81: RANDRONOTH

She woke with a start. Ogma was bending over her with a lamp, her familiar, ugly face all shadow one side and wavering, yellow brightness the other. Maia sat up quickly.

"What is it, Ogma? Is the house on fire?"

"No, miss, it's—"

"Is there fighting or something?" She swung her legs out of bed.

"No, miss; it's Lord Randronoth."

"What d'you mean, Lord Randronoth? Where? You mean he's been killed or what?"

"No, miss; he's downstairs."

"Downstairs? Ogma, have you gone crazy? He can't be downstairs; he's in Lapan and it's the middle of the night! Go back to bed."

"Säiyett—Miss Maia—it's not my fault! Lord Randronoth was knocking and he woke Jarvil: and Jarvil looked out and saw it was Lord Randronoth and he just had two soldiers with him, no one else. So then Lord Randronoth said he had to see you at once—it was very important. And Jarvil came and woke me and said what should he do? So of course I said yes, let them in—"

"But Ogma, whatever for?"

"What, Lord Randronoth, miss?" said Ogma in a puzzled tone, as though Maia's question were quite inexplicable. "Well, of course I let him in!"

The sweaty smell of her, stooping over Maia in her night-dress, came strong. It had always been a job to get Ogma to wash. Maia, now really angry, felt ready to box her ears. She was perfectly entitled to hit Ogma, of course, only she never had as yet.

"Well, now you just go down and tell him to go away again. Go on!"

"I don't reckon he'd do it, miss. Well, not for my saying so, that is. He seemed kind of—well, I don't know—kind of beside himself, like: not what you'd call normal, he isn't."

"Well, then, what the bloody basting hell did you let him in for?" stormed Maia. "Great Cran, Ogma, I often wonder I don't sell you, I really do! No, all right—" holding up her hand—"you needn't start in. I suppose you'd better give him some wine and tell him I'll be down in a few minutes. Now light me some lamps and then get out of here!"

Randronoth! she thought. Randronoth—here, in the middle of the night; when he ought to be at the front in Lapan. Did Eud-Ecachlon know he'd come to Bekla? Probably not.

No doubt about what he's here for. What else could he be here for? And thereupon Occula took over.

The bloody crazy damned basting menstrual tairth-struck bastard! And it's completely compromising! It leaves me wide open! Oh, Cran! and with Eud-Ecachlon, of all people, left in command of the city! I've got to get him out of here somehow!

She was hurrying into her clothes, yet even in this crisis stopped to wash her face and comb her hair.

Middle of the night or no middle of the night, she'd be damned if she was going to let Randronoth or anyone else see her all in a flurry and lookng like—what was it Occula used to say?—a pig's venda in a thunderstorm. Becoming a little more composed as she looked at herself in the mirror, she put on her diamonds and the jewelled Leopard emblem with which the Council had presented her. Then, with all the outrage, authority and dignity of which she was capable, the Serrelinda made herself walk slowly down the stairs and into the parlor.

Randronoth was standing in the middle of the room. Under his long cloak he was fully armed—sword, dagger and breastplate. He had taken off his leather helmet and cleared a space for it on one of her side-tables. As she entered he held out his arms, smiling with an apparently sincere and perfectly spontaneous expression of joy and triumph.

"My love! My queen!"

"Lord Randronoth," she said sharply, "have you gone out of your mind? Do you know what time it is? Please leave my house immediately!"

"Oh, I can well understand it's a shock," he replied. As he spoke he unbuckled and cast aside his sword-belt, flung back his cloak and sat down. "But it's the finest shock you'll ever have had in your life, my love, believe me! Listen and I'll explain."

"I'll listen to nothing! Get out of my house; now, at once! If you don't, I'll send the porter for the night-watch, and believe me I mean it! I don't care if you're the governor of Lapan or anywhere else. I will not be subjected to this sort of behavior in the middle of the night! If you really have anything to say to me—and I'd imagine the first thing you ought to explain is why you're not with the army in Lapan—you can come back tomorrow morning. Now if you're worth calling a nobleman, get out!"

