"Esta-saiyett, I went to fetch the kennel-man."

"And a damned lot of use that would have been by this time!" said Fornis. With this she took Maia's arm and led her back up the staircase.

"You can come with me tomorrow and watch him whipped, if you like. This man I've got now does it really splendidly."

Maia, who was feeling a good deal shaken, made no reply. The queen turned towards her with shining eyes.

"Would you like to whip mei You would, wouldn't you?"

Without waiting for an answer she called through the door of the supper-room, "Shakti! Send the boys! We're going to bed!"

"You need them, do you, to see to the lamps and that?" asked Maia. "Only I can easy do that, and we can be alone."

"Oh, no, Maia," replied Fornis, putting her arm round her as they walked together down the moonlit gallery. "I don't need them for the lamps! They're going to stay with us all night."

The mynahs were moving and rustling outside the windows, uttering their liquid whistles in response to the first light. On cushions strewn upon the floor the little boys lay

sleeping as only children sleep-with the appearance of having been absorbed into a higher state of existence, a better world where they abide perfect as summer leaves or pebbles in a clear brook. And a right old job it'd be to wake them and all, thought Maia enviously, recalling how often she had had to shake and pummel Kelsi and Nala out of bed in the mornings.

Fornis, sprawled beside her, stirred and muttered a few words in her sleep. "They'll never taste it, Shakti." She was no sort of sleeper, thought Maia; a kind of intruder or fugitive in that country which the little boys entered as of right. She had been in and out of sleep all night, dragging Maia behind her like a beast on a rope.

Ah, and some right old tricks they'd been up to an' all, thought Maia glumly; and none of them had really worked. To her it had been as though Fornis were seeking to satisfy hunger with hay, flowers, reeds-anything but food. Short though her amatory career had been, Maia could tell when mutual accord was present and when it was not. Some people, like Sencho, were incapable of it anyway and one therefore left it out of account when dealing with them. But Fornis, lacking it, was like a bird with an injured wing; flying lop-sided for a spell; alighting perforce, yet almost at once impelled to try to fly once more. All this Maia knew well enough because she had felt it no less in herself. They just hadn't hit it off. Her racking anxiety for Occula might have had something to do with it, but apart from that she knew that what Fornis wanted she, Maia, didn't like-to say the least-and was unable to give. It was a more than disappointing outlook for a girl in her situation.

Fornis rolled over, clutching at Maia in her sleep, but then started, as though frightened at finding another's body in her arms. She struggled a second and opened her eyes, staring into Maia's for some moments before recognizing her. Maia kissed her and stroked her shoulders.

"Is it morning?" asked Fomis.

"Just about."

"O Cran and Airtha! Did you sleep?"

Maia, shaking her head, could not suppress her chagrin. "You always that restless?"

Fornis smiled. "Some people I've slept with have said I chased them up and down the bed. I hate sleep, anyway: it's a waste of time."

She got up, naked as she was ("and she's all they say,

no danger," thought Maia), walked across to the window, stepping over the sleeping children, and opened one of the shutters. The first light glinted on her hair and the creamy skin of her shoulders.

"You're right, it's dawn." She shivered a moment. "Chilly, too."

Once again Maia set herself, as convincingly as she could, to simulate eagerness and renewed appetite. "Come back to bed, Folda." She opened her arms. "Come here and kiss me."

The queen blew out the lamp, lay down beside Maia and gazed into her face, cupping it between her hands.

"I took a fancy to you that night by the Barb because you're so pretty and beautifully made. I dare say there's not a prettier girl in the empire."

Maia, sensing more to come, made no reply.

"But now I'll tell you something, my child," said Fornis, "seeing that I've been at it for years. If two people like us fancy each other for their looks but aren't actually in love, it only works if they like the same things. You're as pretty as a lily in a pool, but you don't come with me, do you, to where I want to go?"

Still Maia said nothing.

"Tickle, tickle," went on Fornis, "anyone can do that. The little boys can do it: but that's not what I wanted from you. The truth is, my nasty tastes Simply aren't yours, are they, however hard you try? In fact, they disgust you- No!" (holding up a hand) "you needn't try to tell me they don't."

She flicked one of Maia's nipples with her finger-nail, hard enough to hurt.

"I thought Sencho would have turned you into a real, depraved little beast. From what you said to me, I believe you yourself even thought he had. So let me tell you, dear, that whatever you may have thought, he hasn't. I am depraved and I know. You're not even cruel, are you? Cran only knows how or why, but you've remained naturally decent." (She uttered the word contemptuously.) "One day it'll catch up with you, I expect-if you live that long. You'll end up dull as a cow in a field."

Maia spoke at last. "I done my best, Folda."

"Oh, I know: but I'm talking about natural inclination- and you haven't got it."

"Well, not for-' Maia hesitated. "No."

There was a pause. "As a rule," said Fornis at length, "when anyone's been with me like this, and I find they don't suit me, I get rid of them for good."

Maia turned cold: she felt her bowels loosen. "You've- you've done that?"

"Oh, yes!" replied Fornis lightly. "It would never do, you see, to have people around who could repeat scandal about the Sacred Queen. So one way or another they have to disappear. That's part of the fun, actually. Now and then it might be Zeray, but sometimes even Zeray isn't far enough."

Maia clutched at her, sobbing. "Oh, esta-saiyett, please! I didn't mean-"

"Quiet!" said Fornis quickly. "You'll wake the boys. But I've decided not to put you out of the way, Maia, because of this plan that Kembri's got for you: and if you and he think I don't know what it's all about, you must be even bigger fools than I took you for. I agree with him that if only you can bring it off, it could be very valuable. In my opinion Bayub-Otal's a most dangerous man; and since he's taken this fancy to you-which is perfectly understandable-you're probably the only person who can bring it off. I hope you do."

"Oh, Folda-thank you-thank you! I'm. sorry-I'm ever so sorry I couldn't-"

"You think it's blasphemy, don't you?" flashed the queen suddenly, gripping her upper arms and digging her nails in so hard that Maia cried out.

"I never said so!"

"No, but you were thinking it. 'What am I doing, polluting the Sacred Queen?' That's what you were thinking."

Since the truth was that Maia had begun thinking exactly this from the moment when she realized that she and the queen were not sensually at one, she could find no reply. As she hesitated, the child Tikki stirred in his sleep, and this distracted Fornis, who turned her head to look at him.

It was at this instant that Maia was seized with a sudden, desperate inspiration. There was no time to consider it, the idea that had leapt into her mind. She knew only that it offered a chance to save Occula from torture.

"Folda, please don't be angry. You see, I can still do you a very good turn-better 'n what you can imagine. Now that I've been with you and realized what you like,

I know someone who'd suit you right down to the ground- someone as might 'a been made for you."