"But is Fornis really here, Occula? Ogma said, but I can't hardly believe it--"
"Yes, banzi! Yes, she is, she's lookin' for you to kill you! After she'd killed Durakkon and beaten Kerith-a-Thrain, that woman and Han-Glat got here two hours ago, with five hundred men. They were goin' all last night and all today. And to see her you'd think she'd jus' got out of bed. I believe she could do it again if she wanted to."
"But--they let her through the gates?"
"Of course they did: who'd stop her? They'd let her through the gates of hell, wouldn' they? And they will one day, too, if I've got anythin' to do with it."
"But what's happened to the hostages, Occula? Has she killed them?"
"Bayub-Otal and the other officers she brought with her. They're down in the gaol. Now banzi, will you do as I say and get out, damn you?"
"Yes, I will. The western wall, you said. Then what?"
"Go along the wall and then scramble down onto the roof of a big stone warehouse you'll see below you, just this side of the Tower of Sel-Dolad. Ask for a man called N'Kasit and say Cat Colonna and all that--you know. He'll help you to get out of Bekla. And now I'm goin' myself-- fast! Bless you, my dearest banzi! Thanks for everything Kantza-Merada, what a bastin' farewell after all you and I've been through together! But we'll meet again one day, you see if we doan'!"
"But what about Ogma here? I can't leave her, Occula."
"O Cran! I'll take her with me and get her to Nennaunir or someone. Doan' worry, Fornis woan' bother lookin' for her, once she finds you're gone."
And with this Occula grabbed Ogma by the wrist and dragged her out of the house.
Left alone, Maia was overcome by a terrible seizure of horror--the mental paralysis of extreme fear and distress. Crouching in the privy as her bowels emptied in an agonizing flux, she gasped and retched, while the sweat poured off her. At length her head cleared, and as she began to recover herself the full force of Occula's warning came to her. She had to fly for her life--now, instantly.
But there could be no avoiding what had to be done by way of preparation. Trembling, she returned to the bedroom and there, averting her eyes from the bed, put on those same traveling clothes in which she had returned from Rallur. The jerkin had capacious inside pockets, and into these she stuffed not only all that was left of the money Seekron had given her--a good twenty thousand meld and more--but also her diamonds. Over the jerkin she buckled a belt with a sheathed knife. Halfway down the stairs, it occurred to her that she ought to take a cloak. Although to return to the bedroom yet again was almost more than she could bring herself to do, once there she not only took care to pick out her stoutest and most serviceable cloak, but before leaving spread another over poor Randronoth's face and chest. Back downstairs, on a final impulse she went quickly into the parlor, snatched up the cabinet of fishes and thrust it into one of her pockets. Then she ran through the hall, past Jarvil's body and out into the darkness.
85: AT N'KASIT'S
To cross the upper city to the western walls took about twenty minutes. By now Occula's words--and Occula's fear--had sunk in to such an extent that she was afraid to go by the main thoroughfare leading past the barracks towards the Leopard Hill. The byways nearer the Peacock Wall would take her closer to the queen's house, yet nevertheless she felt that this would involve less chance of being molested or recognized.
The confusion and clamor throughout the city had increased and at the gates of many houses armed servants were standing on guard; yet none challenged or tried to stop her. Once she hid behind a clump of trees while six or seven ruffian-looking men with cudgels approached and passed, talking together in some language unknown to her. Yet otherwise she met with no adventures, and went so quickly that she was surprised when at length she saw the western walls looming in front of her, a dark, level line in the moonlight.
Nor, surprisingly, did anyone try to stop her climbing the stone stairs where the road ended below the walls. She stepped out onto the height of the ramparts and looked about her. To her right, the lower city fell away to the Gate of Lilies and the open square of the Slave Market. There, too, she could hear tumult and see an unusual number of lights--both lamps in the houses and torches in the streets. There was a light in the high, square crow's nest of the Tower of Sel-Dolad, not three hundred yards away. She wondered who could be up there at this hour: watchmen, no doubt, looking out for the approach of For-nis's army from the west.
