PART II Chapter 9

After she had eaten hungrily of the simple food that had been prepared for her, Quingli led Ashanta to a new room, this one also in the main building, and sent the child, who appeared, seemingly from nowhere, to get the others, and Brother Bardosh from the apartment where they were resting. Ashanta sat comfortably in the largest chair, and the other, smaller chairs were grouped around it in such a way that it was clear that it was she who was in charge of the meeting and none other. It was not long before the three of them arrived, Brother Bardosh looked exhausted and Sharra shamefaced, but the expression on Lingqui's face was one of such anger that Ashanta was frightened. Brother Bardosh walked up  to Quingli and spoke quietly with him, and Ashanta overheard him say, "Lingqui is angry. He feels that he is the wise one, and that his decisions should be law. He had, I think, surprising power under King Rafe, and while he knew that he would lose that power in helping the queen to escape, he now feels that loss acutely. Were I you, I would send him away again during this talk, lest he poison it with his rage."

"Nay good brother, that I will not do, for his input is important, but I will order him to be silent and I will have him gagged, yes even my own blood, if he cannot manage it on his own." Brother Bardosh had to be content with that, and he walked over and sat down beside Sharra.

Quingli ordered Lingqui to remain silent, provoking a murderous glare from the jester, and then smiled at Ashanta and told her to begin.

"I will begin by telling you of a dream that I had this day," said Ashanta. "In my dream there was a mountain, so high that its top was nearly hidden by the clouds and with sides so straight and smooth and hard that they might have been made of diamond. At the top of the mountain was a small house, though I could not have told you how it came to be there. It was clear that no man or beast could have scaled the mountain, and the top was so high that even the eagles must despair of ever reaching it. As I watched, the door of the house was opened and a child stepped through the door. It was a girl of perhaps seven years of age, and she looked so like me that I thought that at first I must be looking at myself in an earlier time. Then she turned and smiled at me and I saw that 'twas not me that I saw but my own child.

"The dream changed then. The house was lowered to the ground and the fields of grass around the mountain because fields of corn and wheat and some other crop whose name I did not know, and whose form I did not recognize. Again the child appeared running out through the door, but this time she was accompanied by other children, some older and some younger, and they played together in the yard beside the house. After some time, the door opened again and a woman came out and called to the children, though not in any language that I understood, and I saw the children, all of them, run into the house, and the one that was my daughter ran with them.

"Then the dream shifted again, and I saw the house once more surrounded by the fields of grain, but now the wheat was beginning to turn golden, and the ears of corn were fat upon their stalks. Again I saw the child, though she was but two years old now, and walking through the corn with the woman and another child that seemed to be of the same age as my child. The children held hands as they walked sedately through the corn, and the woman carried a basket filled with ears of corn over one arm. I saw them enter into the house through the door. I awoke then and went to the window to think over what I had been shown in my dreams, for it seemed that the dreams were of my child, and that she was in some different place, and that she was happy and well cared for."

Ashanta hesitated then, for she was not certain that she wished to share with the others the remainder of the dream that she had had. She had the message from the dragon, but she was not sure that she wanted to give in so easily. Would they think that it was they who had convinced her to change her mind? It was not them, of that she was sure.

"May I speak?" Sharra asked gently. When Quingli nodded at her, she continued, "Do you truly believe that the dreams that you had were of your child? And perhaps a more important question, do you believe that they showed what would be, or what you wished for there to be?"

"They did not show what I wished for," Ashanta spoke confidently, "for the mother in the dreams was not me. I was not in them, but some other woman was raising my child. I believe also that they were dreams of my child, though perhaps they will prove true and perhaps not."

"If the dreams are true, then they are a form of prophecy," Brother Bardosh pointed out gently, "and we must ask whether you have had the gift of prophecy in the past, or whether this is new for you."

"The Dragon King has appeared to me in my dreams," admitted Ashanta to him, "and he has spoken to me then of the future. I cannot summon those dreams at will, but they come when he wants. The first occurred for three consecutive nights about eight months ago. He told me that I would conceive a child, and that the child would be of him, rather than of my husband, and that the child would save the kingdom of the Shauvrin from some grave danger in the years to come. The prophecy about the pregnancy proved to be true. We do not yet know about the rest."


"And think you that the dragon has sent you these latest insights?" probed Quingli gently. "If it is the case, then perhaps we should take the visions seriously. Otherwise, our minds are often full of strange things and ideas when we sleep."

"I think," Ashanta hesitated and then finished in a rush, "I think that the dream did come from the dragon. There are two reasons for that. One is that while I was looking out of the window of my room at the mountain range in the distance, I felt suddenly overcome with fatigue. In fact, I was so overcome that I was unable even to walk to the bed, which was mere steps away from the window. I fell asleep on the stone floor of the room." She reached up to touch her face gingerly, "You can see here the bruise from the stones. The only other time I have experienced fatigue so sudden and so severe was the third night of the series of dreams that I had before my pregnancy. I was in the tower with Lingqui, keeping watch for signs of the dragon while Sharra watched for him from below. I was suddenly overcome with exhaustion and fell asleep, and then the dragon appeared to me."

"Did the dragon appear to you in this dream?" asked Quingli, leaning forward in his eagerness.

Ashanta nodded slowly, not yet certain whether or not she wished to speak of it.

"And he spoke to you," Sharra said, "I can see it on your face. You do not need to tell us what he said, though perhaps it will make our decision easier. If, for example, the dragon said that the child should be kept here in the monastery then that would be something that we should take very seriously."

"Are you serious?" Lingqui broke in angrily. "Are you truly going to base your decision about the future of this very important child on the words of a dragon in a dream! The idea is pre—"

"Silence!" shouted Quingli. "Brother, if you cannot listen without interrupting then I must have you gagged."

"May I speak?" Sharra asked quietly. After being given permission she spoke quietly, choosing her words carefully. "Lingqui, this whole thing is based on believing that Highness had a dream of a dragon, that the dragon prophecied about the child in her womb, and that these prophecies will come true. If you do not believe this, then you should never have left the castle. There are many ways that women get pregnant that don't involve dreams about dragons. They are rather more common than the manner in which Highness appears to have conceived. Surely one of the men of the castle could be framed to take the blame. Instead you decided to believe that the child in her womb is the child of the Dragon King, and you have acted accordingly. Remember that the only reason to believe that is because you trust the prophecy of the dragon.

"Furthermore, if you do not believe the prophecies of which Highness has spoken, why then worry about the safety of the child. She will have no special role to play, no special talents or abilities. She will be, merely, the product of a night's entertainment for a rather fallen queen and some man of the castle. We will never know who, but surely it would not be worth wasting our time and energy on keeping such a child safe. No, it seems to me that either you accept the whole package: dragon conception, kingdom savior, and all of that, or you reject it entirely. And if the dragon has indeed appeared to Highness once more, then the latest prophecies must be given the same weight as the earlier, or all must be thrown out."

Lingqui nodded. "Continue," he said to Ashanta.

She took a deep breath and began the rest of her story. "As was saying before, the dragon appeared to me once again in a dream today, and he spoke with me. He told me that our child must indeed be sent into another time for her safety and the future of the kingdom." She held up her hand for silence and Lingqui opened his mouth to interrupt. "He told me that the child should be sent into the future, and also that you must allow him, acting through me, to guide you in what you do, for if you choose wrongly or act carelessly, then far more than our kingdom may be destroyed in the error."

"But you have said that you cannot control when you have these visions," Sharra protested. "How then can we know what the proper route is to take?"

"The dragon said to me that he can no longer assume his physical form, but that he can come to me in dreams whenever he wishes. He has promised to train me so that I can have visions of him when awake as well, and so that I can summon the visions at will. It will, I think, probably take some time."

"You can remain here for as long as you wish to," offered Quingli, "and we will do our utmost to keep you safe."

Ashanta inclined her head toward the monk, once more the royal queen, "I am grateful for the offer, but I think that we will depart tomorrow. Though he did not speak of it, I suspect that the presence of the dragon will become stronger the closer we are to his mountain."

