The Namura Stone (5 page)

“No food,” she said solidly.

Diva laughed. “No, Raven, not yet. There will be food later. But you will find there is plenty of wine to bathe in. You will like that.”

Raven’s face told them all that she did not regard the pleasures of bathing as on a par with sweetfruits and delicacies. She showed even less desire to be picked up by her grandfather and to have a sash and the emblem of succession placed ceremoniously over her head by the rather stout Maximus, staring at him suspiciously with narrowed eyes, and trying to fall away from him, back to Bennel. It took Tallen’s intervention to prevent an accident. Then several courtiers were asked to witness a long parchment, which Maximus read out aloud in a voice that Raven clearly found extremely distasteful. She put up with it stoically for about ten minutes, then fell back on the time-honoured practice of first trying to pull away from her mother, and, when that didn’t work, of going off into a tantrum. Her grandfather soldiered on through the parchment, clearly unimpressed by his new granddaughter.

“At least she is well-proportioned, daughter,” said Indomita, in a relieved voice, once the rite of passage had drawn to a close and Raven had been teased into a better mood, and silence, by Bennel.

Diva bristled. “What do you mean by that? Of course she is well-proportioned. She is my daughter, isn’t she?”

“Indeed. She is not, however, solely your daughter.”

“Ah. You thought her Kwaidian no-name genes might have made her some sort of a freak?”

“Not at all. You are misinterpreting my words. I was merely congratulating you on having produced a most satisfactory candidate to succeed to the meritocracy of Coriolis.”

“If there is still one left to succeed to …”

It was Indomita’s turn to stretch her long neck upwards in a haughty query. “You are implying that my …” she looked sideways for a second at her portly husband, “… that is, that our management of the planet is not satisfactory?”

“I am implying that you have done nothing to solve all the inequalities in this world.”

Her father’s face flushed an even deeper red than usual. “It has been decided that changes of a major nature in the law would be precipitate. There is no conclusive evidence of any injustice in our system. Everybody is given an equal chance.”

“Decided by whom?” Diva was seething. She put her hands on her hips. “By Tartalus?”

“You know, Daughter, you can say what you like about Tartalus, but nobody can deny how much he cares about the meritocracy.” Maximus patted his not inconsiderable girth with some satisfaction. He appeared to find an expression of his own worth in its ample curve.

Diva looked swiftly in her mother’s direction, frowning. Surely her mother had not allowed Tartalus to gain even more popularity?

Indomita could hardly miss the implied reproach. She answered the unspoken question. “Your cousin has taken to offering large banquets, just for the male members of the meritocracy. I have been unable to attend with your father.” She paused for a full five seconds, her face a study. “They are very … entertaining, I believe.”

Diva frowned. “Why does he not include the female meritocrats?”

Indomita pressed her lips together. “He appears to feel that the women would rather be left to their wine baths. And I gather that the … err … pastimes at these banquets are exclusively male.”

Diva turned to her father. “Surely you should insist on taking Mother to these meetings? She is a plenipotentiary of Mesteta.”

Her father avoided her eyes. “Well, you know, these things sometimes go on until very late … I don’t think your mother would really feel … It isn’t really appropriate …” Even he seemed to realize how unconvincing these arguments were, for he reddened and looked at the floor. “You know, some of the younger bloods get rather drunk … I wouldn’t want your mother to be submitted to any indignities …”

“Tartalus is trying to undermine Mother’s influence.”

“Now how could he do that?” asked Maximus, mildly. “Everyone knows that your mother has been running Coriolis for the last few years. He has never challenged that.”

But that, Diva could see, was exactly the plan. Tartalus was excluding the women deliberately. He knew, like she did, that her father was malleable and could be controlled by his addiction to his little excesses. Her cousin had clearly made up his mind to pamper to Maximus’s every little whim. Sooner or later he would make his move to take the control away from Indomita and place it solidly back in Maximus’s hands. Once that had happened, Tartalus could manipulate Maximus and, through him, control the whole planet.

This was not good news. Diva could see that her mother was worried. There were faint lines etched into her forehead, and she looked like someone who knew that the ground she was standing on was unsafe.

Maximus patted his stomach again. “No need for you ladies to worry,” he said cheerfully. “Nothing to worry about at all. Everybody on Coriolis is given an equal chance.”

