All Fall Down (10 page)

“Perhaps you should,” she agreed.

Since it would have seemed rude not to eat a bit more, I helped myself to a few more forkfuls of roast pheasant before finally pushing the plate away from me. “That was wonderful, Merime,” I said. “Thank you again.”

Apparently somewhat mollified, she retrieved my plate and nodded, but her expression was still somewhat guarded. It wasn’t the first such reaction I had had from a follower of Inyanna. I could only hope that the goodwill I had built up through my various other works was enough to compensate for my unabashed heresy.
 

Out in the great hall, the feasting seemed to be winding down. Servers still moved amongst the tables, but it was obvious that most of those attending had eaten their fill and now merely nibbled at the items which had pleased them the most.

At the head table I saw Auren seated at her father’s right, and the pinch-faced young man seated in turn at her own right hand. I wondered how he had been accorded the honor of being placed next to her, and thought with a twitch of my lips that perhaps they had had to draw straws to see who would win that exalted position.
 

I could tell the plump lord was not exactly happy with his son’s placement at the far end of the table. Then again, he should have known that one such as his son, even if he proved to be kind-hearted and noble, was not the sort to stir romantic fancies in a young girl. Of course, romance had very little to do with such connections, but it seemed to me Lord Shaine showed a solicitousness toward his daughter that would extend to her choice of a husband. Perhaps she could not have anyone she chose, but at least she would have the final determination as to whom, in the limited pool of those deemed eligible, she would finally wed.
 

Even as I stepped quietly into an inconspicuous, shadowy corner of the hall, I saw a group of musicians move toward the open area in the center of the room and begin to arrange themselves for the next stage of the evening’s entertainments. Silently I thanked Lord Shaine for his cleverness. With the musicians placed so, there would be no question of dancing. In accordance with his wishes apparently, the first song was an old ballad, sweet and sad, but certainly not lively enough to invite tapping feet or thoughts of dance.

I listened to the tune, common enough in my own land as well—though with slightly different wording, and a different language, of course—and thought of how two lands could be at once so different and so similar. The climate here differed little from that of my homeland, although the situation of Lord Shaine’s estate not far from the foothills of the Opal Mountains made for conditions a little more chilly and damp than at home in Lystare. Dress and other manners, again, were not so dissimilar. Perhaps they were a bit plainer here in Seldd, but certainly not so exotic as to invite comment.

Yet of course a huge difference existed between the two countries. Slavery had not existed in Farendon for hundreds of years; Seldd was the last holdout on the continent in clinging to the barbaric custom. Pressure from its neighbors had not altered Selddish policy, and that seemed unlikely to change any time in the near future.
 

I thought then on Merime’s words regarding the Goddess. Like me, the cook was a native of Farendon, and apparently had kept her native religion all this time…although, to be truthful, I couldn’t see much difference between what was believed in Seldd and in my own land. Names differed slightly, and the myths that had sprung up around the gods had changed a bit with their migration across the continent, but the pantheon remained mostly intact. For myself, what I had grown up believing and what I had come to think as an adult were two entirely different matters. During our training, no one had tried to persuade any of us acolytes that belief in Inyanna; or Thrane, lord of the land beyond death; or even Mardon, ruler of the heavens and the sunset and dawn, was mistaken. Instead, through study of the body, and the application of scientific principles—and learning as well of the beliefs of other lands, such as Eredor and the Sirlende—I came to believe, as many of my Order did as well, that as frail mortals we could not possibly begin to understand the true powers which controlled our world. We gave them names and demesnes in order to make them more human, but who…or what…had caused the world to come into being and ordered the kingdoms of plant and animal surely was as far beyond our comprehension as we were beyond the understanding of the insects that crawled beneath our feet.
 

Lost in thought as I was, I did not immediately notice a lull in the music. At the high table the players shifted a bit. Lord Shaine stood, and his other guests took that as a cue to rise from their seats as well, although I noticed Auren remained seated.
 