Quingli nodded. "I understand. We will equip you well for your journey, for you must have food and drink for many days, and many blankets for the nights on the mountain will be cold. And now, I suggest that we all sleep, so that we may be ready for a hard walk tomorrow."

PART II Chapter 8

When Ashanta woke up some hours later she found Sharra and Lingqui talking quietly together in the sitting area, nibbling on slices of mango and with cups of tea at hand. They looked up when they heard her footsteps, and Sharra said softly, "We should have spoken to you about our plans before, and taken your opinions into account. Quingli was right to  demand that we discuss things with you, though we resisted him."

Ashanta nodded, and took a seat near the low table in the center of the room. "Thank you for listening to him. I will hear what you have to say now, and then I will tell you what I think. I will give full consideration to what you suggest, but I also want to tell you that if I think that your ideas have no merit, or that you are not giving consideration to what I have to say, then I will ask Quingli to give me refuge here until the babe is born, and then travel with her to some distant corner of the land and hide there until she is of age to do something to save the kingdom."

Lingqui began, "Highness, we have given a great deal of thought to the best way to keep you and your baby safe from King Rafe. To begin with, I think that we must be working under the assumption that King Rafe will see your child as a threat to the line of succession of the kings of the Shauvrin, and that he will not rest until he believes the child dead. Though we have tried to convince him that you have been killed by wild animals, leaving your bloodstained clothes to be found by hunters, it is by no means certain that they will be found. The could be destroyed by animals, or simply lie undiscovered until such time as they have disintegrated completely. Even if they are found, and recognized as your clothing, the king may not believe them to be proof of your death. He is a suspicious man, and sly, and this has stood him in good stead many times in his life. Now, however, it is very much to our disadvantage, as we cannot assume that he will be easily persuaded by our trickery."

"So you believe that the king will not believe that I have perished?" demanded Ashanta. "Why then did you bother to set my clothing as a trap?"

"You could not wear your royal clothing anymore without raising suspicion in any who saw you," observed Sharra, "and though the clothing might not convince the King that you had been killed, whoever found the clothing would likely spend valuable time returning the clothing to the castle. With luck, it will get us an extra couple of days lead on them."

"To continue," Lingqui went on, "we cannot assume that the king has decided that you must be dead, and so we must plan for the eventuality that he is still searching for you. It seems then that there are choices that we must make for us, and for the child. I will attempt to set before you the options that Sharra and I considered before reaching our decision, and I hope that Sharra will interrupt me if she can strengthen my position by her words. It seems to me that there are three main possibilities here, with many variations in the details. I speak for now in generalities, and perhaps we can discuss the specifics of the various cases later.

"One possible approach would be for Highness and the child to go into hiding here in the kingdom of the Shauvrin. I believe that this is probably the approach that will seem the most appealing to you, Highness, for it would allow you to remain in familiar surroundings, and to remain in contact with your child. The king will, I believe, continue his search for you, and there will be significant rewards offered for your discovery. What tenant farmer would not leap at the chance to have his own property? Remember that, unlike the average farmer's wife, you have been drawn and painted, and your likeness has been circulated throughout the kingdom. A veritable army of painters will be brought in to copy pictures of you, and every village will have your face hanging throughout. It will be very difficult, under these circumstances to remain hidden.

"A second possibility is to send both of you across the borders and into some other kingdom. While this would likely remove the threat of the king seeking you out, for what power does he have beyond his own borders, you would come under threat from the people of the other kingdom, and your child along with you. They might take you for a spy, for your language will be strange to them. If you come under suspicion of that type, you will certainly be killed, or at the least imprisoned. They may try to use you in a prisoner swap, and then you would fall back into the hands of King Rafe, who will not, let me assure you, be likely to be as forbearing the second time he finds you. Nay, I believe the second option to be as dangerous, though perhaps in a different way, as the first.

"That leaves us with the third option, which Sharra and I believe offers the best hope for security for the child, though it will without doubt prove to be the hardest on you. That is to move the child away from us not geographically, where she might be found, but rather temporally, to a place where she will be out of the reach of the king's will, whether it be for good or for ill —"

"I do not see how this can be the safest route for the child," Ashanta broke in angrily. "I can appreciate that there are risks in the other two choices, but they are known risks, and because they are known we have the ability to ameliorate them, though perhaps not negate them entirely. There are surely risks in this, this, temporal displacement as well, but they are not risks that we can know or understand and so we have no way of preparing to deal with them. And the suggestion that you send a tiny infant off to deal with them alone would be laughable were it not my child we were speaking of."

"The child would not have to deal with the risks along," Sharra said gently. "Of course an infant could not simply be brought into some other time and left there. Perhaps you would be willing to listen while we outline some of the precautions that we would take?"

Ashanta nodded, looking sullen, "I will listen, though I do not promise to agree to the suggestions."

"That is the best that we can expect for now," said Sharra, and then, "Lingqui, would you like to continue, or shall I?"

"I will continue, Lingqui said. "The first concern that we thought needed to be addressed was the issue of who would take care of the infant. Clearly a newborn cannot care for herself, even in a non hostile world, and we can have only limited knowledge of the world into which we are sending her. Our thought was to scout ahead of time, and to place her as a foster child in the home of some family of middle means. Ideally, we would place her with a family that had just had a baby, and so the mother would be able to feed both of the babies."

"Oh, and I suppose you're just going to waltz in, explain to the family what is going on, and they will, naturally, agree to care for my infant as well as their own, and then you can waltz out and reclaim her once she's old enough to do her thing to save the kingdom," Ashanta scoffed. "That seems real likely to work."

Lingqui looked angry, "No, of course not. We could try more than one family if we needed to — "

"How many will you need to try? And they can't all be in the same area, because people talk to each other and a weird looking man, because you will be weird looking if you're going to take the baby to another time, trying to hand off an infant to some other family is going to attract attention. Far more attention than I will attract if we just stay in some inconvenient corner of the kingdom! Honestly, I cannot see how any king could have taken you as an advisor right now. The world in your head is an idealized version of the one we live in, and you're idealizing other times to a ridiculous extent."

"But Highness," Sharra said gently, "we have thought about the possibilities—"

"You may have thought about them, but you've completely trivialized everything that could go wrong!" Ashanta was dimly aware that she was shouting now, but she could not find the control to lower her voice. She was so angry that she was shaking.

Vaguely, she became aware of footsteps, and then Quingli entered the room, together with the child and the monk who had helped to row them across the river. He quickly assessed the situation. "I see that the three of you are not able to have a discussion about this right now. Ashanta, I ask that you come with me. Sharra and Lingqui, please remain here with Brother Bradosh. He will speak with you, and bring you out to dinner when it is served."

Ashanta opened her mouth as though to protest, but Quingli held up his hand as though to shush
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and said gently, "It is better that you come with me now. They need to be shaken from their confidence in what they have decided for you, rather than with you, and you must rest, for it is clear to me that you are not in the right frame of mind to discuss anything rationally." He led her into a small room in the main building of the monastery. It was simply furnished, containing little besides a bed and a writing desk, but a large window looked out on the gardens of the monastery, and the breeze blew through the room, giving it a faint smell of flowers. "Rest now," said Quingli to Ashanta, "and I will come to visit with you when you have had some time alone. We will leave Brother Bardosh to deal with the others, for he is very wise in his ability to help others to see through the lenses of another's glasses." He left then, closing the door gently behind him.

Ashanta lay down on the bed, and tried to sleep, but worries and fears kept overwhelming her. Again and again she would be nearly asleep, and would bolt upright when she remembered what Sharra and Lingqui wanted to do with her child. Finally she got out of bed and walked over to the window. She stood for some time surveying the gardens of the monastery, which she could see was just beginning to come into flower. Over by the outer walls of the compound she saw the regimental rows of a vegetable garden, the plants still too small to be identifiable from this distance. To the other side, she could just glimpse the edge of the mountain range that was away to the southwest. Was that where they were headed, she wondered? Was the Mount of the Dragon there? She wished that girls at the castle had been taught geography as the boys were, instead of useless things like how to embroider pillowcases and curtsey. Of course, the men had to use the geography to plan wars and battles, but surely that was something that the women could help with as well?

