Severed Souls (27 page)

“I asked her that. I told her that leaving him is one thing, but we would still be linked to him through the power of that bond. He would know we were alive. Just leaving wasn't a solution.

“She said that in this case it was. She said that on her first visit to Fajin Province, she had learned of Hannis Arc's hatred for the House of Rahl. He told Alice that if she and any of her sisters ever wanted to leave Darken Rahl, he would provide refuge and with his power he could break their bond, replacing it with a bond to him instead.

“She told us that this was finally her chance and she wanted us to join her, to stay, and be free of Darken Rahl. We accepted and never returned to the People's Palace. With our bond to Darken Rahl broken, everyone there believed us dead.

“So, we had traded one master for another.

“Only much later did I come to discover that, knowing Bishop Arc wanted anything that belonged to the House of Rahl, it had actually been Alice who suggested the scheme to Hannis Arc in the first place. He wanted a number of Mord-Sith as the price of going along with her scheme. She had cooked up the entire plan and delivered us to Hannis Arc.

“It also turned out that in return for delivering us to him, Alice was given mastery over us. The authority Hannis Arc gave Alice over us outside the bond—a separate link all of her own—was not only improper, but went entirely to her head. We are her sisters, not her subjects. Yet she relished her dominion over us merely for the sake of exerting her petty power to make herself feel important. We still had to serve him first and do his bidding, so Hannis Arc never cared.

“She exploits that link not to serve her master, but purely for herself, to feel superior to her peers.

“When several of us were sent to assist you at the abbey, like Hannis Arc she never knew that you had abilities of your own. The truth is, she sent me to work for you as punishment, to humiliate me by having me help you in what she and Hannis Arc often scoffed at as petty and unimportant work.”

Hearing that Alice judged his work to be petty was giving him a whole new perspective on the woman.

“It wasn't until after you made your offer to me that I even knew of your actual abilities,” Erika said. “Since then I haven't been back here to the citadel. Alice isn't aware that I have taken your bond and I am no longer her chattel.

“For those reasons and others, I do not consider Alice trustworthy. I believe that, given the chance, she would sell you as cheaply as she sold us.”

He glanced over at Erika's brooding look. “Would you like me to eliminate her?”

Erika really was an achingly beautiful woman. One of his weaknesses. No doubt one of the reasons Alice enjoyed having the power to dominate her.

Erika gave him a resolute, meaningful look. “Lord Dreier, things have changed completely since then. I am now bonded to you, not Hannis Arc, and therefore Alice has no power over me. I can now deal with Alice if you would like to have her in your service. I assure you, I can not only deal with her, I in fact would take great pleasure in it.

“But, because I don't trust her, I don't know that having me deal with her is in your best interest. I am telling you what I know about her so that you will be better able to make your own decision. I consider that part of my service to you.”

He arched an eyebrow as he nodded. “Indeed it is.”

“I don't trust the woman one little bit, but you have ways of making even those kind choose to follow you,” Erika said. “I only want to warn you so that should you choose to use her services, you are aware of her nature and don't turn your back on her.”

He nodded thoughtfully. “Of course.” He glanced her way again. “What about the others?”

“The others are like me. They, too, were traded cheaply to Hannis Arc. I trust them.

“But that's me. They will not be at all inclined to trust you. They are still Mord-Sith, and at this moment they are still bonded to Hannis Arc. He is alive, so that bond is active. They would be only too glad to kill you if they even suspected that you are a threat to their master or his rule. Their job is to see that you or someone like you does not pilfer so much as a teacup from his citadel, much less attempt to pull off what you intend to do. When they hear that you want to rule his land, they will be more than trouble.”

He smiled over at her as he started across the room. The carpets muffled their boots on the way. “Not to worry.”

 

CHAPTER

38

Across the room, led by a pair of soldiers with short spears, five Mord-Sith in red leather filed into the room. Another pair of soldiers came in behind them. It was purely for show to set the stage. Just one of the Mord-Sith could easily have killed all four soldiers.

