Helliconia Spring

  One of the best mares she christened Loyalty. Over all the foals she exercised great care, but her special attention was directed towards Loyalty. She knew that she now held by a halter her means of leaving Oldorando and getting to far Sibornal.

  XI - When Shay Tal Went

  * * *

  In sun and rain, Oldorando expanded. Before its industrious inhabitants realised what had happened, it had crossed the river Voral, had leaped the marshy tributaries to the north, had stretched out to the veldt and the brassimip patches in the low hills.

  More bridges were built. None was heroic like the first one. The corps had relearnt the art of sawing planks, carpenters came forth – among both the free and the slaves – for whom arches and joints and abutments presented few problems.

  Beyond the bridges, fields were planted and fenced, sties were built for pigs and pens for geese. Food production had to be dramatically increased, to feed the increasing numbers of domesticated hoxneys, and to feed the slaves needed to tend the extra fields. Beyond or between the fields, new towers were built along the old Embruddock lines, to home the slaves and their keepers. The towers were built according to a demonstration given by the academy, using mud blocks instead of stone, and rising only to two stories instead of five. The rains, heavy on occasion, washed away the walls. The Oldorandans cared little for that since only slaves lived in the new blocks. But the slaves themselves cared – and demonstrated how straw harvested from the cereal fields could be used as overhanging thatch, to preserve the mud buildings and keep them intact even in heavy rainstorms.

  Beyond the fields and new towers were bridle paths, patrolled by Aoz Roon's cavalry. Oldorando was not merely a town but an armed camp as well. Nobody left or entered without permission, except in the traders' quartets – nicknamed the Pauk – developing to the south side.

  For every proud warrior mounted on a steed, six backs must bend in the field. But the harvest was good. The ground gave forth abundantly, following its long rest. Prast's Tower had been used in cold times to store first salt, than rathel; now it stored grain. Outside, where the ground had been beaten flat, women and slaves worked to winnow an immense pile of grain. The men turned over the grain with wooden paddles, the women flapped skins tied to square frames, fanning away the chaff. It was hot work. Modesty went by the board. The women, at least the young ones, threw off their smart jackets and worked with naked breasts.

  Fine particles of dust rose. The dust stuck to the moist skins of the women, powdering their faces, lending their flesh a furry appearance. It rose in the air, creating a pyramid above the scene, gold in the sunlight, before dispersing to fall elsewhere, deadening footfalls on stairs, staining vegetation.

  Tanth Ein and Faralin Ferd rode up, closely followed by Aoz Roon and Eline Tal, with Dathka and younger hunters riding behind. They had returned from a hunt and had brought in several deer.

  For a minute, they were content to sit in their saddles, watching the women at work. Among the women were the wives of the three lieutenants; they paid no attention to the jocular remarks of their lords. The frames fanned the grain, the men leaned indulgently forward in their saddles, the chaff and dust flew high, flecking the sunshine.

  Dol appeared, walking slowly, heavy with child, and Myk the aged phagor walked by her, driving her geese. With her came Shay Tal, her skinniness emphasised by the plumpness of Dol. When they saw the Lord of Embruddock and his men, both women paused, glancing at each other.

  "Say nothing to Aoz Roon," Shay Tal cautioned.

  "He's amenable just now," Dol said. "He hopes for a boy."

  She strode forward and stood by the side of Grey. Aoz Roon looked at her but said nothing.

  She slapped his knee. "Once there were priests to bless the harvest in Wutra's name. Priests used to bless newborn babes. Priests cared for all, men and women, high and low. We need them. Can't you capture some priests for us?"

  "Wutra!" Aoz Roon exclaimed. He spat into the dust.

  "That's no answer."

  His dark eyebrows and eyelashes were dusted with the golden pepper in the air as he switched his heavy glance beyond Dol to where Shay Tal stood, her dark narrow face as blank as an alleyway.

  "She's been talking to you, Dol, hasn't she? What do you know or care about Wutra? Great Yuli threw him out, and our forefathers threw out the priests. They're only lazy mouths to feed. Why are we strong while Borlien is weak? Because we have no priests. Forget this nonsense, don't bother me with it."

