The Saga of the Renunciates Read Online Free PDF Page B

the hills. It seemed to Rohana that no day in her lifetime had worn away so wearily, with every hour stretching into lifetimes. Not even the day my second son was born, when I seemed to lie for hours stretched on a rack of pain tearing me asunder... even then, something could be done. Now I can only wait, and wait... and wait...
    Kindra said quietly, as she passed, "This day must seem longer still for your kinswoman, Lady," and Rohana tried to smile. That, at least, was true.
    "Pray to your Goddess that the Lady Melora does not go into labor this day," Kindra said. "That would be the end of hope. We might still rescue her daughter, but if the Great House was ablaze with lights, mid-wives running here and there to attend to her... even that would be made more difficult than we could manage."
    Rohana drew a deep breath of apprehension. And she is so near to her time...
    She tried to form, in her heart, a prayer to the Blessed Cassilda, Mother of the Seven Domains; but her prayer seemed to hang on the dead air, waiting, like everything else...
    And yet, as all things mortal must, even the day wore to an end. The Dry-Town women, veiled and chained, came to buy water at the well, and again they lingered, fascinated even through their scorn, to watch the Amazons moving about, tending their horses, cooking their meal. Rohana offered what help she could; it was easier if her hands were busy. She watched the Dry-Town women come and go in the marketplace, thinking of Melora, her hands weighted by the jeweled chains, her body weighted with Jalak's hated child. She had been so light and quick, as a girl, so frolicsome and laughing...
    They finished their meal, and Kindra signaled to Rafaella to take her harp, strike a few chords. She said in an undertone, "Come in close, and listen; act as if you were only listening to the music."
    Rohana asked in a low voice, "Can you play 'The Ballad of Hastur and Cassilda'?"
    "I think so, Lady."
    "I will sing it. It is very long, and my voice," she added, with a self-deprecating smile, "is not so strong that anyone passing by would think it odd if you kept very quiet to listen to me-but not so soft that Kindra cannot talk more softly still, and be heard."
    Kindra nodded, pleased at Rohana's quick comprehension of her plan. Rafaella played a short introduction, and Rohana began, hearing her own voice wavering:
    "The stars were mirrored on the shore, Dark was the dim enchanted moor;
    Silent were field and tree and stone... "
     
    The other women clustered in close, as if to listen to the ancient ballad; Rohana heard her own voice falter, fought to steady it. She must somehow collect herself to remember all the seemingly endless verses, string it out while Kindra gave soft, detailed instructions to every one of the Amazons. Get hold of yourself, she ordered and commanded herself: This is something you can do, while they do the real work... the dangerous work, the fighting...
    Yet they are women. I learned to think fighting was for men; I could never carry a knife, strike, see blood flow, perhaps suffer wounding, die...
    Sing, damn you, Rohana! Stop thinking, sing...
    "He lay thrown up along the shore, The sands were jeweled evermore, And to the shore Cassilda came And called him by a mortal name..."
     
    Struggling to remember the next lines, she heard Kindra, in a low, tense voice, detailing the information she had been given, pointing to the pattern she had scratched in the sand by firelight.
    "Jalak sleeps here, with his favorites and Melora; there are no guards in the room, but just outside...”
    "Cassilda wept and paled and fled, Camilla knelt and raised his head, He left his high immortal fire, For mortal man's entranced desire;
    White bread and wine and cherries red...
     
    "-No, damn it, I skipped a verse," she said, breaking off in vexation, then realized it did not matter; no one was listening anyway.
    "Brought by her doves through morning bright, Camilla came, and bowed her head, He ate and