Dangerous Secrets (113 page)

‶
It came from here? I thought
they came only from the Gods as condign punishment.″

‶
I think it -- she -- was made
here. By the same art we met in Leros.″

He nodded, scratching his beard.
‶
Ah,
I have never learned much about black magic.″

‶
I know more than I want to. And
I′m afraid I′m about to learn more.″

“I fear you are right.” He sighed. “Well, we’re
not dead...not yet. What’s next?”

“We look for the harpy. That’s why we came.”

The enclosure held cages, pens, and stakes for
the more docile creatures. Sleepy growls and murmurs came as we passed among
them. I’d taken the guard’s lantern and inspected each animal as I passed.
There were lions from Nemea, lying on their backs like kittens, bulls who shook
sleepy heads at the light, bears curled in big brown balls, large, frightening
creatures no doubt, but all of them unambiguously ordinary. No minotaurs, no
Stymphalian birds of brass, nothing that couldn’t be hunted or trapped by usual
means and usual men. Where was the ‘big surprise’ that was supposed to end the
Hunt tomorrow?

After we searched, Phandros and I met up by the
front gate. “Not a sign of it,” he said.

“They must be keeping her somewhere else. Maybe
in the arena itself?”

“It’s possible. Other animals might be made
uneasy by it...her.” He shook his head, tugging on his beard for comfort. “It’s
a shame. I don’t mind the usual sacrifices; they are necessary to keep the Gods
happy. But this! All these magnificent beasts to be slaughtered for no reason
except the vain-glory of the king. It’s not for Hermes′ sake, that’s
certain.”

“There’s nothing we can do for them,” I said
all the more reluctantly because I felt the same way. What purpose was served
by slaughtering a mother bear and her two roly-poly cubs? “We can’t let them
out. They’d attack the townspeople. And sooner or later they’d be hunted down
anyway.”

“True. I only wish....”

I knew what I had to do. By the cold feeling at
the pit of my stomach, I knew I was frightened. In my whole life, I′d
only ever had one reaction to being afraid. Yet this time, the feeling went
clear to the bone, leaving me weak and useless. I could not force the words
that I must say past my dry lips.

‶
Er...no offense, but
you′d better stay here, Phandros. It′s safe. In the morning, go
back to the
Doris
. As soon as you get
there, tell the captain to cast off.″

‶
What are you saying? Where are
you going?″

‶
I pray I will succeed and hope
I will survive but I may not be able to do both. If I do neither, you will have
to convince your friend Skander to buy an army to come back.″

‶
You′ve gone mad, my
friend.″

‶
If I don′t succeed,
you′ll soon know about it. Whoever is doing this had a set-back at Leros,
not a defeat. The evil comes from here.″

‶
How do you know?″

My head was swimming with the unclean power in
the place.
‶
I′m
sure, that′s all. It′s like a cloud of grease in the air or the
sound of gnats. I′m also sure that if I can′t stop it, somebody
else will have to do it, Gods help him.″

‶
You can′t mean to just
walk out of this place,″ he said, grasping my arm.
‶
You
can′t possibly fight them all.″

‶
Thanks for reminding me.″
I took off my sword-belt.
‶
Keep that for me until I come back.″

I jumped, caught the top of the stockade and
pulled myself up for a peek over the wall.
‶
Yes, plenty of them, milling
around. If there′s a leader, I don′t see him.″ I dropped.
‶
I
don′t mean to fight them.″

‶
They′ll tear you to
pieces, the way the Maenads do.″

‶
In that case, I′ll
definitely fight. But I′m betting they have had no such
instructions.″

‶
This is still about the
harpy?″

‶
No. This is about me being
afraid.″ I felt better saying it out loud.
‶‵
Bye, Phandros.″

I caught the wall again, rising all the way up
to put a knee on the top.
‶
Look out below,″ I shouted and threw myself
off like a diver.

***

It took five of them to drag me bodily, all
wrapped as I was in ropes and thin chains, to the door. Lifting me up the
stairs seemed out of the question. I was either crossing the palace threshold
under my own power or I wasn′t going.

