Isle of Woman by Piers Anthony

Author:Piers Anthony [Anthony, Piers]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Fiction, General
ISBN: 9780812533668
Google: rLQx2rzx4MQC
Amazon: 0812533666
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: 1993-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

"We are," the man admitted. "We tricked you. But we were supposed only to disarm you and hold you here for the priest."

"The priest wants this woman dead," Blaze said.

"No—he wants only to prevent her from testifying. He will spare her life if you leave the city."

Blaze glanced at Seed. "Does this make sense?"

"Why would he be sure I wouldn't come back?" Seed demanded.

The man shook his head. "It wouldn't matter."

"Why wouldn't it matter?"

The man looked uncomfortable. "She wouldn't talk."

Something was strange. Blaze had seen that manner in a trader who thought to cheat him. "Why wouldn't she talk?"

The man did not answer. But Seed suddenly understood. "You were going to cut out my tongue!" she cried.

"You were going to rape me, cut out my tongue, and send me out of the city again, with some trader who would sell me too far away to return. And the rest of the family would be banned from the city, so they wouldn't tell."

The man did not deny it.

Suddenly Blaze was ready to kill again. His grip tightened on the knife he had wrested from his man.

Then another man appeared in the doorway to the next chamber. He was followed by yet another, and a third.

Blaze realized that their delay had indeed been fatal; they had missed their chance to kill and flee, and now had no chance. These were probably nominally servants of the bull, but actually hirelings for dirty work.

"Wait!" Blaze cried, realizing that it was time to use his last ploy. "I must talk to the priest."

"He will soon be here," one of the new men said. He glanced at the one before Seed. "You have not finished with the woman?"

"Touch that woman, and the priest will have your tongue cut out," Blaze said. "He wants to hear what I have to say."

The man would not be bluffed. "Tell it to me, and I will judge."

"I will tell him alone, and he will judge."

The man considered. He was evidently a lesser priest, with some authority. "We will wait."

Seed moved across to join Blaze. She could not know what he had in mind. She just wanted to be near him when they died. And she expected to die, because she had the knife and would not allow herself to be raped or mutilated without trying to do the same to her attacker. She had loved Blaze constantly, but he realized that she was not the same naïve girl she had been three years before, and now was capable of hate as well as love. Considering the horror she faced, this was understandable.

They waited somewhat tensely, the two of them on one side of the chamber, the five men on the other. No one spoke.

The high priest arrived. He looked at the tableau, and immediately realized that something had gone wrong.

"The man claims he has something to tell you, that you want to hear," the lesser priest said.

Boro shrugged. "Then tell me," he said to Blaze.

"You will want it private."

The priest's mouth quirked.

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