One other man, too, other than the askaris, stood upon the platform. It was Mwoga, wazir to Aibu, who was now conducting Tende to her companionship. I recognized him, having seen him earlier in the palace of Bila Huruma. He, like many in the interior, and on the surrounding plains and savannahs, north and south of the equatorial zone, was long-boned and tall, a physical configuration which tends to dissipate body heat. His face, like that of many in the interior, was tattooed. His tattooing, and that of Kisu, were quite similar. One can recognize tribes, of course, and, often, villages and districts by those tattoo patterns. He wore a long black robe, embroidered with golden thread, and a flat, soft cap, not unlike a common garb of Schendi, hundreds of pasangs distant. I had little doubt but what these garments had been gifts to him from the court of Bila Huruma. Bila Huruma himself, of course, in spite of the cosmopolitan nature of his court, usually wore the skins, and the gold and feathers, of the askari. It was not merely that they constituted his power base, and that he wished to flatter them. It was rather that he himself was an askari, and regarded himself as an askari. In virtue of his strength, skill and intelligence, he was rightfully first among them. He was an askari among askaris.
"Behold, Lady," said Mwoga, indicating Kisu, "the enemy of your father, and your enemy, helpless and chained before you. Look upon him and inspect him. He opposed your father. Now, on a rogues' chain, he digs in the mud for your future companion, the great Bila Huruma."
The Ukungu dialect is closely related to the Ushindi dialect. Ayari, softly, translated the conversation for me. Yet, had he not done so, I could have, by now, followed its drift.
Kisu looked boldly into the eyes of the reclining Tende.
"You are the daughter of the traitor, Aibu," he said.
Tende did not change her expression.
"How bravely the rebel speaks," mocked Mwoga.
"I see, Mwoga," said Kisu, "that now you are wazir, that you have risen high from your position of a minor chief's lackey. Such, I gather, are the happy fortunes of politics."
"Happier for some than others," said Mwoga. "You, Kisu, were too dull to understand politics. You are headstrong and foolish. You could understand only the spear and the drums of war. You charge like the kailiauk. I, wiser, bided my time, like the ost. The kailiauk is contained by the stockade. The ost slips between its palings."
"You betrayed Ukungu to the empire," said Kisu.
"Ukungu is a district within the empire," said Mwoga. "Your insurrection was unlawful."
"You twist words!" said Kisu.
"The spear, as in all such matters," smiled Mwoga, "has decided wherein lies the right."
"What will the stories say of this?" demanded Kisu.
"It is we who will survive to tell the stories," said Mwoga.
Kisu stepped toward him but the askari at his side forced him back.
"No people can be betrayed," said Mwoga, "who are not willing to be betrayed."
"I do not understand," said Kisu.
"The empire means security and civilization," said Mwoga. "The people tire of tribal warfare. Men wish to look forward in contentment to their harvests. How can men call themselves free when, each night, they must fear the coming of dusk?"
"I do not understand," said Kisu.
"That is because you yourself are a hunter and a killer," said Mwoga. "You know the spear, the raid, the retaliation, the seeking of vengeance, the shadows of the forest. Steel is your tool, darkness your ally. But this is not the case with most men. Most men desire peace."
"All men desire peace," said Kisu.
"If this were true, there would be no war," said Mwoga.
Kisu regarded him, angrily. "Bila Huruma is a tyrant," he said.
"Of course," said Mwoga.
"He must be resisted," said Kisu.
"Then resist him," said Mwoga.
"He must be stopped," said Kisu.
"Then stop him," said Mwoga.
"You style yourself a hero, who would lead my people into the light of civilization?" asked Kisu.
"No," said Mwoga, "I am an opportunist. I serve myself, and my superiors."
"Now you speak honestly," said Kisu.
"Politics, and needs and times, calls forth men such as myself," said Mwoga. "Without men such as myself there could be no change."
"The tharlarion and the ost have their place in the palace of nature," said Kisu.
"And I will have mine at the courts of Ubars," said Mwoga.
"Meet me with spears," said Kisu.
"How little you understand," said Mwoga. "How naively you see things. How your heart craves simplicities."
"I would have your blood on my spear," said Kisu.
"And the empire would endure," said Mwoga.
"The empire is evil," said Kisu.
"How simple," marveled Mwoga. "How dazed and confused you must be when, upon occasion, you encounter reality."
'The empire must be destroyed," said Kisu.
"Then destroy it," said Mwoga.
"Go, serve your master, Bila Huruma," said Kisu. "I dismiss you."
"We are grateful for your indulgence," smiled Mwoga.
"And take these slave girls with you, gifts for his highness. Bila Huruma," said Kisu, gesturing to Tende and her two servitors.
"Lady Tende, daughter of Aibu, high chief of Ukungu," said Mwoga, "is being conveyed in honor to the ceremony of companionship, to be mated to his majesty, Bila Huruma."
"She is being sold to seal a bargain," said Kisu. "How could she be more a slave?"
Tende's face remained expressionless.
"Of her own free will," said Mwoga, "the Lady Tende hastens to become Ubara to Bila Huruma."
"One of more than two hundred Ubaras!" scoffed Kisu.
"She acts of her own free will," averred Mwoga.
"Excellent," said Kisu. "She sells herself!" he said. "Well done, Slave Girl!" he commended.
"She is to be honored in companionship," said Mwoga.
"I have seen Bila Huruma," said Kisu. "No woman could be other than a slave to him. And I have seen luscious slaves, black, and white, and oriental, in his palace, girls who know truly how to please a man, and desire to do so. Bila Huruma has his pick of hot-blooded, trained, enslaved beauties. If you do not wish to remain barren and lonely in your court you will learn to compete with them. You will learn to crawl to his feet and beg to serve him with the unqualified and delicious abandon of a trained slave."
Still Tende's face did not change expression.
"And you will do so, Tende," said Kisu, "for you are in your heart, as I can see in your eyes, a true slave."
Tende lifted her hand, her right hand, with the whip, on its loop, fastened to her wrist. She moved her hand indolently. Her two slaves, tense, frightened, desisted from fanning her.
Tende rose gracefully to her feet and descended from the cushions and dais, to stand at the edge of the platform, over Kisu.
"Have you nothing to say, my dear Tende, beautiful daughter of the traitor, Aibu?" inquired Kisu.
She struck him once with the whip, across the face. He had shut his eyes that he not be blinded.
"I do not speak to commoners," she said. She then returned to her position, her face again expressionless, and looking straight ahead.
She lifted her hand, indolently, and again her two slaves began, gently, to fan her.
Kisu opened his eyes, a diagonal streak of blood across his face. His fists were clenched.
"Continue on," said Mwoga to one of the askaris on the platform.
The fellow called out sharply to the chained slaves drawing the platform, pointing ahead with his spear. They then began to wade forward, drawing the canoes, with the platform of state affixed athwart them.
We watched the platform, with its passengers, and canopy, moving west.
I looked at Kisu. I did not think, now, I would have long to wait.