Skydancing
A Tortall Fanfiction by Sivvus
Blurb: Daine and Numair travel across Tortall with a group of players to investigating rumours of a coup in the remote mountains. Their simple plan is destroyed when they reach Fort Salydis and find that the mysterious Lady Atheris will only trade information for dangerous tricks… and the more deadly, the better. D/N
Please read and review! I update quicker if I know people are reading. ;-)
Chapter 1: Rope
The coin fell to the floor, spinning merrily. Daine cursed. The clattering sound was almost lost under the music and chatter in the hall, but it was still conspicuous enough to be embarrassing. She didn't look up when she knelt to pick up the coin, but her voice rang out clearly.
"You can stop smirking, too. Just because you can make it look so easy."
"It really is just a matter of practice." Numair tried not to sound smug and failed. His own coin glinted as he spun it across his knuckles and then disappeared neatly into his palm. The girl pulled a face at him and sat back down, dropping her own coin on the table and watching it roll away.
"I don't think I'll get the hang of it." She said, shrugging. "It's not important. I don't need to show off."
Numair opened his mouth to retort, and then stopped when someone cleared their throat loudly. The hall was noisy, full of people who weren't quite sure why they'd been summoned there in the middle of the warm May day, and the throat-clearer sounded quite hoarse before he had their attention. He wore the uniform of a herald, but in this weather the sleeves were rolled up in a rather undignified manner.
"My Lords and Ladies, please may I have your attention?" He shouted eventually, silencing the whisperers in the corners. There were a few laughs, making him redden. "King Jonathan and Queen Thayet, in honour of the start of summer, have invited you here to see a wonderful display of acrobats, players and illusionists. They have just finished setting up their display in the palace garden. If you would accompany me..." He was drowned out by the sudden surge of chatter, laughing and the clatter of benches as people began to move towards the garden. Clutching his hat as if he would lose it in the fray, he made his way to the edge of the crowd to catch his breath.
The garden was decorated with ribbons and streamers, and a canopy had been set up under the taller apple trees that bordered it. There were chairs under it for the more refined nobles, but many of them sat on the grass, laughing and not minding the stains it would leave on their clothes. Instead of a single stage, the players had set up two, at diagonal angles to each other with one corner just touching. The space in the middle was left bare of wooden boards, and a rope was suspended above it in between two poles.
"This is unusual," Numair said, taking the scene in with a glance. "Why invite a troop here now? They're usually just here at festivals."
"Ah, you've caught me out." The cheerful voice was definitely Jonathan's, as was the rather irritating hand which slapped the mage's shoulders. Numair reminded himself that it was improper to glare at a king before you've bowed to him, and promptly did both. Jon acknowledged the greeting with a grin and nodded to Daine, then waved a vague hand at the stage. "Watch the show. When it's finished, stay here. I need to talk to you both." Just as rapidly as he'd appeared he melted back into the crowd, and then re-emerged under the canopy to sit down regally and raise a hand, indicating the players should begin.
"If he wanted to talk to us, why didn't he just... talk to us?" Daine whispered, ignoring the warning looks from the nearby crowd at the noise.
"If I had the power to get a circus to play on a whim, then I would start all my conversations like this, too." The man whispered back. Daine smiled at the idea as the performance began in earnest.
The wooden boards held mock battles, recitals of verse and melodramatic drama. Jugglers walked through the crowds, pulling apples and eggs from people's ears and making them vanish into thin air, only to reappear in someone else's belt purse. The crowd gasped as the acrobats somersaulted across the rope, and laughed at a troop of performing collies who danced around another dog who was dressed as a sheep. The pack argued over who was going to herd it, nipping at each other and leaping over each other in elaborate routines, until the sheep got tired of this and chased the entire pack from the stage. The dogs spent the second half of the performance sneaking around the garden and through the crowd until they gathered around Daine, who greeted them all and let the pack sit with them in the shade. She took the sheep costume off the last dog when it panted in the sunshine, impressed at how gently the ties held the fleece onto the collie's back. She'd seen much crueller costumes.
