Black Jade

Chapter 38

How Maram had donned his costume and painted his face so quickly, I didn't know. He immediately managed to trip over Kane's chain and nearly landed face first in a mound of horse droppings. It was farce at its crudest, yet it made everyone laugh. After the horror of the sword fights, I thought, no less Yismi's butchery, the people in the square needed whatever relief they could find.

Maram himself took no pleasure in his performance. Some great fear burned through his bouncing belly, and he could not tell me what it was. It did not keep him, however, from shimmying about in mockery of the maracheel dancers, and making everyone laugh all the more.

Although we had improvised our way across the Haraland, we had always set the rhythm and routines of our show ourselves. It was not to be that way this day. Without warning, as Estrella joined Maram in a silly pantomime, a seemingly jovial King Arsu held up his hand and called out to them: 'Enough! Enough for now, good Garath! Let us see what else your troupe has prepared for us.'

He turned toward his left, where the Lady Lida sat pretending amusement at Maram's and Estrella's antics. Her dark, sharp face, I thought, hid her true sentiments as if covered with a veil. It disturbed me that she kept stealing quick glances at Liljana, who waited by the side of the cart with the rest of us.

'My Lady,' King Arsu said to Lida, 'since it is your birthday, what would you most like of this troupe?'

Lida didn't hesitate to answer him. She spoke in a sweet and perfectly controlled voice as she told him, 'My lord, I would like a love potion, that my ardor for my king always inflames me as it does now, even when I am ugly and old.'

Her words pleased King Arsu greatly, and I felt a flush of pride wash through him. It seemed that he could not get enough flattery, just as he had a nearly bottomless thirst for sugared drinks.

'Dear one,' he said to her, 'you will never be less than beau-tiful, and as for growing old, is it not written that those of impassioned blood will enjoy the eternal youth of the angels?'

His quote from the Darkakul Elu elicited a quick nod of Arch Uttam's skull-like head. He gazed at King Arsu as if noting down his every word. His umber eyes, though smoldering with a cruel intelligence, seemed utterly dead.

'My Lord,' Arch Uttam said to King Arsu, correcting him, 'it is written that they will enjoy the everlasting youth of the angels.'

King Arsu waved his hand at this as he might bat away a fly, Even so, I felt a flicker of fear burn through him. Then he told Lida, 'You shall certainly have your potion.'

He called out his command to Liljana then. She went inside the cart, and then hurried back out holding a blue-glassed vial full of a dark liquid. She stepped forward toward the dais, where one of the King's men moved to take it from her. But Lida stayed him, and came down from the dais to take the potion from Liljana herself. I watched as she turned her face to whisper something in Liljana's ear, and Liljana likewise spoke back to her.

As Lida returned to her place, Liljana walked back to us. I wondered what she had said to her, for she fairly beamed with new hope.

And then King Arsu pointed at Atara and said, 'Kalinda, Teller of Fortunes — come forward and let us hear of our fate!'

He smiled if expecting the usual promises of love, children and a happy future. Atara did not disappoint him. With Daj leading her forward by one hand, she clutched in her other the glass sphere that we had bought in Ramlan. Despite her blindfold, she appeared to gaze into it deeply. Then she lifted up her face toward King Arsu's box.

'My Lord!' she called out. 'I see for you the fulfillment of your greatest desire. You will gain that which you have sought all your life.'

King Arsu smiled hugely to hear this. It was, however, scryer talk, and therefore likely double-edged in its meaning. King Arsu seemed not to realize this. Likely he had never encountered a true scyrer before, as all the women of that order had long since been purged from his realm.

'The fulfillment of our greatest desire.' King Arsu repeated. 'That is well. But we have many desires. It would be hard to tell which one is the greatest.'

His answer caused Arch Uttam to look at him with scorn. And then King Arsu hastened to call down to Atara: 'Tell us then of victory! Tell us of our army, which will soon march forth on the great crusade!'

King Arsu looked out at his hundreds of soldiers assembled in the square.

Atara fell silent. I felt my heart quicken its painful beats as something stabbed into me. Then Atara drew in a deep breath and called out:

'I see an ocean of grass, covered with armies of men. I cannot count the number of spears gleaming in the sun. The shields of the army of Sunguru shine like thousands of mirrors; the men of Uskudar stand there, too, like ebony pillars. Your army King Arsu, gathers at their center. And you, on top of an elephant draped in armor, at the center of it. Your enemies stand before you. It will be said ever after that they had no hope of prevailing against such an invincible force. And then fate will find you, and everyone assembled there that day. It will be the greatest battle fought in all the ages of Ea. And you will gain the greatest victory of your life.'

She stopped speaking and stood there facing King Arsu. A terrible strangeness shivered up my spine like the chill of the winter wind. I feared with all my soul that Atara had told King Arsu the truth.

King Arsu turned directly toward Atara. At last, he put down his goblet of honeyed milk and clapped his puffy hands together. He called out, 'That, Fortune Teller, was a great one indeed. And it deserves a great reward.'

