Part 34 (1/2)

She glided forward, and folded Rhani in her arms. Margarite Kyneth was standing in the doorway, flanked by several slaves. ”Bath,” said Aliza, ”food, and sleep. Rhani, Margarite will escort you upstairs.” She kissed Rhani on the cheek and pushed her toward Margarite, who grasped her hand as one might grasp the hand of a child. ”Zed, I rejoice to see you whole. There is a room prepared for you next to Rhani's, in the family wing.”

”Aliza -- ” Zed began.

She lifted a hand, and stopped him. ”Zed Yago, if you thank me I shall be very displeased. There are rooms ready in the slaves' quarter for your slave and for your employee, if this will not offend him.” She looked at Corrios.

The big man muttered something incomprehensible, and shook his head.

Dana was very conscious that his clothes were torn and filthy. He wanted to thank the woman for letting him into the house.... Stars, he thought, I'm lightheaded. He leaned forward to catch his balance and found himself sitting on a step, stomach roiling. It's that d.a.m.n spray, he thought. I must have ingested some chemical.

Zed's hand on his neck shocked him into urgent sense. Blood pounded in his head. His legs trembled. ”I'll see you later,” said the commander. ”Don't go to sleep.” He went up the steps. Dana shut his eyes. He was tired. _Don't go to sleep_. Oh, G.o.d, he thought, not _now_. He forced himself to stand. One of the slaves helped him climb the steps. Inside the warm, fragrant house he sagged against a wall, hoping that Zed would forget, would collapse, would leave him alone. He had a lot to hide -- too much, he thought. The slave led him into a vaulted pa.s.sageway and then into a room. It was papered in white-and-green.

”This is yours,” he said. He showed Dana the washroom and then mercifully left. Dana sat on the bed. I think I should wash, he thought. But now that he was sitting it was hard to move. He felt his eyelids tugging downward. No, he thought, don't. You don't want to be unconscious when Zed shows up. _If_ Zed shows up. d.a.m.n him. Looking with distaste at the grime which caked his arms and his clothing, he let the cloak fall and levered himself to his feet.

The room Margarite brought Rhani to was large and pink. Rhani thought, I hate pink. She heard water running for a bath. Slaves moved in and out of the chamber, bringing blankets, clothing, food. The food smell made her mouth water, but when she tried to eat, she couldn't. She took off her clothes, and a slave brought her a robe, pink, furry, too big.

Margarite stalked in. ”Rhani, do you have the strength to speak to my father?” she said.

”Of course,” Rhani said, rising from the chair she was sitting in. Imre entered the room. Even in the middle of the night he contrived to look dapper, though his cheeks were bristly. ”Domni, thank you for receiving my household,”

she said.

Imre reached for her hands and held them. ”Rhani, don't be ridiculous,”

he said. ”Every house in Abanat is yours tonight.” His worldliness deserted him.

He said, ”My dear, I am -- we are -- we are all so terribly sorry!” She could appreciate the sentiment. But -- ”No,” she said. ”We are sad.

The people who made this fire happen will be terribly sorry.”

Imre's eyes grew startled for a moment; then he veiled the reaction with an expert's calm. Releasing her hands, he said, ”Apropos of that, the Abanat police called. An Officer Tsurada. She asked me to tell you they are holding a runaway slave of yours, as well as some other people.”

”Binkie.” Rhani's whole frame tightened.

”That was the name,” said Imre.

”Does Zed know?” Imre shook his head. ”Good. Don't tell him. Instruct the Abanat Police to hold him until further notice from me.” She heard herself, and flushed. ”Imre, I'm sorry. It's unforgivable of me to give you orders as if you were my secretary.”

He smiled at her. ”It is eminently forgivable. I'll be glad to speak to the Abanat police for you, and I won't tell Zed anything. Is there anything else you need?”

”Thank you, no.” A new house, she thought, a new world -- oh, Amri!

