Silence returned. She wondered whether the men had moved away; yet she had heard nothing. After what seemed a long time she heard a cough. Then the first voice, still speaking low, said, "The basting rains, though; how's he think we're going to get back once they start?"
"Well, I reckon soon as he's sure which way it's gone he'll go over, that's his notion."
"What, to Erketlis, you mean?"
"Ah. Quickest way home, see?"
This was enough for Maia. The men were speaking so quietly that she could not be sure of their dialect, but what she had been able to hear had convinced her that they must be Ortelgans speaking of Ta-Kominion. Well, she thought, reckon this is what I come for. If I'm going to die I'd best just get on with it. She called in a low voice, "Can I talk to you?"
There was a sound of startled movement, and then one of the men replied, "Who's there? Who are you?"
"I'm a woman, and I'm alone. Can I come and talk to you?"
"What you want, then?"
"I'm a personal friend of Lord Ta-Kominion. I've got an urgent message for him."
She could hear the men muttering. Then the same voice said, "Who's it from, then? And who are you?"
'TH tell that to Lord Ta-Kominion."
At this moment a new, authoritative voice said, "What the hell's all this basting row? Weren't you told to keep quiet, eh?"
"It's some woman, tryzatt, off in those trees," said the second man.
"What the hell d'you mean, a woman?"
"Says she knows the commander; wants to see him. Knew his name an' all. Got a message, she says."
"I'm alone, tryzatt," called Maia. "Can I come and talk to you?"
The tryzatt was evidently a man of fairly quick mind. "Where did you meet the commander?"
"In Bekla, at the barrarz in the upper city, with Lord Bel-ka-Trazet and Lord Ged-la-Dan."
"What's his woman's name, then?"
"Berialtis: brought up on Quiso."
There was a pause.
"Come out steady," said the tryzatt at length, "hands on your head."
Maia did so. The three men confronting her were typical Ortelgans, stocky and dark, the tryzatt, who had a raw, barely-healed scar across his forehead, considerably older than the two soldiers.
"A place like this-how do you come to be here?" he asked, looking her up and down.
"I've no time to explain," answered Maia, with as much authority as she could muster. "My message is urgent, see, and it could very well save your lives. You got to take me to Lord Ta-Kominion at once." As he hesitated, she added more vehemently, "For Cran's sake, what harm do you think I can do? Why else would I be here alone, in the middle of the night-"
"Well, that's what I'd like to know," replied the tryzatt. But as he spoke he gripped her arm, turned and led her away with him.
They went fast through the trees and bushes. Soon Maia became aware that the tryzatt was picking their way among men lying on the bare ground. From what little she could see they were tattered and dirty, with a general look of ill-being. All were fully clothed, with their arms lying ready to hand. Most seemed asleep, but here and there a few, lifting their heads or propping themselves on their elbows, stared as she and the tryzatt went past. None spoke, however, and Maia guessed that their orders about silence were strict. Perhaps, indeed, orders were unnecessary: no doubt Chalcon had been a hard school.
They came to a rough shelter made of branches laid either side of a pole on two forked sticks; hardly more than a kennel, its ridge perhaps three feet from the ground. A sentry was standing beside it. The tryzatt addressed him in a whisper.
"This woman says she's got a message for the commander. Seems genuine enough."
"You're asking me to wake him?"
"That's for you to say."
"Well, be fair," replied the man. "You're the tryzatt, not me."
"You're his orderly, not me."
The man was beginning, "I'd best go and ask Captain Dy-Karn-" when from inside the shelter Ta-Kominion's voice said, "What is it, Klethu?"
"This is Maia Serrelinda here, my lord," said Maia quickly. "I need to speak to you urgently: for your sake, not for mine."
"Maia?" he replied in a tone of astonishment. Then, with a quick note of alarm in his voice, "Who's with you? What's happened?"
"There's nothing wrong, my lord, but-"
"Where have you come from? Who's sent you?"
"I've got some very important news for you."
"Wait, then."
After a few moments Ta-Kominion came elbowing his way feet first out of the shelter and stood up. He was wearing a ragged shirt and breeches and looked, as she could see even in the dim starlight, like a man utterly worn out; a very different figure from the high-spirited youth who had opened the bidding at the barrarz. Her expression, as she took his hands in greeting, must have revealed her feelings, for before she could speak he said, "You needn't waste your sympathy on me: we've plenty worse. But Maia, how in Cran's name do you come to be wandering about alone in a place like this? Are you on the run or something?"
