The Great Alta Saga Omnibus

by Jane Yolen

  When Duty settled down again, Jenna dismounted, shaken, and handed the reins to one eager child. Her legs ached and, for a moment, she was afraid she might not be able to stand. Then she bit her lip, almost drawing blood, and forced herself to face the gathering crowd.

  The king dismounted as well, and when he did there were one or two who recognized him immediately despite the worn and tattered clothes.

  “It’s the old king’s son,” someone cried out.

  “The new king, then,” an enormous woman said.

  “Gorum!” The name was spoken first by a black-haired young man, taken up quickly two and three times by his friends.

  “The king’s Pike,” one added.

  Word of him paced the arrival of more New Steadingers, and soon the square was packed tight with townsfolk, most of whom now swore they had known the king at once.

  Gorum let the tension build and build, and Jenna had to admire how he acknowledged it, nodding slowly and turning slowly so that all could get a glimpse of him. As the crowd grew, he moved up one step at a time, always careful to keep Jenna on his right hand, Carum on his left, Piet to guard the back; until at last they commanded the very top stairs before the palace, with his men ranging down the sides like an inverted letter V, the king and Jenna at the point. Jenna wondered if Gorum and his men had long planned such a maneuver, for they moved with such precision, or if kings were just born knowing how to do such things. She glanced across at Carum who just shook his head twice but said nothing.

  The king raised his hands and everyone quieted; not all at once but in a kind of ripple, from the point of the V downward. When total silence had been achieved, he began to speak, with a grand enunciation, so different from his regular speech.

  “You know me, my good people.”

  They filled the sudden silence with his title: “THE KING! THE KING!”

  He let the echo fade, then smiled. “Not King Kalas. Not that usurping, murdering, piji-eating toad. Not he.”

  They laughed and applauded each phrase.

  “I am the true-born king, Gorum, son of Ordrum and the lady Jo-el-ean.”

  He waited for their approving murmur before continuing. “The king thrust off a throne made vacant by the untimely deaths of my poor murdered father and his wife, your sister of the Dales.”

  As if this were the very first time they had heard of the murders, the people groaned. Gorum let the groan swell up, then die away, a falling drift of sound. Just before the last of it was gone, he added, “And the cowardly killing of my brother, the saintly Jorum, who was next in line to be king.”

  They moaned again on cue. Jenna noticed Carum shaking his head slightly, though whether it was at the king’s crafty manipulations or the naming of his older brother as a saint, she could not guess.

  “But I am here for you, good folk. And as you can see, I am not alone.” This time when he waited there was no vocal reaction at all, but the silence was filled with anticipation. Jenna thought he looked pleased. She was not sure why.

  “You see Her,” he said suddenly. “You know Her. You have already named Her.” He held out his right hand to Jenna.

  The child holding Duty’s reins cried out in a high, piercing voice that carried around the crowded square: “The White One.”

  Caught up in the mummery of the moment, Jenna suddenly put her hand into the king’s, moving closer to him than she had done before. His palm was ice-cold, his fingers iron-strong. Realizing what she had just done, she tried to pull her hand away, but he prisoned it in his. She could not get loose without making an ugly scene, so she stood still, her face a mask.

  “Yes,” the king continued smoothly as if Jenna’s hand in his were easily held, “she is the White One, good folk. The one we have awaited. She was born of three mothers and all of them dead. She killed the Hound to save my brother Carum.” He pointed with his left hand at Carum, but Carum neither moved nor nodded and Jenna felt grateful for that show of quiet dignity.

  “And she slew the Bull to save her own sister. We have his ring as proof.” He opened his left hand as if waiting for Carum to drop the ring in. When Carum did not move, the king hesitated for only a second, then dropped Jenna’s hand with a flourish and strode over to his brother. He reached for Carum’s neck, fishing up the leather thong around it. At the thong’s end was a heavy crested ring. Jenna suddenly recalled the severed hand that had last worn it. Dangling the ring before the crowd, the king smiled. The watching people began to cheer.

