Brothers of Earth

by C. J. Cherryh

  The gangplank of the first trireme at the dock was run out, rowers and crew scurrying around making checks of equipment. Spread near its stern was a blue canopy upheld with gold-tipped poles, beneath which sat Ylith, working over some charts with Lhe t'Nethim and paying no attention to their approach.

  When at last she did see fit to notice them kneeling before her, she dismissed Lhe back a pace with a gesture and turned herself to face them. Still she wore the crown of her office, and she was modestly attired in chatem and pelan of pale green silk, slim and delicate in this place of war. Her eyes rested on Kta without emotion, and Kta bowed down to his face at her feet, Kurt unwillingly imitating his action.

  Ylith snapped her fingers. "It is permitted you both to sit," she said, and they straightened together. Ylith looked at them thoughtfully, most particularly at Kta.

  "Ei, t'Elas," she said softly, "have you made your decision? Do you come to ask for clemency?"

  "Methi," said Kta, "no."

  "Kta," Kurt exclaimed, for he had hoped. "Don't -"

  "If," said Ylith, "you seek in your barbaric tongue to advise the son of Elas against this choice, he would do well to listen to you."

  "Methi," said Kta, "I have considered, and I cannot agree to what you ask."

  Ylith looked down at him with anger gathering in her eyes. "Do you hope to make a gesture, and then I shall relent afterward and pardon you? Or do they teach such lack of religion across the Dividing Sea that the consequence is of little weight with you? Have you so far inclined toward the Sufak heresies that you are more at home with those dark spirits we do not name?"

  "No, Methi," said Kta, his voice trembling. "Yet we of Elas were a reverent house, and we do not receive justice from you."

  "You say then that I am in error, t'Elas?"

  Kta bowed his head, caught hopelessly between yea and nay, between committing blasphemy and admitting to it.

  "T'Elas," said Ylith, '-'is it so overwhelmingly difficult to accept our wishes?"

  "I have given the Methi my answer."

  "And choose to die accursed." The Methi turned her face toward the open sea, opened her long-fingered hand in that direction. "A cold resting place at best, t'Elas, and cold the arms of Kalyt's daughters. A felon's grave, the sea, a. grave for those no house will claim, for those who have lived their lives so shamefully that there remains no one, not even their own house, to mourn them, to give them rest. Such a fate is for those so impious that they would defy a father or the Upei or dishonor their own kinswomen. But I, t'Elas, I am more than the Upei. If I curse, I curse your soul not from hearth or from city only, but from all mankind, from among all who are born of this latter race of men. The lower halls of death will have you: Yeknis, those dark places where the shadows live, those unnameable firstborn of Chaos. Do they still teach such things in Nephane, t'Elas?"

  "Yes, Methi."

  "Chaos is the just fate of a man who will not bow to the will of heaven. Do you say I am not just?"

  "Methi," said Kta, "I believe that you are the Chosen of Heaven, and I reverence you and the home of my Ancestors-in-Indresul. Perhaps you are appointed by heaven for the destruction of my people, but if heaven will destroy my soul for refusing to help you, then heaven's decrees are unbelievably harsh. I honor you, Methi. I believe that you, like Fate itself, must somehow be just. So I will do as I think right, and I will not aid you."

  Ylith regarded him furiously, then with a snap of her fingers and a gesture brought the guards to take them.

  "Unfortunate man," she said. "Blind to necessity and gifted with the stubborn pride of Elas. I have been well served by that quality in Elas until now, and it goes hard to find fault with that which I have best loved in your house. I truly pity you, Kta t'Elas. Go and consider again whether you have chosen well. There is a moment the gods lend us, to yield before going under. I still offer you life. That is heaven's justice. Tryn, secure them both belowdecks. The son of Elas and his human friend are sailing with us, against Nephane."

  The hatch banged open against the deck above and someone in silhouette came down the creaking steps into the hold.

  "T'Elas. T'Morgan." It was Lhe t'Nethim, and in a moment the Indras officer had come near enough to them that his features were faintly discernible. "Have you all that you need?" he asked, and sank down on his heels a little beyond the reach of their chains.

  Kta turned his face aside. Kurt, feeling somewhat a debt to this man's restraint, made a grudging bow of his head. "We are well enough," Kurt said, which they were, considering.

  Lhe pressed his lips together. "I did not come to enjoy this sight. For that both of you... have done kindness to my house, I would give you what I can."

  "You have generally done me kindness," said Kurt, yet careful of Kta's sensibilities. "That is enough."

  "Elas and Nethim are enemies; that does not change. But human though you are-if Mim could choose you, of.her own will-you are an exceptional human. And t'Elas," he said in a hard voice, "because you sheltered her, I thank you. We know the tale of her slavery among Tamurlin, this through Elas-in-Indresul, through the Methin. It is a bitter tale."

  "She was dear to us," said Kta, looking toward him.

  Lhe's face was grim. "Did you have her?"

