“The master of Fajin Province,” he corrected. “Not merely the master of the house, but the master of all of Fajin Province.”
She arched her eyebrow even higher. “Lord Arc told us that he was going to bring down our common enemy, the House of Rahl.” She gestured among the Mord-Sith with her in red leather. “We fled the House of Rahl. Hannis Arc took us in. He is our master. As our master, he powers our Agiel and has our loyalty.”
“Hannis Arc does not power Mistress Erika’s Agiel.”
Her scowl deepened. “What are you talking about? Of course he does.”
Ludwig looked over at Erika. “Why don’t you show one of them how well your Agiel works.” He gestured in their general direction. “You pick.”
Without delay, Erika gritted her teeth as she rammed her Agiel into the middle of the big blond Mord-Sith on the far right, beside Alice.
The woman gasped in shock as she doubled over, folding around Erika’s Agiel. It hurt too much for her to be able to cry out, or even to draw a breath. Erika withdrew her Agiel and let it drop from her fingers to dangle once again at the end of the fine gold chain on her right wrist.
The blond Mord-Sith, blue eyes wide, toppled on her side, curled into a ball on the floor, shivering in agony, still unable to draw a breath despite how hard she struggled.
Ludwig held a hand out toward Erika in invitation. “Feel free to return the favor. Any of you. Feel free to give as good as Erika gave. Show her you are not weak Mord-Sith to be pushed around and that your master still powers your Agiel.”
“Gladly,” Alice said through gritted teeth.
She spun her Agiel up into her fist. She froze before taking a step. With an astonished expression, she slowly looked down at the weapon in her fist.
Ludwig leaned in, cocking his head. “Problem?”
“It … it’s dead,” Alice said in a confused whisper. “I feel nothing from it. That’s impossible.…”
The woman Erika had put down struggled back on her feet and managed to straighten. They all took their Agiel up into their fingers, rolling them around, holding them in a fist. All of them looked confused and a great deal less confident than they had only moments before.
“Puzzling, isn’t it?” he asked the five women standing in a row as he paced before them.
Servants to the sides rushed on their way, making sure not to look over at the Mord-Sith and what was going on with the new master of the house. They were obviously trying to get out of the room as quickly as possible. Soldiers rushing through the halls on their way to deliver new orders also quickened their step. Two guards to either side of the room stood at attention, keeping their eyes strictly ahead as if they were statues that saw nothing.
Ludwig stepped forward and circled an arm around Alice’s shoulders. “Well, you see, the thing is, Alice, your Agiel is powered by your bond to your master. You were once bonded to Darken Rahl, and that loyalty to him is what powered your Agiel.”
“We know that,” Alice snapped, her fire back. “Hannis Arc is now our master. Through his profound ability he freed us from our bond to Darken Rahl to become our master and the one to power our Agiel. We are bonded to him.”
Ludwig, gripping her shoulders tightly with his encircling arm, gave her an intimate joggle. “Isn’t it pretty obvious what has happened?” He gestured toward Erika and then leaned back in, looking at Alice’s face from only inches away. “Erika’s Agiel works quite well, as I think the woman next to you could attest, but none of yours do. What do you suppose could explain that?”
Alice moved her arms restlessly as she began to notice a cramping that made her feel uncomfortable. She lifted a hand, and saw that her skin was wrinkled. Prominent blue veins and brown spots covered the back of her hand. She stared for a long moment, trying to understand how her smooth, clear skin had changed.
She abruptly reached up and touched her hair. She pulled the single braid forward and saw her brunette hair now streaked with gray. Moment by moment, as the other Mord-Sith watched, her hair gradually turned ever more gray and brittle. Her skin continued to thin and wrinkle.
Abruptly, one of her upper front teeth dropped from her open mouth and bounced across the carpet. The other four women stared.
Two more teeth quickly followed. Alice reached into her mouth with trembling, arthritic, deformed fingers and took out several more teeth that had loosened and fallen out within her mouth. She scooped out the handful of teeth and stared at them.
In mere moments she looked to have aged at least an additional sixty years.
“You aren’t looking well, Alice,” Ludwig said with feigned concern, his arm still around her shoulders. “Not well at all.” He looked up at Erika. “I don’t think she looks well. Do you?”