Maia made no reply.
"If the three of us were to go to Sencho's house now, do you think your Terebinthia woman would let us see Milvushina?"
"For money, my lord, yes, I'm pretty sure she would. But you really must let me go now, please: I'll be in trouble else." And once more she left him.
However, her errand was still not to be free from interruptions. Searching along the waterside, she could not resist stopping for a moment to admire the swans. Three or four of them, attracted like moths to the light, had swum up to the edge of the lake and, their white plumage tinged now rosy, now blue or green as they oared back and forth between the lamps, were taking food thrown to them by the guests.
One of these, turning suddenly, revealed himself as Bayub-Otal. Before she could hurry away he had caught up with her.
"I suppose you're with the High Counselor, Maia," he said, falling into step beside her on the path.
"Yes, my lord."
"And is that pleasant?"
"I've told you before, my lord; I'm a slave."
For a few moments he made no reply, only watching her as she darted glances among the people they passed.
"Whom are you looking for?"
"A lady as the High Counselor's sent me to find."
Suddenly he stopped dead, gripping her by the wrist so hard and unexpectedly that she was brought up standing with a jolt. She gave a quick cry of vexation, but then, restraining herself, stood looking up at him silently.
"You--you don't have to go on being a slave, you know," he said abruptly.
"What, my lord?"
"I said, you needn't go on being a slave. You can leave that brute before he does you any more harm. If you want, you can leave Bekla and become--well, become a real woman."
"I don't understand, my lord. What do you mean?"
"Not what I believe you suppose. I won't say more now, but if ever you come to think better of yourself, Maia--if you want to leave Bekla--you've only to tell me--that's if I'm still here to be told."
"If you mean as you want to buy me, my lord, then I think you'd better speak to the High Counselor yourself. Then you--"
But he was gone, turning on his heel and striding away between the bushes and the colored lamps. She stared after him a moment, then shrugged her shoulders and was going on her way when suddenly she caught sight of the Urtan dowager talking to Durakkon himself.
The lady, plainly flustered by Maia's message, immediately excused herself to Durakkon (shows which one she's more afraid of, thought Maia) and hurried away over the lawn. Maia followed more slowly, wondering exactly what Bayub-Otal might have meant. She had better consult Occula, she thought, once they could be alone together.
At this moment she was surprised to see Occula herself approaching along a path through the trees. She was plainly in a hurry, peering here and there and looking, thought Maia, really upset--almost beside herself. Several people turned to stare as she passed them.
Maia ran up to her. "Occula, I couldn't help it! I only just found the old lady--she was talking to the High Baron. She's gone to see Sencho just this minute--"
Occula appeared scarcely to have heard her.
"Banzi! Thank Cran I found you! Look, keep away, d'you see? Doan' go back to him--not on any account! Leave him to me, d'you understand?"
"Oh, Occula, is he angry? Honestly, I couldn't have been any quicker--"
"No, no, he's not angry: I can' explain. But keep away! Doan' go back, that's all! Leave me to see to him."
"But whatever--I mean, how long for?"
"Well--until--oh, banzi, doan' ask!"
Occula paused. Her breath was coming fast and she was trembling. "Hell, I ought to have sent you back home to fetch somethin', oughtn' I? You'd have swallowed that. Look, banzi, just keep out of the way for--well, say, for half an hour."
"All right, dear; if you say so. But are you sure you can manage him by yourself?"
"Yes! Yes! Give me a kiss, banzi; my dear, dearest banzi! Good-bye!"
Maia kissed her and Occula, with what sounded like a quick sob, instantly suppressed, hastened away across the grass.
Maia, once more alone, tried to imagine what could possibly have put her into such a state. It was bewildering. At least, however, she had said that Sencho wasn't angry; that was reassuring.
Suddenly she knew what it must be. That crass, clumsy fool Bayub-Otal had then and there gone and asked Sencho to sell her to him. Yes, of course, that must be it! And Occula had been afraid that if she, Maia, came back in the middle, while Bayub-Otal was still talking to Sencho, he might make a scene, or she might lose her head and start begging Sencho to let her go. Whereas Occula reckoned that if she herself could only spend half an hour alone with Sencho when he'd got rid of Bayub-Otal, she could probably cool him down.