  Dol said, pouting, "Shay Tal says the gossies are angry because we have no priests. Isn't that right, Shay Tal?" She looked appealingly over her shoulder at the older woman, who still made no move.

  "Gossies are always angry," Aoz Roon said, turning away.

  "They're twitching down there like a bed of fleas," Eline Tal agreed, pointing at the earth and laughing. He was a big, red-cheeked man, and his cheeks wobbled when he laughed. More and more, he had become Aoz Roon's closest companion, with the other two lieutenants playing rather subsidiary roles.

  Stepping one pace forward, Shay Tal said, "Aoz Roon, despite our prosperity, we Oldorandans remain divided. Great Yuli would not have wished that. Priests might help us become a more united community."

  He looked down at her, and then climbed slowly from his hoxney, to stand confronting her. Dol was pushed to one side.

  "If I silence you, I silence Dol. No one wants the priests back. You only want them back because they'll help fortify your craving for learning. Learning's a luxury. It creates idle mouths. You know that but you're so damned stubborn you won't give up. Starve yourself if you will, but the rest of Oldorando is growing fat – see for yourself. We grow fat without priests, without your learning."

  Shay Tal's face crumpled. She said in a small voice, "I do not wish to fight you, Aoz Roon. I'm sick of it. But what you say is not true. We prosper in part because of applied knowledge. The bridges, the houses – those were ideas the academy contributed to the community."

  "Don't anger me, woman."

  Looking down at the ground, she said, "I know you hate me. I know that's why Master Datnil was killed."

  "What I hate is division, constant division," Aoz Roon roared. "We survive by collective effort, and always have done."

  "But we can only grow through individuality," Shay Tal said. Her face grew paler as the blood mounted in his cheeks.

  He made a violent gesture. "Look about you, for Yuli's sake! Remember what this place was like when you were a child. Try to understand how we have built it to what it is now by united effort. Don't stand in front of me and try to argue differently. Look at my lieutenants' women – tits swinging, working in with everyone else. Why are you never with them? Always on the fringe, mouthing discontent, whining."

  "No tit to swing, I'd say," Eline Tal said, chuckling.

  His remark had been intended for the delectation of his friends, Tanth Ein and Faralin Ferd. But it also reached the alert ears of the young hunters, who burst into jeering laughter – all except Dathka, who sat silent, hunched in his saddle, alertly surveying the participants in the momentary drama.

  Shay Tal also caught Eline Tal's comment. Since he was distant kin to her, the remark stung the more. Her eyes glittered with tears and wrath.

  "Enough, then! I'll stand no more abuse from you and your cronies. I'll worry you no more, Aoz Roon, I'll argue never again. You've seen the last of me, you thickheaded, disappointing, treacherous bully – you and your little pregnant cow of a bedmate! At Freyr-dawn tomorrow, I leave Oldorando for good. I shall depart alone, on my mare, Loyalty, and no one will ever see me more."

  Aoz Roon flung out his arm. "No one leaves Oldorando without my permission. You're not going from here until you grovel at my feet, begging to leave."

  "We'll see about that in the morning," Shay Tal snapped. She turned on her heel, clutched her loose dark furs about her body, and made off towards the north gate.

  Dol was red in the face. "Let her go, Aoz Roon, drive her out. Good ridd
ance. Pregnant cow, indeed, the juiceless creature!"

  "You keep out of this. I'll settle this my way."

  "I suppose you're going to have her killed, like the others."

  He struck her across the face, lightly and with contempt, still looking after the retreating figure of Shay Tal.

  •••

  It was the night period when everyone slept, though Batalix still burned low in the sky. Although slaves twitched in the dreams of dimday-sleep, some of the free were still about on this occasion. In the room at the top of the big tower, full council was met, consisting of the masters of the seven old corps, plus two new masters, younger men from newly constituted corps, the harness and lorimers, and the outfitters. Also present were Aoz Roon's three lieutenants and one of his Lords of the Western Veldt, Dathka. The Lord of Embruddock presided over the meeting, and serving wenches kept their wooden cups filled with beethel or small beer.

