Chapter Twelve
LESSON AND A RIDE
"If Simon desires to see more of Sandarro", Avran suggested, "why should we not walk out to the inner bailey, find mounts and go for a ride? Simon needs more experience in riding the sevdreyen."
"Sevdreyen?" I echoed, a little puzzled. "I thought you called them sevdru."
"Aha, but that is the singular form! Several sevdreyen, one sevdru; most often we speak of the latter, since it is easiest to ride just one at a time!"
At this point Ilven broke in firmly: "Avran, please! It is I who shall instruct Simon in our language, not you! Soon you'll be confusing him again!" Then, to me: "But my brother is quite right. In our language, when referring to several things rather than one, the ending of the word is always changed. And he is right also, that it is time for you to begin speaking Sandastrian. While we are sitting here, let me explain some matters, to help you make that beginning."
"Will it be difficult?" I asked apprehensively. "I don't believe I have been granted much in the way of Pentecostal gifts. My tutor had a hard job to drum Latin into me and I encountered even more trouble when trying to learn French."
She laughed. "Well, our language is very different from yours, Simon. However, you'll find Sandastrian is simpler than either of those tongues, and definitely simpler than your complicated English! For one thing, there are no "the's" and "a's" to be bothered with; and for another, we have no verb "to be". Just think how much easier that is, Simon! See, now."
The flower was still cupped in her hand. As she showed it to me again, I thought how slim that hand was and how graceful her movements.
"Now in English, Simon, you might say 'Here is the flower'. Four words. In Sandastrian, I need say only two words, Telen baz, 'flower here'. Is that not easier?"
"I suppose so," I said hesitantly, then asked: "Baz--has that anything to do with your greeting, Bazatie?"
"You see how Simon remembers things," Avran commented amusedly.
"Indeed he does!" she smiled. "I believe he's going to speak Sandastrian well, don't you? You're perfectly right, Simon; 'Bazatie really means 'Here delight' or, as you might phrase it in English, 'We're pleased to receive you here!' See again, how much simpler Sandastrian is!"
As the days passed, I was to come to agree with her. To be sure, I had my problems with pronunciation. For example, when letters are doubled in a word, they must nevertheless be sounded individually. As a beginner, I found it a hard task to pronounce separately the two S's in "Servessil" or the two R's in "Harradas"! My problems with doubled vowels were even greater. To simplify the reading of names in this account of my adventures, I shall change the Sandastrian "ii" to "ij", their "ee" to "eie" and their "kk" to "kc".
In many other respects, however, the Sandastrian language is indeed simple. Pronunciation is more consistent; A is pronounced always as in "lad", never in the lengthened form one finds in English words like "fade", and S is never changed into a Z sound, as it is in such words as "ease". In learning Latin or French, one is perpetually troubled by the need to distinguish masculine, feminine and (in Latin) neuter words. In the Rockalese tongues, as in English, only animals and humans are subdivided by sex; and, for that matter, the Rockalese are more consistent than we, for they do not call ships "she".
The tenses of verbs are changed in simple and consistent fashion by the inserting or prefixing of an extra syllable; thus the verb kharasar, to build, becomes kharaselar in the perfect tense, kharasamar in the imperfect and kharasidar in the future, while the conditional ("might build") would be idkharasar and, as noted earlier, the imperative ksakharasar. All questions begin with the word "Ie" (I shall write it "Ye" for simplicity). My early troubles arose principally through the very different word order and plural forms; but at least the Rockalese are consistent in the latter, not like us with our "mouse" and "mice", "house" and "houses"!
While we sat there in the sunshine of the rooftop garden, Ilven continued my instruction by pointing to objects within our view, saying the Sandastrian names for them and making me repeat those names. I enjoyed this thoroughly and found pleasure in pleasing her by repeating them as accurately as I might; indeed, I could have sat there by her side in perfect happiness for the whole of that afternoon.
However, although Avran endured for a while this game of naming from which he had been so firmly excluded by his sister, he was becoming ever more restive. Eventually he leapt to his feet and said firmly: "It is time I contributed also to Simon's education. We must take him out for a ride in the sunshine."
Ilven sighed and responded; "It's a little hot for a ride, but if you insist, big brother..."
