Maia (Beklan Empire 1)

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"Well, what is the message?" asked Maia. "From Zuno, you said?"

"He said your friend hoped you'd come--"

"My friend? Which friend?"

"That's all he said, Maia; 'your friend.' "

After a moment Maia guessed that Occala's very existence in the queen's private entourage was probably kept so secret that the ordinary household slaves were unaware of it. For the matter of that Kembri, from the way he had talked, apparently supposed that Occula was dead.

"I see. Well?"

"Your friend hoped you'd come tonight, once it was dark, and if possible bring--what was the name? Oh, yes, Milvushina. It's important, but come the back way and try not to be noticed, Zuno said."

As soon as Chia, in tears of gratitude and sufficient funds for her journey, had left with Brero, Maia sent Ogma to Kembri's house with a pressing invitation to Milvushina to come to supper that evening. She herself could not help feeling rather apprehensive. She had hitherto supposed that Occula must have left Bekla with the Sacred Queen: evidently she had not. Why? If Occula had something on her mind which had made her risk sending for them both, it must be important.

There was no moon and despite the great comet, still burning if anything brighter in the north, the night was dark for summer. Brero, whom Maia had asked to say nothing about the visit, accompanied the two girls, veiled and on foot, as far as the walled lane leading to the kitchen courtyard. Here, unexpectedly, they came upon Zuno, who had apparently been waiting for them. Maia gave Brero ten meld to drink and asked him to meet them in two hours' time. Zuno, using his own key, let them into the palace and they climbed the two flights to the queen's paneled supper-hall without seeing anyone.

They had hardly slipped off their cloaks when Occula came in. Maia was touched to see that she was wearing an orange-colored metlan not unlike the one she had brought with her from Thettit. (That must have been ruined long ago, thought Maia, for she remembered how Occula had worn it to the gardens on the night of their arrest.) Having kissed them both, she held Maia at arm's length and looked her up and down.

"Precious little wrong with you, banzi, 's far as I can see."

She herself looked drawn and wan, with a kind of grayness in her face which Maia had never seen before, but guessed to be the equivalent of pallor. The two girls had already had supper while waiting for the summer darkness to fall. Zuno brought wine, fruit and serrardoes, served them himself and then, nursing his white cat, sat down near Occula.

"You can trust me, saiyett," he said to Milvushina (whom he had, of course, never previously met).

"Occula and I have sworn to get each other out of here by one means or another."

"It's like bein' a monkey in a bastin' cage," said Occula, draining her goblet straight down. "I wasn' born for this, banzi--shut up all day and night and no use for me ex-cept--what you saw."

"Why didn't she take you to Paltesh, then?" asked Maia.

"I doan' know for sure," answered the black girl, "but I think she decided I might be one too many. She took Ashaktis, you see. Whatever it is she's up to, she can' manage without Ashaktis to do her dirty work. Ashaktis and I have never really got on, and Fornis knows that. Ashaktis would get rid of me if she could, but she's too smart to try it on as long as she knows I'm what Fornis still wants. That might be it, or it might just be that she didn' want to be tempted to indulge in any little games while she's engaged on serious business--whatever it is. 'Cos believe you me, banzi, that bitch has got her back to the wall. She's desperate---doesn' care what she does; or who she kills, either. That's partly why I took the risk of sendin' for you both here--to warn you of that, face to face."

"She frightens me," said Milvushina. "I'd never try to pretend she didn't. What's she planning, d'you suppose?"

"Cran alone knows," replied Occula. "But let's come back to that in a minute. I've got so much to ask you both that I scarcely know where to begin. Are you happy sittin' there, Milva, with that belly on you, or would you rather lie down?"

Milvushina smiled and shook her head. It was plain that her pregnancy gave her the greatest happiness.

"Rather you than me," said Occula. "No accountin' for tastes, is there? Yowlin' one end and shit the other. Still, never mind: we've got to be serious; there are things I need to know. The war, Milva--what's the latest news? I know what's put out by the heralds--everythin' everywhere's as jolly as a bull on a cow--but if us lot are goin' to stay alive I've got to know the real truth. Do you know it?"

Milvushina nodded, compressing her lips. "Kembri doesn't tell me everything. But of course I get letters from Elvair, and I quite often have the chance to listen to the staff officers or even just the soldiers."

She hesitated; then asked, "Which side are you on, Occula, anyway?"

"Reckon I ought to be askin' you that," answered the black girl. "Obviously you doan' want Elvair smashed up; but d'you want him to smash up Santil or what?"

