wouldn’t do that, Sparhawk. Find my cat and bring her to me.’ Then her
smile turned hard. ‘Pay close attention to our host and his family, father.
I think you should see what kind of’people they really are.’
‘What are you up to!’
‘Nothing. I just think you should see what they’re really like.’
‘I can see quite enough already.’No, not really. They’re trying to be
polite, so they’re glossing over things. Let’s take a look at the truth.
For the rest of the evening, they’ll tell you what they really think and
feel.’
‘i’d rather they didn’t.’
‘you’re supposed to be brave, Sparhawk, and this ‘horrid little family is
typical of the gentry here in Astel. Once you understand them, you’ll be
able to see what’s wrong with the kingdom. It might be useful.’ Her eyes
and face grew serious. ‘There’s something here, Sparhawk – something we
absolutely have to know.’ ,”What?’ I’m not sure. Pay attention, father.
Somebody’s going to tell you something important tonight. Now go find my
cat.’
The supper they were offered was poorly prepared, and the conversation at
the table was dreadful. Freed of constraintt by Danae’s spell, the baron
and his family said things’ they might normally have concealed, and their
spiteful, seLf-pitying vanity emerged all the more painfully under the
influence of the inferior wine they all quaffed like common tavern
drunkards. I was not intended for this barbaric isolation,’ Katina confided
to poor Melidere. ‘Surely God could not have meant for me to bloom
unnoticed so far from the balls and gaiety of the capital. We were cruelly
decieved before my brothers marriage to that dreadful woman. Her Parents
led us to believe that the estate ‘ would bring us wealth and position, but
it scarcely provides enough to keep us in this hovel. There’s no hope that
we shall ever be able to afford a house in Darsas.’ she buried her face in
her hands. ‘What shall become of me?’ she waLed. ‘The lights, the balls,
the hordes of Morslrmry flocking to my door, dazzled by my wit and’
‘Oh. don’t cry, Katina,’ Ermude waled. ‘if you cry, I shall surely cry
too.’ The sisters were so similar in appearance that Sparhawk had some
difficulty telling them apart. Their plumpness was more like dough than
flesh. Their colourless hair was limp and uninspired, and their complexions
were bad. Neither of them was really very clean. ‘I try so hard to protect
my poor sister,’ Ermude blubbered to the long-suffering Melidere, ‘but this
dreadful place is destroying her. There’s no culture here. We live like
beasts – like serfs. It’s so meaningless. Life should have meaning, but
what possible meaning can there be so far from the capital? That horrid
woman won’t permit our poor brother to sell this desolate waste so that we
can take a proper residence in Darsas. We’re trapped here – trapped, I tell
you – and we shall live out our lives in this hideous isolation.’ Then she
too buried her face in her hands and wept. Melidere sighed, rolling her
eyes ceilingward. ‘I have some influence with the governor of the
district,’ Baron Kotyk was telling patriarch Emban with pompous
self-importance. ‘He relies heavily on my judgement. We’ve been having a
deuce of a time with the burghers in town – untitled rascals, every one of
them – runaway serfs, if the truth were known. They complain bitterly at
each new tax and try to shift the burden to us. We pay quite enough in
taxes already, thank you, and they’re the ones who are demanding all the
services. What good does it do me if the streets in town are paved? It’s
the roads that are important. I’ve said that to his Excellency the governor
over and over again.’ The baron was deep in his cups. His voice was
slurred, and his head wobbled on his neck. ‘All the burdens of the district
are placed on our shoulders,’ he declared, his eyes filling with
self-pitying tears. ‘I must support five hundred idle serfs – serfs so lazy
that not even flogging can get any work out of them. It’s all so unfair.
I’m an aristocrat, but that doesn’t count for anything any more.’ The tears
began to roll down his cheeks, and his nose started to run. ‘No one seems
to realise that the aristocracy is God’s special gift to mankind. The
burghers treat us no better than commoners. Considering our divine origins,
such disrespect is the worst form of impiety. I’m sure your Grace agrees.’
