Luke spent several days with Sarah at the hostel, updating himself with local information and happenings. It was getting towards summer season and they had to reduce their work in the garden and retire indoors at the hottest times of day. He was amazed how much she knew about recent politics, but when her housemate Marie joined in the conversations he knew they had only seen the outer face of happenings on Castle Hill.

“Several factions have been discovered and rooted out. All the leaders are in jail. The situation is much more peaceful now. Trouble is, the government officials who planned the previous wave of imprisonments were themselves involved in factions. So many innocent people were jailed. This has all been discovered and put right. Those who swore loyalty to Rah, like you, have been released. They’ve mostly joined up with the new military force that is being assembled to invade Elenea.”

“How do you know all this?”

“Oh, we women like to keep up with events. I learnt a lot from my husband, and now I see my brother regularly. And of course all the other women hear from their families so word gets around pretty quick.”

“So have you heard of any new factions emerging?”

“Only the rumours of the Sun Ring.”

“What’s that?” Luke tried to sound as if the answer was not very important to him.

“It’s only a rumour. A group of fanatics loyal to Rah. They’re believed to be made up of ex-prisoners. I thought you would have known about it, though, with your military contacts.”

After a day or two Luke relaxed, and started remembering his old friends. “Do you know where Rob is?” he asked Sarah.

“Of course. I see him every few days. We don’t all abandon our friends you know.”

Luke felt guilty again. “I’ll get control of my own life one day. Maybe. What I would give to be back on the farm again.”

“Not in my life. It’s so uncivilised, fit only for uncouths and bandits. All that mud and animals and having to do everything yourself. No. We’ll stay here and have a nice house on The Mountain and I’ll have another baby. You stay in the army and become as important as you like as long as it keeps us well provided for. Then everyone will be happy.” She readied herself to leave.

Luke sat on the bed, gazing at the floor. Something was nibbling at his mind. His mind buzzed but he heaved his unwilling body on to its feet and followed through the door into the hot, heavy world outside.

*

Rob lived in a small house, part of a larger plot with four detached dwellings and a communal garden. Luke surveyed the outside area while Melanie fetched water from the nearest stream, a few blocks away. Like many of the smaller gardens in the city, a midden area sat in the centre surrounded by a ring of stones. A single derder, know by less cultured types as a scum tree, stood behind, its broad flat leaves wafting patiently in the gentle breeze. The roots would extend under the unclean soil and he knew there were small insects that tended and cleaned the area. Peter had told him he had seen them when he was a boy and with Hartor’s glass he might be able to watch them scurrying about their business, but Luke did not care for city gardens. They carried the smell of humans in too rich flavours and he longed for the cool clear air of the countryside.

“How long have you lived here?” he asked Rob, putting off the awkward explanations.

“We moved here soon after you were, er, taken away. We didn’t really have much of a choice but my tanning skills came in handy. I’ve been able to make good business here, though it’s devilishly complicated trying to keep track of who owes me what. I have to use a clerk specially for this service - he has a phenomenal memory as well as knowing the personal emblem of virtually everyone in Kingston City.”

“Don’t you just barter, then? I thought ...”

“We do, of course, just as everyone does. But we make more than that. You remember the system at the inn in Market? Instead of notches on a slate they use tallies as a sort of barter. They are just sticks with notches and symbols and they are cut in half so the recipient of the payment keeps one half and the clerk keeps the other. So you can trade the stick with anyone you want. At one time they tried pieces of metal. It worked well for a while because metal doesn’t perish so you can just keep it until you next want to do a trade. But now ordinary citizens aren’t allowed to hold metal. So we’re back to the old system but it’s much more standard. One pebble of high grade metal was about the price of a goat, for instance, but most people call it a rah because the metal disks used to have his symbol scratched in on side. There are minrahs as well, which are a hundred to one rah, and they buy one blackbread. Below the value of a minrah it’s made up immediately, because you can’t have less than one.”

“You could have a min-minrah, though, couldn’t you? One hundred of them to a minrah.”

