Black Jade

by David Zindell

  It now seemed that there could be no escaping Arch Uttam's web. I glanced over by the cart, where Maram shook his head as if he had given up the last of his hope.

  And I said to him, 'The Song of the Sun is full of beautiful music.'

  And Arch Uttam snapped his head at this as he told me: 'That which is beauty becomes ugliness when it lapses into error. And so the Song of the Sun has been proscribed.'

  'But what about the Gest of Nodin and Yurieth? That is a simple love song.'

  'It may be simple,' Arch Uttam said. 'But it has also been proscribed.'

  I did not need to ask him about my favorite verse, the Song of Kalkamesh and Telemesh, which told of the crusade to liberate the Lightstone after Morjin had first stolen it late in the Age of Swords.

  As we would soon learn, that epic was first on the proscribed list. And so I asked Arch Uttam, 'Has the Lay of the Lightstone also been proscribed?'

  'Proscribed? No. But one may sing it only with changes made to the old verses that reflect the Lightstone's true history. And Lord Morjin's place in that history.'

  Changes, I thought. Lies, and more lies.

  I said to Arch Uttam, 'And the Lord of Light?'

  'It is the same with that work, especially so.'

  I gave up trying to find any traditional song, epic or poem that Arch Uttam would approve. I glanced quickly at Daj and said, 'What, then, of the Gest of Eleikar and Ayeshtan?'

  Arch Uttam frowned at this. He obviously hated that I had named a work with which he was unfamiliar. I sensed, too, that without words to provoke his scorn and cognizance, he had failed to identify the melodies of Alphanderry's three songs.

  'I'm sure that I have never heard of that work,' he said. 'And sure that I don't wish to.'

  'But is it on the proscribed list?'

  'All works,' he told me, 'that have not been approved have been proscribed. That is the new edict. You should know that.'

  It nearly killed me to bow my head to him and say politely, 'Then in the future we will make sure that all the words to our songs are approved. If we are in doubt, we will play only pure music for its own sake.'

  This failed to mollify him as well. His frown deepened as he stared at me and announced, 'Nothing must ever be done for its own sake. Not a walk in the sunshine or the smelling of a flower's fragrance. Especially the making of music. It arouses too many passions. And all passion, as it is written, must be directed toward one purpose, and one purpose only. It disappoints me that you seem not to know this. It is a grave error.'

  I left a lust for violence stir inside Lord Mansarian and many of the soldiers standing about. When Arch Uttam spoke of a grave error, they could expect to see blood.

  I prepared to run over to the cart and retrieve my sword so that I could make a last fight of things. I would not stand to be scourged and have the meat shredded from my bones - to say nothing of being crucified. Nor would I abide watching Estrella and Kane being tortured likewise, if Arch Uttam should include them in the correction of the error of playing a few lovely songs.

  I do not know how things would have gone for us if Lady Lida hadn't caught King Arsu's ear and said, 'Who of us hasn't made errors from time to time? Who of us hasn't lapsed into enjoying a beautiful sunset just because it is beautiful? These players tried to give us a fine music, and in their ignorance chose their songs foolishly. I am no priest, of course, but are these players' errors really so very bad?'

  Arch Uttam stared at her as if he wished to nail her to a cross, and only awaited the chance.

  Just before Arch Uttam responded to this, Lida resumed speaking to King Arsu. The King held up his hand to silence Arch Uttam. He seemed utterly taken with Lida; she communicated things to him with a few murmured words, a pressure of her hand against his wrist and the imploring look in her eyes.

  Then King Arsu turned to Arch Uttam, and for the first time that day, took on something of the aspect of a true king: 'We must take into account that these players are practically strangers in our land, and should be treated with the hospitality for which Hesperu is famed. Is it generous to construe their errors according to the strictest possible interpretation of what we know of error? Must we fear the goodness of our hearts and the forgiveness that Lord Morjin has taught us? We know well that we can be stern, at need - who has not lost a beloved companion in this last war? Who has not exulted in the sight of the Avrians crucified for their defiance? But this is a day of celebration: of our victory and our cousin's birthday, and therefore of life. Can we not celebrate the gift of our lives in realizing that all who live are subject to error? Surely these players have made errors, but surely they are no worse than Errors Minor.'

