'What did they want?'
'We couldn't quite work that out. While they were here, they tried to get as much information out of us as possible but they didn't give us much in return. They left with invitations to seal an agreement of eternal friendship, co-operation, and lucrative trade, but we didn't hear anything more from them. Sharma thought of returning the compliment by sending a delegation to them but finally we didn't bother. As far as we could see, they were just here to sniff around and see if there was any profit to be got out of us.'
Zaliek snorted. 'Sounds like Wejigara, all right. They're a sharp lot.'
'How do you know about Wejigara?'
'I've just arrived from Wejigara. I was living there.'
'Are you going back?'
Zaliek shook his head. 'No. I can't take that mountain climate any longer. Man, I tell you, even in the middle of summer the wind cuts through you like a frozen knife. And as for the winters –' He shook his head and continued, 'I finished my second contract with them and decided that it was time to settle down somewhere warmer.' Zaliek sat back and looked at me half humorously and half expectantly.
I caught his drift and asked, 'Somewhere like Keirine?'
'It's a lot warmer than Wejigara, that's for sure.' Zaliek was still looking at me expectantly.
I teased him by saying, 'We're not training new recruits to fight the Dornites any more, Commander Zaliek. We have the Dornites well under control.'
'But what about the Usserdites? Are they also under control?' Zaliek looked at me shrewdly.
'The Usserdites? Well, of course, they're a restless lot. With them, we can't take anything for granted.'
Zaliek pointed at the map and chuckled knowingly. 'Especially now that you've pushed them back from the Great River, eh?'
'We need the Western River Strip for our own people, not to mention our own security.'
Zaliek got up, put the spectacles on his nose, and looked at the map. He whistled, 'You've taken a lot of territory on the other of side the river, haven't you?'
'We had an ancestral claim to it.'
'You did?'
'Of course we did! In the old days, when the People of Keirine were on the move, they occupied most of that territory.'
Zaliek asked sceptically, 'Courtesy of the local inhabitants?'
'By right of conquest.'
'What happened after that?'
'The Usserdites forced us out about a hundred years ago. They colluded with the Dornites.'
Zaliek raised his eyebrows. 'Colluded with the Dornites, eh? And I guess they've never been forgiven for it?'
'Forgiveness is not the issue. The point is that we've taken back what belongs to us and that's the end of the matter.'
Zaliek sat down, sniffed, scratched his nose, and asked, 'Do you have place for one more commander in your army?'
'Someone who tried to make soldiers out of a bunch of Vaxili's first recruits?'
'That's the sort of person that I had in mind.'
'Someone who tried to teach some of the same soldiers to ride horses, even if all they knew up until then was herding sheep and riding on wagons?'
'You've got it, General Jina. That sounds exactly like the person that I've got in mind.'
I asked, 'Would a five-year contract do?'
Zaliek frowned and scratched his head. 'To tell the truth, I was thinking of something longer than that. It's time for me to settle down.'
'Commander Zaliek wants to settle down? Well, that is news!'
Zaliek shifted self-consciously and said, 'The fact is, I have a reason for wanting to settle down.' I raised my eyebrows. He said, 'I have a wife and son.'
'You have? Where are they?'
'They're staying at an inn just down the road.'
'I'd like to meet them.'
Zaliek looked pleased when I said that. He replied, 'My wife would like to meet you, too. I've told her a lot about you.'
'What about your son? Doesn't he also want to meet his father's old comrade in arms, General Jina?'
Zaliek's face brightened even more at the mention of his son. He said, 'One day he'll hear all about you but right now he's a bit young. He's only two years old.'
I looked at Zaliek, sitting there with his weathered face alight with pleasure. Images of the past came to my mind. I visualised Zaliek bellowing at us on the parade ground, Zaliek leading our unit to safety after the first battle of Gandonda, Zaliek sitting with me outside the sick bay when I was recovering from the fever … I said, 'Yes, I guess that we could consider something longer than a five-year contract. I'll talk to Sharma.'
'How is Sharma?'
