group. But I wondered whether one small Arrlottan girl, lost and confused, would have been as safe.

  So, as I said, the first few days, we saw few signs of other people. But then, here and there, we began to see signs of what Juleena called "civilization." At first, it was a farm field. I thought it was nothing but a clearing in the trees. I didn't understand why the edge was so regular. We went by three such fields before I caught my first glimpse of a barn.

  I brought my horse to a stop, staring, forcing everyone behind me to stop as well. I stared, pointing. The woman behind me called out to Juleena, who hadn't noticed my reaction. She turned her head, saw me, and rode back.

  "What wrong?"

  "That," I said, pointing. "What is that?" I managed to ask in Framaran.

  "It's a barn." That didn't actually help.

  "But... What is it?"

  "It's a house for animals and wagons."

  I turned to her, confused. I couldn't have understood her. I switched to Arrlottan. "You have huts for your animals?"

  "I guess we do," she said in Framaran.

  "It's so big. It must be the biggest house in the entire world."

  Juleena laughed.

  And for the rest of that day and the next, nothing I saw disabused me of that notion. We began seeing more barns, and we even pulled into one farmyard to ask if we could fill our water barrels. And so I saw more barns and several farmhouses, which were decidedly smaller than the barns.

  Still, I gawked. I had never before seen a house that didn't move.

  The next day, we reached a road. It wasn't much of a road, and I wasn't sure it was any easier traveling. It was muddy, and while it was sufficiently wide for the wagons, they frequently got stuck. It seemed like we didn't need to schedule rest breaks, as we'd have to stop periodically to free one of the wagons, anyway.

  We came to a village, pausing only long enough for more water and for Juleena to "check on the news", as she called it.

  I was stunned and had little to say.

  Then, over the next day, we came to villages more often, and they grew bigger, until finally we reached what Juleena called a town. "Welcome to Wallarty," she said.

  I didn't know there were this many people in the entire wide world, and here they all were in this one town somewhere in the middle of Framara.

  It was here I got a new fright. Near the center of town was a small field with a fence around it. I knew what a fence was, although of course, Juleena had to teach me the word, and she taught me the name for a paddock and another name for a pasture. I didn't understand the difference between the two. Someone opened a gate, and we drove all the horses inside the paddock. As I dismounted, I kept craning my head around, trying to take it all in. It was a wonder my eyes stayed in my head; it felt like they were going to pop right out.

  Juleena approached me. "We'll stay here for a day. We need to have the farrier shoe the horses." She spoke Framaran very slowly and carefully for me, and so I understood the first part. But I didn't know what a farrier was, and I didn't understand the second at all.

  "I don't understand."

  "This is where we turn onto the main road. It is lined with cobblestones, which is hard on bare hoofs. We'll shoe all the Arrlottan horses and check the shoes on the Framaran mounts."

  That didn't make sense. Eventually Juleena said, "It's easiest to show you. We can start with Zana." She had a halter with her, and we slipped it over Zana's head. Then together we led my horse towards the building beside the field.

  Zana balked at the entrance to the building. I spoke soothingly to her, but a man came out carrying a box of tools. He spoke to Juleena too quickly for me to understand then took Zana's lead rope from me. At first I thought he was going to try to force her into the building, but he turned her to the right and tied the rope to the fence instead. I stood back as he checked her carefully, inspecting each hoof.

  He turned to me and said something I didn't understand. I looked with confusion at Juleena. "He asked what kind of horse this is." That I understood.

  "Arrlottan horse," I replied.

  His eyes grew wide for a moment. He looked back at the horse. Then he stepped closer to me. "Horse people."

  "Yes," I said.

  He poked me in the chest. "You're a horse person." I could barely understood, but I nodded.

  He looked past me then gestured. "Those are all Arrlottan horses?" I didn't understand all of that. He spoke quickly and slurred his words together. I didn't realize until that moment how carefully Juleena had been speaking to me.

  And I realized I hadn't always made it easy for her to understand me, either.

  "Yes," I said. "Those are good Arrlottan horses."

  He made a sound without meaning then turned to Zana. He took out the first of his tools, one I recognized. It was a simple hoof pick. He began with her front left foot, cleaning it carefully and trimming the hoof. That wasn't anything new, although I didn't understand why I wasn't seeing to my own mount.

