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In the city of Chammur, on the eastern border of Sotat:
For centuries it had been called “fabled Chahty Chammur” For twelve hundred years the city on as now the easternmost border of Sotat had straddled the trade routes frouarded on the west by the Qarwan River In the north and east were riddled mazes of the flame-colored stone that provided the oldest part of the city with a sanctuary from bandits and warlords alike
For Dedicate Rosethorn of Winding Circle temple in Emelan and her fourteen-year-old student Briar Moss, Cha Briar had only ever heard the nah, had been fascinated since she’d first read of it, and she was able to tell hie came from books: this trip with Briar was her first chance to actually see the place that she had studied for so many years
The original town, Rosethorn said, had been built first on, then in, the spur of stone called Heartbeat Heights Then it spread to the cliffs on either side The shepherds, goatherds, and inally settled the area had kept to the rocky mazes that stretched out for miles It was easy to hide from any force that tried to prey on thehts and canyons
As trade prospered between east and west, the value of Chammur’s site and its nearness to the river drew e of the security of the stone apartreded, the wealthiest and round between the heights and the river, where they could surround theardens They also promoted themselves to the nobility: the cousins of the present aed to Sotat on anyin Hajra in the west, the truth was that the Cha but name, and had been so for centuries
Rosethorn and Briar’s journey was a kind of working study program for Briar No reen es, skilled with plants and medicines Chammur was no different Within days of their arrival, before they had cootten so ical aid that Rosethorn knew they had to stay for a while She uest quarters and into a house next door on the Street of Hares Once settled, she began to ith Chammur’s farmers, Briar with the local Water temple and its stores of medicines and herbs
Six weeks after their arrival, Briar at least had finished his work The Water teredients that would hold them for a year, two if they were careful After weeks of intense ical labor, Briar decided he owed himself a treat
He approached the giant, enclosed arcades that held the souks, or markets, of Golden House and the Grand Bazaar with his hands in his pockets, whistling He looked like y trousers olden brown skin was vivid against the cream-colored linen He wore no turban or hat as the Chammuri men and boys did, but left his black, coarse-cut hair uncovered His thin-bladed nose ray-green eyes could have co led here every bit as freely as they did in Briar’s former homes of Hajra and Summersea
His destination was Golden House He’d been in and out of the Grand Bazaar for weeks, buying oils, dried is and jars, all for his work at the Water teiven hi and lesser specialty e for a day and a booth from which to sell his miniature trees that he learned of Golden House That was the place for him, the men who sold booth spaces had explained In Golden House buyers found ical supplies, precious metals, rare woods like ebony and sandalwood, jewelry, and precious and semiprecious stones Briar’s miniature trees, which were not only works of art but were also shaped to draw particular ed in Golden House
By the tiements for a stall there, he’d had to rush to be hoood look at Chammur’s wealthiest marketplace
As he approached the two uards at the door, he smiled impishly at them They stirred, wary He knew he looked like a student, perhaps, or even a merchant’s son, in clothes that were very wellboots The guards had no real reason to bar hiht shout that he had the air of a thief
“Hands,” one of them said when Briar would have strolled by
He held theuard who had spoken looked for jailhouse tattoos, and saw a riot of leafy vines that went frouard blinked, looked into Briar’s eyes, looked at his hands again, and nudged his partner The other man looked at Briar’s hands, blinked, ain
Briar was used to it At one time he had indeed had prison tattoos, a black ink X etched into the web of skin between the thuer of each hand In most countries, they marked two arrests and convictions for theft When Briar turned thirteen, he’d gotten tired of being turned away fro Rosethorn, he’d brewed soetable dyes and borrowed his friend Sandry’s best needles His plan had been to create a flowering vine tattoo to blot out the telltale Xs He had not realized that vegetable dyes, exposed to his green ht not stay under his control The final, colorful result blotted out the jailhouse tattoos as surely as if those crude black Xs had never existed The new designs also ardens that were far more conspicuous than his old tattoos
“Hey, they uard exclai He looked at Briar “Don’t that hurt?”
“No,” Briar said patiently, used to the reaction and the co them out like this”
Both guards scowled and waved hiaudy hands in his pockets and wandered into the main aisle He avoided the stalls that peddled precious woods and gus still to hurt, especially when a touch wou
ld show hiold and copper aisles with only a glance His friend Daja, a ed in here One day he would explore and write her about it, but not today
He turned down Pearl Alley, going fro bowls of pearls with an expert’s eye Every color and size i to black orbs the size of his thuic The neighboring aisle brought him to sapphires of every color Rubies came next, then emeralds, then opals
At no point did Briar take his memorable hands from his pockets Every stall was supervised by an alert shopkeeper and by one or two guards They had reason to be wary Briar guessed that one in five shoppersalone, with a partner or two, or even with the better class of gang here in Chammur Nen He couldn’t have said what told hiht, but he trusted his instincts
He particularly suspected those young e or just a bit older A nu froranate seed Still others wore a distinctive costume, white tunic over black breeches or skirts The jewelry was high-priced for a ganghad just wound a strip of blue cloth around their biceps — but the nose ring and pendant looked like a gang ang colors He wasn’t surprised to find rounds where gangs roamed under truce
He ca aisle where those who peddled semiprecious stones sold their wares Here the croas thicker: more people could afford carnelian and amethysts than pearls That was particularly true of the local es could afford to use pearls and rubies in their work, but even students could find moonstones or mother-of-pearl discs that would be acceptable substitutes in their spells
Briar was looking at a basket of ic in his ht his eye He turned, scanning the aisle This tiht came as a dart of silver in a stall across froes could actually see e would even notice it Curious, he sauntered over for a look
Now, here’s soht as he drew near The stall’s owner, a barrel-chestedhis baskets and bowls of stones Beside hier-eye pieces, polishing selected ones with a cloth and setting theht flowered, then faded to eth, in the pieces she handled Briar also saw that the guard who stood watch between this stall and its neighbor kept his eyes on the traffic, not on the girl, though the owner never took his eyes off her She was known, then, or she wouldn’t have been allowed to stop for half a breath within reaching distance of the stall
ThisBriar identified jade, amber, moonstone, onyx, lapis lazuli, jet, e of stones ran out Now that he was looking closely at the wares, he could see a row of sirl put her polished stones on a shelf beside the stall’s owner Those stones all showed a seed of silver to Briar’s ical vision
“Say, kid, how do you do it?” Briar asked, his curiosity getting the better of hiht up like that?”
The girl spun to face him, as wary as a wild animal She was a foot shorter than Briar’s five feet seven inches, and she looked to be nine or ten A skinny waif, she had the bronze-colored skin and al native Wisps of black hair stuck out from under the dirty scarf wrapped around her head She wore a long tunic and trousers of unguessable color, aged and speckled with holes Even though it was autumn, she was barefoot