Inversions

10. THE BODYGUARD

“Once upon a time there was a land called Lavishia, and two cousins lived there, called Sechroom and Hiliti.”

“I think you have already told this story, DeWar,” Lattens said in a small, croaky voice.

“I know, but there is more to it. Some people’s lives have more than one story. This is a different one.”

“Oh.”

“How are you feeling? Are you well enough to hear one of my stories? I know they are not very good.”

“I am well enough, Mr DeWar.”

DeWar plumped the boy’s cushions up and got him to drink a little water. He was in a small but luxurious room off the private apartments, near the harem so that concubines like Perrund and Huesse could come and sit with him, but close to his father’s quarters and that of Doctor BreDelle, who had pronounced the boy prone to nervous exhaustion and pressure of blood on the brain, and was bleeding him twice a day. There had been no return of the fits the boy had suffered that first day, but he was recovering his strength only very slowly.

DeWar came to see the boy when he could, which was usually when Lattens’ father was visiting the harem, as now.

“Well, if you are sure.”

“I am. Please tell your story.”

“Very well. One day the two friends were playing a game.”

“What sort of a game?”

“A very complicated one. Fortunately we don’t need to concern ourselves with the details of how the game is played. All that matters is that they were playing it and they came to disagree about the rules, because there were more than one set of rules regarding how the game should be played.”

“That is strange.”

“Yes, but it was just that sort of game. So they disagreed. What it boiled down to was that Sechroom said that — as in life in general — you should always do what seemed like the right thing to do at the time, while Hiliti said that sometimes you had to do what appeared to be the wrong thing at the time in order to do the right thing eventually. Do you see?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Hmm. Let me see. I know. That little pet eltar of yours. What’s it called?”

“What, Wintle?”

“Yes, Wintle. Remember when you brought it inside and it peed in a corner?”

“Yes,” Lattens said.

“And we had to take it and rub its nose in its own mess so that it wouldn’t do it again?”

“Yes.”

“Well, that wasn’t very nice for poor little Wintle, now was it?”

“No.”

“Can you imagine if somebody did that to you when you were young, if you’d done a pee in the corner?”

“Eurgh!”

“But it was the right thing to do, because eventually Wintle will stop doing that when he’s brought inside, and so he can be brought in and enjoy himself with us instead of having to stay in the cage in the garden all the time.”

“Yes?”

“And that is the sort of thing that people mean when they talk about being cruel to be kind. Have you heard that phrase before?”

“Yes. My teacher says it often.”

“Yes, I think it is a phrase adults say to children quite often. But that was what Sechroom and Hiliti disagreed about. Sechroom said that you should never be cruel to be kind. Sechroom thought there must always be another way of teaching people lessons, and that good people had a duty to try and find those ways, and then to use them. Hiliti thought this was silly, and that throughout history it had been proved that sometimes you did have to be cruel to be kind, whether what you were trying to teach was a little pet eltar or a whole people.”

“A whole people?”

“You know. Like an Empire or a country. Like Tassasen. Everybody.”

“Oh.”

“So, one day after they had fallen out over this game, Hiliti decided that he would teach Sechroom a lesson. He and Sechroom had grown up playing tricks and pranks on each other and each had come to expect such behaviour from the other. This day, a short time after their disagreement over the game, Hiliti and Sechroom and two other friends rode on their great mounts to one of their favourite places, a—”

“Was this before or after the other story, when the lady Leeril gave Hiliti sweets?”

“This was afterwards. The four of them came to this place in the hills where there was a clearing and a tall waterfall and lots of fruit trees all around and lots of rocks—”

“Were any of the rocks sugar rocks?”.

“Lots of them. In many different flavours, though Sechroom and Hiliti and their two friends had brought their own picnic. So they ate the picnic and they swam in the pool at the foot of the waterfall and they played some games of hide-and-seek and so on and then Hiliti said he had a special game he wanted to show Sechroom. Hiliti asked the other two friends to remain where they were by the side of the pool, while Hiliti and Sechroom climbed up the rocks until they were at the top of the waterfall, standing right beside where the waters fell over the edge.

“Now, Sechroom didn’t know, but Hiliti had ridden up there the day before and hidden a wooden plank by the side of the waterfall.