“No, a minrah is the smallest piece of metal that can have anything drawn on it. Anything smaller and no one would know that it was genuine. Even though we don’t have the actual metal coins it’s still done the same way.”

“Well, it seems, no, I don’t know. I haven’t heard of this system before. So what happens when Rah dies? Presumably they’ll have to change it to the name of his son. A Mitoh.”

“Don’t you know anything. Rah never dies. It is even sacrilege to suggest such a thing. Rah is a name, not a person. When the owner dies Mitoh becomes Rah.”

“So in that case what was the name of the current Rah when his father was alive?”

“Mitoh of course. Same again.”

“You means that’s just a name as well? But the current Mitoh must have had a name when his grandfather was alive.”

“Yes, he was called Troy.”

“But Troy is ...”

“Yes. I know. Another name. There are ten. Rah, Mitoh, Troy, Barah, ...”

“You can’t tell me Rah has ten generations. Besides, Barah is old.”

“Some are children, some are brothers. The further down the list are uncles or cousins. There’s a strict order. It starts son, grandson, then an older member of the family who has some experience of the previous rule. Then brother, second son, second grandson, uncle, cousin and so on. When one dies others are promoted from lower down the list. Sometimes Mitoh or Troy is left vacant and there is a rush to get a royal son to fill the space.”

A wave of enlightenment dawned on Luke. “Thanks, Rob. That answers a lot of questions. Barah. Now looks like our drinks are ready.”

He was relieved to find that Rob and Melanie were happy in the city - indeed he seemed to have unwittingly done them a favour, so he was able to cast his well-prepared apologies to one side. They got on well together after their long separation. Hannah played happily with their boy who was learning to walk, and before they realised it evening had descended. Melanie was preparing for the visitors to stay the night.

“No, don’t be so silly,” said Sarah. “We live barely a league away.”

“What about Luke, though? He doesn’t have to stay in some rough place with a load of strangers, does he?”

“I ought to stay at the inn, actually,” said Luke. “I’ve told everyone they can leave messages for me there, so I must go there occasionally just in case. That old guy will forget what he was told if I leave it too long. And I don’t pay for it in your custom, or even have to do more than the minimum of work, the army takes care of everything I need. Also I need to make a visit to my commander tomorrow - there are a few things I have to discuss with him.”

“I thought you were on holiday,” interjected Sarah. Luke once again felt he had put his feet in the wrong place.

“Don’t worry, I won’t be long. And besides, I have to ask him about finding a house.”

“Can we have a house just like this?” asked Hannah.

“We’ll have a much bigger house than this,” said Sarah, picking her up and hugging her. “Daddy’s going to find us a place on The Mountain, isn’t he?” Hannah squeaked with delight and clung to her mother.

*

The next day Luke paid a call on Commander Hunt. Being on leave he could use his Elenean name Rashid. His house was easy to find as it was set on two storeys and in larger grounds which were not shared. After the formalities were over and his wife had left them alone they climbed to the top where a small room was set aside to receive visitors.

“I prefer to have private meetings here,” said Rashid. “You don’t have to keep checking to see who’s outside. Have you been in a house with an upper part before?”

“Only The Lodge in my home country. It actually is four storeys, the upper rooms are built on the roof of the lower part like this and above them is a single hut with an observation post on top. Nobody likes to go there, it feels like you’re about to fall off so it is only used occasionally.”

“Easier to use a tree I would have thought. Now, what is it you’re burning to ask me?”

Luke sat down a little nervously, hoping he would not be too far off course with his theory. “I only wish to know, what can you tell me about Barah?”

“Ah, I was wondering if someone would ask me that sooner or later. Yes, I’ve been coming to some conclusions myself.” Despite his claim of complete privacy he could not help walking over and checking outside again, then carefully closed the door.

They emerged about an hour later, and stood on the balcony facing the wide stone path outside. A group of four men were sitting on the grass of the plot adjacent to the garden, so Luke spoke clearly, he did not mind them hearing that the conversation was quite mundane.

“What I want to ask you is, how do I go about finding a house for myself and Sarah?”

“Oh, my dear boy. That’s no problem at all. There are plenty of houses by the barracks. You can move in any time you want.”

