“Chama, forgive me!” he blurted, confusion roughening his voice. “It was not my intention to cause you such agitation! I regret the pain and the—the—”
He stopped in total confusion, shaking his head hard in an effort to clear the mud of his thoughts, but he’d said enough. After a brief experience of shock, Aesnil was flooded with delight and triumph-enhanced only slightly by me. The Chama had the victory she’d wanted over a denday, and his death was now absolutely unnecessary.
“At last you come to your senses, Lerran!” she crowed, a laugh bubbling in her words. “I, your Chama, accept your apology, and direct you to return to your city and obey my commands. Guards! Show him out.”
Two guardsmen came to move Lerran toward the doors, and he needed the assistance. He was having trouble understanding where he was and what was happening, but the confusion wasn’t likely to last very much longer. Once he was out of my area of influence, his mind would begin to clear itself. As soon as he was out of sight a hubbub of excited conversation broke out in the room, and Aesnil leaned down to put a hand on my arm.
“His apology was your doing,” she said, looking at me with all the pleasure and happiness in her mind. “You are magnificent, and worth whatever I have given you. You may be sure there will be other gifts as well.”
“The Chama is more than kind,” I smirked, letting smugness come through in my voice. “Her pleasure is my pleasure.”
Aesnil laughed at the triteness of the remark, then went back to listening to complaints. The court people hadn’t heard the exchange between us, but they were still looking at me in a very odd way. I was glad Aesnil hadn’t made any general announcements about what I could do, and I’d have to try to convince her to continue the silence. It would help neither one of us if her people attacked me as a witch or something.
Another couple of hours dragged by in boredom, and then there was a sudden stir all around as a man pushed his way through the people waiting and watching, and made his way toward the platform Aesnil and I sat on. He was a really big man, well made and completely confident, dressed in haddin and swordbelt and, strangely enough, still wearing his sword The guardsmen around the room hesitated in an odd way and looked toward Aesnil, who was radiating waves of fear and frustration despite the brightly interested smile on her face. The big man stopped about ten feet away from us, gave Aesnil a cursory glance of approval, then shifted his eyes to me.
“Ah, how thoughtful of you, Aesnil,” the big man said, his voice deep and carrying despite the fact that he spoke softly. “You have found a rella wenda for me, to console me till you wear my bands. Shall I take her now?”
“Terril is mine!” Aesnil snapped, rising to the bait the big man had dangled. “Never would I find a woman for you. Never!”
“For the reason that you wish me for yourself.” The man grinned, pleased he’d gotten a rise out of the Chama. It had faintly surprised him that I hadn’t gotten huffy over his comment, but he couldn’t know that I was able to tell he wasn’t serious. “As you are so eager to have me, let us dispense with the delay granted you by the council of dendayy and see to the matter now. I, too, am eager.”
“Eagerness for you is a flaw I do not suffer from,” Aesnil told him with a grating purr designed to annoy the man. “And now that I think on it, I fail to see any reason for allowing the council of dendayy a say in whose bands I shall wear and when. The decision in such a matter should be mine alone. For what reason are you here, Cinnan? Merely to bedevil me as always?”
“I need no reason to visit with she who will soon be my belonging,” the man Cinnan answered, his easy grin still in place. “That the Council of dendayy is disturbed is not yet my concern—though it soon shall be. As it happens, I heard of the deep agitation Lerran suffered from when he left your presence, and thought I might inquire as to what was done to him. There is little wisdom in antagonizing one’s supporters, Aesnil.”
“I need no words of advice from one such as you, Cinnan,” the Chama answered coldly, looking down at the man imperiously. “Lerran was taught a lesson which you and the other dendayy would do well to learn as welclass="underline" I am not a woman to be trifled with. And as for the rest of your babble—by what right do you speak of me as one who will soon be your belonging?”
“By right of council law, wenda,” Cinnan sighed, sounding as though he had gone through all that many times before. “A Chama will always rule in our land, yet her decisions must be tempered with the advice of one chosen by the council to band her. I am he chosen to band our present Chama, therefore do I speak as I do.”
“Chosen, perhaps, yet not chosen by me,” Aesnil said, leaning back among her pillows again. “I do not care for the choice made by the council. Leave here, Cinnan, and do not return, for I shall have no part of you.”
“The choice is not yours to make, wenda.” He shrugged, more than a touch of compassion in his mind. “I will do my utmost to see that you do not regret the council’s choice, yet you may not deny me.”
“I do deny you,” Aesnil came back, a flash of anger in her mind. “I have commanded that you leave. Will you obey?”
Cinnan shrugged again as he folded his arms, then clearly shook his head, refusing the command. I got the impression that his refusal was required by his position, that is, that the Chama commanded all but the man who was to band her.
Even I expected Aesnil to grow angrier, but instead she just smiled.
“You refuse my command,” she purred, her mind filled with satisfaction. “Excellent. Guards, arrest this man and place him in chains! Should he prove himself worthy, I may allow him to become a vendra. Now, arrest him!”
The snap in her voice sent the spectators in all directions to get out of the way and brought the guard from their places around the room and toward Cinnan, causing the big l’lenda to stare around him in disbelief. I could see his disbelief would not be lasting very long, but I could also see how determined the guardsmen were. They would try to arrest Cinnan, he would resist, and the floors of the audience room would be stained with blood. As his hand began moving toward the sword he wore, I grabbed the faint trace of disbelief in his mind, brought it back to its original intensity, then quickly increased it. His mind wobbled from the dual pressure of belief/ disbelief, but belief didn’t have an empath backing it. His hand fell away from the sword in confusion just as the guardsmen reached him, and they were able to take his weapon and tie his wrists behind him with leather before a headshake brought him to the reality of his capture. He tried to struggle then, but it was much too late—as Aesnil’s tinkling laughter told him.
“You now know what befell Lerran,” she informed him, the purr even thicker in her tone. “As I stated earlier, Terril is mine. Take him away.”
The guardsmen pulled him, still struggling, out of the room, but not before his frowning stare had come to me and noticed the faint sheen of sweat on my forehead. Fighting his intentions had been like trying to lift him physically, but happily my mind was on a par with his physical strength. It had been a struggle, but he’d had no real chance against me.
“The morning’s audience is now at an end,” Aesnil announced once Cinnan was gone, raising herself from her nest of pillows. “Should it be my wish to resume this afternoon, you will all be informed. You may now leave.”
There was very little noise as the former spectators took themselves out as commanded, but if Aesnil could have heard the mental static, it would have considerably dimmed her pleasure. The prevailing attitude was shock, even from the women who had felt contempt for the men—or who had pretended to feel contempt. To see men handled that preemptorily had shaken them, as though they now felt themselves in jeopardy. It would be interesting to see how many of them returned, now that Aesnil had proven herself so powerful.