"Not so fast, Maia," he said. "If we're to take Bekla, you and I, you've got to help me. And if you find yourself giving up no more than half a night's sleep before we're done, you'll be lucky."

"Take Bekla! Whatever are you talking about?"

He laughed. "Taking Bekla."

Maia felt herself close to tears of desperation. If she could, she would have thrown him out by force. For a moment she turned away to hide her feelings. Zenka! Zenka, tell me what to do! Come and help me!

"Stop arguing with him," replied the invisible Zenka. "He's obviously not here for the reason you thought. Make him tell you what he's up to!"

"Randro," she said, pulling up a stool, "you must realize that this is a great shock to me. You'd better tell me what it's all about. You owe me that at least."

"As if you knew nothing?"

"As if I knew nothing."

"Very well: since you seem to want to act the simpleton, Maia, I'll go back to the night of the barrarz. You remember we made love, I suppose? You've not forgotten that?"

She compressed her lips with annoyance. Her head was beginning to ache.

"And you may possibly recall that you promised me that if I got Sednil freed, you'd spend another night with me next time I was in Bekla?"

"Well, if that's all you want, why can't we get on—"

"Wait a minute! Of course it is—I never stop thinking about you—but just now there are more important things to be done. You'll remember, too, that Seekron came to see you. I know, of course, what he told you. I'll remind you, shall I? He told you that the whole of Lapan was ready to declare for you as Sacred Queen. He gave you the names of several Leopard councilors who were ready to join us; and he gave you forty thousand meld." Randronoth paused a moment and then repeated it. "Forty thousand meld. Didn't he?"

"Yes," she whispered.

"And you took it, and you sent me back word that you'd do all you could to help me?"

The reckoning day, she thought. Oh Cran, the reckoning day!

"Randro, I'll give you back the money—half of it now, this very minute! If only you'll let me alone—"

He held up his hand.

"Oh, Randro, you can go to bed with me all you want! Only please, please leave me out of—"

"Well, as it's turned out, you see, events have moved rather faster than we expected. In this life one has to be able to seize opportunities."

Opportunity is all, she thought. Opportunity is all. O Lespa, save me!

"The long and short of it is that the Leopards are ripe for destruction. Sencho's dead, Durakkon's a puppet. Kembri's no more than a murderous ruffian and his son's a proved coward. As for Forms—"

She burst out, "So you're working for Santil—"

"For Erketlis?" he said. "Never in a hundred years, my love! I'm working for myself—and for you! I'm the man, not Kembri, that's going to save Bekla from Santil-kè-Erketlis."

"You must be out of your mind, Randro! Have you thought about this, really and truly? You'll only be throwing your life away; oh, and mine too, Randro! Please—"

"Indeed I've thought about it," he answered. "Listen and I'll tell you. Erketlis has defeated—shamefully defeated—the force the Leopards sent against him; and I can tell you that the force are in very poor heart now. Kembri's reinforcements, I'm told, are just about the sorriest bunch between here and Zeray. If I'd joined them I'd have been a raving lunatic. Meanwhile Durakkon's been sent out against Fornis with orders to try to hold her up until Kem-bri gets back. But Kembri never will get back. The plain truth is that Bekla's lying here under Mount Crandor like a dropped purse. Who's going to grab it first, Santil or Fornis? Neither; I am!"

"You mean you've got enough men—"

"Yes; Bekla will be in my hands by tomorrow evening; by this evening, I ought to say, since it's getting on for morning. When I got Kembri's order to call up every man in Lapan, I obeyed it, with his full authority behind me. But we didn't go anywhere near Elvair-ka-Virrion's lot; no fear! I've got four thousand men, under Seekron, marching up to Bekla now. That's not a great many, but it'll be enough."

"But Randro—"

"The plain truth is, there's no one here to stop us; only Eud-Ecachlon and a handful of second-rate troops. Seekron will be here by this afternoon. We shall simply take the place over."

