The Shasht War (50 page)

Thru got to his feet. Simona uncurled from the fetal position. He helped her up. She sobbed. A bump was rising on her forehead. She held her side where she'd taken other blows.

Thru picked up the sword where it had fallen.

"Can you walk? Are you badly hurt?"

She shook her head. "I can walk. I think."

"Take one of their sticks. Follow me."

Now they moved toward the source of the light at the other end of the house. In the kitchens they spotted another Red Top, busy in the act of cooking dumplings in boiling fat.

The fellow heard the door open.

"Well, you two took your time. These zooba are ready."

He started to turn, but then Thru was there. The last thing the Red Top ever saw was the flash of the blade, and then Thru laid him carefully on his side.

Simona fished the hot dumplings out of the oil with a spoon. They ate them with hot pepper paste straight out of an earthen jar on the table.

"We can't stay here for long. These Red Tops will be visited by others of their kind."

Thru nodded. "The carriage in the stables has two horse animals."

Simona chuckled. "Of course, you have only donkeys in the Land. Aren't horses beautiful?"

"Yes, but I'm glad you have experience in dealing with them."

Thru gave Simona the little black casket, and she pulled the pin that kept it locked.

"It hasn't rusted, even after five years."

The casket was lined with dark blue velvet on which shone a handful of bright sparkling gemstones.

Thru whistled at the sight of the fiery gems.

"There you are," she said. "That will buy us a ship."

The road winding around the crag was steep and iced in places, but the tower looming above promised security, so Thru had no hesitation in going onward. He shook the reins, felt the two huge animals shift their feet, and soon had the wagon rolling slowly up the slope.

Somehow, with only an hour or so of training, Thru had managed the two horses over a dozen miles of rutted wintry roads without sliding off into a ditch or bogging down in half frozen mud—but it had been a close run thing on several occasions.

As for other traffic, they'd seen very little. A few carts, one or two men on horseback, a handful of others trudging through the snow and ice. Thru kept his head down and his hat pulled low over his ears.

Still, the tension of keeping the pair of horses—gentle old geldings—under control and avoiding the worst ruts had taken its toll. The back of Thru's neck and shoulders were stiff and painful.

"This is the Tower of Quarantine," said Simona in a hushed voice as they passed through the lower gate.

"Yes," said Thru, rubbing the back of his neck.

"It is forbidden. All my life this place was spoken of in hushed voices. No one knows who is kept here, but it is said to be an ogre."

"What is an ogre?"

"A hairy monster, like a bear but with a man's head. It eats children."

Thru thought about this for a moment.

"We do not have these animals in the Land. Long ago we had trouble with lions, and we had to drive them up into the hills. Anyway, I can tell you one thing that is certain. The man in the tower is not an ogre. He calls himself the 'Eccentric.' He is not like the other men I have met."

They had come to the inner gate, which was shut. Thru got down and smote the knocker.

They waited. Shortly they heard a door creak open in the tower and footsteps slowly descend to the gate.

"Who goes there?" said a harsh voice.

"It is I, Thru Gillo."

Silence, then the door peep cracked open.

"Is it really you? Come back with a carriage and pair?"

"Yes, Master Eccentric. And I have a friend with me. We need shelter once again."

But the gate was already opening, and the Eccentric welcomed them in with a smile.

"Well, well, come in, come in. I had not thought to see you again, my fur-covered friend."

Inside the tower the tall figure wrapped in his hooded robe went ahead of them up the steps to the door, but once they were in the small room, he removed his robe and turned to welcome his guests properly.

At the sight of him Simona almost fainted.

"Your Majesty, I had no idea you'd be here."

The Eccentric stared at her silently, as she stood hidden behind her veil and hood. Thru looked blankly back and forth between them.

"You know my brother?" said the Eccentric at last.

"Your brother? I..." and Simona's voice trailed off. Because now she could see the differences. This man had a slightly lighter build of jaw and forehead. The nose was identical, as were the somber dark eyes and hair, but the face had other differences. The chin, the width of the mouth, all were subtly different.

