Luck in the Shadows - Chapter Seven

[kalinara]

So, last time, our heroes got ambushed, and Alec got to earn his keep in a way that is perfectly age appropriate! Through killing people!

...sometimes you can tell I'm an American.

Oh, and Micum got shot in the back, with the arrow protruding through his front. I'm just reminding you of this now.



So anyway, we're told that "[i]n spite of his wound", Micum agrees with Seregil that they should bolt as quick as possible to their destination. This means forgoing inns and steadings. They ride as long as Micum can stay in the shadow, sleep in the open, and eat what Alec shoots for them. Somehow, despite having an arrow shot THROUGH his body, Micum manages to ride this out.

I mean, Ms. Flewelling does pay SOME lip service to his condition, telling us that his wound didn't fester, but it was "giving him more pain than he cared to admit." HE WAS SHOT THROUGH THE TORSO, Ms. Flewelling. I'm not saying that the wound isn't survivable, but I think this is a time to mention any first aid training that either Seregil or Alec possesses that is keeping the man in the saddle. Where's the arrow? How did they bandage the wound? How did they clean it? Who is cleaning the dressings?

Micum's wound didn't fester, but it was giving him more pain than he cared to admit. More aggravating still, however, was Seregil's increasing silence during the day and a half it took to reach the banks of the Folcwine.

Because Seregil is by far the more important character here, it is more important that Seregil is silent than Micum being shot. I mean, narratively I suppose that's true, but you probably shouldn't state it quite so baldly. Can we at least pretend Micum's injury actually matters. (I do recall Flewelling getting better about this later on, at least.)

Ah, but things change when Micum starts bleeding again, which "left him faint and irritable". I'll bet. He got an arrow in the fucking back. So what's up Seregil's ass:

Scowling down at his horse's neck, Seregil muttered, "I wish we'd taken just one of them alive."

"One of-oh, hell, man! Are you still brooding about that?" Micum turned to Alec. "A nest of forest bandits-hardly a rarity in the Folcwine-- surprises him, and instantly there's some dark plot afoot. I think he's just piqued that he didn't hear them coming."

Alec looked down at his hands, apparently finding it politic not to comment.

I mean, admittedly, you did get chased out of town because your friendly evil sorcerer decided everyone who attended a party had to be arrested. So the idea that this all might be connected is not necessarily a stretch.

I do love Alec being all "I'm staying out of this marital spat, thank you."

So Seregil explains his issue: When they searched the bodies, all they found was very ordinary equipment, all locally made. (Alec confirms the bows are at least. Both Micum and Seregil agree the swords looked local too.)

"Everything was new!" Seregil exclaimed, as if they should immediately understand. "Did they have gold, jewelry, fancy clothes?" he demanded. "Not a scrap! A little silver in their purses, but not so much as a luck charm or knucklebone otherwise. So what we're left with is a gang of ruffians in new local clothing, carrying new local weapons, who are either so inept at their trade or of such austere temperament that they forgo any of the usual adornments."

With that he sat glowering at the others, thin mouth twisted in an exasperated grimace.

He looks like a filthy young lordling berating dim-witted servants, thought Micum, again resisting the temptation to knock his friend off his horse.

...I think Micum is my favorite right now. I do like Seregil, but I suspect I'd find him insufferable if I had to know him in real life. (I suspect, if my memory is correct, that there is one character that I will definitely appreciate more as an adult. Mostly because of his reaction to Seregil.)

Alec follows along: the men weren't bandits, they were just made to look like them. Seregil points out that they're probably foreign, to boot, since a local wouldn't have needed to buy everything new.

Micum smiled to himself, watching them go over the details of the ambush again like two hounds on a fresh scent.

The boy was hooked for certain.

That's cute, but I still feel like Micum ought to be more focused on his pretty graphic injury than on his friend's new partnership. But okay, enough beating a dead horse. Let's move on. Micum and Seregil brainstorm about these guys: They're probably Plenimarians. It's not possible that they're pursuers: not with also having time to set up an ambush. But somehow they knew Seregil and company were coming. Magic or pigeon, Seregil thinks.

There's a lot Seregil and Micum aren't saying of course. Or Micum starts to say, but Seregil cuts him off. And we get more proof of something I picked up on earlier:

"Sorry, Alec," he said, "we trust you well enough, but we answer to others in this matter. It's probably safer this way anyhow."

So now we have confirmation that not only are Seregil, Micum, and probably Erisa, the blind cabin dude, and the people in Micum's backstory part of the same group, but there's someone calling the shots.

