Black Jade. David Zindell

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СКАЧАТЬ hiss, and looking at Maram. At last he took his hand away from his thick brows and looked at us. He smiled hugely. And then he rose to his feet and rested his hands on his hips as he stared at Master Juwain and called out in his huge, booming voice:

       The higher man seeks higher things:

      Old tomes, bright crystals, angel’s wings.

       He lives to crave and pray accrue

      The good, the beautiful, the true.

       And there he slithers, coils and dwells

       In higher hues of higher hells;

      In sixth or seventh wheels of light –

      There’s too much pain in too much sight.

      But ‘low the belly burns sweet fire,

      The sweetest way to slake desire.

       In clasp of woman, warmth of wine

      A honeyed bliss and true divine.

       I am a second chakra man;

       I take my pleasure where I can;

      At tavern, table and divan –

      I am a second chakra man.

      As Maram sang out these verses, and others that flew out of his mouth like uncaged birds, he would strike the air with his fist and then lewdly waggle his hips at each refrain. He finally finished and stood limned against the fire grinning at us. No one seemed to know what to say.

      And then Kane burst out laughing and clapped his hands, and so did we all. And Atara said to him, ‘Hmmph, if you had remained with the Kurmak and taken wives as my grandfather suggested, these second chakra powers of yours would have been put to the test.’

      ‘How many wives, then?’

      ‘Great chieftains take ten or even twenty, but it’s said that only a great, great man such as Sajagax could satisfy them.’

      Here she smiled at Liljana, who added, ‘Our order has discovered that when a woman awakens the Volcano, which we call Netzach, it would take ten or twenty men to match her fire.’

      ‘Do you think so?’ Maram said with a wink of his eye and yet another gyration of his hips. ‘I should tell you that my, ah, greatness has never thoroughly been put to the test. Perhaps I’m a fool for even considering marriage with Behira only and cleaving to Valari customs.’

      ‘Would you rather try our Sarni ways?’ Atara asked him.

      ‘In this one respect, I would. I’d take twenty wives, if I could. And I would, ah, entertain all of them in one night.’

      ‘My tribemates?’ Atara said. ‘They would kill you before morning.’

      ‘So you say.’

      Atara laughed out, ‘And you would have them call you “Twenty-Horned Maram” I suppose?’

      ‘Just so, just so. It would create a certain curiosity about me, would it not?’

      ‘That it would. And you’d be happy satisfying this curiosity with other women who weren’t your wives, wouldn’t you?’

      ‘Ah,’ he said with a rumble of his belly and a contented belch, ‘at least someone understands me.’

      ‘I understand that if you practice your ways on the women of my tribe, their husbands and fathers will draw their swords and make you into No-Horned Maram.’

      In the wavering firelight, Maram’s happy face seemed to blanch. And he muttered, ‘Well, I don’t suppose I’d make a very good Sarni warrior. I’ll have to practice on other women I meet along the way.’

      Atara fingered the saber by her side. And this fierce young maiden told him, ‘If you must – but just don’t think of practicing on me.’

      At this, Maram held up his hands in helplessness as if others were always conspiring to think the worst of him. His gaze fell upon Liljana, who said to him, ‘I should warn you that if you brought your horns to a practiced matron of the Maitriche Telu, she would likely kill you – with pleasure. Perhaps you’ll find a nice harridan somewhere in these mountains.’

      The ghostly white peaks of the Nagarshath gleamed faintly beneath the stars. It seemed that there were no other human beings, much less willing women, within a thousand miles.

      ‘Maram would do better,’ Master Juwain said, ‘to practice the Rhymes I’ve taught him. Now, why don’t we all retire and get a good night’s sleep? Tomorrow we’ll journey up this valley and see what lies at the end of it.’

      He smiled at Maram and added, ‘Tell me, again, won’t you, the pertinent Rhyme?’

      And, again, Maram dutifully recited:

       At gorge’s end, a wooded vale;

      Its southern slopes show shell-strewn shale.

       Toward setting sun the vale divides;

      To left or right the seeker strides.

       Recall the tale or go astray:

      King Koru-Ki set sail this way.

      Except for Kane, who took the first and longest of the night’s watches, we all wrapped ourselves in our cloaks and lay down on our sleeping furs. Maram spread out next to me, and I listened to him intoning verses for much of the next hour. But they were not those that Master Juwain hoped for. I smiled as I drifted off to sleep with the sound of my incorrigible friend chanting out:

       I’m a second chakra man

      I take my pleasure where I can …

       7

      The river wound through woods and meadows, and I couldn’t help thinking of it as a mighty brown snake. No great rocks or other obstacles blocked our way. The ground was good here, easy on the horses’ hooves, and provided all the fodder they needed to carry us higher into this beautiful country. By noon, the place where the valley came up against the mountain at its end was clearly visible; by late afternoon we reached the divide told of in the Way Rhyme. To the left of the mountain, the valley split off toward the south. And to the right was a great groove in the earth running between the rocky prominences north of us.

      We all sat on our horses as we considered the next leg of our journey. Master Juwain, upon studying the lay of the land, turned to Daj and said:

       Recall the tale or go astray:

      King СКАЧАТЬ