Sarum - Edward Rutherfurd [53]
The inner room was a smaller chamber separated from the room by a heavy curtain, and it was here that Krona slept. Dluc brushed the curtain aside.
Only a single taper lit the room, and for a moment Dluc had to pause, to accustom his eyes to the shadows.
Near him, kneeling on the floor, her body doubled up and shaking with fear, was a girl whom he recognised as a farmer’s daughter he had sent to Krona the month before, the latest in the series of new wives that the great chief had recently taken. She was a plump creature of fifteen with a wide, inviting mouth, soft young breasts and broad hips made for child bearing. He frowned to see her in such an attitude. The chief had seemed pleased with her a few days before.
Then he saw Krona.
In recent months, since the tragedy that now threatened the survival of Sarum, the chief had changed dramatically. His commanding eyes had become sunken, his huge, manly form had grown thinner, and his shoulders had begun to stoop, as though under the weight of a great burden. His full, flowing black beard was now streaked with grey. But despite his troubles, nothing had altered the noble bearing of Sarum’s chief.
Krona was standing in the far corner of the room, in front of the large couch covered with furs on which he normally slept. He was half hidden in the shadows. Beside him, on the floor, the priest could make out the form of Ina, his senior wife; she had been with him since he was little more than a boy, and though she was starting to grow old now, he knew that the powerful chief was devoted to her. As his eyes became accustomed to the shadow, the priest saw that something had taken place within Krona’s spirit. His shoulders were hunched in anger and misery; his face was haggard. His nose, always aquiline, now seemed to curve down like a great beak; and his sunken eyes had in them a look of wildness that Dluc had never seen before. He was motionless: he looked like a huge, ominous bird of prey.
“I have come,” Dluc said softly.
For several moments Krona did not speak. When he did at last, his voice was little more than a hoarse whisper.
“She has taken away my manhood.” He pointed at the girl crouching on the floor.
Dluc glanced down at her.
“Take her,” the chief went on. “Sacrifice her to the sun god, High Priest, so that I can be a man again.”
Dluc considered. The human sacrifices at the temple were regulated by strict customs. Only criminals, or those chosen by the priests on the most important festivals were killed. The High Priest did not sacrifice a girl without reason, even if Krona himself wanted it.
The priest shook his head.
“Do you understand?” Krona hissed from his corner, “she has taken my manhood. I can do nothing.”
“I have many cures for impotence. A potion will restore you,” Dluc replied calmly.
Krona shook his head. His eyes stared at the priest angrily. Then, slowly, he slid down and sat on the couch.
“No potions,” he said wearily.
Now Ina moved closer to him. His faithful companion for many years, she had carefully supervised each of the new wives, instructing them how to please him, watched over them and advised them. She touched the chiefs leg lightly with her hand and stroked it softly, trying to calm him. Then, slowly and very gently, with her greying hair falling forward over her face, she leaned over and, stretching out her arms she took her husband’s face between her hands and kissed him gently on the lips.
Dluc watched, admiring not for the first time, the love of this dutiful woman for the great chief.
He saw her head slowly drawing back, saw her look up with a hopeful smile into Krona’s haggard face, and then resume her task, gently persuading, before finally touching her husband affectionately on his leg and returning to her position at his feet. She looked up at Dluc with sadness in her eyes and shook her head.
“No potions,” the chief repeated. “Give the girl to the gods, or there will be no heirs for the house of Krona.”
Dluc sighed. For this was the problem that threatened Sarum with destruction.
It had been news of the