The Blood-stained Belt (24 page)

I slept through
the middle of the day and when I awoke in early afternoon, I was
ravenous. The woman brought me a bowl of stew, which I wolfed down.
She brought me another one and I finished it nearly as quickly.
Then I lay back and dropped into a state between sleeping and
waking while my thoughts drifted amongst a host of impressions and
memories. I had distant recollections of a battle field and someone
supporting me on my horse. I dreamt of Dana lying back to receive
me as her lover. I remembered how while I suffered from the fever,
I woke in pitch darkness, screaming and flaying my arms about. I
imagined myself running towards Dana, but never reaching her.
Zaliek was talking to me, or so I thought … Finally I fell into a
deep, dark, and dreamless sleep.

Zaliek shook my
shoulder to wake me. I mumbled something and tried to turn over and
go back to sleep but Zaliek shook me again, insistently. I rolled
onto my back and opened my eyes. Zaliek was leaning over me, his
face sombre. He asked, 'How are you?'

'Much better, I
think.' I shook my head and propped myself up on my elbows. I said,
'My head doesn't hurt so much.'

'You feel
better now that you've had something to eat, eh?'

'I was
ravenous. I had some stew about an hour ago.'

'An hour ago?
They told me that you ate about five hours ago.'

I looked around
and saw that the room was already growing gloomy with the approach
of evening. I said, 'Five hours ago? It doesn't seem like it.'

Zaliek said,
'Sorry to have to wake you.' He looked around and asked in a low
voice, 'Can you walk?'

'Ever since I
was a year old, commander.'

'Good. Then you
should still be able to do it now.' He looked towards the door at
the end of the room and said, 'I have something to discuss with you
– confidentially.'

As I stood by
the side of my bed getting dressed, Zaliek reached up to the
windowsill and handed me something, saying, ‘Don’t forget this,
deputy commander.’ It was the belt that Sharma had given me. As I
buckled it around my waist and hitched it into a more comfortable
position, running my fingers over its patterned surface, I wondered
where Sharma was. I would have thought that he would have been
amongst the first to see me. I said this to Zaliek, who looked
uncomfortable and replied that he would tell me about Sharma once
we got outside.

Zaliek
supported me as I walked unsteadily down the passage between the
beds. I was shaky but it felt good to be out of that bent-backed,
stinking, soiled bed and on my feet again. As I made my way down
the room, I looked around. By Zabrazal, this was no place to be
spending time! Faces gaunt with pain and illness stared at me
vacantly. The air was fetid, not only with the stench of wounds and
unwashed bodies but also with an atmosphere of listless
hopelessness. It was as if the place had sapped the will, energy,
and self-belief of its inhabitants. I muttered to Zaliek, 'I've got
to get out of here.'

'You can leave
tomorrow, so they say.'

We were at the
door. I stepped outside, leaned against the door-post and breathed
deeply. I felt as if a part of my soul returned to me with every
inhalation of fresh air. I said, 'Commander, I'm leaving right now.
The only way they'll stop me is if they take me back by force.'

Zaliek looked
me up and down and said sympathetically, 'Well, you might as well
move out now. I guess it doesn't matter where you sleep tonight now
that you're on the mend.' He cocked a thumb towards the interior of
the hut and wrinkled his nose in distaste. 'At least you'll be out
of that putrid atmosphere.'

When we sat
down on a bench near the door, Zaliek reached into his tunic, took
out a piece of cloth from which he unwrapped a medal on a ribbon.
He held it up and said, 'This belongs to you.'

'What is
it?'

'It's the Order
of the Defenders of Keirine. Vaxili awarded it to you.'

I took the
medal, saying, 'Did he? I know nothing about it.' As I inspected
it, I asked, 'How did you get it, commander?'

Zaliek replied,
'The parade was held yesterday. You weren't available so I received
the medal on your behalf.'

'Thank you,
commander. I appreciate it. But, nevertheless, I would have thought
that if it was so important, Vaxili would have found time to award
it to me personally. Or maybe Jainar could have handed it to me. No
offence meant, you understand?'

Zaliek shifted
uncomfortably and said in a low voice, 'There's something that you
should know -- Jainar isn't the commander of the army any
longer.'

'He isn't?
Why?'