“Hiliti brought this plank out of the bushes and said that Sechroom had to stand on the end of the plank, with the other end sticking out over the drop. Then Hiliti would walk out on to the plank, towards the end, but — and this was where Sechroom started to get a little frightened — Hiliti would put on a blindfold first, so that he couldn’t see what he was doing. Sechroom would have to guide him, and the thing was to see how close to the end of the plank Sechroom would let him get. How much did they really trust each other? That was the question.

“Then, assuming that Hiliti didn’t fall off the plank and tumble to his death on the rocks below, or, if he was lucky, miss the rocks but land in the pool, it would be Sechroom’s turn, and she would have to do the same thing, with Hiliti standing on the end of the plank and telling Sechroom to go forward or stop. Sechroom wasn’t very sure about any of this, but eventually agreed because she didn’t want to seem lacking in trust. Anyway, Hiliti put the blindfold on, told Sechroom to adjust the length of the plank hanging over the drop until she was happy with it, then he stepped on to the plank and went shuffling and wobbling along towards the end, with his hands and arms out-stretched. Like this.”

“Did he fall off?”

“No, he didn’t. Sechroom told him to stop when he got right to the very end of the plank and Hiliti could feel the edge. Hiliti undid the blindfold and stood there, arms out, waving at the two girls sitting far below. They were cheering and waving. Hiliti turned carefully and went back to the safety of the cliff edge, and then it was Sechroom’s turn.

“Sechroom put on the blindfold and heard Hiliti adjust the amount the plank stretched out over the drop. Then she stepped on to it, sliding her feet very slowly and carefully and keeping her arms out to each side just as Hiliti had done.”

“Like this.”

“Like that. Well, the plank went up and down and Sechroom felt very frightened. A breeze had started up and it blew against Sechroom and made her feel even more frightened, but she kept sliding her feet along towards the end of the plank, which by now was starting to seem very far away.

“Just as she got to the end, Hiliti told her to stop, and she did. Then she slowly put her hands to the back of her head and undid the blindfold.”

“Like this.”

“Like that. She waved down to the friends standing on the grass.”

“Like this.”

“Like that, then she turned round to walk back along the plank, just as Hiliti stepped off the plank and let it and Sechroom fall.”

“No!”

“Yes! Now the plank didn’t fall very far because Hiliti had tied a length of rope to the end, but Sechroom fell screaming into the pool at the foot of the waterfall and hit the water with a tremendous splash and disappeared. Their two friends dashed and splashed into the water to help, while Hiliti calmly drew the plank back up and then knelt on the side of the cliff, looking down, waiting for Sechroom to surface.

“But Sechroom did not surface. The two other friends swam around looking for her and diving down into the depths of the pool and searching amongst the rocks all jumbled at the sides of the pool but they could find no sign of Sechroom. Up on the cliff Hiliti was horrified at what he’d done. He had only meant to teach Sechroom a lesson, to show her that you could not trust anybody. He wanted to be cruel to be kind because he thought that Sechroom’s ideas might be the death of her one day if she was not taught to be more careful, but now it looked like his — Hiliti’s — ideas had been the death of his cousin and best friend, for much time had passed by then and Sechroom could not possibly have survived so long under water.”

“Did Hiliti dive into the water too?”

“Yes! He dived into the pool and hit the water so hard that he knocked himself out, but the two other friends rescued him and brought him back to the grass by the side of the pool. They were still slapping his cheeks and trying to press water out of his lungs when Sechroom appeared from the water, her head and neck all bloody and stumbled up to see how her friend was.”

“She was alive!”

“She had struck her head on an underwater rock when she’d fallen into the pool and had nearly drowned, but she’d been brought up to the surface behind the waterfall and floated along with the current until she’d wedged between some rocks. There she had recovered and had realised what Hiliti had been up to. She was angry with Hiliti and with the two other friends as well, because she thought — mistakenly — that they were in on the trick too, and so she hadn’t shouted out when the two had swum nearby, and had ducked under the water so that they wouldn’t see her. Only when she thought Hiliti had injured himself too did she swim and wade out of the pool.”

“Did Sechroom forgive Hiliti?”

“Mostly, though the two were never quite so close friends again.”

“But they were both all right?”

“Hiliti came to quickly and was mightily relieved to see his friend. Sechroom’s head wound was not as bad as it looked, though to this day she bears a funny, triangular scar on her head where the rock hit, just here, above the left ear. Luckily her hair covers the scar.”

