he rounded on his heel and came back to me. ‘Cadet Nevare Burvelle. Is that correct?’
‘Yes, sir. That’s my name.’
Then he let a silence fall. I listened to the wind and felt dread build within me. Then he said, ‘Thank you for coming forward with those names. I didn’t know who jumped me. When Ordo claimed to have seen me drunk and staggering, I suspected, of course. But your saying Jaris’ name aloud was what made it certain for me.’
‘I should have come forward sooner, sir.’
He cocked his head at me. ‘And why didn’t you, Nevare Burvelle? That is something I’ve been wanting to ask you.’
‘I wasn’t sure … if it was honourable. To speak suspicions without having any facts. And …’ I quickly forced the truth past my lips. ‘I was afraid they’d take revenge on me.’
He nodded, unsurprised. Nothing in his face condemned me. ‘And did they?’
‘In small ways. Nothing I can’t endure.’
He nodded again, and gave me a small, cold smile. ‘Thank you for facing up to your fear and coming forward. Don’t think yourself a coward. You could have never mentioned it to your uncle, or when the time came, lied and said you’d seen nothing. I wish I could tell you that you’d be rewarded for it. You won’t. Remember, you were right to be cautious of them. Don’t underestimate them. I did. And now I limp. Don’t forget what we’ve learned.’
He spoke to me as if I were his friend. His words made me brave. ‘I trust you are recovering well and that your studies go well?’
His smile grew stiffer. ‘I’ve recovered as much as I’m likely to. And my studies have come to an end, Cadet Burvelle. I’ve received my first posting. I’m off to Gettys. As a scout.’
It was a bad post and a worse assignment. We stood facing one another in the cold. There was no polite congratulation I could offer. ‘It’s a punishment, isn’t it?’ I finally asked hopelessly.
‘It is and it isn’t. They need me there. The building of the King’s Road has come to a virtual halt there and I’m to move among the Specks in their forest and find out why. Ostensibly, I’m well suited for the task. Good at languages, good at engineering. I should be able to scout out the best route for the road and make friends with the wild people. Maybe I’ll find why we can’t seem to make any forward progress. Everyone gets something they want out of it. I get work I like and I’m good at. The administration gets me out of the way and in a position where I can never hope to rise to any appreciable rank.’
I found I was nodding to his words. They made sense. Reluctantly, I told him, ‘Earlier this year, Captain Maw said I’d make a good scout.’
‘Did he? Then I expect you will. He said the same thing to me when I was a first-year.’
‘But I don’t want to be a scout!’ The words burst from me. I was horrified at his prophecy.
‘I doubt that anyone does, Nevare. When the time comes, try to recognize that Maw means well by intervening in that way. He’d rather see promising cadets serve in some capacity of worth, rather than being culled or sent to useless posts to count blankets or buy mutton for the troops. It’s his way of saying you’re worth something, even if you are a battle lord’s son.’
The silence that followed his words hung between us. Finally, he broke it, saying, ‘Wish me luck, Burvelle.’
‘Good luck, Lieutenant Tiber.’
‘Scout Tiber, Burvelle. Scout Tiber. I’d best get used to it.’ He saluted me and I returned it. Then he walked away from me into the cold and the dark. I stood still, shivering, and wondered if I was doomed to follow in his footsteps.
Winter deepened and we drew ever closer to Dark Evening. At my father’s house in Widevale, Dark Evening had been a night for prayers and meditation and floating candles on the pond or the river, followed by the celebration the next morning of the lengthening of the days. My mother had always given each of us a small but useful gift in celebration of the turning of the year, to which my father added a yellow envelope containing spending money. It had been a minor but pleasant holiday each year.
Thus I was astonished to hear my fellows speak of Dark Evening with enthusiasm and anticipation as it drew near. The Academy itself would offer a feast to us on Dark Evening’s Eve, followed by two days of liberty for all cadets in good standing. There were also plays in the playhouses, and the King and Queen gave a grand ball in Sondringham Hall in Old Thares, to which the senior cadets were invited. For the younger cadets, there would be carnival and street performers and dancing in the guildhalls. We were sternly admonished that we could attend such events only in uniform, and thus must be on our best behaviour, not just for our own reputations, but also for the honour of the Academy. I looked forward to it as something I’d never experienced before.
Caleb was shocked to hear that I knew so little of Dark Evening. I thought he was teasing me when they told me that on Dark Evening all whores went masked and gave away their favours for free, and that some ladies of good houses sneaked out into the streets on that night, and pretended to be women of pleasure, so that they might sample the favours of strange men without danger to their reputations. When I challenged the truth of this, he showed me several lewdly illustrated stories in some of his cheap folios of Adventure Tales. Despite my better judgment, I read the accounts of women seduced by one wild night in the city and thought them as appalling as they were unlikely. What sane woman would leave her safe and comfortable home simply to indulge in one night of licentiousness?
Privately, I asked Natred and Kort if they had ever heard such a thing. To my surprise, they assured me that they had. Natred said that his older cousins had told him of it. Kort added that his father said it was a vestige of one of the old god’s celebrations. ‘It’s mostly a western custom. The temples of the old gods are still standing in a lot of the older cities, and people remember a lot more about those gods and their customs. Especially the celebrations they had. Dark Evening used to belong to a women’s god. That was what I heard. My mother used to tell stories about Dark Evening to my sisters. Not about running around acting like a whore, but old tales, of girls meeting masked gods at Dark Evening celebrations, and being granted gifts by them, like spinning straw into gold or being able to dance two inches above the floor. Just pretty stories.
‘Then one year my father caught my three sisters dancing in the dark in the garden, in just their knickers. He was very upset about it, but my mother asked him what harm could it do, so long as there were no young men about. He said it was the idea of it, and forbade them from ever doing such a thing again. But,’ and Kort leaned closer to us, as if fearing that someone else might hear, ‘I think they still keep the holiday that way.’
‘Even my Talerin?’ Natred asked intently. I could not tell if he was scandalized or delighted.
‘I do not know for sure,’ Kort cautioned him. ‘But I have heard that many women have rituals and rites of their own for Dark Evening. Sometimes, I think that there is much about our women that we do not know.’
Such talk made me wonder about Carsina. For an instant, I imagined Carsina dancing near naked in a darkened garden. Would she? I