The soldiers took up positions at attention at the sides of the room while the five Mord-Sith stood stiffly at the head of the room, up three steps on the platform between the twin staircases. As he approached, Ludwig didn't think that they looked all that pleased to be summoned by a mere abbot.

By now they surely would have already heard rumors of that abbot taking over the citadel. They might not be happy about being forced into servitude to Alice, but that didn't mean they wanted anything to do with him, or intended to allow him to remain a threat to their master for long. Ludwig knew that it would be only a matter of moments before they decided to take matters into their own hands.

He thought it time they had their attitudes adjusted, and they were given a choice of how they would like things to go for them.

“I am Lord Dreier,” he said as soon as he came to a halt.

None of the five showed any reaction other than a glare. They were waiting to see what that meant. More than that, though, these were Mord-Sith, and they feared very little, death least of all. This would require a different set of choices.

The brunette, Alice, stood second from his right. She looked like a coiled viper waiting to strike.

Ludwig stepped directly to her. “You have something to say, Mistress Alice?”

She ran her tongue around the inside of her cheek a moment as she stared back, appraising him the way the Mord-Sith appraised people just before they struck out and killed them.

“Hannis Arc told us nothing of such a change,” she finally said. “I can't imagine what delusions would make you believe that you can walk into his home when he is gone and proclaim yourself to be ‘Lord Dreier' and the master of the house, and expect to be taken seriously.”

“The master of Fajin Province,” he corrected. “Not merely the master of the house, but the master of all of Fajin Province.”

She arched her eyebrow even higher. “Lord Arc told us that he was going to bring down our common enemy, the House of Rahl.” She gestured among the Mord-Sith with her in red leather. “We fled the House of Rahl. Hannis Arc took us in. He is our master. As our master, he powers our Agiel and has our loyalty.”

“Hannis Arc does not power Mistress Erika's Agiel.”

Her scowl deepened. “What are you talking about? Of course he does.”

Ludwig looked over at Erika. “Why don't you show one of them how well your Agiel works.” He gestured in their general direction. “You pick.”

Without delay, Erika gritted her teeth as she rammed her Agiel into the middle of the big blond Mord-Sith on the far right, beside Alice.

The woman gasped in shock as she doubled over, folding around Erika's Agiel. It hurt too much for her to be able to cry out, or even to draw a breath. Erika withdrew her Agiel and let it drop from her fingers to dangle once again at the end of the fine gold chain on her right wrist.

The blond Mord-Sith, blue eyes wide, toppled on her side, curled into a ball on the floor, shivering in agony, still unable to draw a breath despite how hard she struggled.

Ludwig held a hand out toward Erika in invitation. “Feel free to return the favor. Any of you. Feel free to give as good as Erika gave. Show her you are not weak Mord-Sith to be pushed around and that your master still powers your Agiel.”

“Gladly,” Alice said through gritted teeth.

She spun her Agiel up into her fist. She froze before taking a step. With an astonished expression, she slowly looked down at the weapon in her fist.

Ludwig leaned in, cocking his head. “Problem?”

“It … it's dead,” Alice said in a confused whisper. “I feel nothing from it. That's impossible.…”

The woman Erika had put down struggled back on her feet and managed to straighten. They all took their Agiel up into their fingers, rolling them around, holding them in a fist. All of them looked confused and a great deal less confident than they had only moments before.

“Puzzling, isn't it?” he asked the five women standing in a row as he paced before them.

Servants to the sides rushed on their way, making sure not to look over at the Mord-Sith and what was going on with the new master of the house. They were obviously trying to get out of the room as quickly as possible. Soldiers rushing through the halls on their way to deliver new orders also quickened their step. Two guards to either side of the room stood at attention, keeping their eyes strictly ahead as if they were statues that saw nothing.

Ludwig stepped forward and circled an arm around Alice's shoulders. “Well, you see, the thing is, Alice, your Agiel is powered by your bond to your master. You were once bonded to Darken Rahl, and that loyalty to him is what powered your Agiel.”

