The Blood-stained Belt (38 page)

I steadied
myself and asked, 'So you would like to be the wife of a deputy
general?'

'On, no, Jina!
You misunderstand me!' Shani waved a hand around the room. 'What
else could I want? You can see for yourself that I want for
nothing. We live simply, to be sure, but it's quite comfortable and
homely.' She wrinkled her nose as she said the last word. Then she
added in a matter-of-fact tone, 'I have a loyal husband and a fine
son.' She wrinkled her nose again. 'What more could any woman
want?'

'They say, the
more you have, the more you want.'

'Really? Is
that a Keirineian saying? It's not a saying where I come from and I
don't think it's true anyway. No, Jina, I want only one thing and
that is to see that Zaliek gets what he deserves.' She smiled
winningly, leaned across the table, and took my hand. 'Will you try
to do something for him?'

'I'll see what
I can do.' I released her hand and got to my feet, saying, 'I have
to go.'

'So soon?'
Shani followed me to the door. There she put a hand on my arm,
stretched up, and kissed me on a cheek. She said, 'It's always good
to see you, Jina. You're such a good friend to all of us.'

I muttered a
farewell and left the house. The day was cool, but I was sweating.
My skin was fevered and prickly, just as it was when I was in the
field before we went into action.

Soon after
Zaliek arrived in Keirine, he had a private audience with Sharma.
When I asked him how it had gone, Zaliek replied cautiously, 'Well
enough, I guess.'

'Nothing in
particular to report?'

Zaliek gave an
exaggerated shrug. 'We chatted about old times. Then he showed me
around the palace. Impressive, isn't it?'

'The people
expect their king to live in a manner that reflects the glory of
the nation.'

Zaliek raised
his eyebrows sceptically and grunted. 'In that case, it looks like
the people's expectations are being satisfied, for sure.' He
chuckled. 'There was a trade delegation from Kitilat waiting to see
Sharma. The times are changing, eh? It used to be that Keirine sent
delegations to Kitilat, asking for assistance. Now it looks like
it's the other way around.'

I replied, 'Now
that we've got direct access to the sea, we don't need much from
them. Also, we control access to Usserd and the west. They want to
keep the routes open.'

Zaliek nodded
thoughtfully. Then he chuckled again and said, 'I recognised the
leader of the delegation -- a shifty little rodent named Bahdere.
He was in the forefront of the move to eject my mother and me from
Kitilat.' He chuckled again. 'I made a point of greeting him but he
suddenly had a coughing fit and found that he couldn't speak.'

I said with
feeling, 'Diplomats! They're like the grease on the wheels of a
wagon – filthy and sticky, but necessary for the wheel to move
forward.'

Zaliek grinned.
'Not honest and upright like us soldiers, eh?' He rubbed a finger
across his nose, looked at me speculatively, and asked, 'Do you
know that there's trouble brewing with the Usserdites?' I nodded.
Zaliek said, 'Sharma said that he wants me to be involved in the
campaign.'

I was annoyed.
Why was Sharma broaching the matter of a campaign against the
Usserdites when nothing had been decided yet? Military matters were
my provenance. Of course, I discussed everything with Sharma,
almost down to the last detail. Nevertheless, I was the general and
he was the king. I swallowed my annoyance and said, 'If it comes to
war against Usserd, it's not going to be an easy campaign. We'll
need people with your sort of experience.'

Zaliek must
have sensed that I was annoyed because he hesitated, pursed his
lips, and then changed the subject. He remarked, 'Sharma has put on
weight.'

'Don't ever say
that to him. He doesn't like to hear it.' That was an
understatement. I had seen Sharma fling a mug of wine at someone at
who made a casual remark about his weight, after which he drove the
person from his presence amidst a torrent of abuse.

Zaliek asked,
'Is Sharma in good health?'

'Good enough, I
guess. Why do you ask?'

'His eyes are
red and puffy and he gets short of breath after he's walked for a
while.'

It sounded to
me as if Sharma was recovering from a bout of drinking when he met
with Zaliek. I knew the symptoms. However, I didn't say that to
Zaliek. There were some subjects that you approached with the
greatest circumspection and then only if it was absolutely certain
that what you said wouldn't get back to Sharma. I replied, 'Sharma
has a lot on his mind. Sometimes he neglects his personal welfare
in the interests of the nation.'