  "I did not," said Kta. "She was adopted of the chart of Elas. No man of my people treated her as other than an honorable woman, and I gave her at her own will to my friend, who tried with all his heart to treat her well. For Mim's sake, Elas is dead in Nephane. To this extent we defended her. We did not know that she was of Nethim. Because she was Mim, and of our hearth, Elas would have defended her even had she told us."

  "She was loved," said Kurt, because he saw the pain in Lhe's eyes, "and had no enemies in Nephane. It was mine who killed her."

  "Tell me the manner of it," said Lhe.

  Kurt glanced down, unwilling, but Lhe was nemet, some things would not make sense to him without all the truth. "Enemies of mine stole her," he said, "and they took her; the Methi of Nephane humiliated her. She died at her own hand, Lhe t'Nethim. I blame myself also. If I had been nemet enough to know what she was likely to do, I would not have let her be alone then."

  Lhe's face was like graven stone. "No," he said. "Mim chose well. If you were nemet you would know it. You would have been wrong to stop her. Name the men who did this."

  "I cannot," he said. "Mim did not know their names."

  "Were they Indras?"

  "Sufaki," Kurt admitted. "Men of Shan t'Tefur u Tlekef."

  "Then there is bloodfeud between that house and Nethim. May the Guardians of Nethim deal with them as I shall if I find them, and with Djan-methi of Nephane. What is the emblem of Tefur?"

  "It is the Great Snake Yr," said Kta. "Gold on green. I wish you well in that bloodfeud, t'Nethim; you will avenge Elas also, when I cannot."

  "Obey the Methi," said 'Lhe.

  "No," said Kta. "But Kurt may do as he pleases."

  Lhe looked toward Kurt, and Kurt gave him nothing better. Lhe made a gesture of exasperation.

  "You must admit," said Lhe, "that the Methi has offered

  you every chance. It is a lasting wonder that you are not

  sleeping tonight at the bottom of the sea." '

  "Nephane is my city," said Kta. "And as for your war, your work will not be finished until you finish it with me, so stop expecting me to obey your Methi. I will not."

  "If you keep on as you are," said Lhe, "I will probably be assigned as your executioner. In spite of the feud between our houses, t'Elas, I shall not like that assignment, but I shall obey her orders."

  "For a son of Nethim," said Kta, "you are a fair-minded man with us both. I would not have expected it."

  "For a son of Elas," said Lhe, "you are fair-minded yourself. And," he added with a sideways glance at Kurt, "I cannot even fault you the guest of your house. I do not want to kill you. You and this human would haunt me."

  "Your priests are not sure," said Kurt, "that I have a soul to do so."
<
br />   Lhe bit his lip; he had come near heresy. And Kurt's heart went out to Lhe t'Nethim, for it was clear enough that in Lhe's eyes he was more than animal.

  "T'Nethim," said Kta, "has the Methi sent you here?"

  "No. My advice is from the heart, t'Elas. Yield."

  "Tell your Methi I want to speak with her."

  "Will you beg pardon of her? That is the only thing she

  will hear from you."

  "Ask her," said Kta. "If she will or will not, ought that not be her own choice?"

  Lhe's eyes were frightened. They locked upon Kta's directly, without the bowing and the courtesy, as if he would drag something out of him. "I will ask her," said Lhe. "I already risk the anger of my father; the anger of the Methi is less quick, but I dread it more. If you go to her, you go with those chains. I will not risk the lives of Nethim on the asking of Elas."

  "I consent to that," said Kta.

  "Swear that you will do no violence."

  "We both swear," said Kta, which as lord of Elas he could say.

  "The word of a man about to lose his soul, and of a human who may not have one," declared Lhe in distress. "Light of heaven, I cannot make Nethim responsible for the likes of you."

  And he rose up and fled the hold.

  Ylith took a chair and settled comfortably before she acknowledged them. She had elected to receive them in her quarters,.not on the windy deck. The golden light of swaying lamps shed an exquisite warmth after the cold and stench of betweendecks, thick rugs under their chilled bones.

  "You may sit," she said, allowing them to straighten off their faces, and she received a cup of tea from a maid and sipped it. There was no cup for them. They were not there under the terms of hospitality, and might not speak until given permission. She finished the cup of tea slowly, looking at them, the ritual of mind-settling before touching a problem of delicacy. At last she returned the cup to the chan and faced them.

  "T'Elas and t'Morgan. I do not know why I should trouble myself with you repeatedly when one of my own law-abiding citizens might have a much longer wait for an audience with me. But then, your future is likely to be shorter than theirs. Convince me quickly that you are worth my time."

  "Methi," said Kta, "I came to plead for my city."

  "Then you are making a useless effort, t'Elas. The time would be better spent if you were to plead for your life."

  "Methi, please hear me. You are about to spend a number of lives of your own people. It is not necessary."

  "What is? What have you to offer, t'Elas?"

  "Reason."

  "Reaon. You love Nephane. Understandable. But they cast you out, murdered your house. I, on the other hand, would pardon you for your allegiance to them; I would take you as one of my own. Am I behaving as an enemy, Kta t'Elas?"