If they were indeed going to those mountains, how long would it take them to get there? They seemed so close, and yet also so far away. How could that be, that they could be both? And would they truly find the dragon at the Mount of the Dragon, or had he left for good now. Ashanta yawned. She was beginning to feel sleepy again, and turned to go back to the bed, but before she could do so, she slumped to the floor, asleep.

As she slept a vision came to her. A dragon, the same dragon, she was sure, as had visited her in her dreams at the castle, flew into the monastery garden, and climbed through the window into her room, which somehow expanded to such size as to allow him entry. He breathed on the sleeping queen, and she woke, and saw him face to face. He seemed to smile down at her, and he spoke to her, saying, "The plan that has been made for your child is a good one, if they will allow me to lead it. If they, mortal as they be, try to achieve such things on their own, then only disaster can come of it, but with my help it will succeed, and the child will flourish. Trust in me, for is she not the fruit of my loins? And have I not powers of which you had never dreamed? Nay, she will travel into the future, and the knowledge that she gains there will be the key that allows her to save the kingdom of the Shauvrin."

But Ashanta replied to him, saying "How can I trust that she will be safe, for she is the child of my womb, as she is the fruit of my loins. You spoke with me and said that you might not reappear for you could only come three times, and those three times had been exhausted."

And the dragon replied, "My physical body I can no longer possess, yet I have a link with your mind that I can access through your dreams, and perhaps, if you are willing to work at it, even when you are awake. My spirit can advise them through you, and you will aid me in keeping our child safe." And he shrank again and flew out through the window and the room returned to its normal size. And Ashanta slept on, dreaming of a great mountain, all along on a plain with the grasses stretching in all directions as far as the eye could see. The mountain was of clearest glass, and the sides of it were as straight and hard as diamond. Atop the mountain was a small house, though Ashanta could not imagine how anyone could ever reach it, unless perhaps they could fly. From the house emerged a child of perhaps seven years, and the child was of such likeness to Ashanta herself that she cried out in her sleep, for it seemed that she saw a vision of her past, and yet the child was not Ashanta. And the child waved at someone yet inside the house, and then she sat down at the top of the mountain and slid down to where Ashanta stood at the bottom, and it was then that Ashanta recognized that this must be her daughter. Then the dream shifted and she saw the child again at the door of the house, but now the house was in a field, with corn and wheat planted all around, and other children ran and played in the yard. Another shift and the child was but a toddler, and a woman was walking with the child, and another of much the same age, through the corn field, a basket of ears of corn on her arm and a giant hat on her head. It seemed to Ashanta that the woman must be mother to the children, and she was satisfied.

When Quingli opened the door to the chamber some hours later it was fully dark outside, but Ashanta stood before the window, gazing out in the direction of the mountains the she could no longer see. She turned  to him, "I would speak with the others now if you will permit it, for I have come to some decision during my time of rest."

"That is indeed good news," said Quingli, "but I believe that it is best that you eat first. Decisions are better made with full bellies and rested minds. The others ate some time ago and they are now back in their apartment. I fear that Brother Bardosh has not made many inroads in convincing them to listen to you. I hope that they will, but unfortunately I cannot know for sure. Know this however, that you will always be welcome at this place, and that we will sacrifice whatever is necessary for the ultimate protection of our beloved kingdom."

PART II Chapter 7

The next morning the sky was leaden, with dark grey clouds hanging low over the river and surrounding planes. The wind whipped up waves on the water, and the grit that it blew before it felt as sandpaper on Ashanta's skin. "Will they really come to collect us in this?" she wondered aloud. "It seems that it would have been safer to cross last night."


"I hope that they come," Sharra replied, sounding somewhat doubtful, "for I think that it is unwise for us to stay in one place for too long, and I do not know where else we would cross the river. We could travel back upstream, but then we risk running into the searchers. And if we travel further downstream, then the river becomes larger and more dangerous. There is another large river that joins this further downstream, and we cannot cross the two of them together without a boat."

Lingqui begged the two of them to be patient, saying that he knew the head of the monastery personally, and could vouch that he was a man who was true to his word. "Look," he said, pointing, and the women saw the boat separate from the dock and come slowly across the river to them. At the front of the boat was a sturdy looking man in a dark brown robe. Very monastic looking, thought Ashanta as she watched. But at the back of the boat was a man of an entirely different sort, tallish and thinnish with a long white beard falling almost to his waist, and dressed in a long, red robe with a gold cord hanging around his middle. This second man was standing in the back of the boat, which seemed rather a dangerous position for him to be in, seeing as the river was rough, and the wind strong, but he stood solidly, seemingly immobile even in the face of this difficulty.

It seemed that Lingqui knew this most important looking person in the rear of the boat, for upon sighting him, he stood up and began to wave wildly at he boat. The man on the boat waved back, and when the boat was not yet pulled tight to the dock, the man leaped lightly from the boat and ran across the short distance to the jester, hugging and kissing him affectionately. Ashanta and Sharra looked on, their bewilderment evident on their faces. Grinning broadly, Lingqui turned to the women and said to them, "Let me introduce to you the head of this monastery, whom our parents named Quingli. It was he who founded this place as a haven for travelers and for those seeking sanctuary from injustice."

"Our parents?" Sharra asked wonderingly. "This man is your brother? But—"

"But we look nothing alike?" Lingqui answered, smiling. "We do not, but for that we are twins, and not just brothers. Even as children we looked very different, for I am small and chubby, while my brother is tall and slender and stately looking. But we work together, we two, and I send to him those who need sanctuary and he gives them rest. The king has chosen to, ah, overlook, this aspect of my advisorial role. I fear that he will not overlook the latest instance of it, and that it would be best that we not remain here for long."

"Surely though, there is time for a meal, and for you to tell me somewhat of the events that bring you here," Quingli insisted. "We have risked running afoul of the king's wishes before, and for my brother, I will happily risk it again."

Lingqui looked concerned at this, but he said simply, "Then it is best that we be on our way, so that we may speak together over a repast of some kind. I crave your advice, and, I must admit we have need of your supplies as well."

In short order the monk had rowed them all across the river, though getting the pony across proved quite another matter. He would not willingly enter the water, which, as Sharra pointed out, was probably fortunate in that it meant that the sacks and blankets that he bore did not get wet, but unfortunate in that it meant that they would have difficulty traveling without the pony to carry some of their load. "Leave the pony," Quingli had said, "but move your possessions into the boat with us. We have a pony that you may bring with you, that we found wandering with a hurt foot some weeks ago. He has recovered, and we have no need of him here, so he is yours." So the castle pony had been left on the other side of the river, to wander toward home if he would, or perhaps to be captured and put to work pulling a plow or a cart.

Inside the monastery, Quingli brought them first to a small room with basins of water. "Here you may cleanse yourself from your travels," he said. "I will await you in my chambers, which the child will lead you to."  And he stepped aside, and behind him was a small child; a girl of perhaps four years, who smiled shyly up at them.

I think that I have never seen such a beautiful child, Ashanta thought to herself, and she bent down and said to the girl, "What is your name, child?" but the girl only smiled at her and did not say anything in response.

"She does not speak," Quingli explained. "We do not know if she will not or she cannot. We found her wandering, like the pony, some months ago. She has not spoken since her arrival here, though she seems to understand what we say to her. Now, why do you not refresh yourselves, and then perhaps we may take counsel together."

Ashanta would have liked a proper wash, with a long soak in a tub, but she supposed that she should be grateful for what she had. The king had not been thoughtful enough to ensure that she would be able to wash while in the dungeons. Of course, it would never have occurred to her to think about whether or not the prisoners could wash, and so why should she expect the king to act any differently? The washing, such as was possible under the circumstances, was soon completed, and they followed the child down the hall and into Quingli's chambers.

His room was furnished in a style that was a complete novelty to Ashanta. Velvet cushions surrounded a low table, made of some jet black wood, and on the walls were hung pen and ink drawings of a wide variety of plants and animals and birds. The curtains in the windows were deepest red, and reached from ceiling to floor, falling in swirls and eddies where they were longer than the walls were high. On the table in the center of the room were placed a pot, which Ashanta assumed to be filled with tea, and trays of small bowls filled with rice and chopped vegetables and tiny pieces of meats. There were no forks on the table, or none that Ashanta could see, but she saw that there were pairs of small sticks, perhaps two hands long, and laid out so that they appeared to belong to the meal.

