Part 6 (1/2)
”Does that go for us as well?” Garam asked with a grin, speaking more slowly than Fearin had. ”My men tell me those two are something to see, and since they are prizes of war... ”
”Prince Garam, they're more than prizes of war,” Fearin said with a sigh, forcing himself to slow down as he reached for a pitcher of fruit juice. They're the key to a door now standing closed in our path to ultimate victory. If the key becomes warped the door won't open, and that will be the end of our campaign. Are you willing to accept that for a short while of pleasure?”
”Not likely,” Garam answered with a snort, leaning back in his chair. ”Not even if they should beg.”
”I don't think you're likely to find them begging,” Fearin began, cup of juice on its way to hislips, but that was as far as he got. There was a sudden babble of voices from inside the palace, and then Ranander was half-backing toward us with two very angry young females following/chasing after him. The girls were the twins with golden hair and green eyes, and this time they wore gowns of green. They seemed to be enjoying all the screeching they were doing, but Ranander was obviously not feeling the same.
”Fearin, I've brought them,” he said hastily when he saw the man of Power. ”Now you can talk to them.”
I had to admire the way Ranander slid out of the line of fire, leaving Fearin as the prime target.
While the girls started in on their new victim their former guide came to our chair grouping and sat, trying very hard to turn invisible. He'd been completely out of his depth with the two pretty little girls, but his replacement was another story.
”That's enough!” Fearin shouted at them, the roar shocking them into silence. ”If you're both too young or too stupid to understand you're not in charge here, allow me to spell it out for you.
You will not complain, you will not give orders, and you will not throw tantrums. You'll behave yourselves and do as you're told, or you'll find yourselves housed in a dungeon cell rather than that suite you were given. Do you understand me?”
”Boors always manage to make themselves perfectly clear,” one of the girls answered haughtily with a sniff. ”Our father won't let you get away with harming us, you know, so you'd better release us immediately. We planned to go home today, and despite the rain there's no reason for us to change those plans.”
”Unless, of course, you really want to be defeated by our father's forces and delivered into his hands,” the second girl added, a cold, nasty smile on her face. ”We'd certainly enjoy that, since we'd then have a say in what was done to you. If you have any intelligence at all you'll-”
”Listen to me,” Fearin interrupted very slowly and deliberately, looking back and forth between the girls. ”Your father the prince is out of this and won't be getting back in. When he let the Chief Administrator of this city force him into turning you two over to the city, he washed his hands of you completely. He has a rich princ.i.p.ality but a very small one, and his forces couldn't even resist the numbers sent from here. I have an army that's already taken this city; it would roll right over you father's forces without even noticing them.”
”You don't seem to understand how important we are,” the first girl said in a simplified way that showed she knew she was speaking to an idiot. ”We've always been deferred to and taken care of properly because we've been important since the day we were born. Everyone has been concerned about us, including our father, so he would hardly ignore us now. He - ”
”You were given all that attention because of the prophecy,” Fearin plowed on, trying to keep from losing his temper. ”It was said on the day you were born that you could well be the cause of the downfall of this city in this season of your lives. Since there was a 'maybe' in the prophecy the leaders of this city argued for years over whether or not to have you killed. Your father knew he couldn't keep you alive if it was decided you should be killed, so he mistakenly had you pampered in all ways against that very dreadful time. Your father is a keen businessman and an excellent administrator, but hasn't a trace of backbone even when it comes to his own family.”
Both girls start to squawk indignantly over that, but Fearin overrode the interruption with greater volume.
”The new Chief Administrator of this city decided he didn't care for taking any chances and had you brought here,” he went on. ”If it looked like the prophecy was about to come true he would avoid his city's fate by having you immediately killed. If the time of the prophecy pa.s.sed without anything happening, he would simply return you to your father. With you here under his thumb he obviously thought he couldn't lose.”
