Chapter 9, The Nildrer Sector
The next day, Yar insisted on sleeping
late. So Seltheen decided to explore. The man at the front counter of
the hotel warned her that she must wear the braided scarf with a
brass medallion that indicated that she was licensed to carry her
sword and saxe in the city. Her spear and bow were already locked
away. The bow was banned for being a deadly missile weapon, the spear
was too long. Additionally, if she met a constable, here they wore
blue and gold, she must submit to inspection if required. Also, no
one was allowed to gallop on the cobblestones. Except for imperial
couriers, the man said. When they were on the move, everyone must
make way. She thanked the man, who bore the strange title of
`concierge’, and went out.
Inshaa was very glad to see her,
especially as it meant his release from confinement in the stable. “I
know”, she said, brushing him down. It was for contact alone, the
hotel grooms had already worked him over to a nearly velvet sheen.
“But you did like that part”, she continued. “They tell me that
they are used to warhorses and know how to avoid being hurt, it’s
clear they knew how to get on your good side. Now be sad for me, I
have had to sleep on a mattress!”
She saddled up and carefully kept him
to a trot. She traveled over dozens of streets, saw over a hundred
buildings and more people than she could count. None of them took
notice of her except for a few who, like her, were armed. Many of
those were rinkers like herself and most of them wore unrinkerlike
armor and colorful chuudib clothing. Some even had bare arms. One had
bare legs. She found that both appalling and fascinating. She had
gotten used to chuudib exposure, more or less, but she wasn’t
prepared for someone of her own race. He caught her looking. “May I
be of assistance?” he said, using a common chuudib phrase. Then he
switched to rinker. “Warrior?” Her face burned like fire. She
turned hard into the next street and sped away. She met just one
constable during this time, and he merely gave her medallion a quick
glance.
The curvy cobblestone streets and white
oval shaped buildings abruptly stopped at a low wall made from deep
green glazed tiles, topped with golden spikes. Beyond the wall,
everything was rectangular. The streets, which were paved with slabs
of black stone, met at right angles. They cut up the area into neat
blocks. Some blocks were gardens with flowers, fountains, and
benches. Others had tall narrow buildings painted in bright fanciful
patterns of color. Still others had clusters of buildings which
seemed small, even though they had two and sometimes three stories.
At least they seemed so to Seltheen, unused to buildings of any kind
as she was. This seemed like a good time to turn around and return to
the hotel.
Later, she set off again with Yar.
Eksiter was leading again. They were approaching the green wall.
Seltheen saw a line of small people come out of one of the strangely
small buildings on the other side. “Oh, I see”, she remarked,
“those are servants' houses, where those vordins just came out.”
“Shougilds, you turnip brained brute!”, yelled their own vordin,
who had turned around suddenly. Now he was glaring at her
murderously.
She was groping for the chuudib words
to express her consternation at this outburst, when she realized that
the man was speaking perfect rinker. Previously, he had barely spoken
two words at a time, and those in grunted chuudib. Yar put a hand on
her arm and looked sternly at Eksiter. “There’s no need for such
harsh words” he said. “It’s not her fault she knows so little
about your species. And it does you little credit to react so
vehemently. If you’re going to make it in this business, you have
to develop a thicker skin and a more measured response.” “You are
right, Director Yar”, replied Eksiter humbly, switching to Chuudib.
“It was over hasty and under thought, I am sorry.” But Yar
continued to speak rinker. “I am not the one you must apologize
to.”
Eksiter turned to Seltheen. He folded
his arms just below his chin, hands grasping elbows, and nodded his
head while swaying backward. She remembered that this was a chuudib
respectful salutation. Then he spoke, in rinker. “Your pardon,
Rider. I should not have called you a brute. And I should have made
allowances for your recent arrival. Allow me to explain. The
dargaolhuuns, like the hyuumins and some other species, are divided
into races. I and those that are leaving that small building are all
dargaolhuuns. However, I am of the vordin race and they are
shougilds. There are several physical distinctions that you will no
doubt learn in time, just as I have learned to distinguish among
hyuumins. We vordins serve the big folk in many highly skilled
professional capacities. Shougilds seldom rise higher than basic
labor. So yes, those are servant houses, but no, those are not
vordins.”
