Bradley, Marion Zimmer - Novel 19 (14 page)

 
          
Dal
hoisted the child good-naturedly, only saying to Cendri in a low voice,
"They could have asked me!" They went out on the lawn. It was an hour
or two before daybreak; the air was cold, and the grass soaking wet with dew,
the heavy smell of herbs hanging in the air. The women of the household were
gathering on the lawn, in all stages of disarray and partial dress. Vaniya, her
hair standing up wildly around her head, but nevertheless as composed and calm
as if she were at a diplomatic banquet on University, was moving from group to
group,
talking
in low, encouraging tones. Rhu, at her
heels, looked drowsy and unkempt, barefoot, in a long white tunic. Vaniya came
quickly, but without visible signs of hurry, toward Cendri, as Dal put the
child down beside its mother.

 
          
"You
are unhurt, Cendri? Good. But truly, there is no danger; there has never been
any quake but the mildest, so close to We-were-guided. I hope your Companion
was not too frightened? Most men are afraid to sleep above ground level."
She turned to one of the women crowding close and said, "Send a messenger
to the Men's House, and reassure them there is no need for alarm."

 
          
The
woman hurried away. Although Vaniya seemed calm, Cendri could see that
something was troubling her; her eyes moved restlessly from group to group.
Everyone seemed to be out of the house now; no more women or children were
coming down the steps. Vaniya said, distressed, "I do not see
Miranda—where is she? Where is she? Rhu, do you see her?
Cendri?"

 
          
Cendri
looked around for Miranda, but the tall woman with the long dark braid and the
heavy pregnant body was nowhere to be seen. Vaniya asked a woman nearby,
"Where is Miranda? Do you see her anywhere?" and another, "Her
room is next to yours, did you not see her come down the steps?"

 
          
"No,
Mother, I thought her already gone—"

 
          
"Goddess
protect
us!" Vaniya turned, her face drawn with
dread, and hurried back toward the steps.
"Miranda!
Miranda!"

 
          
Rhu
ran after her; caught up with her at the foot of the steps, remonstrating
firmly. "Let me go! You must not trust yourself inside again, there may be
aftershocks!"

 
          
"You, Rhu?
You?
No, indeed, you
would not be safe there!" she said in amazement, "She is my daughter,
bearing my heir—I must go and find her—"

           
Vaniya's eldest daughter, Lialla,
caught Vaniya by her arms. "Indeed, Mother," she said urgently,
"You must not risk yourself, you are needed here! Zamila and I will go;
but I think it most likely that Miranda simply slept through the first shocks!
I almost did so myself!" She turned to Rhu, and said, "Look after
her, don't let her follow us!"

 
          
Vaniya
remained, twisting her hands nervously, ignoring Rhu, who was trying without
success to persuade her to move away from the steps, to sit down and rest.
Cendri came slowly toward her, and the Pro-Matriarch said with staccato
nervousness, "I am afraid for her. She might have been hurt by something falling
in her room, she might have tripped and fallen on the stairs, she might have
been overcome by premature labor—I knew I should insist that she have someone
to sleep in her room—"

 
          
Cendri
said comfortingly, "It is most likely that she slept through the whole
quake, Vaniya; it was the screens falling which wakened me."

 
          
"But
Miranda is such a light sleeper," Vaniya fretted. Then, slowly, turning
toward the groups of women, "I must go and see whether anyone else is
missing—"

 
          
"That
I will do for you," Rhu said firmly, and hurried away. Vaniya sighed and
watched him go, letting herself lean heavily on the stone balustrade of the
steps to the Residence. She said defensively, "I should go, but Rhu is
really very capable and responsible—"

 
          
He
came back after a time, saying, "Every soul in your household is here and
safe, save only Miranda. Has she been found?"

 
          
Vaniya's
answer was drowned by cries from the women; Cendri felt the stone balustrade
beneath their hands tremble, with an obscene rippling and cracking; Dal grabbed
Cendri from behind and held her upright as the balustrade broke away; Vaniya
stumbled and went down. Inside the front door of the house were feminine
screams; Vaniya gasped, "It is Miranda—," and struggled to her feet,
thrusting away Rhu's hands. She plunged up the stairs, but Rhu hurried past
her, shoving at the door; it stuck, cracked,
finally
came open, awry on its hinges. Inside, in the gap, Lialla and her partner
appeared, leading Miranda between them. She was limping, and Vaniya cried out,
stumbling up the steps toward her, clasping her daughter in her arms, crying
out in dismay.

 
          
"Mother,
mother, you must not be frightened," Miranda protested, holding her close.
"I twisted an ankle on a fallen screen, no more, and I felt it better not
to try the stairs alone, for fear of falling—" She held her mother
reassuringly, in a tight hug. "Really, really, I am not hurt—my ankle
pains me, that
is
all—"

           
Rhu reappeared, thrusting himself
through the gap. "The balustrades are cracked and fallen; no more harm is
done," he reported. "Is it—is it well with the Lady Miranda?"

 
          
"Yes,
thanks to your strong arms," Miranda said. "We could not
 
open the door, Mother, it stuck from
inside until Rhu added his
 
strength to ours__
_
"

 
          
"The
Goddess
be
thanked," Vaniya said with a long sigh
of relief, holding Miranda a little away to look gratefully at her,"
"When I did not see you among the household on the lawn, I thought I would
die of terror! Is the child truly safe, Miranda? Shall I send for our midwives,
to be with you until we are sure that the shock will have no ill effects?"

