She pressed into his chest until she could hear his heart beating. His hands caressed her hair. He knelt, pulling her down with him, and covered her mouth with his lips in a kiss that lasted forever.
The healer pushed away from him, suddenly, thrusting herself back with rigid arms. "No! No! You're not here! You're dead! You died in the Mercadian raid!" She bent almost double, weeping. All the pain of that tragedy returned, as fresh as it had been a month ago.
Cho-Manno reached out for her, and again she backed away. "Orim," he said, his voice calm and reasonable. "I am not dead. How could I be, when you see me here, when you touch me? I am not dead, chavala. It is you who have been dead and are now alive."
Still crying, the healer shook her head. "You can't be alive. Everyone saw you die."
"They saw what they thought they saw. I was not dead, and here I am to prove it to you." He drew Orim to him, and this time she did not resist. Their kisses were gentler this time, less urgent.
At last Orim withdrew. "What happened?"
The Cho-Arrim leader shrugged. "I was badly hurt, but not, as they thought, killed. It is more difficult for my people to die than you suppose, Orim. We have such a strong life-urge within us. Yet we can be killed, and many were that day."
"Is-Shada?"
"Yes, she and others. We fled across the lagoon to the Navel of the World and from there into the Inner Waters. It is a dangerous place, and we do not like to go there, but I knew that once there none would find us." Cho-Manno chuckled grimly. "If the Inner Waters frighten a Cho-Arrim, how much more will it frighten a Mercadian?"
"What is it?"
"It is a bad place, Orim." For the first time, Cho-Manno looked troubled. "Do not ask me about it. It is a place of decay and rot. Others died there. There, we lost Ta-Karnst."
"Ta-Karnst." Orim closed her eyes, remembering the ChoArrim healer.
Cho-Manno nodded. "His soul is with the river now." He rose and stretched, one hand absently stroking Orim's hair as she gazed up at him. "At last we fled that place. We could not return to the village. The Mercadians had destroyed it and placed guards about the site, and 1 knew that if any of us appeared, they would never rest until they brought us down. We traveled south for many days until we came to where the Rushwood ends and the Endless Water begins."
Orim nodded. "The Outer Sea."
Cho-Manno repeated the words to himself, and Orim was reminded of his habit of learning new words and phrases, almost as a compulsion.
"The waters of this place are not as friendly to us," he resumed. "They are bitter rather than sweet. Nonetheless, we dwelt for a few days at the very edge of the Rushwood while we debated what to do. While we were there, we captured a traveler, who proved to be Ramosan. He-"
Orim lifted her hand. "What is a Ramosan?" "A society of Mercadians who fight against the khovoshtvo." Cho-Manno used the Cho-Arrim word for goblins, a word charged with contempt. "They are few and secret, but we know something of them. This man was one of them. From him we learned of what had happened to you after the attack. The Ramosans told us you and your comrades had headed to Saprazzo. I told him you must have sought the mind of the Uniter. He warned that the Mercadians would take it before you could, in hopes of destroying the Uniter, or using it for their own gain." Orim nodded. "Prophetic words…" "We determined to come to Saprazzo to aid you. In the past, Saprazzans have given help to the Ramosans. We came, but not soon enough."
"How long have you been in the city?" "Since yesterday." Cho-Manno anticipated her next question. "I have waited to see you, chavala, because I needed first to be sure of my reception by the Saprazzans. Dear as you are to me, I have a political responsibility to my people."
He linked Orim's arm through his and walked slowly about the courtyard. They stopped near a stream, and Cho-Manno let the fresh sparkling water run over his hand. It seemed to give him new strength, and he smiled and laughed as it bubbled over his fingers.
The vizier gathered them all-Orim, Cho-Manno, Sisay, Hanna, and several Saprazzan officials and advisors-in her rooms. Also present was a thin, dark man, with a long angled scar running from the comer of one eyebrow to his chin. Orim deduced correctly that this must be the Ramosan Cho-Manno had told her about.
The vizier's face was serious as she addressed them. "I have spoken with my Circle, with Cho-Manno of the Cho-Arrim, and with Lahaime of the Ramosans. We have pondered why the Matrix was stolen and its guard slain, and who would perpetrate such a crime in the heart of the city." She rose and stood before Orim, looking the healer full in the face. "Orim, Cho-Manno of the Cho-Arrim tells me he is certain you had nothing to do with this crime. Will you truth-speak with him to confirm your innocence?"
Orim hesitated. Truth-speaking, she knew from her time among the Cho-Arrim, was a practice that was used only in the cases of most extreme crimes. The merging of two minds was a difficult and often extremely unpleasant business. She looked at Cho-Manno's dark face as he sat expressionless, then turned to the vizier and nodded wordlessly.
The Cho-Arrim leader came before her. He did not touch her, but instead looked long into her eyes. He began a low, soft chant and closed his own eyes.
Orim felt the chant run through her mind, but instead of soothing her as Cho-Arrim ritual chants had done in the past, his words beat against her brain, forcing it open. She felt violated and started to protest, but could not break away from his power.
Cho-Manno's presence suffused her. Into her mind poured his entire life-not merely its events but its emotions. She saw his mother and father, his brother, his sisters. She felt his pain when his sister Is-Mashtsun was lost in the dark places of the Rushwood and never found. She heard the great weeping of his mother and father. She experienced his joy when he came of age, and the awe with which he realized that he, of all the tribe, had been chosen as leader.
Then, with an odd feeling, she relived his first meeting with her, and the feelings that stirred within him as he beheld her, as he desired her. She felt all this, and in some part of her mind knew that he was exploring her life too, experiencing her emotions.
A cool hand touched her forehead. Orim opened her eyes. Tears streamed down her cheeks. The vizier gazed at her with great pity. "Cho-Manno has assured me of your innocence in this matter, Orim," said the woman. "We are sorry for the pain you have experienced at our hands. You are free to go where you will."
Orim bowed her head in acknowledgment. The Saprazzan leader continued, "Cho-Manno has also confirmed to us the truth of your vision of the thieves and murderers. We will act upon this."
She turned to her guard and spoke several short, harsh sentences in Saprazzan. The guard bowed his head in a brief salute and went out.
The vizier turned back to Orim and Cho-Manno. "I have instructed the guard to place a watch upon Guard Commander Oustrathmer. He must not yet know we have received evidence of his guilt in this matter. There is something going on, something much more complex than I first suspected. I think we have been caught in a great web, and the more we struggle against it, the tighter it will bind us to it."
Orim asked, "What about Oustrathmer? What will you do with him?"
The vizier smiled grimly. "It would be foolish not to take advantage of a tool so ready at hand," she said. "Clearly the guard commander has had considerable dealings with the Mercadians. He likely has already reported that leaders of the Cho-Arrim and of the Ramosan rebels are seeking the help of Saprazzo. Perhaps we can use our spy to spread misinformation to the Mercadians."