Maia

by Richard Adams

  Climbing the two flights to the gallery at the top of the house, still she met no one. She had been half-afraid of coming upon the lad with the great hound, but all was quiet as could be. Knowing her way, she went along the corridor to the door of the queen's bedroom, laid her hand on the hilt of her knife and strode in without knock or call.

  Occula was lying on the bed, playing with a white kitten: she was alone in the room. As Maia entered she started, and the kitten, taking fright, jumped down and ran away.

  "Banzi! What the hell are you doin' here?"

  "Where is she?" asked Maia.

  "Banzi, have you gone out of your mind? Who let you in? Tell me what you're doin' here."

  "Where is she?"

  "D'you mean Fornis?" All in a moment Occula had leaped up, seized Maia by the shoulders, pulled open her cloak and disclosed the knife in its sheath. As she tried to take it from her Maia resisted fiercely, biting at her wrists. For fully a quarter of a minute the two girls struggled silently. Finally Occula stood back, panting.

  "Banzi, just you give me that bastin' knife and get out of here! D'you realize she'll be back any minute and if she finds you here with that thing she'll have the perfect reason to see you put to death!"

  "That's one thing she'll never see," answered Maia, "because I'm going to kill her first."

  "Oh, for Cran's sake!" cried the black girl. "You never used to be such a damn' fool! Who let you in? Who knows you're here?"

  "Don't matter. Once she's dead they can all do what they like. Or I will first."

  Occula buried her face in her hands and moaned.

  "O Kantza-Merada! I can't make you go if you woan'- not without bringin' the whole place round us. Will you come with me to another room?"

  Maia shook her head.

  "But what's put you out of your senses like this, banzi? At least tell me that." She moaned again. "D'you realize every minute you stay here- Banzi, my own dear little banzi, for the sake of everythin' there's ever been between us, tell me what's happened, only be quick about it!'

  Maia told her of all she had done to save Tharrin, of her visit to the prison that morning and of what Pokada had told her about the earlier, clandestine visit of Ashaktis. As she spoke of seeing Tharrin's body in the cell she began to cry again but then, dashing away the tears and clenching her fists, she ended, "And now the gods have appointed me to kill her: that's for sure. Otherwise, how did I get in here so easy?"

  "Banzi," said Occula, taking her hands, "you're wrong; and I'll tell you for why. I'm the one that's goin' to kill her; same as I killed Sencho. I'm the one the gods have appointed to put an end to these wicked people. I'm goin' to do it in my own way and my own good time; and when I'm done I'll walk out alive-you wait and see if I doan'. But it's a tricky business-for anyone that wants to stay alive, that is. The difference between you and me is, I know what I'm doin' and you doan'; not a bastin' thing. You'd just be throwin' your life away for nothin', because I'm goin' to get Miss Folda, and that damned Shakti woman, too. And I'm half-way there, banzi; I'm half-way there now! Doan', doan' go and throw your life away just because of poor Tharrin. She's guilty of far, far more than

  killin' Tharrin. She's guilty of every wickedness under the sun; murder, and treachery, and fraud-"

  "Fraud!" cried Maia. "Poor Tharrin put that clean out of my head! Ten thousand meld!"

  "You're better off without that lot, banzi, believe me. There's certain to be trouble, but at least you'll be able to say you never touched a meld of it. Now answer me: do you want to die horribly and quite unnecessarily for ten thousand meld and a poor man you can't help any more?"

  Maia was silent. The telling of her bitter story to her dearest and most trusted friend had done much to set things in proportion and to bring home to her impulsive heart the grim reality of the price she had thought herself ready to pay for revenge on the Sacred Queen. To die by torture or to stab herself to the heart: neither would bring poor Tharrin back to life; and as for Randronoth's nine thousand meld, well, it had never been hers and she had never reckoned it would be. Anger and humiliation at being hoodwinked and tricked by Fornis-were these, perhaps, as much a part of her motive as her grief for Tharrin? Her resolution began to waver.

  "Banzi, love," said Occula, "there's no time to lose. She'll be back any minute, and if I know anythin' about it she'll be like a goat on the loose. You doan' know what she's like after these little sprees down at the temple. I can hardly stand it myself, an' that's sayin' somethin'. If she finds you- Banzi, give me that knife, and then I'll call Zuno to get you out of here. I suppose the knife's your soldier's, is it? I'll get it sent back later, somehow or other."

