The Blood-stained Belt (35 page)

'Me? I'm fine.
How are you, my lady?'

'Oh, Jina,
we've known each other for a long time. We're old friends. Can't we
just be Jina and Mecolo to each other?'

I thought, old
friends? Just plain Jina and Mecolo? Well, that was never possible,
was it? Once she was a king's daughter and I was a mere soldier or,
at most, a deputy commander. Now she was a king's wife. Sharma
might be my oldest friend but I had no illusions. Things weren't
the same between us as in the old days. Now Sharma was king first
and I was his general. Those things counted far above the fact that
we were old friends and comrades.

Mecolo leaned
forward and asked, 'Well, Jina? Can't we be just old friends
together?'

'I'm always at
your service, my lady.'

Mecolo winced
and drew back. She dabbed at the corners of her eyes and asked
stiffly, 'How is Sharma?'

'When I left
him, he was well.'

'Drunk again,
I'm sure.'

'We did enjoy
some wine together -- for old time's sake.'

Mecolo sat back
and looked at me keenly. She said, 'Oh, Jina, I wish I had as good
a friend as Sharma has in you.' She dabbed at her eyes again and
then suddenly burst out, 'I can't take it any more! I simply cannot
take it!'

'My lady?'

'You saw what
happened! That loose-mouthed, sway-hipped creature speaks to me
worse than she would to a serving girl in her father's kitchen! And
Sharma --!'

'Calm yourself,
my lady.'

Mecolo brushed
me aside. 'And Sharma supports her. It's them against me – always
them against me. You saw what happened, didn't you? You could see
it was them against me.'

'I'm afraid I
hardly saw anything at all. I just arrived and –'

'Oh, don't
pretend you don't know what's going on just because you're Sharma's
friend.'

'My lady, I am
truly sorry that you are distressed.'

'Why did he
bring me back? If this was how I was going to be treated why didn't
he just leave me the way I was? Why?'

'I suppose he
brought you back because you were his wife and the mother of his
child.'

'Oh, that's
charitable! Do you know what I think? I think that he brought me
back to humiliate me for what my father did to him. No, don't shake
your head. I know it to be the case.'

'My lady, I
–'

'Well, I can
understand why he treats me like this. I hate it but I can
understand it. But why does he humiliate our son? He has nothing to
do with his grandfather. Nothing! Nothing at all! On the contrary
-- Bedaxili's grandfather despised him because he was Sharma's son.
Don't be fooled by his name Bedaxili, "Beloved of Vaxili". That was
nothing but a piece of cruel irony! The truth is, my father hated
his grandson.' Mecolo pressed her fists against her temples, closed
her eyes, and bit her bottom lip. Then she thumped a fist on the
table and cried, 'I will not have my son suffer because of what
lies between Sharma and me!' She put her head on her hands and
sobbed.

I was
embarrassed and I was at a loss about how to respond. I said
inadequately, 'My lady, calm yourself. Sharma has a lot on his
mind. He's a busy man. Perhaps you're reading too much into the
situation.'

'He's not too
busy to take sides, though!' Mecolo raised her head and fired the
words at me. Then she sat up, straightened her back, and wiped her
eyes. She shook her head briskly and said, 'I am the daughter of a
king and I am the wife of a king – and look at me! Just look at me,
Jina – weeping in my room in the dark hours of the night. But I
tell you one thing, for sure, Jina – no one will ever see me weep
outside this room.'

'I understand,
my lady.'

'No, Jina, you
don't. You think I'm weeping for myself. Well, perhaps I am, to
some extent. But if I am, then I'm ashamed. I will not allow myself
to indulge in self-pity. I never have and I never will. No, Jina,
I'm weeping for my son.' Mecolo gave me a fierce look. 'Bedaxili is
heir to the throne. That is what concerns me. You understand?'

'I think that I
do.'

Mecolo's eyes
softened and she leaned forward as if trying to coax sympathy out
of me. She asked, 'Will you support me in this, Jina?'

'Support you,
my lady? How?'

Mecolo’s eyes
were still red-rimmed but now they were sharp and the gaze was
direct. She said slowly and distinctly, 'There should be no doubt
in the matter of succession. Bedaxili is Sharma's oldest son and
that should be the end of the matter.’

