"And who am I to let him know is here to see him, madam?"
"Tell him it is the lady with the golden head mantle. He knows I am expecting him." She said curtly. The man bowed slightly and went off. The house was abuzz with talk. No one noticed her. Betal had managed to send a letter to her beloved to meet her "auntie" at the teahouse for a talk. After her tea was brought to her an hour had passed before the youth showed up, peering in at her suspiciously. She motioned at the other chair for him to sit. He sat down slowly, watching her.
"Tea?" She asked simply. He shook his head.
"Do you know who I am?"
"Betal said her auntie wanted to see me. Is there trouble? Do you not approve of me?' He asked. She lowered her voice to a whisper.
"I do not know if I approve of you. What you and she are doing is against the law. You both could be put to death if my husband finds out. Especially if you cannot pay the bride-price." She looked him over quickly. "And I am sure you cannot pay it." At first the boy lowered his eyes sadly, then gave her a defiant look.
"That fire. That is what I want to see in the eye, boy. Fire. If you are going to go against the rule, you had better have the strength to keep to it. So, what is your trade or profession? She is of noble birth and her family is wealthy. How will you support her?"
"I do not have great wealth but I am very good at making sword blades and knives. My father is the greatest swordsmith in this city and I am his most talented apprentice. He has a very good business. One day he will be very wealthy if business keeps up."
"As it is now, we are at war. I am sure his business is quite profitable?"
"Yes madam. Very profitable."
"That is well. But you do realize that you cannot simply take Betal and go back home with her? Your father will not accept you for stealing another man's bride, will he?"
"No, of course not. It will bring trouble to his house but I have a plan. I have already thought about this. We will run away, far, far away, elsewhere. Did she tell you?" He asked breathlessly. She raised a brow.
"Nothing specific."
"I am good enough to work under any other swordsmith or a blacksmith. Better than any other apprentice in this city. Better than some swordsmiths, even. I do not brag. It is merely the truth. I plan to eventually have my own business one day." He said with pride.
"I have seen your work. I am glad to hear of it. I would have been horrified to hear that you did not have the means or skills to care for her. How much ladre have you managed to save? How will you get to your destination?"
"I have some coins saved. Enough to buy two good mules, or horses."
"So you are not planning to go very far? Else you would buy camels."
"Why do you ask me these questions? How do I know you are not planning to go back and tell your husband?"
"Because I already knew about your little assignations with my sister-in-law for some time and if I were of a mind to tell on you, I would have already done so. And I ask because I care about her well-being. Here," She reached into one of her purses and pulled out a small bag of silver. She had stolen much of it from the house over time and hidden it but she would not need it now. She gave it to him. "You could use this and go even farther away." The boy's eyes widened in surprise.
"Get as far away as you can. And whatever you do, do not go to Jhis." He stared at her as she sat back and drank her tea. Then he let out a sigh of relief.
"I thought I was going to have trouble from you. Thank you so much! But. . .why would you help me?"
"Because I do not want Betal to end up like me."
"Oh, I love Betal with all my heart!"
"I am sure you do. The key is to learn how to keep loving her. It is well and good to be in the bloom of love. To keep the fire is the hard part. But I leave it to you both to figure out how to stay married. If you were both of the same station the matter would be simply that your father would pay a much higher price than usual to her family for your taking her and that would be it. That is not the case here. Go far away, else both of you will be caught and put to death."
"We plan to go to Zapulia. I already have the mules secured, in fact. We plan to leave by an underground way. So many underground tunnels in this place, no one will see us slip away and then we can be together. She thought of going to Egi but it is too dangerous a trek and Zapulia always seemed a friendlier land to me. I have been there before."
"Have you? You like it then?"
"Yes. A beautiful place and fertile lands. Lots of opportunities there for a hard working man to make a good living. Especially in Yallas-By-The-Sea. I have been to Egi once too. To Egium."
"What was it like?"
