Free Sorcerer's Legacy by Janny Wurts Page B

allowed herself to be marched from the room. The muscled height of the guardswomen made her small build seem fragile by contrast. Elienne hoped with all her heart the impression would cause Faisix to underestimate her. She needed every advantage she could foster, however slight.
    * * *
    Elienne was given a suite of rooms in the top of a keep overlooking the sea. Aisa and Denji guarded the only door, which gave onto the stair. The room was built on the defense wall, and arrowslits pierced the stone in place of casements.
    Left to herself, Elienne looked out. Hundreds of feet down, green, foam-laced breakers crashed against the black, splintered rock of the headland, and sunlight struck rainbows through the spindrift thrown up by the surf. Chilled by more than damp air, Elienne turned away. Though savagely beautiful, the view foreclosed any hope of escape. Even the spartan ugliness of the arrowslits became a blessing to her eyes. Windows, in that place, would have left her susceptible, not to attack from the outside, but to a push from within. And all too likely, the guardswomen were hostile. Until they proved otherwise, Elienne chose to regard her surroundings with an eye for her own defense.
    The chambers themselves were lavish. In keeping with what she had observed of Pendaire’s palace, the furnishings were handsomely adorned with stone and inlay of silver filigree. Thick, patterned carpets brightened the parquet floor, and a fire burned in the grate to drive off the damp. Through the doorway, a maid labored over a carved double bed, patting smooth silken sheets and embroidered coverlets in deferential silence.
    Yet the beautiful decor did nothing to allay Elienne’s sense of vulnerability. With stiff self-reliance, she began at once to rearrange the furniture. The maid emerged from the bedchamber, startled to find the new Consort pushing a heavy chest across the floor.
    She curtsied deeply. “My Lady, did you not find the room to your liking?”
    Elienne shook her head and leaned like a draft horse. The chest rumbled another foot across the parquet. She abandoned it in the middle of the chamber and gathered the ornaments from a small side table.
    Puzzled more than politeness would permit, the maid tactfully curtsied again. “The Lady mustn’t spoil her dress before this evening’s banquet.”
    Elienne responded with a preoccupied smile, both hands full of glassware. When she deposited the items on a cushioned chair and hefted the table toward the other side of the room, the maid salvaged the awkward situation as best she could by offering her help.
    “Thank you.” Elienne nodded toward a stuffed stool. “That can go there.”
    She and the maid labored for a time in silence. After a particularly trying struggle with an armchair, Elienne said, “Why won’t Aisa and Denji speak to me? Have I offended them?”
    “The shieldmaids?” The woman’s eyebrows rose in her round, sweating face. “My Lady, they are deaf-mutes.”
    “Forgive me; I’m foreign,” said Elienne quickly. ‘‘I didn’t know. Is it common practice to put out ears and tongues in Pendaire?”
    “Ma’Diere, no, my Lady.” The maid wiped sweaty palms on her sleeves. “That pair belonged to the royal family of Kedgard.”
    Elienne’s face remained carefully blank.
    “It is an island kingdom,” explained the maid. “The Regent took pity on them during a diplomatic visit and bought their freedom. They have served out of gratitude since.”
    “That was a kind act.” Glad she had not trusted the guardswomen, Elienne bent and began to wrestle with an immense potted plant. “Is his Excellency often moved to charity?”
    “I wouldn’t know.” The maid sighed. “Lady, must you move that?”
    Elienne gave the plant a determined shove. Branches swayed, bobbing small pink fruits precariously against stem moorings. The tree was top-heavy, and would likely upset if she disturbed it further.
    “I suppose the thing will do well enough where