The Queen of War, page 11
Birds chirped through the window. Valentina had left the curtains open the night before, so the light came through and filled the room with a warm glow. Even Clelia looked rosy in the early morning light. Valentina threw off her covers and looked down at her clothing. Sometime in the night, she’d woken enough to pull a blanket over herself, but not enough to take off her dirty clothes from the day before.
“Don’t worry about it, but don’t leave anything valuable here either,” Clelia said when she saw the dirt and grime Valentina had tracked into bed. “Even us poor folk get fresh sheets from the school staff.” Clelia eyed her curiously. “Do you have anything valuable?”
Valentina shook her head and fussed with the robe Clelia gave her to avoid looking the girl in the eye. “When do they come into the rooms?” Valentina asked, trying to sound casual.
“After lunch, I think. I don’t know, I’m not normally here,” Clelia said. “Come on, we’re going to be late. We’ll come back to get dressed, so just bring the robe.”
Valentina gave up on trying to figure out how to get the stuff out of her desk without Clelia seeing, so turned and shrugged her shoulders that she was ready.
The baths were like nothing she’d ever seen. Positioned somewhere near the middle of the school grounds, they were two columned buildings, several stories high, on either side of a small hillock. They looked like two small temples. “Men, women,” Clelia said, pointing to the two different buildings. Inside, long steel tubs of water lay arranged in a row, ending with a large cutout in the floor lined with stone and filled with steaming water.
“How?” Valentina asked. She’d never seen so much water in one place except a lake or a stream. Never in a building.
“Hot spring,” Clelia said, pointing to the ground. “Come, we have to get clean first.”
The series of long metal tubs of water was meant for cleaning oneself before getting into the main pool. The water was not warm and Valentina tried to climb out after a quick rinse. Clelia stopped her. “We’ll both get in trouble if you put your dirty self in that pool.” She held out a long-handled brush and a washing stone. “Scrub all over. I’ll get your back.” Valentina accepted the items. The elderly lady with white hair working as the bath house attendant watched them with narrowed eyes. Valentina got back in the tub and applied herself to do a better job.
A good scrubbing later, and a candlemark’s worth of time in the steaming pool, and Valentina felt like a new person. Her face flushed red with the heat.
“Ready to go kick some aristocrat butt?” Clelia asked as she got out of the pool and pulled on her robe and tied it. She winked as she handed Valentina her robe.
* * *
The Forum Peti looked like a glowing yellow jewel in the center of campus. The early morning sun had just cleared the nearby buildings and bathed the perfectly round structure with light from the base of its large foundation stones to the top of the ornately decorated stone top ring. On regular intervals on the flat top stones, stone dragons looked down, their carved tails wrapped around their bodies.
Students went in and out of the entrances, some in groups of four or five, or by themselves. Some students emerged looking despondent, while others were elated. A few were strangely dirty, coated in yellow rock dust with not a speck of clean linen on them.
Valentina wore Dante’s gift of a set of white robes trimmed with light blue, and the edging accented at regular intervals with yellow dots. “A little sunshine for you,” Dante had said when he’d dropped off the clothes for her. “These are custom modified. I have a feeling you might need them.”
Valentina didn’t know what he meant until she saw the pants that fit under the outer robe. Their neat construction held over half a dozen pockets all over, but sewed so cleverly that the pockets were not visible unless you knew exactly where to look. There were even small pockets in the folds of the robes themselves. With a sigh of relief, Valentina stuffed the wooden medallion from Mercato in one of the larger pants pockets near the ankle that could be tied snug close to her leg. She put her knife in a higher pocket she could easily get to through an opening in the overtunic.
Most of the students wore similar clothing to Valentina, in what she was coming to recognize as a school uniform of sorts—white robes trimmed in a lighter blue than worn by the instructors. A few students wore rich garments of other colors, mostly jewel tones of reds, blues, and greens. Clelia had sneered at a few of these students after they’d crossed paths with them.
“Do you really hate them?” Valentina asked after the third such incident after breakfast.
Clelia looked at her in surprise. “No, of course not. Doesn’t mean I’m not going to humiliate them into next week. Shame is a great lesson for those spoilt ones.”
Valentina covered her mouth to hide a laugh. Thank the goddess Clelia had no inkling who she was.
Yet. The mirth left Valentina when she realized Clelia might find out sooner rather than later, along with everyone else at the school. The emperor had commanded ‘she shall give her true name ever forward.’ Did that mean last night too? Was she breaking the rules by not telling Clelia and the others?
“Clelia,” Valentina said as she turned to face the girl. “I have something to tell you—”
A booming voice interrupted Valentina. She turned to find Master Silas himself bearing down on them.
“Valentina, I need you to come with me,” Master Silas said as he reached out and grabbed Valentina’s hand, pulling her after him. He nodded at Clelia as they bustled past her.
Valentina turned to Clelia as she was dragged away. Clelia’s mouth formed a perfect circle. She looked bewildered at what had just happened. Valentina cursed herself for not thinking to tell Clelia right away.