But then, how ought she to act when she did return? Or, simply wait and see; it would all depend. He might be drunk by that time, or Occula might have gratified him and got him off to sleep. Or better still, he might want her, Maia, to gratify him: that would put her beyond any risk of his displeasure.
The mood of the party, she noticed, was beginning to change. Most of the older people seemed to be leaving. Not far away, a little group of obvious heldril were making their farewells to Durakkon, while near-by she could hear a grizzled baron saying something to his wife about the evening having lasted long enough. She turned back towards the lake, and as she did so two young men ran past her, one waving a flagon and calling out the name of Shend-Lador. Evidently the younger Leopards were now intending to make a night of it. Would Sencho be more likely to stay or go? she wondered. On the one hand his greed, now indulged, might dispose him to sleep, but on the other his lust might cause him to remain awake for a while yet.
A little distance away she could hear shouts and laughter. There were cries of "Go on!"
"Go on, Sychar!" Then a splash was followed by ironical cheering. Looking in the direction of the noise, she could make out dark figures dodging about, obscuring and again revealing the colored lamps among the trees.
The swans were no longer to be seen. How nice it would be, she thought, simply to take off her clothes and plunge into the water--just to strike out into the moonlit emptiness for a good, long swim. Of course, this silly old Barb was nothing to Lake Serrelind. How long was it, she wondered--half a mile? Not much more.
The further end was only two or three hundred yards away from Sencho's house. What fun it would be to swim down there--she could do it in half an hour, easy--oh, yes, less--and then just climb out, like one of those water-nymphs in old Drigga's stories, and walk in. Ah, and she could just see Terebinthia's face an' all--
"Maia! All alone? What are you doing now--just going to bathe, were you?"
It was Elvair-ka-Virrion, sauntering alone, apparently at a loose end. As she turned and smiled at him he took her in his arms and kissed her warmly, fondling her body up and down through the smooth, supple material of the tunic.
"Why, my lord, I thought you said as you were going off to see Milvushina?"
"T'maa and his sister have gone. I'm joining them there later. But never mind about that. A moment ago, before you saw me, you were looking as if you'd love to dive in."
"So I would, my lord. Nothing I'd like better!"
"It's deep, you know--deeper than you think. The Pool of Light's more than three times as deep as a man."
"Wouldn't worry me, my lord. Deeper the better!"
"You really can swim, then?"
"In the lake, back home, I used to swim--oh, ever so far."
"Did you?" He stooped quickly, drew one of her arms round his neck and then, with the other under the crook of her knees, lifted her bodily.
"Oh, please don't throw me in, my lord! Not in these clothes--that'd make a right old lot of trouble for me, that would!"
"I'm not going to."
He was carrying her easily along the shore in his arms. Although she had no idea what he had in mind, she could not help enjoying it.
Within a minute they had reached the outskirts of the frolic going on round the Pool of Light! About twenty or thirty young Leopards, together with perhaps half as many girls, were gathered along the shore, shouting with laughter as they pelted and cheered on a young man who had plunged in fully clothed and was laboriously splashing his way across the pool, supporting himself on a floating wine-cask. Looking at him, Maia could feel only contempt for his stupid clowning. He was, she felt, merely spoiling and uglifying the whole notion of swimming. It was like as if he'd started hopping about while Fordil was playing the music for the senguela.
Elvair-ka-Virrion put her down.
"Can you swim better than that?"
"Than that, my lord? Dear oh law, that's not swimming! Why, I could dive out of that zoan tree there and be halfway 'cross the pool 'fore anyone'd seen me go!"
"Could you indeed?" said Elvair-ka-Virrion. "Well, if you really can, I'll--"
He stood laughing down at her, his teeth very white in his shadowed face. A girl ran past, calling "Elvair, come on! We're going to pull him out!" Elvair-ka-Virrion ignored her and she disappeared among the bushes.
"Can you?"
