The Blood-stained Belt (41 page)

What did I care
about these tales from a far-off place? I told myself that I had
relegated Keirine to a small corner of my mind where it was
sequestered along with all the other memories and experiences of my
life before I took ship and sailed eastwards across the ocean.
Keirine could stay in its remote corner of my mind, immobilised and
embalmed, gradually shriveling up until it intruded upon me as much
as a pebble in a barn full of grain would trouble a farmer. Then,
perhaps, I would be happy again. Then, perhaps, I would roam the
Endless Ocean with a spirit as free and unencumbered as I once
roamed the hills near Osicedi.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE: MENDING FENCES

One day, during
my sixth year in the Endless Ocean, Reshaja arrived from the coast
with a sealed letter and gave it to me with a knowing glance.
Immediately, I knew who had sent it: the seal was Sharma's. I
cursed and threw the letter onto the table. Reshaja looked at me
incredulously and asked, 'Aren't you going to open it?'

'Why should
I?'

'It looks
important.'

'Important to
whom?'

Reshaja
shrugged and replied, 'My friend, you should read the letter.' The
letter lay on the table between us like an unanswered question
while we caught up on news and discussed business. After our
conversation, as I was leaving the room, Reshaja asked, 'Aren't you
going to take the letter?'

'Take it? No! I
wish I'd never seen the damned thing.'

'My dear
friend, do you know who it's from?'

'Of course I
do. That's Sharma's seal. That's why I wish I had never seen
it.'

Reshaja thrust
the letter at me, saying, 'Do with it what you want but please
don't leave it here. It's your business, not mine.'

I stuffed the
letter into my tunic, annoyed that I even had to acknowledge its
existence. At the door, I stopped and asked, 'Who gave it to
you?'

Reshaja
replied, 'I was at a port in Durgenu's territory when a man knocked
on my door one evening and asked if I knew you.'

'And, of
course, you said that you did.'

'He knew that I
knew you. Anyway, my friend, why should I have lied to him? You
have nothing to be afraid of, do you?'

'I guess not.
If they wanted to get me, they would have done so a long time ago.'
However, even as I said it, I wondered how Sharma knew where I was.
Had Reshaja been talking? Had they tracked me without my knowing
it? I checked my speculations, thinking that the trail could lead
anywhere – after all, sailors, traders, and the rest of the people
I came into contact with every day could talk as freely as anyone
else could. Damn it! I wished that the past had stayed where it
was, neatly packed away. Now it was stirring again like a
hibernating animal beginning to twitch after the winter. I would
have to put it back into its corner as soon as I could, and do so
as firmly as possible.

I sat in my
room holding the letter. I weighed it in my hand, turned it around,
weighed it again, and put it down. I told myself that it probably
concerned some mundane matter such as the property that I had left
behind in Koraina. But, if so, why would the letter carry the royal
seal? I stretched out my hand to grasp the letter and then withdrew
it. What if the letter invited me to become involved again with the
affairs of Keirine? Damn, damn, damn! Finally, I gave in to
curiosity and opened the letter.

The letter was
from Sharma himself, written in his own hand. He invited me to
return to Keirine and take up the position of commander of the
army. In fact, he did more than issue an invitation – he
practically begged me to return. Sharma concluded by writing, 'Let
bygones be bygones, Jina. As you cared for me that night when I
heard about the death of my parents, so I ask you to have a care
for me now.' Included with the letter was a document that granted
me safe passage from the coast to Koraina.

What lay behind
Sharma's request? It was late but I knocked on Reshaja's door
anyway. Rubbing his eyes sleepily, he invited me into his room. I
sat down, thrust the letter at him, and asked, 'What do you know
about this?'

'My friend, I
know nothing except that I was asked to deliver it.'

'You don't know
what the letter says?

'By all the
gods and by the tomb of my father – may nothing that I do or say
disturb his peace – I swear that I don't know what is in the
letter.' Reshaja protested his innocence so vehemently that it was
almost comical. Anyway, what difference did it make, whether he
knew or not? I told him about Sharma's request and then said,
'You've just come from the mainland. What's going on in Keirine
that might explain why Sharma wants me back as commander of the
army?'

