'In here?'
'Why not? Isn't the king allowed to have some fun?' Sharma waved a hand around airily. 'The king proposes and the king disposes, not so?' He rang a bell and a servant came in with a bucket, draped a blanket over a sideboard, and ranged the contents of the bucket on top. I went over to have a look at the objects that were standing on the sideboard. There were seven short pieces of wood, planed and varnished, the thickness of two fingers, and mounted on small bases. The targets were pitted all over, testifying to how often they had been used.
I said, 'You are well prepared.'
Sharma gave me a slow smile and replied, 'The king should always be prepared.' He stood back, crouched, whirled the sling, and let fly. The pebble missed its target and clattered against the stone wall behind the sideboard. Sharma cursed, drank some wine, took aim again, and let fly. This time he hit the target. At the end of the round, he had hit five out of the seven targets. Sharma tossed the sling to me, saying, 'Your turn now.'
'I'm not in practice. I won't be much good.'
Sharma grunted. 'Huh! That's what you always used to say and you were always better than you claimed.'
I replied, 'But never as good as you.' In the event, I surprised myself by hitting three of the first four targets at which I aimed. Opting for caution, I deliberately missed one of the last three targets. Sharma grinned at me, raised his mug in salute, and said, 'It's a tie! Hail to the general.'
Later, we had a few more rounds with the sling. Watching Sharma crouch, eyes narrowed, balanced on the balls of his feet, the years fell away and I glimpsed the youthful Sharma out on the hillside taking aim at targets placed on top of a rock. I said something like that to Sharma. He responded by grunting and letting fly with such force that the pebble sliced a sliver off the target and then shattered against the wall.
Surprisingly, in spite of the wine, Sharma's aim improved until during his last round he hit six out of seven targets. Still cautious, I made sure that I never exceeded his score in any round. Afterwards, Sharma lay back in his chair and started to talk about the days when we roamed the hills looking after the sheep. He concluded by saying, 'When land and people reach the sea, eh?' He tossed the sling in the palm of his hand, looked at it pensively, and asked, 'Are we safe now, Jina?'
'Not as safe as we should be but safer than we ever have been.'
Sharma grunted, 'Huh! Maybe that's true. But there's one enemy that's always with us, always working to destroy us. Do you know what that is, eh?' I shook my head. Sharma looked at me with half-closed eyes and said, 'Complacency, Jina, complacency! That's the enemy that's always at the gates.'
It was after midnight when we parted. Sharma was drunk and I had imbibed enough to fear that I might have a sore head in the morning. I hated having a muzzy head. I shook my head in a vain attempt to clear it and started to walk across the courtyard. Suddenly, I felt a light touch on my arm. A voice hissed, 'Jina!' I turned and peered at the hooded figure standing next to me. It was Mecolo. She put a finger over my lips, took my arm, led me to a corner of the courtyard and opened a door. Inside, Mecolo threw back the hood. By the light of the lamps, I could see that her eyes were red and her expression was strained.
Mecolo said in a tight voice, 'I need to talk to you, Jina.'
'It's late, my lady.'
'It'll only take a few minutes.' She put a hand on my arm. 'Please – only a few minutes?' I nodded and she pointed to a chair by the table. Mecolo sat down across the corner from me leaning forward with folded arms. She forced a smile and asked, 'How are you, Jina?'
'Me? I'm fine. How are you, my lady?'
'Oh, Jina, we've known each other for a long time. We're old friends. Can't we just be Jina and Mecolo to each other?'
I thought, old friends? Just plain Jina and Mecolo? Well, that was never possible, was it? Once she was a king's daughter and I was a mere soldier or, at most, a deputy commander. Now she was a king's wife. Sharma might be my oldest friend but I had no illusions. Things weren't the same between us as in the old days. Now Sharma was king first and I was his general. Those things counted far above the fact that we were old friends and comrades.
Mecolo leaned forward and asked, 'Well, Jina? Can't we be just old friends together?'
'I'm always at your service, my lady.'
Mecolo winced and drew back. She dabbed at the corners of her eyes and asked stiffly, 'How is Sharma?'
