Free Arcadia by Iain Pears Page B

back to get it. Not for me.’
    ‘Who are you? I’m sorry, but I really don’t know much.’
    ‘Just a soldier. I come from Willdon, about three days’ march from here. Every settlement sends soldiers to act as guards to the scholars, for a while. I’ll be done soon, and then I’ll go back to work in the forests again. It’s too complicated to explain. You’ll know in due course. You’ll know more than me, and I’ll be asking you questions.’
    ‘I doubt it.’
    ‘I doubt you’ll answer.’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘Because you don’t. You people.’
    You people. Jay found it confusing. Until three days ago, someone like the soldier sitting beside him would have been impossibly grand and powerful. Someone Jay would naturally have addressed as ‘sir’, with a bow. Yet here he was, talking almost as though they were equals. Already he could feel an even greater change; but what it meant his young mind could not begin to grasp.
    ‘I’ll answer you. What’s your name?’
    ‘Callan. Son of Perel.’
    ‘Callan Perelson, then. When we meet, whoever I become, you will be my friend, and I will answer your questions.’
    Callan looked touched by this naivety. ‘Thank you. You will forgive me if I say I don’t believe you.’
    ‘No,’ said Jay a little sadly. ‘No, I won’t forgive you.’
    *
    Jay had never seen a town before, and the city of Ossenfud, where the scholars lived, was fairly large. About six thousand souls lived there most of the year, although this number fluctuated according to the seasons. It was settled on a river, and was approached by four roads, one coming from each of the points of the compass. Unusually, outlying buildings were scattered along these roads, up to a mile away from the city proper.
    So many houses, so many people, the clattering of the cart over roads paved with stones, everything made Jay tremble with excitement. Even more alarming was when they stopped outside a vast building of unimaginable magnificence.
    ‘Here we are, then,’ Callan said cheerfully. ‘Home, sweet home. East College, where Scholar Henary is, and where you will be until either you are finished or they throw you out.’
    He eased himself down to the ground and waited. ‘If you think I’m going to carry your bag for you, you’re mistaken,’ he called up.
    Jay searched for the pathetic little sack which contained everything he owned in the world: two shirts, two pairs of trousers, one pair of clogs and one pair of shoes, his pride and joy. Also a piece of carved wood his uncle had once given him. Nothing else. At least the bag was light.
    Then he, too, jumped down and found that Callan was talking to a young man who had stopped to watch. Jay wondered whether it was good manners to go up and join them, and decided to play safe. He listened intently, nonetheless.
    ‘I’m surprised to see you here,’ Callan was saying.
    ‘Oh, domain business. Someone had to come and I offered. A little change, you know.’ He pointed at Jay. ‘What’s that you’ve got there?’
    ‘Henary found him. Asked me to deliver him here.’
    The young man crooked his finger, so Jay obediently approached.
    ‘A find by Scholar Henary? You are a lucky boy. I hope you realise that?’
    He was a tall and finely dressed young man, perhaps ten years or so older than Jay was, but decades away in manner and self-possession. Jay noticed that he talked to the grizzled soldier with familiarity, even amusement, as though he was doing him some sort of favour. Jay was now even more confused.
    ‘Well, I will not keep you. I hope your service will end soon and you will return to your old place, Callan Perelson. Our trees miss you badly.’
    ‘I miss them. I will return soon enough.’
    The young man nodded and walked away. Callan grunted.
    ‘Who was that?’
    ‘The nephew of Lord Thenald. A grand fellow, don’t you think? Actually, not a bad young man, but a little too aware of his name. Still, he has a sense of fairness and decency, which is