The Spellcoats (The Dalemark Quartet 3)

I was afraid Hern was going to be angry. He was not, but he was awkward. I think Mother talked to Hern of Tanamil. All the same, it has taken Hern most of the day to get used to him. And Tanamil would not look at Hern because Hern was carrying the Young One and Hern did not understand. I had not realized how much Tanamil hates being bound. He hates it so much that he will not speak of it. His face loses all expression when you ask him, and he looks like the image of himself.

“Amil Oreth is bound deeper than I am,” was all he would say when I asked. Robin told me angrily to leave Tanamil alone. At that Tanamil seemed to relent a little. He did not speak of himself, but he said to me, “Adon has a double bond to bear now. In the first place, he was cheated by a woman, and it was his own fault. In the second place, he was already bound, so that he could not use his full strength against Kankredin.”

We have had such a good day. Hern has neglected the King entirely, and we have sat about in the mill laughing and trying to make plans for getting away up the River without the King or Zwitt knowing. Tanamil sits with his arm around Robin, as happy as we are, and Robin must have eaten more today than she has in the last month. Anything she fancies is instantly on the table. My only regret is that we are not allowed to have Mother here, too. Because of the One’s anger when she married my father, Tanamil is not allowed to speak with her. Tanamil is not going to risk the same thing happening over Robin. They are going together to ask the One’s permission to marry.

Now the fat is in the fire! Now I see why Tanamil so hates to be bound. I should not have disobeyed Mother. But at least the main fault this time is Duck’s, not mine. I will tell it in order.

We were very happy, sitting in the evening sun from the open River door. I had a feeling Mother could be with us like that. I brought my weaving up-to-date and then turned to sewing up my first rugcoat and clipping the ends. Tanamil came over to look at it.

“What made me think I could teach you anything?” he said.

I was very pleased, but I said, “You told me two very useful things,” and I showed him the band of expressive weaving at the back, where we went to Kankredin.

“I was there with you,” he said. “I knew you would need me; he was almost too strong for me, too. It was lucky he sat down and that you repeat his spellgown broken here. Did you realize it would have made another bond on us?” I had not realized. It is a frightening thought. He told me that he had left when Kankredin said we could go, knowing Duck could take us through the net; it was Tanamil who brought us through it the first time, of course. Robin had told him never to come near us again. The quarrel had been far worse than I had known. I think it was good of him to help us at all, though he says he was thinking so hard of us all, and Robin particularly, that it is a wonder there is anything growing on the banks of streams anywhere.

Then he said, “I was as bad as Amil over Cenblith, but I hope I shan’t need to expiate my folly the same way.”

“By being bound, you mean?” I said.

“No,” he said. “By fire. When it was almost too late, he found how to cheat the woman who cheated him and made her promise to put him in a fire every year. Every fire reduces his bonds by a fraction until they can be broken.”

He looked so sad, saying this, that it came to me that it must hurt the One to be in the fire. I had not seen that before. And we put him in the fire so happily. “Did you know the One is golden now?” I asked Tanamil.

“Yes,” he said. He picked up my rugcoat and looked at it. “That means his bonds can be broken,” he said.

“What are you telling me?” I said. You have to ask the Undying clear questions. They do not tell you things properly.

Tanamil put the thick folds of my weaving back on my knee. “We call this a spellcoat,” he said. “I think you should take it to the rising of the River. But I am not certain. You are making a thing here which is beyond anything I know. I dare not risk spoiling it by—”

Here came the disaster. The King came in with Jay, to pay his evening visit to the One. His pouched eyes twinkled merrily at Robin. “My dear young lady! Looking better at last! Restored to health and considerable beauty, isn’t she? And how is my golden gentleman?”

Tanamil was standing against my loom, but the King did not see him, nor did Jay. Hern, Duck, and I made faces of astonishment at one another. Robin was too busy with the King to look at anything. She said the One was safe and she was feeling better today.

“Good! We shall be able to move on again,” said our King. He circled the room, passing in front of Tanamil without knowing it, and seemed arrested at the sight of my rugcoat. “My dear fluffyhead, this is beautiful! Now I see the purpose of all your industry. I call it truly delicate, my dear!” He took the rugcoat off my knee. My hands went out to stop him, but he whisked it out of my reach. I thought Tanamil might have stopped him. But Tanamil stood as if his hands were strapped to his sides. The King held the rugcoat against himself. It was far too big for him. As I said, he is a small, plump man. But his eyes twinkled delightedly at Robin. “Your sister has made a royal coat for our betrothal, my dear. When shall our wedding be?”

When I think of all our faces, I could almost laugh—though it is no laughing matter. We were all horrified, but Duck was worse even than Tanamil. He stared at the King as if he was a monster and backed away into a corner. As for Jay, he was worse even than Duck. He staggered, as though the King had hit him, and glared at me. I see now that he thought the coat was for him.

“But, Majesty,” I said, “the coat’s too big!”

“We can turn up a hem or so,” the King said, “at the bottom and round the sleeves. I must admit, fluffyhead, that either you miscalculated or you were thinking of another man.” The sideways twinkle he gave Jay made no doubt about who he thought the man was. He bowed to me. “Thank you for my coat. I shall salute my bride-to-be.” He took Robin’s hand and kissed it. He can be very courtly when he pleases.

Robin dragged her hand away. She looked ill again. “I haven’t agreed yet, Majesty.”

“Nonsense,” he said. “This coat is agreement. Shall we marry tomorrow? The headman in Shelling can do the business.”

Robin looked desperately at Hern. Hern said, in a cracking voice, “Majesty, we object to Zwitt. You’ll have to find another headman to marry you.” Hern says this is the law. He says he was lucky to remember it because his mind was spinning.

“Well, frankly, I don’t care for Zwitt either,” the King said, readily enough. “We note your objection, brother-to-be. We’ll use

the next headman we find. I’ll go and give orders to pack up and leave. Sleep well, my young lady.” He bundled my coat under his arm and took it away. Jay went with him, looking as if someone had hit him in the face.

He left us in uproar. Robin was in tears, with Tanamil embracing her. I found I was making the noise old women use at funerals. All my work misused and gone. Just as I had understood its nature and how to use it. Hern was demanding why Tanamil had not stopped the King.

“I’m bound!” Tanamil cried out. “I’m bound, I tell you! I have to do what the King wants.”

“Do you mean you can’t marry Robin now?” Duck asked. He was very shaken.

“Not unless the King changes his mind,” said Tanamil. I think he was near to tears, too. Robin put her face in her hands and wept that he was not to leave her, ever.