“You don’t really want to do that, Terry,” Garth said, leaning his weight on the hand that kept the door closed despite my furious tugging. “Daldrin warned us you would probably try something like this, but you’d be a fool to go ahead with it. A woman alone on this world doesn’t stand much of a chance of surviving.”
“And I don’t see much of a chance if I stay here,” I retorted without turning to look at him. “If I want to be a fool that’s my business. Let go of the door.”
“There is no need for him to release the door,” another voice came, making me close my eyes and lower my head to mourn the passing of what would probably be my last chance to get out of there. “Do you again seek to escape earned punishment, wenda? I have told you that this time the punishment will be yours, and I have not lied.”
His hand came to my hair to pull my head back with a jerk, and Garth frowned at the gasp forced out of me.
“Tammad, what are you doing?” he demanded, his gray eyes showing confusion. “Hasn’t anyone told you how much we owe her?”
“Garth, you promised!” I whispered intensely, tears in my eyes from the hold on my hair. “Please, you promised!”
“What is this of a promise?” Tammad asked, the same confusion touching Garth reaching for him. “What was to be told to me that this wenda does not wish me to know?”
“It was a promise made to be broken,” Garth answered, looking at me with gentle regret. “Len and I would still, be chained slaves in the palace kitchen if Terry hadn’t gotten us out. She even supplied a guide and protector, another palace slave named Daldrin, to go with us and make sure we reached camp in one piece. She told us where you were being held so your men might free you, not realizing there was another attack being planned. If Cinnan’s men hadn’t been there, you’d be owing your life and freedom to her right now.”
“I see,” Tammad said heavily, his hand opening slowly to release my hair. “And yet she aided the one called Chama, walking beside her as a valued friend.”
“Daldrin told us all about that.” Garth snorted out his disdain for the idea. “That Aesnil female threatened to throw her to the male work slaves if she refused to cooperate. She pretended to be a willing worker just to get enough elbow room to do what had to be done. Like freeing us to arrange for your rescue and staying behind to make sure we weren’t chased down.”
“And doing what she could against the beasts of the arena,” Len put in from somewhere behind Tammad. “I saw those two animals coming for you when Cinnan tried to reach the swords. You threw sand in their eyes, but it was the deep fear Terry projected at the same time that kept one of the things from attacking again. I was only on the fringes of the projection, but it almost knocked me over. If not for that, our rescue might have come a little too late to do you and Cinnan any good.”
There was suddenly a lot of silence all around, most of it coming from Tammad, but I still didn’t look up or open my shield. I was too wrapped up in my own emotions to worry about what anyone else was feeling.
“Terril, you said nothing of any of this when I accused you,” Tammad said at last, his voice sounding tired. “Why did you not tell me of what you had done on my behalf? Did you think I would disbelieve you?”
“What does it matter?” I whispered, closing my eyes. “It doesn’t even matter whether or not I helped you. All that matters is that I’m still here instead of gone.”
“Hama, why do you speak so?” he sighed, coming closer to fold me in his arms. “It matters a great deal that your thoughts were for me. It is an action that speaks more clearly than words of your love for me. A love I had almost begun to doubt.”
He held me strongly but gently against his chest, bringing me closer to the familiar smell of him, holding me the way I’d needed to be held for so long. It didn’t make saying the words any easier, but they still had to be said.
“I can’t stay on this world,” I whispered, rubbing my cheek on his chest despite the sweat covering him. “I don’t understand it and I don’t fit in, and I’m sick to death of being used. I’m going back to Central, where I belong.”
“I see it is indeed necessary that we talk,” he murmured, stroking my hair, then raised his voice as he switched languages. “Loddar, gather our l’lendaa together and prepare them. We return to camp immediately.”
“Tammad, I will not hear of your leaving so soon,” Cinnan’s voice broke in, causing the barbarian to turn to him. He stood in front of the now-closed door to the small pleasure room, much of the anger gone from his light eyes. “You must remain a time as my guest, to allow me to thank you properly for your assistance. And to allow us both to see to that female you hold.”
“We were mistaken, Cinnan,” Tammad said quietly, tightening his arms about me. “My men have told me of her assistance to both them and us, without which we would have found attaining freedom much more difficult. You are done with punishing that—common girl—you found?”
“For now,” Cinnan murmured with a faint grin. “I took the time to add something of additional pain to the strapping given her, teaching her the power of a man. When next I touch her there will be no pain, only the helplessness of a woman in the arms of a man. She will quickly learn to crave it as all women do.”
I pushed out of Tammad’s arms in disgust, wishing I could open my shield and blast every man in that room for the smug agreement I could see on their faces. Instead I turned away from them, hating them and their world even more than l had.
“I must speak to my woman privately,” Tammad told Cinnan as he put a big hand on my shoulder to keep me from moving any farther. “I will be pleased to accept your hospitality, provided there will not be a great deal of delay. These words have spent too long a time unspoken.”
“It will take but a moment to gather my men,” he said, walking toward the sword he had put down earlier. “Once we have shown our strength and determination to the palace guard, they will not long oppose us. All matters will be righted this day, for they have already been paid for in blood. Remain here till my return, and we will enter the palace together.”
Tammad nodded and Cinnan left, and we began our wait in silence.
17
In less than an hour Tammad and I were walking into my rooms at the palace, led there by a female slave. The girl cringed away from the barbarian in wide-eyed fear, knowing him for a vendra by the red haddin he still wore, obviously worried that the palace was being invaded. The palace guard had made no attempt to stop Cinnan when he marched Aesnil in in front of him, her body now clasped in five bronze bands, the tears still falling from her eyes. I had reluctantly lifted my shield to help her with her pain, and had discovered something I hadn’t expected. Unless I was interpreting her wrong, Aesnil was all through with being Chama. If she couldn’t direct her country and her own life completely alone, she was determined not to do it at all. She was too proud to play puppet for anyone, no matter what they did to her. Her worst fears had already been realized, and she was prepared to give up her life if necessary. Cinnan would find himself with more trouble than he’d bargained for in the days ahead; the laws of the country demanded a Chama on the throne, and he’d ruined the only one they had. I took my mind away from Aesnil’s and let her be, hoping she was strong enough to keep to her resolve. She may have been ruthless as a Chama, but at least she’d been free.
“Go to my men and tell them to fetch me a haddin from our camp, girl,” Tammad told the trembling slave, keeping his voice soft and soothing despite the disgust he felt. He was completely repelled by the sight of the slave, notwithstanding the fact that she was attractive and very available. “This color does nothing to calm my memories of the unpleasantness now past.”