  Dropping the ring against Carum’s chest, the king turned. He let the cheering continue for a long moment and then, with a savage slicing motion of his hand, cut them off.

  “And because of the White One, a woman named Cat was killed just two days past.” He waited for the challenge he knew would come.

  “’Tis the wrong Cat,” the enormous woman called out. “The Cat that was meant still lives. And drinks his milk from Kalas’ hand.”

  Slowly the king turned toward her, his manner courteous but firm. “And do you, my good woman, know how to read prophecy? Are you a Garunian priest? Or a priestess of Alta’s Hames?”

  She looked back at him, discomforted. “I know what I know,” she mumbled.

  “Then know this as well, woman, prophecy cannot be read straight on. It must be read on the slant!” He roared the last so that all could hear. Then he walked down three steps, leaving Jenna and Carum behind him, passing grim-faced Piet, so that he was in the very middle of the V, the center of all eyes.

  “The prophecy says but Cat. Not this Cat nor that Cat. But CAT! And Cat was killed. That makes three.” He held up his hand, counting slowly on his fingers. “One, the Hound. Two, the Bull. Three, the Cat. All killed by the White One, as is writ in prophecy, the Anna for whom we have so long waited. And we have but one more, the Bear, to go and the prophecy will be fulfilled. For She is the one who signals the end of the false reign, the beginning of the new. The Anna.” He flung his right hand back and pointed up at Jenna.

  “What you call new was once old,” the enormous woman whispered, but it was clear any argument she had had already met defeat. Trying one last time, speaking loudly enough so that her nearest neighbors could hear, she added, “Besides girls dressing like men, playing at war … taint … taint natural. We’ve all said it.” But her voice was drowned out by the cheers, first of the children, then the grown men and women. And mixed in with those cheers were the names of the king, the Anna, and Carum all intertwined.

  THE SONG:

  The Heart and the Crown

  They rode into town

  On the thirteenth of Spring.

  She gave him her hand

  And he gave her his ring.

  She gave him her heart

  And he gave her his crown,

  But they never, no never

  Went down derry down derry down.

  Her horse was pure white

  And his horse was a gray.

  She wanted to go

  But he asked her to stay.

  She gave him her heart

  And he gave her his crown,

  But they never, no never

  Went down derry down derry down.

  Her eyes were pure black

  And his eyes were so blue.

  She wanted him strong

  And he wanted her true.

  She gave him her heart

  And he gave her his crown

  But they never, no never

  Went down derry down derry down.

  Come all ye fair maidens,

  And listen to me,

  If you want your young man

  To be strong and free,

  Just give him your heart

  And he’ll give you his crown

  Just as long as you never

  Go down derry down derry down.

  THE STORY:

  They had supper in the open atrium of the great town hall with the members of the New Steading council. It was a tremendous banquet, more impressive, Jenna thought, becaus
e it had been put together so quickly by the townfolk.

  Though she was apprehensive, Jenna discovered that no one really expected her to speak. In fact, her presence at the dinner made most of the New Steadingers uncomfortable and few sought her out. However, most tracked her movements around the tables with cautious, fascinated eyes. It was as if they planned to commit every detail of her dinner to memory, making it into ballads and stories after.

  Jenna commented wryly to Petra, “And will they sing about The Day the Anna Ate Apples or rather How the White One Washed Her Fingers?”

  Laughing, Petra made up an instant rhyme.

  “When Jenna ate apples,

  Her teeth crunched the pips,

  She stuck bits of bread

  Into melted cheese dips,

  She ate stalks of celery,

  Drank cups of tea

  And after went looking

  For somewhere to …”

  “Enough,” Jenna whispered. “Enough.” She put her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing aloud. But when she sat down at the head of the table, beside the king, she found she had no appetite. The near-unseating by Duty’s clever prancing, the lingering feel of Gorum’s cold hand, the memory of Catrona’s burial, the staring of the New Steading strangers, all conspired to kill what hunger she had had. Even though they put a plate before her, she ate nothing, simply pushing the bits of vegetable and browned meats around with her knife.