“Hiliti was bad.”

“Hiliti was trying to prove a point. People often behave badly when they are trying to prove a point. Of course, he claimed that he had proved it. He said that he had taught Sechroom exactly the lesson he had sought to teach her, and taught it so well that Sechroom put the results of that lesson into effect almost instantly, for what was Sechroom doing, hiding there amongst the rocks behind the waterfall, but trying to teach Hiliti a lesson?”

“Ah-ha.”

“Ah-ha indeed.”

“So Hiliti was right?”

“Sechroom would never agree to that. Sechroom held that her head was damaged and her brains were addled at the time and that that proved her point, which had become that it was only damaged people with confused brains who ever saw the justice in trying to be cruel to be kind.”

“Mmm.” Lattens yawned. “That was a better story than the last one, but quite a difficult one.”

“I think you must rest now. You have to get better, don’t you?”

“Like Sechroom and Hiliti did.”

“That’s right. They got better.” DeWar tucked the boy in as Lattens’ eyes slowly closed. The boy reached out and felt for something. His hand closed on a square of worn, pale yellow material, which he gripped tightly in one small hand and brought up to hold by his cheek, settling his head further down into the pillow with a few small nestling movements.

DeWar got up and made for the door, nodding to the nurse sitting knitting by the window.

The General met his bodyguard in the visiting chamber of the outer harem. “Ah, DeWar,” UrLeyn said, walking swiftly from the doors to the harem and settling his long jacket over his shoulders. “Did you see Lattens?”

“I did, sir,” DeWar said, falling into step as they exited the harem. Two men of the palace guard who had been effectively tripling the guard on the harem entrance trailed them by a few steps. This additional escort for the Protector was DeWar’s response to the increased danger he perceived UrLeyn to be in after the attack by the Sea Company ambassador and the start of the war in Ladenscion, which had begun a few days earlier.

“He was asleep when I looked in,” UrLeyn said. “I’ll see him later. How was he?”

“Still recovering. I think the doctor bleeds him too much.”

“Now, DeWar, each to his own. BreDelle knows what he’s doing. I dare say you would not appreciate him trying to teach you the finer points of sword-play.”

“Indeed not, sir, but even so.” DeWar looked awkward for a moment. “There is something I’d like to do, sir.”

“Yes? What?”

“I’d like to have Lattens’ food and drink tasted. Just to make sure that he is not being poisoned.”

UrLeyn stopped and looked at his bodyguard. “Poisoned?”

“Purely as a precaution, sir. I’m sure he has some… normal illness, trivial enough. But just to be on the safe side. With your permission.”

UrLeyn shrugged. “Very well, if you think it necessary. I dare say my tasters won’t object to the odd extra bit of food.” He set off again, striding quickly.

They exited the harem and set off up the steps to the rest of the palace two at a time until UrLeyn stopped about halfway up and then continued one step at a time. He rubbed his lower back. “Occasionally my body chooses to remind me of my true age,” he said. He grinned and tapped DeWar on the elbow. “I believe I deprived you of your opponent, DeWar.”

“My opponent, sir?”

“Your game-playing companion.” He winked. “Perrund.”

“Ah.”

“I tell you, DeWar, these young things are all very well, but you realise they’re still girls when you have a real woman.” He put his hand to his back again. “Providence, though. She puts me through my paces, I tell you.” He laughed and stretched his arms. “If ever I expire in the harem, DeWar, Perrund may be to blame, and yet no blame will attach.”

“Yes, sir.”

They approached the King’s Chamber where UrLeyn had taken to holding his daily briefings on the war. A buzz of conversation could be heard from beyond the guarded double doors. UrLeyn turned to DeWar. “Right, DeWar. I shall be in here for the next couple of bells.”

DeWar looked at the doors with a pained expression, as a small boy with no coin might look at a sweet shop counter. “I really do think I ought to be with you during these briefings, sir.”

“Now, DeWar,” UrLeyn said, taking hold of his elbow. “I shall be safe with my military men, and there will be a double guard on the doors here.”

“Sir, leaders who have been assassinated have usually believed that they were safe until the instant before it happened.”

“DeWar,” UrLeyn said kindly. “I can trust all these men with my life. I have known almost all of them for most of it. Certainly I have known most of them for longer than I have known you. I can trust them.”

