'Do you really think you can succeed where our wizards have failed?' she asked.
'Yes,' I said. 'And not because I think little of your sorcerers. But because the Archon and I have a bond. A bond in hatred, to be sure, but sometimes hatred can be an even stronger glue than love.'
One of the soldiers rapped on the door. It was time for her to go.
‘Will you see your father for me?' I begged.
'As soon as I return home,' she promised.
We kissed again, then dragged ourselves apart before passion overtook us once more. She called out to the soldiers, the bolt shot back and the door swung open. Xia pulled the cowl forward, and after a fleeting glance at the soldiers putting the chains back on, she fled.
I don't know what Xia said to her father, but the spell she cast with her words must have been as good as any sorcerer's, because only a few days lapsed before I found myself standing in front of nine pitiless men.
The guardians of the public good were a motley lot of nobles. Two were so old they drooled; four had less hair among them than it takes to make up one healthy head; and the remaining three - including Lord Kanara, Xia's father - were hammering hard on the last gates of middle-age. If I had been a young soldier in this land it was not a group that would have inspired me with devotion. Even the drooly-lipped ones remembered enough to despise any mere creature who stood before them. I nearly despaired when I swept their faces, looking for a friend, and found none - not even in Lord Kanara. He may have pressed for my appearance to appease his daughter, but he was not going to be an easy wheel to turn when I pleaded our case. In every gaze I saw an ambush waiting. So I took the soldier's way - I attacked.
'My Lords,' I said, 'as I was led up the hill to these chambers I racked my brain for a pretty speech. I was going to fling my life - and the lives of my brave companions - at your feet and beseech you for mercy. I was going to tell you that we were peaceful strangers who came to these shores by misadventure. Just as it was misadventure that led us to injure you. But all those words were swept away when I saw the horror in your once-great city. Your streets are despoiled by the corpses of your subjects. The marketplace is barred and empty. The doors and windows of your homes are shuttered against the plague that stalks the avenues and the hot wind The Sarzana sent has sucked the very life from the trees in your gardens.
'It was a city near defeat that I saw, My Lords. And if you do not grant me my request now, I fear we will soon both be at the mercy of our mutual enemy.'
Beside me, Xia quailed. Behind me, I heard Gamelan mutter for me to beware.
One of the droolers spoke first - his voice high-pitched and squeaky like a boy's nearing manhood. 'You're just a woman,' he said. 'Why should I believe you can do what our own wizards can't?'
'If I am such a puny thing,' I answered, 'how is it I stand here at all? I have travelled farther than any man or woman in my homeland to reach these shores. I have fought and defeated great armies, crushed a mighty fleet, and it was I who slew the brother of your real enemy -the Archon of Lycanth. I doubt any of your own subjects - men or women - could claim the same.'
The old Lord cupped a hand around his ear. 'What's that, you say? The Archon? I've never heard of such a fellow. It's The Sarzana who's the cause of all our ills.'
I shifted my attention to Lord Kanara. 'Ask your own wizards why they are helpless before The Sarzana. To be certain, he is a powerful sorcerer. But how can he stand against all of them? He's not that powerful.'
A black-robed sorcerer leaned close to Lord Kanara and whispered in his ear. Kanara nodded. He turned to his companions of authority.
'Our chief wizard agrees,' he said. 'It is a mystery that has been puzzling them mightily.'
'Ask him,' I said, 'if he and the others have wondered if perhaps The Sarzana has made an alliance with some other dark force.'
The sorcerer bent low again to whisper fiercely. When he was done, Kanara said: 'Yes, it is true, Captain. They have speculated on such a possibility.'
'Your wizards' suspicions hit the mark,' I said. 'It is the Archon he made his bargain with.'
'What do you propose?' Lord Kanara asked.
'First, I urge you to allow me to attack this cursed plague. Once I have ended it, you will know whether I am woman enough to carry out the rest.'
'Pure foolishness,' the drooler said. 'It might even be heresy, to allow a foreign woman to practise magic in Isolde.'
'Is it heresy?' I said, aiming my question direcdy at the chief wizard.
He looked at me, then shook his head - no.
