The Enhancer Read online

  The twins had diverted the talk away from the Duke, but the women, though pretending they were busy, were surreptitiously watching Lenera look for a place to put the fruit. For years, Meeral thought, I ignored the whisperings of the latest rumor about Shejani. It never worked. Let's see if I can try a different tack.

  "Lenera," she said as she stood next to Whephalna. "Bring the basket over here." Turning to Whephalna she said,

  "Would you like one?"

  "Courtesy of the Duke of Pactyl," Lenera said as she held the basket close to the woman. Whephalna hesitated a moment, than drew in her breath. "Oh, that peach smells good," she said as she picked the closest one.

  Lenera moved the basket around, avoiding Rephna until the last. Rephna lay on her bed, twirling one of her curls over her finger. When Lenera finally offered her the fruit, Rephna let the curl spring back against her cheek. She reached out, turning pieces of fruit over until she found an apple that satisfied her. "What did you do, Meeral," she asked in a throaty voice, "that got the old Duke so interested in you?"

  Meeral shrugged her shoulders.

  "You must have done something, Meeral," Rephna said, accenting her name. "I know someone who works for him. My friend says that the Duke has reached the age when he doesn't bother going after a girl unless he thinks he has a good chance with her. You must have done something."

  "Why don't you ask Thera? She was there," Lenera said.

  "Thera's too old to notice that sort of thing."

  Whephalna interrupted, "She's my age, and I notice, especially when I watch you, Rephna "

  Rephna ignored her. "I'd like to know. Perhaps I could use your technique."

  "Cut it out, Rephna " the twins spoke as one person.

  Whephalna said, "There's some fruit left. Would you like to share it with those downstairs or we could make room for it on my . . . ?"

  "That's a good idea," Meeral said quickly. "Can you take it down?"

  "I'll help her," another woman said. "And I'll get a fresh bandage for you. I work with an healer and could dress it for you if you'd let me."

  One woman asked Meeral how she liked Spinners' Hall and another admired her linen blouse. Suddenly she seemed to be part of a group -- something she had never been in Cyrtuno.

  She glanced at Rephna lying on her bed. This time Rephna is outside the group, just as I have always been, Meeral thought. This time I'm one of those people who is ignoring her. Rephna, her head cocked back slightly, stared at Meeral through half-closed eyes.

  That night Meeral stirred restlessly in her bed. It wasn't just the heat that troubled her, but that curly haired Rephna's words. What had Meeral done to attract the Duke's attention? She started to touch her mother's pendant that hung from her neck, but pulled her hand away. Was the ghost of Shejani haunting her?

  CHAPTER 7

  For months Macy House was safe and comfortable just as Thera had promised it would be. Twice Meeral saw the Duke's carriage slow down as it went by, but nothing more.

  Everyone worried about the Draries crossing the border into Lurdoa and stealing anything they could carry or could lead with a halter. When King ParToak complained to the Drarie government, King Quanzar said he could not be responsible for what happened in another country. If King ParToak could not keep order in his own country, would he like King Quanzar to send Drarie troops into come into Lurdoa and help him? King ParToak's answer was a decisive, no.

  Even when Meeral wasn't working, she was busy. Unlike her life in Cyrtuno, she always had someone to go with her when she walked the winding streets, looked into shops and listened to the band play in the park. On Sundays she went to the Ezant Temple and taught young girls how to improve the accuracy and range of their enhancing skills. She also talked with them about the legal implications of enhancing.

  On one particular Sunday, the twins were spending the day with their father. He was a seaman. When he was on shore he lived at a Seaman's Inn -- a place too rough to take respectable young women. So he took the twins to puppet shows or one of the fairs where they could see magicians and feats of strength.

  Whephalna was visiting relatives and everyone else was busy, so for the first time since she had moved to Macy House, Meeral was alone in the attic. Knowing that she had good friends for other days, she felt luxurious, enjoying the day all by herself. She thought of all the good things that were happening to her. Lately, she had earned extra money by knitting while she was enhancing. She had sold a couple of sweaters full of braid and popcorn pattern through a fancy shop. When she finally found a way to get a package to Cyrtuno, she sent three hundred onics to her grandmother. That should last Varis until spring.

