Helliconia Summer - Brian W. Aldiss [421]
Both suns were in different sectors of the sky, both shining the more brightly because they were about to be eclipsed by black rain clouds drawing up the slopes of the sky. Two sails glittered in the actinic light.
The Union was close, the Good Hope no more than an hour’s sailing behind; the hierograms on its spread canvas were clear to behold. The Union had lowered its artemon, in order to allow its companion to catch up.
Lanstatet was already working with his force, unloading equipment from the Prayer.
‘They’re coming in, Akhanaba help us!’ he shouted to TolramKetinet.
‘What’s that woman doing?’ TolramKetinet asked.
An old woman, a servitor of the queen’s, a long-term housekeeper of the wooden palace, was helping Lanstatet’s men unload the Prayer. It was her way of showing her dedication to the queen. A man above her was rolling kegs of gunpowder from the deck onto a gangplank. The old woman was directing the kegs down the slope, releasing a soldier for other duties.
‘I’m helping you – what do you think?’ she screamed back at the general.
Her attention was distracted. The next keg rolled off the gangplank and struck her shoulder, bowling the old woman over, pitching her face down on the shingle.
She was dragged up, faint but protesting, to lie against a chest on the beach. Blood streamed down her face. MyrdemInggala hurried down from the headland to comfort her.
As the queen knelt by her old servant, TolramKetinet stood over her and laid a hand on the queen’s shoulder.
‘My arrival has brought trouble on you, lady. That was not my intention. I am trying to regret I did not sail straight on to Ottassol.’
The queen made no answer, but took the old woman’s head on her lap. The latter’s eyes had closed, but her breathing was regular.
‘I said, lady, that I hope you don’t regret that I did not sail on to Ottassol.’
Distress showed in her face as she turned to him. ‘Hanra, I have no regrets about last night when we were together. It was my wish. I thought to be free of Jan. But it did not achieve what I hoped. For that, I am to blame, not you.’
‘You are free of him. He divorced you, did he not? What are you talking about?’ He looked angry. ‘I know I’m not a very good general, but—’
‘Oh, stop that!’ she said impatiently. ‘It’s got nothing to do with you. What do I care if you lost your scerming army? I’m talking about a bond, a solemn state that existed between two people for a long time … Some things don’t end when we hope they will. Jan and I – it’s like being unable to waken – oh, I’m unable to express—’
With some annoyance, TolramKetinet said, ‘You’re tired. I know how women get upset. Let’s talk about such things later. Let’s deal with the emergency first.’ He pointed out to sea, and adopted a no-nonsense voice. ‘Judging by the nonappearance of the Golden Friendship, it was too badly damaged to sail. The Admiral Jeseratabhar says that Dienu Pasharatid was on it. Perhaps she has been killed, in which case Io Pasharatid on the Union will be full of vengeance.’
‘I fear that man,’ said MyrdemInggala. ‘And with excellent reason.’ She bent her head over the old woman.
Her general gave her a side glance. ‘I’m here to protect you from him, aren’t I?’
‘I suppose you are,’ she said spiritlessly. ‘At least your lieutenant is doing something about the matter.’
JandolAnganol had seen to it that the wooden palace had no weapons with which to defend itself. But the rocks extending out to sea from the Linien Rock meant that any considerable vessel like the Union had to sail between the Rock and the headland, and there lay the defender’s chance. GortorLanstatet had reinforced his working party on the beach with phagors. Two large cannon from the Vajabhar Prayer’s quarterdeck had been winched ashore and were now being manhandled onto the headland, where they would command the bay.
ScufBar and another serving man came up with a stretcher to carry the injured woman back to the safety of the palace and apply iced bandages to her wounds.
Leaving the queen’s side, TolramKetinet