'Sharma? Oh, he's all right. He's got a lot on his mind, big responsibilities, and so on – you know how it is, the crown sits heavily on the shoulders – he gets distracted sometimes. But, basically, he's fine. Of course, he'll want to see you when he's got time.' I stood up and said, 'I'll see what I can do. Maybe we could meet at about the same time tomorrow?'
Zaliek got to his feet, clapped me on a shoulder, and said, 'Thank you, comrade. I appreciate it.'
At the door, I asked Zaliek, 'How long were you in Wejigara?'
'About twenty years.'
'You went there straight from --?'
'That's right. When Vaxili had you and your mates locked up, I knew that it wouldn't be long before they came for me as well. I got out of Keirine right away.'
Next morning, on my way to the headquarters building, I stopped at the inn where Zaliek was staying. I was curious to see his family. In fact, I could hardly believe that he really had a wife and child. I always thought of Zaliek as the quintessential professional-for-hire, a loner who would keep himself free to move on to the next assignment once he had exhausted the possibilities in the current situation. More than that, he always seemed to me to be a rough-and-tumble sort of fellow whose identity was completely bound up with his comrades and with his profession. And now he was a family man. I had to see it for myself.
When I arrived, Zaliek and his family were eating breakfast in the front room of the inn. Zaliek jumped to his feet, shook my hand, and asked in a low voice, 'Have you spoken to Sharma?'
I nodded, 'We'll fix something for you. See me later, all right?'
Zaliek relaxed. He gestured to the table and said, 'Meet my family.'
Zaliek's wife was a beauty. I literally stopped in my tracks when I got my first look at her. However, what stopped me was not only her good looks but the fact that she reminded me so much of Dana. She had the same small build, the same athletic, compact body, and the same luminous eyes. Of course, there were differences. Shani had the darker skin and the purple-tinged black curly hair of the people of the distant south-western interior. Also, her eyes pulled at the corners, so that she looked like a sleek animal – an otter or a fox, perhaps. Later, as I got to know her, I came to think of her as an animal that was always curled up within itself, alert and self-aware even when it appeared to be relaxed.
Zaliek introduced me to Shani. I took her hand and muttered a few words of welcome. She looked up at me calmly, smiled gravely, and said, 'So this is General Jina. It is a great pleasure to meet you at last. Zaliek has told me so much about you.'
I said something like, 'Only good things, I hope.' Even as I said the words, they didn't sound clever or original. In fact, they sounded downright silly. I remembered another woman who made me gauche and tongue-tied when I wanted to make a good impression and I cursed myself inwardly. I felt even sillier when I noticed that Zaliek was looking at me curiously. He took my arm and said, 'Sit down and join us.' As he moved me away, I realised that I had been standing there wide-eyed holding Shani's hand, saying nothing after my first vapid words.
I tried to cover my tracks by muttering, ‘So Zaliek really is married? I can hardly believe it.’ I sat down across the table from them while Zaliek put his arm around Shani, laughed mischievously and said, 'Look at Jina's face! He didn't believe me when I said that I had a wife.'
I muttered, 'Oh
, I believed you but it's still a surprise.'
Zaliek asked, 'Well, what do you think of her, then?' He sat back and looked at his wife, stroking the hair above her ear.
I replied, 'I'm pleased to see you all looking so happy.'
Zaliek snapped his fingers and said, 'You haven't met my son. His name is Dipok.' I leaned over and shook the little fellow's hand. Zaliek said, 'Looks like his father, eh?'
'No, on the contrary. He's too handsome for that. He must take after his mother.'
Shani lowered her eyes modestly as a good wife should and Zaliek laughed in delight. 'That's good, that's good! The more he has of his mother, the luckier he'll be. All he needs from me is a big chest and arms like hams. The rest he can get from his mother.'
Shani ran a hand down Zaliek's cheek and said softly, 'Oh, Zaliek, you are a big fool. The more your son is like you, the more I'll love him. You know that.'
