“Our friend and his mother invited us,” Arram said, trying to understand the wary look in the big man’s eyes.
“Surely you mean Her Highness Mahira Lymanis Tasikhe and His Highness Ozorne Muhassin Tasikhe,” one of the guards said. “Great ones of the empire.”
Now Arram understood the look in Musenda’s eyes. He’d been trying to warn Arram about the way he spoke of members of the imperial family. “You’re right,” he said, looking at his feet. “I wasn’t thinking.”
“Musenda has to go back to camp,” said the guard who had reproved Arram.
“Yes, of course,” Varice replied. “And we should rejoin our hosts.”
“Please tell your family I said hello again,” Arram said as Varice tugged his arm. “I saw them this morning. They look much better out of the infirmary.”
“Arram!” Varice tugged harder.
“Young masters! Princess Mahira asks for you!” One of the princess’s slaves was leaning over the iron rail between the platforms and the edge of the tunnel. “You must return to your places at once!”
Musenda said, “Gods go with you, Arram. Good to meet you, Lady Varice.” He nodded to the men who held his chains. They began the process of turning so the four could leave through the tunnel without getting entangled with one another.
As they walked off, Arram remembered his manners and called, “Graveyard Hag bless your future games!”
Musenda raised a hand as far as he could but did not turn around.
Arram and Varice returned to bow to Princess Mahira and chat with her again when the next match, a grand brawl between gladiators from the third and fourth groups, was over.
It’s just as Master Sebo says, Arram decided during their ride home. Each bit of stone tossed into the river creates ripples, which create still more, which intersect with other ripples, each making a new pattern in the water. There is no way to tell what might result, once you pick up a stone and throw it. We can only be ready for where the power takes us.
He turned the crystal die over and over in his fingers. He almost wished he’d given it to Musenda. A gladiator was far better off with a token from the Graveyard Hag than a student was.
—
Once he was home, Arram was careful to write perfect, unblotted thank-you notes to the emperor, Stiloit, Princess Mahira, Ozorne, and Varice. When it was dark and Preet was sound asleep, Arram did a quick sneak to the nearest shrine for Mithros with a donation for permanently damaged gladiators in Musenda’s name. Also, with considerable nervousness, he offered one of his favorite finished stones, a lovely piece of amber, to the Graveyard Hag—just in case.
In class the next day, he showed the die to Yadeen. The mage picked it up and instantly dropped it. Arram, in an unusual fit of grace, caught the piece before it touched the ground.
“Sir?” he asked. Yadeen never dropped anything.
Yadeen plunged his hand into a bucket of water. “Where did you get that?”
“Well, the, um…,” Arram stammered. Catching a fiery look from the master, he said, “At—at the games.”
“Who gave it to you?”
“Master, I don’t know.”
“I have never met this Master I Don’t Know. Whoever he is, I doubt he wanders through battle games giving away diamond dice studded with garnets. Who gave it to you?”
Not for the first time in their relationship, Arram thought that Yadeen had a very intimidating glare. “Master, truly, I don’t know.” He took a deep breath, summoning his courage while Preet scolded Yadeen. “Stop it, Preet. Sir, I was looking at the Lady of the South’s statue in the arena.” Those who did not wish to offend or get the attention of the Hag used her far more polite name, taken from the usual position of her statues. “A-and I th-thought she was moving, and th-that appeared o-on my t-table.”
“It is most certainly from her,” Yadeen replied sourly. “Take very good care of it. Keep it with you. And hope that she continues to like you.”
“Absolutely,” Arram replied, wiping the sweat from his forehead and remembering the way his spine had tried to crawl out through his skull when she had winked at him.
Yadeen shook his head. “I have never known such a student for getting himself into strange situations. First a peculiar birdie, and now a die from Carthak’s own goddess. This one thing is true: your future is written in fire.”
Arram stared at the master, hurt. “I don’t try to get into bad situations, Master Yadeen!”
“Hmph,” the man snorted. “We are making jewelry today, young mage. Protective jewelry with protective stones, for a nice, manly bracelet. We’ll wrap your die in a gold wire cage and attach it to the bracelet, if you like.” Arram nodded eagerly. He was terrified that the thing would fall from a pocket or get stolen from his room. “Start with the proper metal chain to string it and your beads.” Yadeen held up a bead. “Here’s the proper size of bead to use, so be sure to get the proper size of chain.”
Arram took the bead from the master’s hand and went to the rolls of cord and metal chain at one end of the room: Yadeen was often called on to make magical jewelry using powerful stones. He was about to measure out a length of his favorite blackened metal when he realized that Yadeen had said it would be a protective bracelet. Doubtless it was safer to choose protective metal as well as stones. His hand wavered between gold and brass.
“Take gold,” Yadeen said. “Consult your own taste.” Once Arram had chosen his chain and measured enough for his own wrist and more in the event of mistakes, Yadeen pointed to a section of drawers. “Those stones are drilled to accommodate that width of chain one way or another. I will tell you if I believe another stone will serve you better, or if I believe you should add gold spacer beads or stones for a different influence. But first we begin with protection from magic—any and all magic. What would you choose?”
Arram began with onyx, red jasper, flint, and black agate. When he added crystal quartz and garnet, Yadeen snatched them from the table and replaced them with diamond and ruby. He placed seven small round gold beads on the table beside a long oval bead of mottled jasper. “For visualization and divination?” Arram asked, touching the long stone.
“And to find what is hidden, uncover lies, and obtain freedom,” Yadeen told him. “The gold?”
“Success, protection, good health—what if it doesn’t work, sir?”
“You will only have yourself to blame as the customer,” Yadeen told him. “So I would make it the best protective bracelet you can.”