  King Arsu, I thought, having completed a successful campaign, was in a great good humor. He practically willed Arch Uttam to bow before his magnanimity.

  But a High Priest of the Kallimun will bow before no one - except the Red Dragon himself. And so, in an icy voice. Arch Uttam said to King Arsu: 'You are a great king who has led Hesperu to victory in great battles. And we can all give thanks that you have devoted yourself to the study of war and the ordering of Hesperu's empire, won in the Red Dragon's name. But there other battles that must be fought, and it is your very great devotion to final victory that has necessarily kept you from studying the deeper ways of error. It is to free you to fulfill your purpose that the Red Dragon, in his compassion, has sent his priests to aid you. And that is all that I would ask of you today, that you let them, for that is my purpose.'

  King Arsu's high spirits seemed to plummet. He could not gainsay Arch Uttam without defying Morjin himself. And so he told Arch Uttam: 'It is upon you, of course, to decide the nature of these players' error. But let us say that they have made only an Error Minor. Shouldn't it be enough that they correct it by forfeiting their prize to the Kallimun school here? And that they be commanded to memorize the list of permitted works and the changes that have been made to them?'

  Now it was Arch Uttam's turn to seethe with ire. Almost everyone listening to their debate, I thought, found King Arsu's judgment to be reasonable. Arch Uttam could not gainsay King Arsu without undermining his authority and thus ruining his effectiveness in leading Morjin's armies to triumph. And so it seemed that he had no choice except to be merciful toward us.

  He gazed down from the box at Kane, Estrella and me. And he told us, 'As King Arsu has suggested, let it be. Are you willing to forfeit your prize?'

  Over by the foodsellers' stalls. Lord Rodas stood with his six toughs waiting to hear how I would reply. His indignation bubbled out into the air like boiling oil.

  'Yes,' I said, answering for all of us.

  'And are you willing to memorize the changes in the songs that you may sing?'

  'Yes,' I said, looking down at the grass.

  'Very well,' he snapped out. 'Then your errors will be corrected.'

  I felt the muscles along my throat begin to relax, as of the tension slowly easing on a piece of bent steel. And then Arch Uttam pointed at the cart and said, 'Let us make sure the minstrel understands this, too. Bring him to me.'

  Kane flashed me a quick, dangerous look. Then he shook his head and said to Arch Uttam, 'Thierraval always keeps to himself after a performance. It is his way.'

  'Excluding oneself from others is also an error,' Arch Uttam said. "Therefore your minstrel will have a different way today. Go fetch him.'

  But Kane only glared at Arch Uttam, and did not move.

  Arch Uttam finally looked away from him. He turned his anger on Estrella, the smallest and youngest of our company. He pointed at the cart and commanded her: 'Go open that door, right now girl! Or do you wish to stand in defiance of one of Lord Morjin's priests, which is defiance of Lord Morjin himself?'

  Estrella had no choice but to carry out Arch Uttam's command. She ran over to the cart and opened its door. After looking inside, she turned toward Arch Uttam and shook her head. With quick motions of her hands and a look of puzzlement on her open, expressive face, she made
it clear to Arch Uttam. and everyone else, that Thierraval was not inside the cart.

  'What?' Arch Uttam cried out. He glared at Estrella. 'What are you saying, mime? Speak in words!'

  'She cannot speak.' Kane growled out 'She is mute.'

  'Mute, you say?'

  'As silent as the sky. But her meaning is plain enough: You won't find Thierraval inside the cart. As I told you, he always vanishes after a performance.' 'What trick is this, Juggler?' 'No trick at all, priest. You might say it is part of our act.'

  Arch Uttam drew himself up stiffly and sneered at Kane as if he refused to handy words with a lowly player. He whipped about, turning to face Lord Mansarian. He pointed at the cart as he called out, 'Go bring me that minstrel!'

  Lord Mansarian bowed his head to him. He threw back his red cape, drew his sword and came down from the box. After hurrying across the square, he brushed Estrella aside. He practically leaped up into the cart. I heard him banging about inside as if striking his sword's pommel against the cart's floor and walls. I could only guess at Lord Mansarian's reaction in coming face to face with Bemossed hiding there, and Bemossed's response to this search. I commanded my arms and legs not to move; if I could have stilled my racing heart, I would have.