"Mysterious. Beautiful. Especially at night with all of the colored lanterns and the night markets with such brilliant tiles that light up the ground in the night markets. Full of interesting things and secrets but I do not think I would like to live there. Slaves can be treated like dogs there with no recourse and almost anyone can be made to be a slave in the wrong circumstances." She nodded.
"So I have heard. Any place can have its pitfalls, though it seems to me you have chosen a good place. I shall pray for you both."
"You do not worship our gods. Betal said."
"No, I do not. Even so, I shall pray for you both to find safety and prosperity." She said. He smiled.
"My real name is Ugdush." Now she smiled.
"I bid you farewell then, Ugdush. And my name is Lady Kaisha. Even if you do not have my husband's blessing or your father's, you have my blessing."
"Thank you, Lady Kaisha. That is good enough for me and Betal." She bade him goodbye and told him that Betal was waiting for him on the second level of the market square above the dye pits. He left and she finished her tea slowly. Then followed him out to where Betal was waiting, but like ghosts, they had already gone. She thought of disappearing too but she had no place to go. Now she would have to put on the performance of her life.
. . .
She was not sure if she could truly hear anything. Sight came to her again slowly in one eye, then the other. Her head, her skull rang with a buzzing sound. She heard voices. Her husband's. He was screaming. She could not move and when she could finally focus her awareness, she found that she was lying flat on the ground.
"Where is she? Where is she? You were her chaperone and you lost track of her? What am I to tell her betrothed? What?" Spittle was forming at the corners of his mouth. She tried to reply but choked and coughed instead. Blood splattered onto her chest.
"Where is she?" He kept screaming over and over. She shook her head.
"I do not know, I do not know." She said weakly. He kicked her and she rolled over and curled up into a ball in pain. She could hear somewhere else in the house her mother-in-law and sister-in law, Yisal, wailing. The whole house was in an uproar.
"You lost her! My youngest sister in a dirty, forsaken marketplace and who knows what will happen to her now? Or who she has run off with? You have shamed me! You have shamed me and you will pay! I will kill you, witch! I should never have let you out of the house because there is no honesty or trust with you! You have done nothing but destroy this family!" He grabbed her by her hair and dragged her. She began crying which only enraged him more.
"Shut up! Shut up!" He kicked her again and dragged her to the little room. His eyes burning with rage. He was shaking, pale as the moons, and sweat glistened on his skin, dropping from his body like rain. Kaisha felt ill, as if she wanted to vomit. Her stomach twisted itself in nauseating knots and her back pounded with terrible pain.
"You will not escape! I trusted you and you betrayed me and lost my sister! Corrupted her! You will die before the dawn comes. Curse the day I married you! You will curse me in the end! When I come back I will cut off your head and stick it on a pole outside my house so that all can see the foolish woman who tried to shame me!" He locked her in the room. Kaisha rolled over, vomited and lost consciousness.
The long night had passed while she sat in th
e corner and then the pale light of morning faded in. Her heart felt dead inside, yet there was the terrible stab of anguish at her fate. Who was at the door? Slowly she heard the door unlock. She trembled. Someone was coming in. The door opened suddenly and she got up, hugging the far corner of the room ready to dash out and make a last, desperate escape. It was one of the servants. The one with the baby. She had brought a tray of food and water.
"Mistress. He has fallen deathly ill." The girl came in and sat the tray down on the ground.
"What do you mean?"
"Master is dying. He is bed-ridden. He was sharpening his sword last night and suddenly he was struck down, ill. He has been vomiting and passing bloody stools all night and now even into the morning. It is the flux. Here, you must eat. I fear he does not have long. Stay away." Kaisha felt a fire in her heart. Would she not die? Was this an answer? She nearly fainted. The girl rushed to catch her from falling.
"Lili, has a doctor been called? If he is dying one must be a witness to this, else they will say I poisoned him or put a curse upon him." Lili nodded. Kaisha left the tray on the floor but took the water with her and quietly stole toward her room. She felt nearly drunk with elation but she was not free yet. She went toward her room and she heard something. In the far end of the house was his mother and sister. They were in his bedroom. She went back to her own bedroom. Two servants passed her on her way.
