Shield's Lady

precisely the same way.”
    “Enough of this nonsense. Come with me.”
    The scarlet-toe shifted slightly within Sariana’s pocket but made no sound as Sariana bit down on her tongue. She had been around Gryph long enough to know that Shields tended to expect others to obey them.
    “Arrogant bastards,” Sariana mumbled as she started walking.
    “What did you say?” The Shield moved up silently behind her.
    “Nothing,” she assured him. “You know, it’s getting hard to see. Could you hold that vapor lamp steadier? A little professionalism would be appreciated.”
    Targyn appeared rather bemused by her display of annoyance. Without a word he moved closer and aimed the vapor lamp more carefully.
    “Thank you,” Sariana murmured dryly, then realized she was stepping over the last tumbled rock and into the wide mouth of a cave.
    A large vapor lamp flared into life at the back of the cave and a figure moved forward. Sariana recognized the shape and carriage of the man before she saw his face in the glow of the lamp.
    “Etion! What are you doing here?”
    Rakken smiled his charming smile. “As it happens, I was just about to sit down to dinner. Will you join me?”
    Sariana stared at him. “I’m sure you realize, Etion, that I’ve had a number of shocks recently. This is one of the biggest. As it happens, I’m starving. I will gladly join you for dinner under two conditions. The first is that you take me to Gryph. The second is that you promise to give me some explanation about what’s going on here.”
    Etion nodded gravely. “Chassyn will be joining us for dinner, so that takes care of condition number one. As for condition number two, I think that can be dealt with also. Targyn? Will you join us?”
    Targyn strode into the lamplight, scowling. “I don’t think you should let Chassyn out of that chamber. He’s dangerous.”
    “You assured me he was harmless enough as long as he was kept in the twist.”
    “That’s true, but I still don’t like having him out in the open.”
    “You’ll be there to protect me if he somehow escapes the twist.” Etion spoke soothingly, as if to a fractious child. “There is no doubt that you are the stronger Shield, is there?”
    “None.” Targyn lifted his head proudly and strode past Sariana and Rakken. “I’ll get Chassyn.”
    Rakken sighed as the other man strode off. “Thickheaded bastard,” he murmured under his breath.
    Sariana drew a silent breath of relief. At least Gryph was alive and apparently unharmed if he could take a meal. She would take this one step at a time, feeling her way through the quagmire of events the same way she had felt her way through the House of Reflections.
    The first task was to handle Etion Rakken. She couldn’t begin to imagine what he was doing here, but if he had taken Gryph prisoner, it was clear he was on the wrong side in this mess.
    “It would appear your journey upriver has been a little rough,” Etion remarked as he graciously extended his arm and led Sariana down a corridor of gray metal. Once inside the corridor there were no vapor lamps. The illumination seemed to come from within the metal walls. Sariana gazed around in wonder as she spoke to Rakken.
    “I lost the sled and had to swim to shore. I tell you, Etion, things like this never happened to me when I lived in Rendezvous.”
    Etion smiled faintly. “I’m well aware of how unexpected life can be in the west.” He paused in front of an opening carved in the corridor. “My humble chambers await.” He bowed her into the room with a mocking flourish.
    Sariana stepped inside and glanced around the odd room. It was a strange shape to her eyes, as if it were all just slightly out of proportion. The ceiling was a little too low for psychological comfort. It was lined with more of the metal she had noticed in the corridor. The glow of the illumination imbedded in the metal seemed vaguely wrong to her eyes. Instead of the soft, warm glow of vapor, it was a harsh light that jangled the senses.
    “You get used to it,” Etion said wryly.
    “The light? Where does it come from?”
    “I don’t know.” He shrugged. “I tried to take the ceiling apart a couple of months ago to find out, but I couldn’t cut through that gray metal. The prisma cutter might do it, however. I’ll give it a try one of these days. Sit down.”
    Sariana stepped slowly toward a round table that seemed a little too close to the floor. A bench of the same metal ringed the table.