And with that, he reached into his purse and cast a handful of gold coins at her. Daj retrieved them from the grass. After Atara had bowed to the King, Daj took her by the hand once again and led her back to our cart.

Next to Arch Uttam, King Angand sat quietly gazing out at Atara. Although a stew of strong sentiments bubbled inside him, his brown face remained stonelike. His dark, almond eyes gleamed with cunning, but betrayed none of his thoughts. I had never known a man harder to read. Did he pay any mind at all to Atara's prophecy? And what had he made of the messenger's news, that King Orunjan, his old enemy, would soon meet up with King Arsu and himself in conclave? Did he dwell at all upon the great irony that Morjin had put an end to the incessant wars of the south by leading the Dragon Kingdoms straight toward a final war that would consume all of Ea?

He finally broke his silence, turning to King Arsu to say: 'It would seem that our fates are linked together But that is the future. Why don't we return to the present and witness the skills of the strongman?'

I sensed that he hated almost everything about his enforced rapprochement with King Arsu and the bloodthirsty Arch Uttam, and wished to remove himself from their presence as soon as he could.

King Arsu nodded at this, and called out to Kane: 'Taras — is that your name? Why don't you show us what you can do?'

What Kane could do, I thought, as his eyes deepened into black pools, would be to grab up his sword and charge King Arsu's box, cutting down any guard who stood in the way. And then to cut short the reigns of Morjin's two greatest kings and one of his most valued priests before other guards came to kill him.

Instead, he gathered up his chains and positioned himself in front of King Arsu's box. Then Arch Uttam wagged his bony finger at him as he addressed King Arsu: 'I'm sure this man is as strung as everyone says. I'm sure we would all like to see him break his chains, but is this wise? It might give the slaves bad ideas.'

Something ugly in his voice grated as if the whole world irritated him. I watched as he forced a thin smile upon his face. I thought for a moment that he might be joking, although he did not seem capable of any sort of levity.

King Arsu took him seriously enough. He sipped some of his sweetened milk as he seemed to consider what Arch Uttam had seemed to offer as a suggestion. Then he said to Kane. 'You are a juggler as well, aren't you? Well, then, juggle for us, good Taras.'

He waved his hand at him as if that settled the matter. Then Daj brought out a little basket filled with Kane's seven colored balls. For a while Kane entertained King Arsu and the other luminaries in the box — and the soldiers and townspeople, too — with the blur of his hands and a stream of leather-covered spheres. He sent them high up into the air on a rainbow arc, and then whirled about in a full circle, catching them with perfect timing and passing them even lower and faster as the balls flowed in an unbroken streak of crimson and orange, indigo and violet. I thought it likely that no one present in the square had ever seen such juggling.

At last, though, everyone grew tired of this amusement, as people do. And so Kane put his balls away, and went about performing feats of prestidigitation. I had never come across anyone so skilled at this sleight of hand. He dared to ask Lady Lida for a gold coin, and then made it vanish into thin air. After showing Lady Lida his naked palm, he made a fist and blew on it. When he opened his hand again, two gold coins gleamed there.

'Marvelous!' Lady Lida said, clapping her hands together.

'Marvelous?' Arch Uttam said. He tried to make himself smile again. 'Let us hope it is not sorcerous.'

I never learned how Kane worked this magic, and he never told me. Although I found some measure of wonder in it, as did Lady Lida and King Arsu, it seemed only to bore Arch Uttam. He stared at Kane with his soulless eyes as he steepled his thin fingers beneath his chin; something about Kane seemed to vex him. It was the King's prerogative to command entertainments, but that didn't stop Arch Uttam from rudely speaking out.

'I'm sure we have all had enough of this man's tricks,' he said. He turned to look down his thin nose at Kane. 'We have heard, player, that your skill with knives is something to be seen.'

Kane could not keep his old hate from burning through him. He growled out, 'Even as was yours, priest.'

Arch Uttam sat staring at Kane as if he could not believe what he had just heard. Finally, he barked at Kane: 'What was that?'

Kane smiled his savage smile, showing his long white teeth. And then, to Maram's horror, and mine, he said, 'Today, I only cast my knives at a wooden target. But you put yours through that girl's throat with a precision we all must wonder at. She couldn't have suffered much, eh? Who else has such skill but a high priest of the Kallimun?'

Kane managed to say this without obvious sarcasm but only the greatest seeming sincerity. Even so, he walked a knife blade's edge between condemnation of Arch Uttam and compliment. A fool such as Maram might be able to get away with such wordplay, but Kane was Kane. Arch Uttam stared at him again, and his eyes finally came alive with hate.

'You revere Lord Morjin's priests, do you?' he said to Kane.

'Even as I do Morjin himself,' Kane said. 'What would the world be without him and the truest of his servants?'

