Shardik (69 page)

‘The worst,’ replied Kelderek. ‘I want only to save my life and the priestess’s - by helping you, perhaps.’ ‘How?*

‘That’s for you to say. I’ve been assured of death if I fall into the hands of the Yeldashay army a second time. So if Santil accepts
Bel
-ka-
Trazet
‘s offer and sends troops to Zeray, it’s likely to turn out badly for me unless you can persuade them to give me a safe-conduct out of here. That’s the bargain I’m hoping to drive with you.’

Farrass, chin on hand, looked at the floor, frowning and pondering, and again it was Thrild who spoke.

‘You mustn’t over-estimate us. The Baron had some authority when he was alive, but without him we’ve less and less. We’re safe ourselves for the time being and that’s about as far as it goes. It’s
little
regard
the
Yeldashay
would be likely to have for any request we made of them.’

‘You’ve already done us a good turn,’ said Farrass, ‘by bringing news that Santil
‘s at Kabin. Did you hear whethe
r he ever received the Baron’s message?’

‘No. But if he thinks that there are fugitive slave-traders this side of the Vrako it’s quite possible that Yeldashay troops have already crossed it. Whether or not, I think you should send him another messenger at once, and at all costs try to hold things together here until you get an answer.’

‘If he’s at Kabin,’ replied Farrass, ‘our best hope, though it may not be yours, will be to go there ourselves, with
Melathys
, and ask him to let us go on to Ikat.’

‘Farrass here never really believed in the scheme for Santil to come and take Zeray,’ said Thrild. ‘Now
the
Baron’s dead I agree with him. The Baron would have had the place ready to offer - we haven’t. We’d do better to get out now and go and meet the Ikats at Kabin. You must understand our position.
We
don’t pretend to keep law and order. A man in
Zeray
is free to murder and steal as long as he doesn’t become so dangerous that it’s safer for us to kill him than let him alone. All but a few of the men in this place have committed some serious crime. If they were to learn
that
we’d invited Ikat soldiers to come and take the town, they’d up and go for us like cornered rats. It’s not worth our while to try to carry on with the Baron’s plan.’

‘But there’s no wealth in Zeray. Why do they kill and steal here?’

Thrild threw up his hands. ‘Why? For food, what else? In Zeray, men starve. The Baron once hanged two Dcelguy for killing and eating a child. In Zeray, men eat caterpillars - dig mud-skapas out of
the
river to boil for soup. Do you know the gylon?’

‘The glass-fly? Yes. I grew up on the
Telthearna
, you know.’

‘Here, at midsummer, the swarms cover the river inshore. People scoop them up in handfuls and eat them
thank
fully.’

‘It’s only because those
of us who supported the Baron know that we must either keep together or die,’ said Farrass, ‘that none of us has so far tried to take his woman. A quarrel amongst ourselves would mean the end of all of us. But that can’t last. Someone’s bound to try soon. She’s pretty.’

Kelderek
shrugged his shoulders, keeping his face expressionless.

‘I suppose she can choose for herself when she’s ready?’

‘Not in Zeray. But anyway that problem’s solved now. We must set off for Kabin and she’ll come with us, no doubt. Your Ortelgan priestess too, if she wants to live.’

‘How soon? She’s in a high fever.’

‘Then we can’t wait for her,’ said Thrild.

‘I’l
l take her north when she recovers,’ said
Kelderek
. ‘I’ve told you why it’s impossible for me to go to Kabin, either now or later.’

‘If you went north you’d wander until you were killed. You’d never get through the gap at Linsho.’

‘You said I’d brought you good news. Isn’t there anything you can do to help me?’

‘Not by staying here. If the Ikats will listen to us, we’ll try to persuade them to send for your Ortelgan priestess, and you can try your luck with them when they come. What more do you expect? This is Zeray.’

45
In
Zeray

‘The damned cowards,’ said Melathys, ‘and the Baron not forty days in his grave! If I were General Santil I’d send them back to
Zeray
and hang them on
the
shore. They could pcrfe
ctly
well hold this place for six days. That would be more than enough time for someone to get through to Kabin and come back with a hundred soldiers. But no, they’d rather run.’

Kelderek stood with his back to her, staring out into the
little
courtyard. He said carefully, ‘As things are, you ought to go
with
them.’

She did not answer and after some moments he turned round. She was standing smiling, waiting to meet his eyes. ‘Not I. It’s seldom indeed that a second chance is offered to someone as undeserving as
I
.
I
don’t intend to desert the Tuginda a second time, believe me.’

‘If you reach Kabin with Farrass and Thrild you’ll be safe. Once they’re gone you won’t be safe here. You must dunk of that very seriously.’

‘I don’t want safety on those terms. Did you think that what I said at the Baron’s tomb was hysterical?’

He was about to speak again when she went to the door and called for Ankray.

‘Ankray, the Baron’s men are leaving
Zeray
for Kabin tonight or tomorrow. They’re hoping to reach the army of General Santil-ke-
Erketlis
. I think you should go with them, for your own safety.’

‘You’re
going, then, saiyett?’

‘No, Lord
Kelderek
and I will be staying with the Tuginda.’

Ankray looked from one to another and scratched his head.

‘Safety, saiyett? The Baron always said that General Erkcdis would be coming here one day, didn’t he? That’s why he sent that young fellow Elstrit -‘

‘General
Erketlis
may still come here, if we’re lucky. But Farrass and the rest prefer to go now and seek him wherever he is. You’re free to go with them and it will probably be the safest thing to do.’

