"If you decide to take up my challenge to expand your mind, you can find me here, each fifth day of the week, right before sunrise, the fourth hour of the morning. Here in the Garden of Lady Quala. Think on it." With that he and his students rose and they left the garden and ascended the wide stone steps back to the school. Ephron grunted in resentment.
"I still say those good-for-nothing fellows need a good thrashing and had we been in some other place I would have let them have it. Honor is no archaic relic. It is a living and breathing thing that at all times must be protected against cowards and fools and wicked men."
"I agree. But what he says is interesting. It makes sense to me in a way, that perhaps a man is born with honor instead of achieving it." He liked the sound of it. Was he not born of nobility and royalty? Did not nobility and royalty also mean one had honor? Yes, he liked the sound of that indeed.
"So, will you go?" Asked Shukala.
"I may. You cannot tell anyone!"
"Of course we would not. We never do!" Said Shukala. "He does seem rather sly, though."
"It does not mean he has nothing important to teach me. I will go and see what he has to say. And judge for myself. And the Library of All Schools! That would be a true privilege, if nothing else comes of it."
"I do not trust that old man." Said Ephron. However, he barely heard a word. Rapheth's mind was racing with possibilities. They went their way back to their own neighborhood.
Injep had said that secret mysteries awaited him in the hallowed halls of the great library of Rhuctium. Truly, only one who worshiped at the altar of the god of stupidity, whoever he was, would pass up such a privilege.
Chapter Nine
The scent was overwhelming. Kaisha wished dearly that the marketplace was located on the opposite side of the city. The market in Galieh was mostly covered, located in a vast, sprawling three-story building, partly roofed and partly covered with tents to house the many merchants and their shops. Aside from this was a caravanserai where the nomads and caravan merchants sojourned for days or even weeks before moving on farther east or going back home.
She cherished these times, roaming the market with her young sister-in-law. A chance to get away from the house and from her husband's changeable, violent moods and her mother-in-law's prying, haughty eyes. She was actually here to buy food goods for the house. When she first left Gamina to marry she was dazzled by the sights of the rich bazaar of Galieh. It was far more varied and sophisticated than the little one in Gamina. A servant girl faithfully trailed along behind her and Betal.
Betal, spirited, full of hope and silly flights of fancy was looking for what she was always obsessing over - more fabric for new clothes - if she was not obsessing over love. She often came home with volumes of fabrics to swamp their already over swamped and harried seamstress. Kaisha had all the clothes and jewels she cared for. So many in fact that she rarely wore them at all. These days they were mere baubles that she'd let Betal wear. The girl was full of silver and copper step chains and they jingled and tinkled gaily as she flitted about. Kaisha felt like a turtle to Betal's hummingbird-like movements. Already she was off again, a vendor selling super-finely woven linens or white and cream silks with gold thread catching her eye. Kaisha was not surprised by the girl's disappearances at the market. It was her only freedom. She would soon be married and that would be the end of her freedom.
Kaisha made her way to the spice and produce vendors. There were the usual things: cinnamon, cardamom, sanguina, nutmeg, nigella seeds, sumac, marigold, black pepper, various flavors of salts and the best salt from the Sidunna Plains but she lately craved the exotic fruits of the South Lands and the far eastern places. Dried and even fermented wild fruits like papaya, mango and luma. Luma pudding seems a splendid idea. Also peppers and many other things. There would be fish tonight. Not her decision. Her mother-in-law had decided, as she always did, what they would all eat and when. Usually if she new that Kaisha wanted beef or goat or lamb. Then all of a sudden, Lady Ketmal would have a taste for fish. Or mussels. Kaisha chose the best, freshest fish at the fish monger's stall: two long large Corka fish and black shark livers, also valued for their teeth in aphrodisiacs, and Fhit sole, her favorite. Her mother-in-law hated Fhit sole. So she bought it. And some wild honey and almonds.