  And then Lord Mansarian stepped out of the cart and dosed the door. He called up to Arch Uttam: 'The minstrel is not inside.'

  I could not keep my breath from bursting out in a rush of relief.

  And then Arch Uttam called down to Lord Mansarian: 'What? Are you sure he is not hiding there? It must be a trick: a false bottom to their wagon. A false wall.' 'No. I tested for that. The minstrel must be elsewhere.'

  Arch Uttam stared at our cart as if he might order it chopped to splinters with axes. Then he stared at Lord Mansarian. When this grim-faced Crucifier, famed for ferreting out errants from hiding places in their houses, declared that no minstrel hid inside it, even a high priest of the Kallimun had to accept this.

  At last, Arch Uttam said, 'The minstrel must have slipped away somehow when we were discussing these players' errors. It would seem that they are adept at sleight of word as well as prestidigitation.'

  He looked past the food-sellers' stalk and the courtesans' pavilion at the many rows of tents of the army's encampment. He cast his gaze down upon Estrella and said. 'Tell me where he went! You must know.'

  But Estrella only held out her hands as her eyes grew wide with mystification and she shook her head.

  'Speak!' he commanded her. 'Do not mock me any more!' Kane's voice rolled out like a dark thunder as he called up to Arch Uttam: 'She cannot speak any more than you can fly!'

  Arch Uttam seemed ready to order Kane put to death on the spot. He snapped out, You mock me. too. You say the girl cannot speak. We shall see. Lord Mansarian!'

  He commanded this butcher to take hold of Estrella, and bring her forward. Although Lord Mansarian may have stood in debt to Bemossed, he did not extend his gratitude to Estrella. I watched helplessly as he did Arch Uttam's bidding. He escorted Estrella up the steps of the box and over to Arch Uttam so that they stood between the priest and King Arsu. Lord Mansarian damped his bronze-shod arm across Estrella's trembling body so that she could not flee. Her dark, wild eyes found out mine as if pleading with me not to let anyone harm her.

  'Don't be afraid,' Arch Uttam said to her as he rose up from his chair. 'For the true of heart there is nothing ever to fear.'

  King Arsu's guards did not like anyone outside his entourage to approach very close to him, not even a weaponless young girl. King Arsu seemed not to like this course of events either. He said to Arch Uttam: 'Can we not get on with the celebrations?'

  'We must always celebrate truth.' Arch Uttam said in a deadly calm voice. He placed his fingertips on Estrella's jaw to tilt her face up toward him. 'I think this girl has something of the look of the Sung. And the look of defiance.'

  Next to Arch Uttam, still sitting at the edge of the box. King Angand looked on with interest. He seemed to question whether Estrella ought really have had her origins in the people of Sunguru. And then Lady Lida touched King Arsu's arm and said, 'If the girl really cant speak, then she can't be held accountable for defiance.'

  Before King Arsu could say anything. Arch Uttam barked out, 'Lord Mansarian!Iif this girl has dared to play us all false, do you think that you could make her speak?'

  'Yes, Arch Uttam,' he said as his arm tightened across Estrella's slender chest. His scarred face seemed as empty of life as a steel mask. 'Thumbscrews would loosen her tongue, if it was stuck. A little fire applied in the right places would make her sing.'

  I traded a quick look with Kane. I could see his black eyes, like mine, looking for a way out of the violence moving toward us like a fog of blood.

  Arch Uttam smiled at Lord Mansarian. He seemed to be testing him; I sensed that this had become a ritual with them: the High Priest of Hesperu trying to make sure of the devotion of a once-noble man who had gone from being a rebel to Hesperu's greatest murderer.

  'I might prefer a flaying,' Arch Uttam told Lord Mansarian. 'But even you, I think, might have difficulty peeling the skin off a girl'

  If Arch Uttam was trying to frighten Estrella into speaking, then he failed. Or perhaps he was still trying to find some act or abomination so utterly cruel that Lord Mansarian would refuse to carry it out.

  'I could take the skin off her hand,' Lord Mansarian said, 'like a glove.'

  I noticed Lida's fingers moving against King Arsu's wrist, and King Arsu suddenly called out: 'This is no day for torturing children!'

  Arch Uttam only smiled at this. He said to Lord Mansarian, 'You yourself once resisted the truth, did you not?'

