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“Both the town and palace gates will be shut and guarded. How will you get her out?”

‘By the same ways we used when the orc queen escaped.”

“The Queen’s Men watch them now. You’ll be trapped in Taiben.”

Dar thought for a moment. “We’ll get her out,” she said. “You just do your part.”

Sevren gave an exaggerated bow. “Hai, Muth Mauk. I’ll return at dawn.” With that, he departed on his errand.

Dar told her mintaris they must get the washavoki queen away from Bah Simi. Then she discussed how to achieve that goal. Two shifts of orcs guarded Girta. A daytime pair stood watch while the city gates were open and were relieved just before they closed. Dar decided that one of the night guards would take the queen from her bedchamber before the palace rose at dawn.

Zna-yat raised the first problem. “We stand alone outside queen’s door, but somehow washavokis watch us. They’re close, for I hear and smell them.”

“I have also,” said one of the orc guards. “Wood covers wall opposite washavoki queen’s door. There is much carving in it, but there is also small hole in its pattern. Eye peers from it.”

“Is there just one looking-hole in wall?” asked Dar.

“Hai, only one,” replied the guard.

“Then if one son stands in front of it, washavoki can’t see queen’s door,” said Dar. “Other son might enter it.”

“Then what?” asked Kovok-mah.

“Queen must be taken from room. Remember hidden way we took to reach Black Washavoki’s tower?” asked Dar, referring to the passageway that allowed servants to move about unseen.

“I remember it,” said Kovok-mah.

“At night, washavokis don’t use it,” said Dar.

“I don’t think Quengirta will be willing to go,” said Zna-yat. “She fears us.”

The orcs had no word for “kidnap,” and the idea was alien to them. Dar had difficulty conveying how a mother could be taken against her will. She described in detail how Girta would have to be gagged, bound, bundled up, and carried away. When Dar finished, she could see that the orcs were uneasy with

the idea. Regardless, she never doubted they would obey her.

After Girta was secured, one of her abductors would have to carry her through the servant passageway to the palace kitchen, which had exits to the courtyard. Under the cover of darkness, the queen would be taken to the stables. Zna-yat suggested placing her in the latrine set aside for orcs, since washavokis never used it. Dar agreed that Girta should be hidden there until the city gates opened and the orc guards were changed. The departing orcs would retrieve Girta. One orc would strap her to the other’s back. Then, hiding her beneath his cloak, he would sneak her through the gates.

Every step involved risks that could easily result in disaster. Dar gambled that Girta could be quickly enlightened about Kol and Othar’s schemes and returned to the palace before she was discovered missing. If that could happen, the outcome would be worth the perils it required.

Having determined the basic plan, Dar and the orcs refined its details. Dar described the servant passageway that she had used while serving in the palace. Zna-yat and Kovok-mah volunteered to take the queen. Though reluctant to choose them for the task, Dar did so because they were the most logical choice. Both had used the servant passageway. Also, Zna-yat had experience as a guard and Kovok-mah could communicate with Girta. After that was decided, bindings and a gag were made. Two cloaks were sewn together to make a wrapping in which to bundle the queen. A means to secure her to Kovok-mah’s back was also devised.

In both its broad outline and details, the plan was essentially Dar’s. Accustomed to obeying, the sons didn’t question its soundness. No one said the scheme was hastily conceived or overly complicated. Although based on sketchy information, its assumptions went unchallenged. If Dar wanted the washavoki queen, Kovok-mah and Zna-yat would get her. Or they’d die trying.

Thirty-seven

Taiben’s gates closed at sunset, so Kovok-mah and Zna-yat arrived there well before then. A storm threatened, and blowing snow caused the Queen’s Men at the gate to huddle around a small fire, where they paid little attention to the orcs. The guards at the palace gates also admitted them without question.

Because evening came early in the winter, the two orcs had to stand guard through dinner. The banquet wasn’t a formal one, and fewer people were present than when Dar was hosted. Still, as Kovok-mah and Zna-yat stood to the rear of Queen Girta, they found the company odorous and loud. The two orcs remained motionless throughout the meal, and the diners treated them as a pair of grotesque statues.

When the banquet was over, the queen retired to her private apartments. Kovok-mah and Zna-yat followed her and stationed themselves outside her door. It was located in the middle of a long hallway on the fourth floor of the palace. The corridor was wood-paneled, and along its length ran a wide band of decorative carvings. The two orcs scanned its wooden leaves, birds, and fruit for the peephole. In the dim hallway, even their keen eyes had trouble spotting it. When Zna-yat found it, he left his post flanking the queen’s door, and stood in front of it awhile.

“What are you doing?” asked Kovok-mah, confident no listening washavoki understood Orcish. “It’s

too early for that.”

“They must grow accustomed to me doing this,” replied Zna-yat. “That way, they won’t think it’s unusual when I block their view at proper time.”

Kovok-mah tried to make sense of Zna-yat’s reply, but lacking his cousin’s grasp of deception, he failed to see its logic. Nevertheless, Kovok-mah accepted his explanation. Zna-yat thinks like Dargu, he thought. He understands her plans better than I.

The palace gradually grew quieter as its occupants retired. Girta’s attendants left her apartments for their quarters. The traffic in and out of the doorway to the servant passageway diminished, then ceased altogether. Three of the oil lamps illuminating the corridor went out, but no one relit them. The orcs’ keen ears occasionally heard soft noises made by the spies hidden behind the wooden paneling. In time, they were the only sounds of human activity. Otherwise, the palace was deathly quiet except for the creaks and groans of an old building on a chill night. Zna-yat periodically moved to block the peephole. When the night was old, he did it again and motioned that it was time to act.

Kovok-mah quietly entered the queen’s apartments. Speed was essential, but he had never been there before, and he had no idea where the queen slept. The entrance chamber had five doors within it, and he cautiously opened each to peer into the room beyond. None was for sleeping, and all the rooms contained additional doors. I must search further, he thought.

“It’s doin’ it again,” said one of the Queen’s Men.

“Doin’ what?” asked his companion.

“Standin’ in front of the other spy hole.”

“So, what else is new?”

“Nothin’. Most like, it’s as bored as.. .Nay, wait! The other piss eye just entered the queen’s door.”

“Let me see,” said the second Queen’s Man. He put his eye to the spy hole and peered down the length of the hallway. There was only one orc visible. “Well suck Karm’s tits,” swore the man. “And I thought piss eyes weren’t sly.” He turned when he heard his companion draw his sword. “Sheath that! We’re to do nothin’ without the Queen’s Man’s say.”

“Nothin’?”

“Aye, nothin’, ’cept to report what’s happenin’. So, go tell him.”

“You mean wake him?”

“Aye, ye stupid arse, and be quick about it. I’ll keep an eye on the piss eyes.”

Girta woke with a start as a huge hand clamped over her mouth. She opened her eyes and saw a nightmare shape bent over her. It spoke in a low whisper. “I will not hurt you. You will be safe.”