Chandra grew increasingly nervous as the group neared the exit portal. She suspected that she shouldn’t reveal what she knew of the Starry Place, but neither was there a cage for her to cling to and pretend to be unconscious. If they carried her bodily through the Starry Place, assuming that she once again wasn’t affected by their sleep spell, they would surely know.

And that was if they were actually taking her along.

The lady who led, the one who seemed seemed to be the sister of the master, seemed dedicated to some task. The idea that she would be a dedicated worker and still a noblewoman was not too difficult to grasp, but Chandra did have trouble fitting their relationship into her mind. Was she equal to the master? Certainly not. But she clearly had authority, for the armed men followed her every word, and she expected Chandra to do the same. Certainly, Chandra would be disposed of if she betrayed the master, but clearly this woman could also do as much, and as easily.

All in all, it was much more to think about than Chandra had had for the last few years, and she was not being reprimanded for thinking, nor given orders not to. The rush of the many new thoughts ended up choking together at the front of her mind, forcing her to decide what to think about and what to let lie. The question about the Starry Place took precedence over all else, as it was the most immediate chance for her to be killed.

So as it became clear that the five of them were headed for the portal, she cleared her throat (it hurt just a bit to talk, but she did her best) and spoke as gently as she could.

“What would my lady like me to do about…?” When the guards turned to look at her, but the lady did not, Chandra felt a tide of embarrassment that she quickly squashed. “Ah… am I to pass through the forbidden place, or remain behind?”

“Of course you are to come with us.” Jani’s voice was hard. “You will do what we command until we reach my father. He will command us, and you, and your master.”

“I am to pass through… the forbidden place?” Chandra tried to make it clear in her tone that this was not permitted, but the lady’s footsteps did not waver.

“On the authority of my father, who commands your master, I order you to follow us.” The annoyance in Jani’s voice was clear and palpable. “You are not to speak or act until I, or he, tells you otherwise.”

This was something Chandra was not prepared for. She understood more than enough to follow the directions, but did the lady mean that she was to follow through the Starry Place, not be taken through it?

Jani stepped up onto the dias and vanished into what must have been the Starry Place. Two guards followed, with the third clearly waiting for Chandra to go first.

“But I…” Realizing she had been forbidden from speaking she tried to make her confusion evident.

“The circle is powered. I will make sure you arrive safely.” The guard gestured. “Step onto it.”

Chandra did, and the floor beneath her seemed to open up. More than that, though, she felt like she was being crushed, painlessly, only to pop out, inverted and upside-down, in the Starry Place.

It was more miraculous than she remembered. The guards ahead floated, seemingly under their own power, through the center of a tall and wide hallway whose walls were made of bent shards of shattered glass. There was no light nor darkness, only the feeling--the certainty--that what she saw was the soul of things, and there was no need for eyes to see clearly what was before her. And all the while, as before, she constantly felt like she was upside-down, as though the floor was “up” and the stars above were “below”. All else was blackness, with the walls and all else simply being in front of the black empty void, and perhaps made of it.

The lady looked different, but perhaps strangely, the guards looked exactly the same. Chandra could feel, in the lady, depths and swirls and thoughts and complicated feelings. The guards, however, seemed no more than what they had seemed to be at first glance. The confusion welling up in Chandra twisted and bounced, new thoughts bubbling to the surface constantly. What was the lady? What were the men? What did she look like, to others?

From behind, a cold magical force grasped her entire body, as though she was no more than a doll in a giant hand. The last guard floated past her, and she found herself dragged along behind. The grip was hard-edged, and it stung her in many places, but more importantly, it terrified Chandra, and her thoughts retreated to the depths, until she could only wait for it to all be over.

Finally, the shining column that was the exit appeared before them. The lady paused, and the two guards entered it, quickly being sucked into themselves and disappearing. After a moment, the column pulsed, and the lady passed out.

The guard whose magic held Chandra brought her near the column, then paused. “When you exit, you must stand on your feet quickly and walk out. The mistress will judge you if you stumble and fall, or if you wait too long on the dais. Step to one side so I may exit.”

With that, she was thrust into the column. It felt like what it looked like; she felt like she’d been turned inside out, and then she suddenly found herself sideways and curled into a ball, tossed in the air and dropped like a stone. The pain meant little, though, and she scrambled to her feet and stepped quickly to one side.

Watching the guard exit, however, immediately made her feel ashamed. He emerged from the portal as elegantly as the lady had entered it, as though he had simply appeared in mid-stride from the floor, and he walked off the dais, immediately locking eyes with her. He gestured with one hand for her to go before him, and she did, scrambling after the three figures down the hall.

