Schisms

by V. A. Jeffrey

Chapter Eighteen

  Before the king left the city the word was sent to all the officials of the city and the land all around and to the priests of the major temples of the land. Now that the king was arriving, tens of thousands were gathered and all were looking forward to the festivities that would unfold over the next several weeks. Even with the recent commotion. Flower sellers were doing brisk business, especially for the procession.

  Thus, came the new queen of King Khalit into Jhis.

  First came the one hundred dancing girls in their glittering veils with ribbons of silk they wound and fluttered about themselves in graceful movements. Then the impressive marching of the battalions, Hybronian and Egian. First the charioteers, then foot soldiers, two thousand in all their finery bearing the standards of both lands, the lion and the falcon moon. Then the great barge of the lion pulled by mules and the float of the queen's family of the falcon, next the long line of elephanta, their tusks decorated in garlands. The people threw flowers at the grand procession, cheering. The towers on top of these elephants waved from side to side and sitting within them were the queen's father and extended relatives in wooden benches on these towers, waving to the crowds. Finally, from the arched way of the city gate was the last barge, the barge of Queen Taliat who was sitting on a throne between the images of the goddess and goddess-mother. She sat atop her throne looking like a delicate white flower mirroring the repose of the goddesses and she was even more beautiful than the former queen. Her hair was long and black as raven's feathers yet she was pale as alabaster with dark eyes and her lips were scarlet, painted with kohl and crushed red beetle. She wore a silver headdress of a falcon and white wraparound dress of delicately woven linens that exposed her shoulders and a silk belt around her waist with many step chains of silver around her legs and silver and gold bracelets on her arms. She was still as stone as the crowds and they roared with pleasure at the sight of her. It was an impressive sight and cemented the power of these two families at court, the lion and the moon falcon. The crowds, only a day before enraged and riotous over the words of Lady Diti and her mourners were now cheering just as passionately for their king and his new bride. Garlands and flower petals filled the air like snow. Shaikhs and valiant, mighty men of the Karig entered from the opposite way down the main street, aloof and prideful. They were some Khalit's brothers and uncles who remained desert men, dressed in their wild finery of furs, bones and leathers and long black beards and hair. They came to pay their respects. It would be a momentous affair for the next several days.

  “It would seem the people love their queen.” Said Khalit proudly to Bakku. The messenger-courtier bowed and smiled obsequiously. He'd invited Bakku to ride with him the last league into Jhis. Bakku seemed elated to be able to be seen with the king on this auspicious day.

  “Indeed, Your Greatness, they do.” Bakku was all grin and merriment as he glanced from side to side at the joyous crowds.

  “You did well with this match, Bakku. You shall be duly rewarded if she gives me a son.” Everything hinged upon this but Bakku was not worried. The Strabians had ways of doing things to get exactly what they needed.

  “I am sure she will provide the needed son, my king.”

  “There is another matter I will have to deal with and I would like you to be present, Bakku.”

  “Oh, my king?”

  “Oh, yes. It concerns a letter I received some hours before. You were sleeping in your palanquin when this letter came to me. I think you will find it quite interesting.” He said, staring pointedly at Bakku. The king had stopped smiling and his expression hardened. Bakku smiled and bowed again slightly, but wondered at this. A slight nervousness now began to set in, though he was expert at smoothing over any inner turmoil. His face was a mask of pleasantness but inside his thoughts began to roil like the sea. What letter?

  . . .

  Lady Diti could hear the raucous cries and cheers as the royal procession came down the main boulevard. She had Zigal simmer a large pot of herbs. The perfumed steam calmed her nerves. The king was back. Surely he had the letter! What would happen now? Would he punish her? Laud her or just ignore her? Those innocent people! She wished could have done more. And the children! She shuddered to think what would happen to them if the false edict was not rescinded by the king. She had seen too many brothels full of children. Then there were the slave camps and slave ships. She wished at times the city would burn down simply to get rid of such abominations. She lay on her divan holding in a sickness in her belly.

  “Zigal, it is not a good thing to be a queen in this age.”

  “Yes, my lady.”

  “I wonder if this new one will satisfy him?”

  “She may, my lady.”

  “A Strabian woman. They do not even see the light of day, do they?”

  “It is said. Or, it is true for the noblewomen among them. Keeps them paler than the rest of us. And naive. The wealthy families prize that sort of look. There are also other strange things about them.”

  “Like what?”

  “I have heard more than once that they never age. At least not like other women do.” Diti laughed half-heartedly.

  “Well, she should keep him happy for a long time indeed.” Zigal, ever serious, did not laugh.

  “Do you wish to win back his favor, my lady? I could go and get a look at her. . .”

  “No. I am tired of that. Let the other concubines contend with her. My interests lie with protecting those few Aishanna-La left within the realm. If I can.”

  “It is good God chose you, my lady, to come here. I fear we all would have been wiped out if not for you. But I think your time here is at an end. You must not stay here. You must leave soon, my lady.”

  “I thank you, Zigal but it took the actions of more than one person. Besides, I believe there is more I can do. Much, much more. I have no intention of being chased out of the palace. I was once queen here and many still remember and respect that.” Diti said, bristling. Then she changed the subject. “I hear that she worships a moon goddess.” Zigal's shoulder's fell. Her face darkened.