"Whatever you say, my lord. But's anyone going to mind if I'm naked? Only--well--all these old heldril, and the High Baron's not far off, either. I don't want no trouble--"
"Trouble-- you-- naked?" said Elvair-ka-Virrion. "Ha! Don't worry; I'll see to that."
Maia, drawing the combs out of her hair and pocketing them, unbuttoned the embroidered tunic and took it off, together with her shift. Elvair-ka-Virrion stretched out his arms to her, but she smiled and shook her head.
"One thing at a time, my lord. Only this is serious stuff, see?"
With this she ran across the grass to the foot of the zoan not thirty yards away. No one seemed to notice her, for they were all watching the young man struggling out on the further bank. In a moment she had seized a low branch and pulled herself up into the fork. Having taken stock of the tree, the pool and her potential audience, she began edging up a long, sloping bough which extended over the water.
From one branchy handhold to another she inched her way outward, until the thinning bough began to sag under her weight. Go out any further, she thought, and I won't have enough support for a dive. Ah, here was a good place, though--nice and open, no other branches to get in the way and the water--oh, eleven or twelve feet down, perhaps; hard to tell in this light, but it looked deep enough.
At this moment two young men walking along the bank looked up, saw her and stopped in amazement.
Pointing, they called out to others further off. People began running towards the zoan, staring and exclaiming.
"Careful--you'll fall!"
"No, she won't!"
"What a pretty girl!"
"Why not come down and go to bed with me?"
"Who is she?"
"Look out!"
"It's the senguela dancer!" cried a voice.
"She's going to dive!" shouted Elvair-ka-Virrion at the top of his voice.
At this there was some derisory laughter and someone shouted "When? Next year?"
Maia, facing the full moon, her toes flexed on the rough, fissured bark, was on the very point of diving when suddenly she saw through the foliage a woman gazing directly up at her. The glimpse, between the faintly-moving, silvery leaves, was like a face seen in a dream--indistinct yet disturbing; arrestingly beautiful, yet in some way menacing too. The wide, commanding eyes, framed in an aureole of hair gleaming in the moonlight, were staring--with approbation, certainly--but also with a kind of intent rapacity which frightened her even as she sensed it.
Startled and thrown off balance, she swayed and for an instant tried to stop short. But this was no longer possible. Thereupon the naturally-acquired skill of years came to her rescue. Her body knew instinctively that it must dive.
To the watchers below there seemed no trace of hesitation. One moment she was standing in the moonlight, high among the zoan boughs. The next she had dived outward, straight and taut, hair streaming and the leafy branch thrashing behind her, to plunge through the surface of the lake with a single, quickly-gone splash and a symmetry of outward-flowing ripples.
In the instant of diving Maia had recognized the watcher below her. It was the Sacred Queen.
These Beklans were no swimmers: that she had known all along. To them, a girl who made nothing of plunging twelve feet into deep water seemed almost miraculous. All round her, from both banks, arose cries of wonder and acclamation. Waving, she turned on her back, arching her breasts clear of the surface and then, with hands gently fanning beneath her, eased herself smoothly towards the center of the pool.
The water was warmer than she had expected. It really was a lovely night for a swim. Should she, after all, simply swim away down the length of the Barb? Ah, but the High Counselor? And then again, she'd better not lose touch with Elvair-ka-Virrion, who'd promised to keep her out of trouble. Still, all these rich people--she might as well show them a thing or two now she'd started. One thing might lead to another, as Occula was always saying.
Swimming towards the shore, she stopped some yards out and lowered her feet, but found no bottom.
A small crowd had gathered on the bank, as near to her as they could get. One young man knelt, miming anguished longing and holding out his hands in mock entreaty, while another took off his gold chain and held it up, offering to give it to her if only she would come ashore and let him put it round her neck for himself.
Exhilarated, she began to tantalize them, jumping herself up and down in the water and opening her arms in invitation.
"Who's going to join me?" she cried, laughing up at them. "Isn't there a single one of you man enough to come in and catch me?"
"It's too deep, Maia," called Shend-Lador. "Come a bit further in, where we can wade!"
