Even as I stepped quietly into an inconspicuous, shadowy corner of the hall, I saw a group of musicians move toward the open area in the center of the room and begin to arrange themselves for the next stage of the evening’s entertainments. Silently I thanked Lord Shaine for his cleverness. With the musicians placed so, there would be no question of dancing. In accordance with his wishes apparently, the first song was an old ballad, sweet and sad, but certainly not lively enough to invite tapping feet or thoughts of dance.
I listened to the tune, common enough in my own land as well—though with slightly different wording, and a different language, of course—and thought of how two lands could be at once so different and so similar. The climate here differed little from that of my homeland, although the situation of Lord Shaine’s estate not far from the foothills of the Opal Mountains made for conditions a little more chilly and damp than at home in Lystare. Dress and other manners, again, were not so dissimilar. Perhaps they were a bit plainer here in Seldd, but certainly not so exotic as to invite comment.
Yet of course a huge difference existed between the two countries. Slavery had not existed in Farendon for hundreds of years; Seldd was the last holdout on the continent in clinging to the barbaric custom. Pressure from its neighbors had not altered Selddish policy, and that seemed unlikely to change any time in the near future.
I thought then on Merime’s words regarding the Goddess. Like me, the cook was a native of Farendon, and apparently had kept her native religion all this time…although, to be truthful, I couldn’t see much difference between what was believed in Seldd and in my own land. Names differed slightly, and the myths that had sprung up around the gods had changed a bit with their migration across the continent, but the pantheon remained mostly intact. For myself, what I had grown up believing and what I had come to think as an adult were two entirely different matters. During our training, no one had tried to persuade any of us acolytes that belief in Inyanna; or Thrane, lord of the land beyond death; or even Mardon, ruler of the heavens and the sunset and dawn, was mistaken. Instead, through study of the body, and the application of scientific principles—and learning as well of the beliefs of other lands, such as Eredor and the Sirlende—I came to believe, as many of my Order did as well, that as frail mortals we could not possibly begin to understand the true powers which controlled our world. We gave them names and demesnes in order to make them more human, but who…or what…had caused the world to come into being and ordered the kingdoms of plant and animal surely was as far beyond our comprehension as we were beyond the understanding of the insects that crawled beneath our feet.
Lost in thought as I was, I did not immediately notice a lull in the music. At the high table the players shifted a bit. Lord Shaine stood, and his other guests took that as a cue to rise from their seats as well, although I noticed Auren remained seated.
The door to the kitchen banged open, and two young slaves I did not know emerged, carrying a huge iced cake on what looked like an impromptu stretcher. They took it to a side table that already groaned with various sweetmeats and fruits, along with heaping bowls of nuts. Obviously the dessert course was upon us.
I tried to shrink back further into the shadows, but my efforts apparently were in vain. To my dismay, I saw the handsome young lord disengage himself from the group at the high table and move in my direction, purpose evident in every step.
To attempt to flee at this point would be too obvious. Instead, I held my ground and fixed what I hoped was a neutral and correct expression on my face. Perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps I flattered myself in thinking I was the reason he left the group at the high table and headed toward the back of the hall.
But no. Even as I tried to think of a good way to make my escape, he paused a few feet away from me and gave me another one of those dazzling smiles.
“It would require a darker corner than this one to hide you, I think,” he said, speaking in fluent if heavily accented common.
“My lord?” I replied, trying to keep both my expression and my voice bland.
Apparently undeterred, he went on, “I could not help but ask Lord Shaine who that glorious creature in the wine-colored gown was. Imagine my surprise in learning that you were one of his slaves.”
Glorious creature? I didn’t know whether to blush a darker wine than my gown or possibly burst out laughing. Still, this was not the first time I had come up against a practiced flirt. Even amongst those who studied to become part of the Order were men who seemed to take pursuit of the fairer sex even more seriously than the pursuit of knowledge.
“That is true, my lord,” I said gravely, but I feared that I could not help but let a smile tug at one corner of my mouth.
Unfortunately, he seemed to take that ghost of a smile as encouragement to continue further. “How on earth did you come to be here?”
“Much as any of the other slaves, I fear. Taken in the night and sold in the markets of Myalme.”
His fine eyebrows lifted. “And that is all that you share with them, I wager. You’re no more like the rest of that—” and he waved a hand to indicate the servers working to clear the tables— “than my matched pair of bays are like a set of draught horses.”
Despite myself, I felt the color rise in my cheeks. Although his attention was unwanted and uninvited, it was also flattering. Few women would be completely immune to such words, even though they were highly inappropriate.
“You are too kind,” I said, lifting my eyes to meet his, “but I fear I have no more status than any of the rest of them. Once, perhaps, things were different, but—” I spread my hands in a helpless gesture, and I could see his gaze sharpen as he caught the tattoo on my left palm.
“So you’re the one who doctored Lady Auren?” he asked, and I nodded. “We had heard of you, but somehow I had envisioned you as some old crone dispensing salves and poultices.”