'Then what do you have to lose, My Lords?' I said. 'If I fail, back in the dungeon I go and good luck to you. But if I don't, the plague is ended. It can't be the worst gamble you've ever been asked to make.'
The nine men conferred, voices too low to hear. They'd had long practice with secrecy. Finally, they turned back to me. Princess Xia gripped my hand hard.
'Very well,' Lord Kanara said. 'You shall have your chance.'
The drooling lord broke in. 'Do not fail, Captain,' he warned. 'Our torturers have no match when it comes to ways of making, and prolonging, pain.'
My words to the Council of Purity may have been bold, but inside I quaked with doubt. Gamelan said the plague spell could be lifted. I was certain he could have done so before he was blinded, but I had serious reservations about my own abilities. I was no more than a green apprentice. What chance did I have against the Archon? Gamelan's continued assurances did not soothe me; but what choice did I have but to carry on with the bluff?
They put us in a guarded stone hut at the edge of the palace grounds. Gamelan's captured implements were brought to us, and we began. I did not see Princess Xia in the two days it took us to prepare, but her seamstress came to measure me for the costume I required - a simple red sleeveless tunic cut at mid-thigh, so my arms and legs would have freedom of movement. It would be tied with a golden sash. Gamelan warned me not wear jewellery of any kind, especially metal, and he said my feet must be bare. Using Gamelan's magical book, with many annotations from my wizard friend that he'd learned over his many years, I ground up disgusting powders and mixed evil-smelling and highly volatile oils. We worked without stop, the eerie wind howling outside and buffeting the stone hut. Finally, we were nearly ready.
There was no visible audience - other than a few nervous guards -awaiting us in the small park that had been set aside for our efforts. There was a pool in the centre of the park. Placed about it - forming a square - were four pyres of rare wood. As we entered the park, a wagon thundered across the cobblestone path. The driver was terror-stricken, lashing at his horses. He nearly wrecked the wagon stopping it. He leaped off, cut the wagon loose, took one last horrified look at the contents, and ran off, driving the horses before him.
I shuddered at the task awaiting me, steeled myself, and dragged off the first corpse. It was a child, covered with putrefying plague boils. The three other bodies in the cart were his family - father, mother and sister. I'd smeared my body with the silver ointment Gamelan said would protect me from the disease, but it did not ease my fears as I lifted the small boy's body in my arms, carried him to the pyre, and placed him on it. The other three corpses followed.
Gamelan was silent as I worked, angry with himself that he could not help. I dressed each body in rich garments, then I thoroughly doused each pyre with magical oil. Other than the wind, all was silent; but I could feel scores of eyes watching me from the palace windows. When I was done with the bodies, I went to Gamelan. He handed me the ebony box which held the heart of the Archon's brother.
'Be very careful, Rali,'he whispered. 'Say and do only what I taught you. Otherwise ...'
He didn't have to finish. I'd already been warned that if I failed the Konyan torturers would be cheated of their pleasure; the Archon would make a meal of my soul.
I walked to the pool and gingerly placed the box in a toy sailboat. I opened the box, exposing the hard gem that was the talisman heart. Next to it I
placed a single fire bead, chanted the spell which made it glow into life, then set the boat in the water and gently pushed it forward.
I whispered:
Sail swiftly, sister
To Dawns portals,
Where the gods play,
And demons are denied!
Defying the winds which pebbled the surface of the water, the boat moved smoothly - its sails moving this way and that as if commanded by a skilled navigator. It stopped in the centre. The black heart began to glow a fiery red. I stared at it, transfixed.
Gamelan hissed at me: 'Quickly, Rali!'
I leaped to my feet, threw up my arms and shouted: 'Arise! Arise!'
There was a clap of thunder and flame shot up from the boat. Another clap and I leaped back as the entire pool sheeted with flame.
'Now, Rali!' Gamelan cried. 'Do not hesitate!'
The fire was growing hotter, but I had to put aside mortal reason. I stepped forward, felt searing heat, but pressed on to the edge of the flaming pool. I put one bare foot out, marvelling that the skin did not peel away and blacken as fire licked over it. I gulped and stepped forward onto the surface of the burning water. I felt intense heat, but no pain, as I walked across the unyielding surface to the boat. I picked the boat up, lifting it high, flames pouring over and around me. I shouted the spell, my voice booming over the winds and hammering at the skies.