‘That is so, my
lady.’

‘Ah! But who
knows what that creature might be planning for her own sons?'
Mecolo put a hand over mine and said softly, 'That's what concerns
me, Jina.' I retracted my hand, sat back, and looked at her. I
wasn't certain of what she wanted from me – but whatever it was, I
wasn't happy about the direction in which she was heading. Mecolo
smiled wryly and said, 'Oh, Jina, don't look at me like that.
You're always so correct and proper, aren't you? I'm not asking you
to do anything subversive. I'm just asking you to do what's
right.'

'And what is
right in this case?'

'What's right
is very simple -- you should support the legitimate heir to the
throne.'

I took some
time to think about the matter. Of course, in one sense it was a
simple matter, an open and shut case. Bedaxili was the legitimate
heir to the throne. Nothing could change his status as Sharma's
first-born son. That fact stood out like a beacon on a hill.
However, I had a skin-prickling, uneasy sense that the beacon did
not have solid foundations. I replied cautiously, 'Any challenge to
your son's status as heir to the throne would be bad for
Keirine.'

Mecolo pursed
her lips and looked at me appraisingly. 'Yes, exactly! That's what
concerns me. Yes, that's it – exactly!'

'Then, my lady,
we understand each other.'

Her face
brightened. However, her eyes were sharp and shrewd when she said,
'My father couldn't keep Keirine together. Now Sharma has another
chance. If we love Keirine, then we must ensure that the kingdom
doesn't come to the same sad end. You agree, don't you?'

'I do, my lady.
We have struggled too hard and suffered too much to see the kingdom
fall apart again.'

Mecolo leaned
forward, hands clasped together, and said, 'Oh, Jina, you're a dark
horse, aren't you?'

'My lady?'

'Trustworthy,
brave, dependable Jina! But underneath that stoical front you have
a grand vision, don't you?'

'My lady, I do
have one vision, and one vision only – the dream of Keirine, safe,
secure, and dignified. That is all that I allow myself.'

Mecolo stood up
and smoothed down her robe. As she did so, briefly stretching the
fabric across her breasts and easing it down her hips, I caught a
glimpse of the younger Mecolo in a time that seemed both close and
remote. Also, thinking of that time, catching a glimpse of Mecolo's
womanly form, I remembered a time when I lay on a hillside under
the clouds with someone whose tunic stretched across a shape that
generated the shock of lightning across the ridges of my body. The
thought flashed through me only for a moment before I shook my head
to clear it of such distractions.

Mecolo looked
at me speculatively before she said, 'Dana would have been proud of
you, Jina. What a pity that –'

'My lady! I am
always at your service. But I must ask you one thing – please never
speak about Dana.'

'I'm sorry,
Jina.'

'The fact is,
as I said to you, I have only one dream and one aspiration.
Everything else is behind me. There are doors that have shut and
they will remain shut.'

'I understand,
Jina.'

'Thank you for
understanding, my lady.'

We walked to
the door. There Mecolo laid a hand on my arm and said, 'We
understand each other in more ways than one, don't we, Jina?'

'We understand
each other in all ways that tend towards the good of Keirine, my
lady.'

I let myself
out and walked across the dark courtyard. My head was clear – no
trace of wine-induced dullness now, I was pleased to note – but I
felt desperately tired. Well, there was a reason for that, wasn't
there? I was an early-to-bedder and now it was two hours past
midnight. However, I knew that wasn't the real reason. The fact was
that my conversation with Mecolo brought home to me how wearisome
it was to climb the heights to the top of the long-beckoning peak
only to find that broken, upland country stretched for infinity
beyond that. What was more, the peak had always been clear and
sharply defined even if we sometimes struggled and slipped on our
way towards it. But now the country beyond it seemed to be shrouded
and threatening, requiring ever more effort and ever more wariness
to pick your way across it safely.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-ONE: TIME TO SETTLE DOWN

I recognised
him immediately, the moment he entered the room. There was no
hiding his half-severed right ear, red hair, and granite-contoured
features. Of course, he looked older. Time had brought streaks of
grey to his hair as well as rotundity to his formerly square
frame.

