The bearded guard grunted. “So I’ve been told.” He lifted a thumb toward the door. “Go on in. Someone is supposed to be waiting for you.”
Walsh adjusted his weapons belt. “Good. I have to drive this one back tonight. Can you believe it? Won’t even let us wait until morning. That Lord Rahl is as demanding as they come.”
The guard grunted, as if he well understood the annoyance of night duty.
“
Oh,” Walsh added, as if in afterthought, “Lord Rahl also wanted to know if his representative could pay the Lord Rahl’s respects to His Excellency.”
The guard shrugged. “Sorry. Jagang took out of here this morning. He took most everyone with him. Just left a few behind to mind things.”
Clarissa’s heart sank with disappointment. Nathan had been hoping that Jagang would be here, but he had said that even though he hoped it, Jagang would likely be smarter than that. Jagang wasn’t one to trust his life to the unknown abilities of a wizard as powerful as Nathan.
Walsh took Clarissa’s arm and pushed her on ahead as he gave the guard a good-natured slap on the shoulder. “Thanks.”
“
Yea, just go on in down the hall. There’s one of the women waiting there for you. Last I saw her, she was pacing by the second set of torches.”
Walsh and Bollesdun were Imperial Order soldiers, and they had had no trouble with any of the other soldiers, either. Clarissa dreaded to think what would have happened to her without those two the times their coach had been stopped by troops to query its mission. Walsh and Bollesdun also had little trouble ushering her through checkpoints.
Clarissa remembered all too well what happened to the women in Renwold. She still had nightmares about what she had seen happening to Manda Perlin when the Order’s troops captured Renwold. And right there, on the floor beside her murdered husband, Rupert.
Their footsteps echoed as they hurried down the stone corridor. It was a dark, dank, and depressing place. It looked to Clarissa to have no comforts other than a few wooden benches. This was a place for soldiers, not a place for families to live.
As the guard had said, the woman was waiting near the second set of torches.
“
Yes,” the woman asked, “what is it?”
As Clarissa came to a stop before the woman, she could see in the torchlight that her face was badly battered. She had horrid-looking cuts and bruises. One side of her lower lip was swollen to twice normal size. Even Walsh moved back a little when he got a good look at her.
“
I am to meet Sister Amelia. His Excellency’s plenipotentiary sent me.”
The woman slumped with relief. “Good. I am Sister Amelia. I have the book. I hope never to see it again.”
“
His Excellency’s plenipotentiary also told me that I am to pay his respects to an acquaintance of his, Sister Verna. Is she here?”
“
Well, I don’t know if I should—”
“
If I’m not allowed to see her, His Excellency will be most unhappy when his plenipotentiary reports how his request was so rudely treated by a slave. As a slave myself, serving His Excellency, I can tell you that I will not be the one to take the blame.”
Clarissa felt foolish saying such words, but as Nathan had told her, they seemed to work magic.
Sister Amelia’s eyes fixed on the gold ring through Clarissa’s lip. Her hesitation vanished. “Of course. Please follow me. That is where the book is kept, anyway.”
With Walsh close at her side, and his hand near the hilt of his short sword, Clarissa followed Sister Amelia deeper into the gloomy fortress. They went down a long hall, and then took a turn. Clarissa was paying careful attention as they went, so that if they had to get out fast, she wouldn’t take a wrong route and be caught in here.
Sister Amelia stopped before a door, glancing to Clarissa for just an instant before she lifted the lever and led them in. A woman and a man were in the room, he sitting at a simple plank table, reading a book laid open on the table, and she looking over his shoulder.
The woman glanced up. She was a little older than Clarissa, and attractive, with curly brown hair. She looked to Clarissa to be a woman of authority crushed by humiliation. She looked in agony. Whether it was physical, or emotional, Clarissa didn’t know.
Sister Amelia held out a hand. “This is Verna.”