"You could call it that. But now you must tell me something, my lord, 'cos I've got to know this if I'm to help you. Is this Kembri's whole army, or are you here on your own?"
He took her arm and led her away among the trees. Like the tryzatt, he spoke in whispers.
"Why do you ask me that? Why have you come?"
"Answer my question and I'll explain. It can't hurt to tell me: I can't leave here without you let me, can I?"
As he hesitated she took his hands once more, looking up into his bloodshot, hollow eyes.
"Honest, my lord, I only want to help you: and I've risked my hfe to come here."
"Everyone's life's at risk here," replied he. "I wouldn't give much for our chances now and that's the truth. We
left Kembri's army the night before last and we've been going ever since. The men are on their last legs. We've got no food left, either. But I'll get some of them back to Ortelga yet, you see if I don't."
"Listen to me, my lord. There's a way to put the whole thing right, if you'll only do as I say."
"But who's sent you?" he asked again, impatiently.
"Just listen, my lord, please! Sit down and listen to me."
Ta-Kominion sat down on the ground, his arms round his updrawn knees, looking up at her with an expression suggesting that although he would like to believe her, he felt that to do so would be foolish.
"About a mile away over there," said Maia, pointing, "is Lord Elleroth of Sarkid. He's on his own like you, and I should guess he's got about the same number of men."
Ta-Kominion seemed about to spring to his feet, but Maia restrained him.
"They know you're here, but they don't know yet whether it's only you or Kembri's whole army. What I'm trying to tell you is that they're as much afraid of you as what you are of them."
Ta-Kominion buried his face in his hands. "Oh, Shardik, that's about all we needed! Pinned against the river, too! That's basted everything!"
"No, it hasn't, my lord. Don't you see, if you're not fighting for the Leopards any more, Elleroth's got no quarrel with you? You ought to join him-he needs men-it'd be as big a weight off his mind as what it'd be off your'n. Why don't you come back with me now and talk to him?"
"It's a trick! A Beklan trick!" In the half-darkness the girl Berialtis had come up silently and was standing beside them, clutching a soldier's cloak round her. She was shivering in the hot night and looked no less wretched than everyone else whom Maia had seen. "Don't go, Komo! She's lying!"
Her dark eyes glared at Maia-the eyes of a fanatic, intensified by fear and privation.
Maia stood up and faced her. "All right, that's it, then; I done my best. My lord, I hope you'll have the kindness to let me go back where I come from."
"Be quiet, Berialtis," said Ta-Kominion. "I'm commanding here, not you. Maia, how can I be sure of this man Elleroth-heir of Sarkid, isn't he? How can I be sure I can trust him?"
"M
y lord, I'll be honest with you. Like I said, no one's sent me: I just thought this lot up on my own. Lord Elleroth doesn't even know I've come-"
"You're not his woman, then?"
"Oh, Cran, no! I just don't want to see the two of you tear each other to bits, that's all; 'cos that won't be no good to you nor nobody."
"Berialtis, go and wake Dy-Karn and bring him here. Don't argue; just do as I tell you for once."
"You let yourself be taken in by this Beklan bitch; an unbeliever! I haven't forgotten that filthy barrarz, if you have-"
"Neither have I," said Ta-Kominion, getting up. "I'll go myself: you'd better come with me, Maia."
Reaching his shelter, they found a group of four or five young men whispering together.
"These are all the officers we've got left," said Ta-Kominion. "Captain Dy-Karn, my second-in-command: Maia Serrelinda."
There were murmurs of surprise. "You'd better tell them, Maia, what you've just told me," said Ta-Kominion.
Maia did so.
"But this Elleroth's an out-and-out heldro, isn't he?" asked Dy-Karn. "Why else would he be with Erketlis? If you trust us all to him, Komo-"
"All I can say is I've met him," said Maia, "and I don't reckon as he's one to take unfair advantage. I can't say n'more, 'ceptin' they're all as scared of you as what you are of them." As they hesitated, she added, "You don't have to surrender to them nor any o' that. Just offer to join them. Any road, what else you going to do?"
