Maia

  When Maia returned, she drank off the whole goblet at a draft.

  "That's better." She sat up. "I'm fine."

  "Bayub-Otal wants to pay you your two hundred meld," said Maia.

  "Two hundred meld my venda! I didn' do it for two hundred meld!"

  "What for, then, dearest?"

  "Why, because that little tairth made me angry, that's why, sittin' there, pawin' your deldas as if he'd bought you. Well, he woan' be tryin' it again for a bit, I dare say."

  "And that's really why you did it?" said Maia. "All that--just for me?"

  "Well, it's like this, banzi," replied Occula. "You and I, we want to go up, doan' we, not down? I doan' mind you bein' basted by someone who's goin' to do you a bit of good and get you further. We were brought here for the Urtans, right? But when we actually come down to it, it's obvious that only two of them count for anythin'. And of those two, one's not interested. Ever seen a dead ox? Am I right?"

  Maia could not help smiling at Occula's down-to-earth assessment. "Just about."

  "Whatever Bayub-Otal wants, it's not either of us. So then as soon as I've gone Nennaunir turns up--oh, yes, I saw--and it's obvious that Elvair-ka-Virrion's sent her for that Eud-Ecachlon-- and paid her, you can bet on that. So where does that leave you an' me? To go to bed with the rubbish? Not this girl, banzi, slave or no slave! Start as you mean to go on. I wasn' goin' to do it and I wasn' goin' to see you left to do it."

  "But Elvair-ka-Virrion--he come over afterwards--he seemed real mad--"

  Occula slewed round where she sat and put her hands on Maia's shoulders. "That Urtan fellow made me mad; that's what started me off! I knew if it worked it'd be somethin' they wouldn' forget in a hurry. Never mind about Elvair-ka-Virrion. He's not a danger to us. You jus' wait a few days, till everyone's heard about it--"

  "But Occula, I was real scared---so was everyone else. I mean, can you do that any time you want?"

  The black girl shook her head. "Something has to happen to make you want to do it--sort of get you up to it; because a thing like that, when you start you never know how it's goin' to turn out. I doan' know now, come to that. I mean, did they all see the knife?"

  "Far as I can make out just about everyone saw it. I saw it, anyway. It was horrible!"

  "Yes, well, you can' do that, you see, unless somethin' happens to make you able to. It's got to come from the goddess; come boilin' out of you and all over them. The act--anyone can learn that. I learnt it from a Deelguy girl in Thettit. But whether you succeed in makin' them actually see what isn' there--that's another matter. Is the boy all right, by the way?"

  "They've sent him home."

  "Good! I was takin' chance, banzi, really. Well, I mean, the drummer, for a start: I only had a few minutes with him, just long enough to tell him more or less what I wanted. He had to follow me best he could. Actually he turned out very good--better than anyone in Thettit. Well, this is Bekla, after all, an' the upper city at that. He ought to have fifty meld. Doan' let me forget; we might need him again some time. Oh, and banzi, can you go and make sure of my feather tunic? I forgot all about it, and Terebinthia'll play hell if it's lost. Besides, I've got nothin' else to put on."

  Maia jumped up. "I'll go and get it now." She picked up the goblet. "D'you want another drink, while I'm there?"

  Just at that moment, however, Sessendris returned.

  "How are you feeling now, Occula?"

  "Tired, saiyett."

  "How's the headache?"

  "Jus' about gone."

  "Do you feel well enough to give a little pleasure, or shall I make your excuses?"

  "Who to, saiyett?"

  Sessendris laughed. "Well, the short answer to that, Occula, is "Almost anyone you like." And I'd imagine you could expect very generous lygols. Something like fifteen young men have approached me and asked whether you're feeling better. One of them, you may not be entirely surprised to hear, is Lord Eud-Ecachlon, who seems most anxious to see you again."

  "I suppose he's angry, saiyett, isn' he?"

  "I think not. I haven't been a shearna and then a saiyett for quite some time without being able to tell when a man's strongly attracted. It's annoyed Nennaunir very much. She's gone home in a rage."

  "Sorry to hear that, saiyett," replied Occula, keeping an admirably straight face. "And after all Lord Elvair-ka-Virrion's trouble, too! Well, I'd better not disappoint Lord Eud-Ecachlon, then, had I?"

