The apprei was red-lit with the sun's setting when I awakened.  Chayin slept soundly.  He had not removed the Shaper's cloak, but wrapped it around his chest, though the day was fireside-hot.  His alien chald glittered in the dim light.  I could make nothing of it, but I must honor it.  He was chalded; I was not.  There were fourteen strands, of various metals, some with teeth and charms, tufts of hair and gems depending from them.  It was loosely woven, more so even than the chalds of Arlet.

He had not used me as a wellwoman, but as an animal.  If such was a crell's couching, I wanted no more of it.  He had forced upon me more of the stimulant drug Hael had given me in the desert, and my heart pounded against my ribs.  He had made no attempt to sate my needs, and my heat burned within me.  I lay upon my side, my loins pressing against his thigh of their own accord.  I hated him.  He slept.  I could not.  He had taken my chald from me, made me crell.  In my mind, he was every man who had ever misused me.  He became for me Raet, and Estrazi, and Dellin.  Even Dellin, whom I once loved, at that moment I would have killed upon the spot.  My breathing deepened, and my senses became sharp and clear.  Through this man, I would teach them all a thing about, women.  I studied Chayin's cloaked chest, rising and falling before my eyes.  I would kill him. He, abuser of the helpless, cahndor of the chaldless, did not deserve to live.  His breech and sword be lay where he had thrown them, upon the mat, within easy reach.  With his own sword I would skewer him, not only for myself, but for all the other helpless crells.  I would plunge that undulating Parset blade into his heart.  He would make no outcry, and then I would slip past the sleeping jiasks and steal a threx.  The black one, Hael's, the one called Quiris, would I take and ride northeast, into the Sabembes, to Arlet.  There I would see for myself what had occurred, whose blood had been spilled in my name.  I would find Sereth and do what was needed.  And Dellin, whom I once loved.  Then I would go to Astria, and take up the Keepress-ship once more.  I would need, I reminded myself, my chald, which lay in Chayin's saddlepack under his head.  I would be once more chalded and free.

I lay a long while considering my stroke.  While I pondered, Chayin groaned in his sleep and turned, to lie on his stomach.  The Shaper's cloak, still fastened about his neck, was drawn tight around him.  The spiral glittered upon it.  Where the stones were thin, upon the western arm, would I strike.  Between his ribs, into his heart would I thrust the recurved steel.

Stealthily, holding my breath, I rolled from his side and crawled to the sword belt he had so casually thrown upon the mat.  Did he think that because I was crell and chaldless, I was bereft of will?  Soundless, the blade slid from its sheath.  The hilt was welcome in my hand.  The blade was heavy, but of good balance.  It was intricately chased, the hilt inlaid with titrium and gold.  It was a cahndor's weapon.  By it would a cahndor die.