Metion spoke.
“Do you feel a little easier now?”
Without answering, Tina drew the sleeping baby close. Metion laughed.
“You don’t think that will stop me from taking the baby back, do you?”
“Why do you want the baby?”
“Well, let me put it this way. If you want to steal a horse, isn’t it easier to take along a carrot than to prepare ropes, a cart, and a whip?”
Tina thought for a moment.
“You mean the baby is the carrot, and I’m the horse? Then what you want is…”
“That’s one way of putting it.”
Metion cut her off, and she did not finish. He spoke again.
“I intend to take you to Piroas, the land of sunflowers. A friend of mine lives there. He owns a lot of land, so he’ll let me have a small farm. Too much land would be hard to manage. I’d like something small enough to take in at a glance. We’ll build a house, buy a horse, and get a mule too. We should plant watermelons on the farm. I hear they do well there. Or figs would be fine.”
Tina blinked up at him. She could not understand what this man was saying.
“When Gene grows up, we’ll have to buy a pony. The three of us can ride over to the neighboring farms. They say people there readily share things with their neighbors. We can give them our watermelons and get wheat in return. We could make dried watermelon, too. I like dried watermelon. By the way, do you know how to bake bread?”
The longer she listened, the more bewildering it became. Tina could only shake her head, her eyes wide.
“Oh dear. Then ask a neighbor to teach you. I know how to make a rocking horse, though. If the neighbors have boys, they’ll be desperate to come and play at our house. Gene can lend them his rocking horse and feel very proud of himself.”
“Um, what exactly are you talking about…?”
Metion shrugged.
“I’m making plans for the future.”
“But I…”
“Why? Don’t you like it? Would you rather remain His Majesty’s favored concubine than become a farmer’s wife?”
He knew. He knew perfectly well who she was, who the baby was, and he had brought them all this way. Tina’s lips trembled before she asked,
“Are you His Majesty’s enemy?”
“His enemy? I’m a subject of Epherium. His Majesty the King is father to all his people.”
“Then are you one of His Majesty’s servants?”
“A servant. If you insist on putting it that way, my family does receive His Majesty’s pay.”
“Then why…”
“Why? Why have I brought you here instead of sending you back to His Majesty? Well, I’m a little curious about that myself. But one thing is clear. I have no intention of hurting you. Quite the opposite.”
When she fled from the man with the axe, the streets of the royal city had been a maze, and the baby in her arms had cried without stopping. Beneath a beggar’s cloak, she had walked among passersby while nursing him. She wanted to return to the palace but had no way to send word. She could not even trust the guards at the gates. How could she know whether they were the queen’s men?
The streets frightened her after so long away. Darkness was a trap, and light was a snare. Everyone who looked back at her had the eyes of an informer. If she had tried to hide somewhere, she would have been caught instead. Her pursuers searched warehouses, sheds, and other hiding places first. Since she began learning to dance at seven, whenever she ran away because she could not bear the beatings, it was always in such places that they caught her. Though she staggered with exhaustion and hunger, she chose only crowded streets. Among so many different people, her mismatched clothes and loose hair did not stand out much. She picked up fallen apples from the market ground, cast off the beautiful sandals that hindered her, and walked barefoot. For the first time, she was grateful for the ugly calluses on her feet.
She had walked all day without rest, but when evening came again, the passersby thinned. There was nowhere left to hide. Had she failed to meet Metion at the café last night, she might now have been a head severed by an axe and stuffed into some sack. And the baby, too…
Tina shuddered. When she raised her head, she met Metion’s eyes. Only then did she realize that however indifferent his gaze appeared, it was different from the eyes of her pursuers. She had just been offered rescue. So intent had she been on returning that she had not understood at once, but Metion had brought her and her baby out of the royal city, beyond the reach of those men. Only a few hours earlier she had been wandering, unable to eat or rest, thinking she would die if caught. Now that she had barely escaped, was she in any position to refuse the offer of the person who had held out a hand to save her?
Even so, Tina could not readily answer. Above all, it was sudden. She was not sure it was possible. She felt it was not a decision she should make alone. And there was the baby.
At last she managed to say,
“The baby is His Majesty’s child.”
“Ah, yes? I suppose being beside his father would be the most natural thing for a baby. But do you think His Majesty will be a good father? He might. He’s waited a long time for a child. If the boy wanted it, he might even cut him a piece of a goddess’s robe. But to receive His Majesty’s gifts, he has to be alive. Isn’t that the most important thing?”
“If we return to the palace…”
“You’ll die.”
Tina looked down at the baby in confusion. Getting back was the difficulty. She had firmly believed that if only she could meet someone trustworthy and return, His Majesty would protect her. He had brought her to him in a cart without explanation and slept with her without her even knowing who he was. He had been a king with whom she had scarcely exchanged a word, let alone shared affection. But after the prince’s birth, things had changed.