Quingli indicated the table with a wave of his hand, "Let us first be seated and eat, for I believe that you have traveled far, and have perhaps not eaten well. Then I can listen to your stories, and perhaps advise you on the best approach to take." Picking up the pot, he poured tea into cups for each of the travelers, and handed to each of them small bowls of meats and vegetables and rice. Ashanta watched as Lingqui picked up the two sticks that were next to his place and used them to shovel the food into his mouth. She tried to imitate him, and saw that Sharra was doing likewise, but neither of them was very successful. Rice went flying over the table, and the men  could not help but laugh at the looks on their faces. "Would that we had forks here," said Quingli, "but we have found that eating with chopsticks makes our meals more reflective. I can call for spoons if that would make things easier for you."

Ashanta, still giggling at the rice that had gone flying across the room, nodded her thanks, and the child was sent off to the monastery kitchens to retrieve the necessary utensils.  Once the spoons arrived, Sharra and Ashanta made quick work of their food, and soon the four of them were ready to begin. "Would you send the child away?" Ashanta asked Quingli. "Our story is one that must be kept secret, for the preservation of our lives, and for the future of the Shauvrin."

Quingli raised an eyebrow at that, but declined to send the child out. "She cannot talk, or will not, and she will happily run and fetch things for us. If we need her to be sent away for some reason later, I will give her some task to do then. But she has become something of a shadow for me, and if I send her away she will be desperately unhappy. At the monastery, we believe that the misery of a child is a bad omen for any decision that is taken. And now, who will begin the story?"

Sharra and Lingqui looked at Ashanta and nodded, indicating that she should begin the story. She spoke briefly about the dreams that she had had about the dragon and about the prophecy that he had given. She admitted that they, by which she meant Lingqui, Sharra, and she, and discounted the prophecy of the dragon as being merely a dream, until it turned out that she was indeed with child and that there was no other explanation for the pregnancy. She spoke of their fears about the way that King Rafe would react when he learned of the pregnancy, and of their quest to find more evidence of the dragon king, and to find some way out of the dungeon should their fears come to pass and she be imprisoned. She spoke then of her time of imprisonment, and the flight which they had made from the castle under cover of darkness, using what they believed to be the same tunnel that the dragon king had used in his transformation in the very beginnings of time. And then she stopped, and looked at the others to see which of them might choose to continue her tale.

Quingli raised his hand. "I can see that there is more to the story than I have been told thus far, that it continues on to the present time, and even into the future, but before you continue with the story, perhaps I can ask a few questions to aid me in giving fair counsel."

Ashanta nodded agreement. "I will answer as best I can," she said, "and Lingqui and Sharra as well, for we crave wise counsel before we continue."

"You have neglected to tell me what is perhaps the most important part of the story," Quingli said gently, "for you have not told me who you are. I know Lingqui, for he is my brother though I see him but rarely nowadays, but the two of you are unknown to me. It is clear that you must be important persons, for the king does not lower himself to meddle with the pregnancies of commoners, no matter how illustrious their fathers may be."

Ashanta blushed, it had been so natural to fall into the habit of assuming that everyone knew who she was, and Sharra as well, for they had been the most important women in the castle. "I am, or rather was, Queen Ashanta. The king has cast me off as his wife, and so I suppose that I am now just Ashanta, and queen no longer. The woman who is our traveling companion is Sharra, the high priestess, though perhaps the king has seen fit to strip her of her titles and position as well."


Quingli nodded, "So I find my brother in the company of two most important women," he said. "I begin to understand now why secrecy is so important, and why the king would bother to be angered by your pregnancy. I suspect that there is more to the story, but I will not ask of it now. Perhaps now someone would explain to me what aid, other than supplies, which we will gladly supply you, you seek from me."

Sharra spoke now, saying, "We travel to the mount of the dragon, where according to legend the Dragon King has had his residence since the beginnings of time. We will seek the aid of the dragon in protecting his daughter."

"The story of the dragon king is a legend, and it seems that it may be nearer truth than I thought, but what makes you believe that there is a living dragon than can help to protect the babe?"

To this, Sharra replied, "The dragon that appeared to Highness in a dream was also seen flying above the courtyard of the castle on three separate occasions. The first morning, it was seen only by a young child, a boy of about five years, and his testimony was deemed not to be trustworthy. The following morning, the dragon was seen by the castle gatekeeper, who had risen early that his wife might attend the market in the village. He is a wise man, and not much given to flights of fancy. The third and final morning, we three kept watch for the dragon, and Lingqui and Highness fell asleep, we think by some enchantment, for they had drunk much of the tea, but I was watching from the oak grove, and slept not, but saw the dragon in all of his splendor, erupting from the high castle tower and winging his way to the south and east."

"Interesting," said Quingli, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "So it seems that the Dragon King is more than just a legend, buried almost fully in the mists of time. I begin to see now why you would go to his mountain. Continue please."

"We travel to the mountain of the dragon for two reasons," said Lingqui. "The first is that we hope for the protection of the dragon in the last days and weeks of Highness's pregnancy. It will not be long now before she is brought to childbed, I think, and it would be wise that we have a powerful protector in that time. If the babe is indeed the child of the Dragon King, and we three have no reason to doubt it, then the birth may be a time of great power, and strange things beyond our knowledge may take place. I do not know."

"But there is a second reason that we travel to the mount," added Sharra, "and I think that it is known only to the two of us. We will tell you now, and Highness as well, for it is a plan to save her child, but the plan will cause her great pain and suffering. The mountain of the dragon is said to be a place of great power and magic, and so it must be if the dragon has survived there through the centuries. It is my belief, and Lingqui's also, that the best way to keep the child safe from her enemies is to remove her for a time from this era and send her, not just to some other land, where she may be found and killed, but to some other time, where she can grow in some other family. We can then bring her back when the time is right."

Ashanta looked shocked. "You want to take my daughter into some other time!" she said. "Why was I not consulted about this decision? Should I not have a say in what happens to the child of my womb?"

Lingqui shook his head sadly, "I fear not Highness. The child must be kept safe at all costs, and we know of no better way to ensure her safety. We did not discuss it with you, for we were too busy trying to arrange your escape, and mine. The slips of parchment we sent to you were hardly well suited to a proper discussion."

Quingli nodded, "You are taking some risk, you know, for you cannot control what happens to the child in some other time, unless you are there with her."


"We know," replied Sharra, "but we feel that the risk take in sending her out of our time is less than the risk that we take in trying to keep her safe here. There are few from our time who have the knowledge to travel between times themselves, and even fewer who are able to take another with them. She will face only the ordinary dangers faced by a child in another time. In ours, she may be hunted down deliberately, especially if King Rafe becomes aware of her existence."

Ashanta sat listening with a feeling of horror in her chest, but Quingli nodded sagely. "I see that you have done much thinking about this. I see also that this is all very much news to Ashanta, and that she feels that perhaps, as the mother of the child in question, she ought to be given some say in the matter. What say you to that?"

Sharra and Lingqui looked shamefaced. "I thought only of the safety of the child," admitted Lingqui, "and not of the feelings of the mother. But still, it should not much matter how she feels about it, for it is clearly the only way."

"The only way?" Quingli's voice was soft, and somehow, dangerous. Lingqui's answer had clearly displeased him. "You believe that sending the child into some other time is the only way to keep her safe? Perhaps it is one way. Perhaps it is even the best way, the optimal way. But surely it is not the only way." He stood up. "You have come to me for counsel, for advice, and I say to you this: Consider the desires of the mother as well. She was chosen by the Dragon King to carry the child for a reason, and though we know not what it was, it seems likely to have been a good one. Perhaps he desires that she be in the child's life. Perhaps she was chosen because she would be willing to give her child over to the Dragon King to raise. I do not know. But this I do know; you must discuss this again, without prior assumptions, and you must include Ashanta in the decision making. And now, the child will lead you to the apartment that you will share for the evening, out in the courtyard. I suggest that you rest for a while, and then speak together of the future. I will come and join you after supper."

