Inversions

16. THE BODYGUARD

“I wish I could go too, Mr DeWar. Can’t you ask my father? He thinks you’re clever.”

DeWar looked embarrassed. Perrund smiled indulgently at him. From his pulpit the chief eunuch Stike looked down, fat and frowning. DeWar wore riding boots. He carried a hat, and a heavy black cape lay folded over the couch at his side next to a pair of saddle bags. The Protector had decided it was time to take personal command of the faltering war in Ladenscion.

“You’re better off here, Lattens,” DeWar told the boy, and reached out to ruffle his red-blond hair. “You have to get well. Being ill is like being attacked, you see? Your body is like a great fortress that has been besieged by invaders. You’ve repelled them, you’ve seen them off, but you have to be good, and marshal your forces and rebuild the walls, refurbish your catapults, clean your cannons, restock your armouries. Do you see? Only if your father feels that great fortress is going to be all right can he leave it to go and fight the war. So that is your duty. To keep getting better. To get well.

“Of course your father would rather stay here with you if he could, but he’s like a father to all his men, too, you see? They need his help and guidance. So he has to go to them. You must stay, and help your father win the war by getting better, by repairing the great fortress. It is your duty, as a soldier. Do you think you can do that?”

Lattens looked down at the cushions he sat upon. Perrund patted his curls back into place again. He played with a loose thread of gold at the corner of a cushion. “Yes,” he said in a small voice, not looking up. “But I really would like to go with you and Father, really I would.” He looked up at DeWar. “Are you sure I can’t come?”

“I’m afraid so,” DeWar said quietly.

The boy sighed heavily and looked down again. DeWar smiled at Perrund, who was looking at Lattens.

“Oh,” Perrund said. “Come, sir. Is this the General Lattens who won so well at catapults? You must do your duty, General. Your father will be back before too long. And Mr DeWar.” She smiled at DeWar.

“For all we know,” DeWar said, “the war may be ended by the time we get there. That is sometimes the way with wars.” He fiddled with his big, waxed hat, then set it aside on his dark cape. He cleared his throat. “Did I tell you about when Sechroom and Hiliti parted? When Sechroom went off to become a missionary?”

Lattens seemed not to hear for a moment, but then he rolled over on his side and stopped humming and said, “No, I don’t think so.”

“Well, one day the two friends had to part. Sechroom had made up her mind that she would become a soldier-missionary, taking the message of Lavishia to far-off lands and teaching the peoples there the error of their ways. Hiliti had tried to talk his friend out of this, still believing that it was the wrong thing to do, but Sechroom was adamant.”

“What?”

“Determined.”

“Oh.”

“One day,” DeWar continued, “not long before Sechroom was due to leave, they went to one of their special places, which was on an island. This island was a very wild place where people went to get away from all the riches of Lavishia. There were no streams of wine and sugar water, no ready-cooked game birds hanging in the house-trees, no perfume fountains, no piles of sweet-rocks, no—”

“People wanted to get away from sweet-rocks?” Lattens asked incredulously.

“Yes, and from being able to fly, and from having hot water gush from wash basins and from having servants pander to their every whim, too. People are strange like that, Lattens. Give them every comfort and they start to pine for the rougher life.”

Lattens frowned mightily at this, but did not protest further. It was obvious he thought that the people of Lavishia, or perhaps just all adults, must be quite mad.

“Sechroom and Hiliti,” DeWar said, “went to the island as a sort of holiday from all the luxuries they were used to. They left all their servants behind and they even left behind the magic amulets and jewels that protected them from harm and which let them call on the local gods, and the two of them were left to fend for themselves in the wilderness. They could still find fruit to eat and water to drink, and they were able to make a shelter from the giant leaves of trees. They had with them bows and arrows and a pair of blow-pipes which fired poisoned darts, too. They had made these before they had come on the holiday and were quite proud of them. They used the bows and blowpipes to go hunting for some of the animals on the island, though the animals were not the cooperative sort of animals they were used to, and they didn’t want to be killed and cooked and eaten, so they were quite good at keeping out of the way of two people who were really very inexperienced hunters.

