Wizard's First Rule

"Another time, I will leave you alone with him… to do things your way, but today, I will stay."

Richard made sure he showed no sign that he was relieved. Constance went back to work.

After a while longer, when she was behind him, Constance grabbed a fistful of his hair and yanked his head back, hard. Richard knew very well what it meant to have his head pulled back in this manner. He remembered the pain of what she was about to do. The pain of having the Agiel in his ear. He shook uncontrollably, couldn't breathe with the fear of it.

Denna came out of her chair. "Don't do that, Constance."

Constance gritted her teeth as she looked at him, pulling his head back harder. "Why not? Surely you've done it?"

"Yes, I just don't want you to, that's all. Master Rahl hasn't talked to him yet. I don't want to take any chances."

A grin came to Constance's face. "Denna, let's do it together, at the same time. You and me. Like we used to."

"I told you, Master Rahl wants to talk to him."

"After that?" Denna smiled. "It has been a long time since I've heard that scream." She looked to Richard's eyes. "If Master Rahl doesn't kill him, and he doesn't die first from… from other things, then, yes, we will do it to him. All right? But not now. And Constance, please respect my wishes, about using the Agiel in his ear?"

Constance nodded and released his hair. "Don't you think you have gotten off easy." She scowled at him. "Sooner or later, you and I will be alone, and then I will take my pleasure from you."

"Yes, Mistress Constance," he whispered hoarsely.

After they were finished training him, they went to lunch. Richard followed behind, the chain hooked to Denna's belt. The dining hall was tasteful in its simple style of frame and panel oak over a white marble floor. There was the soft murmur of conversation at the various tables as people ate. Denna snapped her fingers as she sat, pointing at the floor behind her chair. Servers brought food to the two Mord-Sith, but none for Richard. Lunch was a hearty-looking soup, cheese, brown bread, and fruit. The good smells drove Richard to distraction. There was no meat served. Halfway through her meal, Denna turned and told him that he would get no lunch, for having earned two hours that morning. She said that if he behaved himself, he would get dinner.

The afternoon was spent at devotions, and after that, several hours of training. Denna and Constance shared the task. Richard did his best to do nothing wrong, and at dinner was rewarded with a bowl of rice with vegetables over it. After dinner were more devotions and more training, until at last they left Constance and returned to Denna's quarters, Richard dead tired and stooping because of pain as he walked.

"I wish a bath," she said. She showed him the room adjoining hers. It was small; empty of everything except a rope holding the binding device from the ceiling, and a bathing tub in the corner. She told him the room was for training if he needed it on the spot and she didn't want blood in her room, and for when she wanted to leave him hanging all night. She promised him he would be spending a great deal of time in the little room.

She had him drag the tub to the foot of her bed. He took the bucket from the tub and was instructed where to go for hot water. He was to speak to no one, even if spoken to, and he was to run, there and back, so her bathwater wouldn't get cold before the tub was filled. She told him that if he didn't follow her instructions exactly while out of her sight, the pain of the magic would take him down, and if she had to come looking for him, he would be very sorry he had disappointed her. He swore his solemn oath to do as she commanded. The place where the hot water came from, a hot spring in a pool surrounded by white marble seats, was a goodly distance. He was sweating and exhausted by the time he had the tub filled.

While she sat soaking in the tub Richard scrubbed her back, brushed her hair out, and helped her wash it.

Denna draped her arms over the sides of the tub, put her head back, and closed her eyes, relaxing, while he knelt next to her, in case she wanted anything. "You don't like Constance, do you?"

Richard didn't know how to answer. He didn't want to say anything bad about her friend, but lying would get him punished, too. "I am… afraid of her, Mistress Denna."

Denna smiled with her eyes still closed. "Clever answer, my love. You aren't trying to be flip, are you?"

"No, Mistress Denna. I told you the truth."

"Good. You should be afraid of her. She hates men. Every time she kills one, she cries out the name of the man who first broke her, Rastin. Remember I told you about the man who broke me, took me for his mate, and that later I killed him? Before he broke me, he was Constance's trainer. His name was Rastin. It was he who broke her. Constance is the one who told me how I could kill him. I would do anything for her. And because I killed the man she hated so, she would do anything for me."