  Then he set the hoof down and disappeared back inside. He came out carrying more things I didn't recognize, setting them down near Zana. Then he pulled out a curved piece of metal -- what I now know was a horseshoe. I had no idea what it was at the time. He lifted Zana's hoof and set the metal in place on the bottom. Then he discarded it and pulled out another. But it was the third piece of metal that seemed to satisfy him.

  "What is he doing?"

  "He's shoeing Zana." Juleena was smirking at me. "You'll see."

  "I don't see any shoes." I switched to Arrlottan. "That means shoe, yes?" I pointed to my own feet.

  "Yes." Juleena said something to the man, who grunted without looking up from his work. Juleena retrieved one of the metal pieces and handed it to me. "This is a horseshoe. It goes on the bottom of the hoof and protects it from cracking."

  "Zana doesn't need these shoes," I said. I handed it back, dismissive. "Her hoofs are fine."

  "We'll be traveling on hard roads now," Juleena explained. "It can be rough on horse hoofs. She'll need shoes."

  I didn't like this, and I didn't think Zana was going to be very pleased with the shoes, either. I said nothing, but I watched the farrier very carefully. He worked quickly, but I could see his care at the same time. He used the knife again. Then he tested the fit of the shoe. He hammered the shoe for a moment, three or four hits, then checked the fit again. That happened a few more times.

  From his toolbox he withdrew a different hammer. I had never seen one, but he had two different kinds of hammer. I hadn't seen nails before, either. But then I saw he was about to hammer the nails into the bottom of Zana's hoof.

  "No!" I yelled. I dashed forward and grabbed his arm, yanking it away from my horse. "What are you doing?"

  I wanted to pull him away from Zana, but the way he was holding her foot between his legs, I was afraid if he fell, he could hurt her. But I held the arm with the hammer and tried to wrest it away from him. We struggled, and he began yelling at me.

  "Yallameenara!" Juleena said. "Stop it!"

  "He's going to hurt Zana."

  Then Juleena was there. She said something to the man. And then she set her hand on my arm. "Yallameenara, look at me."

  "He's going to hurt Zana!" I said again. "Make him stop."

  "He not hurt her," she said in Arrlottan. "Is good. Let go."

  I didn't let go, but when she began to pry my fingers from his arm, I didn't struggle with her, either. As soon as she had him free of me, he set Zana's
hoof down and backed away, watching Juleena and me.

  "Yalla," Juleena said. "Is good. Zana need shoes. Help. Good man. Not hurt."

  "He wants to pound those thorns-" and I pointed at the nails, "-into her foot!"

  "Not foot. Hoof only. No hurt." She called to one of the Framarans, speaking quickly. Then she turned to face me again. "Show. Is okay. No hurt. Zana need."

  "No she doesn't. She's fine. Her feet are sound. You're going to hurt her feet."

  "No, Yallameenara. Look." She turned me, and her mount was in front of us, led by Jayora. Juleena put an arm around my shoulder and led me to her horse. "Look his hooves."

  I had noticed scuffing on the hooves of the Framarans, but I hadn't wanted to get that close, especially not after seeing the way their horses could fight. But Juleena led me to her horse and then told me, "Look." She lifted the hoof, turning it over so I could see the shoe on the bottom. I stared.

  I should have noticed. I really should have. I was embarrassed.

  The farrier stepped over to us. He and Juleena spoke too quickly for me to understand. Juleena lowered the hoof, and they led her horse into the big building. Still quite upset, I followed.

  Then I stood back and watched while the farrier, one-by-one, removed each shoe, cleaned up the hoof, inspected the shoe, and then put them back, hammering them into place. With my hand in my mouth, I winced with each strike of the hammer, but the horse stood calmly for the entire ordeal.

  "Are you sure it doesn't hurt?" I asked. I could hear the quaver in my voice.

  "Yes," Juleena said.

  "Why do you have to do this?"

  "Hard road bad hoof," Juleena replied. "Must do. Protect horse." She stepped closer and set her hands on my shoulders. I was learning she did that when she was being particularly earnest. It was a new experience for me, but I was growing accustomed to it from her. "I have Daggarwind for a long time. Love him. Never hurt him. Not hurt Zana, Yalla."

  I looked into her eyes and finally nodded.

  * * * *

  It took two days for the farriers to shoe all the horses. Juleena allowed me to stay for the first few, assuring myself the horses didn't mind. There was some shifting about while the farriers worked, but the horses didn't seemed unduly put out by the process.