"Well, just you leave me out of it! I don't care what I said!—"

He ignored her interruption. "But it's not enough just to take a city, Maia. It's got to be held, too. If you've ever fed those ducks out there" (he jerked his thumb towards the Barb) "you'll know what happens when one of them manages to grab a big bit. The inhabitants—we're going to need their support and goodwill if we're to hold the place." He laughed. "Of course the best thing for us would be if Santil and Kembri were to destroy each other and Fornis and Durakkon were to do the same. But something tells me that won't happen—things are never so simple. One or other of them will be coming against us; perhaps more than one. That's why I'm here tonight; to talk to you. The people of Bekla are going to be united behind their new Sacred Queen; the Serrelinda."

She flung herself at his feet, clasping his ankles.

"No, Randro, no! Oh, please don't try to make me! I won't do it!"

He raised her to her feet with an air of genuine bewilderment.

"But Maia, my darling, you said you would! You told Seekron. You took the money, too."

"Oh, I didn't realize, Randro! I never thought it would come to this! I didn't mean it—"

"Well, there's four thousand men marching on Bekla now who are quite sure you did, and they're not going to be all that pleased if you back down, I tell you."

He took her face between his hands, tilting it up and gazing down into her eyes.

"You're essential to us, Maia! My men know me, but the people of Bekla don't. You they do know—to say the least."

"But you can't make me do it against my will! You can't!"

"This is the first inkling I've had that you weren't entirely with us, Maia. What's happened to make you start jibbing now? Are you a coward—-like your friend Elvair-ka-Virrion?"

" 'Tain't a question of being a coward; though I don't mind telling you I'd be scared stiff—if I was going to do it. But I won't do it! I'll give you back the money!"

"Haven't you used any of it as I said?"

She shook her head. "I'll be honest. Some I've spent, but most of it I've still got. I'll give it back to you and the rest as soon as ever I can."

He was silent, sitting bent forward, elbows on parted knees tapping his scabbard on the floor between his feet. At length she said, "Will you please leave now, Randro? I want to go back to bed."

"The comet's waning," he said. "Have you noticed? That's a sign the gods mean the Leopards to fall."

"Will you only go?"

He looked up sharply. "I'm sorry, Maia," he replied, "but the answer's no. Seekron has orders to report to me here as soon as he enters the city."

"Randro! Here?"

"So I'm afraid I can't let you leave this house until Seekron comes: until we've taken the city, in fact. Then I shall have you proclaimed queen, publicly, from the Scales. And no one's going to like it very much, Maia, if you're taken up on the Scales crying and making a fuss, in front of the whole city. Can you imagine it? What it comes to is, I'd say you haven't much choice."

At this she leapt up and was already at the door when he said, "There are two of my soldiers out there, with orders to stop anyone leaving the house. Better keep your dignity, Maia!"

"This is insufferable, Randronoth! In my own house?"

"As insufferable as taking forty thousand meld and doing nothing in return? I'm sorry, Maia: I thought we were friends. Yes, and I thought we were lovers, too: it was you who made me think so. But I'll tell you, I'm not going to be thwarted now. Things have gone too far. If you didn't want to play this game you should have told Seekron in the first place."

"You're holding me a prisoner, then?"

"I wouldn't call it that, Maia. Let's hope we can reach a better understanding during the next few hours. I love you, and in that I'm perfectly sincere."

"Can I go back to bed now?"

"You can; but I'm afraid I shall have to join you. Your bedroom window isn't very high and I wouldn't put it past a girl like you to jump out or climb down."

"If I promise not to?"

"Promise? You promised to do all you could to help us."

Once upstairs, however, he made no attempt to make love to her, but merely dozed in a chair. She lay in her bed, at first feigning sleep, yet falling asleep at last from sheer weariness and nervous exhaustion.

