Blind Assassin (85 page)

Come back to bed.

But she’s looked in the mirror over the sink, she’s seen herself. Her nude face, her rummaged hair. She checks her gold watch. God, what a wreck, she says. I’ve got to go.

The Mail and Empire, December 15, 1934

Army Quells Strike Violence

PORT TICONDEROGA, ONT.

Fresh violence broke out yesterday in Port Ticonderoga, a continuation of the week’s turmoil in connection with the closure, strike and lockout at Chase and Sons Industries Ltd. Police forces proving outnumbered and reinforcements having been requested by the provincial legislature, the Prime Minister authorized intervention in the interests of public safety by a detachment of the Royal Canadian Regiment, which arrived at two o’clock in the afternoon. The situation has now been declared stable.

Prior to order being restored, a meeting of strikers ran out of control. Shop windows were broken all along the town’s main street, with extensive looting. Several shop owners attempting to defend their property are in hospital recovering from contusions. One policeman is said to be in grave danger from concussion, having been struck on the head by a brick. A fire that broke out in Factory One during the early hours, but which was subdued by the town’s firefighters, is being investigated, and arson is suspected. The night watchman, Mr. Al Davidson, was dragged to safety out of the path of the flames, but was found to have died due to a blow on the head and smoke inhalation. The perpetrators of this outrage are being sought, with several suspects already identified.

The editor of the Port Ticonderoga newspaper, Mr. Elwood R. Murray, stated that the trouble had been caused by liquor introduced into the crowd by several outside agitators. He claimed that the local workmen were law-abiding and would not have rioted unless provoked.

Mr. Norval Chase, President of Chase and Sons Industries, was unavailable for comment.

The Blind Assassin: Horses of the night

A different house this week, a different room. At least there’s space to turn around between door and bed. The curtains are Mexican, striped in yellow and blue and red; the bed has a bird’s-eye maple headboard; there’s a Hudson’s Bay blanket, crimson and scratchy, that’s been tossed onto the floor. A Spanish bullfight poster on the wall. An armchair, maroon leather; a desk, fumed oak; a jar with pencils, all neatly sharpened; a rack of pipes. Tobacco particulate thickens the air.

A shelf of books: Auden, Veblen, Spengler, Steinbeck, Dos Passos.
Tropic of Cancer,
out in plain view, it must have been smuggled.
Salammbô, Strange Fugitive, Twilight of the Idols, A Farewell to Arms.
Barbusse, Montherlant.
Hammurabis Gesetz: Juristische Erlaüterung.
This new friend has intellectual interests, she thinks. Also more money. Therefore less trustworthy. He has three different hats topping his bentwood coat stand, as well as a plaid dressing gown, pure cashmere.

Have you read any of these books? she’d asked, after they’d come in and he’d locked the door. While she was taking off her hat and gloves.

Some, he said. He didn’t elaborate. Turn your head. He untangled a leaf from her hair.

Already they’re falling.

She wonders if the friend knows. Not just that there’s a woman—they’ll have something worked out between them so the friend won’t barge in, men do that—but who she is. Her name and so on. She hopes not. She can tell by the books, and especially by the bullfight poster, that this friend would be hostile to her on principle.

Today he’d been less impetuous, more pensive. He’d wanted to linger, to hold back. To scrutinize.

Why are you looking at me like that?

I’m memorizing you.

Why? she said, putting her hand over his eyes. She didn’t like being examined like that. Fingered.

To have you later, he said. Once I’ve gone.

Don’t. Don’t spoil today.

Make hay while the sun shines, he said. That your motto?

More like waste not, want not, she said. He’d laughed then.

Now she’s wound herself in the sheet, tucked it across her breasts; she lies against him, legs hidden in a long sinuous fishtail of white cotton. He has his hands behind his head; he’s gazing up at the ceiling. She feeds him sips of her drink, rye and water this time. Cheaper than scotch. She’s been meaning to bring something decent of her own—something drinkable—but so far she’s forgotten.

Go on, she says.

I have to be inspired, he says.

What can I do to inspire you? I don’t have to be back till five.