* * *
Master Silas bustled her into the Forum Peti through a back entrance that snaked and tunneled under the vast structure. The same yellow stone lined the floor, but the walls were close and the ceiling low. They walked into the network of passages beneath the sloped seating above.
“Aren’t I supposed to test with the other students?” Valentina asked after she couldn’t take the silence any longer. Master Silas had said nothing to her the entire time after having retrieved her from Clelia’s company.
“You are. I apologize for not getting you in time this morning. There was some, um, confusion,” Master Silas said as he dropped her hand. She rushed to catch up to him, losing some momentum from him no longer dragging her.
“I am? Not with Clelia?” Valentina asked.
“No, not yet anyway. In the beginning things are sorted by royal hierarchy. It must be done this way to keep the kingdoms from claiming insult to their kin,” Master Silas said as he rushed through the tunnels.
Did he mean the royals attending here? Those in the fancy colorful clothes and having beautiful horses. Dread filled Valentina. She did not want to be thrown in with those people. She knew nothing of their kingdoms and even less of how to act round them.
“No, I don’t need that. I’m fine working in the stables and testing with those in my house. Please stop, no.” Valentina wanted to grab him and stop his furious pace, but she didn’t dare. Instead, she stopped and watched him walk off, his footsteps echoing down the long hallway.
He stopped after a half dozen paces and turned to her, surprise on his face at her distance. He stomped back. “Do you dare defy the order of the emperor?”
The emperor? The one in the fancy palace on the hill that saved her life. Valentina’s stomach dropped. “No, of course not,” she said in a whisper.
“Were you to always give your true name ever forward?” he asked.
“Yes.”
He looked thunderous. “What do you think that means?”
“That I say—”
He cut her off. “You think it is words only?”
Valentina bit her lips. She didn’t know what he meant and feared anything she said would only make him madder. This man had let her lie and not told her. What other error would he let her make that could cost her dearly later?
Silence hung between them for a moment. He glanced back down the hall in the direction they had been walking, then turned back and stepped closer to Valentina.
He spoke, his words softer this time. “A name is more than words. It is a place and a responsibility. Part of being of a royal house is announcing yourself to the others for judgment, and judging anon in your own part,” he said. “There will be no hiding in the masses. Is that clear?”
Valentina opened her mouth to protest, but then thought better of it and firmly closed it again. She had one glorious day of quiet with the other common students, and would have loved more, but even she was not so bold as to dare challenge the master of the school, much less the emperor of the realm.
She nodded.
Satisfied, he turned from her and made his way down the corridor.
Valentina hurried after him.
The tunnel grew lighter, sunshine flooding the tunnel ahead. She squinted to see clearly. The vast spaces beneath the Forum Peti had seemed like they’d never end, but suddenly they were behind her as she emerged into the sunlight.
Blinded by the glare, she didn’t notice Master Silas stopped to her right and nearly walked into a broad back clothed in a rich jewel orange fabric with a complicated pattern of gold woven through it. The person wearing the fabric turned and scowled at Valentina. She blinked.
“You” he said.
“Horse guy,” Valentina whispered to herself.
“This is Prince Hayden,” Master Silas announced to Valentina.
13
Valentina’s eyes adjusted to the bright lighting shining into the interior of the Forum Peti. The sun was still only halfway up to the top of the sky, but the section of the forum they stood in was in full sun.
A light cloud of yellow rock dust floated in the air across the wide floor of the forum from the skirmishes of students with swords on the other side. The clang of metal hitting metal bounced off the mostly empty hard stone seats rising up around them. Distant yells told of spectators taking sides. Yells and a cry of pain signaled the end of the match.
The hair on Valentina’s arms rose at the sounds of battle, pretend or not.
It did nothing to calm her stomach as she faced roughly a dozen students, all of them dressed in the brilliant jewel colors of the aristocratic students. There was every jewel she could think of, from rubies to emeralds to shades of topaz. The girls dressed in flowing half robes over pants, each wearing a complicated headpiece that matched their clothing color. The boys wore tunics and pants.
They looked rich, beautiful, and terrifying.
Master Silas cleared his throat, trying to get Valentina’s attention. She knew she should look to the master, but Prince Hayden stood right in front of her, his gold hair backlit by the sun. Her brain felt frozen.
“Valentina,” Master Silas repeated, his voice seemingly coming from far away.
She reluctantly looked at the master.
“This is Prince Hayden. He will introduce you to the others.”
Valentina looked back at Prince Hayden. He stared down at her from the height of his sharp cheekbones. He looked more confused than haughty, but Valentina looked away so she wouldn’t have to witness his expression change when he figured out who she was.
“Introduce who?” Hayden asked after a moment.
The other students drew near, curious as to what Master Silas wanted. They looked curiously at Valentina.
One boy in red came closer to Valentina, then laughed an ugly laugh that held no mirth. His green eyes looked to Master Silas, then back at Valentina. “What is this one doing here?” he asked the master. “She claims to know no royalty.”
“Prince Genedron, you know this one?” Master Silas asked with exaggerated politeness. Valentina sucked in her breath. Most of the others students didn’t notice the danger.