"By the Ledges, and I reckon she's about right there!" said another of the officers. "No food, men worn out, couldn't fight if they had to-"
"When we left Kembri, you see," said Ta-Kominion to Maia, "no one else knew what we were going to do, naturally. We reckon his lot can't last even until the rains. Erketlis'll destroy them; and we weren't going to wait for that. We were reckoning on crossing the Zhairgen by the Ikat high road, but we found the bridge held by Beklans- too many for us: so we had to come on downstream. I've been hoping we might get across somehow at Nybril, but obviously we can't get to Nybril if Elleroth's in the way."
"Elleroth's got a raft on ropes across the Zhairgen,"
said Maia. "He's cutting his way through Purn, but he needs more men to make sure of it before the rains. If you was to join him, I reckon he could probably feed you an' all. How many you got?"
"Only about three hundred and fifty now. We lost a lot in Chalcon."
"The girl's right, my lord," said Dy-Karn. "After all, we can always tell this Elleroth that if he won't have us, we'll sell our lives very dear. I'll come with you if you want."
In the event three Ortelgans set out with Maia; Ta-Kominion, Dy-Karn and an older officer named Selta-Quaid, who limped on a stick and appeared to have been wounded in half a dozen places from head to foot. The men had been woken and were standing to arms. Word had, of course, got round of what was toward. As they passed through the different groups there were murmurs of "Good luck, sir!" "Tell 'em we're not beat yet, general!" "Bring us back a few sheep, sir!" and the like. It was plain that Ta-Kominion still retained their loyalty and confidence.
The short summer night was drawing to an end and the sky behind them paling. The wilderness seemed as empty and almost as silent as before, save for the first pipings of awakening birds. She herself felt ready to drop. She had been tired enough the night before, and had had only an hour or two of sleep.
But Sphelthon: ah! he was asleep now; deeply and peacefully. She could feel it in her heart, his peace, gleaming like dew on a meadow. He was gone, but had left his blessing upon her. She had poured out on his poor, faraway grave the offering of her night's fear and resolution, and it had been sufficient even for Frella-Tiltheh.
She was startled from these thoughts by her name being called from a distance. All four of them stopped in their tracks, listening. The sound was coming from some way off among the broken woodland. There was, to say the least, nothing furtive about it. It was like the crying of wares by a street-trader. "Maia! Maia!" Whoever was calling plainly did not care who heard him. After the long hours of stealth and whispering, the concealment and silence of the tense night wanderings, the effect seemed almost preternatural, a shattering of normality sharp as lightning or the sudden falling of a tree.
After a few moments Maia (who had recognized the
voice) replied, "Here I am!" There was strenuous movement in the bushes some way off, a sound of running footsteps and next moment Zen-Kurel, armed, burst out of the undergrowth and halted a moment at the sight of the Ortelgans. Then he drew his sword.
Maia's companions instantly drew also, but she ran forward, stopping midway between them and Zen-Kurel.
"What's happened, captain? What's brought you here?"
He looked at her, opened his mouth to speak and then looked away, seeming out of countenance.
"I-er-well, I came to look for you, that's all. You've been missed." Then, as it were assuming a harsher note to cover his embarrassment, he asked abruptly, "Who are these men?"
"They're Ortelgan officers," she answered no less coldly, "come to talk with Lord Elleroth. I think you'd better put up your sword, captain. I'm acting as their surety."
Zen-Kurel, frowning perplexedly, did as she had suggested.
"What do they want with Lord Elleroth?"
"I reckon that's between him and them," she said; "in the first place, anyway." Then, as the three Ortelgans came up, "This is Lord Ta-Kominion of Ortelga: Captain Zen-Kurel of Katria."
Ta-Kominion bowed, concealing his surprise. "Has King Karnat seconded officers to Erketlis, then? I didn't know that."
"No," replied Zen-Kurel, "I'm here by an accident of war. I was a prisoner of the Leopards in Bekla, but I managed-that's to say, Maia-she-er-she contrived my escape."
"Did she?" answered Ta-Kominion. "At that rate, it seems we all owe her a debt in common."