"They may quarantine the house, Mistress Kaisha. Master has the bloody flux again. He may die by the morning." One of them said in hushed tones.
"Is a doctor here?"
"Yes Mistress. Lady Ketmal sent for him. He is in the bedroom with the family and with Master now."
"They will not allow me in, I know it." She went to her own room and took off her ruined clothes and dressed herself in a plain, striped dress, steeled herself and went to the bedroom but the door remained locked.
"Please? I-" She heard her mother-in-law shrieking from behind the door.
"Go away, witch! You have done enough now that you have taken my son from me!"
The rest of the day was a day of waiting for death. Kaisha stayed near the door of her bedroom, watching and waiting, late into the evening. The witch-doctor finally came out of the room.
"You are his wife?"
"I am."
"Why do you not go in to him? Go in to him, for he is dying. He will not live beyond tomorrow. His mother is also ill with the bloody flux and has just now taken to her bed. She is old. I fear she will not survive it either." Kaisha went to her husband's bedroom and glanced in. It was dark with the drapes drawn tightly shut, keeping out the light.
"You must keep everything clean. And you must put these charms about the house to prevent the demon who attacks your husband and Lady Ketmal from attacking you."
"Thank you." She had seen the scions deal with this illness before and she did not fear it as much as others. He put the charms in her hand.
"Please, do not leave until he has passed away. They accuse me of trying to kill him, his mother and sister." She pleaded. He smiled faintly.
"I know you are a scion of the desert mothers. I'd heard it told to me years ago. Had they been here in Galieh I suspect this illness would have ended long ago. I know you have not done him harm nor are you what they say but I am a witness to his passing away from illness, if anyone needs to know the truth. I have served this family for many years. Lord Hasor, like his father, has always had a weak constitution because this family has always been haunted by evil spirits, my lady. This slow decline started before he married you."
"I thank you, dear father. Your insight helps but I must have it written down for others to see in the community for I am afraid of what they will do to me once he dies."
"Do not fear. I shall serve as a witness. If anyone raises a complaint against you in this matter, call upon me." He said. Her mind eased, Kaisha went in to her husband's room. The air was stale and rank with feces, blood and vomit. His breathing was heavily labored. Dark circles were set deep under his eyes. There was a pot filled with excrement by his bed. He was too weak to rise and get to the latrine in the bathing room.
"Lili! Please come and empty the pot!" She called. Lili came and retrieved the pot and left quickly. She went to his bed and poured some water for him and tried to get him to drink but he could not. He turned his head.
"I have never tried to harm you or your family, Hasor." She said quietly. "Why have you persecuted me so?" Hasor said nothing. The death rattle in his chest was strong.
"Hasor?" She prodded quietly.
"It was a mistake. A mistake. I should not have married you." He finally whispered. She was silent.
"Why not?" She asked suddenly. He did not speak for a long time.
"I am dying. Leave me."
"No, I will not leave you. I would have an answer before you go from this place. Why do you say you should not have married me?"
"We are not the same. Too different. Should have listened to mama." He said. "Too different."
"Yes. You are right." She said absently. It was the same misgiving Mother Berenice had. They both should have listened. He coughed raggedly. She picked up a clean rag and wiped the blood from his mouth.
"You were very beautiful. Still are, Kaisha. Very. . .beautiful."
"And you were very handsome. Neither makes a marriage." He made something that sounded like a chuckle over the death rattle.
"No."
"Why did you marry me, Hasor?" She persisted. His voice was very weak, barely a whisper.
"Because I thought you could protect me from my enemies. You are a scion. . .of greater ones of old. I thought. . .I had thought your magic could protect me. Bless me. Charm me and mine." He turned his head and closed his eyes. So, now she knew. She was his magic charm. Until it became evident that she could not bear children.
