Melcorka Of Alba

by Malcolm Archibald

  Bradan fought to retain his composure. 'I see,' he said.

  'You will not speak of that other woman again. You will not think of that other woman again. Your world now revolves around me.' Dhraji smiled. 'Come now, slave Bradan, there are thousands of men who would desire nothing more.'

  Stay alive! If you are dead, you can't help Melcorka.

  'I can understand that.' Bradan enhanced his words by allowing his gaze to roam from Dhraji's face down the length of her body. 'I know a man who these thousands would envy.'

  Releasing him, Dhraji stepped back, still smiling. 'When my cleaning-and-dressing slaves have finished with you, then I shall test you out, Bradan the Wanderer. Tomorrow, I have a treat for you.'

  'Your Majesty.' Bradan thought that a show of humility might best suit his cause. He bent in a salaam such as the cleaning-slaves had used. Pretend ignorance. 'May I ask where we are? Is this the Empire of Chola? Are you the Empress of Chola?'

  Dhraji's laugh sounded genuine. 'Chola? Oh, that is good, Bradan, that is priceless. No, Bradan, this is not Chola. Every slave we captured on that raid is from Chola, and when the Raja returns with his army, he will bring back even more.' Dhraji's face altered. 'When I have Arul Mozhi Chola here as my slave, I will not have him bathed and treat him tenderly.' She pushed her hands together, intertwining her fingers as if wringing the neck of a chicken. 'He calls himself Raja Raja Cholan, the King of Kings, as if he had a divine right over all his neighbours. Well, by Skanda and Yama, Arul Mozhi Chola, the Emperor of Chola, is not raja over me!'

  'I apologise.' Bradan salaamed. 'I did not know. I hope you forgive me, Mistress.' He wondered what else he could say to flatter this volatile woman.

  Dhraji smiled. 'You know now, Bradan.' She patted his chest, her eyes busy. 'We are in the city of Kollchi, in the land of Thiruzha.'

  'I do not know these places,' Bradan said. 'Are we in the Indies? A storm blew us off course.'

  'You are in the south of Bharata Khanda.' Dhraji's hand drifted across Bradan again. 'You may know that better as Hindustan, or even India. Now, get along with the bathing-slaves. I'll send for you later.'

  'Yes, my Lady Dhraji.' Bradan bowed and salaamed again.

  'You learn quickly for a pale foreigner,' Dhraji said. 'I can see I'm going to have fun with you. I hope you learn other things as quickly.'

  'For you, my Lady,' Bradan said, 'I will do my very best.' And when you are asleep, he thought, I will find Melcorka and we'll get out of this poisonous paradise.

  Standing in another courtyard within the palace, with a pool of limpid water in front of him and brightly coloured birds calling all around, Bradan stared at his reflection. Scrubbed, with his hair neatly trimmed, sweet scent splashed onto him and dressed in silken blue robes and open-toed sandals, he no longer looked like the wandering man he was.

  So here we are, Bradan said, slaves of a demented pirate in southern Bharata Khanda, somewhere east of the Central Sea and west of the New World. Melcorka has lost her sword, and her mind, and I am dressed like a God-knows-what, awaiting the call to service some powerful, crazed woman who hates the Chola Empire, whatever that may be. I can't think of a way out yet, but I will not give up hope. With Melcorka not herself, everything depends on me. Sorry, Mel, I will do what I have to do until I see an opening. I know you would understand.

  The reflection stared back, a long-faced, weather-battered man with haunted eyes. The bright, unfamiliar clothes only enhanced Bradan's sense of unreality.

  The guard wore a red turban on his head and a long, slightly curved sword at his belt. He summoned Bradan with a grunt and beckoned for him to follow, with his very unmilitary soft slippers making no sound.

  The palace was more luxurious than anywhere Bradan had visited before, with deep Persian and Afghan carpets on the floor and intricately carved statues of unfamiliar gods standing in prominent places. Colourful tapestries decorated the walls, while armed sentries stood at every one of the arched doors in the never-ending corridors.

  'Lovely place you have here,' Bradan said.

  The guard grunted and shoved Bradan up a flight of marble steps that stretched to a large teak doorway, where two stern-faced female warriors stood on guard.

  On the guard's knock, the door opened silently, and Bradan walked in.