‘If you’ll excuse my saying so, saiyett, I doubt it, among
those
men. I’d rather stay here, among Ortelgan people, if you understand me. The Baron, he always used to say that General Santil would come, so I reckon he will.’

‘It’s as you like, Ankray,’ said
Kelderek
. ‘But if he doesn’t, then
Zeray
‘s going to become even more dangerous for all of us.’

‘Why, sir,
the
way I see it, if that happens, we’ll just have to set out for Kabin on our own account. But the Baron, he wouldn’t want me to be leaving Ortelgan priestesses to shift for themselves, like, even with you to help them.’

‘You’re not afraid to stay, then?’

‘No, sir,’ answered Ankray. ‘The Baron and me, we was never afraid of anyone in
Zeray
. The Baron, he always used to say, “Ankray, you just remember you’ve got a good conscience and they haven’t.” He usually -‘

‘Good,’ said
Kelderek
, ‘I’m glad that’s what you want. But do you think,’ he asked, turning to Melathys, ‘that
they
may try to
force
you to join them?’

She stared at him solemnly, wide-eyed, so that he saw again the girl who had drawn
Bel
-ka-Trazet’s sword and asked him what it was.

“They can try to
persuade
me if they like
, but I doubt they will. You see
, I’ve caught the Tuginda’s fever, haven’t I, which shows that it must be very infectious? That’s what
they
‘ll be told, if
they
come here.’

‘Pray God you won’t catch it in all earnest,’ said Kelderek. He realized
with
a blaze of passionate admiration that, despite all she knew of
Zeray
, her decision to
remain, taken with delight rathe
r than determination, was affording her not fear, but an elated joy in the recovery of her self-respect. To her,
the
appearance of the Tuginda in
the
graveyard had seemed first a miracle, then an act of incredible love and generosity; and though she now knew
the
true story of t
he Tuginda’s journey, neverthele
ss she still attributed it to God. Like a disgraced soldier whose commander has suddenly called him out of the lock-up, given him back his arms and told him to go and retrieve his good name on the battlefield, she was soaring upon
the
realization that enemies, danger and even death were of small account compared with the misery of guilt which, against all expectation, had been removed from her. Despite what
Kelderek
had seen at the Baron’s tomb, he had not until now believed that all she had suffered in
Zeray
had caused her less grief than the memory of her flight from
Ortelga
.

The Tuginda seemed no better, being st
ill tormented by a continual restl
essness. As evening fell Ankray remained with her, while
Melathys
and
Kelderek
used the last of the daylight to make sure of the locks and shutter-bars and to check food and weapons. The Baron, Melathys explained, had had certain sources of supply which he had kept secret even from his followers, either he or Ankray going now and
then
by night to bring back a goat or half a sheep from a village up river. The house was still fairly well supplied with meat. There was also a good deal of salt and a certain amount of the rough wine.

‘Did he pay?’ asked
Kelderek
, looking with satisfaction at the haunches in the brine-tubs and reflecting
that
he had never expected to feel gratitude towards
Bel
-ka-Trazet.

‘Chiefly by guaranteeing that the villagers would not be molested “from
Zeray
. But he was always very ingenious in finding or making things we could trade. We made arrows, for instance, and needles out of bone. I have certain skills, too. Every postulant on Quiso has to carve her own rings, but I can carve wood still better now, believe me. Do you remember this ? I’ve taken to using it.’

It was Bel-ka-Trazet’s knife
. Kelderek recognized it instantl
y, drew it from the sheath and held the point close before his eyes. She watched, puzzled, and he laughed.

‘I’ve reason to remember it almost better than any man on Ortelga, I dare say. I saw both it and Lord Shardik for the first time on one and the same day - that day when I first saw you. I’ll tell you the story at supper. Had he a sword?’

‘Here it is. And a bow. I still have my bow too. I hid it soon after I reached
Zeray
, but I recovered it when I joined the Baron. My priestess’s knife was stolen, of course, but the Baron gave me
another
- a dead man’s, I dare say, though he never told. It’s rough workmanship, but the blade’s good. Now over here, let me show you -‘

She was like a girl looking over her trousseau. He remembered how once, years before, having built a cage trap for birds, he had found a hawk in
it
There was no market for hawks - the factor from Bekla had
wanted bright feathers and cage
able birds - and, having no use for it himself, he had released it, watching as it flashed up and out of sight, full of joy at the recovery of its hard, dangerous life. Having walked through Zeray that afternoon, he now believed all that he had been told of sudden, unpredictable danger, of lust and murder moving below the surface of half-starved torpor like alligators through the water of some foetid creek. Yet Melathys, who had better reason than any to know of these things, plainly felt herself in a state of grace so immune that they had for the moment, at all events, no power to make her afraid. It must be for him to see that she took no foolish risks.

The Tuginda still lay in her arid sleep; a sleep comfortless as a choked and smoking fire, of which she seemed less
the
beneficiary than the victim. Her face was passive and sunken as
Kelderek
had never seen it,
the
flesh of her arms and throat slack and wasted. Ankray boiled a salt meat soup and cooled it, but they could do no more than moisten her lips, for she did not swallow. When Kelderek suggested that he should go out and find some milk, Ankray only shook his head without raising his eyes from the ground.