Randa didn’t talk much during the walk, but it didn’t bother Andie. She spent the time dreaming of what she would do if she had her skiff. She already desperately missed her ship; her pilot’s blood craved the freedom of atmosphere. Her skiff was only a short-range ship, not able to handle the portal transfer for cross-galaxy travel. However, it would be enough to take Andie far away from this place. Surely the Union had some kind of official here on Corizen who would be able to arrange to get her home.
These thoughts naturally turned to plots for escape. Andie mulled over the possibilities for several minutes before noticing that the particular part of the maze they were in bordered a very high wall. It looked a little like the wall out front, what Andie could remember of it from her first day anyway. For the rest of their walk, she kept her eyes out for a tree or a sturdy bush near the wall. She also focused on keeping their movements in the maze clear in her head.
Her life-saving tree appeared a few minutes later in one of the courtyard areas. It was perfect, with branches low enough for Andie to pull herself up in. Cautiously sneaking glances around, she tried to memorize the area before they continued down the walk.
Andie’s desire to leave kept growing stronger the more she mulled it over. By the time they emerged from the hedges and Randa finally allowed them back into the house, Andie felt sick with longing for home and family. She quickly ate dinner and went straight to the room. Randa followed her until she was safely locked in and then left for the evening like always. In quiet thoughtfulness, Andie slumped on the bed.
Her major problem for the moment was getting out of the room. If Randa locked her in every time she left, it could be difficult to get out of the building. Andie was sure that other doors would be locked, and she only knew one way out. That left her window as the only possible escape route. Sliding off of her bed, she moved to the window. It opened about a foot; Andie had already tried that. Sticking her head out of the window, the ledge caught her attention. It was a stone outcropping about five feet below the window.
Andie only thought about it for a few seconds. Then she rushed to the bathroom and pawed through the clothes trying to find something suitable for escaping. Nothing looked good. She finally settled for the usual gray shift she wore when she was not dressed up. As for shoes, she had nothing but the slippers Randa had given her on her first day. They would be torn to shreds in no time, but it was better than trying to escape wearing those other agony-inflicting things in her closet. Pulling the slippers on, Andie returned to the bedroom and settled in to wait for dark.
Several hours later she judged that it was probably a good time to try her escape. It was late enough that nearly everybody should be asleep, but still hours before dawn, which would give her time to put some distance between her and the house before everyone started stirring. Quietly she padded to the door and listened for a while until she was sure no one was around. Then she headed to the window and carefully slid it open. Andie had never been plagued by irrational fears before, especially of heights. But when she looked out that window, her stomach vaulted into her throat. The ground seemed miles below, and the outcropping seemed pencil thin. For a moment her resolve wavered.
Gulping a deep breath, Andie poked her leg out of the window before she lost her nerve. Carefully, she inched her body through the open space. Her knuckles whitened as she tightly clenched the window frame. The cool night breezed wafted past her, rippling her shift. Once out of the window, Andie hugged the corner while sliding the window shut. Then she closed her eyes and tried to slow her rapid breathing. This was going to be too much for her. How could she ever make it down? Her family jumped into her mind, and it was just enough motivation to get moving. Gritting her teeth, she slid one foot a few inches in the direction of the next window. Following with her other foot, she shifted her weight to the other side. Again, she moved with her right foot first and followed it with the left, her face pressed to the stone wall of the building. After eons of painstaking slides, she turned her face slightly to check her progress. Not even halfway to the next window! She was never going to get anywhere!
After what seemed like several hours, Andie reached the neighboring window. Peeking in, she saw that nobody was in the room. Here she paused, her body almost shaking from the strain.
She wasn’t going to make it to the ground. Not out here. Pretty soon she would have no strength left, and she would slip. Shutting her eyes to block images of her body hurtling through space, Andie pressed her forehead to the cool pane of glass.
This is just like the ropes course at the QE, a voice spoke in her mind. Simply imagine that you have the safety clasps hooked above you.
Her practical inner voice was right. Once Andie forced her actual location from her mind, it felt similar to the ropes course, walking on the wire. Her body stopped shaking, and she got control of herself. However, Andie still didn’t want to try and climb down the outside of the building. At the QE, she had used a rope to rappel to the bottom, she hadn’t skittered down a surface like an insect. Instead, she held her breath and tried the window.
Luck was on her side—it wasn’t latched. In a few seconds, Andie was through the window, and she hurried across the room. Listening at the door, she could not hear anyone in the hallway. Quickly, she stepped out of the room and scurried for the stairs.
In only a minute Andie was out on the grounds. She breathed deeply with relief and started for the hedge maze, careful to hide in the shadows near the house. The night was completely silent except for the chirping of night insects and the soft breeze whispering through the trees.
A sharp crack sounded behind her, and Andie froze. Carefully turning her head, she tried to see what had caused the noise. She couldn’t see a thing except the shadows of the bushes. Holding her breath, she moved forward again as silently as possible.
Andie was nearing the first corner of the house when arms clamped around her. With an involuntary scream, she desperately fought to free herself, hoping she could break away before anyone else came. Her attacker shouted in Denicorizen, and lights turned on in the nearby servants’ quarters. She knew people would be rushing outside in mere seconds. Still she struggled, but it was no use. Her arms were securely pinned to her sides. Terror coursed through her veins. What would they do to her?