“Well, Sarah doesn’t really want to live there. I wondered if we might be able to find somewhere else.”

“You can, but it may not be so easy. Come back inside.”

As the commander turned his back Luke could not help noticing the sparseness of his hair and wondered if he would one day look like that. They returned into the shadows. Sitting in the room Rashid took a deep breath.

“All houses in Elenea are owned by Rah. However, a family does normally stay in a house for life - or as long as they want anyway. They have to pay a tax for the privilege - one rah a year is the rate for the smallest houses. Well you probably don’t know so much about that, since soldiers don’t use the token barter system but Sarah will understand it well. You’ve been used to getting whatever you want just by asking and the storeman works out the accounts. If you have a house it will be pretty well the same - the Troops will pay your taxes for you. Obtaining the house in the first place will be more difficult. When someone moves away they can assign their house for a payment in rah. It’s a lot, even for a small house, and only people from wealthy families can afford it. The only other way is to find a house that is empty and unassigned. Then a large bribe to the right person will secure it, or sometimes Rah will assign it himself. What I suggest is you move into one of the barracks houses first, keep your eyes open for a suitable opportunity. When you see something you like let me know and I’ll set Peter on the case.”

As they went outside they heard a horse clopping down the path, moving slowly to avoid wearing her hooves as the surface was packed down hard. It was ridden by a soldier Luke recognised.

“Commander Hunt, sir, an instruction has come in for you at the barracks office.”

“Thank you, trooper. I shall be down shortly.”

“And Captain, there is a message for you as well. It was delivered by a messenger from Castle Hill.”

“You have been summoned,” said Commander Hunt in a mock-serious voice. “Careful what you say, mind. Oh, and would you like me to take you, since we’re going to the same place?”

“By horse? You have your own horse?”

“Oh yes. Not mine, of course, but assigned for my personal use. Only about half a dozen families in the whole city have one. It’s quite a privilege.”

Luke was surprised he had not noticed a horse in the garden but when they went down he did see all the signs. She was in her own stable at the rear of the main house, well looked after, with food water and straw bedding provided. He could see from downstairs that the compound housed a wife and family as well as at least two servants. The commander led her out and closed the door against the growing wind.

“We’d better make our way quickly. It’s heading for rain.” They mounted and trotted the horse along the centre of the earthy street, keeping away from loose stones.

Luke was escorted up Castle Hill on foot by two soldiers of the Castle Guard. These would, he now knew, be in the service of Commander Tivoli who reported directly to Bara. They walked past rows of houses lining the street in a detached parade, almost the whole way up to the castle itself. It was built largely of wood, and only the central part extended to two storeys, but it was an impressive building, the outer retaining wall clad in stones identical to those Luke had so laboriously hewn and shaped in the quarry. His warrior’s mind immediately realised the structure was vulnerable to fire, if an invader could first break through the wall, but of course there was no reason for this country to fear a war, and in any case the rulers would just retreat to the north land with its mountains for protection. The wall had just one gate, facing the town to the east. Once within the massive building he was led through a series of corridors, reminding him of his disorienting trip through the mountains. Eventually they reached a chamber with a permanent guard. After being searched for the third time that day he was led into the room. The soldiers retreated outside.

A man sat in a chair carved from a tree trunk, near the far wall. He was greying. Luke at first thought him close to fifty but he could equally have been much younger. He might have been the mason from Athelea, dressed in such nondescript working clothes and stout shoes. Luke wondered how such a man could be in such close proximity to Rah himself.

“Luke of Cano? Our captain from another country? Do you not kneel in the presence of Rah?” As the man spoke his whole personality shifted. Though he had not moved in his chair the words gave his body a galvanic tinge, creating an air of instant authority. Luke sank to his knees in obedience, half of him waiting for a divine being to glide out of the body while the more sensible half gradually worked out who was talking to him.

