“It’s more than possible if you give the man that slave drug,” Tain pointed out, apparently shocking Risdin again. “Yes, they fed him the drug, and then they treated him the way they would treat a disobedient female slave. He didn’t enjoy it at all when they switched him twice.”

“Imagine that,” Risdin murmured distractedly, her mind seemingly busy with whirling thoughts. “Not enjoying being switched at someone’s whim… So the drug does work on men as well as women. A lot of people believe only women can be affected because women are weak, but now we know that that isn’t true. Celene thought I was being obscene and disgusting and dark, but it looks like she was wrong.”

“What was she wrong about?” Tain asked, wondering what the other woman could be referring to.

“A slaver passing by with some new slaves accidentally dropped a pouch with a few doses of the drug, and I took the pouch and kept it.”

Risdin’s answer was accompanied by a spreading smile. “I had no idea why I wanted to keep it, maybe to let the drug act as something I could hate instead of hating the people around me, but now… Now I know that keeping the drug was pure inspiration.”

“I think we can definitely do something with that,” Tain said, her own thoughts starting to whirl. “Just make sure you don’t run off on your own with some wild idea about getting even. Proper getting even takes planning and preparation, not to mention all the help you can find. If you can make yourself be patient I’ll be delighted to do what I can to help.”

“Be patient,” Risdin said with another grimace, but the wildness was beginning to fade from her eyes. “You don’t ask for much in return for your help, do you? Okay, yes, I promise I won’t run off on my own. You’d just better know that when it comes to getting even I don’t have a whole lot in the way of patience.”

“You won’t have to have a lot of patience, since we can’t afford to wait very long before moving,” Tain assured her. “I just have to figure out the best direction to do that moving, and my friend might be able to help. I think he knows something we need to know, and with that in mind I’d better get back. Don’t get sloppy or careless while I’m gone.”

“The same right back at you,” Risdin countered with a feral grin. “If you get grabbed you’ll miss out on what promises to be a lot of fun.”

“When there’s a purpose behind your fun, you tend to enjoy it a lot more,” Tain said, then turned and went back to the warehouse’s door. Blowing out the candle, making sure the wick was cool, and then putting the candle down on the floor again took only a couple of minutes, and by then Tain’s night vision had returned so she could step outside. There was still no one around, but Tain didn’t let that make her careless. She slid through the darkness the way she had earlier, listening to every sound the night air brought, and then she entered the other warehouse again.

It took about three hours before the guards were relieved by a different pair of men, and the only way Tain could stand the wait was to do it in hunting mode. When you’re out hunting, either game or men, the only way to make the hunt successful is to have patience. If you move too soon you either go hungry or end up dead or captured, so Tain forced patience on herself and waited. Once the two guards had been replaced it was only necessary to wait a few minutes to make certain the first two would not be coming back, and then the waiting was over.

As Tain moved around to the door that would take her into the room where the guards waited, she found that she was actually grateful for the so-called clothes she wore. If she’d been dressed in any other way she probably would have had a problem, but as it was…

The attention of both guards came to Tain the instant she stepped through the door, which hardly came as a surprise. Sneaking up on the two men would have been impossible, so Tain simply strolled toward them in the most provocative way she could manage. Her smile was teasing as well as faintly challenging, and the men got the exact idea she wanted them to.

“It looks like Himlin wants to be sure we don’t fall asleep,” one of the men said to the other without moving his delighted gaze from Tain.

“I think I can promise that I won’t fall asleep.”

“Hell, I’d do her even if I was asleep,” the second man said with a very wide grin. “I heard that the ones who were with Himlin earlier got to use those dancers, and I’ve been hot ever since. Now I get to put the hot to use.”

Neither of the men moved from his post as Tain approached, but they did start to discuss who would get to use her first. That gave Tain enough time to get into position, and once she was close enough to the first man she didn’t hesitate. Throwing a fist into the man’s throat put him down at once, and while the second was frozen in shock Tain jump-kicked him in the face. The man’s neck snapped just the way it was supposed to, which let Tain turn back to her first victim. That man’s throat and windpipe were crushed, and after thrashing around some he’d fallen unconscious. In just a short while he would be dead, so Tain was able to turn her attention to the door they’d guarded.

Beyond the door was a fairly small room, a single candle providing an even smaller amount of light. Killen and Tandro were stretched out face down on pallets, and the very brief, mostly silent fight outside their door hadn’t wakened them from what looked like exhausted sleep. Tain hesitated only a second, and then she was moving to where Killen lay. When she reached him she knelt beside the pallet, then put a hand over his mouth.

“No talking and no struggling right now,” she said when Killen’s eyes flew open. “You’ll only take orders from me, both of you. Do you understand?”

Tandro had awakened only a moment after Killen, so both men nodded in answer to her question. At that point Tain had no choice but to take her hand away from Killen’s mouth, and when the big man stayed silent Tain let out the breath she’d been holding. If Killen had given her an order she would have had to obey him, but she’d managed to get her own order in first.

“Good,” Tain said, getting back to her feet. “You, Killen, aren’t to ever give me orders about anything again, but right now you have to take my orders. Can both of you walk?”

“If it means getting out of here, I’m willing to crawl,” Killen answered, turning to his side on the pallet. “But we’ll have to be ordered to leave our ‘beds.’ Himlin ordered us into bed before he left.”

“Then I order you to get to your feet and follow me,” Tain said, privately relieved that Killen sounded so normal. “If anyone shows up and tries to stop us, you two are also ordered to fight. Do anything you have to in order to keep from being recaptured.”

“That’s one order I’ll obey with a big smile,” Tandro said as he moved slowly to his feet. “Assuming, of course, that my knees are able to hold me up.”

“Talk about unexpected pain,” Killen added as he made his own awkward way to his feet. “I had no idea kneeling so long could hurt so much, but I sure as hell know it now.“

Tain felt the urge to comment about lessons that some people deserved to learn, but wasting time right now would have been stupid. Just because no one should have shown up didn’t mean no one would, so the sooner they got out of this place the better off they would be. She watched until the men were fairly steady, told them to pick up their discarded body wraps, and then she led the way out of the room.

Walking past the two bodies on the floor wasn’t hard for Tain at all, and a glance showed her that Killen wore an expression of deep satisfaction at the sight. Tandro, though, seemed deeply shocked, and he looked at Killen in confusion.

“Does this mean she can fight the way you do?” he asked Killen as they all headed for the door that would lead them out into the rest of the warehouse. “I never pictured women being taught this kind of thing.”