"You kill them?" Chihon gasped. She had heard rumors of these women, but she'd never believed them.
"When they are no longer useful, yes, we kill them. If they get sick or old, we put them down. It is a mercy. When a man is no longer a man, he gets sad, and sulks. It's better to put him out of his misery than leave him in pain."
Chemwa looked over at Lorit. "Like your friend there. He suffers. Do you really want to prolong his pain? There are so many men running free. We can catch you a new one that is strong and healthy. Maybe one with high spirits. Would that be to your liking?"
"I don't want another man. I want Lorit, and I want him healed."
"You could join us. We can always use a strong woman. They would eventually accept you even as a Sorceress. Once they come to see your value. If you could put that spell on some of our men, we would have enough to go around. That would be a great boon."
"Enough to go around? What do you mean? Don't you have enough to go around?"
"There are very few men in the city. We capture them when we can, but almost half of them never take to training and have to be put down. The rest of the wild ones keep far away from us. We have to range far to find them and those who hunt don't really want to share the men they capture."
"What about your children? Surely you have sons as well as daughters?" Chihon asked.
"We have magical charms to assure that mostly girls are born. If a boy is born, we train him. Children are much easier to train than the free range men we capture. They are very domesticated, but there are few of them. Certainly not enough to go around."
She looked at Lorit once again. Maybe when he is well, he can service a few of our women. Many women hope one day to mother a daughter."
Chihon didn't appreciate the way Chemwa looked at Lorit. All she wanted was to get him somewhere where they could rest up and she could tend to his injuries. If she were properly fed and rested, she felt confident that her magic would be strong enough to heal him. Then they could be on their way.
The trees thinned out once more and Chihon could see a city off, over the rolling hills. It had a strange red tint to it. The buildings were short and squat.
Chemwa looked back at her. "We're almost there. This is our home. This is Rohir."
Rohir was constructed of adobe mud baked by the sun. The homes were short, with the interior support beams protruding. Colorful decorations hung from the rough beams jutting out of the drab adobe. Every home was adorned with its own gaily-colored weavings or bead work. Wind chimes sang in the breeze, adding their melody to the noise of the busy streets.
There were women everywhere, but no men. Even the blacksmith was a woman, large and strong as any man Chihon had ever met. Most of the women were dressed in the same style as Chemwa. Soft leather shirts and pants were personalized with decorative lanyards and colored fringe.
Down one alley, Chihon caught sight of someone dressed in colorful silk. The figure sped between buildings, disappearing as quickly as it appeared.
"Who was that?"
"That was a man," Chemwa said. "You know what they look like, don't you?"
"None of the men I know looks like that."
"He's a pretty one, that one, all dressed up like a peacock." Chemwa looked longingly down the alley where he had disappeared.
"Do you have a man?" Chihon wondered about the woman, since she seemed to dislike men so.
"I have one, but he's not mine alone. I share him with my troupe. He's not as fancy as that one. That one is for the wealthy. We're just poor hunters."
She slapped Chihon on the back. "We do get to try out the wild ones that we catch now and then. You should try an unbroken man. It might do you some good." Chemwa laughed a hearty laugh.
They rounded a curve in the main road and walked up to a larger adobe structure that stretched for the entire block. It stood three stories tall, and was richly decorated. At one end, a tall stone tower rose above the adobe to provide a commanding view of the entire city.
"Here we are," Chemwa said.
As they approached the doors, a pair of female guards stepped aside and held them open. Another pair rushed out of the palace and scrambled over to Lorit. They untied the litter from the stag and lifted it to their shoulders.
Chihon turned to the stag. She looked into its eyes and whispered "Gratias tibi et dimittam te," she said thanking the beast and releasing it from her spell. It nodded its head, nuzzled her hand, and then turned and ran off down the street tossing its antlered head from side to side, until it disappeared from sight.