Verna straightened. She had a gold ring in her lip, the same as Sister Amelia, the same as Clarissa. The man, his curly blond hair in disarray, didn’t look up. He seemed frantically absorbed in his book.
“
Pleased to meet you,” Clarissa said.
Verna turned back to the man and the book he was studying.
Clarissa pushed back her hood as she turned to Sister Amelia. “The book?”
Sister Amelia bowed. “Of course. It’s right here.”
She scurried to a shelf. The room wasn’t large. One of the stone block walls had a crudely built shelf holding books. There were perhaps no more than a hundred. Nathan had been hoping there would be a great many more. As Nathan had expected, though, Jagang wouldn’t keep many of his prizes together in one place.
Sister Amelia pulled a volume from a shelf and placed it on the table. She looked to be uncomfortable even touching it.
“
This is it.”
The cover was as Nathan had described it to her, a strange black that seemed to absorb the light from the room. Clarissa flipped open the cover.
“
What are you doing?” Sister Amelia cried out as she stepped closer.
Clarissa looked up. “I was instructed how to make sure it is the right book. Please leave it to me?”
Sister Amelia stepped back, wringing her hands together. “Of course. But I can tell you only too well that it’s the right book. It’s the one His Excellency agreed to.”
Clarissa carefully turned over the first page as Sister Amelia nervously licked her lips. Verna watched from the corner of her eye.
Clarissa reached inside her cloak and pulled out the little leather pouch of powder Nathan had given her. She sprinkled it over the open page. Words began to appear.
Assigned to the Winds by Wizard Ricker.
It was the book she had come for. Nathan hadn’t known the name of the wizard, but he had told her it would say “Assigned to the Winds” and then a name. She flipped the cover closed.
“
Sister Amelia, would you leave us for a moment, please?”
The woman bowed and quickly scurried out of the room.
Verna frowned as she straightened again. “What’s this about?”
“
May I see your ring, please?”
“
My ring?”
Verna finally sighed and held out her hand, showing Clarissa the ring on her third finger. It had the sunburst pattern as Nathan had described.
“
Why do you want to see—” For the first time, Verna noticed Clarissa’s guard. Her eyes went wide. She jostled Warren’s shoulder while she spoke. “Walsh?” Warren’s head came up.
Walsh smiled. “How you doing, Prelate? Warren?”
“
Not very well.”
Clarissa stepped closer. The man, Warren, was looking very puzzled.
“
I was sent by Lord Rahl to get this book.” Clarissa gave Verna and Warren both a meaningful look. “I am bonded to Lord Rahl.”
“
Richard is dead,” Verna said in a flat whisper.
“
I know. But I was sent by Lord Rahl. Nathan Rahl, the master of D’Hara. He wanted me to pass along his regards.”
Verna’s mouth fell open. Warren’s chair skidded across the floor as he rushed to his feet.
“
Do you understand?” Clarissa carefully asked. “If you do, then you had better be quick about it.”
“
But, Nathan, we couldn’t …”
“
Well,” Clarissa said, “I must be getting back to
Lord Rahl
. He’s waiting for me. I have a coach, and I must be leaving at once.”
Verna’s eyes turned up to Walsh. He gave her a nod.
Verna fell to her knees. She snatched Warren’s violet robes and yanked him down beside her.
“
Do it, Warren!” She folded her hands together as she bowed her head. Her words spilled out. “Master Rahl guide us. Master Rahl teach us. Master Rahl protect us. In your light we thrive. In your mercy we are sheltered. In your wisdom we are humbled. We live only to serve. Our lives are yours.”
Warren spoke the words, too, just a little in her wake.
Verna knelt frozen for a moment, her hands still folded together prayerfully. She suddenly let out a cry of joy. She laughed like a madwoman.
“
Thank the Creator! My prayers have been answered! I’m free! He’s gone! I can feel that he’s gone from my mind!”
Clarissa sighed in relief. Nathan had warned her that if Verna failed to do as they had hoped, she would have to die here.
