"Oh, I felt so terrible--"
"You doan' know your own strength, banzi, that's your trouble," said the black girl, smacking at a fly on her forearm. "You did fine. He woan' forget us in a hurry. Cran! I'm hungry, aren't you? Surely it can' be much further now."
In fact it was no distance at all. Hardly had they passed, on their right, the dark column of the Tower of Leaves, with its foliated, circular balcony projecting a hundred feet above their heads, when Zuno's jekzha turned off under a low stone arch. Following him, they found themselves in a narrow lane, which made a turn and opened into a paved courtyard. Here Zuno had already got down, and motioned to them to do the same. Together they unloaded Occula's box and stood waiting while he settled with the jekzha-man. His raised-eyebrow technique was no less effective than it had been with the footpads. After a short conversation, and assuming a slightly pained manner, he murmured, "Nonsense, my good man; you're well paid," walked across to a door on the courtyard's further side and unlocked it with a key taken from his pocket.
About to enter, however, he suddenly stopped and, turning to Occula, said, "The--er--young nobleman who spoke to you just now: what might he have said to you?"
"He paid us compliments, sir."
"Did he express any interest in purchase?"
"Not seriously, sir: I think he was just amusin' himself. I simply told him that if he was interested he'd better speak to U-Lalloc."
Zuno paused. "Do you know who he is?"
"No, sir."
"That is Elvair-ka-Virrion, only son of the Lord General Kembri-B'sai."
Thereupon, without waiting for an answer from Occula, he went indoors.
15: AT LALLOCS
Occula and Maia, carrying the box between them, stepped through the doorway into a kind of cloister about twenty yards square. Its center, open to the sky, was a rough garden--a grassed area with a few flowers and a pool on one side. This was surrounded by a low wall, from which rose plain stone columns supporting the roof of a covered way running round the four sides of the enclosure. At intervals along this ambulatory were various doors--and windows also, for the rooms behind the doors had no openings except those looking inwards onto the covered way.
The whole place, secure as any prison, comprised Lalloc's premises, where he kept his stock and from which he carried on his business.
Maia had caught no more than a glimpse of four or five rather rough-looking girls playing with a ball near the pool, before Zuno conducted them both into a small room off the ambulatory. This was furnished with a heavy table, two or three benches, a closet and a bed covered with two or three cushions and a thick rug. On the bed was lounging a big, brawny-looking woman of about thirty, who climbed heavily to her feet as Zuno came in.
"Ah, Vartou," said Zuno, sitting down on one of the benches and helping himself to wine from a jug on the table. "Is U-Lalloc here?"
"No, he isn't, U-Zuno," replied the woman. "He's gone to the upper city on business, but he said he'd be in again early tomorrow. Did you have a good journey from Thettit?"
"Oh--quite uneventful, thank you," replied Zuno with an air of slight impatience. "Well, in that case I suppose you had better take delivery of these two girls. I received them from Megdon at Hirdo."
"At Hirdo?" asked the woman.
"Yes--yes." Zuno closed his eyes wearily. "Perdan will be bringing the normal quota on foot, as usual. I imagine he will be here tomorrow or the day after. The young black woman is here at her own request--an arranged sate-- from the Lily Pool at Thettit. This is a letter, which she's brought with her, from the Saiyett Domris to U-Lalloc." He handed it over.
"Oh, I see; Saiyett Domris's girl. Yes, she's expected. U-Lalloc knows about her."
"The other girl, I understand, is not part of Megdon's quota at all. Apparently she is in the nature of a fortuitous acquisition. Megdon told me he gave a considerable sum for her. Since I gather he was dealing with a peasant woman--a totally inexperienced vendor--he may well be lying, but of all events there is his receipt. It means very little, since the woman was evidently illiterate--a thumb-print, as you can see. U-Lalloc may want to go further into the matter, but Megdon could reasonably argue, I suppose, that it's all clear profit. Anyway, that will be a matter for U-Lalloc when Megdon renders his accounts next month. And now I must be going. Good evening!"
As soon as he had gone, the woman turned to Occula and Maia with an air of truculence.
"Well, and why were you sent here ahead of Megdon's quota? Some trouble, was there? What's the rights of it, eh?"