  'Welcome, Bradan the Wanderer.' Dhraji sat cross-legged on what was undoubtedly the most enormous bed that Bradan had ever seen in his life. Wearing a pair of loose, transparent trousers and a loose, equally transparent jacket, she smiled at him across the width of a green-patterned carpet. A double string of pearls around her neck had joined the pearl headdress.

  Bradan salaamed. 'Thank you, Dhraji, Queen of Thiruzha.'

  'You are a quick learner, as I suspected, although here, the queen is known as a rani.' Dhraji patted the bed at her side. 'Come and talk to me, Bradan. Tell me about this Alba of yours, and tell me why you wander.'

  Bradan salaamed again. Unwilling to give too much information to this dangerous woman, he tried to turn the conversation. 'I'd prefer to talk about you, my Lady.'

  'Oh?' Dhraji stretched herself on the bed. 'Tell me why, Bradan.' She twirled the string of pearls around her throat, placed them between her lips and slowly drew them through from one side of her mouth to the other.

  Bradan thought of Melcorka, with her new, vacant smile and dazed eyes. 'There are many reasons, my Lady.' He closed the door with his foot and drew the bolt to ensure nobody would disturb them.

  'Should I be afraid, all alone with a foreign slave?' Dhraji spoke through the pearls in her mouth.

  Bradan guessed that Dhraji had a weapon hidden somewhere on her side of the bed and, even if he did manage to overpower or kill her, he was stuck in the middle of a palace with scores of guards. More importantly, he did not know where Melcorka was. 'You should never be afraid of me, my Lady. I am a wanderer, not a warrior.'

  Dhraji gave a throaty chuckle. 'I am not afraid, Bradan. Now, tell me about me.' She lay back, still playing with her pearls. 'Tell me everything you think. Afterwards, I will have another use for you.'

  Chapter Five

  'You are about to witness history.' When Dhraji put her hand on Bradan's arm, the sun glinted from the single pearl ring on her third finger. 'Today, Bose Raja returns from his raid into the Chola Empire. My clever husband Bhim has created a triumphal arch to welcome him back.'

  'Who is Bose Raja?' Bradan asked. By now, he knew that a raja was the equivalent of a king. He was gradually picking up the native language so he could understand snatches of conversation.

  They sat in another airy room with ornate pointed windows that looked over the city. Directly below the window, people and animals filled the square where the slave market had been held. Further out, a panorama of roofs and temples stretched around them, with the occasional garden and open space. Birds fluttered outside the window, their calls clear above the jabber from the streets below. In the far corner of the room, the leopard lay quietly, head resting on its paws and its yellow eyes occasionally opening to watch what was happening.

  'Bose is our raja and Bhim's father.'

  Bradan nodded. 'I thought you were already the rani, your highness. I had not realised your father-in-law was the raja.' He remembered the warning the Chola shipmaster had given him.

  Dhraji gave her throaty laugh. 'I am only the rani apparent, Bradan the Wanderer.'

  'I am honoured to be your slave, Dhraji Rani.' Bradan salaamed again. Dhraji enjoyed men bowing and scraping to her. 'I am happy that Bhim allows you such freedom.'

  Although Dhraji's smile remained in place, her eyes altered from laughter to something much darker. 'Bhim could not stop me from doing anything I want.'

  So you are the power here. Bradan salaamed again. 'I could not imagine why anybody would ever wish to deny you anything, Your Majesty. Your people are indeed fortunate in having such a ruler. I have never before met a woman quite like you.' Well, the last part was genuine.

  'Be careful now, Bradan.
' Dhraji's expression altered again. 'Although Bhim does not rule me, he is my husband. I do not need another.'

  'One at a time is sufficient for anybody.' Bradan leaned forward, hoping to make Dhraji think he had genuine feelings for her.

  Dhraji took Bradan's hand and placed it on her upper thigh. 'One husband and a few lustful lovers would be my best choice – the husband for heirs and the lovers for pleasure.'

  'A good husband could provide both.' Bradan looked directly downward, where a group of guards drove a long file of chained slaves across the square. Although his position was precarious, his day-to-day life was more comfortable than these poor devils.

  Dhraji raised her eyebrows again in that engaging manner. 'Don't presume, Bradan. One night or one week does not make a man a good husband, however skilled he may be at the two-backed beast.'