 
          
Miranda
laughed, holding her hands across her bulging belly. "She is alive and
well, and telling me in no uncertain way that she does not like to be hurried
on the stairs," she said, gaily, "and I am out of breath, and when we
get inside again I will need a length of bandage for my ankle, but I am not in
labor, nor likely to be for another change-of-the-moon! I was only frightened
when we found the door wedged shut, and if there had been another shock it
might have fallen on top of us, the hinges were warped. But all is well, thanks
to Rhu—" she gave him a little quick smile; he colored and looked away.
"It is my pleasure to serve the Lady," he said in his queer formal
way.

 
          
Miranda,
limping heavily on her right foot, came toward Cendri. "I trust you were
not frightened, Scholar Dame, nor your Companion. We are safe here, the ground
rarely shakes so close to We-were-guided—" she pointed toward the ruins.
"See, they have endured unfallen for more centuries than we can measure,
though some day you may indeed measure how much time has gone by that they
still bestow their love and concern among us."

 
          
Cendri
looked up at the ruins, thinking, somewhat bemused;
 
yes, that's true. How is it that the
ruins there have never fallen? Did
 
they build in such a way that they can
resist earthquake? Or did
 
they choose a place known to be free of
quakes? It could, she
 
thought, hardly be
that;
so close
to Ariadne, which had twice in the
 
past ten days been ravaged by a light
quake____

 
          
"Look,"
said Lialla, "the quake must indeed have been severe;
 
you can see the glow of fires inside the
City wall____
_ "

 
          
Freed
of anxiety about Miranda, the Pro-Matriarch was quickly recalled to her duty.
She said to Rhu, "Go quickly, and summon my car, and a driver! Has Maret
checked the instrument to find out where the quake was centered?"

 
          
"Here,
Mother." The huge gross body of the woman-by-courtesy came toward them, a
sheet of paper hanging from its pudgy hand.

           
"The recording instrument
showed the center of the quake to be very near here; possibly it was worse
inside the city, but it was not serious at all, the worst must be over."

 
          
"Thank
you, dear child," said Vaniya, patting the puffy white fingers. "It
must be over then, a quake of that strength rarely has any aftershocks, and,
the Goddess be thanked,
it
was on land so that we need
not fear any great waves on the shore! But still I must go and make certain all
is well with the High Matriarch, and I must see if there is any serious damage
reported to the city Mothers. Also I must be certain all is well with my
colleague Mahala." She looked uneasily at Miranda. "I do not like to
leave you when you are hurt—" Miranda smiled. "Mother, don't fuss; it
is only a twisted ankle and my sisters can look after me perfectly well. If you
don't believe me, ask Maret, she will tell you!"

 
          
Vaniya
turned uncertainly to the woman-by-courtesy. "Maret, is it well with my
daughter and my heir, is it safe to leave her?"

 
          
Maret
smiled vacantly; the wide blue eyes went blank and the face turned vacant,
sagging unpleasantly. After a moment Maret said, in an odd, dazed voice,
"Miranda is well and her child has taken no harm...."

 
          
Cendri
wondered; is Maret a clairvoyant or some kind of soothsayer, or simply a
charlatan? Shamans in some cultures renounced their gender___ She bent and
picked up the long slip of paper which the limp fingers had released when Maret
let his—or was it her?—eyes go blank. It appeared to be a perfectly ordinary
readout from one of the old style seismographs. Strange, the mixture of science
and superstition, that Maret would be in charge of this and simultaneously
consulted for clairvoyant advice!

 
          
Miranda
took an unwary step and grabbed at the nearest thing, which happened to be Dal.
Abashed, she took her hand away as if the contact had burned her, and Cendri
reached out and steadied her. She clung gratefully to Cendri, saying, "I
had better not try to walk until my foot is bandaged—"

 
          
Rhu
knelt in front of Miranda, a strip of cloth torn from his tunic in his hands,
and began to wind it tightly around her injured ankle. She looked shyly away,
and Vaniya beckoned to one of the women, who came and briskly brushed Rhu
aside, strapping the improvised bandage into place and knotting it tight.
Miranda got to her feet, leaning on Cendri, and tested her weight on the ankle.
"That's better," she said, "Thank you, Haliya." She did not
glance at Rhu even momentarily. "Go and do what you must,
Mother,
now my ankle is steady under me I can do whatever is
necessary. Your car is waiting, and you are needed in the city."

 
          
Still
reluctant, Vaniya gave Miranda's hands a final squeeze, and climbed into the
car. Rhu said, "Shall I come with you, Vaniya?"

 
          
"No,
my dear, what possible help could you be? Stay here and look after yourself,
keep the Scholar Dame's Companion amused and out of the way," she
admonished gently, and closed the door.

 
          
Rhu
turned disconsolately back to them as the car drove away, but Miranda, moving
firmly on her bandaged foot, had already begun moving among the groups of
women, speaking to one after another. Rhu moved toward Dal; Cendri hoped Dal
would not be rude to him; Dal had, indeed, admired Rhu's singing, but he had no
respect for the Companion and had, in fact, been scathing, in private, about
him.

 
          
Cendri
listened to Miranda giving orders that if there were no aftershocks quite soon,
they should all go inside again and try to sleep, but that no kitchen fires
should be lighted until they were all quite sure the danger was past. Admiring
Miranda's domestic efficiency—she was arranging for the serving of cold food,
and for workwomen to inspect each different area when it was sufficiently
light, to discover any possible structural damage to walls and foundations of
the Residence—Cendri looked up toward the ruins, above them on the hill. The
sky was paling, out over the ocean, with the coming dawn; the pinkish glow was
reflected on the tops of the ruins, and Cendri wondered how long it would be
before they were allowed to go there.