"U-Megdon thought we were both a little out of the ordinary, saiyett," replied Occula, "and wished U-Lalloc to see us as soon as possible."
"Huh!" said the woman. "So you think you're out of the ordinary, do you, with your black skin?"
" I think nothin', saiyett. I'm simply tellin' you what U-Megdon said."
"And why were you sold to Megdon?" asked the woman, turning to Maia. "Some baron basted you and then got tired of you, did he?"
At her coarse, unfriendly manner Maia, hungry and tired out, felt the tears starting to her eyes.
"With respect, saiyett," said Occula, "my friend will be ready to tell U-Lalloc everythin' that he may want to know tomorrow. Perhaps we could leave it at that. You see a great many slaves, I'm sure. They're not usually over-anxious to talk about their bad luck, are they?"
"Hoity-toity, miss!" cried the woman, "and who do you think you're talking to, hey?"
"Merely a suggestion, saiyett." Occula, looking her calmly in the eye, said no more.
The woman, opening the closet behind her, took out a pliant ash-stick. "D'you see this?" she said. "It's for girls who give trouble. Any more impudence and you'll be making its closer acquaintance."
Occula remained impassive and silent and the woman, after glaring at her for a few more moments, put the stick down on the table.
"Well," she said, "you can both come with me now and I'll show you your quarters. Bring that box along with you."
She led the way out of the room and along the ambulatory. Maia, limping on her swollen ankle as she helped to carry the box, could hardly keep up. Coming, at the corner, to a door standing open in the wall, Vartou, who was unusually tall, stooped under it and then stood to one side as they followed her through.
The two girls found themselves in a stone-floored room, perhaps fifty feet long, with three barred windows opening inwards on the covered way and a hearth in the opposite wall, where a fire was burning. All round were beds, separated by wooden partitions, and in the center stood a long, rough table with benches. The floor was clean and the whole place looked a good deal tidier than anything Maia was used to.
"This is the room for women and grown girls," said Vartou, "but there's only five other girls in here just now, so you can more or less suit yourselves for beds. The bath-house is next door; and damned well use it, d'you see? There's soap and there's sulphur. If you've got lice, get rid of them. Any girl found with lice on her gets whipped-- and soundly, too. Your ankle's swollen," she went on unexpectedly, turning to Maia. "Does it hurt?"
"Yes, saiyett."
"Come to me when you've bathed and I'll strap it up for you. Any kind of cut or ailment, you tell me and I treat it, do you understand? That's a strict rule. Except for children, rations are given out mornings and evenings and you cook them for yourselves. That's what the fire's for."
She paused; then said emphatically, "Now understand this once and for all. This is a high-class establishment. You're lucky. Girls who come here are valuable property and treated accordingly. They're always surprised to find it's better than the homes they've left. Good food, comfortable beds, fresh clothes for those who need them, plenty of towels, soap and water. Do either of you have fits or wet the bed?"
"No, saiyett."
"Anyone who fouls or smashes anything is severely punished, and anyone who isn't clean is punished. U-Lalloc will want to see you both tomorrow."
And with this she was gone.
&nbs
p; Occula thumbed her nose after her. "Lice who come here are lucky and val'able, banzi. They're so surprised, they have fits and wet the bed. Bastin' old bitch! Lice, indeed! Come on, let's pitch camp over here, away from the fire. These two beds'll do." She punched one of them tentatively, then flung herself down on it. "Airtha tairtha! She was right enough, though; they are comfortable! If the rations are as good, we're well away. Can you cook?"
"Sort of," said Maia. " Tends what it is."
"More 'n I can. Never had to--not since the Govig, anyway. Look, banzi, we'd better not both go and bathe at once. We doan' know what sort may be here: one of us had better stay with this box. Would you like to go first?"
"No, darling," said Maia. "I'm all right. We had a bath with the soldiers, remember?"
"Sounds marvelous! How long ago was that? Did I enjoy it? Anyway, I'm ready for another. Why doan' you have a nice little rest till I come back? I suppose the towels must be in the bath-house."
Left to herself, Maia lay down on her bed. The wooden partition at her elbow was incised all over with names and other rough scrawls. "Maydis of Dari" she spelt out slowly; and a date five years earlier.