With many eyes now gazing upon Arch Uttam in witness of this singular interchange, it seemed that he had no choice but to interpret Kane's words as praise. But I felt the poison in his voice as he snapped at Kane: 'The world will be a paradise when we all doserve him truly. As you may serve him now by showing us what is possible through years of discipline and great concentration.'

Kane bowed his head at this. Then he beckoned toward Estrella, standing with the rest of us by the cart. She walked toward him bearing a velvet-covered tray on which sat seven gleaming knives. It was her job to hold the tray up to Kane as he plucked up the knives one by one and hurled them at the target. And again, to retrieve the knives and stand many paces farther back as Kane repeated a remarkable feat: planting six of the knives in a perfect hexagram around the edge of the innermost circle while the seventh knife transfixed its center.

Arch Uttam stared at the target, and for the moment seemed disinclined to speak.

King Angand, however, clapped his hands and said to Kane, 'If you could learn such skill with the sword, we would be glad to have you ride with our army.'

'And ours,' King Arsu said. 'There are always errants to deal with.'

'Yes,' Arch Uttam said to Kane. He smiled at him. 'Then you could put steel through flesh instead of wood.'

I prayed that Kane would let Arch Uttam have the final word in this deadly duel forming up between them. For at least ten of my heart's beats, Kane did not say anything, and he did not move.

And then he growled out to him, 'I'm just a simple player, eh? Throwing knives is one thing; facing swords in the heat of battle is another. As you have said. Arch Uttam, I can only hope to master my fear. And someday, by the One's grace, to witness the defeat of those who have turned away from the Light.'

He bowed then, not so much to Arch Uttam or King Arsu, but to the sun burning like a circle of white-hot steel above their silk-covered box. Without another word, he turned about and walked back toward the cart.

'What is wrong with you?' I whispered to him as he moved up close to me.

'So, Morjin is wrong,' he muttered. He cast a quick, killing look at Arch Uttam. 'It's wrong that the Beast himself isn't here instead of his lackey. Then I'd put a knife into each of his damn eyes!'

We hoped to end our performance with Alphanderry singing a few songs. King Arsu agreed with this plan, and waved his hand at the cart's door as if commanding it to open. When Estrella walked over and turned the handle to let out the mysterious minstrel known as Thierravai, everyone around the square fell silent. They watched as Alphanderry positioned himself in front of King Arsu's box — but not too near it. Then Kane took up his mandolet and Estrella and I our flutes, and we all gathered together to play for the King.

Three songs we gave to King Arsu and his companions, and to the many soldiers looking on and listening in wonder. For we made, I thought, a wondrous music — or rather Alphanderry did. While Kane and I, with Estrella, summoned out of our instruments ancient melodies, Alphanderry sang out with the much finer instrument of his voice. No words poured forth from his golden throat, not even those of the Galadin. The perfect tones that his lips shaped and shaded had something of the form of words, and something of their meaning, too, but seemed to go far beyond them and touch upon that deep, resounding place in which words had their source. It was a true magic that he worked that day. His songs pierced the hearts of all who listened. Each person in the square, I thought, heard in them what he most wished to hear: yearning for love or exaltation of war; chants pealing out like bells and hymns to life and lamentations of the dead. Even as I breathed into my flute and played to accompany Alphanderry's marvelous singing, I couldn't help thinking of the astonished look in Yismi's eyes as Arch Uttam had sliced his knife across her throat. So it was, I sensed, with many of those who listened to Alphanderry. Something in his brilliant voice seemed rip through the thin veil that separated life from death, and the earth from the starry heavens. By the time he finished the last of his songs, many people were weeping and many more stared at him as, if they could not believe what they had just heard.

In the vast silence that came over the square, as King Arsu and King Angand stared at Alphanderry stunned and unable to speak, Alphanderry bowed his head to them and quickly returned to the cart, Estrella walked over with him to shut the door. Then she came back over to where Kane and I stood in front of King Arsu's box, and we made our bow together.

At last, King Axsu returned to himself. He smiled at us even as a thunder of applause rang out from around the square. He reached for his purse with its golden coins. But then Arch Uttam stopped him, laying his bony hand on King Arsu's arm. He raised his other hand to silence the soldiers who were shouting, clapping and calling for Thierraval to come back out of the cart to sing for them again. Now the air fell so deathly still that I could hear the flies buzzing around the foodsellers' stalls. Arch Uttam's scabrous eyes looked from Kane to Estrella to me, then settled upon the cart. He looked at King Arsu. And then, in a bone-chilling voice, he called out: 'There is error here.'

Hundreds of people seemed horrified to hear this. Hundreds of pairs of eyes now turned their heat upon us. I sensed Kane readying himself to respond to Arch Uttam's dreaded accusation. I shook my head slightly to warn him to say nothing.