“We know that,” Alice snapped, her fire back. “Hannis Arc is now our master. Through his profound ability he freed us from our bond to Darken Rahl to become our master and the one to power our Agiel. We are bonded to him.”

Ludwig, gripping her shoulders tightly with his encircling arm, gave her an intimate joggle. “Isn't it pretty obvious what has happened?” He gestured toward Erika and then leaned back in, looking at Alice's face from only inches away. “Erika's Agiel works quite well, as I think the woman next to you could attest, but none of yours do. What do you suppose could explain that?”

Alice moved her arms restlessly as she began to notice a cramping that made her feel uncomfortable. She lifted a hand, and saw that her skin was wrinkled. Prominent blue veins and brown spots covered the back of her hand. She stared for a long moment, trying to understand how her smooth, clear skin had changed.

She abruptly reached up and touched her hair. She pulled the single braid forward and saw her brunette hair now streaked with gray. Moment by moment, as the other Mord-Sith watched, her hair gradually turned ever more gray and brittle. Her skin continued to thin and wrinkle.

Abruptly, one of her upper front teeth dropped from her open mouth and bounced across the carpet. The other four women stared.

Two more teeth quickly followed. Alice reached into her mouth with trembling, arthritic, deformed fingers and took out several more teeth that had loosened and fallen out within her mouth. She scooped out the handful of teeth and stared at them.

In mere moments she looked to have aged at least an additional sixty years.

“You aren't looking well, Alice,” Ludwig said with feigned concern, his arm still around her shoulders. “Not well at all.” He looked up at Erika. “I don't think she looks well. Do you?”

“No, Lord Dreier, I don't,” Erika said in a calm voice. “Not well at all.”

“I … I … don't understand,” Alice stammered.

The confusion on her deeply wrinkled face showed that she was clearly telling the truth. She didn't understand. She touched her face, her sagging jowls, her blotchy wrist. She put a hand over her loose red leather, feeling her shrunken breasts.

“What's happening to me?”

Ludwig, still leaning in, his arm still around her shoulders, frowned with a look of concern as he peered up into her face. “Well, do you know, Alice, what I have heard tell a Mord-Sith fears above all else?”

Her panic-stricken, washed-out eyes suddenly turned up to him. “Dying old and toothless in bed…”

He nodded earnestly. “That's right, Alice. Dying old and toothless in bed.” He finally removed his arm from around her frail shoulders and gestured toward the hallway. “Now, Alice, I want you to go off to bed.”

Without objection, looking confused and addled with advanced age, the stooped old woman in drooping red leather started shuffling off to do as instructed.

Once she had shambled off down a hall, Ludwig resumed his place before the other four, clasping his hands behind his back.

“I'm afraid that Alice's worst fears have come to pass. She is shortly going to die in bed, old and toothless.” He shook his head sadly as he sighed. “Such a shame.”

One of the others swallowed. “Abbot, I mean, Lord Dreier, what is going on?”

He smiled. “Well, it would seem that you have just taken the first step. You recognized me as Lord Dreier. Does that mean that you accept me as your master?”

He cocked his head with a questioning look. “Fully and completely? The master for whom you would lay down your lives? The master who will now hold your bond and power your Agiel?”

Ludwig did not for one moment underestimate the powers that Hannis Arc wielded, but he didn't think the man could do what Ludwig had just done, and apparently the Mord-Sith didn't think so either.

One by one, all four of them nodded.

“Good,” he said, smiling, vigorously rubbing his hands together. “Very good. Now, why don't you try those Agiel again.”

They did, flicking the weapons back up into their hands, and by the look of resolve coming back into their eyes, it was clear that their Agiel now worked again. The women had been restored to Mord-Sith. They were bonded to him.

“Each of you has given up your bond to your old master, and taken up a new one. You have made wise choices at the right times. First, you gave up your bond to Darken Rahl and instead willingly gave your loyalty and service to Hannis Arc. But Hannis Arc has proven himself unworthy of you, to say nothing of letting Alice rule you in a way unfitting to Mord-Sith.”