Six Of Foxes (Six Foxes)
The silva 3
Reader took a few steps away from Nestor's body. He slammed the chisel into the ice-covered ground, pulled out the chisel, then chiseled again.
"Here?" ask Silva.
"Do I want to bury him somewhere else?"
"I don't know." Silva grabs a vast white land. "It all looks the same to me."
"You know our gods?"
"Some."
"But you know Syel."
"The eye of the water."
Reader nodded. "The "Barchenians believed that the whole world was connected through its waters - seas, ice, rivers and times, rain and storms. All channeled the water of life to Syel and absorbed the water of life from him. Our dead are termed zacolderone, which means rooted. We become the roots of the voda tree, drinking from Syel wherever we are buried."
"Is that why you burned instead of burying Knoulbar?"
The reader fell silent, then nodded briefly.
"But, are you willing to help me bury Nestor and the storm-caller here?"
Reader nodded back.
Silva took the other chisel and tried to match the Reader's swing. The solid ground was hard and impenetrable. Every time the chisel hit the ground, his swing rattled Silva's arm from end to base.
"Nestor shouldn't have been able to do that" Silva said, his mind still mixed. "No Knoulbar can use such a devotion, none of this is unnatural."
The reader snarled for a while, then said, "Do you understand a little more now? How to deal with such an alien force? Facing the enemy with unusual magic?"
Silva gripped the chisel hard. In Nestor's reliance on mortems, all the aspects Silva loved about his magic seemed to be tackled. Is that what Reader and the other Barchen people saw in Knoulbar?
"Maybe," that was all Silva could say.
"You have no choice in Divayina Port" Reader said without looking at Silva, chiseling up and down in a regular rhythm. "Am I a Dushenka? Did you plan from the beginning?"
Silva recalled their last day together, the excitement they felt upon arriving at the top of a steep hill and seeing the port city lying below. Silva shaken Reader said, "I'm almost sorry, Silva."
"Almost?"
"I'm so hungry that there's no real regret."
"Finally you've bent your knees under my influence. But, how can we eat without money?" silva asked as they went down the hill. "I might have to sell your beautiful hair to a wig shop for cash."
"Don't think things through" Reader said with a laugh. His laughter became easier, as if he had learned another language. "If this is Divayina I should find lodging for both of us."
It was then that Silva was riveted, gripped by the horror of being aware of their situation. He was deep inside enemy territory without an ally, only befriending one a week ago. However, before he could speak, Reader said, "I owe you my life, Silva Liveko. I'll get you home safe."
He was surprised to find it so easy to trust Reader. And the young man believed it too.
Now Silva was swinging the chisel, feeling the impact of his arm and shoulder, and he said, "There's Knoulbar in Divayina."
Chisel Reader stopped in the middle of the swing. "What?"
"They're spies monitoring you and recognizing me in the Little Palace. One of them knows you, too, Reader. He recognized you from the border clash."
Reader sculpting.
"They intercepted me while you were talking to the inn manager" Silva continued. "I convinced them that I was undercover there too. They wanted to take you captive, but I told them that you weren't alone, that it was too risky to try to catch you right then. I promise to deliver you to them the next day."
"Why don't you just tell me?"
Silva threw his chisel. "Tell you that in Divayina there's a spy Knoulbar? You may make peace with me, but don't think I believe that you won't divulge their whereabouts."
The reader turned, muscles twitched in his jaw, and Silva knew what he said was true.
"I need to get the two of us out of Divayina as soon as possible. I thought as long as I could find a ship that we could board as stowaways, but the Knoulbars would have noticed the inn and seen us off. When they showed up at the docks, I knew they were after you, Reader. If they catch you, you'll be taken to Juwel, interrogated, probably executed. I saw the merchant Kalterville. You know their laws regarding slavery."
"Of course I know," said the gentle Reader.
"I'm reckless. I begged them to save me. I know they're holding you back and delivering us safely to Kalterville. I don't know-Reader, I don't know if they're going to put you in jail in Raregate."
Reader's eyes became dark as he faced Silva, his knuckles clutching the chisel tightly to whiten. "Why don't you open your mouth? Why don't you be honest when we get to Moontown?"
"I've tried. I have sworn. I'm trying to see a judge. They won't let me see the judge. I can't explain about the seal from the slave merchant or my reason for making the accusation, not without revealing Juwel's intelligence operation. I could've jeopardized Knoulbar in the field. I'll give them a death sentence."
"So, you let me rot in Raregate?"
"I could have gone home to Juwel. For the Saints' sake, I want to go home. But, I stayed in Moontown. I spent my wages to pay bribes, petition the Court. Until he finally begs in a dangerous way, pleading with Ken-"
"You do everything but tell the truth."
Silva intends to be gentle, apologetic, telling Reader that he thinks about the young man every day and night. However, the stacked firewood was still fresh in his mind. "I'm trying to protect my people, the people you're trying to kill."
Reader laughed regretfully as he flipped through the chisel in his hand. "voda posloucha a odpousti."
The sentence is the first part of the proverb: Water hears and understands. Sounds good, but Reader understands that Silva knows the continuation.
"Led and neodpustitelnya," the girl concluded. Water hears and perceives. Ice is unforgiving.
"What are you going to do now, Silva? Will you betray those you call your friends again, for Knoulbar's sake?"
"What?"
"Don't tell me you meant to let Erikson live."
Reader knows Silva. The more Silva knows about arta mortem, the more he believes the only way to save Knoulbar is to kill the scientist. Silva thought of Nestor, who was spent pleading with Kuwei's superior. "I can't stand the thought of my people being enslaved" Silva admitted. "But, our debt must be repaid, Reader. I'll make amends with a letter of forgiveness for you. I don't want to be the one to take away your freedom anymore."
"I don't want a letter of forgiveness."
Silva looked at Reader with astonishment. "But--"
"Maybe your people will be enslaved. Or maybe their strength just becomes unstoppable. If Erikson's life and the secrets of arta mortem are widespread, what might happen."
They stared at each other for a long time. The sun was already low in the sky, its light emitting golden streaks in the snow. Silva looked at the Reader's eyelashes behind the black antimonium swipe affixed to it. He'll have to overhaul the Reader's face soon.
On the day after the shipwreck, he and Reader forge a cease-fire reluctantly. The feelings that grow between them are more passionate than mere affection, an understanding that they may become allies rather than enemies. That's what Silva feels now.
"Sabbing Erikson means betraying the others" Silva said. "They won't get paid by the Merchant Council."
"true."
"And Ken will kill us both."
"Then he finds out."
"Have you tried to lie to Ken Lunark?"
Reader shrugs. "Then we accept death as we live life."
Silva looked at Nestor's scruffy stature. "For the sake of noble purpose."
"We agree on this" Reader said. "Erikson must not leave Royalemerald alive."
"A deal was agreed" Silva said in Kalterville, the language of commerce, which is not their native language.
"Deal agreed," reader chimps.
The young man swung the chisel and hit it hard, like making a question. Silva took the chisel and did the same. Without a word, they re-dig the grave working diligently with a regular rhythm.
At least Ken has a point. Silva and Reader finally came to an agreement (Episode 32 Reader 2).