'When I left him, he was well.'
'Drunk again, I'm sure.'
'We did enjoy some wine together -- for old time's sake.'
Mecolo sat back and looked at me keenly. She said, 'Oh, Jina, I wish I had as good a friend as Sharma has in you.' She dabbed at her eyes again and then suddenly burst out, 'I can't take it any more! I simply cannot take it!'
'My lady?'
'You saw what happened! That loose-mouthed, sway-hipped creature speaks to me worse than she would to a serving girl in her father's kitchen! And Sharma --!'
'Calm yourself, my lady.'
Mecolo brushed me aside. 'And Sharma supports her. It's them against me – always them against me. You saw what happened, didn't you? You could see it was them against me.'
'I'm afraid I hardly saw anything at all. I just arrived and –'
'Oh, don't pretend you don't know what's going on just because you're Sharma's friend.'
'My lady, I am truly sorry that you are distressed.'
'Why did he bring me back? If this was how I was going to be treated why didn't he just leave me the way I was? Why?'
'I suppose he brought you back because you were his wife and the mother of his child.'
'Oh, that's charitable! Do you know what I think? I think that he brought me back to humiliate me for what my father did to him. No, don't shake your head. I know it to be the case.'
'My lady, I –'
'Well, I can understand why he treats me like this. I hate it but I can understand it. But why does he humiliate our son? He has nothing to do with his grandfather. Nothing! Nothing at all! On the contrary -- Bedaxili's grandfather despised him because he was Sharma's son. Don't be fooled by his name Bedaxili, "Beloved of Vaxili". That was nothing but a piece of cruel irony! The truth is, my father hated his grandson.' Mecolo pressed her fists against her temples, closed her eyes, and bit her bottom lip. Then she thumped a fist on the table and cried, 'I will not have my son suffer because of what lies between Sharma and me!' She put her head on her hands and sobbed.
I was embarrassed and I was at a loss about how to respond. I said inadequately, 'My lady, calm yourself. Sharma has a lot on his mind. He's a busy man. Perhaps you're reading too much into the situation.'
'He's not too busy to take sides, though!' Mecolo raised her head and fired the words at me. Then she sat up, straightened her back, and wiped her eyes. She shook her head briskly and said, 'I am the daughter of a king and I am the wife of a king – and look at me! Just look at me, Jina – weeping in my room in the dark hours of the night. But I tell you one thing, for sure, Jina – no one will ever see me weep outside this room.'
'I understand, my lady.'
'No, Jina, you don't. You think I'm weeping for myself. Well, perhaps I am, to some extent. But if I am, then I'm ashamed. I will not allow myself to indulge in self-pity. I never have and I never will. No, Jina, I'm weeping for my son.' Mecolo gave me a fierce look. 'Bedaxili is heir to the throne. That is what concerns me. You understand?'
'I think that I do.'
Mecolo's eyes softened and she leaned forward as if trying to coax sympathy out of me. She asked, 'Will you support me in this, Jina?'
'Support you, my lady? How?'
Mecolo’s eyes were still red-rimmed but now they were sharp and the gaze was direct. She said slowly and distinctly, 'There should be no doubt in the matter of succession. Bedaxili is Sharma's oldest son and that should be the end of the matter.’
‘That is so, my lady.’
‘Ah! But who knows what that creature might be planning for her own sons?'
Mecolo put a hand over mine and said softly, 'That's what concerns me, Jina.' I retracted my hand, sat back, and looked at her. I wasn't certain of what she wanted from me – but whatever it was, I wasn't happy about the direction in which she was heading. Mecolo smiled wryly and said, 'Oh, Jina, don't look at me like that. You're always so correct and proper, aren't you? I'm not asking you to do anything subversive. I'm just asking you to do what's right.'
'And what is right in this case?'
'What's right is very simple -- you should support the legitimate heir to the throne.'
I took some time to think about the matter. Of course, in one sense it was a simple matter, an open and shut case. Bedaxili was the legitimate heir to the throne. Nothing could change his status as Sharma's first-born son. That fact stood out like a beacon on a hill. However, I had a skin-prickling, uneasy sense that the beacon did not have solid foundations. I replied cautiously, 'Any challenge to your son's status as heir to the throne would be bad for Keirine.'