She rose also and I followed suit but, as we walked back into the castle keep, down the stairs and along the corridors, Ilven continued my instruction. "Those windows with arrow-slits; one such would be aseklin, several would be asekleyin. Try it, please!" And I would repeat: "Aseklin: asekleyin."
Yesterday, when we had entered the great corridor circling the inner wall of the keep, the sun had been setting and the torches flaring to drive away the shadows. Today there were no shadows, for the sun was almost overhead. The multi-hued windows created patches of colour in which men and women, moving about their business, seemed like fishes swimming through a rainbow. Today there were many children also, pursuing each other through the crowds with cheerful shouts, as swift and small as minnows swimming among trout.
Ilven explained that they had come out of school to go home for their midday repast. This prompted me to further questioning, and what I learned astonished me. In this land allchildren, not just those of the nobility, were given some schooling; and not just boys, but girls also. Each child was taught to read and write, to add and to measure, to compose and recite poetry, and to play musical instruments and sing. Alternate days--Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays--were spent indoors for such instruction, by the sons of princes and commoners alike. The other three weekdays, however, were spent on practical matters and mostly outdoors. All children learned to ride and to swim; boys were taught the use of weapons and the particular skills of their father's profession, while girls were taught the domestic arts and the techniques of husbandry. Sundays were reserved for religious instruction and practice and for play.
How little education, in contrast, was received by the children of our own English villeins and bondsmen! In this, at least, the Sandastrian system seemed to me vastly better than ours. Yet I knew well that many Englishmen of my class--Uncle Hugo and cousin Hector, for example--would have decried such education as pointless and even subversive. That bondsmen and villeins should be able to read--how stupid, and how dangerous! For my part, it made me think again that my ideas fitted better in Sandastre than in England.
As we walked, I noticed once again the casualness with which my companions were treated. After all, they were prince and princess; yet there were no fanfares, no obeisances. Few among the crowds seemed even to recognize them and those few gave them scarcely more attention, and only a shade more respect, than any other passer-by. Indeed, this was a country very different from my own: then I started; why, this was my country now, even if I could not yet speak its language!
We entered the tunnel, crossed the hidden moat and passed the guard, then descended the flight of stone steps into the inner bailey of the castle. Today there were no sevdreyen (I must become accustomed to that plural form!) in view; indeed, no animals of any kind were to be seen among the shrubs.
Naturally I expected some expression of exasperation or disappointment from my two companions, but there was none. Instead they simply waited, while I stood by puzzledly.
Within seconds we saw movement off to our left. Three sevdreyen were coming toward us at a rapid pace from the direction of the western tower of the castle. As they perceived us, they began to run yet faster. Soon one of the sevdreyen was nuzzling, and being petted by, Ilven, while a second was having its head scratched by Avran.
The third, however, hung back and eyed me doubtfully. This was not the sevdru I had ridden yesterday, but a much more lightly built and graceful animal whose facial stripe, only faintly marked between its nasal horns, but broadening into a white circle between the brow horns. Yesterday, of course, I had been mounted on a pack-animal; this was a riding animal, as different from yesterday's as is a hunter from a Shire horse. It would be correspondingly more intelligent, more nervous and potentially more responsive.
As soon as I had thought this out, I moved forward toward the sevdru, quite slowly, and extended my hands to it invitingly. Still hesitantly, it came toward me and sniffed doubtfully at my fingers. Then, as if in sudden decision, it tilted its head. For a moment I thought it would charge me--those four horns were formidable! --but no, instead it rubbed a soft cheek against my right hand and then inclined its head anew to be caressed by my left.
At these trustful gestures I felt an upwelling of confidence, even of affection--a much stronger and more immediate emotion than I had felt yesterday. As, careful of those horns, I stroked the sevdru's muzzle and scratched the white patch on its brow, I was aware that I had made a second animal friend. I realized also that Avran and Ilven were watching me intently.
"Yes indeed", said Avran softly, as if an unspoken question had been satisfactorily answered. He exchanged glances with Ilven, then went on; "Simon, I should tell you that your mount is a female, a 'doe' as you would say it. The does of the sevdreyen are less strong, perhaps, than the males, but they are more fleet and more sensitive--more responsive to their rider. You will enjoy riding her. Try mounting her now; since you're not wearing armour, you need no saddle. Good. You have no bridle either, of course, but you can hold on to her horns if you feel insecure; she won't mind. However, it is your wish, not your touch, that will guide her."