”But he did lose,” the first girl pointed out with continuing indignation. ”And you've just proven how untrue your story is. If it was anything but lies they would have tried to kill us, and they didn't. Until your ruffians broke into our apartment no one bothered us at all.””That's because I set a guard on your apartment before we attacked,” Fearin countered, more annoyed than insulted. ”They tried to get through to kill you, but the guard didn't allow it. Both of you girls owe your lives to that young woman over there.”
He nodded in my direction, undoubtedly thinking he was giving me the credit I deserved, but he certainly must have forgotten who he was talking to.
”Her?” the second girl asked with a ladylike snort of derision, her eyes moving over me with distaste. ”If you ask me, she looks like a slave.”
”And since she's a slave, it's her place to do things for her betters,” the first girl said in agreement. ”That means we don't owe her anything, even if you aren't all lying about what happened. And right now I want some food, so slave, you come and fetch it for me.”
”And me,” the second girl chimed in with enthusiasm while Fearin lowered his head and rubbed at both eyes with the fingers of his free hand. Ranander had gone all indignant, Talasin was furious, Garam was disgusted, and even Lokkel wore a frown of disapproval. The only one who felt the least amount of amus.e.m.e.nt was me, and it wasn't a very nice amus.e.m.e.nt.
”Among the Kenoss, parents who try to spoil their children have those children taken away,” I remarked. ”A Life Seeker must understand very early that the world won't give in to his or her whims, and expecting it to happen could cost the young Seeker's life. Your father ruined you two as a salve for his conscience, and because of that you have my pity.”
”You're a slave and we're princesses, and you pity us?” the first girl came back with a laugh.
”Just imagine, Lia. The slave pities us.”
”That's enough,” Talasin said coldly over the tinkle of their joined laughter, putting his plate aside before standing. ”This woman over here isn't a slave, and my family, at least, would never shame itself by letting brats like you use the t.i.tle of princess. A princess is supposed to be better than other women, not so obviously less. You-”
”Please, Prince Talasin,” Fearin interrupted, and the girls looked startled again. They'd been dismissing everything Talasin had said - until they heard he was a prince. ”I know how you feel, but we can't waste the entire day on these two.”
”Even if we could spend the time, it would still be a waste,” Garam said, looking at the girls with dismissiveness in his lazy, insolent stare. ”They wouldn't know quality if it marched over them, not being as useless as they are. Don't spend your breath telling them the why of things, Fearin. Just give them their orders and send them back to their dolls.”
”Not quite yet, Prince Garam,” Fearin said, and this time I saw that he was using t.i.tles deliberately. The two girls couldn't quite decide how they should be feeling, but with a second prince speaking against them they certainly weren't happy. ”I want these young ladies to understand thoroughly that they aren't privileged guests. They're captives of war who will serve a purpose for us, but their purpose isn't all that important. If they give me any trouble at all I'll have them stripped and collared and sold as slaves, and then go looking for others to serve in their place. Do you understand me now, little girls? No one will be coming to your rescue, or even to avenge you. Behave yourselves or face the consequences. Ranander, take them back to their suite.”
The two girls were indignant over having been spoken to like that, but all they did was whisper to each other as Ranander hurried to guide them out again. Fearin had lied about their importance, but they didn't know that and the lie had been necessary. It might be enough to keep the girls from making trouble for a while, but I wouldn't have bet on it.
”At one time I would have sworn that only healing produced relief like this,” Lokkel said, sending a last disapproving glance toward the door the girls had left by. ”Are you able to tell us yet what we're meant to do with them, Fearin? Or at least how soon we'll be rid of them?”
”No to your first question, Lokkel,” Fearin said with his own sigh of relief. ”I can't tell you what their purpose is, but I can tell you they'll be traveling with us for a while. We'll have to watch them carefully, but we shouldn't have to a.s.sociate with them.”
”I wonder if the city's Chief Administrator knows yet that he guaranteed defeat for his city bybringing those two here,” Garam said with a laugh. ”If he'd left them with their father it would have been his city we'd have needed to take. Maybe I ought to go down to the cell he's in and explain that to him.”
