Chapter 36

The bell ringing in the distance startled Apolo even though he was waiting on his mount beside Baerot and Faelan for just that signal. He glanced at the other men and saw that they were just as surprised.

"I did not think he could save the females," Baerot said aloud, his voice betraying awe.

"I am thinking the gods sent us the terran," murmured Faelan from Apolo's other side.

Apolo was beginning to wonder the same thing. He had little confidence that Gowaen would follow Duo's plan, especially since Apolo had read the blackness in the warlord's heart. Gowaen hated females because he blamed them for his failure to produce a son, and he wanted as many dead as possible. How had Duo convinced him to allow them to live?

Not so long after, Apolo got the answer to his question when they came to the bridge leading to the doors to the city and he saw the lifeless body of the vile warlord. Apolo stopped his horse in front of the corpse, noting the wounds to the heart and head as well as the desecration wrought by a horse, not that Gowaen did not deserve to be decorated with a healthy pile of horse shit. Had Duo managed to communicate that command to Sadie or was his mount just that sensitive to her master's feelings?

Baerot whistled appreciatively. "Gowaen was a formidable warrior."

"But he was not gods blessed," added Faelan to which Baerot nodded in agreement. "Not like Duo Maxwell."

Apolo looked at Faelan. "What makes you believe he is gods blessed? I see him as honorable and tenacious, but gods blessed?"

"His feats in the hills," Faelan pointed out. "He outran the canyon beasts and led them to Caron's warriors. He earned Meridon's respect by standing up to him, and he fought valiantly in battle at gracious Lady Arora's side."

"He has mastered skills that have taken us many years to learn," added Baerot. He nodded to the corpse. "Lord Gowaen developed the fourth and fith attacks. I would not have challenged him. Surely the gods have chosen to favor him in granting him victory over a master swordsman."

Before Apolo could give his own opinion, Baerot continued, "The gods blocked his way back to the terran system so that he is trapped here. I have a feeling we have not even seen the true reason that they want him to remain."

"Do not say such things to him or within his hearing," Apolo warned them. "He does not believe in our gods and I think it would anger him to hear that they are manipulating his life for their purposes."

But Apolo was beginning to believe as Faelan and Baerot after the battle and hearing what he had done in the hills. He could not deny that Duo's feats were beyond anything any Calabrian would even attempt let alone succeed at. Outrunning canyon beasts? Even Lord Vaan's people who were adept at capturing and taming them did so with an army of men and poison tipped darts after trapping the beasts in deep holes.

He glanced briefly at Gowaen's body again before saying to Baerot, "We should care for Lord Gowaen's body as befitting an imperial warlord." He could see that Baerot did not want the responsibility, but he would not refuse. A warlord earned respect in life and in death. Duo had much to learn about Calabrian customs, and yet Apolo would be the last one to reprimand him over what he had done to Lord Gowaen.

As they crossed over the stinking sewer ringing the slave city, Apolo resisted the urge to pull his tunic up to cover his nose. His outrage grew with each step his horse took into the city as he saw the conditions in which Waescop had left the females on whose lives his very wealth and power depended. He had clearly expected to defeat Trey and leave this putrid market behind, and Apolo suspected Waescop's men had been waiting for the word to leave the city an inferno to be forgotten once the flames died away.

There were so many females of many ages in varied conditions in the streets of the town. Gowaen's men were caring for them with more respect than Apolo would have thought possible for the warriors of one of the worst offenders of females in the empire. The men were bringing water to women who were too weak to follow the others to the central square where there was a well or a spring to serve the needs of the city. He glanced at Faelan and Baerot, giving them a nod towards the men to indicate that they should order their men to help. Then he dismounted and approached one of Gowaen's warriors who had delivered a bucket of water to a handful of women who eagerly fell upon it to drink.

"Where is Duo Maxwell?" he asked the man.

"My lord is overseeing the return of the burst rock to the mines," he told Apolo after giving him a respectful bow.