  'Even as I resisted Lord Morjin,' Lord Mansarian said.

  'And you did this of your own will, did you not?'

  'Freely, I did.'

  'And so who was to blame for the torments you suffered?'

  'Only myself,' Lord Mansarian said. He let his eyes look down upon Estrella. 'But there can be no resisting the Red Dragon's power. It is perfect - and glorious.'

  I sensed the sincerity in his voice, as well a deep loathing of himself. Clearly he blamed himself, and not Morjin, for whatever evil had befallen him.

  'Perfect and glorious!' Arch Uttam called out as he caressed Estrella's face. 'That, Lord Mansarian, is a perfect characterization of Lord Morjin and all that he puts his hand to.'

  His bony fingers now touched beneath Estrella's jaw and felt down along her delicate throat. He used them to force apart her jaws. He positioned her so that the sun streaming through the box's silk covering illumined her open mouth. He grabbed up a cloth and used it to take hold of her tongue. Then he pulled it out as he rudely stuck his fingers down her throat until she coughed and gagged.

  As it happened, he had once been a healer of some reputation. And this former healer who now hunted down healers in the Red Dragon's name, loudly announced: 'There is nothing wrong with this girl, in her body, that keeps her from speaking. And so there must be something wrong in her mind: some error of thought.'

  He let go of her, even as Lord Mansarian maintained his hold. He wiped his fingers with the cloth. Then he continued: 'All errors of thought can be corrected with right thoughts. And no thought can be more perfect than that of Lord Morjin himself.'

  Arch Uttam bent down and brought his horrible face up close to Estrella's. I could almost smell his foul, bloody breath as he said to her with a false kindness: 'Do not be afraid, girl. Close your eyes. Hold the image of Lord Morjin inside you. Concentrate on it! Let it blaze like the sun! The Red Dragon will burn away your muteness more surely than Lord Mansarian's fire.'

  Arch Uttam then pressed his palm against Estrella's forehead as if to sear this image into her.

  I stood there with Kane on the grass of the square looking up at the box at Arch Uttam, Lord Mansarian and Estrella. I felt my hand aching to grasp the hilt of my sword. I felt my heart aching as well. At last, Estrella opened her eyes and stared at Arch Uttam. She
could not hide her contempt for him, or her fear.

  'Well, girl?' Arch Uttam asked. 'Does Lord Morjin live inside you?'

  Estrella slowly nodded her head. She could not tell him that Morjin, who had taken her speech in the first place, would always dwell inside her like a snake wrapping its coils around her throat.

  'Speak, then!' Arch Uttam commanded her. 'Speak now!'

  But Estrella only shook her head and held out her hands helplessly.

  'Speak, damn you, brat!'

  Tears welled up in her eyes.

  And then Kane shouted up to the box: 'If the girl is ever healed, it will only be through the Maitreya!'

  'She is as whole as you or I!' Arch Uttam shouted back at him.

  'No - she is mute and has been so for years!'

  'You,' Arch Uttam said, pointing down at Kane, 'lie.'

  Arch Uttam made a fist as if to control the trembling of his fingers. And then he added, 'And therefore you are guilty of sedition as well.'

  Around the square, many people looked upon this scene intently but did not say anything. I saw Lida gripping King Arsu's hand in silence.

  King Arsu said, 'Before crucifying them, we would like to know the truth of things.'

  'Indeed,' Arch Uttam said. 'The juggler and the girl must be put to the test.'

  Lida's hand tightened around King Arsu's hand, and the King told Arch Uttam, 'It is too fine a day for more torture.'

  Arch Uttam considered this. 'If not torture, then a trial - a trial of arms.'

  Kane's black eyes gleamed at this. So did mine. I imagined King Arsu sending out Lord Mansarian or some champion to fight Kane sword to sword.

  But Arch Uttam, it seemed, imagined other things. He plucked an apple from the bowl of fruit on the long table in front of him. Without warning, he hurled it straight at Kane's face. Kane snatched it out of the air and stood looking at Arch Uttam with loathing.

  Then Arch Uttam explained the nature of the trial that he had in mind: Estrella was to go down to the cart and stand before the target with the apple balanced on top of her head. Kane must then throw the knife at the apple.