Human Company | Page 9

glance anxiously around.
What could be more embarrassing than being the subject of a poor fight?
The crowd, however, seemed content to wait it out. The girls fell silent
and stared intently at the contestants, looking for the first sign of
weakness.
Suddenly the girls began screaming, and I looked back to see Shortbull
starting to give way. Slowly, with relentless force, the stranger bent her
over backwards. Several times she took strength from the cheers of her
friends and struggled back nearly upright, but finally she could do no
more and collapsed to the ground.
Leaving Shortbull on the ground, the stranger waved briefly to
acknowledge the applause of the crowd, then she bowed to me. "I am
Amin, My Lord, trader in fine goods."
"Don't call me Lord," I said as I offered her my hand. "I'm no farmer."
"Gypsy then." She smiled, but her handshake seemed quick and light
for such a strong woman. "Come. I'm thirsty. Let's have a beer."
"Beer? I'm too young to drink."
"Wasn't that you on the mechanical this morning?"
"So?"
"So by mountain law, you're grown." She offered me her arm. When I
took it, she gestured to Tiny. "Fetch my clothes Tiny. You can come
with us."
"You caused quite a panic this morning," Amin said. "A bull broke out
and chased everyone around."
"Did it?" When I glanced back, I saw Littlewolf and the other girls
watching us leave.

#
Amin sipped on her beer. It made my mouth pucker just to watch her.
Women only drink it to prove they're women. They couldn't possibly
like it.
"It's wrong that I was able to take you from the girls like that," she said.
"Wrong?"
"We should be sharing the boys, not fighting over them."
I sucked in my breath. Axeblade said bandits were saying things like
that.
I glanced around. We were in a quiet corner of the Mechanic's Inn; no
one was near. Still, this was dangerous talk. "Hush. Someone might
hear."
"It's something that needs hearing."
"Are you a bandit?" I asked.
"Because I'm willing to discuss new ideas?"
"It's not the One Law."
She smiled. "So have the gypsies become defenders of the One Law
then?"
I frowned. Where were my loyalties?
We had not always been gypsies, once we had been the caretakers of
the elevators. Ferrying women and mechanicals into space had made us
rich and powerful.
Afterwards, when the survivors blamed and persecuted us for the
collapse of the Western Elevator, we used ancient powers to build the
fortress at Towerhold. Hiding behind the great walls, we became an

isolated and secretive people with our own ways and laws.
But after the farmers defeated the barbarian tribes in the war that ended
the Troubles, they resolved that there would be no more wars. So they
declared that all peoples of the land must follow the One Law. Fearful
of the farmer's wrath, the sailors at Calmwater and the mechanics at
Farhaven submitted. Only the caretakers, who thought ourselves safe
behind our walls, resisted. But walls are not warriors: the farmers
swarmed over them and took the city.
Still, we refused to bow to the One Law. We abandoned the Elevator
and threatened to bring it down on the farmers' heads. But this only
angered the farmers, who cast us out of the city and banned us from
owning property. We became gypsies then, wandering about, doing odd
jobs, telling fortunes, and creating mischief until the farmers drove us
out of the land entirely. So now we were sailors, living at sea beyond
the reach of the farmers' army.
No, the gypsies would not defend the One Law. But I was a gypsy by
birth only: I had been raised by Axeblade after being rescued from a
shipwreck. The One Law was what I had been taught; I had nothing
gypsy except the cards.
"It's still bandit talk," I said. "Axeblade says there will be fighting
soon."
Amin fell quiet, sipping on her beer and looking thoughtful, so to
change the subject, I looked at Tiny. "Axeblade says you can have your
job back."
She shook her head. "Saratan says the sisters have a school in
Calmwater, she says I should go."
"Sisters?"
"Human girls, we have to stick together."
"Human girls," Amin said. "There's a case where the One Law is hardly

fair. They're too small to compete."
"There's more to it than the competitions," I objected. "The boys get to
decide."
"Oh? Was it your choice to be with farmers? I heard you were looking
for warriors."
"You got it wrong. I'm looking for help with the Elevator."
"The Elevator? Don't you need a gypsy company then?"
I shrugged. "Do you know one?"
"Not personally," she said. "But their ships stop at Calmwater often
enough."