'Sharma is
facing a revolt. Don't you know that?'

'How should I
know about it? I returned just yesterday after six months of
travelling around the outer islands. A revolt, eh? Who's leading
the revolt?'

'Bedaxili.'

'Tell me about
it.'

'There's not
much to tell. Everyone knows that Bedaxili has been champing at the
bit ever since Sharma banished him to Lower Keirine. During the
last two or three years, he’s started to act like an alternative
ruler, going around settling disputes, making promises and
exploiting grievances. Now he’s come out into the open and declared
that Sharma should either abdicate or be removed, to be replaced by
a younger, fitter man.'

'And that's
Bedaxili himself, of course.'

'Of course. Who
else?'

I sat back and
thought about the matter for only a moment. Then I crumpled the
letter into a little ball and got up to leave. I said, 'Thank you
for the information, Reshaja. I'm sorry that I woke you.'

Reshaja rose
and put out a hand to restrain me. He asked, 'You will be going to
Keirine?'

'Go to Keirine?
Of course not! They can settle their own affairs in their own way.
It's no concern of mine.'

'But –'

'Look, Reshaja,
right now I've got two things on my mind, and two things only. The
first is to get a good night's sleep. The second is to get up
early, feeling refreshed, to start dealing with all the business
matters that have piled up while I've been away.'

'You're going
to ignore Sharma's request?'

'Damn right I'm
going to ignore it!'

'But, my
friend, you can't do that.'

'I can do it
and I am doing it.'

Reshaja moved
around so that he was positioned between the door and me. He said,
'I'm sorry, my friend – you can't do that.'

'Why not?'

'Because it
would distress His Excellency the governor.'

'Governor?
Which governor?'

'His Excellency
the governor of Terfillere, of course.'

'What does he
have to do with it?'

Reshaja said
patiently, 'Instability in Keirine is bad for all of us.'

'Not good for
trade, eh?'

'That's true.
But there are plenty of other things that it isn't good for,
either.' Reshaja spread his hands, moved squarely in front of the
door, and said, 'Be reasonable, my friend. You know how ordinary
people live. After all, you were a shepherd once and your father
was a farmer and a merchant. You know that wars and revolts might
be good for rulers, kings, and generals – depending on who wins and
who loses -- but for the rest of us they just bring poverty and
suffering.' He looked at me almost pleadingly and said, 'Come now,
my friend, be reasonable.'

Reshaja was
planted so firmly in front of the door, legs apart and arms folded,
that it appeared that I would have to remove him by force in order
to leave the room. I asked, 'Are you a spokesman for the
governor?'

'No. But His
Excellency asked me to call on him after my ship docked. I know his
concerns about the matter. '

'So tell me –
what are his concerns?'

Reshaja sighed.
'I was going to tell you in the morning. His Excellency would
dearly like to assist an influential ally like Sharma.'

'Ah! So you
didn't know what's in the letter -- but the governor knew all
along?'

Reshaja shifted
uncomfortably and dropped his eyes. He muttered, 'The governor is
in an important man. We shouldn't be surprised if he knows things
that ordinary people don't.'

'God, Reshaja,
this is a set-up, isn't it?'

Reshaja still
wouldn't look me in the eye. He murmured, 'I can only repeat what I
have heard.'

For a moment, I
was so angry that I wanted to shake Reshaja so hard that his teeth
rattled in his gums. Then I got a grip on myself. After all,
Reshaja was only the messenger. I asked, 'And if I refuse to comply
with Sharma's request?'

Reshaja sighed
deeply and rolled his eyes. He leaded, 'Oh, my friend, don't do
that. By all means, do consider His Excellency's feelings.'

'By Zabrazal,
you are acting as the governor's spokesman, aren't you?'

'No, my friend,
I am not. I just happen to have an insight into his feelings.'

'And why should
you have these insights into the governor's concerns?'

Reshaja sighed
even more deeply and rolled his eyes in exasperation. 'Come now, my
friend, you've lived here long enough to know what my people are
like. A person in authority never likes to disappoint a person who
depends on him. So--' Reshaja shrugged. 'So, in this case, I'm
telling you what I think His Excellency might like you to hear. You
understand, don't you?' He spread his hands and said pleadingly,
'It would be kind to the governor if you would consider his
feelings.'