“One day, when Sechroom and Hiliti had been out trying to find some animals to shoot their poison darts at, but without success, they were returning to their leaf-shelter, arguing and becoming annoyed with each other. They were both bored and hungry and that was probably one of the reasons that they were each so upset with the other and blaming the other for spoiling the hunt. Sechroom thought that Hiliti was too aggressive and wanted to kill the animals just for the sake of it, for Hiliti was proud of his skills as a bowman and a blowpiper and at hand-to-hand fighting, while Hiliti secretly thought that Sechroom, who didn’t like to kill things, had deliberately made noises so that the animals they were stalking would realise they were there and run away.

“Their route took them back over a steep-sided stream where there was a natural bridge made by a fallen tree. It had been raining quite a lot that day — that was another reason they were miserable and arguing so much — and the stream below the tree-bridge was in spate.”

“What’s that?”

“It means the stream was swollen, full of water. So they started to cross the tree bridge. Now, Hiliti thought about saying that they should cross one at a time, but by then they had started out across the tree, with him going first, and he thought if he turned round and told Sechroom to go back and wait, Sechroom would just get even angrier than she was already, so he didn’t say anything.

“Well, the tree-bridge gave way. It had been lying there rotting away for many years no doubt, and the banks on either side had been partially washed away by all the rain, so when the two of them put their weight on it, it obviously decided that it was time to give up the struggle and just succumb — ah, that means give in — to gravity, and fall into the stream.

“So down it tumbled, breaking in the middle and bringing down other bits of branches and a few rocks and a load of earth and so on from either side just for good measure.”

“Oh no!” Lattens said, hand to his mouth. “What happened to Sechroom and Hiliti?”

“They fell down along with the tree. Hiliti was the luckier, because the bit of the tree he was on took its time collapsing, and he was able to hang on to it as it went down and throw himself on to the bank before the trunk hit the water. He still ended up tumbling into the stream, but he was all right.”

“But what about Sechroom?”

“Sechroom wasn’t so lucky. The part of the tree trunk she was on must have rolled as it fell, or she did, because she ended up underneath it, trapped beneath the water.”

“Did she drown?” Lattens looked very concerned now, both his hands at his mouth. He started to suck one thumb.

Perrund put her arm round him and brought his hands away from his mouth. “Now come, don’t forget this is just before Sechroom goes off to become a soldier-missionary.

“Yes, but what happened?” Lattens asked anxiously.

“Yes,” Perrund said. “And why didn’t the tree trunk float?”

“Most of its length was still on the steep bank,” DeWar told her. “The bit sticking into the water trapping Sechroom wasn’t enough to float. Anyway, Hiliti could see one of his cousin’s boots sticking up out of the water on the far side of the tree and waving around. Hiliti swam and pulled himself through the water and over the rocks and the broken branches to get to Sechroom, who he realised was trapped under the water. He dived down. There was just enough light for him to see Sechroom struggling desperately, trying to push the tree trunk off her leg, but making no impression on it, because it was very big and heavy. Even as Hiliti watched, he saw a last few bubbles of air float out of Sechroom’s mouth and be swept away in the strong current. Hiliti came back up to the surface, took a deep lungful of air and then went back down again and put his mouth over his cousin’s and blew the air into Sechroom’s mouth, so that she could live a little longer.

“Hiliti tried to push the tree trunk off Sechroom too, but it was too heavy. He thought that perhaps if he could find a strong enough, and a long enough lever, then perhaps he could take the weight off Sechroom’s leg, but that would take a while. Meantime, Sechroom must be almost out of breath again. Hiliti took another gulp of air and dived back down. Again, the bubbles came out of Sechroom’s mouth and again Hiliti gave his friend his own air.

“By now Hiliti could see that this could not go on much longer. The water was cold enough to be sapping his warmth and strength away, and he was becoming exhausted and starting to gasp for air himself.

“Then he thought of the blow-pipe. His own had been washed away by the stream when he’d fallen in, but he had seen Sechroom’s when he’d first dived down, still slung over her back and partly trapped under her. Hiliti dived down, blew more air into Sechroom’s mouth, then took hold of Sechroom’s blow-pipe and pulled and twisted with all his might until it slithered out from underneath her. He had to return to the surface to gasp for air, but then he went back down and pointed to the pipe, and Sechroom took it into her mouth.

“But the situation was not yet saved. Sechroom had to spit the pipe out again, because there was too much water still inside it. Hiliti took the pipe to the surface, let the water out, held his hand over the end this time, and went back down.