  Maia was about to give Occula the knife when the black girl, who had gone over to the open door, suddenly turned, facing back towards her with an expression of utter terror and dismay.

  "Banzi! She's back! She's only just along the corridor! O Cran save us, she'll be here in a minute!" She looked frantically round the room. "Get in there, quick! Get in that closet and doan' make a sound!"

  Maia, with no feelings now but panic and desperation, slipped into the closet and lay down as Occula pushed the door shut. A few moments later the Sacred Queen entered the room.

  It was clear that Fornis was wrought-up and in some kind of abnormal state. Her eyes were wide and her lips glistening and parted. She was panting and flushed and

  her hands trembled. As the black girl turned away from the closet and took a step towards her she mouthed "Oc-cula! Yes!" in a kind of swift gasp, and then stood waiting, apparently for some attention there was no need to specify.

  Occula at once went to the door and closed and locked it. Returning, she faced the queen and in a contemptuous tone, as though rebuking a slave, said "You're dirty! There's blood on your arms, you bitch!"

  "Lick it off!" replied Fornis quickly. "Lick it off, Occula, lick it off!"

  Occula complied, the queen holding out her arms, staring before her and standing still as a post while she did so.

  The closet door had swung slightly ajar, but Maia, though terrified of discovery, did not dare to pull it to, for the queen was only two or three yards away from her. Form's, however, seemed in no frame of mind to notice anything. As Occula finished what she had been told to do, she sank to her knees on the floor, wiping her wet arms on her face and salivating down her chin.

  "Well, and did you enjoy yourself down at the temple?" asked Occula in the same insolent tone, standing over her with her hands on her hips.

  "OhJ-Two of them I did myself-how they screamed!" The queen clasped Occula round the waist. "Get on with it, Occula! Hurry up!"

  Occula spat in her face, pulled off the crown of Airtha, walked across to the mirror and adjusted it on her own head. Coming back, she ran her hands through the queen's elaborately-dressed hair, disheveling it until it hung round her shoulders in an unkempt tangle, and then, stooping, gripped the hem of the purple robe and tugged it roughly over her head.

  Fornis, her lips twisted in an unnatural grimace, remained kneeling on the floor. Occula, opening a drawer, took out a coarse, sacking smock-the kind of garment commonly worn by kitchen-slaves too mean ever to appear except among their own kind-a floor-cloth and a hearth-brush. She was closing the drawer when Fornis, with a kind of moaning excitement, prompted her. "My shift, Occula, my shift!"

  The black girl, crossing the room in two strides, seized the top of her embroidered silk shift between her hands, ripped it from hem to shoulder and tossed it into a corner.

  Then, flinging the smock and implements on the floor, she went over to the dressing-table, sat down with her back turned and began polishing her nails.

  Eagerly and hastily the queen put on the sacking smock, which was stained, ragged, and so rank that Maia could smell it from where she was crouching in the closet. Beggars in the lower city smelled less disgusting. Dragging over an earthenware jar of water standing in the far corner of the room, Fornis began washing the floor on her hands and knees.


  After about a minute Occula stood up in a leisurely manner, stretched her arms above her head, yawned and began to stroll towards the door. Reaching the queen she stopped, paused a moment to watch her and then kicked her in the stomach.

  "You filthy slut! What the menstrual hell are you supposed to be doin'?"

  "I've been told to wash the floor, please, saiyett," replied Fornis in a low voice, without raising her eyes. "I hope my noble lady won't-"

  "Wash the floor, you turd!" cried Occula, kicking her again. "You're not fit to wash a pig's venda! Haven' I told you I woan' have the floor washed like that? Haven' I? You zard-faced lump of dung!"

  Paddling her bare feet in the film of water on the floor, she deliberately wiped one of them across the queen's face and then, putting it under her chin, pushed her roughly backwards, so that she measured her length in the grimy mess.

  Fornis lay prostrate, shuddering with excitement. "Oh, saiyett, sSiyett! Please forgive me-I meant no harm-I'll do it all again-don't whip me, saiyett!"