She had once tried an aphrodisiac on her husband. It turned into a woefully humiliating incident and taught her that aphrodisiacs did not work. At least not on her husband. There was the time only a few months ago when she had been moved to help one of the maidservants help deliver her baby, fathered she later learned by her husband. They had called in the witch-doctor who put charms upon her and danced and sang while the woman labored long into the night and the next day. The woman began bleeding profusely and even the local midwives were at a loss as to what to do. Kaisha with her minimal knowledge of herbs and midwifery stepped in and saved both mother and child from dying which went a long way in endearing her to the servants of the house and they supported her secretly ever after, whenever they could.
Then, her mother-in-law had set about sending her most trusted servant to spy on Kaisha and Betal. Kaisha knew instantly what the change in servants who accompanied them to the market was about and had complained loudly and often to her husband until he acquiesced to her demand to bring her own maidservant with them again. That was at least one battle she'd won. Perhaps an important one.
After having bought what she needed she went to a corner and ordered the maidservant to wait with their goods while she went to a private chamber behind curtains and veils; a teahouse where they were serving tea and smoking water pipes. Sure enough she saw Betal lounging around several young men and women, laughing and smoking. It was one of the few places where men and woman socialized together. Kaisha saw a young man, who was sitting right next to the girl get up from the pillows and duck into another room behind a curtain as soon as she had come in. Kaisha gave Betal a warning look and came and sat down by the group.
"Oh, oh, Kaisha you must try it with milk. It is a divine essence, so soft and creamy." She could smell the fruity scent of the herb and tobacco in the water pipe.
"I have already tried it with milk. And with honey and cinnamon and with many other things in many ways. Here." Kaisha took the pipe from Betal and drew in her breath and blew out a short puff of smoke. She sighed deeply. Mother Berenice would have been aghast at how far she had fallen.
"What is wrong? You do not want to go back home, do you?" Kaisha shook her head sadly.
"Well, neither do I! We should run away together! There are so many places we could see-"
"Not without ladre."
"But you could bring all your jewels and sell them for coin."
"Do not be silly, child. Your mother and brother would hunt you down like wolves after prey. You and your "friend".
"Friend?" Betal said innocently.
"The youth that went and hid in the back room. How long do you think you can run and hide and see him without getting caught, Betal? You are to be married soon. You are playing a dangerous game. They will send you off to a temple. Or worse. You know this."
"But we have not done anything dishonorable!" Protested Betal.
"Not yet, but the heart is treacherous and if you continue you will put both yourself and me in a terrible position. We should not even be in here." Kaisha took another puff. The smoke was that familiar mixture of deep tobacco and the light fruity scent of dried fruit added and it always relaxed her. She ordered some white tea for herself and Kaisha and the others and they sat sipping the swirling sweet tea and smoking their shared water pipe with the small group.
Kaisha was now twenty-eight and still childless. The year before she had thought that she was, at last, pregnant, which would finally give her the respect she'd craved in the eyes of her husband and mother-in-law and the other women in the community but it was not to be. It was a phantom pregnancy. Her mind and days were such a whirling mess of anguish and madness that she barely recalled much of wha
t happened, other than the phantom pregnancy seemed to drive her husband to the brink of madness which in turn drover her nearly from sanity. Every day was a waking nightmare at that time and though things had now calmed down it was a cold, rancorous household, full of luxuries and hatred. He let her go to the caravanserai for her own sanity. Her mother-in-law had urged her husband to put her away, but for some reason he refused, stating she was his wife and he loved her, but where was the love? He seemed to prize her lighter colored hair and complexion but love? She wondered if she had ever been a real person to him. There were times she came to the market and thought of throwing herself from the upper level of the caravanserai down into the ancient dye pits below. She had nearly forgotten how to pray and this family was not of her religion nor did they tolerate it. But Betal, in her own way, was her friend through it all and the girl genuinely cared for her well-being. She would often defy her family to help her and would be her shoulder to cry on and Kaisha, in turn, did the same for her.