Only, she realized, it was not so much a hall as a small cave, with hardly enough room for two people to walk side by side. The lady and her guards had already reached the other end, which was sealed with stone but for some small gaps near the top and bottom; aside from that, there was no light.

The lady paused at the end and, turning to look back at Chandra, seemed thoughtful for a moment. “Girl,” she said. “Do you believe you could move on your own in that place?”

Chandra was too terrified to think, for a moment. But something inside forced her to try, and after a moment of collecting her thoughts, she said simply, “I have not been taught, lady.”

The lady gave her a very deadpan look, as though the half-truth she had told was a transparent lie. But rather than cursing or hitting her, she obliged. “It is the most basic form of magic. Know which direction you wish to go, intend to move, and you will do so.” She paused. “You won’t need to move far, but no one else can go with you. If you cannot, then we must move the boulder. I would prefer not to.”

Move that rock… for me? Chandra paused. “I am certainly willing to try, lady.”

Jani paused, and whispered with her guards. They each touched a place on the rock, one at a time, and vanished. After a few moments, one returned, and nodded. “It’s clear.”

“Come.” Jani waved for Chandra to approach, and she did, if cautiously. “What is your name, child?”

What is your name? Chandra felt the question very odd. “If… lady would like to give me a name…”

“Do you not have one?” Somehow, that answer bothered the lady very much.

“Ah… I do of course, my lady, but if you desire to call me…”

“I asked you your name, girl!” Jani’s voice was very sharp, now.

“Ah… I am Chandra, mistress.”

“Chandra.” She gestured to the guard behind her. “This is Kan. He is tasked with keeping you safe. Until I, or my father, tell you otherwise, your safety is necessary. You are not to take any action which threatens your life, unless we release you. That includes meeting with my br--with your master, even if he orders it.”

Chandra’s head swam. Do not meet with the master? Her life is necessary?

“When you touch this seal, you will be in a room much like the last, only it will be very small. Go directly into the light in front of you. Do not touch the walls. Do not hesitate. If you cannot move, reach behind yourself and you will find another column. Touching it will return you here. Do it, now.”

Chandra flinched and, although she could not quite see the marks on the stone that Jani had indicated, touched the boulder in exactly the place the guards had. Again, she felt herself being turned inside out; this time, she felt her body being sucked into her fingertips, until she popped out on the other side.

This time, the Starry Place was very different. The walls were too close, and although there was still no need for light, she also could not sense any depth or distance. She could clearly feel the portal behind her, and the one ahead, but everything else seemed dead.

Do not hesitate. Chandra did know how to move--she wasn’t permitted to recall from when or where, but it was an old memory, one from before her time as a slave. So she cast herself gently forward, reaching out with her hand to touch the column of light which was the other portal.

She appeared on the other side of the boulder in the same position that she had entered, standing quietly and touching a spot on the stone with her fingertips. She removed her hand and, mindful of the guard’s instructions last time, stepped aside.

There were three guards on this side, one belonging to the lady and two who must have guarded the place itself. There were also several other armsmen rushing towards them, although the guards showed no sign of concern. Cowed by being very nearly surrounded, Chandra fought the urge to sit down or flatten herself against the wall, struggling to keep her back straight and give some semblance of poise.

After a long moment, the guards and the lady passed through. Each appeared in turn the same way she had, touching a circle on the stone, then turning around and stepping away. When the whole group was together, the lady arranged them, with Chandra and Kan in the back, to meet the approaching group.

“My lady Janinda,” said the approaching armsman with a salute. “You returned quickly.”

“We will meet with my father immediately.” She paused. “I presume he is still indisposed.”

“He would be finishing lunch, lady,” offered the armsman.

“Bid him meet me in the small hall when he is finished. And do please have something brought for us, if there is time. Bread and wine will be fine.”

“Of course, lady.” The armsman issued three sets of orders in a single sentence, and two messengers scampered off, the other armsman falling behind to escort the lady’s group.

Since she had not been ordered to keep her eyes to herself, Chandra found them roaming. There was no path leading up to the boulder, and the two guards seemed to vanish when they had stepped more than a few paces away. All that left was the building before them. When, before, the master had first smuggled her into the place, it had been dark and she had been warned not to look. But now, she did look, and it was breathtaking.

It seemed to her a palace, a long building three stories high, with a central tower on the other side which seemed twice again as high as the building itself. It was built into a shallow hill, such that the ground floor from where she stood would be below ground from the other side. There were many windows, mostly empty and with shutters wide apart, although the highest floor had a section with crystal panes sealing them shut--one of which she was sure was the master’s, as she recalled seeing one from within his reading room.

