Maia

"Maia, have you gone stark, raving mad? It can't be done! What makes you think they'll hand him over to you?"

"Money," she answered. "Come on, quick; let's get it over with."

"You didn't say anything about this to N'Kasit, did you?"

"No; but I'm going in all the same. You can either come with me or wait out here."

"But-but it doesn't make sense, Maia! If it wasn't for what you did at the river, he'd never have been taken prisoner at all, would he?"

"Maybe," she said, "but sometimes things change. Are you coming or not?"

It was Meris who replied. "No, we're not: you'll never come out of there alive, Maia. You might as well go and give yourself up to Fornis straight away."

Maia looked at Zirek, but he only nodded in corroboration. Without another word she turned and left them, walking resolutely across the road and up to the gate of the gaol without once looking back.

The mucous-eyed, listless gatekeeper was on duty in his lodge. She gave him twenty meld. Once, she thought, it was nothing at all: then it was five. You pay your own fear.

"I have to see U-Pokada at once: I'll wait in his room."

The stuffy little room was in darkness and she made the man leave her his lamp. She could not sit still, but paced up and down-five steps this way, five that-praying passionately to Lespa, yet hardly knowing what she was saying in her tension and anxiety.

At length the door opened and Pokada appeared with a second lamp, wiping his dyed beard with the back of his hand. Evidently she had interrupted his supper. His manner suggested none of his former obsequiousness. He shut the door behind him, bowed and stood waiting without a word.

"I hope I find you well, U-Pokada," she said.

"I am well, thank you, saiyett; but busy. How can I help you?"

"U-Pokada, I'm in haste too, so I'll tell you straight out. I'll give you ten thousand meld, money down, to hand two prisoners over to me immediately."

"Ten thousand meld, saiyett? That's a lot of money." He paused, then repeated unsmilingly. "Yes, that's a lot of money, ten thousand meld."

"Well," she said, "it's no less than I'll pay, I assure you."

He seemed to be deliberating. "Which two would those be, saiyett, I wonder?"

"Lord Bayub-Otal, the Urtan, and a Katrian officer named Captain Zen-Kurel."

"Ah. Yes. Well, saiyett, if you'll excuse me, I'll just go and look at my lists. I take it those are two of the prisoners who came in this afternoon, with the Sacred Queen?"

"Yes, they are."

He went out. The silence returned. How lifeless this dismal place seemed always to be! she thought. Every least, intermittent noise was like a stone thrown into a pool. Someone went quickly by outside. A dog barked. A door banged. There was a sound of running feet dying away in the distance.

She stood looking out of the north-facing window. The comet had become so dim that anyone not having seen it before would hardly, she supposed, have spared it a glance. A mere glow in the sky it seemed, no longer the radiant emissary of Lespa. Filled with sudden misgiving, she shivered and turned away.

Pokada returned. "Yes, I have these two men in my charge, saiyett."

"And you'll release them to me for that sum?"

He made no reply, so that at length she repeated it.

He shook his head. "It's not possible, saiyett, for that money; no, nor for any money, I'm afraid. I'm answerable for them to the Sacred Queen, you see."

"The whole city's upside-down," she said. "You could always say they escaped."

"No one escapes from here: I'd be the one upside-down, saiyett, believe me."

"I'll pay you generously. Perhaps I could just manage a little more than ten thousand meld."

He sat down. "Well, shall we talk about it, saiyett? I don't mind talking about it, you know. Yes, let's discuss it for a little while."

But there was a kind of temporizing in his manner, a lack of conviction, which puzzled and disturbed her.

"You mean, talk about how much?"

"Well, yes; and about what you'll do with them-where they go and so on."

"But I can't see that that's anything to do with you, U-Pokada. Why should you want to know that?"

"Well, you see, saiyett-you see- Have you ever been to Ikat Yeldashay?"

"No, never. But what's that got to do with it? U-Pokada, please-"

"Well, I was there once, you know. Yes, I was there once. Oh, some years ago, now. A nice city. Yes. But now it's in the hands of Santil-ke-Erketlis, they say. That's not good, is it? But of course General Kembri will beat him. No doubt of that-"

"U-Pokada, what's all this got to do with the prisoners?"

"Well, you see, saiyett, if you were going to Ikat Yeldashay, now-"

"U-Pokada, I don't want to appear rude, and I know as I can't afford to offend you, but I'm in great haste. If we're going to come to an agreement, for Cran's sake can we do it quickly, because-"