Maia (82 page)

raising, to go to Chalcon and put down Lord Erketlis; that's as soon as they're ready. And Miss Milvushina, she's said all along that he's been that good to her in her trouble that she means to stay with him here in Bekla."

And what did all this matter to herself? thought Maia, dismissing Ogma to go and set about cooking dinner. Once, there had been a time when she would have been wild with jealousy and full of resentment against Elvair-ka-Vir-rion. "You're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen." "Thank you for my pleasure. It was much the best I've ever had." This was not disillusion on her part, however: it was sheer lack of interest. With her new understanding, her opened eyes, she knew that Elvair-ka-Virrion was no man for her. He had once bedded her; she had enjoyed it; it had been a step up. He was the son and heir of the Lord General, while she was now the most celebrated, acclaimed woman in the empire. And that was all-that was the size of it. What could she and Elvair-ka-Virrion possibly create together, apart from mere physical pleasure? Milvushina was welcome to him. She did not want him. She wanted her Zenka.

She was in a situation of success and wealth such as she could never have dreamed of, and she had been warned that she had powerful enemies-potential enemies, at all events. She had betrayed the confidence of the man she loved, and by doing so had saved thousands of lives. She was revenged on Bayub-Otal as thoroughly as she or anyone could possibly have desired; yet now she only regretted it and pitied him. What a tangle of contradictions!

Ah! she thought, if only I could go and tell it all to that old Nasada! She could see him so clearly in her mind's eye-his fish-skin robe, his bushy eyebrows, his kindly, penetrating stare, his way of really listening to what you told him and then answering something you'd never have thought of for yourself.

"Oh, if
only
I could talk to Nasada!" she said aloud. "He'd make sense out of all this:
he'd
help me to know myself. Only I shaH never see him again, that's for sure. And Zenka? Never see Zenka again? Oh,
nol"

She burst into tears; but, as is so often the way, having given rein for a time she felt better, and was able to enjoy entertaining Nennaunir to dinner and showing off her new furniture and other possessions.

Nennaunir's news was all of the forthcoming Chalcon expedition.

"There won't be anyone left here, you know, to go to bed with," she said, shaking her head with mock concern and smiling mischievously at Maia across the table. "You've saved the city and ruined the shearnas, Maia. Soon ev-eryone'll be off to stick spears into Santil instead of zards into us."

"But no one's got to go as doesn't want, surely?" asked Maia. "Not from the upper city, anyway?"

"Well, the thing is," answered Nennaunir, "that Kem-bri's doing all he can to make them feel they ought to. As a matter of fact," she went on, dropping her voice and looking over her shoulder for a moment to make sure Ogma was not in the room, "I believe he's more worried than he cares to let people know. Galatalis-you don't know her, do you? A sweet girl, and so pretty; you'd like her, Maia-she was with him a few days ago and she told me he really didn't seem himself at all."

"But he was going to lead the army on the Valderra, surely?" said Maia. "Isn't he going to now, then?"

"Not if I know anything about it," replied Nennaunir. "Before the murder, oh, yes, he meant to take the army into Suba and attack Karnat on his own ground. A nice, offensive summer, my dear, with plenty of honor and glory for whoever was in command. But that's all changed now, you see. What with the trouble in Chalcon and all the unrest growing in the provinces since the murder, Kembri hasn't got the men to spare for attacking Karnat in Suba. He's had to give up that idea and leave the Valderra to Sendekar, with just enough men to hold it defensively. That's my guess, anyway."

Maia told her what she had heard from Ogma about Milvushina and the proclamation of Santil-ke-Erketlis.

"So Sencho signed his own death warrant when he decided
to
help himself to a baron's daughter for fun?" said Nennaunir. "Good! I've never been more glad to hear of anyone's death. But Santil-he's a danger to all of us, you know, Maia."

"How's that, then?" asked Maia. "He hasn't got the men to make all that much trouble, surely?"

"No, but don't you see, he's openly in arms against the Leopards. No one else in the empire has got as far as that before, not since they've been in power. And as long as

they can't put him out of business, they can't afford to ignore him. There he is, offering at least a full belly to anyone who'll join him. As I see it, the longer he can keep going, the longer he's likely to. Men on the run will go to him instead of to Zeray. Anyone who's got on the wrong side of the Leopards will know where to head for, and there's quite a few of them, I should think, wouldn't you? Elleroth, for one; and Elleroth's the sort of man people
will
follow."