”He's probably already figured it out,” Fearin answered, turning to the table and reaching for a plate. ”The prophecy had that 'maybe' in it because there was a chance the girls would either be killed or left where they were. As soon as he made his decision to bring them here the city's fate was sealed. He ... ”
Fearin's voice went on, but since I was no longer in the room I could no longer hear the words.
I'd slipped out without any of them noticing, needing to find a place of peace and quiet to cope with what I was feeling. Things were getting worse instead of better, and wasn't that a surprise.
I hurried through the palace corridors looking for a set of stairs, and once I found one I used it to get to the ground floor. From there I was able to rediscover the corridor I'd found that morning, one that led outside to the palace grounds near a moderately large gazebo. The thing had a roof but was open to the air all around the circle of it, and no one was likely to be using it in all this rain.
I made a dash through the downpour, but still ended up soaked to the skin before the gazebo roof was over me. The thing was far enough from the palace to insure the privacy of whoever used it, so I didn't really mind having gotten wet in reaching it. Privacy was what I wanted and needed, and as I sat cross-legged in the center of the floor it was also what I'd gotten.
Privacy to calm the twisting of my thoughts. As I brushed back wet hair with both hands, my eyes closed with the inner pain I felt. The way I was being treated by Talasin and Garam and Fearin and even Lokkel... How was I supposed to stand their kindness and support when I knew what would happen as soon as they found out what I was? Kindness would change to disgust, concern to fear - ”Why are you doing this to me, Diin-tha?” I whispered, really wanting to know. ”Why haven't you told them yet? Is my agony part of the deal you made with Bellid? Is he watching and chuckling, waiting until I get comfortable before stopping it cold? I did what you wanted me to and paid the price for doing it. Can't you just tell them now and get it over with?”
If I expected the G.o.d to be listening I was kidding myself. Or maybe he was listening and just didn't care to answer. I couldn't tell which, and then an interruption came that chased all those thoughts away. A big body vaulted over one low side of the gazebo, and startlement sent me to my feet before I remembered I had no weapon to draw. The new arrival was the barbarian who'd wanted to buy me when he thought I was a slave!
Chapter 8.
”Just be calm, girl, I'm not here to hurt you,” the barbarian said, glancing over his shoulder as though checking for pursuit. ”I'm here to help you get away.”
I blinked at the man as he straightened and shook wet blond air out of his eyes, and then I felt the urge to sigh.
”I think you'd better understand that you're making a mistake,” I began, intending to set him straight as fast as possible, but he shook his head and gestured with one hand.
”Don't let the thought of that lowlife who owns you bother you,” he said, disdain clear in his voice. ”I'll leave two pieces of silver here in your place, and that will have to satisfy him. If it doesn't, he can always come looking for me with a sword. I won't be that hard to find, at least not for him.”
”You're not hearing me,” I told the man, starting to feel annoyed. ”I said you're making a mistake and you are. You can't steal me for the same reason you couldn't buy me. I'm not - ”
”I'm not stealing you!” he insisted, highly indignant. ”If I were stealing you I wouldn't be leaving two silver pieces. What I'm trying to do is fulfill a prophecy, and you're the one theprophecy speaks about. Look, let's argue about it later. Right now we need to get out of here before those guardsmen I lost find me again.”
”There can't possibly be another prophecy involved in this,” I stated flatly, beginning to believe I'd been wrong about Diin-tha not paying attention. The G.o.d was watching all right, and undoubtedly laughing his head off. ”Listen to me, and understand what I'm saying. I'm not a slave, I'm not interested in any prophecies, and I'm not going anywhere with you.”
”You think you're not a slave because he took your collar off?” the barbarian asked, trying to be gentle as he wiped the water from his face. ”I'm sure he knows as well as I do that you can't escape from here, at least not alone. That's why I'm here to help you, and together we'll do it.
It's possible to get over the wall if you know where to climb, the wall around the palace and the wall around the city. We'll - ”