The passage was clearly based on a very obscure section in a
seventh-century historical text. There’s mention of a betrayal
and not much more. Evidently, when their war with the Cyrgai
began, the Styrics contacted the Delphae and tricked them into
mounting an attack on the Cyrgai from the east. They promised
aid and all manner of other inducements, but when the Cyrgai
counter-attacked and began to over-run the Delphae, the Styrics
chose to renegg on their promises. The Delphae were almost
exterminated. The Styrics have been wriggling and squirming
for eons trying to justify that blatant breach of faith. There are
many people in the world who don’t like Styrics, and they’ve
used that betrayal as a vehicle for their bigotry. Styrics quite
understandably don’t care much for the literature.’ He looked
pensively out across the featureless desert. ‘One of the less
attractive aspects of human nature is our tendency to hate the
people we haven’t treated very well. That’s much easier than
accepting guilt. If we can convince ourselves that the people we
betrayed or enslaved were sub-human monsters in the first
place, then our guilt isn’t nearly as black as we secretly know
that it is. Humans are very, very good at shifting blame and
avoiding guilt. We do like to keep a good opinion of ourselves,
don’t we?’
“I think it would take more than that to set Sephrenia off,”
Vanion said dubiously. “She’s too sensible to catch on fire just
because somebody says unflattering things about Styrics. She’s
spent several hundred years in the Elene kingdoms of Eosia,
and anti-Styric prejudice there goes far beyond literary insults.’
He sighed. ‘if she’d only talk to me about it. I can’t get anything
coherent out of her, though. All she does is splutter wild
denunciations. I don’t understand at all.’
Sparhawk, however, had at least some slight inkling of what
was happening. Aphrael had hinted that Sephrenia was going to
encounter something extraordinarily painful, and it was growing
increasingly obvious that the Delphae would be the cause of
her pain. Aphrael had said that Sephrenia’s suffering would be
necessary as a prelude to some kind of growth. Itagne, who
really didn’t know any of them that well, may have hit upon
something very relevant. Sephrenia was Styric to her fingertips,
and the acceptance of racial guilt for an eons-old misbehavior
would cause her the exact kind of pain Aphrael had so sorrowfully
described. Sephrenia, however, would not be the only one
who would suffer. Vanion had said that Sephrenia’s problems
were also his. Unfortunately, the same held true of her pain.
Sparhawk rode on across the desolate waste, his thoughts as
bleak as the surroundings.
CHAPTER 12
Kring looked pensively out across the lawn. ‘it came on me like
a madness, Atan Engessa,’ he told his towering friend. ‘From
the moment I first saw her, I couldn’t think of anything else.’
The two were standing in the shadows near the Ministry of the
Interior.
‘You are fortunate, friend Kring,’ Engessa replied in his deep,
soft voice. ‘Most men’s lives are never touched by such love.’
Kring smiled a bit wryly. ‘i’m sure my life would be much
easier if it hadn’t touched mine.’
‘Do you regret it?’
‘Not for a moment. I’d thought that my life was full. I was
the Domi of my people and I’d assumed that my mother would
find me a suitable wife in due time, as is customary and proper.
I’d have married and fathered sons, and that would have satis-
fied the requirements. Then I saw Mirtai, and I realized how
empty my life had been before.’ He rubbed one hand over his
shaved scalp. ‘My people will have a great deal of trouble with
her, I’m afraid. She’s like no other woman we’ve ever encountered.
It wouldn’t be so difficult if I weren’t the Domi.’
“She might not have accepted you if you hadn’t been, friend
Kring. Mirtai is a proud woman. She was meant to be the wife
of a ruler.’
“I know. I wouldn’t have dared to approach her if I hadn’t
been Domi. There’ll be trouble, though. I can see that coming.
She’s a stranger, and she’s not at all like Peloi women. Status
is very important to our women, and Mirtai’s of a different race,
she’s taller than even the tallest of the Peloi men, and she’s
more beautiful than any other woman I’ve ever seen. just by
themselves, those things would shrivel the hearts of Peloi
women. You saw how Tikume’s wife Vida looked at her, didn’t
you?’