'I want to hear
it from the governor in person.'

'You can try,
my friend. But His Excellency might not want to see you – out of
consideration for your feelings, of course.'

I sat down,
feeling weary and beaten. My mouth was dry with the taste of
frustration. Worse still, Keirine with all its concerns was roaring
back at me like a storm that had come from nowhere and now battered
my senses. I asked despondently, 'Why does Sharma need me,
anyway?'

'I heard that
the soldiers who defected to Bedaxili killed Sharma's army
commander and both of his deputy commanders. I would think that's
why he needs you.'

'Isowola,
Admera and Izedrali are dead? All three of them?' It was a shock. I
knew all of them well. Reshaja nodded in confirmation.

Next morning, I
went down to the governor's palace and asked to see him. After a
few minutes, his aide came back and told me that the governor was
indisposed. However, he referred me to Reshaja who, said the aide,
was privy to the governor's thoughts. When I insisted on seeing the
governor, the aide took my arm firmly and led me to the door,
saying, 'Oh, my dear sir, why don't you board a ship and go home
for a while? His Excellency knows that you have business there and
he doesn't want to delay you a moment longer than is necessary.'
Still grasping my arm, the man walked me out of the door. There he
bowed and said, 'His Excellency sends you his most respectful
felicitations and assures you that he will be delighted to see you
when you have completed your business in Keirine.'

When I reached
Koraina I was granted an audience with Sharma almost immediately.
For a moment, I hardly recognised him. He had changed so much that
he looked like a derelict ruin of the man that I once knew. He was
paunchy – bloated with heaviness, in fact – and he had puffy eyes
and a double chin. In fact, his whole face seemed to have receded
downwards like part of a mountainside that has begun to slide after
heavy rains. Also, he not only walked with a heavy limp, leaning on
a walking stick, but with each step he had to heave himself forward
awkwardly as if the air itself obstructed his passage.

Sharma greeted
me in a business-like manner as if we had only been parted for a
few days. He gave me a perfunctory embrace and showed me to a
chair. As he sat down, he winced as he lifted his gammy leg onto a
footstool. He settled back and said sourly, 'This rotten leg! It
won't get better.' He winced again and shifted, rubbing one of his
buttocks as it lifted off the chair. 'The doctors say it's gout,
caused by too much red wine. Ha! Wine never did any harm,
especially the good stuff that I get from Durgenu.' He waved his
stick around, gesticulating at the walls and ceiling. 'More likely
it's living in this draughty building. I never should have allowed
the architects to put in so much marble and masonry.' Sharma
settled back with a noise between a sigh and a groan, rubbed his
chin as if he was trying to dislodge his jowls from their moorings,
and eyed me warily. The eyes were still Sharma's even if the rest
of his body had fallen from its state of youthful grace. He asked
stiffly, 'How are you, Jina?'

'I'm all
right.'

'Good to be
back, eh?'

'Oh, I could
easily have stayed away a while longer.'

There was a
pause while we looked at each other appraisingly. Sharma rubbed his
chin again and dropped his eyes. Then he grunted, looked me
straight in the eye, and said, 'I need you, Jina. More than that,
Keirine needs you.' I grunted in return. Sharma pursed his lips and
shifted uncomfortably. He said, 'I apologise, Jina.'

'For what?'

'I apologise
for what I said the last time I saw you.'

'Forget about
it. It's over and done with.'

Sharma shifted
again and coughed. He said, 'I acted like Vaxili, didn't I?' I
raised my eyebrows. Sharma continued, 'You told me frankly what you
felt.'

'Yes. I
did.'

'Vaxili never
could abide frank speaking.'

'That's
true.'

Sharma shifted
again and rubbed a buttock. He said, 'You were honest with me.'

'Look, Sharma,
it's over and done with. Let's forget about it.'

Sharma bit his
lip and his eyelid twitched. He took a deep breath and said, 'Jina,
this isn't easy for me.' I raised my eyebrows. Sharma continued,
'Damn it, man, I'm trying to apologise to you.'