Mindgames

Chapter 17: Truths and a lie

Mariah remembers

Mariah lost track of her placements. The dark-skinned sisters who squabbled over her until they realized they were both bored; the redheaded man who liked her to always be near, until she thought she would scream if she didn't get five minutes away from him; the woman who gave her a fearsome beating when she realized her cat liked Mariah more than her; there were more, she was sure, but she couldn't remember them.

Present day

Animal hummed as he worked, his morning's annoyance with Rose forgotten. He was pleased with how the fifth and sixth panels were shaping up. They were both simple scenes. The fifth showed a boy and a girl studying together, their heads bent over a shared manuscript. The sixth depicted the same boy and girl, older now, sitting at the edge of a swimhole, their feet in the water, their knees touching. Animal wondered if it was too smarmy, but sometimes a picture needed to paint itself.

Rose was preparing the wall for the seventh panel. That one he would give to his apprentices, if they bothered to show up. A circus scene. The apprentices would enjoy painting contorted slaves. Acrobatics was a dying art. Somewhat of a pity, Animal shrugged to himself. Even he could appreciate the years of training it took for a slave to be able to achieve those positions, balancing on their tiptoes as they pranced or on their heads as they twirled.

He turned when he heard the main door to the revel room open with a loud squeak. He smiled. "Amalie!" As she walked toward them he said with pretended crossness, "Come to grouse about my windows again?"

Amalie climbed onto the scaffolding where Animal was working, and examined the half-finished panels. She knit her eyebrows, then looked at Animal and laughed. Animal grinned in return and shrugged. "Sometimes a picture paints itself," he said out loud.

"It was good to see you last night," Amalie said, her tone somewhat abrupt.

"You saw me yesterday morning, too, at the museum," Animal said.

Amalie smiled briefly. "I liked watching you teach," she said. "But it was good to see you someplace else. With our friends. Relaxing."

Animal winced. "Your friends," he said.

"Yours, too," Amalie said. "Or they used to be."

Animal turned back to the panel. He lifted the brush but didn't paint. "They tolerate me," he said.

Amalie put her hand on his raised arm and turned him to face her. "They're worried about you," she said. "So am I."

Animal tilted his head and cocked an eyebrow. Amalie took a half step closer. "They say you've been keeping to yourself for a long while now."

Animal took a half step away from her, looking briefly behind to make sure he was not at the edge of the scaffolding. "I'm working," he said.

"They work too, some of them," Amalie said. "But they don't hide in their apartments when they're done, or spend all their time with . . ."

"With who?" Animal said. "Outlanders?"

Amalie shrugged. "The outlander," she said. "And . . ." Animal followed her look to Rose at the next scaffolding, seemingly engrossed in washing the wall with a soda ash solution.

"They begrudge me a housegirl?" Animal asked. "As I recall, I was the only human at the party last night without a slave for a personal footstool."

"If you had brought her we both know you wouldn't have used her for a footstool," Amalie said. Rose turned bright red. "And you wouldn't have let anyone else, either."

"Yes, we both know I'm a pansy," Animal said. "Is that what you came to tell me?"

Amalie turned back to look at the panel. She reached out and almost touched the figure of the boy with his feet in the pond. "You weren't always," she said softly. "We had some fun."

Animal looked at the panel as well. He said, just as softly, kindly almost, "I was trying to impress a girl."

"Do you regret it?" Amalie asked. Her hand came down and took his, and they stared at the painting together. Animal knew that they were both seeing the memory of what he had depicted, not the painting itself.

"No," Animal said after a moment. "Not trying to impress the girl, never that. But some of the things I did . . ." He shrugged.

Amalie pulled his hand out to the side and turned, so that they were facing each other, only inches apart. "And if I told you the girl was impressed?"

"I'd say the girl told the boy a long time ago that they would never be anything more than friends."

Amalie put her hands on his shoulders, and looked up at him. "I'm coming to you as a friend," she said. "When is the last time you made love to a human?" When Animal shrugged and didn't answer, she continued, "The last time you were with a girl who could take initiative, who could tell you what she wanted, who could make you wait until your pleasure exploded out of you?"

Without thinking Animal looked past Amalie to Rose, who was looking back at him. He smiled at her, the same knowing, secret smile he had given to Amalie when she first gazed at the panel.