So Duo had made himself a lord? That talk about Calabrian customs would be longer than Apolo first thought. But it would have to wait because his heart was beginning to beat faster and his skin was tingling from the suffering he was witnessing. The ancestors were speaking to him, urging him to alleviate the misery, but as Apolo looked in all directions, he felt overwhelmed. The women had been so mistreated, probably since Trey's initial proclamation, that there were many he might be unable to help. They had been freed only to die.

The men with which he had ridden into the city were now helping with the women, and for several moments, Apolo could only stand in frozen despair at the task before him. But the urgent whispers from the ancestors died away to gentle guidance, and without any conscious effort, he started to move among the females, touching them to offer peace or alleviate fears that they would be offered as spoils to the warriors. When he happened upon one woman who was directing the men as well as other women, he hoped to enlist her help in calming the females.

She wore rags that barely covered her body which was too thin, but her dark eyes burned with hatred as she looked at him. "Why should I trust you, yellow-eyed demon?"

How much longer must he prove that his people had been gentle healers and not evil sorcerers? Zeno's father had destroyed the trust Calabrians had in the Guerani, and Dax had buried it completely even though he had been one of them.

"Because I am Guerani," he told her. "I have the means to heal them."

For a moment she said nothing as she met his gaze defiantly, and then she lowered her lashes. "Yes, my lord."

He saw Baerot nearby and signaled for him to join them, and when he did, Apolo said to the female, "Lord Baerot will assist you. What is your name?"

The female all but sneered at him. "I have no need of this imperial fool's assistance. I have been at this market for many moons, so I am known to everyone. They trust me." She nodded to Baerot without looking at him. "This warrior will frighten them."

"Your name?" insisted Apolo, ignoring her argument. He was beginning to think he had led a sheltered life in Imperia, surrounded by accommodating females. He had met nothing but obstinate shrews since leaving the imperial palace behind.

"Zacha," she said with a huff.

"Zacha, you will take Lord Baerot with you. He is the new lord of this region and seeing him at your side will ease their fears. You may trust him." Apolo gave Baerot a look to warn him not to do anything that might break that trust, but he saw that Baerot was more interested in the disagreeable female than any orders Apolo might have for him. Zacha was glaring at Baerot, but Apolo, with his Guerani sensibilities, felt the strong attraction pulling the two towards each other. If Baerot wanted an outspoken, aggravating female, he was welcome to this one.

After watching them leave together, the female snapping at Baerot to walk at her heels so that he did not frighten anyone, Apolo moved away to see what he could do to help others. The first sun had already set and he had spent all day using what healing power he could with the women when he had to admit he was too exhausted to continue. One of his men led him to the commander's quarters where he found several pregnant females huddled together in the entrance, all too frightened to speak. A man stepped from the shadows and introduced himself as Radnal, the scribe of the former commander. He informed Apolo that the females had belonged to the former commander, Naroc of house Delcor.

"Now that he is dead, where shall I send the females?" asked Radnal as if he were asking how to get rid of a pile of worn out clothing.

Apolo decided immediately that he did not like the scribe, and although he was weak from the day's work, he let what little was left of his powers drift among the females. Not a single one trusted the scribe and there were a couple who hoped he would send the male away because he had taken advantage of his position to force them to submit to his needs when his commander was otherwise occupied. They were all frightened of what was to become of them.

"They will remain here for now," Apolo told Radnal whose lips pursed as if he had eaten something sour.

"My lord, you cannot want these whining females under your roof," the scribe said before Apolo could turn away. "I can take them to one of the barracks to stay with the rest of the women."

Apolo knew that his eyes were probably glowing for he had no control over that, especially when there was so much suffering around him, so when he met the man's gaze, Radnal gasped as he took a step back. "I have spoken, Radnal. The females remain and you are not to approach them ever again."

The scribe glanced at the females and then he looked back at Apolo, shifting nervously. "My lord, I was hoping to take two of them for my house. They are breeding my offspring."

Wishing he could react as Duo but knowing it would be unwise, Apolo stared at him with his hands clenched at his side instead of using his fists to beat on the arrogant scribe. "I will discuss the matter with the females."

