Coldmaker(13)

‘What if I go and find the Vicaress myself?’ she asked, venom in every word.

‘Be my guest,’ Geb said, shrugging so high his shoulders tapped the dangling green earrings. ‘My guess is that she’s at the Pyramid, as per usual. But I imagine she’ll impart similar sentiments to mine, and I wager you’ll be late for your ball.’

‘Fine. Then whippings,’ the High Noblewoman said, delight coating her voice. ‘But beat the water out of it, then. I mean, look at its forehead! Obviously it has too much! Greedy little Jadan leech.’

A whipping was almost tender compared to what Jadans had to endure in the Procession. I was seething with frustration, but I couldn’t help feeling some small relief.

‘How many lashes do you request?’ Geb asked.

‘Until he faints,’ she declared to the street.

The audience seemed satisfied with the request, and I could feel dozens of eyes on me.

‘Is that all?’ Geb asked, unsheathing a punishing rod that was also somehow matching green.

‘Yes.’

‘Fine. You might want to stand back. Look up, Spout,’ Geb commanded in my direction.

I raised my head, fear stiffening the rest of my body. However, his eyes were soft, and he gave me a conspiratorial smile.

‘Arms up,’ he said.

I did as he commanded, hoping he would take it easy on me.

‘Spin.’

I turned around and felt him tugging at my shirt, making it look as if he was fixing something. I could feel the heat of his breath as he leaned in and whispered, ‘Pretend to faint after the first hit.’

He stepped back, and then I heard the rod cut through the air, to land on my shoulder. The blow was quite strong – he had to make it look real – but the pain wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle. I doubted the bruise would be bigger than my thumb, barely even playable in Matty’s shape game. I gasped loud enough for my audience to hear, and then crumpled to the ground, not daring to move.

‘Enjoy your new fan,’ Geb said to the High Noblewoman. ‘Praise be to the Khat.’

‘That’s it?’ she asked, aghast. ‘One hit? No—’

Geb cut her off. ‘You requested until he fainted. He fainted. Praise be to the Khat. I believe we are done here.’

‘But it’s faking! It—’

‘Your words, not mine. Now please, allow me to do my job or I will be submitting a writ of complaint to Lord Suth that a member of his family is interfering with one of the Khat’s Jadanmasters, and by decree six, stanza twelve of the Khat’s law, which prohibits High Nobles from—’

The woman gave a venomous huff, and I heard her heavy feet pad away.

I kept still, trying not to breathe in too much sand from the ground as the rest of the audience dispersed to a chorus of disappointed moans. Soon enough they’d be swept up in the fervour of trading precious Cold for useless goods and forget all about me.

After a few moments, hands swept under my armpits and lifted me up. ‘Thank you, sir,’ I said, as he set me on my corner.

He gave me a firm pat on the shoulder, glaring at the three taskmasters, who were still waiting nearby, just in case. ‘Liars are not beneficial for my operations. As always, you did exemplary, Spout. Perfect shade of pink. Like I imparted, more Jadans like you, smooth as silk through fingers.’





Chapter Five


The last of the Street Jadans trickled in, and eventually the sloping right wall of the common area was completely lined. Although most of us had some sort of painful trophy to show from the day, we’d returned in one piece, another shift having survived the Sun.

At the end of the day, Jadans’ mouths were usually too thirsty for small talk, but it never usually stopped Matty from keeping my ears occupied.

‘Hey, Spout,’ he practically shouted.

‘Yeah,’ I said, trying not to move my lips too much for fear of them cracking.

He dug a finger in his ear, shifting his jaw. I wondered if his Jadanmaster had boxed his ears again. ‘Wanna play “whatsit”?’

I nodded. My mind was still racing from tinkering on the Cold Bellows, and in truth I would have loved to ponder quietly on that, but I had sworn to myself long ago that I’d do anything I could to keep Matty happy.

My friend lifted off his shirt and pointed to a series of fresh lashes on his shoulder. I winced, knowing how much they would still sting. As soon as the curfew bells rang and we were allowed off the walls, I would give him as much of the groan salve as he wanted.

‘Whatsit?’ Matty asked.

‘Hmmm.’ I traced the lines on Matty’s back, trying to come up with something good. ‘It’s the three paths that Adam the Wise took through the sands to the Southern Cry Temple.’ I touched the first path. ‘This one is where he had the vision that the Drought was coming.’ I touched the second. ‘This is the one where he found the white fig tree.’

Matty gave a thoughtful nod. ‘Pretty good. I figured it felt like that.’

I took my shirt off next, careful not to rotate my arm too much. I pointed to the bruise on my shoulder that Geb’s rod had given me. ‘Whatsit?’

Matty’s small fingers traced the outline of the bruise. ‘Dwarf camel.’

‘A camel?’ I smirked. ‘That’s all you see?’