Chapter Ten
"Peral! Peral! Wake up!" The Doctor had awakened to find himself hanging in another dungeon. Peral and Lathan were with him. Lib and Lorin were not.
"Oh great, hanging around again." Peral didn't know where he was, but he didn't think he was going to like it.
"Peral, is Lib all right?"
"Yes, and nearby. She must have been awake for awhile. She was really worried. What was that smoke?"
"The burning of the mesith plant. The healers use it to ease pain." Lathan had known what it was from the first, but the trap had been well laid.
"A natural anesthetic. This planet has some interesting flora."
"I'm more interested in the fauna right now, Doctor. Like: who are our hosts?"
"A good question, Peral. That was a neat trap we rode into. When they heard us coming, they set fire to the plants and let the breeze do the rest."
A small woman, with six female guards, walked into the dungeon. She stopped in the middle of the room and looked them over, then she walked over to examine them more closely. She began her examination with Lathan. Then Peral. By the time she reached the Doctor, he was angry. He glared at her and she smiled, then turned and led the guards out of the dungeon.
"We are lost."
"Lathan, you seem to know who that woman is."
"Yes, Doctor, she is Mirune. They say no man taken by her women is seen again."
"No, you're on the wrong side. We'd never join you while you hold Lathan, my brother and the Doctor prisoner." Lib was struggling to understand the woman. How could she possibly think Lorin and she would help?
"They are males, arrogant and cruel. They have one use. Why do you cling to them? I have freed you of them."
"I don't know what happened to make you think that way, but you're wrong. Especially about the Doctor." Lib wished she'd had her wits about her when she'd first awakened. If she had, she'd have pretended to go along with Mirune. As it was, she and Lorin were still prisoners.
"I saw his look. He thinks he owns all of you, as he does the beasts. You are a fool, Lib. He cares for you only because he sees you as his."
"I don't know what you did, but I felt my brother's anger. If you made the Doctor angry, you must have done something to Lathan or Peral."
"It is as I have said, he believes you are his."
"Not the way you think. He cares about us. Feels responsible. He's older than you can imagine. He sees us as children to be cherished. Protected."
Mirune laughed. "He will not think me a child. I am sorry you are such a fool. You would have taught my warriors well." She rose from her place, across the tent from where Lib and Lorin were tied to posts, and left.
"Lib, she will not listen."
"I'd noticed that, Lorin. I just can't figure out why."
"It is because of what is done in many lands when one of her women is captured. It is why she wishes us to teach them."
"I think you'd better tell me."
"They are given to the soldiers. If they survive, they are sold as slaves. Very few are sold. Mirune has been sold twice. Twice she has escaped. She is legend to the women. It is why she is leader."
"Oh, brother. No wonder she hates men."
Mirune couldn't understand how the woman could be so blind. Of course the one she called the Doctor treated them like children. Or pets. He was the most arrogant male she had ever encountered. The woman who had offered the reward for him was right.
She had trapped him easily. It was sad the two women would not join her. The women of her band needed the training they could give them. Her skill was cunning and that she could teach, but it was not enough.
The girl wore the coronet of the Turime, as did the most beautiful of the males. How had she known of his anger? The money she would be paid for them would keep her band for two seasons, but the girl's words, "you're on the wrong side" would not leave her mind.
The anger in the eyes of the one called the Doctor had frightened her, and that made her angry. The woman had been right. He was dangerous and those who followed him were slaves to his magic.
"You are called the Doctor."
"I am. That was a very nicely laid trap. Where are my other companions?"
"Are they yours that you should demand them?" His arrogance was astounding!
"Let them go."
"I have heard the stories, Doctor. My little band could not stand against them. They are Turime. I do not know how you have enslaved them, but I have seen it. Your power fails when the amulet is lifted from your breast. It steals the life from them."
"Wait!" Peral had to stop this. She had it all wrong. "None of that was his idea."
One of the women made sure Peral knew he shouldn't interrupt Mirune. The method she used infuriated the Doctor. "I'm warning you, Mirune. I become very angry when my companions are mistreated. Tell your guards to stay away from them."
Mirune had been a bit shocked at her guard's action, but the Doctor's words inflamed her. "I do not OWN the women of my band. They follow me by choice. The band is mine, but the women are NOT!" She glared up at him the nearly forty centimeters difference in their heights. The Doctor was surprised at her response. "This." She pointed at the amulet. "You bind them with this. And you claim them with the gems you wear. You use them. Do you know what it is to be used? Bring him!"
The Doctor offered no resistance. A woman stood behind Peral, idly playing with his hair with the tip of her knife. He had been pained by what Mirune had said. There was too much truth in it.
He was led out of the dungeon and up through a ruined castle. Lathan had told him the women were nomads. Evidently, the intact dungeon had just been a handy place to store them. He passed an open tent flap and Lib yelled out, "Like Calla! Fighting back!" A guard shoved him forward, but Lib had told him what he needed to know. The last of his anger faded. He found himself admiring Mirune and her women. They'd banded together to protect themselves from a society that classed women only slightly above animals.
He was cold. It wasn't surprising, considering he was tied in an open pavilion. His fading scars drew a lot of attention. He was a bit tired of it. He gasped. There were several things he was tired of. Mirune walked into the pavilion and signaled the four women with her to untie him. He wondered where they were taking him.
He was escorted to a small clearing and tied to an ancient stone alter. He was sure they weren't planning on killing him. The reward Mirune wanted to collect specified alive. He shivered. It was getting dark, and colder.
