Dido (19 page)

‘Where? I don't see her . . .'

‘Here. On my lips. In my hands. Come to me, Dido. Let me kiss you.'

Cubby practically stopped breathing. He wasn't supposed to see stuff like this. Or hear such words either. In some way that he couldn't quite put his finger on, he knew that it was wrong to stare at the two of them, but his eyes were almost popping out of his head and his mouth hung open. Aeneas had his arms around the queen and was holding her so close that the whole of her body was squashed up against his. She
didn't seem to mind that. Cubby saw her lift her face and kiss Aeneas and he tried to imagine what that would be like, and thinking about it made him feel most peculiar and he blushed and hid his eyes. Suddenly he could smell something delicious, like roses and almond blossom, and he sniffed as quietly as he could. Where did that perfume come from? He looked behind him and almost cried out. A beautiful woman had just appeared at his shoulder. How had she come in without him noticing? Who was she? Should he warn the queen and Aeneas?

‘Sssh!' said the woman. ‘Don't speak. I am Aphrodite, Goddess of Love, and that's all you need to know. My business is with Dido and Aeneas and the fact that you're here is completely unimportant. You will see things and hear things and that can't be helped. Fortunately, you'll forget most of it later. You're not the sort of person who keeps things in his memory, are you?'

Cubby shook his head. The Goddess said, ‘Good. Now stand up, boy. You'll be more comfortable. They won't be able to see you. I've arranged matters so that they see and hear nothing but one another. Now I must leave you and speak to Dido.'

The Goddess drifted over to where Aeneas stood, still kissing the queen as though he never wanted to stop. Could a kiss go on for such a long time? Had it been a long time? Cubby couldn't tell. He had an idea that maybe he was dreaming and would wake up any moment now in his narrow bed down in Carthage, but
no, there was the Goddess whose name he couldn't remember whispering to Dido, and he could hear every word:
He's my son. Take him, take him as your husband. Let him lead you to your marriage bed. Here, behind you, there's a hollow in the rock and I have lined it with soft leaves and wool from the youngest goats, and you can lie here and be together, and when you rise from this bed, you will be husband and wife. I have told you so. It's true and you want it, Dido. You want it more than anything . . .

‘I can hear her,' Dido was whispering right in Aeneas' ear, but Cubby could still hear every word. ‘I can hear Aphrodite. She's speaking to me, Aeneas. She says we're man and wife . . . she says we're to be married.'

‘She speaks nothing but the truth, for here is our wedding couch, see? Prepared by the Gods for us, Dido. How can you disbelieve?' He was laughing as he spoke, kissing her as he laughed.

Cubby watched as Aeneas picked up the queen and carried her over to the long hollow in the rock and laid her down on what looked like a cloud of white woolly stuff heaped up there.

‘This is the softest bed . . .' she said to him, and he answered: ‘Our bed.' Then he untied the queen's wet garments and Cubby practically stopped breathing. He was dimly aware of lightning flashing somewhere in the distance, but his whole attention was on the white limbs entangled on the couch right under his eyes, and he could hardly hear the thunder or the drumming of the rain outside the cave for the
moaning and cries that came from the two of them. Cubby knew what was going on. He'd heard talk in the kitchens about men and women and what they did together in the dark, and he thought his whole body was going to explode if he didn't stop looking and listening, and yet he couldn't stop. No one had told him how noisy it was, and the noises kept on and on, and then he saw the queen throw her head back and her long hair was trailing nearly to the ground, and then she cried out so loudly that the sound went right through him, and if he hadn't known better, he'd have thought someone was murdering her, and then Aeneas shouted out too, and Cubby wondered if the others could hear these noises from where they were in the tent, and he also wondered if the storm was loud enough to cover what was going on in here and thought maybe it was, and that was a relief.

‘You'll forget most of this,' said the Goddess, whose name had already almost disappeared from his head. ‘This is like a marriage and that's what Dido will tell everyone. It is a marriage that I have arranged and you can see how happy they are.'

