Ravishan said nothing. He hugged John fiercely, then stood and disappeared back into the Gray Space. John straightened and poured a last bucket of water over his body. He toweled himself dry and opened the door for Saimura.
Chapter Eighty-One
John woke up on a narrow cot with his face pressed against a stone wall. His head throbbed from the fathi and a sickly sweetness hung in his mouth. He rolled away from the wall to survey his surroundings.
Several other cots filled the small room. They were arranged like the beds in a sickroom. On the cot next to John, Saimura and a young girl sat playing cards. The girl looked about fifteen. She wore her black hair short, just as Gin’yu had. Saimura studied his cards with a pleased expression. John’s gaze slid off of Saimura and drifted to the floor. He was slightly disturbed by the sight of several white rib bones on the dull green rag rug.
"Jahn. You’re awake." Saimura folded his hand of cards. The girl immediately picked them up but then appeared vexed by what she saw.
"I knew you were bluffing," the girl told Saimura.
Saimura’s indulgent expression assured John that the girl had known no such thing.
"This is Tanash." Saimura indicated the girl. She offered John a slightly bucktoothed grin.
"Welcome to the Warren," Tanash said.
"Thank you." John started to sit up and then realized that he was naked under the heavy blankets.
"I’ve got your clothes." Saimura tossed John a knitted pullover shirt and a pair of thick cotton pants.
"Tanash," Saimura turned to the young girl, "will you fetch John’s coat and boots?"
"Sure, but don’t try any pranks with my cards while I’m gone." She stood and walked to the door, then turned back to Saimura. "I’ll know if you do anything."
"I won’t," Saimura assured her. When Tanash left the room, Saimura said, "Almost makes me want to mark the deck."
John dressed quickly. The pants were big enough, though the legs were a little short. The loosely knit shirt stretched tight across John’s shoulders and chest, creating a fishnet effect.
"I couldn’t find anything quite your size," Saimura said. "Larran is working on some clothes, but they won’t be finished for a few days."
"After those rags I was wearing I couldn’t possibly complain," John said. "At least these are clean."
"Your boots didn’t look too bad," Saimura commented. He leaned down and picked up the two white rib bones.
John just nodded. His boots and coat had not been scavenged from the dead. Ravishan had found them in Nurjima.
Saimura ran his hand over one of the rib bones thoughtfully. He drew a small belt knife out and scratched a line into the bone.
"What are you doing?" John asked.
"Helping Tanash with her studies," Saimura replied. He glanced up at John. "She’s one of Ji’s students. Right now they’re learning to charm bones. Tanash always has a terrible time getting started."
John watched Saimura graze the surface of the bone with his knife blade. This was the sort of thing he’d be learning from Ji, he supposed.
"It always makes me a little nostalgic to do this," Saimura commented.
"Oh?" John asked.
"When I was still studying with Ji, she had me carving bones all the time. It used to bore me out of my mind." Saimura smiled to himself.
"You’re not still studying with her?"
"No, now I work witchcraft for Lafi’shir’s elite unit." Saimura turned the bone over in his hands. "I’m done with practice."
Tanash shoved the door open and strode in. John’s large gray coat was draped over her shoulder. The cuff of one sleeve trailed on the floor. She dropped John’s boots beside his bed and then flopped the coat onto the blankets. She frowned at the bone in Saimura’s hands.
"Ji’s going to know you started carving that for – " Tanash suddenly stopped, turned back to John, and gaped at him. "God’s bones, your shirt is tight."
John had no idea how to respond to being ogled by a teenage girl. Her eyes moved up and down his body with an almost hungry fascination. John felt his face flushing.
Saimura stood and lightly hit Tanash on the head with the rib he had been carving. "Stop acting like you grew up in an alley."
"I just…that shirt is really tight." Tanash turned to Saimura.
"At least Jahn looks good wearing it," Saimura said. He picked up his own dark green coat from the bed. "He certainly looks better wearing it than you would."
"At least it would fit me." Tanash scowled at Saimura. Saimura tossed the rib bone to Tanash. She caught it, then glanced to John.
"I’ll ask Larran for some other clothes for you," Tanash told him.
Saimura rolled his eyes. "You really think I haven’t already done that?"
Tanash started to say something, then seemed to think better of it. She frowned down at the rib bone.
"Come on, Jahn," Saimura said. "I’ll get you something to eat and take you to Ji. She’ll want to see you."
John grabbed his boots and found that a pair of clean socks had been stuffed into one of them. He pulled on the socks and his boots, then picked up his coat and followed Saimura out the door.
Once they were a few feet down the narrow tunnel, Saimura glanced back to John.
"She’s my half sister," Saimura commented.
"Tanash?" John asked.
Saimura nodded. "She’s a little bit of a loudmouth, but she always means well. I hope you weren’t offended."
"No," John assured him. "Why would I be?"
Saimura shrugged. "Some of the men complain. They want girls to be quiet and shy. She’s not like that. I think Sabir sent her here to study with Ji to keep her from offending his southern men. You know how they are."
John didn’t. The only southern men he knew were Alidas and Hann’yu. They had both been soft spoken and interested in poetry. They’d seemed more cultured than most northern men.
"Do you mind if we just have cold meats?" Saimura asked. "Ji will be expecting you soon."
"Anything is fine with me. I’ll just be glad for a meal."
"Well, you’re easy to please, aren’t you?" Saimura grinned at John.
"I try to be." John followed Saimura through the narrow tunnel. Dozens of brightly painted wooden doors lined the walls on either side of them. Each of the doors was marked with a simple black line drawing of a dog and a number. From time to time John noticed a shift in the stale warm air. Faint cool breezes drifted down from latticed slits high in the walls.
Walking single file through the narrow tunnel, they only passed one young woman. She exchanged a brief hand sign with Saimura but said nothing.
A few minutes later the tunnel opened into a long cavernous thoroughfare. Large groups of men and women were out. Some of them led animals on ropes or carried baskets of grain. The heat of so many bodies warmed the air noticeably. Despite the dense crowds, the street remained strangely silent. John watched people’s hands flicker through constant signs.
John remembered this big tunnel from the night before. Its far west end lay directly under the Payshmura chapel. John was pleased that he had managed to remember that much. Though, he had failed to notice the markings on the doors and walls. Simple designs of flowers decorated some doors. Others displayed icons of tahldi, sheep or plump milk goats. All the doors were numbered.
Most the walls of the tunnels were rough. Here and there, John noticed latticed windows had been carved out or designs had been scratched into the stone above a door. Some were painted with animals and fruiting plants. John wondered what the paintings looked like under sunlight instead of the greenish illumination of the moon water lamps.
"Here," Saimura said softly. He caught John’s elbow and pulled him past two stocky men with rifles. Saimura led John into a new tunnel. The strong smell of taye bread rolled over them.
Saimura stopped at a set of big double doors. An inlaid copper pattern of taye leaves decorated the heavy wooden beams. Saimura pushed one door open. Humid, pungent heat rolled out. For a moment John couldn’t help but think of Samsango. He followed Saimura into the big kitchen.