'Zaliek! By all
that's wonderful, it's you!'

He grinned at
me as I grasped his hands, saying in his characteristically deep
growl, 'It's been a long time. The last time I saw you, you were a
deputy commander recovering from a fever and looking like death
itself. And now you're General Jina, commander in chief of the
Keirineian forces!'

'How long has
it been? Almost twenty years? Is that right?'

Zaliek nodded
and continued to grin at me. 'Twenty years is about right.'

I motioned him
to a chair. He put his helmet down, took off his breastplate, and
sat down with his knees apart and his hands resting squarely on his
thighs. I took the chair opposite him, across the corner of the
table. We sat there looking each other up and down, grinning with
pleasure. I said, 'I should have known that you would turn up soon.
I was thinking about you just the other day.'

'Pleasant
thoughts, I hope?'

'Last week I
rode out with my divisional commanders along the road south of
Koraina. For some reason, I started thinking about the march on the
night when we left camp before the first battle of Gandonda. You
remember?'

'Remember? Man,
how can I forget it? It was chaos – more like a cattle drive than
an army on the march.'

I grinned as
memories came flooding back to me. 'The men dived for cover in the
bush when the first messenger on a horse came past us. You yelled,
"How the hell do you think you’re going to stand up to the Dornite
cavalry when you run like children from a single horse?" You had to
kick some members of the squad in the backsides to get us moving
again.'

Zaliek chuckled
and said, 'You were a lot of greenhorns. It's a wonder you weren't
all completely wiped out at Gandonda. And as for that idiot Vaxili,
taking you into battle against the omens and with no strategy
except advance in line abreast if you can call that a strategy --'
He shook his head. Then he said, 'Keirineian armies are better
organised these days, from what I hear.'

'They're well
enough organised to put the Dornites in their place at last.'

Zaliek winked
at me. 'Looks like you learned something in basic training,
eh?'

'Oh, I don't
know about that. The main thing I learned was that the best thing
about basic training was getting out of basic training.'

We sat there
grinning appraisingly at each other for a while. Then Zaliek
grunted and said, 'I hardly recognised Koraina -- paved streets, a
market place, fine houses – it's bigger and better than anything
that the Dornites ever built.' Zaliek shook his head
disbelievingly. He pointed out of the window. 'And look at that –
the royal palace! What a change, eh? When I was here last, the
palace consisted of a few old houses. And now -- just look at
it!'

I gestured to
the map behind the table and said, 'The palace is bigger and so is
Keirine.'

Zaliek peered
at the map and asked, 'Wasn't there a saying about land and people
reaching the sea?'

'Yes -- Keirine
only shall be free, when land and people meet the sea. It was a
prophecy by the oracle at Osighina.'

Still peering
at the map, Zaliek observed, 'Well, General Jina, Keirine has
reached the sea in a big way, hasn't it? How many independent
Dornite cities are left?'

'Only one.'

'Only one? Let
me guess – that's Durgenu's territory, isn't it?' I nodded. Zaliek
shook his head admiringly. 'The crafty old bastard! He always did
know how to walk on the edge of the ravine without falling in.'

I said,
'Keirine punishes her enemies and rewards her friends.'

Zaliek raised
his eyebrows at me sardonically. Then he gave a short laugh,
pointed at the map, and asked, 'That green blotch down in the
south-east – is that all Durgenu's territory?' I nodded. Zaliek
whistled admiringly and said, 'I hope he deserves a reward as big
as that.'

I replied, 'We
have reason to be grateful to him. When we were outcasts in the
desert, Durgenu gave us supplies and took care of our families. In
fact, he took special care of my mother. Later, when we needed arms
and equipment for Lower Keirine, Durgenu provided them. He also
provided us with mercenaries. More than that, he's stayed out of
every war we've ever fought against the Dornites'

Zaliek put up
his hands and laughed. 'Oh, Durgenu's a noble soul, all right. From
what you say, he deserves whatever he's been given as well as a few
medals on top of it.' He got up, walked over to the map, and hauled
out something out from the folds of his tunic. With the contraption
held to his nose, he peered at the map.

I asked,
'Zaliek, what in heaven's name is that?'