Turning in the direction of the tower, she began walking along the ramparts. She was obliged to go slowly, for the paving was uneven and once or twice she stumbled over projecting stones. Ahead, where the Peacock Wall joined the ramparts, she could see a sentry gazing out over the plain below. As she approached he turned, levelled his spear and challenged her.
She stood still, looking at his face under the leather helmet. Just as Occula had said, this was an oldish man for a soldier--forty-five at least--with a grizzled beard, bushy eyebrows and lips sunk in upon a toothless mouth above a sharp-nosed, canny face. He did not look like a Beklan. She smiled at him, throwing back her hood.
"Can you let me pass?" she asked.
He shook his head. "No one's to pass. You didn't ought to be up here at all: you must know that."
This man, if she was any judge, was from Kabin. Probably Eud-Ecachlon had held a few back from the draft. Anyway, he had not recognized her and clearly didn't know who she was.
"No one's seen me; only you. You can't get into trouble letting me pass." She paused. "I've got money."
He shook his head again. "You shouldn't offer money: you just go back, now, go on."
"Ah, but all depends how much, doesn't it? I've no time to bargain, dad. I'll give you all I've got--a thousand meld."
In the moonlight she saw the surprise on his cunning, peasant face. That had got to him all right.
"A thousand meld? Don't try it on, my girl: you haven't got that much."
"Oh, yes, I have. Only you be straight with me, just I'm in danger: I've got enemies and I've got to get out quick. You know as well as I do everything's upside-down. No one'll ever get to hear."
Far away, on the other side of the city, a sudden clamor broke out. They both started, turning to stare in the direction of the Blue Gate a full mile away below.
"What's that?" said the man. "That's never the Palteshis, comin' that way!"
"No," answered Maia. "The Lapanese have got here first."
"The Lapanese?" He stared at her.
"Those will be Lord Randronoth's men. Anything can happen now. If I were you, I'd take this
thousand meld and make myself scarce. Either that or go and join them, dad."
He paused, his crafty eyes sizing her up--her good clothes, her beautiful face, her soft, well-kept hands.
Even at such a time as this he must be bargaining: to the likes of him it was second nature.
"Well, but it's a big risk, now, missie, isn't it?" He shook his head. "Couldn't take a risk like that for less than fifteen hundred."
"All right," she said. "Only for Cran's sake leave it at that. Here comes your tryzatt, I reckon, to see what that noise is about."
Indeed, they could both see the silhouetted figure of the tryzatt, about two hundred yards off along the rampart, staring eastwards. Maia offered the money, which the man at once grabbed and stuffed into his jerkin.
"Go on, then, missie, quick, 'fore he sees you."
Maia darted past him and was gone.
She had run hardly any distance, however, before she saw below her what could only be the warehouse of which Occula had spoken: a flat-roofed, sprawling place, too big for any private dwelling. There was a dim-light in one window, but no other sign that anyone was there.
She looked round for a way down, but as far ahead as she could see there were no steps. The drop from the walls to the abutting roof was all of nineteen or twenty feet: she could never hang and let go without risking injury.
She hurried back. The sentry was still where she had left him and the tryzatt had come no nearer.
She called in a low voice, "Sentry!"
Agonizingly slowly, he came up to her. "What you want now, then?"
"I got to get down onto that roof; only it's too far to jump. I could just about do it holding onto your spear, though."
She had expected him to ask for more money, but to her surprise, after a moment he said, "All right, then; only quick," and went back with her along the wall. Above the warehouse roof he lay down, holding his spear vertically over the edge of the wall to the full extent of his arms.
"You'd best be quick, missie: only I can't hold your weight more 'n a few seconds, see?"
It was still a long enough drop to frighten her, but once she was at the end of the spear, arms outstretched, there was no help for it. She let go and fell about eight feet onto the roof.