Engessa nodded.
‘The women of my people will hate her all the more because
I am their Domi. She will be Dona, the Domi’s wife, and she’ll
have first place among the women. To make matters even worse,
she’ll be one of the wealthiest of all the Peloi.’
“I don’t understand.’
‘i’ve done quite well. My herds have increased, and I’ve stolen
much. All my wealth will belong to her. She’ll own vast
herds of sheep and cattle. The horse herds will still be mine,
though.’
‘is that the Peloi custom?’
‘Oh, yes. Sheep and cattle are food, so they belong to the
women. The women also own the tents and the beds and the
wagons. The gold we get from the king for Zemoch ears is
owned by all the people in common, so about the only thing
we Peloi men own are our weapons and our horses. When you
get right down to it, the women own everything, and we spend
our lives protecting their possessions.’
‘You have a strange society, friend Kring.’
Kring shrugged. ‘A man shouldn’t have his mind all cluttered
with possessions. It distracts him when the time comes for
fighting.’
‘There’s wisdom there, my friend. Who holds your possessions
until you marry?’
‘My mother. She’s a sensible woman, and having a daughter
like Mirtai will increase her status enormously. She has a great
deal of authority among the Peloi women, and I’m hoping she’ll
be able to keep matters under control – at least among my sisters.’
He laughed. ‘i’m going to enjoy watching the faces of my
sisters when I introduce them to Mirtai and they have to bow
to her. I’m not really fond of them. They all pray for my death
every night.’
‘Your own sisters?’ Engessa sounded shocked.
‘Of course. If I die before I’m married, everything I’ve won
becomes the property of my mother, and my sisters will inherit
all of it. They already think of themselves as women of property.
They’ve turned down perfectly acceptable suitors because of
their pride of position and the wealth they think they’ll inherit.
I’ve been too busy making war to think much about marriage,
and every year that passed made my sisters feel that their ownership
of the herds was that much more secure.’ He grinned.
‘Mirtai’s sudden appearance is going to upset them terribly, I’m
afraid. One of the customs of our people obliges a bride-to-be
to spend two months in the tent of her betrothed’s mother learning
all the little things she’ll need to know about him after
they’re married. During that period my mother and Mirtai will
also select husbands for all my sisters. It’s not a good idea to
have too many women in one tent. That will really upset my
sisters. I expect they’ll try to murder Mirtai. I’ll warn them
against it, of course,’ he added piously. “I am their brother, after
all. But I’m sure they won’t listen – at least not until after Mirtai’s
killed a few of them. I’ve got too many sisters anyway.’
‘How many?’ Engessa asked him.
‘Eight. Their status will change drastically once I marry. Right
now they’re all heiresses. After my wedding, they’ll be possessionless
spinsters, dependent on Mirtai for every crust of
bread they eat. I think they’ll bitterly regret all the suitors they’ve
refused at that point. Is that somebody creeping through the
shadows over by the wall?’
Engessa looked toward the Interior Ministry. “It seems to be,’
he replied. ‘Let’s go ask him his business. We don’t really want
anybody going inside that building while Atana Mirtai and the
thieves are in there.’
‘Right,’ Kring agreed. He loosened his saber in its sheath, and
the oddly mismatched pair moved silently across the lawn to
intercept the furtive shadow near the wall.
‘How far is it from here to Tega, Sarabian?’ Ehlana asked, looking
up from Sparhawk’s letter. ‘in a direct line, I mean?’
Sarabian had removed his doublet, and he really looked quite
dashing in his tight-fitting hose and full-sleeved linen shirt. he
had tied back his shoulder-length black hair, and he was practiCing
lunges with his rapier, aiming at a golden bracelet hanging
from the ceiling on a long string. ‘About a hundred and fifty
leagues, wouldn’t you say, Oscagne?’ he replied, contorting his
body into an garde position. He lunged and caught the rim of
the bracelet with the point of his rapier, sending the bracelet