He mounted his own sevdru, while Ilven's beast knelt so that she could do likewise with ease. Then Avran resumed his instructing.
"You look too tense, Simon. Sit back, more upright--yes, like that-and relax! Good. Your beast's name, by the way is Vatuneast, because of her colouring; in English she'd be called Whitebrow. Very well. Now instruct Vatuneast to turn about. You can say it in English and she'll comprehend. Excellent!"
,p> Indeed, to my amazement my mount turned right about, before I had properly uttered the instruction. Since my words must have been unfamiliar, how had she understood? Avran's comment answered me.
"You see, she responds to your thought, not to your word. Now instruct her to turn back, but think it, don't say it! Excellent. You see how easy it is!"
And easy it was. I had merely to decide on an action for Whitebrow to perform and lo! she was performing it--turning, kneeling, standing, throwing back her head or inclining it forward, all without my saying a word. This was magnificent, delightful! My pleasure and confidence in my mount waxed greater minute by minute, and I could sense that she was sharing my emotions.
"Come, then, let's have a ride!" said Avran. With Ilven following on her own mount and Whitebrow in third place, we rode out through the southwestern gate onto the green hill below the castle. Today, instead of taking the road towards the harbour, we rode westward, out between the Brantvut and Orrellan Towers and down the hill between the lines of padin into the broad meadowlands of the outer bailey.
Here my mount and I were put through our paces by Avran, while Ilven watched amusedly. To use terms descriptive of the gait of a horse for that of a sevdru is inappropriate, for their limbs move in different fashions and, to a rider, their motion feels entirely different. However, since there are no truly appropriate terms in English, I must do the best I can with the words at my command. So let me say that we rode first at a walk, then at a trot and finally at a gallop. At that speed I was alarmed enough to be holding tightly onto Whitebrow's horns for security, even though aware that neither Avran nor Ilven found need to do likewise. Indeed, we sped across those flowery meadows at a pace unmatched by any horse I had ever ridden, as swift and as light as the shadow of a swallow passing over the grass.
That was the limit of our exercising that day. The afternoon was so hot that I was perspiring profusely and Whitebrow's flanks heaving a little, so we were both glad to lapse to a walking pace as we returned to the castle. Avran was quite complimentary about my riding, saying that I had done as well as any Sandastrian beginner and much better than he'd expected of any Englishman! With this qualified praise I was perfectly content, especially since Ilven's words were more generous and her sweet smile heartening.
We re-entered the castle through the northwest gate, between the Menavedra and Miodren Towers. I gathered that these two vardai were in firm alliance with the ruling Estantesecs and inferred that Avran remained anxious to keep me from the attention of the Grassad party.
We left our mounts in the inner bailey. By that time, I knew that Whitebrow was truly mine. Moreover, now I could comprehend how Avran and Ilven had, without uttering any word, summoned their own mounts before the beginning of our ride. I did not understand how Whitebrow had been called, however, and I asked about this as we climbed the stone steps.
Ilven responded. Whitebrow, I learned, had been a second mount of her own which she had decided to give to me. No Sandastrian, it seemed, could summon by his thoughts any sevdru with which he had no personal bond.
I thanked the princess most sincerely for her generosity and then asked if there was any limit on distance for such calling. I knew it to operate beyond the reach of a voice, for those sevdreyen had surely been beyond earshot of us. The question seemed to surprise Avran and Ilven, as if it had not occurred to them that there were limits, and they conferred awhile before Avran answered me. The normal range, they thought, was less than two miles--about fifteen furlongs. Though they knew of instances when a sevdru had been summoned from farther away, this had happened either in circumstances of crisis, when the need was especially acute and the mental summons correspondingly frantic, or when the sevdru had been prepared for a summons at that time by some earlier instruction. In the months to come, I was to have good cause to remember that discussion.
"What if one's sevdru had died?" I asked.
"In that case, you would know," Ilven answered, so firmly that I dared not pursue the question further.
