She walked around him for the tenth time, scrutinizing his clothes. She stopped to pick a piece of thread off then patted the pocket of his jacket shut.
“I look fine,” he protested.
She glanced up at him before searching his pants for any flaws.
“How well you look shows how well I take care of you. I’ve been embarrassed enough today. When we get to the Duke’s palace, you must make me follow you to the side and just behind you. When you sit, I will be right by your chair, and I will call you Master with all those important people present.”
He was surprised to hear such a stern tone from her. He never thought that any slave could get angry.
“You aren’t going,” he told her.
She frowned at him. “I have to go!”
He was beginning to understand she took her station in life very seriously. Unless he came up with something for her to do she would be running after his coach. As he thought about it, something did come to mind, a task he had been hoping to avoid. The army did need money in case he decided to try out General Cooper‘s wagons, but he didn’t want to face Jeni again. He laid his hands on Ellie’s shoulders and spoke in a grave tone.
“Ellie, I trust you more than anyone else in the world, do you believe that?”
Her face opened up with pride. “Yes, Master,” she breathed.
“Your task is to go see Jeni Redman--you know who she is, right?” She nodded, so he continued. “You are to get what she has for me and wait in my study until I return. Do not leave until I get back, and tell no one else about this. This is very important.”
“More important than you?” she asked nervously.
“Possibly.”
Pondering the gravity of her task, she nodded slowly. “I will not let you down, Master.”
He gave her shoulders a gentle squeeze. “I know you won’t. Don’t call me Master. Now get going.”
As Ellie left on her mission, he started down the hall to find Amber coming towards him. She met him with a warm greeting and hooked her arm through his.
“You got Ellie to stay here?” she asked.
He glanced back to make sure Ellie was out of earshot. “I told her to get a donation for the army and made it sound like the world depended on it. Otherwise, she’d be clinging to my leg.” He grinned.
“Have you figured out what to do with her yet?”
He gave a sigh. “I tried to free her and it was a disaster.”
“Well, if you cannot free her, the only honorable thing to do is marry her,” she said in a thoughtful tone.
He turned to glare at her and saw the twisted grin on her face. “I’ll think of something.”
Hugging his arm, she mused, “Maybe if you made other things sound vital, like keeping her own room and taking money for her service, she wouldn’t be so frightened.”
He caught on to what she was suggesting. “She would free herself without knowing it.” Clasping his hand over hers, he said, “You’re pretty smart.”
“You aren’t so bad yourself,” she replied with a warm smile.
They walked arm-in-arm to the courtyard where servants were following Lady Salinthia and Lord Parnal to their coach. Many of the higher-ranking officers were by the gates with their ladies, ready to go. A group of Sisters were talking off to the side across from the guardhouse. Seeing Amber, one red-haired Sister waved frantically at her.
“Sister Amber! A word, please!” she cried excitedly. Two other sisters took up the call, eager to talk to her. A trio of Brothers with them also looked pleased to see her.
Tayan gave her a nudge. “Looks like you’re becoming popular.”
“For what?” Amber asked, befuddled by her Sister’s behavior.
He leaned close to her ear. “Isn’t it obvious? You’re their hero.”
Her eyes widened in surprise. “Me?” she squeaked.
He nodded with a wide grin. “The Sister who battled her way through Longforest with man-eating halshaken, not to mention saving me from the clutches of evil.”
She gaped at him. “I was scared spitless in Longforest, and you know I couldn’t leave you there with Duke Toma.”
He shrugged. “We do what we must; and right now, I think you better go talk to them before one of them faints.”
She shook her head in disbelief that anyone could possibly think of her as a hero. “How do things like this get started?”
“It‘s their way of saying they‘re proud of you, and so am I. Don’t be too long, we don’t want to be late,” he said as he gave her a gentle push towards the pack of holy people.
