Finally, Emriana threw her weight as hard as she could toward Jaleene, causing the chair to tip once more, hanging in the air on two legs, and her center of balance shifted enough. The chair continued over, and it would have fallen completely sideways, had it not come to rest against Jaleene's chair. Emriana's hand and Jaleene's were close enough that they could touch.
"Mmph!" Emriana said, reaching for Jaleene's wrist.
She didn't have a lot of room to work, as her own arm was lower than her handmaiden's, but she had enough play in her bonds that she could begin to work on the knot that held Jaleene immobile. Desperately, ignoring the ache growing in her fingers, Emriana pulled at the knot trying to loosen it and free the woman. At first, the tie wouldn't budge at all. The girl delivered a number of frustrated grunts and moans as she worked on it. Then, slowly, she began to feel some progress. Frantically, sensing that at any moment Denrick could return, she jerked at the knot, feeling it slip little by little. Suddenly, Jaleene was able to slip her arm free.
"Oh, thank goodness!'' the woman said, reaching over to untie her other hand. "If Waukeen is with us, perhaps we can slip out through the porch and into the garden. You'll have to show me how to sneak, of course, but-"
"Mmph!" Emriana screamed in exasperation, wanting Jaleene to stop her prattling and pay attention. "Mmph," she repeated, wiggling her own arm.
Please, she thought, free me first.
Jaleene stared at Emriana like the girl was being intractable.
"Yes, of course I'll untie you next. I'm not going to leave you, you know."
Emriana rolled her eyes and gave the best exasperated sigh she possibly could with a gag wedged into her teeth.
"Mmph!" she ordered, wiggling her arm again.
"Oh, all right, don't get into a snit," Jaleene grumbled, reaching over and working on Emriana's knot. "I thought it would be better to get me completely free, first, so I could perhaps get away and get help if he came back before both of us were undone, but goodness gracious, you still act like the spoiled child sometimes."
As soon as Emriana was able, she jerked her arm free and reached up to tug the sour-tasting gag out of her mouth.
"Hush," was all she said as she took hold of the opal pendant Vambran had given her.
Closing her eyes and concentrating, she envisioned her brother's face and, when it was clear in her mind, she felt a stronger connection between herself and the mercenary.
"Vambran, help me! Denrick has taken us prisoner! They have the house guards on their side. Jaleene and I are tied up in my rooms-" and the connection shifted somehow, and Emriana knew that the rest of her plea was not getting through.
Almost immediately, though, she heard her brother's voice, as though he was sitting beside her, talking to her in a soft tone.
Hang on, Em. We're coming. Stay strong.
And that was it.
Except that it wasn't. Just as Emriana was letting go of the stone and trying to start untying her other arm, Denrick returned.
"Hey!" he shouted, seeing that his prisoners were about to get free. He charged across the room as Emriana and Jaleene both struggled frantically to jerk free of the last bonds. He was by far the quicker. Grabbing at Emriana's free wrist in his painfully strong grip, Denrick jerked her hand away from the knot she'd been struggling with and pinned it down against the chair arm again, righting the seat in the process. Then he got his face right down in hers.
"I warned you," he said. "You just won't listen. If you're not careful, I'll let them do to you what I had them do to Jithelle."
Emriana swallowed hard as she tried to lean back, away from her captor's vicious gaze. His eyes told her he was not lying.
"I was afraid you wouldn't be able to find me if I left the porch," Kovrim explained as the entire group of people, including the platoon of mercenaries from the Sapphire Crescent, headed closer to the Matrell estate. "But I didn't see any choice. Those were some of Grozier Talricci's men, and they were sniffing me out pretty well."
"Well, we did find you," Xaphira said, "and Vambran here is going to get us inside the estate, right?"
Vambran nodded grimly. Having heard Kovrim's full tale-Houses Matrell, Talricci, and Pharaboldi were all pooling their resources to fund a professional army and launch an attack on one of the other city-states in old Chondath-he was more fretful than ever about getting back to their family. If Dregaul was actively courting the other two Houses, that meant he was aware of a great many things that he hadn't been letting on. And the fact that Grand Trabbar Lavant was keeping the whole alliance a secret seemed to suggest that not everything was on the up and up, which Vambran obviously already knew. It was then just a matter of how hard the heads of the three Houses were going to work to keep everything quiet. How many more deaths would there be before all was said and done?
At the same time, the thug leader's cryptic words and maddening disappearance were also weighing heavily on the lieutenant's mind.
How could he know about it? Vambran wondered. And what did he mean about already working for him?
The thought gave Vambran a cold sensation in the pit of his stomach.
"Vambran," Xaphira said. "Are you listening to us?"
"Hmm?" the mercenary said, coming out of his thoughts. "I'm sorry, I was thinking. What did you ask me?"
"We were just discussing the fact that we don't really know the state of things at the house," Kovrim said. "It might behoove us to let you go in first, playing innocent, and see just what's happening."
"No. Remember," the lieutenant replied, "the leader back there admitted that the three heads of the households were gathering to seal the deal. And with his escape, I fear we may be too late to-"
Vambran, help me! Denrick has taken us prisoner! They have the house guards on their side. Jaleene and I are tied up in my rooms-
Vambran nearly stumbled as the words echoed in his mind.
"Hang on, Em. We're coming. Stay strong," he replied. To all the puzzled faces around him, he said in a tight voice, "All hell's broken loose. Em's been taken captive by Denrick Pharaboldi. The house guards have been turned. Dregaul may be part of it. We have to hurry."
And he took off in a near sprint.
"Vambran, wait." Xaphira called from behind. "Now, more than ever, we need a plan."
When he wouldn't stop, she called after him, "If you just go barging in there without knowing what's going on first, you're only going to risk their lives."
The mercenary officer closed his eyes and grimaced as he slowed his pace. He knew his aunt was right. He just couldn't stand the thought of delaying any longer. He stopped in the middle of the street and hugged his own arms, bending over and breathing hard, trying to regain some composure.
If only I hadn't run off, he berated himself. If only I had stuck around long enough to get a better read on Denrick. Damn it!
He mentally screamed, punching at the air in frustration and pacing around in a circle.
The rest of Vambran's companions caught up to him. Xaphira took him by the shoulders, forcing him to stop pacing and look at her.
"Stop blaming yourself," she told him, looking him directly in the eyes. "You have done everything possible to fight this, and now, whether you realize it or not, you're in a better position to put a final stop to it once and for all."
"This is where your military training must come to the forefront," Kovrim said. "Now is the time to put your skills and resources to work. We can surprise them, but only if we keep our heads."
"They don't know we're coming," Horial said as he and Adyan gathered in with the rest of them. "They think only you're likely to come back."