If we all end up staying, how would Sajãh, if it was she who had done it, take that?
~~~
Theodora came sweeping back into the room. From the way they are not reacting, the women of the village don’t recognise her… now are they reacting. This time she is dressed very much as Ayesha in her dancing clothes. Of course she is three hands taller than Ayesha and has quite pale skin, but really it is only her golden eyes above her veil that give her away. She went up to Rani, lifted her veil, and gave her a kiss before taking her seat.
There is scarce time for them to react before the food is out. Basil and Astrid are not used to being waited on, are they? As soon as they go to rise, two of the little girls pounce. It looks like they have ladies in waiting tonight. Another is before Hulagu and Ayesha and now here is mine, the oldest of the children, a Havenite lass who had not been in the procession and is dressed far more simply. Her name is Gurinder and she is quite shy. Rani and Theodora, of course, have Fear sitting at their feet. It looks like we will be eating mainly Caliphate food. That will be a relief for Ayesha and a new experience for most of the rest of us. Most of the meat seems to be goat or mutton…there is rice with nuts and fruit in it. Basil and Theodora know what it all is. They get to help their partners and point out things. Ayesha is doing the same for Hulagu…to the disgust of the Khitan women, who have taken a seat near the stage with Bianca. I get to find out for myself… Strange…but I like it. It is hard to eat hot food with your fingers though. I am glad of the bowl of rose water and the towel. I must not wipe my fingers on my robe. I suspect that this is not done.
~~~
Theodora
“I haven’t had a chance to tell you,” Theodora said to Rani, “but I have found Dharmal’s library—and his diary. At least I think it is his diary. It is written strangely and I cannot make it out, but it is in Dwarven characters.”
Rani patted her hand. “Later…as long as we have it. If you cannot read it, give it to Thord. Maybe he can puzzle it out. Meantime, look around you. We cannot leave these people alone until they are safe. We will have to go to Dwarvenholme but we have to prepare first and safeguarding these people could take all winter. I have thought of a spell for you to work on, this one I know we will have to do together. That should keep them safe and we will need to start working on it soon, if it is not already too late… You look…magnificent tonight. Did you bring the dress with you?”
Theodora nodded. “I couldn’t leave it at home. It was made for my cousin’s wedding feast and taking it seemed like taking a part of her with me. It has been rolled up in the bottom of my things, taking up a lot of one of my bags, but luckily it survived without problems. I never thought that I would have a chance to wear it.”
“The gems must be worth a fortune, if you need them.”
“One of the reasons I brought it, actually, but I suspect that they are not worth as much as what Astrid is wearing. Thord may say that he is not a typical Dwarf, but he cannot take his eyes off them. He must be the only one who is looking at the gems and not what lies underneath.”
Rani laughed and put on a look of mock petulance. “Are mine not good enough then?”
Theodora blushed and changed the subject.
~~~
Astrid
It is just as well Basil knows what I am eating. I have no idea. It is all tasty though. I must make sure I have enough. I am sure that I will need all the energy I have tonight. She licked her fingers.
After the first course was mostly finished, Sajãh stood up again. “It is the custom in the Caliphate to have certain dances performed first at weddings, for the bride and groom. They are supposed to ensure fertility for the marriage. I don’t know about that, but it is obvious that they help men rise to the task.” There was laughter.
She clapped her hands twice in command and Ayesha stood up and gestured to Theodora. Verily also stood up. Those clothes have never seen the mountains of the Caliphate, let alone come from there. I suppose they are loosely modelled on what Ayesha and the Princess are wearing. They are just…well…much briefer, and also worn without a veil. I will bet the bandits liked to see her dance in them. She must also be naked below to wear something that brief. It covers very little. Two other Caliphate women also stood, dressed much the same as Verily and Lãdi.
The Hindi cook came rushing out of the kitchen, leaving instructions behind her. Several drummers gathered on the stage along with Kãhina, who had also picked up something that looked a bit like a mandolin—a passing girl told her it was called an oud. There was also a girl with a sort of psaltery and another with two long reeds joined beside each other with holes in each of them for fingers. I suppose it is something musical that I have never seen before. There are a lot of things like that. The women moved in front of the married couple and others cleared a space for them. Jokingly the women pushed all the rest of the men to the front of the audience. None of them are reluctant to go.
Astrid looked to her right. Hulagu’s face is blank and his eyes are fixed on just one place… wherever Ayesha happened to be. With Rani watching Theodora it will be just like the last night in Evilhalt. She gave a short laugh and felt the jewels at her neck…well almost.
