Maia

by Richard Adams

  Maia, following her guide and stealing past these tremendous presences in so much awe that she scarcely dared

  to glance at them-for if asked, she would not have been at all sure that they did not embody the actual deities themselves-came to a dark-and-light, zig-zag-panelled door which recalled to her the decorated walls of the dining-hall above. Here the saiyett stopped and, turning to Maia with a smile, made her a little, ironical bow as she held open the door with one bare, white arm.

  "Is-is the Lord General there?" whispered Maia.

  "No," answered the woman. "You go in and wait, and he'll come." And then, looking her up and down and speaking in a tone which made it clear that she was paying a playful compliment, "I shouldn't think he'll keep you waiting very long."

  Maia felt her self-possession swaying like a tree in a gale. For a moment she clasped the other's hand.

  "Saiyett-oh, I'm all of a shake-only it's the first time, see, and I don't rightly know-"

  The woman's laugh, though condescending, was nevertheless kindly.

  "You're lucky, then, Maia, in your first time, for I can tell you, you won't find any difficulty with the Lord General." And then, as Maia stared back, uncertain what she might mean, she nodded and gave her hand a little pat. "In you go. You'll soon see!"

  She had not been altogether correct, however, in saying that Kembri would not be in the room, for just as Maia went in at the panelled door the Lord General entered through another on the further side. She had no opportunity to take in her surroundings or to become aware of more than a sense of spaciousness, luxury and warmth in the carpeted room. Indeed, she had no time even to utter a word (which was perhaps as well, for she had not the least idea what to say) before Kembri, taking four strides across the room, lifted her bodily in his arms and laid her down on the great, soft bed.

  After that it took her no time at all to grasp what the saiyett had meant. As the Lord General's partner she was required to do nothing whatever but submit. He simply did as he wished, with an unhurried yet urgent and almost impersonal power like that of a river in spate, for he-or so it seemed-had little more control over their course than she had. Having seen him before only from a little distance, she had not fully realized what a huge man he was, or how overwhelming was his mere presence. Grim,

  black-browed and black-bearded, even when naked he somehow seemed invisibly armored and girt with weapons. They had hardly begun before Maia intuitively grasped a paradox which unexpectedly wanned her heart and restored her confidence. In this voracious, intence silence, this total absence of any courtly attempt to show the least regard for either her inexperience or her pleasure, lay a greater intensity of sheer desire than she had yet encountered. Caught up in this driving storm, she did not fully realize that he had not spoken. She knew only that she liked what was happening. Tharrin had been accustomed to laugh and pay little compliments as he went about his pleasure. Sencho was full of snorting demands for one lewdness after another. This, though not brutal, was raw appetite, unashamed and unreflecting. She was being devoured. She writhed, half-crushed beneath the panting weight, and one of Occula's sayings flashed across what remained of her mind. "The man wants the girl. But the girl usually wants the man to want her." "Dear Lespa, I'm doing this lot to him!" she thought, even as the mountain split and the rocks toppled about her. "There were hundreds of girls at that banquet, but I'm the one as he sent for."

  She lay in silence, wondering what might now be expected of her: but she did not have to wonder long. Plainly, nothing was expected of her but to be the recipient of the Lord General's apparently insatiable ardor. He had done nothing deliberately to hurt her, yet already she felt bruised from head to heel. When she had cried out with delicious agony, he had paid less heed than if she had been an enemy in battle. And soon after, as she sprawled exhausted, sweating and tousled as a kitchen maid at the spit, another onslaught fell upon her gasping, breathless body.

  At length he lay like a felled tree. Asleep? There was no telling-but at all events oblivious of her beside him among the soft, thick rugs. She herself slept for a little, but woke with a quick start, wondering what she ought to do now. Would the proper thing, perhaps, be to get dressed and go? Yes, she thought; for she was a slave-girl, and plainly there was no more for her body to do here. Sliding quietly out of the bed, she slipped on her shift and then her metlan, picked up her cloak and tip-toed towards the door. At this moment the Lord General, behind her, spoke for the first time.