‘Yes,' said Cubby, but he was still staring at the queen and Aeneas, lying together naked with their legs and arms entwined. Then the queen turned over on to her back and there they were again – her . . . her
chest
, Cubby told himself. Her chest. He couldn't move. Would he ever be able to move again? Then Aeneas seemed to wake up and they started kissing, and Cubby looked around for Aphra-something but she'd gone.
The only way you could tell she'd been there was from the fragrance of roses and almond blossom that still hung in the air.

I'd better move before they get up, Cubby thought. He could see sunshine lying in a thick gold strip along the cave floor and there hadn't been any rain or thunder for a bit. He was safe to run away. Also, he thought they might be about to start up again. The queen was breathing heavily – he could hear her from where he was – and Aeneas was panting a bit too. Cubby didn't think he could deal with any more of that. Once was bad enough, he told himself. If they're going to go through the grunting and moaning and things again, I'm getting out now.

When he returned to the tents, Maron spoke to him and waved a hand. ‘Where've you been, Cubby?'

He seemed happier than he usually was and that was because everyone had been drinking wine and water and eating everything while they waited for Aeneas and Dido to return to the tents. ‘We were about to send out a search party for the queen and Aeneas and we'd have asked them to look for you too. But there they are on the path. They'll be here soon and then we'll have to move on, I suppose, and get down to the hunting. Shame really. I'm quite happy sitting here now that the storm's over. They must have taken shelter somewhere. You must as well, because you're quite dry. Here, have a drink. Take a fig or two. Bet you're starving.'

Maron patted the ground next to where he was
sitting and Cubby sat down gratefully. His head was still spinning with pictures of what he'd just witnessed, but as he drank the wine they faded a bit.

‘Everyone!' Dido was there suddenly, at the entrance to the tent. ‘Listen to me, please. I have something to announce.'

What if she says something about what happened in the cave? Cubby asked himself. He listened with the others as Dido went on: ‘This is a great day. An auspicious day.' (What does that mean? Cubby wondered, but he couldn't ask, not while the queen was speaking.) ‘Lord Aeneas, who was sent to Carthage by the favour of the Gods, has just become my husband. The Goddess Aphrodite had prepared a marriage for us blessed by Olympus and today is our wedding day. This hunt is no longer just a hunt but a celebration of our marriage, and there will be a feast in the palace tonight. But till then I'd like you all to raise a goblet in our honour and in honour of Aphrodite, who brought us together in our love.'

Cubby watched as everyone cheered and drank. A feast . . . Well, he knew that, because he'd already helped Cook with the preparations before he left. Still, what with the feast being one to celebrate a marriage, they'd probably be asking for extra cakes or something. Extra work, that was certain.

‘Aeneas married to Queen Dido, eh?' Maron was suddenly beside him. ‘A bit surprising, I'd have thought. My master is supposed to be leaving Carthage. That's what he tells me, anyway, but I
suppose Dido could come with us. Wherever it is we're going . . .'

Cubby shook his head. He didn't know much, but he did know that the queen loved Carthage. Surely she would never leave a place she'd had made for her specially? It was hers. He couldn't think about this because Maron was now talking to Iopas, who'd crept up on them in that quiet way he had. He must have been drinking a bit too, because he was chattier than usual.

‘I'll be asked to compose a wedding ode,' he laughed. ‘But what kind of wedding could it have been, with no one from the temple to perform it? What did our beloved queen mean by the Goddess Aphrodite blessing them? I don't see her anywhere.'

Then (later on, Cubby couldn't work out what made him speak) Cubby opened his mouth and said: ‘I saw her.' That was enough. He wished he could swallow the words back into his stomach but that was impossible. What had he done? How could he go back and change matters? He couldn't. He blushed and hoped that Maron and Iopas might not have heard, but they had. Iopas was on him, quick as a snake on a mouse.

‘Whatever do you mean? Where did you see her? And what did you see? How did you know it was a goddess?'

‘In the cave. I saw her in the cave.'

‘You were in the cave? With the queen and Aeneas?' Iopas' eyes were enormous. Cubby could tell he didn't really believe him. He nodded.

Then Maron chipped in and said, ‘Tell us what you saw in the cave, Cubby.'

He spoke so gently that Cubby thought perhaps he wouldn't be in trouble if he did speak. He said, ‘I didn't see . . . or rather, I can't remember very well. But there was a smell. A lovely smell, and a lady who said she was called Aphra-something.'