And then I called up to the box: 'What error, Arch Uttam?' The High Priest of the Kallimun of Hesperu stared down at me. His knife-like eyes fairly cut open the scar marking my forehead. Something about me, too, seemed to vex him. 'Do you really not know, flute-player?' he asked me. 'We have only played the ancient songs,' I said to him. 'But do you not know that many of them have been proscribed?' He waited like a spider watching for a butterfly to become ensnared in its web. As it happened, I did not know this, but I did not want to betray my naivety. And so I said to him, 'We are only players who have traveled far and performed mostly in small villages. It might be that we haven't learned of everything that has been proscribed.' 'Ignorance of the law is no excuse for violating it,' he said to me. 'Indeed it is not,' I said, sweating beneath the sun as much his hateful gaze. 'And that is why we have striven to play only the classics that would be acceptable. But since we don't have your keen discernment as to which songs fall into error, perhaps we have chosen unwisely.'

My words did not mollify him. He only stared at me and said, 'Then it is upon me to enlighten you. Which songs would you choose, if King Arsu should command you to play for us again?'

It now seemed that there could be no escaping Arch Uttam's web. I glanced over by the cart, where Maram shook his head as if he had given up the last of his hope.

And I said to him, 'The Song of the Sun is full of beautiful music.'

And Arch Uttam snapped his head at this as he told me: 'That which is beauty becomes ugliness when it lapses into error. And so the Song of the Sun has been proscribed.'

'But what about the Gest of Nodin and Yurieth? That is a simple love song.'

'It may be simple,' Arch Uttam said. 'But it has also been proscribed.'

I did not need to ask him about my favorite verse, the Song of Kalkamesh and Telemesh, which told of the crusade to liberate the Lightstone after Morjin had first stolen it late in the Age of Swords.

As we would soon learn, that epic was first on the proscribed list. And so I asked Arch Uttam, 'Has the Lay of the Lightstone also been proscribed?'

'Proscribed? No. But one may sing it only with changes made to the old verses that reflect the Lightstone's true history. And Lord Morjin's place in that history.'

Changes, I thought. Lies, and more lies.

I said to Arch Uttam, 'And the Lord of Light?'

'It is the same with that work, especially so.'

I gave up trying to find any traditional song, epic or poem that Arch Uttam would approve. I glanced quickly at Daj and said, 'What, then, of the Gest of Eleikar and Ayeshtan?'

Arch Uttam frowned at this. He obviously hated that I had named a work with which he was unfamiliar. I sensed, too, that without words to provoke his scorn and cognizance, he had failed to identify the melodies of Alphanderry's three songs.

'I'm sure that I have never heard of that work,' he said. 'And sure that I don't wish to.'

'But is it on the proscribed list?'

'All works,' he told me, 'that have not been approved have been proscribed. That is the new edict. You should know that.'

It nearly killed me to bow my head to him and say politely, 'Then in the future we will make sure that all the words to our songs are approved. If we are in doubt, we will play only pure music for its own sake.'

This failed to mollify him as well. His frown deepened as he stared at me and announced, 'Nothing must ever be done for its own sake. Not a walk in the sunshine or the smelling of a flower's fragrance. Especially the making of music. It arouses too many passions. And all passion, as it is written, must be directed toward one purpose, and one purpose only. It disappoints me that you seem not to know this. It is a grave error.'

I left a lust for violence stir inside Lord Mansarian and many of the soldiers standing about. When Arch Uttam spoke of a grave error, they could expect to see blood.

I prepared to run over to the cart and retrieve my sword so that I could make a last fight of things. I would not stand to be scourged and have the meat shredded from my bones — to say nothing of being crucified. Nor would I abide watching Estrella and Kane being tortured likewise, if Arch Uttam should include them in the correction of the error of playing a few lovely songs.

I do not know how things would have gone for us if Lady Lida hadn't caught King Arsu's ear and said, 'Who of us hasn't made errors from time to time? Who of us hasn't lapsed into enjoying a beautiful sunset just because it is beautiful? These players tried to give us a fine music, and in their ignorance chose their songs foolishly. I am no priest, of course, but are these players' errors really so very bad?'

Arch Uttam stared at her as if he wished to nail her to a cross, and only awaited the chance.

Just before Arch Uttam responded to this, Lida resumed speaking to King Arsu. The King held up his hand to silence Arch Uttam. He seemed utterly taken with Lida; she communicated things to him with a few murmured words, a pressure of her hand against his wrist and the imploring look in her eyes.

Then King Arsu turned to Arch Uttam, and for the first time that day, took on something of the aspect of a true king: 'We must take into account that these players are practically strangers in our land, and should be treated with the hospitality for which Hesperu is famed. Is it generous to construe their errors according to the strictest possible interpretation of what we know of error? Must we fear the goodness of our hearts and the forgiveness that Lord Morjin has taught us? We know well that we can be stern, at need — who has not lost a beloved companion in this last war? Who has not exulted in the sight of the Avrians crucified for their defiance? But this is a day of celebration: of our victory and our cousin's birthday, and therefore of life. Can we not celebrate the gift of our lives in realizing that all who live are subject to error? Surely these players have made errors, but surely they are no worse than Errors Minor.'

