"It was we who built Bekla. To this day it is like a garden of sculpted and dancing stone. The Palace of the Barons is more beautiful than a lily pool when the dragonflies hover over it. The street of the builders was full then of rich men's messengers from far and near, offering fortunes to craftsmen to come and work for them. And those who condescended to go traveled swiftly, for there were broad, safe roads to the frontiers.
"In those days, Shardik was with us. He was with us as the Tuginda is with us now. He did not die. He passed from one bodily home to another."
"Shardik ruled in Bekla?"
"No, not in Bekla. Shardik was worshiped and Shardik blessed us from a lonely, sacred place on the borders of the empire, to which his suppliants journeyed in humility. Where was that, do you think?"
"I cannot tell, saiyett."
"It was Quiso, where the shreds of Shardik's power still cling like rags on a windy hedge. And it was the craftsmen of Bekla who made of the whole island a temple for Shardik. They built the causeway from the mainland to Ortelga--the causeway that is now broken--for the bands of pilgrims, after they had assembled on the mainland shore among the Two-Sided Stones, would be brought first to Ortelga and thence make the night journey to Quiso, just as you made it last night. Our craftsmen, too, leveled and paved the terrace where Melathys met you; and over the ravine in front of it they made the Bridge of the Suppliants, a span of iron slender as a rope, by which all strangers had to cross or else go back. But that bridge is fallen this many a year--fallen long before we were born, you and I. Behind the terrace, as you know, lies the Upper Temple, which they cut out of the rock. You did not see the interior, for you were in darkness. It is a high chamber, twenty paces square, hewn throughout thirty years, flake by flake out of the living rock. And more than all this, they made--"
"The Ledges!"
"The Ledges: the greatest artifact in the world. Four generations of stonemasons and builders worked for more than a hundred years to complete the Ledges. Those who began it never saw the end. And they paved the shores of the bay below and built the dwellings for the priestesses and the women."
"And Shardik, saiyett? How was he housed?"
"He was not. He went where he would. He roamed free--sometimes among the woods, sometimes on the Ledges. But the priestesses hunted for him, fed him and looked after him. That was their mystery."
"But did he never kill?"
"Yes, sometimes he would kill--a priestess in the Singing, if such was God's will, or perhaps some over-bold suppliant who had approached him rashly or provoked him in some way. Also, he knew the truth in men's hearts and could tell when one was secretly his enemy. When he killed he did so out of his own divining--we did not set him on to kill. Rather it was our mystery and our skill to tend him so that he did not. The Tuginda and her priestesses walked and slept near Shardik--this was their art, the wonder that men came to see, the wonder that gave Bekla its luck and mastery."
"And was he mated?"
"Sometimes he was mated, but it did not have to be so. Whom God made Shardik was a matter of signs and omens, of His will rather than of human intent. Sometimes, indeed, the Tuginda would know that she must leave Quiso and go into the hills or the forest with her girls, to find and bring back a mate for Shardik. But again, he might live until he seemed to die, and then they would go to find him reborn and bring him home."
"How?"
"They had ways of which we still know--or hope that we know, for they have been long unused--both drugs and other arts by which he could be controlled, though only for a little time. Yet none of these was sure. When the Power of God appears in earthly form, he cannot be driven here and there like a cow, or where would be the wonder and the awe? Always, with Shardik, there was uncertainty, danger and the risk of death: and that at least is one thing of which we can still be sure. Shardik requires of us all that we have, and from those who cannot offer so much freely, he may well take it by force."
She paused, gazing unseeingly into the dark jungle, as though remembering the power and majesty of Shardik of the Ledges and his Tuginda long ago. At last Kelderek asked, "But--those days came to an end, saiyett?"
"They came to an end. The full story I do not know. It was a sacrilege too vile to be fully known or spoken. All I can tell is that the Tuginda of that time betrayed Shardik and betrayed the people and herself. There was a man--no, not fit to be called a man, for who but one lost to God would dare to contrive such a thing?--a wandering slave trader. She became--with him--ah!" and here the Tuginda, overcome, stood silent, her body pressed back against the trunk of the quian, shuddering with disgust and horror. At length, recovering herself, she went on,
"He--he slew Shardik, and many of the sacred women also. The rest he and his men took for slaves, and she who had once been called Tuginda fled with him down the Telthearna. Perhaps they came to Zeray--perhaps to some other place--I cannot say--it does not greatly matter. God knew what they had done and He can always afford to wait.
"Then the enemies of Bekla rose up and attacked it and we were left without heart or courage to fight them. They took the city. The High Baron died at their hands and what was left of the people fled over the plain and the Gelt Mountains to the shores of the Telthearna, for they hoped that if they fled as suppliants to these islands, they might save at least their lives. So they crossed to Ortelga and broke up the causeway behind them. And their enemies left them there, to scratch in the earth and scavenge in the forest, for they had taken their city and their empire and it was not worth their while to attack desperate men in their last stronghold. Quiso too they left them, for they feared Quiso, even though it had become an empty, defiled place. Yet one thing they forbade. Shardik was never to return; and for a long time, until there was no more need, they kept watch to make sure of this.
"The years passed and we became an ignorant, impoverished people. Many Ortelgan craftsmen drifted away to sell their skill in richer places; and those who were left lost their cunning for lack of fine materials and wealthy custom. Now we venture as far on the mainland as we dare and trade what resources we have--rope and skins--for what we can get from beyond. And the barons dig pits and post shendrons to keep themselves alive on a spit of jungle that no one else requires. Yet still the Tuginda, on her empty island, has work--believe me, Kelderek, she has work--the hardest. Her work is to wait. To be ready, always, for Shardik's return. For one thing has been plainly foretold, again and again, by every sign and portent known to the Tuginda and the priestesses--that one day Shardik will return."
Kelderek stood for some time looking out toward the moonlit reeds. At length he said,
"And the Vessels, saiyett? You said that we were the Vessels."
"I was taught long ago that God will bless all men by revealing a great truth through Shardik and through two chosen vessels, a man and a woman. But those vessels He will first shatter to fragments and then Himself fashion them again to His purpose."
"What does this mean?"
"I don't know," answered the Tuginda. "But of this you can be sure, Kelderek Zenzuata. If this is indeed Lord Shardik, as I, like you, believe, then there will be good reason why you and none other have been chosen to find and to serve him--yes, even though you yourself cannot guess what that reason may be."
"I am no warrior, saiyett. I--"
"It has never been foretold that Shardik's return will necessarily mean that power and rule is to be restored to the Ortelgans. Indeed, there is a saying, 'God does not do the same thing twice.'"
"Then, saiyett, if we find him, what are we to do?"
"Simply wait upon God," she replied. "If our eyes and ears are open in all humility, it will be shown us what we are to do. And you had better be ready, Kelderek, and submit yourself with a humble and honest heart, for the accomplishment of God's purpose may well depend upon that. He can tell us nothing if we will not hear. If you and I are right, our lives will soon cease to be our own to do with as we will."
She began to walk slowly back t
oward the fire and Kelderek walked beside her. As they reached it she clasped his hand. "Have you the skill to track a bear?"
"It is very dangerous, saiyett, believe me. The risk--"
"We can only have faith. Your task will be to find the bear. As for me, I have learned in long years the mysteries of the Tuginda, but neither I nor any woman alive has ever performed them, nor even seen them performed, in the presence of Lord Shardik. God's will be done."
She was whispering, for they had passed the fire and were standing among the sleeping women.
"You must get some rest now, Kelderek," she said, "for we have much to do tomorrow."