The experiment, noble as Beltran’s dream had been, lay in ruins. Now, whatever the cost, the Sharra matrix must be monitored, then destroyed. But again, what of those who had been sealed to Sharra?
The snow continued to fall all that day and night, and was still falling when we woke the next morning, drifting high around the stone buildings. I felt we should try to pass on, nevertheless, but knew it was insanity. The horses could never force their way through those drifts. Yet if we were trapped here much longer, without food for them, they would not be able to travel.
It must have been the next afternoon—events of that time are blurred in my mind—when I roused from sleep to hear Marjorie cry out in fear. The door burst inward and Kadarin stood in the doorway, half a dozen of Beltran’s guards crowding behind him.
I snatched up my sword but within seconds I was hopelessly outmatched, and with a horrible sense of infinite repetition, stood struggling, helplessly pinioned between the guards. Marjorie had drawn back into a corner. As Kadarin went toward her I told myself that if he handled her roughly I would kill him, but he only lifted her gently to her feet and draped his own cloak over her shoulders. He said, “Foolish child, didn’t you know we couldn’t let you go like that?” He thrust her into the arms of two of the guards and said, “Take her outside. Don’t hurt her, treat her gently, but don’t let her go or I’ll have your heads!”
“Do you make war on women? Can’t you settle it with me, man to man?”
He was still holding my sword; he shrugged, flung it into a corner. “So much for your lowland toys. I learned long ago to fight my battles with sounder weapons. If you think I’d hurt Marjorie, you’re more of a fool than I ever believed you. We need you both.”
“Do you think I’ll ever work with you again? No, damn you, I’ll die first.”
“Yes, you will,” he said in an almost amiable tone. “There isn’t the slightest use in your heroics, dear boy.”
“What did you do, find you couldn’t handle Sharra alone? How much did you destroy before you found it out?”
“I don’t have to account to you,” he said with sudden brutality. I fought momentarily against the men holding me and at the same time lashed out with a murderous mental assault. I had always been told that the unleashed rage of an Alton can kill, had been disciplined never, never to let my anger wholly free. Yet now …
I let my rage go, visualizing hands at Kadarin’s throat, my mind raining hatred and fury on him … I felt him wince under the onslaught, saw him go white, sag to his knees …
“Quick,” he gasped in a strangled voice, “knock him— out—”
A fist connected with my jawbone, darkness crashed through my mind. I felt myself go limp, hang helpless between my captors. Kadarin came and took over the beating himself, his ring-laden hands slashing hard at my face, blow after blow until I went down into a blurred, red-shot darkness. Then I realized they were hauling me out into the snowstorm; the cold sleet on my face revived me a little. Kadarin’s face hung in a red mist before my eyes.
“I don’t want to kill you, Lew. Come quietly now.”
I said thickly, through my torn and bleeding mouth, “Better kill me . . . brave man, who beats a man held helpless by … a couple of others. . .. Give me two men to hold you and I’ll beat you half dead too … dishonored …”
“Oh, save your Domain cant,” he said. “I went beyond all that jabber of honor and dishonor long ago. I’ve no use for you dead. You are coming with me, so choose if you will come quietly, like the sensible lad you always were and will be again, or whether you will be carried, after these fellows beat you senseless? They don’t like beating helpless men, either. Or shall I make it easy and immobilize you?” His hand went out toward the matrix on my neck.