Lost in these thoughts, he heard little or nothing of whatever passed between Ruvit and the Tuginda as she finished preparing the meal. Vaguely, he was aware that although Ruvit had become quiet he was nevertheless afraid of the fall of darkness, and that the Tuginda was reassuring him. He wondered how long the man had lived here, facing nightfall alone, and what it was that had made this life--a hard one, surely, even for a fugitive beyond the Vrako--the only one he dared to live.
After a time the Tuginda brought him food, and as she gave it to him, laid her hand for a moment on his shoulder. Still he said nothing, only nodding wretchedly, unable to meet her eyes. Yet when he had eaten, as is the way, some shreds of spirit involuntarily returned to him. He sat closer to the fire, watching as the Tuginda swabbed the discharge from Ruvit's eyes and bathed them with some herbal infusion. With her he was quiet and amenable, and at moments almost resembled what he might have been if evil had not consumed him--a decent, stupid drover, perhaps, or the hard-handed tapster of an inn.
They slept clothed, on the ground, as needs they must, the Tuginda making no complaint of the dirt and discomfort, or even of the vermin that gave them no peace. Kelderek slept little, mistrusting Ruvit on both his own account and the Tuginda's; but it seemed rather that the poor wretch welcomed the chance of a night's sleep free from his superstitious fears, for he never moved till morning.
Soon after first light Kelderek blew up the fire, found a wooden pail and, glad to get into the fresh air, made his way to the shore, washed and then returned with water for the Tuginda. He could not bring himself to rouse her, but went outside again into the first sunlight. His resolve was unchanged. Indeed, he now saw in himself a gulf like that into which he had gazed from the plain of Urtah. The blasphemous wrong, in which he had participated, inflicted by Ta-Kominion upon the Tuginda, was but a part of that wider, far-reaching evil of his own committing--the sacrilege against Shardik himself and all that had followed from it. Rantzay, Mollo, Elleroth, the children sold into slavery in Bekla, the dead soldiers whose voices had flickered about him in the dark--they came thrusting, jagged and sharp, into his mind as he stood beside the creek. When the Tamarrik Gate had finally collapsed, he remembered, there had been a great central breach, from which had radiated splintered fissures and rifts, fragments of exquisitely carved wood, shards of silver sagging inward, shattered likenesses no longer recognizable in the ruin. The Ortelgans had cheered and shouted, smashing their way forward through the wreckage with cries of "Shardik! Shardik!"
His tears fell silently. "Accept my life, Lord Shardik! O God, only take my life!"
He heard a step behind him and, turning, saw that his prayer was answered. A few feet away Ruvit stood looking at him, knife in hand. He knelt down, offering his throat and heart and opening his arms as though to a guest.
"Strike quickly, Ruvit, before I have time to feel afraid!"
Ruvit stared at him a moment in astonishment; then, sheathing his knife, he stepped forward with a shifty, lopsided grin, took Kelderek's hand and pulled him to his feet.
"Ay, ay, old feller, mustn't take it that way, ye know. Comes hard to start with, eels get used to skinning, know what they say, never look back across the Vrako, drive ye crazy. Just on me way to kill a bird. Some wrings their necks, I always cuts their heads off." He looked over his shoulder toward the door behind him and whispered, "You know what? That's a priestess, that is. Ever gets back, she's going to put in a word for me. Thought yesterday she wanted you dead, but she don't. Ah--put in a word for me, she says. That the truth, think that's the truth, eh?"
"It's the truth," answered Kelderek. "She could get you a pardon in any city from Ikat to Deelguy. It's for me she can't."
"Got to forget it here, lad, forget it, that's it. Five year, ten year, call the lice your friends after ten year, ye know."
He killed the bird, plucked and drew it, left the guts lying on the ground and together they returned to the hovel.
Two hours later Kelderek, having given to Ruvit what was left of the food he had brought from Kabin, set out with the Tuginda along the shore of the creek.
41 The Legend of the Streels
STILL HE COULD NOT BRING HIMSELF to speak of the past. At last he said,
"Where are you going, saiyett?"
She made no immediate answer, but after a little asked,
"Kelderek, are you seeking Lord Shardik?"
"Yes."
"With what purpose?"
He startled, remembering her strange power of discerning more than had been spoken. If she had perceived the intention which he had formed, she would no doubt try to dissuade him, though God knew she of all people had little reason to wish to prolong his life. Then he realized of what it was that she must be thinking.
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"Lord Shardik will never return to Bekla," he said. "That's certain enough--and neither shall I."
"Are you not king of Bekla?"
"No longer."
They left the creek and began to follow a track leading eastward over the next ridge. The Tuginda climbed slowly and more than once stopped to rest. "She has no strength now for this life," he thought. "Even were there no danger, she ought not to be here." He began to wonder how he could persuade her to return to Quiso.
"Saiyett, why have you come here? Are you also seeking Shardik?"
"I received news in Quiso that Lord Shardik was gone from Bekla and then that he had crossed the plain to the hills west of Gelt. Naturally I set out in search of him."
"But why, saiyett? You should not have undertaken such a journey. The hardship--"
"You forget, Kelderek." Her voice was hard. "As Tuginda of Quiso I am bound to follow Lord Shardik while that is possible--that is, while the Power of God is not subjected to the power of men."
He was silent, full of shame; but later, as she was leading the way downhill, he asked,
"But your women--the other priestesses--you did not leave Quiso alone?"
"No, I received news also of the advance north of Santil-ke-Erketlis. I had known already that he meant to march in the spring and that he intended to take Kabin. Neelith and three other girls set out for Kabin with me. We planned to seek Lord Shardik from there."
"Did you speak with Erketlis?"
"I spoke with Elleroth of Sarkid, who told me how it came about that he escaped from Bekla. He was well-disposed toward me because some time ago I cured his sister's husband of a poisoned arm. He told me also that Lord Shardik had crossed the Vrako in the foothills north of Kabin, not two days before."
"You say Elleroth treated you as a friend--and yet he allowed you to go alone and unescorted across the Vrako?"
"He does not know that I have crossed the Vrako. Elleroth was friendly to me, but on one thing I could not move him. He would lend me no help to find Lord Shardik or save his life. To him and his soldiers Shardik means nothing but the god of their enemies and of all that they are fighting against." She paused and then, with a momentary tremor in her voice, added, "He said--the god of the slave traders."