  After much argument, Aoz Roon said, "Ingsan Atray, give us your voice on this question."

  He was addressing the senior master, a greybeard who ruled over the metal-makers corps, and who had as yet said nothing. The years had curved Ingsan Atray's spine and turned his scanty hair white, so that the great width of his skull was emphasized; for this reason, he was regarded as wise. He had a mannerism of smiling a great deal, though his eyes, barricaded behind wrinkled lids, always looked wary. He smiled now, squatting on the skins piled on the floor for his comfort, and said, "My Lord, Embruddock's corps have traditionally protected the women. Women, after all, are our source of labour when the hunters are in the field, and so on. Of course, times are changing, I grant you that. It was different in the times of Lord Wall Ein. But women also serve as channels of much learning. We have no books, but women memorise and pass on the legends of the tribe, as is seen whenever we tell the Great Tale on feast days –"

  "Your point, please, Ingsan Atray …"

  "Ah, I was coming to it, I was coming to it. Shay Tal may be difficult and so on, but she is a sorceress and learned woman, widely known. She does no harm. If she leaves, she will take other women with her, and so on, and that will be a loss. We masters would venture to say that you were correct in forbidding her to leave."

  "Oldorando's not a prison," Faralin Ferd shouted.

  Aoz Roon nodded curtly, and looked about. "The meeting was called because my lieutenants disagreed with me. Who agrees with my lieutenants?"

  He caught the eye of Raynil Layan, nervously stroking his forked beard.

  "Master of the tanners corps, you always like to air your voice – what have you to say?"

  "As to that –" Raynil Layan gestured dismissively. "There is always the difficulty of preventing Shay Tal leaving. She can easily slip away, if so disposed. And there is the general principle … Other women will think …Well, we don't want discontented women. But there's Vry, for instance, another thinking woman, yet attractive, and she gives no trouble. If you could rethink your order, many would be grateful to you…."

  "Speak out and don't mince your words so," Aoz Roon said. "You're a master now, as you wished, and don't have to cringe."

  Nobody else spoke. Aoz Roon glared at them. All avoided his gaze, burying their faces in their cups.

  Eline Tal said, "Why are we worrying? What's the odds? Let her go."

  "Dathka!" the lord snapped. "Are you going to grant us a single word tonight, since your friend Laintal Ay has not put in an appearance?"

  Dathka set down his beaker and looked directly at Aoz Roon.

  "All this debate, this talk of principle … it's rubbish. We all know you and Shay Tal long wage great personal war. So you decide what to do, not us. Kick her out now you have your chance. Why bring us into it?"

  "Because it concerns you all, that's why!" Aoz Roon pounded his fist on the floor. "By the boulder, why does that woman always have such a grudge against me, against everyone? I don't understand. What rotten maggot chews at her harneys? She keeps on the academy, doesn't she? She sees herself in a long line of female troublemakers – Loilanun, Loil Bry, who became Little Yuli's woman…. But where would she go? What would happen to her?"

  His sentences seemed wild and disconnected.

  No one answered. Dathka had spoken for all of them; all were secretly aghast when he said what he did. Aoz Roon himself had nothing more to say. The meeting broke up.

  As Dathka was slipping away, Raynil Layan grasped Dathka's arm and said softly, "A cunning speech you made. With Shay Tal out of the way, the one you fancy will head the academy, won't she? Then she'll need your support…."

  "I leave the cunning to you, Raynil Layan," Dathka said, pulling away. "Just keep out of my path."

  He had no trouble in finding Laintal Ay. Despite the lateness of the hour, Dathka knew where to go. In Shay Tal's ruined tower, Shay Tal was packing, and many friends had come to bid her farewell. Amin Lim was there with her child, and Vry, and Laintal Ay with Oyre, and several other women beside.

  "What was the verdict?" Laintal Ay asked Dathka immediately, coming to his side.

  "Open."

  "He won't stop her leaving if she's bent on it?"

  "Depends how much he drinks during the night, he and Eline Tal and that crew – and that wretched hanger-on, Raynil Layan."

  "She's getting old, Dathka; should we allow her to go?"

