Darkness Descending

He’d done some fishing in the Mereflod, the river that ran past Gromheort, and he could tell when he got a nibble. He had one now. “No,” Vanai answered. “Does he really?”

“Aye, I think he does,” Ealstan said with a solemn nod. “You can’t tell it by his coloring, but he’s put together more the way a Kaunian would be: he’s a little taller, a little skinnier, than most Forthwegians.”

He watched Vanai. She was intrigued, all right. “Do you think I could get out every once in a while if I wore Forthwegian clothes?”

‘“Every once in a while’ is probably about right,” Ealstan answered, “but people will be paying more attention to the music at Ethelhelm’s performance than to anything else. I can get you a tunic, if you like.” He didn’t have to worry about precise size; Forthwegian women’s tunics were always cut on the baggy side. That was one reason Forthwegian men leered at Kaunian women in their close-fitting trousers.

“All right, then,” Vanai said abruptly. “I’ll go. I’m so sick of staring at these walls. And”--her eyes twinkled--”my grandfather would fall over dead if he ever heard I’d got out of my trousers--and no, I don’t mean like that.” Having headed him off--she was learning how his mind worked, too--she added, “I still don’t think I’ll like the music very much.”

“You may be surprised,” Ealstan told her. Then he had to speak quickly, before she could tell him it wasn’t likely: “And you’ll be out and about in Eoforwic.” She couldn’t help but nod there.

On the way home the next evening, he bought a plain green hooded tunic of medium weight. Vanai tried it on in the bedchamber. When she came out into the front room, she asked, “What do I look like? We don’t have a mirror big enough to let me get a good look at myself.”

Ealstan studied her. Even with her bright hair pulled back inside the hood and her face shadowed, she didn’t really look too much like a Forthwegian woman. But she wasn’t so obviously a Kaunian as she was in her own people’s clothing. Ealstan said, “I like your shape more when I can see it better.”

“Of course you do--you’re a man,” Vanai said with a snort. “But will I do?”

“Aye, I think so,” he answered. “We’ll be out at night, after all, and that will help.” Just for a moment, he let himself think about the dreadful things that could happen if someone recognized Vanai for what she was. Were those things worth, could they be worth, risking all on an evening of music? He wondered how foolish he’d been in suggesting it to her.

Even as he was worrying, Vanai said, “All right, then, I’ll go. I’d do anything to get out of here for a while, even wear this drafty tunic.” The second thoughts Ealstan might have voiced flew out the window. Vanai went on, “And if going to a concert of Forthwegian music doesn’t count as anything, I don’t know what does.”

They left for the performance later than Ealstan would have done had Ethelhelm not assured him of a couple of good seats. The advantages of connections, he thought. Back in Gromheort, his father had a lifetime’s worth. But he used them only sparingly, so they’d be more reliable when he really needed them.

Ealstan was glad to find the night cool. Lots of people wore their hoods up, so Vanai didn’t stand out because of that. She kept looking around; she hadn’t seen much of Eoforwic before she started hiding in their flat. There wasn’t much to see. No street lamps glowed. No buildings had light streaming out through their windows. Unkerlanter dragons sometimes sneaked this far west. The redheads didn’t care to offer them nighttime targets.

At the hall--only an angular shape in the darkness--he and Vanai had to pass through two black curtains before coming into the light. When he finally did, what seemed a sudden harsh glare made his eyes momentarily fill with tears. He gave his name at the entrance, Vanai hanging back while he talked to the fellow there.

After checking a list, the gatekeeper shouted for a flunky. “Take these people down front,” he said. “They’re friends of the band.” Ealstan preened. He wished he could let the whole world see what a pretty girl he had with him. Unfortunately, that would have let the whole world see Vanai was a Kaunian. He took her hand and hurried after the impatient youth who led them to where they were supposed to sit.

“Here you go, buddy,” the kid said to him, and waited expectantly. As soon as Ealstan tipped him, he hustled away.

“The seats couldn’t be better,” Vanai said. Ealstan nodded. Two steps and they could have scrambled up onto the stage. Some of the halls where Ethelhelm played allowed dancing; this one, with permanent seats fixed to the floor, didn’t. Ealstan waited for Vanai to add something like, Now if only I wanted to see the show, but she didn’t.

A lot of people filling up the first row had more money than Ealstan had dreamt of even when he was living back in Gromheort, where his family had been prosperous.