  "Come back."

  She jumped like a child caught stealing.

  "What's the matter?" he asked, frowning as though she had done something unexpected.

  "Oh, my lord, you startled me, that's all!"

  He said nothing more and she did as she had been told. Undressing and getting back into the bed, she became aware at once-and incredulously-why he had called her to return. Thereupon, suddenly, the country girl supplanted the timid slave. Putting her two hands on his shoulders, she looked unafraid into the scarred, swarthy face.

  "My lord, did you ever hear the story they tell where I come from, about the inn on Lake Serrelind called 'The Safe Moorings'?"

  He shook his head, but behind the black beard the trace of a smile answered hers; the smile of a man who spares an idle moment to watch a puppy playing with a stick.

  "Well, that inn's got a bit of a front on the lake, see, and one day there's this fellow-stranger, like-comes sailing up in his boat. Landlady comes out; 'Oh,' says he, 'I've heard you have good wine here. Bring me out a pot of your ordinary.' So she brings it out and he drinks it sitting in the boat. 'Ah!' he says. 'Well,' he says, 'I'll try another, the same.' So off she goes and gets him another, and he drinks that too. 'I'm not sure about this yet,' he says. 'Bring me another one;' and so she does. So he finishes that and then he says 'Yes,' he says, 'it is good wine. Reckon I'll come in and have some.' "

  The Lord General threw back his head and laughed; then laid hold of her once more, much like a man in haste to quench a thirst. It was as though nothing had yet taken place between them. At one moment Maia found herself actually struggling to breathe. He was, she now realized, not only big but immensely strong. He could easily have crushed her ribs between his hands. And this sense of helplessness-of danger even, for he seemed beside himself as he clasped and strove-filled her with exhilaration, so that for the first time she joined him, spinning in the vortex, and came to herself to find blood trickling down his shoulder.

  Dismayed and a little frightened, she picked up her shift- the only thing to hand-and was about to stanch the wound when he took it from her and tossed it aside, laughing down at her as he might have laughed at a nervous and over-conscientious child who in playing has accidentally broken something of no particular value.

  She was expecting him to fall asleep again, but now he did not seem so inclined. She herself, dazed and aching, knew without being told that he was pleased. Warm and relaxed, she lay listening to the rain and wondering what would happen next.

  At length he asked, "Have you had enough?"

  She giggled. "S'pose I say no, my lord?"

  "Then we shall have to get you another man."

  "Mouse after a bull, that'd be."

  He made no reply, and she wondered whether he might be annoyed. She was surprised when, after a pause, he asked, almost like someone making conversation,

  "How do you like belonging to the High Counselor?"

  She knew the answer to this, for Occula had stressed it to her again and again. "Never gossip to them about one another, banzi-not even if they offer you gold. Long zards are all in a night's work, but long tongues never."

  "Very much, thank you, my lord."

  "What sort of things d'you do with him-a man too fat to walk?"

  "We do as he wishes, my lord."

  "A great many people come to see him, don't they? From all over the empire. Are you ever there when he talks to them?"

  "No, my lord."

  "You know who these people are? Yo
u know why he sees them?"

  Putting out one hand, as easily as he might have lifted a cushion he pulled her bodily round to face him.

  "You do, don't you?"

  "Yes, my lord: but we don't get to hear nothing about- about that side of things."

  "What about your saiyett? He's almost helpless without her, isn't he? Is she there when he sees them?"

  "If she is, my lord, she never talks to us."

  He said no more for a time, and she hoped they had exhausted the subject.

  "Did you see Otavis at the banquet?" he asked suddenly.

  "Oh, ah, my lord; that I did! I reckon she's really beautiful."

  "Did you know she belonged to me?"

  "No, my lord. But-surely I saw her comin' up the stair-

  case from the courtyard that evening, along o' the rest of the girls?"