‘Aphrodite,' Iopas cut in, impatient, and Maron waved his hand at him to make him shut up, for which Cubby was grateful.

‘Yes. Her. She made them both lie down. That's it.'

‘Lie down? Where?' Iopas again.

‘Shut up, Iopas. Can't you see he's embarrassed? What, do you need drawings to tell you what went on? Use your head . . . They obviously got carried away, the two of them in that dark cave, and Dido thinks that it means they're married. That's it. That's all. Let's change the subject. Cubby's face looks as pink as a pomegranate . . . Don't worry, Cubby. You couldn't help being there. Have another bunch of grapes. Go on.'

Cubby took the fruit and ate it, glad that the interrogation was over. Iopas – he'd have gone on asking questions, you could see that, but thanks to Maron he'd got off without having to go into too much detail. As he ate, as he listened to the laughter and the merriment around him, with everyone in a good mood now that the sun was shining again and especially because of the marriage, what he'd seen in the cave began to blur in his head until it was no more than a
dim memory. He tried to summon up what had happened, what he'd seen, but when he did, he came across a kind of wall in his head that prevented him from going back to that time. The Goddess had said he would forget, and it was true. Never mind, Cubby told himself. It was something interesting while it lasted.

Daybreak approaching; the courtyard

‘You are wondering,' someone said, ‘why you've been allowed to remember that day.'

Cubby sprang up and stood to attention. Here was someone he'd not seen before. Where were all these visitors coming from? He was no good as a guard and that was that.

‘Nonsense, you're a perfectly good guard. There's nothing anyone can do to stop gods and goddesses from moving about. I am Hera, the queen of Olympus. Sit down again.'

‘Yes, madam,' said Cubby, and peered at the person – the Goddess – who didn't seem to mind talking to him. He'd never before spoken to so many people in one night, but this was a very odd night indeed, and some of the chats had been with gods and goddesses, which was very peculiar. This one was white-haired and tall, and her cloak had peacock feathers all over it. He didn't know what to say to her, but she was talking again so that was all right.

‘I've been sitting near you and remembering the day
of the hunt, and that is why you've been allowed to recall it too, for a while.' She sighed and for a moment seemed more like a mortal woman than a goddess. She said, ‘Aphrodite and I fell out over that, you know. Marriage was never part of the plan. I knew that Aeneas had to leave and sail away from Carthage, and I suppose I let her get away with it because I saw no actual harm in it, but I was wrong. It wasn't a real marriage. That was Aphrodite misleading Dido, giving her permission to submit to her desires. That's all. But it's caused a great deal of unhappiness and that day was just the beginning. Never mind, what has to be has to be. You won't be troubled with these memories again, don't worry. I'll leave you now.'

She began to drift away in the direction of the kitchens. Cubby closed his eyes. This night was also turning out to be longer than any other night he'd ever lived through.

Before dawn; the palace kitchen

THE NIGHT, WHICH
had lasted far too long already in his opinion, wasn't showing any sign of turning into morning. Iopas was sitting at a table in the kitchen which Cook used for preparing food during the day. It was clean and well-scrubbed but you could see the thousands of marks left by knives chopping vegetables or fruit or even meat over many moons. He'd been hungry, and had come down to find a piece of bread or some grapes, and besides, he was sick of the sight of his own room, which seemed to him full of nothing but half-finished poems and anxious thoughts. He'd counted on being alone, but when he came into the kitchen and found Elissa sitting on one of the benches at the kitchen table, he was happier than he'd been for a long time. Elissa! But she wasn't alone, and within a moment of registering her presence, he saw that her friend Nezral was sitting beside her. It was all he could do not to swear out loud. What better opportunity
would he ever have of getting Elissa on her own in the middle of the night? And here was her friend, spoiling things.

‘Iopas!' Nezral said. Her fairish hair fell to her shoulders and her nose looked sharper than ever. She reminded Iopas of a skinny bird. ‘Welcome. Are you hungry too? We couldn't sleep. Well, I could, but Elissa couldn't, and I woke up just as she was leaving our room. It's been a long night, hasn't it?'