  "You are the enemy of my people."

  "Surely," said Ylith softly, "Nephane is cursed with madness, casting out such a man who loves her and honoring those who divide her. I would not need to destroy such a city, but I am forced. I want nothing of the things that happen there: of war, of human ways. I will not let the contagion spread." She lifted her eyes to the chart and dismissed the woman, then directed her attention to them again. "You are already at war," she told them. "I only intend to finish it."

  "What... war?" asked Kta, though Kurt knew in his own heart then what must have happened and he was sure that Kta did. The Methi's answer was no surprise.

  "Civil war," answered Ylith. "The inevitable conflict. Though I am sure our help is less than desired, we are intervening, on the side of the Indras-descended."

  "You do not desire to help the Families," said Kta. "You will treat them as you do us."

  "I will treat them as I am trying to treat you. I would welcome you as Indras, Kta t'Elas. I would make Elas-in-Nephane powerful again, as it ought to be, united with Elas-in-Indresul."

  "My sister," said Kta, "is married to a Sufaki lord. My friend is a human. Many of the house-friends of Elas-in-Nephane have Sufaki blood. Will you command Elas-in-Indresul to honor our obligations?"

  "A Methi," she said, "cannot command within the affairs of a house."

  It was the legally correct answer.

  "I could," she said, "guarantee you the lives of these people. A Methi may always intervene on the side of life."

  "But you cannot command their acceptance."

  "No," she said. "I could not do that."

  "Nephane," said Kta, "is Indras and Sufaki and human."

  "When I am done," said Ylith, "that problem will be resolved."

  "Attack them," said Kta, "and they will unite against you."

  "What, Sufaki join the Indras?"

  "It has happened once before," said Kta, "when you hoped to take us."

  "That," said Ylith, "was different. Then the Families were powerful, and wished greater freedom from the mother of cities. Now the Families have their power taken from them but I can restore it to all who will renounce the Sufak heresy. My honored father Tehal-methi was less mercifully inclined, but I am not my father. I have no wish to kill Indras."

  Kta made a brief obeisance. "Methi, turn back these ships then, and I will be your man without reservation."

  She set her hands on the arms of her chair and now her eyes went to Kurt and back again. "You do press me too far. You, t'Morgan, were born human, but you rise above that. I can almost love you for your determination; you try so hard to be nemet. But I do not understand the Sufaki, who were born nemet and deny the truth, who devote themselves to despoiling what we name as holy. Least of all"--her voice grew hard-"do I understand Indras-born such as you, t'Elas, who knowingly seek to save a way of life that aims at the destruction of Ind."

  "They do not aim at destroying us."

  "You will now tell me that the resurgence of old ways in Sufak is a false rumor, that the jafikn and the Robes of Color are not now common there, that prayers are not made in the Upei of Nephane that mention the cursed ones and blaspheme our religion. Mor t'Uset ul Orm is witness to these things. He saw one Nym t'Elas rise in the Upei to speak against the t'Tefuri and their blasphemies. Have you less than your father's courage, or do you dishonor his wishes, t'Elas?"

  Kurt looked quickly at Kta, knowing how that would affect him, almost ready to hold him if he was about to do something rash; but Kta bowed his head, knuckles white on his laced hands.

  "T'Elas?" asked Ylith.

  "Trust me," said Kta, lifting his face again, composed, "to know my father's wishes. It is our belief, Methi, that we should not question the wisdom of heaven in settling two peoples on the Ome Sin, so we do not seek to destroy the Sufaki. I am Indras. I believe that the will of heaven will win despite the action of "men, therefore I live my life quietly in the eyes of my Sufaki neighbors. I will not dishonor my beliefs by contending over them, as if they needed defense."

  Ylith's dark eyes flamed with anger for a time, and then grew quiet, even sad. "No," she said, "no, t'Elas."

  "Methi." Kta bowed-homage to a different necessity- and straightened, and there was a deep sadness in the air.

  "T'Morgan," said the Methi softly, "will you still stay with this man? You are only a poor stranger among us. You are not bound to such as he." ,

  "Can you not see," asked Kurt, "that he wishes greatly to be able to honor you, Methi?" He knew that he shamed Kta by that, but it was Kta's life at stake. Probably now, he realized, he had just thrown his own away too.

  Ylith looked, for one of a few times, more woman than goddess, and sad and angry too. "I did not choose this war, this ultimate irrationality. My generals and my admirals urged it, but I was not willing. But I saw the danger growing: the humans return; the Sufaki begin to reassert their ancient ways; the humans encourage this, and encourage it finally to the point when the Families which kept Nephane safely Indras are powerless. I do what must be done. The woman Djan is threat enough to the peace; but she is

  holding her power by stripping away that of the Indras. And a Sufak Nephane armed with human
weapons is a danger which cannot be tolerated."

  "It is not all Sufaki who threaten you," Kurt urged. "One man. You are doing all of this for the destruction of one man, who is the real danger there."