Sunbird (80 page)

^{'Majesty!' Rib-Addi could not hide his horror. 'Think what that would mean. Workmen in here. He made a wide gesture that took in the entire length of the treasury. 'Can you imagine what tales they would take with them to inflame the greed of every brigand in the four kingdoms.'}

^{It was for this reason that the location and contents of the royal storehouse were such a closely guarded secret. The best-kept secret in the empire, known only to the king, the High Priest and Priestess, Rib-Addi and four other officials of the treasury.}

^{'I would have them sent to the gods immediately they had completed the task,' Lannon explained reasonably.}

^{Rib-Addi blinked with surprise. He had not envisaged such a sweeping solution to the problem. It took him a moment's beard-scratching and deep thought to unearth his next objection.}

^{'A ventilation shaft would provide entry for thieves and rodents and damp. All these would damage and destroy.'}

^{'Oh, very well.' Lannon dismissed the subject, knowing well that Rib-Addi resisted change merely because it was change. What had been good for the past two hundred years, must be good for the next two hundred.}

^{Lannon watched as the latest shipment of finger ingots from the mines of the middle kingdom was reverently added to the piles of gold already laid down in the recess of the treasury. Rib-Addi noted the quantities meticulously in his scroll, and Lannon affirmed the entry by scrawling his personal sign beside the entry.}

^{The four trusted officials filed out of the long chamber with its piles of treasure. While they climbed the flagged stairs, Rib-Addi sealed the iron gate. He pressed the Gry-Lion's mark into the clay tablet, then he and Lannon climbed the stairs and passed through the sun door into the state archives. Lannon closed the door, and the massive slab swung into its seating with a solid clunk.}

^{Lannon made the sun sign at the god's image upon the door, then with Rib-Addi beside him discoursing as ever on wealth in its many manifestations, he passed down the length of the archives. The shelves were loaded with the records of the kingdom, and there was little space left. Soon he must turn his mind to an extension of these catacombs, how to enlarge them without destroying or damaging the existing structure.}

^{They went out through the main portals, with their heavy leather curtains, into the guards' antechamber where officers of the Sixth Legion guarded the entrance. At all times of the day and night two officers were here, and at their call a century of picked troopers of Legion Ben-Amon waited. The Sixth Legion had originally been formed as a guard to the temples and treasuries of the kingdom, and these still formed an important part of its duties.}

^{Within the maze of the temple of Astarte, Rib-Addi took obsequious leave of Lannon and with his four underlings backed away bowing until he disappeared around the bend of the corridor.}

^{Assisted by four priestesses, Lannon, naked and magnificent, took the ritual bath in the pool of Astarte and while they dressed him in the tunic of the supplicant, Lannon managed to insert a playful hand into the skirts of one of the novices without the others noticing. The novice's expression did not change, but she pressed eagerly onto Lannon's fingers for a moment before drawing away, and while Lannon strode down the passage to the audience chamber of the oracle he made the gesture of stroking his moustache to inhale the girl odour that lingered on his fingers.}

^{They were all as hot as corn cakes sizzling on the griddle, these brides of the gods, having to rely as they did on the embraces of their own kind, or the furtive attentions of a priest or temple guard. Lannon grinned as he wondered how many of them took advantage of the licence of the Festival of the Fruitful Earth. How often had he committed the mortal sin of sacrilege with some heavy-cloaked and disguised priestess. The Festival was imminent, in two weeks it would begin, and as always he looked forward to it. Then with regret he remembered that Huy was unlikely to return from the north in time to join in the celebrations. It would detract from his own enjoyment. Lannon's moods were always mercurial and now within a dozen paces his good spirits evaporated. As he entered the audience chamber he was scowling heavily.}

^{He looked up at the oracle on her throne, sitting like an ivory statue with her hands folded on her lap and her face painted with cosmetics to resemble a mask, forehead white with antimony powder, eyelids metallic shiny blue and the mouth a vivid slash of scarlet in the pale face. He found a focus for his bad temper.}

^{As he made a perfunctory obeisance, he remembered how often this witch had thwarted and unsettled him. He detested these sessions of divination, and yet found that they exerted a weird fascination. He realized that much of her oracle was dross, probably inspired by the politically active priesthood. Yet there was also much shrewd comment and excellent counsel amongst it, and occasionally there were nuggets of purest gold to be gleaned from the witch's lips. During his regular visits he had tuned his ear to catch the nuances of the oracle's voice. As with Rib-Addi, the witch had shades of conviction or hesitation in the manner in which she delivered the oracle. Lannon was sensitive to these, but more particularly so to a rarer tone, a monotonous low-pitched voice which the witch used when she spoke the miraculous god-given truths of real prophecy.}

