“You all of you are here for no purpose other than to assist me in freeing my sadendrak,” I said after a minute, still staring at that door. “The Hand might have been seen to from without the wall about the grounds, had there been none within requiring protection. You all risk your lives on my behalf, a thing I am well aware of. There is surely no more than a short while to wait till the Hand is again assembled.”
“That is surely so,” Leelan said with a lot of warmth and support, the relief showing no place other than in her mind, her hand patting my shoulder before leaving it. Then she hesitated, her thoughts wavering over a decision, but once considered, she felt she had to speak. “Terril,” she said slowly, “we may not enter Roodar’s apartment at this time, yet may we see within it. Would you-wish to do such a thing?”
I turned at last to look at her, wondering what she was talking about, and the expression on my face made her gesture at the room we stood in.
“This wing was meant to house those of high standing who visit the court of Vediaster,” Leelan explained, sounding as though she were trying to distract herself as well as me. “Certain of the apartments here were prepared so that those of questionable motive might be closely watched, and it was one such apartment which Roodar was given by Farian. As neither knew the true purpose of the apartment, those guard w’wendaa who remained loyal to me were able to keep watch upon Roodar without her knowledge, the purpose being to discover for what reason Farian treats her so well.”
“For what reason should she not?” I asked, wondering if there was any ruler anywhere who didn’t spend most of his or her time worrying about everyone around them. “She is a loyal supporter of Farian and, as you yourself said, the finest sword among the Chama’s w’wendaa. For what reason should she not be rewarded?”
“Roodar is given far more than simple reward,” Deegor put in, moving closer to where Leelan and I stood. “She was unknown among us before Farian’s attack, yet now lives higher than any save the Chama herself. Should she wish a thing she need only request it, and Farian immediately makes it hers. It was Roodar, we know, who took the life of Leelan’s mother the Chama when Farian’s power proved stronger, for Farian is not w’wenda and does not wield a sword. Beyond that we know naught of her, and naught of the reason Farian values her so highly.”
“And that despite the constant watch kept upon her,” Leelan said, clearly disgusted. “Her value to the Chama has never been spoken of in her own apartment, yet were we able to learn other things-such as her doing with your memabrak. In truth we should resume the watch post-yet only one or two need do so. As the sight may well be painful for you, you need not feel that you must accompany them.”
She and Deegor watched me carefully as they waited for an answer, and for a moment I truly didn’t know what to say. I was fairly certain I could control myself if I didn’t actually see what they were doing to Tammad—but what if we found them just about to really hurt him’? Nothing would be able to keep me from acting then, and that could well destroy the entire plan. But was the plan worth having Tammad really hurt, maybe even dead? Not to me it wasn’t, and that was one selfish stand all the talk of honor in the universe couldn’t move me from.
“Leelan, I thank you for your concern,” I said at last, raising my eyes to look directly at her. “It may well prove painful to look upon my sadendrak-yet I must.”
“And we all do as we must,” she agreed with something of a nod, then glanced around to gather everyone up. “Let us all take ourselves to the sleeping room, then, and recall that absolute silence will be necessary.”
Deegor led the way into the sleeping room, and the last w’wenda through the door closed it behind her. Our male slave was put to his knees by Leelan just beside that door, his burden on the carpet fur beside him, and after patting him on the head and whispering something in his ear, she left him where he’d been put. The sleeping room was large, and furnished just the way the reception room was, and I happened to notice that some of the white carpet fur was being marked by the remnants of mud we’d brought in on our sandals. The thought crossed my mind that we’d be lucky if mud was all that stained the carpet fur, and then I was carefully watching what Leelan was doing.
The wall of the room directly opposite the door was of white stone as were all the walls, but hung on that wall between yellow silk drapes was a very wide and intricate carving in dark wood, the white stone behind it showing through the gaps in its graceful but meaningless pattern. The carving stretched down the wall almost to the floor, but it was the left side of the thing that Leelan ran her hand over. The sleeping room was dim enough to make us all move closer to see what she was doing, but we were all able to hold back on the gasps when she took hold of one part of the carving and swung it out away from the wall. The carving was really a door, and with a gesture telling us to follow, Leelan led the way into the wall.
The space behind the carving was wider than I’d thought it would be, and it was almost dark when Deegor entered last and pulled the hidden door closed behind us. Leelan, moving without sound, continued on to the right a few paces, waited until we were all in a line next to her again, then groped at something in front of her. A minute later what seemed to be a narrow strip of the wall now in front of us was silently folding upward, Deegor apparently handling the other end of it, and faint light was coming through to the darkness we stood in. The open strip behind was positioned so that someone Leelan’s height would have to bend down a little and someone my height stretch up a small distance, which meant it was essentially eye level for just about anyone. What looked like white curtaining hung over the opening, and stepping forward showed that it could be seen through with very little difficulty.
Very little difficulty if you don’t count what there was to be seen. The room we looked in at was also a sleeping room, decorated in green, tan and white, and wasn’t as empty as the one we’d just passed through. I’d been deliberately keeping my mind well behind its curtain, more than half afraid of what I would find if I reached out, but it wasn’t quite as bad as I’d imagined it. Aside from the normal furnishings of a sleeping room Roodar had added a heavy frame of wood in front of the wide, sunshiny windows, two posts linked to each other with wooden ties at top and bottom as well as a wide, steadying base of minimal thickness, an arrangement that made sure anyone standing on that base in the frame would not be able to knock the whole thing over. The one standing there right then was Tammad, of course, his thick wrists held high by the chains coming from the two posts, his braced legs kept wide by chains on his ankles, his face set in a grim, determined expression. It was easy to see how difficult knocking the frame over would be, because Tammad was trying, his fists clenched in their manacles as his giant body sought to break the posts and send them down in splintered bits to the carpet fur. It looked like he’d been trying for quite some time, but although the posts creaked against the ties holding and bracing them, he couldn’t seem to get either of them to splinter. His naked and collared body was covered with sweat over welts that looked painful and he appeared a little leaner than usual, but aside from that and a desperation in his attempts to break free, he was mostly unharmed.
Relief was too debilitating an emotion for the time and place I was in just then, not to mention somewhat premature, but I still found myself leaning on the wall below the opening rather heavily, my hands flat to it rather than to the body of the man I wanted so desperately to go to. He was far less injured than I had dared to hope for, and it was only a matter of a short while before he would be free. I wanted to laugh and cry in sheer joy, both at the same time—and then a door in the far wall opened to admit two w’wendaa.