She shyly pushed open the door, to find Ehirme sitting glumly at a table, paring turnips for the supper soup.
Ehirme stared in astonishment. "And what are you doing here?"
"I don't like Dame Maugelin. I've come to live with you."
"Ah, little princess, but that won't do! Come, we must get you back before there's an outcry. Who saw you leave?"
"No one."
"Come then; quickly now. If any should ask, we're just out for the air."
"I don't want to stay there alone!"
"Suldrun, my dearest, you must! You're a royal princess, and you may never forget it! That means you do as you're told. Come along now!"
"But I won't do as I'm told, if it means that you'll be gone."
"Well, we'll see. Let's hurry; maybe we can slip in with none the wiser."
But Suldrun already had been missed. While her presence at Haidion meant nothing particular to anyone, her absence was a matter of great import. Dame Maugelin had searched the entire East Tower, from the garret under the roof-slates, which Suldrun was known to visit (Skulking and hiding, the secret little imp! thought Dame Maugelin), down through the observatory where King Casmir came to assess the harbor beyond, down through the chambers on the next floor, which included Suldrun's rooms. Finally, hot, tired and apprehensive, she descended to the main floor, to halt in mingled relief and fury to see Suldrun and Ehirme push open the heavy door and come quietly into the foyer at the end of the main gallery. In an angry swirl of robes Dame Maugelin descended the last three stairs and advanced upon the two. "Where have you been? We are all in a state of supreme anxiety. Come; we must find Dame Boudetta; the matter is in her hands."
Dame Maugelin marched off down the gallery and along a side corridor to Dame Boudetta's office, with Suldrun and Ehirme following apprehensively behind.
Dame Boudetta heard Dame Maugelin's excited report and looked back and forth between Suldrun and Ehirme. The matter seemed of no great moment; in fact, trivial and tiresome. Still, it represented a certain amount of insubordination and so must be dealt with, briskly and decisively. The question of fault was irrelevant; Dame Boudetta ranked Suldrun's intelligence, sluggish though it might be, about on a par with the moony peasant stupidity of Ehirme. Suldrun, of course, could not be punished; even Sollace would rise in wrath, to learn that royal flesh had been scourged.
Dame Boudetta dealt practically with the affair. She turned a cold gaze upon Ehirme. "Now then, woman, what have you done?"
Ehirme, whose mind indeed was not agile, looked blankly at Dame Boudetta. "I have done nothing, my Lady." Then, hoping to ease matters for Suldrun, she blundered on: "It was just one of our little walks we were having. Wasn't it. Princess dear?"
Suldrun, looking from hawk-like Dame Boudetta to portly Dame Maugelin, discovered only expressions of cold dislike. She said: "I went for a walk; that is true."
Dame Boudetta turned upon Ehirme. "How dare you take such liberties upon yourself! Were you not dismissed from your post?"
"Yes, my Lady, but it wasn't like that at all—"
"Tush, no more. I will hear no excuses." Boudetta signaled to a footman. "Take this woman to the yard and assemble the staff."
Sobbing in bewilderment Ehirme was led to the service yard beside the kitchen, and a gaoler was summoned down from the Peinhador. The palace staff was marshaled to watch, while Ehirme was bent over a trestle by a pair of footmen in Haidion livery. The gaoler came forward: a burly black-bearded man with a pallid, almost lavender, skin. He stood idly by, staring at the maids and twitching his scourge of willow-withes.
Dame Boudetta stood on a balcony, with Dame Maugelin and Suldrun. In a clear nasal voice she cried out: "Attention, staff! I cite this woman, Ehirme, for malfeasance! Through folly and carelessness she sequestered the person of beloved Princess Suldrun, to cause us grief and consternation. Woman, can you now claim contrition?"
Suldrun cried out: "She didn't do anything! She brought me home!"
Beset by that peculiar passion which attends those at an execution, Dame Maugelin dared so far as to pinch Suldrun's arm and drew her roughly back. "Silence!" she hissed.
Ehirme bawled: "I'm shamed if I did wrong! I only walked the Princess home, in haste."
Dame Boudetta suddenly, in all clarity, perceived the truth of the matter. Her mouth sagged. She stepped forward. Events had gone too far; her dignity was at stake. No doubt Ehirme had escaped punishment for other offenses. There was always her presumptuous behavior to be paid off.
Dame Boudetta raised her hand. "For all, a lesson to be learned! Work dutifully! Never presume! Respect your superiors! Watch and take heed! Warden! Eight strokes, stringent but just."
The gaoler stood back, pulled a black executioner's mask over his face, then advanced upon Ehirme. He threw her brown furze skirt up over her shoulders, exposing a pair of ample white buttocks. He raised the switches high. Thwish-wack! A gasping cry from Ehirme. From the onlookers, a mingling of indrawn breaths and titters.
Dame Boudetta looked on impassively. Dame Maugelin showed a pursing mindless smile. Suldrun stood silently, biting her lower lip. With self-critical deliberation the gaoler wielded the scourge. While not a kindly man, he had no taste for pain and today he was in good humor. He contrived a mighty effort, swinging his shoulders, lurching, grunting, but laid small actual weight into his strokes and took away no skin. Ehirme nevertheless bellowed with each stroke, and all were awed by the severity of her thrashing.
"... seven.. .eight. Enough," declared Dame Boudetta. "Trinthe, Molotta; attend the woman; dress her body with good oil, and send her home. The rest of you: return to your work!"
Dame Boudetta turned, marched from the balcony into a parlor for high-caste servants, such as herself, the seneschal, the bursar, the sergeant of the palace guards and the master steward where they could take refreshment and confer. Dame Maugelin and Suldrun followed.
Dame Boudetta faced Suldrun, to find her already halfway to the door. "Child! Princess Suldrun! Where are you going?"
Dame Maugelin ran heavy-legged to stand in Suldrun's way.
Suldrun halted, and looked from woman to woman, her eyes glinting with tears.
"Please give me your attention, Princess," said Dame Boudetta. "We are starting something new, which perhaps has been delayed too long: your education. You must learn to be a lady of esteem and dignity. Dame Maugelin will instruct you."
"I don't want her."
"Nevertheless, you shall have her, by particular order of gracious Queen Sollace."
Suldrun looked up full into Dame Boudetta's face. "Someday I will be Queen. Then you will be whipped."
Dame Boudetta opened her mouth, then shut it again. She took a quick step toward Suldrun, who stood half-passive, half-defiant. Dame Boudetta halted. Dame Maugelin, grinning mirthlessly, watched from the side, eyes looking in several directions.
Dame Boudetta spoke in a croaking voice, painfully gentle. "Now then, Princess Suldrun, I act only from devotion to yourself. It is not meet for either queen or princess to use peevish vindictiveness."
From Dame Maugelin came an unctuous corroboration: "So it is indeed. Remember the same for Dame Maugelin!"
"The punishment is now accomplished," declared Dame Boudetta, still using a careful and strained voice. "Everyone will surely be the better for it; now we must put it from our minds. You are the precious Princess Suldrun, and honest Dame Maugelin will instruct you in the proprieties."
"I do not want her. I want Ehirme."
"Tush now, be complaisant."
Suldrun was taken to her chamber. Dame Maugelin plumped herself in a chair, and began to work embroidery. Suldrun went to the window and stared out across the harbor.