anyway, and he’s just a little too attached to that gold of his, wouldn’t
you say?’
‘That’s terrible, mother!’ It was all I could do to keep from laughing
out loud.
‘ I’m glad you approve,’ she replied placidly.
I waited for a couple of weeks, observing the progress of my
‘Yarblek scheme’, and then, when things seemed to be moving in
the proper direction, I went across town to the Drasnian embassy
to speak with Margrave Khendon, the man known as javelin. A
clerk carried my name into his office, and I was immediately
admitted.
‘Polanna,’ he greeted me with a polite nod of his head, ‘I’m
honored by this visit. Is there something I can do for you?’
‘I think you may know my father, Margrave,’ I said, looking
around a bit cautiously for any peep-holes or listening posts. Spying
is the national industry of Drasnia, after all.,
‘I wouldn’t really think so, Polanna. I haven’t been in Yar Nadrak
all that long, so I don’t know all that many Nadraks.’
‘My father’s not a Nadrak, Margrave. We haven’t as yet
pinpointed his racial origins. Anyway, he’s in a Sendarian mountain
village called Annath right at the moment, and I need to get word
to him. It’s a matter of some delicacy, so I immediately thought of
you. The Drasnian intelligence service is famous for its ability to
keep secrets.’
‘And for finding them out,’ he added, looking rather directly at
me. ‘I get the feeling that you’re not an ordinary Nadrak dancer,
Polanna,’
‘No, I’m not. I’m better than all the others.’
‘That’s not exactly what I meant. You’re not a Nadrak, for one
thing. Your eyes are the wrong shape.’
‘I’ll speak with them about that. Anyway, I’d like to have you get
word to my father in Annath. Let him know that I’ve done what I
was supposed to do here in Yar Nadrak and that I’d like to have
him come here and buy me back from my owner – a fur-trader
named Gallak.’
‘Ah – it might be helpful if I knew your father’s name, Polanna.
I’m sure I could run him down eventually, but having his name
might speed things up.’
‘How silly of me. I’m sorry, Khendon.’ Then I gave him a sly
sidelong glance. ‘Maybe you should go back to the academy for a
quick refresher course, though. I’m a bit hurt that you didn’t
recognize me the moment I came through the door.’
Then he looked more closely at me, ignoring the leather clothing
and the daggers. Then he blinked and rose quickly to his feet. ‘Your
Grace,’ he said with an exquisite bow. ‘The very building trembles
in your august presence.’
‘Your embassy was built by Nadrak laborers, Khendon. A good
sneeze would make it tremble.’
‘Nadrak construction is a bit slap-dash, isn’t it,’ he agreed. His
eyes narrowed, and one of his cheeks started to twitch. ‘Some things
are starting to fit together now,’ he noted. ‘This business with
Yarblek was all your idea, wasn’t it?’
‘How perceptive of you, Margrave. It all has to do with something
that’s going to happen on out in the future. I needed to establish a
connection between Yarblek and King Drosta – and between Drosta
and Prince Rhodar. It’s going to have a serious impact on something
fairly significant. Don’t ask questions, javelin, because you’re not
going to get any answers. I’m having enough trouble keeping my
father from tampering with the future, so I don’t need you muddying
up the waters as well.’ I pushed the note I’d written and sealed that
morning across his desk. ‘Just see to it that my father gets this. It
explains everything to him. Don’t bother prying it open. It just tells
him to come here and to buy me from Callak. The Purpose of the
Universe will be ever so grateful to you for this service.’
‘You’re taking a lot of the fun out of this, you know,’ he accused.
‘Just do as you’re told, and don’t ask questions, Javelin. All shall
be revealed unto thee in the fullness of time.’ I just threw that in.
Javelin picked up on it immediately. ‘I shall be guided by thee in
this, your Grace,’ he replied extravagantly. ‘I will, however, will
thee or nil thee, make a few guesses.’
‘Guess all you want, dear boy, but don’t start dipping your fingers
into it just yet.’ I rose from my chair. ‘Absolutely splendid talking
with you, old chap,’ I added lightly. ‘Oh, incidentally, remind my
father to bring lots of money with him when he comes to Yar Nadrak.
I think he may be a bit surprised to discover how much I’m really
worth.’
javelin set aside his normal business and made the trip to Annath
in person. I was a sort of living legend, after all. That can be
tiresome now and then, but there are a few advantages to it, I
suppose.
Father took his time getting to Yar Nadrak, naturally. Father takes
his time about almost everything. After you’ve lived for seven
thousand or so years, time doesn’t really mean all that much to you, I
guess. Then again, it’s altogether possible that he had some trouble
making a decision about buying me. He was extremely fond of that
gold he and Yarblek’s ancestor had extracted from that stream-bed
up near the lands of the Morindim, and parting with some of it may
have been causing him a few problems.
Eventually, however, he passed the test – and make no mistake
about it, it was a test – and he showed up in Yar Nadrak with a
saddle-bag filled with gold. Apparently I was worth something to
him, after all.
I sensed his presence when he was a couple of miles out of town,
and I accompanied Callak to his place of business that morning.
Callak had a warehouse, of course, but he did most of his business
in a tavern. Where else?
I waited until the old vagabond was about three doors away from
the tavern, and then I told Callak that I felt like dancing. I thought
that might be a nice way to welcome father to Yar Nadrak – and let
him know that he was getting his money’s worth.
He entered the front door unobtrusively. Father’s very good at
unobtrusiveness. He seemed just a trifle surprised when he saw
what I was doing. I definitely got his attention. Then, to entertain
him, I exaggerated the performance just a bit. The tavern patrons
started cheering, and father’s eyes hardened into a kind of possessive
belligerence. What a dear man he was! He still cared for me, even
as he had before Beldaran’s wedding. Three thousand years slipped
away, and we were right back at the same place we’d been when I
was only sixteen. My grip on him hadn’t slipped a bit.
I concluded my dance to deafening cheers and then strutted back
to Callak’s table. Father pushed his way through the crowd trying
his best to conceal his pugnaciousness. ‘That’s quite a woman you’ve
got there, friend,’ he observed. ‘Would you care to sell her?’
They exchanged a few wary pleasantries, and then we”got down
to some serious haggling about my price.
Father started out with an insultingly low bid, and I stepped in
and countered with an absurdly high one. Then father raised his
offer, and Callak reduced his price. I started to get irritated when
father stubbornly refused to go higher than ten bars of gold. What
is this thing men have with the number ten? There’s nothing magic
about it, is there?
Along toward the end, I once again added my own voice to
Gallak’s. The ultimate price wasn’t really all that important. I just
wanted to push my father off that ten. Eleven would have satisfied
me, but Callak surprised me by holding out, and he and father
eventually settled on twelve. That’s a fairly respectable price, I
suppose. Father’s gold bars weigh ten ounces apiece, and a hundred
and twenty ounces of gold – sixty of which would be mine – isn’t
bad, I guess.
It was late summer by the time father and I left Yar Nadrak, and
we traveled west at father’s usual pace, which ranges from a slow
walk to a dead stop, and so it was autumn by the time we reached
the range of high mountains which forms the spine of the continent.
Father took a look at the turning leaves and the mountains lying
ahead of us, and he picked up the pace a bit. By then, of course, it
was too late. Winter’s been catching up with my father for eons
now, and he always seems surprised and slightly offended when it
does.
The blizzard which caught us on the eastern slopes of the
mountains was fairly savage, and it howled around our makeshift shelter
for three days. I’m rather proud of the fact that I didn’t once use