The music started. Slowly at first with a soft drum beat…and they are far better than Howard. The women’s upper bodies didn’t move—but their hips did, the tiny cymbals that they wore on their fingers keeping time to their undulations, a different time to that their bodies were starting to take. Lãdi’s dance was slightly different to the others, but it went to the same beat. I am sure Basil doesn’t know whether to look at them or at me…he is so funny. I point out the beauty of the dancers… particularly that of his Princess…That made him blush. I am fairly sure he is feeling feelings that he shouldn’t feel towards one of Hrothnog’s grandchildren…especially when he is in front of me, his bride. His blushing made Astrid laugh all the harder. Casually she put her hand in his lap. Yes, he is enjoying what he sees. It is supposed to be a fertility dance and it is making him rise to the occasion.
“I am going to learn this dance,” she said into his ear, “and make you compare us. See, Verily is not Caliphate and she can do it and she has breasts as large as mine. Will mine jiggle like hers, do you think? Like a litter of kittens under a blanket in a small basket?” She moved her shoulders to try and shimmy. Basil has obviously realised where my hand is now. He is bright red, but he doesn’t move my hand away.
Astrid laughed again.
~~~
The night continued. People are telling stories from all lands but I am glad when they stick to Hindi. I am not the only one who has difficulty with some of the others. Theodora, for the first time, is telling tales from her own land. I have heard some of these events…but hers are very different versions to those I am familiar with. Songs were sung. More food came out. The dancers came out again.
Kãhina and Anahita have grabbed Bianca. Why are they coming up to me? Bianca is blushing. “We are going to dance for you a dance of the tents. Again, this is one with marriage in mind—although it is most often done when people are choosing each other. We have never done it here, and none of us are very good, but we will try.” She started beating out a rhythm, a wilder, more insistent beat than the more languid and sensuous Caliphate form, and the three girls started dancing in a line. Kãhina was dancing as she drummed.
Bianca is having to keep glancing at the others to check where she is up to, but she is more or less keeping time…better than I would…and the other two are not so far ahead of her in skill that her lack shows too badly. It is not only a more urgent beat, but there is more hand and arm movement than during the Caliphate dance. They are telling a story! I wish I could read it. The dancing is more enthusiastic than smooth like Ayesha and the Princess, but the men in the audience seem to like it a lot.
They took a break and held hands and bowed, before running to where they were sitting and pulling sabres from under their cloaks. What are they up to? Kãhina handed her d
rum to one of the others who had been following along with the beat. “Same beat please,” and she resumed her place.
Sabres? At my wedding?
~~~
Father Christopher
Bianca looks very nervous. Well she might. Those are real sabres and the girls are spinning around and performing a pattern where Anahita, in the centre, is being struck at from both sides, fending them off, and striking back. The clash of steel echoes in time to the drum beats. I wonder if I will be needed as a healer…but the blows are not random, are they? There is a pattern to them that repeats and, as long as the girls don’t forget their pattern, they should be safe. The dancers may not be as good as those that preceded them, but they certainly hold your attention. Why…I am tapping the beat with my foot…all of the men are doing that…some are thumping on the floor, and many of the women are doing the same and it is getting louder and louder. Other drummers are joining in…Anahita is gesturing at them. They are gradually increasing the pace of the beat.
The girls whirled around, the blades flew and the noise got even louder. The girls’ dresses started to rise from the floor and to form a circle around them as they flew around and up. The skirts showed now that the dancers had bare legs beneath the dresses but did not rise far enough to show any more. Thankfully. It seemed that one of the girls would surely die as blades flashed towards throats and bare stomachs and at legs, and the beat increased in speed. Some of the Muslim women are starting to ululate, the wild sound a perfect counterpoint to the dance. I am sure that Bianca will soon burst out of that top. I don’t know if I should keep watching or not. Eventually Bianca spun out of the three and collapsed on the floor, her face flushed. She can keep it up no longer. She was gasping from lack of air, her chest was heaving, and Christopher found his eyes drawn to her. I can feel my body stirring in a way that I am not used to. I should keep my body under control. I should not be lusting after her. It is so wrong. Oh Lord, give me strength. Next it was Kãhina’s turn to go and finally Anahita was left on her own, whirling her sabre and her body in a circle before collapsing.
The hall rocked with applause. Bianca may not be the most beautiful woman here, but she can be very attractive when she forgets herself. I wonder what performing the dance will do to her reputation.… Blessed Father, how much penance must I do for my thoughts tonight?
~~~
Hulagu
Hulagu went down and hugged and kissed all three. I know that I have a big smile. “Now they have seen something that few outside the tents have seen…Bianca, you did well, very well. One day we will take you back to the tents and get a good husband for you.”
Anahita went back to talk to the other women. Kãhina and now Bianca had gone to join the musicians. Hulagu returned to his seat beaming. “I wish some men were here. The men’s version is even more energetic. You should see a whole field dancing,” he said to Ayesha.
“So, have you married Bianca now as well? Will she join your harem?”
