"The women and the warlords" - читать интересную книгу автора (Cook Hugh)

CHAPTER SEVEN

Midsummer's Day initiated a new year, Khmar 19, which did not get off to an auspicious start. Drought fostered forest fires and brought a water shortage to the surrounding region; stones fell from the heavens, and then a comet appeared in the northern sky, causing an outbreak of dralkosh hunting; the Yolantarath River fell below memory's lowest level; there was a rumour of cholera, an outbreak of equine enteritis and a plague of mice; a child was bitten by a mad dog and died of rabies, and a cat by the name of Lefrey succumbed to a virulent form of influenza and passed away, a tragedy which greatly distressed an oracle by the name of Yen Olass Ampadara.

Things could have got worse, but improved instead. Rain fell; the river rose; a new holy man appeared, and had some success in persuading Gendormargensis that the habit of stoning women to death had got out of hand; the leader of a long-standing slave rebellion was captured and crucified, and his remains fed raw to some of his followers who had been detained in the starvation cages; from the south came news of success, conquest and victory.

Then, when all seemed to be going well – the autumn promised a bumper harvest – dispatches arrived from the Lord Emperor Khmar. Lord Pentalon Alagrace was ordered south to the newly conquered port of Favanosin, where the emperor would be waiting for him. General Chonjara and the Princess Quenerain were to travel with him. Khmar did not say why he wanted these three, but Lord Alagrace could guess. Doubtless Khmar, unhappy with the administration of justice in Gendormargensis, was ordering all three south for punishment.

What else could it be?

Khmar specifically ordered Lord Alagrace to 'leave your tame league riders in Gendormargensis', which was ominous, to say the least.

Lord Alagrace informed Chonjara and the princess of the emperor's wishes, then revised his will. Khmar, who was not the world's most responsible administrator, had failed to make two vital appointments, so Lord Alagrace nominated two of the more sober-headed high-born Yarglat clansmen to act as Lawmaker and Imperial Commander of the city until further notice.

While a staff officer organized a convoy for the journey south, Lord Alagrace completed his personal business then conferred with Yen Olass Ampadara. He explained his position. He was going south; he would have to face the emperor; Khmar was a ruthless and unpredictable judge. If faced with the prospect of immediate death, Lord Alagrace planned to ask the emperor to listen to a reading. It was known that Khmar did not travel in the company of oracles; would Yen Olass consent to go south to Favanosin to give a reading?

Yen Olass once again advised Lord Alagrace to flee the empire; when he refused, she agreed to travel south with him to risk Khmar's anger.

Any mission to the emperor was dangerous, because Khmar was given to extravagant outbursts of rage and violence. Nevertheless, he was capable of generosity, and sometimes indulged his own sly sense of humour in remarkable ways. It would be difficult for an oracle to manipulate Khmar, but not impossible; he could never be led by the nose, but ways might be found to give him a little nudge in the right direction. It was, in a way, the ultimate challenge; the thought of it made Yen Olass afraid, and that was one reason why she accepted.

Her actions were also conditioned by her awareness of discreet enquiries which the Sisterhood was making about her activities. Her Midsummer Report, detailing her activity for Khmar 18, had come back to her with lists of questions; after many days of waiting, she was not yet certain if her answers had proved acceptable. All things considered, it seemed a good idea to get out of Gendormargensis.

Lord Alagrace was, in many ways, her protector; if he left, then Yen Olass would lose many of her privileges, and would be vulnerable to any investigation which challenged her behaviour. If he died, she could seek some other protector in the south; if he was exiled, perhaps he would take her into exile with him. Yen Olass began to wonder what Lord Alagrace would be like as a lover, a bedmate, a husband. He was old, yes, but he would be better than what she had at the moment – which, since Lefrey died, was nothing.

Yen Olass quit her quarters in Moon Stallion Strait, and moved into Lord Alagrace's residence for her last few days in Gendormargensis. She spent whole evenings in the stables, packing and repacking her saddle bags. Her klon, her dreamquilt and a few other oddments went into a storeroom under lock and key, and Yen Olass made the housekeeper swear to guard those valuables with her life. Yen Olass wheedled a sabre out of the armoury, and cut herself three times sharpening it.

