Shame of Man (46 page)

The foreman gave him the high sign. Huu played the high tweedle. The men pulled on the high rope. Huu wanted to watch the block, but couldn't; his eyes were fixed on the foreman. He, of all people, had to get it just right.

The foreman gave him the low sign. Huu played the low tweedle. He heard the grunting at one rope abate, and begin at the other. He heard the crunching as the block moved. It was working!

The foreman gave him the stop sign, and Huu stopped. Now he could look at the block. It seemed unchanged, but as they went to it, he saw that its position had shifted. There was a wedge-shaped depression behind, where it had stood. It had taken one step, and half of it was standing on new ground.

“That was beautiful,” the foreman said. “We got it right the first time. But that's only one step. We need to work on smoothness. I'm going to swap out one man on each rope each time, so he can watch it walk; then you'll all see what we're doing.”

Thereafter there were always two slaves watching. And sometimes the angle was such that Huu could see the stone as well as the foreman. The thing lurched crazily, but it was indeed like a clumsy man walking. It was impressive to watch.

By noon they had walked the block twenty paces. The imprint of its track remained in the soil, making a hard path. The slaves walked along it during their noon rest break, endlessly impressed with this secondary evidence of their accomplishment. They had moved the giant stone so far!

But the corners of the block were wearing and chipping, because the rock of the mountain wasn't as hard as other rock. If they walked it a long way, it would wear down too far, spoiling the statue. They would have to brace it with a wooden base, to protect the corners for long walks. They were learning as they went.

In the afternoon the foreman trained another crew, because the labor was strenuous and fatiguing, and men who were overtired could make mistakes. But there was no substitute for Huu, because there were not many musicians on the island. That might have been just as well, because the constant concentration kept his mind off the death of his son. To a degree.

Several days later, when the walking crews had been trained, Huu walked west across the island to the topknot quarry at Puna Pao. The main statue was of yellow stone, but it would wear a headdress of red stone, because Hotu Matua's hair was red. It would also have inset eyes of bright white shell with black obsidian pupils. The eye sockets would not even be cut until the statue was in its appointed place, but the eyes were already being prepared. It wouldn't do to have a statue that couldn't see.

And of course this would be only the first statue. There would be others when other kings died, and the gods would be represented. The head priest had determined a model which all statues would emulate. So this was merely the beginning of a great age of ceremony.

And his son Kip would never see it.

More than one topknot was being carved from the stone. They were almost as tall as Huu, seeming huge, but would be the right size when set atop their statues. These would not be as difficult to move, because they could simply be wrapped and rolled, then lifted by stone ramps to their places. It was Huu's job to select the particular topknot to grace Statue Hotu's head.

A short-ear man approached him. He looked familiar, but Huu wasn't sure of his identity. “What is your concern?” he asked the man.

“I am Baa, brother of Scil. We might deal.”

What was this presumption? The only way long ears dealt with short ears was by giving them their directives for work. “What is your concern?”

“My sister has hidden her child. I can fetch him for you.”

So the man knew about that. But Huu did not care to let him know the boy's value to him. “I instructed Scil in dancing, several years ago. She had a baby. She may do what she pleases.”

“But the boy is yours, and now you have no other son.”

A flash of irritation mixed with his grief. Huu did not like this man knowing about this matter. But of course he would know his sister's business. And if he could deliver the boy—"What do you want?”

Baa looked canny. “Your wife is beautiful.”

“You suppose this is something I do not know?”

“In the dark of the moon, each month, send her to me.”

What?
This lowly slave wanted to touch a long-ear woman? This was worse than presumption! “Begone before I have you flogged.”

“For the boy.”

Scil might hide the boy from Huu, but she couldn't hide him from her brother. Scil wanted to trade the boy for marriage, displacing Aan. Baa wanted to embrace Aan one or two nights a month without denying her her status. It was an appalling prospect, but it was a better alternative than divorce. Huu did want the boy.

