Read Online Trickster's Choice by Tamora Pierce - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Tamora Pierce
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occupied themselves with charity work, fashions, books, and music, not politics, court, or trade. They kept their own accounts and oversaw the work of the household. Aly suspected that they would settle quietly into rural life, given half a chance. If she was to win her wager, she had to ensure that they would get that chance, at least until the summer was over.
She wondered why a Great God would take such a brief interest in the family. In her experience, once a god took an interest in a mortal, that mortal was stuck with that god for life. Still, that wasn’t Aly’s problem right now. Safeguarding this family, without calling notice to herself, was her problem. If anyone were to find out that the daughter of the Tortallan king’s Champion and his assistant spymaster was summering in the Copper Isles, she wouldn’t live long enough to collect on that wager. The thought made her grin as she turned her face into the fresh sea breeze. At long last she had a real challenge, and she meant to enjoy every moment of it.
The captain never made good on his threats to smarten his raka seamen with his whip. The ship glided up the Long Strait. The warm, damp winds drove them gently north along the long, slender neck of water that separated Kypriang, the capital island, from Gempang Isle in the west. Dolphins, always a sign of good luck, sped alongside the vessel, watching its occupants with mischievous eyes and what looked like mocking smiles.
The Long Strait was another world compared to Rajmuat’s crowded streets and busy docks. Limestone cliffs rose high on either side, threaded with greenery and falling streams, capped with emerald jungles that steamed as the day warmed up. Brightly colored birds soared to and fro, indifferent to the ships that ploughed the blue waters. From the Gempang jungles came the long, drawn-out hoots of the howler monkeys.
“Tell me a story,” demanded Elsren after his afternoon nap.
“Yes, a story,” Petranne insisted, sitting up against the rail with her legs crossed. “A
new
story. Jafa only ever tells the same ones.”
“Did not,” retorted her brother. Petranne stuck her tongue out at him.
Aly listened to the howler monkeys and smiled. She sat cross-legged in front of the two children, keeping one hand in Elsren’s belt. She had spent the morning dragging him from under the crew’s feet. “Once the most beautiful queen in all the world had a menagerie,” she began, thinking wickedly how Aunt Thayet would screech if she could hear this story again. “In it were those self-same monkeys you hear all around us, the howlers. Now, the queen was often out and about, and the only things she liked better than coming home were her reunions with her beloved king, and an unbroken night’s sleep.” Softly she told them about menagerie keepers who sold places in the palace gardens near the queen’s balcony the nights after her return, then roused the howler monkeys to break the silence with their loud, penetrating calls. Woken from her sleep, the hot-tempered queen would race onto her balcony, bow and arrows in hand, in an attempt to shoot the beasts no matter how dark the night. Those who watched from below rejoiced in the fact that their queen slept without a nightgown.
“Of course, the king’s spymaster put a stop to it, once he knew,” Aly concluded seriously. “He made the keepers use the money they’d made to build another enclosure for the howlers, where they wouldn’t disturb the queen. But there are still men who will swear by every god you know that they truly have the most beautiful queen in all the world.”
Petranne and Elsren stared back at Aly soberly. Finally Elsren said, “That one was new. Tell another!”
“Yes, another!” pleaded his sister. “That was a good one!”
“You’re from Tortall, aren’t you?”
Aly turned to look for the source of the new voice. The older girls, Saraiyu and Dovasary, stood nearby, listening as Sarai fanned herself.
She wondered why a Great God would take such a brief interest in the family. In her experience, once a god took an interest in a mortal, that mortal was stuck with that god for life. Still, that wasn’t Aly’s problem right now. Safeguarding this family, without calling notice to herself, was her problem. If anyone were to find out that the daughter of the Tortallan king’s Champion and his assistant spymaster was summering in the Copper Isles, she wouldn’t live long enough to collect on that wager. The thought made her grin as she turned her face into the fresh sea breeze. At long last she had a real challenge, and she meant to enjoy every moment of it.
The captain never made good on his threats to smarten his raka seamen with his whip. The ship glided up the Long Strait. The warm, damp winds drove them gently north along the long, slender neck of water that separated Kypriang, the capital island, from Gempang Isle in the west. Dolphins, always a sign of good luck, sped alongside the vessel, watching its occupants with mischievous eyes and what looked like mocking smiles.
The Long Strait was another world compared to Rajmuat’s crowded streets and busy docks. Limestone cliffs rose high on either side, threaded with greenery and falling streams, capped with emerald jungles that steamed as the day warmed up. Brightly colored birds soared to and fro, indifferent to the ships that ploughed the blue waters. From the Gempang jungles came the long, drawn-out hoots of the howler monkeys.
“Tell me a story,” demanded Elsren after his afternoon nap.
“Yes, a story,” Petranne insisted, sitting up against the rail with her legs crossed. “A
new
story. Jafa only ever tells the same ones.”
“Did not,” retorted her brother. Petranne stuck her tongue out at him.
Aly listened to the howler monkeys and smiled. She sat cross-legged in front of the two children, keeping one hand in Elsren’s belt. She had spent the morning dragging him from under the crew’s feet. “Once the most beautiful queen in all the world had a menagerie,” she began, thinking wickedly how Aunt Thayet would screech if she could hear this story again. “In it were those self-same monkeys you hear all around us, the howlers. Now, the queen was often out and about, and the only things she liked better than coming home were her reunions with her beloved king, and an unbroken night’s sleep.” Softly she told them about menagerie keepers who sold places in the palace gardens near the queen’s balcony the nights after her return, then roused the howler monkeys to break the silence with their loud, penetrating calls. Woken from her sleep, the hot-tempered queen would race onto her balcony, bow and arrows in hand, in an attempt to shoot the beasts no matter how dark the night. Those who watched from below rejoiced in the fact that their queen slept without a nightgown.
“Of course, the king’s spymaster put a stop to it, once he knew,” Aly concluded seriously. “He made the keepers use the money they’d made to build another enclosure for the howlers, where they wouldn’t disturb the queen. But there are still men who will swear by every god you know that they truly have the most beautiful queen in all the world.”
Petranne and Elsren stared back at Aly soberly. Finally Elsren said, “That one was new. Tell another!”
“Yes, another!” pleaded his sister. “That was a good one!”
“You’re from Tortall, aren’t you?”
Aly turned to look for the source of the new voice. The older girls, Saraiyu and Dovasary, stood nearby, listening as Sarai fanned herself.
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