Maia (Beklan Empire 1)

Maia stared at her. "It's not that late, surely? He won't want us before mid-day."

"Well, apparently he woke early," replied Occula, "and told Terebinthia one of us was to come as soon as he said. That's me, banzi--always live and ready. But now it seems he's gone back to sleep again."

She sat down, staring at the flames and drumming her fingers on the bench.

"Something on your mind?" asked Maia.

Occula, without turning her head, nodded, but still said nothing. At length she asked, "Would you say I was tough?"

"Very."

"That's what I thought, too. Well, now I just want to be sick--all over everyone in this bastin' house. I wish I'd stayed down in Thettit; I really do."

"Why, for Cran's sake? What's up?"

At this moment Ogma came back with Maia's breakfast--eggs, milk, butter, fruit and warm bread.

Maia, jumping up, went across to the table and set to.

"Shall I bring you the same, Miss Occula?" asked Ogma. "Very likely you'll have time before the High Counselor wakes up again."

"I'll call you," replied Occula absently. "Just leave us for now, Ogma, there's a dear."

When the girl had gone she came over and sat down opposite Maia, elbows on the table and chin in her hands.

"I've been talking to Dyphna."

Maia scraped her egg. "How nice for you!"

"Doan' give me that shit, banzi!" stormed the black girl, banging her fist on the boards, "or I'll knock your blasted deldas off! I'm just in no damn' mood to--"

"I'm sorry, dear!" replied Maia, surprised. "Whatever's upset you so much?"

"Dyphna's been tellin' me who that Chalcon girl is and why she's here."

Maia waited.

"D'you know who she is?" asked Occula.

"No, 'course I don't."

"She's the daughter of a baron called Enka-Mordet, in Chalcon; a friend of Santil-ke-Erketlis, Dyphna said. That's to say, he was."

Maia put down her bread and stared. The black girl continued in a low but steady voice.

"You know who the heldril are, doan' you? It means 'old-fashioned people'--landowners out in the provinces who go as far as they dare to show they doan' like the Leopards. There's always been a lot of heldro feelin' in Tonilda--'specially in Chalcon. They're all heldril there, and the Leopards know it. Probably the most disaffected province in the whole empire. Everyone knows Sencho's been watchin' them for a long time now. Erketlis is still quite young, you know, but he's the biggest baron in those parts, and if he came out openly against the Leopards there'd be plenty who'd follow him. Those men who were here the other day--you can be certain some of them were agents from down that way."

She crossed the room, went through the bead curtains to the outer door and listened carefully before coming back to the bench.

"It was Dyphna who told me about Enka-Mordet of Chalcon, this mornin'. Apparently Sencho was talkin' to her last night, in between enjoym' himself. He was so pleased with his own cleverness he couldn' resist tellin' her. Enka-Mordet was Senda-na-Say's nephew, and he had a wife and two grown sons."

"You mean the Leopards have killed them all?" asked Maia.

Occula nodded. "Dyphna says Kembri sent about two hundred men, an' they reached Chalcon from Bekla in less than three days."

"Through the rains?" asked Maia. "Surely not?"

"Yes, they did. Apparently half of them are down with fever now; but they finished what they went for, so Kembri woan' be mindin' about that. They killed Enka-Mordet and his wife and sons. But now hear this. On Sencho's personal orders the daughter, Milvushina, was brought back here, for him. 'So she hasn't cost me a meld,' he said to Dyphna."

Maia was silent for some little time. At length she said, "Well, s'pose it's no worse for her than it was for you."

"P'raps not," answered Occula, "but I doan' care to hear you talkin' like that, banzi. Believe me, it's a great mistake to let yourself get so tough that you never feel sorry for anyone. It shows in your face after a time, and that's when you're on the way out--hard as nails and look it. Meris was beginnin' to look that way. I feel sorry for this wretched girl. You ought to feel sorry for her. But you doan' like her, do you?"

"I never said so."

"No, but I can tell what you're thinkin'. 'She's a baron's daughter, ha, ha, and now she's come down to no better than us.' Yes?"