Zaliek nodded
thoughtfully. I got the impression that he had made up his own mind
about Sharma's health and state of mind. He took out a small
dagger, looked at it speculatively, and began to clean his
fingernails. Then, almost carelessly, he said, 'I saw Mecolo as
well.'

'Oh?
Where?'

'I caught a
glimpse of her when Sharma was showing me around the palace. She
took a look at me, recognised me, and then turned away without
greeting me.'

'She didn't
speak to you? Why would she do that?'

'Hold on,
comrade. There's more to the story. When I was leaving the palace,
she suddenly came out of a side door, grabbed me by the arm, and
pulled me behind a pillar.' His eyes narrowed at the memory. 'She
put her hands on my shoulders, looked me in the eye, and began to
cry. I can tell you, I was surprised -- I hadn't seen her for
twenty years and now there she was, just crying.'

'That's all
that she did – just cry?' I remembered that, a long time ago,
Mecolo told me, 'No one will ever see me weep outside this room.'
Well, the times had changed for all of us, and not only for
Mecolo.

Zaliek
continued, 'After about a minute, she pulled herself together and
said, "Oh, Zaliek, it's good to see you again.’ Of course, I was
thinking it was just the opposite. I mean, damnation, what am I
supposed to think when she acts like that?' He shook his head in
bewilderment and said, 'I thought I was getting used to women, but
this – well, man, this is a new experience.'

'What happened
next?'

Zaliek shook
his head again. 'She asked if I was going to see you soon. Of
course, I said yes. Then she said that I should tell you that she
wanted you to remember your promise to act for the good of
Keirine.' He looked at me closely. 'What's it about?'

Promise? When
had I made a promise to Mecolo? I guessed that she was referring to
her appeal to me to support her son, Bedaxili. But that was a long
time ago and, anyway, as I said, I had never made a promise to her.
What was on her mind? What was prompting her to raise the matter
now? I said cautiously, 'Her memory must be faulty. I never made a
promise to her.'

Zaliek said,
'Mecolo said that now that I was a soldier of Keirine again, I
should help you to keep your promise. She said that the time was
coming when our resolve would be put to the test.'

'Damn it, man,
I tell you that I never made her a promise. Her memory is faulty.
And as to trying to involve you – well, I tell you, the best thing
is to forget about it.'

Zaliek looked
at me even more closely and lowered his voice. 'You're not messing
around with her, are you?'

'Don't be a
fool, man! Of course not!'

'It would be a
bad move if you are.'

'I told you I'm
not! I have nothing to do with Mecolo and that's the whole
truth.'

Zaliek stood
there scratching his head. He looked so awkward and bewildered,
like an elephant puzzled by the question of how to cross a rope
bridge, that I burst out laughing. Zaliek grinned in embarrassment,
scratched his head, and then asked, 'How are things between Sharma
and you?'

I was on the
point of evading the question completely but my guard was up. I
didn't want to offend Zaliek and I didn’t want to say or do
anything that could start a rumour, so I replied, 'Things between
us are pretty good. Our relationship isn't perfect – we have our
disagreements – but generally it's good.'

'Do you see a
lot of him?'

I wished that
Zaliek would leave the matter alone. However, I stayed calm and
replied, 'I probably see more of him than anyone else does. I see
him on official occasions, I discuss business with him, and he
invites me around for social evenings.'

'Just the two
of you?'

'Yes, just the
two of us.'

Zaliek tugged
at an ear and grimaced. 'None of this is my business, is it?'

I took a deep
breath, gathered myself, and said, 'No problem.' Then, just to make
sure that there were no misunderstandings, I added, 'With regard to
what Mecolo said, I want you to know that when I'm with Sharma, I
hardly ever see Mecolo – or Roda, come to that. And I never – I
mean never – see them at any other time.' I could have added that
although I hardly ever saw them, I knew that Sharma’s relationships
with his wives hadn’t improved with time. Their incessant rivalry
and complaints about each other, as well as their demands for
preferment for their children, irritated him so much that he
avoided them for days on end if not longer. In fact, I suspected
that he was thoroughly bored with them. His attentions had been
wandering to other quarters for a long time. However, although I
knew plenty, there were some aspects of Sharma's relationship with
his wives and family that I didn't know about and didn't enquire
into. Sharma didn't speak to me about personal and family business
and I didn't ask any questions.

