"So that's how they managed it. They lied." The woman smiled mockingly. "Permit me. I am Fadema, Queen of Argon."
"Why am I here?"
"We had to remove you from Vorgreberg. You might have embarrassed us there."
"Who is us?"
"Madame." Another visitor entered.
"Shinsan!" Nepanthe gasped. She'd seen enough booty after the battle at Baxendala to recognize a Tervola. "Again."
The Tervola bowed. "We come again, Madame."
"Where is my husband?"
"He's well."
"You'd better send me home. You lied to me... I have Varthlokkur's protection, you know."
"Indeed I do. I know exactly what you mean to him. It's the main reason we brought you here."
Nepanthe raised merry hell.
"Madame, I suggest you make the best of your stay. Don't be difficult."
"What's happened to my husband? They told me they were taking me to him."
"I haven't the faintest idea," the Fadema said.
Nepanthe drew a dagger from within her bodice, stabbed at the Tervola. He disarmed her with ease. "Fadema, move the boy elsewhere. To keep her civil. We'll speak to you later, Madame."
Nepanthe shrieked. She kicked. She tried to bite. She tried threats and pleas.
Silent as death, the Tervola held her. The Fadema took Ethrian away. Once the woman was gone, he said, "Your honor and your son are our hostages. Understand?"
She did. All too clearly. "I understand. Varthlokkur and my husband... "
"Will do nothing. That's why you're my captive."
Nepanthe could not stifle a wan smile. He was mistaken. He didn't know the men he wanted to control. Mocker would run amok. Varthlokkur couldn't be blackmailed. He would accept his losses, if need be, and utterly destroy those who had inflicted them.
She was scared. With reason. "I'm your captive. Isn't it her city?"
"She seems to think so. Amusing, isn't it? One year. Behave and you'll be freed. Otherwise ... you know our reputation. Our language has no word for mercy." He turned briskly and marched out.
Nepanthe dropped onto her bed, softly let run the tears she'd held at bay during the interview. "What a fool I've been," she murmured. "I should've known when the letters said Bragi was trying to kill him." Was Mocker dead or alive? "Ssst!"
The Tervola had said he was well. What did that mean? Nothing, really. They were notorious liars. "Ssst!"
She tried to recall details of the Tervola's mask. Each mask was unique, they said. The time might come when she would want to identify this one. "Ssst!"
This time the sound registered. It came from the window. The window? It was eighty feet above nothing. She rose and approached fearfully.
There was a man out there, peering in at her. And he looked familiar. "What? Who are you? I... I know you."
"From Vorgreberg. My name is Michael Trebilcock. My friend and I followed you here."
She was astonished. Followed her here? All the way from Kavelin? "Why?"
"To find out what you were up to. Those men were the same sort who killed the Marshall's wife. And your brother."
My god, she thought. What was the matter with me? He was right. Exactly right. Scar fit the description perfectly. How could she have been so blind? She became extremely angry with herself. All her life she had had this knack for fooling herself.
The man who called himself Michael had a hard time calming her down. Finally, he said, "You're in no real danger while they think they can use you to blackmail the wizard and your husband."
"What are you going to do?"
"I thought about bringing you out the window. But they've got your son. You probably wouldn't go... "
"You're right." The gods themselves wouldn't pry her out of this place while Ethrian was being held here.
"There's nothing I can do for you, then. I can only go home and explain what happened. Maybe the Marshall can do something."
Not likely, she thought. Bragi might try, for friendship's sake, but Kavelin had very little diplomatic clout east of the Mountains of M'Hand. And even less with Shinsan. If he was smart he'd forget her and get on with Kavelin's business.
She leaned out the window. "The rain's stopped. It's getting light."
Trebilcock groaned. "We'll have to spend the day on the ledge out here."
They spoke again before he left. He promised to ride straight through. She gave Michael and his friend a kiss apiece. Poor sad fools. What chance had they? "Good luck."
"We'll be back. That's a promise." There was a playful gleam in Trebilcock's eye.
She couldn't stifle a smile. "You're bold. Remember, I'm a married lady."
Though in her heart she knew nothing would come of it, she could not kill her hope. For months there was a defiant bounce to her step which puzzled and even worried her captors.
She had given up on Michael Trebilcock. Surely he and his friend had fallen trying to get back to Kavelin. It was a miracle they had made it here. And if they did get home, what could be done? Not a damned thing.
Her nights were long and often sleepless. Insomnia had plagued her most of her life. It was worse now, aggravated by her concern for her son. They let her see him so seldom... He was always healthy when she did see him, if a little frightened and confused by their situation.
She paced, looked out at the night, paced. "You're a damned fool," she told herself for the thousandth time.
Something rattled and clanged outside. She leaned out her window, saw nothing but rain clouds... Wait. That looked like a big fire up on the north end of the island. She ducked back inside, stricken by deja vu.
Years ago, briefly, her brothers had established her as ruling princess of Iwa Skolovda. There had come a winter night when she had looked out and seen her city burning...
A fat shadow piled through the window. Metal went shang as a sword left its scabbard. A man grabbed her.
She panicked, started to scream. A hand covered her mouth.
"Yah! She bit me!"
"Nepanthe! Settle down!"
Several voices talked all at once. "Find a lamp."
"Damn!"
"Marshall, I'm going to clout her."
"Easy, son. Nepanthe, it's me, Bragi. Behave yourself."
She went to the floor with the man holding her, spitting and kicking. Someone struck a light. Someone else seized her hair and yanked her head back. Bragi? Here?
"Can you stay quiet now?"
The panic vanished as fast as it had appeared. She knew she was making no sense, but could not stop babbling.
"Take a minute," Bragi said. "Get yourself together."
She did get hold of herself, and told her story. She was not gentle with herself for her part. "What are you doing here, anyway?"
"I'm here because you are." Just like that. And she had been able to believe he was a threat to her husband.
"But... you're only one man. Three men." She told Michael Trebilcock, "Thank you. And you. Sorry I bit you. I was scared."
Aral Dantice sucked his injured hand. "No matter, ma'am."
Bragi said, "I didn't come alone. That racket out there is Kavelin's army kicking ass."
"Bragi, you're making a mistake. Argon is too much for you." But, oh, did she love him for coming. Just as much as she had hated him for doing things just as crazy for other friends.
Kavelin's Marshall Ragnarson proved her wrong. He hadn't come without sufficient strength. The army of Necremnos, Argon's great rival upriver, was on the attack as well. The Argonese couldn't withstand the twin hammer blows.
She stayed out of the way till she could no longer stand not knowing what was happening. Then she hunted Bragi down. His troops controlled most of the Fadem by then. Only one citadel remained untaken, and he was on the brink of assaulting that. "Have you found out anything?" she asked. "Anything at all?"