Brian Aldiss - Helliconia Summer

Whereupon SartoriIrvrash rose, smoothing his bald head and bowing to her majesty. What he had to say would indeed be brief but hardly pleasant. He apologized for bringing up old unhappy things, but the future was always linked with the past in ways that even the wisest among them could scarcely anticipate. He might give as an instance…

Catching Odi Jeseratabhar’s eye, he applied himself to the point, hunching up his shoulders to do so. In the years in Matrassyl, his duty as chancellor had been to discover the secrets of the court. When the queen’s brother, YeferalOboral of beloved memory, was still alive, he had discovered that Pasharatid—then ambassador from his country—was enjoying the favours of a young girl, a commoner, whose mother kept a house of ill-repute. He, the chancellor, also discovered from VarpalAnganol that Pasharatid contrived to look upon the queen’s body when naked. The fellow was a scoundrel, lustful and reckless, kept in check only by his wife—whom they had reason to believe was now dead.

Moreover, he wished to retail a rumour—perhaps more than a rumour—gathered from a guide called the Pointer of the Way, whom he befriended on his journey through the desert to Sibornal, that Io Pasharatid had murdered the queen’s brother.

“I know that to be so,” said MyrdemInggala, dismissively. “We have every reason to regard Io Pasharatid as a dangerous man.”

TolramKetinet rose.

He adopted military postures and spoke with rhetorical flourishes, glancing across at the queen to see how his performance was being received. He said that they were now clear how Pasharatid was to be feared. It was reasonable to assume that the scoundrel was in command of the Union and, by dint of his connections, could enforce his orders on the commander of the Good Hope . He, TolramKetinet, had evaluated the military situation from the enemy’s viewpoint, and estimated that Pasharatid would move as follows. One—

“Please, make this brief, or the man will burst in upon us at this table,” said CaraBansity. “We take it that you’re as great an orator as you are a general.”

Frowning, TolramKetinet said that Pasharatid would decide that two ships could never take Ottassol. His best plan would be to capture the queen and thus force Ottassol to submit to his demands. They should anticipate that Pasharatid would land somewhere to the east of Gravabagalinien, wherever a favourable beach presented itself. He would then march on Gravabagalinien with his men. He, TolramKetinet (who struck his chest as he spoke), declared that they must immediately muster their defences against this anticipated land attack. The queen’s person was safe in his keeping.

After a general discussion, the queen issued orders. As she spoke, rain started to drip down on the table. “Since water is my element, I cannot complain if the roof leaks,” she said.

MyrdemInggala advised that defences should be built along the perimeters of the palace grounds and that the general should draw up an inventory of all weapons and warlike impediments available, not forgetting the armoury of the Vajabhar Prayer.

Turning to SartoriIrvrash, she ordered him and Odi Jeseratabhar to depart from the palace at once. They might have three hoxneys from the stables.

“You are kind, ma’am,” said SartoriIrvrash, although the expression on his volelike face suggested he thought otherwise. “But can you spare us?”

“I can if your companion is fit to ride.”

“I don’t think she is fit.”

“Rushven, I can spare you as Jan could spare you. You advised him on the plan of divorcement, didn’t you? As for your new consort, I understand that she is or was a close friend of the villainous Io Pasharatid.”

He was taken aback. “My lady, there was much botheration… Many questions of policy were involved. I was paid to support the king.”

“You used to claim that you supported the truth.”

He searched his charfrul absentmindedly, as if looking for a veronikane, then settled for rubbing his whiskers instead.

“Sometimes the two roles coincided. I know that your kind heart and the king’s spoke for the phagors in our kingdom. Yet they are the chief cause of all human troubles. In summer, we have the opportunity to rid ourselves of them when their numbers are low. Yet summer is the time we squabble among ourselves and are least capable of seeing them as our ultimate enemy. Believe me, ma’am, I have studied such histories as Brakst’s Thribriatiad, and have learned—”

She looked at him not unfavourably, but now held up her hand.

“Rushven, no more! We were friends, but our lives have changed. Go in peace.”

Unexpectedly, he ran round the table and clasped her hand.

“We’ll go, we’ll go! After all, I’m used to cruel treatment. But grant one request before we leave… With Odi’s assistance, I have discovered something of vital importance to us all. We shall go on to Oldorando, and present this discovery to the Holy C’Sarr, in the hopes that it may merit reward. It will also discountenance your ex-husband, you may be pleased to hear—”

“What is your request?” she broke in angrily. “Be finished, will you? We have more important business.”

“The request has to do with the discovery, ma’am. When we were all safe at the palace of Matrassyl, I used to read to your infant daughter. Little you care for that now. I remember the charming storybook that Tatro possessed. Will you permit me to take that storybook with me to Oldorando?”

MyrdemInggala stifled something between a laugh and a scream. “Here we try to prepare for a land attack and you wish to have a child’s book of fairy tales! By all means take the book as far as I’m concerned—then be off the premises, and take that ceaseless tongue of yours with you!”

He kissed her hand. As he backed to the door, Odi beside him, he gave a sly smile and said, The rain is stopping. Fear not, we shall soon be away from this inhospitable refuge.”

The queen hurled a candlestick after his retreating back.

To one side of the palace was an extensive garden, where herbs and fruit bushes grew. In the garden was an enclosure within which pigs, goats, chickens, and geese were kept. Beyond this enclosure stood a line of gnarled trees. Beyond the trees lay a low earthworks, grass-covered, which encircled marshy ground to the east—the direction from which Pasharatid’s force would come if it did come.

After a businesslike survey of the ground, TolramKetinet and Lanstatet decided they must use this old line of defence.

They had considered evacuating Gravabagalinien by ship. But the Prayer had been inexpertly moored. During the storm, it suffered damage and could hardly be considered seaworthy.

Everything of value was unloaded from the ship. Some of its higher timbers were utilized to make a watchtower in the stoutest tree.

As the ground dried off after the storm, some of the phagors were employed to build a defensive breastwork along the top of the earthworks. Others were deployed to dig trenches nearby.

This was the scene of activity which met SartoriIrvrash and Odi Jeseratabhar as they left the settlement. They travelled one behind the other on hoxneys, with a third animal trailing, carrying their baggage. They saw CaraBansity supervising the digging of fortifications, and SartoriIrvrash halted. “I must bid farewell to my old friend,” he said as he dismounted.

“Don’t be long,” Odi warned. “You have no friends here because of me.”

He nodded and walked over to the deuteroscopist, squaring his shoulders.

CaraBansity was working in a patch of marshy ground with some labouring ancipitals. When he looked up and saw SartoriIrvrash, his heavy face went dark, then, as if forced to it by the pressure of excitement, burst into a smile. He beckoned SartoriIrvrash over.