"Who is this Elleroth?" asked Maia. "I remember, now, the Urtans were talking about him."

"He's the son and heir of the Ban of Sarkid," answered Nennaunir. "I met him once, a year or two back, when he came up here; a very amusing, dashing sort of lad, from all I saw of him. Sarkid's never had slavery, you know, and when the Leopards came into power the Sarkidians made it clear that they were quite ready to quarrel about that if they had to. The House of Sarkid claims to be descended from a legendary hero called Deparioth, who was a slave until he became Ban himself and set all the slaves free. That was hundreds of years ago, of course, but they've always stuck to it like glue. I suppose Sencho and Kembri must have decided that as long as they didn't try to spread their ideas outside Sarkid, it wasn't worth fighting about. But now Elleroth's taken a bunch of his lads to join Santil, and you can bet those diamonds you're wearing, dear-aren't they marvelous? I've never seen bigger, not even the Sacred Queen's-did the city give them to you?"

"Yes, Lord Durakkon gave them to me himself," said Maia, "when he come here to thank me. Made me cry, tell you the truth."

"I don't wonder. Well, we know that's one Leopard who's not going to want anything from you in return, don't we? Where was I? Oh, yes, you can bet your diamonds that Kembri's got a headache about
that.
He must have decided he can't afford to leave the city himself, what with not having caught Sencho's killers and wondering where the next bit of provincial trouble's going to start. But he's sending Elvair-that's what I heard-with a specially raised force-Lapanese, Ortelgans, Belishbans, all sorts-to rout Santil out and finish him off. The Leopards must be desperate to stop the revolt spreading, I should think, wouldn't you?"

"Then why don't they send Milvushina back?" asked Maia. "I mean, whatever she says, they could
make
her go, surely?"

"Wouldn't make any difference now," said Nennaunir. "Heldril aren't called heldril for nothing, you know: 'old-fashioned people'. As far as Santil's concerned, she's damaged goods and no wife for him any more. No, it's the insult to his honor that he's angry about. He was betrothed to a baron's daughter and the Leopards enslaved her and took her virginity, when by rights she belonged to him. As far as Santil's concerned, that's that, but he's in honor bound to revenge it. Sencho can't have known she was betrothed to Santil, or even he'd have thought twice, I imagine."

"But if it can't make any difference, Nan, why's Fornis so keen to send her back? Only I was told she regular fell out with Kembri over it."

"Ah!" Nennaunir put a finger to her lips. "Well, I'll tell you what I
think
I know, Maia, because you're who you are and I've always liked you. But for Cran and Airtha's sake don't go repeating it; I never said anything, did I?"

Maia shook her head.

"Where's your servant?" asked Nennaunir, looking round into the room behind them.

"In the kitchen; asleep, too, if I know anything about her."

"She can't possibly hear us?"

Maia shook her head,

Nennaunir leant forward where she was sitting. "It's my belief that Fornis is almost at her wits' end," she said, dropping her voice. "She's had nearly two reigns as Sacred Queen, and that's something that's never been known before. Her second acclamation was all a put-up job, you know. There were plenty of people who shook their heads- secretly, of course, or they'd have found they'd shaken them off, I dare say-when she got the Leopards to agree to a second reign. Now
that's
due to end next Melekril, and what does she mean to do next? No one knows. But she'll try to stay where she is, that's my guess. And any girl in the upper city she thinks might be a rival, she'll put her out of the way if she can. Milvushina's a baron's daughter. Elvair-ka-Virrion's made her his consort and apparently Kembri's supporting him. I bet the two of them have decided Fornis is no more use to them-the people would

never agree to a third reign-and they're looking for someone to succeed her as the next Sacred Queen. And if I know anything about it, that someone's Milvushina.

"But that's not the whole size of it, not by a long way. You're in danger yourself, Maia. Yes, you are! I don't want to frighten you, but with a standing and a following like you've got now, I'm certain Fornis must have her eye on you. If I were you I should take great care: don't give her the slightest grounds for thinking you're ambitious."

"I shan't," said Maia. "Sessendris has told me the same already."