  "Am I to go back to the Urtans, too, saiyett?" asked Maia.

  "I don't think you need," answered Sessendris. "The three younger men were asking for you, but they were all so impatient that by now they've suited themselves elsewhere. That just leaves Lord Bayub-Otal. I was going to ask him whether he'd like to see you again, but before I could, Lord Eud-Ecachlon took me aside and told me that he never goes with girls at parties. Apparently he's--" she paused and shrugged--"fastidious in some way or other."

  Maia could see that Sessendris felt she had failed and was glad to see her taken down a peg. Her polite smile meant, "You thought you were irresistible, didn't you?"

  She felt mortified. Not that she had herself been attracted to Bayub-Otal, but she had been instructed to attract him and assured that she had the power to do so. What would Kembri and Elvair-ka-Virrion think of her now?

  "At that rate, banzi," said Occula, "if he's too stupid to want a girl like you, you'd better come along and lend me a hand with Eud-Ecachlon, and we'll split his lygol between us. By the way, saiyett," she went on, before Sessendris could express a view on this proposal, "d'you happen to have seen my feather tunic? I suppose someone picked it up?"

  "I brought it round for you," answered Sessendris. "It's hanging up outside."

  "Thank you very much, saiyett. I came down here in a blanket," she explained to Maia, "but I'd rather not go back in one."

  Eud-Ecachlon, whom they found walking impatiently in the colonnade, spoke pleasantly to Maia but, in spite of the broadest hints that Occula could let fall, showed no inclination for her company in addition to the black girl's. After a short conversation he excused himself and led Occula away. Evidently he had already made his arrangements with Sessendris, for he clearly knew where they were going.

  Maia, left alone, felt depressed. In spite of what Sessendris had said, she was not sure whether one or other of the younger Urtans might not still be looking for her, and she had no heart for such an encounter.

  However, she was still supposed to be working and she had no wish to turn her failure into a disaster by letting Sessendris or even, perhaps, Elvair-ka-Virrion himself come upon her wandering about at a loose end.

  She went back into the hall. There were not more than fifteen or twenty people there altogether, most of Elvair-ka-Virrion's guests having, as it seemed, dispersed about the big house for the same purpose as Eud-Ecachlon. A little group of four or five young men, all wearing Leopard cognizances, were talking with some girls under a cluster of lamps at one end of the dais. From their unhurried, easy gestures and general air of relaxation, Maia could perceive that they had already satisfied their desire and were now probably having a friendly drink before going home. That would be the right sort of company for her, she thought, to keep out of harm's way until Occula returned.

  While she stood hesitating one of the young men, glancing round and catching sight of her at the foot of the steps, came over and began talking to her. Answering rather abstractedly, she allowed him to bring her some wine and then lead her across to join his companions.

  "You're a friend of that black girl, aren't you?" asked a second young man, whom she remembered having seen with Elvair-ka-Virrion earlier in the evening. "Weren't you both with the Urtans during supper?"

  She nodded, and at once all the young men showed interest.

  "Are you together, then? Whose household are you in?"

  "I saw you at the Rains banquet, but I don't remember seeing her. She's really amazing!"

  "How long has she been in Bekla? What's her name?"

/>   "Perhaps you can tell us, then: was there really a knife?"

  They continued for some time, the girls almost as inquisitive as the men. Maia did her best to create an impression of Occula as a smoldering, passionate girl from a far country, possessed of virtually supernatural powers. She must have been fairly successful, for two or three of the young men, apparently too much intrigued to feel restrained even by the presence of their partners, asked whether Occula was allowed to accept invitations and what kind of lygol she usually received. It was clear that they were afraid of the High Counselor and daunted to learn that whatever her price, Occula's favors could be obtained only through a request to him or to Terebinthia. Maia felt that none of them was interested in herself.

  Determined to improve Occula's chances all she could, she was just suggesting that one possible approach might be through Jarvil, the porter, when she felt a touch on her arm. Looking round, she was surprised to see Bayub-Otal. Without speaking to any of the others he murmured, "Can you spare me a few more moments, please?"

  Before she had even time to excuse herself to the young men, he had turned away. Following him across the hall, she overtook him at the foot of the steps and for the second time they went out together through the colonnade.