Amalie saw. She backed away from Animal as if he had slapped her. "You're just like your father," she hissed.

"My father was a good man," Animal said.

"Your father was a laughingstock!" Amalie shouted. "And so are you." Animal's face froze, but Amalie continued, pointing out to the empty revel room. "You know why your apprentices don't come back?"

"Enlighten me."

"Because they can't stomach watching you chase your rag around like a puppy after a ball!" She turned and pointed at Rose. "I've heard from three different people how you followed her into the storage closet the other day when she wagged her ass at you. Word is you're not just a pansy, you're . . ."

"That's enough!" Animal snapped.

They stared at each other, arms crossed, breathing hard, until Amalie turned, climbed off the scaffolding, and left through the door to the yard, slamming it behind her. Animal watched her go, not saying a word.

Mariah remembers

"You're back, eh?" Master Victor, the exchange master, gruffly asked Mariah. With the hundreds or thousands of slaves that came through the exchange, Mariah couldn't help a grudging respect for the fact that he seemed to remember them all. He turned to Master William. "She misbehave? Or you just bored?"

Master William shrugged. "Bored, I guess," he said, without looking at Mariah. "She's well-enough trained, but not much personality."

At Master Victor's order she assumed the standard position. He circled her slowly. She had a few fresh marks, but she was clearly fit for service.

Master Victor signed her in. "You remember where to go?" he asked her.

"Yes, Master," Mariah replied.

"Do I need to shackle you?"

"Only if it pleases you, Master."

"Go on, then."

Mariah walked over to the section for houseslaves, sitting near but not with the other slaves awaiting placement. As usual, she recognized some of them but made no move to be friendly. She saw Master William approaching.

"You just came from him, didn't you?" Tasha, a girl who had been on the same hall, asked her.

Mariah nodded, not minding exchanging information. "He's not bad," she said, just loudly enough for the whole group to hear. "Likes to jog. If you don't lag behind he'll treat you well enough."

At those words some of the girls shrank down but more sat up straighter and tried to look enticing. Mariah watched as Master William looked around and spoke to a few of the girls before selecting a blonde Mariah didn't know. As they walked toward Master Victor Mariah leaned back against a tree and settled in to wait for her own turn, fighting for calm in the face of the familiar, almost boring dread of what might come.

Present day, a few days later

Mariah prowled restlessly around Master Gabriel's apartment, glancing at a half-finished portrait of him that Master Animal had left on an easel, and then through the open sliding door into the courtyard, and then at the kitchen, spotless from Rose's cleaning.

Finally, she looked at Master Gabriel, sleeping on the couch. He had said he would take her to the woods that afternoon to continue his lessons on finding edibles in the wild. She thought about touching him as if by accident to wake him up. She shook her head angrily. It's a mindgame, she hissed silently to herself.

Through the apartment walls Mariah heard the slash of a whip followed by whimpering, a pause, the whipstroke again. The whimper became a gasping sob.

The girl being whipped was Rose.

She jumped, her elbow knocking a can of drying paintbrushes to the floor. Master Gabriel lifted his head at the clatter. "What is it?" he asked groggily, rubbing his eye with the palm of his hand.

Mariah tried to shrug nonchalantly. "Someone's playing with Rose," she said.

"Wha...?" The whip cracked. Master Gabriel jolted up. He half ran through the courtyard to Master Animal's apartment. Mariah followed behind him.

Master Gabriel paused abruptly in Master Animal's open doorway. Mariah looked passed him. Rose was belly down over the footstool, her knees on the floor and widely parted. Her lower back and butt were marked with angry welts. Master Animal stood a few feet behind her open thighs, his long thin whip in his raised hand.

"You stay out of this, Gabriel," Master Animal said calmly, as if he had been expecting him. He flicked the whip so that its tip landed between Rose's ass cheeks. Rose made a mewling sound between her tightly clenched lips.

Master Gabriel strode across the room, pulled the whip from Master Animal's grasp with his left hand and punched Master Animal in the jaw with his right. It wasn't a well-thrown blow, but it sent Master Animal sprawling backwards onto the couch. Master Gabriel pushed his advantage and towered over Master Animal, his fist clenched back for another punch if Master Animal should try to get up.