He pointed along the curve of the shore. After one quick look to make sure of her direction and the distance, she dived under, swam a dozen strokes and came up to find herself just in her depth and about twenty yards out from the bank.
"You're afraid, aren't you?" she called to Shend-Lador. "You're afraid to come in and catch me!"
For answer he began taking off his clothes, tossing them here and there and then sitting down while two of the girls, shouting with laughter, pulled off his shoes and breeches. Four or five other young men followed his example.
"What's the reward, Maia?" shouted a young gallant with a wreath of scarlet trepsis round his shoulders.
Before she could speak, Elvair-ka-Virrion's voice answered.
"Anyone who catches her can have her--that's the re-ward!"
Already Shend-Lador and three more had leapt into the water and were wading out towards her. One of these, an aider man, tried to clutch Shend-Lador and pull him back, but himself overbalanced and fell his length amid roars of delight from the spectators. Maia, waiting until the last possible moment, swam a few lazy strokes further out. Shend-Lador plunged after her up to his neck, whereupon she turned and slipped shorewards past him, stroking his cheek with her fingers and gliding away as he made a clumsy grab which missed her by a foot.
Now she was swimming back and forth between them as they floundered and clutched this way and that; pretending to offer herself and vanishing under water just when they all felt sure she must be caught; coming up behind Shend-Lador and nibbling his shoulder before he had even realized she was there.
Then, swimming inshore again, she stood up no more than knee-deep, displaying herself in the moonlight, imploring them to make haste, for she felt so lonely and feared she would never be caught at all. At this a big, bearded man, still in the act of undressing, leapt off the bank in his breeches and came splashing towards her. Maia, diving quickly, pulled them round his knees as he lunged forward, groping. Shouts of laughter and derision rose from the bank as her prank revealed that he had plainly been very eager to catch her indeed.
Although their admiration and her own sense of supremacy were delightfu
l, nevertheless she could not help beginning, now, to feel a trifle weary of the game. She had hoped that there might have been one swimmer among them at least. As it was, the whole lot of them together couldn't have caught her if they'd tried all night, and her common sense told her that however desirable she might be, they would soon get tired of being made to look fools. Yet how best to bring it to an end? She had not foreseen that Elvair-ka-Virrion, in his high spirits, would take it upon himself to offer her as a prize. All the same, she thought, she'd have had no real objection. They were all rich and high-born, else they wouldn't be here.
The story would have got around and likely increased her popularity; and besides, there'd almost certainly have been a generous lygol into the bargain. She could simply have picked out a man she fancied, let herself be caught in some amusing way and then done what was expected of her. But what put all this out of the question was the High Counselor. Ah, and it must be about time she was getting back to him an' all. Perhaps he was already asking where she'd got to?
If he were to miss her and then learn that she'd been-- She thought of Meris. Oh, Cran, there was no time to be lost; no, not a minute! She'd better just swim straight back along the lake--they'd never let her go else--never mind her clothes--she could always ask a slave to go and fetch them back from Elvair-ka-Virrion.
Suddenly, cutting through the hubbub, there came a different kind of cry--quick and desperate, a yell of fear cut short in a choking gasp. Shend-Lador, in his eagerness to reach her, had missed his footing and was struggling in deep water. As she looked, his head went under, reappeared for a moment and vanished.
Most of those on the bank were still running about laughing. Only a few had seen what had happened, and these were shouting helplessly and pointing to where Shend-Lador had disappeared.
Maia, reaching the place in six or seven strokes and diving instantly, came upon him a few feet below the surface. He was still struggling, but feebly. As she seized him he grabbed her in panic and she bit his hand as hard as she could. He let go and she kicked upward, got his head above water, turned on her back and dragged him some five or six yards towards the bank. Splashing and jerking, he clutched her again and almost pulled her under; this time she could scarcely break his hold, and, having done so with difficulty, was forced to let him go while she recovered herself. They were both in their depth now, but he could not stand unaided. She put one arm round him, trying to reassure him as he leant upon her, vomiting water over her shoulder.