Sparkers by Eleanor Glewwe

Author:Eleanor Glewwe
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group, USA
Published: 2014-09-09T16:00:00+00:00

16

At the Ikhad on Tenthday, I jostle my way to the book stall and greet Tsipporah.

“Marah!” she exclaims, breaking into a smile of relief. “I was beginning to worry.” An impish light appears in her green eyes. “Forgot about me, did you? How do you expect to keep a job when you go three weeks without showing yourself?”

“Tsipporah,” I say, “Caleb’s ill.”

At once, her lined face looks much older. “The dark eyes?” she says.

I nod. Before she can say anything else, I draw the translated list from my cloak pocket and hand it to her. “Do you know where I can find these ingredients? Especially the cub’s foot, the oxalis tubers, and the perilla oil?”

Tsipporah squints at the page, wisps of her silvery hair rippling in the wind. A look of wary surprise spreads across her face. “Oxalis tubers were cultivated in this region before the cold times, but they can’t be grown this far north anymore,” she says. “And cub’s foot is contraband. It’s considered dangerous.”

“Does that mean they’re impossible to come by in Ashara?” I ask, my heart sinking.

“I didn’t say that,” Tsipporah says with a hint of a grin. “Does this have something to do with the Hagramet grammar you were asking about last time?”

I hesitate, then nod. “I’ve met someone who has another Hagramet book,” I explain, keeping my voice low.

“Really?” she says. “I’d like to see it.”

“There’s something in that book I think might help Caleb get well,” I say. “That’s why I need to find these ingredients.”

Her gaze is searching. I can’t tell if she thinks this is a futile pursuit.

“You asked me where that grammar came from,” she says at last. “Where I found it, you can find what you need. It’s a place where many strange goods are sold.”

“We also need to translate a few more words of Hagramet.”

“Who’s we?”

“Me and my friend. The one with the book.”

“Well,” she says, “it just so happens I know someone who reads Hagramet. He was the one who told me what I had when that grammar of yours fell into my hands.”

I feel a surge of hope. “When can you take us, Tsipporah?”

She considers. “Tomorrow night? It must be at night, Marah. It isn’t the safest of places.”

“It’s not?” Wouldn’t it be better to go in daylight, then? Though I suppose if cub’s foot is contraband, there must be an element of evading the authorities involved.

“Oh, you’ll be fine with me,” Tsipporah says, waving her hand as though batting away invisible worries. “But best not tell anyone where you’re going. And you’ll need money to pay the vendors.”

We’ll figure out the money somehow. I think for a moment. My Qirakh audition is tomorrow. After that, there will be nothing left to worry about but the cure. “Tomorrow night’s perfect.”

“Meet me here after dark,” Tsipporah says. “And bring a lantern.”

“My thanks, Tsipporah.” Standing on the cobblestones beneath the Ikhad roof, I feel something stir in my chest. If it weren’t for the books between us, I would throw my arms around her.

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