She was leaving Gendormargensis!

She extracted some money out of Lord Alagrace and bought new boots, new foot bindings and a lightweight coat of rabbit skin which she could wear over her fleece-lined weather jacket when it was too warm to wear a snow-coat. There was more than a little money left over – Lord Alagrace had only a vague idea of what things cost, and Yen Olass was ferocious when in pursuit of a bargain – so she indulged herself outrageously by spending some of it on a piece of a cone of sugar, which came from the south and was extremely expensive.

Since she might never return to Gendormargensis, Yen Olass now, for the first time, actually got round to visiting the Velpliski Statue Gardens, famous throughout much of the surrounding territory, but patronized by few of the inhabitants of the city itself. It was a quiet place, full of grass, moss, sunshine, flowers, olum trees, groves of grey sprite bamboo, plum trees, and, of course, statues – of men, of women, of children and of animals. Including bears.

The largest statues were those of a dragon and a whale. The whale looked like a bulbous log with a few half-defined excrescences growing from its body. This monster was said to live in the sea, a ship-length of quiescent blubber, feeding on driftwood, seaweed and landlost gnats. Yen Olass was not convinced; the whale was hardly a credible creature. For that matter, she was not convinced that the sea existed, at least not as it had been descibed to her; she suspected that the sea was half extravagant imagination and half irresponsible exaggeration.

The dragon, on the other hand, carved from stone but painted in the colours of flowers and fire, was so powerful and vibrant that it insisted on the autonomous drama of its own life. Besides, the dragon was not just a credible creature, but also a necessary creature, for each element has its own animal, and the dragon was the beast dedicated to fire, as the worm is to earth, the bird is to sky and the fish is to water.

There were some children playing on the dragon, and for a while Yen Olass watched them. Then one fell over and grazed her knee. A mother appeared, but scolded the child instead of comforting her:

'Look what you've done! Didn't I tell you? Didn't you listen to me? I just can't trust you. Now you – listen – next – time…’

This said while shaking the child.

Which started to cry, a hopeless sobbing wail.

'It's no good crying. It's your own fault. Didn't I tell you? Come along now.’

And the child was dragged off, still crying.

And Yen Olass wished she could have intervened, because the child was so little, and it was only being itself.

Yen Olass – vulnerable because her own world was breaking up around her – was quite upset by what she had seen.

She returned to the bears, which were shown fishing in the river. Yen Olass was an expert on bears, or thought she was. They are the laziest and most comfortable creatures in all of creation; they go fishing and honey-eating, and never get told off for getting their feet wet.

'So you like bears, do you?' said a voice.

And Yen Olass discovered she was being observed by a street derelict, some old soldier without a pension.

She let him tell her all about bears, about how to build bear traps, how to track a bear, the diseases bears carry and how bear meat should be cooked; at the end of his lecture he clearly expected a little money, but instead she gave him rather more.

As she left the statue garden, Yen Olass thought about the children she could have if she was exiled with Lord Alagrace, and married him. She would not be cruel to them; she would dress them in bearskin, and they would live some place where they could run free…

Returning to Lord Alagrace's residence, Yen Olass found a letter of summons waiting for her. She was required to present herself to the Library, immediately, with all her equipment.

Yen Olass was irritated. The last time she had been ordered to the Library, they had gone through her copy of the Book of the Sisterhood page by page, checking every flaw and blemish against their damage records, and they had spent half a day doing it. Never mind. Soon she would be out of the city, and free from such petty harassment.

She went along to the Library and took all her equipment to the Head Librarian for scrutiny: her nordigin, her Casting Board, her Indicators and her copy of the Book. The Head Librarian took them away from her.

'We're keeping these.’

'For how long?' said Yen Olass.

'They're confiscated.’

'But I'm leaving the city tomorrow!’

'Are you?’

