***
Sohorkon, separated from Siri’ Bhu, sat in his cell waiting for something . . . anything to happen. As soon as he'd been locked in he'd gone to the water basin and scrubbed his face and hands. There was only so much he could do to get clean. They at least could have allowed him to get a fresh change of clothing. He knew, though, his captors couldn't take the chance someone else in the palace would see him or that he'd escape and cause them mischief.
That's exactly what he'd do, too. Cause mischief. A great deal of it.
He'd been sitting in the cell for several hours when he heard the soft footpads of approach. They were eerily quiet compared to the noise booted soldiers would make walking through the deserted cells in this section.
Must be Pontu' Gi, he thought. He was right. Between two guards was Siri' Bhu. At least she'd been given fresh clothes and allowed to bathe. Of that he was glad. Her wound had badly needed cleaning.
Sohorkon watched her steps. She was still tired, but feeling better. Hopefully the doctors had been able to treat her wound so it would heal completely, as long as she was able to rest. He had a feeling they were going to get a lot of rest in this cell. Then a thought occurred. They couldn't have allowed Siri to see any doctors. Yah' Winn would need to keep their presence secret. The thought only increased his anger.
One Pontu' Gi stood guard next to the barred door, knife drawn, while the other opened the cell and gestured for Siri to step inside. The door clanged shut behind her and Sohorkon helped her over to the cot he'd been sitting on. At least they'd put them together. That could be awkward when privacy was needed, but there was no privacy in the block anyway. The cells had no solid walls so guards could easily keep an eye on all prisoners. It was built that way for a reason. He'd helped design them.
"Come, sit." Sohorkon helped her to settle gingerly on the cot. "Did you see a physician?"
"Of a sort, I suppose. One of the Pontu' Gi seemed to know the cleaning and bandaging of wounds."
"I was afraid of that." Sohorkon said. "The least they could have done is have a decent doctor look at you."
"It's okay. The Pontu' Gi seemed competent enough. He put some salve on it that helped with the pain, and I think it drives away infection too. It stung a little. I feel better now that they let me clean up." She looked at Sohorkon with a smile of apology that he hadn't been accorded the same treatment.
Siri glanced out of the cell toward the far end of the block.
"Theyre still there, I think,” Sohorkon said. “You can't see them because they blend in when they want. I tried to listen and I don't think they went far."
"Oh," was all she said then raised an eyebrow in a silent question.
"We're going to be here a while. I helped design these cells. With my devious mind, I tried to think of all the possible ways someone could escape, and put in defenses against them all. Unless you can come up with a plan I didn't think of, we're here for the long haul." That grated him most of all. He needed to get out.