Chapter 19

The silence in the Healer's office was deafening.

Finally, thankfully, it was broken when Sirinna's eyes flew open and she drew in a long, shuddering gasp, her body shaking on the treatment table, the color swiftly returning to her deathly-pale face.

"Easy, easy," Vanlo said, placing a hand on her shoulder and gently forcing her back down when she tried to sit up. "Don't try to move yet."

On the other side of the table, Roquan drew in a slow deep breath and let it go.

Sirinna's eyes flicked back and forth. She opened her mouth and tried to speak, but could only croak and grunt.

"Don't try to speak yet, either. Now that you're no longer in danger, you'll recover shortly, and your speech will return."

Sirinna swallowed, panting, her body still shivering. She continued to open and close her mouth, trying desperately to say something.

"Sirinna, listen to the Healer," Roquan said. His voice was firm, but the relief behind it was obvious.

"R... Ro... A... Ama... Aman..." Sirinna stuttered, her face growing red with the effort to get her voice to work.

"Amanda is safe and sound," Roquan said. "She is in my quarters."

Sirinna stopped and slowly settled back down onto the table. Her body stilled and her breathing grew normal again.

"How soon until she is well again, Vanlo?" Roquan asked softly.

"Not long," Vanlo said with a small smile. He turned and re-corked a small vial. "Once the antidote is given, it quickly extracts the drug from her bloodstream. She should be up and about by full night, though I would recommend she take it easy for a day."

"I shall exempt her from her punishment for tomorrow, then."

"Excellent. Now, I do believe you have a hysterical outworlder girl to calm, your Lordship. You can do nothing more here. I shall report to you when she is well."

Roquan turned to leave. "Send her directly to her quarters when she is. I will check on her later."

Amanda alternated between frantic pacing and bursts of tears. It was some time before she even realized she still clutched the slave collar and chain in her hand that she had used to stop Yanna. She tossed it down onto Roquan's desk.

Finally, she heard the door open, and the Overlord swiftly entered the room. "Sirinna will recover fully," he said, having returned to his former serious and crisp manner.

Amanda's relief was so great that her eyes watered again and she had to take a moment to compose herself, unable to speak.

Roquan crossed the room and sat down in his chair. He waited patiently for Amanda to calm herself down, his eyes betraying a small amount of sympathy for the girl.

"Thank you, Overlord," Amanda said in a small voice. "For getting Sirinna to the Healer in time."

Roquan simply nodded once. "Now, Amanda, I want to know exactly what happened in the Portal chamber. You are to tell me everything. You can be quite sure that I am very tired of things happening in my Manor of which I know nothing about."

Amanda nodded quickly. "I'll gladly tell you, Roquan, now that I know Sirinna is okay."

And she told him.

"I'm starting to feel better, Master Vanlo," Sirinna said, her words clear but her voice still raspy. "But I barely remember what happened when I walked into the Portal chamber."

Vanlo took a moment to check he pulse. "Not to worry, my dear. I am sure Amanda is relaying every detail of whatever happened."

"Amanda? Oh, I should be there! I..."

She started to rise. Vanlo pushed her back down.

"Your place is here until I say so, my dear."

"I want to know what happened myself," Sirinna said sullenly.

"Ah, don't we all, hmm?" Vanlo paused, and glanced back towards his lab. "If you would excuse me for just a moment."

He turned and walked into his lab, and crossed over to his apparatus. He lifted the flask from the table and held it up to the light, turning it one way and then the other. He nodded slowly to himself.

"Indeed. As I had suspected."

He placed the flask down carefully, making sure it did not sit too close to an edge and get knocked over. Just in case the Overlord would not believe even the word of his own Healer.

He returned to the treatment room. "Sirinna, I have a question for you. When you entered the Portal chamber, was Yanna there?"

Sirinna frowned. "I'm not sure, actually. I think I remember seeing her before I blacked out. We were supposed to meet her there."

"Hmm. Yes. That makes sense."

Sirinna gave Vanlo a puzzled look.

