Khadi's Story 13: Heesm Sings

We went with Elbry to the place called Inn, where they have intoxicating drinks, strange foods, and furniture of the soft stone called wood. I permitted Heesm to crouch on the floor at my side while I ate and drank; afterwards, he rubbed his head gently against my leg, but I did not permit him to speak until I had finished talking with the smith.

Elbry told me more of the history of Town Thirty-six, of how it had been founded one hundred years ago after Kred'Nos, the Red Jewel upon the Lake, had been conquered. The Raeian Empire had weakened Kred'Nos over the course of three hundred years by infiltrating evil ideas, such as money, until the people no longer trusted one another. This money is surely the same evil that we read about upon the First Engraving, the evil of the Gold Disc Wars that caused such widespread Greed.

After we had been talking for a while, someone started to play pipes, and a woman sang. The people in the Inn cheered, and then another man sang for a while. Heesm rubbed my leg again, and I guessed that he wanted to sing too. I told him to stand upon a table and to move about as he sang, so that people could see him. I was thinking that it might help his Obedience if he were to be lent out for the night, a reminder that I can use my property in any way I choose. The boy obeyed, and sang a ballad that he later told me is traditional amongst his people, part of their Memory.

Sanga was a hunter
tiger leopard warrior
He sought a herd of buffalo
to feed his tribe once more
That hungered close to death
a winter long and hard

Waiting by the water
where buffalo might drink
He came across a tigress
trapped by mudthorns tall.
She cried and called to him,
Free me free me free me!

Hungry tiger hear me!
I fear your claws your maw
For if I set you free
You might devour me!
The tigress could not answer
Sanga saw the truth
But if he did not free her
surely she would die.

Sanga braved the water
fought the mudthorn trees
Naked knelt before her
Set her free once more.
The tigress leapt away
but turning back she spoke

O hunter watch the water
For under lies a joy
A cave beneath the waves
conceals a lissom maid

Sanga swam down deep
beyond the mudthorn trees
And underneath the surface
he found a hidden cave
Where danced the fairest mermaid
of any hidden place.

She sang to him of beauty
a song that bound him there
He could not bear to leave her
but longed to stay with her
He loved her then and kissed her
was lost to mortal kind

And overhead the tigress
saw he lingered yet
She knew that she must rescue
for she was in his debt
She called the many smallfish
to fetch him up again

The maid she laughed at them
and sent them up again
The tigress saw them fail
and hungered for a kill
Weak and weary still
she knew she was in debt

Sanga stayed a merman
his people starved and died
And so the mighty tigress
owes all mankind a debt
No price that she can pay
will ever be enough

Tiger leopard warrior
She lured him to his death
And to this day all tigers
they bow they heads in shame
And lead all men to find
the herds of buffalo

The tigress waited long
until one day she saw
Sanga lost forever
beneath the mudthorn trees
Under the waves she swam
diving deep to save him

Had she Clawed the Mermaid
the water dark with blood
Drowning in the depths
the tigress saved the man
Sanga reached the surface
he saw that he'd been fooled

And so the debt is paid
by sacrifice and love
and ever so it is
that those who love must pay
Sanga was the wiser
And lived to sing this song.

The song is part of the Memory of the Plains; Sanga was the name of the Twentieth Seeker, who found the Second Key when he was tortured and ravaged. The tigress must represent the torturer, but I did not understand the parts about death and love. Perhaps the boy has got the words wrong, and made up words to replace the parts he forgot.

Several people were watching him closely as he sang; Elbry whispered to me that, as I had suspected, when slaves are made to display themselves like that, it is because their owners wish to lend them out as a punishment, or to give friends sexual favours. One man in particular was looking at Heesm closely. He was dressed lightly and was barefoot; I Sensed that he had some Power, and also an Affinity for Water. Elbry said that by his clothing he knew the man to be a sailor, someone who can cross the great water of the mighty lake.

After Heesm finished I jerked his leash and he jumped down off the table to kneel at my side. The sailor approached, and I told Heesm to accept him as a new Master for a time. Heesm looked startled, and when he heard me tell the sailor to be harsh and severe, he paled. The sailor laughed and promised to return the boy the next day.

The smith and I returned to the forge, and I slept in the fire with one of his apprentices, whom I first buggered hard and happily.

I must teach you, O my brother, how to earn the respect and loyalty of all the people around and beneath you. Do this through severity in all your actions. Show that you own the people around you and they will serve you completely. And if they do not, do not hesitate to destroy them, so that those that remain will be encouraged.