Then--and here she had the help of a crude but remarkably graphic illustration--"Thylla bastes like a sow."
Having dozed for a time, she had just begun studying a third inscription when a big-built, rough-looking girl of about seventeen, with dark hair and a noticeable squint, walked into the room gnawing an apple.
At the sight of Maia she stopped short, looked her up and down for a few moments and then said, unsmilingly and with a kind of wary belligerence, "Hullo; who are you?"
Maia sat up on the edge of her bed and smiled at her. "My name's Maia: I come from Tonilda."
"Come from Delda, did you say?" answered the girl. "Great Cran, you look like it, too! Stack 'em on the shelf at night, do you?"
Her disagreeable, sneering manner made it impossible to take this as either a joke or a compliment. Still, I'd better be careful, thought Maia. She's too big for me. Besides, for all I know her friends may be in any minute.
"What d'you want to quarrel for?" she said. "Aren't we both in enough trouble as it is?"
"You may be," returned the girl. "Speak for yourself. Going to have a big belly as well, are you?"
"I didn't mean that--"
"What's in that box?" interrupted the girl, walking up to the bed and looking down at it.
"You let that alone!" said Maia sharply. "That's Ocula's box--my friend's. She'll be back directly."
"Boccula's ox?" said the girl, mimicking her Tonildan accent and blowing three or four apple pips over her. "Well, then, dear, I'm afraid darling Shockula's in for a bit of an ock." She laughed briefly at this witticism, stooped and flung back the lid.
Maia grasped her wrist. "I said, let it alone!"
The girl, easily twisting her wrist free, stuffed her apple core down Maia's neck just as Occula, a towel round her waist, came back into the room carrying her orange metlan and an iron frying-pan.
"Banzi," she said, "I found this outside. Why doan' we--" Seeing the girl standing over her opened box, she stopped. "What's goin' on? Did you open that or did she?"
"She did," panted Maia. "I tried to stop her--"
"This'll stop her," said Occula, and without a moment's hesitation hit the girl over the head with the frying-pan, which rang like a gong.
The girl staggered and went down on the floor, but was up again in a moment, spittle dribbling down her chin. Occula, having quickly tossed her metlan and the frying-pan to Maia, was waiting as she rushed at her. They closed and Maia was horrified to see her friend go down under the girl's much heavier weight.
While they lay struggling on the floor, three or four more girls came running into the room and gathered round, shouting excitedly.
Occula, lying beneath the girl, clutched her tightly about with her arms and legs. "Now hit her, banzi, hard!"
Maia, swinging back the frying-pan in both hands, hit the back of the girl's head as hard as she could.
The girl collapsed across Occula's body just as Vartou came rushing into the hall.
"What's all this basting row?"
There was instant silence. It was plain that all the girls were afraid of her.
Vartou stooped and without the least effort lifted Occula's assailant bodily, threw her across Maia's bed and slapped her face. She would probably have gone on to deal with Occula in the same way, but the black girl was already up, shutting her box and getting dressed as though nothing had happened.
"And what the hell d'you think you're doing?" said Vartou, turning towards her.
"Gettin' dressed, saiyett."
"I'll give you getting dressed, you black trollop!"
Standing over Occula, she fixed her with a terrifying stare, which the black girl met unwaveringly.
"Get up!" said Vartou at length, turning back to the other girl, who instantly obeyed her, albeit in a somewhat dazed manner. "Now, listen. I don't want to hear anything from either of you about who started this: you can save your damned breath. If you weren't both due to be seen by U-Lalloc tomorrow I'd thrash you both within an inch of your dirty little lives. But there are ways of hurting girls without leaving any mark on them, and if there's any more trouble that's What'll happen, d'you see?"
"Yes, saiyett," replied Occula. "May I please be allowed to put my box in a safe place? Then I dare say you woan' be put to the trouble of havin' to defend me again."
"You've got a blasted sight too much to say for yourself," said Vartou. "Since you're so particular, you can take it back to my room now, you and your precious friend; and you can draw the rations as well. Time you did some work, both of you."