But this affair with the young man she'd met at the caravan city six months ago made Kaisha fear for Betal's life. Betal was a beautiful girl who attracted as many looks as Kaisha herself. She had long, deep brown hair that she always wore down, being unmarried, dark large eyes that often shined with happiness and copper skin, a look that matched her sunny disposition.
"Oh I wish I looked like you, Kaisha!?" She said.
"Why? You look fine."
"But if I had lighter eyes like yours I would be a queen!"
"You will be an important lady someday. Regardless of eye color." At this, Betal frowned and her face fell.
"I do not want to marry him." She said quietly. Kaisha did not know what else to tell her.
"I know. But things get better." She gave Kaisha a strange look.
"Well mine started off fine but not all marriages are like mine, Betal. I am sure yours will be better as long as you do what you have to do as a wife and have sons." Kaisha was regarded by many when she first married as the prettiest woman in Galieh. Which made her suffering all the more painful since now she was known to be barren and many woman whispered the words "worthless foreign bauble" behind her back and even sometimes "witch." She had garnered the envious hatred of Betal's elder sister, a widow who had moved back in with the family. The noblewomen of Galieh in their circle now openly showed their contempt. She was common, used goods, up-jumped from the desert.
"Look, I will never tell on you Betal but we must get going. If we are late they will start wondering and you do not want them to wonder, do you?" Betal shook her head. She took a long, hungry draw from the pipe and blew out the smoke in great satisfaction and they left and gathered their goods into their litter and were carried home. The maidservant walked along outside. Betal kept peeking out watching the hustle and bustle of the city in morning. She heard the shouting of Abulom denouncing the enemy. The patron god of Galieh, Heros, it seemed had been usurped by Nimnet. A few times she'd heard smiths and other craftsmen in the market grumbling about how the Egian goddess already had two major cities consecrated to her. At least in her husband's house Heros and his altar remained exalted. Perhaps if they had been ardent worshipers of Nimnet she would have cause to be afraid if she had given birth. But it was not so. Kaisha closed her eyes in fatigue and rested her head against the walled fabric of the litter. She hated home and berated herself all those years ago about how silly she had been when she was a young girl, dreaming of marriage. How handsome he should be! How valiant and strong and how wealthy he should be and how he would keep her in jewels and how each day would be another apex of bliss. It never occurred to her all those years ago that the man she would marry would hardly be anything like what she expected or that she would be miserable. She'd run headlong into an abyss. She remembered that pivotal time - King Khalit had attacked Gamina - and they had survived. Afterward her and Anet's paths changed forever. Anet had become thoroughly consumed with the Writings and the Law and the prophet's instruction, day after day. She would talk of her visions sometimes but afterward Kaisha saw less and less of her as she would go wandering the desert or stay on the Hill of Shima with the prophet Ilim, or travel with the emissary scions. In two years Anet was a wholly different person and Kaisha felt nearly alone and unimportant. Then one day she told Kaisha that she would destroy Nimnet's temple, that she had seen this in a prophetic vision and that she was instructed by God. Kaisha was happy for her but did not think much on it after that. Her friend was an adept on the high Red Path, something higher than her own destiny, but then she remembered her own desires, that her destiny lay not with being a prophetess but being a married woman. She passed time studying midwifery under Zipporah. And then he had come, one of the lords of Galieh who'd made his wealth in building weapons of iron. He was one of the great men of fame and she thought that this was her chance, her dream.
Hasor. He was handsome and seemed strong, wearing his battle suit with his finely made sword at his side on his beautiful copper colored horse, looking for a good wife. They had first seen each other when the scions had gone on a mission in Galieh to stop a pestilent plague from sweeping the city back then. Their eyes had locked and he had told her he had finally found his desert flower, his bright jewel and that he would make her his wife, regardless of her low station. She had fallen in love just as madly and against the advice of Mother Berenice and Instructress Helga, she agreed to marry him. In two years they were married, she was fifteen, he was twenty-seven. She was lady of the House of Hazad. Or so she'd thought.
