look her way.
Ishbel didn”t know what to do—she didn”t know what she wanted to do.
They traveled westward for two days, stopping at wayside inns at night. Ishbel”s nights
were as friendless as her days. Maximilian still shared a bed with her, but he did not curl about
her, keeping a vast physical and emotional distance from her within their bed.
On the second night out of Kyros, Ishbel tried to broach that distance.
They had eaten in the public room of the inn, and were now preparing for bed. They”d
been completely silent since entering their chamber.
Ishbel had stripped down to her undershift when, heart thudding in mouth, she decided to
speak.
“Maxel, please talk to me. What can I say to you? I had nothing to do with Borchard”s
death! I know nothing about why—”
“Then why were you there so soon after his murder? I”d left you asleep in bed, exhausted.
Why, then, were you up and running about when Borchard lay dying?”
Because the Great Serpent woke me, Maxel, and said there was a murderer in the house.
“I had a bad dream…I dreamed you were in danger. I…I had to—”
“I am sick of your lies, Ishbel. I am sorry, I am tired. I just want to sleep.”
He turned away.
Ishbel wanted to scream at him; instead the tears spilled over and she turned her back as
well, rubbing at her eyes. She waited until she heard Maximilian get into bed, then she blew out
the lamp and slid in the other side.
They lay there for hours, both awake, staring up into the dark emptiness.
Maximilian had finally dropped off, and was lost in a deep, dreamless sleep when a noise
disturbed his peace.
It sounded a little like Ishbel, crying out in fright.
He didn”t immediately respond. He was too tired, too disheartened, too confused to leap
immediately into wakefulness.
Ishbel cried out again, and this time he felt her body shift violently on the bed.
Finally, and now with some urgency, Maximilian roused himself.
The room was lit, something he would remember later as strange.
Armed men surrounded their bed, eight or nine of them, dressed in the colors and badges
of Malat of Kyros.
One of the men held a struggling Ishbel in his arms.
“King Malat sends greetings,” said this man. “He begs me to tell you that he wishes you
to suffer the same pain as he suffers. He hopes that one day, as you remember the night you lost
your wife, you also regret what you did to Malat, in Kyros. Take a long, hard look at your wife,
Maximilian, for it is the last sight you will ever have of her.”
Maximilian started to move, seeing only the terror and panic on Ishbel”s face, and the
brutal hand of her abductor gripping tight about her belly. But just as he swung toward the side
of the bed, something came down hard on the back of his head, and he knew no more.
CHAPTER NINE
The Road from Kyros to Escator, the Central Kingdoms
They enveloped her within a dark power that terrified Ishbel, and took her to a place that
she could not comprehend, for it, too, was wrapped in dark power. She had thought the Great
Serpent of infinite power, but he was a mere worm compared to the enchantment wielded by
these nine men. She could not think nor act. All Ishbel could do was breathe, and try to hold on
to life, and not panic—almost impossible given the circumstances.
She knew they were not Malat”s men, whatever they”d said to Maximilian. The man who
held her spoke with a voice that imitated the Kyrrian dialect, but which she recognized as a
fabrication. The man”s real voice, which she could hear shadowing the false one, was of an
intonation utterly unknown to her.
He held Ishbel in a grip so tight, so strong, so implacable, she thought he would murder
her. If not that, then she was sure he would crush the baby within her. In that first flush of sheer
terror, Ishbel didn”t care. She was in so much fear for her own life, which she was sure would be
cut short within a moment, that she had no concern for anyone else, whether her husband or her
child.
They took her to a dark place of power, and there they bound her and left her lying on a
cold, unknown floor.
Even though Ishbel stared wildly into the darkness, she could see nothing. For an
unknowable time she lay, her terror escalating with every breath, feeding her imagination until
she began to believe that they did not mean to murder her, but to torment her into insanity.
Ba”al”uz drew his Eight aside, leaving the woman, Ishbel, for the moment, and they
conversed in low tones so she could not hear them.
