"When we came out of the Govig we were nothin' but skin and bone, and there were only four of us. One of the men, M'Tesu, had been stung by a kreptoor in his blanket. You have to shake your blankets, always, and he'd forgotten; just once. That was enough.

"Where we came out, it's hardly twenty miles to Herl-Belishba from the edge of the desert. Zai had friends in Herl-people who'd helped him when he came before. They were timber merchants. We stayed with them until we'd got our strength back, and they gave us clothes, too. They weren't new clothes, but at least they weren't in tatters, like ours. And of course they were the sort of clothes people wear here. Made us look less conspicuous, black or no. Zai promised to pay them in Beklan money on the way back. They trusted him, you see.

"And then we went up to Bekla. It's six days' journey, and half-way you have to cross the Zhairgen on the Renda-Narboi-the Bridge of Islands. The Zhairgen's all of a hundred and fifty yards wide at the Renda-Narboi.

"But when we got to Bekla, banzi, we found the city full of fear-fear and uncertainty. There was civil war. No one knew who the rulers were from one day to the next, and there was no countin' on law and order. That was the Leopard revolution-we'd walked right into the middle of it: Fornis, Kembri and the others; those that set up Du-rakkon.

"Zai went straight to the big house of Senda-na-Say in the upper city, but we never saw Senda-na-Say. They told us he'd gone east, into Tonilda. His steward told us we were welcome to stay in the servants' quarters until things were quieter and Lord Senda-na-Say had time to spare for us. He said things would get better soon; but they never did.

"There was no open fightin' in the city-only murder behind closed doors: and no one knew who was still alive from day to day, let alone who was in power. Zai said it

was the worst possible luck for a trader, and we must just lie low and hope for the best.

"It was Senda-na-Say the Leopards were really after. The queen-the Sacred Queen of Airtha, as they call her- she didn' matter. The Leopards could deal with her later, if only they could kill Senda-na-Say and his people. I didn' understand all that till much later, of course. But I remember the fear-the horrible fear all over the city. When you're a banzi you can often see grown-up men and women clearer 'n they can see themselves."

"Ah, that you can," said Maia.

"That devils' wind-it blew down the peace and happiness of the peasants-what little they'd ever had. It blew down the right rulers of Bekla, and it caught us up and threw us down along with them; it threw us down for ever. Wait, and I'll tell you.

"One afternoon I was sittin' in the window-seat in the servants' big hall, watchin' the sparrows peckin' about in the dust outside. It was very hot, and the lattice-blinds were all drawn against the glare of the sun. I was supposed to be mendin' my clothes, but I was just idlin' really, a bit drowsy with the heat. And then suddenly the big double doors at the far end of the hall were thrown wide open, both of them, and in came a woman like a goddess come down from the sky-or that's what she looked like to me then. She might have been-oh, I doan' know-about twenty-six, I suppose-with a great mane of red hair. You've never seen anythin' like it. It glowed, as though there was light in it, and it was fine as gossamer, blazin' over her neck and all down her shoulders; and her shoulders-they were sort of creamy, the skin shinin' like pearls. She was wearin' a loose robe of light green-I can see it now-held in at the waist and wrists with a gold girdle and gold bracelets, and embroidered back and front with all manner.of birds and beasts in gold thread; and you could see right through it-you could see her body underneath. There were four or five girls with her, one to hold her fan, and another to carry her cloak and so on; and a great, tall soldier behind her, with a sword at his belt. I stared and stared: but of course no one took any notice of me. I just sat in the window-seat and watched.

"There were only a few of the lower servants about in the hall at the time. They stood up, of course, and Zai and his men stood up too. The lady looked round, and

as soon as she saw Zai-naturally, you could pick him out anywhere-she walked over to him and said 'Are you the jewel-merchant from beyond the Harridan?'

"I could see Zai wonderin' what to answer, because he hadn' told anyone except the steward. And while he was hesitatin', this princess said, 'Oh, you can trust me, U-Baru. I'm a close friend of Lord Senda-na-Say. In case you doubt it, here's his seal-ring, which he's lent me to show that you can trust me. He'll be here himself tomorrow; but you know the seal, doan' you?'

"Well, Zai did know it, of course: so then he showed her all the jewels he'd got with him-the opals and sapphires and the rest. And she purred over them like a great cat and held them against her white skin, and one of her girls held up a silver mirror so that she could admire herself.

"I was afraid of her: I was afraid of her because I could see that her girls were afraid of her; and because I could see what Zai was feelin' and what all the men were feelin'. They were-well, bewitched, really. A woman like that can turn men into fools, you know-yes, even my father. But he was-well, like a starvin' man, wasn' he? I can see that now. She'd have stiffened the zard on a stone statue, that one.

"At last she said very graciously, 'U-Baru, I'll buy your jewels and pay you well for them. Wait until tomorrow, when Lord Senda-na-Say will return. Then he and I will see you together.' And then she and her girls left the hall, and the soldier with them.

"We supposed-well, you know-Zai and the men supposed that she must be some marvelous shearna that Senda-na-Say was keepin'. But the only puzzlin' thing about that, according to Zai, was that she'd spoken of seein' him again together with Senda-na-Say, and the last time Zai had been in Bekla Senda-na-Say had always seen him together with his wife. Still, said Zai, who was to tell? That might have changed. -

"We didn' know who she was, and there were a few other things we didn' know, too. We didn' know that Senda-na-Say had already been murdered, and that his steward- Zai's friend-was in the hands of the Leopards: he'd told them everythin' he could think of, in the hope of savin' his own life: and amongst other things he'd told them about Zai and the jewels. The woman-she was Form's of Pal-

tesh; her that the Leopards set up to be Sacred Queen of Airtha, after they'd killed the rightful one."

"Her that's Queen now?" said Maia.

"Yes; her that's Queen now. Six and a half years she's been Sacred Queen of Airtha-the mortal consort of your god Cran. What have you heard of her?"

"The god's in love with her, Tharrin used to say. That's why the crops thrive and the empire's safe. She's the sacred luck of the empire, and that's why she can do anything she pleases and take anything she wants."

"Yes, well, she did that all right. Listen. Zai and his men had been lodged to sleep in the hall with the men-servants: but I used to sleep with the women, of course. The buttery-maid had taken a likin' to me and I used to sleep in her room, along with two other girls a bit older than I was. Before I went to sleep the girls used to leave me and Zai together for a bit, so that we could pray to Kantza-Merada. That's what they did that night. We prayed, and then he kissed me and left me to go to sleep.

"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."