A delicate foot in a dainty slipper emerged,
making no sound on the broad step. I rolled my eyes upward but all I could see
was a black column with her head fuzzily atop it. She seemed to float
gracefully, but then I′d been hit on the head once or twice before
everyone understood quite clearly that I had surrendered.

Her creatures stepped back when she came toward
me. I thought that it seemed less in homage than in fright. She looked down on
me, gleeful as a small girl with her first kitten. Over her high-piled hair,
she wore a black veil and a golden crown. She threw the veil back and I saw her
face, serene, smooth and plump as a beauty in her first youth. I recognized her
at once from my nightmares.

Despite her lack of wrinkles, she exuded age. A
weight of years lay in her flat, empty eyes and coiled in the curiously lusterless
weight of her improbably black hair.

Queen Zosime put one embroidered slipper on my
chest.
‶
How
lowly do the great fall. Here is a hero but I can shrink you, change you into
anything I wish. A minotaur, perhaps, to delight my dear husband′s heart as
he kills you in the arena tomorrow.″ The way she said
‵
husband′
would have made a thousand pantingly-eager bride-grooms cry off.

‶
Greetings, Queen of
Troezan,″ I said, my throat working against the cold chain around my
neck. They′d tied me up very effectively, considering what paws and claws
they′d had to work with.

She cast a cold gaze over the bonds
they′d tightened until my flesh swelled around them.
‶
This
is absurd,″ she declared.
‶
Loose him.″

A bodyguard, big and muscled enough to give me
a little trouble, stepped forward, drawing his knife. He knelt, began to saw,
then paused.
‶
Lady....″

‶
My will holds him there. His
limbs are senseless until I free them.″

Maybe her will held me, not the bonds. My
muscles did seem more cramped than could be explained by mere bruises. At any
rate, it was impressive. Her minions obviously thought so, for they made the
same chittering sound that chipmunks do. I wondered if that is how they′d
started life, as mice or other small rodent, changed, added to, and cruelly twisted
out of all recognition. If Eurytos could do it with ants, this queen, a more
powerful servant of his dark task-mistress, could probably do it with anything.

When the bonds were severed, and the chains
unwound, my limbs fell limply to the earth as though I had no influence over
them. I couldn′t even feel my feet. The bodyguard jumped up, his sword at
the ready in case I was feigning immobility. I only wished I were.

‶
Rise, creature,″ she
said, her husky voice like the sound of a snake passing down a tiled floor.

I wanted to obey her, rather badly, but the
perfect communication between my mind and my body had apparently been severed
for a while. I forced up a hand in a universal gesture imploring a
moment′s patience. Zosime stepped back, tapping one dainty foot.

‶
Well?″

‶
They were a little
rough,″ I said.

‶
Are you a hero, or a spoiled
girl?″

‶
I′ve had a hard couple of
days,″ I admitted.
‶
Shipwrecked...storm-tossed....″

‶
Betrayed....″ she added.
‶
Are
you angry about that?″

‶
Betrayed?″ I said as
innocently as I knew how.
‶
By whom, lady?″

She laughed softly, a charming sound.
‶
I
knew you′d come to Troezan. You are that kind of a man, Eno of Thrace. So
be it. I have tamed stronger creatures than you.″

I met her eyes and received a shock. She had no
fear that I′d come for any kind of vengeance. I doubt she′d ever
given my reasons for coming to Troezan any thought at all. Nothing in the world
mattered to her except her own will, her own desires. I doubted a warm feeling
for any other person had ever touched that adamantine heart, for she needed no
one except as a tool, to be used, broken, and thrown aside.

Zosime stood there, measuring me as if I were a
piece of sculpture in the marketplace, plainly wondering if I would fit the
space she had in mind for me. That′s sounds morally questionable but for
all her beauty, I would have as soon shared a mattress with a thousand
scorpions. And throw in a few lethal cat-sized spiders as well. My chances of
survival would be improved.