Obediently, the three of them followed the child into the courtyard where she directed them to an apartment with two small sleeping rooms located on either side of a larger sitting area. On the low table in the middle of the sitting area were a tray containing the necessary items for tea, a small basket of rolls, and a bowl of fruit. Sitting down on one of the cushions, Lingqui reached for a piece of fruit. "Shall we begin?" he asked.

But Sharra interrupted, "Your brother bade us to rest before we spoke of the future again, and perhaps we had best heed his advice." And so they went, the three of them, into the bedchambers, and soon all three of them slept deeply.

PART II Chapter 6

Lingqui woke Ashanta when only the faintest glimmer of light was visible in the east. "Highness, we must be away from here. The king's men may have tracked through the night. I know not, but the further we can travel today the better off we will be."

Ashanta groaned and sat up. The five weeks that she had spent in confinement had done little to improve her fitness level, despite her attempts to follow the directive to walk around her cell as much as possible. It had been impossible to walk hard in the cell without running into the bed or the table or tripping over the bucket that had been provided for her bodily needs. Still, she knew that Lingqui was right, so she rose, putting on stockings and boots, and rolled up her blanket so that it could be once more strapped onto the back of the pony. "Where is Sharra?" she asked Lingqui.

"She will rejoin us here in half an hour or so," he replied. "Sharra thought it wise to lay some false trail for the searchers, and so she has gone off with your prison attire. She will drag it on the ground for some distance from the cave, and then drop it, smearing it with blood from some animal. With luck, they will follow the trail, find the clothing, and conclude that you have fallen prey to wild animals. Then we need not fear being followed any more. Meanwhile, we should eat while we wait for her to return, and load our equipment onto the pony, so that we may be ready to leave as soon as she appears."

It was not long before they saw Sharra cresting the edge of the ridge. "But she is on the other side of  the river," Ashanta exclaimed in puzzlement. "Why did she cross the river?"

"We left the river on the other side yesterday, remember? Sharra made it appear that we continued to travel across the plains on the other side. It is known that there are lions on the plains of Shauvrin, and hopefully they will not even look on this side of the river and so will not find evidence of our being in this cave. We will stay on this side of the river for the day."

By this time Sharra had forded the river, getting resoaked in the process, and the three of them had loaded the pony. Sharra took a handful of jerky strips to eat while they walked, and the three of them set off, well away from the edge of the river so that they would not be visible to searchers on the other side.

The day progressed much like the previous one had, with little talk among the three, the better to save their breath for walking. They stopped for lunch in a copse of trees that had grown up around a hollow, and ate a quick meal. Ashanta had many questions about where they were going, but it didn't seem like the best time to ask them, and in what seemed to be a very short time they were again walking, tramping across the plains toward the east.

There would be no convenient cave here on the plains, Ashanta knew, and she wondered where they would choose to stop for the night. Would they just end up sleeping outside? What about the lions that Lingqui had spoken of that morning? Were they risking their lives by walking across the plains in this way? Finally she could keep still no longer, "Where are we going?" she demanded. "And where are we going to sleep tonight? And how will we make sure that we aren't attacked by lions? Have I escaped from the dungeon only to be  devoured by foul beasts?"

Sharra looked at her compassionately, "I do not believe that you need fear the wild beasts," she said, "for I have some measure of control over them. They will not come near to you so long as I am here. Your time of greatest danger was when I was off laying a side trail for the hunters to follow, and there you had the protection of the cave and the river. To answer your first, and probably more important, question, we are heading to the mountain."

"What mountain?" asked Ashanta, "I see no evidence of a mountain around here."

"The mountain of the dragon," replied Lingqui, "which is far to the east and south of the land. We will travel to the east for two more days, and the turn to the south. There is, about two days travel from here, a house of prayer and the monks that live in that place have a ferry that we can use to travel across the river."

"But will they not tell the king that I have passed through that place?" Ashanta demanded. "Surely he will have a reward for any that can help him in his quest to stop me."

"I think that you need not fear that," said Sharra. "There is no love lost between the king and the monks, and so I think that they would aid us in any case. Also, I think that once your clothing is found, the king will think you dead and will end the search. I do not know that the monks will even know of your pregnancy and escape. Finally, you hardly look like a queen after your weeks of imprisonment and the hard days of travel that we have had and will have before we arrive at the ferry."

Ashanta felt doubtful, but since it seemed to be their best hope, she said nothing but, "How long do you think that it will take us to get to the mountain?" And, if I am no longer recognizable, and the king believes me dead, why are we going so far? but she only thought the latter, she did not say it.

"It should take us about a week if we travel during the day and rest at night," replied Sharra. "I hope that we have enough food to take us so far, but perhaps we will be able to replenish our supplies somewhat from the monks that run the ferry across the river. We are traveling to the mountain because, according to legend, it is the home of the dragon king, and because it is to that place that I believe the dragon brought you in your dream. I believe that you will enjoy especial protection there, in the presence of the dragon king."

Ashanta said nothing. What was there to say? Clearly Sharra and Lingqui had made up their minds about what was best for her. Equally clearly, though she might still be queen in some sense of the word, and though they might still address her as 'Highness,' she was no longer the person in control here. They were making decisions and she was expected to abide by them. To do as they arranged, and to be happy about it. She thought about complaining, but realized that she probably owed her life to their planning, and that Sharra and Lingqui had risked their lives, and given up positions of importance and power at the castle, in order to flee with her and protect her on her mission.

"Lingqui," she asked, "why did you and Sharra come with me? I asked at the time of my escape from the cell, but you said that it was not the right time to answer that question. The last two days have been stressful, and it seemed a bad time to bring it up, but could you now explain it to me? Perhaps you can tell me while we are walking, after we have climbed out of the river valley and eaten our breakfast on the way."

Soon thereafter, the plain above the river having been gained and their breakfast eaten, Lingqui turned to Ashanta and said to her, "You asked, Highness, for an explanation of why Sharra and I have joined you on this journey. I will not speak for Sharra, for she has her own story, and will, perhaps, be willing to share it with you in time. I share only my own story with you now, for it is much intertwined with your own.

"When King Rafe returned from his travel and found that you were with child, just as you had said, his mind became filled with jealousy and suspicion. He did not believe that a child could be conceived in a dream or of a dragon, and so he began to search among the people of the castle for the father of the child in your womb. And he called before him all of the men and women of the castle, one by one, and he demanded of them to speak of your behavior in his absence. Those who would not speak were dismissed from their positions or beaten, and in this way he began to build a case.

"Firth and his men testified, together with Thara and Misha, that you had been seen regularly in the company of the jester, that you had been kept under close guard for the last months of his absence, and that you used trickery and magic to escape from the guards that you might meet with the jester under cover of darkness. Sharra they did not mention.  Therefore, the king called me to him and demanded that I confess to him that I had seduced his queen in an attempt to put my own offspring on the throne of the Shauvrin. Since the accusation was false, I denied it, and the king had me beaten and thrown into the dungeon for some days.

"When he let me out, it was only to demand that I confess that the child you bore was mine, so that he might be justified in ordering my execution. Again I denied it, and again was thrown into the dungeon. Once more I was taken out of the dungeon and the same demand was made of me, and I judged that it was wise that I confess that the child was mine, and so I did so. The king ordered me whipped and tied to a post outside where all passersby could abuse me and mock me. After three days I was unbound, and permitted to return to my chambers, but I was denied contact with any other person.

"In desperation, for it seemed likely that once the child was born, I would lose my life alongside yours, Highness, I threw from my window, which overlooks the oak grove in the back of the castle, a scrap of parchment, and pleaded with Sharra to intercede to save our lives. To my great joy, I soon received a reply, in the form of a small yellow bird carrying a scrap of parchment in his beak, which read simply, 'tomorrow evening.' I replied with my own message, indicating that I believed that I had found the solution to the mystery of the secret passage, and including the syllables on the parchment, and begging the priestess to ensure that you received the message.

