01 Taxilas Children

TAXILA'S CHILDREN
With an invitation like that, what could you do? Beside, Steve could see that Hara's eyes
were gleaming with delight. She seemed to have forgotten all her fears. Who was he to stand
in the way? Steve made one condition.
"We will not return until the morning of the festivity."
He had further and private pursuits connected with the subject of fecundity and he wasn't
going to be cheated out of them. It turned out that they would have two more days in their
idyllic setting. Hara told him that the festivity lasted the whole of one day, with a climax late
in the afternoon, just as the sun went down. In the evening there was a great deal of
merrymaking from which the virgins were excluded. It was their job to baby-sit the children
of those who could go to the party. It seemed hard lines on the virgins but Steve kept his
thoughts to himself. Hara would be able to attend the whole session for the first time and he
could take credit for that. She was like a child anticipating some magical event, willing the
time away, until the moment when the treat could start.
There was something about the arrangement that didn't ring true. Jabez had had such a
complete change of attitude. It was too abrupt to create ease of mind. Steve cursed himself for
being a fool in accepting the invitation but it was too late to back out now and he didn't think
he could have stopped Hara if he had tried.
Early in the dawn of the appointed day, they started on their way back to the community.
Hara was certain that mid morning was the right time to make an appearance. The
preparations would be coming to a climax and their arrival would be the signal for the formal
part of the festival to begin. Steve tried to get some more facts about the form the ceremony
took, she either didn't know or she didn't want to tell him.
There was a shout of exaltation when they stepped out into the clearing and walked to the
centre of it. They were surrounded by a crowd of animated and noisy men and women. It was
hard to recognise them as those who normally wore such sombre expressions. This Thane of
theirs was a shrewd character. By allowing them to let off steam, the one day he lost, paid
dividends for the rest of the year.
Steve wanted to keep Hara close to him, he was still suspicious of their motives. It proved
impossible, he was whisked off and found himself smothered in garlands of sweet smelling
blossoms. She was caught up with the chatter of women and girls, who all seemed very
interested in what she could tell them about being the consort of a godly messenger. Jabez
appeared, decked in a flowing white robe, his hair gleaming white in the bright light of their
star. Geniality oozed from every pore and benevolence from every gesture and smile.
"Hail, great Lord Steve-Holt, messenger of the Great Gods."
He cried out with a fine touch of drama.
"Hail, Lord of the Festival. We are greatly honoured and blessed by your presence."
Steve played along, maintaining a dignified silence and a benevolent smile. He inclined his
head in a slight bow.
It was lucky that he wasn't coy or introverted. He was escorted to the privacy of a
bathhouse, stripped of the floral tributes and his tunic and required to submit to being bathed
and anointed with smelly oils, which would have put the highest paid whore on Mars to
shame. He was garlanded once more with leaves and flowers, which had a certain inadequacy
in the wrong places. He decided to wear a broad smile and hope that nobody noticed.
He was lifted on to a crazy contraption comprised of branches and woven vines, which
were very hard on his unprotected backside. He had a regressive vision of what his Martian
friends would have made of the spectacle. It was too painful a thought, he switched himself
back to the present. He was carried through the village, grinning like an ape. A half dozen
attendants, better dressed than himself, provided the motive power.
The procession left the village and wound its way through the fields nearest to the
community, it was joined by the total population and many others from communities he didn't
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