Something bright appeared on the stage, then vanished. "An evil wizard is keeping the rain for himself," Samorty was saying. "We'll beat him. There'll be rain!"
Kinless and Lordkin alike cheered.
"But now there's a water shortage, and it's very hard on the horses and oxen," Samorty was saying. "Delivery is difficult. So next Mother's Day will be special. There'll be nine weeks' rations and some other extras."
The Lordkin cheered.
"And that will have to last for two Mother's Days," Samorty was saying. "And you'll all have to come to Peacegiven Square to get it, because we won't be able to bring everything to the usual distribution places."
Crowd noises were drowning out Samorty. He waved, and three magicians came on the stage. They made things appear and disappear. One called Shanda up on the stage and put her in a box, and when it was opened, she was gone. Whandall looked for her, but he couldn't see her.
Wanshig came up behind him. "Lord Pelzed isn't happy," he said, but there was a laugh in his voice. "He's got all of Serpent's Walk out picking pockets now, but we got the best. Good work."
The magicians made a vine grow.
"I know how to make Pelzed happy," Whandall said.
"How?"
"He can meet the Lords."
"You don't know any Lords."
"I know who they are," Whandall said. "That was Lord Samorty who made the speech-"
"Everybody knows that."
"And the man over there talking to the magicians is Lord Qirinty. He's a magician himself, or at least a pickpocket, and the fat one in armor with the Lordsmen, that's Lord Quintana. The pretty lady serving soup is his wife."
"So you know who they are."
Whandall hadn't heard Pelzed come up behind them. "What else do you know?" Pelzed demanded. "Wanshig, you didn't share. We'll have to talk about that."
Wanshig looked worried. -
"Lord Pelzed. I heard the Lords wanted a Lordkin leader to talk to," Whandall said.
Pelzed looked crafty. "Say more."
"They want the most powerful leader in this part of the city," Whandall said. "But I don't know what they want from him."
"That's me," Pelzed said. "Go tell them."
Whandall hadn't thought this out far enough. "Uh..."
"Do this for me and we'll forget what happened this morning," Pelzed said. He pointed up on the stage. "See that guy?"
"Foreigner," Wanshig said. "I've seen him before - "
"He's a teller," Pelzed said. "If I meet the Lords he'll tell everyone else. Whandall, how sure are you about their wanting to talk to us?"
Whandall thought about it. They hadn't wanted to talk to the Lordkin, but they thought they'd have to, only Whandall didn't dare tell Pelzed that. "I heard them plan it out over dinner," Whandall said.
"Whandall's a great sneak," Wanshig said.
"I remember," Pelzed said. "Well, go tell them I'm here."
"No, you come with me, Lord Pelzed," Whandall said. "Shig, you come too." He led them back behind the tent. As he'd hoped, Shanda was there. Whandall bowed as he'd seen kinless do. "Lady, this is Pelzed, the leader of Serpent's Walk."
The little girl looked surprised, then smiled. For a moment Whandall was afraid she'd wink or grin, but she just said, "Pleased to meet you. I'll go tell my father you're here."
She came back with Samorty, who invited Pelzed past the guards. No one invited Whandall and Wanshig, so they went back to watch the show. When Pelzed came out, he had a new burning glass and was very proud. He showed it to everyone. Then he found Whandall.
"You called me Pelzed. Not Lord Pelzed," he said.
Whandall had thought that through. "I thought the Lords might not like hearing you called Lord. They can make you disappear, Lord Pelzed," he said.
"You really have been in Lords' houses."
Whandall nodded. He already regretted letting them know.
"What did they want?" Wanshig asked.
Pelzed waved his hands. "It was important. Labor peace. How to organize for the new distribution on Mother's Day. They're going to let more female hemp plants grow in some of the fields. Important stuff I can't talk about. There'll be a meeting tonight. Be there, Wanshig... Whandall. Be there."
The meetinghouse had stone walls but no roof. There had been a roof, but it hadn't been strong enough. One night the men of Serpent's Walk had
climbed onto the roof; no one remembered why. The beams broke. The kinless family who had once lived in the house couldn't be found, so Serpent's Walk couldn't meet there when it rained. It didn't rain much anyway.
Whandall and Wanshig had to tell everyone how Lord Pelzed was summoned to meet with the Lords, while no one from Bull Fizzle or any other band had been called. Only Pelzed.
They spoke of the new Mother's Day. Everyone would be in one place. They'd need all the women to collect and carry, and all the men to protect the women and their gifts.
"It'll be safe in the square," Pelzed's advisors said. "Lordsmen will see to that. But outside-"
"We need two bands," Pelzed said. "One to protect our stuff. Another to see what we can gather from Bull Pizzle."
Bull Pizzle will be doing the same thing, Whandall thought.
Pelzed appointed leaders. Wanshig would be one of them. Whandall thought he'd be in Wanshig's band, but he wasn't. He couldn't fight yet, so he was afraid he'd be assigned to help the women carry. That would be shameful. But the meeting was over before anyone told him what to do.
When everyone else was leaving, Pelzed made Whandall and Wanshig stay behind. Pelzed sat at the head of the table, with guards standing behind him. "Sit down," he invited. "We'll have some tea."
Everyone knew about Pelzed's tea. It was made with hemp leaves, and enough of it left you babbling. Pelzed sipped at the hot brew. Wanshig gulped his. Whandall sipped, just keeping up with Pelzed. It made his head spin, just a little.
"So. You have been to Lord's Town."
"Yes, Lord," Whandall admitted.
"And you brought back fine clothes. What else is there that we can gather?"
"Everything," Whandall said. "But you'll die of it. They have magic. Lord Pelzed, they have stoves inside their houses! The fires don't go out. Yangin-Atep .. ." He didn't want to say it, not here where Yangin-Atep ruled.
"I saw the Lordsmen in their armor," Whandall said. "And big swords, and spears. Every night a Lord puts on armor like that, and so do the Lordsmen, and they go on watch."
"Where do they go?" Pelzed demanded.
"Everywhere. They call it the watch, because they watch for gatherers. Not just in the Lordshills. There's a village outside the walls, and they watch there too. And they have magicians." How much could he tell Pelzed? Whandall was trapped between loyalties. He owed Pelzed, he belonged to the Placehold, but the future he longed for might be with the Lords.
"We saw the magic," Miracos said. He was the advisor who stood at Pelzed's right. Sometimes he spoke aloud and sometimes he whispered in Pelzed's ear. "Vines growing. Fireballs."
"And I saw the Black Pit," Whandall said.
Everyone wanted to know about the Pit. Whandall told them as much as he dared. No one believed him.
"There's a wall around Lordshills," Miracos said. "But there's no wall around those big kinless houses? Lord's Town?"
"There is in back." Whandall tried to explain about the little squares, tables and plants in the middle, houses around them, walls behind the houses. "And the watch is there."