Page 193 of Circle of Days
“If that was true you wouldn’t have said it so fast.”
Pia realized that he had outwitted her. Because he was brutal she was inclined to underestimate his brain. Brutal men could be cunning too. She needed to remember that.
Troon went on: “No, you didn’t go there for romance. So what was your purpose? I wonder if you were planning to send amessage—to Ani, perhaps, the mother of your man Han, the one who died.”
“Murdered by your son, Stam.”
“Oh, let’s not rake up the past. But what might you have to tell Ani that was so important?”
“A lot,” said Pia. “I haven’t seen her for years, because you forbid women to go to the Rites. So she doesn’t even know that her grandson has all his teeth now.”
Troon’s face twisted in a smug grimace, and Pia knew he was about to say something he thought would shake her. He said: “Katch paid you a visit yesterday.”
Pia was horrified. How did he know that?
Troon answered her unspoken question. “Shen happened to see her.”
Shen nodded and smiled, pleased to be noticed.
Shen seemed to see everything.
Pia quickly collected her thoughts. “Yes, your woman wanted to trade a piglet for a goat kid.”
He stared at her with his little dark eyes. “So it’s just a coincidence, is it, that you tried to leave Farmplace just half a day after Katch visited you?”
“It’s not much of a coincidence.”
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence at all. It looks to me more as if a message was to be passed: Katch to Pia, and Pia to Zad, then Zad to that quickrunner Fali, and finally Fali to Ani at Riverbend. Very neat, and all in a couple of days.”
“And all in your imagination.”
But that was bravado. He knew the truth; he had worked it out. What would he do now? She began to feel scared. She decided to stop challenging him. He would always win.
Troon said: “So what shall I do with you? Left alone, you’ll try again. Even now you’re dreaming up ways to get past my guards.”
She almost shuddered. He knew what she was thinking.
He went on: “Given long enough, you’ll probably succeed. You may be foolish, but you’re sly.”
That was not unlike the way she thought of him.
“So how do I make sure you don’t have a chance to betray me to my enemies?”
Pia had a nightmarish premonition of what Troon was about to say.
“I have to tether you, like wandering goats.” He stood up. “From now until after Midsummer Day you will all be kept in your house, with the door permanently in place, and an armed guard outside.”
Duff said: “You can’t do that!”
“Shut your mouth, you young fool, or Hob will shut it for you with his stick.”
Hob hefted his club.
Duff still looked outraged, but he said nothing.
Troon went on: “You’ll be let out, one at a time, to go to the river and wash each morning, supervised by a guard. Yana can also milk the goats.”
Yana said: “But what about the wheat growing in our fields?”
