Free Thendara House by Marion Zimmer Bradley Page B

tell me all about it,” she said, “but later; for now we must help this woman. Here - ” she gestured, “put your arm under hers; she cannot walk - “
Magda put her arm around the apparently fainting woman, but the woman flinched and cried out, in a weak voice, drawing away from the touch. Camilla led her into a little room near Mother Lauria’s office, and lowered her into a soft chair.
“Have you been ill-used?” she asked, and took away the shawl, then cried out in dismay.
The woman’s dress - expensively cut, of richly dyed woolen cloth trimmed in fur - was cut to ribbons, and the blood had soaked through, turning the cloth to clotted black through which crimson still oozed.
Camilla whispered, “Avarra protect us! Who has done this to you?” But she did not wait for an answer. “Doria, run to the kitchen, bring wine and hot water and fresh towels! Then see if Marisela is in the house, or if she has gone out into the city to deliver a child somewhere. Margali, come here, help me get these things off her!”
Magda came, helping Camilla get off the cut and slashed tunic, gown, underlinen; they were all finely cut and embroidered with copper threads; she wore an expensive copper-filigree butterfly clasp in her fair hair. Magda stood by, helping and holding things, as Camilla bared the woman to the waist, sponged the dreadful cuts; what could possibly have inflicted them? The woman endured their ministrations without crying out, though they must have been hurting terribly; when they had done, Camilla put a light shift on her, tying the drawstrings loosely around her neck, and covered her with a warm robe. Doria came back, troubled, reporting that Marisela was not in the house.
“Then find Mother Millea,” Camilla ordered, “and Domna Fiona. She is a judge in the City Court, and we must make a sworn statement about this woman’s condition, so that we may legally give her shelter. She is not strong enough to take the oath; we must put her to bed, and have her nursed -
The woman struggled upright. “No,” she whispered, “I want to take the oath - to be here by right, not by charity - “
Magda whispered, more to herself than to anyone else, “But what has happened to her! What could have inflicted such wounds - ‘
Camilla’s face was like stone. “She has been beaten like an animal,” the emmasca said. “I have scars much like those. Child - ” she bent over the woman lying in the chair, “I know what it is to be ill-used. Margali - you will find scissors in the drawer of the table.” And as Magda put them into her hand, Camilla asked, “What is your name?”
“Keitha - ” the word was only a whisper.
“Keitha, the laws require that you must show your intent by cutting a single lock of your hair; if you have the strength to do this, I will do the rest for you.”
“Give me - the scissors.” She sounded resolute, but her fingers hardly had strength to grasp them. She struggled to get them into her hands. She grabbed a lock of her hair, which had been arranged in two braids, and fumbled to cut it; struggled hard with the scissors, but had not the strength to cut through the braid. She gestured, whispering “Please - “
At the gesture Camilla unraveled the braid, and Keitha snipped fiercely, chopping off two ragged handfuls of hair. “There!” she said wildly, tears starting from her eyes. “Now - let me take the oath - “
Camilla held a cup of wine to her lips. “As soon as you are strong enough, sister.”
“No! Now …” Keitha insisted; then her hands released the scissors, which slithered softly to the floor, and she fell back, unconscious, into Camilla’s arms.
Mother Lauria said quietly, “Take her upstairs,” and Magda, following Camilla’s soft command, helped Camilla to carry the unconscious woman up the stairway and into an empty room.
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CHAPTER FOUR
The waterhole lay dark, oozing black mud and darker shadows; but behind the rocks, the crimson sun was rising. She was old