"But my lord..." Radnal took a step forward, and since he seemed to have forgotten who he spoke to, Apolo drew his sword. The females shrieked and scurried to the far corners of the room, and Radnal back peddled so fast that he fell on his backside with the imperial sword hanging over him menacingly.

"I am not in the habit of repeating myself to a scribe, and if you cannot understand things properly the first time, I will instruct Lord Baerot to find a scribe that can hear better." He would be telling Baerot to get a new scribe anyway. "And in case you cannot read and have not read the emperor's proclamation, a man may take only one female and must make an oath to her."

Radnal's pale face was becoming red and Apolo could feel the explosive anger welling inside him. He oozed malevolence caused by his thwarted ambition and by having his females taken from him.

"Leave this place," Apolo told him. "I will not suffer your presence under my roof. You may take your case to Lord Baerot when he has time to hear you, but stay as far away from me as possible." He saw a man come to stand in the doorway who he recognized as Ardan, Gowaen's first commander. He was hoping to speak to him, so he was glad he had come to him, but he had something else for him to do first.

"Ardan, see that this man and his things are removed from the house, then return to me with Lord Gowaen's scribe."

"But … but where will I go?" demanded Radnal, leaping to his feet. Before he could say anything more, Ardan seized his arm and hauled him out of Apolo's presence.

Apolo did not know what he was going to do with the women and suspected that his house at Edgeland Fortress was going to grow. Each of the females now watching him warily was beautiful, so he guessed the commander had hand-picked them for his pleasure. At least they all seemed meek, but Apolo knew how quickly that could change when they realized they had nothing to fear from males anymore.

One of the females stepped shyly forward, one of the two Radnal had wanted. "I am Taress," the dark-haired female told him. "Shall I show you to a room. We will bring you food and water." She looked over her shoulder to nod to a couple of other females who immediately left.

His senses were tingling and his body was all but shaking with need of a female, but Apolo was determined not to take advantage of Taress no matter what she offered, and she did not waste any time in offering to ease his physical discomfort. The ancestors urged him to accept and the discomfort of his need became even more acute, but Apolo sent her out. When she turned and left him alone in the room that had once belonged to the commander, he nearly fell to his knees in frustration.

Fortunately, Ardan returned to distract him with his recital of the events of that morning. He sounded as if he were telling a heroic epic, and Apolo did not need to use his senses to learn that Ardan was devoted to Duo after what he had done. Gowaen had been a tyrant, not just to the unfortunate females that he purchased from Waescop, but to his own men. He blamed them for his misfortunes when they failed to defeat Waescop in their numerous squabbles, and many had been killed by him or were maimed at his hands. If not for their oath, they would have risen up and killed him long ago, but they had clung to their honor in the hope that the gods would deliver them. And they believed that the gods had heard their pleas in sending them the terran warrior.

After Ardan finished, Apolo dismissed him and while he wanted to speak to Duo, he was too exhausted to do so. He hoped that a night of sleep would rejuvenate him because he did not want to take any of these unfortunate females to his pillows. He would give them pleasure and in turn his powers would be recharged, but he did not want to take advantage of them. Many of them had been used cruelly by the men Waescop had left behind who had glutted themselves on the females that had been denied to them. Apolo lay back on pillows that his men had brought to replace those that had been in the commander's chambers, and he sent himself into a trance that he hoped would help him recover. He used the memory of the white-haired female with strange eyes, of days spent in her arms, teaching her to feel pleasure when all she had ever known was pain and humiliation.

Morning came too soon when he was enjoying his trance, and when he rose from his bed, he felt dizzy, but he could not stay abed when there was much to do. As he was splashing his face with water, his personal guard announced the scribe who pushed past him to take a seat at a small table in the room where he laid out his supplies without speaking to Apolo. Apolo watched him with bemusement as he spread out his parchment, sharpened the tip of his quill and then dipped it into a small pot of dark liquid.