Master Animal raised his hands in mock surrender, but said harshly, "Don't push me, Gabriel. Rose deserves this." He started to sit up, but Master Gabriel pushed him back down.

"Deserves? This?" Master Gabriel said incredulously. "If we're giving out what we deserve, then you deserve this." He shifted the whip he had taken from Master Animal from his left hand to his right, and slashed at Master Animal. The leather swung in a wide slow arc and caught Master Animal on the shoulder, too poorly thrown to tear his shirt.

Master Animal jumped up. "You go too far, Gabriel!" he shouted, shoving at him with his hands and knocking the whip away. "Rose deserves far worse for what she did. She knows it! Look at her!"

Bumping Master Animal with his shoulder as he passed, Master Gabriel walked to Rose, who still lay over the footstool. "It's okay now, Rose," he said to her. "You can get up. I'll get some balm for you - the welts aren't too bad, and you'll stay in my apartment." Rose sobbed but didn't move. He knelt down and stroked her hair. "It's over," he said.

Master Animal said, "I told her to stay there, and she won't move until I tell her she can." He added, "You might not care, but I am her master, not you."

Master Gabriel didn't spare him a glance. "Release her," he said.

For a moment Master Animal was silent. Then he said, "Get up, Rose. We'll finish this later."

Rose moved off the footstool but didn't stand up. She crawled to Master Animal and licked his shoes, sobbing. Master Animal kicked at her, connecting with her upper arm. Master Gabriel gurgled as if the blow had been aimed at him and moved as if he would punch Master Animal again. Before he could, Rose squirmed so that she was in between the two men. "Please, Master Gabriel," she pleaded in a tear-strained voice, "Don't hit him."

Master Animal grabbed Rose by the hair and pulled her up by it. "You speak when I told you to be silent?" he shouted at her. "Are you completely ruined?"

Master Gabriel kicked wildly and landed a blow on Master Animal's shin. Master Animal howled and let go of Rose. Master Gabriel scooped her up as if she was his medicine bag. "You touch her, and I swear I'll kill you," Master Gabriel hissed to Master Animal. Rose struggled in Master Gabriel's arms, until he lost his balance and fell onto the couch, with Rose on top of him. Rose immediately dove for the floor and got back on her hands and knees in front of Master Animal.

Master Gabriel looked around until his eyes met Mariah's, still standing in the doorway. Mariah looked away, but she knew what he needed from her. She walked slowly into the room. Master Animal growled at her, "You get out."

In a voice as clear and strong as she could make it, Mariah said, "The Bearer told you to share Rose with Master Gabriel. When he hears of this, he'll put an end to your murals in the Great Hall, and he'll take Rose from you."

"You little bitch!" Master Animal hissed, jumping up and reaching for his whip on his belt. It wasn't there. He backhanded Mariah in the face instead, sending her reeling.

Mariah let out a shrieking, almost victorious laugh. "Mindgame over!" she said. "What do you think of your precious, kind master now, Rose?"

Master Animal lunged after her, pulling the belt from his pants to use as a whip. Master Gabriel threw himself at Master Animal and they both sprawled to the floor, Master Animal's head hitting it with a thud.

"Stop it! Please stop it! I did deserve to be punished. Another master would have killed me for what I did!" Rose was on her feet, crying and trying to pull Master Gabriel off of Master Animal. Master Gabriel stopped struggling to stare at her. Master Animal growled deep in his throat but did not try to stand up.

"What did you do that was so terrible?" Mariah asked with pretended diffidence, holding a hand to her rapidly swelling eye.

Rose looked pleadingly at Master Animal, who glared back at her but gave her an almost imperceptible nod. She took a deep breath. "I lied to a mistress."

Master Gabriel slowly stood up and turned to her. "And for that you deserve to die? Or be tortured?" he asked. "Mariah lies every day. Sometimes I think every time she opens her mouth it is to lie to me. Does she deserve to die, also?"

All three turned to look at Mariah. She squared her shoulders and scowled.

"Yes," said Master Animal suddenly, from his prone position. "She does deserve to die. Rose never would have behaved this way if it weren't for Mariah's influence." He glared from Mariah to Rose to Gabriel. "And you defend her, and bring your outsider ways here, and push me and push me and push me, and ask me to give up everything I know for your sake." His voice broke as he struggled to his feet. "It's too much, I tell you."