  "Yes. She'd been-elsewhere, working for me. But now she's able to buy herself free, I've no wish to stop her. A shearna can get to talk-and listen-to even more people than a slave-girl." After a few moments he added, "You needn't bother to tell the High Counselor. He'd probably only have her murdered, and I'm sure you wouldn't want that."

  "I don't undestand you, my lord; I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're on about at all."

  Kembri took her in his arms. For one incredulous instant she thought he was about to gratify himself yet again. Then he said, "I didn't send for you this afternoon because I wanted to bed with you." ;

  At this she burst out laughing. "Then all I can say, my lord, is you could 'a fooled me."

  His next words cut short her merriment.

  "Would you like to make your fortune by taking Otavis's place?"

  She stared at him, but could infer nothing from his impassive gaze.

  "Well, my lord, I don't reckon the High Counselor would sell me-not just at present, anyway."

  "I didn't mean that: I don't want to buy you."

  He got up, flung a quilted robe round his great, shaggy body and sat down on a carved chest beside the bed.

  "What people tell their rulers is nearly always what they think they want to hear. But the rulers need to know more. I need to know things-things I wouldn't be told if I asked. Do you understand?"

  "But my lord, the High Counselor-isn't that his work- all those people who come and talk to him-"

  "This is nothing to do with the High Counselor: I need my own sources of information. There are things I can't leave in the hands of a man who lives as he does. And don't go telling him what I've said, or tell your saiyett, or anyone else, do you see? If I learn that you have, I shall simply say that you're a mischievous little liar and have you put to death."

  Frightened, she said no more. The Lord General, standing up, opened the chest and took out a purse stitched over with white beads. Tossing this up and down in his hand, he sat down on the bed beside her.

  "In a city like this-a country like this-men trust only their closest friends; and sometimes not even them. Everyone's on his guard, and the higher up he is the fewer he trusts. Everyone has secrets-secrets about which he means never to talk. But in practice, sooner or later, everyone does talk. That's strange, but true: for some curious reason, a secret always gets told-to somebody-"

  She stared at him silently.

  "But it's very seldom told where I can hear it; so someone has to hear it for me."

  He paused, still tossing the purse up and down. The coins clicked rhythmically, like a tiny mill-wheel, and the rain sighed on outside.

  "No, naturally they're not indiscreet to me; or to Sen-cho, or to the Lord Durakkon either. But in bed-or even just in company-with a pretty little slave-girl who looks no more than a child-that's another matter. Otavis-she's very well-known now; yet even so, she still gets to hear a lot." He smiled briefly. "You might hear still more. For one thing, you don't belong to me, you see."

  "But my lord, if I don't belong to you-"

  He raised a hand. "Some things a girl simply happens to hear, but that's only a small part of the work. Any girl can do that. But a very pretty, much-sought-after girl- she can often learn what she seeks to learn. However much a man may mean to be on his guard, he may easily find himself talking freely to a girl like that, especially if she's shrewd and knows how to loosen his tongue. I dare say you know the old tale of the girl who refused to bed with the magician unless he agreed to give her the egg that contained his heart? He gave it to her, and she broke it."

  "But if I don't belong to you, my lord, how can I do the work?"

  "That you'll be told in my good time. You and I may never actually meet again. It's possible that it could turn out to be dangerous. You'd better think it over. But I'll deal fairly with you, Maia. If you do well-and survive- you'll be set free; with plenty of money, too. Enough to make a good marriage-set yourself up as a shearna- whatever you want."

  As Maia remained silent, trying to take this in, he went on, "The men you'll have to deal with will be Urtans- touchy, proud, humorless people. You'll need to be resourceful and sharp, so for a start-and as a test-you can

  find a way of your own to let me know your answer within the next three days."

  Before she could reply he picked up a bell from the table by the bed and rang it two or three times. The fair-haired woman came in and stood by the door, palm to forehead. Kembri tossed the beaded purse to her.

  "I like to be generous to a girl who's pleased me. Is my bath ready?"

  "Yes, my lord."

  Without another word the Lord General left the room.