  “The Mother-daughter moon goddesses, Nimnet and Elyshe, yes, my lady.”

  “I wonder if a new temple will go up in their honor?”

  “It will cost much ladre, I am sure. Perhaps you should send out Fricka, my lady. To watch things, to see how it will go for us.”

  “I plan to do so. But first I must send a letter.”

  “I worry for you, my lady. If you can go back to the citadel and live would that not be safest?”

  “Zigal, I stay for the people, for the Aishanna-La. They need me here to watch over them. There is also something else.”

  “Personally, I feel they should have left this city long ago. Jhis is a poisonous den, my lady.”

  “And where should they go, Zigal? Is it a simple matter to just move?”

  “No, but it is better than living among serpents and wolves. Even our own priesthood hates us and there have never been easy relations between the Aishanna-La and the worshipers of the sun god and now that the king is here and the games begin I fear things will ignite. Most families I know have moved to Rhuctium or Haiga or moved west to Rhe or even intermarried with the wild tribes that roam the plains and the deserts. Gamina is best of all for the faithful. Anywhere but Jhis. And that is why I worry for your life here. This is no place for peace loving people.”

  “I know, but it is not a simple matter to pull up roots, Zigal. Many who stay have family lines going back generations and Jhis is the largest city in the land and the richest city. I know why people stay. There are the theaters, the arena games, the many shops full of fancy delicacies, the best and biggest market places with every kind of food, craft and artistry imaginable, the many paved streets and aqueducts that bring cold water in from the mountains for everyone. It is the ease of life and the comforts here that keep them.”

  “Do those comforts keep you here, my lady?” At this Lady Diti's face burned hot with anger.


  “Zigal! How dare you! Do not ever question me that way!”

  “I am sorry. I did not mean to offend. It is just that sometimes those things are a trap, my lady.” Said Zigal. Diti nodded sadly.

  “You are speaking right, Zigal. But I am no prophetess or desert mother to tell the people what is right. And even if one rose up, would they listen?” The servant woman's expression was despondent.

  “You mentioned that there was something also something else, my lady.”

  “Not now. Perhaps when it is clear to me.” Zigal looked away and continued to unpack and put away Lady Diti's veils. She was now settled in her new apartments in the House of Mourning, smaller than the Queen's Apartments and spare but her furnishings, tapestries and hangings gave it some semblance of luxury.

  “Fricka!” Diti called. Fricka came scampering from her basket and stood at her mistress's, feet looking up at her.

  “I have another mission for you.” Fricka mewled and stood on her hind legs gently pawing Diti's skirts.

  “Zigal, bring me Fricka's seeing ball and bring me the mechanical bird.” Zigal obeyed. She lit a candle in it and the contraption became alive with a dull humming and she brought the contraption near to Lady Diti and unwrapped a silk kerchief. In it lay an exquisite golden hummingbird with sapphires for eyes. She brought a stylus with a tablet of clay attached to the contraption with wire. The metal of the bird was cool to the touch. The bird was fastened on to a thin rod and turned and as it was turned it wound up and then it clicked. Suddenly the eyes began to slowly light up and the tiny leaflet gold wings began to quiver rapidly. Lady Diti wrote her letter in the clay:

  Mother Berenice,

  It is your faithful student. The new queen has arrived today. Riding along inside a great statue in the procession of the Egian moon goddesses. It may be a sign that the king's heart may be inclined to this new religion but I do not know. The king's army is much greater now with the queen's house enjoined to the court and supplying more men.

  But for the true reason I am writing again, Mother Berenice, the letter has been found and so far as I know, I have put it in the right hands to get to the king. The king has now arrived. I presume he has the letter with the false edict against the people. I have done my duty and all we can do now is wait. I know that you have said to weigh the circumstances carefully and to know when it is time to leave and I may, but it is hard. Jhis and the grand palace is my home. But I will watch and listen to the times and seasons as you have asked. May the name of Airend-Ur be blessed.

  Most Honored Lady Diti

  As she wrote the letter, after a few seconds her first words disappeared into the clay as the stylus sunk into it and formed new words and by the time she got to signing it and impressing her seal in the tablet, her first sentences had disappeared into the clay. When the entire contents of the letter disappeared she put away the stylus and unwound the bird from its dock. The bird-machine hummed softly and it had grown slightly warm. Fricka's eyes lit up at the sight of it.

  “No Fricka. Not for you.” She then inserted it into a small globe filled with gold and copper wires of longitude and latitude and fixed its destination by moving the lines on the globe until it was set right above the marked, general area of the citadel town of Gamina. She let it hover there for a few moments and then the bird's wings fluttered slightly. It lit up like lightening for a moment as it registered its destination. She took it off the globe and handed it to Zigal and Zigal went to a latticed window and let the tiny bird fly off.

  “The things they make in those lands amaze me still, my lady.”

  “They were originally made in Hybron. But some peoples in other lands have retained the knowledge of the old crafts and alchemy their forefathers learned here. Let us hope no one ever sees either of us using these things, lest we be roasted for “destroying the kingdom”.” She said.

  “Never mind that the games do that all on their own, my lady.”

  “Ah, but “to criticize the games is to hate life itself”.” She quoted a famous saying in Jhis. Then she laughed, mirthlessly.