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Tashi caught a glimpse of Ramil being led into an archway in the castle courtyard as she was
taken through a doorway on the opposite side. Gordoc followed an old maid up the spiral
staircase to a room at the top. The woman unlocked the door and ushered them into a
comfortable bedchamber, a copper bath already full of water in front of a fire. The hangings
were rich but, to Tashi's Blue Crescent eyes, too loud and busy, depicting the confusion of the
hunt and war. They clamored from the wall like a fanfare of trumpets, not the subtle whisper of
the silks hanging in her chambers back in Rama.
Gordoc placed her in an armchair.
"Farewell, Princess," he said with a bow.
"Thank you, Gordoc. You've been . . . been kind," Tashi said, sorry to see him go. When he was around, she had always been sure of having someone to speak up for her, even if he couldn't
protect her.
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Gordoc bowed again and shuffled out, leaving her alone with the maid. The woman was
watching her nervously.
Tashi sighed. "What's your name?" she asked, used to the hostile stares of these Easterners.
"Mergot," the woman said, adding no "my lady" or "your highness." Tashi let it pass.
"And who is your master, Mergot?"
"Lord Gunston, but that weren't him you saw earlier." Mergot began to unbutton the back of
Tashi's filthy white shift without so much as a "by your leave."
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Tashi resigned herself to this treatment. Clearly she was expected to bathe and hopefully
change into some fresh clothes. She felt weak but had no objection to the plan, so she allowed
Mergot to continue.
"So who did I speak to earlier?" She had thought him a demon conjured up by her illness, but it appeared he was flesh and blood, which was far more terrifying. Shakily, Tashi took Mergot's
arm and stepped into the bath.
"Only Lord Fergox Spearthrower himself, him that's going to save you."
Mergot's voice was proud.
Tashi had been preparing herself for bad news, but this was far worse than she had feared. The
Emperor himself! What price would he demand from her people for her return? "But I don't
need saving by him--I need rescuing from him."
Mergot laughed as if Tashi had just cracked a joke. "He said you'd be confused. He told me you
weren't really evil, not like the other three witches.
That's why
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I offered to look after you when none others wanted to. They said you'd curse them, but you
won't spell an old woman like me, will you?"
"I know no spells," Tashi replied quietly.
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The maid clucked sceptically and poured a basin of hot water over Tashi's hair. With rough
fingers, she washed away the dirt of the journey. The bathwater was filthy by the time she had
finished.
"There now," Mergot said, wrapping her in a towel and drying her like an infant. "You're to rest tonight. Our lord will see you tomorrow, he said, if you're strong enough."
Too exhausted to argue, Tashi nodded, pulled on the clean nightgown and climbed into the bed.
Mergot bustled round the room for a few more minutes, then left, carrying off Tashi's dirty
clothes in a bundle. The sheets smelt sweet; the bed was warm. Tashi heard the key turn in the
lock, then fell asleep.
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Chapter 6
Ramil had also bathed and changed but, unlike Tashi, he was expected to dine with Fergox that
evening. An armed guard escorted him down the dark, cramped corridors of the old castle keep
to Fergox's private chambers: no one here was taking any chances that he might escape again.
Ramil found the ruler of most of the known world reading by the fire, the leather-bound book
looking oddly small in his strong fists. Fergox threw it aside on his approach.
"Are you a scholar, Prince Ramil?" he asked, waving Ramil to a chair opposite him.
A servant carried in a small table and began to set it for supper.
"I can read, sir," replied Ramil, "if that's what you mean."
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Fergox smiled and tapped the cover of his book. "A soldier's answer. The ac Burinholts never
prized learning. Your scholars are much undervalued. That will change."
Ramil swallowed his bitter retort. Fergox was already reordering the kingdom he had not yet
conquered.
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"You are probably wondering what I have got planned for you," Fergox said in a friendly fashion, pouring two glasses of red wine. He sounded like a benefactor planning the career of a favorite
ward.
"It had crossed my mind, yes," Ramil answered sardonically.
"Ha!" Fergox raised a glass to him. "I like you. Plenty of spirit. I always rather admired the Burinholt dynasty."
"You have a strange way of showing your admiration: kidnapping me, locking me up with a tiger,
dragging me all the way from the border."
Fergox raised an eyebrow in interest. "My man locked you up with a tiger, did he? What, you
and my little Tashi?"
"Who?"
"The Princess Taoshira."
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Ramil nodded, wondering at the familiarity of tone.
"That was very imaginative of him. I suppose there was no other way of smuggling you across
the border. Orboyd is really one of my most useful spies."
The servants entered with the dinner. Produce from all over Spearthrower's empire had made
its way to his table. Ramil did not recognize some of the dishes but had no desire to display his
ignorance so ate everything without question.
"But back to the subject of your future," Fergox said, pouring some more wine. "I am in your debt, Prince. It was a lucky turn of fortune when your father and the old witches negotiated your
match to little Tashi. You cannot imagine how much easier it made
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my plans, for it brought the Blue Crescent Princess so close to my snares. I was going to have to
lure her from her island somehow but you did it for me."
Fergox reached out to a globe by his side and gave it a languid spin. "And it has all turned out far better than I could have hoped. As you may guess, the Blue Crescent is none too pleased that
you let the Princess be taken." He gave a rough laugh at Ramil's scandalized expression. "And some, thanks to the whispers circulated by my men, think you are to blame. Rumor has it that,
rather than wed her, you killed her in the forest and ran for the border."
Ramil put down his knife and fork, his appetite fled.
"There will be war between your two countries come spring. Your father will be only too
relieved to receive my offer of alliance. It will appear to him most . . . timely."
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"You are trapping him so you can take Gerfal without a fight?"
"Of course. I do not want to squander my men on your little kingdom when I have my sights set
on the much bigger prize to the west. He'll need my armies to defeat the Blue Crescent forces.
The price will be acknowledging me as overlord."
"Why not crush Gerfal, like you did Brigard?" Ramil tossed back his wine angrily.
Fergox gave him a cold smile. "What would be the point? I have a large empire to control. If I
can achieve my aims without wasting resources on unnecessary battles, then I will do so."
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"And what about me?"