Genedron looked at Valentina, making sure she knew he had examined her clothing, her sandals, all of her, and found her wanting. “We met on the road. She was not someone I’d ever thought to meet in The Stanasbrisson, much less in the Forum Peti with us. Is she to sweep the floors when we are done?”
“If she were, I know you would show her the same consideration that you show all the retainers and attendants at Stanasbrisson,” Master Silas said with a formal nod.
Genedron hesitated, then went on, “I would.” He tried to smirk, but the smile would not stay on his face. One of the other boys in the back coughed. Valentina could have sworn it was someone holding back a laugh, but when she scanned the others, they were either looking politely at Master Silas or down at their feet.
Nereen walked closer to stand possessively close to Hayden. Instead of an amethyst dress and flowing red hair, she wore fitted lavender pants under her three quarter robe. Her hair was pulled back under a snug headpiece and flowed down her back. A long curved shooting bow hung from her hands, the carved handle gleaming in the sun.
Valentina forced herself to stand up straighter, rather than slink away as she wanted to. “I’m Valentina, of the House Venancio, of the kingdom of Cerceion.” Ignoring her thundering heart, she met the eyes of each one of the royal students gathered there. Most were simply curious, but Hayden frowned, and Nereen and Genedron scowled in open fury.
A laugh rumbled from the back. Alcorn. His black eyes danced in honest merriment, exactly the same way they’d done the first time she’d met the four royals on the road. Valentina nodded at him. She couldn’t help it. Somehow she knew his laughter was not at her expense.
Alcorn nodded back. “We meet again. You are most fun.”
Valentina blushed at the comment, not sure how to take it.
“You said you saw no royalty with your mother,” Genedron said in a growl, ignoring the disapproving look from Master Silas.
“I said we saw none such as you,” Valentina said, correcting him. “That was true.”
“The intent was a lie,” Genedron said. He stepped closer. Despite his face still having the fullness of youth, his height was already that of a man. Valentina barely reached his chin.
She glared back at him and refused to give way. He could come close enough to push her over, but she would not take one step back.
Valentina lifted her chin. “It was.”
Genedron exhaled a fury of air, then turned to Master Silas. The master lifted one hand, forestalling any complaint by Genedron. “She is here per the emperor’s instruction.”
Silence fell over the group at the mention of the emperor.
Hayden studied Valentina. Feeling his eyes, she turned to look at him. He returned her look with an intensity that frightened her, then smiled with a smile that did not reach his eyes. “Nice to meet you, Valentina of Venancio, the former house of the rulers of Cerceion.”
The air rushed out of Valentina’s lungs. Facing a lie was one thing. Finding someone who knew about her house was another.
“How do you—”
“My father would have the head of any tutor who failed to educate me in all the houses in the land,” Hayden said smoothly.
Bitterness filled Valentina. What would her father have done, if he could have done anything at all? Or her mother?
Another question nagged at Valentina. What sort of house did Hayden come from to know so much about a tiny kingdom outside of the empire? She didn’t dare risk the weakness of showing her ignorance by asking.
Valentina wasn’t the only one surprised by Hayden. Nereen stared at him, not quick enough to hide the shock on her own face.
“Former house of the rulers,” Genedron said. “So, perhaps you weren’t lying about being nobody after all.”
“She is still from the Artis class,” Master Silas said, as if nothing untoward had happened at all. He clapped his hands. “Since it is her first year, she will be tested in all the arts. Weapons are today. Good luck to you all. Master Chendris will be along shortly.”
Master Silas whirled away and left before Valentina could ask another question.
Genedron smiled at Valentina menacingly. “Good luck.” He certainly didn’t mean it, unless he meant good luck getting killed.
* * *
Most of the other students wandered off, leaving Valentina and Hayden together. Hayden held a large double-sided sword that Valentina just noticed. It had the same golden glow as his hair.
During their talk with Master Silas, more students had filed into the Forum Peti. Some did weapons exercises on the floor—javelin throwing for accuracy, spear combat, short sword and even daggers came out—but most of them sat in the stands to watch, white robes fluttering in the breeze.
The Artis Placement Tests were as much entertainment as practical.
Valentina paled as she watched the other students warming up. Did she have to know all these weapons?
A javelin flew across a quarter of the length of the forum and landed in a straw man with a sickening thud, neatly hitting the center of the target drawn on its back.
These students were no beginners.
Out of habit, she felt for her small knife tucked within her pants. Not that a tiny knife would do much against a sword the length of her body.
Unsure where to go, she watched the students practicing. Most of the students with swords held wooden practice ones, unlike Hayden’s brilliant blade.
She exhaled a whoosh of relief. She might survive this after all.
Hayden watched her, bemused. She turned to him, ready for an attack.
“You can still save yourself by leaving. No one is forced to study at Stanasbrisson,” he said, then corrected himself. “At least almost nobody.”
Okay, maybe not ready for that.
“You are forced to study here?” Valentina asked.
He scowled at her.
“Why tell me such a thing if you didn’t want me to know?” Valentina asked.
“I told you no such thing. You should take a care. This is a lot harder than not dropping hay on someone, and we both know how well you do that.” He stepped back from her, then swung his sword in a series of warm-up exercises, dismissing her.