Nennaunir nodded. "She's nice; you can trust her. Did she tell you they've just made another lot of arrests in Tonilda? No one important, though-all little people. They're bringing them up to Bekla now."

She was silent for a time, but then suddenly burst out "Fornis! Oh, Cran, she really frightens me! I'm lucky to be here myself; did you know that?"

"No, I never," said Maia. "How could I?"

"Well, I just wondered whether Sednil might have told you anything: about how he came to be doing five years as a branded man, I mean. Poor lad, he's doing it for me, that's the plain truth. But what could I do? I had no choice, else I'd be dead."

"How ever was that, then?" asked Maia.

"It was all along of that Randronoth, the governor of Lapan," said Nennaunir. "He's well-known to have a fancy for very young girls: did you know?"

Maia laughed. "I ought to: I had to spend the night with him once, when he was staying at Sencho's. Sencho offered him his choice and I was the one he picked. He didn't half have a go at me an' all!"

"Ah, yes: Randronoth wouldn't miss the chance of a girl like you. Well, then, you may perhaps know as well, do you, that the Leopards have had their doubts about him for some time? He's not entirely trusted, only they've never been able to prove anything. He really only held on to his governorship this last year or so by keeping in with Sencho. What'll happen to him now is anybody's guess.

"But I was going to tell you about Queen Fornis and Sednil, wasn't I? It happened more than two years ago, when I was still living in the lower city. I'd had a lover for some time before-an officer-but he'd been killed in battle, and after that I had quite a struggle for a bit. For some

reason no one rich or powerful seemed to fancy me. In fact I was seriously thinking of selling myself to Lalloc, if only he'd promise to place me in some wealthy household up here. And it was during that bad time that I took up with Sednil. He's a Palteshi, you know, like me, and we'd first met in Fornis's army, when we were just banzis. He was working for a jewel-merchant in the lower city, but he used to make a bit extra by-well, by helping to get people interested in me-traders coming up to Bekla and so on. We lived together. Sednil was always very good about money; almost
too
good, really. He'd take money direct from men for introducing them to me-he regarded that as payment for work he'd done himself, you see-but he'd never take a meld of mine. He was terribly proud that way; he used to say he'd rather starve. Still, there was no danger of that, because what with the jewel-merchant and the tips from my visitors he was doing reasonably well.

"He was a lot of comfort in those days, was Sednil, and he was no fool. Saw things straight, you know, and often gave me good advice."

"Ah, he gave me some, too," replied Maia. "What you'd call down-to-earth."

Nennaunir nodded. "Well, one time Randronoth had come up from Lapan to see Fornis and the Leopards on state business, and the next evening he was drinking with some of his own men down in 'The Serpent.' He's always been very free-and-easy among his own men, has Randronoth. And it was while he was there that Sednil fell in with him and managed to get him interested in me. Of course I fairly jumped at it; it was much the best opportunity I'd ever had in my life. Well, you know how it is, don't you? Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. This did: I gave him a simply marvelous time; he really wondered which way the moon was going round. Actually, that was when I turned the corner, because later, when I'd got too old to suit his taste, he recommended me to several people in the upper city. But that isn't what I was going to tell you, That night, when he was feeling really contented and satisfied-and still a bit tipsy, too-he gave me a huge great ring he had-for a present, you know. I tried to refuse it, because I was afraid he'd only regret it later and that'd cost me more than the ring could possibly be worth; but he was very insistent and in the end I decided the easiest thing would be to take it.

"It wasn't a girl's ring at all: only a man could possibly have worn it. It was made like a coiled silver dragon with a great ruby in its mouth half as big as your little fingernail. So I thought, "Well, if ever he asks for it back he can have it-always the honest shearna, that's me-and if he doesn't, I'll hang on to it for a year or so and then sell it. So next morning, off he goes as happy as a stag in autumn and I slept for the rest of the day. I'd left the ring lying on my dressing-table.

"Well, early that afternoon Master Sednil came in-he had a key, of course-and the first thing he saw was the ring. He'd never have taken it to sell-not without asking me-but it struck him as absolutely marvelous, and he couldn't resist putting it on and wearing it when he went back to the jewel-merchant's a bit later. He was going to show it off to him, you see. I never woke up until after he'd gone, and even then I didn't miss the ring. I had no idea at all what he'd done.