Rebels of Vulvar (Vulvarian Saga Book 2), стр. 38

“I am Emer of Nisa, a Nisan warrior,” Emer said. “I pledged my sword to Thiva while the rebels controlled this city.”

“I see,” the warrior said. “Do you have a bill of sale for the slave?”

“No,” Emer said. “Not with me. I’ve owned this slave for several years. Is the word of a sister warrior insufficient for you?”

“By order of the Anax, we must immediately take all slaves entering the city to the Hall of Government for examination,” the warrior said.

“You mean to say you intend to take my property from me?” Emer said acidly. “By what authority?”

“It’s by order of Sola, Anax of Nisa,” the warrior said. “After the justice authorities examine your slave, if everything is in order, they will return your property to you.”

I had a sinking feeling in my belly. Neither of us had expected such a reception. Suddenly someone put hands on me and pulled me from the saddle. The slave collar dug painfully into my neck before Emer released her grip on the silver chain. I fell unceremoniously to the dirt beside the baacaas.

Emer leapt from her saddle, her hand on the grip of her rakir.

“How dare you so rudely abuse my property, she-Telarion,” Emer said to the warrior who had pulled me from the saddle.

An officer appeared at the gate. I struggled to my feet. The officer walked over to my baacaas. She ran her hand over the brand on the hip of the beast and then turned to Emer.

“Warrior, I’m told you are of Nisa,” the officer said. “How is it you and this slave ride into our city on a fine pair of baacaases that appear to be the property of the Thivan cavalry?”

“A Thivan commander lent me these animals,” Emer said. “So I could return to my city. I will return them to Thiva now that I have no further use of them.”

The officer must have read the defiance in Emer’s eyes. She signaled to her warriors. Three spears dropped to threaten Emer’s breast.

“Perhaps you stole these beasts,” the officer said.

“I stole nothing,” Emer said.

“You too may plead your case before the Anax,” the officer said. “Surrender your weapons.”

Resistance would have been futile. A large group of Nisan warriors had encircled us. Emer angrily removed the bow from her shoulder and her sword belt. She threw them to the ground with disdain at the feet of the officer.

“Shackle the slave,” the officer said. A warrior hurried over and shackled my wrists behind my back.

“As a warrior, have I your word that you will accompany us peaceably to the Hall of Government?” the officer said to Emer.

“Yes,” Emer said.

“Shackles will not be necessary for her,” the officer said to her warriors.

Emer and I followed the officer, ringed with her warriors, to the Hall of Government. Emer was angry, but I knew she wouldn’t renounce the pledge she had given the officer. As a warrior, she would not, and our chances of escape, if we had resisted, would have been small indeed. In all likelihood, the spears of the Nisan warriors would have transfixed our bodies within our first steps toward freedom. I respected the quiet efficiency of the warriors of Nisa. I had already experienced the professionalism of Vulvarian warriors during my time in Thiva.

Vulvarians prided themselves on justice under their laws. I knew that if they dispensed true justice in Nisa, Emer and I would be acquitted. On Vulvar, they said the authority of a city ended at their gates. We had committed no offenses in Nisa. Crimes we had committed in Thiva were the concern of Thivans, not Nisans.

After we had marched for perhaps twenty minutes through the drab, twisted streets of Nisa, its citizens parting to make way for us, we came to the broad winding avenue of black cobblestones I had trod during my first visit to Nisa. I recognized the stone walls on each side of the road that gradually ascended the closer we drew to the Hall of Government. I knew the way would shrink to a passage large enough for only a single person, and the walls would rise to a height of thirty feet or more by the time we arrived at the simple iron door.

The officer motioned for me and then Emer to move to the front of the column while enough space remained between the walls. We were the first to approach the door with the officer and her warriors following in a single file.

There was the sound of sliding bolts and the creak of the hinges as someone within opened the iron door. Emer and I were pressed forward by those following behind us. Inside, four new warriors with shields and spears took custody of us.

“The Anax of Nisa is expecting you,” a warrior I assumed was an officer said.

With the officer ahead and three warriors behind, we climbed the stone steps of a small, circular passageway. We emerged in a broad but dimly lighted room and then passed through another stone archway and continued through the familiar warren of corridors I recalled from my previous visit.

At last we found ourselves in the large, vaulted hall, lit by torches set in the wall where I had met with the deputy Dabar when Cooke had been in power. Broad stone steps led to a throne, with three curule chairs on either side. Now an attractive woman with glittering blond hair sat on the throne. Females also sat on the curule chairs on either side of her, which I supposed were members of the High Council. All the females regarded me without expression.

About the room, here and there, stood stern female warriors of Nisa in their blue tunics. The officer who had detained us at the gates stood before the steps that led up to the throne. Evidently, she had entered the hall ahead of us from another entrance.

On the throne, the blonde woman appeared proud and lofty, almost arrogant. She