A Plague of Giants (Seven Kennings #1) - Kevin Hearne Page 0,114

enough to ruin one’s appetite. And pride.”

“What? This is something that actually happens?”

“No.” He grinned at me and waved away his sarcasm. “A figure of speech. But if one wants to supply the army with all things chaktu, as my father does, then one must smile and nod and gain the favor of the viceroy. His posterior must be blistered raw by now from all the kissing it receives.”

Handsome and considerate on the one hand but a wicked wit on the other. I had impeccable taste in crushes. And since he was so willing to listen, I talked over a clay mug of tea about what happened to my family but left out my experiences in the nughobe grove. That gave him the impression that I survived three days out on the plains by sheer luck.

“So what will you do now?” Tamhan asked when I finished. “You can do anything you want.”

“So can you.”

He snorted. “I wish. My father expects me to be a chaktu butcher like him. Or at least a chaktu herder who will supply him cheaply.”

“Don’t you want to be?”

“I would rather do almost anything else,” he said, and his voice dropped to a whisper to voice his secret thoughts. “I am sick of chaktu. The smell of it, the taste of it, everything disgusts me. And it’s boring. I’d like to go to university, but my father says there’s no money that way, no future in what you can read out of a book. He thinks my only chance at prosperity is to deal with the same few families he does, engage in the same kinds of corrupt practices, to be just like him, and that’s not what I want.” I knew exactly how he felt.

“Maybe seek a kenning?”

“Where? Rael? I’d never make it there.”

“Not Rael. Three days’ walk south of here.”

“What?”

“It’s difficult to explain. But pretend for a moment that there is a kenning within reach. Would you want it?”

“Three days’ walk on the plains isn’t within reach. That’s suicide.”

“I just did it.”

“Right. Sorry. Still hard to believe that. But seeking a kenning is also suicide.”

“Maybe. But you didn’t answer. If it was within reach, would you do it?”

Tamhan sighed. “I don’t know. Probably not. When you put it like that, I don’t think I’m desperate enough to face death, or desire power that much. But I know a lot of people are.”

“Who?”

My new friend scowled. “What do you mean, who? I was speaking in general. Lots of people are barely getting by and figure either death or a boat’s the only way out of here. When they get tired of it, they just walk alone into the plains until something’s jaws tear their meat from their spirits.”

“What if people didn’t have to fear the animals on the plains? Do you think that would change things?”

He laughed at me. “You’re asking the strangest questions. We’ll always have to fear them.”

“Not if someone found the Sixth Kenning.”

Tamhan sobered. “All right, you’re starting to worry me.”

“I’m being serious. But just supposing: If the Sixth Kenning was found and we could control animals, wouldn’t that change things? We could go anywhere, right? What would happen?”

“So this is like a mental exercise, or…?”

“Sure. Think it through with me.”

“Well, I think people would be getting out of these sky-damned walls and starting their own farms and maybe other villages all over the place, like you see in Rael.”

That was a worrisome point. What was good for the people wasn’t necessarily good for the animals. People would spread out and take over the plains. Not all at once but gradually.

“Go on,” I said.

“Well, it means more prosperity for everyone. Except maybe the riverboat captains, who won’t be able to charge such prices for transport when people can travel by land.”

“Oh, good point. The river traders wouldn’t like that. Who else would be against it?”

“Anybody who profits from the way things are now and who couldn’t profit from changing things up,” Tamhan said, shrugging.

“The church,” I said, and when Tamhan asked why, I explained that a kenning related to animals might cast doubt on the worthiness of worshipping Kalaad in the sky.

“Bones and dust, you’re right. Well, that means you’d have the government against it.”

“Why? Wouldn’t they continue to be the government regardless of kenning or whether people lived inside city walls or not? Or regardless of what god they worship?”

“Yes, but I’ve been listening to my father enough to know this: the country is built on the river trade and the