  'Indeed, my Lady Dhraji,' Bradan said. 'Devotion and loyalty make a man a good husband.'

  Dhraji laughed, looked away, glanced back at Bradan, shook her head and looked away again. 'You intrigue me, Bradan.' Standing up, she walked to the window with her transparent clothing hiding nothing of her shape. 'You call yourself a wanderer, you are our slave, yet here you are acting the courtier with me. We separated you from your woman, and you adapted as my lover without hesitation.' Dhraji turned to face him, perching on the window ledge with her legs crossed. 'I have had many lovers, Bradan. Most don't last more than a few days.'

  Bradan did not want to ask what happened to the men Dhraji rejected. He remained silent. For one moment, he contemplated rushing forward and pushing her out of the window to her death. That would be suicide; that would not help Melcorka.

  Dhraji placed both hands on the window ledge. 'I would like you to last a while, perhaps two weeks, three, maybe even longer.' She swung her legs from side to side. 'Do you like me, Bradan?'

  'You don't have to ask,' Bradan said.

  'I do have to ask.' Dhraji slid off her perch. 'You should hate me for what I have done to you and Melcorka.'

  Bradan held her eyes as he smiled. 'There are compensations.' He tried to sound casual. 'Is Melcorka still alive?'

  Standing at the window so that the light silhouetted her, Dhraji shrugged. 'I believe she is. I will ask my question a second time; I do not ask things thrice. Do you like me, Bradan?'

  'More than like,' Bradan said.

  'I wonder.' Dhraji remained where she was, with Bradan unable to see her face against the bright sky, or discern her expression. 'I wonder if you do, or if you are lying to me.'

  'I could prove it if you like,' Bradan said brightly. 'I can think of a way.'

  'No.' Dhraji stepped away and walked around the room, so Bradan had to turn to look at her. 'That is lust. Men can lust after anything that even hints of a female.' She stopped and put both hands on Bradan's shoulders. 'You should hate me, Bradan and you probably do hate me.' Her laugh broke the mood. 'Even if you do, there is nothing you can alter. Come with me, Bradan. I want you. No! Wait!' Dhraji changed her mind and held up a hand. 'Look down below.'

  A column of Thiruzha warriors marched across the square, faces to the front and each carrying a long spear, a circular shield and a slightly curved sword.

  'We don't have much time.' Dhraji was smiling again. 'What do you think of my soldiers, Bradan? How do they compare to your warriors from the West?'

  'Your fighting men seem very skilled,' Bradan said. 'However, I have not seen them fight real soldiers so I cannot compare them with the men from Alba.'

  Dhraji's smile broadened. 'Our men are as good as any warrior the Chola Empire can produce, and the Chola soldiers are the best in the world.'

  'Are they that good?'

  'The Chola Empire is expanding and will continue to expand.' Dhraji led him out of the room and into her bedchamber, with the leopard following, its paws noiseless on the thick carpet. 'It controls the southern half of the Bharata Khandan peninsula and half the island of Ceylon, while Chola fleets are continually probing south into the ocean and east toward China.'

  Bradan did not admit that he had never heard of the Chola Empire until the last few days. He watched as Dhraji poured them both a drink of some clear liquid. She handed a silver cup to him and drank from a golden goblet, set around with pearls.

  'Drink, Bradan. It will increase your lust. We don't have much time for dalliance.'

  'I don't need this when I am with you,' Bradan said.

  Dhraji smiled to him across the rim. 'How much can I trust you, I wonder?' She shifted slightly, deliberately allowing her legs to rub against his. 'How much, Bradan?'

  'As much as you wish,' Bradan said.

  Dhraji sipped again, rubbing her foot the length of Bradan's leg. 'I wonder.'

  'You have no need to fear me.' Bradan spoke only the truth.

  As she put down her goblet, Dhraji altered her smile to something far more serious. 'I do not understand you, Bradan. You are unlike any man I have ever met before.'

  Bradan said nothing.

  'You are not a warrior, you are not a priest. You are not a farmer, or a landowner, or a dancer, or a bard. What are you, Bradan?'

  'I am a wanderer,' Bradan said. 'I seek knowledge.'

  'Why?'

  'To find out why we are here.' Bradan said. 'I seek knowledge to find out why people exist in this world and to see strange things and different cultures.'

  Dhraji seemed amused. 'Have you found out yet, why we are here?'