  For the first time since she moved to Macy House, she pulled out her flute. As she played a piece that set her mother dancing, Meeral felt the same joy in playing that her mother expressed in her dancing feet.

  The creak of the floor behind her told her she was no longer alone. When she turned around Rephna said, "Where did you learn to play like that?"

  "In Cyrtuno."

  "Do all the women know how to make that kind of music?"

  "Some do," Meeral said, wincing as she stretched the truth.

  "You know, Meeral," Rephna said, "You've got class -- real elegance. There's something about you that's different from anyone around here. You can't fool me. You aren't the country girl you pretend to be."

  Lady Meeral, they called her in the tavern. Now Rephna noticed Shejani's mark on her. Meeral laughed, not too convincingly and said, "The people in Cyrtuno aren't like those in Pactyl."

  "You don't have anything to do this afternoon," Rephna said, "Come with me. I'm going to meet a friend. He'll find a nice man for you and we can have some fun."

  For a moment an absurd thought flashed through Meeral's mind: The only man I'm interested in is a prince. She said nothing.

  Rephna took her silence as consent. "You know, when I first met you I thought you were so ordinary-looking that I couldn't understand why the Duke paid attention to you. There's something about your voice -- the way you walk -- I don't quite know what it is. I know a man who would be glad to take care of you. You wouldn't have to work at all. I've done it but . . .Ó she let her words hang.

  Meeral stood up. "No. I'm not interested. Thank you, Rephna."

  She didn't run out away as she wanted to, but put her flute back on the shelf and walked out of the room and into the street with the same dignity as she had walked out of the tavern in Cyrtuno.

  Was it some crazy coincidence, or did Rephna know about Shejani? How could she know? She wasn't an enhancer so she wouldn't even have an inkling of the book of enhancers at the Ezant Temple. The faster Meeral walked, the more she worried about Rephna. She didn't notice the people gathered near the newspaper office until she found herself in the midst of the crowd. Never had she seen so many there on Sunday. People were shouting back and forth.

  "The Draries are a bunch of pirates, coming into our country like that."

  "Why can't King ParToak stop it?"

  "How many were killed?"

  Someone said, "Eighty," and someone else shouted "No, fifty," as if it were a guessing game.

  "What does Tuchat say?" someone asked. "How many were killed?"

  "What will King ParToak do?"

  "Yes. Tell us, Tuchat. You work with the Duke?"

  "Quiet Tuchat is going to speak!"

  A man in his fifties, tall and gray-haired, stood before the crowd. "The Draries killed twenty-one men and a boy," he said with authority. "The king will punish the Draries, you can be sure."

  "What's the matter with those Draries lately?" an older man asked. "We've had a few raids over the years but never like this."

  Tuchat said, "The problem is that many Draries are out of work because of their new machines, so some of them turned to crime."

  "They should come to Pactyl," a young woman said with a laugh. "They'll find work here."

  "Our governments haven't been on good terms for almost twenty years,Ó
said the older man.

  "I think we'll have something to say to them now," Tuchat said. "Our king won't let these murders go unpunished."

  But nothing was done. Cold weather came -- though never as cold as in Cyrtuno -- but cold enough for Trop to keep fires burning in the three small fireplaces. Just as Meeral cooled the tavern with barrels of cold water now she heated barrels, enhancing them with fire, and warmed the hall. Meeral was surprised to discover that both Lenera and Linima would enhance the barrels when there were no other enhancers around.

  "We're one quarter level fire enhancers," said Linima.

  "We can also enhance each other for writing.

  "We can send messages back and forth to each other all the way across the city," Lenera said. "I'll write and Linima will enhance me where she is. Then she'll have a copy of what I'm writing."

  "We're hardly ever apart, so no one knows we can do it," Linima said.

  "The Ezants probably know," Meeral said, and explained to them about the book in the Ezant Temple.

