‘Yes, your honour. We are servants of Zabrazal, your honour.’
Izebol wagged a finger at us and said severely, ‘Serve your god in your youth and you will be rewarded throughout your life. Do you believe that?’
‘Yes, your honour.’ I replied fervently, hoping that Izebol would believe me and hoping that it was true. Sharma just gave an affirmative nod.
Izebol relaxed a little, waggled a half-friendly finger at us, and said, ‘You are favoured by Zabrazal.’
‘You honour?’
‘It is as clear as it can be. Do you think that you would have enjoyed such success without the blessing of Zabrazal?’
We shook our heads vigorously and I thought, Well, that’s good news. If Zabrazal’s chief representative says it, then it’s probably true in fact, it's almost as good as getting it from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. Then Izebol's mouth tightened and he interrupted my thoughts by growling, ‘But as for your commanders – did they consult the omens? Did they consult the priests of Zabrazal?’ He glared at us. ‘Well, did they?’
‘We don’t know, your honour.’
‘You don’t know! Of course you don’t know! You don’t know because they only consulted themselves and their own desires!’ Izebol snorted and lowered his voice. ‘But as for you -- you were fortunate. Zabrazal blessed your ventures in spite of the negligence of your commanders.’ He straightened and gestured towards the inner door, saying, ‘Vaxili and Jainar know my mind on this matter.’ Izebol glared at the door, looked at us in a half-speculative and half-approving manner, nodded regally and swept out of the room.
We settled back, waiting to be called into the inner sanctum. However, before that happened, Mecolo entered through the outer door. Although she pretended to be surprised to see us, she wasn’t a good actor. It was plain to see that she knew very well that we were there. Mecolo shot a cautious look at the inner door, fingered the neckline of her gown nervously, and said with feigned innocence, ‘Sharma and Jina! What are you doing here?’
We rose to greet her. Sharma bowed slightly -- it was so studied that it was familiar rather than formal -- and said, ‘We are waiting to see your father, Lady Mecolo.’
‘About what?’
‘Something to do with Asjolorm, or so we were told.’
‘Asjolorm? Is that the Dornite city that was destroyed?’
Sharma bowed again and said, ‘The same, Lady Mecolo.’
She gestured to us to be seated while she remained standing, looking hesitant and apprehensive. First she snatched at an invisible thread in the waist-line of her gown and then she flicked repeatedly at an imaginary speck on her sleeve. Next she sat down on the edge of a chair, hands clenched tightly in her lap, and said brightly, ‘Sharma and Jina! What a pleasant surprise! I haven’t seen you for such a long time.’
Sharma said smoothly, ‘And we are the poorer for it, Lady Mecolo.’
She lowered her eyes and replied, ‘So are we.’ She started to say something, stopped, and then asked hesitantly, 'How long will you be in Koraina?'
Sharma replied, 'Until tomorrow morning at least, my lady.'
‘And when did you arrive?’
‘Hardly half an hour ago.’
‘Ah! So you haven’t had time to make any social calls?’
‘Not yet, my lady. But of course we will.’
Their eyes met. Mecolo said, 'Then perhaps we will see each other again before you leave?' Sharma nodded and gave her a deep look. Mecolo's eyes glowed before she said, ‘That’s good.’ Then, still keeping up the bright facade, she asked, ‘And how have you been, Sharma?’
Sharma replied, ‘Life has been very dull without you and the ladies of Koraina, my lady.’
Mecolo stood up, smoothed her gown over her hips, and flicked her tongue over her lips like a lizard testing the atmosphere before making its next move. Then, apparently satisfied with what she had found, she moved to stand halfway behind Sharma. She put her hand on his chair, just behind his shoulder, leaned forward and asked, ‘But, Sharma, when you are so occupied with warlike and heroic deeds, surely you hardly miss the ladies?’
Mecolo was standing where I could get a good look her. A look? In fact, she was so absorbed in her duet with Sharma that I could have stared at her as intensely and for as long as I wanted. By Zabrazal, but she was dolled up to the nines and carrying it off with style as well. She was wearing a soft lime-green gown that folded around her so lightly that she looked to be all fragility and vulnerability. The low-cut bodice was gathered under her bust so that there was plenty more to see than just a hint of the smooth flesh of her breasts when she leaned forward. That alone was enough to attract my attention, producing a distant ache that, even while I tried to suppress it, recalled someone else in another setting. Mecolo was a good-looking young woman – far above the average, I had to admit – who knew how to arrange and display herself to the very best effect. On top of that, she carried with her the seductiveness of association with power and position.