  For a while he said nothing, walking slowly along the corridor as though abstracted, his eyes upon the ground. Just as she was plucking up courage to ask what was on his mind, he asked, "Have you enjoyed this evening?"

  Disappointed as she was--and particularly with him-- the inquiry vexed her. "A slave-girl doesn't answer a question like that, my lord. If you have, then I have."

  "So you never allow yourself to express any sincere feelings? My mother did, in your position." He smiled slightly. "That's why I'm here."

  Now she felt afraid to have spoken out sharply. His bad opinion might well do her harm. "I'm sorry, my lord: I didn't mean to speak out of turn. Yes, I've very much enjoyed meeting you and Lord Eud-Ecachlon, and so has my friend, I'm sure."

  "Your friend? Oh, the black girl--where is she?"

  "With Lord Eud-Ecachlon."

  He threw back his head for a moment, expelling his breath with a sound suggestive of contempt.

  "For money, I suppose."

  "Well, yes, he'll give her a lygol, my lord, I expect, don't you? It's the custom, after all."

  "Oh, naturally! Everything in Bekla's to be bought and sold, isn't it? After all, they paid Durakkon to murder Senda-na-Say, didn't they? And Karnat's price was Suba."

  Maia looked quickly over her shoulder. " T'ain't rightly for me to say it, my lord, but p'raps you ought to be more careful, just. I wouldn't want you to speak out of turn and end up in trouble."

  "You're right, of course, Maia. Foolish to let one's tongue run away to no purpose except the relief of feelings better suppressed. Well, and so they brought you up from Serrelind to Bekla to learn a trade. Are you learning it?"

  His sarcasm was plain. She bit her lip.

  "What else can I do, my lord? What's the good o' talking to me like that?"

  "None, I dare say. But I'm one person who's not going to advance your education. You'll get no lygol out of me."

  She blushed with anger, wondering how far a slave-girl could safely go in retorting to such an insult.

  Suddenly he stopped in his pacing and turned to face her. "Would you like to see me again?"

  He seemed to be expecting a serious answer. She could not tell what to make of it and, confused, could find no reply. After a few moments she sat down on a bench against the wall. He made no move to join her, merely leaning against a pillar and looking unsmilingly down at her as he waited for his answer.

  This extraordinary man, she thought, had just spoken to her with contempt and decisively rejected her.

  And now, in the next breath, he was apparently asking to see her again.

  Inexplicable--and infuriating--he might be; but one thing she realized immediately. However badly the evening had gone for her and however galling his behavior, he had now--whatever the reason--made it possible for her after all to tell Elvair-ka-Virrion that she had not altogether failed. In the light of this, her feelings of personal dislike for him mattered nothing.

  She stood up, smiling. "Yes, very much, my lord: I'll look forward to it."

  "Where shall I find you, then?"

  "At the High Counselor's."

  He stared at her as though taken by surprise and utterly disgusted. "You belong to him?"

  "Yes, my lord: I thought you knew."

  He shook his head without a word.

  "The truth is, my lord, the High Counselor often leaves such matters to our saiyett. I think perhaps you might be able to come to an arrangement with her without troubling him."

  "I dare say," replied Bayub-Otal. "But he knows too much. He's a man everyone fears. Anyway, here's your friend's two hundred meld."

  "Why, you can give it to her yourself, my lord," said Maia. "Here she comes, look, and Lord Eud-Ecachlon with her."

  Occula, scarlet-plumed, and Eud-Ecachlon--plucked, one might say--came down the corridor together, arms round each other's waists. It was clear that Eud-Ecachlon was feeling contented. He greeted Bayub-Otal with a smile and at once fell to praising Occula in a manner implying that he too had acquitted himself in no mean fashion. Occula, having allowed him to run on for a time and corroborated him whenever he seemed to be expecting it, at length put her lips to his cheek and asked whether he would now be so good as to escort her friend and herself to the lower courtyard, where a jekzha--so she believed--was awaiting them; and then return to convey thanks and farewells on their behalf to Lord Elvair-ka-Virrion.

  "For the truth is, my lord," she explained, "that after what you've given me I shan't want any more for a week, and I'd rather not be put to the embarrassment of refusing anyone else."