But that was then. He had loved her enough, once. But it soon became plain after their first year that she had made a terrible mistake. Oh how she wished she had listened. But what other path was there for her? Why could she not just be happily married? Had God forsaken her? Why did it all go so badly? A few tears slid down her cheek. She wiped them away quickly. Betal was too busy staring out of the curtain to pay any attention. Once he came down with a terrible fever. She had healed him through her slim knowledge of herbal medicine but afterward he was different. Unstable. He would fly at her in a rage over nothing, sometimes even beating her senseless over the tiniest infraction. His mother encouraged his hostility and rage against her, who hated her and thought her unworthy of her son. The elder daughter constantly criticized her every move. Those two ran the household after that point and he would not allow her the freedom she once had. It was as if her husband had been taken away and a changeling was left in place.
And then, the whispered accusations of "witch" came occasionally. The family accused her of being a witch and harming him after his sickness to put him under control and this followed an accusation that she had come with the witches from Gamina to draw him in and entice him and deceive him into marrying her to take her into his family's bosom, just like the queen did to King Khalit. They were not enthusiastic supporters of Queen Taliat and in this, at least she agreed with them. But to be compared to that Egian queen was too much to endure. Then Yisal accused her of witchcraft for refusing to have a child, even after she had tried everything she could think of to conceive. After it all, she now found herself in this unhappy, embattled plight. Betal was now her age when she first married and she did not want to see this happen to the girl.
"Betal."
"Yes?"
"This boy you are in love with. What is his trade? His profession? I know he is not noble born."
"So? What does that matter!" Betal cried in defense. Kaisha put her hand up.
"You do not understand my meaning. Listen to me. What does he do for a living? How would he support you?"
"He is the son of a swordsmith. One of the best. He apprentices under his father. He told me. He made this for me." Betal took a small sheath of cloth from under her harem pants and drew out an exquisite bronze dagger. It had her name etched upon it in an old script. A pale blue chalcedony stone was set in the handle. Kaisha was surprised.
"Betal! You carry this around with you?"
"Yes, of course. I have never had cause t
o use it but he gave it to me as a gift. He is very good."
"Indeed. I ask this because you will need a man who can support a household, whoever he might be. It is well to live on love for a few months but love can fizzle and it is better to have ladre and problems than to be poor and have those same problems." The girl looked at her in disbelief.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean this, you know I am not happy with your brother. That is plain to many. But, things would be far worse if he were impoverished, or unable or unwilling to work and care for me and we had these same problems. Do you understand? As a scion I have traveled to quite a few places and I have seen people in wretched poverty. Of those, women and children fare even worse than men, and the men suffer. Do not simply think of your feelings and emotions but think of your needs as a woman. If you have children, how will he care for them? Will he abandon you if you grow fat or have too many children and then he feels he cannot support them and you any longer? I have seen this too."
"Oh but he would never do a thing like that."
"I am not saying he will, I do not know him but know this, your brother and I were once in love and that love is gone. I did not have children and that has seemed to extinguish the love from him. He did not truly love me, and perhaps my own love was merely on the surface, for I loved him because he is handsome. I would hope that yours and his is based on something richer than that. What happened to me can happen to you if you fall in love with the wrong man or let your heart lead you here and there. Then you will be stuck, unhappy, in poverty and alone." Betal thought on this for a while.
"Well, I know he can take care of a family unless his family business goes bad. But I do not know what to do about the other things. How would I know?"
"Watch him with others, especially around his family. How does he treat those that work under him? Do they have servants? Are the servants or slaves happy or unhappy or even terrified? What is important to him, besides you? What goals does he have? If you plan to marry there are many things you must consider besides staring into each other's eyes all day. Anyway, I would like to meet him. He runs away whenever I come near to him. Next time we come, tell him I would sit and talk with him to get his measure. If I like him, I will try my best to help you escape this other marriage." Betal's eyes lit up. Kaisha grabbed her hand.
Red World Trilogy Page 40
