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and hangings from Azura Maroc; black and silver with touches of white and
sparks of colour. On the governor's desk stood large, perfect mineral
specimens; spheres of obsidian and onyx, a replica of Arabeth carved from one
huge piece of amber.
And behind these treasures sat Governor Ordrai himself, a big man with a
powerful, hungry face, the head broad and thick-necked as if squashed directly
on his shoulders. He gazed impassively at them, his hands folded over his
belly.
'I gather you've come to see the prisoner, Mordraken-son,' said Ordrai.
'Yes, sir,' said Tanthe and Elrill. They'd been warned to be excruciatingly
polite.
'Why?'
'Because we are friends of his, sir,' said Tanthe.
'You claim to be travelling on behalf of the Queen?'
'We are, sir.' She started to show him the seal, but he waved it away.
'I've seen one. It means little in this realm. Where are you going?'
Tanthe hesitated, not knowing how much to tell him. Elrill said, 'We are on an
urgent mission to convey messages from the Queen to the Aelyr. We're here to
find a rothanamir into Verdanholm. That is all.'
Ordrai stared at them in bemusement for several seconds. Tanthe held her
breath, certain he was going to find some pretext to lock them up. But,
apparently, he had no idea what to make of this information, so decided to
overlook it. He didn't even comment on it.
'You're aware of Eldareth's crime? I prefer to call him Eldareth, since he is
unworthy of his given name.'
'We are now,' she said. 'We weren't before. Sir.'
'There's something you should know,' the governor drawled. 'The Viceroy and I
are very close.
Mordraken Senior was a very dear friend of ours and one of Torith Mir's
greatest assets. In a slight lapse of judgement he married a foreigner, which
we forgave - even though it proved the death of him. You must understand that
I took Mordraken's death very personally. It is a known fact that Eldareth
killed him. There were witnesses. He made a confession. He is not here 'under
suspicion"; he is guilty.'
Tanthe felt her blood rising, couldn't help it. 'But '
She felt Elrill gripping her elbow in warning.
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'One more thing,' said Ordrai. 'You are here to visit the prisoner. You are
not here to protest his innocence. If either of you utters one word of
petition on his behalf, you will be expelled instantly and not allowed back
in. Is that understood?'
'Yes sir,' said Tanthe and Elrill.
'Good. Go, say your goodbyes. Guard!'
They were escorted out and the ebony doors slammed shut. Tanthe was shaking
from head to foot as the guards led them on a long, confusing trek into the
heart of Arabeth. 'What a horrible man!' she whispered, and her voice seemed
to reverberate all through the labyrinth of dark tunnels.
'Well done for waiting until you could get a good echo,' said Elrill. The
guards laughed out loud.
Tanthe felt herself flushing bright red.
The guards brought them to a high, dark passage that seemed to stretch the
length of the fortress. A
door of black iron screeched open to reveal a long narrow cell. 'Half-hour,'
said one of the guards.
Eldareth was sitting at a table, a silhouette against the grey light that
sifted in through a skylight. His face was like the light; ashen, thin, gaunt.
Seeing his visitors he rose shakily, as if he'd aged twenty years since they'd
last seen him.
'Greetings to you, dear friend,' said Elrill. He seemed close to weeping;
she'd never seen him upset before, and it shook her.
'Hello, Eld, how are you?' Tanthe said, her voice loud to her own ears. 'We've
tried every day to see you.'
'Ahh,' Eldareth groaned. 'I wish you hadn't.' He waved at the two hard-oak
chairs opposite him. 'But since you're here, sit down.'
Tanthe and Elrill sat, poised on the edge of the hard seats. Two warders stood
unsmiling, one on each side of the door.
'Is this your cell?' Tanthe asked. Elrill was white and silent beside her.
'No, this is the visiting room,' Eldareth said heavily. 'My cell is rather
smaller than this, but reasonably comfortable. I'm used to sleeping on the
ground so the floor doesn't trouble me.'
'You look dreadful,' she said. She shook her head, suddenly frightened. 'We've
spent every day at the gate of the fortress, trying to get you released. We've
written letters, been shunted from one official to another, kept waiting in
horrible offices for hours on end, but no one would listen to us. Ordrai was
vile.
At least he let us see you - but -1 got the feeling he'd love an excuse to
arrest us too.'
Eldareth reached across the table and took her hand in his bony one. 'Tanthe,
dear, I'm sorry. You look as tired as I feel, and I had no wish to drag you
into this. All I can tell you is forget me; go on with your journey.'
'We can't,' Tanthe said, glaring at him. 'Apart from anything else, Helananthe
would kill us if we left you here.'
'You don't understand. They aren't going to release me, ever.' He closed his
eyes. His eyelids were hooded with peaks of exhaustion. This is my fault. I
knew it was too much of a risk to come here.'
'No, it's mine. said Elrill. 'I am the one who persuaded you that the worst
would not happen.'
'But I didn't have to listen to you, my friend.'
'Oh, stop it!' Tanthe exclaimed. 'Never mind whose fault it was. Eld, they're
saying that you killed your family.'
The words rang into silence and hung on the air, resonating. Eldareth drove
the tips of his fingers into his eyes and rubbed until his eyelids turned red [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]