^{Now he took up his stance before her, legs planted firmly astride and clenched fists on his hips. With the arrogance of royalty heightened by his temper he asked the question.}

^{Tanith hated these sessions with the Gry-Lion. He awed and frightened her. It was like being caged with some beautiful but savage predator, with its restless energy and unpredictable moods. The pale steely blue of his eyes had a predator's cold killing lust, his features were chiselled, perfect but cold also with the same relentless passion.}

^{Usually she had the comfort of Huy's presence behind the curtains to carry her through, but this morning she was alone - and sick.}

^{The night had been hot and airless, and the child in her womb as heavy as a stone. She had risen listless and pale from her couch, her skin damp with night sweat and she had forced down the light morning meal Aina had prepared for her, only to vomit it up again in a dizzy attack of nausea.}

^{The taste of acid-bitter bile was in the back of her throat now, and sweat poured down beneath her cloak, tickling as it slid over her flanks and fruitful belly. She felt herself stifling, her breathing hunting raggedly for air, her body limp and weak, while the king growled his questions.}

^{She was unprepared, her answers were empty words given without conviction, and she struggled to concentrate, to remember what Huy had told her.}

^{The king was becoming restless, he strode back and forth before her, wearying her with his energy. She felt sweat break out beneath her mask of cosmetics. Her skin felt itchy and swollen, the pores blocked with paints and she longed to wipe it away. She had a sudden wondrous image of cool water falling over moss-covered rocks, of plunging her naked body into the green water, of sinking into it with her hair spreading on the surface, like the tendrils of a water plant.}

^{'Come, witch! Come, oh seer of the future. It is a simple question. Answer it!'}

^{The king was stopped before her, one foot on the throne steps, shoulders drawn back and hips thrust forward in masculine hauteur, a sneer on his handsome face and mockery in his voice.}

^{Tanith had not heard the question, she floundered for words, and another wave of nausea washed over her. She felt sweat break through the film of paint on her upper lip, and the nausea changed to dizziness.}

^{Lannon's face receded, and blackness closed about her. Her vision narrowed, and she looked down a long shaft of darkness at the end of which Lannon's face burned like a golden star. There was a roaring in her ears, the sound of the storm wind through the trees of the forest. Then the sound of the wind died away into silence, and a voice spoke. The voice was husky and low-pitched, even and monotonous, the voice of a deaf woman or one drugged by the smoke of the bhang pipe. With mild surprise Tanith realized that the voice issued from her own throat, and the words shocked her.}

^{'Lannon Hycanus, last Gry-Lion of Opet, question not the future. The future for you is darkness and death.'}

^{She saw her own shock repeated upon Lannon's face, saw the colour fly from his cheeks, and his lips turn to lines of pale marble.}

^{'Lannon Hycanus, prisoner of time, pacing behind the bars of your cage. Blackness waits for you.'}

^{Lannon was shaking his head trying to deny the words. The golden locks of his hair, still damp from the ritual bath, danced upon his shoulders, and he held up both hands in the sun sign, trying to avert the words which struck his soul like war arrows flighted from the bow.}

^{'Lannon Hycanus, your gods are passing, they fly upwards, and leave you to blackness.'}

^{Lannon retreated from the throne, hands raised to shield his face, but the words sought him out relentlessly.}

^{'Lannon Hycanus, you who seek to know the future, know then that it lies in wait for you as the lion awaits the unwary traveller.'}

^{Lannon cried out. and his terror exploded into violence.}

^{'Evil!' he screamed, and rushed at the oracle, bounding up the steps of the throne. 'Witchcraft!' He struck Tanith in the face with his open hands, knocking her head across and back with heavy blows. The hood of her cloak fell back and her dark hair tumbled loose. The blows rang loudly against her flesh, but Tanith made no sound. Her silence drove Lannon on to further violence.}

^{He caught the front of her cloak and dragged her from the throne.}

^{'Sorceress!' he screamed, and flung her down the steps. She fell heavily and rolled, trying to come to her feet, but Lannon's first kick caught her in the belly and she doubled up, clutching at her middle and groaning as his sandalled feet smashed into her.}

