The Blood-stained Belt (29 page)

Within a week,
we met with a congregation of all the elders' councils in Lower
Keirine to plan for the immediate future. Although the meeting
decided to establish a protected border between Upper and Lower
Keirine, at Sharma's insistence the delegates affirmed their
allegiance to Vaxili as king. They also affirmed allegiance to the
Kingdom of Keirine. The meeting appointed Sharma and me as
commander and deputy commander of the army, respectively. Then we
moved our main base to Orihedrin, a town that was centrally
situated just north of the border with Upper Keirine. With the
financial and material support that was channeled through the
elders' councils, and by means of Durgenu's trade contacts, we were
able to triple the size of our force as well as to outfit it
adequately.

This was a
strange and paradoxical period. Lower Keirine had effectively
seceded, virtually forming a state within a state, making laws,
raising taxes, and maintaining an army, while at the same time it
proclaimed its allegiance to the kingdom and to its ruler. While I
thought that we should have seceded, Sharma always maintained that
the arrangement was for the eventual good of the kingdom. He asked
me, 'Do you remember how we sat on the hills outside Osicedi and
talked about a prophecy of the oracle at Osighina?' I nodded.
Sharma quoted the words: 'Keirine only shall be free, when land and
people meet the sea' and then asked me gently, 'Do you still
believe it to be true?'

'I do.'

Sharma said,
'Well, Jina, believe me, the prophecy will never be fulfilled
unless we have a united kingdom of Keirine.'

I asked
sceptically, 'Do you think what we're doing now is going to serve
the cause of the united kingdom?'

Sharma said
firmly, 'I do.' Quoting a well known proverb, he said, 'A path may
wind, but its destination is fixed.'

About a year
later, something took place that straightened out the path and
brought the destination much closer. Although it happened without
warning and it was over within half an hour, it had a profound
effect on the future. One day, at about noon, a procession
consisting of twelve men riding on donkeys arrived at our
headquarters in Orihedrin. In spite of the heat, five of the men
were covered from head to foot in cloaks and veils with only their
eyes showing through narrow slits. They reminded me of the nomads
of the dune desert in the distant west, except that the nomads rode
camels, not plodding donkeys. The rest of the men in the party were
servants and guards and were dressed more conventionally.

While the
veiled men dismounted, one of the servants hurried into the
building. He returned within a few minutes and, after speaking
deferentially to the men, escorted them inside. Fifteen minutes
later, Sharma summoned me to the council chamber. When I entered
the room, I was amazed to see Izebol there, dressed in his full
regalia as high priest. He put out his hand and, as I kneeled and
kissed his ring, he said, 'Ah! The honest Jina! You are still the
scourge of your enemies, so I hear.'

I murmured,
'Your honour, I do what I can.'

He looked at me
quizzically and asked, ‘And the scourge of the enemies of
Keirine?’

‘I will always
serve Keirine when I am able to, your honour.’

Izebol pursed
his lips and narrowed his eyes thoughtfully but said nothing. Then
he put out his hand and raised me to my feet while looking at
Sharma expectantly. Sharma said in an unsteady voice, 'Jina, I want
you to serve as a witness.'

'A witness? To
what?'

Izebol stepped
forward, saying, 'You will see in a moment. But first, I want you
to swear that you will never speak to anyone about what you witness
here until the day that Vaxili dies. After that, you may speak
about it freely. Are you prepared to swear to that?'

'Your honour, I
–'

'Are you
prepared to swear or should I find another witness? We don’t have
time to waste.'

'Yes, your
honour. I will swear to it.'

'Are you
prepared to swear by Zabrazal's sacred altar and may Zabrazal curse
you and your children and their children if you violate this
oath?'

I took the oath
after which Izebol administered the oath to Sharma and then pointed
to his companions and said, 'They are also witnesses and they have
taken the same oath.' To Sharma, he said, 'Kneel!' He gestured to
the priests, who arranged themselves in a semi-circle around
Sharma. Pouring a few drops of oil on Sharma's forehead, Izebol
proclaimed, 'I anoint you as the King of Keirine. It is the will of
Zabrazal.' He rubbed the oil across Sharma's forehead, put his
hands on Sharma's head, murmured a short prayer, and then raised
Sharma to his feet. The ceremony took less than a minute. It was
short, simple and momentous.