That silenced Zaliek. I swear that with his lowered his eyes and his trembling bottom lip, he looked just like a lovesick youth. Not for the first time, I wondered at how a boisterous, vigorous, self-confident man can be made tractable by a touch, a glance, and a word from a woman. Thinking of this and looking at Shani, I thought, perhaps if Dana had lived, I would have known the answer. I shook my head to get the thought out of my mind. It was nothing but vain speculation.
Zaliek took his son onto his lap, rubbed his chin against the boy's head and said fondly, 'Ah, he's our son, isn't he, no matter where he gets his looks from. He's got a father to teach him how to take care of himself and a mother to teach him all the finer things in life. Life will be his for the picking.'
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: DECISIONS
Zaliek accepted our offer of a position as senior commander on an indefinite contract. However, he set one condition – that, just as in the past, he would never be required to take up arms against the Dornites. When he set the condition, I said, 'Zaliek, you should explain your position. We have a right to know why we're making an exception for you.'
Zaliek nodded sagely, sat down, and told me his story. He had been born the youngest son of a chief of one of the tribes that comprised the federation of Bakuel, which was situated about five day's journey to the south of Kitilat. When Zaliek was twenty years of age, his father died. The body was prepared for disposal in the traditional way: by burning it on a pyre of logs. Furthermore, also as was traditional, his mother would die in the same fire.
I burst out, 'That's barbaric!'
Zaliek gave me a long look and rubbed his chin thoughtfully before he replied, 'I've been a soldier long enough to see that the death of a willing wife in the funeral flames may be less barbaric than what soldiers do to people in the ordinary course of their business.'
‘Your mother went to her death willingly?’
‘I didn’t say that. What I said was that if a woman went to the flames willingly, it might not be barbaric. I didn’t say that my mother was willing, did I?’ Then Zaliek told me the rest of the story. His mother wasn't originally from Bakuel. She had been raised further to the south, the daughter of a chief, and her marriage had been arranged as a means of cementing a political alliance. Nevertheless, the marriage was a happy one. However, on the night before the funeral, she came to Zaliek and said simply, 'My son, I can't do it. It's not the tradition of my people. I don't have the strength of belief to face the flames.' What was Zaliek to do? As one of the chief's sons, he was expected to uphold the traditions of the clan. In fact, he had been quite prepared to be present at the funeral taking part in the traditional ceremonies while his parents, united in death as in life, ascended together to the gods amidst the flames. It was the ages-old way of the dead and no one ever questioned it. But now his own mother was begging him to find a way out for her.
Zaliek told me that it was one of the most difficult decisions that he ever made. On the one hand, he had been brought up to respect the traditions of his clan. On the other hand, he couldn't face the thought of his mother being dragged to the funeral pyre, screaming and writhing, desperate in her resistance. If he didn't help her he would always be haunted by the thought that he had betrayed her. If he did help her he would be an outcast. After considering all the options, he gave in to his mother's request and rode away with her that night. But where to go? First, they tried to find refuge in her homeland. They wouldn't accept her, fearing the trouble that might follow on their heels. Next, they went to Kitilat and stayed there for a while. However, Zaliek's brothers tracked them down and demanded that they should be returned to the clan to be punished. Kitilat had good trade relations with the nations of the interior and there was a strong possibility that the King of Kitilat would surrender Zaliek and his mother so once again, they fled. This time, they travelled down the coast until they arrived at Griwasta, a Dornite city, where Zaliek took service as a mercenary.
Zaliek said, 'We lived there for four years. After all that time, we thought that we were safe. But my brothers finally tracked us down there as well.'
'Why did they go to all that trouble?'
Zaliek replied, 'They believed that our father's spirit wouldn't rest in peace until my mother was sacrificed in the traditional manner. What's more, they said that the people were being haunted by my father's spirit – crops were withering, cattle and sheep were dying of diseases, and so on.'
'Did you believe that?'