The voice of her still unseen captor called to one of the women who came out to see what was causing the commotion. A few others came to help him, and Andie soon found herself sitting against the house with four or five guards. She was growing more worried by the minute. What did these people do to escaping slaves? Was there some way she could explain her way out of this?
Oanni pushed through the guards, and Andie heaved a sigh of relief. At least Oanni would treat her with decency, and best of all he spoke Basic. She could probably just explain that she had come out for a breath of fresh night air.
He pulled her roughly to her feet and barked a few commands in Denicorizen. The servants scurried away, and Oanni propelled her away from the house. Andie tried to give her excuse, but Oanni gave no sign of hearing a word that she said. They reached a small shed of some sort on the other side of the servants’ quarters, and he roughly forced her inside. Her churning fear was back, and her breath grew ragged. This wasn’t the genteel Oanni that she had dealt with before.
When her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Andie could see that this was no ordinary garden shed either. Chains hung from the ceiling with thick leather cuffs attached to them. Various instruments hung on the wall, some of which she could easily imagine what they were used for. Oanni fastened her hands into one set of the cuffs, stretching her arms into the air. Andie stood on her tiptoes to keep the cuffs from biting into her wrists too much. Her mind whirled, her fear becoming so overwhelming that she couldn’t be rational anymore. Obviously, the steward intended to physically punish her somehow.
“Oanni, please don’t hurt me,” Andie begged, though she couldn’t see h
im. He was somewhere behind her, soft clinks of metal alerting her to his position. He didn’t respond. Silently, Andie tried to gain control of her fear. There had to be some way to get out of this. Suddenly, Oanni yanked her hair up, nearly wrenching it from the roots. She cried out and tried to jerk away, but he held her head firmly by her hair. Without warning, something sharp pricked into the back of her neck, leaving what felt like a barbed fishhook stuck in her skin. In vain she tore at the cuffs, trying to get her hands free, but it was useless. Oanni let her hair drop and moved to the side, near an electronic panel of some kind that she could just barely see out of the periphery of her eye.
“Oanni, please,” she repeated, her voice trembling. He did not acknowledge her. Never in her life had she been so frightened. For several more minutes, Oanni stood silently to the side, his attention focused on the panel that she couldn’t really see.
When Oanni finally spoke, it sounded as if he was quoting something. “And they shall be your servants, with burdens lashed upon their backs.” With this he touched his panel, and Andie screamed out in pain. It was if fire was suddenly racing through her body. The pain started in her neck and streaked down her arms and legs before tapering off. She barely had time to catch her breath before another jolt of pain struck her senses. The pain shocks came three more times before stopping. Oanni walked around to face her. Andie bit her lip, tears leaking from her eyes. Her legs were trembling, and her back felt like it must be charred into ashes. Why is this happening to me? she wailed inside.
“Repeat after me: I am nothing,” Oanni ordered. Andie couldn’t speak. He flicked a remote, and another pain shock struck her. She screamed in agony.
“I am nothing,” she sobbed once the pain ebbed, her voice nearly incoherent.
“Louder!” he commanded.
“I am nothing!” she cried.
“You know no pain,” he dictated harshly. “Say it!” He raised the remote.
“I know no pain,” Andie mumbled. The pain was raging through her body again. Sweat dripped into her eyes and soaked the front of her shift.
“What?” demanded her tormenter.
“I know no pain!” Andie nearly screamed, forcing the lie from her lips. Her entire world was pain. One crimson, throbbing existence. The chains held her upright as she sagged. Desperately she wished to pass out, but her traitorous mind stayed conscious.
Oanni’s lesson continued.
“You know no hatred,” he intoned.
Andie spit out the words. “I know no hatred.” Never had she uttered anything less true. With all her being she hated this man fiercely. He must have sensed it. His remote sent flames coursing through her torso. “I know no hatred!” Andie wailed.
“You are a slow learner,” Oanni observed coldly. “Well, no matter. We have plenty of time.” He walked back behind her. Andie squeezed her eyes shut, dreading the coming torment.
“Say your lesson, Citizen!” the steward snarled.
“I am nothing, I know no pain, I know no hatred,” Andie whispered. It became a chant, a talisman to try and ward off Oanni’s invisible assaults. “I am nothing, I know no pain, I know no hatred.”
Time ceased to have any meaning. It was as if Andie were stuck in one endless moment of hell, nothing but pain and chanting. If she faltered, a new pain shock reminded her to continue.
At last, the steward silenced her.
“You are a new thing today,” Andie heard as though from a distance. She was limp, barely conscious, but the words penetrated the fog blocking the pain. “The past no longer exists,” Oanni instructed dispassionately. “Your name is Dia.”
Then he released her hands and led her out of the shed. The sun was just beginning to peak over the horizon, and rays of light filtered into the grounds. Andie was barely aware of it. Her memories of what followed were hazy and incomplete. She had a vague awareness of being passed into the hands of another man, who carried her up the stairs. The jolting of the climb was too much for her tormented body, and her exhausted mind finally slipped into darkness.