"Not for my sake," Master Gabriel said. "Because it is right."

"Right?" said Master Animal. He laughed humorlessly. "You know nothing of our ways. You tell us to treat slaves as if they are humans. They're not! I've told you this before, and you refuse to believe. The best of them are like helpless children. They think only of sex, and gruel, and avoiding punishment. You've done Rose no favor by teaching her uppity, lying ways! Look at her!"

Rose's face was woebegone, and her body shaking. Mariah glanced back at Master Animal. His face, unguarded, was just as sad, and he was also shaking.

"What lie did she tell?" Mariah asked.

"Be silent!" Master Animal said to her, but quietly, as if his energy had been sapped out of him.

"It is a good question," said Master Gabriel. "What lie did you tell, Rose?"

Rose said nothing, but her eyes filled with tears.

"Answer," Master Animal commanded her.

Rose said in a voice barely above a whisper, "I told Mistress Marge that Master Animal was not here, although I knew that he was in the studio, painting."

"Why?" Mariah asked, perplexed. "You must have known you might get caught."

Rose looked at Master Animal pleadingly. He returned a hard stare, but finally nodded. She said, "I knew Master Animal was working on a painting, the one of the picnic." When Mariah shrugged, confused, Rose explained, "The focal point of it is an oak tree with two trunks." She closed her eyes, and spoke as if in a trance. "One of the trunks is leaning, at such an angle that you think it's a wonder it stays up. Beneath it is a houseboy, preparing the food, and you wonder if the tree will fall on him or not, and you see his face and you wonder if he would care. And then you see a human, a fat man, sitting back against the straight trunk, and you wonder whether he is holding it up, and if it wouldn't fall over too if he stopped propping it up-or is it propping him up?"

Master Animal open and shut his mouth, and then did it again. "Go on," Master Gabriel said to Rose. "Why did you lie about Animal not being here?"

Rose took a deep breath. "Master Animal said once that when he has to talk to Mistress Marge it's like a black cloud comes over him so he can't see to paint. And he has to fight it, but whatever he works on for a while isn't very good."

"That's true," Master Animal said. "Aunt Marge gives me indigestion."

"And?" Master Gabriel asked Rose gently.

Rose looked from Master Gabriel to Master Animal. "This painting is good. One of his best, I think," she said. "There's more in it than I told you." She took a deep breath. "Some of his pictures only mean one thing, like a mistress is bored. And some are more complicated, like a mistress is really interested but she's pretending to be bored, and you have to figure out why." She started to speak more quickly. "And some try to say too much, or the colors are wrong, or they're too heavy, or just... wrong. But this picnic picture-it's . . ."

Rose paused. Then she looked at Master Animal, her eyes luminous. "Well, it's wonderful. There's the plain picture, a picnic under a tree. And a second meaning-is the tree going to fall? And then what all the people in the picture are thinking. But there's more, too-the tree means something other than a tree, and the people do too, and the master, I think he is fat like the Bearer because he is the Bearer, only Master Animal can't come right out and say it, because of what it means. And on top of that the colors are right and your eye moves over the picture and the clothes are just like people would wear."

She took a deep breath. "It's a painting that's more important than me."

In the silence that followed Rose fell to her knees in front of Master Animal. "Please, master, I know I must be punished but . . ." Her voice broke. "Don't send me away."

For a moment Master Animal only stared at her. Then he pulled her to her feet, gently this time, his hand under her arm, and he led her to the armchair. "Where... how... who taught you those things? About painting?"

Rose looked at Master Animal pleadingly. "You did, Master. When you let me I listen when you teach your students, and talk to the other artists, about color and balance, and you've taken me many times to the Museum. I know you're really just talking out loud to yourself, not to me, but I listen, and I try to understand it the best I can."

Master Animal's voice caught. "But what about the other part of it, the symbolism, the tree standing for something else?"

Rose was quiet for a minute, thinking. At length she said, "You taught me that, too, or your pictures did. I look at the fat man and I wonder why you would paint him? And then I remember the Bearer is fat, and I wonder why you don't just paint him instead. And I think about it and think about it. And I come up with ideas, and if they seem right I keep them."

Master Animal exhaled as if he had been punched in the stomach. Rose threw herself full-length onto the floor. "Forgive me, master," she said. She was shaking. Master Animal just stared at her.