"The following evening, I was alerted by the rattle of stone thrown at my window, and opened it to find that Sharra was outside, leading a pony which she had laden with supplies and blankets. She said to me that the castle slept, thanks to the powder that she had introduced into the pitchers of wine that had been served at dinner, and to the guards at their posts, and that I should go quickly and release you from your prison. And that we should flee through the secret tunnel and she would meet us at the exit from the tunnel, which I had found marked on one of the oldest maps in the castle library.

"So," Lingqui concluded, "you can see why it was that I chose to flee with you. I believe that the king had already decided that I should not live after the babe was born, and were I to stay in the castle, grave suspicion would fall on me when you escaped. Besides, I have always wanted to travel to the mountain of the dragon, and the desire has only grown since he was seen over the castle."

Ashanta nodded at this tale, "So the guards have been spying on me all along. I was never truly in charge of the castle, for King Rafe did not trust me fully. I must confess that it rankles somewhat to know that he trusted that slimy guard Firth over me."


"Ah," said Sharra, "but it is clear that the Dragon King trusted you above all others; to bear his child, to protect his child, and to choose for yourself others who will help to keep her safe. I do not know what the future holds for King Rafe, for I am a priestess, and no prophet, but is seems to me that if the kingdom is to be threatened by a grave harm in eight years, then his reign cannot last for many more years. I do not know what will happen then, for if he has an heir, the prince would be only a small child at that time."

Ashanta nodded. It was a sobering thought, to realize that the kingdom would come under attack in such a short time, and that her child would have to confront that threat as hardly more than a baby. Somehow, it was going to happen though, she thought. In other circumstances, she would have found it odd to put such faith in a prophecy that had come to her in a dream, but there was the pregnancy, and there was no other explanation for what might have caused it.

They walked on in silence for the remainder of the morning. There was simultaneously too much to talk about, and too little, and a great deal that Ashanta felt that she must turn over in her own mind, searching for the truth behind it. Would she be able to help her daughter save the kingdom? How would they keep her safe? Would anyone take the child seriously? What ought the child be named? The questions seemed ridiculous. How could she even begin to answer them. But there were other, nearer questions. How much further were they going to travel today? How many days would it be before the child was born? Would they make it to the mountain by then? And why were they going to a mountain? Would it not be safer to travel to a village, where there might be other women to assist in the delivery?

"Let's eat lunch." Lingqui's suggestion burst into her consciousness. They must have walked for many miles already, Ashanta realized, for the sun was already past its peak and beginning its descent down the western sky.

"Are we making good progress?" she wondered aloud. "It seems that I have been too occupied with my own thoughts to be aware of what we were doing. I must say that it made the time pass rather more quickly than I might have expected, although, now that we have stopped, I am realizing that my legs and back are more tired than I would have thought possible."

Sharra laughed at that, but gently, "We have come further this morning than I would have thought possible, given your imprisonment and pregnancy. We may, I think, come to the ferry as early as this evening if we are swift, and we can then stay with the monks overnight."

"Well then," Lingqui responded, "we had best get on our way, for I think that reaching the ferry this evening is a fairly ambitious goal, but one that we can perhaps accomplish. It is also true that the sooner we cross over, the less likely it is that the monks will have heard something of your identity. Though I believe that they would help us in any case, I do not know what tale the king will be spreading about your escape, and it seems better not to have to counter act that."

The  sun was setting behind distant mountains when the three friends, for that is how Ashanta now thought of them, reached the ferry station and the monastery on the opposite bank. The flat boat was tied up on the opposite side of the river, and it was only by dint of a great deal of hollering that Sharra and Lingqui were able to attract the attention of the small figure sitting on the dock beside the boat. When it separated itself from the dock to run up to the monastery, they realized that it was a child, and a girl at that. The girl was back shortly, with a taller figure wearing a long robe. The color could not be distinguished in the heavy twilight.

A voice rang out toward them, "I am Brother Bradosh. What seek you?"

Lingqui responded, "We seek passage across the river, and the ear of the Abbot. We have stories that we would tell and advice that we would seek."

"We ferry by day," was the response, "at night the crossing is hazardous to all. Camp there until the morn and we will ferry you across by day."

"We have to camp here tonight?" Ashanta whispered to Lingqui. "Is there no way to get him to change his mind?"

Lingqui shook his head, "I think that we had best not try," he said, "for we need both the advice and the assistance of these men. Better not to anger them, lest we fail to get what we need."

"Tomorrow, then," he shouted back across the river. "We will be ready at sun up for the crossing."

PART II Chapter 5

Ashanta settled back gratefully against the dirt and stone wall of the cave and waited eagerly for Sharra to begin her tale. They had eaten sparingly from the supply of dried meat and fruit, and the hard baked bread that she had been able to get from the kitchen, and drunk from the flasks of cold tea that they had brought with them. Once the food they had brought was gone, they would need to find some way to get more, either through foraging or by buying something in a village. The flasks, once emptied of tea, they would refill at streams and rivers they passed, thought Ashanta. Lingqui settled in next to her, stretching his legs out, and nodded to Sharra to begin.

"I had much trouble in finding the encampment of King Rafe," she began, "for he had chosen to cross the Great River at a different ford than I would have expected, further to the north, where the current is faster and the river deeper than the normal route. By crossing there, however, he would manage to cut two or three days from his travel time, for the usual crossing would require that he travel around the deep canyon between the meeting place and the castle. I might not have found him at all, had I not come across a messenger bird in the woods who had flown off course after being attacked by something, perhaps an eagle. The bird's wing was somewhat damaged, but not badly, and I used my considerable skills to heal it, though not before reading the contents of the parchment that was tied to its leg. The parchment described the location of the camp, and I realized at once that the king had planned a different route than the one that I might have expected.

"I quickly remounted my horse and turned his head toward the north, following the river until I sighted the flags of the king's camp ahead. I then dismounted, for it was late evening, and I wished to encounter the king in the morning, when he might be fresh and more likely to listen to reason. Shortly after sunrise the next morning I heard the blast of horns, and the whole company of men awakened and set their hands to their work, some preparing a breakfast for all while others tore down and packed up the tents and still others led the horses down to the river that they might drink their fill. Within the hour, all of the men were again mounted and they had ridden out away from the camp, leaving only a sea of flattened grass behind them.

"At this time, I began to ride toward the king's army, hoping to join them while the king was in a good mood and give him the letter that you wrote, Highness. And indeed I was able to do so. The king's men were fair amazed to see me there, I think, and some stared at me slack jawed and some made to stop me, but the king made signals that I should be let through, and that the others, save for the head of the royal guard and one other, ride ahead so that we might consult in private.

"I handed to him the letter that you had written, and he read it through, and again. And then his face grew nearly purple with rage, and the anger in his eyes was such that I trembled with fright. He ordered that the guardsmen seize me that I could not ride ahead and warn you, and he declared that you were dead to him, and that you would be dead in fact as soon as he had reached the castle. Then I felt truly terrified, for by the prophecy, if he killed you then he would kill the one who was destined to save the Shauvrin as well, and so I pleaded with him not to kill you, but only to imprison you. And I reminded him of the prophecy that you wrote of in your letter, and assured him that the dragon had been seen by three, including the castle gatekeeper, who was known to be a careful man and not much given to flights of fancy.

"Through many long hours of captivity that day, the lead of my horse tied to the saddle of the guard, and I, myself, tied into my own saddle, I begged and pleaded that your life might be spared, so that the child might be born. At last, perhaps wearying of my voice, he agreed that he would only imprison you until after the babe was born, and that the babe would be sent to the priests to be raised, and that if she did indeed prove to be the savior of the kingdom, then she would surely be able to do so under those circumstances as well. Highness, however, was to be executed at sunrise on the morning of the third day after the child's birth, and naught I could say would sway him from this conviction.

"I despaired of your life, dear queen, and thought and thought about how I might warn you what was to come. And then, shortly before we crossed the final river before the castle, I saw the bird, that which I had healed and sent on its way, fly directly to me, and on its leg was a scrap of parchment, and in its beak was a bit of charcoal with which I might scratch a note. I did so quickly, and sent the bird off again, asking the gods that it find its way to you, that you might have some warning of what was to come. And I hoped that we might find some way of communicating with you in the dungeon and of arranging for your escape." She paused and drank deeply from the flask of tea she had to hand.

