“So,” said she with a coldness to match her gaze. “I am at last allowed the privilege of seeing the one who has taken the eye and heart of our High Rider. With due courtesy to his exalted station, perhaps he would do well to see to the healing of his vision—and his wits as well. There is naught before me save a ragged savage—bone thin and without stance or presence.”
The two females beside her laughed in amusement, and she to the left of the larger nodded. “Indeed, Famira,” said she, “it is as you say. See how she hobbles about as though from extreme age. Perhaps she is not as young as she at first appears.”
“Undoubtedly she is lame as well as naturally ungainly,” laughed the third, letting her eyes move over me. “Long have we wondered as to Ceralt’s preference in women, and now we know. To catch his fancy, Famira, one must be a bent stick.”
The amusement of the three increased with these words, yet I was unable to concern myself with insult. Dizziness had returned to me, causing beads of moisture to form upon my brow and body, increasing the trembling in my limbs, draining what little strength I had. No purpose was served in standing about with three witless females, and the longer I continued to do so, the shorter would be the distance I was able to put between my final step and the village. I turned from the females who yet stood in laughter and began to circle to their right with small, painful steps, yet she called Famira stood herself before me, keeping me from my chosen path. Again I raised my eyes to hers, yet this time the humor had gone from her, leaving naught save hate and loathing.
“Your life here will be a horror,” she hissed, bringing her face closer to mine so that I might more easily see the twisting of it. “No woman of this village shall befriend you lest they face my displeasure! Errands given you by men shall find no assistance in their completion! Should you find yourself alone and far from your halyar, there will be sticks with which you are beaten, and should you cry your misery to Ceralt, there will be further beatings! You will heartily regret having been brought here, Savage. For this you have my word!”
Nearly foaming was the village female, so deeply did she feel her hate, and the war leader who was Jalav was unable to turn from her challenge. Aswim in dizziness and deepening pain, I forced my body to straighten itself so that I might stand tall and proud before her, answering her challenge with agreement to meet any manner of attack. No word was I able to speak, so great was the pain, yet my eyes said that which my tongue was unable to utter. Gasps came from the two females who accompanied her called Famira, their eyes widening as they looked upon a war leader who showed no fear, no uncertainty. The third female, startled, took herself back a step from my presence, yet her rage returned immediately, greatly intensified, and her foot lashed out, catching the limb which I still used to support a great deal of my weight. The limb flew from my grasp, destroying the delicate balance which I had accomplished, forcing my body’s full weight onto my legs. Well had I known that I could not support myself without the aid of the limb, and I was not proven wrong. As the branch went from me, I went to the ground, finding it hard and cold and unwelcome. A stone met my side, bruising my flesh, the pain adding itself to all the rest. I gazed at the thin grass beneath my hands, attempting to breathe against the weight upon my chest, and again the laughter of the females came to me, thinner than it had been, yet heavy with scorn. Footsteps sounded upon the ground, and I raised my eyes to see the three females walking from me, pleasure and unconcern in the set of their shoulders. So casually would they have thrown away their lives had they been among Midanna, for one does not turn one’s back upon a living enemy and expect to retain her own life. Much did I wish for the presence of a sword or dagger or spear, yet even more did I wish my strength returned to me, so that I might avenge myself upon these puny city females who dared, in their ignorance, to oppose themselves to a war leader of the Hosta. Briefly I attempted to rise again to my feet, yet my first effort showed the futility of the attempt. Barely could my arms support the presence of my shoulders, and my legs seemed totally useless. I sank back to the ground, bathed in the moisture of dizziness, and then came the sound of hurrying footsteps, and a hand grasped my arm.
“Jalav, what have they done to you?” demanded Lialt, his eyes flashing over me as his arm supported me from the ground. “Ceralt shall hear of this, I swear it!”
“That Famira!” spat Tarla furiously, bending to me. “She should have been made to circle long ago, for had she been drawn by a rider, her temper would long since have been seen to! It is high time she felt the leather for her actions!”
“No longer shall she be exempt,” said Lialt grimly, and then was I lifted in his arms. “Tarla,” said he, his steps leading back to the dwelling from which I had so briefly been released. “Bring the furs quickly, for I must examine her wounds.”
Obediently, Tarla nodded and sped to the tree where the lenga pelts lay, and in but a handful of reckid, I again lay upon them in the dwelling. Tarla, with Lialt’s assistance, removed the leather garment and fur wrappings from me, then Lialt carefully examined the tracks of the Silla spears. Angrily red did the tracks show themselves to be, throbbing and aching so that surely I thought movement would be visible upon them. Lialt cared little for the look of the wounds, and fetched a salve which he rubbed gently upon me. The salve eased the ache and throbbing somewhat, allowing me to rest, and the two village folk took themselves from my side to stand by the fire and speak to one another in murmurs. I closed my eyes in the comfort and warmth of the lenga pelts, reflecting that Lialt had not questioned the why of my having been found so far from the tree. Perhaps Mida had seen to this omission, or perhaps the presence of the female Famira had accomplished it, yet it mattered not. Lialt did not know that I had attempted escape, therefore he would not, in future, be on his guard. I smiled somewhat, knowing that though the time had not been proper for escape, the opportunity would come again, when I was able to avail myself of it. Then Jalav would retrace her steps to the Midanna, and find the means by which the Hosta might be freed. So pleasant was the thought that sleep came easily to cure my exhaustion.
7
The white land—and a punishment for escape
In the next three feyd, I was not again allowed alone from the dwelling, yet twice each fey was I placed before the leafless tree. At these times Lialt sat beside me, speaking little yet ever present, a thing I cared little for. When in the dwelling, either alone or with none save Tarla about, I had worked much toward restoring my strength, flexing arms and legs and thighs, placing my full weight slowly yet completely as it should be. A dozen times had I walked the length of the dwelling, Tarla seeing none of this, at first stiffly and with much pain, at last nearly as easily as I had done before my meeting with the Silla, and greatly pleased was I that my strength had returned so quickly. Yet there was another thing which disturbed me, a problem I had no solution to, a problem first spoken of by Ceralt upon his return, two feyd after she called Famira had approached me. At his arrival, I sat upon the lenga pelt in my dwelling, again seeing to the removal of knots from my hair, and his grin was large indeed as he approached.