Leaving Amber to her adoring fans, he walked out the gates to his coach. The footmen guided him to the one at the head. He was happy to find out that he and Amber would be the only passengers, and more so that the vehicle was all black and didn’t say “Redman” anywhere on it.
The second he stepped inside he sensed something was wrong. There were no windows, and he felt the hair on the back of his head grow stiff in warning. Before he could react, the door behind him was pushed shut and a dozen pairs of hands grabbed him and thrust him onto the seat. Heart in his throat, he punched and kicked where the people holding him should have been. He met only air. More hands grabbed him, forcing him facedown onto the seat. He heard a low chant begin.
He was being attacked with magic. There couldn’t possibly be this many people in here. He tried to struggle and let out a yell for help. Two more hands clapped over his mouth. He began to feel disoriented as the chant filled his head. Despite the adrenalin coursing through his veins, his arms and legs grew heavy. Just keeping his eyes open to try to identify his assailants was a major task. He passed out, very glad Amber had stopped to talk to her friends.
***
Ellie bit her fingernails as she looked both ways down the intersection of hallways. She knew Jeni had her rooms down here but forgot which way they were. Her Master was placing great trust in her, and she did not want to let him down.
For the first time in her life she was doing more than carrying drinks or pleasing men. Although he made her feel confused, Tayan was also making her feel very important. He hadn’t had anyone watch her to ensure she got from Spring Valley to here, and now he was trusting her with some great secret. No slave she ever knew of had carried so much responsibility. In fact, not many free men were allowed to act completely on their own as she was doing now. Her heady feeling of pride, however, was tempered by the seriousness of her task. With so much depending on her, she feared to make a decision that might lead to failure.
From the left, Jeni burst into the hall to come stomping toward her. She was wearing a long white silk gown and looked very angry. That B-elf came out of the room and chased her down the hall.
He grabbed her by the arm and turned her around. “Will you be reasonable!” he shouted.
Jeni flung his arm off. “Just leave me alone!”
She took three steps then stopped to glare at Ellie.
“What do you want!” she snapped. In her eyes, tears were beginning to form.
Facing her anger, Ellie began to knot her fingers up. She wasn’t used to standing in front of angry people--usually she was on her knees, her head to the floor. Resisting the urge to drop down, she said softly, “Lord Tayan said you had something for him.”
“I thought he didn’t care,” Jeni stated with a quivering lip.
Glancing at the elf lord, Ellie knew she could not talk in front of him. “He said no one can know.”
Belenaris stepped up to her. “No one can know what?” he demanded.
Jeni ignored him. Her face softened as she looked at Ellie. “He is going to help them?”
She didn’t know if that was right or not, but it sounded right.
“Yes, M’lady.” She recoiled as the elf lord slapped her shoulder.
“Tell me what is going on, slave!” he barked.
It was all she could do to stay on her feet. She was getting up the nerve to tell him he wasn’t her Master when Jeni planted her hands on hi
s chest and gave him a shove that pushed him into the wall.
“Leave her alone!” she growled.
Belinaris became red-faced. “How dare you! I demand to know what this is about.”
“Demand?” Jeni screeched. “You demand nothing from me! You are nothing to me!” She yelled at the top of her voice. Throwing an arm out to point down the hall, she accidentally bumped Ellie in the nose. “If you want to escort me to the duke’s palace then go get in the damn coach. If not then just go away!”
Belenaris drew himself up with all the dignity he could muster. “My lady, you may come to regret this.”
He gave Ellie a mean glare then stormed off around the corner.
Jeni took a couple of breaths to calm herself then indicated Ellie should follow her. “Come, I have the scroll Tayan needs.”
Neither of them saw Belinaris poke his head back around the corner.
***
The night was not going very well for Amber. She had been held back by Sisters and Brothers who had somehow gotten the fantastic notion that she was connected directly to Leighna. She told them over and over that all Sisters and Brothers held equal places in Leighna’s eyes, but they still looked at her like she carried holy words of wisdom. By the time she got away from them, Tayan had left without her. She had to ride with Jeni and Belenaris, which was tense, to say the least. Neither spoke at all, and by the looks of them any words just might start a fight that would end up drawing blood.