We returned directly to the roof-garden and to the shade of the ebelmek, where a newly awakened Rascal greeted me with cries into which I could read both relief and reproach. His cries animated into movement a rotund bundle beneath the same tree--Brek, who had returned to his comfortable position against its trunk and been quite as fast asleep! Before the boy had sufficiently awoken to try out his linguistic talents on me, Brek was sent away to fetch drinks and two wooden practice swords. Avran was anxious to test my little-vaunted skills.
The drinks were good; the sword-play, on my part, quite embarrassingly bad. After Avran had sent my sword spinning from my grasp for the third time, he lowered his own weapon and said; "Simon my friend, you were entirely correct. You told me you were a poor swordsman and I did not accept your word, as I should have done. If this had been a genuine combat, I might have slain you twelve times over! Well, you musthave instruction in this art ere you venture northward. In the perils you will face during your travels, you cannot expect to rely always on your knives or your bow."
"I'd be delighted to learn swordsmanship properly!" I responded; and I told Ilven and he of the difficulties I'd faced in obtaining training while growing up-a story that, on the ship, I had not recounted.
"Your father was wrong," Avran responded soberly. "To wish to protect you-that is perfectly comprehensible. To leave you so vulnerable to any attacker-that was extremely unwise. You did well to strive to train yourself in absence of other training; yet you could not progress far enough. You mustbe able to defend yourself properly.
"As for me", commented Ilven pointedly and rather heatedly, "I consider Simon quite able to look after himself. After all, he does not blunder into ambushes or remain snoring while assassins are around! A little anticipation, and there is less need for these martial arts of yours. For my part, I prefer peacemakers to warriors!"
Avran flushed red with anger, but the colour ebbed swiftly from his face and he had the grace to laugh. "Very well, sister, I stand rebuked. Nevertheless, I believe Simon must learn to be a better swordsman."
"So do I!" responded Ilven acidly. "Who knows, he may have to extract you from yet more tricky situations!" But she gave me the warmest of smiles.
Avran avoided a direct reply. "Good; we're agreed on that, at least! So I'm afraid, Simon, that you face yet more lessons. The man to teach you this art is not I, but my own instructor, Oled Orexin. In his time, Oled was the finest swordsman in Sandastre and perhaps in all Rockall. Tomorrow you shall meet him; but now the time for dinner is approaching. After that hot ride I'm sure, like me, you'll wish to wash before eating."
Brek conducted me back to my room--or rather, bore me along there on the current of his talk, for a tidal-wave of rehearsed speeches had been building up inside him since morning. Though many of his sentences were too convoluted for ready comprehension, I understood most of his questions--about England, its king, its wars, its wild animals and its weapons--and did my best briefly to answer them as we walked along.
This spate of words continued as he attended to my toilet and as I dressed myself in the second fresh set of clothes he found for me. Nor did it abate as, with Rascal on my shoulders, I was taken by Brek to the royal banquet room. At its door, however, he left me and scuttled away like a frightened beetle, calling over his shoulder a promise to "serve me right in the morning"!
The company this evening was the same as yesterday's, but with one addition; the burly, bearded figure of harbourmaster Arn Beldevil. I guessed immediately that his presence related to the problem discussed under the tree; and I wondered what had happened.
It was to be some time, however, before my curiosity was satisfied. There was talk before the meal, during which many eyes were cast again upon Rascal, crooning so contentedly on my shoulder; there was a grace, said tonight by Arn in his capacity of priest; and there was an excellent repast, featuring a flavourful pie of some meat unfamiliar to me. I asked about it and gathered that it was the flesh of some small fruit-eating creature, but not even Enar Servessil, the scholarly scribe, could find an English equivalent for its name.
After the wine had circulated for the third and last time, the eslevar Felguen rose, excused herself gracefully and, taking Ilven and the wives of the chancellor and scribe in her train, left the chamber. (Ilven, I was sure, left reluctantly). When they had gone, the Earl of Breveg exchanged a few brief words with his father and then turned to me. His rather pale face was brightened by the pleasantest of smiles.
"Your scheme worked excellently, friend Simon," he said. "Please forgive me if I tell the story in my own language. However, I will do so slowly, so that Avran may translate for you."