Mecolo pursed her lips and looked at me appraisingly. 'Yes, exactly! That's what concerns me. Yes, that's it – exactly!'
'Then, my lady, we understand each other.'
Her face brightened. However, her eyes were sharp and shrewd when she said, 'My father couldn't keep Keirine together. Now Sharma has another chance. If we love Keirine, then we must ensure that the kingdom doesn't come to the same sad end. You agree, don't you?'
'I do, my lady. We have struggled too hard and suffered too much to see the kingdom fall apart again.'
Mecolo leaned forward, hands clasped together, and said, 'Oh, Jina, you're a dark horse, aren't you?'
'My lady?'
'Trustworthy, brave, dependable Jina! But underneath that stoical front you have a grand vision, don't you?'
'My lady, I do have one vision, and one vision only – the dream of Keirine, safe, secure, and dignified. That is all that I allow myself.'
Mecolo stood up and smoothed down her robe. As she did so, briefly stretching the fabric across her breasts and easing it down her hips, I caught a glimpse of the younger Mecolo in a time that seemed both close and remote. Also, thinking of that time, catching a glimpse of Mecolo's womanly form, I remembered a time when I lay on a hillside under the clouds with someone whose tunic stretched across a shape that generated the shock of lightning across the ridges of my body. The thought flashed through me only for a moment before I shook my head to clear it of such distractions.
Mecolo looked at me speculatively before she said, 'Dana would have been proud of you, Jina. What a pity that –'
'My lady! I am always at your service. But I must ask you one thing – please never speak about Dana.'
'I'm sorry, Jina.'
'The fact is, as I said to you, I have only one dream and one aspiration. Everything else is behind me. There are doors that have shut and they will remain shut.'
'I understand, Jina.'
'Thank you for understanding, my lady.'
We walked to the door. There Mecolo laid a hand on my arm and said, 'We understand each other in more ways than one, don't we, Jina?'
'We understand each other in all ways that tend towards the good of Keirine, my lady.'
I let myself out and walked across the dark courtyard. My head was clear – no trace of wine-induced dullness now, I was pleased to note – but I felt desperately tired. Well, there was a reason for that, wasn't there? I was an early-to-bedder and now it was two hours past midnight. However, I knew that wasn't the real reason. The fact was that my conversation with Mecolo brought home to me how wearisome it was to climb the heights to the top of the long-beckoning peak only to find that broken, upland country stretched for infinity beyond that. What was more, the peak had always been clear and sharply defined even if we sometimes struggled and slipped on our way towards it. But now the country beyond it seemed to be shrouded and threatening, requiring ever more effort and ever more wariness to pick your way across it safely.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: TIME TO SETTLE DOWN
I recognised him immediately, the moment he entered the room. There was no hiding his half-severed right ear, red hair, and granite-contoured features. Of course, he looked older. Time had brought streaks of grey to his hair as well as rotundity to his formerly square frame.
'Zaliek! By all that's wonderful, it's you!'
He grinned at me as I grasped his hands, saying in his characteristically deep growl, 'It's been a long time. The last time I saw you, you were a deputy commander recovering from a fever and looking like death itself. And now you're General Jina, commander in chief of the Keirineian forces!'
'How long has it been? Almost twenty years? Is that right?'
Zaliek nodded and continued to grin at me. 'Twenty years is about right.'
I motioned him to a chair. He put his helmet down, took off his breastplate, and sat down with his knees apart and his hands resting squarely on his thighs. I took the chair opposite him, across the corner of the table. We sat there looking each other up and down, grinning with pleasure. I said, 'I should have known that you would turn up soon. I was thinking about you just the other day.'
'Pleasant thoughts, I hope?'
'Last week I rode out with my divisional commanders along the road south of Koraina. For some reason, I started thinking about the march on the night when we left camp before the first battle of Gandonda. You remember?'
'Remember? Man, how can I forget it? It was chaos – more like a cattle drive than an army on the march.'
