I’d started toward my wet clothes to see if they were at all wearable, but there was a sudden crash behind me and the splintered door flew open. Tammad strode in through the wreckage, grabbed my arm, and forced me to the floor. In spite of my struggles the chains went on, one each on my ankles, one each on my wrists, and the last, to my absolute fury, around my neck!
When the last was closed, the barbarian pulled me to my feet again and dragged me by the arm out to a grinning Denny who, with a folded bundle of cloth, was waiting in the corridor. We went down to the visitors level and along a wide hall to the back of the embassy, then paused by a door.
Denny and Tammad were saying good-bye to each other, but I paid no attention to the farewell. I was examining the band on my left wrist with a mixture of fury and despair. The chain was small-linked but strong, fitting too tightly to be slipped off. The ends of the chain had pieces that fit one inside the other, but there was no way to release the catch. I strained at it with every ounce of strength I possessed, and the inside part moved very slightly It came to me then that someone with Tammad’s strength could open it easily, but the accomplishment was far beyond the strength of a woman. I wore wenda bands because I was wenda—a mere female—and would continue to wear them until they were removed by l’lenda.
“Well, Terry it was nice seeing you again,” Denny said, taking me away from the bands to realize that Tammad was no longer with him. The door stood open, and I could see the rain falling beyond the overhang next to the building.
“But it’s still raining.” I said in confusion. Aren’t we going to wait until it stops?”
“The rain may fall for some days yet,” the barbarian said, coming back in time to hear my question. “We have a far distance to travel, and will therefore start at once. Put this on.”
“This” was a smaller version of something he already wore—a long rain cape of sorts in a grey material. It went on over the head and was hooded, the hood being drawn closed with a strip of leather. The body of the thing hung down front and back, and was open at the sides where one’s arms came through. Mine had another strip of leather to close it tightly around me, but his hung loose and billowing. I put it on without comment and went toward the door, but Denny’s hand stopped me.
“Take care,” he said softly “and may the sun shine on your undertakings. I’ll see you when you get back.”
I stared at him for a minute, then went out into the rain, closing the door behind me. I had nothing to say to Dennison Ambler.
Tammad stood about ten feet away near two monstrously large animals. They were soft-hided rather than scaled, four-legged rather than bipedal, maned, hoofed, and tailed rather than feathered, and dead black in color. I’d never seen anything like them before, so a closer description-by-analogy is impossible. One of them was piled high with a covered mound, but the other had a large saddle and intricate bridle. I walked closer to the barbarian who had swung up into the saddle and was adjusting one of the stirrups. Even he looked smaller on the back of the monster, and he glanced down at me.
“There’s only one saddle animal,” I said against the roar of the rain, closing my eyes most of the way to protect them while my face angled up: “Where’s one for me to ride?”
“You could not control a seetar even were it fitting for wenda to ride one alone,” he answered. “In clear weather you will walk in my track, but for now you may ride behind me.”
He put his arm down to me, and all I had to do was reach up to be pulled into his saddle. I was being offered the generosity of sharing l’lenda’s saddle, the privilege of riding behind a mighty warrior, even though I was nothing more than a lowly female, mere wenda. I felt the symbolic weight of the five, bronze-colored bands on my body, and turned away to walk behind the seetar I stood quietly then with my feet in the mud, saying nothing, waiting for him to get started.
The barbarian had watched me walk away from him, but he hadn’t said a word, either. When I stopped behind the seetar he reached over to the other one, pulled on the leather lead to make sure it was secure to his saddle, then kicked his mount to get it moving. I waited until the second seetar had passed, then started moving, too.
We went along a pure mud road that circled the nearby village, and once we’d topped a small rise, even the embassy was gone from sight. Walking was hard in that downpour, through that mud, all alone, but I preferred it to riding. The barbarian pulled ahead at the pace I was forced to keep to, but I just kept walking.
The time went by and my world narrowed down to the next step I had to take. There was a dripping forest to the left of the road, grey, empty fields to the right, but I could no longer see them. I felt the rain on my head, shoulders, and back, and let it drive me along the mud of the road. One foot in front of the other, put it down and watch the mud splash up, covering the rain cape and the very bottom of the caldin. Put the other foot down and watch it splash again, no patterns made or at least none seen.
It had gotten darker without my noticing it. Everything was wrapped in dingy, grey mist, and I might have been the only person in the world on the only road in the world. I’d long since pulled my arms in closer to my body, but I was beginning to shiver from the chill that crept into me in spite of the rain cape. I felt damp all over, damp and chilled and all alone. My feet were covered to the ankles with mud, and the bronze color of the bands was completely gone. The bands at my ankles were spattered with the mud, and I could almost pretend they weren’t there.
I reached my last step before I knew it. I’d been moving more and more slowly, but that was only because I was tired, not because I intended to stop. I watched my foot take a step and waited for the next step to come, but it never did. My knees refused to keep stiffened and I went down in the mud, down on my knees and hands. I felt depressed then, knowing I would have to stand up again before I could go any farther. I tried to stand up, tried to push myself out of the mud, but it was just too hard. The mud pulled at me; it would be so easy just to lie down and sleep. I knew I had to go on, but it was much too hard. Better just to sink down into the mud and let go.
Then I was out of the mud, lifted high in the air by two arms that barely felt my weight. The barbarian carried me to his seetar and mounted, placing me sideways on the saddle in front of him. His left hand held the reins, but his right held me tightly to him. I leaned on his chest, my cheek against his rain cape, and the seetar started moving. Once, he muttered, “Stubborn, foolish woman!” and held me tighter. I said nothing.
I must have slept briefly; when I opened my eyes we’d left the road for the forest. The seetar moved calmly along between the trees, trampling down anything that got in its way. I stirred against the barbarian, wanting to tell him to put me down so I could walk the rest of the way, but his arm tightened again, holding me still.
It was dark there, under the dripping trees. The roll and creak of the seetar’s saddle kept putting me to sleep and waking me up again even though I tried to stay awake. The barbarian changed direction once or twice, following signs that my eyes couldn’t see, then abruptly we came to a stop in front of a large, square, tent. The entire tent was roofed over and floored, but the front face of it was open. Halfway back, a full wall of leather closed off the inside, a veranda of sorts being formed by the rest. I saw the other seetar then, without its load, hobbled and tied to a tree. My progress along the road had been so rapid, then, that the barbarian had had time to stop and put up his camtah before I’d come anywhere near. I wanted to cry about that, but I was much too tired.
The barbarian dismounted, then carried me to the veranda of the camtah. He had to bend over to get under the roof, but he didn’t put me down until we were inside the camtah. He took the rain cape from me, then the imad and caldin; I was beyond struggling, but struggling wasn’t necessary. There were large pieces of thick, luxuriant furs on the floor, and once I was free of the mud-covered clothing, he put me on one of them and covered me with another. Immediately I felt warm and snug, and my eyes began closing in earnest.