The door to the kitchen banged open, and two young slaves I did not know emerged, carrying a huge iced cake on what looked like an impromptu stretcher. They took it to a side table that already groaned with various sweetmeats and fruits, along with heaping bowls of nuts. Obviously the dessert course was upon us.

I tried to shrink back further into the shadows, but my efforts apparently were in vain. To my dismay, I saw the handsome young lord disengage himself from the group at the high table and move in my direction, purpose evident in every step.

To attempt to flee at this point would be too obvious. Instead, I held my ground and fixed what I hoped was a neutral and correct expression on my face. Perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps I flattered myself in thinking I was the reason he left the group at the high table and headed toward the back of the hall.

But no. Even as I tried to think of a good way to make my escape, he paused a few feet away from me and gave me another one of those dazzling smiles.

“It would require a darker corner than this one to hide you, I think,” he said, speaking in fluent if heavily accented common.

“My lord?” I replied, trying to keep both my expression and my voice bland.

Apparently undeterred, he went on, “I could not help but ask Lord Shaine who that glorious creature in the wine-colored gown was. Imagine my surprise in learning that you were one of his slaves.”

Glorious creature
? I didn’t know whether to blush a darker wine than my gown or possibly burst out laughing. Still, this was not the first time I had come up against a practiced flirt. Even amongst those who studied to become part of the Order were men who seemed to take pursuit of the fairer sex even more seriously than the pursuit of knowledge.

“That is true, my lord,” I said gravely, but I feared that I could not help but let a smile tug at one corner of my mouth.

Unfortunately, he seemed to take that ghost of a smile as encouragement to continue further. “How on earth did you come to be here?”

“Much as any of the other slaves, I fear. Taken in the night and sold in the markets of Myalme.”

His fine eyebrows lifted. “And that is all that you share with them, I wager. You’re no more like the rest of that—” and he waved a hand to indicate the servers working to clear the tables— “than my matched pair of bays are like a set of draught horses.”
 

Despite myself, I felt the color rise in my cheeks. Although his attention was unwanted and uninvited, it was also flattering. Few women would be completely immune to such words, even though they were highly inappropriate.

“You are too kind,” I said, lifting my eyes to meet his, “but I fear I have no more status than any of the rest of them. Once, perhaps, things were different, but—” I spread my hands in a helpless gesture, and I could see his gaze sharpen as he caught the tattoo on my left palm.

“So you’re the one who doctored Lady Auren?” he asked, and I nodded. “We had heard of you, but somehow I had envisioned you as some old crone dispensing salves and poultices.”

I wasn’t sure what offended me more—the use of the term “crone” or the thought that a physician of the Order was good for no more than mustard packs on rheumy chests or lotions for stinging nettles. “It is true that I am still young for my work,” I admitted, once I was certain my voice would not reveal how his words had infuriated me, “but the Order would not have granted me the status of a traveling doctor if I were not ready for it.”

“Of course not,” he said quickly, and I wondered if I had let some betraying anger creep into my face.
 

“Ill luck brought the slavers to the village where I had been working, but ill fortune turned to providence, as otherwise I would not have been here to take care of Auren.” I realized as I said the words that I should have referred to her as “Lady Auren,” but he appeared not to hear the slip.

“By all accounts you’ve done a marvelous job,” he offered. “Her limp is hardly noticeable.”

I looked past him to the head table, where Auren still sat. She laughed at something the pinch-nosed boy next to her said, and I decided I must revise my opinion of him somewhat. Surely Auren would not find him so amusing if he were at all tedious and mean-spirited. Certainly he was closer to her in age than either of the other two, and that counted for much.

He followed my gaze, then looked back at me with a knowing smile. “I am remiss,” he said. “I have not yet introduced myself. I am Lord Arnad of Sleane. And you are?”

“Merys Thranion...lately of Lystare,” I added.

“Lady Auren seems to have made a great impression on my young Lord Larol—and he on her.”

“Disappointed?” I asked, even though I knew I skirted the bounds of propriety with such a question.

“Hardly. One must follow the forms, but I had no great interest in joining my fortunes to Lady Auren’s, considerable though hers might be.” His voice softened, becoming uncomfortably intimate. “My tastes run to more...mature women.”

