Maia (116 page)

After staring at him for a few seconds Kembri said, "Very well, U-Nasada. We'll hear you," and returned his dagger to its sheath.

"Thank you, my lord," replied Nasada. "I greatly appreciate your courtesy."

Kembri nodded to Gel-Ethlin, who went to the door and sent one of the sentries for wine, serrardoes and thrilsa. Meanwhile Nasada, drawing up his stool to the couch, began conversing with the governor, in an unraised but clearly audible voice, about the navigability of the upper Zhairgen where it divided Sarkid from Belishba.

"I've always wanted to visit Sarkid, you know," he said. "Only it's as difficult to find time in Suba as it is here, believe it or not. Donnered, do you think I could get up there by water from Suba in-what? Five or six days? It would be much the easiest way, at my time of life."

Before the wine had been brought he had become the center of a group of four or five men discussing, relaxedly and almost with animation, the entirely unexceptionable subject of travel by river throughout the empire.

"Only it's of interest to me, you see," he said, turning to Kembri with a slight suggestion of self-depreciation. "In Suba we seldom travel in any other way. I often wonder

why I haven't become rheumatic: but it's possible, I suppose, that marsh frogs are immune to rheumatics."

Kembri was obliged either to smile or else to appear churlish, and a minute later himself handed Nasada his wine. The old man drank it slowly, and at a halt in the conversation got up and went over to sit beside Bel-ka-Trazet, with whom he was evidently acquainted. At length, as it became clear that the fear and tension had subsided and the mood of the room had cooled to something at least approaching composure, he returned to his stool and sat down as before, silent but alert.

"Well, Nasada," said Kembri, "let's hear, now, what you have to say."

"My lord," replied the old man, speaking slowly and appearing from time to time to pause to choose his words (Bel-ka-Trazet was not the only man to suspect that his real purpose might be to add weight to what he said and compel the attention of his hearers), "I told you that I wished to speak about Belishba. We each of us see things in the light of our own particular trade, don't we? You see with the eyes of a warrior. To a merchant the thing- whatever it is-appears different, and a farmer sees it in yet another light. I'm a physician-insofar as anyone can be, for the truth is that we really know very little about disease and cure, though one day that may change, I suppose. But, Lord General, being a physician I see your empire as if it were sick, and I don't think anyone could deny that at the moment it is, though we may differ about the cause."

He stopped, looking down at the floor and frowning. "Well, I mustn't stretch the comparison too far. I'm not a general or a statesman, so I'm not an empire-doctor- only a people's doctor. But nonetheless, I'm going to risk telling you something which may seem like impudence. If you'll-er-allow me to imagine for a moment that the empire is a human body, then the place where its illness shows most clearly is Belishba. Not Chalcon, but Belishba."

He seemed now to be waiting to see whether the High Baron or anyone else would interrupt him, but none did. After a few moments he looked up at Kembri, who merely nodded.

"I wonder," he went on almost gropingly, "that's to say-I'm not sure-whether you already know-all of you

what the one thing is which makes people ill more than anything else. You'll tell me the gods inflict illness for their own best reasons, and you're quite right; so they do. They visit illness on people who for one reason or another are thwarting or crossing their divine purposes. I expect you think I mean you, Lord General, but I don't. Not in the least."

By this time he had caught the interest of everyone in the room, and there was silence as he refilled his goblet, took a few sips and cleared his throat.

"What I've learned, after years of experience of sick people, is that the one thing that makes them most likely to get ill-that holds the door open, you might say, for illness to come in-is hopeless frustration. The gods want people, don't they, to be human beings-to work and play and eat and mate and love and hate and all the rest of it? What's called living a natural life. They'll struggle for that. That's to say, when they haven't got what they want they'll struggle for it, because it's the will of the gods that they should. That struggle's healthy-quite often they thrive on it. But when they can't struggle-when struggle's not possible, so that they have to resign themselves and to give in, do without wives or children or money or cows or whatever it is-then they often get ill and in some cases they may even become deranged in one way or another. In other words the chief single cause of illness, in my experience, is hopelessness.

