by Kate Elliott
“Move along,” the man said, feeling for her breast.
She jerked forward away from his hands and resolutely looked forward, away from Stefan. “I am Princess Katherine’s servant, and I am to be treated with respect,” she said haughtily, and to her surprise the man moved away from her.
They went out through the gates and down into the town that lay at the foot of the castle. The guards remained civil to her, as if her reminder had refined her status in their eyes: no longer a common whore, she was now a serving woman important enough to be noticed by Lady Jadranka and Princess Rusudani. A servant whose complaints might conceivably be brought to the attention of the prince.
In the marketplace they shadowed her but left her alone to browse and bargain. She was ill-used to such luxury. She haggled over perfume, enjoying herself, and haggled further, in a kind of three-way bargaining with a perfumer and a neighboring jeweler, over the price of the necklace. In the end, she got the perfume, some coin, and, the greatest prize of the transaction, the direction of an herbwoman who was known to be discreet and reliable, and who knew a bit of the trade language.
On market day Mistress Kunane conducted her business from a stall in vegetable row. Bundles of herbs hung from her cart, fragrant even in the open air.
“I come from the castle for herbs to sweeten my lady’s chamber,” said Jaelle. Lowering her voice, she added, “and herbs for myself, to sweeten a man’s heart.”
Mistress Kunane did not reply at once. A robust woman, she eyed the guards fiercely, as if she intended to take a stick to them. They backed up four steps. Then, pinching off herbs into a cloth bag, she examined Jaelle’s face and cloak and clean but mended gown. “A girl as pretty as you has everything she needs to draw a man to her.”
“Alas, Mother, not every man loves with his eyes.”
The herbwoman grunted, but she seemed amused. “You are a foreign woman. Did you come in with those foreigners that was brought in by the prince, God save him?”
“I am. I’m desperate for love of him, Mother.”
“More likely it’s your mistress, whoever she may be, who is wanting a man she ought not to be looking at. There’s naught I can do for that.”
“But you must, Mistress. What will I tell her otherwise?”
“Tell her that a man’s heart is best left untouched. Is there aught else I can get you?”
By now Jaelle was feeling desperate. “But can’t you give me something? I must have something to take back to her.” Behind her, the guards were growing restive, trying to listen in. “There is another thing… if I get with child I’ll lose my position and the master will throw me out on the streets….” The lie came out easily, but soon as it was said aloud it took on a horrible significance. If I get with child. She flushed, the heat like pinpricks along her cheeks.
“Tell me the truth,” said Mistress Kunane. She took her walking stick and struck the nearest guard on the forearm. He yelped and jumped back, and the rest of the guards, startled as well but also chuckling at his discomfiture, moved away again.
“I am just a serving woman, Mother. I have been sent here to procure these things, one for a woman who will suffer needlessly if she gets with child, the other for…I don’t know what will happen if the other gets no satisfaction, whether she will blame me or go another way to get what she wants. Please, Mistress.”
“The holy church enjoins against love potions. I cannot help you, child, only give you sweet herbs to scent the body. As for the other—”
The great bell in the church tower tolled, drowning out the cheerful noise of the marketplace. Once, a second time, and a third, then a pause the length of three rings. And again. And again.
“Ten coppers for the lot,” said Mistress Kunane. Jaelle scarcely had time to give a single silver coin into her hand before the guards grabbed her bodily and hustled her away. All around her, merchants closed their shops and windows were flung shut and bolted. The harmonious undertone of market day erupted into a frightful roar, as if a wave had burst onto a peaceful shore. The bell rang, and paused, and rang again, on and on.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Jaelle shouted, but the guards were intent on getting back into the castle and dragged her along, ignoring her questions. Once in the outer ward they simply left her to fight her own way through the surging crowd of servants that swamped the courtyard. By the armory, a growing knot of men formed, and Jaelle saw at once that the armorer’s apprentices were passing out armor and weapons.