  "How dare you speak to me in that insolent way!" shouted Occula, kicking over the jar and stamping her foot so that dirty water was splashed into the queen's face. "I told you what would happen if you spoke to me like that again!" With this she picked up the sopping floor-cloth, wrung it out over the queen's shoulders, seized her by the hair, jerked her head back and stuffed it into her mouth. Then, pulling up her own skirt, she drew her hand between her legs and slapped the queen across the face.

  As Fornis turned on her back, convulsing ecstatically, Occula plucked out the cloth, drew to one side and left her to ber own devices. At length, her spasm of luxury

  subsiding, the queen once again rolled over in the morass on the floor, clasping the black girl by the ankles and whispering, "More! More, Occula! More! Oh, you're marvelous! No one's ever been able to do it like you!"

  "Like me, you disgustin', vile whore? You foul cow!" yelled Occula, trampling on her back. "I'll teach you to lie there like a sow in shit, askin' for more! I saw you the other day, bastin' with the garbage-slave behind the midden! You thought no one could see you, but I saw you there, wrigglin' about in the muck on your hands and knees! You're not fit to live with ordinary, decent people! I'm going to chain you up to a kennel in the yard, with 'Please shit on me!' written over the top!"

  "Oh, saiyett! Oh, saiyett!"

  "I'll'saiyett'you, you pig!"

  Thereupon Occula, pulling up the smock round the queen's waist, beat her six or seven times with the flat of her hand across her bare buttocks, until she shrieked with pain.

  "Now turn over, you nasty trollop! Right over, on your back! I want to look at you! No, do it properly, damn you!" shouted Occula, kicking and spitting on her again. "Get those fat thighs apart, miss, before I have them well whipped!" Then, as the queen obeyed her, she seized the hearth-brush and thrust the handle between her legs until it disappeared.

  Fornis screamed, squirming. "Oh, be careful, Occula! Be careful! You'll injure me! You're hurting me!"

  "Hurtin' you?" cried Occula, kneeling down beside her, pulling out her breasts and biting her nipples. "Hurtin' you? If I have any more insolence I'll stuff a nutmeg-grater up you and work it in and out. You beastly, stinkin' animal! I'd sell you for ten meld, but no one would buy you! You're not a human bein' at all; why, you wouldn' even make a decent piss-pot!"

  And with this she straddled over Fornis, squatted down and urinated in her face, the queen babbling incoherently as she did so.

  "Now clean me up! No, not with the cloth, you ape! Do what the apes do, and hurry up about it! I want to feel your-"

  But at this Fornis once again discarded every vestige of control, losing all ability to sustain any longer her part in the revolting game and writhing on the floor in a perfect

  transport of voluptuous pleasure. From this second ecstasy she returned only very gradually, twitching where she lay and drawing long, shuddering breaths, as though she had run a race and was now utterly spent.

  "Had enough?" asked the black girl, as the queen at length opened her eyes, drew out the hearth-brush and feebly tossed it to one side.

  "Oh, Occula! Yes, enough now! Oh, that was wonderful! O Cran, but you really must be more careful! You've hurt me-"

  "If I was more careful, you wouldn' enjoy it, would you?" replied Occula composedly. Fetching a bowl of clean water and a towel, she once more knelt beside the queen and wiped her face.

  "Oh, yes, yes, that's true! You know, don't you? O Cran, I needed that! Oh, if only you'd been at the temple-"

  "Let me get this thing off you now," said Occula, biting her lip.

  "I won't have it washed!" said Fornis quickly. "That's the one that-"

  "No, all right; but you'll need a bath, Folda. I told them to have it ready: Shakti'H be there now. You go along while I get cleaned up here. Sure you've had enough, now?"

  "Oh, my black savage!" whispered Fornis, embracing her. "Who sent you to me? D'you realize no one else in the whole empire would dare to treat the Sacred Queen to a quarter of that! That stupid little Maia-she was no good! Not even after six months of Sencho! Oh, I've played a nice game on her, the little nitwit! I'll tell you all about that later. Oh, Occula, what a good day it was for me when I got you out of the temple! You really enjoy it, don't you?"