There was a tall and spacious garden in front of the building, one she could not see into, and a curved set of stairs which led to the second floor, one far wider at the ground floor than it was at the top. The lady and her group went up these, passing into a set of wide double doors, which guards had opened in advance.

The inside was not, to Chandra’s eyes, as elegant as the outside. A cloth carpet was stretched down the hallways on either side, and a squat hallway in front of them led to a switch-back staircase. Mostly, to her, the smell of old cloth and dust was overpowering; these things seemed not to be a problem in the other place, but here she quickly recalled the names and sources of the sour odors--sweat, dust, chamber pots, metal, ash.

The lady, with no hesitation, went straight up the stairs again. The house armsmen, Chandra noticed as she started up the stairs, had remained outside, save only for the leader, who had stayed with the lady, politely saying nothing.

When they reached the third floor, a servant held up a hand to pause them. “If the lady would wait just a moment, the Lord will be waiting for you in his hall.”

“Of course. Do you have…?”

“Refreshments will be delayed, unless the Lord requests them.”

“That is fine.” Jani let out a long sigh, then accepted a small towel and used it to wipe her face and hands as an attendant fussed with a dirty spot on her armor. In total, they waited perhaps two minutes, then (in response to some signal which Chandra could not see), abruptly marched down the hall, then left into what Jani had called the small hall.

To Chandra, the small hall was still a magnificent place. Three steps led down into a hall twice as tall as the hallway with two long tables, one on either side of a narrow path that led up to a small wooden throne. Another long cloth carpet covered the path, and was meticulously tucked into the folds of the stairs which led up to the Lord’s seat, as though it were a part of the stone itself.

“Father,” said Jani, kneeling quietly. “I’m afraid I’m bringing bad news.”

“To have returned so quickly, one would think you have discovered a traitor in our midst.” The lord who sat on the throne made efforts to keep his poise, although one hand rested on a sword hilt that seemed molded into the arm of his chair. “I hope the news is not quite so upsetting.”

“Roan has lied, a great deal. He spent many days and a great many coins hiding a facility from you in the sacred grounds. His goal was yours: to discover the secrets of a new magi-metal.” She produced from her armor the same metal ingot which Chandra had given her. “He was almost successful.”

Amon immediately stood up and, taking the short steps two at a time, retrieved the metal from Jani’s hands. He weighed it in his hands. “It’s the same, no question.” He gestured for her to rise. “You say, though, that he was not successful.”

“After you forbid him return, one of his workers discovered it. When he did not return to fetch it, the worker went mad, destroying Roan’s facility and killing all the others, before dying alone in the sacred grounds.” Jani gestured behind her as she got to her feet. “Now only one remains.”

“After I forbid him return…” Amon’s face darkened. “You say he lied about how long he was there.”

“No question.” Jani looked her father in the eye, and her eyes were sharp and shadowed. “He ordered your people to keep this from you. I am sure he knew he was becoming tainted; I doubt that he was in some kind of open rebellion. Taken, perhaps, by the madness.”

Amon weighed the ingot in his hands, again, as though weighing it against his son’s life.

“The worker made more. We found two pieces with him, and the witness said there was a third. I intend to order men to search for the last piece.”

“The witness…” Amon’s eyes regarded Chandra, finally. “Well-kept little pet. She was at this facility?”

“She has not admitted it, but I know she saw something.” Jani’s voice did not lower or waver, and so Chandra knew that the words were meant for her. “Roan’s workshop was lost, however. Disgusting as it may be, what little chance we have of making more rests with my brother’s hand-shy, brainwashed whore.”

The last few words felt like Janinda had slapped Chandra’s mind, each landing on an old scar, not so much forceful as it was shocking. Immediately, uncontrollably, she began to shake, and she felt like she had lost feeling in her legs. Whore. The word brought back wounds she had thought were buried, feelings she had been almost able to forget. Brainwashed. Her mind seemed to churn in response to that word. It seemed an odd word, one she had heard before. She could not recall where, though, because her memory screamed at her, instead of even trying to remember.

It was not until a fist raised her into the air by her hair, and another hand delivered an open-hand slap across the face, that she realized that she had been crying out loud.

“To her credit, she does follow orders,” said Jani, as her father shook the slight sting out of his hand. “I don’t know where Roan got her, but she is well-trained.”

Amon’s reply was cut off as the doors burst open and Roan stormed in.

His eyes fell on Chandra, then his father, then sister, and then he caught the gleam of metal in his father’s hand.

And Roan drew his sword and charged.