by Gene Wolfe
Page 19
Again, she revealed her smiling face. "Beware my half sister Auge, who has stolen the south from my mother. And keep my flower - you shall have need of it. " As she spoke, she sank slowly from sight.
At once the room grew darker despite the fire. I felt that a hundred ghosts, banished from it by her presence, were returning. Beside Minos stood a naked man with the head of a bull, his hand upon Minoss shoulder. The play of the firelight upon his muscled chest and arms made it seem they moved. A moment more, and he stamped as an ox does in the stall.
I snatched up the lupine, fled up the steps, and slammed down the slab. Almost, I threw the lupine into the flames; but its blue petals shone in the firelight, and I saw that it was but a wildflower, newly blown and brave with dew. I took off my chaplet, which had held many such blossoms, and found it sadly wilted. It I put into the flames instead, and I have rolled the lupine into the last turning of this scroll.
For it seems to me that we who bless her should not wantonly destroy what she has given.
Now I have written all I recall of this day. Already the morning, when we came to this place and met with Polyhommes, is as faded as the chaplet. I have looked back to see whether I spoke with Pindaros, Hilaeira, or Io at our inn, but there is nothing. Nor do I remember the name of the inn, nor where it stands. I would go there now and tell Pindaros of the Maiden, but no doubt the doors would be bolted, even if I should find it. I have written very small, always, not to waste this scroll. Now my eyes sting and burn when I seek to read it in the firelight, and yet nearly half the sheets are gray with my writing. I will write no more tonight.
Chapter 20 In My Room
Here in Kalleoss house, I have decided to write again. I have just read the last of what is written on this scroll, but I do not know whether it is true or even how long it has been since I wrote it. I read because I noticed the scroll in this chest today when I got out a clean chiton, and I thought if ever I needed to write something I would use it. I will write first who I am. I think this tells only who I was.
I am Latro, whom Kalleos calls her man slave. There is a girl slave too, Io, but she is too small to do heavy work. There are also Lalos the cook and another cook whose name I have forgotten, but they are not slaves; tonight Kalleos paid them, and they went home. Many women live here, but they are not slaves either, I think, and they do no work - only welcome the men when they come to their couches, and eat and drink with them. Before the men fame, some of them teased me, but I could see they liked me and meant no harm. Kalleos paid them this morning after the first meal.
One of them spoke to me afterward, when the rest had gone to the market. She said, "Im going to Advent tonight, Latro. Isnt it wonderful? If you want to come, Ill ask Kalleos. "
I knew Latro was my name, because that and other things are written on the door of this room. I asked her why I should want to go to Advent.
"You dont remember, do you? You really dont. "
I shook my head.
"I wish Pindaros hadnt gone home and left you here," she said sadly. "Kalleos wouldnt sell you for what he had, but I think he should have stayed and sent for more money, instead of going to get it. "
I could see she was concerned for me; I told her I was happy enough, and that I had eaten all I wanted when I finished bringing the food from the kitchen.
"You said the Maiden promised youd see your friends again. I wish she were quicker. "
That was when I knew I had not always been in this place, and that I must have a family and a city of my own. Once there was a very large man and a very large woman who took care of me. I remember helping the woman carry cuttings away when the man pruned our vines. They had spoken to me too; and though I could understand everything Kalleos and the rest said, and speak to them as well as they to me, I knew their words were not mine, and I could speak mine to myself. So do I write, now. I did not know then who the Maiden was, because I had not read this scroll; by the time I wanted to ask about her, the woman had gone.
I stacked the dishes from the first meal and carried a stack into the kitchen. Lalos had told me his name when I had come to get the food. Now he said, "Have you heard about the Rope Makers, Latro?"
"No. Who are the Rope Makers?"
"The best soldiers in the world. People say they cant be beaten. "
The other cook farted with his mouth.
"Thats what people say - I didnt say it was true. Anyway, theres a lochos of Rope Makers going from house to house asking questions. The magistrates shouldnt have let them in - thats what I think. Of course theyre our allies, and I suppose the magistrates didnt want trouble. Suppose theyd said no, and the Rope Makers had fought their way in. With so many away with the army and navy, who knows what would have happened?"
