“Which should have been sooner,” growled Mehrayn, displeased with the deep slice I had taken, yet unable to do aught for it. There was not even so much as a cloth about to bind it, and I had gestured his hands from me in impatience with the useless pain he gave. Mehrayn was displeased with my decision as well, yet he made no attempt to go counter to it.
“Your arrival was considerably better than no arrival at all,” said Aysayn as he came up to place a hand upon Mehrayn’s shoulder where he crouched before me. “To take you to task for being tardy would be the act of a fool. Shall we go now to seek out he who attempted to stand in my place? After we have settled with him you may tell me how you happen to be here at all.”
“Which is an interesting tale in itself,” nodded Mehrayn, rising to his feet. “I would suggest first, however, that you find cloth to cover your body with. We would not wish our mission of vengeance halted by cause of your being attacked by the fair ladies of this city. Their appetites for victors of the Sands are more than well known.”
“At another time, I would consider it my duty to grant them their demands,” laughed Aysayn with sparkling eyes. “As we have already taken enough time before setting off in pursuit, I will adopt your suggestion immediately. Chaldrin, remain here and see to those who were wounded, yourself and Jalav included. I will return as soon as I have tended to the last of this business.”
“Jalav, too, has business elsewhere,” said I, rising immediately from my crouch. “Should the male Aysayn find difficulty in agreeing to this, he may recall that he continues to hold sword in hand.”
“And Treglin will see to those who are wounded,” said Chaldrin, rising somewhat more slowly than had I. “This business was begun together, and will end the same.”
Mehrayn made no comment as Aysayn looked upon Chaldrin and myself, yet his expression was frowning confusion where Aysayn’s was frustrated indecision. And then the indecision melted away, and Aysayn stood the straighter.
“You both have been loyal in my defense, and I shall be equally loyal in return,” said he, looking now toward Chaldrin. “Jalav, continuing for the most part in good health, may join us. As for you, friend Chaldrin, despite your indomitable will, you are all but falling from your feet. I will not permit you to go longer untended, and you may look upon that as a command from Sigurr’s Shadow. I intend having you beside me during our victory feast, not beside Sigurr. Remain here till Treglin sends those who will aid you.”
He turned and strode away then, taking Mehrayn with him, disallowing all argument from an outraged Chaldrin. I followed quickly along to avoid any further discussion, relieved to see that we moved toward the crevasses leading to corridors rather than the knotted leather leading to the watchers’ steps. I would not have allowed myself to be left behind, yet climbing leather so high with no sheath for my sword and my left arm as it was would have been difficult.
Aysayn paused no longer than the moment it took to retrieve his body cloth and urge Treglin to see quickly to Chaldrin, then we led the large group of black-clad males from the caverns. Mehrayn also paused briefly, for he had found a cloth with which to bind my arm, and insisted upon doing so. I allowed the doing with a good deal of impatience, yet spoke no word which would have given him insult. The concern the male felt was clear, yet he had made no attempt to keep me from that which I felt was necessary. These males continued to fill me with confusion, but happily there was little time to ponder the point.
When we reached it, we saw that the large metal door from the Caverns stood well open. In the small cavern beyond the door were others of Mehrayn’s males, standing above the still forms of those who had brought us word from the attempted usurper. Mehrayn ordered them to remain at their post, then turned to Aysayn.
“We must offer our thanks to your enemy for having sent his men here,” said he, gesturing to those who lay sprawled upon the sand-covered rock. “Had they not put their leather in the door to keep it ajar, we would not have been able to enter.”
“We will thank him in the most appropriate manner possible,” returned Aysayn, taking a tighter grip upon his sword hilt. “Let us take torches and hasten to the doing of it.”
Many of the males took torches, and then we traversed the darkness to the steps which led upward. Up and up we climbed, each wrapped in the silence of thought, my own silence touched with pain and growing fatigue as well. The white cloth wrapped about my left arm was no longer white, and it was necessary to thrust the awareness of it from me. Had I allowed myself to dwell upon the wound, I might well have slid to the steps I climbed and not moved again for quite some time.
After an eternity of climbing, there were at last no further steps. Mehrayn led the way with Aysayn through the corridors of the large dwelling, gesturing back those black-clad males who attempted to step in our way. From one corridor to the next did we walk, gathering many who followed to see what we were about, at last appearing before the doors which led to the chambers of Aysayn and Ladayna. Those black-clad males who stood before the doors frowned at sight of Aysayn, yet Mehrayn and the others quickly explained the truth of the matter. Within reckid we were through the doors, led by those who had first attempted to bar our entrance, making straight for the doors to Aysayn’s apartment—and then through.
The chamber we entered was large and entirely untenanted, as were the next two which Aysayn led us through. Greater and greater anger gripped the male with each new untenanted chamber; he strode from door to door, throwing each open, halting only when he reached the fourth. Those of us behind him stepped up to see what the chamber contained, and Mehrayn snorted in disdain.
“At the least, Ladayna is now accounted for,” said he, faintly amused at the glare sent toward him by the female. She lay upon a low, padded platform to the left, much like an altar, secured to the thing by the silver chains she wore. Her long covering of black seemed more worn than fresh, her light hair hung in disarray, yet her arrogance appeared totally undiminished.
“Why do you merely stand there and gawk?” she demanded, apparently addressing all who stood in the doorway. “One of you release me immediately, and be quick about it.”
“Indeed,” murmured Aysayn, moving forward till he stood above the female, looking down upon her. “And for what reason would I have you released?”
“For the reason that I ask it,” said she, resting back upon her elbows as she gazed up at him with unconcern. “You know as well as I that you will not refuse me forever, Aysayn, no matter how angered you now fancy yourself to be with me. You will undoubtedly wish to use me later; wisest would be to release me now so that I might freshen myself for you.”
The smile the female sent upward to the male above her was thick with invitation and self-assurance, half insulting and deliberately so. Aysayn slowly folded his arms as she spoke, and at last nodded his head.
“You are entirely correct, Ladayna,” said he, a mildness in his tone. “I will indeed wish to use you later. Tell me: where has your confederate gone?”
“Him!” sniffed the female, shifting angrily so that her chains clinked. “I have not seen the fool since he chained me here, hind ago. For feyd he has kept me a virtual prisoner in these apartments, refusing to allow me to walk free since I told the guardsmen that you were not the Shadow. Without me, his schemes would have quickly gone to naught, and how does he repay me? Like this!”
She shook her arms to indicate her bound condition, and again Aysayn nodded.