by the prisoners in the Sheldad and by coming upon poor Qua as she had that morning. "You're not even cruel, are you?" Form's had said to her. No, she wasn't.
There was, clearly, very little that did not reach the ears of Fornis. Was it not highly probable that she might have heard something from Sencho-or even, perhaps, from Terebinthia-about her, Maia's reaction to Meris's whipping which had misled her into thinking that Maia was just the girl to suit her? Once' Sencho was dead she had certainly wasted little or no time. Yet it had taken her even less time to realize that she had been mistaken. "You're naturally pure; one day it'll catch up with you-if you live that long." "I'll live, Zenka," she said aloud. "Oh, I'll live! And I'll find you again, believe me." For nowhere in all her imaginings was there a particle of doubt that he had no more forgotten her than she him.
It was time to return to Fornis's house. She walked back along the edge of the reed-beds, beyond which a grebe, black-crested and ochre-necked, was swimming with its chicks on its back. One day I'll swim the Zhairgen to Katria, she thought, and Zenka'll be waiting for me on the bank.
The Sacred Queen, she was informed, was down at the archery butts behind the house; and thither Ashaktis conducted her. She said little or nothing on the way and Maia, for her part, offered no more than the few words necessary to ensure that Ashaktis could not say that she had behaved discourteously. The mown field, flanked on one side with pinnate-leaved, white-umbelled
Fornis, now dressed, as though for hunting, in a green jerkin and leather breeches, paused briefly as she saw Maia approaching and then, having spent a few moments in adjusting the leather guard on her left wrist and forearm, fitted an arrow, drew and loosed at a target. The arrow hit its mark precisely. Maia stood waiting while the queen shot six more with equal precision. Then, leaning on her bow, she unstrung it and laid it down beside the remaining arrows on the trestle table beside her.
"You've come to speak to me?"
"No, esta-saiyett, for I've nothing more to say," replied
the invisible Zenka through Maia's lips. "I've simply come as you asked me, to hear your decision."
"About your brother, is it?"
"My step-father, esta-saiyett."
"Ah, yes. I couldn't remember, I'm afraid. Well, you must know this man, I suppose. What do you think he's worth?"
At this Maia's heart leapt. Apparently the queen was at least ready to sell Tharrin on some kind of terms.
"I can't say, esta-saiyett: I've no experience, I'm afraid."
"The man's life's dedicated to Cran," said the queen, as though deliberating. "But of course we must try to oblige you, Maia, if possible."
"Thank you very much, esta-saiyett: I'm most grateful, and so will he be."
"I've gone so far as to discuss the matter with the chief priest" (I wonder whether she really has? thought Maia) "and we feel that, remembering your valuable services to the city, the god would probably be content to forgo this sacrifice in return for-shall we say?-ten thousand meld."
She turned aside and began examining the fletching of one of the arrows.
So the game had entered another stage; and the silly mouse had afforded sport by showing, for a moment, that it had really supposed it was going to escape. Little or no experience as Maia had, she knew enough to be certain that Tharrin-an unskilled man in poor condition and over forty years old-was not worth a fifth of the sum the queen had named. She herself, as an outstandingly beautiful and almost untouched girl of fifteen, had been sold for fifteen thousand. Ogma, if she had not been given to the Serre-linda as a gift, might have been expected to fetch about eight hundred.
Yet the queen's game was far more ingenious than a mere promise followed by deprivation: that would have lacked subtlety. She had weighed to a nicety Maia's innate warmth of heart and genuine determination to save Tharrin if she could. With the special circumstance that Tharrin was temple property, a kind of deodand, it was possible publicly to justify the enormous sum demanded. But cleverer still, it would be just within Maia's power to raise it, provided she was ready to sacrifice most of what She possessed-her jewels, her silver and so on. However, there was an alternative way to get the money, as Occula would
undoubtedly have reminded her; and this, she thought, she would certainly pursue.
"Very well, esta-saiyett. I'll buy him from the temple for that sum."
"There's only one condition," said the queen, smiling, "which is unavoidable, I'm afraid, remembering that the executions are due to take place tomorrow morning. I shall need to receive the whole sum from you in coin by this time tomorrow at the latest."