'It's all arranged.’

'I have instructions here,' said the Head Librarian. 'You are to report to the Silent One. Immediately.' Yen Olass obeyed, trembling.

When she was ushered into the presence of the Silent One of the Sisterhood, she found herself in a room of ivory and pearl, white as snow and cirrus cloud. Yen Olass made reverence to the enthroned entity who sat veiled in silk, waiting. For what? For a confession? Well, she was not going to get one that easily.

Finally, the Silent One spoke. Her voice was clear, well-modulated and imbued with an imperious anger.

'Yen Olass Ampadara, you have dared altogether too much.’

Yen Olass held her tongue. She would wait for a bill of particulars before she started to defend herself, otherwise she might betray herself by disclosing crimes which the Silent One could not even guess at.

'Why have you taken it upon yourself to move your place of abode to Valslada?' said the Silent One.

'I have been accommodated in Lord Alagrace's city residence because I leave with his convoy tomorrow, for the south.’

'Who has directed you to go south?’

'I am the loyal servant of the Sisterhood,' said Yen Olass. 'I exist only to serve.’

'Well spoken,' said the Silent One. 'We will now give you your chance to serve. Lord Alagrace has made a written application requesting your services for his journey south; this application has been refused.’

Yen Olass stood there in silence, feeling her throat choking up. She was so disappointed. Back to the Woman Sanctuary! She would have to watch out, or somebody would be sure to steal her new boots. It would probably be best to take them to bed with her. And what about her brand new coat? What was she going to do with that? It was definitely against the Rule.

'Another fate has been decreed for you,' said the Silent One. 'We are selling you to Losh Negis, the Ondrask of Noth. He wishes to breed from you.’

'What!’

The Silent One sat in a manner true to her name, letting the cry of outrage which Yen Olass had given die away. 'I'd rather die,' said Yen Olass.

'You have our permission to withdraw and commit suicide.' said the Silent One, without emotion.

That last answer left Yen Olass entirely defenceless. She knew that if she was prepared to die she would have killed herself at the age of twelve. She knew that she wanted to live, even if she had to eat shit for breakfast for the rest of her life. But the Ondrask? He stank. He was a barbarian. He was illiterate. He would treat her like a dog. And he had other women already, she had seen them at his yashram, they would hate her and steal her boots. And when he grew tired of her, what then?

'Does he know…?’

'The Sisterhood does not ask what the Ondrask does know or does not know.' said the Silent One. 'We are satisfied that to serve his wants in this instance will be to serve our own best purposes. We no longer regard you as an asset to our organization.’

Yen Olass bowed her head, fighting down tears. She did not want to be smothered by a stinking barbarian, to chew furs and sew clothes, to live in a yashram with dogs and lice and squalling children and alien women who hated her.

'Return to Lord Alagrace and advise him of our decision,' said the Silent One. 'Another oracle can be supplied to him for the journey south if he so desires.’

Yen Olass, not wanting to make her situation any worse, made reverence to the Silent One, then fled.

Lord Alagrace was not at Valslada. She sought him in Karling Drask, and found him in the office of the Lord Commander of the Imperial City; he was trying to instruct the new incumbent on how to conduct the census planned for the coming winter, and was not pleased to be interrupted.

When Yen Olass made it clear her need was urgent, Lord Alagrace took her into a side room, where she poured out the troubles of her heart.

'Well,' said Lord Alagrace, when she had finished, 'there it is. It's not what we wanted, but we'll just have to live with it.’

'It's me who has to live with it!' said Yen Olass.’

'I don't see what you're making such a fuss about,' said Lord Alagrace. 'Coming south with me, you were likely to get yourself killed. This way, you get a man, a house, some children.’

'I can't have children!' wailed Yen Olass.

That was not true. Despite what the Sisterhood had done to her at the age of twelve, she was still entirely capable of breeding. However, Lord Alagrace, who had no precise knowledge of the messy details, had no reason to think she was lying. He thought of childbearing as the essence of a woman's estate; to his own mind, the inability to bear children must necessarily be a tragedy for a woman.