I wasn’t sure what offended me more—the use of the term “crone” or the thought that a physician of the Order was good for no more than mustard packs on rheumy chests or lotions for stinging nettles. “It is true that I am still young for my work,” I admitted, once I was certain my voice would not reveal how his words had infuriated me, “but the Order would not have granted me the status of a traveling doctor if I were not ready for it.”
“Of course not,” he said quickly, and I wondered if I had let some betraying anger creep into my face.
“Ill luck brought the slavers to the village where I had been working, but ill fortune turned to providence, as otherwise I would not have been here to take care of Auren.” I realized as I said the words that I should have referred to her as “Lady Auren,” but he appeared not to hear the slip.
“By all accounts you’ve done a marvelous job,” he offered. “Her limp is hardly noticeable.”
I looked past him to the head table, where Auren still sat. She laughed at something the pinch-nosed boy next to her said, and I decided I must revise my opinion of him somewhat. Surely Auren would not find him so amusing if he were at all tedious and mean-spirited. Certainly he was closer to her in age than either of the other two, and that counted for much.
He followed my gaze, then looked back at me with a knowing smile. “I am remiss,” he said. “I have not yet introduced myself. I am Lord Arnad of Sleane. And you are?”
“Merys Thranion...lately of Lystare,” I added.
“Lady Auren seems to have made a great impression on my young Lord Larol—and he on her.”
“Disappointed?” I asked, even though I knew I skirted the bounds of propriety with such a question.
“Hardly. One must follow the forms, but I had no great interest in joining my fortunes to Lady Auren’s, considerable though hers might be.” His voice softened, becoming uncomfortably intimate. “My tastes run to more...mature women.”
Again the flush rose in my cheeks, and I wondered what on earth I could do to remove myself before the situation became even more compromising. I tried to tell myself that most of th
ese strangers surely had no idea of my true status here—in my wool velvet gown with its embroidered bands at the neck and hem, the fine linen of my shift showing through the slashed sleeves, I must have looked no more a slave than the rest of them. Still, whatever Lord Arnad’s intentions, they couldn’t possibly be honorable, and handsome as he might be, that sort of dalliance was certainly the last thing on my mind.
I hardened my tone to the sort of brittle flippancy I had heard my older sister use on unwanted suitors. “Indeed? Well, that must be welcome news to all the spinsters in the area.”
For a second he just stared at me, as if not truly comprehending my words. Then he gave a laugh, if a somewhat forced-sounding one. “Indeed.” One muscle along his jaw tightened, and I could see his eyes narrow a bit, as if he were thinking something over. “Do you weary of this place?”
“My lord?” I could only pray that the tendril of fear which had begun to trail its way up my spine had not found its way into my voice. I wasn’t sure what he was thinking, but I had a feeling it would not be much to my liking.
“Come with me,” he ordered, as he gripped one of my arms and began to pull me through the crowd.
Wrenching myself from his grasp was out of the question. He was a lord, and I was a slave, and even if I still had been an independent member of my Order, I had no idea what protocol required in a situation such as this. Instead, I quickened my pace to keep up with him, moving to his side so that it at least would appear that I walked beside him and wasn’t being dragged along like some chattel.
He paused in front of the dais, dropping his hand from my arm. Lord Shaine lifted surprised eyes to the two of us, his gaze resting on me for a second. Around him the other nobles halted in their conversations as well. Auren frowned, a forkful of Merime’s spice cake lifted halfway to her lips.
“Lord Shaine!” Arnad called out, and I winced. Must his voice be so clear, so carrying?
“Yes, Lord Arnad?”
I felt suddenly as if every eye in the hall was fixed upon us. I could not meet Lord Shaine’s gaze but instead looked off at some neutral spot on the wall. Whatever Lord Arnad was planning, I knew I would not like it.
Taking a breath, Arnad announced, “I would buy this slave from you, my lord!”
Chapter Six
For the longest moment, silence reigned in the hall. I felt it ringing in my ears.
Then the awful quiet was broken by Lord Shaine’s mild tones. “I am afraid, Lord Arnad, that she is not for sale.”
Arnad made an impatient gesture. “She has rendered her services here, Lord Shaine, and your daughter now thrives. I have need of her skills on my own estate. Shall we say five thousand renads?
From somewhere behind me I heard a gasp, but of course I dared not turn to see who had made the startled sound. Five thousand renads? I knew Shaine had paid barely that sum for all five of us captives from Aunde, and we had fetched a good price, according to the whispers of the other slaves. An odd pecking order existed amongst the workers on the estate, based not solely on one’s duties but also on how much one had cost.
Lord Shaine’s expression did not flicker, although I noticed that Auren had given him the briefest worried glance, as if she were uncertain as to how he would react to such a proposal. “As I said already, she is not available—at any price.” He didn’t even look at me, but instead kept his gaze fixed on Lord Arnad.
I could feel the watching eyes of the hall fasten on Arnad and myself as we made our odd tableau before the high table. Never before had I been the center of so much unwanted attention, and the blood slowly rose in my cheeks, although I tried to stand as still as possible and keep my face as expressionless as Lord Shaine’s. How I wished that I stood next to him, instead of here next to Arnad. Our proximity, I feared, would make it seem as if I were in agreement with his preposterous proposal. I did not wish for anyone to think I had a hand in his offer or wished to go with him.