Come Father, come Mother,
Come Sister and Brother -
The one who slew you awaits.
Take thy hate to him,
Take thy suffering And demon pain.
Foul winds blow sweet,
Sweet winds, blow cool.
Awake! Awake!
I took out the glowing heart, placed it in my palm and blew across it into the boat's sails.
The boat stirred then jolted forward, leaping away like a bird. As it cleared the flames, the fire suddenly died and I was standing up to my knees in blood-red water. The small ship sailed over each pyre, and as it did so, they exploded into black smoke and flame. The smoke rising above each of them twined together like snakes and formed a single thick column of foulness, geysering upward. The sky mottled, then clotted and I saw a black brow with fierce red eyes beetling out.
The Archon's voice thundered: 'Away! Away!'
Then he shrieked in pain as the smoke of the plague-dead rasped across his eyes.
He thundered again, but there was fear in his command: 'Away! Away!'
The smoke billowed thicker still, blanketing the Archon's great ghostly features. Another howl of pain and anger ... then he was gone.
I felt weak, drained. I looked down and saw only ordinary water lapping at my knees. Somewhere I heard a bird chirp and I looked around in wonder and saw a cheerful little fellow on a withered branch. The branch was quite still and I realized the hot wind had stopped. I stumbled out of the water to Gamelan. He took the Archon's heart from my hand, put it away, and then embraced me.
I heard cheering from the palace and then the Konyans were swarming out, Princess Xia in the lead, tunic flying up over those graceful legs as a cool, balmy wind, moist with promised rain, blew across the park.
The plague had been broken.
The next time I stood before the Council of Purity, the nine pairs of eyes staring down at me were not quite so pitiless. They weren't friendly, to be sure, but there was respect in them - a willingness to see what I sought next. I made no preamble, but launched directly to my goal.
'I want freedom for my soldiers and crew,' I said. 'Return our swords and ships and we will fight with you until peace has been restored.'
'How do we know you just won't flee?' Lord Kanara asked. 'This is not your fight.'
Princess Xia started to protest, but I moved quickly before she could say something unpleasant to her father.
'But it is my fight, Lord Kanara,' I said. 'I've explained it is my people's mortal enemy who has made a bargain with The Sarzana. And it will take more than a few spells to defeat him with the Archon as his ally.'
'Even then,' Lord Kanara said, 'he will still be The Sarzana. And he's proven to be enemy enough in the past.'
'Then let me kill him for you,' I said. 'You cannot, because you would be cursed. But I am a stranger, I could not be harmed for taking his life.'
Lord Kanara and his fellow nobles had a hasty, whispered conference.
He turned back. 'What is it exactly that you suggest?'
'I propose to join with you in an expedition against the forces of The Sarzana,' I said. 'We would be able allies. We Orissans have much experience in warfare.'
Another whispered exchange, then: 'I'm certain you and your soldiers are brave, Captain,' Lord Kanara said. 'But there is still the matter of trust. We do not know you. Our experience with you is brief. In one instance, you wronged us. In the other, you helped us. But that was under duress. How do we know which way the dice will fall if we allow a third toss?'
Princess Xia stepped forward. 'Please, My Lords, may I speak for the youth of Konya?'
Her father was taken aback, but he nodded, go on.
'All suffer in war, My Lords,' she said. 'But is it not the youth who bear the worst of it? And when The Sarzana ruled, was it not to your sons and daughters that he was the most cruel? How many of your children died then, My Lords? And how many more die now - as we speak?'
There was muttering among the crowd watching the proceedings, especially among the young nobility.
She put an arm around my shoulder. 'You said, Father, that Captain Antero has only been tested twice. I beg your forgiveness for correcting you, but there was one other time she acted - when she rescued me. She could have sailed on. Passed us by. It might even have been the wisest course, for she was in as much danger in that storm as I. But she didn't. She risked her life for me. Her women warriors did the same to save twelve other Konyans from death.'
