Rubies and Rumors

Chapter Seventy-five

            "I hope you lads can be comfortable our student dormitories. I have some kit here for you so you don't stand out too much." The Door-Master continued his apologies about having unexpected guests from the conclave.

In-Yeon's paled and his bottom lip started to tremble. "Steady on," San Jin whispered to the boy, "I won't leave you on your own."

"We are grateful for any accommodation. More troops arriving all the time so the Inns are going to be overflowing." Scout Jia answered for their group. "It is no burden for us to mingle with the brothers and keep up the hours. I'm pretty rusty on your forms but I am sure we will manage."

The Door-Master breathed a sigh of relief. "Our Dream-Master was especially anxious to spend more time with the young lad. Oh, and if anyone asks, your work assignment is the gardens. Now got through here and store your things." He pointed to a rounded archway.

When they emerged, the boys nearly did not recognize Scout Jia. They were so used to his more flamboyant manners and dress it was hard to place the quiet man in plain robes. He inspected them closely then pointed to San Jin's ear.

"Oh. Right." the young man blushed then removed the small emerald earring then when searching for a box to store it in.

"Can't we at least keep our crystals?" In-Yeon squeaked.

"You will store your stones before going onto the practice terraces but a novice would never have such and expensive trinket," their guide explained.

"It's fine. It shouldn't take long to rebalance," San Jin smiled at his young friend. "Honestly, I will probably miss my blades more but they would just be in the way in this." He plucked at the wide skirt on his deep blue robe.

Their guide handed the boys white rope belts and Scout Jia a green one. "White is for students, Green for gardeners. We like to keep things simple," he said as he took them on a short tour of the dining hall and the dormitories. As they walked along, he also explained the cycle of hours and how students did not usually mark the full night cycles more than once a month. He left the boys with a junior dorm assistant and led Scout Jia away to practice the temple forms.

Once the boys had found their bunk, with San Jin claiming the top, and In-Yeon the bottom they were guided to the scriptorium. "The fastest way to learn the hours we use here will be to make your own copies," their guide explained before setting them up at standing desks. In-Yeon was too short to write comfortable until he found a stool to stand on. San Jin had already rolled back a sleeve and started in on his copy by the time In-Yeon was set. The older boy whispered, "ground first," and In-Yeon thanked him for the reminder.

The monk in charge of the scriptorium came over to check their progress and complimented San Jin on his neatness. Then he picked up the parchment In-Yeon had started and held it up to the light. "Ah. An artist," he said and returned the piece to the desk and instructed them both to carry on.

A gong sounded and all the other students started packing up so the boys followed their lead. Their guide appeared to take them to the lower hall of prayer and provided hand signals to help them follow the pattern of the evening devotions. When the services finished four men appeared at the front of the hall. The Temple-Master introduced the masked member of the conclave.

"Our community has many blessings and we are honored our esteemed colleagues have come for advice and guidance from our humble Dream-Master. They seek to confirm visions of fearful import reported by the Mistress of the Dawn. I am now asking our cantor to review the invocations for clear sight and sound judgement we will use at moonrise." The Temple-Master stepped back and a monk in a silver robe stepped forward, hit a low note on a chime, and started a throaty hum.

In-Yeon could feel the hair on the back of his neck rise so placed his feet a bit wider and did and earth mantra. The ground rumbled below him but he stayed still. San Jin quietly joined in the cycle and everything quieted. The students next to them stared but then turned their attention back to the cantor for the call and response part of the ritual they all needed to learn.

There was only a short break between the end of the training session and the beginning of the moonrise ritual. In-Yeon spend most of the time working through his mantras and making sure he had strong anchors for each element. The Herbalist found him and helped reinforce the earth connections. "The Dream-Master wanted me to tell you not to be alarmed if you see visions during the ritual. They will not necessarily be true. He said many spirits are following you." The Herbalist shrugged. "Oh. Your friend seems to know what that means. Right. Good luck."

"I guess we should have done a proper ritual after we got out of the caves." San Jin whispered.

"I will be okay. Let's just put a circle of salt down around the bunks tonight. We can light the incense tomorrow." In-Yeon said with a confidence he did not feel as they took their places in the ranks of students, novices, acolytes, and monks. He could feel the chants in his bones and struggled to stay alert through the whole ritual. When they were finished, he stumbled off to bed without a thought to putting down any kind of barrier. San Jin took precautions for both of them.

There was a faint crunch and a stifled cursing from below. San Jin swung down off the bunk behind the would-be attacker and slammed his fist into the side of the intruder's neck. The masked figure crumpled to the floor. San Jin stood as still as possible and strained all his senses. It appeared their visitor had come alone. He tied the masked figure to the bedpost and stuffed a pair of socks into their mouth. In-Yeon slept the whole time tightly hugging most of his blankets.

San Jin squinted into the dark some more then climbed back into bed. He didn't expect to fall asleep but he did. "Brother. Oh Brother. What have you been up to?" A small voice inched into his consciousness. Then the end of bed shook and he remembered their uninvited guest and jumped down and made sure the knots were firmly in place.

"I would love to know more about this," In-Yeon waved at the prisoner, "but your Uncle is heading for trouble. Can you call one of your guards to send a message. I am sure there must be couriers close. Let me write the note." In-Yeon shuffled around then ripped half a page off the manuscript he had worked on the day before. "If I tell him to check Song-hee's notes, will he know which one or do I need to sketch it? Maybe its just better to sketch it." In-Yeon kept of a stream of comments while he wrote.

San Jin woke the boy in the bed next to them and sent him to fetch the Assistant Dorm-Master. The short monk stopped in his tracks when he spotted the prisoner. "What?"

"A prowler. My family sent me all this way because of the threats on my life. We gave our guards the night off thinking the temple safe and...." San Jin gave the prisoner a kick. "I need to send a message to my men straight away. You can deal with this," San Jin waved his hand around the end of the bed, "But I am telling you now, there is no justifiable excuse to be creeping around the junior dorms at night. Pervert!" he hissed at the prisoner. Turning back to monk he said, "Oh, and I will want my socks back after they are washed." Then San Jin gathered himself together, put his arm through In-Yeon's, and marched them both briskly away from the scene.

Once they were around the corner, they separated and sprinted to the temple gate. There were a couple of young men waiting with morning deliveries whom San Jin persuaded to take a message to the city garrison. After the message left, he turned to In-Yeon and asked, "Care to share what the emergency is."

"The second storeroom is booby trapped with enough explosives to bring down the rest of the castle. The mechanism isn't complicated if you know what you are looking for." In-Yeon whispered. He touched his topaz and it gave back a warm glow. "We just can't afford to lose General Tan now. Not with the invasion."

"Invasion?" San Jin's voice squeaked.

"It's awful. Not sure when but the sea filled with bodies. That part might not be a true seeing but I'm certain about the trap." In-Yeon gave himself a shake then tried to smile. "We probably should go light the incense before they come looking for you for tying up a member of the conclave."