They were escorted into a large room hung with rich rugs. A woman sat on a low decorative chair surrounded by thick silk pillows arranged neatly in a row along each side. Chihon was escorted down the center aisle.
Chihon looked back to see where they had taken Lorit. He was nowhere to be seen. "Where's Lorit?"
"Don't worry. They've taken him to a healer. She will begin the work on his arm. He will be well taken care of."
Chemwa bowed low before the seated woman. "Mayst," she said as she rose.
"Chemwa," the woman said. "How nice to see you again, my sister. I have heard reports of the Wizard and Sorceress you brought with you. Why have you chosen to bring this danger among us?"
"The Sorceress can help us, My Lady."
"How so?" Mayst eyed Chihon with suspicion.
"She is a powerful Sorceress," Chemwa explained. "When we chanced upon her, she had bound a stag to her and was using it to carry her injured companion. I thought she could do the same for us. It would be a great boon to us to have our men so bound to us. Perhaps we would have more to go around if we could break them all.
"She has asked our help in healing her companion. In return, maybe she will teach us these spells."
"Has she promised such help?" Mayst demanded.
"No, My Lady. She has promised nothing but our destruction if we do not help."
"That sounds more like truth." Mayst looked over at Chihon. "I doubt one such as her would so readily agree."
Chihon was getting worried that Mayst would refuse to help Lorit. She looked around for something to draw on. He powers were still low, and she was not sure how much she could depend on.
She reached out and saw a glimmer of a light-blue haze off, behind the palace. It was indistinct, but contained magic. She drew it to herself, breathing in the power as she did. She almost forgot where she was when Mayst interrupted.
"Look at her. Even as she stands there, she gathers the power to destroy us. You have done well not to anger the Sorceress.
She turned to Chihon. "Come, Sorceress. Tell me your name. Make yourself comfortable. Let us talk a while." Mayst gestured to one of the cushions.
Chihon took a seat. She wondered what was in store for her, but felt much more confident now that she had a source of power. She reached out to Lorit and infused him with some of the power she had absorbed. She could feel him reviving already.
"Thank you for your restraint," Mayst said. "We are a rough and sometimes violent people. We realize that this is not your way, but it is ours. We rarely have contact with those outside of our lands. They see us as barbaric. Strangely, that is exactly the way we see them."
Chihon nodded. "I just ask that you help heal Lorit so we can be on our way. We are headed to Amedon. We're not here to cause trouble. We have plenty of that on our own."
"The healers are already at work on the man you brought us. We do have a problem, though. Our laws say that any man brought within these walls is either broken to our ways or gelded so that his temperament is more manageable. This law is not broken for any reason. None may leave as they enter. Which do you prefer?"
Chihon felt her blood run hot. The magic rose up in her and she gathered it around her in preparation for a fight. "Neither." She would not let them harm Lorit, even if that meant killing every one of them.
Chemwa held up her hand. "Then you must stay here, inside the palace. Only here can he remain as he is. You will be treated as my honored guests, but you must remain here. To allow you to leave as you are, would destroy the peace and prosperity we have worked too long and hard to maintain.
"Don't worry. You can keep him for yourself. That much I can see to. If you choose to break him, you can still keep him for yourself. If you choose to geld him, then he can remain here and serve the palace or he may go. It matters not at that point.
"Either way, you have time to choose," Mayst said. She rose from her chair and turned her back on Chihon.
Chihon raised a fireball in her hand, feeling it tingle in her palm. She threw the fireball at Mayst and watched it as it exploded into a silent shower of sparks before it reached her.
Mayst stopped and turned. "You may have had the ability to harm us when you entered here, but now that you have drunk of our power, you are quite harmless. The power you absorbed while you sat here is a part of us. You can no more use our magic against us than you could use yours against yourself."
Mayst turned her back once more and silently walked from the room, leaving Chihon sitting there, worried and upset.
Chihon sat with Lorit over the next few days. He was getting better, but slowly. Each day, she drew more power from the source behind the palace. If she could build up enough, maybe she could break through the spell that protected the women of Rohir. She also poked around, trying to gather as much information as she could.