“Jaelle!” Stefan slipped an arm around her and steered her toward the inner ward. “They’ve forgotten all about me. Can you get me in to see Katya?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. What is happening?”
Then of course she knew. Stupidly, she had forgotten that it might come to this. His face was exultant, alight.
“They’re coming,” he said. “The army is coming.”
“There he is!”
“You will not be abandoned,” said Stefan just as the guards reached him. He did not fight as they dragged him away toward one of the towers, toward his prison, but his look struck her to the heart. You will not be abandoned.
For a moment she thought that Janos’s people might have forgotten her as well, but the truth was, she was no longer entirely insignificant, left to make her own way. One of the guards on the steps saw her before she could duck away and hide by acting busy, and yet she could not regret it when the door opened into the tower chamber and Katerina came running to her.
“What is happening?” Katerina asked.
“The army is coming.”
Katerina laughed, fairly crowed, and kissed her with delight. Below, White Tower prepared for war.
CHAPTER FORTY
The Golden Sea
ILYANA SAT VIGIL AT Valentin’s bedside while the adults argued outside in the courtyard.
“You are not taking him anywhere without our permission,” said her father. “Not off this planet, not until the company has finished its run here.”
“Shut up.” That was David. Ilyana flinched. She had never heard him so angry before. He walked around in a cloud of anger now, ever since the horrible moment when Vasil had jerked Valentin’s body off the nesh lattice. “Now, Yomi—”
“Did you hear me?” asked Vasil.
“You’re no longer a player in this discussion, Veselov,” snapped David.
A scuffle ensued. Ilyana heard a grunt, several gasps from the onlookers, and a few choice swear words.
“Let him go, Gwyn,” said Yomi in a tired voice. “Vasil, you either agree to sit and listen, or I’ll have to ask Yassir to put you under house arrest. He did his public service in the constabulary and is still deputized.”
Karolla said, in khush, “This is women’s business, Vasil. You must wait patiently until it is your turn to have your say.”
“What about the others? I must defend our honor, Karolla.”
“We cannot expect that khaja will behave with equal courtesy. Now sit, husband.”
Ilyana heard the rustling of the company taking positions once more, a few coughs, a nervous whisper. They began to debate again: Maggie O’Neill is coming down on a shuttle, bringing a more advanced stasis bed. She should take the boy back to a class one trauma center. He shouldn’t be moved; we have to find his nesh first. That comment produced a whole new debate, about body and spirit and whether it was true that the spirit lived independently in nesh which accelerated into a full fledged argument about gnosticism, superstition, and the technology of nesh, most of which Ilyana could not follow.
Oblivious to this, Valentin’s body respirated, hooked up to the bed. It gave him fluids. What else it did, Ilyana was not sure. She was not sure if he was breathing on his own or if the bed was doing that for him, too. But without the bed he would waste to nothing and die. His knees were already curling up toward his chest. Sometimes his hands twitched. She could see his veins through the pallor of his skin, a web of blood linking him to the world of breathing.
>
David came in and sat down beside her. “I can’t stand to listen to that any more.” He looked at Valentin and away, unable to endure the sight of the boy’s flaccid, empty face.
“Let me try to find him in nesh,” Ilyana pleaded.
“No. No. Anyway, the nesh screen is broken now. You can’t reach him.”
“I could use your nesh.”
“That wouldn’t do any good. It isn’t connected to the nesh they have here in the palace.”
“Yes, it is,” she blurted out, then blushed, having betrayed herself.
Mercifully, David only gave her a look. “Others have tried. They found nothing.”
“They don’t know Valentin, they don’t know this palace like I do.”
“How can we let you go, after this happened?”
“I’m not addicted to nesh. I’m not going to lose myself in there. I’m the only one who can find him.”
“And then?”
“Maybe I can convince him to come back.”
