"I never saw Zai again. That night the Leopards seized the house, and Queen Fornis's men murdered Zai and the others, and took the jewels."
"But weren't they hidden?" asked Maia. "Like you said?"
Occula was silent. At length she said, "Yes; but they- found them: in the end. Any man talks-in the end."
"And-and you?" said Maia.
"I've often wished they'd killed me too. Next mornin' it was all over. Just the girls cryin' and sobbin' and each of them tryin' riot to be the one who had to tell me.
"They'd only killed Zai and his men. There wasn't anyone else worth killin', you see. The Leopards took over the palace, servants and all. I might have become a slave there, I suppose; but someone or other-the new steward, perhaps-decided that it would be best if I was sold. I dare say they didn' want a slave-even a chikl-who knew they'd murdered her father. Or perhaps the new steward just saw a way to make a bit of easy money.
"I wasn' sold in the market. It was a private sale. Domris bought me. She was on one of her trips from Thettit-Tonilda to buy girls for her house-the Lily Pool, it's called. It wasn' her house then, actually, though it is now: but she was helpin' to run it. She liked to buy girls very young and train them. I was a curiosity, of course-a black girl.
Hardly anybody'd ever seen one. I might as well have been blue or green.
"Domris was kind enough as long as you did what you were told. 'It's bad luck for you, dear,' she said to me, 'but seein' it's happened, let's jus' try to make the best of it, shall we? It's a hard world for most women, you know- for me as much as you. I doan' like it any more than you do, but you be a good girl and do as I say and I woan' cheat you.'
"And to do her justice she didn', the old cow. She was hard as rock and she's made me as hard as rock, but at least she didn' cheat me.
"At the start I thought I'd never be done cryin'. I doan' know why I didn' die of grief. But there were three or four little girls about my age who all had more than enough to cry about, same as me. And none of them had come alive through the Govig, so I decided I was better than them and I was still Zai's daughter even if he was dead; so I'd be the one that didn' cry.
"I learned the trade; and banzi, I turned myself into a one-girl fortress. The men were outside, and I was inside, with Kantza-Merada. They could get into me but they couldn' get into me, if you see what I mean. I learned to play the hinnari, to sing, to dance the Silver Zard and Goat in the Circle. They all told Domris I was the spiciest little piece they'd ever known in their lives-the dirty fools! You can build a wall round yourself, banzi, and live untouched inside it, believe me you can. You do as I tell you and you'll be all right.
"Domris let me keep quite a nice little bit. She liked me: I took good care to see she did-and I laid it out carefully; you know, clothes and make-up and whatever bits of jewelry I could afford. I had plans, you see. I didn' mean to go on being the mainstay of the Lily Pool until I'd been basted to bits before my time. Well over six years' hard work and I reckoned it was time for a change."
"She let you go?" asked Maia Wonderingly.
"Ah, it wasn' that easy, banzi. I had to make a bargain with Domris-talk her into it. It was one night about three months ago.
" 'Ever thought of sendin' me to Bekla, saiyettV I said. 'It'd pay you hands down in the long run.' "
"She looked puzzled and stuffed another sweet in her mouth. 'How can it-m'm, m'm-do that, dear?' she asked.
" 'Why,' I said, 'all sorts of ways. I could be your eyes and ears in Bekla, and the times are so uncertain that that might make a lot of difference one day-swift news in a pinch, you know. But better than that, I could buy for you. You lose the best of the Beklan market now, jus' through not bein' on the spot. You come up to Bekla once or twice a year and have to take what's to be had when you're there. I could save you all that trouble, and you'd do better into the bargain.' "
"But how could you do all that?" asked Maia, "just being a slave in someone's house?"
"Oh, banzi, did you think I was aimin' no higher than that? I was tryin' to persuade Domris to set me up as a shearna in Bekla-a free woman. But she wouldn'. Well, it was flyin' too high, really-I can see that. Anyway, she wasn' havin' it. But finally she agreed to sell me to a well-connected dealer in Bekla, on his promise that he'd dispose of me only to some wealthy house where I'd have a good chance of gettin' on.
" 'I'll speak to Lalloc next time I go up,' she said. 'He knows the market and he sells to all the wealthiest Leopard houses in the upper city. And that's the best I can do for you, my dear. But if you manage to get your own head above water-and if anyone can I should think it's you- let me know, and I'll certainly engage you to buy for me- on commission, too.'
"So that was how it was arranged. Lalloc agreed to pay Domris ten thousand down and another two thousand if he was able to sell me for more than fourteen. And out of that two thousand, if it comes off, I'm to have five hundred for myself. It's not much, but it may make a lot of difference to us, banzi, if only we can hide it safe, wherever we get to. That's what all this damned fuss has been for, this last two days-now do you see? I've got a position to keep up. Lalloc told that Megdon fellow to take me over from Domris at Thettit and see me up to Bekla, but of course if you let yourself in for being carted about by bastards like that, they're not goin' to take the trouble to help you to stand out from a bunch of ten-meld sluts. You've got to see to that sort of thing for yourself. And so I did."
"And U-Zuno-you reckon he will?" asked Maia. "Don't mind me sayin' it, but struck me as you were kind of quiet in front of him."
"Well, but he's a wafter, banzi, for Cran's sake! Wouldn' be any good offerin' him anything, would it? Never, never try to put anythin' across a wafter!"
"Whatever's a wafter?"
"You mean to say-oh, banzi!" And forthwith Occula- with many wondering interjections and questions from the uninitiated Maia-explained.
"So we've got no sort of grip on him, have we?" concluded the black girl. "And 'twouldn' be any good tryin' any old smoky tricks on the likes of him. That's a clever young man, if I'm any judge; a man on the way up. All he's concerned with at present are the future fortunes of U-Zuno."
They lay quiet for a time.
"Sleepy?" asked the black girl at length.
"M'mm. Dearest Occula."
"Listen! Did you hear that? Long way off."
"What?"
"Cocks are crowin'."
"I never heard."
"Yes; and it's gettin' light, look."
Maia, rubbing her eyes, slipped out of bed for the second time and crossed to the window. The eastern sky was full of smooth, cloudless light and now she could indeed hear a cock crowing in the distance. A cold breeze was blowing and she shivered, hunching her shoulders.
"Another jolly day all ready for the spoilin'," said Occula. "But they woan' be comin' to unlock us just yet. Come back here, pretty banzi. I remember what misery feels like all right. Oh, I've got to be nice to you, haven' I?"
11: ON THE ROAD
It soon became clear that Occula's assessment of Zuno had been as shrewd as most of her judgments. He was certainly a good cut above Megdon: fastidious, detached and (as the girl had guessed) prepared to treat Maia and herself reasonably well provided they fell in with what he wanted; which, in a word, was deference. Having become part of his equipage, it was necessary that they (like the cat) should reflect his own conception of his personal elegance and