“Finally, Sechroom could breathe. Hiliti waited a few breaths to make sure Sechroom was going to be all right for the moment, then he got out of the stream and looked for a lever. Eventually he found a branch straight and stout enough to do the job, he hoped, and he waded back into the river and went under, setting the branch under the fallen tree trunk and over the top of a rock.

“Well, at last it worked. The lever almost snapped, and when the tree trunk moved it hurt Sechroom’s broken leg, but she was freed, and she floated to the surface, and Hiliti was able to lift her out of the stream and get her to the shore. The blow-pipe floated away downstream.

“It was just as big a struggle for Hiliti to get Sechroom to the top of the bank, because of course Sechroom was almost helpless with her badly broken leg.”

“Did a surgeon have to cut her leg off?” Lattens asked, squirming on the couch, his eyes wide.

“What? Oh, no. No. Anyway, eventually Hiliti got Sechroom to the top of the bank. He was so exhausted he had to leave his friend there and return to their camp by himself, but there was a… a signal fire near the camp which he was able to light and that drew the attention of people who came and rescued them.”

“So Sechroom was all right?” Lattens asked.

DeWar nodded. “She was indeed. Hiliti was regarded as a hero by all, and after Sechroom’s leg was mended, but before she left to become a missionary, she went back to the island where it had happened and searched the length of the stream down from the collapsed tree-bridge until she found the two blow-pipes, lodged amongst rocks in different parts of the stream. She cut a piece off the end of the one that had been hers, and which had saved her life, and she presented it on a little ribbon to Hiliti at a party which their friends held to wish Sechroom well, on the evening of her leaving to become a missionary. It was the sign that what had happened by the other river, when Hiliti had let Sechroom fall into the water by the side of the waterfall — remember? — it was a sign, they both knew, that that didn’t matter any more, that Sechroom had forgiven Hiliti. The little wooden ring was a bit too big to be worn as a ring, which was unfortunate, but Hiliti told Sechroom he would treasure it for ever, and he did, and he does, and as far as anybody knows, it is with him to this day.”

“Whereabouts did Sechroom go?” Lattens asked.

“Who knows?” DeWar said, spreading his hands. “Perhaps she came here. She and Hiliti knew of… of the Empire, and Haspidus. They talked about it, argued over it. She may have been here, for all anyone knows.”

“Did Sechroom ever return to see her friend?” Perrund asked, taking Lattens on to her lap. He wriggled out again.

DeWar shook his head. “No,” he said. “A few years after Sechroom left, so did Hiliti, and he lost touch completely with Lavishia and all the people he knew there. Sechroom could have returned there by now, but Hiliti will never know. He exiled himself from the luxuries of Lavishia for ever. Sechroom and Hiliti will never meet again.”

“How sad,” Perrund said. Her voice was low, and her expression sombre. “Never to see one’s friends and family again.”

“Well,” DeWar began, but then looked up to see one of the Protector’s aides signalling him from the doorway. He ruffled Lattens’ hair and stood slowly up, lifting his hat, bags and cloak. “I’m afraid I don’t have any more time, young general. You must say goodbye to your father now. Look.”

UrLeyn, dressed in a very fine riding outfit, strode into the room. “Where’s that boy of mine?” he shouted.

“Father!” Lattens ran to him and threw himself up into his arms.

“Oof! My, what a weight you’re getting!” UrLeyn looked over to DeWar and Perrund, and winked. He sat down with the boy on a couch near the doors and they huddled together.

Perrund stood up, by DeWar’s side. “Well, sir. You must promise me faithfully you’ll take good care of both the Protector and yourself,” she told him, raising her face to him. Her eyes looked bright. “I shall be most cross should any harm befall either of you, and brave though you may be, you are not so brave, I hope, as to risk my ire.”

“I shall do all I can to make sure we both return safely,” DeWar told her. He rearranged his cloak, hat and bags, putting one on one arm, the other two on the other, before putting the saddle bags over his shoulder and the hat over his head to hang down against his back on its cord.

Perrund watched this shuffle of impedimenta with a sort of sad amusement. She put her good hand on his, stilling him. “Take care,” she said softly. Then she turned and went to sit where she could see UrLeyn and he could see her.

DeWar looked at her for a moment as she sat there, straight-backed in her long red gown, her face calm and beautiful, then he turned away too, and walked to the doors.