Then, unexpectedly, she giggled. You can kill me, but you can't eat me, the barbarian had said. Such an odd expression, but one that revealed much. Caught by rising laughter, Mara thought, I'll eat you, Kevin of Zun. I'll take your free soul and heart and tie them to me more than your body was ever bound. Then the laughter became a choked sob, and tears trailed down her cheeks. Outrage and humiliation overwhelmed her until she shook in spasms. With that pain came other emotions, equally disturbing, and Mara crossed her arms tp hold herself tightly, as if she could force her body to stillness. Control returned with difficulty, as she employed her mental exercises yet again.
When at last she regained her composure, she let out a long breath. Never had she needed to employ that exercise three times. With a muttered 'Damn that man!' she called servants to ready her bath. She rose, and added, 'And damn his wrongheaded pride!' As she heard the bustle of servants racing to do her bidding, she amended her comment: 'Damn all wrongheaded pride.'
Mara studied the outworlder, again in the red light of sunset. Heat invaded her study, despite the open screens to the garden, admitting the faint evening breezes, yet Kevin was more relaxed than previously. His fingers still toyed with the fringes of the cushion, a habit no Tsurani would permit. Mara counted it an unconscious act, signifying nothing. Obviously the implications of being allowed to live had finally registered on the outworlder. He studied Mara as intently as she studied him.
This strange, handsome — in an alien way — slave had forced her to examine long-held beliefs and set certain 'truths' aside. For the balance of the previous night and most of the day Mara had sorted out impressions, emotions, and thoughts. Twice she had been so irritated by this necessity she had been tempted to send soldiers to have the man beaten or even killed, but she recognized that the impulse stemmed from her personal frustration and resolved not to blame the messenger for the message. And the lesson was clear: things are not as they appear to be.
For some peculiar reason she wished to play this man in an intimate version of the Great Game. The challenge had been made the moment he had forced her to submit to his rules. Very well, she thought, as she regarded him, you have made the rules, but you will still lose. She didn't understand why it was important to vanquish this slave, but her intent to do so matched her desire to see the Minwanabi ground into the dust. Kevin must come to be her subject in every way, giving her the same unquestioning obedience as every other member of her household.
Kevin had been in her presence for nearly ten minutes, silently waiting as she finished reading reports. Reaching for her opening gambit, she said, 'Would you care for something to drink? The interrogation may prove long.' He weighed her words well enough to know she did not offer conciliation, then shook his head. After another silence, she asked, 'On your world is it possible for a slave to go free?'
Kevin's mouth crooked in irony. His fingers flicked, and fringes scattered in a snap of pent-up frustration. 'Not in the Kingdom, for only criminals with life punishment are sold as slaves. But in Kesh and Queg, a slave who pleases his master may earn freedom as a reward. Or he may escape and make his way across the borders. It happens.'
Mara watched his hands. Flick, flick, one finger after another lashed the fringes; his emotions could be read like a scroll. Distracted by his openness, the Lady struggled to pursue her line of thought, to explore her improbable supposition one step further.
'And once across the borders, such a runaway might accumulate wealth and live in honour among other men?'
'Yes.' Kevin thumped his palms on his knees and leaned back at his ease on one elbow, ready to add more, but Mara cut him off.
'Then you believe that if you were to find a way back across the rift to your own world, you would be able to regain your position, your honour, and your title?'
'Lady,' said Kevin with a patronizing smile, 'not only would I reclaim my former position, I would have won distinction, for contriving escape from my enemies, to once again take the field to oppose them, and to give hope to future captives that they might also find freedom. It is the duty of a captured . . . soldier to escape, in my nation.'
Mara's brows rose. Again she was forced to re-examine her concepts of honour, loyalty, and where one's best interests lay. The barbarian's words made sense, in an oddly disquieting way. These people were not intractable, or stupid, but acting within a strange culture's tenets; she grappled with the concept stubbornly. If, within Kevin's society, his defiance was seen as heroic, his behaviour made a perverted sort of sense. Leading by example was a familiar Tsurani ideal. But to endure humiliation . . . degradation . . . so that one could someday return and again contest with the enemy . . . Her head swam from ideas that, until now, she had held to be profoundly conflicting.