Zaliek shrugged. 'I used to believe it. That was before I had to make a choice.' He grunted sceptically and tugged at his ear. 'Nowadays, I think it's just ignorance and superstition, plain and simple. A man should learn to think for himself, not so?' He grinned ironically. 'I look at the matter like this -- how come we're the only ones whose spirits don't rest in peace if our wives don't die with us? How come the spirits of Dornite men, your men, the men of Kitilat, and the men of half the clans of my own nation, not to mention every other nation that I've met, don't get restless if their wives don't die with them? You see what I mean?' He spread his hands and continued, 'You can say that I'm just finding excuses for helping my mother. Maybe I am. But I'll tell you one thing – I don't know about other people's restless spirits but, as for me, I sure as hell would have a restless spirit if I hadn't done what I did.'
We sat there quietly for a time. I was thinking that I was seeing other facets of Zaliek. I'd seen one facet when, while I was wracked by fever, he sat by my bedside just to watch over me and warn me that I was in danger. Now I was seeing more of him. I said, 'You're a dark horse, aren't you?' Zaliek raised his eyebrows. I continued, 'I was thinking about the time you warned me about Vaxili's intentions.'
'It didn't do any good, did it? Vaxili was too damn quick.'
'That makes no difference. You took a risk warning me.'
Zaliek said bluntly, 'I'd do the same for a friend any time.'
Friend? I'd never thought of Zaliek as my friend. In the old days, I respected him as a soldier and as an instructor – as a man, too, come to that – but there was always a professional distance between us. Friend? For sure, Zaliek was a dark horse. Zaliek was looking at me with a frown and with questioning eyes. I covered my thoughts by saying, 'I was just thinking about the old days. Sorry I interrupted you. You were telling me about you and your mother in Griwasta.'
Zaliek settled back in his chair. 'My brothers sent messengers to ask that we should be handed over to them. At first I thought that they were wasting their time but it wasn't too long before I got wind that the city fathers were giving serious thought to the matter.'
I asked, 'What reason could a Dornite city have to give in to a demand made by a place that they probably couldn't even find on a map?'
Zaliek said gloomily, 'Don't underestimate the power of money.' His face clouded, his mouth tightened and he continued, 'The magistrates in Griwasta put my mother under guard.' He gave a short laugh. 'They called it protective custody. I knew that I would be next so I decided to get my mother out of there and move on.' He hesitated and his eyes narrowed.
'Easier said than
done?'
'For sure.' Zaliek smiled grimly. 'The guards didn't take kindly to me appearing on the scene, demanding to have my mother released. I killed two of them, and the third grabbed hold of my mother.' His lips tightened. 'That was when my mother died.'
'The guard killed your mother?'
Zaliek's eyes narrowed even further. He said in a low voice, 'I killed her.'
'What? You killed her?'
'It was an accident. I attacked the guard, thinking that I could avoid hurting my mother. But he pushed her in front of him and my sword went through her.' Zaliek's voice rose. 'I just about went crazy. I killed that guard – damn near hacked him to pieces. Then I carried my mother out of there. I thought that she might still be alive or, if not, that I should give her a proper burial. Anyway, to cut a long story short, they chased me and wounded me. Ever wondered where I lost half my ear? Well, I left it behind that day in Griwasta.' His eyes clouded. 'I got away, but I left my mother behind. She was dead anyway, but – oh, damn it, at least I could have buried her properly.' Zaliek slammed a fist on the table and said, 'You know what they did with her body? They threw it down an old well. It was called the Pauper's Well. Just like that – threw her body down a well!'
There was a long silence. When I said, 'I'm sorry about your mother', Zaliek just gave me a sombre look and shook his head vigorously as if he was trying to shake the heaviness out of it. Then he said quietly, 'You remember what I told you a long time ago, during basic training – a soldier should forget about resentment and revenge?'
'I remember. You said that they get in the way of clear thinking.'
Zaliek nodded. 'That's the real reason why I won't fight against the Dornites. All those reasons that you heard from me a long time ago, about what the Dornites would do to me if they captured me – they’re true enough but they’re not the real reasons. The fact is, if I did fight against them, I might go crazy – battle-crazy, battle-lust, whatever it's called. Maybe that's all right for an ordinary soldier, but for an officer …' He shook his head. 'I couldn't take the risk. It would be dangerous for my men. It would be unprofessional.'
The Blood-stained Belt Page 27