For three weeks they had been instructing the young noble in riding, and he had shown natural ability. Laurie jumped from the horse, and Kasumi took his place. The Tsurani rode roughly at first, the saddle feeling strange under him. As he bounced by, Pug called out, “Master, grip him firmly with your lower leg!” The horse sensed the pressure and picked up a quick trot. Rather than be troubled by the increase in speed, Kasumi looked enraptured. “Keep your heels down!” shouted Pug. Then, without instructions from either slave, Kasumi kicked the horse hard in the sides and had the animal running over the fields.
Laurie watched him vanish across the meadow and said, “He’s either a natural horseman or he’s going to kill himself.”
Pug nodded. “I think he’s got the knack. He’s certainly not lacking courage.”
Laurie pulled up a long stem of grass from the ground and put it between his teeth. He hunkered down and scratched the ear of a bitch who lay at his feet, as much to distract the dog from running after the horse as to play with her. She rolled over on her back and playfully chewed his hand.
Laurie turned his attention to Pug. “I wonder what game our young friend is playing at.”
Pug shrugged. “What do you mean?”
“Remember when we first arrived? I heard Kasumi was about to head out with his cho-ja companions. Well, those three cho-ja soldiers left this morning—which is why Bethel here is out of her pen—and I heard some gossip that the orders of the older son of the Shinzawai were suddenly changed. Put that together with these riding and language lessons and what do you have?”
Pug stretched. “I don’t know.”
“I don’t know either.” Laurie sounded disgusted “But these matters are of high import.” He looked across the plain and said lightly, “All I ever wanted to do was to travel and tell my stories, sing my songs, and someday find a widow who owned an inn.”
Pug laughed. “I think you would find tavern keeping dull business after all this fine adventure.”
“Some fine adventuring. I’m riding along with a bunch of provincial militia and run right smack into the entire Tsurani army. Since then I’ve been beaten several times, spent over four months mucking about in the swamps, walked over half this world—”
“Ridden in a wagon, as I remember.”
“Well, traveled over half this world, and now I’m giving riding lessons to Kasumi Shinzawai, older son of a lord of Tsuranuanm Not the stuff great ballads are made of.”
Pug smiled ruefully “You could have been four years in the swamps. Consider yourself lucky. At least you can count on being here tomorrow. At least as long as Septiem doesn’t catch you creeping around the kitchen late at night.”
Laurie studied Pug closely “I know you’re joking. About Septiem, I mean. It has occurred to me several times to ask you, Pug. Why do you never speak of your life before you were captured?”
Pug looked away absently “I guess it’s a habit I picked up in the swamp camp. It doesn’t pay to remind yourself of what you used to be. I’ve seen brave men die because they couldn’t forget they were born free.”
Laurie pulled at the dog’s ear “But things are different here.”
“Are they? Remember what you said back in Jamar about a man wanting something from you. I think the more comfortable you become here, the easier it is for them to get whatever it is they want from you. This Shinzawai lord is no one’s fool.” Seemingly shifting topics, he said, “Is it better to train a dog or horse with a whip or with kindness?”
Laurie looked up. “What? Why, with kindness, but you have to use discipline also.”
Pug nodded. “We are being shown the same consideration as Bethel and her kind, I think. But we still are slaves. Never forget that.”
Laurie looked out over the field for a long time and said nothing.
The pair were rousted from their thoughts by the shouts of the older son of the house as he rode back into view. He pulled the horse up before them and jumped down. “He flies,” he said, in his broken King’s Tongue. Kasumi was an apt student and was picking up the language quickly. He supplemented his language lessons with a constant stream of questions about the lands and people of Midkemia. There was not a single aspect of life in the Kingdom that he seemed uninterested in. He had asked for examples of the most mundane things, such as the manner in which one bargains with tradespeople, and the proper forms of address when speaking to people of different ranks.
Kasumi led the horse back to the shed that had been built for him, and Pug watched for any sign of footsoreness. They had fashioned shoes for him from wood treated with resin, by trial and error, but these seemed to be holding up well enough. As he walked, Kasumi said, “I have been thinking about a thing. I don’t understand how your King rules, with all you have said about this Congress of Lords. Please explain this thing.”
Laurie looked at Pug with an eyebrow raised. While no more an authority on Kingdom politics than Laurie, he seemed better able to explain what he knew. Pug said, “The congress elects the King, though it is mostly a matter of form.”
“Form?”