She frowned. ‘I don’t understand. They are good Northlander scrip.’
‘“Good Northlander scrip.” Hmm. You know, since I settled here I’ve come to feel that we were always rather cut off from the flow of events up in Northland. Buried in our great big old Wall. We tend to think that the rest of the world can fall apart and it won’t affect us, don’t we? Rina, Northlander currency isn’t worth the metal it’s stamped from these days. After all, what’s it backed by? As soon as the cold started cutting the trading links, for the average Carthaginian, Northland has become — nothing. A fantasy country as remote as the moon.’
‘But you are prospering.’
‘I was lucky, or we had foresight. We saw that times were becoming hard, the years of flood in the north, the drought in the south. This was even before the cold came, you understand. We thought that Carthage, so much further south, at the centre of the world, would be more — secure. We thought ahead, Rina. As you did. It’s just that we made our judgements a little earlier.
‘We built up a business down here. I handle the import of certain kinds of soft fruit from across Greater Carthage into the city itself. Good sound trade. And we managed to convert most of our Northland currency into the local scrip, just before the crash came.’ He opened his hands to her. ‘Do you have any other assets with you? Land titles, other currencies-’
‘Nothing but holdings back home. In Northland.’
‘Which are worth nothing here, I’m afraid. Not even as guarantors of credit.’
‘No wonder that crook Barmocar asked for payment of the kind he did.’ And she told him about the Virgin’s bones.
He laughed, as if delighted at the man’s ingenuity. ‘No wonder indeed. The rascal! But let me give you some advice. I wouldn’t make an enemy of Barmocar — not if you can help it. He’s a pretty influential man here. And, let’s face it, he’s the only member of the Tribunal of One Hundred and Four that you know. If I were you, I would cultivate that. So what will you do?’
She was astonished at the question, and dismayed. I hoped to find myself under your protection and guidance. ‘I can work,’ she said stiffly. ‘I was an Annid. I have skills in direction, decisionmaking. Perhaps I could work as an adviser to the Council of Elders, or-’
He waved that away. ‘Forget it. The Carthaginians loathe us Northlanders. Ingrained after centuries of our manipulating their destiny — that’s the way they see it.’
‘The role of Northland has always been to bring peace and collaboration between disparate peoples-’
‘And to get rich and powerful in the process. Forget it, as I said. There’s no way anybody would pay you for your advice. It’s best if you can persuade them to forget you’re a Northlander at all. Why do you think I dress in this repulsive purple? Is there anything you can do? I mean, a specific skill. Weaving, knitting, lace-making, cooking — by the mothers, anything, women do many jobs in Northland, brick-making, growstone-mixing!’
‘I am an Annid, from a family of Annids. I was ten years old before I had to lace up my own shoes.’
She meant to make him laugh. He returned her look, stony-faced. ‘Your children, then. How old?’
‘Twins, just sixteen now. A boy and a girl. He, Nelo, is a promising artist, in the new deep-look style-’
‘How big is he?’
‘What?’
‘Physically. Tall, short, thin, strong. .’
‘Shorter than me. Quite heavily built. Strong, if he puts his mind to it. But he has a gentle spirit which-’
‘He may find work on the labour details. The sewage system, for instance — constantly clogging up. And corpse details when the plagues come. Or the farms.’
‘No Northlander farms.’
‘They do here. Now, the girl?’
‘Alxa. She’s a bright, independent young woman. Stronger than me, I think. She has a facility for languages. She learned Carthaginian on the journey.’
‘A translator, then? That might have possibilities. Not useful for me, mind you, I have all the staff I need. Good-looking?’
She flared. ‘Why do you ask that?’
‘Because one role Northlander women are popular for here is as companions. Oh, don’t look at me so, Cousin. It doesn’t have to be — like that. But you can imagine how it gives a Carthaginian pleasure to order round a pretty, stuck-up Northlander, as they see it.’
She suppressed her anger. ‘I am reluctant to rely on the labour of my children. They are too young.’
