it is, but I recommend talking to her peacefully. After all…”
Vordius put a palm to his forehead. “Of course. You’re always the lover, and you didn’t get enough small talk with her last time.”
Sorgius grimaced, “Don’t give me that garbage. You’ve known me too long for that. Save it to tell as a joke when we get out of here. Now move out of the way!” He pushed his friend aside and took his place.
“Hello,” he said, bending down and looking a little embarrassed.
Fenia stared out from behind her dirty hair with a hunted look. In better days, she would have tossed her hair over her shoulder with an elegant motion of her small head or blown it out of her face impatiently. Now, her dirty, greasy hair was the only thing between her and these frighteningly aggressive men, and she hid behind it in hopes of saving her fragile world from destruction.
“Please just listen to me,” Sorgius went on. “We are very worried about our friend Uni. Someone poisoned him while we were at the Fish. The only thing we want is to find out who ordered it and prove his guilt. You were just carrying out someone’s orders, weren’t you?”
The girl nodded.
“Then you have no reason to fear us.”
Fenia froze for an instant and stared up at Vordius.
“Take three steps back, please,” Sorgius instructed him without turning around.
The guardsman scowled, shrugged, and measured off the required distance with his boots.
“Please, go on,” he said in a falsely sweet voice. “I won’t watch.”
Sorgius bit his lip and looked down. Then he raised his eyes to the girl’s face. “He won’t yell at you again. Isn’t that better?” he asked softly.
She closed her eyes and nodded. Her shoulders started to shake.
“We’re in the same boat,” Sorgius went on. “And there’s nothing any of us can do about it. But I promise neither of us will hurt you. If you want, I’ll leave you alone and you can sit here by yourself. Would you like that?”
Fenia shuddered and looked up at him. “Don’t leave!” she said with obvious effort.
It was only then that Sorgius noticed that her lips were puffy. A backhand blow, he mused. It doesn’t look like her teeth are broken. That’s good.
“I won’t leave you,” he said quickly. “But I will sit down, if you don’t mind, before my legs fall asleep,” and he groaned as he arranged himself in a seated position on the cold floor. “That’s better!”
For a while, they stared at each other in silence. Then, Fenia looked down and tried to wipe away her tears with a filthy shoulder. It didn’t go well.
“Can I help you?” Sorgius asked. “I can untie your hands.”
She looked back at him, but her eyes fell again. The Vuravian realized that her arms were tied behind her back, like his had been. And he remembered how ridiculous he had felt when the ruffians released him.
After an uncomfortable silence, he said “Listen, Fenia, we have to get those cords off your wrists. If we don’t, they’ll leave scars right where everyone will see them.”
The young woman’s face remained blank.
“Let’s do this. I’ll take a step back. Then you turn around and show me your hands, and I’ll do my best to get the cords off.”
She stood up.
“That’s right. Face the middle of the room.”
Fenia froze.
“Vordius, go stand in a corner. That’s a fellow.”
When he knelt in front of her, Sorgius caught a whiff of her incense, and it was incongruous given the circumstances, reminding him of that evening at the Fish and the continuation that had never happened. He would have given a great deal to return to that evening!
The knot was impossibly tight, and Sorgius’ well-groomed fingernails were not up to the task. Fenia looked over her shoulder to monitor the process.
“I know I’m not wanted, but perhaps I could help?” Vordius inquired from his corner. As a guardsman, he knew the art of making knots and untying them like no one else.
Fenia jumped away.
“Stop it!” Sorgius said testily to the back of her head. “If he was going to hurt you, he would have done it already.”
Vordius bent over the knot, doing his best to ignore the nearness of her body. “Hmm, I thought I could undo it with my teeth, but I see that won’t work. But no matter, it will just take some time. This goes through here. Watch your finger. And be still! That’s right. Like that. I know it hurts, but be patient. Heavenly Deity, I believe I’ve done it!”
The young woman leaped away from him and held her hands up for inspection. Her dirty face gave a child-like grimace – it was too dark in her corner for her to see. Moving cautiously, she joined Vordius by the oil lamp on the wall.
“The bruises will be gone in a couple of days,” the guardsman said in an attempt to brighten her up. While they had searched for Fenia, Vordius had hated her violently, but now that he saw her helpless figure, his revulsion drained away. “It wasn’t her idea, of course,” he said to himself as an excuse. “Someone threatened her. They made her do it.”
“I suppose I have to thank you,” Fenia said, coming round.
“Not yet,” Vordius shot back jokingly. “We’re still locked up.”
“Aren’t your friends from the Emperor’s guards turning the docks inside out like an old woman shaking a pillow?”
“I would give a great deal to see that with my own eyes,” Vordius laughed, “but I’m afraid that’s not the case.”
“What are you saying?” Fenia asked, narrowing her eyes, which made her look like a fox.
“We’re in this on our own,” Sorgius said, examining the damage her cords had wrought on his fingernails. “This handsome man’s superior officers have no idea where he disappeared to. And if they do find out,” he gave a long whistle. “Don’t argue with me, Vordius. You and I came up with what turned out to be the perfect plan for romantic suicide. I’ll admit my guilt if it makes you feel any better.”
“We just wanted to find the person who poisoned Uni,” Vordius shrugged his powerful shoulders. “And you were the first suspect.”
“You wanted to find me?” Fenia was incredulous. Her voice started to sound unhinged. “Are you serious? You wanted to find me?” She pointed at Vordius and her laughter grew louder. There was something wild and even sick about her reaction. “You wanted to find me, so here I am, right in front of you! What are you going to do now? Question me? Get revenge for your dead fool?” She pointed her chin at the door. “That’s exactly what they want! Come on, give me your worse!” She was laughing so hard that tears ran down her filthy cheeks.
Sorgius froze, feeling humiliated. Vordius glowered. Then he strode across the cell and slapped her face sharply, but not too hard. Fenia cried out. Her face turned pink, and the sense returned to her face.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. I had no idea it was poison…”
“What?” Vordius’ jaw dropped.
Just then, the door bolt slid open and the same four ruffians came back in. This time, they had their weapons at the ready: two carried long Seregad daggers, and the other two held thick clubs of the hittle wood that grows in the thick Arincilian jungle.
“Look at them,” said one of the ruffians, a fat, older man with dirty gray wisps of hair behind his ears. “They’re all standing around laughing because they don’t know what to do! I guess they