Still in a low
voice, Zaliek said, 'Jainar has been demoted to the level of a unit
commander. It seems that he and the other senior commanders had a
disagreement with Vaxili over the tactics to be used in the battle.
That's why Jainar was in command while Vaxili stayed behind in
Koraina.'

'What? Vaxili
wasn't in command of the army?'

Zaliek shook
his head. 'Like I said, he stayed behind in Koraina.'

I whistled.
This was news indeed. I asked, 'And now Vaxili has struck back by
demoting Jainar?' Zaliek nodded grimly. I asked, 'Who's the new
commander?'

Zaliek said,
'No one. It looks like Vaxili is going to do the job himself.'

I began to feel
light-headed again and leaned back against the wall. Zaliek leaned
over me and asked, 'Are you all right?' I nodded. He looked at me
closely as if checking that I was alert enough to go on with the
conversation before he said, 'We can talk about these things
tomorrow, when you're stronger.'

I replied,
'Commander, I have the feeling that you want to tell me something.
I don't want to wait until tomorrow. I'm strong enough now.'

Zaliek nodded,
leaned forward, and said in a low voice, 'I'm telling you this in
confidence. Keep out of Vaxili's way.'

'What have I
done to annoy him?'

Still speaking
in a low voice, Zaliek said, 'It has to do with Sharma.'

'Well,
commander, that doesn't surprise me. I've often warned Sharma to
stop playing around with Mecolo but he won't listen to me. Anyway,
what does that have to do with me?'

Zaliek smiled
tightly. 'This time, Sharma has done a lot more than just play
around with Mecolo.'

I groaned. Damn
Sharma! Why didn't he take my advice and go fishing in some other
part of the sea? I asked, 'What has he been up to now?'

Zaliek replied
in a whispered hiss, 'Sharma has eloped with Mecolo.'

'What? Is he
crazy?’ I sat there scratching my head. The effects of the fever
combined with this news made me feel so faint that I could have
been knocked over with a fly-whisk. I got a hold of myself and
asked, 'When did this happen?'

'The day before
yesterday.'

'The day that
the army arrived in Koraina?'

Zaliek nodded
and asked, 'Did you know that Sharma was planning this?'

'No. I had no
idea – no idea at all! He never said a thing to me.'

Zaliek said
grimly, 'That's not what Vaxili thinks.'

'He's wrong. I
had nothing to do with it. On the contrary, I warned Sharma to
break off with Mecolo. I warned him plenty of times. I told him
that he was playing with fire.'

'Well, Sharma's
going to get badly burned now. In fact, he'll be lucky to escape
with burns. Vaxili will hunt him down and destroy him.' Zaliek
paused and then said bleakly, 'I might have to watch my back as
well.'

'You,
commander? What have you done?'

'You remember
your mission to rescue Mecolo and the others from the Usserdite
bandits?' Zaliek cleared his throat and said sympathetically, 'I'm
sorry, but I have to refer to it. Well, I have a feeling that
Vaxili thinks that I arranged things so that Sharma could have an
opportunity to get together with Mecolo.'

'Did you,
commander?'

'Don't be a
fool, man! I didn't even know that there was anything between them.
The adjutant ordered me to select the best men for the purpose and
that's what I did.' He cleared his throat again and concluded
morosely, 'That's what comes from just following orders, eh?'

I leaned back
and thought about the matter. God, it was a mess! Vaxili, jealous
of his own commanders, had struck back at them. Sharma and Mecolo
were on the run, ablaze with lovers’ passion while her father was
after them, ablaze with passion of a different kind. Vaxili
suspected that I was involved – in fact, the tentacles of his
suspicions even reached as far as Zaliek … Where would I find a
path through this wilderness of intrigue and suspicion?

Looking ill at
ease, Zaliek said, ‘It gets worse. Vaxili has declared Sharma an
outlaw.'

'What!? He
can't do that!'

'Maybe he
can’t. But that's what he's done.'

'Only a tribal
council can do that – and then there has to be a proper
hearing.'

Zaliek said
grimly, 'If Vaxili bothered about it at all, he would probably say
that he's above all the tribal councils so he can exercise all
their functions.'

'Without a
hearing?' Zaliek just shrugged despondently. I said, 'He can't do
this! Even the king isn't above the law.'