  He shrugged, using one of his favourite gestures, and looked at Vry and Oyre, who were standing close and listening. "Let's leave with Shay Tal before Aoz Roon has us killed – I'm game if these two ladies will come too. We'll head for Sibornal, the group of us."

  Oyre said, "My father would never kill you and Laintal Ay. That's wild talk, whatever happened in the past."

  Another shrug from Dathka. "Are you prepared to vouch for his behaviour when Shay Tal's gone? Can we trust him?"

  "That's all over long ago," Oyre said. "Father's settled happily with Dol now, and they don't quarrel as much as they used, now a baby's coming."

  Laintal Ay said, "'Oyre, the world's wide. Let's leave with Shay Tal, as Dathka suggests, and make a new start. Vry, we'll take you with us – you'll be in danger here without Shay Tal's support."

  Vry had not spoken. In her usual unobtrusive way, she merely formed part of the group; but she said now, firmly, "I can't leave here. Dathka, I am complimented by your kind suggestion, but I must stay, whatever Shay Tal does. My work is yielding results at last, as I hope soon to announce."

  "You still can't bear my presence, can you?" he said, looking grim.

  "Oh, I almost forgot something," she said sweetly.

  She turned, evading Dathka's brooding gaze, and pushed through the women to Shay Tal's side.

  "You must measure all distances, Shay Tal. Don't forget. Have a slave count the number of hoxney strides every day; with the direction taken. Write down details every night. Find out how far away the country of Sibornal is. Be as precise as you can."

  Shay Tal was majestic in the midst of the weeping and chattering that filled her chamber. Her hawk face preserved a closed look whenever addressed, as if already her spirit was remote from them. She said little, and that little was uttered in unemotional tones.

  Dathka, after staring blankly at the walls, with their elaborate patterning of lichen, looked at Laintal Ay with his head on one side and gestured to the door. When Laintal Ay shook his head, Dathka made a characteristic moue and slipped out. "Pity you can't train women like hoxneys," he said, as he disappeared.

  "At least he is consistently revolting," Oyre said disdainfully. She and Vry took Laintal Ay into a corner and began whispering to him. It was essential that Shay Tal should not leave on the morrow; he must help persuade her to wait for the following day.

  "That's absurd. If she wants to go, she must go. We've been over all this. First you will not leave, now you don't want her to leave. There's a world out beyond the barricades you know nothing about."

  She coolly picked a sliver of straw from his hoxneys. "Yes, the world of conquest. I know – I hear enoug
h of it from Father. The point is, there will be an eclipse tomorrow."

  "That's general knowledge. It's a year since the last one."

  "Tomorrow will be rather different, Laintal Ay," Vry said, warningly. "We simply wish Shay Tal to postpone her departure. If she leaves here on the day of the eclipse, people will associate the two events. Whereas we know there is no connection."

  Laintal Ay frowned. "What of it?"

  The two women looked uneasily at each other.

  "We think that if she leaves tomorrow, ill things may follow."

  "Ha! So you do believe there is a connection…. The workings of the female mind! If the connection exists, then there's no way we can evade it, is there?"

  Oyre clutched her face in exaggerated disgust. "The male mind … Any excuse not to do anything, eh?"

  "You witches will meddle with what is no concern of ours."

  In disgust, they left him standing in the corner and pressed back into the crowd round Shay Tal.

  The old women still chattered away, speaking of the miracle at Fish Lake, speaking obliquely, looking obliquely, to see if their reminiscences registered on the preoccupied Shay Tal. But Shay Tal gave no sign that she heard or saw them.

  "You look proper fed up with life," Rol Sakil commented. "Maybe when you reach this Sibornal, you'll marry and settle down happily – if men are made there as they're made here."

  "Perhaps they're made better there," another old woman responded, amid laughter. Various suggestions as to improvements were bandied about.

  Shay Tal continued to pack, without smiling.

  Her belongings were few. When she had finally assembled them in two skin bags, she turned to the crowd in her room and requested them to leave, as she desired to rest before her journey. She thanked them all for coming, blessed them, and said she would never forget them. She kissed Vry on the forehead. Then she summoned Oyre and Laintal Ay to her side.