He could hear the muffled whispers and breathing of dozens of women clustered near one of the mounds. He did not know which one it was. There was a fire, he could smell burning and feel the welcome heat on his face. Some of its glow penetrated his blindfold. Was the fire part of the rite, or was it just to keep them warm?
Adhara helped him dismount and led him forward. He still did not know what he was expected to do.
“You're standing before the image of Kiveli. This will be uncomfortable and a little undignified, but it's the custom. Lie down.” Menish did as he was told. “We have a heavy boulder, not too heavy, but not light. We'll place it on top of you. While it's there you must address Kiveli briefly and without flattery, stating your need and why she should help.”
Before he could protest he felt a solid weight on his abdomen. It knocked the air out of his chest and he had to wait a moment before he could begin, but the pressure on him was uncomfortable enough to make him want to get it over with quickly. He wondered if this was some kind of joke, he must have looked ridiculous.
“O Kiveli…” he had to pause for breath. Why did they have to put a rock on his belly? “Gashan will soon attack Anthor… They have the ability to throw fire… and they have other magic… We have only brave hearts and swords… You have helped us before… Help us again… Let none of our people die… in the battle… but destroy Gashan.” He could not raise enough breath for any more words except to say to Adhara: “get this off me.”
The weight was lifted and he filled his chest with air.
“Take a moment to rest if you need it, then you can get up,” Adhara said quietly. At the same moment the women around him began to sing. It was an old song, more of a chant than the kind of thing that was sung nowadays. Menish had heard it before, he could not remember when. It was a hymn to Kiveli, about green grass in the spring and new calves. He listened for a moment while his breath returned to normal then climbed to his feet.
“What happens now?”
“Nothing more. I'll lead you home.”
They climbed onto their horses and Adhara led them away, the women continued to sing. Eventually the song faded away with distance.
“Why the boulder?” asked Menish. “It was strange.”
“For you it would be. The boulder was a symbol of birth. By accepting the boulder you identified with Kiveli the creator and protector.”
“I see why there were arguments about a man doing it. Did Kiveli hear me?”
“Of course she heard you. You did well, my love. But it's Kiveli, not we, who will decide if she'll act.”
Menish held his tongue, but he remembered the same thing being said of Aton when the Emperor was killed. The gods will answer prayers if it suits them. It was not like buying cattle where people could be trusted to keep their bargains. People could be relied on. Gods could not be.
Chapter 31: Voyage
Once clear of the harbour Shelim, who had taken the tiller, turned the boat northwards, for every Vorthenki knew that the dragon isle lay to the north east of the lands of men, far out in the great ocean. Azkun knew they expected him to call the dolphin to guide them, but all he could think of for now was the hymn the Vorthenki folk had sung to him and the promise he had made them.
They sailed on into the dusk with a good wind and a calm enough sea. Althak contrived to ignore Thalissa completely. Azkun needed no special sight to see he was uncomfortable in her presence. He moved about the boat checking the ropes, tightening them or loosening them where necessary while Shelim manned the tiller, and ignoring any offers of help from her.
Early the following morning Althak found that a sack of oats in the hold had split open and an impromptu porridge was forming in the bilge water. They spent about an hour cleaning it out and Azkun found it a foul task. The hold stank of the fat used to seal the wooden hull, a thick, sulphurous smell that caught in the throat like acid. Tenari could not be made to help and Shelim was busy with the tiller. Althak and Thalissa were least disturbed by the stench below deck so Azkun found himself by the gunwales lifting bail buckets of oaty sludge from the deck hatch to empty over the side as Thalissa passed them up to him.
“Why did you come with us?” asked Althak; there was bitterness in his voice. Thalissa paused so long that Azkun thought she was not going to answer, but she did.
“When you've lost everyone dear to you, and you find them again, you can't let them go.”
“How can Azkun be dear to you? You've hardly seen him since he was born.”
“I spent nine long months with him in my womb. I spent three days with Tenari before Menish took her away. They're all I have.”
“Tenari scratched you. What makes you think Azkun has any more love for you?” The buckets stopped.
“Why do you hate me, Althak?”
“Because you are what you are.”
“No, because Menish hates me. I tried to poison him once, no doubt he told you. Olcean, his friend, died instead, but that's not why he hates me. You'd laugh if I told you.” Another bucket appeared in the hatchway and Azkun passed the empty one down in its place. “He hates me because I seduced him.”
There was a splash and a muttered curse. Althak must have dropped the bucket he was holding.
“That's ridiculous.”
“I suppose he has other reasons. I turned Sinalth against him. But that's the main reason.”
“Your brain's been turned by the Chasm. Menish is Anthorian. He's devoted to Adhara. How could you have seduced him?”
“They used to tell me I was beautiful then, even Menish said so. He was far from home, lonely, and I got him drunk enough to forget his wife. Menish claimed the wine I gave him was drugged, but that wasn't true.
“These things do happen, even to a king of Anthor. He hated me for it. He said so. That was why he left me for Thealum and took away my son.” She stopped suddenly and they continued working silently. When she spoke again her voice was cracked with weeping. “It was just a simple pleasure. Why did he hate me so?”
“It was you who tried to kill him.”
“What else could I do? He would have turned Sinalth against me. I didn't want to join the once-loved cast-offs in the women’s bower.”
After that Azkun noticed that Althak did not avoid her so pointedly. He still seemed uncomfortable when he spoke to her, but his hatred of her had faded into mere dislike.
They were three days out from Atonir, and Azkun still had not called the dolphin, when Althak indicated land ahead of them. A bony spine of mountains marched along its back.
“That's the island of Ramuz. We'll stop at a harbour called Tethim to fill our water casks for the long journey ahead. We may find other islands on our way to Kishalkuz, but there are no known lands beyond Ramuz.”
“What people live there? Relanese folk?”
“No, Ramuz has always been Vorthenki. Sinalth launched his invasion from there, and even now Vorish has no power over it. His might lies in his cavalry, not his ships. There the Vorthenki are free to practise the old ways.
“They kill maidens for Kopth, you mean.”
“Not all of the Vorthenki ways celebrate death, Azkun. We're not the folk of Gashan. The priestesses are healers as well. On the eastern coast of Ramuz there's a place where maidens go to learn the craft. They're trained in medicine and herbs as well as the rite of sacrifice. The only rite they do not learn is that of Dragonseed, for no men, nothing male at all, is allowed near there to ensure their purity to Kopth. They even have to send their sheep over the mountains to be put with rams.”
“No, you are right.” He remembered the people singing to him on the pier. “They are only misguided. They are not filled with evil like the Gashans. But I will not show myself to them. I do not want to be responsible for more sacrifices.”