Finally the man raised his head and looked at Apolo expectantly.

Apolo returned the look.

The scribe let out a long sigh. "I am Padget, my lord, scribe to Lord Gowaen. You sent for me last night. I have been waiting for you to rise. You will want to send the emperor your report."

"I am not ready to send him a report," Apolo told him with annoyance. He had not had a chance to do anything but heal the previous day, and that activity had given him a headache that made it difficult to think. The memory trance had been pleasant, but it had not helped much with his need to rejuvenate and he feared he had another day of healing ahead of him. He would either have to stop the activity for several days or he would need to choose females to help him.

The scribe shifted anxiously for a moment and then he said, "My lord, you will at least want to report that Duo Maxwell killed Lord Gowaen without provocation."

He hadn't hidden his displeasure with that fact and Apolo supposed he should have expected it from Gowaen's scribe. "Ardan told me that Lord Gowaen fell in honorable combat." At least as honorable as combat could be for a cruel bastard like Gowaen.

"The terran had no right to challenge my lord," huffed Padget.

Apolo took a deep breath and then let it out slowly so that he could calm his temper. Men who became scribes had proven themselves useless with a sword but were clever and learned quickly. Their service was invaluable, but Apolo had come to view them as arrogant and condescending. Like many of his ilk, Padget seemed to have forgotten his place.

"Were you a witness?" asked Apolo.

"I was there, my lord, and I was also a witness to the false pretenses which the terran used to inveigle himself into my lord's private circle." The scribe sniffed. "For many days I listened to his insincere flattery and the lies he told my lord, but he would not believe me until I told him exactly what I overheard him telling Ardan and the other traitors two nights past."

Did this man know who he was talking to? Apolo's head felt like it was ready to burst and hearing this man malign Duo was going to send him over the edge. "If you witnessed the fight, then you know it was not honorable. Lord Gowaen attacked Duo Maxwell when his back was turned."

"He deserved no better, not when he was not following my lord's wishes."

Apolo's brows shot up. "You would have accepted what Lord Gowaen intended for these people?"

Padget shrugged. "They are only females, my lord, hardly worth the life of a fine warrior."

Unable to stop himself, Apolo launched himself at the scribe, and seizing a handful of his tunic, he threw him roughly to the door. "Get out of my sight! I don't need a scribe to send reports to the emperor and I forbid you from traveling with Lord Gowaen's former warriors."

The man drew himself up to his full height which was somewhat shorter than Apolo, and he straightened his clothing. "I will return to Imperia and inform the emperor of your actions." Turning on his heel, he marched stiffly from the room, passing Ardan who turned his head to watch him go.

The warrior looked back at Apolo with his brows raised. "Are you sending away another scribe?"

"I did not need him after all. I have dismissed him, so I hope you did not need him."

"No one but Lord Gowaen needed him," Ardan told him with a snort. "He was ever at his side reminding my lord of his greatness."

The man must have been furious to find himself displaced by Duo in the last few weeks, and now outraged to discover that Duo had fooled them all. "Have you located Duo Maxwell?"

"The men have not seen him since they returned from delivering the burst rock back to the mines. It took most of the night and he helped them until first sunrise when they finished and parted to find a place to rest."

It was well after second sunrise, but if Duo had been awake the night through after spending the previous night awake, he was probably sleeping somewhere and would not appreciate being disturbed. "Let me know when you find him. I wish to speak to him. See that the scribe is escorted through the gate. Give him a mount and water and direct one of the men to escort him to Imperia since he wants to speak to the emperor so badly." Apolo could predict that the meeting would not go well for Padget.

"Yes, my lord." He glanced at the writing equipment on the table. "Shall I have them wait for a message."

While it might be more efficient to write a message to Trey to send with the guard, there were too many reasons not to do it. First, he had to write it. Second, he did not want to write it without speaking to Duo to hear what he had to tell of the events and he was not going to wake Duo from well-deserved sleep. Third, he did not trust Padget to keep his hands off the message. And last, he wanted that scribe as far away from the market as possible. His contempt for females was obvious and Apolo did not want him near a single one.

