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finally understood some elusive joke. The sound brought Teesha's dinner to the
base of her throat.
"If I am to be lord here," Corische continued, "I must have a lady, even a
floor-scrubbing tavern wench like you."
That was her first hint that Corische harbored no desire to play lord of
Gäestev Keep. Most feudal overseers were assigned fiefs as gifts from nobles
wealthier than themselves or from their own liege lords. But what did Corische
want from her? She knew nothing of ladies or playing at nobility. She looked
again at Ratboy and Parko in confusion. If Corische surrounded himself with
lowly creatures in order to feel more important, then why enlist someone like
Rashed? And why bother with a woman to play at being lady of the house?
She was locked in a filthy tower room that night and left to shiver with no
fire and only a thin, moldy flannel sheet as a blanket. No one came all the
next day, but the following night, she heard the door unlock and was caught
between relief and terror. Rashed entered with a tray of tea, mutton stew, and
bread, and he carried a cape over one arm.
"It's freezing in here," she said.
"Put this on." He held out the cape as he set the tray on the floor in front
of her. "The keep is ancient. There are no hearths, only a fire pit in the
main room. I found wood and lit it. Some heat might rise, but do not go down
there without the master or myself."
She couldn't tell if he was being kind or just instructing her in one more
rule of the house. Then she realized it didn't matter. He seemed the closest
thing she had to a friend in this vile place. Unwanted tears ran down her
cheeks.
"What about Edwan?" She stood, taking one step closer to Rashed. "Will he be
released soon?"
Rashed was silent for a moment, not moving, his eyes staring at the wall
behind her.
"Your husband was sentenced this morning and executed at dusk." He said it
without any change of tone in his voice.
He turned toward the door, preparing to leave. "Do you wish to sit by the
fire?"
A kind of madness tickled Teesha's brain.
"Do I wish to& ?" She began laughing. "You bastard."
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For nothing she'd come to this nightmare pit for nothing, and Edwan, who
deserved a peaceful life more than anyone she'd known, was dead simply because
some twisted lord fancied his wife. The vicious comedy of it all became more
than she could bear. Death was far preferable to this existence.
She bolted past Rashed, running down the short hall. She didn't know if
Rashed pursued her or not as she ran down the stone steps to the main room.
Lord Corische sat at the cracked table writing on a scroll with a feather
quill. Teesha ignored him and ran for the great oak doors.
As she reached out for the iron latch, Parko sprang in front of her as if
sprouting from the earth, snarling and sucking in her scent. She staggered
back in reflex, but did not turn around, her eyes focused watchfully on the
disheveled figure in front of her.
"Let me out of here!" she ordered Corische. She had nothing left for him to
take, nothing that mattered to her, and so no more reason for fear.
Then she saw the enormous iron bar across the door. She hadn't even noticed
it while rushing to escape. It was wider than her own upper arm and so thick
and heavy it didn't seem possible that any one person could have lifted it
alone. It was most certainly impossible for her to do so by herself.
"Take this down," she said, her back still to Corische. "Our pact is over."
"Rashed put that bar up. Even I would have difficulty removing it. Did you
enjoy dinner?"
Hatred was a new emotion for Teesha, disorienting, and it took a moment to
think through Corische's insulting chatter.
"If you wanted a lady for your house, why didn't you find one? Are you afraid
she would detest your crude manners and lowborn airs? No, you wanted someone
beneath you that you could lord over" she looked at Parko, no longer
frightened by him, then caught sight of Ratboy hovering in the corner "like
the rest of your wretched little mob."
She heard something slam down on the table hard enough to make it slide and
grate on the stone floor. He was easy to anger. Good. She turned about to face
him and saw clean, unmasked rage.
"You live at my mercy," he said, "at my whim. Do not forget that."
"Your mercy?" The madness in her laugh matched Parko's eyes. "And what makes
you believe living has anything to do with this? You murdered my Edwan, and I
will do nothing to bring you pleasure. Do you understand me now? I will not
grace your table nor entertain your guests nor do anything you desire. I will
try to escape every day until I succeed or you tire of it and kill me."
Corische appeared stunned into silence.
Teesha only blinked once, reflexively, and he was suddenly across the room at
her side.
His hand lashed out and grabbed her arm. The stale smell of him filled her
with revulsion, but his grip hurt so badly she couldn't help crying out.
"Youwill do as I say," he hissed. "I am master here. This keep may be a
pathetic hovel, but I am still lord and you will obey."
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"No," she whimpered. "You murdered my Edwan."
Corische swept the floor with one foot, kicking aside the straw to reveal a
worn wooden hatch with an inset iron ring. Before Teesha could resist, he
jerked up the hatch and shoved her inside.
Teesha expected to fall straight down, but instead she tumbled along stone
steps in the dark. When she reached bottom finally, her head banged against a
stone floor she couldn't even see in the half-light spilling down from the
open hatch. A hollow thud echoed through the chamber as the hatch slammed
closed, leaving her in complete darkness.
She sat up, feeling along her limbs for any wounds greater than bruises or
scrapes. At least now she was away from him for the moment.
A savage grunt came from the dark.
"You will do whatever I ask," a voice said, "because you won't be able to
stop yourself."
Corische had come down the steps behind her and was somewhere in the chamber.
Teesha slid back from his voice. Finding the bottom stair with her hand, she
turned to scramble upward to the hatch. Something tangled in her hair, jerking [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]