‘Dignity is much overrated,’ she said, at last. ‘It is a concept, I think, devised by men to add gravitas to their strutting.’ A flicker of a smile touched Axiana’s beautiful face. But it passed as swiftly as a noonday shadow. ‘Men are ridiculous creatures,’ continued the priestess, ‘arrogant and vain, insensitive and boorish.’
‘Is this why you became a priestess? To avoid contact with them?’
Ulmenetha shook her head. ‘No, dear heart. I had a jewel among men. When I lost him I knew there would never be another.’ She took a deep breath and stared out over the southern mountains. She could just make out three riders heading into the high country.
‘I am sorry, Ulmenetha,’ said the queen. ‘My question brought you sadness.’
‘Not at all,’ the priestess assured her. ‘It brought me remembered joy. He was a fine man. He spent two years trying to woo me, and became convinced that if he could beat me to the top of Five Rise mountain I would marry him.’ The queen looked mystified. ‘I used to run through the mountains. I was slimmer then, and I could run for
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ever. No man could best me on the longer races. Vian tried for two years. He trained so hard. That’s when I grew to love him.’
‘And did he beat you?’
‘No, but he won me. Good days.’ They lapsed into silence for several minutes, enjoying the warmth of the morning sun.
‘What is it like to be in love?’ asked Axiana. Ulmenetha felt sadness swell in her, not for the love she had lost, but for the lovely young woman at her side. How sad it was that a woman only weeks from giving birth should still wonder about love.
‘Sometimes it arrives like a flash flood, but at other times it grows slowly until it becomes a great tree. Perhaps it will be that way for you and the king.’
Axiana shook her head. ‘He thinks nothing of me. I am an ornament of no more worth than any of the other ornaments he owns.’
‘He is a great man,’ said Ulmenetha, aware of the shallowness of her response.
‘No, he is not. He is a great killer and destroyer. Men worship him as if he were a god, but he is not. He is a plague, a cancer.’ The words were not spoken with passion, but with a quiet resignation that somehow added to their power.
‘He has a good side,’ said Ulmenetha. ‘His people love him, and he is often generous. And I have seen him weep. When he was younger and it was thought that Starfire was lame, he was inconsolable.’
‘Inconsolable?’ queried Axiana. ‘He did not appear inconsolable when Starfire went to the tannery. I understand they use the hides for furniture, the meat for food, and the hoofs and bones for glue. Is that right?’
‘You must be mistaken, my pet.’
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‘I am not mistaken. I heard him on his birthday. All the older horses – including Starfire – were sold. The money received went into the war chest. The man is without a soul.’
‘Do not speak this way, dear heart,’ whispered Ulmenetha, feeling a sudden chill.
‘No-one can hear us. There are no secret passages in the garden, no hollow walls for clerics to hide behind with their quill pens. Skanda cares only for war, and he will never be satisfied. The world could fall to him and he would know only despair, for there would be no more battles to fight. So, tell me, Ulmenetha, about love.’
The priestess forced a smile. ‘There is an old legend. I am rather partial to it. In the beginning the old gods created a herd of perfect animals. They had four legs, four arms and two heads. And they were blissfully happy. The gods looked upon this perfection of happiness and grew jealous. So one day the Chief of the Gods cast a mighty spell. And in an instant all the animals were ripped in half and scattered across the world. Now each of the beasts only had one head, two arms and two legs. And they were destined for ever to search the earth for their other halves, seeking that perfect fit.’