There was no way for Jake to know how long he stood in front of the window, but it was certainly long enough for depression to get a good hold on him. His mood was as dark and dreary as the day beyond the windows, but he was partially distracted when a knock came at the door.

“Come in,” he invited, hoping it was Tandro with some good news, but instead it was that same slave bringing in his lunch. Her grin was still as saucy as it had been the other times, but the girl lost some of her amusement when she glanced at Tain. Seeing Tain being paddled or used had actually increased the slave’s amusement, but a single glance seemed to show the girl what Tain was now feeling.

“Your lunch, master,” the girl said as she hurried to the table. “Would you like to have me serve you?”

“I have my own slave to do any serving I might want,” Jake said, fighting not to let the depression color his words. “You can go back where you belong now.”

“Yes, master, thank you,” the girl said, and then she was hurrying out of the room and closing the door behind herself. She seemed to know almost at once that Jake was no longer in a lighthearted mood, and obviously didn’t want to be around if he turned mean. But Jake had gotten an idea, and as soon as the slave was gone he put the idea to use.

“Come and serve me, Kitten,” he said as he moved to the table and then sat. He was pretending not to look at anything but the food on the tray, in reality watching Tain closely while he hoped for some sign of anger in her. Anger would have meant there was something left of her feelings for him after all, but all she did was get to her feet at once showing no expression at all. The next moment she was beside him and obeying the order she’d been given, again making Jake want to close his eyes in pain.

“No, wait a minute,” Jake said instead of closing his eyes, talking about the way Tain had taken the bowl of cereal and a wooden spoon after putting his own food in front of him. “Since I made my point about the way you’re supposed to act, there’s no need to carry the act too far. I’m not all that hungry, so take as much of the food as you like.”

“Thank you, but I have the only food I want,” Tain answered as she knelt beside his chair with the cereal and spoon. Jake expected some kind of dig to show she was playing the martyr by not accepting real food, but all Tain did was start to eat the cereal. Jake knew then that he was in real trouble, the kind of trouble he had no idea how to get out of. He sat and watched Tain eating her cereal for a moment, then got up and went back to the window. If he’d had only a faint appetite before, now he had none at all.

Another stretch of silence went by, during which time Tain finished her cereal, put the bowl and spoon back, then returned to the pallet. Jake could hear her moving around, then the silence returned. He wondered how much of the cereal she’d actually eaten, but didn’t leave the window to go and look. Depression had him by the throat again, and only another knock at the door was able to free him part way. He expected it to be the slave coming back for the tray, but this time it was Tandro knocking.

“Captain Sovri has some news for us, my friend,” Tandro said at once. “He says the idea you gave him worked, but he didn’t go into details about the idea.”

Jake raised his brows as he moved quickly toward Tandro, and sure enough the captain was in the common area looking really pleased.

“I suggested to the captain that he use the slave drug on those assassins and then order them to talk,” Jake told Tandro as the two of them walked toward Sovri. “If it worked, he should have found out who sent all those assassins after us.”

“That’s exactly what I did find out,” Sovri confirmed with a grin, then the man’s amusement dimmed. “The one who hired the assassins is a well-known slaver named Himlin, but when I took some of my men and went to arrest the man we found him gone from his house. Do you have any idea why Himlin would want you dead?”

“Since we’ve never heard of him, I suppose you’ll just have to ask him when you find him,” Jake said after exchanging a carefully puzzled glance with Tandro. “Were you given any clue as to where the man went?”

“We were told that Himlin is away on business the way he often is, but I’m not too sure that’s the truth,” Sovri answered, apparently satisfied with Jake’s reply. “The slaver could be hiding from us to avoid arrest, but he’ll have to come back at some time.”

“Maybe he’s waiting until my friend and I are gone from the area,” Jake suggested, not in the least happy with the fact that their enemy was still at large. “If we’re not here to accuse him, he ought to be able to get away with what he did.”

“No, you’d have to withdraw your complaint entirely for that to happen,” Sovri denied with a brief shake of his head. “Withdrawing your complaint would even negate what we learned from the assassins, so don’t let anyone try to tell you that the complaint isn’t necessary. When your business here is finished and you leave, we’ll still be able to take care of your enemy.”

“That’s good to know,” Jake said as Tandro agreed. “Thank you for telling us who our enemy is, Captain. We appreciate it more than we can say.”

The captain shrugged off their thanks as Jake and Tandro took turns shaking hands with him, and then the captain left their suite. Jake waited a moment to be sure Sovri was gone, and then he turned to Tandro.

“So our enemy is a big-time slaver,” Jake said sourly. “What a shocking surprise.”

“Yeah, for me as well,” Tandro agreed. “So what do we do now?”

“We have our meeting with Gordi and then go home,” Jake said, adding a shrug. “In the meantime we keep our eyes open and try to stay alive… How did things work out with your slave?”

“I wish you hadn’t asked that,” Tandro said with a sigh, his expression turning instantly bleak. “I was sure I could get through to the girl in the same way that worked with her before, but she didn’t even come alive after she began to cry. When lunch was brought I tried to get her to eat some of it without making it an order, but that didn’t work either. I ended up having to order her to eat after all, but I don’t know how much good the food will do her. It wasn’t long before I had to tell her to stop eating to keep her from throwing up again.”

“Well, tomorrow we go to see Gordi even if it hasn’t stopped raining,” Jake stated, making the decision without hesitation. “We need to get those girls back home as soon as possible, and leaving right after our meeting is over will give us enough daylight to travel in for a good distance before we have to camp.”

“There’s a problem with your slave too, isn’t there?” Tandro said, obviously not really guessing. “She looked almost as bad as mine when I went to your door, but with Sovri here I didn’t want to say anything. What are we going to do?”

“We’re going to have that meeting with Gordi and then we’re going to get the girls home,” Jake said, feeling even more tired than he had. “Once we’re home we’ll have a lot more options than we have here.”

“I hope you’re right,” Tandro said, then he turned away and went back to his bedroom. Jake stood where he was until Tandro’s door was closed, then he chose a chair and sat down. He had no desire to go back into his own bedroom and face that silence again, not when he could face the easier silence of the common area. Later he’d go back into the bedroom, definitely later…

The slave came for the lunch trays a short while after Jake made that decision, and his wasn’t the only food that had gone almost untouched. The slave made no comment about that, of course, but she did hurry out of the suite when Tandro came out of his bedroom right behind her. The native sat down not far from Jake, but didn’t seem to have anything else to say. The two of them shared the silence, but that didn’t make the time any easier for Jake.