The other cook said, "You do. And everything else. "
I asked, "Will they come here?"
"I suppose, some of them. Theyre going everywhere, asking crazy questions like what did you eat at the first meal yesterday. "
The other cook said, "Then well tell them. Whats the harm in telling a Rope Maker what you had at the first meal?"
"Yes, well tell them," Lalos agreed. "Wed better. "
I carried in the rest of the dishes, and the cooks put little Io to washing them. There was food waste, mostly seeds and apple cores, scattered around the courtyard. Kalleos told me, "Im your mistress, Kalleos, Latro. I want you to sweep all this up. You know about answering the front door?"
I nodded and told her I had read it on my own door.
"Good. And dont forget to sweep again tonight when everyones left. You can remember that, and I like it clean in the morning. And Latro, no matter what they tell you, the girls have to look after their own rooms - theyll get you to do it if they can, the lazy sluts. And their rooms have to be clean by tonight. If you see one who doesnt clean her room, you tell me. "
I said, "I will, madame. "
"And when you go to the door tonight, dont let in anyone whos drunk until he shows you his money - silver, not bronze or copper. Or gold. Let in anybody who has gold. But dont let in anyone who looks poor, drunk or sober. And dont draw that crooked sword of yours unless you have to. You shouldnt have to. "
"No, madame. "
"Use your fists, like you did on whats-his-name the other night. And when Ios finished washing up, send her to me. Dont let those two idlers in the kitchen make her do all their work - I want her to go to the market with me. Ill have most of the stuff for tonight delivered, and she can carry the odds and ends.
Make the deliverymen go to the back, and dont talk to them. And make them leave - after you have all the goods - if they try to snoop. Im counting on you, Latro. "
Men came as soon as it grew dark, mostly bald or graying men, too old to fight. I admitted them; when they were busy with the women, I slept a bit in my chair by the door, only waking when the first left. Some stayed, sleeping with the women in their rooms. When the courtyard was empty, I carried the cups and bowls back to the kitchen for Io to wash tomorrow and got out my broom.
Many of the lamps were dark, and a man slept in one corner. I could see it would be impossible to clean the place well, but I decided to clean it as well as I could. It was very pleasant in the courtyard anyway. The thinnest-possible sliver of moon peeped between the clouds and left shadows beneath the walls, and the heat had passed. The air was soft, perfumed by the flowers Kalleos had bought that afternoon.
I was sweeping near a corner where there were many urns holding many flowers, when a womans hand stroked my shoulder. I turned to see who she was, but her face was lost in the shadows. She said,
"Come, child of war. Do that later, or never. "
Knowing what she wanted, I laid my broom on the flagstones and sought her among the blossoms, not finding her until she showed herself to me by kindling a silver lamp shaped like a dove, which hung over the couch in her chamber.
I cannot remember what women I have possessed. Perhaps there have be
en none. I know that for me tonight she was the first - that no other would have been real beside her, that our joy endured while cities rose and fell, and that while I clasped her the breezes of spring blew perpetually.
My lover was half woman and half child, her cheeks and all her flesh rose-tinted in the roseate light from the dove, slender yet round of limb, her breasts small but perfect, her eyes like the skies of summer, her hair like fire, like butter, like night, ripe with myriad perfumes. "You forget," she said. "But you will remember me. "
I nodded because I could not speak. I do not think I could have lifted my hand.
"I am more lovely than my rival. Three faces she has, but none like mine. You have forgotten her; you will never forget me. "
"Never. " Her chamber was hung with crimson velvet; it seemed to glow in the dim light.
"And I am lovelier far than Kore, the Maiden. " Her voice grew bitter. "Not long ago, I gave my favor to a poor creature called Myrrha. Better I had withheld it. Her own father bore her down, and she became a tree, a speechless thing with wooden limbs. " A horned doorman fluttered wide, white sleeves to ensure our privacy. "Yet she bore him a child, the fairest ever seen. I locked it in a chest - so you would call it - to keep it safe, for I had lovers who would have used it like a woman. "
I nodded, though I would rather she had talked of love.