“He has sustained systemic nervous system damage. Maybe he can’t come back. Oh, Goddess.” He pressed a palm on his forehead, as if massaging a headache. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, as if Valentin even exists in any form inside nesh. Yana, he’s gone. He doesn’t somehow exist independently in nesh. He’s in a coma, he has brain damage. There’s no magical formula to reunite body and spirit in some kind of dualistic orgy. We have to get him off planet and to a trauma center.”
“But you can’t take his body away from where he lost his spirit—”
“Yana! There isn’t some part of him that’s lost in there. It’s a myth. If he’s going to recover, he can do it only under advanced neurological treatment.”
“At least you could let me try.”
He hesitated, and by that she knew she had won. “All right. We’ll do it tonight, in here. I’ll go in with you, and Hyacinth will monitor the connection.”
Yomi came in. “Yana, your mother wishes to speak with you. I’ll go along, if you’d like.”
“No. I can go alone.” Ilyana stood up. “Where are the children?”
“Evdokia seems to be fine with Portia and Diana, but Hyacinth finally had to take Anton back because he was acting up so badly. It’s difficult to know what is the right choice to make. I did my public service in the constabulary, too, but on a counseling beat, so it isn’t as if I haven’t seen this kind of thing before.”
“What’s going to happen, when we get back to Earth?”
“Your neighborhood constabulary will be notified and your family will be assigned a monitor and an advocate. For now, I’ve taken responsibility.”
“I should have said something sooner,” muttered David. He reached out and tentatively brushed a strand of Valentin’s pale hair back around the whorl of an ear, then withdrew his hand, looking uncomfortable. Looking guilty.
“You have my permission to beat yourself about the head and shoulders,” said Yomi sardonically, but her gaze, resting on the boy, was mournful, and she shook her head. “Go on,” she said gently to Ilyana. “Get it over with. That’s a pretty belt. Is it a silk scarf?”
Ilyana gave a stiff smile and backed out of the room, crossing her wrists over the sash, which she had wrapped around her waist. She found her mother at the tent.
“Ah, Yana, sit down here beside me.”
Ilyana shook her head and remained standing on the edge of the carpet, not coming in under the awning. Little Rose lay on her back on the carpet, staring at her fists, and Anton lay on his stomach, reading from a flat screen.
“You will sit,” repeated Karolla, an edge on her voice.
“I won’t.”
“What have I done to deserve this disrespect from my eldest daughter?”
“What have you done! Is it true that you let that financier get close to Valentin, to use him? That you knew about it and let it go on?”
“It is usual for an experienced woman to initiate a boy—”
“She was using him. She was molesting him! A woman like that would never have been allowed near a boy his age, in the tribes.”
“You know nothing about life in the tribes, Yana! You think you know, but you have no idea—”
“I don’t think it’s anything you’d ever dare tell my grandmother, if you saw her now, that’s what I think!”
“If your grandmother saw what an insolent, disrespectful creature you have become, then it’s true she would wonder where I had failed, in teaching you manners, child. This is what comes of allowing you khaja friends and khaja schooling.
“That’s all that saved me!” Ilyana retorted, then faltered. Her mother had retreated so far from her, into some other world, like Valentin into nesh, that she realized she could not reach her. She wanted to ask, to accuse, to find out if it was true that Vasil had tried to bargain her away to the cultural minister in exchange for smuggling him onto Rhui, but she could not. She could not bear to know. There, coming out of the caravansary, came her father.
Ilyana fled from him, ignoring her mother calling after her. She ran to the ruined caravansary, where the sun beat down on the worn walls and baked the scent of dust into the air. She sat down on a tumbled lintel and leaned her head back against a brick wall. Shutting her eyes, she imagined the walls built back up, the courtyard alive with carts and animals, merchants haggling over marching order and horses drinking from the trough. She built a greater caravansary, a whole complex of them, gateways for a thousand caravans departing for other countries, for other planets, for worlds inside and outside nesh. The sun’s warmth kissed her face and slowly slid down her body until only her bare feet lay within its glow. Her toes worked at the dirt, wearing away a hollow in ground worn level and hard by a century of traffic. Except there couldn’t have been any traffic here, could there? What caravans would have come through this place? Where would they have been going?