She took a moment to sip at cool fruit juices. Dangerously fascinated, like a child shown forbidden rites in a back temple chamber, Mara considered facts sharp-edged as swords: in Midkemia, honourable men did not harm women, and honour did not die with captivity. Slaves could become other than slaves. What, then, did the gods decree for men who lost their souls while still alive? What station could negate honour in a worse way than slavery? Within the framework of this man's culture, honour was gained by upholding their odd codes, and rank was seen as a situation rather than a life. Kevin behaved like a free man because he didn't think of himself as a slave but, rather, as a captive. Mara rearranged her robes, hiding turmoil brought on by 'logic' that bordered heresy on Kelewan.
These barbarians were more dangerous than even Arakasi had imagined, for they assumed things as foregone conclusions that could turn Tsurani society on its head. Mara earnestly believed it would be safer for her people if she had her barbarians all executed. But sooner or later someone would exploit these perilous ideas, and it would be foolish to let the opportunity fall to an enemy. Mara tossed off her disquiet in a raw attempt at humour. 'From what you have said about women being sacrosanct, then your Lords' wives must make the decisions. True?'
Kevin had followed her every move as she smoothed her silks. Drawn to the visible cleft between Mara's breasts, he tore his eyes away regretfully and laughed. 'In part, they do, my Lady. But never openly, and not according to law. Most of their influence is practised in the bedchamber.' He sighed, as if remembering something dear to him, and his sight lingered over the exposed bosom above her robe and the long length of leg that extended below the hem.
Mara's eyebrows rose. Aware enough of nuance to blush, she reflexively drew her legs under her and closed the top of her scanty robe. For an awkward moment she found herself looking at anything else in the room but the nearly nude slave. Enough! she scolded herself. In a culture where nakedness was commonplace, why was she suddenly discomforted?
Irked at her mistake, she stared directly into Kevin's eyes. Whatever this man might think, he was still her property; she could order him to his death or her bed with equal disregard for consequences, for he was but a thing. Then she caught herself and questioned why her mind turned to the bedchamber. Struck by her unexpected angry reaction at such foolishness, she took a deep breath and turned the discussion away from things remotely personal. Soon she was lost in an in-depth exploration of Lords and Ladies and their responsibilities in the lands beyond the rift. As on the night before, one subject led to another series of questions and answers, with Mara providing Kevin with the words he needed to flesh out his description of his nation, the Kingdom of the Isles.
A quick man, he needed scant tutelage. Mara was impressed by his ability to discourse on many topics. The room dimmed as the lamp burned low; Mara was too distracted to call in a servant to trim the wick. The moon rose beyond the open screen, casting a copper-gold glow across the floor and throwing all else into shadow. The flame burned lower still. Mara lay back on her cushions, tense and not ready for sleep. Beneath her fascination with Kevin's world, anger still smouldered. The memory of his physical touch - the first man's upon her skin since her husband's death - occasionally threatened to disrupt her
concentration. It took all her will at such instants to stay focused upon whatever topic the barbarian was addressing.
Kevin finished describing the powers of a noble called a baron, and paused to take a drink. Lamplight gleamed upon his skin. Above the rim of his cup his eyes followed her body's contours through the thin silk robe.
Unreasoning distaste stirred through Mara, and her cheeks flushed. Picking up her fan, she kept her face expressionless as she cooled herself. Bitterly she understood that new information could only temporarily divert her from her inner turmoil.