The tension seemed to radiate off him in waves. I had no idea why he had fixated on me. Perhaps it was merely because I presented a novelty. Now, however, I got the distinct impression that this developing contest of wills between him and Lord Shaine had very little to do with me.
“Lord Shaine,” Arnad said, and although his voice remained pleasant enough, the tightness of his mouth belied the even tone of his words, “I am offering you a fortune. Surely she can be replaced easily enough.”
“And I am not in need of a fortune, being already in possession of one.” Deliberately, Lord Shaine lifted a flagon of wine and poured a good measure into a pewter goblet. Then he raised it toward Arnad, offering it to him. “Come now, my lord. Have a drink, and let us forget this foolishness.”
“Foolishness?” Arnad’s eyes narrowed, and he said cuttingly, “I think you forget yourself, Shaine.”
The dropping of the honorific was not lost on me…nor on its target. The merest shadow of a frown passed over Lord Shaine’s features, but he remained calm. Instead, he looked over at me and said briefly, “Perhaps it would be best if you retired for the evening, Merys.”
Relieved beyond measure that he had offered me a way out of the awkward situation, I lowered my head and replied, “As you wish, my lord.” Not daring to risk a glance at Arnad, I gathered up my skirts and fled toward the entrance to the tower. All around me people backed out of the way, staring at me as if I were some sort of legendary monster that had been dropped in their midst.
At least Arnad made no attempt to stop me. Perhaps he had realized that seizing me in Lord Shaine’s hall, in front of so many witnesses, would make an already awkward situation completely untenable. Whatever the reason, I was able to make my escape unmolested. I ran up the stairs, my low indoor shoes slapping on the stone, my breath coming in great heaving gasps. It was not until I had achieved the relative safety of my tower room that I realized how my heart pounded, how the blood throbbed in my face and my throat.
Not knowing what else to do, I sat down on the bed and stared out the narrow window until my breath had calmed itself somewhat. The view was blurred by the bubbled glass, but at least I thought I could see the vaguest glimmer of Taleron, the larger of the two moons, as it made its way up over the foothills to the east. Tears began to burn, unshed, in my eyes, but I blinked them away. Weeping would accomplish nothing. At least I had gotten away before the situation grew any worse.
That thought led me to wonder what further words might have been exchanged after I had gone, but I probably didn’t want to know. I was sure that Lord Shaine would eventually gain the upper hand, but what sort of lasting scars might such a confrontation create?
All at once I was reminded of how much a stranger I was here, how little I knew of Lord Shaine and his connections to his neighbors. Had he and Lord Arnad been friends before this? Did Lord Arnad have a reputation for a hot temper and an eye for women? I guessed that was quite possibly so, but no one had thought to give me any warning to stay away from him. Then I shook my head. Blaming others served no useful purpose. How could anyone have guessed that I might have attracted such unwanted attentions from him?
Slowly I felt my body begin to still, the blood cool in my cheeks. Much as I would have liked to discard the heavy gown I wore and take my hair down from its uncomfortable pins, I thought it better to wait. The evening was still in its youth, and perhaps I would be needed after the guests had gone.
To keep myself from going mad with waiting, I retrieved some neglected darning from the low side table Elissa and I shared for various oddments. Then I lit a second candle with the one I had left burning against my return, and set to work.
Somehow the simple task allowed me to focus my thoughts elsewhere than the ugly little scene I had just left. My tower room floated far enough above the hall that I could simply shut it and its occupants aside. No doubt at some point I would have to face the consequences of what had happened, but for now I was content to sit in the candlelit confines of my chamber and think of simple things. I needed to beg some time fr
om Merime in the kitchen to make more of my valerian salve against the onset of winter chilblains. At some point I would need permission from Lord Shaine to go out and gather various herbs that must be harvested before the onset of winter rendered them unavailable for months. And I had noticed that the castle’s store of soap was woefully inadequate.
So I went on, thinking of various simple problems and their solutions, until finally the door to my chamber opened, and Elissa looked in, somewhat fearfully.
“Oh, you haven’t gone to bed,” she said. Relief was evident in her tone.
“No, I thought I should wait in case either you or Auren had need of me.” I laid the darning aside.
“Lady Auren’s already in her bed,” Elissa said. “Quite a night she had of it, what with being betrothed and all.”
I closed my eyes in a brief silent prayer of thanks. At least Arnad’s demands hadn’t interfered with what had been, after all, the principal reason for the feast.
“So, she and—?” I paused, for I couldn't recall the name of the young lord who had been seated next to her at dinner, and I had never heard the plump lordling’s name mentioned at all.
“Young Lord Larol,” Elissa supplied. “I heard from the other slaves that that’s what they expected. They’re of the same age and have known each other all their lives. Besides, what girl could really be interested in Lord Noren, after all, and Lord Arnad—” There she paused, and her flush was apparent even in the gold-tinted candlelight.
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