‶
Help him up,″ she ordered
the bodyguard.
‶
Bring
him to my private chambers.″

By the time we reached the second floor, I was
practically riding him piggy-back, my arms draped over his neck. I may not have
felt completely recovered, though my hands and feet were tingling, but I still
would rather ride than walk. Exhausting your enemies is good; making them
exhaust themselves is better.

Several people awaited the queen in her
chamber, a large, all but empty room at the top of the palace. What surprised
me was their very ordinariness. An evil queen should be attended by twisted
slaves, skin pale and slick from never seeing the sun, hunched and cringing,
with long damp hands, bald heads, and shifty eyes.

In Troezan, Zosime was served by a trim maid,
accompanied by two small female children. They whisked away the queen′s
outdoor mantle, placing gently over her head a sheer scarf, spangled with many
jewels. It must have been heavy and scratchy even if dazzling to behold.

The maid met my gaze not one whit less proudly
than did her mistress. The little girls didn′t seem perturbed at all when
the guard dropped me onto a bench dragged out in the middle of the floor. I
slumped there, still boneless. I noticed, however, that neither of the children
dared lift their eyes higher than anyone′s knees. They scurried out like
mice at a hiss from their superior.

The queen pinched lightly at her earrings.
‶
Fetch
a drink for our honored guest, Damalis.″

‶
I have it here, lady.″
With the unearthly grace of a woman of Lesbos, the waiting-woman knelt beside
me, laying aside a tray she′d taken up. She lifted a cup of chased gold
and pressed it to my lips. I drank perforce, without any hint from her
impassive face whether she poured nectar or poison down my throat.

I began to understand why a man would desire
such a woman. What lengths might one go to in order to wrest a natural reaction
from her, to force her to acknowledge your existence as a fellow being and as a
man.

I drank thirstily, for there seemed nothing in
the cup but pure water. And if I were wrong, if poison lurked in the depths, so
be it.

‶
Can I have some too,″
asked a boyish voice from a dark corner.

Damalis bowed her head with regal humility and
poured a cup from another, more elaborate beaker on the tray. She carried to
him and I heard him drink thirstily.

‶
I didn′t see you there,
my lord,″ the queen purred.

This thin, frail man was then king of Troezan,
far less impressive than his wife′s meanest servant. He moved like an
elderly man, aching in every joint. I′d heard he was young and I could
see that his hair was still dark and thick, his face dreamy-eyed and
unwrinkled. For all that, he seemed as old as Tithonius, so loved by Eos of the
Dawn that she obtained immortality for him but forgot to include ever-lasting
youth. He wound up a cicada. I doubted the king of Troezan would have that much
good luck.

He turned the cup round and round in his
trembling, emaciated hand, the fingers stained faintly orange. His eyes were
young, young and wounded.
‶
I had that dream again, my dear. Seemed very
real.″ He yawned, blinking like a sleepy baby.
‶
She seems such a
nice girl...I wish she were real.″

‶
Drink, lord. Drink and
forget,″ Queen Zosime said with a soft but firm note of command.
‶
Damalis,
my lord needs his treats.″

He shrugged bony shoulders and lifted the cup
to his lips.
‶
A
brother, a niece and happiness. I don′t mind dreaming about these things.
No offense, my dear.″

‶
You do have a niece,″ I
murmured.

‶
What did you say?″ he
asked, taking a handful of strange orange puffs from the bowl his wife′s
servant held out.
‶
You shouldn′t sit on the floor. We have
couches....″ He looked around vaguely as if this weren′t his home,
tossed a few into his mouth and crunched. A faint flavor of salt and cheese
reached me. He licked the powder from his lips and ate a little more.

‶
Come, my lord, you must
rest.″ Zosime coaxed.
‶
You must be ready to perform the sacrifice
tonight.″

‶
Sacrifice? Oh, yes. It is
tonight?″

‶
Yes, tonight. Take him to his
chamber,″ the queen said in an aside to the guard. But the king slipped
his arm free of the big man′s grasp like water through a bracelet. I
wondered if they ever fed him or did he so crave those
‵
treats′ that
all other food meant nothing to him. He weaved back and forth as he stood
looking down at me, like a man beyond exhaustion.