Sharma got up
slowly and looked around unsteadily like a man in a daze. He
appeared to be astounded at what had happened -- as well he should
be. He wiped away a trickle of oil above his eyelid and then looked
fixedly at the smear on his fingers as if he wondered how it had
got there. Then Sharma smiled shyly, almost apologetically, like a
man who has stumbled on a priceless jewel while walking across a
barren field.

Izebol asked,
'Jina, you have witnessed that Sharma has been anointed as the King
of Keirine?'

I muttered,
'Yes, your honour.'

'Speak up, man,
so that everyone can hear.'

I got a hold of
my emotions as well as my voice and said 'Yes, your honour. I have
witnessed it.'

'Tell me what
you have witnessed.'

Still
unsteadily, I replied, 'I have witnessed that you have anointed
Sharma as the King of Keirine.'

'And you have
sworn that --?'

'Your honour, I
have sworn that I will never speak about what I have witnessed here
until the day of Vaxili's death.'

Izebol nodded,
raised a finger, and said, 'Remember your oath, and may Zabrazal
curse you if you betray it.' He leaned back against the table,
looking tired and drained. He put his hands to his forehead and,
with eyes closed, shook his head wearily before he said, 'Zabrazal
has begun to call me home. Every time he calls, his voice is more
insistent. One day soon he will give me the final call.' Izebol
paused for breath and rubbed his head as if he was clearing it of
errant thoughts. However, when he spoke again, his voice was strong
and clear. 'I also foresee that Vaxili, disobedient wastrel that he
is, won't last for long. He might survive me but even if he does,
it won't be long before he walks the same path to Zabrazal's place
of judgement.' Izebol leaned back again and closed his eyes. This
time, he paused for so long that I thought that he had fallen into
a trance. There was a breathless silence in the room. Then Izebol
roused himself, blinked as if he was coming back from a far place,
snapped his fingers, and said, 'Our business here is finished. It's
time for us to go.'

Sharma said,
'Your honour, you have had a long journey. We can prepare quarters
for you and your companions. You can stay for the night and then
leave at your leisure.'

Izebol shook
his head. 'We thank you for your courtesy but it is best that we
should leave as soon as possible. The fewer the number of people
who know about our visit, the better.' He pulled on his cloak,
motioned to his companions to leave the room, and held out his
hand. As we kneeled and kissed his finger-tips, Izebol murmured a
blessing. At the door, he paused and said sternly, 'Remember your
oath!' He covered his face and left.

Sharma took a
deep breath. His eyelid was twitching but otherwise he looked calm.
What was he thinking? Within a matter of minutes, his status had
changed from that of a rebel to that of the future King of Keirine.
It was so astonishing that I wondered if it had really happened.
The whole incident had the quality of one of those fever-inspired
visions that drifted through my mind while I lay wracked by illness
in the squalid hut in Koraina. I felt weak and sat down with my
head resting on my arms. Sharma put a hand on my shoulder and said,
'Compose yourself, Jina. Nobody must know what has happened
here.'

In a daze, I
muttered, 'I'm all right.'

Sharma said
lightly, 'You look as if you've been hit by a rock-fall.' Still
with his hand on my shoulder, he sat down next to me. I blinked a
few times, shook my head to try to clear it, and said, 'By
Zabrazal, Sharma, you're calm about it.'

He replied in a
steady voice, 'It is the will of Zabrazal, not so? Who am I to
question it?'

I couldn’t help
muttering with deep scepticism, ‘The will of Zabrazal!’

Sharma replied
straight-faced, ‘That is what Izebol said, isn’t it?’

Sharma’s face
was glowing as if he had passed through a baptismal bath of
mercurial liquid. I said, 'You'd better stay here for a while.
You'll give yourself away immediately if you go outside looking
like that. People will think that Zabrazal himself paid you a
visit, in all his glory.'

I started to
ask myself the inevitable questions. Why did Izebol choose Sharma?
Was it some sort of trick? If so, what was the aim of it? I also
pondered the practical implications of what had happened. If it
wasn’t a trick, how was it going to come to pass? When Vaxili died,
was Sharma just going to come forward and claim the throne? Without
any opposition? Faced with the complexity of the matter, and
thinking of the uncertainties on the road ahead, I began to think
that it was a trap for Sharma. When I said this to Sharma, he
replied, 'If this is a trick, then Izebol has compromised himself
as well as committed sacrilege.'

