Helliconia: Helliconia Spring, Helliconia Summer, Helliconia Winter by Brian Aldiss

but did not dare to; otherwise the walls were undecorated. The sniffing woman knocked at oneof the doors. When response came, Sataal pushed it open and motioned Yuli in. Bowing, Yuli passed his mentor’s outstretched arm and marched into the room. The door closed behind him. That was the last he saw of Sataal.
    The room was furnished with detachable furniture of stone, covered with coloured rugs. It was lit by a double lamp standing on an iron holder. Two men sat at a stone table, and looked up without smiling from some documents. One was a militia captain, his helmet with its wheel insignia resting on the tabletop by his elbow. The other was a thin grey priest with a not unfriendly face, who blinked as if the mere sight of Yuli’s face dazzled him.
    ‘Yuli of the Outside? Since you have come this far, you have taken one step on the way to becoming a priest of Great Akha,’ the priest said in a reedy voice. ‘I am Father Sifans, and first of all I must ask you if you have any sins that destroy your peace of mind, to which you wish to confess.’
    Yuli was disconcerted that Sataal had left him so abruptly, without even a whispered farewell, though he understood that he must now give up such worldly things as love and friendship.
    ‘Nothing to confess,’ he said sulkily, not looking the thin priest in the eye.
    The priest cleared his throat. The captain spoke.
    ‘Youth, look at me. I am Captain Ebron of the North Guard. You entered Pannoval on a sledge teamed by asokins called Gripsy’s team. It was stolen from two renowned traders of this city named Atrimb and Prast, both of Vakk. Their bodies were found not many miles from here, with spears through them, as if they had been done to death in their sleep. What say you about this crime?’
    Yuli stared at the floor.
    ‘I know nothing of it.’
    ‘We think you know everything … Had the crime been committed within the territory of Pannoval, it would carry the penalty of death. What do you say?’
    He felt himself shaking. This was not what he had expected.
    ‘I have nothing to say.’
    ‘Very well. You cannot become a priest while this guilt lies onyou. You must confess the crime. You will be shut up until you speak.’
    Captain Ebron clapped his hands. Two soldiers entered and grasped Yuli. He struggled for a moment, to test their strength, had his arms sharply wrenched, and allowed himself to be led away.
    Yes, he thought, the Holies – full of priests and soldiers. They’ve got me properly. What a fool I am, a victim. Oh, Father, you abandoned me …
    It was not even as if he had been able to forget about the two gentlemen. The double murder still lay heavy inside him, although he always tried to rationalise it by reminding himself that they had attempted to kill him. Many a night, as he lay on his cot in Vakk, staring up at the distant vault, he saw again the gentleman’s eyes as he sat up and tried to pull the spear from his entrails.
    The cell was small and damp and dark.
    When he recovered from the shock of being alone, he felt cautiously about him. His prison was featureless except for an ill-smelling gutter and a low shelf on which to sleep. Yuli sat on it and buried his face in his hands.
    He was given plenty of time to think. His thoughts, in the impenetrable darkness, took on a life of their own, as if they were the figments of delirium. People he knew, people he had never seen, came and went about him, engaged in mysterious activities.
    ‘Mother!’ he exclaimed. Onesa was there, as she had been before her illness, slender and active, with her long serious face that readily broke into a smile for her son – though it was a guarded smile with lips scarcely parted. She bore a great bundle of twigs on her shoulder. A litter of little horned black piglets walked before her. The sky was a brilliant blue; both Batalix and Freyr shone there. Onesa and Yuli stepped along a path out of a dark larch forest and were dazzled by the brightness. Never had there