When the show finished, to rapturous applause, the dogs sped back onto the stage as one to take their own bow, tongues lolling. The people watching laughed, applauded again, and gradually began to leave.
"That was excellent," Numair said, climbing to his feet. Daine agreed, and then realised she was still carrying the sheep costume. When she looked around for someone to return it to, she couldn't even see the stage through the throng of people. She guessed that Jonathan would have a similar problem finding them... at least, for a while. It wasn't worth staying here, then. She shouldered the heavy fleece and set off through the crowd, calling to the dogs to ask who the costume belonged to. They helpfully called back the sheep-dog's name.
I know that! She replied, I meant: which human?
It doesn't matter. They said idly, less interested now that they could return to their own homes and sleep in the shade. Daine sighed and reached the stage, looking for the nearest free player. They all seemed to have vanished, too.
"If this is another trick," she said out loud, "It's a really annoying one."
"Tricks are but illusions, noble lady." The voice was so rich and affected that Daine had to stop herself from giggling when she turned around to see the speaker. It was one of the players who had recited in the show: a venerable man, whose beard seemed more silver than white. He peered at her narrowly, nose scrunched up as if he was near-sighted. Daine realised that he was trying to pull a cunning face when he carried on speaking, "Coins are less fleeting, wouldn't you agree?"
Daine scratched her nose awkwardly with her free hand. "So you're saying they're looking for people to pay them?"
"I would never say something so crass. However true it might be, noble lady." He added. "I'm the circus master, and I am called Grasmar. Who were you searching for?"
"Um." Daine held out the fleece, wondering if he was genuinely short sighted. "I was looking for... well, whoever this belongs to."
He waved a hand. "One of the feline costumes? Fear not, maiden, for with great alacrity will I summon the lord of the wardrobe to dispose of it!"
"Making friends, Daine?" Jonathan sauntered over, hands tucked into his belt like a farmer. He grinned and gestured for Grasmar to straighten up- the circus master had descended into a bow so elaborate that parts of his costume were still dancing in the air. If anything, the player looked annoyed when he straightened up, clearly sizing up this king and finding him wanting. The line between the man's eyes vanished when Jonathan winked at him, prompting a surprised laugh.
"Your majesty," Grasmar's voice was suddenly a lot less pompous, and he ducked his head constantly as if trying to fight off the urge to bow again. "I received your communication and am here, with my friends, brothers, brethren and trusted colleagues, to respond to your most confiding command."
"Yes, er… very good." The king scratched his head briefly, looking confused. "Well, this is Miss Sarrasri, who I wrote to you about, and Master Salmalin is… somewhere." He looked around, not seeing Numair in the milling throng, and sighed. "Daine, please will you go and find him? I have to talk to Master Gletdale to confirm a few things, anyway. We'll be here."
Confirm what? Daine thought. She was irritated by all this secrecy. But she didn't say anything out loud, but smiled and left. As she walked away she could hear Grasmar commenting on her shocking rudeness of not bowing to the king before leaving, and smothered a giggle. It seemed that the sort of king people paid money to watch was nothing like the real-life example!
She didn't have a clue how to find Numair, either. The crowds were slowly dispersing, so she wandered through them absent-mindedly and just waited for them to leave. The grass was slowly turning to mud underfoot, and some of the more delicate ladies were starting to complain about the state of their shoes, so it wouldn't be long before the garden was empty. She was thinking about calling the dogs to her again when raised voices pulled her from her thoughts.
There was a large pole erected behind the stage, with a rope tied securely to the top of it. When Daine followed the cord she could see that the other end was tied to another pole, which was where the arguing was coming from. Three men, practically dressed with heavy gloves protecting their hands, were arguing with a forth. This last man was slender, light, and when he moved his motions were quick and bird-like. They were arguing about the pole, gesturing to it with every other word.