The intelligence brought in by Arakasi had unsettled rather than reassured, and the fact her enemies offered no immediate threat to counter left her uncertain which flank to guard. Her resources were thin, too few men guarding too broad a front, while she tried to arrive at a useful strategy. She found herself fretting endlessly over what she could most afford to lose, this warehouse or that remote farm. The daring victory she had won over Jingu had not blinded her to reality. The Acoma were still vulnerable. She might have gained prestige, but the number of soldiers in her garrisons had not changed. When enemies chose to move against her in force, a wrong guess would be dangerous, even fatal.
Kevin's culture offered strange concepts, like a salve against fear's constant ache. It occurred to Mara that she must keep the barbarian close at hand, both to dominate him and to pick at that confused treasure-house of ideas he carried with him.
Now better acquainted with the slaves' attitudes, she deemed it safest if their ringleader was kept away from them. Without Kevin, the slave master reported, the barbarians were less prone to grumbling and indolence. And if Kevin was at her side through most of her daily activities, his close-hand observation of high Tsurani culture might better enable him to apply his wits to her problems - a potentially priceless perspective. To that end, Mara decided she must allow him to know something of the stakes at risk. She must acquaint him with her enemy, and let him discover what he stood to lose if Desio of the Minwanabi should triumph over the Acoma.
The next time that Kevin interjected a personal question, Mara lowered her lashes to give the impression of a girl about to exchange a confidence. Then, hoping she acted rightly within the framework of his alien culture, she looked up brightly. 'You shouldn't expect me to answer that.'
Some of the vulnerability that leaked through was genuine, and the result struck Kevin like a blow. She was not remote, or icy, but a young woman who struggled to manage a sprawling financial empire and command of a thousand warriors. Mara responded to his bewildered silence with an air of mischievous devilry. 'You shall act as my body slave,' she announced. 'Then you must go everywhere that I do, and you might observe the answer to your question yourself.'
Kevin stilled into watchfulness. He had caught the calculation behind her ruse, she saw, and was not amused by it. That he would be separated from his men bothered him, and also the fact that he could not read her motive. Absently his fingers worried the fringes again. This time the strands parted to threads under his hands. Mara watched through lowered eyelids: he was growing rebellious again. Rather than risk having him move on her person a second time, she clapped for a manservant. The pattern she used also alerted the guards beyond her door, and they opened the screen, then faced into her chamber.
'Take the slave to quarters,' she instructed her bowing servant, in the morning I want him measured for house robes. After the fitting, he will be assigned duties as body servant.'
Kevin bristled as the servant took his elbow. The guards' vigilance had not escaped him, and with a last, rancorous glance at Mara, he allowed himself to be led away. The servant was shorter than him by a head, and he, in pique, extended his stride until the little man had to stumble into a run to keep up.
In the doorway, Lujan shoved his helm back on his forehead. 'Lady, is that wise? You can hardly keep that barbarian civilized without holding him with a leash. Whatever your ploy, even one so lacking in wit as myself can see that he's aware of your game.'
Mara lifted her chin. 'You too?' Amusement showed through her strained poise. 'Nacoya already lectured me yesterday about learning evils from demons. Arakasi said the barbarians think as crooked as streams twisting through swamps, and Keyoke, who usually has sense, won't say anything, which means he disapproves.'
'You left out Jican,' Lujan said playfully.
Mara smiled and with the greatest of tact released a sigh. 'The long-suffering Jican has stooped to bets with the kitchen staff that my pack of Midkemians will slaughter one another within the next season. Never mind that the trees for the needra fields won't get felled, and we'll be eating calves like jigabirds to keep down the cost of grain.'
'Or we'll be beggared,' Lujan added in tones an octave higher than usual, in a wicked imitation of the hadonra's fretful diffidence.
He was rewarded by a gasp of laughter from his mistress. 'You are an evil man, Lujan. And if you weren't so adept at keeping me amused I'd have long ago packed you off to the swamps, to guard insect-infested hovels. Leave me, and rest well.'