Zaliek sat back
and fiddled with his girdle. He started to say something, checked
himself, and then coughed. He leaned forward, scratched the tip of
his nose, and coughed again. I wasn't used to seeing the
phlegmatic, down-to-earth Zaliek in such a hesitant state. Finally,
he said, 'The fact is that Vaxili feels that he's threatened.'

'Threatened?
But, commander, that's ridiculous! He's just won the biggest
victory that any Keirineian force ever won over the Dornites. How
can he feel threatened?'

Zaliek said,
'That wasn't Vaxili's victory. It was Jainar's victory.'

'But Vaxili is
the commander in chief, and –' Zaliek was looking at me so intently
that I broke off and asked, 'What's going on, commander?'

Zaliek said,
'It wasn't just that Vaxili wasn't present at the battle. The fact
is that Jainar and the senior commanders took over all the planning
for the campaign – tactics, strategies, logistics, everything. They
excluded Vaxili completely.' Zaliek sat back and looked at me
closely. He said, 'You and Sharma helped to move it along.'

'Sharma and me?
What did we have to do with it?'

'You remember
when the two of you met with Vaxili and Jainar, that you suggested
a strategy for defeating the Dornites?'

'Yes, I
remember. In fact, I saw the result just the other day, at the
battle.'

Zaliek nodded.
'That's because Jainar liked what you suggested. In fact, he liked
it a lot. But Vaxili didn't like it.'

'He seemed to
be interested when we met with him.'

Zaliek
shrugged. 'Maybe he was. But Vaxili can change his mind faster than
the weather changes in autumn. That's the way he is. What's more,
he doesn't accept other people's ideas easily and he doesn't like
to give credit to others.' Zaliek lowered his voice and said
cautiously, 'The problem is, he's insecure.'

'Insecure? I
can agree with that assessment but I can’t understand it. After
all, he's the king!'

'That's true.
But he's never felt secure in that position.' Zaliek pursed his
lips. 'For instance, who elected him to be king? Everyone knows
that Izebol engineered the whole thing once he saw that he couldn't
refuse the demand for a king. And now Izebol isn't happy with
Vaxili. So where is Vaxili's support base? The answer is that he
hardly has one at all, except maybe with his own clan. The only way
he can build up wider support is by being successful. And what
happens in his first battle against the Dornites? Disaster, that's
what!'

I said, 'But if
Vaxili had any sense, he would –'

Zaliek
interrupted me. 'Hold it, deputy commander! Let me finish. If
Vaxili was a big man, he'd know how to go out and win support.
Unfortunately, he's not a big man. He's a small man who feels
threatened at every turn. For example, let's consider his
relationship with you and Sharma. Who gets a measure of victory out
of the disaster of defeat by killing Drunuk? The two of you do. Who
rescues Vaxili's daughter from the Usserdite bandits? The two of
you do. Who has the idea for the attack on Asjolorm? The same, not
so? Who suggests the tactics that win the second battle of
Gandonda? The same again.'

'But, damn it,
those were his victories as well not to mention the fact that they
were victories for the whole of Keirine.'

Zaliek shook
his head morosely. 'That’s how a big man would see it. But a small
man like Vaxili – no.' Zaliek shook his head again and said, 'And
then, on top of all that, who wins the affections of his beloved
daughter?'

'Well,
commander, at least I'm not guilty on the last count.'

'Ha! Tell that
to Vaxili. He thinks that you're in league with Sharma. Anyway,
never mind the finer details -- you see what I'm getting at, eh?'
Zaliek shrugged fatalistically. 'Vaxili is hurting and he's looking
for scapegoats.' He looked around cautiously, leaned forward, and
said in a low voice, 'Like I said, the real problem is that Vaxili
is a small man. And the big problem with small men is that they
can't give credit to others. What's worse, they end up surrounding
themselves with small men so that they only ever hear the
arse-licking opinions that suit them.'

We sat there
for a while in glum silence, busy with our thoughts. Then I asked,
'Where is Sharma?'

Zaliek gave a
short laugh. 'He's with Mecolo somewhere in Lower Keirine, I would
think.'

'Osicedi?'

Zaliek
shrugged. 'I doubt it. Sharma would be clever enough to stay off
the beaten track, at least until things cool down.'

I stood up and
stretched, trying to get the ache out of my bones. Suddenly I felt
faint and sat down in a hurry. I leaned forward, shook my head to
clear it, and asked, 'What about me, commander?'