He turned away even state affairs to spend his afternoons in the detached palace, playing with the baby and losing track of time. When the prince slept, he sometimes asked her about life in the streets, sometimes asked to see her dance, and once even taught her a game. She did not know whether His Majesty loved her, but she had trusted that he would not abandon her. Above all, Prince Polytimos was His Majesty’s only child. Did not even his name mean “precious and rare”?
“You don’t believe me? You think nothing could happen with His Majesty there to watch over you? Then why did this happen?”
“I was deceived by a forged letter…”
“You think this happened because you were tricked into leaving the palace? So all you need to do from now on is avoid being tricked? Do you think the queen summoned you outside because she has no way to kill you inside? She’s been mistress of the palace for nine years. If she sets her mind to it, there is nothing she cannot do there. She’s failed this time. Next time she’ll make certain. Do you think His Majesty will be able to find even a single fragment of your bones or the prince’s?”
Tina trembled from the tips of her toes upward. It was not that she failed to understand the queen’s hatred, nor that she had never felt it. She had feared the queen from the beginning. Of course, Metion might be exaggerating. Perhaps it would be foolish to give up her place as the king’s favored concubine and run away merely because of what he said.
But Tina had a baby. A baby she would not exchange for anything in the world. He was not a child precious only to His Majesty. The thought of even one of his fingers being hurt brought gooseflesh over her whole body. Tina raised her frightened face.
“If only Her Majesty would forgive me. Truly…”
“Forgive you? Well, that might be possible once the two of you are dust. Of course, you’ve never done anything that needs forgiveness. But if you’re talking about forgiveness, you’re wholly unprepared to fight Queen Sabina. She… she always gets rid of anything that displeases her.”
There was a curious bitterness to Metion’s voice. Tina felt something strange.
“You seem to know Her Majesty well.”
“I do.”
“So…”
“That’s why I brought you this far. Otherwise, why would I have any reason to run away with you all the way to Piroas? I have to leave my home behind. If we’re caught, there’ll be a reward on my head, and the baby will lose his father. There’s nothing good in it at all. Except that you and the child will live.”
“Then there’s nothing in it for you but trouble… Why are you helping me?”
“I can’t bear to watch a woman die with a baby in her arms.”
It was difficult to believe him. Metion abruptly stood and began pacing over the creaking floor.
“You don’t seem to believe me. Then what other reason could there be? Surely you don’t imagine I’ve fallen for you? How could I fall in love and risk my life for someone I’d only just met? Have we had time for that? If I struck you as a man so starved for a woman that I’d fall in love at first sight with a bedraggled woman in a café…”
In spite of herself, Tina laughed. She stopped quickly when Metion turned, but laughter still lingered around her eyes. The night’s ordeal had left them darkly shadowed, yet with a smile she looked beautiful again. The cloudy sky cleared, and light entered through the broken roof. Light had a magic of its own. In the corner of the broad mill, cobwebs looked like fine lace and blackish moss gleamed like silk. Metion fell silent, gave a short sigh, then spoke again.
“This is no laughing matter.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I intend to save you, whatever it takes. I won’t leave you to die at the queen’s hands. If you trust me, please wait here until I return.”
“You’re l-leaving me here?”
On the way here, she had thought he was dragging her along after taking her baby. But now that Metion was leaving, she was afraid. Though they had walked through the night and put distance between themselves and the royal city, her pursuers would do everything they could to find and kill her. Once they had made an attempt, Tina and the baby were people they could never stop fearing until they had hunted them down and buried them.
“I met you unexpectedly and came all the way here, so I’ve had no time to prepare for a journey. I may have to be away from my family for a long time, and there are things I need to settle. You must be hungry, but bear with it a little longer. We mustn’t get food nearby. The pursuers will soon spread out through the surrounding villages. Country people remember strangers. But even hunting dogs won’t find you in these reeds.”
“Even so…”
“Are you afraid we’ll miss one another? If anything happens and you must leave, meet me at the place I’m about to describe.”
He said that south of the mill, the marsh turned into woodland. A little way into the trees was a place scattered with white rocks, and beneath one of them lay a hidden cave. Entering it required a particular trick, which Metion demonstrated himself.
“Do you understand? This place is so remote that no one is likely to come, but I’m telling you just in case. That’s how serious I am.”
Then he drew a dagger from inside his clothes and placed it in Tina’s hand. The brass-colored blade bore an emblem shaped like a griffin. Tina accepted it and could only look up at him without answering. Perhaps a sudden sense of pity moved him, for Metion spoke once more to reassure her.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be back before nightfall. You must be tired, so get some sleep. I’d be glad to find you and Gene here to welcome me when I return.”
At last Tina found her voice.
“Um, Gene?”
“If Eugenia were a boy, he’d be Gene, wouldn’t he?”
Remembering how she had insisted the baby was a girl, Tina lowered her head in embarrassment. Metion chuckled.
“Let’s use names we can call one another. We can’t very well keep saying ‘His Highness Prince Polytimos.’ And I’m not a son of Urs of Kisa. My name is Laban.”
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