^{Lannon was bellowing as he pursued her about the chamber, between kicks he was looking wildly about for a weapon, something to destroy the woman and the words she had spoken.}

^{Then suddenly the chamber was filled with priestesses, and Lannon drew back panting heavily, the pale eyes bright with madness.}

^{'Majesty!' The Reverend Mother came forward, and Lannon's madness faded, but he was still shaking and his lips were white and quivering.}

^{He turned and strode from the chamber, leaving Tanith whimpering upon the flagged floor.}

^{The Divine Council of Astarte met in the Reverend Mother's chamber, and when she read the Gry-Lion's demand to them they listened quietly thinking their own thoughts. The Council consisted of the High Priestess and two advisers, both of them senior priestesses who stood in the direct line of succession to the Reverend Mother.}

^{'How can we deliver one of the sisterhood to the temporal body of the Gry-Lion. What precedent would we set by doing so?' Sister Alma asked. She was small and wrinkled with a face like an inquisitive monkey. 'What crime is the child accused of? If she has erred then it is for us to judge and punish. We must protect our own, even if it means defying the king.'}

^{'Can the sisterhood afford such a grand gesture?' asked Sister Haka; dark-skinned and pock-marked, with long raven hair streaked with iron grey, her face was strong-jawed and her voice deep as a man's. She was not yet forty years of age, and certain to outlive the Reverend Mother. Until recently it seemed she must succeed to the head of the sisterhood, a position for which she longed. However, since an oracle had emerged in Opet, her position was less secure. History had proved that every oracle, in time, became Reverend Mother over the claims of all others. In addition, this one had the unquestioned favour of the High Priest, an important consideration when it came to the filling of a vacant position at the head of the Divine Council. In Tanith she had a strong rival, but apart from the political consideration, Sister Haka had a more intimate score to reckon.}

^{Even now as she remembered how her advances had been rejected, she felt hot anger flood her cheeks. She still longed for the girl, dreams of her still troubled her sleep, and often when she was with a young novice in the dark she would pretend that it was Tanith.}

^{'Are we strong enough to resist the demands of the king?' She let the question hang, and looked at their faces. All of them knew what an impetuous, irresistible force ruled in Opet. All of them knew that no one, noble or priest, friend or enemy, had ever denied him his way.}

^{The silence persisted, until Sister Alma coughed gusts of tortured sound, that crescendoed until she spluttered up a lump of bloody phlegm and wiped her lips with a damp cloth, her face strained and her eyes tired and dull.}

^{'Not long for you, old woman,' thought Sister Haka with her grim satisfaction hidden behind a mask of concern.}

^{Again they were silent, until the Reverend Mother spoke hesitantly. 'Perhaps, if it could be shown that the girl has sinned, committed some crime.'}

^{It was all that Sister Haka needed, ruthlessly she took charge. 'Send for the girl,' she instructed. 'Let us question her.'}

^{Aina helped Tanith into the chamber, both of them hobbling and doubled over, one with age and the other with pain. They clung to each other, and the ancient priestess was mumbling encouragement to the injured girl, but her face screwed up with anger when she saw the Council, and she screeched at them.}

^{'The child is hurt. Have you no care? Why do you summon her thus?'}

^{'Silence, old bag,' Sister Haka spoke without passion. She was looking at Tanith. Tanith's face was swollen and the bruises were purplish and livid. Her one eye was closed, the lid puffed and blue, and her lip was cut through and scabbed.}

^{'Let her sit,' Aina demanded. 'She is weak, and sick.'}

^{'Nobody sits before the Council,' said Sister Haka.}

^{'In the name of the goddess.'}

^{'Do not blaspheme here, old crow.'}

^{'I speak not of blasphemy, but of ordinary mercy.'}

^{'You talk too much,' Sister Haka warned her. 'Go! Leave the girl here.'}

^{It seemed Aina might argue still, but Sister Haka rose to her feet and her face was furious and her voice harsh with anger.}

^{'Go!' she repeated, and Aina shuffled out grumbling and whining, leaving Tanith swaying weakly on her feet before the Council. Sister Haka sank down onto her stool and looked at Tanith. She would take her time now, there was all day if she needed it, and besides she was enjoying herself.}