“Make yourself a seat,” he said. There was only one stone bench so Luke sat on it. “Rah was pleased with your work in the mountains. The conditions of the bandit chief are presumptuous but it is to our advantage. We shall be granting them with reduced quantities of grain and livestock. It does not do to give a bandit everything he asks for. I have asked Commander Hunt to select men to build and staff a garrison at the site you discovered. We will exchange tributes there. Your next task will be to prepare the army to liberate your western province from its occupying force. The bandit leader is named Wolf and is dangerous but not as strong as he thinks. Now, is there anything you would like Rah to do for you as a favour?”

“Sir?”

“You may request a personal favour as a reward for the work you have done.”

“Well there is one thing, sir.”

“Yes.”

“Er, my wife is looking for a house.”

“Yes. Of course. You don’t want to live in those little barracks houses, do you? No, someone of your standing should be doing much better than that. There is a house available on The Mountain. I think you will like it. I shall make it all in order for you.”

Luke noticed that Rah had not moved during the entire interview. He had not even noticed whether the man had moved his mouth to speak. He gave the impression of immense power.

“Stand up,” he commanded. Luke stood up.

“From now on you will keep permanently the title of Captain. Remember one thing.”

“Yes, sir?”

Rah stood so suddenly that Luke gasped in surprise. “This man Wolf.” His whole body tensed and sweat ran down Luke’s body. “I want him dead. Dead. Don’t fail me.” Rah summoned the soldiers who led the captain back along the corridors, grateful to be out of the way.

*

The house was huge, far more than Luke or Sarah could possibly cope with. Hannah was delighted.

“Luke, we can hardly say no, but ...”

“Maybe when we have more children we’ll be glad of the extra space.”

“Oh, yes. But we could have eight children and still have room for more. And how are we going to look after it?”

“I think we should get someone to move in. How about Rob and Melanie?”

“Well they could probably profit by selling their own house but they’re settled and their business might not do so well in this area. I think Peter might be better.”

“I wouldn’t mind but what about that Commander Tivoli? He’s round there all the time.”

“Well that’s okay. He lives close by.”

“No, I mean ...”

“Oh, Luke! They get on well together don’t they. Everyone in Kingston City thinks it fine for a young soldier to have training from an experienced commander.”

“It’s not normal. He should be thinking of getting married by now.”

“Well I know. Let’s get Marie and Emma to move in. Between us we could look after both the house and the garden. And if her husband ever gets out of prison he’ll have somewhere to go too.”

“Sounds like a good idea. We can ask tomorrow.”

“Go back home for dinner,” said Hannah suddenly.

“You are home,” said Luke, picking her up and kissing her. He took her outside to the garden which was huge. Putting her down he started chasing her in the long grass. She squealed every time he caught her and tossed her up in the air. Eventually she just lay on the grass panting. Luke noticed a prim middle-aged lady the other side of the dividing fence.

“You must be the new people moving into this house,” she asked in a high-pitched accent so refined it was almost a parody.

Sarah came out. Good afternoon, madam. I’m Sarah, this is my husband Luke. And that’s Hannah.”

“Very pleased to meet you. You look like a military man. You must be very important to have been given this one.”

“Well I try to do my bit to serve,” said Luke as modestly as he could, disarmingly intimidated by the lady’s manner.

“It’s a dangerous thing nowadays. I hope it goes well for you. Tell me, when were you last in Seatown?”

Luke looked blank. “My husband’s been distinguishing himself in the mountains,” said Sarah. “We haven’t had a chance yet.”

“The mountains? But they’re full of tigers and bandits. I’m surprised you came out alive.”

“I didn’t spend long there. Mostly we were in the borderlands.”

“Well anyway. Don’t go there again. Now when you go to Seatown be sure to stay at The Bear. It’s a nice inn, everyone knows it. Tell them Mrs Mekmet recommended you. That’s my husband’s name, he is in the house. If you go in three days’ time there’s a hot spell due. I saw the swallows this morning. Now I must go in for my rest.”

Luke looked at Sarah as Bai Mekmet bustled away and they both burst out laughing. “Bears and tigers indeed. Even our baby knows better than that.” He held Sarah in his arms and hugged her. “It’s certainly going to be different here, isn’t it?” They stood together for a long time watching Hannah explore in the long grass.