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Elienne recovered awareness slowly. Cold, wet rocks grated against her knees.
One of the guardswomen held her wrists in a grip of steel behind her back.
Mist and rain blurred her vision and ran in chilly runnels down her collar.
Foam-webbed waves thundered against rock scant yards away. She licked lips
bitter with the taste of blown salt. Not even her most fearful expectations
had included drowning.
Faisix and Aisa stood a short distance off, deep in
conference. Elienne could not hear over the seethe of the breakers, and Aisa's
sign language was unintelligible. For the second time in her life, she faced
the despair of total helplessness. The worst had happened, beyond hope of
change. Faisix surely intended to kill her. Elienne found no comfort in
fatalism. Again, as with the Khadrach, she
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responded with the reckless insolence of one who has nothing left to lose.
When Faisix left his conversation with Aisa, Elienne faced him with rugged
anger. 'I swim quite well, Excel-
lency. You had better make sure of me with a rock, first.'
Faisix's brows rose, and he gave way to startled laugh-
ter. 'Mistress, I am never that crude. My purpose in stopping here was a
practical one. Your Prince's urgency allowed me no time to route us a transfer
to Torkal Manor with safety. Here we will not be pressured with
interruptions.'
'My knees hurt.' Elienne tossed wet hair out of her eyes. 'And the handling of
your guardswomen is certainly crude.'
'Do you call Aisa's slashed wrist civil?' Faisix folded his arms, amused, as
though his ruined name meant nothing and the spoiled velvet that clung
soddenly about his shoulders were entirely commonplace. 'Denji, bind the
Lady's hands and allow her to stand.'
Elienne awarded the sarcasm the same disregard as the leather thongs that bit
into her reddened skin.
'I regret the barbarity,' he said civilly, watching her first stumbling step
as she regained her feet. 'But really, I
don't want a visit from Taroith or the Prince just now, and Ielond seems to
have forgotten to put a catch on the trinket he gave you.'
'He knew your ways,' she said, though the cold made her teeth chatter. 'I find
you pretentious.'
Faisix smiled with delight. 'Spare me your opinions.
Since your death would only arouse public sentiment in
Darion's favor, you will accept the hospitality of Torkal
Manor for a time. Unless you have had the extreme misfortune to conceive, you
have nothing to fear at my hands.'
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With a terrible, undermining sense of dread, Elienne acknowledged sound
judgment. So long as Darion's diffi-
culties did not make him a public martyr, the established laws of succession
would condemn him soon enough.
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Jieles would inherit. And Cinndel's child would die.
Elienne felt her brash courage dissolve. She would rather have taken her
chances with the sea than become a guest in Torkal Manor. But already Faisix
had lost interest in verbal debate. A dazzling flare of yellow heralded the
second stage of the transfer. Denji caught Elienne's waist from behind as
rocks, ocean, and misted skies were torn out of existence by a fiery explosion
of sorcery.
She returned to her senses with agonizing slowness.
Disorientation blanked her mind, persistent as fog. For long minutes she
shivered, aware only of wet clothing and the staccato spatter of wind-driven
rain against glass. Her limbs felt oddly weighted. She attempted to stretch
and found her hands were bound. She was lashed to a chair with arms carved in
the shape of demon's claws. The room's only casement showed the drenched limbs
of a wind-tossed cedar, and the scrape of needles across glass set Elienne's
teeth on edge.
'You'll be given your liberty shortly, Lady,' said Faisix.
Elienne turned her head and saw a hearth flanked by bookshelves. The Sorcerer
stood by the mantel, dry and comfortable in a gray doubtlet and soft calf
boots. His fair
hair hung lank with damp.
E!ienne battled to stabilize unfocused vision and a maddening recurrence of
vertigo. Nausea toyed with her stomach. 'What have you done to me?' The words
sounded slurred, even through the roaring in her ears.
'Nothing permanently harmful.' Faisix stepped for-
ward, footfalls silenced by richly patterned carpet. Fire-
light made his shadow flicker. 'Only a tiny dose of the
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elixir Nairgen gave to Darion. Not enough to put you out.'
Elienne swallowed, a bitter taste on her tongue. 'Why.'?'
The question seemed silly, even as she uttered it, and the carpet appeared to
melt into the form of the man in the flamelight.
'I don't wish Darion to be privy to the nuances of my hospitality.' Faisix's
reply seemed distant as a faded nightmare. 'Aisa has gone to fetch a file.'
With great difficulty, Elienne shepherded straying thoughts. Shortly she heard
footsteps, and the steely jingle of mail. Then cold hands caught the
mirrowstone, and chain snapped taut against her neck. Elienne tried to pull
away.
'Hold still.' Faisix moved closer, but seemed oddly reluctant to touch her.
Why.'? wondered Elienne, but the drug fuddled her reasoning. Aisa hefted the
file, and her sinewed wrist flexed as she brought the tool to bear against the
slender gold links. Sparks flew. Static crackled over the file's edge. Aisa
bellowed in surprise and flinched back; the chain jerked in her hand, cutting
Elienne's flesh painfully.
The file tumbled to the carpet. With a snarl of anger, Aisa retrieved the tool
and raised it for a second attempt.
'Stop!' Faisix's outcry was uncharacteristically curt.
'Ielond has evidently warded the chain.' He paused and the glance he directed
toward Elienne chilled her blood.
'I regret the barbarity, Lady, but I fear I must restrict your powers of
speech and set a blocking ward about your thoughts - at least until I find
means to break the defenses set about your necklace.'
The Regent cupped his hands. A glow pale as marsh-
light haloed his fingertips. Alert enough to recognize the threat of sorcery,
Elienne shied back against the chair.
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'Aisa, restrain her,' said Faisix sharply.
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Elienne failed to duck the icy fingers that clamped her head. She thrashed,
but the mute's grip held.
The light of Faisix's summoning wheeled hazily directly before her. Had [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]