He worked on the ropes that bound his wrists to the iron ring set in the alter above his head. He wasn't sure what he was going to do if he got free, but it was a good place to start. He was left alone to work for awhile and seemed to be getting somewhere. Then the second moon rose, and the clearing filled.
The pull from the rings was very slight. Lib probably wouldn't have noticed it, but she was working on abrading her ropes on the post she was tied to and began to tire more quickly. Something was happening to the Doctor. She sat up straighter and grinned at Lorin. She was likely to get through her ropes first. Lib went back to work. She wondered where Heort was. Her teeth would have made short work of a long job.
The Doctor watched the women leave the clearing. All but Mirune. He'd had to stop working on his ropes while they were present. He'd had about thirty other things on his mind. All of them busy.
He waited until Mirune's attention was elsewhere, tried to ignore what she was doing, and went back to work on the ropes. He'd begun to have a plan. But first, he had to get his hands free.
He felt the ropes slip. He was ready. He turned his attention back to Mirune. And what she was doing. He pulled the gag off, sat up and grabbed her. He felt like a bully. She was tiny. He held her with his left arm while he untied his ankles with his right. She struggled, but he kept her from crying out the only way he could think of at
the time.
He slid from the alter still holding Mirune. Everything depended on her. He held her gently as she struggled. He deliberately allowed the memories of Mecara he'd buried to surface. He showed her he'd learned the lesson she sought to teach.
Peral didn't know what the Doctor had done, but things had changed. He and Lathan had been untied and, basically, bowed out of the dungeon. He'd felt a surge of joy from Lib. It had been heavily tinted with awe and just a background shade of jealousy. He grinned. Things had definitely changed.
"Hello, big brother."
"Hi, Lib. What'd he do?"
"I really don't know, Peral. I don't know what to say about it."
"Not fair, Lib. You can't grin at me and say nothing. Not after that blast I got from you."
"I mean it, Peral. She came in, knelt in front of me, looked in my eyes, pulled a knife and cut me loose. Peral, she was wearing the amulet."
"WHAT?!"
"I've never seen it glow like that."
"Wow! I bet we don't an explanation for this one."
"I wonder if we should classify it as a 'Now where did he get that from'."
When Lathan and Lorin entered the tent, Lib and Peral were lying on the cushions on the floor laughing. They looked at them, smiled, and headed for the food. Any squire will tell you, eating someone else's cooking is a treat.
"Peral, I do not know the words to say this."
"It's OK, Lorin. You're not really the squire type. You're a knight at heart."
"Peral, they need a teacher and I have been taught so well."
"Yeah, and you learned more from the Doctor than from anybody else. Make sure you teach that to them too."
"It is what I plan to teach them. I will just give instruction in staff and bow to keep them busy while I teach. I am taking them to Talf. I want Mirune to meet Cermine."
"Introduce her to Amda and Nemir too."
"I shall miss you, my knight."
"And I you, squire."
Lib walked up as Lorin walked away. "Did somebody just have a baby? I felt 'proud papa' strong enough to taste cigar smoke."
"Lib, you don't even know what a cigar is."
"I know what it is! I cross reference my jokes. I learned at the same library you did. I take it Lorin's won her spurs."
"Was there ever any doubt?"
"Not really. Do me a favor. Help me keep Lathan from trying to do the squire's work for all three of us."
"Guess we'll just have to go back to taking care of ourselves."
"That's the easy job. Let's give it to Lathan. There are two of us. We should take the hard one."
"Yeah, taking care of the Doctor." He looked around the pleasant, busy, camp of women and smiled. "After all, he certainly takes good care of us."
Leoht trotted up to the Doctor and lipped his ear. "I suppose you've been peacefully grazing through all this." He walked over to where the equipment was piled and started hunting for Leoht's tack. He smiled when he saw Mirune approaching.
"Doctor, we are nearly prepared, but I fear going. I trust Lorin and I trust the people we join because you have given me your word they are trustworthy, but they will not trust us."
"Mirune, find Lorin. Bring her here."
"Just what I like to do. Ride at night. Here's this nice cozy camp. With tents and lots of food and lovely company and I'm going on a moonlight ride."
"I don't know why we're leaving at night either, Peral. But we both know there's a reason, and our horses know it even if we don't."
"Lib, he's been in that tent with them for hours."
"Which explains why Wealdan and Heort only showed up twenty minutes ago. I peeked in when I saw Leoht standing saddled out here. The three of them were sitting in the floor. From the look he gave me, I knew I wasn't wanted. This whole episode reeks 'piece of the quest'. He learned things in that library."
"Where do you think we're headed now?"
"Wherever Leoht wants to go. Where else?"
The Doctor walked out of the tent with Mirune and Lorin following. He turned to them and said, "I charge you to carry these to the armies who face what rises in the east." He took the amulet from around his neck and placed it around Mirune's. "You carry my hearts with you into battle." He gave the lance to Lorin. "You bear my standard, that all will know I am with them." He touched each woman gently on the face, then mounted Leoht. He led Lib, Peral and Lathan away from the camp. East.
"So, Doctor, who was the show for?"
"Mostly for them, Peral, but getting rid of the amulet is a relief."
"You didn't get rid of it. You figured out what it was for. That's why you look so smug."
"Wrong, Peral. He looks smug because two more women have decided he's wonderful." Lib was surprised when the Doctor just turned and smiled at her. It wasn't the response she'd expected to her jibe at all. She shivered. The smile had been haunted.