"People will go to almost any lengths to avoid hopelessness, and that's not really surprising, since the gods are telling them to-inwardly, I mean-and threatening them with illness or madness if they won't. I don't know whether you know this, but slaves get ill more than anybody else-much more than free people, even poor ones. The gods make them ill for not being what they want human beings to be; for existing for other people's benefit and not for their own. I'm not talking about slaves like bed-girls, who sometimes quite enjoy it and usually have the hope of buying themselves free. I'm talking about working slaves all over the empire. Their frustration's not so much a question of not getting paid. Quite a lot of free peasants hardly use money, come to that; in Suba it's almost unknown. No, their difficulty is that they're not free to come and go, not free to get married, to leave work or a master they don't like and so on. And that's where Belishba comes in.

"The governor here said just now that Belishba's a ploughman's province. So it is; but also, Lord General, as I'm sure you know, it's the principal province where wealthy Leopards work estates with slave labor. The slave quotas taken from local villages are high, too, and there are two slave-farms where children are being bred for slavery. The gods are continually telling these people in their hearts that if they accept that they have no hope of living naturally they'll become either ill or mad. So of course a lot of them have tried to prevent that by desperate measures. You've got a province full of desperadoes there, terrorizing villages. But Belishba's no more than the biggest abscess. The poison's all through your empire to some extent, I'm afraid."

He stopped, bending his head forward, scratching the back of his scrawny neck and screwing up his face as he did so. The effect was grotesque, but no one laughed. At last he said, "I think that's what this man Erketlis has in mind, really. Abolishing slavery-he doesn't think it's going to make anyone more prosperous. But it
will
mean that people can keep their own children, feel safer in their beds and journey about without having to choose between risking their lives or paying bribes to bandits."

"Isn't it more likely," interposed Durakkon, "that he's just a small baron who's suddenly seen a chance to become powerful and has hit on this idea as a way of gaining support?"

"I wonder, my lord," answered Nasada, "whether you'd forgive me if I leave you for a minute or two?" He smiled wryly at Durakkon. "Old men have to pass water rather more often, I'm afraid." As he stood up Donnered handed him his stick and Eud-Ecachlon opened the door for him.

When he came back he said, "I suppose, my lord, that the time's come for me to admit-and if you don't like it I can only say I'm sorry-that in a way, I'm here as a sort of envoy or emissary or something like that, although it's entirely on my own account, I assure you. Erketlis hasn't sent me and neither has Karnat. I'm just an old Suban medicine-man. They both know I'm here-at least I think they do-but neither of them's told me what to say."

"Then what is it you want?" asked Kembri brusquely. "We've been waiting long enough to hear it."

"Well, I think, to avert bloodshed, really," answered Nasada mildly. "Like Maia, who swam the river, you know;

though I don't look much like her, do I? But I am a doctor, after all, and that's my only excuse. I must admit it's gratifying that my reputation's apparently respectable enough to have got me in here: I never really thought it would. I feel rather out of place and I'm quite ready to go if you want me to."

"But you have some suggestion to make?" asked Du-rakkon.

"Yes; at least, I think I have," said he. "You see, the trouble is that this woman Fornis is back in Dari-Paltesh, and a good many people in Suba think that if you, my lord, get mixed up in a lot of fighting with Erketlis in Yelda and Lapan, she's quite likely to seize the opportunity to march on Bekla. If she and Han-Glat were to do that, Sendekar couldn't possibly stop them, you know-not with the troops he's got now; to say nothing of the state Be-lishba's in."

"For a country doctor, you seem to know a lot about the empire's problems," said Kembri sardonically.

"If you'll allow me to say so, my lord, I think he does," put in Bel-ka-Trazet from his seat in the window. "But what's to be done about them's another matter."

Durakkon inclined his head towards Nasada.

"What
is
to be done?" he asked.

"Well, since you ask me, my lord," replied Nasada, "and I assure you it's
only
because you ask me-I'd say, give Erketlis reliable pledges that you'll abolish the slave-farms and slave quotas step by step during-well, say the next six or seven years; reduce the burden of taxation on the peasants and small landowners, and then invite him to join you in getting Belishba under control and perhaps in superseding Fornis."

"And you're seriously suggesting he'd agree to that, are you?" said Kembri.

"I happen to know it," said Nasada quietly. "I'm not saying anything about the possible long-term consequences for Suba, because I'm really here on Karnat's sufferance; but naturally I'm not unmindful of them."