"No. Send them as soon as you find a man willing to escort him."

"I may have to bribe someone," grumbled Ardan as he walked out.

The females invaded his room on the heels of Ardan's departure. They offered to bathe him, provided fresh, clean clothing, brought a veritable feast and inevitably tempted him to spend the rest of the morning in pleasurable pursuits with them. As much as he needed what they could give him, Apolo was determined not to use them, especially since he was probably going to take them back to Edgeland Fortress with him. He doubted there were altruistic males willing to take another man's offspring into his house even if the females were beautiful.

He was glad to finally leave them behind with warnings that they needed to rest for the sake of their unborn children. They were disappointed to see him leave to find the commanders to hear their reports. He could have waited for them to come to him, but he needed to get away from the females and he wanted to see for himself if conditions had improved. Tired and weak, he found it difficult to move through filthy streets that had improved little even though men were still working on getting fresh water flowing through the gutters. He headed to the principal market where he found Zacha directing men to care for the weaker females by offering food, water and pillows to make them comfortable under the canopy erected to protect them from the suns. Their suffering made Apolo dizzy, but he forced himself forward to speak to Zacha.

When she saw him, her brows drew together. He did not need to read her thoughts to know how much she mistrusted him. "Have you come to heal these females?" she asked him with a snide look up and down his body. "You look as though you need healing. Did not Commander Naroc's females heal you?"

Apolo could not hide his surprise. "How do you know of my need?"

"My clan traded with the Guerani and my mother told me that they often came to our camp when we were in the hills. She said the males took females after using their healing, that female Guerani lay with our males so they could leave with bellies filled with their offspring."

Although Apolo did not know about the Guerani females breeding with the nomadic clans, he was not surprised given how small the Guerani tribe had become. "Were there females among your people who bore the children of my people."

She shook her head. "No. The males used them and left nothing behind."

"I have no intention of using females," Apolo told her. She did not look as though she believed him, so he said, "With that in mind, Zacha, I will be unable to help. I see that you have everything under control. Where is Lord Baerot?"

"I sent that useless male to find more food. I have not seen him since first sunrise."

Apolo wondered under what circumstances she saw him at first sunrise, but he did not pry into her thoughts. He was too weak to learn anything anyway and the attempt would probably send him back to his pillows. Fortunately Zacha seemed to be pleased to be acknowledged for her work, so he left her without any further instructions. She genuinely cared for the other females so they were in good hands. She would do what she could to help them and for those she could not, she would make them comfortable until the gods took them.

Leaving her behind, he continued on to find the commanders to hear their reports. The men Waescop had left behind to guard the market, those that had surrendered to keep their lives, were incarcerated and eager to make an oath to either of the lords the emperor had appointed. Apolo made arrangements for Faelan and Baerot to present themselves to the men for their oaths. The sooner they were tied to them, the less time they had to waste guarding them and could make them useful.

He did not think about Duo until first sunset when he was returning to his temporary lodging and he saw Ardan waiting anxiously for him. When he saw him, Ardan hurried to him. "My lord! I have brought Duo Maxwell here for you to care for. My men found him unconscious near the mine where he had settled for the night with his mount."

Apolo would have chuckled about Duo bedding down with the animal he had named Sadie, but Ardan was distressed. "What has happened?"

"Duo Maxwell was injured by Lord Gowaen in their combat, but I did not think it was grievously."

Pushing past Ardan, Apolo hurried into the barracks and Taress was waiting to show him quickly to the room the females had prepared for the man they considered their savior. Duo was lying on a clean pallet covered with several pillows, and while one of the females was bathing his face, Apolo could see that he was feverish. He dropped to his knees beside the bed when he saw that Duo's tunic was soaked with blood. He looked back at Taress who was wringing her hands.

"We dared not remove it," she took him worriedly.