  27: WAITING

  Maia, upon her return, found Terebinthia, Occula and Dyphna sitting round the stove. This surprised her, for at this time of day either the saiyett herself or at least one girl would usually be in attendance upon the High Counselor. Before she had a chance to ask questions, however, Occula, jumping up and helping her off with her wet cloak, inquired cheerfully, "Hullo, banzi; back in one piece? Well basted?"

  "Basted? You mean split and sun-dried," answered Maia, sliding off the heavy silver bracelets, which she found cumbersome. She was in a mood to reply to Occula's ribaldry in kind, for to herself she no longer seemed the girl who had been given her instructions by Terebinthia earlier that afternoon.

  "Got the speedin' trick, had he?" said Occula. "Took you up and took you down; is that the tale? His tail or yours?"

  "Here, I'll tell you-" Maia, laughing, stopped suddenly as she saw Terebinthia staring at her in the manner of one waiting for another to remember what she ought not to have to be reminded of. She took out the Lord General's purse and handed it over.

  "It's still sealed, saiyett."

  "So I see," replied Terebinthia. "If it hadn't been, I should have felt unpleasantly surprised. The seal is customary, but I deliberately didn't tell you. I suppose Occula did?"

  "No, I didn', saiyett," said Occula. "To tell you the

  truth, I clean forgot. Maia deserves all the credit. Can we see what he's given her?"

  "We can," answered Terebinthia, breaking the little red seal and spilling the contents of the purse on her palm. "Well, well!" Maia had the impression that for a moment she was quite taken aback.

  "Whew!" said Occula. "Two hundred and forty meld! That's about as big a lygol as ever I've heard of, saiyett, but of course I doan' know how they go on in Bekla."

  "It's very good indeed," said Terebinthia. "Well done, Maia! Here you are, and mind you look after it." She counted the coins again. "In fact, you may have a full hundred. It ought to be ninety-six, but I confess I wasn't expecting the Lord General to be quite so generous, and I can't be bothered to go and find the change just now."

  "Thank you very much, saiyett."

  "Just think, banzi," said Occula. "Do that a hundred and fifty times an' you'll be a free girl-long as your back's not broken."

  The night: the close, secret, rain-whispering night. Heads close together under the bedclothes, barely a sound even from lips close to ears. Maia lay trembling in Occula's arms, the black girl listening intently
as she clasped her close.

  "… so then he said… put you to death… secrets… dangerous…if you survive… a fortune!… answer in three days."

  For a while Occula made no reply, merely calming Maia as she might have calmed an animal or a baby, with quiet endearments and soft, meaningless sounds. At last, putting her own lips as close to her ear as Maia's had been to hers, she breathed, "You'll have to do it, banzi: you've no choice. If you tell him you woan', he'll decide you're a risk, however much he enjoyed bastin' you. He'll reckon he's told you too much already; an' that could be fatal."

  "But why ever should he choose me?" asked Maia desperately. "I don't know anything-hardly been in Bekla any time at all-"

  "Ssh!" For Maia's voice had risen well above a whisper. "He told you why himself-or most of it. You look too young-you act too young-to be suspected: that's one thing. But he reckons you're a girl who can turn people's

  heads-you seem to have turned his all right for a couple of hours, by all you've told me. You doan' realize yet- lots of girls never do realize-what sort of effect a girl can have on men. They're not made like us. They get obsessed, you know-crazed, distracted-like a dog hangin' round after a bitch. They doan' think about warmth or kindness or friendship, like we do. They just go out of their minds to baste you. Sometimes it sends them as near mad as makes no difference, and they'll do anythin', tell you any-thin', just to get it. Far as I can make out, Kembri as good as told you that himself, but you doan' seem to have taken it in. And on top of all that, he must have decided that you're no fool."

  "But how could he? He never said a word until-"

  "You never said a word either, did you? Probably that had a lot to do with it."

  "He said it might be dangerous-"

  "There's always danger for the likes of us. But cheer up, banzi. It could all turn out to have been worth it, you know. Anyhow, I should try to look at it that way, for you'll have to do it."