Soon afterward Neartos escorts me to a Fives stable adjoining the palace compound. The practice court hasn’t been defaced and the harness room still has gear folded neatly in baskets and cedar chests.
“Spider!” One of my trainers, white-haired Darios, hails me from the stable’s dining shelter. He was part of the Garon household that escaped Saryenia. He greets me with an enthusiastic slap on the shoulder but his good humor turns to a frown as he marks Neartos setting up sentries at the stable’s gate. “I hope you are well.”
“It’s complicated.”
There are six local adversaries at the table, digging into a pot of lentil stew and freshly grilled flatbread. And there is one adversary from Garon Stable here too. The highborn Saroese girl called Talon sits at the far end, alone, eating not from the common platter but from a bowl set aside only for her, exactly as she used to hold herself apart from the rest of us before. Her gaze lifts to meet mine. I’m not in the mood for her peculiar airs so I stare belligerently back until her face gets red.
“Spider, please eat,” says Darios in a tone more gentle than I deserve.
“Where is everyone else from Garon Stable?” I ask him.
“The Commoners did not come with us, as you may recall, and Princess Berenise had already returned the fledgling Patron boys to their families before that ill-omened night when the palace was burned down.”
“Now that I think about it, everyone in Garon Stable except you, Talon, and those fledglings were Efeans. Does that strike you as strange?”
“Lord Gargaron never involved himself in the stable. Lord Thynos and Tana recruited adversaries. I never thought to ask why they chose the people they did because they only chose promising ones. We assumed at first you came as part of Lord Gargaron’s negotiation with your father, that the general insisted you be given a chance to train in exchange for his military services, but then we realized how good you actually are.”
The instant the local adversaries discover I am General Esladas’s daughter, they fall all over themselves to tell me about the battle of Maldine: how enemy ships appeared without warning one day, how the town’s governor pretended to welcome them while secretly sending a message to a Stone Desert garrison under the command of Captain Esladas, how my father assembled a ragtag army with stunning speed from veterans and militia. But I can’t question the Efeans among them about whether there is a local resistance, or anyone I can persuade to rescue Maraya and Polodos from the ship, because Neartos sits beside me at meals and dogs my heels the rest of the time. All I’m able to find out is that every able-bodied Saroese man under the age of fifty in the Maldine region will leave with Queen Meno?’s army when it departs.
For three days I train, eat, and rest under the captain’s constant supervision. I’m given a tiny cubicle to sleep in, and a soldier stands guard outside.
The morning of the fourth day, our little stable, including Talon, is escorted to the Maldine Fives court. From the outside it looks exactly like every other Fives court, with circular walls and multiple entrances. The stairway down to the attiring hall is roped off. No supporters toss flower petals and ribbons at our feet. My gear is a mix of whatever I could put together from the stable, including a mask I’ve sewn from a scrap of brown silk. A boisterous crowd gathers, curious foreign soldiers as well as locals making a celebration of the trial, knowing the fleet and army will be leaving in two days.
Sixteen adversaries wait in the attiring hall, enough for four trials. To my surprise, the first three trials run without Talon.
Taking a break from warm-ups I approach her with my best attempt at a polite, comradely smile. “This is a big day for you. I didn’t expect you to be held to the last trial, since it is your first test. What mask do you wear?”
She unfolds a mask embroidered with a stylized hawk.
“Are you originally from East Saro?” I ask, disconcerted by this reminder of the war.
Without answering, she fixes the mask over her face.
We are called into the ready cage. I’m handed the green belt, for Trees. Two adversaries I don’t know are given blue and brown while Talon ties on the red belt for Traps. I can’t stop staring at her hawk mask. Surely this is a clue to the mystery of who she is, and why she’s being allowed to run now when she was hidden away before.
Meno?’s first husband was the crown prince of East Saro, and his sister was Nikonos’s bride. I remember what Meno? told me that day when I rescued her from death:
Nikonos convinced them I was nothing more than a jealous and vindictive viper who murdered both my husband and his young bride out of spite and shame.
“Spider!” The custodian’s voice jars me.
I have to concentrate. I follow the custodian down a tunnel to the ladder.
The start bell rings.
I swarm up, push through the gate, and get my first look at Trees, set in a basic power configuration. No time for subtlety. Like Father on the Royal Road, I just have to punch through. So I climb, and I move well, strengthened by my time in the rigging. But just as I make the resting platform I hear the crowd roar as an adversary enters Trees behind me.
I look back and am shocked to see Talon. She is short, slender, and flat-chested; her lack of height is a disadvantage but she has less weight to haul.
I am not going to let her beat me on her first trial. I can’t believe she is through Traps already. Should I race on in the opposite direction or let her chase me? Deciding on the latter, I head for Rivers. Knowing she is behind me fuels my determination.
Even so, I stumble once in Rivers and take two wrong turns in Pillars, and so I am a little shaken by the time I reach Traps. I hear her enter Pillars by the shouts of the crowd. People cry out with a harsh hawk’s skreek for the mask she wears. I can’t tell if they are cheering her on or mocking her.
The other two adversaries no longer matter; they’re behind. For once I do not take the highest level through Traps to show off my flair. Pride compels me to throw in a pair of flips but I’m ashamed of my cautious performance as I climb the final resting platform overlooking Rings.
Big rings turn at different speeds in a classic configuration that forces the adversary to time them exactly right to make it through in the most direct line. This is basically the same setup as the very first Fives trial I ran, all those months ago.
My thoughts spin.
You killed Nikonos’s bride too? I asked Meno? that terrible night, wondering what sort of monster I had rescued. And she replied, No, he just thinks I did.