The Godspeaker Trilogy by Karen Miller Read Free Book Online Page A

wasted. But he was still stupid to cry. Water could not melt the chains from his wrist and ankles. Better to stand up straight and show Abajai he was worthy of coin.
    The fat boy stared at her, and she stared back. Then Abajai came out of the godhouse with Yagji and the godspeaker Toolu and she didn’t stare anywhere but at Abajai’s stern face. When he saw her, Abajai smiled and crossed the open village space. His long fingers dipped inside his robe and dropped three bronze coins into the woman Bisla’s palm.
    “You have pleased me and the god.”
    “Go now, Bisla, you and your sisters. Tend your menfolk and your hearths,” said the godspeaker. The woman and her sisters nodded, and walked away.
    Abajai looked to Yagji, who went to one of the pack camels and from its panniers pulled a stout wooden box criss-crossed with leather lacings. Strung on the lacings were so many charms and amulets the box looked infested. Yagji carried the heavy box to Abajai, who beckoned one of the slave guards to him. Without having to be told, the guard knelt on the ground, making himself into a table. Yagji put the box on the guard’s back and together, with great care, he and Abajai began to unlace it.
    Each charm and amulet had to be touched, with fingertip or lip or tongue or a charm pulled from a pocket or set into a ring. With every touch a wisp of godsbreath puffed into the air. Only when the godsbreath had been blown away was the charm or amulet safe to unstring from its leather thong and only then if the right man had touched it, in the right order. If the wrong man tried to unlace the box, he would die a horrible death.
    This was how the Traders protected their wealth, Abajai had explained on the road. Even though Traders were beloved of the god, men were sometimes foolish and thought they could steal from Trader caravans. Or sometimes Traders fell into misfortune so they perished and their money was found beside their bodies. That money by the god’s law must be returned to the Traders’ city but if it was not protected by godsworn Trader charms a man might not do his duty. He might keep that money and spend it for himself.
    Hekat marveled that men could be so wicked.
    The godspeaker Toolu had brought a large woven basket with him from the godhouse. When the godsbreath was blown from the last amulet, and all the box’s leather lacings unlaced to show its burden of coin, Abajai poured silver and bronze coins into the basket. Last of all he took a single black purse from the box and added three gold coins to the silver and bronze. When he was finished there was more air than money in the unlaced wooden box.
    The godspeaker Toolu nodded, and carried his laden basket back into the godhouse. Yagji closed the box’s lid and relaced all the leather lacings, threading them with the charms and amulets. His fingers moved swiftly, surely. Hekar marveled at how he remembered every charm and amulet’s proper position. Abajai stood quietly watching, a small smile curving his lips.
    Just as Yagji finished, the godspeaker returned carrying a large scorpion carved from some shiny black stone banded with thin strips of bronze.
    Yagji stood back. The godspeaker placed the carved scorpion on top of the leather-laced wooden box and closed his eyes. It seemed to Hekar that the whole world went silent.
    “ Breathe, god,” said the godspeaker Toolu, in a voice like distant thunder. “ Breathe, god. Breathe, god .”
    A thick black mist oozed from the carved stone scorpion and onto the charms laced over the wooden box, soaking into them and swiftly disappearing. The guard who was a table shuddered and groaned, but did not collapse. Blood dripped from his open mouth to splash on the ground beneath him.
    “The god has breathed,” said the godspeaker once the mist stopped oozing, and picked up the carved stone scorpion. “Merchandise has passed between us. Payment is given, payment is taken. Our business is done.”
    “Our business is done,”