"But it was never magic, Hasor. It was God." She murmured. She gave him a hard stare. Some hours ago he was going to behead her and throw her body into the street. Her plight was still precarious, but the worst trial was over and she was not going to let his mother and sister throw her out of the house penniless. He had no brothers, uncles or cousins still alive and his father was long dead. Her mother-in-law would have fought or even killed her for the inheritance but she had suddenly fallen ill herself. It dawned on her that perhaps someone Above was at work at this fortunate turn of events. Kaisha busied herself keeping him clean all the while thinking where the money boxes might be kept when she'd finally had enough of the darkness. She opened the drapes and shutters to let the light in. He groaned softly.
"I am sorry but this family has too long lived in the dark. Let some light in and may the light shine on you, even on your dying day, though you would not have been so generous to me." Her husband suddenly turned his eyes towards the waning light. He moaned something unintelligible and reached out a long, thin, wasted arm toward the window. Then he dropped it and died. His eyes were wide open, staring. She went to the bed and closed them. She set the charms down on a table and searched the room and after some time she found the money boxes. There were three of them. These, she had Lili help her, quietly, take to her bedroom and with her own keys locked them there. She then went back to her husband's bedroom. Beside the bed was his scimitar. And by it was his whetting stone. He was preparing for her execution whilst she languished in the prison room on the other end of the house. She looked upward and closed her eyes, feeling an involuntary shudder sweep through her. God is merciful. She took up the scimitar. It was beautiful in appearance, its pommel end a deep blue sapphire. It had script engravings upon its surface which seemed to be made of a silver type metal that gleamed. She had little idea how to wield a sword properly but she was stronger than she looked and had watched the warrior scions wield their swords from time to time. And she did know how to handle a knife blade. All that was his, as far as she was concerned, was now hers. She was sure she could handle Yisal. The sword was hers. She called the witch-doctor who came in and gave the last r
ites.
"Let his body be wrapped and anointed with oils and preserved and let the funeral and mourning rites begin." She said. She called for the servants and they made known to Lady Ketmal and Yisal of his death, of which the mother, lying in her bed, wailed and screamed in her grief, calling down evil upon her. Kaisha was unmoved. Yisal came in to her brother's room no longer fearing the sickness and in a rage she lunged at Kaisha. Kaisha took up the sword and swung it at her just missing her head, slicing off a piece of her garment. She then took the side of the blade and slapped Yisal with it repeatedly, beating her into sobbing submission. Most of the servants hearing the commotion watched silently and did not interfere.
"Will she kill her in front of us?" Cried one of them who was loyal to Lady Ketmal.
"Quiet! Things are about to change for the better. Besides, Lady Kaisha holds the family teraphim. She is lady of the house now." Said another. Kaisha ignored them.
"Get up." She demanded to Yisal. "I will tell you only once." The woman dragged herself up, bruised and bloodied.
"You would attack me with my brother's own sword. You lowborn whore! I curse the day you ever entered our noble family!" In a fury Kaisha slapped her. Yisal screamed in fright and drew back.
"Dak Rullak! I do not fear you now, you hateful, shriveled vulture! He is dead and cannot rise and defend you. If you ever lift up your hand or foot against me I will kill you. Speak again to me in that tone and I will kill you. Your mother is dying and she needs you, so have a care with your tongue. I am Lord Hasor's widow and I inherit what is his. I will be merciful and you will accept what I say and do in this house, or you will be killed or sent to a house for old women!" Kaisha was no warrior but she was tougher than this peevish, bitter woman.
"I will take everything in this house. All jewels, silver and gold, the ladre and fine fabrics. The house itself is yours. I have had enough of Galieh. But first, you and I shall observe all rites." She held Yisal under house arrest, hiring a guard to watch her movements, confining her to the western wing to care for her mother and she was not allowed to go anywhere else unattended but to the inner courtyard. Let her see how my life has been here. Kaisha thought grimly.
Red World Trilogy Page 63
