Maia полностью

They were sitting in the cool air of the roof of the Sacred Queen's house. It was nearly two hours after sunset and the lower city, spread out below the Peacock Wall, was everywhere dotted with points of lamplight. The half-mile length of the Sheldad, where it ran from the Caravan Market to the western quarter, showed as a bright line, while beyond lay the similar but longer, more irregular line formed by Masons Street, the Kharjiz and the Khalkoomil. The five towers stood black against the deep blue of the night sky, and above all shone the cool, still radiance of the comet. Vigilant it seemed to Maia, like a silent, heedful judge presiding over the contention of a court-room. Suddenly the imposing, stone-built city appeared to her as nothing more than an anthill of scurrying midgets, meanly self-absorbed and pitifully unconscious of their own triviality, the brief duration of their lives and the committed watchfulness of the su-

pernal powers. They would all die: they were all answerable. She, too: for her life, for her love. Reaching out, she caught Occula's hand in her own.

"Sorry, banzi," said the black girl, returning squeeze for squeeze, "have I put the wind up you? Well, could be all for the best-"

"No, 'twasn't you, dear," replied Maia. "Well, I mean, yes, 'course I'm scared, but I feel I've just got to go on and that's all there is to it: else there's no sense in anything."

"But how the hell are you goin' to set about it, banzi? Have you really thought seriously? I doan' like it one little bit-not on your own. You'll come unstuck fpr sure."

"Well, I was hoping as you might come with me, Occula. If we could only get to Paltesh together, I might help you to kill Fornis and you could help me to get Zenka out."

A flock of wild duck flew over the roof in their usual arrow-head formation, calling together as they disappeared into the darkness.

"Be all right if we could pop down to Baltesh like that, wouldn' it?" said Occula. "Peck her bastin' green eyes out and back for breakfast. No, I'm sorry, banzi, it woan' do: I only wish it would. You see, everythin' in my little game depends on keepin' Fornis's favor and confidence. If I went to Paltesh, I'd have disobeyed her-anyway, I'm a slave, remember?-and I'd almost certainly have given the game away, too."

Maia was about to answer when suddenly the black girl burst out, "Cran and Airtha, you doan' know the half of it! My life's hangin' on a thread-the thread of her whims and her filthy, beastly wants! You realize, doan' you, that that's all that saved you and me after old Piggy was done in? Shall I tell you somethin' else? What you saw-she does that because she prefers it. She doesn' want men; she wants that! All that stuff about never havin' a lover because she knew she was the Sacred Queen and the bride of Cran- that's all my venda! And another thing; do you know she's more than once had girls put to death when she'd lost interest in them?"

"Ah, she told me that herself," said Maia.

"Ashaktis told me, to try and frighten me: and I woan' say she didn', either, but I wasn' goin' to show it. You may have noticed that the little boys aren' here any more."

"I thought she must have taken them with her," said Maia.

"Oh, no," said Occula. "Just get some more when she comes back."

"You mean they've been sold off?"

"No; not sold off," said Occula. "Children talk, you know. But those ones woan'." She paused. "I sometimes think I'll go mad! She's the most cruel, wicked woman in the world. But I'll get her, doan' you worry. When the time comes, Kantza-Merada will tell me what to do. But I'm sorry, banzi, I'm afraid it woan' be at Paltesh."

For a time neither girl said more. The big summer stars moved slowly on the sky-Clypsil, Pildinakis and the constellation of the Otter, which Maia remembered old Drigga teaching her how to recognize when she was still a little girl. From the two clock towers the lamps shone out for the hour. A tryzatt carrying a torch came along the wall, changed the sentries and returned the way he had come.

"If you must go, why doan' you take Nennaunir and young Sednil?" asked Occula suddenly. "I know you couldn' pay Nennaunir a fraction of what she's makin' here in Bekla, but you did her such a good turn by gettin' Sednil freed that she probably wouldn' mind-that's to say, long as it didn' take more than a few weeks. They're both Pal-teshis, aren' they? That could be a big help."

"It might have been a good idea," answered Maia.

"But-?"

"There's only one thing wrong with it-"

"Oh, Cran! Doan' tell me!" said Occula instantly. "You mean somethin' about seven inches long, pointin' the wrong direction?"

"Well, yes."

"Bloody, bastin' men!" said Occula angrily. "Always spoilin' everythin' with their stupid-"