Her voice is cold. Hulagu’s face fell. What have I done now? “Married? I am married to none of them. Bianca is my sister and Anahita and Kãhina are köle. I cannot marry them. If I could marry them there would be no problem. I would marry them and they could leave and go back to the tents and in a year they would divorce me and regain their lives. But I cannot marry them and the only way to get them back to the tents is to be köle until I find them husbands. I could do that if I took them back, but I cannot and so they have to stay with me and they insisted that they had to be proper köle and sleep with me.” I am just moving my mouth and flapping air. Everything that I just said is probably nonsense to her. He paused. “Did any of that make sense?”
“So they wanted to sleep with you and you had to because they are your slaves? It is not the other way around?”
“No…I mean yes…I mean…it would dishonour them if I refused when they had offered.”
“But you do not love them, nor they you?”
“No, we just…enjoy each other as men and women do.”
“Both of them? At once?”
“In this case, if that is their choice, and seeing that one is not senior to the other and neither has borne me a child, yes.”
“But you cannot marry them?”
Where do I start? “You see, I cannot marry anyone from their clans. From my clan, if I marry into the tents, I can only marry an elephant, an eagle or a lion. But I may not marry into the tents. You know that my prophecy was to marry a woman from outside. I know it will not be Bianca. She belongs in the tents perhaps, but not with me as a husband. I am her brother and I will find her a good man as her husband if she lets me. She will have a very good herd as dowry and so she will be a good match.”
~~~
Ayesha
I may be shaking my head in disbelief but no wonder people think that the Khitan are strange. Tonight, in a side conversation with Hulagu, I have learnt more about the way they married and bedded each other than my teachers had been able to tell me in all of my studies. He has two women to bed and it is the choice of the women! He doesn’t really have a say in it? She smiled. That would shock the Mullahs, but I do like the sound of it.
“Let us see if others will dance,” she said to Hulagu. Face front and change the subject without setting his mind at rest.
~~~
Astrid
“So,” said Basil, “you don’t want to learn that dance too?” That question is just a little too innocent.
“That dance? No, I am content to learn the other. I do not use swords. I would as likely cut myself as well as the person beside me,” replied Astrid, “but you should talk to Hulagu. Maybe men can do it as well and he would teach you.”
She stuck her long, slightly pointed, tongue out at him.
~~~
Father Christopher
It is time. Christopher stood up and raised his hand for silence. “Many of you would not necessarily know this, but in the western lands it is the custom, on such occasions, for speeches to be made and for toasts to be drunk throughout the night. I am going to make the first speech, but it will be a short one.
“Basil you have a jewel of a wife. I have only known her for a short time, but I treasure her. I have to. She saved my life.” At least I got some laughter. “Astrid, you fled a forced marriage to a man who did not deserve you and I think you have made a good choice in his place. Basil is a good and gentle man…”
“I hope not,” said Astrid. Her voice is deliberately not quite low enough. It causes even more laughter, but is she ever serious? No…I guess not.
“I am sure that he is, at least in the areas where it matters. Now, I want you all to get something to drink and join me in a toast to our bride and groom, Basil and Astrid, the first marriage of the village of…of…what is this place called?” Damnation…I forgot to ask…now I sound all bewildered and they are laughing again. Soon there were cries of, “Basil and Astrid,” and, “to the first marriage of ‘What is this place called’.” Christopher sighed. This really is going to be a long night.
He gave up and took a drink himself before sitting down.
~~~
Theodora
“Surely that man who wrote the book came here,” said Theodora to Rani. “There must be a name written down somewhere. We have to add it to the list of things to do before it really does become, for all time, the little village of ‘What-is-this-place-called’.”
~~~
Bianca
Before anything else could start Naeve Milker, Fortunata, and two other women from Freehold—whose names she did not yet know—came over to the musicians.
“Can you play a pavane?” Fortunata, the seamstress, asked. She said to Bianca, “Despite our long time here, and being allowed to play music, we have never had the chance to explore such gentle activities as a courtly dance. Our skills are used to accompany songs and only sometimes for Caliphate dances or things to excite them.”
“I can,” said Bianca. “I have worked mainly in taverns, bu
t sometimes people wanted one. Will Lord Bar’s do?” Fortunata nodded. “Good. It is a simple one for musicians to pick up.” She stood from where she sat and moved up to the stage with the other musicians. “I will run through it now and the rest of you just follow me.” At least they obey me quickly.
“In that case we will be back in a while when we have found out if we have to teach some men to dance,” said Fortunata.
Bianca started giving the beat to the other musicians as the women went away. I can see that the four men of the village are the first targets. They are still at the front of the audience. It is easy to hear what is being said.
Engaging Evil (Warriors of Vhast Book 2) Page 20