‘This isn’t Northland,’ he said firmly. ‘You are far from home. Nobody wants you here, frankly. The quicker you absorb that fact the better. And the sooner you learn that your preferences are irrelevant-’
‘Help us,’ she said bluntly.
He sat back in his chair, sighed, and rubbed his face. ‘Rina, Rina. I have nothing for you.’
‘You have room. Food, warmth. At least let us stay for a few days. Until we can find work, get established somehow. I will pay you back.’
He laughed. ‘What, with Northland scrip?’
‘With the money I, we, will earn when we find jobs.’
‘Impossible. Believe me, with the kind of jobs you’ll be taking you won’t be paying down loans. Look, Rina, I have my own position in society here to think of. If I start taking in strays and nestspills-’
‘You are a Northlander.’
‘Not any more,’ he said coldly. ‘And since you abandoned the place to come here, neither are you.’
‘As family, then.’ She forced herself to say it. After all, she had begged before Barmocar. Was this any worse? ‘I’m desperate. For my children. Please. I have no other recourse.’
He sighed again. ‘I always was too soft for my own good. Seven days. And then you’re gone. Now if you’ll excuse me. .’ He bent over his desk. ‘Send in my clerks on your way out. And shut the door.’
A little later Alxa and Nelo, fetched from the city by Jexami’s servants, showed up at the estate.
Alxa was wide-eyed. ‘By the mothers’ eyes, this is grand. It’s almost as good as the Wall. Does that tap work?’
‘Leave it alone,’ Rina snapped. ‘Touch as little as possible. Use as little as possible.’
Nelo frowned. ‘Are we staying here?’
‘Yes. For now. Not for long. But we mustn’t impose. .’ Nelo’s face was bloodied, she saw, a smear from a cut over his eye, and a bruise was rising on his cheek. ‘Oh, my, what happened to you?’ She ran to get a bowl of water and a cloth.
Alxa sat on a chair, testing its softness. ‘We got into a fight.’
‘You did what?’
‘We went for a walk. The city is teeming, Mother, full of people. We found a tavern. We thought we’d have some wine. But the landlord wouldn’t accept our Northlander scrip. And some men had heard us talking, I mean in our own tongue. They came over to give us a hard time. One of them said something-’
Nelo said, ‘He called Alxa a whore. I know enough Carthaginian for that. He said Northlander women make the best whores, because they’re big and healthy. Like wild deer. I punched him.’
‘You did what?’
Alxa said, ‘It was all I could do to get us out of there in one piece. Those narrow streets, we had to throw them off, we ran and ran!’ She laughed at the memory of it, swinging her legs. ‘Where’s our luggage? Is there any hot water? Can I ask for tea?’
Rina held her son’s bruised forehead, peering into his eyes, looking for his spirit, seeing only blankness.
35
Rina spent six of Jexami’s seven days fruitlessly searching for work.
Then, on the day before Jexami was to throw them out of his house, she swallowed more pride, took Jexami’s advice, and approached the only man of position she knew in the city: Barmocar. She used a veiled threat about exposing his possession of the Virgin’s relics to secure an appointment.
She was taken into the city by one of Jexami’s carriage-men, and dropped at one of the big gates in the landward wall. By now she had learned her way around Carthage, a little. The city within the wall was a neat grid of streets. The building stock was constructed of the local sandstone, and brilliant-white paintwork was common, so that when the sun pushed through the thickening clouds the air seemed to fill with light. The city’s complicated history had left its mark too. Alongside the temples to Carthage’s ancient gods there were mosques and muezzin towers, relics of the days of Arabic conquest, and more recent churches to Jesus, symbols of Hatti influence, squat buildings whose faces were carved with representations of crossed palm leaves. Mostly, however, the lower city was crammed with residential properties, apartments heaped up three and four storeys high, and shops, workshops, taverns and inns open to the street. The people swarmed everywhere, vendors calling, children running, imposing men and women carrying scrolls and slates. She saw no signs of the dispossessed who had washed up against the external walls, but still the city was crowded. She imagined everybody with a place in the city bringing in relatives from the dying countryside, until there was no room left.