Indomita sighed. Her eyes met those of her daughter, and she gave a slight shrug.

Diva began to irradiate a sort of pent-up anger which, although not visible, transmitted itself instantly to all those present. Bennel looked at Tallen and nodded. They both took a precautionary step back, and their hands went to the weapons at their sides. Raven began to glare ominously, infected by the outrage she could sense in her mother. The little girl opened her mouth to cry, but Tallen caught her eye and gave her such a peremptory look that she stopped short, her mouth still half open. He gave a sharp beckon with one finger, and she stepped obediently back to his side, looking up at him in some awe. The Namuri bent his head slightly towards the little girl and smiled his approval. Her tense and mutinous expression relaxed.

Diva glared at her father. “Equal chance?” she echoed. “Equal chance? Only a meritocrat could say that!” Then she found herself looking around, to meet Tallen’s impassive gaze. She nearly giggled. She had not thought to hear herself arguing the Namuri viewpoint. Tallen was holding himself with rigid self-control, but she could tell from the scathing light in his eyes that he was finding it a hard thing to do. She turned back to her parents.

“The clans are as Coriolan as we are, yet they have no rights. They cannot have money, or jobs, or a position in this meritocratic society. That is unjust; it must be changed.”

“Impossible. There is a growing opinion that the clans should be banned from this planet.”

Diva could feel Tallen smoulder behind her, and held up a hand to quell any movement. “I detect the fine hand of my second cousin here,” she said in a milder tone.

Her father nodded. “Tartalus is becoming popular amongst the younger meritocrats,” he agreed. “But you were the one who started all this discontent. You were the one who decided we should change a system which has been working perfectly well for millennia!”

“For whom?”

“I’m sorry?” Maximus stared at his daughter.

She drew herself up to her full height. “For whom has it been working? Certainly not for the people who were sealed into rexelene blocks alive, and then exposed to the ridicule of the populace in museums, their last struggling attempts to save themselves preserved in the blocks forever!”

Her father waved a dismissive hand. “Oh, them!” He clearly thought the fate of the clans of no import whatsoever.

Diva held up her hand again because she could feel Tallen’s burning emotion right the way down her spine. “There should be equality,” she said firmly.

Indomita smiled, a cool smile which was designed to remove any hostility in the air. “Of course there should be equality; no-one is denying that.” She fixed her husband with a warning look, and he subsided, the words he had been about to utter evaporating obediently. She went on, “But are they ready for it? These people have not our advantages, Daughter. They are no more capable of taking rational decisions than Tattula cats! We really need to educate them first. I do think that some sort of a long-term educational program for the next couple of hundred years would be a much kinder way to provide aid and a future for them.”

Raven, whose grubby hand had snaked up into one of Tallen’s for comfort, gave a sharp cry. He had squeezed her so hard that all her bones hurt. She gave a wail, and Diva turned around instantly. She took in the situation with a glance, and then made a sign to Bennel, who obediently swept Raven up into his ample arms, and joggled her to calm the sudden worry. Diva turned back to her parents.

“You are both making a huge mistake. It is time to change things, and there is no moral justification for holding on to the old ways. You have become complacent in your palace. You don’t see the future; you don’t even see the present. I thought you had agreed to pass the new laws?” Her questioning gaze pierced her mother’s impassiveness.

“You are partly to blame. You know that Tartalus has been making trouble, ever since your … your consort broke his nose!”

“That wasn’t his fault! Tartalus very nearly killed Six!”

Maximus shifted and seemed to mutter something under his breath. All of them stared in his direction, and he fell silent, peeved.

Indomita spoke again. “That is as may be. Tartalus has become extremely involved in helping young meritocrats. He is a patron of the arts and encourages combat training. He has himself offered several not inconsiderable prizes. He has gathered many young Coriolans around him, whereas you seem only to have Kwaidian interests at heart.”

“That is ridiculous!”

Indomita broke in, her voice deceptively calm. “Nevertheless, it has now become impossible to pass the new laws. If we do, then Raven here will have no world to inherit.”

Raven stared at the two people in front of her. Her grandparents. They were old, and cold, and she didn’t like them. They emanated a different way of thinking which she could almost smell, and she wished that her mother would take her away from them. She gave Bennel a scowl. He had suggested that she would have fun here in Mesteta, and had clearly lied. She gave him an imperious kick with one small foot, which caused him to wince and look down at his burden with surprise. Tallen, standing next to both of them, grinned to himself. He knew exactly what the young girl was thinking.