^{Tanith stayed upright by an effort of her will alone, for her senses swam and floated on waves and washes of pain. The leaden feeling in her legs and lower belly anchored her, but she could make little of the questions with which they pelted her. Sister Haka was leading her on to what it was that she had told the king to infuriate him. she was showing how Tanith had endangered the sisterhood by antagonizing him. She kept coming back to the question, 'What was it you told him?'}

^{'I cannot remember, Sister. I cannot remember,' Tanith whispered.}

^{'You want us to believe that words of such dire consequence can be so easily forgotten. Come, child, what were they?'}

^{'They were not my words.'}

^{'Whose then?' Sister Haka leaned forward attentively, her face blotched with brown speckles of the pox and the wings of grey glowing in her dark hair 'Whose words were they if not your own? The goddess's?'}

^{'I do not know,' breathed Tanith, and then she gasped as a fist of agony squeezed something within her lower belly.}

^{'Do you speak with the voice of the goddess?' Sister Haka demanded in her hoarse voice, dark and cruel as a bird of prey. The hawk stooping on the sparrow.}

^{'Oh please!' whispered Tanith, bowing slowly forward with both hands pressed to her stomach. 'Oh please, it hurts. Oh, how it hurts!'}

^{The three priestesses watching her saw the quick flood of liquid which drenched the front of Tanith's tunic skirts, and splattered in dark red drops upon the flagstones between her feet. With slow grace Tanith folded and fell forward. She lay on her side with her knees drawn up and she moaned softly.}

^{Sister Haka went quickly to her. and stooped over her, drawing up Tanith's skirts and peering with tense lesbian interest as she pulled Tanith's knees roughly apart.}

^{She was smiling as she straightened, and looked at the other two. 'There is your sin, Holy Mother. There is your proof of crime.' She looked down at the huddled body at her feet, 'Sacrilege!' she accused harshly. 'Sacrilege! A crime against the goddess.'}

^{'I will not answer,' said Tanith gently. The bruises had faded and the swelling abated a little, but there was still a plum-coloured smear under one eye and her lip was distorted and scarred. She had been bedridden for ten days and she was still weak. 'I will not tarnish something so dear to me with words. I will not tell you his name.'}

^{'Child, you know this is a matter of mortal sin. Your life is at stake here,' said the Reverend Mother.}

^{'You have taken life from me already. Have done then. Take it all.' Tanith looked directly at Sister Haka, and from her to Lannon Hycanus who stood by the casement of the chamber 'It is your intention to kill me. Nothing I say will alter that. Very well then, I will cherish the name of my child's father. I shall not let you use this against him also.'}

^{'You are being stupid and stubborn,' said Sister Haka. 'We will find out in the end.'}

^{'Why is it important?' Tanith asked. 'All that matters is that I stand between you and your ambitions.' Tanith looked directly at Sister Haka, and saw her words had struck by the swarthy rose flushing of the priestess's scarred cheeks. Tanith smiled and turned to Lannon. 'All that matters is that I am the source of the prophecy. You seek to destroy that. You seek to have the gods revoke their sentence upon you. It is vain, Lannon Hycanus. The winds of destiny are blowing, the hounds of fate are already hunting.'}

^{'Enough,' snapped Lannon, striding to the centre of the chamber. 'I have no more time to waste. No longer can I listen to your idiot chatter.' He looked at Sister Haka. 'Bring the old priestess, the witch's chaperone.'}

^{When Aina stood blinking and bewildered before the king he looked at her without passion or anger. 'You had duties. You did not discharge them. Name the bull who mounted the goddess's heifer.'}

^{Aina wailed protest, disclaimer, pleading her ignorance. She went down on creaking knees before Lannon, crawling to him, kissing the hem of his tunic, drooling with terror. Lannon pushed her away irritably with one foot and looked at Sister Haka.}

^{'Unless I misjudge your worth, you will not shirk man's work. Have you the belly for it?' he asked, and Sister Haka nodded, licking her lips, her eyes lighting with cruel anticipation.}

^{'Break her arms first,' commanded Lannon, 'And let the witch stand close by to watch it.'}

^{Sister Haka pulled Aina to her feet, holding her easily with her strong brown hands on the back of which grew long silky black hairs. Aina flapped and squawked with terror, and Sister Haka turned and pinned her, twisting one arm backwards against the elbow joint. The arm was thin and white with thick blue cords of vein showing through the skin,}