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Verna frowned as she straightened again. “What’s this about?”
“May I see your ring, please?”
“My ring?”
Verna finally sighed and held out her hand, showing Clarissa the ring on her third finger. It had the sunburst pattern as Nathan had described.
“Why do you want to see—” For the first time, Verna noticed Clarissa’s guard. Her eyes went wide. She jostled Warren’s shoulder while she spoke. “Walsh?” Warren’s head came up.
Walsh smiled. “How you doing, Prelate? Warren?”
“Not very well.”
Clarissa stepped closer. The man, Warren, was looking very puzzled.
“I was sent by Lord Rahl to get this book.” Clarissa gave Verna and Warren both a meaningful look. “I am bonded to Lord Rahl.”
“Richard is dead,” Verna said in a flat whisper.
“I know. But I was sent by Lord Rahl. Nathan Rahl, the master of D’Hara. He wanted me to pass along his regards.”
Verna’s mouth fell open. Warren’s chair skidded across the floor as he rushed to his feet.
“Do you understand?” Clarissa carefully asked. “If you do, then you had better be quick about it.”
“But, Nathan, we couldn’t…”
“Well,” Clarissa said, “I must be getting back to Lord Rahl. He’s waiting for me. I have a coach, and I must be leaving at once.”
Verna’s eyes turned up to Walsh. He gave her a nod.
Verna fell to her knees. She snatched Warren’s violet robes and yanked him down beside her.
“Do it, Warren!” She folded her hands together as she bowed her head. Her words spilled out. “Master Rahl guide us. Master Rahl teach us. Master Rahl protect us. In your light we thrive. In your mercy we are sheltered. In your wisdom we are humbled. We live only to serve. Our lives are yours.”
Warren spoke the words, too, just a little in her wake.
Verna knelt frozen for a moment, her hands still folded together prayerfully. She suddenly let out a cry of joy. She laughed like a madwoman.
“Thank the Creator! My prayers have been answered! I’m free! He’s gone! I can feel that he’s gone from my mind!”
Clarissa sighed in relief. Nathan had warned her that if Verna failed to do as they had hoped, she would have to die here.
Verna and Warren hugged as they wept with joy. Clarissa seized them both and urged them up.
“We have to get out of here, but Lord Rahl wants me to do something else, first. I need to look for some books.”
“Books?” Warren asked. “What books?”
“Mountain’s Twin, Selleron’s Seventh Task, The Book of Inversion and Duplex, and Twelve Words Left for Reason.”
Warren turned to the book on the table. “Twelve Words, that’s this one, here. I think I saw a couple of the others.”
Clarissa went to the shelves. “Help me look. Nathan wants to know if they are here. He needs to know.”
They all scanned the titles on the spines, and had to pull out several that weren’t marked so as to check their titles. They found all but The Book of Inversion and Duplex.
Clarissa brushed the dust from her hands. “That will have to do. Nathan said that they might not all be here. With only one missing, that’s better than we could have hoped.”
“What does Nathan want with these books?” Warren asked.
“He doesn’t want Jagang to have them. He says that they’re dangerous for Jagang to have.”
“They all could be dangerous,” Verna said.
“Let me worry about that,” Clarissa said, as she slipped the book from the table back into an empty slot. “Nathan just needed to know which were here. Now, we can leave.”
Verna clutched Clarissa’s sleeve. “I have two friends here. We have to get them out with us. You said you have a coach. We can all go.”
“Who?” Walsh asked.
“Janet and Amelia.”
Walsh let out a knowing grunt as Clarissa glanced to the door. “But Nathan said—”
“Look, if they give their oath to… to Lord Rahl, also, they can escape.” Verna touched the ring in Clarissa’s lip. “You don’t know what they do to the women here. Did you see Amelia’s face?”
“I know what they do,” Clarissa whispered, remembering the scenes in Renwold. “Will they take the oath?”
“Of course. Wouldn’t you, if it would get you away from here?”
Clarissa swallowed. “I’d do anything.”
“Hurry, then,” Walsh said. “There’s room in the coach, but we have to hurry.”
Verna nodded and then slipped out the door.
While Verna went to get the other two, Clarissa unhooked the clasp on the fine gold chain around her neck. Warren watched with a frown as Clarissa pulled a book from a lower shelf and then set it on the table.
Clarissa placed the locket on the shelf, in the empty slot. Carefully, she laid open the locket. With a finger, she gently pushed it all the way back against the wall. She wiggled her fingers at Warren. He handed back the book she had removed. Clarissa slid it back into its place.
“What did you do?” Warren asked.
“What Nathan wanted me to do.”
Verna burst back into the room, holding the hands of two beaming women. One was the one with the battered face, Sister Amelia.
“They’ve given the oath,” Verna said in a breathless voice. “They are bonded to Lord Rahl. Let’s get out of here.”
“About time,” Walsh said. He had a little smile on his face for Verna. It was obvious to Clarissa that they knew each other.
Walsh took ahold of Clarissa’s arm and the two of them led out the rest, to retrace their route back through the fortress. The dark, dripping stone smelled of rot. They saw only a few guards inside the stronghold, most people having left along with Jagang, gone to his huge tents.
Nathan said that Jagang traveled with a large contingent of people and that he had big, round tents with all the comforts of a palace. Of the people left behind, there seemed to be a scattering of officers and guards, and a few of the women who were slaves to Jagang and his army.
As they came around a corner, one of those slaves was coming the other way, carrying two steaming kettles of what smelled like lamb stew. She was dressed the same as the other women Clarissa had seen, except Verna. The clothes they wore, like Janet and Amelia, were not clothes as far as Clarissa was concerned. The women might as well have been naked, for all the good those transparent garments did.
When the woman looked up and saw them coming, especially Walsh, she immediately stepped to the side of the hall, out of their way.
Clarissa jerked to a halt, staring at the woman, whose gaze fixed on the floor.
“Manda?” Clarissa whispered. “Manda Perlin, is that you?”
Manda looked up. “Yes, mistress?”
“Manda, it’s me, Clarissa. From Renwold. I’m Clarissa.”
The young woman looked up the length of Clarissa, at her expensive gown, at her jewelry, at her hair all done in ringlets. Mindy’s gaze met Clarissa’s, and her eyes widened.
“Clarissa, is it really you?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t hardly… recognize you. You look so… different. You look so…” The spark went out of her expression. “Were you captured back home, too, then? I see the ring.”
“No. I wasn’t captured.”
Mindy’s eyes filled with tears. “Oh, good. I’m so glad they didn’t get you, there . It was—”
Clarissa hugged the young woman. Manda had never spoken this many words to her in all the years Clarissa had known her, and the words she had spoken hadn’t been decent. Clarissa had always hated Manda for the cruel words, the cruel smirks, the condescending glances. Now, Clarissa felt sorrow for her.
“Manda, we have to go. Would you like to come away with us?”
Verna snatched Clarissa’s arm. “We can’t do that.”
Clarissa glared at Verna. “I came here to rescue you. I let y
ou take your friends with us. I want to take my friend out of here, too.”
Verna sighed and let go of Clarissa’s arm. “Of course.”