'If you can't have children,' said Lord Alagrace, 'the Ondrask will just have to endure the disappointment.’

'But he'll beat me!’

'A slave's estate is a hard one,' said Lord Alagrace, unmoved.

'If we go now we can get away.' said Yen Olass. 'I can come with you. I can help you. I can be very, very good. You'll die without me.’

'You'd be a help when I met Khmar,' said Lord Alagrace, 'but I can't take you south. A hundred yahooing Yarglat would ride us down. You don't seem to realize that my authority in Gendormargensis is finished. Everyone knows or thinks that Khmar is displeased with me. If I give them a chance, the Yarglat will be more than happy to kill the last surviving member of the High Houses of Sharla. By the same token, it doesn't matter if you tell all the world what we've done together in the past. I'm not likely to come back here as Lawmaker – or as anything else.' 'You mean you want to die?’

'I mean I accept my fate, whatever that may be. Yen Olass, we can only struggle so much against what life has in store for us. Now remove yourself. I have business to conduct.’

Yen Olass left Karling Drask, crying, and not caring who saw it. But on her way back to Valslada, she dried her eyes, and began to think. She realised now why the Silent One had directed her to take the news to Lord Alagrace. The Silent One had guessed, more or less, what would take place. It had been done deliberately, to show Yen Olass that there really was nobody in all the world who would help her or defend her.

Now she had no friends in all the world.

She wished she could run away somewhere. She wished she could run away to the cave near the hunting lodge at Brantzyn. She had really enjoyed herself there, with her fire as her friend and her horse as her friend.

Well? Why not run away?

She had a horse, and her saddle bags were all packed. She could not run north: the bandits in the Sarapine Ranges would get her if the pursuit failed. But south… south was Khmar. The lord emperor, terrible and entirely unpredictable. Could a slave petition the lord emperor? She would find out, by asking him.

At Valslada, Yen Olass saddled Snut and loaded him up for her journey. She put on her league rider's weather jacket and her new lightweight fur coat. She armed herself with her weapons. She was ready to go. She would camp out that night, sleeping in her snow-coat, safe under a horse blanket with Snut.

Yen Olass mounted up.

'Ya!' said Yen Olass.

And Snut made for the stable door.

'Hey, you!' said a voice.

It was one of the stable hands. Yen Olass could have explained herself with any of a thousand lies, but instead she panicked.

'Ya!' said Yen Olass. 'Ya!’

As Snut raced past the stable hand, he grabbed one of her boots and pulled her out of the saddle. She fell heavily. Getting to her feet, she slugged the stable hand as he grabbed her, and he staggered backwards. As Snut came back to see what was wrong, Yen Olass snatched her sabre from its saddleside sheath.

'You want to play rough, huh?' said the stable hand, and picked up a pitchfork.

Yen Olass hesitated. He frightened her.

'What's this?' said a familiar voice. 'What's going on here?’

It was a league rider, the one who had once spent an afternoon teaching her how to kill people.

'The slave was trying to steal a horse,' said the stable hand.

'I was riding on business for Lord Alagrace,' said Yen Olass.

'A slave does not ride with weapons,' said the stable hand.

'I'll settle this,' said the league rider. 'Girl, come with me. And you – get back to your work.’

Out in the grounds, away from the stable, the league rider talked with Yen Olass. Not knowing what else to do, and with no percentage left in telling lies, she told him the truth. He was young, and bored after months of idle peacetime duty; he had already been paid off by Lord Alagrace, and his service would end when Alagrace departed from the city. A good gallop wouldn't do him any harm at all.

'I'll get your horse,' he said, 'and mine. I'll tell them you persuaded me you had a legitimate mission to Brantzyn, that I accompanied you half the distance for your protection, and last saw you heading north.’

Yen Olass was sure he was going to rape her, kill her, steal her horse or sell her to a slaver down the river, but what could she do? To go might be disastrous, but to stay was impossible.

'Thank you,' she said.