Seeing that the blood soaked into the tunic was dry, Apolo suspected the females would have reopened his wounds had they removed it. "Bring me water." If he soaked the tunic, he might be able to pry it away without disturbing the wounds. When Taress hurried out, Apolo reached out to place his hand on Duo's clammy skin and he was alarmed to discover ill humors coursing through his body.

Turning his head, he saw Ardan wringing his hands nervously. "Was he injured grievously during the fight with Lord Gowaen?"

"I did not believe so, my lord. He moved quickly and avoided his most deadly blows."

Apolo was afraid of the answer he thought he might hear, but he asked, "Have you known Lord Gowaen to poison his blade?" Such an act was dishonorable, but Apolo would not put it past Gowaen.

He could sense that Ardan did not want to speak out against his former lord, probably because, as his first commander, Apolo might consider him guilty as well. He was afraid that he would have to go to him to touch him before Ardan finally spoke. "He has used poison on his blade in the past, even during training."

"Do you believe he poisoned Duo Maxwell?" Remembering what the scribe had told Apolo concerning his plans, Ardan did not have to answer.

Turning his attention back to Duo, Apolo put his hand back on him, and he concentrated on sending his power through Duo. When he found the poison, he pushed it through his system, causing Duo to moan from the pain it caused as his sweat became darker from the poison oozing out his pores. Apolo fell back panting, weak from the effort and Ardan lurched forward to keep him from falling to the floor.

When Taress returned, Apolo couldn't do any more than direct her to clean Duo. When the tunic was soaked with water, she gently pulled it away with shaking hands and tears in her eyes. As he suspected, given Ardan's account, the wound was already healing and would leave a scar, and when she removed the rest of his clothing and sponged away the noxious poison from his skin, Apolo could only observe the various wounds he had received from Gowaen, none serious, but each had delivered the poison to his body. After finishing, she enlisted the help of the other females to clean the room, and when they were done, they hurried to leave Apolo and Ardan alone with the unconscious man.

After several moments, Ardan remarked, "My lord, you should rest. You do not look well."

Exhausted, Apolo did not argue. So with Ardan's help, he laid beside Duo where he fell quickly asleep. He did not wake until late the following day in the afternoon closer to first sunset. The first thing he saw was Ardan standing nearby looking exhausted, so Apolo was sure he had stood vigil over them both.

When he saw that Apolo had awakened, he jerked to attention. "My lord! Are you well?"

By his question, Apolo guessed he did not look it. He rubbed his face with his hands, and then ran his fingers through his hair before turning to look at Duo and he was alarmed to see that he was pale and still. Leaning over him, he raised his eyelids and he saw that his pupils were dilated and remained so despite the light Apolo had let in. If he hadn't been breathing, Apolo would have thought him dead. Regardless of what he did to provoke a reaction from his body, Duo made no response.

"Is he going to die, my lord?"

Apolo looked up to see Baerot and Faelan standing just inside the room. "I will do all that I can to prevent that from happening."

But Apolo was afraid that Duo had gone too long with the poison in his system. In touching him, Apolo determined that his mind was active in what he thought might be a healing trance and he was afraid that he had put him in it when he had cleared the poison from him. Without entering the trance himself, he could not direct Duo to heal. And Apolo was still weak from all that he had done in the last few days without getting either the rest or help from the females to regenerate his healing powers. If he entered the trance, both he and Duo might be lost.

The men were waiting for his answer, and Apolo closed his eyes, reaching out to the ancestors to tell him what to do. When they did not answer, he wondered if they did not care what became of the terran even though he had stayed at Arora's side and protected both her and Shamara. But Apolo cared, not just for those reasons, but because he had begun to believe what the other men did, that the gods had a purpose for Duo Maxwell. He did not think that his death after all that he had done to save the females was all they would demand of him.

"I am going to enter his trance," Apolo told the three men waiting anxiously for him to speak. He explained what would happen and finished by saying, "If we should both die, please tell the emperor what happened and that these females owe their lives to Duo Maxwell."

As for Arora, she would know what happened long before they could get a message to Trey when Apolo joined the ancestors.