I grinned as memories came flooding back to me. 'The men dived for cover in the bush when the first messenger on a horse came past us. You yelled, "How the hell do you think you’re going to stand up to the Dornite cavalry when you run like children from a single horse?" You had to kick some members of the squad in the backsides to get us moving again.'
Zaliek chuckled and said, 'You were a lot of greenhorns. It's a wonder you weren't all completely wiped out at Gandonda. And as for that idiot Vaxili, taking you into battle against the omens and with no strategy except advance in line abreast if you can call that a strategy --' He shook his head. Then he said, 'Keirineian armies are better organised these days, from what I hear.'
'They're well enough organised to put the Dornites in their place at last.'
Zaliek winked at me. 'Looks like you learned something in basic training, eh?'
'Oh, I don't know about that. The main thing I learned was that the best thing about basic training was getting out of basic training.'
We sat there grinning appraisingly at each other for a while. Then Zaliek grunted and said, 'I hardly recognised Koraina -- paved streets, a market place, fine houses – it's bigger and better than anything that the Dornites ever built.' Zaliek shook his head disbelievingly. He pointed out of the window. 'And look at that – the royal palace! What a change, eh? When I was here last, the palace consisted of a few old houses. And now -- just look at it!'
I gestured to the map behind the table and said, 'The palace is bigger and so is Keirine.'
Zaliek peered at the map and asked, 'Wasn't there a saying about land and people reaching the sea?'
'Yes -- Keirine only shall be free, when land and people meet the sea. It was a prophecy by the oracle at Osighina.'
Still peering at the map, Zaliek observed, 'Well, General Jina, Keirine has reached the sea in a big way, hasn't it? How many independent Dornite cities are left?'
'Only one.'
'Only one? Let me guess – that's Durgenu's territory, isn't it?' I nodded. Zaliek shook his head admiringly. 'The crafty old bastard! He always did know how to walk on the edge of the ravine without falling in.'
I said, 'Keirine punishes her enemies and rewards her friends.'
Zaliek raised his eyebrows at me sardonically. Then he gave a short laugh, pointed at the map, and asked, 'That green blotch down in the south-east – is that all Durgenu's territory?' I nodded. Zaliek whistled admiringly and said, 'I hope he deserves a reward as big as that.'
I
replied, 'We have reason to be grateful to him. When we were outcasts in the desert, Durgenu gave us supplies and took care of our families. In fact, he took special care of my mother. Later, when we needed arms and equipment for Lower Keirine, Durgenu provided them. He also provided us with mercenaries. More than that, he's stayed out of every war we've ever fought against the Dornites'
Zaliek put up his hands and laughed. 'Oh, Durgenu's a noble soul, all right. From what you say, he deserves whatever he's been given as well as a few medals on top of it.' He got up, walked over to the map, and hauled out something out from the folds of his tunic. With the contraption held to his nose, he peered at the map.
I asked, 'Zaliek, what in heaven's name is that?'
'This?' He held it for me to see. 'This is called a pair of spectacles.' Seeing the look on my face, he chuckled deeply and asked, 'Never seen anything like it before, have you?'
I looked at the object – two round pieces of glass separated by a curved bridge and held in place with a slender metal frame. I asked, 'What's it for?'
Zaliek balanced it on my nose and said, 'Take a look at the map.' As I peered through the pieces of glass, Zaliek asked, 'Do you see any difference?'
'Perhaps!' I pushed the contraption more firmly onto my nose, peered again, and said, 'Things seem to be a bit clearer.'
'Only a bit clearer? That shows the difference in our ages, General Jina. In my case, I couldn't see any of those small names without it.'
I gave the spectacles back to him, sat down, and asked, 'Where did you get them?'
Zaliek held the spectacles up to the light, breathed on them, wiped them carefully with the hem of his tunic, and put them away. He said, 'I got them in Wejigara. They've got some clever people there.'
'Wejigara, eh? That's a long way from here.'
Zaliek looked at me keenly and asked, 'Have you had dealings with Wejigara?'
'They sent a diplomatic delegation to visit us about five years ago. We entertained them, held discussions, and then waved goodbye to them.'
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