  The watching councillors saw that she did not eat and a few even wondered aloud at it.

  The king said, as if under his breath but loud enough for those closest to hear, “The gods rarely eat of our food.”

  His words passed from breath to breath around the table, as he knew they would. Some even believed them.

  Petra heard, but did not pass on the king’s message. She could hardly keep from laughing and mouthed at Jenna: “and after went looking …”

  Jenna lowered her eyes to the table and did not notice Petra tucking a piece of chicken breast, a large slice of cornmeal bread, and a spring leek into her napkin. But Jareth sitting beside her did, and he added several white mushrooms and a twist of brown bread to Petra’s hoard.

  After the dinner, the king spoke again, urging the councillors to conscript men for his army. “To fight the toad,” he said.

  They needed little urging, especially sitting as they did under the eye of the Anna and with seven or eight hearty toasts of the dark red wine behind them. They even signed a paper promising him two hundred young men and their weapons. He kissed them each on the right cheek for such largesse and promised that they and New Steading would be remembered.

  Jenna waited until the writing was done. But during the congratulations, she stood. The moment she was up, all other movement ceased. Even the serving girls, weighted down with platters, stopped in mid-stride. Jenna wondered what she might say to them. The king had such ease with words, and she had none. She suddenly envied him. Opening her mouth to give at least some thanks, she found she had nothing to say, so she closed her mouth abruptly so she might not sound stupid in the attempt.

  At the other end of the long table, Carum leaped to his feet. “We have had a long riding,” he said. “And another to come in the morning. Even an avatar of the Goddess must rest. Human flesh, though it be just the clothing of a great spirit, tires.” He walked to Jenna’s end of the table and took her hand in his. Slowly he raised it to his mouth and set his lips formally on her knuckles. His hand and mouth were warm.

  Jenna smiled. Then slowly, gracefully, she withdrew her hand. He let it slip easily through his fingers.

  “Thank you,” she said simply to the New Steadingers. “For everything.” Then she nodded at the king, at Piet, and Petra with the boys, and turned. Carum followed her to the door.

  “Don’t worry,” he whispered. “I’m right behind you.”

  They fumbled the first turn in the dark hall and had to backtrack.

  “This is worse than the Hame,” Carum grumbled.

  Remembering which Hame and what she had found there on her return, Jenna said nothing. None of the doors off the hall looked familiar. Any one of them would do, she thought. All she wanted was to be away from the oppression of so many staring eyes.

  “That one!” she said, suddenly pointing.

  They went through the door and found themselves in a large room. A little light filtered in through corbeled windows that looked out onto the great stone stairs. Jenna realized they were in some sort of council room for there was a wooden table set about by heavy wooden chairs. Along the sides of the room were more chairs and several couches. She sat down on the nearest couch, drew in a deep breath, and sighed.

  “What would I do without you, Carum?”

  “I hope you never have to,” he answered quickly.

  “Do not play at word games with me. I am not one of your Garunian followers nor a peddler from New Steading.”

  “I don’t play games with you, Jenna.”

  “All you Garunians play games. Your brother worst of all.”

  “And you don’t?” His usually gentle voice was sharp.

  “No. Never.”

  “Then can you tell me what game it was you were not playing when you went to my brother this evening?”

  She looked up. He was only a dark shadow in the room looming over her. She could not see his face. “I did not go to him,” she protested, feeling again that cold hand under hers, the iron grip of his fingers.

  “I saw you.”

  “He pulled me. He would not let me go.”

  “You slipped your hand out of mine easily enough just now in the dining room.”

  “You let me go. You did not force me.”

  “I would never force you.”

  “Then what are we arguing about?” She was truly puzzled. Recalling something he had said the weeks, the months—the years—ago when they had met, she suddenly understood. “You are jealous. That is what it is. Jealous.” She expected him to deny it.