I was afraid she was going to move on to my confrontation with
Cholla Yi, when we risked all again. That might speak highly of us, but not of him. I needed that pirate, curse his hide. I was relieved when she skipped past that rock and continued to cross the stream. But I was astounded to see where that next step took her.
'I will prove to you, My Lords, how much I trust Captain Antero. I ask - nay, I demand - that I be allowed to go with her when she fights. Her fate, will be mine. She will not betray me, My Lords. She will not betray the youth - the future - of the kingdom of Konya.'
Her father nearly fell from his seat. His colleagues were equally astounded. The crowd surrounding us, however, thundered its approval. Princess Xia's name was roared to the vaulted ceilings of that great room. Scores surged forward to shout at the Council of Purity, demanding that I be allowed to join in the fight against The Sarzana. With Princess Xia at my side - a hostage to fortune.
The Council, led by Lord Kanara, had no choice but to grant permission. As Xia's father hammered for order, the crowd went wild - as if victory had already been won.
I looked at my new lover. Her face was flushed with excitement; eyes dancing with joy. But there was a look about her I had never noticed before: a stubborn tilt to her chin; a squareness to her flung-back shoulders; a regal look in her eyes. By the gods if she didn't look like a queen.
Eighteen
Love and War
SOME SAY THE road we all travel in this life has been surveyed and cobblestoned by the gods. If so, then the gods must have an unhealthy fondness for strong drink. How else could you account for the madness of that path - the way it twists and turns, plummeting into muddy holes, or rising to breathtaking heights? I'd like to meet the god who mapped my life. I'm not certain whether I'd cut his throat, or buy him another round. In Konya, one moment I was a most unhappy woman, awaiting my fate in the bowels of a Konyan dungeon; the next, I was the woman of the hour, my praises being sung in the greatest halls of the very people who'd locked me away. Is it too great a stretch, Scribe, to wonder if the god who mapped that route wasn't drunk?
&n
bsp; The days that immediately followed my meeting with the Council of Purity were crazed. We were all released from the dungeon and given most commodious quarters. Even the meanest sailor, or lowest-ranking Guardswoman, had a room - and plush rooms they were - to themselves. They fed us and clothed us well. So many invitations to entertainments poured in I had to refuse them all, rather than end up accidentally insulting some Konyan noble. It was easy to plead the excuse of being too busy readying for the coming battle. Mostly, this was true. But, there was also ample time for private pleasures. I had a princess to attend to, after all.
She arranged for me to be given a small villa that overlooked the harbour and had it staffed with her most discreet servants. The day she showed it to me was warm and the air heavy with the scent of hyacinth. The villa had thick white walls and was roofed with blue tiles. Roses climbed the entranceway, which let into a sunny garden. The pathway cutting through the garden was shaded by an arbour of scented gourds whose flesh was so sweet it drove a colony of wasps quite mad. They darted among the ruby-red fruit, never seeming to be satiated no matter how much they ate. An ancient fountain played in the centre of the garden, spilling out under a willow on one side, and feeding a soft bed of moss.
The bedroom of the master's quarters was huge, carpeted with thick rugs, upon which were piled pillows of every size and colour. The canopied bed was the size of a small practice field, overflowing the largest comer and leaving a small pathway between it and the verandah doors, which opened to the most marvellous view of the harbour. It was a room for sunsets and love. We fell into that bed the moment we came into the room. We were as insatiable as those hungry wasps, kissing and exploring every inch of sweetness. Shout followed shout, wail followed wail as we took each other from one height to another.
I see you are red-faced, Scribe; yet the evening is cool. Are you titillated by my descriptions of our love-making - or shocked? Ah, I see it's the latter. What could be the cause? You're certainly experienced in memoirs such as these. Is it because they were the adventures of men, doing manly things? Isn't such spicing permissible in a history of a woman? Or, is it that same-sex love-making offends you? If this is the case, I'm not sorry. I've sworn to tell the truth; and the truth is that love is the same no matter the costume it wears. Passion is the nature of all things that walk, or swim, or crawl. To deny it, to ignore it, is not to understand fully the very life the gods blew into us. In the end, it is your own self you will understand least of all.
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