  Occula smiled. "Yes, in my own way, Folda, I do enjoy it."

  "In your own filthy, dirty, black way. I love you! You're evil! You're a witch, aren't you?"

  Occula, staring back at her, nodded gravely.

  "You made that Urtan boy stab himself with a knife that wasn't there. I wish I'd seen that."

  "I wish you had."

  "You're frightening-you're splendid, Occula! You really understand about cruelty, don't you? Aaah!" The queen

  stretched luxuriously. "I'm quite tired! Bath now, and then I'm going to have a nice sleep. What a delightful day!"

  She stood up, slipped on the robe Occula was holding up for her, kissed her and ran out of the room. For some moments the black girl stood looking after her, then came back and pulled the closet door wide.

  It was clear enough that she had been affected by what she had had to do. As Maia scrambled out, she shut her eyes for a few moments, leaning her sweating forehead on her forearm and retching; then, recovering herself, turned to Maia with a finger on her lips.

  "Now get out of here, banzi," she whispered. "Doan' stop for anythin'! The knife you can leave to me. Zuno's at the top of the stairs; I've just seen him. He'll get you out by the back. Go on now-move!"

  Dazed and speechless, Maia ran. Zuno guided her downstairs and as far as the gate behind the palace, but outside, in that same back lane along which she had walked by night with Lalloc, she suddenly came over faint, sank down and vomited. She felt feverish and hardly knew where she was going. Her own madness-Randronoth's-the queen's-all seemed blazing and burning in her bead like meteors in a demented void. She was glad to accept the help of a kindly passer-by-some elderly house-slave returning from an errand-who, asking no questions and not even recognizing her, gave her his arm as far as the thoroughfare and saw her into a jekzha.

  66: AND ANOTHER

  "-I'm sincerely sorry. I'm sorry in many ways. But of course, your position in the empire will always remain a most honorable one; I hope you won't think anything else for a moment. We're very grateful to you; we always shall be."

  Durakkon, looking out the window of the queen's reception room and picking with his finger-nail at the skin down one side of his thumb, paused for a reply. Fornis, however, said nothing and after some moments the High Baron reluctantly turned to meet her eyes. To all appearances she was waiting for him to continue. He had no more to say-indeed, in his tension and embarrassment he had

  already repeated himself, regretting and extenuating to an extent consistent, perhaps, with the manners of a nobleman but scarcely with the authority of the High Baron of Bekla. So potent and disconcerting, however, was the Sacred Queen's silent self-possession and air of not, as yet, havin
g heard anything worth the time she had had to spend in listening, that Durakkon-actually against his own better judgement-found himself speaking again.

  "You've done a great deal for t!$ empire, esta-saiyett. There can be no one who's not fully aware of that. I know you'll understand that it wouldn't be possible-that the people themselves wouldn't accept-a Sacred Queen of- er-well, of the degree of maturity-" He broke off. "Of course, you'll realize that Sacred Queen is one thing and Saiyett Fornis, ruler of Paltesh, is another. One's no more than an appointment-almost nominal-just for a fixed term. The other's what you actually are and always will be. There's no reason whatever for you to feel-er-well, in any way dispossessed."

  Still Fornis made no reply. They were both standing by the window and her eyes-though she was directly facing the late afternoon sunlight-looked steadily and unblink-ingly into his own.

  "Well, that's all I have to say, esta-saiyett, and I must say I'm glad to have finished saying it." He laughed selfconsciously. "It's not always easy for me to-well, to carry out the duties of the High Baron. You've heard me very patiently. Thank you. If I can help you in any way at the end of this year-"

  The Sacred Queen laid her hand on his arm. "You suppose that you will depose me."

  From her inflection, it might or might not have been a question. Durakkon found himself answering it.

  "I've explained to you, esta-saiyett, that there's no question of deposition-"

  He broke off, but spoke again as a thought occurred to him. "Perhaps you would like to hear the Lord General and the Council-"

  At this Fornis burst into a peal of laughter. "Perhaps you would like to hear the Council, would you? What they think of you?"

  Suddenly she was grave once more. "Master Durakkon-may I call you Firebug, since everyone else does and we have known each other so long?-I am the Sacred