Where was Anatoly Sakhalin right now?
She covered her face with her hands, ashamed at herself for thinking of him. What would it be like, if he had not already been married? If he had married her? She would have her own tent, and even within her mother’s influence, she could take the younger children into her tent and Anatoly could have fostered her brothers. It was true that in many ways he held to the old ways as firmly as her mother did, but he seemed able to move between the worlds, to make enough compromises, to understand that there must be flexibility…to understand that it took both compression and tension, push and pull, to make a building stand upright.
She heard the whisper of soft bells. Jerking her hands down, she stared at the opposite wall where a shadow loomed, a man’s shadow, to her right, poised back around the corner. He had a lithe body, a head crowned with a braided headdress, and four arms. The shadow did not move. Neither did she. Paralyzed, she tried to wish herself into stone, but she wasn’t in nesh. She remained flesh.
Finally, panting, she forced herself up. She refused to wait in fear. But as she moved the shadow moved, somewhere in the lane behind her, and she darted around the corner to see what was there, but all she caught was the shadow of movement, a whisper of bells moving away into the dark belly of the catacombs. Her heart was thudding so loudly in her chest and in her ears that it drowned out the noise of the world. What if she hadn’t pulled her hands down and looked right at that moment? Why would a statue be wandering in this caravansary? How could a statue wander at all? Or had she only dreamed it?
The sun was setting. Its light glittered on the rings of the planet, pale arches like delicate bracelets in the sky. Like the ankle bracelets jaran girls wore, to signify how many lovers they had taken. In a ditch, a straggling line of weeds boasted tiny flowers, closing now as the sun left them. The wind came up. She felt alone and utterly isolated.
“I can’t go back,” she said to the air. “It’s not my home anymore.”
Like an echo, caught in a maze of rooms, she heard the distant murmur of bells. It is never wise to attract the notice of the gods. She bolted. She ran
all the way back to the other caravansary and finally halted, out of breath, outside the curtained doorway of the room where they had installed Valentin.
“I could have done something about it,” David was saying. “Goddess, I knew, and I didn’t do anything.”
“No wonder you’re angry at everyone else,” replied Hyacinth.
“Oh, hell, it’s true. I’m just so furious at myself.”
“You couldn’t have known this would happen.”
“That’s what we always say, isn’t it?”
“I can see you’re in a self-defeating mood. I won’t trot out the rest of the cliches, then. We’re not going to be here much longer, though. I know Owen is angling for us to tour farther into Chapalii space. What’s going to happen then?”
“Maybe the best thing for those kids would be to stay on Earth and be fostered to someone else, with Veselov a good long way away from them.”
“Veselov won’t be touring with the company again.”
“Why not?”
“You don’t know? You can’t see it? He’s lost it. He doesn’t know how to act anymore, only how to pose. Owen is thoroughly disgusted with him, but he’s contracted to the end of this run.”
“Well, whatever it takes, we need to keep him away from those kids.”
“Do you blame him more than her, then?”
“Yes, I do. What a self-centered egotistical bastard he is. Karolla is just so self-negating as to be a cipher.”
“Oh, I would say that she’s as inflexible. No, I’d say she’s more inflexible. Don’t forget I’ve lived upstairs from them for seven years now, I like to be generous and spread blame around. Listen, David, have you ever visited their flat? No? Let me just say that they made their bed and now they’re lying in it.”
“That didn’t happen to Yevgeni.”
“Only because in the end we got up-enough courage to admit that we couldn’t do it on our own.”
“But Sakhalin never got counseling that I know of, nor did Diana ever go to the constabulary and ask for an advocate.”
“That’s true. Anatoly Sakhalin may be an arrogant bastard, but if you prod him enough, you can at least get him to think. But there’s going to be hell to pay between him and Di when he gets back. I think she’s going to file for a dissolution.”