"Why did you make us put it up if you weren't going to use it?" The stockiest man demanded. "Just because you stubbed your precious toes…"
"I broke two toes." The bird-like man said, his voice petulant. "I need perfect control of my feet to balance…"
"You went to the healer!" Another man cut across. "We paid half a week's beer money for you to…"
"The physical memory had not fully returned, I assure you." The bird-man sniffed and looked up at the rope. "It's a lot more difficult than you seem to think."
Daine looked up again at the rope. It was quite thick – the kind of tarred rope used to moor ships. The tarring looked stickier than normal, too, making the wide strands easier to grip. It was strung so tightly across the poles that the gusts of May-wind weren't making it move an inch. "It doesn't look that hard," she said to herself, and then blanched when the bird-man rounded on her. "I'm sorry…" she started, but he was already drawing himself up indignantly.
"I wouldn't expect a talentless little miss like yourself to understand just how demanding this line of work is. It looks easy enough from the ground, but when you're up there, with nothing but the sky and the ground to break your fall…"
"You use a net." One of the men muttered. The bird-man spun around to glare at him, and Daine took the chance to slip away. Her stubborn mind refused to leave the men behind, and even though she told herself she was looking for Numair, she found herself at the base of the second pole soon enough.
"I could do it." Daine murmured to herself, and then mentally shrugged. Why not do it, then? I'll be able to see Numair from up there, after all… it's basically what Jon asked me to do…
With that excuse firmly set in her mind, she told herself she was being sensible, and headed for the pole. There were good footholds notched into the wood, and climbing to the top was easy. She had stepped carefully onto the rope before the men at the other pole noticed and went white, shouting out to her. The girl ignored them, thinking quickly. She wouldn't delude herself that she had perfect balance, but she knew some animal forms that did. Lighter bones, more dextrous feet to grip with, primal balance…
She had to concentrate for the first few steps, getting the hang of the strange mixture of forms, and then she walked rapidly to the other post and stood easily on the top. It was only when she reached the post that she realised the world had gone quiet. The men had stopped shouting at her, and the remaining nobles were staring with gaping mouths. The bird-man looked nearly green. And there, at the bottom of the post, Numair, Jonathan and Grasmar were staring up with varying expressions of horror and amusement.
Numair broke the silence by applauding, a wide grin on his face. "Well done! It's obvious you're using magic, though. You should wobble more."
"She was using magic?" The circus master asked loudly, some colour back in his face now that the girl was on the comparatively safer post. "I didn't realise, I was afraid to look!"
Daine climbed down easily, jumping the last few feet. "Sorry. Some animals have a very good sense of balance, is all. It's a good thing to borrow. It's mostly in the ears."
"Oh." The man blinked up at the rope, and then back at her. His affected way of speaking had completely disappeared in his shock, but he tried to pull himself together. "You… Your friend is right, then. You should make sure you wobble if you're going to make a habit of it, like."
"I thought circus folk hated people using magic in their shows," Daine started, and Grasmar laughed.
"Well, we're not over-fond. But it's the audience who need to believe that we're gift-free, not the players! Any mage can make an apple vanish into a hat- poof!- but we like to show people that those without magic could do it, too. They know it's a trick, but it's clever and it makes them laugh."
"We're all here, then." Jonathan said, smiling, "Good: I can tell you the plan. Daine, Numair, this is Grasmar Gletdale, the owner of this wonderful entertainment. He's kindly agreed to let you join his troupe for the summer season."
"Why?" Both mages burst out simultaneously, utter bewilderment written on their faces. Jonathan's smile faded away, and for the first time he looked utterly serious.
"The season will take them to Fort Salydis in the northern mountains, near the Scanran border. We lost contact with the fort a few days ago. They've cut off their trade routes, stopped sending messages and have put guards on the mountain passes. Something is wrong, but I want to know what it is before we send in a whole army. You have to get in undetected. When she was at court Lady Atheris was one of the biggest patrons of the players; I hope she'll let the troupe in even if she is planning a coup."
Grasmar looked sidelong at their stricken faces and laughed.
"I hope you can juggle."