King Arsu, I thought, having completed a successful campaign, was in a great good humor. He practically willed Arch Uttam to bow before his magnanimity.

But a High Priest of the Kallimun will bow before no one — except the Red Dragon himself. And so, in an icy voice. Arch Uttam said to King Arsu: 'You are a great king who has led Hesperu to victory in great battles. And we can all give thanks that you have devoted yourself to the study of war and the ordering of Hesperu's empire, won in the Red Dragon's name. But there other battles that must be fought, and it is your very great devotion to final victory that has necessarily kept you from studying the deeper ways of error. It is to free you to fulfill your purpose that the Red Dragon, in his compassion, has sent his priests to aid you. And that is all that I would ask of you today, that you let them, for that is my purpose.'

King Arsu's high spirits seemed to plummet. He could not gainsay Arch Uttam without defying Morjin himself. And so he told Arch Uttam: 'It is upon you, of course, to decide the nature of these players' error. But let us say that they have made only an Error Minor. Shouldn't it be enough that they correct it by forfeiting their prize to the Kallimun school here? And that they be commanded to memorize the list of permitted works and the changes that have been made to them?'

Now it was Arch Uttam's turn to seethe with ire. Almost everyone listening to their debate, I thought, found King Arsu's judgment to be reasonable. Arch Uttam could not gainsay King Arsu without undermining his authority and thus ruining his effectiveness in leading Morjin's armies to triumph. And so it seemed that he had no choice except to be merciful toward us.

He gazed down from the box at Kane, Estrella and me. And he told us, 'As King Arsu has suggested, let it be. Are you willing to forfeit your prize?'

Over by the foodsellers' stalls. Lord Rodas stood with his six toughs waiting to hear how I would reply. His indignation bubbled out into the air like boiling oil.

'Yes,' I said, answering for all of us.

'And are you willing to memorize the changes in the songs that you may sing?'

'Yes,' I said, looking down at the grass.

'Very well,' he snapped out. 'Then your errors will be corrected.'

I felt the muscles along my throat begin to relax, as of the tension slowly easing on a piece of bent steel. And then Arch Uttam pointed at the cart and said, 'Let us make sure the minstrel understands this, too. Bring him to me.'

Kane flashed me a quick, dangerous look. Then he shook his head and said to Arch Uttam, 'Thierraval always keeps to himself after a performance. It is his way.'

'Excluding oneself from others is also an error,' Arch Uttam said. "Therefore your minstrel will have a different way today. Go fetch him.'

But Kane only glared at Arch Uttam, and did not move.

Arch Uttam finally looked away from him. He turned his anger on Estrella, the smallest and youngest of our company. He pointed at the cart and commanded her: 'Go open that door, right now girl! Or do you wish to stand in defiance of one of Lord Morjin's priests, which is defiance of Lord Morjin himself?'

Estrella had no choice but to carry out Arch Uttam's command. She ran over to the cart and opened its door. After looking inside, she turned toward Arch Uttam and shook her head. With quick motions of her hands and a look of puzzlement on her open, expressive face, she made it clear to Arch Uttam. and everyone else, that Thierraval was not inside the cart.

'What?' Arch Uttam cried out. He glared at Estrella. 'What are you saying, mime? Speak in words!'

'She cannot speak.' Kane growled out 'She is mute.'

'Mute, you say?'

'As silent as the sky. But her meaning is plain enough: You won't find Thierraval inside the cart. As I told you, he always vanishes after a performance.' 'What trick is this, Juggler?' 'No trick at all, priest. You might say it is part of our act.'

Arch Uttam drew himself up stiffly and sneered at Kane as if he refused to handy words with a lowly player. He whipped about, turning to face Lord Mansarian. He pointed at the cart as he called out, 'Go bring me that minstrel!'

Lord Mansarian bowed his head to him. He threw back his red cape, drew his sword and came down from the box. After hurrying across the square, he brushed Estrella aside. He practically leaped up into the cart. I heard him banging about inside as if striking his sword's pommel against the cart's floor and walls. I could only guess at Lord Mansarian's reaction in coming face to face with Bemossed hiding there, and Bemossed's response to this search. I commanded my arms and legs not to move; if I could have stilled my racing heart, I would have.

And then Lord Mansarian stepped out of the cart and dosed the door. He called up to Arch Uttam: 'The minstrel is not inside.'

I could not keep my breath from bursting out in a rush of relief.

And then Arch Uttam called down to Lord Mansarian: 'What? Are you sure he is not hiding there? It must be a trick: a false bottom to their wagon. A false wall.' 'No. I tested for that. The minstrel must be elsewhere.'

Arch Uttam stared at our cart as if he might order it chopped to splinters with axes. Then he stared at Lord Mansarian. When this grim-faced Crucifier, famed for ferreting out errants from hiding places in their houses, declared that no minstrel hid inside it, even a high priest of the Kallimun had to accept this.