Before Durakkon could speak again, Kembri had stood up and, gently enough, raised the old man to his feet with an arm under his shoulders. "Well, you won't be expecting an answer to all that this afternoon," he said. "You'd better leave us to think about it. I'll call my aide to escort you to your quarters."

"D'you know you've fair took my breath away?" said Maia. "I reckoned you'd jump down my throat and call me all manner of fool, that I did."

"Well, of course it's lunatic," answered Occula, "and damn' dangerous, too. But how can I tell you to drop it when it's no crazier than what I'm tryin' to do myself? If you love this Katrian boy, then you love him and that's all there is to it. Anyway, by all I ever heard of Katrians he might do you a lot better than any of these miserable Beklans-that's if you ever get him back, and if he's still of the same mind, which doesn' seem very likely, does it? No, I'm not really worried about you fallin' in love with a Katrian-or a Suban, or a bastin' Deelguy if you want to. What's worryin' me is whether you can survive this mess you've got yourself into. You'd say I'm tough and cunnin', wouldn' you? No one could say I'm not, actually. And even I nearly came unstuck over Sencho. In fact I
would
have come unstuck-dead and gone by now-if you hadn' saved me and got me in here. But
you!
Well, you're not silly, banzi, I know, but you're no match for Fornis, are you? What the bastin' hell d'you think
your
chances are of reachin' Dari-Paltesh and gettin' this man out? The whole place is in the hands of Fornis, for a start, and doesn' she just about love you?"

They were sitting in the cool air of the roof of the Sacred Queen's house. It was nearly two hours after sunset and the lower city, spread out below the Peacock Wall, was everywhere dotted with points of lamplight. The half-mile length of the Sheldad, where it ran from the Caravan Market to the western quarter, showed as a bright line, while beyond lay the similar but longer, more irregular line formed by Masons Street, the Kharjiz and the Khalkoomil. The five towers stood black against the deep blue of the night sky, and above all shone the cool, still radiance of the comet. Vigilant it seemed to Maia, like a silent, heedful judge presiding over the contention of a court-room. Suddenly the imposing, stone-built city appeared to her as nothing more than an anthill of scurrying midgets, meanly self-absorbed and pitifully unconscious of their own triviality, the brief duration of their lives and the committed watchfulness of the su-

pernal powers. They would all die: they were all answerable. She, too: for her life, for her love. Reaching out, she caught Occula's hand in her own.

"Sorry, banzi," said the black girl, returning squeeze for squeeze, "have I put the wind up you? Well, could be all for the best-"

"No, 'twasn't you, dear," replied Maia. "Well, I mean, yes, 'course I'm scared, but I feel I've just got to go on and that's all there is to it: else there's no sense in anything."

"But how the hell are you goin' to set about it, banzi? Have you really thought seriously? I doan' like it one little bit-not on your own. You'll come unstuck fpr sure."

"Well, I was hoping as you might come with me, Occula. If we could only get to Paltesh together, I might help you to kill Fornis and you could help me to get Zenka out."

A flock of wild duck flew over the roof in their usual arrow-head formation, calling together as they disappeared into the darkness.

"Be all right if we could pop down to Baltesh like that, wouldn' it?" said Occula. "Peck her bastin' green eyes out and back for breakfast. No, I'm sorry, banzi, it woan' do: I only wish it would. You see, everythin' in my little game depends on keepin' Fornis's favor and confidence. If I went to Paltesh, I'd have disobeyed her-anyway, I'm a slave, remember?-and I'd almost certainly have given the game away, too."

Maia was about to answer when suddenly the black girl burst out, "Cran and Airtha, you doan' know the half of it! My life's hangin' on a thread-the thread of her whims and her filthy, beastly wants! You realize, doan' you, that that's all that saved you and me after old Piggy was done in? Shall I tell you somethin' else? What you saw-she does that because
she prefers
it. She doesn'
want
men; she wants that! All that stuff about never havin' a lover because she knew she was the Sacred Queen and the bride of Cran- that's all my venda! And another thing; do you know she's more than once had girls put to death when she'd lost interest in them?"

"Ah, she told me that herself," said Maia.

"Ashaktis told
me,
to try and frighten me: and I woan' say she didn', either, but I wasn' goin' to show it. You may have noticed that the little boys aren' here any more."

"I thought she must have taken them with her," said Maia.

"Oh, no," said Occula. "Just get some more when she comes back."