I’ll take a rain check on the real inspiration, he says. I have to build up my strength. Give me half an hour.

O lente, lente currite noctis equi!

What?

Run slowly, slowly, horses of the night. It’s from Ovid, she says. In Latin the line goes at a slow gallop. That was clumsy, he’ll think she’s showing off. She can never tell what he may or may not recognize. Sometimes he pretends not to know a thing, and then after she’s explained it he reveals that he does know it, he knew it all along. He draws her out, then chokes her off.

You’re an odd duck, he says. Why are they the horses of the night?

They pull Time’s chariot. He’s with his mistress. It means he wants the night to stretch out, so he can spend more time with her.

What for? he says lazily. Five minutes not enough for him? Nothing better to do?

She sits up. Are you tired? Am I boring you? Should I leave?

Lie down again. You ain’t goin’ nowheres.

She wishes he wouldn’t do that—talk like a movie cowboy. He does it to put her at a disadvantage. Nevertheless, she stretches out, slides her arm across him.

Put your hand here, ma’am. That’ll do fine. He closes his eyes. Mistress, he says. What a quaint term. Mid-Victorian. I should be kissing your dainty shoe, or plying you with chocolates.

Maybe I am quaint. Maybe I’m mid-Victorian.
Lover,
then. Or
piece of tail.
Is that more forward-looking? More even-steven for you?

Sure. But I think I prefer
mistress.
Because things ain’t even-steven, are they?

No, she says. They’re not. Anyway, go on.

He says: As night falls, the People of Joy have encamped a day’s march from the city. Female slaves, captives from previous conquests, pour out the scarlet
hrang
from the skin bottles in which it is fermented, and cringe and stoop and serve, carrying bowls of gristly, undercooked stew made from rustled
thulks.
The official wives sit in the shadows, eyes bright in the dark ovals of their head-scarves, watching for impertinences. They know they’ll sleep alone tonight, but they can whip the captured girls later for clumsiness or disrespect, and they will.

The men crouch around their small fires, wrapped in their leather cloaks, eating their suppers, muttering among themselves. Their mood is not jovial. Tomorrow, or the day after that—depending on their speed and on the watchfulness of the enemy—they will have to fight, and this time they may not win. True, the fiery-eyed messenger who spoke to the Fist of the Invincible One promised they will be given victory if they continue to be pious and obedient and brave and cunning, but there are always so many ifs in these matters.

If they lose, they’ll be killed, and their women and children as well. They’re not expecting mercy. If they win, they themselves must do the killing, which isn’t always so enjoyable as is sometimes believed. They must kill everyone in the city: these are the instructions. No boy child is to be left alive, to grow up lusting to revenge his slaughtered father; no girl child, to corrupt the People of Joy with her depraved ways. From cities conquered earlier they’ve kept back the young girls and doled them out among the soldiers, one or two or three each according to prowess and merit, but the divine messenger has now said that enough is enough.

All this killing will be tiring, and also noisy. Killing on such a grand scale is very strenuous, also polluting, and must be done thoroughly or else the People of Joy will be in bad trouble. The All-Powerful One has a way of insisting on the letter of the law.

Their horses are tethered apart. They are few in number, and ridden only by the chief men—slender, skittish horses, with hardened mouths and long woebegone faces and tender, cowardly eyes. None of this is their fault: they were dragged into it.

If you own a horse you are permitted to kick and beat it, but not to kill it and eat it, because long ago a messenger of the All-Powerful One appeared in the form of the first horse. The horses remember this, it is said, and are proud of it. It is why they allow only the leaders to ride them. Or that is the reason given.

Mayfair, May 1935

Toronto High Noon Gossip

BY YORK

Spring made a frolicsome entrance this April, heralded by a veritable cavalcade of chauffeured limousines as eminent guests flocked to one of the most interesting receptions of the season, the charming April 6th affair given at her imposing Tudor-beamed Rosedale residence by Mrs. Winifred Griffen Prior, in honour of Miss Iris Chase of Port Ticonderoga, Ontario. Miss Chase is the daughter of Captain Norval Chase, and the grand-daughter of the late Mrs. Benjamin Montfort Chase, of Montreal. She is to wed Mrs. Griffen Prior’s brother, Mr. Richard Griffen, long considered one of the most eligible bachelors of this province, at a brilliant May wedding which promises to be among the not-to-be-missed events on the bridal calendar.