“But, sir—”

“And you make some of them uncomfortable, DeWar,” UrLeyn said, with a hint of impatience. “They think a bodyguard should not be so opinionated as you have been. And your mere presence suffices to unsettle some of them. They think there’s an extra shadow in the room.”

“I shall dress in motley, put on the uniform of a fool—”

“You will not,” UrLeyn told him, and put his hand on the other man’s shoulder. “I order you to amuse yourself as you see fit for the next two bells and then return here and resume your duties after my generals have told me how many more towns we’ve taken since yesterday.” He clapped DeWar’s shoulder. “Now be gone. And if I’m not here when you come back I shall have returned to the harem for another bout with your opponent.” He grinned at the other man and squeezed his arm. “All this talk of war and victorious battles seems to put a young man’s blood in my cock!”

He left DeWar standing there, staring at the tiled floor of the corridor while the doors opened and closed on the sound of talking men. The two palace guards joined their comrades on either side of the doors.

DeWar’s jaw worked as though he was chewing on something, then he spun and walked quickly away.

The plasterer had almost finished the remedial work on the Painted Chamber. A final layer was drying and he was kneeling on his white-spotted sheet surveying his tools and buckets and trying to remember the correct order to put them away. This was a job normally done by his apprentice, but he had had to do it himself on this job because it was all so secret.

The chamber’s door was unlocked and the black-clad figure of DeWar, the Protector’s bodyguard, walked in. The plasterer felt a chill go through him when he saw the look on the tall man’s dark face. Providence, they didn’t intend to kill him now he’d done his job, did they? He’d known it was secret — what he had plastered up was a hidden alcove for someone to spy on people, that was obvious — but could it be so secret they’d kill him afterwards to stop him from talking? He’d done jobs in the palace before. He was honest and he kept his mouth shut. They knew that. They knew him. One of the palace guards was his brother. He could be trusted. He wouldn’t tell anyone about this. He’d swear to that on his children’s lives. They couldn’t kill him. Could they?

He shrank back as DeWar approached. The bodyguard’s sword wagged from side to side in its black scabbard while the long dagger at his other hip bounced in its own dark sheath. The plasterer looked into the other man’s face and saw only a blank, cold expression that was more terrifying than a look of pitiless fury or an assassin’s lying smile. He tried to find his voice, but could not. He felt his bowels start to loosen.

DeWar hardly seemed to see him. He glanced down at him, then at the new plaster partition still drying between the other painted panels, like a blood-drained lifeless face between living ones, then he walked past, to the small dais. The plasterer, his mouth dry, swivelled round where he knelt to watch. The bodyguard clutched one arm of the small throne on the dais, then he went and stood before a panel on the far side of the room which showed a scene set within a harem, full of stylised images of languidly buxom ladies in revealing dresses all lounging around, playing games and sipping from tiny glasses.

The black figure stood there for a moment. When he spoke, the plasterer jumped.

“Is the panel finished?” he asked. His voice was loud and hollow-sounding in the bare room.

The plasterer swallowed, coughed dryly and eventually was able to croak, “Ye-ye-yes, yes, sir. Ready for the p-painter by tomorrow.”

Still facing the painting of the harem, still with hollow-sounding voice, the bodyguard said, “Good.” Then without warning, and with no back-swing, just a single startlingly sudden thrust, he rammed his right fist straight through the panel he was standing in front of.

On the other side of the chamber, the plasterer yelped.

DeWar stood there a moment longer, half his lower arm protruding from the harem painting. A few painted plaster pieces fell dryly to the floor as he slowly withdrew his arm again.

The plasterer trembled. He wanted to get up and run but he felt glued to the spot. He wanted to raise his arms to defend himself but they seemed pinned to his sides.

DeWar stood, looking down at his right forearm, slowly brushing the white plaster dust off the black material. Then he spun on his heel and walked quickly to the door, where he paused and looked back with a face that seemed now to have taken on an expression of inconsolable torment. He glanced at the panel he had just punctured. “You may find another panel which needs repair. It must have been broken earlier, must it not?”

The plasterer nodded vigorously. “Yes. Yes, oh yes, of course, sir. Oh yes, very very definitely. I noticed it myself earlier, sir. I’ll attend to it immediately, sir.”

The bodyguard looked at him for a moment. “Good. The guard will let you out.”

Then he was gone, and the door closed and was locked.