"The bird, I think, reached you in time to warn you what was happening, though not, I fear, in time for you to plan an escape, and upon our arrival back at the castle the king dispatched several of his strongest men at arms to carry you down to the cellars and lock you up. He ordered that you be fed on bread and water from the kitchens and that a lit candle stub be provided you once a day with your evening meal. Otherwise you were to have no contact with the outside world, and none were to be permitted into the dungeons save the members of the guard and the king, should he choose to descend to that place. And therein lay a source of hope, for we could wish that Muerth, who had aided you in your attempts to escape from the guard earlier, might agree to hide secret messages to you in the bread that he sent to you.

"And he did agree to aid us, in full knowledge of the fact that, were he caught, his life would be forfeit.

"We hid many messages written on scraps of parchment in the rolls and loaves of bread that he baked, though we were unable to find any way for you to send us messages, and so our communication was necessarily someone one-sided."

Sharra stopped, and looked at Lingqui, "There is more to tell," she said, "and Highness must hear it, but I think that we should rest now for a few hours, and then leave again, walking through the water during the height of the sun so that we do not take cold."

Lingqui nodded at the suggestion, and Ashanta felt a deep need for sleep welling up inside her. "Do we need to post a guard?" she asked sleepily.

"I do not think so," said Lingqui, "for I do not believe that anyone will notice our absence for some hours yet, and even then it will take much time to discover our trail, starting as far from the castle walls as it does. I believe that we have set them a fair puzzle, at least to begin with, and that we need fear no chase yet."

"And," added Sharra, "should we be discovered here, there would be little that the three of us could do against many. Nay, our best hope is to sleep now and put as many miles as possible between us and the castle when we awaken." She yawned and stretched before curling up to sleep on the floor of the cave. After a moment, Ashanta did likewise.

She was awakened by Lingqui gently shaking her by the shoulder. "The sun has risen high in the sky," he said to her, "and we had best be moving on. It will not be many more hours before the king realizes that you are gone, and discovers that we are missing as well. We can eat as we walk, and refill our flasks before we leave the river." He looked her over carefully, "If you do not mind my saying so, Highness, you may wish to remove your boots and stockings before we begin, so that you can put them on dry when we leave the river."

Ashanta saw that Sharra and Lingqui were already barefoot, and she obediently removed her shoes and placed them into one of the sacks carried by the pony. "Let's go," she said, walking out of the cave and stepping gingerly into the stream. The water was so cold that she gasped. "How far are we supposed to walk through the river?" she demanded. "The water feels like it should have ice floating in it, for all that it is late spring."

"The longer we keep to the water the better," Lingqui replied seriously, "for the huntsmen will search on either side for some miles to see where we might have left the water. If we can walk for two hours in the water, then I think that we may be able to elude them. The water will seem less cold once your feet have had the opportunity to adjust to it."

"That may be," said Ashanta, "since they will be completely numb in a matter of minutes."

The three of them continued to walk in the shallows of the river, Lingqui holding the pony's lead. At first they spoke quietly together, but the river took them gradually away from the shelter of the forest, and as they began to pass nearer to villages and cultivated fields, they fell silent. As Sharra pointed out, there was no point in drawing unnecessary attention to themselves, and three people, one of them pregnant, walking through the shallows of the river would certainly attract notice. By the time that Lingqui deemed it safe to leave the river, the sun was well past its peak, and beginning to descend into the tops of the trees that were still visible on the horizon. Ashanta shivered with cold and stress.

Sharra noticed immediately, "We must find a place to rest now," she said, "and someplace we could build a fire would not be amiss, if possible. Highness is soaked through and shivering, and we would all do well to be warmed up. There is little point in escaping from the executioner to die of cold and exposure in the middle of a field somewhere."

"But where?" demanded Lingqui. "The smoke from a fire will attract…."

"It will," Sharra interrupted him, "but a fire we must have if we are not to perish. We found one cave along the banks of the stream. Perhaps there is another, and the fire need not be large in order to provided needed warmth. Else we can search for a copse of trees on the plain and build a fire there. It is not uncommon for travelers to build fires, you know, and the people in the villages are unlikely to think much of it until they have word of Highness's escape. And that cannot be for some time yet. I expect that the king will keep it quiet until he recognizes that he needs more help."

Lingqui nodded grudgingly. They would hunt for a place to rest and make a fire, though it was clear that he, at least, was not happy about it. They continued to follow the course of the river until Ashanta, searching the opposite bank, noticed the dark shadow of a cave, fairly high on the bank, but accessible by a path wending its way through the tussocks and scrub that grew alongside the river.


She pointed to it excitedly and then groaned. "I suppose that cave would be perfect, but I don't know that I can stand to go through the river one more time. My clothes are finally beginning to dry out a little bit, at least on the top, and I would almost rather be caught and taken back to the dungeons to await my execution."

Sharra looked at her strangely, "It is highly unlikely, Highness, that you would be permitted to go back and await your execution. Nay, you have shown that you will flee, and that you have the means to do so. They will not know how you have escaped, for the cell door will have been locked when they checked, and the keys will appear never to have left the guard's belt. The gatekeeper will report that he opened the gate to nobody. Under such circumstances, they will kill you immediately. You will have to brave the river once more."

Lingqui nodded, "Looking at the territory around us, it is perhaps better that we be on the other side of the river here anyway. There seems to be more cover on that side, and there are no villages in sight. We have, I believe, food enough for several days yet if we are careful, and so we need not risk encounters with farmers or villagers for nigh on a sevenday."

Ashanta looked unhappy, but sat and once more removed her boots and stockings. "Might we at least scout a bit downstream for a shallower place to cross," she asked. "The river here is narrow and quite deep, and seems to be moving fast. At least we might find somewhere where the river would wet us only to our knees instead of our necks!"

Lingqui seemed reluctant for, as he said, "We lay more scent trails for the hounds in that way," but Sharra immediately nodded her agreement. "There is little point in avoiding laying scent trails if we drown in the process. If needs be, we can wade through the shallows on the other side and emerge just below the cave. Besides, it seems to me that beyond that bend in the river," she waved her hand over to the left, "there is likely a gentler spot. There often is beyond big curves in my experience."

They set off down the river with Lingqui muttering beside them. When they had reached the bend in the river, Sharra darted ahead to scout the river and came back looking triumphant. "The river spreads out greatly on the other side of this bend, and is quite shallow, perhaps only a few feet deep most of the way across. Better still, there is another cave there, I think, though it is mostly hidden by bushes and small trees. If I am right, it is a better location than the earlier cave."

It was a matter of minutes until they had reached the other side of the river, and Lingqui went ahead to investigate the cave, for it seemed wise that one person ensure that it was uninhabited while the others prepared for a quick getaway should that be needed. The cave, as it turned out, was empty, though it was clear that it had been used by travelers in the past. Stacked in the back of the cave was a pile of dry wood, and a circle of stones in front of the cave bore signs of having been used recently. He returned to the others and expressed concern about the fact that it had been recently used. "In fact," he said, "it would not shock me to learn that it has been used within the last sevenday, and perhaps even as recently as last night. I think we should not stay there, for though it may not be in current use, it may be, and we do not know what sort of people are using it. I think that we should return to the other cave, and hope that it is not also in use."

Ashanta groaned, and Sharra sighed, but both agreed that Lingqui spoke wisely, and they began to walk back along the river to the cave that Ashanta had spotted. By the time they had reached it, the sun was beginning to dip below the horizon. Lingqui made a cursory inspection of the cave, declared it empty, and began to search along the banks of the river for wood that they might use to build a fire. Meanwhile, the women removed their clothing and wrung as much water from it as was possible before putting it back on. "It would be better to put on dry clothing," Sharra observed, "but we have none to put on. If Lingqui finds wood, we can start a fire and our clothes will dry of the heat."