Last season’s “Debs” and their mothers were eager to cast eyes on the youthful bride-to-be, who was fetching in a demure Schiaparelli creation of blistered bisque crepe, with slim-cut skirt and peplum, trimmed with accents of black velvet and jet. Against a setting of white narcissi, white trellis-work bowers, and lighted tapers in silver sconces festooned with bunches of faux black Muscadine grapes bedecked with spiralling silver ribbon, Mrs. Prior received in a gracious Chanel gown of ashes-of-roses with a draped skirt, its bodice ornamented with discreet seed pearls. Miss Chase’s sister and bridesmaid, Miss Laura Chase, in leaf-green velveteen with watermelon satin accents, was also in attendance.

Among the distinguished crowd were the Lieutenant-Governor and his wife, Mrs. Herbert A. Bruce, Col. and Mrs. R.Y. Eaton and their daughter Miss Margaret Eaton, the Hon. W.D. and Mrs. Ross and their daughters Miss Susan Ross and Miss Isobel Ross, Mrs. A.L. Ellsworth and her two daughters, Mrs. Beverley Balmer and Miss Elaine Ellsworth, Miss Jocelyn Boone and Miss Daphne Boone, and Mr. and Mrs. Grant Pepler.

The Blind Assassin: The bronze bell

It’s midnight. In the city of Sakiel-Norn, a single bronze bell tolls to mark the moment when the Broken God, nightly avatar of the God of Three Suns, reaches the lowermost point of his descent into the darkness and after a ferocious combat is torn apart by the Lord of the Underworld and his band of dead warriors who live down there. He will be gathered together by the Goddess, brought back to life, and nursed to renewed health and vigour, and will emerge at dawn as usual, regenerated, filled with light.

Although the Broken God is a popular figure, nobody in the city really believes this tale about him any more. Still, the women in each household make his image out of clay and the men smash him to pieces on the darkest night of the year, and then the women make a new image of him the next day. For the children, there are small gods of sweetened bread for them to eat; for the children with their greedy little mouths represent the future, which like time itself will devour all now alive.

The King sits alone in the highest tower of his lavish palace, from which he is observing the stars and interpreting the omens and auguries for the next week. He has laid aside his woven platinum face mask, as there is no one present from whom he needs to conceal his emotions: he may smile and frown at will, just like any common Ygnirod. It’s such a relief.

Right now he’s smiling, a pensive smile: he’s considering his latest amour, with the plump wife of a minor civil servant. She’s stupid as a
thulk,
but she has a soft dense mouth like a waterlogged velvet cushion and tapered fingers deft as fish, and sly narrow eyes, and an educated knack. However, she’s becoming too demanding, and also indiscreet. She’s been nagging at him to compose a poem to the nape of her neck, or to some other part of her anatomy, as is the practice among the more foppish of the court lovers, but his talents do not lie in that direction. Why are women such trophy-hunters, why do they want mementoes? Or does she wish him to make a fool of himself, as a demonstration of her power?

A shame, but he’ll have to get rid of her. He’ll ruin her husband financially—do him the honour of dining at his house, with all of his most trusted courtiers, until the poor idiot’s resources are exhausted. Then the woman will be sold into slavery to pay the debt. It might even do her good—firm up her muscles. It’s a definite pleasure to imagine her minus her veil, her face bared to every passing stare, toting her new mistress’s footstool or pet blue-billed
wibular
and scowling all the way. He could always have her assassinated, but that seems a little harsh: all she’s really guilty of is a lust for bad poetry. He’s not a tyrant.

A disembowelled
oorm
lies before him. Idly he pokes at the feathers. He doesn’t care about the stars—he no longer believes all that gibberish—but he will have to squint at them for a while anyway and come up with some pronouncement. The multiplying of wealth and a bountiful harvest should do the trick in the short run, and people always forget about prophecies unless they come true.

