covered in animal skins. I paid the tax with the money I had earned as a smithy and joined the Alati Pan miners.
“Every day we set out before dawn, a long line of men and camels plodding through the sand. We reached the salt pan as the sun peeped its head over the horizon. The heat was unbearable. My body was so hot it was cold. Soon I stopped sweating altogether. I was sure I was going to die, that I would fall to the ground unnoticed and my body would become a pile of bleached bones, my flesh consumed by the sand.”
Seeing that I was rapt, Drayk embellished his tale, “My spotter, a Tigrineek who weighed and packed the salt, had skin like the night, flowing robes of hemp, long braided hair decorated with feathers and bare leathery feet that did not feel the heat. He carried a curved sword with a wide blade and wore a bone necklace. He would prod us with his sheathed blade if we were working too slowly. It was he who told us when we could stop, when we could piss—though I never needed to—and when we could return to camp. It was he who let us drink from a pigskin. He fed us balls of sticky rice and little else.”
“But why?” I interrupted. “Why did you tolerate him?”
“I knew I must if I was to possess a serpent stone. That is the nature of success, little miss. We cannot be distracted by our immediate discomfort. Our vision must span our entire lifetime and beyond if we are to achieve anything of any real importance.
“In Ella we slept on mats out in the open. There was nowhere to wash so we lay in our own filth, the sweat and grit congealing on our bodies. At night we could hear the kylons sniffing in the dark or howling to one another. I endured it because I saw hope on the horizon. I was walking back from the edge of the enclave when I saw her.”
“Who?” I said.
“My spotter’s daughter. Hope. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen—except for you, of course your highness—with her hair done in hundreds of tight, tiny braids with beads at the end. She was wrapped in a dusty robe and beneath it she was nude. She looked up at me and our eyes met. I smiled at her. I had discovered my salvation.
“I had seen the girl accompanying her father to the salt pan before and he often made her go without water or food. I knew all I had to do was show her kindness.
“The following day, when her father passed me the pigskin I waited until his back was turned and offered it to her instead. She was surprised but she was desperately thirsty. She took the skin and poured the water into her mouth.
“Later she came to thank me. I was mesmerised. She was the softest of creatures, the lightest, and the supplest. She averted her eyes when she spoke to me as if she revered me like a god.
“After that I did my best to win her confidence because I wanted the serpent stone. I also wanted her as my own. You see, I was falling in love with her—”
“But you couldn’t own her,” I said, cutting him off. “ She would own you if you were to become her daroon.”
“Not in Caspius. In Caspius it is different. Shall I continue?”
I nodded, flicking my short hair out of my face.
“One night we had just returned with a pack of mules from the Caspian border and I was lying on my back looking up at the vast sky when she appeared, like a goddess, at the end of my mat. ‘Walk with me?’ she said and how could I disobey? I was bewitched. I jumped to my feet and we wove between the sleeping mats to the edge of the camp.
“We sat in the sand, which was hot from the day’s baking. I knew I should kiss her, I wanted to kiss her.”—I giggled—“But something stopped me. I cleared my throat. I had to tell her the truth. A goddess like that could not be sullied by my lies and manipulation. So I told her. ‘Kali, I have something I must ask you,’ I said, then told her about my father the statesman, about my desire to buy my mother’s freedom and my sister’s, my poor poor sister. ‘It is my
“Every day we set out before dawn, a long line of men and camels plodding through the sand. We reached the salt pan as the sun peeped its head over the horizon. The heat was unbearable. My body was so hot it was cold. Soon I stopped sweating altogether. I was sure I was going to die, that I would fall to the ground unnoticed and my body would become a pile of bleached bones, my flesh consumed by the sand.”
Seeing that I was rapt, Drayk embellished his tale, “My spotter, a Tigrineek who weighed and packed the salt, had skin like the night, flowing robes of hemp, long braided hair decorated with feathers and bare leathery feet that did not feel the heat. He carried a curved sword with a wide blade and wore a bone necklace. He would prod us with his sheathed blade if we were working too slowly. It was he who told us when we could stop, when we could piss—though I never needed to—and when we could return to camp. It was he who let us drink from a pigskin. He fed us balls of sticky rice and little else.”
“But why?” I interrupted. “Why did you tolerate him?”
“I knew I must if I was to possess a serpent stone. That is the nature of success, little miss. We cannot be distracted by our immediate discomfort. Our vision must span our entire lifetime and beyond if we are to achieve anything of any real importance.
“In Ella we slept on mats out in the open. There was nowhere to wash so we lay in our own filth, the sweat and grit congealing on our bodies. At night we could hear the kylons sniffing in the dark or howling to one another. I endured it because I saw hope on the horizon. I was walking back from the edge of the enclave when I saw her.”
“Who?” I said.
“My spotter’s daughter. Hope. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen—except for you, of course your highness—with her hair done in hundreds of tight, tiny braids with beads at the end. She was wrapped in a dusty robe and beneath it she was nude. She looked up at me and our eyes met. I smiled at her. I had discovered my salvation.
“I had seen the girl accompanying her father to the salt pan before and he often made her go without water or food. I knew all I had to do was show her kindness.
“The following day, when her father passed me the pigskin I waited until his back was turned and offered it to her instead. She was surprised but she was desperately thirsty. She took the skin and poured the water into her mouth.
“Later she came to thank me. I was mesmerised. She was the softest of creatures, the lightest, and the supplest. She averted her eyes when she spoke to me as if she revered me like a god.
“After that I did my best to win her confidence because I wanted the serpent stone. I also wanted her as my own. You see, I was falling in love with her—”
“But you couldn’t own her,” I said, cutting him off. “ She would own you if you were to become her daroon.”
“Not in Caspius. In Caspius it is different. Shall I continue?”
I nodded, flicking my short hair out of my face.
“One night we had just returned with a pack of mules from the Caspian border and I was lying on my back looking up at the vast sky when she appeared, like a goddess, at the end of my mat. ‘Walk with me?’ she said and how could I disobey? I was bewitched. I jumped to my feet and we wove between the sleeping mats to the edge of the camp.
“We sat in the sand, which was hot from the day’s baking. I knew I should kiss her, I wanted to kiss her.”—I giggled—“But something stopped me. I cleared my throat. I had to tell her the truth. A goddess like that could not be sullied by my lies and manipulation. So I told her. ‘Kali, I have something I must ask you,’ I said, then told her about my father the statesman, about my desire to buy my mother’s freedom and my sister’s, my poor poor sister. ‘It is my
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