Verna and Warren hugged as they wept with joy. Clarissa seized them both and urged them up.
“
We have to get out of here, but Lord Rahl wants me to do something else, first. I need to look for some books.”
“
Books?” Warren asked. “What books?”
“
Mountain’s Twin, Selleron’s Seventh Task, The Book of Inversion and Duplex, and Twelve Words Left for Reason.”
Warren turned to the book on the table. “
Twelve Words
, that’s this one, here. I think I saw a couple of the others.”
Clarissa went to the shelves. “Help me look. Nathan wants to know if they are here. He needs to know.”
They all scanned the titles on the spines, and had to pull out several that weren’t marked so as to check their titles. They found all but
The Book of Inversion and Duplex.
Clarissa brushed the dust from her hands. “That will have to do. Nathan said that they might not all be here. With only one missing, that’s better than we could have hoped.”
“
What does Nathan want with these books?” Warren asked.
“
He doesn’t want Jagang to have them. He says that they’re dangerous for Jagang to have.”
“
They all could be dangerous,” Verna said.
“
Let me worry about that,” Clarissa said, as she slipped the book from the table back into an empty slot. “Nathan just needed to know which were here. Now, we can leave.”
Verna clutched Clarissa’s sleeve. “I have two friends here. We have to get them out with us. You said you have a coach. We can all go.”
“
Who?” Walsh asked.
“
Janet and Amelia.”
Walsh let out a knowing grunt as Clarissa glanced to the door. “But Nathan said—”
“
Look, if they give their oath to … to Lord Rahl, also, they can escape.” Verna touched the ring in Clarissa’s lip. “You don’t know what they do to the women here. Did you see Amelia’s face?”
“
I know what they do,” Clarissa whispered, remembering the scenes in Renwold. “Will they take the oath?”
“
Of course. Wouldn’t you, if it would get you away from here?”
Clarissa swallowed. “I’d do anything.”
“
Hurry, then,” Walsh said. “There’s room in the coach, but we have to hurry.”
Verna nodded and then slipped out the door.
While Verna went to get the other two, Clarissa unhooked the clasp on the fine gold chain around her neck. Warren watched with a frown as Clarissa pulled a book from a lower shelf and then set it on the table.
Clarissa placed the locket on the shelf, in the empty slot. Carefully, she laid open the locket. With a finger, she gently pushed it all the way back against the wall. She wiggled her fingers at Warren. He handed back the book she had removed. Clarissa slid it back into its place.
“
What did you do?” Warren asked.
“
What Nathan wanted me to do.”
Verna burst back into the room, holding the hands of two beaming women. One was the one with the battered face, Sister Amelia.
“
They’ve given the oath,” Verna said in a breathless voice. “They are bonded to Lord Rahl. Let’s get out of here.”
“
About time,” Walsh said. He had a little smile on his face for Verna. It was obvious to Clarissa that they knew each other.
Walsh took ahold of Clarissa’s arm and the two of them led out the rest, to retrace their route back through the fortress. The dark, dripping stone smelled of rot. They saw only a few guards inside the stronghold, most people having left along with Jagang, gone to his huge tents.
Nathan said that Jagang traveled with a large contingent of people and that he had big, round tents with all the comforts of a palace. Of the people left behind, there seemed to be a scattering of officers and guards, and a few of the women who were slaves to Jagang and his army.
As they came around a corner, one of those slaves was coming the other way, carrying two steaming kettles of what smelled like lamb stew. She was dressed the same as the other women Clarissa had seen, except Verna. The clothes they wore, like Janet and Amelia, were not clothes as far as Clarissa was concerned. The women might as well have been naked, for all the good those transparent garments did.
When the woman looked up and saw them coming, especially Walsh, she immediately stepped to the side of the hall, out of their way.
Clarissa jerked to a halt, staring at the woman, whose gaze fixed on the floor.