"You break promise!"
"I said I would drink a potion of forgetfulness," Ruha snapped. "That is a love potion, and I assure you that without fresh ylang blossoms, it could not possibly be strong enough."
With that, the witch brushed past her astonished cap- tors. She snatched herjambiya off a table, then stepped into the protection of Yu Po and his guards. "Will you please take me out of here?"
The adjutant waved her through the door. They climbed a set of stone stairs and exited the spicehouse via a secret door. With two guards leading the way and two following behind, the young Shou escorted Ruha past the enclosure where Tang kept his pet lizards, through a wicket door in the bulwark that separated the rear
grounds from those in front, and straight toward the main gates. As they walked, Yu Po said nothing and stared straight ahead, pretending not to see the many puzzled residents of the Ginger Palace who had gathered
to watch them leave.
By the time they passed through the gateway, Ruha had untied her veil and fastened it back into place over her face. She found Vaerana and Fowler, now dressed in his customary trousers and tunic, waiting for her on the portico. The Lady Constable glowered at Ruha, then took her by the arm and hustled her down the stairs toward the white-bricked avenue, where a long line of driverless wagons stood drawn up alongside the ginkgo forest. Min- ister Hsieh and the caravan drivers were huddled together on the opposite side of the road, surrounded by a
circle of mounted Maces.
As soon as their feet touched the white bricks, Vaerana released Ruha and glared down at Yu Po-she was a full head taller than most of the Shou. "Wait here. I'll send
Minister Hsieh along when I'm sure the witch is
unharmed."
"That is not our agreement."
"All right-I'll let the mandarin go when I'm good and ready," Vaerana growled. "If you don't like that, go back and fetch your little prince. I'll trade Hsieh for him any- time."
Yu Po's nostrils flared ever so slightly, but he bowed and did his best to conceal his outrage.
The Lady Constable led the way a short distance down the white-bricked avenue, and then, a dozen paces before they reached Tombor and the horses, suddenly stopped.
She grabbed Ruha's arm and, unable to control her anger another moment, dragged the witch off the road. With
Fowler following close behind, the two women slipped between two driverless wagons and walked twenty paces into the forest, where the fan-leafed ginkgo trees were so thick that it would be impossible for anyone on the road-Shou or otherwise-to see or hear what passed
between them.
"This is worse than Voonlar!" Vaerana hissed. "Couldn't you spend even one night without getting caught? I
almost didn't make it back in time to save you."
"I did not need to be saved!" Arguing with the Lady
Constable would do little to improve her standing with the Harpers, but she was as angry as Vaerana-and with better reason. "Yu Po could not have arrived at a worse time."
"I suppose Prince Tang was going to hand the staff over?" Vaerana tugged derisively at the heavy cloth of
Ruha's aba. "And what's this? Is this what you think a
Sembite spice trader looks like?"
"I know less about Sembite spice traders than you do about good manners," Ruha shot back. "It was better to pose as someone I could impersonate."
Vaerana narrowed her eyes and moved forward until she was standing chin-to-chin with the witch. "We found out in Voonlar what happens when you think. You should've done what I said."
Fowler slipped an arm between Vaerana and Ruha. "If she'd done what you wanted, we'd still be sitting in the courtyard with that back-stabbing dwarf Tombor claimed was a guide." The captain pushed the women apart, then interposed himself between them. "It was only the Lady
Witch's disguise and her quick thinking that got us invited to stay the night at all."
Vaerana's eyes widened at the rebuke. Her cheeks turned crimson and she dropped her eyes in embarrass- ment. "I shouldn't be sharpening my blade on you, Witch.
Whatever happened, your life was the one at risk." She backed away and said, "Why don't you tell us what hap- pened?"
Ruha glanced at Fowler. "I do not know how much the captain could tell you-"
"Not much," Fowler interjected. "I waited all night for you to come back and started to worry when you didn't return before dawn. Then the Shou went crazy, running
all over swinging their boarding pikes around like they were trying to cut up the air, and I knew they had to be looking for you. I cut a hole through the roof of the guest house, then climbed over the wall and ran for the trees.
Sorry I didn't stay, but I wasn't going to be much help."
"You made the right choice," Ruha replied. "And mat- ters did not go so badly."
Vaerana's eyes lit up. "Then you know where the staff
is?"
Ruha shook her head. "I am sorry. But I do know it is
not inside the Ginger Palace."
A dark curtain descended over Vaerana's face. "Not inside? But it's Shou magic stealing Yanseldara's spirit-
my sages are sure of it!"
"Yes, and Prince Tang's mother is casting the spell, as you suspected," Ruha said. "But Lady Feng has been
abducted."
"Someone stole her?" Fowler's tone was incredulous.
"From the Ginger Palace?"
Ruha nodded, then described all that she had discov- ered, from Lady Feng's starving familiar to Prince Tang's unwitting enrollment in the Cult of the Dragon.
Vaerana listened rather impatiently until the witch finished, then regarded her with a thoughtful expression.
"It looks like I owe you an apology-if you're sure of this."
"Of everything I have described, yes," Ruha replied.
"But I do not understand why the cult is going to all this trouble to steal Yanseldara's spirit. Wouldn't it have been simpler for them just to kill her?"
Vaerana made a half-nod. "Sure, but then they wouldn't rule Elversult. If they control Yanseldara, they
control the city."
Though not entirely satisfied with Vaerana's explana- tion, Ruha lacked a better one and saw no use in jeopar- dizing their developing truce by contradicting the Lady
Constable.
"Assuming you are correct, the cult may be further
from its goal than we think," Ruha said. 'To complete the
theft ofYanseldara's spirit, the Cult of the Dragon needs something more from Prince Tang."
"What?" Vaerana demanded, once again sounding impatient and pushy. "If we deny them, can we stop
Yanseldara from getting any sicker?"
"I could not learn the answer to either of your ques- tions." Ruha looked away from Vaerana's disappointed face, restraining the urge to add that the Lady Con- stable's'rescue' had ruined her chances of discovering more. "The cult could need anything: an instrument from