Then she heard the room's door open and stirred herself to look toward it. The one who came in was a Sandeman, a warriors'-woman from the gold-gemmed ring she wore; Dana inclined her head in the closest she could come to a bow.
"Good afternoon, Dana," the w'woman said. "I am Mona, a warriors'-woman of Clan Lewies and your doctor. How do you feel?"
"Better than I would've thought possible when the warrior Garvey found me," Dana said. "Thanks for everything you've done for me."
"My pleasure," the w'woman said. "Fortunately you were found before your attackers did anything life-threatening to you, though some of your injuries could be classified as moderately serious for a Terran. I do have you on rapid-heal, since there was no infection. Except for your broken bones, you should be recovered in two weeks; those will take three to four."
Dana nodded, the reference to her broken bones bringing the casts on her arms to her attention, and she wondered again about their attackers. "How's my thakur? And what about the ones who attacked us?"
The doctor frowned. "Your thakur is fine, and wants to see you. I will permit that tomorrow morning; right now you still need to rest. As for your assailants, they are dead. Clan Torrance is particular about the safety of its guests, and the warrior Garvey caught them in the act. Two were kept alive long enough to question, and—" She broke off. "Garvey is an honorable man and would report what he was told accurately, but his prisoners might easily have lied to stop the interrogation."
Dana felt a sinking sensation. "What … what did they say?"
The doctor hesitated, clearly unwilling to tell her, but honesty was
too deeply ingrained in Sandemans for her to avoid it. "They said your thakur's chief representative here had hired them to ambush you, do ... what they did, and worse, then leave you to die of your injuries and exposure."
Dana swallowed past the lump that had appeared in her throat. That fit in all too well with her earlier feeling that they hadn't just been criminals. One starting to call his leader what sounded like "Cap," their avoidance of names, the leader's expertise with the baton… "Were they carrying any ID?"
"No."