"I trusted her - that vile girl who calls herself the Maiden, though her legs clasp Hades. She opened the chest and stole the child. I begged for justice, but she kept it four moons each year. At last it died, and from its blood sprang this blood-red blossom where we lie. "
I said, "I would lie here forever, for every kiss of yours is new to me. "
"Yet you will not, O my lover. Soon, how soon you must go! But you will not forget me, nor what I say. "
Then she whispered in my ear, repeating the same thing again and again in many ways. I cannot write it here, because I do not remember what it was - and it seems to me that even as I heard her words they were lost; but perhaps they only sank into some part of me where memory does not go. She showed me an apple of gold and spun the dove to make its light play upon that apple.
Then she was gone, and her chamber too, and I was left leaning on my broom in the cold court. The moon glowed high overhead, a crescent glyph cupping some meaning I did not comprehend.
I got one of the lamps and searched among the flowers for the door to her room; when I found it, it was only a crimson anemone, half-open, before which fluttered a tiny white moth.
With my hand I brushed him away and held it up, and it seemed to me the heart of the blossoms held a spark of laughter, but perhaps it was only a tear of dew.
A woman touched my shoulder. It was Kalleos, her breath heavy with wine because she had been drinking with the men.
"You dont have to worry about that, Latro," she said. "Poking among the flowers with a light. Get it tomorrow, when you can see what youre doing. Put away that broom and come with me. Youre a fine figure of a man, know that?"
"Thank you," I said. "What is it you want, madame?"
"Only your arm to get me to my door. Im ready for my bed tonight, by every god, and Ill sleep like a chalcis. Ive a skin in there, Latro, and Ill give you a drink before you go. It isnt right that you should work all the time and never get to party. "
I took her to her room, where she sat on her bed, her weight making the straps creak under the mattress until I thought they must break. She told me where the wineskin was and had me pour cups for us both; and while I was drinking mine, she blew out the lamp.
"Im at that age when a woman looks best in the dark," she said. "Come and sit with me. "
My hand brushed her naked breast.
"Surely you know how to put your arm around a woman?"
It was not completely dark. I had left the door open a crack, and a thread of light from the silver dove stole in, whispering something too faint for me to hear. Kalleos had let her robe fall to her hips, and I could see her white breasts and the rounded bulge that ended in the dark cloth of her robe. I felt they should disgust me now, but they did not. Rather it seemed that in some way Kalleos was the woman in the anemone, as a word written is the spoken word, and not just a dirty smudge upon the papyrus.
"Kiss me," she said. "And let me lay down. "
I did as she told me, then took off her sandals and pulled her gown away from her legs.
By that time she was snoring. I went out, shutting the door behind me, and came here to my own place, where I write these words.
Chapter 21 Eutaktos
The lochagos knocked as I was serving the first meal today. Kalleos moaned. "Thats trouble, Im sure of it. "
Zoe, who had been boasting about the big tip she had been given the night before, said, "It might be good news. You never know. "
"Anything that happens before dark is bad news when youve got a headache. When youre my age, youll understand. "
The knocking grew louder. Phye said, "Thats not knuckles. Hes pounding with something. "
It had been the grounding iron of a spear, as I learned when I opened the door. Eutaktosk and half a dozen shieldmen shouldered their way in. Their hoplons and cuirasses protected their bellies, but their helmets were pushed back, and I was able to hit one in the neck and throw Eutaktos over my hip before the rest got their spears leveled. I threw my chair and drew my sword, and the women began to scream.
Eutaktos was up again and had his own sword out, with Io hanging from his sword arm and crying,
"Dont kill him!"
He shook her off. "We wont, unless he runs on the spears. Whos master here?"
Kalleos came forward, wearing the expression she used when the women threw food. "I am, and thats my slave youre talking about killing. If you kill him, youll pay for him. Nine minas he cost me not a month ago, and I have a receipt signed by a leading citizen. "
"Youre no daughter of Hellens. "
"I didnt say I was a citizen," Kalleos answered with dignity. "I said the man I spoke of is. Hes at sea in command of a squadron of our warships at this very moment. As for me, as a freedwoman and a resident foreigner I am protected by our laws. "