“Kanubai shall be pleased. We have the woman,” said Ba”al”uz. “She and her child will
make a lovely sacrifice.”
Ba”al”uz was more than content with events. The murder of Borchard had been masterful,
accomplished while Ba”al”uz was shrouded by Kanubai”s power, and would be sure to drag both
Kyros and Escator into the war that would soon consume the east.
And now they had Kanubai”s sacrifice. Ba”al”uz almost floated on the glow of
achievement.
“She”ll be trouble,” said Zeboul, the most senior of the Eight.
“We shan”t have to worry about that,” said Ba”al”uz. “I have just the thing.” He held up a
small vial. “Poison. Not enough to murder her—or her child—before Kanubai commands it, but
enough to keep her quiet.”
“And now?” asked another of the Eight, a man called Salim.
“Torment her,” said Ba”al”uz, “just a little to amuse ourselves and to ensure complete
compliance, and then we move down toward Deepend and the FarReach Mountains. You will
need to take her back to Isaiah—I really don”t care what he does with her so long as he keeps her
alive and under some semblance of control—while I attend to the other little matter Kanubai
requested.”
Now all eyes glinted with delight.
“The Weeper,” said Zeboul, for Ba”al”uz had told them about the object Kanubai desired.
“Yes,” said Ba”al”uz, “the Weeper. Just think, my brothers. With that and the woman and
her child…Kanubai shall reward us most handsomely, eh?”
CHAPTER TEN
The Road from Kyros to Escator, the Central Kingdoms
Maximilian remained unconscious for a good six hours after Ishbel”s kidnap and,
because no one had thought to disturb the king and queen in their bedchamber, there was no
alarm raised until Maximilian stumbled out of the chamber door, yelling for Egalion and the
Emerald Guard.
There was instant commotion. Not chaos, for Egalion took command, directing the
Emerald Guard to search the inn, all outbuildings, and the surrounding countryside.
“Are you certain these were Malat”s men?” Egalion asked Maximilian, now back in the
bedchamber, sitting on the edge of the bed, with Garth holding a compress against the swollen,
broken skin at the back of his head.
Maximilian nodded, then instantly regretted it, groaning. “Yes. Yes, they wore Malat”s
livery and badges. Shit! They said…they said that Malat sent greetings, and that he wants me to
suffer the same pain that he suffers. They said I would not see Ishbel again.”
Egalion and Garth exchanged a look.
“Maxel,” said Garth, “it might be that these were not Malat”s men at all, but—”
“Do not blame Ishbel for this!” Maximilian seethed, wrenching himself away from
Garth”s hands. He stopped, taking a deep breath. “I apologize, Garth. I should not have spoken
that way. I am racked with guilt at the way I treated Ishbel over the past few days…and you did
not see her face as those men held her. She was terrified. Gods, I am terrified for her now.”
Again a pause. “I find I do not much like the idea of never seeing her again,” he said
softly.
Garth gently put the compress back on Maximilian”s head. “There was nothing you could
have done, Maximilian. Do not blame yourself.”
“Yes, I blame myself,” said Maximilian. “What a muddle I have made of my marriage.
How could I have mismanaged it so desperately?”
“Maxel—” Garth began.
“And I should have known better than to lie so unprotected in a public inn. The assassin
who murdered Allemorte had been sent for Ishbel, I know this. Why did I not realize they would
try again?”
Egalion squatted on the floor in front of Maximilian so he could look him directly in the
face. “Maxel,” he said, “almost seven hours have passed since they stole Ishbel. They could be
anywhere. I have set the Emerald Guard to searching the inn and surrounding area, but I do not
expect to find them. Whether Malat”s men or others, they will be well away by now.”
Maximilian said nothing, and Egalion and Garth exchanged another look.
“We need to decide what to do,” said Egalion. “Whether to continue on for Escator,