Both girls were astonished by the issued rations. There was about half a pound of lean meat for each girl in the hall; fresh vegetables, milk, bread, cheese and fruit. They had to make two trips.
"Perhaps you see now, do you," said Vartou sourly, "how much better you're treated here than you deserve? Everything's to be cleared away and clean by the time I come round; if it's not, there'll be trouble." Then, suddenly, to Occula, "You seem to have your wits about you, black or not. That's a rough lot of girls--rougher than most. You'd better help to keep them in order, d'you see?"
"Very well, saiyett."
An hour and a half later Maia, bathed and dressed, her ankle tightly bandaged over a cold compress, was lying on her bed digesting a heavy meal in a state as close to satisfaction as she had known since the commencement of her misfortunes five days before. As not infrequently happens when two tough characters have had a scrap and cooled off, Occula and the cast-eyed girl had become guardedly friendly. The latter, while helping Maia to cook the supper, had unbent to the extent of telling her that her name was Chia and that she had arrived, two weeks before, in a slave quota from Urtah.
"And the curse of the Streels on that bastard of an elder who picked on me," she added. "He had a down on my father, Surdad did. I wasn't well when we started and it was all of sixty miles. Once we got here I went down delirious--didn't know where I was for four or five days. That's why I haven't been sold yet, see? I'm supposed to be getting my health back. You'll be all right," she said, looking enviously at Maia. "Don't know why you're here, really. Girls like you don't become slaves as a rule--not where I come from, anyway. Who d'you think's going to want me? Washing-up girl in some pot-house'll be about the size of it, I dare say."
Maia had felt sorry for her and invited her to sit down and eat with Occula and herself, which she seemed glad enough to do.
Now they had all three dragged their beds side by side and were chatting in the fading evening light.
"You know, dearest," said Maia to Occula, "I thought you were going to say some more to Zuno 'bout that young prince--nobleman--whatever he was. Don't you think he might buy us, if Lalloc was to put it to him?"
"Well, he might," said Occula, "but I'm not goin' to, all the same. If Lalloc's already got his own ideas for sellin' us, it woan'
do us any good to start havin' our own. And then again, that's only a young man, even if he is a high-up Leopard. Young men like that doan' usually buy girls. In a city like this they doan' need to. And s'pose he did, then p'raps he suddenly goes off to a war or somethin'-- decides to cut down on his household while he's gone and sells you off. Oh, no, he's not at all the sort of man we ought to be hopin' for."
"Then what is?"
"Well--if we're lucky--an older man's house, where girls are kept as part of the household--you know, for style as much as for pleasure: that's often the way in a rich house; I've seen it. Then we know where we are and what's expected of us, and once we've found our feet we can start lookin' round for friends and opportunities to better ourselves. Tell you the truth, banzi, I can tell you what I doan' like the idea of, even if I can't tell you 'zactly what I do: and I just didn' altogether fancy your prince. Bit too good to be true, somehow. Sort of--I doan' know--well, unreliable. I could be wrong. It's only a hunch. But one thing's for sure--it's no good actin' as if we weren't Lalloc's property, because we are."
She turned to Chia. "What was that you said before supper--somethin' about the curse of the Streels?"
Chia colored. "I shouldn't have said it."
"What is the curse of the Streels?"
"I can't tell you. No Urtan can tell you. Forget I said it."
"Can you put it on people?"
"Great Shakkarn, no! It's something far, far more dreadful. But don't worry, Occula; you'll never come to the Streels."
Occula received this in silence. At length, shrugging her shoulders as though to dismiss the subject, she said, "By the way, banzi, I doan' want anyone else to know where I come from or to hear the story I told you the other night. All right?"
Maia nodded.
"Oh, can you tell stories?" asked Chia. "You're a sort of trained entertainer, aren't you? You've worked in a pleasure-house, haven't you? Did you tell stories there?"
Occula laughed, as though relieved by the change of subject brought about through what she had said to Maia being taken up in this way. "Oh, Cran! I know plenty of stories."
"Come on, then, tell us one now! Tell us about Lespa, or one of the other goddesses." And thereupon, without waiting for Occula's assent, Chia called out to the rest of the room, "Occula's going to tell a story!"