He turned quickly then and left the room, and the door enclosed me in darkness. Not a glint of light was there anywhere, and the heavy metal of the chain increased in weight. I whimpered then, like a hadat in a hunter’s trap, and sank to the filthy straw and damp stones. For what reason I had been put in that place I knew not, yet what reasons are required by city males for what they do? I thought of Mida, but dared not call to her, for fear that another would hear in her stead. I knew then that I must not die in that place, for my soul would then be forever lost, though my life sign still hung about my neck. The damp and filth of the floor sickened me, but there was nothing else to stand or sit upon. My flesh crawled and chilled at the contact. However I was war leader of the Hosta of the Midanna, and in the midst of the darkness, I held my head high and awaited the return of the hunter.
5
The High Seat—and a price is set
For some time I had been in the darkness, though how long a time I knew not. For a space, there had been nothing and no one, a silence to match the darkness. I watched the darkness, and listened to the silence, and then I slept, my back against the wall, the chains holding me fast. I awoke to a small scraping sound, and then my leg was bitten by something with the smell of animal to it. Quickly I struck at the sound, causing the thing to squeal in pain and fear, and then I struck again and again, till no further sound came from it. With groping hands I found the limp body, broke its neck to be sure it was dead, then fed upon it, using its blood to replace that which flowed from my leg where I had been bitten.
The chains with which I was bound kept me from moving more than a short pace from my original position, yet I was able to reach the water which ran from the walls on my right. It took many handfuls to slake my thirst, and then I brought a bit of the water to my leg, where the unseen animal had bitten me. The bite no longer bled, but it throbbed somewhat with pain, so I pressed the water upon it to draw the pain away. In that realm of eternal darkness, it was no surprise that the pain remained.
A time later, a scream broke the silence. I knew the sound of Comir’s voice, and called to her that she was not alone—and reminded her that she was yet a warrior. Her faint reply of obedience barely came to me; then there were no further screams. As warriors we sat within the darkness and silence, awaiting whatever would come.
Six times I lured unseen animals to me so that I might feed, before there came the sound of steps beyond the door. Metal was slid aside, the door opened, and quickly I squeezed my eyes shut against the brilliant glare of a torch. Footsteps neared me, my arms were once again held, and the cuffs of metal were removed from my wrists, only to be replaced with smaller, smoother metal as my arms were forced behind me. Next was the collar about my throat opened, that, too, being replaced by another, smaller collar of the same sort. The cuffs about my ankles were opened, though not replaced, and roughly I was taken from the room to the space beyond the door. I heard the sound of chain and saw a male in leather and metal bring a chain to the collar about my throat. The chain barely touched the collar and was held there, and the weight of the chain added itself to the collar.
The male then moved aside, and I saw, the chain also running to them, Fayan and Comir, facing from me, their arms, too, behind their backs. Presently the chain moved again, and I turned a bit to see Larid added behind me. When she and Binat were secured, the males, one holding the chain before Comir, one to either side of us, a fourth with a torch, moved in the direction we faced, pulling and pushing us with them. He with the torch was left at the large door, and then we retraced our steps to the air above.
The dimness of the uppermost space was not so great that a torch was needed to see the door in the wall to the right, yet was there one in a sconce beside it. The door was opened by him who held the chain, and the brightness within again caused pain to my eyes. We stumbled along a wide, well lit way, whose walls were smooth, pinkish stone, and which was floored by smooth, even squares of stone of a different sort. This way led to an open doorway without a door, and then did we tread a cloth of many colors, and see bright blue silks upon the pinkish stone of the walls. Males we now passed, and slavewomen as well, all of whom moved from us with disdain, for surely we brought the stink of the depths with us.
In a matter of a short time, we came to another doorway, this one thrice the height and width of the others seen. No door hung within its dimensions, entrance instead being barred by two hands of males in leather and metal, armed with spears as well as swords. Between these males we were led, to the room beyond, and never had I seen so large a room. Fully forty paces by forty must it have been, its floor so smooth and bright as to seem all of a single piece taken from the skies. Blue silk hung upon its walls in careless folds, more silk than would be needed to clothe every warrior of every clan of the Midanna. Many males stood about in this room, though the greater number of them wore naught of leather and metal. These males looked upon us as we passed, with nearly as many expressions as there were males, and well. I knew we made a fine sight—unkempt, filthy of skin as well as of clan colors, unsteady from such long confinement, marked here and there by the unseen animals of the depths. A fine sight indeed were we Hosta of the Midanna. However we walked with heads high, knowing we were warriors.
At the far wall of this very large room stood a high platform, so high that a hand of broad steps were needed to reach its top. Perched atop this platform was a seat not unlike that of the Keeper, Rilas, save that it had no gandod to move it about. Toward this platform we were drawn, toward the male who sat upon the Keeper’s seat, a male of gigantic proportions, yet not in height. Pale was his hair, and light were his eyes, but his skin fell in folds about him, much like those of his covering which reached to his toes. He wore bright stones upon his fingers and about his neck, and a slavewoman knelt beside his seat, holding a large square of wood from which he chose portions of meat and ripe fruits. Another slavewoman, to his other side, held a square of wood containing a tall pot, from which, presumably, he drank. The juices of his feeding dripped down the sides of his mouth, yet his covering was unstained, as a blue cloth lay upon his chest to catch the drippings. Before this gross creature, then, were we brought, save that we were not to mount the steps. We stood in a line before him, Fayan and Comir to my right, Larid and Binat to my left, the males who had brought us to either side of the line, and one behind. He upon the seat continued to feed, and looked not once upon us.
More than a quarter of a hin passed so, and then did the gross male cease his feeding. His hands took the cloth from upon his chest, wiped themselves and his mouth, then threw the cloth toward the slavewoman who held the food. His light, narrow eyes came to us, and immediately were we seized by the males who had led us there, and forced to our knees by the chain and collars about our throats.
“They do not bow their heads,” said the male upon the platform, in a voice much deeper than one would expect. “Though they kneel to the High Seat, they do not bow their heads. Are these they who would take from the High Seat his rightful proportion?”
“Indeed, Blessed One,” came a voice from the left, and Pileth stood there, two steps above the level upon which we knelt. Tall and straight did he stand upon the step, his head held high, his gaze for none save him who sat upon the seat. “They are also those who took the lives of three of your Guardsmen,” said Pileth. “I respectfully suggest that they be executed at once.”