'Neither did I. It's a shame I've turned into him over the years. But you don't need to like someone in order to love them.'
She laughed. 'I always liked Orsea,' she said. 'I suppose I've got a soft spot for weak people.'
(Which is why you and I were friends, once; he could have written that in a letter, but he couldn't say it out loud.)
'Can't say I ever did,' Valens replied stiffly. 'I couldn't get past the ineptitude. I don't like people who can't do things well.'
'He liked you.' She was looking away now. 'He thought you were everything he ought to be; admired you and liked you as well, which I think is probably a rare combination. But he knew he bothered you, so he tried to keep his distance. He didn't want to be a nuisance.'
Valens smiled. 'He was just like me, then,' he said. 'We've both got the knack of being the opposite of what we want to be. I feel so sorry for him now…' He waved his arm in a vague encircling gesture. 'Now that I've brought us here, I mean. Now that I know what it feels like. You know what? If I'd been him, in this situation, I'd have done what he did. The only difference is, I wouldn't have been found out.'
She stood up. 'I'd better let you get on,' she said. 'I expect you're very busy.'
'Me?' He shrugged. 'I ought to be, but I'm not. They keep trying to make me take an interest, but the truth is, I've more or less given up. Which disappoints me; I'd always assumed I'd keep going to the bitter end, just in case there was a way out I hadn't noticed yet. But this is the first time I've really screwed up, and it's shown me just how feeble I really am. You know what? In the battle, when the Mezentine cavalry were cutting up the column, I very nearly ran away-I was halfway up the hill, and I only stopped because I was worn out; and then it turned out we'd won after all, so there wasn't anything to run away from. I haven't been able to get over that. I just couldn't see why I should hang around and get killed when it wouldn't do anybody any good.'
'Well,' she said. 'It wouldn't have.'
He shook his head. 'I'd have lasted about half an hour,' he replied. 'About as long as it took me to find a tree and a bit of rope. I think the Mezentines killed me that day, and ever since I've just been wandering about wondering how come I can still breathe.'
She looked at him. 'Orsea would never have done that,' she said. 'When the city fell, he went rushing out trying to get himself killed. He made a mess of it, of course.'
Valens nodded. 'Would you have wanted him to have succeeded?'
'No. There's never any excuse for dying. It's such a selfish thing to do, if there are people who love you.'
(Which was the difference, she didn't say; the condition that didn't apply in Valens' case. So he didn't ask: what about me; if I'd been in Orsea's place that day, should I have stood my ground and fallen nobly? He didn't want to make her tell a deliberate lie.)
'You're right.' He vaulted to his feet-showing off, like a teenager-and straightened his back. 'I really should be attending to business, rather than lounging around like a gentleman of leisure. How are your feet, by the way?'
'My feet?'
'Blisters. You were limping earlier.'
She shrugged. 'I turned my ankle over in the sand. I expect it'll wear off.'
Valens smiled. 'I'd better find you a horse to ride.'
'No thanks. It'd look bad, and I'm unpopular enough as it is. Being the widow of a condemned traitor… It's all right,' she added, 'I'll manage. I'll admit that walking isn't my idea of fun, but I'm getting the hang of it.'
'You're being brave.'
'If you like. Really, it's a matter of having other things to think about.'
'If you change your mind…' He clicked his tongue. 'I've got no idea how all this is going to end,' he said. 'Badly, I imagine.'
'As far as I'm concerned, it already has. Go on, I'm holding you up.'
He turned and walked away, not looking round.
The morning of the seventh day in the desert, and he was suffering from nerves.
The way he felt reminded him of the first time he'd seen her. All he knew about her was that she was the foreman's daughter; as such, she represented advancement, promotion, a means of rising in his trade without needing to rely on other people being able to recognize his true merits. In his mind's eye, therefore, he'd seen her as a vital component in a mechanism, beautiful in the simplicity and economy of its design. He'd been kept waiting in the porch of her father's house. She won't be out till she's good and ready, her father had said with a wry grin; she'll be doing her face, puts more effort into it than any of you buggers making bits for scorpions. That remark had caught his imagination as he stood, half in and half out of the street, watching his breath cloud in the cold air. He'd perceived her then as an artifact, something manufactured, her face engineered with skill and dedication; and he was delighted to think that his prized component was being engineered to exacting tolerances and the tightest possible specification. Of course, the old man went on, I don't suppose any son-in-law of mine's going to stay on the fitting bench very long, and old Phylactus'll be retiring before the year's out. He remembered how he'd fixed his eyes on the door, not looking at the old man, ready to catch his first glimpse of her as soon as the latch lifted and she came out. The excitement; the nerves.
(Of course, he'd spoiled it all by falling in love with her.)
That same excitement, as he watched the glowing, indistinct line that separated the sand from the sky. They were coming; when they came, that was where he'd see them first, and know that everything he'd built was finally fitting together; the active and passive assemblies engaging, the male and female components matching up, every gear-tooth meshing, every key moving in its keyway.
(It was a pity there had to be a battle and so many people killed, but you can't have everything.)
To occupy his mind, he ran calculations. Assuming a constant for the speed of a horseman in the desert, assuming that everybody was in the right place, making allowances for human inefficiencies; he glanced up at the sun, that imperfectly calibrated timepiece. There was still time. Besides, if he'd been right in his assessment of the properties of his materials, they wouldn't show up till they were good and ready. Doing their faces, as it were. All allowed for in his tolerances.
The nerves annoyed him, but there wasn't anything he could do about them. He made himself relax; leaned back against the thin tree trunk, spread his arms wide, exaggerated a yawn. At least the nervousness kept his mind off how hungry he was (and if his calculations were out, of course, he'd starve to death, along with everybody else; his life depended on the precision of the mechanism, but he couldn't bring himself to be afraid of death, only of failure).
Could horses gallop in the sand? Come to that, how long could a horse gallop for, even under ideal conditions, without having to stop for a rest? He'd used some figure he'd heard somewhere for the maximum sustainable speed of heavy cavalry, added fifteen percent tolerance, and based his workings on that. Was fifteen percent enough to allow for sand? Filthy stuff, he hated it. They didn't have it in Mezentia, except as a packaged material for making foundry molds; they didn't have it lying about all over the floor, making it well-nigh impossible for people to move and go about their business. The untidiness of these miserable places revolted him. Why couldn't the rest of the world be decently paved and cobbled, like it was back home?
A thought occurred to him and he hurriedly looked round. Daurenja had been trailing round after him for days now, like a dog sniffing round the fuller's cart, and he really didn't want to talk to him; now or ever. It would be so sweetly convenient if he got himself killed in the battle… But that'd be too much like good luck. There'd be time and scope to get rid of him later.
Falling in love with her had been a mistake; but it had also been the beginning of his life, the moment when things began to matter. That moment, when the door opened and she'd come nervously out into the porch, had given birth to this one, and all the moments in between; this had all started then, because without her, none of this would have been necessary. Suppose he hadn't fallen in love with her; he'd be foreman of the ordnance factory, presumably married to someone or other-happy enough, in all probability, but he wouldn't have been Ziani Vaatzes. That complex, unsatisfactory component only existed in relation to her. Remove her, and there was nothing, no point. It'd be like eating an orange simply to produce orange peel. The machine exists for a purpose, and every part, every assembly follows on from that purpose; without it, you're left with nothing but scrap metal, no matter how marvelously engineered.
He couldn't help smiling. Love had been his downfall, sure enough, but without it, he'd never have existed in