It was full daylight now, the clear sky already blue, the grasshoppers beginning to chirp in the brown, dry grass. Pushing through a belt of trees near the river, they found themselves within fifty yards of eight or nine Sarkidian soldiers. They had thrown a plank across the dried-up water-course which Maia had crossed the night before, and set up an outpost on the nearer bank.
Maia again went forward, and addressed the tryzatt.
"Tryzatt, these Ortelgan officers have come in peace to talk with Lord Elleroth. Can you please conduct them to him at once?"
She had already turned away by herself when Zen-Kurel overtook her.
"Where are you going, Maia?"
"Across the river," she said, "to join the other women and go to sleep; I'm very tired. Thank you for coming to look for me."
94: MEWS'S LAST ESCAPADE
As the servants removed the Ortelgans' knives and plates and cleared the table Elleroth, who had briefly left them, returned and drew up a bench. With him were Mollo, Tolis and two or three more of his officers, as well as Bayub-Otal and Zen-Kurel.
"I've sent all the food we can spare over to your camp," he said to Ta-Kominion. "I'm afraid it's rather penitential stuff, but perhaps your sybaritic connoisseurs will make allowances. Have you many sick and wounded?"
"Too many," replied Ta-Kominion. "We had our own surgeon with us, but he died in Chalcon, poor fellow. The High Baron's not going to be pleased about that: he was a good doctor-trained on Quiso."
"Well, that's the place, no doubt of it," said Elleroth. "I'm sending Muzarkalleen, one of my officers, to be treated by the Tuginda, if only we can get him there. He got badly cut up at that little affair on the highway."
"So did we, sir," said Dy-Karn. "Lost seventy-six men, though some of them may have been able to get themselves back to Ortelga, I hope."
"I'll send our doctor over to your camp," said Elleroth. "Could you see to it, Tolis, please? But that reminds me, Ta-Kominion; I'd like your advice. We have these slave children to find homes for, you know, and it's not easy. I'm determined they shall go to good homes, not to places where they'll remain slaves in everything but name. I
had a notion to send two of the girls to Quiso with Muzarkalleen, as a sort of offering. You never know, they might make priestesses one day. What do you think?"
"Are they clever?" asked Ta-Kominion.
"One of them-Melathys-struck me as a particularly sharp child," answered Elleroth. "That's why I picked her."
"Well," said Ta-Kominion, "I imagine that if they're
clever they'll be welcome. A little non-Ortelgan blood among the priestesses might be all to the good. They'll be well treated, anyway; you can be sure of that."
"Well, it's a small matter," said Elleroth, "but I'm glad to hear you approve. Still, we'd better get down to business, hadn't we? You say Kembri's in a bad way?"
"We all think his position's hopeless: that's why we're here, of course. You see, the army was badly demoralized in Chalcon and the reinforcements from Bekla-well, they've turned out worse than nothing, really. And then on top of that we heard that Randronoth had defected-"
"So it occurred to you to tiptoe away on fairy feet, in darkness and clandestine order, did it?"
"Well, you have to put yourself in Ortelga's position," replied Ta-Kominion. "Bel-ka-Trazet's policy has always been to keep in with Bekla, so that we can count on help against the Deelguy when it's needed."
"Dear me, yes; those dashing, vagabond laddies-"
"This isn't the first time Ortelga's had to choose the right moment to run up a tilting plank to the other end," put in Dy-Karn. "It was the same when the Leopards deposed Senda-na-Say."
"Kembri was very insistent that we should send men to join Elvair-ka-Virrion," said Ta-Kominion. "Bel-ka-Tra-zet didn't really care for the idea, but he couldn't very well get out of it. So he picked on me." He gave a short, sardonic laugh. "Oh, I admit I was keen enough: I reckoned we'd all do very well out of it; but that was more than Bel-ka-Trazet ever thought, if I know anything about him. Why, even at the barrarz in Bekla he was warning me to get out quick if we had to. I didn't think much about it at the time, but after the battle I felt it would be best to bring what was left of the men back as soon as I could."
"Yes, indeed," said Elleroth, "and perhaps a short billet-doux to Santil wouldn't come amiss, either: but that's for you to decide. Well, let us consider the ins and outs of this jolly log-roll, shall we? As a matter of fact, it will be literally that, as Captain Mollo will now explain."
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