Sharma glanced upwards over his shoulder and said with studied impassivity, ‘Why, Lady Mecolo, when the ladies are as beautiful as you nothing on earth could make any soldier of Keirine forget them. Our deeds are inspired by the beauty of the maidens of Keirine.’ He paused and then said meaningfully, ‘And especially the maidens of Koraina, who are nearest to our hearts.’
Mecolo pulled up a chair and sat down with her knees almost touching Sharma’s. Even at a distance, I could smell her perfume. Under the musky pungency, it carried the hint of the fresh warmth of her body. Mecolo demanded, ‘Tell me about Asjolorm.’
Sharma said nonchalantly, ‘Asjolorm? It was destroyed by fire. There’s nothing much to tell.’
‘Oh, Sharma, don’t be so modest! I hear that you had a lot to do with what happened there.’
Sharma looked pleased but tried to hide it with a negligent shrug. He replied, ‘No single person can take the credit. Most of the men in our unit were involved in the attack.’
‘And you were just one of the many?’ Mecolo looked at me and asked archly, ‘Jina, isn’t he modest? Perhaps you can tell me what happened.’
I said, ‘Lady Mecolo, we burned the city to the ground and we slaughtered a lot of people when they tried to escape. We slaughtered women and children along with the men. We slaughtered old people and we slaughtered babies. Then when things started to get too hot for comfort we got out of there fast. Like all good soldiers, we wanted to preserve our lives and limbs for the next battle. That’s what happened.’
Mecolo bit her lip and sat back stiffly with her hands in her lap. I had rebuffed her but I didn’t care. Once, not so long ago, I could have enjoyed these flirtatious approach-and-retreat, double-meaning games. With Dana, they had excited me. With Dana, they were steps in an exhilarating and intriguing dance. Now they irritated me. More than that, nowadays they reminded me of what I was trying to leave behind in the pit of oblivion.
Sharma tried to rescue the situation by saying quickly, ‘It’s true that Jina and I were involved right from the beginning.’
‘Oh? How? Do tell me.’
Sharma had just begun telling the story when the inner door opened and Jainar appeared. We stood up and saluted but he frowned and looked past us, saying severely, ‘Lady Mecolo, I did not expect to see you here.’
Mecolo’s eyes flickered warily but she maintained her composure and replied, ‘I was hoping to see my father.’
‘At this hour of the day, Lady Mecolo? Your father has his duties, you know.’
Mecolo wrinkled her nose and shrugged in studied indifference. ‘Then perhaps I won’t see him now, if he’s busy. Perhaps I'll call on him later’
Jainar took a step forwards so that he was standing squarely across the doorway. He replied evenly, 'Yes, my lady. Later would be much better. This evening would be best of all.'
Mecolo got up, moved to the outer door, then stopped there and said to us, ‘Well, it’s been so nice talking to you. I hope that I will see you soon.�
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Jainar said brusquely, ‘They also have their duties, Lady Mecolo.’
‘Yes, of course they do – and I’m sure that you know how to keep them busy, General Jainar.’ Mecolo wrinkled her nose again, waved lightly, and was gone.
Jainar grunted and looked at us suspiciously with narrowed eyes. Then he ushered us through the door.
The inner room was the exact opposite of the antechamber. It was spacious and had a luxurious, sumptuous air, with its deep-piled carpets, large tapestries, and heavy drapes that reached from ceiling to floor. Although it was mid-morning, all of the drapes were drawn, so that the room had to be lighted by lamps. I felt as if, in one moment, I had been transported to a secret cavern in a fabulous land. It was so surprising that I stopped abruptly, causing Sharma to collide with me at which he muttered something uncomplimentary and gave me a discreet shove in the middle of my back. I stepped forwards, blinked, and took in more of this surprising scene. A huge table of heavy wood dominated the room. The surface was so highly varnished that I wondered incongruously if Vaxili and his aides used it to play some game or other -- perhaps an exotic game in which polished counters were pushed to and fro. All around the table there were large chairs with high, carved backs and upholstered seats. I stumbled against one of the chairs, stubbed a toe, and swore under my breath. Sharma pulled me backwards and muttered something that was probably no more complimentary than his words of a few seconds earlier.
