I turned my attention back to Farian, just in time to see that the Chama wasn’t pleased with the way Leelan had recovered her balance and confidence. Her frown recognized the fact that Roodar was visibly losing ground and points, and might soon lose the final and most important point. Her shield somehow-flickered-as though it were opening and closing faster than anyone could detect, and I instantly became aware of the heavy uncertainty being sent toward Leelan. As soon as that uncertainty hit the w’wenda, Roodar was sure to try to do the same-possibly more successfully than the first time.
I wasn’t quite sure how it happened, but without any conscious effort on my part my mind was suddenly between Leelan and that bolt of uncertainty, my shield up to protect both of us. The projected emotion hit my shield and clung to it, trying to soak through, but it had less chance of doing that than a cupful of water had to penetrate marble. The unsupported emotion began sliding off then, weakening and dissipating, and the fight went on without Leelan knowing anything had been attempted against her.
But Farian knew. The woman who called herself Chama straightened in shock, not understanding why Leelan hadn’t been affected, and suddenly there was another touch on my shield. When the same lack of response happened Farian tried a third time, but by then it was too late. Even as the touch slammed into my shield Leelan was furiously beating aside Roodar’s sword, and then the null lost all need to ever feel anything again. Leelan’s blade was buried in her chest, directly between her breasts, and her own sword slid from lifeless fingers. Right to the end Roodar had shown almost nothing of emotion, and that was the way she died. Leelan withdrew her weapon with a jerk, and a dead, calm-faced Roodar slid to the once-white floor.
“And that, I believe, sees to that,” Leelan said in a short-breathed but triumphant way as she turned to a palefaced, disbelieving Farian. “And now, O Chama, we must see to you as well.”
“See to me?” Farian breathed with instant fury, drawing herself up again as outrage flashed in her eyes. “There are none among you capable of seeing to me, and that I will prove with every bit of my strength! Step out to face me, Relgon, and we will soon see which of us remains beyond the last of it!”
Farian was glaring at Deegor, too wildly out of control to think about what had happened to Roodar any longer, too far into the mists of rage to realize that what had protected Leelan was not something to be expected from Relgon. The older woman who stood beside me smiled very faintly, then shook her head.
“Were my sister here, she would surely accommodate you, Farian,” she drawled, still feeling a twin’s amusement at being mistaken for her sibling. “I, however, am Deegor, and scarcely the one you were meant to face.”
“Who, then, has been chosen?” Farian demanded, glaring around with even more confidence than she had previously shown, indicating clearly that Relgon’s strength had likely worried her a little. With Relgon elsewhere, though, her confidence was returning to bolster a bravado based on anger.
“The one who has been chosen to face you is here,” Leelan said, putting a hand out to gesture me to her. As I stepped forward Farian’s eyes immediately glued themselves to me, and her frown was one of disdain mixed with confusion.
“Your chosen champion is a small, odd-looking w’wenda?” she asked as nastily as it’s possible to do, obviously trying to make me feel out of place and not very capable. “The power would be shamed to find itself in a vessel such as that. Has it ever been given a name?”
“It has indeed been given a name,” I said before Leelan could reply, at the same time reaching up and pulling off the wig I’d been wearing. “Its name is Terril.”
Farian narrowed her eyes as I shook my hair out, a faint worry touching her as memory of me returned, but then she remembered what she thought she’d seen of my ability and she laughed.
“You come here behind one who was previously able to do no more than flee in terror?” she said to Leelan, delighted taunting clear in her voice. “I have only to best one who is nearly empty, and then I may do with the rest of you as I please? I am truly well-served, Leelan, by your not having been slain. It will now be possible to have you watch the slow deaths of your closest sisters before you, yourself, are sent to the one I have chosen to band you.”
As the last of her venom-filled words ended, her shield flickered again, and what was being thrown at me was the terror she’d mentioned a moment earlier, thickened and edged with vindictiveness. I had just enough time to see that before my own shield snapped closed, protecting me from the attack and surprising me all over again. I hadn’t willed the shield, hadn’t had the time to do so any more than I’d had the time when Leelan had been the target, but the shield was there anyway. It seemed that I’d finally developed what I’d always wanted, an automatic shield that appeared when I needed it, and if I’d had the time I would have been elated.
What kept me from having the time was Farian’s continued attack, four further bolts when the first clearly had no effect. I had the impression from the impacts that the woman was beginning to tire, and when the raging attacks suddenly stopped I wasn’t surprised.
“What is it that you hide behind?” she demanded, just short of frothing at the mouth, her fists clenched as she leaned toward me. “To hide is not to stand and fight, for victory may not then be yours. Strip away the covering as I have done, girl, and let us meet mind to mind.”
Her challenge was filled with mockery, daring me to show her what I had. hooked up at her for a very brief moment, then shrugged my shoulders.
“You have not before truly seen my mind, Farian,” I said, feeling more than a touch of spiteful enjoyment. “Learn now what lies behind the curtain.”
With that I dropped my shield, and had the very great satisfaction of seeing Farian pale and drop her jaw. The woman’s unshielded mind was strong all right, probably about as strong as Relgon’s, but it was immediately clear that it couldn’t compare to mine. Farian’s sudden trembling showed that she knew it, and then her shield was abruptly back in place.
“I declare this challenge now done,” she said in a rush, her voice uneven despite her attempts to steady it. “It cannot be denied that I bared my mind to hers, yet did she fail to best me. In accordance with the laws of this land, I continue to be Chama and shall continue to be obeyed. Lay down your weapons, and submit to binding.”
The uproar that broke out at that was nearly deafening, almost as bad as the dismay and misery and gasping horror in the minds around me. The knot of guard w’wendaa raised their swords again with grins of delight, and although the group I stood in front of moaned in agony, none of them raised swords in answer.
“What is it?” I asked Leelan, suddenly afraid of what was being felt by our w’wendaa. “What does she mean, and why do you not prepare yourself to resist?”
“In what manner may we resist?” Deegor demanded as she came up behind us, nearly shouting to be heard over the others, her mind almost as frantic and defeated as Leelan’s. “Did Farian not answer our challenge, just as she was bound to do? She bared her mind to you, Terril, and you failed to strike. By the law of our land she now stands victorious, and we, ourselves, honor-bound to obey. In the name of all you hold dear, for what reason did you fail to strike?”
The question was filled with more bewildered hurt than I would have expected from the older woman, and I couldn’t have felt it more if she’d underscored it by plunging a dagger into my chest. I felt the same from Leelan, who had turned away to keep from having to look at me, and from the others behind us, two of whom were crying, and the shocked knowledge that I’d failed them brought to my own mind the desperate need to defend myself.