|
He would be brought down to the courtyard later, so that all those citizens of his city and its distrada who wished to do so, and who were willing to brave the recording eyes of the Barbadian mercenaries posted outside, could file past his bier and drop blue-silver leaves of the olive tree in the single crystal vase that stood on a plinth in the courtyard even now
The ordinary citizens, weavers, artisans, shopkeepers, farmers, sailors, servants, lesser merchants, would enter the palace laterThey could be heard outside now: gathered to hear the music of the old Duke's mourning ritesThe people drifting into the courtyard in the meantime were the most extraordinary collection of petty and high nobility, and of accumulated mercantile wealth that Devin had ever seen in one place
Because of the Festival of Vines, all the lords of the Astibar distrada had come into town from their country estatesAnd being in town they could hardly not be present to see Sandre mourned, for all that many or most of them had bitterly hated him while he ruled, and the fathers or grandfathers of some had paid for poison or hired blades thirty years ago and more in the hope that these same rites might have taken place long since
The two priests and Adaon's chanel white watches priestess were already in their scats, seeming, in the manner of clergy everywhere, to be privy to a mystery that they collectively shielded from lesser mortals with the gravity of their repose
Menico's company waited in a small room off the courtyard that Tomasso had ordered set aside for their useAll the usual amenities were there, and some that were far from usual: Devin couldn't remember seeing blue wine offered to performers beforeAn extravagant gesture, thatHe wasn't tempted though; it was too early and he was too much on edgeTo calm himself he walked over to Eghano who was lazily drumming, as he always seemed to be, on a tabletop
Eghano glanced up at him and smiled"It's just a performance," he said in his soft sibilant voice"We do what we always do
Devin nodded, and forced a smile in returnHis throat was dry thoughHe went to the side-tables, and one of the two hovering servants hastened to pour him water in a gold and crystal goblet worth more than everything Devin owned in the worldA moment later Menico signaled and they went out into the courtyard
The dancers began it, backed by hidden strings and pipes
If Aldine and Nieri had burned love candles late last night it didn't show, or if it did, only in the concentration and women's tank watch replica intensity of their twinned movements that morning
Sometimes seeming to pull the music forward, sometimes following it, they looked, with their thin, whitened faces, their blue-grey tunics and the jet-black gloves that hid their palms, truly otherworldlyWhich was as Menico had trained his dancers to beNot inviting or alluring as some other troupes approached this dance of the rites, nor a merely graceful prelude to the real performance, as certain other companies conceived itMenico's dancers were guides, cold and compelling, towards the place of the dead and of mourning for the deadGradually, inexorably, the slow grave movements, the expressionless, almost inhuman faces imposed the silence that was proper on that restive, preening audience
And in that silence the three singers and four musicians came forward and began the "Invocation" to Eanna of the Lights who had made the world, the sun, the two moons and the scattered stars that were the diamonds of her diadem
Rapt and attentive to what they were doing, using all the contrivances of professional skill to shape an apparent artlessness, the company of Menico di Ferraut carried the lords and ladies and the merchant princes of Astibar with them on a ruthlessly disciplined cresting of gucci watch bands sorrowIn mourning Sandre, Duke of Astibar, they mourned, as was proper, the dying of all the Triad's mortal children, brought through Morian's portals to move on Adaon's earth under Eanna's lights for so short a timeSo sweet and bitter and short a season of days
Devin heard Catriana's voice reaching upwards towards the high place where Alessan's pipes seemed to be calling her, cold and precise and austereHe felt, even more than he heard, Menico and Eghano grounding them all with their deep lineHe saw the two dancers, now statues in a frieze, now whirling as captives in the trap of time, and at the moment that was proper he let his own voice soar with the two syrenyae into the space that had been left for them to fill, in the middle range where mortals lived and died
So Menico di Ferraut had shaped his approach to the seldom-performed Full Mourning Rites long ago, bringing forty years of art and a full, much-traveled life to the moment that this morning had becomeEven as he began to sing, Devin's heart swelled with pride and a genuine love for the round, unassuming leader who had guided them here and into what they were shaping
They stopped, as planned, after the sixth stage, for their own sake and their listeners'Tomasso had spoken chanel pearls with Menico beforehand, and the nobles' progression past Sandre's bier would now take place upstairsAfter, the company would finish with the last three rites, ending on Devin's "Lament," and then the body would be brought down and the crowd outside admitted with their leaves for the crystal vase
Menico led them out from the courtyard amid a silence so deep it was their highest possible accoladeThey reentered the room that had been reserved for their useCaught up in the mood they themselves had created, no one spokeDevin moved to help the two dancers into the robes they wore between performances and then watched as they paced the perimeter of the room, slender and cat-like in their graceHe accepted a glass of green wine from one of the servants but declined the offered plate of foodHe exchanged a glance but not a smile, not now, with AlessanDrenio and Pieve, the syrenya-players, were bent over their instruments, adjusting the stringsEghano, pragmatic as ever, was eating while idly drumming the table with his free handMenico walked by, restless and distractedHe gave Devin a wordless squeeze on the arm
Devin looked for Catriana and saw her just then leaving the room through an inner archwayTheir glances met for a second, then she went white chanel purse |