At last, Arch Uttam said, 'The minstrel must have slipped away somehow when we were discussing these players' errors. It would seem that they are adept at sleight of word as well as prestidigitation.'

He looked past the food-sellers' stalk and the courtesans' pavilion at the many rows of tents of the army's encampment. He cast his gaze down upon Estrella and said. 'Tell me where he went! You must know.'

But Estrella only held out her hands as her eyes grew wide with mystification and she shook her head.

'Speak!' he commanded her. 'Do not mock me any more!' Kane's voice rolled out like a dark thunder as he called up to Arch Uttam: 'She cannot speak any more than you can fly!'

Arch Uttam seemed ready to order Kane put to death on the spot. He snapped out, You mock me. too. You say the girl cannot speak. We shall see. Lord Mansarian!'

He commanded this butcher to take hold of Estrella, and bring her forward. Although Lord Mansarian may have stood in debt to Bemossed, he did not extend his gratitude to Estrella. I watched helplessly as he did Arch Uttam's bidding. He escorted Estrella up the steps of the box and over to Arch Uttam so that they stood between the priest and King Arsu. Lord Mansarian damped his bronze-shod arm across Estrella's trembling body so that she could not flee. Her dark, wild eyes found out mine as if pleading with me not to let anyone harm her.

'Don't be afraid,' Arch Uttam said to her as he rose up from his chair. 'For the true of heart there is nothing ever to fear.'

King Arsu's guards did not like anyone outside his entourage to approach very close to him, not even a weaponless young girl. King Arsu seemed not to like this course of events either. He said to Arch Uttam: 'Can we not get on with the celebrations?'

'We must always celebrate truth.' Arch Uttam said in a deadly calm voice. He placed his fingertips on Estrella's jaw to tilt her face up toward him. 'I think this girl has something of the look of the Sung. And the look of defiance.'

Next to Arch Uttam, still sitting at the edge of the box. King Angand looked on with interest. He seemed to question whether Estrella ought really have had her origins in the people of Sunguru. And then Lady Lida touched King Arsu's arm and said, 'If the girl really cant speak, then she can't be held accountable for defiance.'

Before King Arsu could say anything. Arch Uttam barked out, 'Lord Mansarian!Iif this girl has dared to play us all false, do you think that you could make her speak?'

'Yes, Arch Uttam,' he said as his arm tightened across Estrella's slender chest. His scarred face seemed as empty of life as a steel mask. 'Thumbscrews would loosen her tongue, if it was stuck. A little fire applied in the right places would make her sing.'

I traded a quick look with Kane. I could see his black eyes, like mine, looking for a way out of the violence moving toward us like a fog of blood.

Arch Uttam smiled at Lord Mansarian. He seemed to be testing him; I sensed that this had become a ritual with them: the High Priest of Hesperu trying to make sure of the devotion of a once-noble man who had gone from being a rebel to Hesperu's greatest murderer.

'I might prefer a flaying,' Arch Uttam told Lord Mansarian. 'But even you, I think, might have difficulty peeling the skin off a girl'

If Arch Uttam was trying to frighten Estrella into speaking, then he failed. Or perhaps he was still trying to find some act or abomination so utterly cruel that Lord Mansarian would refuse to carry it out.

'I could take the skin off her hand,' Lord Mansarian said, 'like a glove.'

I noticed Lida's fingers moving against King Arsu's wrist, and King Arsu suddenly called out: 'This is no day for torturing children!'

Arch Uttam only smiled at this. He said to Lord Mansarian, 'You yourself once resisted the truth, did you not?'

'Even as I resisted Lord Morjin,' Lord Mansarian said.

'And you did this of your own will, did you not?'

'Freely, I did.'

'And so who was to blame for the torments you suffered?'

'Only myself,' Lord Mansarian said. He let his eyes look down upon Estrella. 'But there can be no resisting the Red Dragon's power. It is perfect — and glorious.'

I sensed the sincerity in his voice, as well a deep loathing of himself. Clearly he blamed himself, and not Morjin, for whatever evil had befallen him.

'Perfect and glorious!' Arch Uttam called out as he caressed Estrella's face. 'That, Lord Mansarian, is a perfect characterization of Lord Morjin and all that he puts his hand to.'

His bony fingers now touched beneath Estrella's jaw and felt down along her delicate throat. He used them to force apart her jaws. He positioned her so that the sun streaming through the box's silk covering illumined her open mouth. He grabbed up a cloth and used it to take hold of her tongue. Then he pulled it out as he rudely stuck his fingers down her throat until she coughed and gagged.

As it happened, he had once been a healer of some reputation. And this former healer who now hunted down healers in the Red Dragon's name, loudly announced: 'There is nothing wrong with this girl, in her body, that keeps her from speaking. And so there must be something wrong in her mind: some error of thought.'