"You mean they've been sold off?"

"No;
not
sold off," said Occula. "Children talk, you know. But those ones woan'." She paused. "I sometimes think I'll go mad! She's the most cruel, wicked woman in the world. But I'll get her, doan' you worry. When the time comes, Kantza-Merada will tell me what to do. But I'm sorry, banzi, I'm afraid it woan' be at Paltesh."

For a time neither girl said more. The big summer stars moved slowly on the sky-Clypsil, Pildinakis and the constellation of the Otter, which Maia remembered old Drigga teaching her how to recognize when she was still a little girl. From the two clock towers the lamps shone out for the hour. A tryzatt carrying a torch came along the wall, changed the sentries and returned the way he had come.

"If you must go, why doan' you take Nennaunir and young Sednil?" asked Occula suddenly. "I know you couldn' pay Nennaunir a fraction of what she's makin' here in Bekla, but you did her such a good turn by gettin' Sednil freed that she probably wouldn' mind-that's to say, long as it didn' take more than a few weeks. They're both Pal-teshis, aren' they? That could be a big help."

"It might have been a good idea," answered Maia.

"But-?"

"There's only one thing wrong with it-"

"Oh, Cran! Doan' tell me!" said Occula instantly. "You mean somethin' about seven inches long, pointin' the wrong direction?"

"Well, yes."

"Bloody, bastin' men!" said Occula angrily. "Always spoilin' everythin' with their stupid-"

"Oh, Occula, that's nothing!" interrupted Maia. "I haven't told you yet about Eud-Ecachlon. And this really is frightening me. You remember I told you how Kembri came to my house while Nan and Otavis were there, and how he sent them away; and then he said that if I didn't want to be misunderstood I ought to find myself a rich, noble husband-"

"Yes, of course I remember. Go on." Occula spoke in a tone of tension and alarm. "What about it?"

"Well, soon after that Eud-Ecachlon came to see me, and asked me to marry him. He said his father was near to die and he'd soon be High Baron of Urtah."

"What did you say?"

"I asked him to give me time to think it over, and that night I got so frightened I decided the next day I'd tell him yes: but then Sednil came back that very morning and told me Zenka was a prisoner at Dari."

"So what happened then?"

"Eud-Ecachlon came back and I refused him."

"Banzi, do you realize- Who's that?" Occula turned quickly towards the stair-head on the opposite side of the flat roof.

"It's I," replied Zuno's smooth, controlled voice. "Occula, I've just learned some news which I think you ought to hear at once: Maia too."

He groped his way across the roof-top, his eyes not yet adapted to the darkness.

"Lalloc learned this an hour ago by a messenger from one of his overseers near Dari. I happened to be down at Lalloc's when the man came in. Apparently Fornis has gone through a ceremony of marriage with Han-Glat. They've raised a force-the man couldn't say how large, but the nucleus, of course, is Palteshi. However, it seems they've been joined by a sizeable group of escaped slaves from Belishba, and the whole lot have already set out for Bekla. Sendekar tried to put some sort of opposition in their way, but he's hopelessly over-extended, of course, and they brushed it aside quite easily. This man said Fornis had given out that since Elvair-ka-Virrion had shown himself incapable of defending Bekla against Erketlis, she meant to do it herself."

"Let her come!" said Occula. "I'm ready! But banzi, listen to me. In all seriousness, and as the best friend you've got, I honestly think that the only place for you now is Quiso. You can claim the sacred sanctuary for six months, you know-if only you can get there."

Maia seemed hardly to have heard her. While Zuno was speaking she had listened to him intently. Now she asked, "The prisoners-the prisoners in the fortress-what's happened to them? Did Lalloc's man say?"

"Yes, he did," replied Zuno. "Fornis and Han-Glat have got all the officers and some of the tryzatts with them as hostages, to make sure that they're not attacked by Karnat in the rear. What's more, it seems that when Durakkon's younger son, who was second-in-command at the fortress, tried to stop them, they took him as a hostage, too. It's

well-known, of course, how fond Durakkon's always been of the boy."

"So Zenka's in the hands of Fornis!" said Maia. "Quiso be damned! I'm staying here till she comes."

Walking away to the further end of the roof, she stood gazing at the comet, arms raised and palms outward. They could hear her sobbing as she prayed.