The Baron sniffed loudly. Patriarch Emban’s father had been a tavern-keeper
in the city of Ucera, and Sparhawk was fairly sure that the fat little
churchman most definitely did not agree. Ehlana had been trapped by the
baron’s wife, and she was beginning to look a little desperate. ‘The
estate’s mine, of course,’ Astansia declared in a coldly haughty voice. ‘My
father was in his dotage when he married me off to that fat swine.’ She
sneered. ‘Kotyk only had those piggish little eyes of his on the income
from my estate. My father was so impressed with the idiot’s title that he
couldn’t see him for what he really is, a titled opportunist with two fat,
ugly sisters hanging from his coat-tails.’ She sneered, and then the sneer
slid from her face, and the inevitable tears filled her eyes. ‘I can only
find solace for my tragic state in religion, my beloved brother’s art and
in the satisfaction I take in making absolutely sure that those two
harridans never see the lights of Darsas. They’ll rot here – right up until
the moment my pig of a husband eats and’ drinks himself to death. Then I
shall turn them out with nothing but the clothes on their backs.’ Her hard
eyes became exultant. ‘I can hardly wait,’ she said fiercely. ‘I shall have
my revenge, and then my sainted brother and I can live here in perfect
contentment.’ Princess Danae crawled up into her father’s lap. lovely
people, aren’t they?’ she said quietly. ‘Are you making all this up?’ he
asked accusingly. ‘No, father, I can’t do that. None of us can. People are
what they are. We can’t change them.’
‘I thought you could do anything.’
‘There are limits, Sparhawk.’ Her dark eyes grew hard again. ‘I am going
to do something, though.’
‘Oh?’
‘Your Elene God owes me a couple of favours. I did something nice for Him
once.’
‘Why do you need His help?’
‘These people are Elenes. They belong to Him. I can’t do anything to them
without His permission. That’s the worst form of bad manners.’
‘i’m an Elene, and you do things to me.’
‘You’re Anakha, Sparhawk. You don’t belong to anybody.’
‘That’s depressing. I’m loose in the world with no
God to guide me?’
‘You don’t need guidance. Advice sometimes, yes. Guidance, no.’
‘Don’t do anything exotic here,’ he cautioned. ‘We don’t know exactly what
we’ll be dealing with when we get deeper into Tamuli. Let’s not announce
our presence until we have to.’ Then his curiosity got the better of him.
‘Nobody’s said anything very relevant yet.’
‘Then keep listening, Sparhawk. It will come.’
‘Exactly what were you planning to ask God to do to these people?’
‘Nothing,’ she replied. ‘Absolutely nothing at all. I
won’t ask Him to do a thing to change their circumstances. All I want Him
to do is to make sure that they all live very, very long lives.’ He looked
around the table at the petulant faces of their host’s family. ‘You’re
going to imprison them here?’ he accused. ‘Chain five people who loathe
each other together for all eternity so that they can gradually tear each
other to pieces?’
‘Not quite eternity, Sparhawk,’ the little girl corrected, ‘- though it’s
probably going to seem that way to them.’
‘That’s cruel.’
‘No, Sparhawk. It’s justice. These people richly deserve each other. I
only want to be sure that they have a long time to enjoy each others’
company.’
‘What’s your feeling about a breath of fresh air?’ Stragen asked, leaning
over Sparhawk’s shoulder. ‘It’s raining out there.’
‘I don’t think you’ll melt.’
‘Maybe it’s not a bad idea at that.’ Sparhawk rose to his feet and carried
his sleeping daughter back into the sitting room and the divan where Mmrr
drowsed, purring absently and kneading one of the cushions with her
needle-sharp claws. He covered them both and followed Stragen into the
corridor. ‘Are you feeling restless?’ he asked the Thalesian. ‘No,
revolted. I’ve known some of the worst people in the world, my friend, and
I’m no angel myself, but this little family -‘ He shuddered. ‘Did you
happen to lay in a store of poison while you were in Render?’
‘I don’t approve of poison.’
‘A bit short-sighted there, old boy. Poison’s a tidy way to deal with
intolerable people.’
‘Annias felt much the same way, as I recall.’
‘i’d forgotten about that,’ Stragen admitted. ‘I imagine that prejudiced