'Sleep, my Lady.' Gently he slid the screen closed enough for privacy, but left enough of a gap that armed help could reach her on an instant's notice. Mara sighed as she saw that Lujan assumed the role of guard before her door, rather than retiring for the night. She wondered how long the Acoma could suffer an honourably plumed Strike Leader standing duty like a common warrior outside her chambers.
Desio, if he knew, would be gloating.
Ayaki grabbed a fistful of red hair. 'Ow!' yelled Kevin in mock pain. He reached up to the boy who straddled his shoulders and tickled his silk-clad ribs. The young Acoma heir responded with an energetic howl of laughter that caused half the soldiers in Mara's escort to suppress a flinch.
The litter curtains whipped aside, and Mara called through the gap. 'Will both of you children quieten down?'
Kevin grinned at her and gave Ayaki's toe one last tweak. The youngster screeched and burst into giggles. 'We're having fun,' the barbarian responded. 'Just because Desio wants you dead is no reason to spoil a perfectly fine day.'
Mara made an effort to lighten her frown. That both Ayaki and Kevin had made their first visit to the cho-ja hive with her retinue was reason enough for boisterous spirits. But what one was too young and the other too inexperienced to understand was that a messenger sent to recall her from the hive meant an event of unsettling importance. If the news had been good, inevitably it followed that it could have waited for her return to the estate house.
Mara sighed as she settled back against her cushions. Sunlight washed across her lap, and humid air made her sweat. It had rained during the night, for the wet season was beginning. The ground where her soldiers marched was thinly filmed with mud, and the shadier hollows in the road sparkled with puddles like jewels. The added moisture caused even the commonest weeds to flower, and the air was oppressive with perfumes. Mara felt a headache coming on. The past month had worn her nerves, as she waited for the Minwanabi under Desio to establish some predictable pattern. So far the only concrete thing Arakasi's spy network had turned up was that Desio had informed the Warlord that his cousin Tasaio was needed at home.
That by itself was ominous. Tasaio's cleverness had nearly brought the Acoma to ruin in the first place, and recovery was too recent to withstand another major setback.
As the litter rounded the last curve on the approach to the estate house, Mara felt apprehension that this summons from her Force Commander resulted from a move instigated by Tasaio. The man was too good, too subtle, and too ambitious to stay a minor player in her enemies' ranks. Had she been Desio, she would have put the entire conflict with the Acoma into Tasaio's hands.
'What did you see that made you wonder?' Kevin inquired of Ayaki. The two of them had been instant friends since the morning the boy had tried to instruct the huge barbarian in the correct manner of lacing Tsurani sandals, even though he really didn't know himself. The barbarian's winning over the boy had given him some added protection a
gainst Mara's anger at his having put hands upon her. As she came to know Kevin, she found herself developing something resembling affection for him, despite his outrageous behaviour and a total lack of civility.
'Funny smell!' shouted Ayaki, for whom enthusiasm was measured in decibels.
'You can't see a smell,' Kevin protested. 'Though I admit the cho-ja's hole reeked like a spice grinder's shed.'
'Why?' Ayaki thumped his chubby fist on Kevin's crown for emphasis. 'Why?'
Kevin caught the boy's ankles and flipped him off his shoulders in a somersault. 'I suppose because they're insects - bugs.'
Ayaki, upside down and turning red with pleasure, said, 'Bugs don't talk. They bite. Nurse swats them.' He paused, dangling his hands downward and rolling his eyes. 'She swats me, too.'
'Because you talk too much,' Kevin suggested. 'And the cho-ja are intelligent and strong. If you tried to swat one, it would squish you.'
Ayaki howled denial, claiming he'd swat any cho-ja before they -could squish him, then howled again as the barbarian slave tossed him and restored him upright into the arms of his disapproving nurse. The retinue had reached the estate house. The bearers squatted to lower Mara's litter, and the soldiers who accompanied her on even the most innocuous errands stood smartly at attention. Lujan appeared on station to help the Lady to her feet, while Jican offered a deep bow by the doorway. 'Arakasi awaits with Keyoke in your study, my Lady.'
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