Rose - Asaro, Catherine - Skolian Empire 6

I
Ironbridge
First Scattering Channel

Kamoj Quanta Argali, the governor of Argali Province, shot throughthe water and broke the surface of the river. She tilted her faceup to the sky, a violet expanse punctured by Jul, the sun, a tinydisk of light so brilliant she didnt dare look near it. Curtainsof green and gold light shimmered across the heavens in an auroraborealis visible even in the afternoon.

Her bodyguard Lyode was standing on the bank, surveying the area.Lyodes true name was a jumble of words from the ancient languageIotaca, what scholars pronounced as light emitting diode. No one knew what it meant, though, so they all called her Lyode.

Unease prickled Kamoj. She treaded water, her hair floating inswirls around her body, wrapping her slender waist and then lettinggo. Her reflection showed a young woman with black curls framinga heart-shaped face. She had dark eyes, as did most people inArgali, though hers were larger than usual, with long lashes thatat the moment sparkled with drops of water.

Nothing seemed out of place. Reeds as red as pod-plums noddedon the bank, and six-legged lizards scuttled through them, glintingblue and green among the stalks. A few hundred paces behind Lyode,the prismatic forest began. Up the river, in the distant north,the peaks of the Rosequartz Mountains floated like clouds in ahaze. She drifted around to face the other bank, but saw nothingamiss there either. Tubemoss covered the sloping hills in a turquoisecarpet broken by stone outcroppings that gnarled out of the landlike the knuckles of a buried giant.

Kamoj exhaled. What she felt wasnt unease exactly, more a senseof troubled anticipation. The afternoon hummed with life, goldenand cool. Surely on this beautiful day she could relax.

Still, as much as she enjoyed swimming here, invigorated by thechill water and air, perhaps it was unwise. She had her positionas governor to consider. Kamoj glided to the bank and clamberedout, reeds slapping her body.

Her bodyguard glanced at her, then went back to scanning the area.Lyode suddenly stiffened, staring past Kamoj. Then she reachedover her shoulder for the ballbow strapped to her back.

Surprised, Kamoj glanced back, across the river. A cluster ofgreenglass stags had appeared from behind a hill, each with arider astride its long back. Sunrays splintered against the greenscales that covered the stags. Each animal stood firm on its sixlegs, neither stamping nor pawing the air. With their iridescentantlers spread to either side of their heads, they shimmered inthe blue-tinged sunshine.

Their riders were all watching her.

Mortified, Kamoj ran up the slope to where she had left her clothes.Lyode took a palm-sized marble ball out of a bag on her belt andset it in the sling on the targeting tube of her crossbow, whichslid inside a accordion cylinder attached to the bow string. Drawingback the string and tube, she sighted on the watchers across theriver.

Of course, here in the Argali, Lyodes presence was more an indicationof Kamojs rank, and her desire for privacy while she swam, ratherthan an expectation of danger. And indeed, none of the ridersacross the river drew his own bow. They looked more intriguedthan anything else. One of the younger fellows grinned at Kamoj,his teeth flashing white in the streaming sunshine.

"This is embarrassing," Kamoj muttered. She stopped behind Lyodeand picked up her clothes. Drawing her tunic over her head, sheadded, "Thas-haverlyster."

"What?" Lyode said.

Kamoj pulled down the tunic, covering herself with soft gray cloth.Lyode was still standing in front of her, with her bow poised.Kamoj counted five riders across the river, all of them dressedin copper breeches and blue shirts, with belts edged by feathersfrom the blue-tailed quetzal.

One man sat a head taller than the rest. He wore a midnight-bluecloak with a hood that hid his face. His stag lifted its fronttwo legs and pawed the air, its bi-hooves glinting like glass,though they were a hardier material, hornlike and durable. Theman riding it gave no indication he noticed its restless motions.His cowled head remained turned in Kamojs direction.

"Thats Havyrl Lionstar," Kamoj repeated as she pulled on herleggings. "The tall man on the big greenglass."

"How do you know?" Lyode asked. "His face is covered."

"Who else is that big? Besides, those riders are wearing Lionstarcolors." Kamoj watched the group set off again, cantering intothe folds of the blue-green hills. "Hah! You scared them away."

"With five against one? I doubt it." Dryly, Lyode said, "Morelikely they left because the show is over."

Kamoj winced. She hoped her uncle didnt hear of this. As theonly incorporated man in Argali, Maxard Argali had governed theprovince for Kamoj when she was young and was shifting his roleto that of advisor now that she had reached her adulthood.

Lionstars people were the only ones who might reveal her indiscretion,though, and they rarely came to the village. Lionstar had "rented"the Quartz Palace in the mountains for more than a hundred daysnow, and in that time no one she knew had seen his face. Why hewanted a ruined palace remained a mystery, given that he refusedall visitors. When his emissaries had inquired about it, she andMaxard had been dismayed by the suggestion that they let a strangertake residence in the honored, albeit disintegrating, home oftheir ancestors.

However, no escape had existed from the "rent" Lionstars peopleput forth. The law was clear: she and Maxard had to best his challengeor bow to his authority. Impoverished Argali could never matchsuch an offer: shovels and awls forged from fine metals, stacksof dried firewood, golden bridle bells, dewhoney and molasses,dried rose-leeks, cobberwheat, tri-grains, and reedflour thatpoured through your fingers like powdered rubies.

So they yieldedand an incensed Maxard had demanded Lionstar paya rent of that same worth every fifty days. It was a lien so outrageous,all Argali feared Lionstar would send his soldiers to "renegotiate."

Instead, he paid.

With Lyode at her side, Kamoj entered the forest. Walking amongthe trees, with tubemoss soft under her bare feet, made her moreaware of her precarious position. Why had Lionstar come ridinghere today? Did their lands now also risk forfeiture to his wealth?She had invested his rent in machinery and tools for farms inArgali. As humiliating as it was to depend on a stranger, it wasbetter than seeing her people starve. But she didnt think shecould bear to lose any more to him, especially not this forestshe so loved.

Drapes of moss hung on the trees and shadow-ferns attended theirtrunks. Far above, the branches formed a canopy that let onlystray sunbeams reach the ground. Argali vines hung everywhere,heavy with the blush-pink roses that gave her home its name. Argali.It meant vine rose in Iotaca.

At least, most scholars translated it as rose. One insisted itmeant resonance. He also claimed they mispronounced her middlename, Quanta, an Iotaca word with no known translation. The name Kamoj came from the Iotaca word for bound, so if this strange scholar was correct, her name meant Bound Quantum Resonance. She smiled at the absurdity. Rose made more sense, of course.

Not all the "roses" in the forest were flowers, though. Camouflagedamong the blossoms, puff lizards swelled out their red sacs. Ashaft of sunlight slanted through the forest, admitted by a rufflingbreeze, and sparkles glittered where the light hit the scaledlizards, the scale-bark on the trees, and the delicate scale-leaves.Then the ray vanished and the forest returned to its dusky violetshadows.