"Whether Bel-ka-Trazet's right or wrong about Ortelga and the Deelguy," said Kembri, "-and he may very well be right-one thing's certain: we can't
compel
him to take command of an army."

"I wonder he didn't accept it, though," said Eud-Ecach-lon (well aware that it was not going to be offered to himself). "Defeat Erketlis? He'd be celebrated throughout the empire and I suppose he'd come by a fortune as well, wouldn't he?"

"Certainly;
if he
beat him," answered Kembri, "but he doesn't want to run the risk, that's the size of it. I wonder what he knows that we don't. He said he was loyal to Bekla and so he is, I've never doubted-to
Bekla.
But the truth is, it doesn't make much difference to him or to Ortelga who actually rules here. He's High Baron of that lump of mud in the Telthearna, and he means to hold on to what he can feel sure of. Which is more than we may be able to do, my lord, I dare say," he said, turning to Durakkon, "as things are going at the moment."

Durakkon had been staring out the window. The face he now turned towards the Lord General resembled that of some weary, aging vagabond overtaken by storm and nightfall. It was not apparent whether he had heard what Kembri had said. He nodded, looking at him vacantly for a few moments; then said "Yes, yes, of course," and for a moment buried his face in his hands.

The three were alone together. The High Baron was dressed in a plain gray robe, with no adornment except the Leopard cognizance on a gold chain round his neck. During the last day or two, after learning the news of Fornis's advance with the hostages from Dan, he seemed to have aged ten years. Since the meeting at which Nasada had spoken he had made, in effect, no contribution to public business. To the provincial governors he had spoken no more than courtesy required, and that listlessly and

with an air of indifference to their replies. Despite the personal grief and anxiety which they had in common Kem-bri, who was naturally courageous and stimulated to action by danger and adversity, had found his patience with the High Baron wearing even thinner than usual. Now, by way of emphasis and of rousing him from his dismal preoccupation, he let his fist fall on the table.

"The
vital
thing," he said, "which we've got to do as quickly as possible, is to defeat Erketlis before he can raise the whole of the south against us. Everything else is secondary-even Bekla itself. For that reason, my lord, I'm going to Lapan at once, to take over the command of the army in person. I shall come back, of course, as soon as possible; that's to say, as soon as Erketlis is dead or no longer a threat."

Durakkon nodded, and Kembri turned back to Eud-Ecachlon.

"There'll be a temptation-" (he did not say to whom) "there'll be a strong temptation, as you'll realize, to retain here the reinforcements coming in from the various provinces, and use them against Fornis. I'm giving you the task of assembling and arming those reinforcements as soon as they arrive, and getting them down to Lapan as fast as possible. Do it efficiently, Eud-Ecachlon, and you won't be a loser by it, I promise you."

"But-er-Fornis?" asked Eud-Ecachlon.

"Fornis and Han-Glat; yes. Now understand this. It's only necessary to hold Fornis up long enough to allow our reinforcements from the provinces to be sent down to me in Lapan. But those four thousand men I've got to have, do you understand?"

Eud-Ecachlon nodded. "But then, what about Bekla?"

"I'm leaving enough regular troops-not many, but they should be enough-to hold Fornis up for about two weeks."

"And after that?"

"You'll occupy the citadel and hold it against Fornis when she takes the city. Once Erketlis is out of the way I shall return immediately and deal with her. She'll be hopelessly outnumbered; she won't have a chance. Anyone but a power-crazy woman would have seen that from the beginning."

Durakkon, who had been tracing patterns with his finger on the table, looked up, unexpectedly alert for a moment.

"Lord General, who have you in mind to command this remnant force which is to delay Fornis?"

"If the plans I've explained have your approval, my lord, as I hope they have, I think it important that you should command it yourself. It'll make all the difference if the men know that the High Baron is leading them in person. I certainly wouldn't ask you to undertake a full campaign at your time of life, but as things are you won't be long in the field: two weeks at the most. Then you'll fall back on the citadel."

"I would prefer not, Lord General."

"My lord, there is no one else of sufficient prestige and standing to put heart into the men."

Durakkon raised his gray, haggard face and stared at Kembri. He had seen less desperate looks, thought the Lord General, on scaffolds.

"You had better understand me, Lord General. I have no objection either to fighting our enemies or to dying in battle. But among those in the hands of that evil woman is my son-"