Too much, too fast. Seltheen decided to
reply in kind. First she touched her heart and then her sword hilt,
acknowledgement from a warrior to a non warrior who was not entirely
a figure of contempt. “Thank you for the explanation. I must point
out, however that you should call me Warrior. Rider is more intimate;
it is what members of the same band call each other. For you to use
it is considered presumptuous.”
“Ah, but we are members of the same
band, are we not? There is no presumption.” “I’m afraid that is
not correct. You see, you could not be a member—“ “Because I am
no warrior and therefore of lesser status?” he interrupted, his
voice becoming snappish again. But he swallowed and made his words
calm again. “Now it is you who are being presumptuous. Director Yar
is the leader of this band, a band intended for entertainment. I am
an entertainer myself, now under his guidance. You are not an
entertainer, which means that you have the lesser status here.” He
paused for a beat. Warrior”
Seltheen gave out a long, loud belly
laugh. People around them stopped and stared. “Very well”, she
said, gasping. “You address me as Rider and I will call you—
what? Talker?” “Performer. But only in formal situations. Most of
the time, we just use our personal names.”
Yar had been startled by the laughter.
He had never observed a rinker laugh so hard outside the Rinks
before. At home, most rinkers indulged in boisterous humor to various
degrees, but elsewhere, they tended to be taciturn and even a little
sour in their dispositions.
“Actually, Eksiter”, he said.
“She’s a bit of a performer too. What you just saw was the real
her. What she usually does is an act, a portrayal of the stock
character `Stoic Barbarian’. Perhaps with a little training we
could get her into the Guild.” Now it was Eksiter’s turn to laugh
out loud.
They turned onto a cross street just
before reaching the wall. They stopped at a building that featured a
mechanical of two figures in long coiled wigs tossing and catching
coins. “I must go in alone”, said Yar. “While you’re waiting,
get us a cab. He went inside. Eksiter went to one of the ubiquitous
light pillars and pulled on a lever set in the side. A brightly
colored flag popped out of the top of the pillar and series of chimes
sounded. “What was that?” Seltheen asked. “Just wait”,
replied Eksiter. So Seltheen waited. While she waited, she finally
figured out that the coins in the mechanical’s hands were in fact
threaded onto nearly invisible wires.
A bell sounded. Seltheen turned and saw
another mechanical coming their way. This one looked like a cart,
except for the absence of any animal in front to pull it. That and
the extra hardware, which included a thick awning, and a long bar
with two pairs of padded insets that ran just under the front seat.
And in the front seat, two small people. She compared them to Eksiter
and decided they must be shougilds.
Yar came out as the cart stopped. He
had a large scroll case under his arm. He got into the back of the
cart. Eksiter got up beside him. He made a signal to Seltheen. It was
the rinker sign for riding close guard but between them it meant for
her to look as impressive as possible. The shougilds pushed their
feet against the padding and the cart moved on.
They reached the wall. Seltheen could
now see that the green tiles weren’t smooth, they were textured
with a pattern of long curved diamond shapes. And the edges of the
diamonds were just slightly outlined in a brighter green. The points
had tiny bright red tips. Closer still and she could see that the
gold spikes also had red tips and that they were covered with
hundreds of tiny barbs. Although the wall was barely 15 hands high,
it seemed somehow formidable.
“This is the Dragon Wall”,
explained Yar. “So called because of the shape and color and
because of the feelings it produces in people. Don’t worry, we are
not going to try to force passage. Beyond it is the nildrer sector is
this city. That means it is an exclusive neighborhood under the
control of an imperial official. Most of the people who live here are
nildrer. Those who are not are either very rich or very well
connected.” “And which are you”, asked Seltheen. “Just
connected. But give me time”, Yar replied. “According to this”,
he indicated the case, “my money has been doing quite well in this
city. But it could be very different elsewhere. It’s the
mechanicals. I invest in them and everybody wants them. Won’t be
too long before some rinker chief is looking at one to check the
time!”