From behind us, Jainar said loudly, 'Your majesty, may I present Deputy Commanders Sharma and Jina?' Peering into the semi-gloom, at last I located Vaxili. He was sitting at the head of the table with the lamplight falling on him obliquely so that half of his face was illuminated while the other half was in deep shadow. It was disconcerting, like encountering a man who wore only one half of a mask. Furthermore, the direction of the light exaggerated the effect of the scar under Vaxili’s right eye, so that he appeared to be glaring at us with an eye narrowed in suspicion. He looked so inhospitable that I wondered if we had come to the wrong place.
Sharma plucked at the hem of my tunic. I glanced at him, saw that he was standing to attention, and followed suit. We saluted but Vaxili only acknowledged us with a negligent gesture and motioned to us to be seated at the foot of the table. When Jainar went up to Vaxili and murmured something to him, Vaxili scowled, pursed his lips, and looked us up and down as if he had just been told that we were infected by the plague. I guessed that Jainar had told Vaxili that Mecolo had been with us in the antechamber and my stomach muscles tightened in apprehension. This was not a good way to start the meeting.
Jainar settled down in a chair between Vaxili and us and there was a deep silence until Jainar coughed discreetly and Vaxili nodded as if he had just remembered that he was in charge. He cleared his throat, coughed again, and said, ‘Welcome, deputy commanders Sharma and Jina. We are pleased to see you.’
We gave the standard response: ‘We greet your majesty.’
Vaxili waved a finger in acknowledgement and looked at Jainar expectantly. Jainar said, ‘His majesty has invited you here so that he can thank you for your role in the attack on Asjolorm. He wishes to inform you that you will be decorated with the Order of the Defenders of Keirine.’
Sharma and I exchanged glances. I could see that for some reason Sharma didn’t want to speak first, so I tried to look knowing and appreciative and replied, ‘We thank your majesty. It is a great honour.’ However, the fact was that I had never heard of this decoration -- or any other Keirineian military decoration, come to that.
Vaxili looked at Sharma enquiringly. Sharma straightened and responded stiffly, ‘We thank your majesty. It is an honour.’
For the next ten minutes, Vaxili talked with us about the attack on Asjolorm. While doing so, he became quite animated as if discussing a successful attack on the Dornites had cleared away his earlier mood of indifference. As the discussion drew towards a conclusion, Vaxili put up a finger, smiled sardonically, and, with his head a little to one side, looked at Sharma shrewdly. After a pause, he said, ‘It appears that you find service on the frontier productive, Deputy Commander Sharma. Would you agree with me?’ He continued to look at Sharma in the same way.
‘Your majesty?’
Vaxili said, ‘You looked down towards Asjolorm, you saw the possibilities, and you conceived the plan for the attack – not so? Now, if you had not been based where you were --’ He broke off and looked closely at Sharma.
Sharma swallowed hard and replied in a subdued voice, ‘It wasn’t all my doing, your majesty.’
‘No?’
Sharma looked at me quickly and replied, ‘My comrade Jina also had a lot to do with it.’
Sharma was always good at acknowledging the contributions that others made. It was one of his most attractive qualities and one that he cultivated as he climbed the ladder of his aspirations. Right now, however, it struck me that he was trying to deflect attention away from himself rather than share the glory with others.
‘Yes, so you’ve already said. And as I’ve already said, I’m grateful to both of you.’ Vaxili gave the same fleeting smile and asked, ‘Do you also find service on the frontier stimulating, Deputy Commander Jina?’
‘I serve Keirine wherever I’m called to do so, your majesty.’
‘One posting is as good as another, eh?’
‘No, your majesty.’
Vaxili's eyes widened and he asked, ‘No?’
‘What I mean is, your majesty – I mean that I prefer to be on active service. That’s how I serve Keirine best.’
‘Ah! You prefer active service? You really do?’
‘I would like to be wherever I can oppose our enemies directly, your majesty.’