Diva bowed low to her mother and father. “As you decree, so it shall be,” she chanted obediently. Then she stepped back. “I shall retire to my chambers now.”

“You had better watch that tame Namuri you have with you. He won’t last long here if Tartalus gets word of his presence inside the palace.”

Diva bowed again. “We shall be leaving almost immediately.” She signed for Bennel to put Raven on the magmite floor again and signaled to her daughter to come up to her side. “Come, Raven, curtsey to your grandparents, as I taught you.”

The little girl made a very creditable curtsey, but omitted the smile her mother had explained would be expected. None of the three people she loved here was smiling, and the atmosphere was one of great tension. She stared unwaveringly at her grandparents, and Diva met her mother’s eyes coolly.

“You have met your granddaughter,” she said. “Remember her well. Since you say there is danger here to those of whom Tartalus does not approve, then it will probably be better if we don’t return until Raven is at least 14, which is when she will be allowed to live away from Xiantha.”

Her mother licked her lips. “That would be more advisable, certainly. 16 might be better. That is the age when she will inherit the right to rule.” But she looked almost bereft, and Raven saw that the older woman’s eyes traveled to one of the guards, who gave her an understanding nod.

Maximus was smiling now, unable to hide his relief at her decision. “It is not that we don’t want her to be here, you understand,” he said. “But in this political climate …”

Diva’s eyes hardened. “We will bring Raven back when she reaches her 16
th
birthday.” Then she gave both her parents a curtsey, so low that it was clearly sarcastic, and then swept out of the chamber, and out of their lives.

Bennel followed immediately with Raven, but Tallen stayed for just a fraction of a second. His set chin jutted out slightly and the faint, ironic smile in his eyes challenged them. Then he too gave an obeisance in their direction, turned, and left.

Indomita looked again towards the guard, Kobar, rather thoughtfully. The room felt suddenly very empty, and she found herself thinking that she might benefit from another long stay on Mount Palestron.

DIVA WALKED JERKILY to her set of chambers, so angry that she was seeing everything through a red haze. Guards smoothed themselves back against the walls as she passed, and Bennel was forced to sweep Raven up in his arms again so as not to leave her behind.

“If it weren’t already too late,” snapped Diva, “we would leave now.”

Tallen raised his eyebrows. “We can leave now, if you wish. I know my way around all Mesteta in the dark.”

For a moment Diva was sorely tempted, but then she realized what comment such a leave-taking would raise. She shook her head crossly. “No. That would give rise to even more comments; we will have to stay here tonight. But at first light … as soon as day breaks tomorrow morning … we will be on our way.”

Raven stared at her mother. “Eat?” she suggested tentatively.

Diva plucked her out of Bennel’s arms and hugged the small body to her. “Food,” she promised, “and then a nice long soak in a warm Mesteta wine bath. You will love it.”

Raven’s brow puckered. The sound of food was good, but she wasn’t so sure about the bath part. “T’an? Be’ll?” she asked, cautiously.

Diva grinned. “Today Tallen and Bennel can join us in the bath,” she promised. “The one in my quarters can hold up to fifty people.”

Raven was reassured, luckily missing the look of complete horror which crossed Tallen’s face. The idea of soaking in a meritocrat’s luxurious sunken pool with its gold trimmings did not sit happily with the clan’s notion of civil disobedience. He opened his mouth.

“Don’t even bother,” said Diva. “—Bath I said, and bath you will. I have already defended the clans enough today. I think you can put up with a small thing like a hot tub, if it keeps my daughter happy.”

Tallen shut his mouth again, but gave Bennel a sour look. The Coriolan companion smiled. This would be amusing. The thought of the Namuri pickling his thick hide in Mesteta wine was irresistible.

THE FOLLOWING MORNING they were out of the palace and on the road by first light, a sleepy Raven clinging to her mother. Diva took a pleased breath of the cold, early air. She needed to get away from this palace, from these people.

“Bennel, I believe that your family is from this area. I want you to go and visit them now,” she told the companion. “When we reach the Mount Palestron crossing, you can take the road up to the mountains.”