When she woke it was daylight. For some time she lay unmoving, with closed eyes, reflecting on her plight. For the moment, clearly, there was nothing to be done. Later, perhaps, there might be a chance to escape. Meanwhile, the most prudent course seemed to be not to fall out any more with Randronoth, but to try to smooth things over and pretend to assent to his plans: in that way she might even be able to create an opportunity. Still without mov-ing, she prayed long and earnestly to Lespa and at last felt in her heart some stirrings of comfort and reassurance. If I die, she thought, I shall have died for Zenka's sake. I could have gone to Quiso with Nasada: there was nothing to stop me. I'm here, and that must be Lespa's will. Surely she'll protect me.

She murmured, opened her eyes and sat up. Randronoth was awake, seated in the chair and looking at her. She jumped out of bed, ran over and kissed him on both cheeks.

"I'm sorry I was angry," she said. "I was that tired and frightened and it was such a shock. I'll do my best to help you, Randro: only it's enough to scare anyone, you must surely see that."

He nodded, holding her hands and kissing them. "I want your servants to think there's nothing out of the ordinary— for the moment, anyway. I'm here as your lover—your porter thinks so and your slave-girl too. I've told my soldiers to say nothing to the contrary. The girl—what's her name, Ogma?—do you generally send her to the market?"

She nodded.

"Let her go. It can't do any harm. I've already given her money and told her to say nothing outside about my being here. We'll have breakfast now."

During the morning Maia did all she could to give the impression of having recovered her calm. For a time she worked on a piece of embroidery, then read for an hour and practiced her writing. She was hoping that Nennaunir or Otavis might come to the house, but there were no visitors. The city, when she went up on the roof towards noon, seemed more than usually still and unstirring in the heat: the markets looked almost deserted.

"The caravans aren't coming in," said Randronoth when she remarked on it. "There's nothing arriving now from Ikat, you see, or Herl—or from Dari, for that matter. But I dare say stuff will still be coming from the north, unless trouble's broken out there, too."

She offered an inward prayer for the safety of Nasada, but said no more.

During the early afternoon Randronoth became increasingly restive, making Maia accompany him while he returned several times to the roof to look out to the southward.

"Seekron should have been here by now," he said. "I hope nothing's gone wrong."

"Why, how could it?" asked Maia, hoping with all her heart that it had.

"Well, before I left Lapan I'd found out all I needed to know about the whereabouts of Erketlis; and of the Beklans—the Chalcon force, I mean. But EHeroth—that's another matter entirely."

"I've heard of this Elleroth before," answered Maia. "Who is he? I thought he was with Erketlis?"

"He's the eldest son of the Ban of Sarkid; and as to what he is, he's a very active young fellow spoiling for trouble, that's about it. He's popular in Sarkid, he's a good leader and he's never made any secret of his heldro sympathies. As soon as Erketlis took up arms, Elleroth got together a bunch of volunteers and went off to join him in Chalcon. But after the battle, when Erketlis went south to take Ikat, Elleroth lit out on his own to break up the slave-farm at Orthid in Tonilda. And where he may have got to now I've no idea. That bunch of his can move very fast when they want to, and I wouldn't put it altogether past him to be giving Seekron some trouble."

"But how would he know about Seekron?" asked Maia. "My friend Shend-Lador was here only yesterday and he had no idea what you were up to."

"Well, it's simply that I don't trust Elleroth not to be anywhere, that's all," said Randronoth, and relapsed into a moody silence.

About an hour later Maia, dozing on her bed, was roused by knocking on the outer door. Looking out the window, with Randronoth at her elbow, she was startled to see none other than Brero, dishevelled and covered with sweat and dust, gesticulating and talking earnestly with old Jarvil and Randronoth's two soldiers.

Randronoth drew her back into the room. "Who's that?"

"It's Brero!" she answered, staring. "My soldier as used to look after me. He was one of those as went off with Durakkon three days ago—"

"With Durakkon?"

"Yes; against Fornis. Randro, something bad must have happened!"

Randronoth reflected a moment, staring down at the floor. Then he said, "Let him in," and led the way downstairs.