After he had left us in the garden, Helburnet had summoned his sevdru and ridden down to the harbour, taking with him ten soldiers from his own guard. There he had found harbourmaster Arn and entrusted to him the carrying-out of my scheme, waiting the while in the harbourmaster's office.
The Mentonese ship had been on the point of sailing when the harbourmaster and soldiers hurried up the gangplank. On the harbourmaster's demand that he produce the 'Brevegen rebel', the captain responded contemptuously, brusquely denying that any such person was aboard. However, at that moment there came the sound of the lowering of the boom to block the harbour mouth; moreover, the soldiers formed a ring, hemming in the captain and drawing their swords.
Such happenings were without precedent in peaceful Sandarro! The captain lost his bluster and became nervous. Again he denied that anyone remained aboard save the Fleming, who was summoned indignant from his cabin.
Only after Arn had denied interest in that harried merchant did the captain mention the passenger who had disappeared. Arn professed to disbelieve this story, claiming instead that this 'disappearance' must have occurred not at sea, but in Sandarro harbour; that the Brevegen had been privily smuggled ashore by the Mentonese, so that he might carry through his fell designs. Indeed, the harbourmaster threatened to impound the ship and its cargo and to treat the captain and crew as collaborators with the enemies of Sandastre.
At this point the Fleming demanded to know what was happening. On learning that his own goods might be confiscated, he came close to exploding with wrath and frustration! Since Arn and his soldiers could not understand what the poor merchant was saying, he began abusing the captain instead.
Under these pressures the captain became quite frantic. He swore that he was telling the truth. Why, if the man had remained on board till they reached harbour, he would never have left his possessions behind!
Pretending to hesitate, Arn demanded to see those possessions. A sailor was sent below and returned bearing a sword, a cloak and a largish leather satchel. These were seized by the harbourmaster, but he insisted nonetheless that his soldiers should search the ship and, in particular, the Baroddan's cabin. This search was carried out slowly and thoroughly, the captain fuming and the Fleming hopping with impatience the while.
When the search was done, Arn simulated a grudging acceptance of the captain's story, sent orders for the boom to be raised and, after a moderately amicable farewell, left the ship. Chuckling, Arn added that he had never seen a ship readied for departure so promptly, nor depart so swiftly, as that vessel!
The Baroddan's possessions were taken to the harbourmaster's office for examination before the patiently waiting Helburnet. At first this proved disappointing, for the satchel seemed to contain only clothes. However, when Arn shook it, the satchel seemed over-heavy. Carefully it was re-examined and a concealed pocket was found, with a small sum in English coins secreted therein. Hence the weight; but might there be a second hidden pocket? Indeed there was; and within it was the prize of the search--a crumpled piece of paper bearing a few lines of writing in Rockalese script.
Helburnet produced this and handed it to his father. However, I gathered that the sentences were written in the Baroddan dialect, for the eslef could not read them. Instead he handed the paper to his scribe, who translated it readily into Sandastrian and then, for my benefit, into English:
"You are summoned to meet with us urgently; the next stages of our campaign must be discussed. Travel to Rockall on the next available ship and make your way, directly or indirectly, to Sandarro. There we must meet on the fourth day of the first autumn moon, at the Sign of the Leaping Fish by the Arctorran harbour. You must be with us then; your task, if not already carried through, must be left for your colleague to perform. Destroy this after reading it."
As he concluded this second translation, Enar Servessil smiled at me and said: "However he ignored that last instruction, most fortunately! Simon, I congratulate you. Your scheme, so simple yet so sensible, has furnished us with information of a value beyond price."
"It answers another question also," broke in Avran. "I had wondered how the assassin contrived to be on our ship. After all, Simon, I had booked my own passage only just before meeting you; the Baroddan must have arranged his before I arranged mine."
This point had not occurred to me, but of course it was true. "The fourth day of the first autumn month--why, that must be September, still over three weeks away!"
"Yes, but you must bear in mind that they needed to allow the late, unlamented Akharn enough time to make his way to Sandarro. After all, sailings from England to Rockall, even by Mentonese ships, are not frequent. And how convenient for us! We have ample opportunity in which to prepare to receive and, let's say, entertain the conspirators. They're due for a surprise!"
foreword chapters 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 (more chapters will appear in the future)
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