“I will consider,” he said gruffly, turning away.

When he turned again, Baa was gone. He continued his business, checking the topknots, and made his selection. He marked it, and went to his tent.

There was a woman in it. Huu knew immediately who it would be. “Go away, Scil,” he said. “I will not pay your price.”

“Then have me this night for no price,” she said. “I know you need warming.”

“Warming becomes too complicated.”

She did not move. “I told you I warmed you four years ago for the dancing you taught me. I lied. It was because I love you.”

This made him pause. “Maybe then you will understand that I love Aan, and will not give her up.”

“But she can never give you a son.”

He wondered whether she knew about her brother's offer. “If I could have the boy without having you also, I might take him.”

She laughed. “Of course. But I am the price of him. If you would love my boy, you must let me love you.”

So she did not know. If he told her, she would hide the boy from her brother, too, and that deal would be void. But if he made that other deal, what would become of Scil? “What will you do if I make no deal?”

“You are actually interested?”

“Yes.” Though perhaps not in the way she thought.

“Then lie with me, and I will tell you.”

She wanted to lie with Huu, and her brother wanted to lie with Aan. Would she settle for Baa's price? “What if I were to lie with you only in the dark of the moon?”

“For my son? That is the kind of deal a man would make. I want more.”

So it was status, rather than love of him, that drove her, despite her claim. “I will not give you more.”

“You are as hard to bargain with as my brother,” she complained.

“What of your brother?” he asked, suddenly alert.

“He wants to be the first short-ear chief.”

Huu remembered. It was becoming cumbersome to administer the growing short-ear population directly, so a short-ear chief would be assigned. Candidates were now being considered, and the decision would be announced during the ceremony of the completion of the placement of the Hotu statue. “That decision is not in his hands. Three leading short ears will do it.”

“Yes. One of them hates Baa, so will vote for someone else. But Baa hopes to marry me to another, so he will support Baa. That will give him an even chance.”

“Your brother can tell you whom to marry?”

“He is the man of our family.”

“Oh, of course. But how can you offer to marry me, then, without his authority?”

“You are long ear. He is short ear. If you married me, my brother could not stop it. And my son would be better off, because you would not mistreat him.”

More of her rationale was coming into view. “The other man would mistreat him?” Huu had his own misgiving about that.

“He doesn't want another man's child. He would be happier if I came alone. But he will take me, because—” She reached up from where she lay to catch Huu's leg in the darkness. “You know why. I will show you again, if you have forgotten.”

“I can see why you would prefer to marry me,” Huu said. “If you have to pretend to love a man, it might as well be one who will treat your son well.”

“Yes.” Then he knew she was smiling. “But it would not be pretense, with you. I would warm you without price, were it not for my son.”

“Then give him to me, and be free to marry the other man without fear for your son.”

“Give him to you? When I could do so much better for myself? I think you want him enough to pay for him.”

“I will not sacrifice my wife for him!”

“That may be your choice,” she said indifferently.

“You seek to force me into something I do not want. Suppose I force
you
into something you do not want?”

“That is impossible, because with you I want it.”

“Something else,” he said grimly.

“Kill me,” she said evenly. “And know that your son will die where he is hidden. You will never find him.”

“Get out of my tent!”

She sighed. “I suppose the mood is spoiled. I will come to you another time.” She got up and brushed by him, so that he could tell she was naked. The touch did stir his reaction, making him desire her, as she intended. She had been a remarkably apt warmer. Then she was out and gone, silently.

He lay in the bed that she had warmed. Scil knew how badly he wanted that boy, and was playing him in like a fish, to gain her way. But her demand was simply too much.

She had shown her callousness. It matched that of her brother. And her brother had a better offer.

Except for one thing. Baa wanted Aan, one night a month. Aan was unlikely to agree to that. But Huu would ask her, when he returned home tomorrow.