Zaliek grunted.
'Well, I gave you Mecolo's message like I said I would. If you say
there's nothing in it, then that's good enough for me.' He
shrugged. 'As far as I'm concerned, that's the end of the
matter.'

CHAPTER
TWENTY-THREE: INSECTS

I sometimes
wished that we had never conquered the Western River Strip. It was
true that it was a popular move at the time because it provided
further evidence that a vigorous Keirine could not only defend its
territory but was also able to deal with the neighbours who had
harassed and humiliated it for so long. Occupying the Strip was
also a popular move amongst land-hungry Keirineians who, within the
space of ten years, turned the area into a green and prosperous
expanse with market gardens and small farms that were fed by a
network of canals.

On the other
hand, it was costly to guard the Strip. The Usserdites who had been
evicted from it were always staging raids and thieving expeditions.
Besides that, one never knew when one of the neighbouring Usserdite
chiefs would succumb to pressure or resentment and mount a more
determined attempt to reclaim some of the land that had been
lost.

I warned Sharma
against occupying the Strip but he just clapped me on the shoulder
and said, 'Ah, Jina, cautious as ever, eh!' The fact was that
Sharma was only reflecting the popular mood when he began to seize
territory from the Dornites and the Usserdites. After being
restricted to the crowded highlands for generations, Keirineians
reveled in the opportunity to settle in the fertile lands of the
coastal plain and the Western River Strip. Also, expansionism was
central to realising Sharma's vision of a Keirine that was entirely
free of the threat of invasion. On a number of occasions, he said
to me frankly, 'I don't mind fighting our enemies on the coastal
plain, or in the Strip, or on the southern plains, or anywhere
else, come to that as long as we keep Keirine itself secure. Never
again do I want to see even one enemy footprint on Keirineian soil.
Do you understand, Jina? Never again!'

The latest
trouble started when Keirineian settlers in the Strip caught two
Usserdites red-handed in the act of stealing donkeys. Instead of
handing the thieves over to the authorities, the settlers took the
law into their own hands and hanged the thieves. From there,
matters went downhill. The King of Usserd protested that, according
to the terms of the treaty between Keirine and Usserd, the
intruders should have been handed over to him for punishment. When
he demanded compensation, Sharma replied that the offenders would
be tried and their fines would be paid to Usserd. We sent a deputy
commander and twenty men to arrest the offenders but a mob of
settlers surrounded the soldiers, saying that they wouldn't let
them go until the offenders were pardoned. The governor of the
Strip rushed to Koraina for an urgent consultation with Sharma and
eventually, in the normal bumbling way of politicians who take the
nearest way in a complex crisis, the offenders were pardoned.
Sharma sent a message to the King of Usserd to say that while
Keirine appreciated its good relations with Usserd, it could not
guarantee that it would be able to observe the treaty in future if
there were further acts of bare-faced provocation.

The next act in
the drama came two weeks later when an Usserdite chief raided a
village in the Strip, carrying off cattle and donkeys as
compensation for the deaths of the two men. When Sharma demanded
that the stolen livestock should be returned and that the chief
should be punished, the King of Usserd refused, saying that he was
also finding it difficult to observe the terms of the treaty in the
face of bare-faced acts of provocation such as the hanging of the
two men. Noting that the treaty had been concluded when the
boundaries of Keirine did not extend beyond the Great River, the
king also opined that he thought that it was time for Usserd and
Keirine to negotiate a new treaty. He proposed that Keirine and
Usserd should first discuss what he termed 'the difficult
circumstances posed by Keirineian settlers who are improperly
occupying Usserdite territory on the western bank of the
river.'

Sharma summoned
me to see him and, after a short discussion of the issue, said
bluntly 'The King of Usserd wants war and war is what he'll
get.'