  "How would they know?" the twins asked.

  "Weren't you tested in school?"

  "Oh, yes. They tested everyone for enhancing. Some girls didn't know they could do it until someone showed them how."

  "Yes, and they taught us how to use fire, enhancing it both to warm something, and to use as a weapon."

  "A weapon?" said Naril, who was taking a break.

  "We keep a flame in mind in case someone attacks us on the street," Lenera said. "We can enhance fire a block away. We just have to have seen it since we woke up."

  "And it hasn't gone out," added Linima.

  "Oh, I know about that," Naril said, stroking her sagging chin. "I always watch for anyone who might try and hurt me."

  Lenera turned to Meeral and said, "Didn't you have to use fire with that sailor . . ."

  Linima interrupted her twin, "Where do you think Rephna has gone?"

  Lenera shifted her glance from her twin to Meeral and said, "I haven't seen her. I don't think she's been at Macy House for days."

  Meeral was grateful that Linima had changed the subject of the sailor, but Naril, having no idea who Rephna was, said. "Perhaps she's been attacked." The twins began discussing how safe it was in Pactyl while Meeral let her mind go back to the Sunday, months ago, when Rephna had suggested she introduce Meeral to a man who would take care of her.

  The longer Rephna stayed away, the better, Meeral thought. Rephna had made quite a fuss about Meeral's flute. She asked her to play for the women, but Meeral played only Cyrtuno folk tunes. Rephna had pestered her to play the tune she had heard in the attic that Sunday, but Meeral said the folk tunes were better. That tune had special meaning for Shejani. If it got back to the Duke perhaps . . .

  Thoughts of Rephna faded from Meeral's mind when she heard a stir near the entrance of the building. Spinning wheels stopped far across the hall, then the ones nearer. Women were shouting and cheering.

  "Good for King ParToak " someone shouted.

  "That will make the Draries think twice before they come across the border."

  "What happened?"

  "Our soldiers seized a Drarie ship."

  The ship was loaded with cotton, pecans, bananas, coconuts and other produce. The goods would be sold to compensate the families of the men and the boy killed in the Drarie raid.

  The newspaper published an inventory of the ship's contents, including the price of cotton cloth marked by the Draries. Meeral couldn't believe the prices could be so low. All the workers in Spinners' Hall thought it was a mistake. The spinners and enhancers knew what it cost to make cloth because Trop posted the prices of warp, weft, plying, and knitting yarn. How could the Draries sell their cotton cloth so cheaply, particularly when they had no enhancers?

  When the twins' father told them that the Draries had machines that did the work of spinners and enhancers some of the workers worried. One unskilled, low paid worker and a machine could replace a spinner and a level eight enhancer. That wasn't all. Even their looms were powered by machines that were run by water like flourmills. "Machines put people out work," Thera said at dinner that night.

  "That won't make any difference to us," Lenera said. "We'll be married by that time."

  "Have you any one in mind?" Thera asked.

  "No," Linima said, "But I'm sure there'll be someone for each of us. Of course, they must be able to tell us apart or we won't have them."

  Meeral looked at the two of them, so tiny and attractive. As to telling them apart, the twins would have to stop switching clothes to fool people. If a man really interested one of them, he deserved a hint as to which twin was which. Meeral decided she'd find other ways of earning a living rather than marry. Perhaps she'd work in the Ezant Temple.

  With the cold weather the spinning turned, inconveniently, from wool to linen. The wool was sheared from the sheep in the spring, while the linen was harvested from the flax in the fall.

  As the weather turned colder, Trop made dire threats to anyone who heated stone walls and floors. The enhancers did it anyway but were careful not to let the heat linger in any one place for long. No wall cracked as Trop said it would. Disobeying his own orders, he asked to have the stone floor under his feet enhanced on particularly cold days.

  With the cold weather, Naril needed more rest. One day she was still asleep after the lunch break. Lenera and Meeral went back to work while Linima sat at her wheel watching the exhausted old woman, breathing painfully in her sleep.