"What I used to hope was that Santil would come to terms," said Milvushina. "I used to hope that Elvair's army just going into Chalcon might end the trouble."

"Why, doan' you any more?"

"You haven't heard anything, then?"

"Well, of course I haven' heard anythin'," said Occula irritably, "shut up here like a pig in a damn' sty. Not about Chalcon, anyway. Has Santil had a defeat or what?"

"Anything but. Elvair's falling back towards Ikat Yeldashay. He wrote to me--I've got it here--" she fumbled a moment in her robe and drew out a soiled, torn paper. " 'We've been up and down this wilderness until the men are worn out, but the enemy are never where we expect to find them. They've driven away all the beasts and burned the farms. The only soldiers of ours to see any fighting are those who convoy the supplies. Things can't go on like this. The army's half-starved. Believe me, my darling, no one can know what it's like who hasn't wandered for days on end through these woods and hills and found nothing but the bodies of our stragglers. There's no help for it-- we shall have to fall back on Ikat and try to work out some new plan. It will be better not to let my father know I've told you this."

"Oh, men! Men!" cried Milvushina. "Always fighting! 'I'm braver than you are'; like a lot of little boys! If only Elvair was safe back and the whole thing forgotten! I told him what would happen--I told him! I know that country and he'd never been there before in his life. Chalcon's like a spider's web: they'll be lucky to get out at all, that's what I think now."

"D'you think Bekla's goin' to fall, then?" asked Occula coolly.

"Bekla?" Zuno and Maia spoke together in astonishment.

"To Santil, you mean? Oh, never, surely?" said Milvushina. "I mean, harvest's coming on, for one thing. Once Elvair's out of Chalcon, Santil's men'll want to get back to their homes."

"Well, I wouldn' be too sure of that, if I were you," answered the black girl. "I expect you know there's trouble in Urtah and in Belishba, too. I heard that it's quite a serious slave revolt in Belishba, and Sendekar's had to bring men south from the Valderra to deal with it. You can bet your deldas--in fact you can bet Maia's--Karnat woan' have missed that."

"But Beklal Fall?" Milvushina knitted her brows. "I haven't heard Kembri or any of the Leopards speaking about that as a serious possibility."

"Well, personally I doan' give a fart if it does fall," said Occula. "But I've got to be thinkin' about my own plans. Sooner or later, you see, Fornis is goin' to come back, and if Bekla falls she's quite capable of sellin' herself to the other side. In fact that's almost certainly what she will do. She could twist anyone, that woman: yes, even Santil, I believe. 'Oh, it wasn' really me, it was all those horrible Leopards! Now I can help you!' That'll be her line. She's as cunnin' as forty foxes. In fact she may very well be plottin' the fall of the city at this very moment."

Occula, clenching her fists, jumped up and began walking up and down the little hall. "Why the bastin' blue brothels d'you think she went to Paltesh? To be safe from Kembri, of course, and raise support among her own peo-ple, that's why! Kembr

i'd kill her if he could. Even Durakkon would kill her. But they're not goin' to rob me, either of them. I'm the one that's goin' to kill her, an' doan' you make any mistake about that!"

She stopped, gazing out at the pendent, misty fire of the comet where it hung above the Gelt mountains.

Maia, looking up at her, was reminded of a silent, dark stream sliding between its banks. The stream flowed where it must: no telling the depth; no stopping it and never a sound. Ah! but this water would bear her up--friendly water, however dark and deep.

"Occula," she asked, "why don't you kill her in one of those horrible sprees of hers? You could do it easy and pass it off as an accident: say she brought it on herself."

Zuno shook his head. "No, no, banzi," said Occula. "What--a slave-girl bring about the death of the Sacred Queen? And one already more than suspected of helpin' to murder Sencho, at that? I'd hang upside-down quicker than a goat can get stiff. Besides, when I do it, she's goin' to know who I am and why it's bein' done. It'll be no bastin' accident, believe me. But the right moment'll be everythin'. That's why I've got to know as much as possible about what's happenin' and what's goin' to happen."

"I'll tell you something else," put in Milvushina. "Kem-bri's afraid of her: he's as good as told me so. He told me that when they first seized Bekla nearly eight years ago, he and Sencho were just out to make use of her--you know, her magnetism and popularity with the people. He said he never realized then that before she'd finished she'd turn out to be more than they could handle."

"Either she'll maintain herself in power," said Zuno, "or else, if she can't, she'll pull the city down round her own ears and everyone else's."