Four Horses For Tishtry by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

don’t race, I just drive and ride.”
    “And perhaps you might fall, or you might do a trick they haven’t seen before,” Atadillius suggested. “Have a care, girl. Your sister would never pardon me if I let you be hurt here.”
    Tishtry tossed her head, more nervous than ever. “What has my sister to do with this?” Her interest was piqued by this turn of their conversation, but her apprehension kept herfrom asking anything more.
    “Go ride. Then have her explain it to you.” With that, Atadillius strode abruptly away.
    * * *
    Just before the Gates of Life were opened, Tishtry got into her chariot and tried to whisper a few reassurances to her team, but gave up when she found herself almost shouting to be heard. She tried to calm herself, afraid that her nervousness would communicate itself to her horses, and they would be more keyed up than they were already. She forced herself to take a few deep breaths and be calm. “It’s just like home,” she said to herself. “This crowd is no different from the horse breeders and wine makers. There’s just more of them.” She cleared her throat, surprised at how tight it had become.
    Thebrazen hoots of the hydraulic organ ended and the aurigatore standing at the heads of her teamsignaled her as the Gates of Life swung open.
    Tishtry gathered up the traces and stretched her mouth into a smile as she sent her horses hurtling out onto the sands.
    A sound between a buzz and a roar greeted her appearance, and Tishtry watched her teams’ ears turn back. She felt her hands shaking and she forced them to be still. It was bad enough to have her team so upset, but for her to be as distressed as they went beyond anything she could accept. She set her jaw and put her mind on her tricks.
    Her first vault onto Dozei’s back brought applause, and this startled her so much she almost lost her footing. She did her best to turn her near—stumble into a kind of jig, and kept up this impromptu little dance for one whole circuit of the arena. She discovered that this was soothing to her, making her less distracted by the noise around her. She nodded once to herself and put her mind on her next trick. The noise around her became less demanding, and shedecided that she could continue her ride without too much difficulty. Shestarted her bounce from horse to horse and felt a certain satisfaction that this time the enthusiasm of the crowd did not shatter her concentration.
    On Atadillius’ suggestion, Tishtry kept her first appearance brief, doing only those tricks she had the greatest experience performing. Herconfidence improved, and the crowd loved it.
    In less than a week, she and her team were back on the sands once more. This time she did a few more of her tricks, but not her handstand. She argued with Atadillius about it, but he remained firm.
    “Your horses are still skittish from the noise, you can’t deny that,” he reminded her.“And that would mean you might do badly. Not doing a trick at all is better than doing it badly. You have all summer to get ready for it. By fall, you will have a routine twice as long as the one you do now, and the sweetenings the editor pays you will more than double. Everyone will think that you are improving before their eyes—which you are, but not the way they will assume—and that will increase the fee paid for your performances.”
    That last was powerfully persuasive, since the sweetenings and the small portion that was her share of the performance feeswould go toward buying her family’s freedom. Tishtry was quite pleased to have amassed a pouchful of silver denarii and an assortment of copper coins, someRoman, some Greek. “How much more?”
    “Double,” he said confidently. “If your reputation spreads, possibly more.”
    Tishtry laughed. “My reputation?”
    “You’re getting one. Now is the time you must have a care. I’ll tell Barantosz, so he’ll take extra care of you.”
    “Very well.” Tishtry chuckled, convinced that