Vanlo smiled gently and patted Sirinna on the shoulder. "Patience, my dear. Now, you just rest here. I need to check on something and convey a message to the Overlord. I will not be long."

Roquan regarded Amanda with a patronizing look.

Amanda stared back. "You don't believe me!" she cried.

"Amanda..."

"This is incredible! Even after all this, you still won't believe anyone other than yourself!"

"Amanda! This is no time for your histrionics."

"I think I have a right to be whatever I want," Amanda said indignantly.

"Understand how fantastic your story sounds to me. You are claiming that all of this came about through the machinations of a slave. A slave, Amanda."

"And just because someone is a slave, that means they're brainless?"

"I did not say that!"

"But that's what you're implying! I told you that she's working for someone. I saw her Farview someone. His name ended in 'house'. Something-house."

"Something-house," Roquan echoed tonelessly.

"I didn't hear the entire name, all right!" Amanda cried, throwing up her hands.

Roquan uttered an exasperated sigh. "We are getting nowhere. We..."

He stopped and looked up. Amanda whirled around, her breath catching in her throat as her eyes fell upon the Healer.

"Vanlo..." Roquan began, fear creeping into his eyes.

"Sirinna is well. She is still recovering, but quickly. Fortunately, sleeping powder overdose is easy to treat if the victim is tended to in time."

"Then you can assist in this endeavor." Roquan gestured towards Amanda. "I would like you to fetch a slave and have Yanna found and brought here."

"But I told you! Yanna is not here!" Amanda cried. "She went through the Portal before it closed!"

"Where, Amanda? Where would she have gone?"

"I don't know!"

"Your Lordship, if I may," Vanlo said. "I do believe you may wish to listen to the girl."

Both Roquan and Amanda stared at Vanlo in astonishment.

"I do not believe you will find Yanna anywhere in the Manor. And before coming here, I checked on Hiatha and Garas. Both have been drugged with sleeping powder, though with lesser amounts, so they do not appear in immediate danger. They should simply sleep it off."

Roquan set his face hard and stood from his chair. "Vanlo, what are you talking about? What is going on in my Manor?"

"I fear, your Lordship, you will have to fire me again."

Roquan blinked. Amanda simply stepped back and listened curiously.

"I have conducted another illicit blood test. This time on Yanna, a few days ago. The results were, I regret, only ready this evening, too late to stop this unpleasantness. Perhaps if I had acted faster on my suspicions..."

"Get to the point, Vanlo!" Roquan growled.

"My apologies. Here is the point: Yanna is not a slave."

Amanda gasped in surprise and vindication.

Roquan narrowed his eyes. "Are you mad, Vanlo?"

"I am quite in charge of my senses, your Lordship," Vanlo said, a trace of irritation in his voice. "Perhaps I worded that wrong. More precisely: Yanna is not an outworlder. She is Narlassi."

Roquan's eyes gaped. "Narlassi?!"

Amanda nearly jumped at the force of Roquan's word.

"Indeed."

"Impossible!"

"The facts do not lie. The differences in the blood composition are subtle, but they are there, to the one with a patient eye. Yanna is Narlassi."

"We do not make our own into slaves!" Roquan roared.

"True. But someone wished you to believe she was an outworlder and a proper slave."

"Why?"

"I do not have that answer."

Roquan remained silent for a moment.

"I told you!" Amanda cried. "I said there was something odd about her!"

"Amanda, be silent!" Roquan exclaimed.

"No, your Lordship, she is quite correct," Vanlo said. "I conducted my blood test on a hunch. For awhile now, I have noticed that Yanna's mannerisms were unlike an outworlder slave. I overheard a conversation with her and Amanda, and she spoke very much unlike any slave I have encountered."

"This is insane!" Roquan bellowed, stepping away from the two of them. "Are you serious? Are both of you serious? A Narlassi indoctrinated as a slave? That is preposterous! Even if someone were to do such a thing, neither the Overlords nor even Z'haas himself would permit..."

"That's it!" Amanda cried suddenly. "That was the name!"