”Then we will leave you. You need not fear for your safety in this house.

The police have ringed it with a near-army, and there will be a member of my household guarding your door and Zed's door all night.”

Rhani bit back a comment on the efficacy of police armies. ”Does Zed know that? Better tell him, or that guard will be unpleasantly surprised if my brother decides to leave his room in the middle of the night.”

Imre said gently, ”My dear, it _is_ the middle of the night. But I will tell him.”

He left, with Margarite half a step behind him. Rhani went to bathe. The bathroom was huge, almost as large as the bedroom; it had stained-gla.s.s windows and gold-leaved fixtures. She scrubbed until her skin hurt. When she emerged from the giant sunken tub, a slave was waiting with towels, scents, powder.

”Leave them,” Rhani said. ”I can do it.”

”Yes, Domna.”

Cleansed of the stench of fire and death, she climbed naked and unscented into the roseate bed. The pink sheets were cool, delicious. She recalled curtains crawling with flame. Don't think of it, she told herself. The door of the room slid open. ”Rhani-ka?”

She lifted on an elbow. ”Zed? Come in, I'm awake.” Zed came in. He wore a dark green robe; his shoulders strained the seams. ”Whose clothes are you wearing?” she asked him.

”Imre's. You?”

”I think these must be Margarite's. You're all clean.” She lifted his hand to her cheek. He held it there. She could feel him trembling. He went to the washroom and she heard the water running.

”They like lavish washrooms in this house. My bathtub is big enough to dive in.” He wandered back, carrying a gla.s.s half filled with water. ”Here.” He held both hands out to her. On his upturned left palm were two black-and-white capsules.

”What is it?” Rhani said.

”Sleep.”

”I don't want it,” she said, drawing back.

”Take it. You need it, we both do. Take one. The other one's for me.”

She hesitated. Finally she took one, tossed it into her throat, and accepted the gla.s.s. Zed put the other capsule in his mouth. She swallowed, feeling the pill slide down her gullet: artificial oblivion she thought. How easy. She handed Zed the gla.s.s and watched his throat work. He put the gla.s.s on the mable table beside the bed. ”Why don't you lie down?” he said.

She lay back against the pillow. ”I'm not sleepy yet.”

He smiled. ”Don't worry. You will be.”

A worry hit her. ”I don't want to dream.” ”You won't.” He sat on the edge of the bed.

Rea.s.sured, she let her muscles unkink. After a while, she felt herself becoming remote. Good, she thought. But as the night closed around her, infinitely long, she managed to say, ”Zed-ka. Dana -- did he know?”

She felt him stir. ”I think not,” he said.

”I don't think so, either.”

His fingers stroked her cheek. ”Don't worry about it, Rhani-ka. Sleep now.” The bed moved as he rose. ”Good night, twin.”

”Good night, Zed,” she whispered.

In the hall, Zed nodded to the woman who stood, stun gun in hand, to the left of Rhani's door. She returned the greeting but her gaze did not move from watchful perusal of the hall and the shadowy treads of the stair. Zed tongued the unswallowed capsule from his mouth. He had one more thing to do before he could rest. He strode down the corridor and found a slave. ”Show me where the people who came with us are.”

He meant to move silently but his weariness betrayed him; his steps echoed down the slaves' hall. When he opened Dana's door, Dana was already awake. A lamp shone in one corner. The room was narrow, unadorned: it held a bed, a wardrobe, and little else. A shelf doubled as a desk. In a recess near the shelf stood a slat-backed chair. Zed pulled it close to the bed. Turning it around, he straddled it, and, crossing his arms, leaned his weight on the upright back.

Dana's hair was wet, and the room smelled soapy. One side of his face was puffed and bruised. Zed tapped his own cheek. ”Does that hurt?”

Dana shook his head. ”No, Zed-ka.”

He sounded shaken, but not in shock. Good. ”How did it happen?”