I replied, ‘Are
you sure you don’t believe it just because you want to?’

Sharma looked
at me narrowly, his head to one side. Then he pulled at an ear and
said slowly, 'Do you remember when we were boys, how we sat on the
hills and talked about Keirine and the future?' I nodded. I could
picture the day as fresh as if had happened yesterday. Sharma said
reflectively, 'For a long time, I've felt that it's my destiny to
guide the kingdom.'

'But, Sharma,
to be king!'

Sharma just
closed his eyes and nodded calmly as if he had received an infusion
of inner strength and confidence. I said, 'If this is what you
want, Sharma, it’s going to be a hard road to walk. Getting there
will be hard -- but staying there will be even harder.'

Sharma leaned
forward and grasped my shoulder. 'Will you walk the road with me,
Jina?' I nodded. Sharma said, 'Good! I need you. More than anyone,
I need you.' He squeezed my shoulder and said earnestly, 'With you
by my side, I can climb the heights with confidence.'

I kept the
secret for three years, as did Sharma, until the time came to step
into the open and climb the final slopes towards the summit.

Sharma’s time
was coming close. So was mine.

CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN: ROTTEN FRUIT

Surprisingly,
Vaxili made no move to re-invade Lower Keirine. There was a rumour
that Izebol had warned him off but, if that was true, what did
Izebol say? Who knows? On the other hand, perhaps we were left in
peace simply because Vaxili had his hands full in defending his
kingdom from the Dornites. In the space of three years, the
Dornites made two major incursions into Upper Keirine. On the first
occasion, Vaxili's army fought them to a standstill, mainly
because, following a near-revolt amongst the troops, Jainar had
been reinstated as supreme commander. On the second occasion,
Vaxili led the army personally -- and he led them to a crushing
defeat. The Dornites captured all the Keirineian territory that
they relinquished after the second battle of Gandonda as well as a
portion of Vaxili's home area of Orifinre. The main cause of this
catastrophic defeat was that Vaxili had purged all his senior
commanders, Jainar included, accusing them of disloyalty and of
plotting to assassinate him. However, as usual it was easy to see
that the real reason was that Vaxili couldn’t co-exist with anyone
who was capable of wielding power and responsibility successfully.
Competence and efficiency near at hand threatened Vaxili far more
than the threat posed by a distant enemy.

After the
second battle, Vaxili's long-suffering troops finally did revolt.
They marched on the palace and demanded that Vaxili should
abdicate, that Jainar should take the crown, and that his fellow
commanders should be restored to their positions. Vaxili blustered,
cursing his soldiers as rebels and traitors and threatening to
execute the ringleaders of the revolt. Understandably, this only
infuriated the soldiers. With only the royal guard remaining loyal
to Vaxili, matters had reached a point where it looked like Vaxili
was going to go down either in surrender or death. That was when
Izebol intervened. Surprisingly for such a crusty old
fire-breather, he was so conciliatory that he succeeded in
reconciling the opposing factions. The troops dropped their demand
that Vaxili should abdicate on condition that all the imprisoned
commanders were restored to their positions. It was a climb-down
for Vaxili but it saved his crown -- and perhaps it saved his skin
as well.

After the
second battle, with Upper Keirine in disarray, some leading members
of the Supreme Council approached Sharma privately to ask if he
would be prepared to be crowned king of Lower Keirine. Before he
gave his answer, Sharma summoned his senior commanders to be his
witnesses. In our presence, he told the elders bluntly that Vaxili,
the anointed choice of Zabrazal, was the only king in Keirine – and
that was how it would be, as long as Vaxili was alive. The elders
went away looking chastened. However, even while Sharma was giving
a convincing performance as a loyalist -- loyal to the anointed
king, loyal to the kingdom -- I sensed that he was plotting his
moves well in advance. Like a good chess player, he would sacrifice
a minor piece or even stage a retreat as long as he was moving
towards the goal of toppling the opposing king and winning the
game.