He let go of her, even as Lord Mansarian maintained his hold. He wiped his fingers with the cloth. Then he continued: 'All errors of thought can be corrected with right thoughts. And no thought can be more perfect than that of Lord Morjin himself.'

Arch Uttam bent down and brought his horrible face up close to Estrella's. I could almost smell his foul, bloody breath as he said to her with a false kindness: 'Do not be afraid, girl. Close your eyes. Hold the image of Lord Morjin inside you. Concentrate on it! Let it blaze like the sun! The Red Dragon will burn away your muteness more surely than Lord Mansarian's fire.'

Arch Uttam then pressed his palm against Estrella's forehead as if to sear this image into her.

I stood there with Kane on the grass of the square looking up at the box at Arch Uttam, Lord Mansarian and Estrella. I felt my hand aching to grasp the hilt of my sword. I felt my heart aching as well. At last, Estrella opened her eyes and stared at Arch Uttam. She could not hide her contempt for him, or her fear.

'Well, girl?' Arch Uttam asked. 'Does Lord Morjin live inside you?'

Estrella slowly nodded her head. She could not tell him that Morjin, who had taken her speech in the first place, would always dwell inside her like a snake wrapping its coils around her throat.

'Speak, then!' Arch Uttam commanded her. 'Speak now!'

But Estrella only shook her head and held out her hands helplessly.

'Speak, damn you, brat!'

Tears welled up in her eyes.

And then Kane shouted up to the box: 'If the girl is ever healed, it will only be through the Maitreya!'

'She is as whole as you or I!' Arch Uttam shouted back at him.

'No — she is mute and has been so for years!'

'You,' Arch Uttam said, pointing down at Kane, 'lie.'

Arch Uttam made a fist as if to control the trembling of his fingers. And then he added, 'And therefore you are guilty of sedition as well.'

Around the square, many people looked upon this scene intently but did not say anything. I saw Lida gripping King Arsu's hand in silence.

King Arsu said, 'Before crucifying them, we would like to know the truth of things.'

'Indeed,' Arch Uttam said. 'The juggler and the girl must be put to the test.'

Lida's hand tightened around King Arsu's hand, and the King told Arch Uttam, 'It is too fine a day for more torture.'

Arch Uttam considered this. 'If not torture, then a trial — a trial of arms.'

Kane's black eyes gleamed at this. So did mine. I imagined King Arsu sending out Lord Mansarian or some champion to fight Kane sword to sword.

But Arch Uttam, it seemed, imagined other things. He plucked an apple from the bowl of fruit on the long table in front of him. Without warning, he hurled it straight at Kane's face. Kane snatched it out of the air and stood looking at Arch Uttam with loathing.

Then Arch Uttam explained the nature of the trial that he had in mind: Estrella was to go down to the cart and stand before the target with the apple balanced on top of her head. Kane must then throw the knife at the apple.

'If the juggler misses,' Arch Uttam announced, 'it is only because his bad conscience spoils his aim, and we shall know that he is lying. Likewise if he strikes the girl.'

What must it be like, I wondered, to feel so superior to others that one could torment, maim or kill them at will?

I hoped that Lida might somehow persuade King Arsu to put a stop to this barbaric trial. But the King seemed to take a great interest in Arch Uttam's proposal, as he did in all cruel and bizarre things. I watched him pull his hand away from Lida.

'And if he strikes the apple?' King Arsu asked Arch Uttam.

With reluctance, Arch Uttam forced out, 'Then we shall know that he is telling the truth.'

'Let be so,' King Arsu said. 'If the juggler strikes the apple, there is no error, and they will be free to go.'

He pointed down at the cart. 'Put the girl in her place.'

Lord Mansarian now escorted Estrella back down to the cart. He stood her up with her back to the target, facing Kane, and then backed away. Kane stalked forward, squeezing the apple in his hand. He touched her cheek, kissed her brow. Then he set the apple gently on top of Estrella's head. After grabbing up two throwing knives, one in either hand, he returned to his place in front of the target.

I overheard one of the soldiers say, 'Why two knives? Doesn't he know that Arch Uttam will never give him a second chance?'

A second soldier next to him shrugged his shoulders and said, 'Maybe the other knife balances him.'

This was true. Kane would strive for every advantage in this evil trial that Arch Uttam had forced upon him. But I knew that Kane had a deeper reason: if he missed, the second knife would be for Arch Uttam.

I now walked over to the foodsellers' stalls with my friends, so that we would not distract Kane by standing too near the can. I wondered if Bemosscd knew what was about to happen as he dwelled in the darkness inside it.

Out in the square, Kane looked at nothing except the apple perched on top of Estrella's head. She stood almost perfectly still, fixing her gaze upon him. I sensed no fear in her — at least no fear of Kane. Although her face remained quiet and serious, she seemed to be smiling at him from some place deep inside herself.

I knew that Kane could split the apple. He would not let his love for Estrella ruin his aim.