  He sat down beside her on the couch. “I am. I admit it. Horribly jealous.” His voice was once again soft.

  “And what about that oak?” She laughed. “What about that larch? Are waiting trees jealous?”

  He laughed back. “Of every passing wind. Of every flying bird. Of every squirrel on a branch and every fox in its bole. Of anything capable of moving toward you.”

  She put her hand out blindly in the dark and found his face. She could feel, even without seeing it, that his brow was ridged; he was wearing that furrowed look he got when he was thinking. She smoothed the furrows with two fingers.

  “What are you thinking of?” she asked.

  “Of how I love you despite the deaths that lie between us.”

  “Hush,” she whispered. “Do not soil your mouth with those deaths. Do not think of the Hound. Do not think of the Bull. Do not remember Catrona or the women of the Hames. We must not let their blood come between us.” She realized that she had said nothing of the other word, love, and wondered if he realized it, too.

  “I saw more of those deaths than even you have, Jo-an-enna. I cannot help think of them. I cannot help think of my part in them.” But then he did hush, giving himself over to her ministrations.

  For a long moment, her fingers on his forehead were the only contact between them. Then he put his hands up and found her waiting face in the dark. Slowly he ran his fingers down her braids, and began to unplait them. She did not move until he had shaken her hair free of its bindings, tumbling it over her shoulders, where it lay smelling of wind and riding.

  She had all she could do to remember to breathe and then, somehow, she was right next to him and his mouth was on hers. They were lying on the sofa, covered in the canopy of her hair. She felt she had to give him something, some great gift, but she could not speak the word love.

  “My true name,” she whispered at last, “is Annuanna. Annuanna. No one knows it now but my Mother Alta, my dark sister, and you.”

  “Annuanna,” he whisp
ered into her mouth, his breath sweet with it.

  Then mouth on mouth, tongue to tongue, without ever saying the word love, they learned more than she had ever been told or he had ever discovered in his books about it, and they learned it together, far, far into the night.

  THE HISTORY:

  The sexual taboos of the ancient Garunians and Dalites differed so greatly that one would be hard put to find any commonalities. The Garunians had a sophisticated society and had borrowed eagerly from their Continental neighbors for both their hetero- and their homosexual tastes. By the time they had conquered the island kingdom of the Dales, they had been through many baroque periods of alternating orgiastic and celibate marriage modes. We have much evidence of this from Continental sources. (See Doyle’s earliest work, her doctoral thesis: “Amatory Practices, Obligatory Vows” which was later turned into the popular book I Do, We Do: Or What the Garunians Did.)

  But of the Garunians after the conquest of the Dales we know little, and must make do with educated guesses. Doyle, sensibly, assumes they carried the group marriage concept, then so popular on the Continent, across the Bay of All Souls with them. Again, with eminent sensibleness, she hypothesizes that polygamy allowed the Garunian nobles to marry within the Garun hierarchy and the Dalian upper classes; a king might have wives from both without violating the strict Dale code of sexual ethics.

  As the Dalites were matriarchal at that time (see Cowan’s brilliant “Mother and Son: How Titles Passed Through the Dalian Line,” Demographics Annual, Pasden University Press, #58.) all monies, land, and titles passed maternally so the conquest by the patriarchal Garuns must have meant quite a change. There is even evidence that the Dalites did not understand the man’s role in the creation of children, believing in some odd form of female cloning, the “mirror twins” which Magon is so fond of exploring. (Diana Burrow-Jones uncovers this attitude in her chapter “The Papa Perplex” in Encyclopedia of the Dales.) However difficult the change may have been on the Dale psyches, things evidently went relatively smoothly for four hundred years. The Garun kings took wives from the Dales, staying carefully abstinent with them but nonetheless binding the Dale tribes to them in this way. The Dale wives were given the title of priestess and made honorary mothers, or Mother Altas according to Sigel and Salmon, though their evidence is still rather fragmentary.