"Yes, my lord, I have been privileged to know your great brother."

"How? As a courtesan?"

Simona colored. She supposed she should have expected this. "No, my lord, I was teaching him a new language."

"What?" the man stared at her again. Then broke into a smile and lifted his head to laugh out loud.

"Well, well, so Ge is learning a new language at his age!"

"Ge?"

"You know him as Aeswiren the Third. To me he is Ge. I am Mentupah. Ge is the older by four years."

"You are brother of the Emperor?" said Thru, amazed at this discovery.

"Yes."

"But, why are you kept here?"

Mentupah the Eccentric shook his head in anger.

"I was imprisoned here because I was eccentric enough not to want any of the power and glory of my brother's Empire. I was a fisherman, not a soldier. I lived a simple life while he rose to the purple. Then I became a problem. He was afraid that someone would try to use me as a puppet to replace him."

"And so he put you here?"

The Eccentric shrugged. "Most men in his position would have just had me killed, but he locked me away here for the rest of my life. He has told me many times that someday I would have an important role to play."

Simona, who had never seen anything but the gentle side of Aeswiren, was shocked by these revelations. How could the wonderful, intelligent man she had come to know and respect be so cruel? But, she reflected, all the history that she had read of the Empire demonstrated that Aeswiren was right to be so careful. The struggle for power was endless and protean. Any tool, any weapon that could be found would be used."

"It is my turn to ask a question," said Mentu. "How in the world did my fur-covered friend find you? And why did he bring you here? Why is a woman of noble blood outside of the purdah house?"

"Ah, well..." Thru began.

"It is a long story, my lord," said Simona quickly.

The Eccentric listened and asked questions until the answers satisfied him, then he sat down and shook his head in amazement.

"Truly, you have been blessed by the Gods, whoever they are.

"But, now I must tell you that circumstances here are uncertain. Since Aeswiren fell, I have had very little news from outside. They have either forgotten about me, or they have simply not yet decided to kill me."

"And you are waiting here for them to kill you?" said Thru.

Mentu shrugged. "I know I shouldn't, but I don't know what to do. If I stay here, then I am obeying the Emperor's commands. If I flee, they will eventually track me down and I will have broken the Emperor's law and can be put to death quite legally."

"We are going to go to the Land," said Simona in a firm voice. "That is beyond their reach."

The Eccentric stared at them as comprehension sank in. "The Land... You mean, the land where Thru here came from?"

"Yes. My father gave me some gemstones to use in an emergency. I think they will be enough to buy and outfit a boat. We will sail to the Land."

"But, it's thousands of miles away."

"True. So we have to buy a big enough boat."

"How will you navigate? Are either of you versed at all in the sea?"

"No. But we will learn."

The Eccentric smiled.

"Then, I will have to come with you."

"You?"

"I worked as a fisherman for eight seasons. I know the banks, I know the straits, and I know how to navigate by the stars."

They looked at him blankly.

"You won't survive without me," he added.

To that they had no reply.

Good fortune continued to smile upon them. For two weeks they drove the wagon westward into Gzia Province. At night Simona slept in the wagon, and Thru and Mentu wrapped themselves in blankets and slept on the ground underneath. As much as possible they avoided towns. For food they had a stock of hard biscuit brought from the tower.

They saw parties of Red Tops on the roads, but Mentu's beard had grown quickly enough to obscure his looks and a fancy purdah wagon was still enough to overawe most Red Tops. On the one occasion when a party of Red Tops demanded to know who was in the wagon, Mentu was able to bluff them, with help from Simona, who spoke up on cue.

"I am the Countess Furissen, a friend of the Emperor Norgeeben the Second. Why do you halt my carriage? Who are you?"

At these imperious words the Red Tops quailed and backed away.

The weather continued mild, and the snow cover was gone by the time they came over the domido and into the little village of Bafleu, snuggled against the red rocks of the Givi estuary. Now Thru put on Simona's spare purdah robe and hood. They had decided that the best disguise for him was to pretend to be a lady in waiting to Simona. Hidden by the conventions of purdah, he would be almost invisible to the men of the village.