Arriving at the palace, she entered the reception hall but could not get near Tayan until after dinner. She suffered through sitting with the other holy people, watching him from across the room as he talked with the nobles, including the new duke in Spring Valley. Here, as in the courtyard at Lady Salinthia’s, Brothers and Sisters eyed her with awe. It was enough to make her want to scream and rip her hair out.
During the social hour after dinner, when she finally did get next to Tayan, he acted like he barely knew her. It wasn’t until a few people reminded him she had saved him that he paid her more mind than he did the servants.
She didn’t like Duke Kahn one bit. Just looking at him made her skin crawl. A few times she tried to raise her talisman of Leighna and check him for evil, but each time Tayan spotted her and told her it wasn’t polite. She put up with Duke Kahn’s presence for what seemed like hours, until they made their way back to the coach.
Amber climbed in, still feeling her skin twitching from the duke. She settled in her seat and waited until Tayan was in and the door was shut before she voiced her opinion.
“I do not trust Duke Kahn,” she stated. “If he isn't evil then I am.”
Tayan eyed her from his corner of the seat. “It's a shame to say, but being evil is not against the law. Unless he does something, he has to be treated with respect.”
“Do you believe he truly wants the best for this kingdom?” she asked.
“He has come to pledge his allegiance to King Gunthar and reaffirm his city’s support in the kingdom. This is not an action of a hostile man,” Tayan explained crisply. “He will do nothing to cause the king to doubt him, at least until he gets settled into his own city. We’ve nothing to fear from him.”
“Don’t even say you trust him,” she warned.
“The only people I trust right now are in this coach,” he said sternly. “I only mean that we will be on our way west before he can get his own plans in order.”
He knew more about the dealings of royalty than she did, so she didn‘t push her point. Shifting her gaze to look out the window, she noted they were outside the gates and yet the oppressive bad feelings were still with her. She waited for him to clasp her hand or give her one of the many signs of affection he never realized he was doing. The fact he didn’t showed he was more preoccupied with Duke Kahn than he was telling her. This made her angry, for she had thought by now they could share anything between them.
Amber stepped out of the coach to find the courtyard filled with people. Guards were everywhere, talking to men and women with pale faces. On the stairs, a maid sat crying miserably, another was leaning over the stone rail, vomiting. As she took this in, a Sister ran towards her, her face running with tears.
“Sister Amber,” the woman cried, “we need you inside. Lord Tayan’s slave has been attacked.”
“Ellie?” she gasped. Who would want to hurt Ellie? She ran past the crying Sister and followed the trail of fingers pointing the way.
The scene she walked in on was one straight from the abyss. Guards stationed around the room were trying to keep from looking at the group of women who’d gathered behind Tayan’s desk. The top had been swept clear, the contents scattered to the floor on one side. It looked like someone had tried to mop it with ink. Looking closer she saw it was not ink but dark blood.
On this side, a green object that looked like a tiny tree stump lay. It took her a few seconds to realize it was a hand. Parts of the missing fingers lay scattered around it. Bile rose in her throat.
She gripped her talisman and squeezed her eyes shut.
“Dear Leighna, give me strength,” she whispered then girded herself to walk behind the desk to help save the poor girl.
Being with the Company, she’d seen and healed deep wounds, bad burns and rough bite marks. She thought she knew everything that could possibly be done to a body.
She was wrong.
The girl’s swollen eyes were partially open, and blood was caked around her nose and mouth. Where bandages made of towels weren’t covering her, raw muscle showed. Half her left breast lay towards the center of her chest, and her stomach yawned in an eye-shaped wound exposing her internal organs.
Around her, crying, pale-faced women worked to try to piece her back together. One sat holding two swaths of green skin, muttering that she didn’t know where they went. It was hard to believe this mess was Ellie.