Andie awoke many hours later with only a little light coming into the room. For a moment she lay motionless, her entire body aching. As she tried to stretch her legs trembled violently. Flinching from the pain that radiated through her body, she closed her eyes. When she opened them again they fell on the notebook Randa had been using to teach her Denicorizen, along with the pen, sitting on the low stand next to the bed. Groaning with effort, Andie retrieved them and sat up on the bed, trying to keep most of her body as still as possible. Turning to a blank page, she chewed on the end of the pen for a minute. Then she began to write. At first Andie wrote slowly, struggling for coherent thought, but her thoughts soon became a flood and she wrote furiously. She continued to write at an unchecked pace for a half hour longer. Finally the emotion was dry. Andie had emptied her soul onto paper. Nothing replaced it. Oanni’s words reverberated in her head: “You are nothing. You know no pain. You know no hatred. Your name is Dia.” Straining her protesting muscles, Andie returned the book to the dresser. Although she had just woken, sleep came quickly. For the first time since her arrival on Corizen her sleep was dreamless.
The next morning, Randa brought Andie breakfast in her room. She produced a pink capsule which Andie dutifully swallowed. Over the next few days, Andie recovered her strength, but her passions ebbed and numbness stole into every corner of her mind. Nothing seemed to matter anymore. And the pink capsules continued to come.
10. Randa
The sunlight slanting through the window woke Andie from a pleasant dream. The dream faded quickly and all that was left was a faint content feeling. She smiled as she stretched and looked out of the window. It was a beautiful day, typical of late. During her first few months on Corizen it had rained occasionally, but it never got very cold. Now it didn’t even rain. They were living in a mild climate area of Corizen, Andie had decided. Reluctantly, she dragged herself to the bathroom.
Andie was already dressed when Randa showed up at her door. They hurried down to breakfast together. Most of the house servants were already there. It was noisy and friendly, with various people talking to each other as they passed around the food. Andie listened idly, catching snatches of someone grumbling about a particular chore, or someone else sharing a juicy bit of gossip about one of the garden servants. She was only vaguely paying attention when Vic, the footman, mentioned that Master Erron was returning in a few days. The rest of the table suddenly went silent. Andie stopped ladling mush into her bowl and looked around. Almost everybody was avoiding her glance—the men looking into their food, the women staring at each other. Only Madime, another young woman about Andie’s age, stared frostily at her, her lips pressed together into a thin line. Andie ignored it as she swallowed the pink pill that Randa handed her. Nothing really mattered anymore.
Up in her room after breakfast, Andie decided that she wanted to wear a locket for her daily garden procession that she had stuffed in the drawer months ago. While she pawed through the dresser trying to find it, she stumbled across the notebook that Randa had used to teach her Denicorizen. Andie flipped through it with only mild interest, stopping to read some of her ridiculously bad sentences. Her Denicorizen was much better now. Just as she was about to close the book, she stumbled across some of her own writing on one of the last pages and started to read curiously.
When she finished reading, a small speck of something was stirring in her soul. She was missing something. Where was the girl who had written with such love for these people? Andie remembered her family of course, but she felt no such emotion for them. Indeed, she felt nothing for them at all. Andie frowned. Something was wrong here. How could she have felt such feelings before, yet be so insensitive now? What had changed?
After pondering the puzzle for a moment, Andie shrugged, about to resume her search for the elusive locket. However, from somewhere, a little voice that she had not heard in a
long time spoke in her head. It started with the pink pills.
What an odd idea! She hadn’t considered the pills. Randa gave them to her and she obediently swallowed them. She had never stopped to wonder why she was taking them. This thought inspired a curious dread, almost terror. Andie pushed away all thoughts of the pills.
Yet the next morning at breakfast, when Randa handed her the pill, she stared at it in fascination. Although everything inside her warned against it, Andie slipped it into a pocket instead of putting it in her mouth. She glanced around guiltily, but no one seemed to have noticed. As everyone started to eat, one of the servants mentioned casually, “Dia! Oanni is looking for you. He was here just a minute ago.”
Andie sat down at the table next to Merena and looked to Frando.
“Do you know what he wanted?” she asked him, choosing some bread for her plate.
“Mmm, some instructions from Master Jaory, I think,” Frando said mysteriously.
Once again, everyone avoided her eyes. This time though, Andie could sense that something was wrong. Madime glared at her coldly and then rose and stalked away from the table. Andie watched her leave, completely puzzled. “I didn’t do anything wrong, did I?” asked Andie fearfully. Nobody responded. Andie turned to Randa.
“Tell me what’s going on!” she implored.
Randa hesitated, and then mumbled, “You will have to ask Oanni.” Andie’s appetite disappeared. Obviously, something very unpleasant was going on. “I think I’ll go take a walk,” she muttered, pushing back her chair.
“Dia!” Randa entreated quietly. “Please stay and eat some breakfast. You’ll get hungry.” Andie hesitated for a second. Randa sounded very sad. Then, scanning the room and seeing all the averted faces, she whirled and escaped from the kitchen.
The Legend of Sirra Bruche Page 14
