“How do you memorize all those lines?” he demanded.
She rolled her eyes. “I refuse to answer that question. Why doesn’t Charles Soerensen ban debt-slavery in Jeds?”
“Debt-slavery?”
“Haven’t you been in the city at all? Owen has already been approached by three brothel owners and two wealthy merchants to buy my debt from him, because they want to own me, you can imagine what for. It’s been the same for Oriana and for Quinn and Anahita. And Hyacinth, of course. He holds the record: he’s had four brothel owners, three merchants, and eight veiled gentlewomen bargaining through stewards try to buy him. Owen kept trying to tell them that we weren’t slaves until Yomi finally told him just to tell them that we aren’t for sale.”
“Oh, my,” said David, amused and horrified at the same time.
“Of course, we found it funny at first,” she went on, her expression darkening. “But the native girls and boys aren’t so lucky.” She hesitated, and David had a sudden premonition whose name was going to come next to her lips. “Marco took me down into the town last week. It had never occurred to me that they might look them over and sell them off like furniture. Those poor girls looked so terrified, and one actually—” She choked on the next words, faltered, and lapsed into silence.
The waves beat on the rocks below. Faintly, from the audience room, David heard the sound of trumpets.
“How can he let it go on, when he could stop it?” Diana demanded suddenly.
“It is an interdicted planet.” The words sounded weak. “Well,” he added apologetically, “if he uses his real strength, it would rip apart the fabric of this society. What right do we have to interfere?”
“What right? It’s wrong, what they do. It’s wrong for those children.”
David sighed. “Diana, someone is always going to be hurt. I know that Charles is well aware of the contradictions inherent in his situation.”
“You’re a fool for going, Charles. Let the company go, and I’ll go with them. Send Cara, if you must. But don’t go yourself. It can’t be perceived as anything but a threat. You forget, I’ve met him.”
Like conspirators, David and Diana both froze. David wondered if this was how an actor felt, who has forgotten to exit and so, inadvertently, is stuck out on stage for the next scene, in which he does not belong. Diana pressed herself closer against the wall, as if she could sink into the stone and thus hide herself. The voices, accompanied by footfalls, came closer.
“It is time for Tess to return,” said Charles, sounding cool. “It has been four years, Marco. Four years, since she left Earth. I would have come sooner, but how was I to know it would take two years to finalize the Keinaba alliance? Damned chameleons. One needs the patience of Job to deal with them.”
Marco chuckled. “Which you, have. I’d much rather deal with barbarians. Quick to anger, quick to friendship. Not this years-long game playing the Chapalii love. Years? Hell. Decades-long, centuries, for all we know of them. Still, I say you’re better off letting me talk to Tess first.”
The footfalls ceased. The curve of the wall, and the twilight, still hid them from the two men. Alone, David would just have gone to join the others, but Diana looked utterly embarrassed. And anyway, he was curious about the tenor of their conversation.
“No.”
“Charles—”
“No. In any case, the rendezvous is already arranged. We sail in two weeks. Baron Sanier will act as regent until my return. I’ll leave him the scepter of office, although I’ll keep the signet ring and the prince’s chain just in case he gets ambitions. Tess will meet us at Abala Port in about six weeks.”
“And?”
“And the Company can travel on into the interior with the jaran, if that’s still their wish.”
“And you?”
“We’ll see.”
“Yes, we’ll see because you have every intention of turning straight round and coming back
She rolled her eyes. “I refuse to answer that question. Why doesn’t Charles Soerensen ban debt-slavery in Jeds?”
“Debt-slavery?”
“Haven’t you been in the city at all? Owen has already been approached by three brothel owners and two wealthy merchants to buy my debt from him, because they want to own me, you can imagine what for. It’s been the same for Oriana and for Quinn and Anahita. And Hyacinth, of course. He holds the record: he’s had four brothel owners, three merchants, and eight veiled gentlewomen bargaining through stewards try to buy him. Owen kept trying to tell them that we weren’t slaves until Yomi finally told him just to tell them that we aren’t for sale.”
“Oh, my,” said David, amused and horrified at the same time.
“Of course, we found it funny at first,” she went on, her expression darkening. “But the native girls and boys aren’t so lucky.” She hesitated, and David had a sudden premonition whose name was going to come next to her lips. “Marco took me down into the town last week. It had never occurred to me that they might look them over and sell them off like furniture. Those poor girls looked so terrified, and one actually—” She choked on the next words, faltered, and lapsed into silence.
The waves beat on the rocks below. Faintly, from the audience room, David heard the sound of trumpets.
“How can he let it go on, when he could stop it?” Diana demanded suddenly.
“It is an interdicted planet.” The words sounded weak. “Well,” he added apologetically, “if he uses his real strength, it would rip apart the fabric of this society. What right do we have to interfere?”
“What right? It’s wrong, what they do. It’s wrong for those children.”
David sighed. “Diana, someone is always going to be hurt. I know that Charles is well aware of the contradictions inherent in his situation.”
“You’re a fool for going, Charles. Let the company go, and I’ll go with them. Send Cara, if you must. But don’t go yourself. It can’t be perceived as anything but a threat. You forget, I’ve met him.”
Like conspirators, David and Diana both froze. David wondered if this was how an actor felt, who has forgotten to exit and so, inadvertently, is stuck out on stage for the next scene, in which he does not belong. Diana pressed herself closer against the wall, as if she could sink into the stone and thus hide herself. The voices, accompanied by footfalls, came closer.
“It is time for Tess to return,” said Charles, sounding cool. “It has been four years, Marco. Four years, since she left Earth. I would have come sooner, but how was I to know it would take two years to finalize the Keinaba alliance? Damned chameleons. One needs the patience of Job to deal with them.”
Marco chuckled. “Which you, have. I’d much rather deal with barbarians. Quick to anger, quick to friendship. Not this years-long game playing the Chapalii love. Years? Hell. Decades-long, centuries, for all we know of them. Still, I say you’re better off letting me talk to Tess first.”
The footfalls ceased. The curve of the wall, and the twilight, still hid them from the two men. Alone, David would just have gone to join the others, but Diana looked utterly embarrassed. And anyway, he was curious about the tenor of their conversation.
“No.”
“Charles—”
“No. In any case, the rendezvous is already arranged. We sail in two weeks. Baron Sanier will act as regent until my return. I’ll leave him the scepter of office, although I’ll keep the signet ring and the prince’s chain just in case he gets ambitions. Tess will meet us at Abala Port in about six weeks.”
“And?”
“And the Company can travel on into the interior with the jaran, if that’s still their wish.”
“And you?”
“We’ll see.”
“Yes, we’ll see because you have every intention of turning straight round and coming back
Similar Books