Mentu had spent much of his life in the village. Despite his long absence, he found that little had changed. He drove the wagon confidently through the narrow streets and ultimately into the outer yard of a fish wholesaler.

"This is my friend Yomafin's place. Stay inside, I won't be long."

Mentu disappeared into the back of the rather ramshackle premises, which reeked of fish despite the cold. Thru, peering out of a slit inside the wagon, was mystified by the dilapidation he saw. The roof needed a lot of work, and there were broken slats and gaps in the exterior siding.

Mentu returned a little later accompanied by another man, full-bellied, with white hair combed loose to his shoulders.

"Greetings, I am Yomafin, friend of Mentu, who I never expected to see again in this life."

"You will have to excuse good Yomafin, he's still recovering from the shock," said Mentu with a grin.

Thru and Simona left the security of the wagon, both wearing full purdah dress, with hooded cloaks that came down to the ground.

"Come this way," said the man.

They entered another rambling structure set on the farther side of the yard. The stench of fish was replaced by the warm smells of cooking and smoke. They passed a kitchen, glimpsed an old slave beside the stove, and went up some stairs into a warm, poorly lit room.

"You can rest here, while Mentu and I make things ready for you elsewhere."

"Thank you," said Simona.

The men left them, Mentu came back in a few minutes, bearing a basket with bread and peanuts.

"We stay here tonight. Yomafin has sent a message to his brother. We will hide at his farm."

"And the boat?"

"He says there are two or three that could serve our purpose."

"What about the Red Tops?" asked Thru.

"The terror has passed on to the city. All the Red Tops are gone now. They will be back, but not until all their victims have been sent to Shasht."

"Why do they do this?"

"It happens at the beginning of every reign. The Red Tops seize the chance to settle scores."

"My father told me that the priests call it 'weeding out,'" said Simona.

"How many people have they taken?" asked Thru quietly.

"Two thousand from Gzia alone. The purge in Shasht was even more severe they say."

"And all will be slaughtered?"

The Eccentric nodded. "The masses love the ceremonies. They will watch the priests sacrificing victims all day. The steps of the pyramid will run with blood."

Thru shivered. "Seems a waste of lives."

"In Shasht life is cheap," said Mentu with another shrug.

The next morning they moved out of the village as secretly as possible and up the lane to a straggling farmhouse. Later, Yomafin and his brother Heldo came to see them.

While Yomafin was friendly, without reservation, Heldo was closemouthed and hard eyed. Between the two brothers there was clearly some ill feeling. Thru supposed that Heldo was unhappy at the risk that Yomafin had taken.

"Before we initiate contracts and risk our good name," said Yomafin, "we must know whether you speak truth about these gemstones."

Yomafin was clearly embarrassed at having to ask. Heldo's eyes glittered with something unkind.

"Well, of course you can."

Simona opened the little box and showed them the massive emerald, plus the smaller diamonds and rubies.

The fish dealer sucked in a breath. Heldo's eyes widened.

"This is wealth indeed..."

"Enough?" said Simona.

"More than enough."

"Good, then, know this. I will give you all of it if we succeed."

"No, my lady, I could not accept so much."

Heldo blinked and flashed a look of disbelief at his brother. Yomafin took no notice.

"My lady, I help you because of my friendship with Mentu, and because I hate the filthy Red Tops and all their kind." Yomafin's voice had suddenly turned hard.

"They killed our grandfather," said Heldo in explanation.

"They killed many people from this village, because Ge Vust had rebelled against Shmeg."

"I wish there could be an end to the Red Tops, all of them," said Simona.

"A good thought, my lady," said Yomafin. "I will take these smaller stones, the diamonds and rubies. They will buy a good barque with provisions. There is one in the yard near here that I think will serve. The owner is eager to sell, too."

"Thank you, Yomafin."

"But I will not buy directly with these gems. It is best not to arouse too much suspicion. So I will have to go to Gzia Gi to sell them. I know some wealthy men who like to trade such things. They will give me gold, and I will use that to buy the ship."