Amber disconnected herself from the scene. Feeling as if she were looking through someone else’s eyes, she knelt down and laid her talisman on Ellie’s chest as she began to pray for her life and soul. The women did what they could to put the torn up body back together and cover her in bandages. Amber kept praying, holding Leighna’s light to the girl’s chest as a stretcher was brought in and the limp, mangled body was carefully placed on it. By the time they reached the stairs, Amber felt that Leighna had done all that was possible for poor Ellie. She was still alive, but in her condition, Amber wasn’t sure if that was a blessing or not.
She stayed beside her as Ellie was taken to her room and laid on the bed. Two guards came and bracketed the door. A knight stood just inside, watching Amber as she continued to pray. At the first jerky movements from Ellie, Amber stopped to see if she was waking up or dying. Ellie opened her eyes to stare at the ceiling. Her shallow breaths came in whining rasps as she quaked in pain.
The knight came over and stood by Ellie’s head. “Slave, can you speak?”
Amber shot him a glare. “Her name is Ellie!”
In a blubbering voice, Ellie cried, “I will not betray my Master.”
They both looked at her. “Ellie,” the knight said, “who did this?”
“I will not betray my Master,” she whimpered again.
“She’s in shock,” Amber told him.
He answered with an even stare. “I can see that. Try to get her out of it--we have to find out who did this to her.”
“It’s a miracle she’s alive,” Amber protested.
“I will not betray my Master,” Ellie blubbered again. Every few seconds, she kept repeating her determination not to betray her Master.
The knight placed his helmet on the bedside table and sat down on the other side of the bed. “Sister, you have done a remarkable job keeping her alive. I am asking you to help me do my job, and find out who is responsible.” Waving a hand at Ellie, he added. “Cruelty like this is punishable by death, even if her own Master did it. I am begging you, please, help me bring those responsible to justice.”
Amber sighed and looked a
t Ellie, who was still muttering that she would never betray her Master. It tore her heart in half to see anyone like this.
“I do nothing. Leighna saved her, it was by her will that Ellie lives.”
“Perhaps her will may also be to let us know who the scoundrel is who did this,” he prodded.
Amber looked up at him and considered it. “I’ll do what I can.”
Sliding up to hold Ellie’s face in her hands, she silently prayed to Leighna to help her as she gazed into the blank stare.
“Ellie, it’s me, Sister Amber. You are safe now.”
“I will not betray my Master,” Ellie choked then coughed up a tooth with the blood that came out.
Focusing on her eyes, Amber kept up her smooth, soothing tone and tried to make Ellie understand she was no longer being tortured. After a while, Ellie stopped her chant and her eyes locked on Amber’s. Her mouth worked up and down a few times then she got out, “Sister, I did not betray my Master.”
“Of course, you didn’t,” Amber said gently, stroking the side of her head. “Ellie, who did this to you?”
Ellie jerked and winced in pain. She said in a breathless voice, “Two elven men came in. They wanted...” She shifted her eyes towards the knight. “...the thing I had for my Master. I hid it, and no matter what they did to me, they couldn’t make me tell where it was.”
“What was this thing you had?” the knight asked.
Tonelessly, Ellie replied, “I will not betray my Master.”
“Dear Leighna,” Amber whispered. She felt sick. Ellie had nearly been tortured to death for a lousy donation to the army. Since Tayan had told her it was vital, she had refused to tell them where it was even to save her own life. No matter how much money was involved, it wasn’t worth this agony. Her hands went to her mouth--she was sure her dinner was coming back up.
“Ellie,” the knight said firmly, “did you hear any names?”
"No."
“How about their clothes, did you see any markings? A crest or insignia perhaps?” he asked hopefully.
Her eyes started to drift shut. She forced them open with what looked to be an enormous effort. “Yes, one had one of those shield things on his shirt.”
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