"I never--"

"Yes, you did," said Occula sharply. "Of course it's bad for slaves, banzi--it's a rotten world--but it's even worse for that poor girl. It's not her fault who she is or where she was born. She's been through enough to drive any girl stark, ravin' mad and if we doan' look after her, she probably will be."

"Cran, I've just thought!" said Maia, jumping to her feet. "Where's your knife, Occula? Is it in your box? She might wake up and find it."

"Yes, I'd thought of that, too," replied Occula. "It's hidden, along with the tessik. But somehow I doan' think Milvushina's the sort to do herself in. I'm not really worried about that. I'm much more bothered about Piggy and his jolly fun."

"You don't think he might drive her to it?"

"No--because we're goin' to help her to turn herself from a baron's daughter into a crafty, hard-headed slave-girl. Oh, you were no trouble, banzi; you're a tough little thing, aren't you? You quite enjoy ruttin' about with Piggy, doan' you? Uh-huh, I've seen you: and he knows it. But d'you realize what it's goin' to be like for her! That's why he had her brought here, the bastard--partly that and partly so's he could feel he'd got twelve thousand meld's worth for nothin'."

Maia looked up quickly, finger to lips, as the door be-yond the bead curtains openedsoftly. A moment later they stood up as Terebinthia came in.

"Ah, there you are, Occula," said Terebinthia. "You may go to the High Counselor now. I don't think he's very well this morning, but no doubt you'll be able to make him feel better." Then, turning to Maia, "Where's the Chalcon girl? You've seen her, I suppose?"

"Yes, saiyett. We put her to sleep with me in the big bed--jus' so's I could keep an eye on her, like: only she was a bit upset last night, see. Thought I'd sit in there and do a bit of mending till she wakes, and then Ogma can get her something to eat."

"Yes, that will do," replied Terebinthia, "and you'd better tell her that the High Counselor will want to see her later on, at supper time." She stooped, holding her hands to the stove, and then added quietly, "He's greatly looking forward to it."

32: MAIA AS COMFORTER

Nevertheless, the High Counselor did not send for Milvushina that evening. At dinner next day, when he was attended by Occula and Maia, he was listless and petulant, cutting short his gluttony and showing no inclination for other pleasures. Althou

gh replying to Terebinthia, with testy annoyance, that he did not feel ill, he plainly lacked the energy and zest to enjoy the humiliation of a baron's daughter turned concubine.

Early in the afternoon he dismissed the girls, but later recalled Occula to bathe and massage him, after which he fell asleep without even attempting to gratify himself.

The next two days brought no change and Maia, to her own surprise, realized that she was beginning to feel frustrated. It had never occurred to her that what she had become accustomed to doing for the High Counselor gave her any satisfaction; indeed, she had now and then, in the secrecy of their bed, expressed to Occula her disgust. Now she began to understand that her feelings were not as simple as she had supposed.

She had never forgotten the day when Lalloc had first displayed her--the day when Sencho, beside himself at the mere sight of her, had vainly tried to raise himself from the cushions. Nor did she forget the night of the Rains banquet, when Meris had failed him and she herself had not. She was also well aware, of course, that he felt not the least affection for her and that if for any reason, such as illness or injury, she were to become less attractive he would simply sell her off for the best price he could get. Yet in a strange way this state of affairs suited her. She enjoyed the fact that her beauty and wantonness were sufficient in themselves and needed no supplement of emotion. Her own nature was down-to-earth. So was Sencho's.

Despite his delight in humiliating his girls, he was in this respect an easy master, since he wanted and expected nothing but pleasurable sensations, which Maia could provide without difficulty. If questioned about her work, she would probably have answered much the same as a farm-hand-- that she could do it all right, but would have been happier if there was less of it. Dyphna, she knew, would have liked a more cultured, aristocratic master, and Occula one in whose house there Was more social life and opportunity for her ambition and quick wits. She herself had no such feelings--the reason, she had hitherto thought, being simply that she was not required to do anything beyond her.

She now discovered that there was more to it than this. Occula and Dyphna despised Sencho and found him tedious. To her his vulgarity, cruelty and salacity were off-set by another quality--his enormous capacity for enjoyment--together with the knowledge that she herself was what he particularly liked.