Again the flush rose in my cheeks, and I wondered what on earth I could do to remove myself before the situation became even more compromising. I tried to tell myself that most of these strangers surely had no idea of my true status here—in my wool velvet gown with its embroidered bands at the neck and hem, the fine linen of my shift showing through the slashed sleeves, I must have looked no more a slave than the rest of them. Still, whatever Lord Arnad’s intentions, they couldn’t possibly be honorable, and handsome as he might be, that sort of dalliance was certainly the last thing on my mind.

I hardened my tone to the sort of brittle flippancy I had heard my older sister use on unwanted suitors. “Indeed? Well, that must be welcome news to all the spinsters in the area.”

For a second he just stared at me, as if not truly comprehending my words. Then he gave a laugh, if a somewhat forced-sounding one. “Indeed.” One muscle along his jaw tightened, and I could see his eyes narrow a bit, as if he were thinking something over. “Do you weary of this place?”

“My lord?” I could only pray that the tendril of fear which had begun to trail its way up my spine had not found its way into my voice. I wasn’t sure what he was thinking, but I had a feeling it would not be much to my liking.

“Come with me,” he ordered, as he gripped one of my arms and began to pull me through the crowd.

Wrenching myself from his grasp was out of the question. He was a lord, and I was a slave, and even if I still had been an independent member of my Order, I had no idea what protocol required in a situation such as this. Instead, I quickened my pace to keep up with him, moving to his side so that it at least would appear that I walked beside him and wasn’t being dragged along like some chattel.
 

He paused in front of the dais, dropping his hand from my arm. Lord Shaine lifted surprised eyes to the two of us, his gaze resting on me for a second. Around him the other nobles halted in their conversations as well. Auren frowned, a forkful of Merime’s spice cake lifted halfway to her lips.

“Lord Shaine!” Arnad called out, and I winced. Must his voice be so clear, so carrying?

“Yes, Lord Arnad?”

I felt suddenly as if every eye in the hall was fixed upon us. I could not meet Lord Shaine’s gaze but instead looked off at some neutral spot on the wall. Whatever Lord Arnad was planning, I knew I would not like it.

Taking a breath, Arnad announced, “I would buy this slave from you, my lord!”

Chapter Six

For the longest moment, silence reigned in the hall. I felt it ringing in my ears.

Then the awful quiet was broken by Lord Shaine’s mild tones. “I am afraid, Lord Arnad, that she is not for sale.”

Arnad made an impatient gesture. “She has rendered her services here, Lord Shaine, and your daughter now thrives. I have need of her skills on my own estate. Shall we say five thousand
renads
?
 

From somewhere behind me I heard a gasp, but of course I dared not turn to see who had made the startled sound. Five thousand
renads
? I knew Shaine had paid barely that sum for all five of us captives from Aunde, and we had fetched a good price, according to the whispers of the other slaves. An odd pecking order existed amongst the workers on the estate, based not solely on one’s duties but also on how much one had cost.
 

Lord Shaine’s expression did not flicker, although I noticed that Auren had given him the briefest worried glance, as if she were uncertain as to how he would react to such a proposal. “As I said already, she is not available—at any price.” He didn’t even look at me, but instead kept his gaze fixed on Lord Arnad.
 

I could feel the watching eyes of the hall fasten on Arnad and myself as we made our odd tableau before the high table. Never before had I been the center of so much unwanted attention, and the blood slowly rose in my cheeks, although I tried to stand as still as possible and keep my face as expressionless as Lord Shaine’s. How I wished that I stood next to him, instead of here next to Arnad. Our proximity, I feared, would make it seem as if I were in agreement with his preposterous proposal. I did not wish for anyone to think I had a hand in his offer or wished to go with him.
 

The tension seemed to radiate off him in waves. I had no idea why he had fixated on me. Perhaps it was merely because I presented a novelty. Now, however, I got the distinct impression that this developing contest of wills between him and Lord Shaine had very little to do with me.