"What was the name?" Roquan asked with a tired sigh.

"Z'haas! That's the name of the person Yanna was talking to!"

Roquan regarded Amanda with a stunned expression on his face.

"Intriguing," Vanlo muttered.

"Amanda," Roquan said darkly. "Are you telling me that Yanna was Farviewing Emperor Z'haas?"

"Emperor?" Amanda cried in surprise. "Well... she didn't call him that. She called him 'master', just like your slaves do. But the name definitely was Z'haas."

For a moment, Roquan's eyes held a worried look, but it passed quickly. "That is ludicrous."

Before Amanda could give an indignant reply, Vanlo cut in. "Your Lordship, please, look at the evidence. I have already shown you that Yanna is Narlassi. She thus cannot be under the ownership of an Overlord. Amanda witnessed her speaking with the the Emperor. That leaves us only one conclusion."

"That Yanna was an Imperial Agent," Roquan said in a hollow voice.

Vanlo gave a smile that was devoid of humor. "Everything appears to point that way, does it not?"

Roquan sank heavily into his chair.

Amanda looked back and forth between them. "Um... is this bad?" she asked tentatively.

Roquan closed his eyes and took a slow, deep breath. "All of this," he said slowly, forcing his voice to remain calm. "The sabotage, the dissent, the conflict, all the fault of the Emperor."

"And not Rennis," Amanda added. "Or Sirinna!"

Roquan took another breath. "Point noted." He opened his eyes. "Amanda, I wish you to return to Sirinna's quarters. Vanlo, please escort her there."

"Sirinna is almost ready to be sent back as well," Vanlo said. "May I reunite Amanda with Sirinna first?"

"Just be quick about it. Something needs my immediate attention here, first. I will rejoin with you later."

"As you wish, your Lordship. Come, Amanda."

Amanda paused a moment, looking at the Overlord in a new light. Suddenly, he didn't seem quite as intimidating anymore.

"Amanda?" Vanlo repeated.

"Yes, I'm coming," Amanda said, quickly following Vanlo out into the night, where the moon had come out from behind the clouds.

When Amanda and Vanlo entered the Healer's office, they found Sirinna sitting up on the treatment table, her legs swung over the side. Amanda could not contain herself. She broke into a run and threw herself at Sirinna, hugging the woman as tight as she could, tears trickling down her cheeks again.

"I'm okay, love," Sirinna said, stroking Amanda's hair.

"Oh God, Sirinna, I th-thought you were going to die," Amanda cried in a choked voice. "If Roquan and Vanlo had not shown up..."

"Amanda, what exactly happened? I don't remember anything when Yanna... was it Yanna?"

Amanda didn't reply. She didn't want to break off the embrace. She didn't want to let go of Sirinna ever. She had come so close to losing her. It had reminded her too much of her foster mother Rose. She could not go through losing someone she loved again.

"It would appear, Sirinna, that you have recovered," Vanlo said with a slight smile. "And I fear Amanda would not leave your side were I even to ask, so I might as well send you back to your quarters."

"Oh, but I should talk to Master Roquan!" Sirinna said, breaking off the embrace to Amanda's disappointment.

"These are his orders, my dear. He said he would come talk to you later."

"Sirinna, let's go, please," Amanda said softly. "I can tell you all about what happened."

Sirinna paused, then smiled. "All right, love. Mind you, this better be a good story."

"Let's just say you were right about the collar and chain, but not in the way you thought," Amanda said with a wry grin.

Even through the shimmering Farview, faded and flickering by a storm passing between the two Overlords, the look of complete horror on Rennis' face was unmistakable.

"An Imperial Agent?" he croaked. "Yanna? My Yanna?"

"Just where did you get her, Rennis?" Roquan asked gently. Much of his anger had been assuaged by Rennis' appearance over the Farview. He looked huddled and stooped, wrapping his arms about him, his clothes damp. It was obvious he was still in transit back to his Manor and literally stopped by the side of the road to grant the Farview audience. That meant a lot to Roquan, and any enmity that lingered between them disappeared.

