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Isana heard a woman&039;s voice say, "Wake up Wake up" Someone slapped her face, sudden and sharp Isana let out a surprised sound and lifted her arms in an effort to protect her face That same voice continued, just as before, "Wake up Wake up," and slapped her at measured intervals until Isana curled away froet her hands and knees beneath her, and to lift her head

Isana felt hot Sweltering Her skin had soaked with sweat, and her clothes clung to her, likewise daht was in her eyes, and it took her a moment to realize that she was on a dirt floor, that there was fire all around her, fire in a circle perhaps twenty feet across, a ring of coals and tinder that ss burned with thirst, with the shed until she almost retched

She covered herhand, tried to filter out some of the smoke and dust in the air as she breathed So

"Thank you," she rasped Isana looked up to see the wo Tavi She was beautiful, dark of hair and eye, curved as sweetly as any h, and her face had been sed with soot The skin, in rows that reached across her eyes, was bright pink, shiny and new A small smile curved her full mouth

Isana hissed out a breath in surprise, backing away fro, s of coals There was a door leading out, and Isana tried to stand and s would not obey her properly She stuh to the coals that her skin heated painfully She pushed herself back fro Isana back with a cool efficiency

"Nasty, nasty," the woman said "You must be careful, or you&039;ll burn"

She sat back fro her "My naether"

"Prisoners," Isana whispered Her voice cah painfully "Prisoners where? What&039;s wrong with s?"

"Kordholt, I think they called it," Odiana said "You&039;re experiencing crafting sickness When Kord found you by the banks of the flood, your head was broken They made me mend it"

"You?" Isana asked "But you were trying to hurt Tavi"

"The pretty boy?" Odiana asked "I wasn&039;t hurting hi him There&039;s a difference" She sniffed and said, "It wasn&039;t anything personal"

"Tavi," Isana said, coughing again "Is Tavi all right?"

"How should I know?" Odiana said, her tone faintly i I saas that ugly brute"

"Then you&039;re not-" Isana shook her head "Kord took you prisoner?"

She nodded, once "He found ether" Odiana sed my nails like that before You&039;ll have to show me how it&039;s done"

Isana stared at the woet out of here"

"Yes," Odiana agreed, looking at the door "But that seems unlikely for the moment He&039;s a slaver, isn&039;t he, this Kord?"

"He is"

The dark haired woht as much"

The thirst in her throat abruptly becanore, and she murmured, "Rill, I need water"

Odiana let out an ih "No," she said "Don&039;t be an idiot He&039;s ringed us in fire Dried us out Your fury cannot hear you, and even if it could, you&039;d not be able to dampen a washcloth"

Isana shivered, and for the first ti response to her call, no reassuring presence of the water fury Isana sed, eyes shifting around the interior of the building Meat hung froered in the air A smokehouse then, at Kord&039;s steadholt

She was a prisoner at Kord&039;s steadholt

The thought chilled her, sent a quiver creeping along her scalp, to the roots of her hair

Odiana watched her in silence and then nodded, slowly "He doesn&039;t

intend for us to ever leave this place, you know I felt that in hiht us here"

"I&039;h to kill us in here I have to get a drink"

"They left us two tiny cups of water," Odiana said, nodding to the far side of the circle

Isana looked until she saw the pair of wooden cups and pulled herself to theht, empty She dropped it to one side, her throat on fire, and tried the second

It was empty as well

"You were asleep," Odiana said, calmly "So I drank it"

Isana stared at the woman in disbelief "This heat could kill us," she told her, struggling to keep an even tone

The wouid sh for two"

Isana clenched her teeth together "It makes the most sense anyway Use it Call your fury and send for help"

"We&039;re far froether "Then when one of them comes in-"

Odiana shook her head slowly and spoke in a cool, passionless, practical tone "Do you think they&039;ve never done this before? This is what slavers do, holdgirl They left enough to keep us alive Not enough to allow one of us full use of her fury I&039;d try, it wouldn&039;t work, and they&039;d punish both of us"

"So that&039;s it?" Isana said "We don&039;t even try?"