Part 5 (1/2)
The strange people twittered a themselves for a moment, then the one who seemed to be their spokes-uest You shall ride with me”
”I thank you” She reached up to reat, and he was slender, but he was inhu He took her beneath her arms and lifted her easily to sit before him
With incredible speed the dwarfs had dis off the joints One bore the lyre-horned head and another the hide, and only the hooves and a pile of offal reroup of hunters set off, taking a wide trail that led uphill Alcuina sat with her spine straight, seeking to es in her life She was ashaed condition, now little more than near-nudity But shethat it would only make her look more helpless
”Who are you?” she asked the man she rode with ”What manner of people are you?”
”I am Hasta, and we are Getae, the ht this an odd naue?”
”Many of us speak the tongues of reat arts need such facility with speech” As if to confirm this, another rider drew even with theh husky, was fereat distress, my dear When we reach the castle I shall find you more suitable - , Be
”Alcuina,” Hasta said, ”this is my sister, Sarissa She is mistress of many arts”
The two smiled at her She did not like the way they smiled, but she had never seen such faces, so how could she kno to read their expressions?
”And this,” Hasta said, gesturing grandly, ”is our home”
Alcuina looked up the reat hall she had seen and- had wanted to avoid It was reenish-black stone, and she cooid see no joints between blocks It was as if the took structure had been carved frole, massive Hock of stone The doorway and the ere rangely irregular, their outlines wavery and vague It 8485
looked rown there of itself than a thing built by huate way, its stone carved with peculiar and disturbing figures Alcuina first stared at them, then looked quickly away More of the dwarfs appeared to lead away the ate, but instead they had ridden into a gigantic rooh on the walls Her entire garth would have fitted into the rooh a wide door The door was flanked by crouching, sculpted figures that bore the lintel of the doorway upon their tortured backs The wholewas oppressive and daunting
Taking her hand, Sarissa led Alcuina through mosaic-decorated halls and sumptuously furnished chambers until they came to a door of richly-carved wood, which opened for them without huan to strip off her colorful, leather garments ”Come, the bath is this way”
She led Alcuina into a roorant steam with a pool in its center The room, indeed the entire castle, felt warm despite the apparent absence of fires
Sarissa had now rearments, and Alcuina saw that, in spite of her facial resemblance to her brother and the others, Sarissa was indeed a woes, to which her outer clothing had been attached It covered nothing but instead framed and emphasized all her feminine attri-butes Her body was so voluptuous that Alcuina felt like an adolescent girl beside her
”Re to peel the rags fro body ”You shall feel far better after a bath”
Hesitantly Alcuina complied She was a little appre-hensive of the pool In her ho had been accomplished in a sweat-room, with hot stones, buckets of water, and a stiff brush Bathing with another woarth had bathed together, but actually sub herself in die water was a decidedly outlandish idea
Sarissa freed a few buckles and her harness dropped to the floor, to join the re For ain her flaunted womanhood that Alcuina wanted to draw herself up in reply, yet a strange timidity filled her To her surprise she found herself childishly stretch-ing out a tre hand With a cruel smile Sarissa took the proffered hand possessively and drew Alcuina down a series of ss, it leached the sting fro of well-being re-placed the alien sensations She had never felt anything so pleasurable Sarissa seated her on a stone ledge so that the water was just below the level of her chin
Sarissa clapped her hands, and such was Alcuina's state of lazy contentment that she was not disturbed when severaltrays of gold and silver As one of the oblet of red wine she noticed that he wore a wide collar of plain iron, such as some northern peoples put upon their bondsmen
”Are these thralls?” Alcuina asked dreamily
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”Slaves,” Sarissa confir for our convenience and pleasure”
Alcuina saw a lovely girl whose back was covered with the red weals of a recent lashi+ng She pointed to the girl ”Are they often rebellious?”
Sarissa shrugged ”Perhaps Or perhaps so” She sipped at her oine ”I may have done it myself, but I do not recall it”
At another tiht have been horrified at this state except an idle interest She raised a pale, shapely leg, hardly aware of the other's s, and examined it The welts left by the carnivorous plant were quickly fading to faint pink one entirely She ate froe was taken from her ravenous appetite, and soon the whole world took on a sort of rosy, restful glow
The tomen left the bath and were dried by slaves with thick, soft towels Never had Alcuina dreamed of such luxury This seemed to be the correct way for a queen to live She wondered how she had lived for so long without this Still nude, they returned to the outer cha-place The bed it contained was larger than the bower that Alcuina shared with her maids at home ”Noe must have you properly attired,” Sarissa said
She fired off words Alcuina could not understand, and the slaves began to open chests and bring forth scarves and jewels and cosmetics
Under Sarissa's direction, Alcuina was adorned and painted, her nails lacquered and her lips stained red
She was draped with necklaces and bracelets and anklets and waist-chains of gold studded with gen than the massive northern jewelry she was used to
”Now, look at yourself, lass
Alcuina's eyes widened at the transforht in her appearance
She was richly draped with precious ht her great beauty Soh In an abstracted fashi+on she realized that, except for waist-chains and a large, glowing red jewel in her navel, her body was still entirely bare Every bit of the jewelry seened and placed to frame her full breasts and rounded buttocks, to ehs and hips She appeared more naked than if completely unclothed, and every inch of her was flaunted brazenly
”Perhaps,” Alcuina said hesitantly, ”soarments now?”
”Not necessary,” Sarissa said ”Just onefrom a slave and fastened it wound Alcuina's neck So slow had Alcuina's reactions become that it was some time before her eyes widenedhorror at the broad iron collar that had been clamped wad her slender white neck
”My new toy,” Sarissa purred
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Seoea Oie Bell-Scorpion ft Dow can you be sure of your direction in this ac-cursed place?” deh the shi+fting Land for three days, and its bewildering changes of terrain had the Cimmerian utterly baffled
”The first lesson in this place,” Rerin said, ”is never to trust the evidence of your senses Here the voices of the trees and the anio”
”I would not trust these trees to tell me my name, even if I could understand their speech!” Idly he lopped a branch from a nearby tree with his sword ”Trees that eat people should not be trusted”
Rerin laughed: a rare thing for hie that plants should eat men? After all, in the world we cos not enjoy a turnabout here?”
”It is not natural,” Conananimals I can put up with I have even encountered 88cannibals, but plants should stay rooted properly in the earth, not go about in search of prey” They had spent wakeful nights avoiding the alar Land