He wonders whether there’s any validity to the information he’s received, from a reliable private source—his barber—that there is yet another plot being hatched against him. Will he have to make arrests again, resort to torture and executions? No doubt. Perceived softness is as bad for public order as actual softness. A tight grip on the reins is desirable. If heads must roll, his will not be among them. He will be forced to act, to protect himself; yet he feels a strange inertia. Running a kingdom is a constant strain: if he relaxes his guard, even for a moment, they’ll be on him, whoever they are.

Off to the north he thinks he sees a flickering, as if something is on fire there, but then it’s gone. Lightning, perhaps. He passes his hand over his eyes.

I feel sorry for him. I think he’s only doing the best he can.

I think we need another drink. How about it?

I bet you’re going to kill him off. You have that glint.

In all justice he’d deserve it. I think he’s a bastard, myself. But kings have to be, don’t they? Survival of the fittest and so forth. Weak to the wall.

You don’t really believe that.

Is there another? Squeeze the bottle, will you? Because really I’m very thirsty.

I’ll see. She gets up, trailing the sheet. The bottle is on the desk. No need to wrap up, he says. I enjoy the view.

She looks back at him over her shoulder. She says: It adds mystery. Toss over your glass. I wish you’d stop buying this rotgut.

It’s all I can afford. Anyway I’ve got no taste. It’s because I’m an orphan. The Presbyterians ruined me, in the orphanage. It’s why I’m so gloomy and dismal.

Don’t play that grubby old orphan card. My heart does not bleed.

It does, though, he says. I count on it. Apart from your legs and your very fine ass, that’s what I admire most about you—the bloodiness of your heart.

It’s not my heart that’s bloody, it’s my mind. I’m bloody-minded. Or so I’ve been told.

He laughs. Here’s to your bloody mind then. Down the hatch.

She drinks, makes a face.

Comes out the same as it goes in, he says cheerfully. Speaking of which, I have to see a man about a dog. He gets up, goes to the window, raises the sash a little.

You can’t do that!

It’s a side driveway. I won’t hit anyone.

At least keep behind the curtain! What about me?

What about you? You’ve seen a naked man before. You don’t always close your eyes.

I don’t mean that, I mean I can’t pee out a window. I’ll burst.

My pal’s dressing gown, he says. See it? That plaid thing on the stand. Just check to make sure the hall’s clear. The landlady’s a nosy old bitch, but as long as you’re wearing plaid she won’t see you. You’ll blend in—this dump is plaid to the core.

Well then, he says. Where was I?

It’s midnight, she says. A single bronze bell tolls.

Oh yes. It’s midnight. A single bronze bell tolls. As the sound dies away, the blind assassin turns the key in the door. His heart is beating hard, as it always does at such moments: moments of considerable danger to himself. If he is caught, the death that will be prepared for him will be prolonged and painful,

He feels nothing about the death he is about to inflict, nor does he care to know the reasons for it. Who is to be assassinated and why is the business of the rich and powerful, and he hates them all equally. They are the ones who took away his eyesight and forced themselves into his body by the dozens when he was too young to do anything about it, and he would welcome the chance to butcher every single one of them—them, and anyone involved in their doings, as this girl is. It means nothing to him that she’s little more than a decorated and bejewelled prisoner. It means nothing to him that the same people who have made him blind have made her mute. He’ll do his job and take his pay and that will be the end of it.

In any case she’ll be killed tomorrow if he doesn’t kill her himself tonight, and he’ll be quicker and not nearly so clumsy. He’s doing her a favour. There have been too many blundered sacrifices. None of these kings is any good with a knife.

He hopes she won’t make too much fuss. He’s been told she can’t scream: about the loudest sound she can make, with her tongueless, wounded mouth, is a high, stifled mewing, like a cat in a sack. That’s fine. Nevertheless he’ll take precautions.

He drags the corpse of the sentry inside the room so no one will stumble across it in the corridor. Then he moves inside as well, soundless in his bare feet, and locks the door.