  'No, my Lady.'

  'Then I shall tell you.' Dhraji scratched the head of the leopard, which lay purring at her feet. 'People are here for my pleasure and entertainment.' She flicked her head forward, so stray strands of hair shaded her eyes. 'What do you think of that, Bradan?'

  'As long as you are happy, my Lady, I have no objections.'

  'Do you plan to kill me while I sleep?' Dhraji pushed the leopard away.

  'I have no plans to kill you or anybody else.'

  Dhraji shook her head slowly. 'I believe you, Bradan. Except for priests, I have never met a man who was less violent than you. I have no reason to be afraid at all.' She looked up sharply as somebody knocked at the door. 'Who is there?'

  The female guard was tall and capable-looking. Her eyes flicked to Bradan and away again. 'The border patrol reports a body of Chola cavalry outside Rajgana pass.'

  'What sort of cavalry? Who are they?' It was the first time Bradan had seen Dhraji even slightly agitated.

  'Seventeenth Troop,' the guard said. 'They've moved closer to the pass since our raid.'

  'Who leads them?' Dhraji seemed to have forgotten that Bradan was present.

  'We don't know his name,' the guard said. 'He was a young officer with no reputation.'

  Dhraji visibly relaxed. 'All right. Who brought the news?'

  'The captain of the roving patrol, Highness.'

  'Wait here. I will speak to this captain.' Dhraji hurried from the chamber, still holding the goblet in her hand. The leopard followed, its tail swishing slowly from side to side.

  The guard took up position inside the bedroom, her face impassive.

  'Try this, soldier.' Bradan handed over his cup. The guard looked surprised and took a single sip.

  'That's a powerful potion.' The guard was about twenty, with a determined face and the large brown eyes that seemed common in Thiruzha. 'You can trust Dhraji to have the best.'

  'Royalty always keeps the best for themselves.' Bradan took a sip and handed the rest over to the guard, who drank greedily.

  'Laced with opium, I'd guess,' the guard said. 'How long will you last before Dhraji tires of you?'

  'As long as I can,' Bradan said. 'Have you seen anything of the woman I came with?'

  'I heard about her. She was as pale as you, was she not?'

  'That's her.' Bradan tried to hide his fear. 'Is she still alive?'

  The guard nodded. 'I think so. I've not heard of any executions since you came. You've been keeping the Dhraji busy, so I'm told.' She smiled. 'Lucky man, as long as it lasts
. She's some woman.'

  'She is. Where would Bhim hold the pale woman?' Bradan wondered if he should try flattery with this woman, and decided it was best not to.

  'Bhim would hold her in his room if he wanted her body. In the dungeons if not. Dhraji allows Bhim to do as he wishes with his slaves.'

  'Dhraji's not scared of him then. Is she ever afraid of anybody?' Bradan asked.

  The guard considered. 'You saw her jump just now when I mentioned a Chola patrol. Dhraji is afraid of only one man. The best warrior there has ever been.'

  'Why is that and who is this man?'

  'I don't know.' The guard shrugged. 'There is a story that only one man can kill Dhraji. He is said to be a mighty warrior, as I said – the best there has ever been. That's why she examines all the prisoners and singles out any she suspects may be that warrior. If she finds him, she will have him kiss the feet of an elephant, or try his hand at flying.'

  Bradan nodded. He had no idea what kissing the elephant's feet or flying meant, but suspected both would be unpleasant. The guard's revelation explained why Dhraji had been questioning him about the warriors of Alba and had been relieved to discover that he was peaceful. His lack of fighting prowess had probably kept him alive.

  Dhraji returned before Bradan could ask any more questions. 'Get out,' she ordered the guard, drained the goblet she carried and pointed to the bed. 'And you get on there, slave Bradan.'

  The leopard lay across the doorway, rested its head on its paws and watched.

  Chapter Six

  The crowds packing the streets created a riot of colour and noise. Women and children in bright, flowing clothes carried garlands of flowers, while companies of warriors gathered near the gate. The sun glittered on steel and brass and on the animals of every description that mingled with the people, bellowing or lowing as women threw flowers over their necks.

  'What's that?' Bradan could not control his words as he saw the great, grey monster that lumbered toward them, driven by a man sitting on its neck.

  Dhraji took hold of his arm. 'Have you never seen an elephant before?'