And then, before he could raise back his arm, Arch Uttam cried out: 'We have all seen this man's skill; at this distance, casting the knife will be no trial. Therefore, let the distance be doubled.'

King Arsu, with Lida puiling on his elbow, looked at him as if he thought this last condition was cruelly unfair. Lord Mansarian looked at Arch Uttam this way, too — and so did half a hundred nobles and soldiers. But Arch Uttam would not be defeated a second time that day.

'This is written,' he called out. "We must always double and redouble our efforts to prove ourselves worthy of the journey toward the One." Let the Juggler prove himself to us. Lord Mansarian!'

He issued a command to Lord Mansarian, who borrowed a spear from one of his red-caped soldiers. He then walked over to where Earella stood in front of the cart. With hardly a glance at her, he began counting out paces as he stepped out toward Kane and then continued counting until he reached a place on the grass twice Kane's distance from the target. There he stuck the spear into the grass, down into the loamy earth. Kane was to stand behind the spear, facing Estrella.

After Kane had taken his place at this new mark. Lord Mansarian once more retreated nearer to King Arsu's box. Again, Kane fixed the whole of his awareness on the apple gleaming a bright crimson on top of Estrella's head. Arch Uttam had set for him an impossible distance, better suited to archery than the casting of a foot-long knife. Maram stood on one side of me muttering, 'Ah, too bad, too bad!' while Daj waited on the other side almost weeping. Even Atara seemed terrified by the future now about to fall upon us in a whirring of steel. I felt my heart pounding wildly. I did not think that even Kane could make such a throw.

Neither, it seemed, did anyone else. From his chair up in the box. King Angand said to Arch Uttam, 'It is too far and too windy. This is no true trial of arms. No man who ever lived could make such a throw.'

But Arch Uttam only scoffed at this. 'They're magicians, aren't they? They made the minstrel disappear — maybe they can make the wind stop, too.'

While Estrella waited for Kane to make ready, she closed her eyes as if she could not bear to look at him. I felt her enter into an immense, inner stillness. All at once, the splendidly colored banners flapping above the pavilions of King Arsu and King Angand drooped down and the wind suddenly died. Kane's eyes blazed brightly. And then, with a suddenness that astonished everyone, his arm drew back and whipped forward with a blinding speed. The knife flashed through the air in a whirl of bright steel almost impossible to see. Its point drove straight through the apple's center, pinning the apple to the target. Then, and only then, Estrella opened her eyes and smiled at Kane.

'He did it!' Maram cried out, clapping me on the shoulder. 'Oh, my lord — he really did it!'

Kane's great feat caused hundreds of soldiers to draw their swords and strike their pommels against their shields in a tumult of acclaim. Even Lord Mansarian bowed his head to Kane. But Arch Uttam only cast him a hateful look. He stood by his chair up in the box waiting for the thunder of celebration to die down.

"The juggler got lucky,' he finally called out with a sickening peevishness. 'And luck is no part of a true trial.'

'A trial is a trial,' King Angand said.

'This trial,' Arch Uttam said, 'is not over. Let the distance be doubled again!'

So saying, he grabbed up a second apple from the bowl. Again-he hurled it out toward Kane. But almost before the apple left his hand, Kant cast his second knife, left-handed, straight at the apple. The knife struck it in midair, and the greater weight of its steel carried the apple back toward Arch Uttam so that the knife buried itself quivering in the table with the apple transfixed upon its blade.

'Was that luck, too, priest?' Kane called to him. He grinned like a wolf, showing his long, white teeth.

Arch Uttam stared at the knife planted in the table as if he couldn't believe what he had just seen. I, myself, had always thought that striking a moving target in the air was impossible.

With a great sigh and groan. King Arsu heaved himself up from his chair. He looked straight at Arch Uttam and said, 'The trial is over. The juggler and the mime are deemed to have told the truth and shall be free to perform where they will, even as we have said.'

At this, Estrella ran forward toward Kane and leaped into his arms. She wept and laughed silently, all at once. And then the wind began blowing fiercely again.

'Sire!' a voice called out. This came from Lord Rodas, who began advancing across the square toward King Arsu's box. It seemed that we might not be so very free, after all. 'Sire, my players have forfeited their prize in payment of their error, but what about my portion of it?'

Now Lady Lida stood up, too, and whispered something in King Arsu's ear. And King Arsu pointed at Lord Rodas as he called down to Lord Mansarian: 'There is something vexing about this New Lord and his insistence on gaining gold. Take him to be questioned, and his men, too.'

Lord Mansarian hurried forward to carry out this command. He grabbed the outraged Lord Rodas's arm, while other knights of his red-caped company closed in upon Lord Rodas's six hirelings and escorted them from the square. It seemed that we really were free.

Then Arch Uttam cast us one final, poisonous look that promised death, and stalked off toward his pavilion. We hurried over to the cart, which we began making ready for the next leg of our journey, out of Hesperu and into the vast, forested miles of the mountains that lay beyond.