"I bought her at auction, actually," Rennis said, somewhat sheepishly.

Roquan sighed through his nose. Rennis knew how he felt about buy slaves with questionable pedigrees at auction. "In any case, she is no longer here. I suspect she will need to tell her 'master' that the plan failed."

"Ultimately, it failed, but not after a great deal of trouble. That little cunt."

"Easy, Rennis..."

"No, I will not be easy! I do not take a slave into my Manor thinking she deserves another chance to make good only to have this happen! I have a right to be upset!"

Roquan was always against using verbal abuse when discussing slaves, even more so using it to their faces. It needlessly demoralized them. He still found it unnerving to do it even to one proven not to be of that ilk.

"Your anger is understood," Roquan said. He paused. "I wish to apologize, Rennis."

Rennis blinked. "Come again? You want to what?"

"Apologize. I acted in a manner unbecoming an Overlord towards you. Too hastily did I forget your support of me before all this began to happen."

Rennis slowly smiled. "Surely the apocalypse is upon us if Roquan is apologizing."

Roquan forced a brief smile at the humor at his expense. "Let us just say that I am seeing a few things in a new light."

"You do know what this means, don't you?" Rennis said, his tone more serious. "If Z'haas is pulling stuff like this, that means he's worried, Roquan. He thought our alliance enough of a threat that he concocted this plan."

"I am more concerned with the fact that the Emperor is keeping and possibly training his own slaves as agents. And what would the other Overlords think of that?"

"Oh, they would ream him for sure. He can forget about their support after that."

"That may be our opening, Rennis. We may have finally found a means to get the other Overlords on our side without making concessions to them."

Rennis laughed. "Now that's more the Roquan I know."

Roquan smiled sincerely this time.

"Well, in any case, I thank you for seeing through the Emperor's plans."

"Actually," Roquan said, pausing a moment. "I cannot take the credit."

"Oh? Then who do we have to thank?"

"Amanda."

Rennis gave Roquan a surprised look. "The outworlder girl? The one that gave that 'evidence' against me in the first place?"

"Indeed. The very same."

Rennis scratched his chin and grinned.

"Yes?"

"You know, you really ought to reconsider making her a slave."

Roquan gave his fellow Overlord a dark look. "You cannot be serious."

"She has everything you like in a slave," Rennis said. "She's intelligent. She's dead clever. And from what I remember, she was quite pretty. She's sure to be a beauty when she's older."

Roquan sighed. "Rennis, that girl has to be the most unruly, undisciplined, uncivilized, rebellious, willful, headstrong... why are you smiling, Rennis?"

"Well, Roquan, you did once tell me that you enjoy a challenge."

Roquan raised an eyebrow.

"Anyway, I have to go," Rennis said. "They will not hold the ship for me forever. I will contact you in another day or two. We will arrange to meet again."

"Yes, that would be good. Our alliance is renewed, then."

"We should trade slaves again to seal it. Perhaps Sirinna would..."

"No."

Rennis laughed. "Can't blame me for trying. Good night to you."

The image faded and disappeared.

Roquan picked up the pearl, feeling relieved. The truth was, he did not feel right being at odds with Rennis, despite what he had believed the Overlord had done. Asking forgiveness from him had been a pleasure.

But now he had less of one to do. He had to apologize to a slave. And an outworlder. Yes, Emperor Z'haas truly must be made to pay for this.

He turned away from the hearth and put the pearl back in its special container in his desk, his eyes falling on the discarded collar and chain. He picked it up curiously, and spied Sirinna's mark on the small padlock, and then a spot of blood on the end of the chain. He carefully cleaned it, and carried it with him as he left the room.

Sirinna clutched at Amanda tightly after she was done with her story.

"Amanda, you did that for me?" she asked, overwhelmed with emotion. "You stopped her from taking me from here? From Roquan?"

"It almost got you killed!" Amanda lamented, her own voice cracking. "If Vanlo hadn't been able to detect the Portal opening, I would never have summoned him in time."