Posted by The Black Knight on September 15, 2001 at 20:12:32:
Chapter 4
Ramin Ko-vär and Lavia Milos stood in front a cell in their dungeon. Lorta Nei-shon sat in the cell looking up at them.
"Are you sure that you made your message clear enough for Man-yin to understand it?" Ramin asked.
"He would have to be blind not to see it." Lavia asked.
"What interest would a Merisian be to you?" Lorta asked.
"Usually none, but this Merisian is special. He and his father were responsible for most of our losses in the war, even after the Mi-yärs were pulled into it." Ramin said.
"Why don't you just kill her and be done with it?" Lavia asked.
"She may still be of some use to us, besides I want her to see her pitiful rebellion crushed before she swings from the gallows." Ramin said.
"You would kill your own brother to save your position and to put this trash on the throne?" Lorta asked.
Lavia lay her hand on her sword hilt.
"Let her spout Lavia. She can do us no harm here." Ramin said.
"Jailor see to it that her wounds are attended too, we can't have her bleeding to death before she hangs." Lavia said.
"Yes, my lady." the jailor said from down the corridor.
One hour later a young man knelt beside Lorta in her cell. He used a pair of crude scissors to cut her red tights back off the wound in her thigh.
"A bit crude for a healer aren't you?" Lorta asked.
"I was a medic during the wars." the doctor said.
"Lorta Nei-shon. Glad to meet you...I think."
He held up a small cylinder.
"You won't be in a few seconds. Part of that arrow head is sitting on the bone and it has to come out. If it's any consolation my name is Rescan." the doctor said.
"That's it?"
"My family disowned me after the war because I fought on the side of the Mi-yärs." the doctor said.
"Then you do not approve of Lord Ko-vär?"
She clenched her teeth together as he cut the small piece of stone out of her thigh. She gasped heavily as he pulled back.
"Something wrong?" Lorta asked.
He held up the tip of an arrowhead.
"Do you want this?"
As he passed the arrowhead to Lorta he slid a dagger down into her boot.
"It was Sheirdra Har-shon's dagger. Don't do anything foolish, but use it if you have to." Rescan said.
"You knew Sheirdra?"
"I was her contact in the palace." Rescan said.
"Then you know what happened to her?"
"Lady Milos boasted of it all the way from my chamber to the throne room." Rescan said.
"She will pay for Sheirdra's blood."
"Sooner than later I hope. I have heard rumors that you have friends who will not leave you here. When you again come to Shan Mi-yär tell her that her fears were well grounded and that the Lily
blooms at Brisnat in one week." Rescan said.
"The Lily blooms in one week." Lorta repeated.
"That is all you need to know. Lady Mi-yär knows the rest." Rescan said as he bandaged her wound.
"Before I leave this palace I will do to Lady Milos what she did to Sheirdra Har-shon."
"Ask yourself this question Nei-shon. Which is more important your revolution or your revenge. Sheirdra's death will be avenged when the time is right." Rescan said.
"A little too philosophical for a healer aren't you?" Lorta asked.
"I was thrown out of a temple before the war."
"So you heal the body and the soul?" Lorta asked.
"When it is necessary." Rescan said as he put his tools on a piece of cloth.
He rolled the cloth up and walked out of the cell.
"Jailor I am done. The rebel will survive long enough for you to get a rope around her neck." Rescan said.
A short hunchbacked man limped down the corridor.
"She will make a pretty tree ornament will she not?" the jailor said.
"I haven't seen a rebel yet that didn't." Rescan said with a laugh.
The jailor laughed as well as he turned the key in her cell door. Lorta adjusted the dagger in her boot and lay back on the straw mat in the floor to sleep. The jailor and the doctor walked back down the corridor talking and laughing.
"What could he have meant by 'the Lily blooms in one week'? This is late in the hot season, lilies have already bloomed and faded by now." Lorta said.
She sat up as she heard the jailor limping back down the hall. Lavia Milos stepped up to the jail cell in front of him.
"I have heard it said about the palace that Man-yin will not leave a friend in prison." Lavia said as the jailor opened the door.
"We have met but once, he would not risk his neck to save mine." Lorta said.
"But he would risk his neck to avenge the death of a friend." Lavia said.
"I do not know him that well, and I don't get along too well with Merisians." Lorta said.
"I am from Merisia too." Lavia said as she entered the cell.
Lavia looked back over her shoulder at the jailor.
"Leave us. Call me when Man-yin is dead or at the rising of the sun." Lavia said.
"You almost sound confident, my lady." Lorta said as she stood on her right leg.
Lavia drew her sword and put the point on Lorta's chest.
"Confident enough to tell you that when the jailor calls I will run you through."
Lorta leaned back on the wall and slid back down to the mat.
"If I am to die in the morning I should at least enjoy my last night's sleep." Lorta said as she lay back.