I kind of feel like that's something Alec ought to have been told when Seregil made the job offer. It's one thing to be offered a job with someone who is clearly both wealthy and skilled. But that doesn't mean Alec signed on to some kind of international espionage effort, with a commander he's never even met. And while, spoiler, it's not really going to be an issue, what if said commander wasn't willing to accept Alec in the ranks?

This isn't a complaint toward Ms. Flewelling, by the way. Seregil's just kind of a thoughtless ass sometimes.

So they make it to Boersby, to a place called "the Tipsy Frog". We get some nice description, and as usual, I like to share that kind of thing:

Unlike Wolde, Boersby was a rough and ragged wayside town consisting almost entirely of establishments catering to the traders. Jumbled together at the water's edge like thirsty cattle, inns, taverns, and warehouses competed for frontage with the long docks stretching out into the river.

With winter coming on, the town was crowded with the last rush of traders trying to make a profit before the roads closed until spring.

Seregil led the way to a dubious-looking hostelry at the edge of town. The battered signboard over the door displayed a bilious green creature -- no doubt intended by the artist to be a frog -- draining a hogshead.

I like the craptastic sign. So Seregil makes contact with the taverner, and uses some of his cryptic hand signals while renting the room in the back. A serving boy brings a platter of roast pork, turnips, with ale and water. The landlord comes in afterward with a bundle.

That's when Seregil decides that they should go to a bathhouse. Micum's on board, noting that he could do with a good shave, not that either Seregil and Alec would understand.

Well, that's a not very subtle hint. Alec is sixteen, of course, but why can't Seregil understand?

--

So they go to the bathhouse. Alec, not used to public nudity, is embarrassed. Seregil tells him that he'll have to get used to it, or at least stop blushing. Let the kid be shy, Seregil. (I'm Watching You.)

Micum enjoys his bath, with the water softening the crusted blood around his wound.

...

Haven't they bothered to CLEAN it? Sorry, dead horse. I know. Let's go with the explanation that Micum is superhuman. I'll accept that.

Seregil vacates the tub so Alec can take a turn, and tells him to clean under his nails. Apparently he has a scheme to "elevate [their] station". He and Micum share some bickering banter about Seregil's metrosexual tendancies:

"Illior's Hands!" he grumbled. "I swear when I get back to Rhíminee I'm going to head for the nearest civilized bath and stay there a week!"

"I've seen him fight through fire, blood, starvation, and magic," Micum remarked, speaking to nobody in particular, "but deny him a hot bath at the end of it and he fusses like a kept whore."

I'm not really a fan of the implied misogyny/homophobia implict in Micum's line, but I do believe that Seregil is both quite competent and whiny as fuck.

Then Seregil does something surprising. He unrolls the bundle from the landlord, which turns out to be a coarse woolen dress. Disguise lesson time.

Confession: I know that smarter people than I am have discussed whether or not there is implicit transmisogyny in crossdressing jokes or plotlines, but I've always enjoyed those moments when male heroes disguise as women. Which means, I'm going to enjoy the next chapter a lot.

Right now, we hear more details about Seregil's disguise:

He quickly plaited his hair back into a loose braid and pulled a few strands free to hang untidily around his face. Greyish powder from small pouch dulled his hair and skin. Unwrapping the rest of the bundle, he pulled out a huge striped shawl, battered wooden clogs, and a leather girdle. Satisfied with his work, he tucked the smallest of his daggers out of sight under his belt and turned away for a moment, rearranging his body beneath the loose gown to give the impression of the stooped frailty of age. When he turned back again, Alec and Micum saw an unremarkable little servant woman.

See, I love this shit. Seregil goes off to snoop.

--

Alec and Micum go back to the room. Alec asks about Micum's side. Thank you! Micum says he's doing better, but he'd rest easier in a pallet on the floor, so Alec helps him make one up. He also gives Alec a lesson on sharpening his sword. Alec appreciates that Micum is easy to be quiet with. I...can see that.

Though Micum maybe has a different take on it:

He was rather startled, therefore, when Micum said without looking up from his task, "You're as quiet as a stump. You might not think it, but I'm just as nosy as Seregil in my way."

This is an awkward preamble to Micum gently questioning Alec as to what the heck is going on. And Alec gets a chance to air some doubts and concerns:

When Alec hesitated, he continued, not unkindly,

"I never imagined him taking on an apprentice at all, and certainly not a simple young woods colt like you. Not that I mean any offense, mind you. It's just that you've more the look of a gamekeeper's son than a spy. So tell me, what do you think of our friend?"