  Eud-Ecachlon, smirking with satisfaction, gave her a purse containing her lygol and readily undertook to do as she asked; and forthwith Occula, having sought out and paid the drummer and relieved Bayub-Otal of both her two hundred meld and Maia, made their departure.

  Once in the jekzha, however, she drew down the rain-curtain and leant back, fanning the humid air and gripping Maia's hand like a child seeking comfort in the dark.

  "I'm nackered, banzi! Tell you the truth, it was as much as I could do to give that Urtan dolt what he wanted. Never mind: we've got his lygol and two hundred meld on top. I shan' say anythin' to Terebinthia about that: she'll never find out. You didn't tell anyone, did you?"

  "No, darling; there's no one but us and the Urtans knows anything about it."

  "I saw you talkin' to Bayub-Otal, but I couldn' for the life of me make out whether you'd done anythin' or not. How did you get on?"

  "Well, tell you the truth, Occula, I'm blest if I know."

  And therewith Maia proceeded to tell of Bayub-Otal's odd behavior.

  "Well, that is a rum go!" said the black girl. "Didn' want to do anythin' an' then asks whether you'd like to see him again? They certainly do come all sorts, doan' they, banzi? Only thing I can think of, he didn' feel like it tonight but reckoned he might some other time."

  "Oh, I do just about hope so! Only you see, Occula, Elvair-ka-Virrion told me tonight--I was sent upstairs to him as soon as we arrived, you know--"

  "Were you, banzi? Cran's zard, I wondered where you'd got to! Was it a success?"

  "Oh, yes! He enjoyed it, and so did I. I reckon he's nice! But then he told me--you know, afterwards--that I was to go and join the Urtans and make Bayub-Otal like me and want to see me again."

  Occula whistled. "So that's what it's all about! They've got their suspicions about Bayub-Otal, have they? And they're hopin' he may let some cat out of the bag to you?"

  "But if they want information so badly, why can't they get it from Sencho? I thought he was supposed to know about everyone all over the empire?"

  "I doan' know, banzi, but if you ask me, it's like I told you--Kembri doesn' trust him anymore. So Elvair-ka-Virrion gav
e you a good bastin' and then went on straight away to tell you to get Bayub-Otal into bed? I reckon that was a dirty trick, even if we are slave-girls. He might have wrapped it up a bit nicer than that."

  "No, Occula, that's just it. He told me I wasn't to let Bayub-Otal have anything, not on any account. I was to refuse him, but try to make him want to see me again."

  "And you say he means to?"

  "Well, I don't rightly know. When I told him we belonged to Sencho, you could see he didn't like that at all. It seemed to sort of change his mind, like."

  "Well, at that rate we can only wait and see," said Occula. "But I shouldn' break your heart if nothin' comes of it. You'd be best out of this Urtan lark, I reckon. Plenty of people'll soon be interested in you without the risk of that--whatever it may be."

  "But Occula, listen! Those young Leopards I was talking to while you were with Eud-Ecachlon--there wasn't one of them particularly interested in me. It was you they were all asking about."

  "Ah, but then they'd all just had a bit of yum-yum, hadn' they? If we were still there now, you wouldn' have to wait long." Occula paused. "Yes, well, I daresay my act may have got them interested. It was meant to. We must think up somethin' for you, too, banzi. You see, however pretty a girl is, for the upper city she really needs more than just looks: she needs somethin' to make them think she's out of the ordinary. These Leopards help themselves to the cream and leave the milk for the lower city. Up here, just pretty girls are ten meld a dozen. Look at Meris--she was pretty enough. But you just compare her with Nennaunir. D'you know what Nennaunir's like? She's like a story people want to hear again and again-- because they keep findin' new things in it. She's a clever girl, too: Terebinthia told me about some big Leopard she was with who asked her to advise him about his money, and apparently she did it so well that he made a fortune and gave her a bastin' great lump of it to keep for herself."

  "Can't see me ever doing anything like that," said Maia.

  "Nor me neither. But I can make people see knives that aren' there: well, sometimes, anyway--you know, when they've all had a few drinks. But we've got to find somethin' distinctive for you. Well, of course! We'll make you a dancer!"