Aan and Min went out to meet Huu gladly as he approached the house. He had been long away, and they had had to suffer their grief alone; now it was time to resume living. But Min had a caution. “Something amazing,” she said.

“Anything is better than what we have been through.”

“Maybe not.” But there was no more time for discussion, for they had reached Huu, who hugged them both.

“Min says you have something amazing to tell us,” Aan said after a moment.

Huu looked abashed. “I do. But it is awkward. There are—”

“Tell us, Daddy!”

He told them.

Aan stared at him, shocked. “You have a son? By a slave woman?” She had thought that nothing could push aside the shock of her grief for Kip, but she had never anticipated this.

“It seems I do,” he said, looking rueful. “That bed warmer, four years ago, Scil. It seems she got a baby by me, but never told me. Now she has offered him to me, but at too steep a price.”

“You must get that child! What price could be too steep?”

“She wants me to divorce you and marry her.”

Shock on shock! Aan had to sit down, lest she faint.

“I told her no,” Huu hastened to tell her. “I love you. I would never—”

“What about the boy? How can any son of yours grow to be a slave?”

“There is another way,” he said, but he did not look easy. “Her brother Baa approached me next day, and said he would fetch me the boy. But his price—”

“Oooo!” Min exclaimed, her eyes as round as her mouth.

Aan glanced at her, suddenly apprehensive.

“He wants you, by the dark of each moon,” Huu finished.

Now she looked at him, sharply. “You would allow this?”

“I would, before I would allow the other.”

He would let her be with another man, rather than divorce her. At another time she might have felt complimented. But either was intolerable.

“There is more,” Min said.

“We had better hear it,” Aan said, feeling somewhat as if she had stepped into the spirit world.

Huu glanced at her, then shrugged. “Well, only that I learned that Baa wants to be chief of the slave tribe. But that does not relate to this, except that it explains why Scil is so eager to marry me. She wants to escape being used as a prize for one of the judges’ vote.”

“More,” Min repeated.

“And to keep her son from a man who would mistreat him.”

Aan stiffened. “She has a point.” It was a special irony that Aan could not have more children of her own, because she loved them dearly. The thought of one being abused horrified her.

“I'll have another brother!” Min exclaimed.

Now Huu looked at her. “How can that be so, when we will not do what either slave wants?”

“I don't know. But he'll be here soon.”

Aan exchanged a glance with Huu. Then he looked away. “Let me take Min somewhere,” he said.

So Aan could get herself settled. She nodded, appreciating the thought. Huu took Min's hand, and they went out to consider the evening sky.

Aan lay down, but she did not rest. Her emotions had been roughly stirred by Huu's news. She could understand why the slave brother and slave sister would seek to capitalize on their situations, but did not see how to get the boy without paying an appalling price. She did want the boy, because he was Huu's son, and because he might help fill the void left by Kip. She didn't care that the child had been sired on a slave girl; these things happened. Had they known about him before, they would have taken the baby immediately after weaning. It was a shock, learning about him now, but more of a favorable one than an unfavorable one.

Min believed that there was an acceptable way to get the child. What could it be? Aan focused on that, for it was a considerable distraction from her grief. How could they get that child without having to submit to the lusts of brother or sister?

Then Huu and Min were returning. “We thought of a way!” Min cried.

“A way?” she inquired guardedly.

“We can offer Baa something else,” Huu explained. “He wants power in the slave realm. We can arrange for him to have our people's support. We control one of the three judges who will decide what man will be the slave leader. Baa means to marry his sister to another, and that will give him a
majority. He surely craves power more than the body of a dancer. He will agree.”

“Surely,” Aan agreed, her feelings mixed. “But is he a man of honor? Will he deliver the boy when he gains his position?”

“He is not a man of honor, but I am,” Huu said. “I will arrange the support after he delivers the boy.”

“Then let it be done,” Aan said with relief.

Days later, a slave with a bundle approached the house. “He's here! He's here!” Min exclaimed.