  "Stop spinning for a minute, Lenera," Meeral said. "I'm always looking for different ways I can enhance. Help me try something new."

  "What?" the twins said together.

  "Both of you, just work your treadle, only do it together. No, exactly together."

  The eight unmanned wheels near Lenera began turning, shortly followed by the eight wheels near Linima. The ninth remained still, of course. Meeral remembered that Thera had considered it unusual that she had enhanced two horses on her trip to Pactyl. Enhancers were not supposed to be able to do that, but she had already found that she could enhance fire further than people said was possible.

  "Now reach for the yarn," she said. "No, exactly together. I've lost it. Try again."

  "Twin, follow me," Lenera said. "Down, pick up, lift, fan."

  Together, it worked -- the treadles moving in unison, the wheels turning, the yarn -- they lost it -- they started again. Both twins reached down for the fiber in front of them, their hands touching it at the same moment. They picked it up, fanned it as they fed it -- and everything worked right for a few minutes.

  Sometimes they hardly got started. Other times they felt they were part of a huge machine, with eighteen wheels spinning and eighteen bobbins turning.

  Naril awoke. Groggily she sat up and began enhancing again while Meeral and Lenera worked together as they always had. Then the old woman rested -- and slept, and the three of them worked together. The twins seemed more closely tuned to each other than they had been in the womb.

  If the other workers noticed that Meeral had invented a new enhancing technique they made no comment. They were more interested in the latest report in the newspapers. The Draries were threatening to attack Lurdoa if King ParToak did not repay the Draries for the loss of their ship.

  "King ParToak is sending out his army," someone said.

  "The whole army?"

  "I hope they don't come here. Let them fight their battles somewhere else."

  "Has war been declared?"

  Meeral and the twins listened and kept their wheels spinning.

  Not until the third day did someone ask why Linima was only using eight wheels.

  "Naril can't always handle nine wheels," she said. Meeral liked the explanation for its hidden truthfulness, though Naril had almost completely stopped enhancing. The old woman dragged herself to Spinners' Hall and collapsed on her mat.

  One day she lay in the same position all morning. Her breath came in great gasps. Linima sat next to her, holdi
ng her hand.

  Just before lunchtime Linima looked up at her twin and said, "She's gone."

  Now Lenera and Meeral knelt around the body and saw the hollow cheeks and closed eyes.

  "She's not struggling for breath anymore," Lenera said.

  Linima said, "She opened her eyes once. She knew I was there."

  Meeral put her arm around Linima. "You were her friend."

  Slowly, Lenera got up and went to tell Trop, but the news of Naril's death had already reached him. He was limping toward her before she could reach his station at the front door.

  The day after Naril's death, Meeral and the twins set up their unison spinning as they had before. Slowly workers in Spinners' Hall gathered around them as the twins carefully placed the rolags and checked their wheels.

  Just as they were about to start, the crowd parted. Trop limped forward and stood a few feet from them. The three women exchanged glances. Lenera nodded her head as if to say they were going to put on a good show. The right foot of each twin pumped up and down on the treadle in identical rhythm while Lenera said softly, "Down, pick up, lift, fan, feed." A sigh escaped the audience as eighteen wheels began spinning and yarn rolled onto eighteen bobbins.

  Meeral could not help but return Trop's suspicious scowl with a grin as she casually began knitting.

  "It's because they're twins," an enhancer called Furthalea said. "That's why Meeral can do it."

  Trop looked at the eighteen wheels lined up in front of Meeral, all turning. "Too bad they aren't triplets," he said, and added. "Naril looked much too sick to work, but you turned in yarn for her so I didn't say anything."

  "That was kind of you, Trop," Linima said. "It must have meant a lot to her."

  "Will Linima and Lenera get paid for only three wheels?" Furthalea asked.

  He grunted and turned away, muttering, "You three figure out how you divide your pay. I'm not going to get involved except to pay you for the wheels that are spinning."

  "You'll be rich " Furthalea said to Meeral. "With the twins getting paid for three wheels you'll get paid for twelve, just because you're working with twins."