There were pools behind the palace, in a large courtyard, where every woman could enjoy them. The healing water bubbled from the ground and was hot to the touch. The water temperature year round was just between scalding and comfortable. The water flowed down from these heated pools to mix with the cold, so a woman could choose the temperature that suited her best.
Chihon visited the pools often, to relax and recharge her magic. Lorit was confined to the palace, and even though his arm was healing nicely, his leg still bothered him. She worried that the healers were intentionally keeping him lame to control him. Her own magic had no effect on his injuries, although she tried repeatedly to heal him.
"The pools are magnificent," Chihon told Lorit as they sat together after dinner. "The rocks are covered in limestone that was deposited by the falling water. The water is the deepest blue; it's almost unnatural. Each one is framed in long spears of pure white crystals, hanging from the edge of the pool, dribbling water into the lower ones.
"You can move from pool to pool to get just the temperature that suits you. The water has a salty taste, but it's good for the skin and many come there just for the minerals."
"I can feel it," Lorit said. "The water comes from deep within the earth. It has power. Lots of power."
"Can you access it?" If Lorit could access the power, maybe he could build up enough strength to defeat the women. She was worried by his continued confinement to the palace. He was getting restless; bad leg or not, he wanted to get back on the road.
"The palace seems to have some sort of spell on it that interacts with the pool. I can't access the power from here. Maybe if you can get me out of the palace and closer to the pools, I might be able to tap into it."
"Lorit, no. They want you gelded or broken before you leave the palace. They said that if you left as you are, you would be killed on sight."
"I'm not so easy to see." Lorit reached out his hand and slowly faded from her view.
"We can try." Chihon reached out to help him stand and hobble outside. It was late and the guards were posted, but Chihon had made a habit of enjoying the pools late in the evening, just so that the guards would get used to her coming and going at all hours.
Chihon dressed Lorit in a loose robe with a large hood. She hoped that anyone who saw them would think she was headed to the pools with a friend for a late night dip.
They slipped out the door without notice. Chihon helped Lorit as he stumbled along. The pools were close to the palace, but far enough that his bad leg exhausted him before they reached the water. They had to stop and rest several times on their way.
By the time they reached the pools, Lorit was in pain and could hardly stand. She helped him lower his legs into one of the hotter pools and leaned in to whisper in his ear.
"Feel that water. It's amazing. I love this. It makes me feel so strong and relaxed at the same time."
"I can feel the power." Lorit swished his legs around in the water.
Chihon extended her senses to encompass his injury. His leg showed bright red. It was not healing properly and she feared for his recovery.
Lorit raised a shield of invisibility and stripped off his robe. "Help me into the water. I can feel the source of the magic. I think I can make it over there."
"They'll see you. If the water stirs and no one is there, they'll send a guard to investigate."
"Then come with me." Lorit continued to strip off his clothes. As he tossed them to the ground, they became visible in a neat pile. Once he was completely undressed, he lowered his entire body into the water.
Chihon hesitated. Lorit was invisible, but she was not. The patrons usually bathed naked, so it would look strange if she did not strip before she entered the water. She blushed at the idea that Lorit would see her. She'd been careful not to undress in front of him.
She debated with herself, then finally decided that Lorit needed her help more than she needed her modesty. "Just remember, I can't swim," she whispered. "Don't go out too deep. I don't want to drown."
Even though he was invisible, she felt him smile at her. "Turn your back," she said rotating her finger in the air. "A lady needs some mystery."
She quickly added her clothes to the pile where Lorit's lay and slid into the water. Her feet touched the rocky bottom, looking for a place to stand. She reached out to steady herself, her unease with the water momentarily getting the better of her.
Lorit took hold of her arm. "Hold on. It's only chest deep."
She quickly lowered herself into the water up to her neck to provide a bit of modesty. He laughed at her.