Brian Aldiss - Helliconia

‘We just made use of your useless act. One outcome of it was that the State recognised you officially as a — why do you say “saint”? — as a hero. You’ve become part of legend. Though I have to say that personally I regard you as a sinner of the first water. I still keep my religious convictions in such matters.’

‘And is it religious conviction that has installed you in Kharnabhar?’

Asperamanka smiled and tugged at his beard. ‘I greatly miss Askitosh. But there was an opportunity open to govern this province, so I took it… As a legend, a figure in the history books, you must accept my hospitality for the night. A guest, not a captive.’

‘My mother?’

‘We have her here. She’s ill. She’s no more likely to recognise you than you were to recognise me. Since you are something of a hero in Kharnabhar, I want you to accompany me to the public Myrkwyr ceremony tomorrow, with the Keeper. Then people can see we haven’t harmed you. It will be the day of your rehabilitation. There’ll be a feast.’

‘You’ll let me feed a little…’

‘I don’t understand you. After the ceremony, we will make what arrangements you wish. You might consider it best to leave Kharnabhar and live somewhere less remote.’

‘That’s what the Keeper also hoped I might consider.’

He went to see his mother. Lourna Shokerandit lay in bed, frail and unmoving. As Asperamanka had anticipated, she did not recognise him. That night, he dreamed he was back in the Wheel.

The following day began with a great bustle and ringing of bells. Strange smells of food drifted up to where Luterin lay. He recognised the savoury odours as rising from dishes he would once have desired. Now he longed for the simple fare he had reviled, the rations that came rolling down the chutes of the Wheel.

Slaves came to wash and dress him. He did as was required of him, passively.

Many people he did not know assembled in the great hall. He looked down over the banisters and could not bring himself to join them. The excitement was overpowering. Master Asperamanka came up the stairs to him and said, taking his arm, ‘You are unhappy. What can I do for you? It is important that I am seen to please you today.’

The personages in the hall were flocking outside, where sleigh-bells rattled. Luterin did not speak. He could hear the wind roar as it had done in the Wheel.

‘Very well, then at least we will ride together and people will see us and think us friends. We are going to the monastery, where we shall meet the Keeper, and my wife, and many of Kharnabhar’s dignitaries.’ He talked animatedly and Luterin did not listen, concentrating on the exacting performance of descending a flight of stairs. Only as they went through the front door and a sleigh drew up for them, did the Master say sharply, ‘You’ve no weapon on you?’

When Luterin shook his head, they climbed into the sleigh, and slaves bundled furs round them. They set oft into the gale among cliffs of snow.

When they turned north, the wind bit into their faces. To the twenty degrees of frost, a considerable chill factor had to be added.

But the sky was clear and, as they drove through the shuttered village, a great irregular mass appeared through its veils to loom over Mount Kharnabhar.

‘Shivenink, the third-highest peak on the planet,’ said Asperamanka, pointing it out. ‘What a place!’ He made a moue of distaste.

Just for a minute the mountain’s naked ribbed walls were visible; then it was gone again, the ghost that dominated the village.

The passengers were driven up a winding track to the gates of Bambekk Monastery. They entered and dismounted. Slaves assisted them into the vaulted halls, where a number of official-looking people had already gathered.

At a sign, they proceeded up several staircases. Luterin took no interest in their progress. He was listening to a rumble far below, which carried through the monastery. Obsessively, he tried to imagine every corner of his cell, every scratch on its enclosing walls.

The party came at last to a hall high in the monastery. It was circular in shape. Two carpets covered the floor, one white, one black. They were separated by an iron band which ran across the floor, dividing the chamber in half. Biogas shed a dim light. There was one window, facing south, but it was covered by a heavy curtain.

Embroidered on the curtain was a representation of the Great Wheel being rowed across the heavens, each oarsman sitting in a small cell in its perimeter, wearing cerulean garments, each smiling blissfully.

Now at last I understand those blissful smiles, thought Luterin.

A group of musicians was playing solemn and harmonious music at the far side of the room. Lackeys with trays were dispensing drinks to all and sundry.

Keeper of the Wheel Esikananzi appeared, raising his hand graciously in greeting. Smiling, half-bowing to all, he made his portly way towards where the Master of Kharnabhar and Luterin stood.

When they had greeted each other, Esikananzi asked Asperamanka, ‘Is our friend any more sociable this morning?’ On receiving a negative, he said to Luterin, with an attempt at geniality, ‘Well, the sight you are about to witness may loosen your tongue.’

The two men became surrounded by hangers-on, and Luterin gradually edged his way out of the centre of the group. A hand touched his sleeve. He turned to meet the scrutiny of a pair of wide eyes. A thin woman of guarded mien had approached, to observe him with a look of real or feigned astonishment. She was dressed in a sober russet gown, the hem of which touched the floor, the collar of which rioted in lace. Although she was near middle age and her face was gaunter than in bygone times, Luterin recognised her immediately.

He uttered her name.

Insil nodded as if her suspicions were confirmed and said, ‘They claimed that you were being difficult and refusing to recognise people. What a habit this lying is! And you, Luterin, how unpleasant to be recalled from the dead to mingle with the same mendacious crowd — older, greedier… more frightened. How do I appear to you, Luterin?’

In truth, he found her voice harsh and her mouth grim. He was surprised by the amount of jewellery she wore, in her ears, on her arms, on her fingers.

What most impressed him were her eyes. They had changed. The pupils seemed enormous — a sign of her attention, he believed. He could not see the whites in her eyes and thought, admiringly. Those irises show the depth of Insil’s soul.

But he said tenderly, ‘Two profiles in search of a face?’

‘I’d forgotten that. Existence in Kharnabhar has grown narrower over the years — dirtier, grimmer, more artificial. As might be expected. Everything narrows. Souls included.’ She rubbed her hands together in a gesture he did not recall.

‘You still survive, Insil. You are more beautiful than I remembered.’ He forced the insincerity from him; conscious of pressures on him to be a social being again. While it remained difficult to enter into a conversation, he was aware of old reflexes awakening — including his habit of being polite to women.

‘Don’t lie to me, Luterin. The Wheel is supposed to turn men into saints, isn’t it? Notice I refrain from asking you about that experience.’

‘And you never married, Sil?’

Her glare intensified. She lowered her voice to say with venom, ‘Of course I am married, you fool! The Esikananzis beat their slaves better than their spinsters. What woman could survive in this heap without selling herself off to the highest bidder?’

She stamped her foot. ‘We had our discussion of that glorious topic when you were one of the candidates.’

The dialogue was running too fast for him. ‘Selling yourself off, Sil! What do you intend to mean?’