They reached the nearest round building
to the wall. The woman who came out to meet them was clearly hyuumin,
but her race was unfamiliar to Seltheen. That made less of an impact
than her clothes. She wore a long translucent mantel over a short
tight fitting jacket and wide cuffed pants. The mantel was a
shimmering white with small pearls sewn to the edges. The jacket and
pants were soft and shiny; their main color was ruby red but they
were richly embroidered in bright blue and white. She also had on a
matching hat, tight and wedge shaped. Her shoes matched as well, but
surprisingly, they were thick and sturdy looking, not the delicate
slippers one might have expected. The jacket was cut low in front
showing loops of bright yellow underneath. Seltheen couldn’t tell
if it was a shirt or a scarf, but whatever it was it was fastened
with a round jade brooch. There were more pearls in her ears and on
her fingers. Two vordins trailed her. They were also dressed to
match. One carried a large satchel.
Yar made a gesture, bringing his arm
forward with his hand palm up, fingers together. He said something in
an unknown language. The woman responded in kind, covering his hand
with hers and speaking the same language. Yar spoke to her at length.
At one point he displayed some papers. She in turn consulted some
other papers handed to her by one of her vordins. Finally, she seemed
satisfied. Yar said “Come” and followed her to the wall.
The gate looked like part of the wall
except for the two narrow red lines that marked its edges. It opened
by itself as they approached. “Oh, that’s just magic” commented
Yar. On the other side, a statue made from the same black stone as
that district’s roads stood watching them. It had the general shape
of a hyuumin but with only the merest hint of features. Also it was
nearly three meters tall. Yar said “Now we must be introduced. I’ll
go first.”
Yar first put his hand on the gate,
while the woman said something in her language. Then he went to the
statue. Which came to life and did the hand touch with him. Yar’s
hand was on her sword hilt before she realized it. But no, Yar seemed
to think this was safe. She forced herself to relax. More words from
the woman. Then Eksiter followed suit. Then it was Seltheen’s turn.
The gate felt like any glazed tile surface might. The statue, other
than its abnormal fluidity, was cold and smooth. Its hand was just a
long rounded triangle. After this, apparently literal introduction,
the statue resumed its original position and became solid again.
“That was not a mechanical”, she
said afterward. “No” said Yar, “That was animation, an arcane
technique for putting a semblance of life into a non living object.
No mechanical has senses or decision making ability. But that
guardian does, and now it knows that we are allowed to be here,
inside the dragon wall. The gate does too, or it would not open for
us.”
“But the wall is not very high, if
someone wanted to enter without permission, it wouldn’t stop them.”
she said. Eksiter laughed. “Oh, it would stop them” said Yar.
“Stop them dead. Even a rinker warrior leaping over on horseback
would be struck down like a pesky bug. There’s serious magic in the
wall. As I said, we are in the nildrer sector now.”
“Her?” asked Seltheen. The woman
was returning to her place outside the wall, followed by her vordins.
“Yes” said Yar. “That is a nildrer, one of the rulers of the
Empire. Of course she is just a minor functionary. We will meet
another one at the house. And now, dearest you’ll be riding with
me, there are no riding horses allowed here.” “Except imperial
couriers?” she asked. “Except them.” Seltheen frowned and got
into the cart.
The ride seemed too short to justify
using this form of transportation. Not according to Yar, to be seen
riding this— pedicab as he called it— was important to his image.
“I will be going in front of some more privileged audiences” he
explained. “They need to see me living as they do, so they know I’m
worth the price. Which I am and which I have proven in this city
before, but a little reminder never hurts.”
The buildings had been gradually
becoming more elaborate. Ironwork, vines, fountains, gardens,
balconies, and other fixtures softened the basic right angles of the
structures. The one they stopped at had two balconies and a roof
garden. Another nildrer met them there. He was also dressed in layers
of silk, this time, in rainbow sheens. He introduced them to the
doors of the house and to the vordin and the three shougilds who came
with it. Servants? No, never! In the rinker tradition younglings had
their chores and young protégés often split camp duties unevenly
with elder mentors. But that was it, not even an unclanner would be
expected to roll up someone else’s bedroll! Seltheen agreed to be
cooked for but insisted that her sleeping quarters must be off
limits. She also refused to use a whole bedroom, even though the
place had five. Instead she took over a corner of the room adjacent
to the entryway, what the staff referred to as the parlor. Magical
protection or not, if an intruder were to break in, she wanted to be
aware of it. Yar just smiled indulgently.
nice
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