"Well, to be honest, I'm not quite sure what to think. From the first he's treated me like -- as if -- " He stopped in confusion; he'd seldom been consulted about his opinions, and had to search for the words to frame them. Besides, while Micum's open, jovial manner invited candor, it was clear that he and Seregil were close friends.

"It's as if he knows all about me," he managed at last. "And sometimes like he assumes I know all about him. He's saved my life, clothed me, taught me all sorts of things. It's just that every so often it occurs to me that I don't know much about him. I tried asking him about his home, his family -- that sort of thing -- but he just smiles and changes the subject. He's good at that."

Micum gave a knowing chuckle.

"Anyway," Alec continued, "he seems to think he can make me into whatever it is that he is, but it makes me nervous sometimes. I don't know enough about him to know what he expects of me! You're his friend and all, and I wouldn't ask you to break a confidence, but isn't there something you can tell me about him?"

I like that Alec is big about respecting boundaries. He knows exactly how to ask for something Micum is willing to give.

Which means we get some backstory: They met near the Gold Vein River, got along, and Micum followed him down to Rhiminee. Seregil has a friend named Nysander, and Nysander is why Micum knows as much as he does, because Seregil talks a lot but not about himself. Micum knows that Seregil has some degree of noble blood that connects him to the court. He was hardly older than Alec is now when he first came to court, but had been in trouble already.

Oh, and Nysander's a wizard, and Seregil had been taken on as an apprentice. But as Seregil is NOT a wizard now, something must have happened. Micum notes that Alec will get to meet Nysander pretty quickly, as Seregil visits him first thing when coming home.

Alec, of course, is interested in this whole friendly wizard idea and asks what he's like: apparently a salt of the Earth type. The kind that might conjure green unicorns after a drink or two. But he's also old even for a long-lived wizard. There's a place called Oreska House, which is like a castle, where all the wizards live.

This is interesting, but a bit long for an info-dump. Don't get me wrong, it's completely reasonable for Alec to ask about it, and Micum's explanation is the kind of thing a guy like him would say. It's well-written in that respect. But it's all rather unnecessary. We're going to meet Nysander and see him for ourselves soon enough.

Anyway, Micum gives Alec, and us, more insight about Seregil (not a trusting sort, but he'll lay down his life for a friend) and Rhiminee: the most beautiful city in the world and rotten with intrigue.

We do get one interesting note about Seregil that's not just shilling traits that we can observe for ourselves: which is that Micum thinks that Alec may wonder about Seregil's integrity once he sees how he lives in Rhiminee. That intriguing little tidbit has made this scene worthwhile.

(Honestly, it's not a bad scene, and there's nice character work here. But it's rather like the exposition in chapter two. It's one of the beats that betray this book as a first novel: the tendency to info-dump setting information that can probably be obtained in a more organic way. Still, at least it's interesting setting information!)

We also learn more about what Seregil does for a living:

"Political plots, old feuds, secret lovers, and who knows what else. And more often than not, when one of them needs a document stolen or some token delivered in the dead of night, it's our friend Seregil who does the job. The people who hire him never actually meet him, mind you, but those who want his services know how to contact him. You ask for the 'Rhíminee Cat.' He's the best and worst kept secret in the city."

Alec is bewildered that Seregil thinks he could do that sort of thing too. And Micum admits that Seregil must see something in Alec that neither he nor Alec sees. He does reassure us that Seregil would have rescued Alec no matter what, but there must be something else that caused him to keep Alec around.

He does give Alec some good advice: don't worry about pleasing Seregil (I'm Watching You), but keep his eyes open and follow his lead.

Eventually Seregil comes back to the room, gossip in hand. Aren Windover and his erstwhile apprentice are now wanted men! There's a mention of a third unknown man, which Seregil attributes to the one attacker that got away. Anyway, "Aren" is accused of stealing the guild money box or something and the reward on him and Alec is "twenty silver marks" a piece. A sum that makes Micum gasp.

Seregil takes the wooden disk they stole out of his pouch. He decides that if this thing really is worth the trouble, he wants it close at hand. He threads some leather lacing through it and wears it around his neck.

Since now they're looking for two men and a boy, they decide to split up. Micum is going to ride out. ("Are you sure you're up to it?" "I'll ride easy." *sigh* Seriously, you could have given him a slightly less horrifying wound if it's not going to be important? Maybe the arrow could have caught on his mail shirt and been partially deflected? Sorry. Sorry.)

Alec and Seregil will be taking a river trader down to Darter, in the care of a "Lady Gwethelyn of Cador Ford". Micum is pretty amused, as am I. The chapter ends here.