Vaxili nodded thoughtfully and drummed his fingers lightly on the top of the table. Then he half-turned in his seat and looked at the wall that was covered in drapes. There was a long silence. Suddenly, still looking in the same direction, Vaxili said reflectively, ‘Killing Drunuk, rescuing my daughter, and now Asjolorm -- they make a good team, don’t they, General Jainar?’
‘Indeed they do, sir.’
Vaxili turned to face us. He leaned forward, hands clasped, and asked quietly, ‘Do you also prefer active service on the frontier, Deputy Commander Sharma?’ Vaxili leaned further forward and looked at Sharma closely.
Sharma licked his lips and replied cautiously, ‘I prefer to be wherever I can serve Keirine best, your majesty.’
‘Anywhere at all?’
Sharma paused, swallowed, and replied, ‘Yes, your majesty. I am a soldier first and foremost. It is my duty to serve Keirine wherever I am placed.’
Vaxili grunted and drummed the fingers of his right hand on the table, producing a light, incessant tic-tic sound. With his left hand, he stroked his throat slowly as if he was trying to rid it of an obstruction. After a while, he looked up and asked sharply, 'You are both from Lower Keirine, not so?'
'Yes, your majesty.'
Vaxili looked at us thoughtfully as if we were goods that he was turning over while he was pricing them in the bazaar. Then he asked, 'Would you not prefer to serve your own people?'
'Pardon, your majesty?'
Vaxili smiled quizzically as if he didn't believe the surprise in our voices. He asked, 'Surely your first loyalty is to your own people? Surely you would want to serve them first? Isn’t that only natural?'
Jainar got up quickly, bent over Vaxili's shoulder, and whispered to him urgently. Vaxili inclined his head and then waved Jainar away with a brush-off motion. He looked at us with a sceptical smile and asked, 'Well? What do you say?'
Sharma said, 'Your majesty, it is not a question of where we come from.'
'No? What, then?'
I could hear Sharma taking a deep breath before he answered cautiously, 'Your majesty, the elders of Osicedi sent us here to serve the Kingdom of Keirine. That is why we came here. We are soldiers of Keirine. That is our profession and that is what we want to do.'
Vaxili l
eaned back and smiled at us as if he knew something that we didn't. There was a long silence. Then Vaxili said reflectively, 'Ah, yes – from Osicedi, eh? I remember Osicedi.' He smiled thinly and nodded at us as if he expected us to respond his remark. I didn't know what sort of response was expected, but I was getting annoyed. I said, 'Your majesty, we were sent here to serve the Kingdom of Keirine. We weren't sent here to serve Lower Keirine, or Upper Keirine, or any other part of Keirine, north, south, east, or west. However, your majesty, if you feel that our loyalty is in question, then please send us wherever you think that we and our loyalty belong.'
Jainar said sharply, 'Show respect to his majesty, Deputy Commander Jina!'
Sharma put a hand on my thigh and gave it a warning squeeze. I opened my mouth to speak but shut it when Sharma squeezed my thigh even more sharply. Sharma said quickly, 'Your majesty, our loyalty belongs to Keirine and to all of Keirine without distinction of place or region. You may place us wherever you think that we will give the best service.'
Vaxili was still stroking his throat and looking at us contemplatively. He pursed his lips and asked quietly, ‘So, Deputy Commander Sharma, you wouldn’t even mind being posted to headquarters here in Koraina?’
‘I wouldn’t mind, your majesty, as long as that was where I could be useful.’
Vaxili ran a finger up his cheek, looked at the finger while he rubbed it with his thumb, and then said thoughtfully, ‘The question is, useful to whom?’
‘Your majesty?'
Vaxili asked pointedly, ‘You wouldn’t find that there were too many distractions here in Koraina?’
‘No, your majesty. I am a soldier of Keirine and I –‘
Vaxili waved a hand dismissively. ‘Yes, yes, I know – you've said all of that already. You don't have to repeat yourself. You are good soldiers and you serve Keirine with all your -- no doubt you believe it when you say ... well, no doubt, no doubt.’ His tone was ironic. Vaxili turned to Jainar and said in the same tone, ‘We are fortunate to have such devoted soldiers in our ranks, General Jainar. Not so?’
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