Alanna The First Adventure - By Tamora Pierce Page 0,9

we’ve met our newest member, who will sponsor him?”

Five of the older boys raised their hands. Jonathan nodded. “Your sponsor keeps you from getting too lost,” he explained to Alanna. “I think Gary had better take you in hand.”

The big youth nodded to Alanna, his brown eyes friendly. “A pleasure.”

Alanna bowed politely.

A bell rang. “We’d better go,” Jonathan announced. “Alan, stay close to Gary and listen to what he tells you.”

Alanna followed her new sponsor to the great dining hall. This was closed only during the summer, when most nobles went to their estates and the rest of the Court went to the Summer Palace by the sea. The other three seasons of the year, the entire Court ate here, served by the pages. Gary stationed Alanna in a niche, where she could see everything. As he hurried back and forth on his serving duties, he whispered explanations to her. It was Gary who showed her to the pages’ dining hall after the banquet was over, and Gary who woke her up (she fell asleep over dessert) and guided her to her room.

“Welcome to the palace, young Trebond,” he said cheerfully as he handed her over to Coram.

Alanna crawled sleepily into bed, thinking, Not so bad—for the first day.

A bell that hung in a tower high over the pages’ wing awakened Alanna at dawn. Moaning, she bathed her face in cold water. She was still exhausted from her five-day ride. For once she could have slept late.

Gary—a wide-awake, disgustingly cheerful and large Gary—came for her just as she was finished dressing. When Alanna, who hated breakfast, would have taken only an apple, Gary filled up her plate. “Eat,” he advised. “You’ll need your strength.”

The bell gently chimed. The pages hurried to their first hour of lessons, Alanna trotting to keep up with her sponsor.

“First class is reading and writing,” he told her.

“But I know how to read and write!” Alanna protested.

“You do? Good. You’d be surprised at how many noblemen’s sons can’t. Don’t worry, young Trebond.” A grin lit his face. “I’m sure the masters will find something for you to do.”

Alanna soon discovered that most of what nobles called “the thinking arts” were taught by Mithran priests. These orange-robed men were stern taskmasters, always quick to catch a boy letting his attention wander or napping. When the priest who taught reading and writing was satisfied that Alanna could do both—he made her read a page from a book aloud, then copy it out on paper—he assigned her a long and very dull poem. Alanna was to read it and be ready to report on it for the next day. The bell rang the hour when she was only partly done.

“When do I finish this?” she asked Gary, waving the scroll on which the poem was written. He was guiding her to their next set of lessons.

“In your free time. Here we go. Mathematics. Can you do figures, too?”

“Some,” she admitted.

“A regular scholar,” said Alex, who had caught up with them, laughing.

Alanna shook her head. “No. But my father is very strict about book learning.”

“He sounds a lot like my father in that respect,” Gary said dryly.

“I wouldn’t know,” Alanna replied. Remembering what the Duke had said about her father the day before, she added, “I don’t think they got along.”

Again Alanna had to prove her skills, this time to the priest who taught mathematics. Once he was satisfied as to the extent of her knowledge, he put her to learning something called “algebra.”

“What is it?” Alanna wanted to know.

The priest frowned at her. “It is a building block,” he told her sternly. “Without it you cannot hope to construct a safe bridge, a successful war tower or catapult, a windmill or an irrigation wheel. Its uses are infinite. You will learn them by studying them, not by staring at me.”

Alanna was staring at him. The idea that mathematics could make things such as windmills and catapults work was amazing. She was even more amazed when she realized how hard the work was that she was supposed to complete for the next day.

When Gary came over to give her a hand, she demanded, “When am I supposed to do this? I have to complete four problems for him by tomorrow, and it’s almost time for the next class!”

“In your free time,” Gary replied. “And the time you have now. Look—if you get stuck, offer to help Alex with his extra-duty chores. He’s a mathematical wizard.” The bell rang. “Let’s go,