Lingqui arrived back at the cave soon thereafter, with his arms filled with sticks of wood. He arranged the smaller branches just inside the cave and struck a match to light them. Soon there was a small fire burning in the entrance to the cave and the three of them gathered around it, grateful for the warmth it provided. "We must put out the fire as soon as we are dry," he warned, "for the light will act as a beacon to any that may be searching for us. I dared not build it further inside the cave lest we be asphyxiated by the smoke, though it would have been less visible there." After an hour of carefully turning herself before the fire, Ashanta declared that her clothes were dry, and Sharra agreed. Lingqui climbed down to the river and came back with a flask filled with water, which he poured on the fire, creating a great puff of smoke and steam. "The smoke will not be visible in the darkness," he said, "though the fire would be. And now, I suggest that we sleep. We must travel many more miles tomorrow and we had best be rested when we set out." He wrapped himself in a blanket and was quickly asleep. The women soon joined him in slumber, and they slept deeply through the night.

PART II Chapter 4

Ashanta sat perfectly still on her bed. Her dinner had been delivered, and eaten, hours earlier, and it must now be the dead of night. Through scraps of parchment passed to her in pieces of bread and on the bottoms of soup bowls over the last few weeks she had been alerted to the fact that Lingqui seemed to have solved the mystery of the writing above the mosaic in the other part of the dungeon. Plans had been made for her escape, with Sharra offering to drug the contents of several barrels of wine to ensure that everyone in the castle slept deeply that night. Ashanta hoped that had been accomplished, for things would go much more smoothly if it had. Now there was nothing for her to do but wait, and listen.

Lingqui had promised that her door would be opened shortly after midnight. She was to make her way carefully to the room that they had opened, and, standing in front of the picture of the tunnel opening, she was to speak the syllables that she had so carefully committed to memory over the last days. She still had the parchment, rolled up carefully and tucked into the waistband of her undergarment. She also had a stub of a candle, enough to burn for perhaps an hour, and a single match, which had arrived the previous day tucked into a hollow in her bread.

From the passageway outside her cell, Ashanta heard a scratching and a scrabbling sound as someone attempted to open the door of her cell. She wanted to tell whoever it was that the lock stuck, and that it worked better to turn the key to the right first, and only then to the left, but she dared not make a sound. If it was a guard checking on her, he must think that she slept. Otherwise, she must trust that whoever it was would manage to get the door unlocked without her help. After what seemed an interminable amount of time, the lock clicked back, and the door swung open to reveal the silhouette of the jester. He beckoned urgently with his hand, and she slipped through the opening to join him, eager to head to the old dungeon and hopeful escape. Lingqui stopped her with a raised hand. Carefully, he relocked the door of the cell and cautiously replaced the keys on the belt of the guard. Lifting a finger to his lips to indicate that she should not speak, he headed down the corridor with Ashanta close behind him.

It was a matter of minutes before they had reached the entry to the ancient dungeon rooms, and once they had slipped through the entrance Lingqui turned to her and whispered, "I think that we may chance a whisper here, and perhaps a second candle. Sharra awaits us at the exit to the passageway. She has with her food and water enough for a seven-day, and warmer clothing and shoes for you. We must travel far and fast tonight, for when the king discovers that you have fled, he will surely send hounds and huntsmen on fast horses after us."

"Us?" Ashanta asked, "Are you coming with me, and Sharra as well? But why? Surely you put yourself in grave danger by disappearing at the same time as I. You shall never be able to return to your positions at the castle."

Lingqui nodded. "What you say is true. This is not the time to explain it though. We can talk more later, once we are through the tunnel and well away from this place. Now, we must hurry to open the tunnel and flee from this place."

Standing in front of the picture, Ashanta took a deep breath. She hoped that she would not forget the syllables, or even mispronounce them. Also, she hoped that it would work. It seemed clear that the words were some kind of an incantation in a language that she did not speak, and never would. Who knew what would happen if she got the syllables wrong. Perhaps nothing, and perhaps something horrible. Ashanta tried not to think about what the horrible thing might be if she failed. Taking a deep breath and opening her mouth, she spoke the syllables clearly, exactly as they had been written on the scrap of parchment, "Soac chatht foeien schanlim." Nothing happened.

Ashanta nearly cried with frustration and disappointment. There would be no escape for them this way. Perhaps Lingqui had best return her to her cell and lock her back up. Maybe she would be able to fight her way out against the executioner. Lingqui suddenly grabbed her arm and pointed to the floor. At the base of the wall a crevice was opening, and slowly growing bigger and bigger. In a few minutes, it was large enough to slip her hand into, and then her whole arm, and then it had widened so that she could have stuck her head into it if she had wished to. Finally the crack was wide enough to permit even the girth of her very pregnant body through. Ashanta looked at Lingqui, and pointed to the opening with her hand. He nodded, and the two of them slipped through it together, feeling for the floor of the tunnel with their feet.

"Do you suppose we need to do anything to close up the opening?" Ashanta wondered aloud. "It seems better that our escape be at least something of a mystery."

In response, Lingqui pointed to the opening which was already beginning to close again, and much more quickly than it had opened. "I think the tunnel will keep its own mystery," he said as the stones ground shut behind them. "We had best start down the tunnel lest it also begin to close up."

By the time they exited from the tunnel nearly an hour later, Ashanta was bruised and scraped from the dozens of falls she had taken, and exhausted with climbing over, under, and around the piles of stones that had fallen from the ceiling of the tunnel onto its floor.


Standing at the entrance to the tunnel with a lantern in her hand was Sharra, her hand on the bridle of a small pony loaded with sacks and bundles. "I did not dare to take any of the big horses from the stables," she said by way of explanation. "Lingqui and I will not be missed for many hours, and we do not normally appear before dinnertime anyway, and with luck, your guards will just slip your breakfast tray inside without checking whether you are there or not, but the big horses from the stables would be missed as soon as the stablehands went to feed them at sun up, and then the chase would be on. By my estimates, it is about three hours until it begins to get light, and we must walk as fast and as far as we can in that time. I fear, Highness, that you must walk as best you can, for our steed, such as it is, must carry our gear."

Ashanta looked ruefully down at the slippers that she wore, never very substantial and now worn to shreds during her weeks in captivity. "I don't suppose you have anything more substantial for my feet," she hesitated, "I am not certain that I can walk very far at all in these."

Reaching into the top of one of the bags, Sharra pulled out a pair of sturdy boots, some thick socks, and a farmwife's outfit that looked to be about the right size for Ashanta. "Duck into the tunnel and put these on," she advised, "and I will help you to tuck your hair up into the cap. It will attract less attention if you do not look like the queen. As you will see when it gets light, we are wearing the clothing of countryfolk as well."

Ashanta did as they asked, and they were quickly on their way. The darkness of the forest through which they passed pressed down on them, and every hoot of an owl caused Ashanta to jump. Once a small animal scampered across the toe of her boot, and on several occasions, large moths, attracted to the dim light from the lantern that Sharra carried, blundered into her face. She nearly wished on more than one occasion that she was back in the darkness of her cell, and had to remind herself rather sternly that to stay there would have meant certain death for her.

At last they began to see the faintest glimmer of light appear through the trees. Lingqui pointed, and said, "I think that the sun is coming up, and also that we are near to the end of the forest. See how it begins to thin over to the east?"

Ashanta looked and realized that he was right. The forest did seem to be coming to an end.

"Dare we walk in the open though?" Sharra asked. "It will be full light soon, and folk will be about on the road and in the fields. It seems unwise to me to travel where we might be seen."

Lingqui looked at her in surprise, "You may be right," he admitted. "I had thought that we would travel directly east today, but perhaps that is unwise. If we turn here, and follow the edge of the forest, we may keep to the shadow of the trees for many hours yet, and still put many miles between us, and the castle."

Ashanta, nearly collapsing with exhaustion, groaned audibly, "But walking through the forest is so hard," she complained. "I keep tripping on tree roots and animals run across my feet and things fly into my face. Do we really have to stay in the forest? What harm will it be if we are seen by some farmer?"

Sharra looked at her carefully, "We need to stay out of sight," she said, "for the king will send out messengers to ask if anyone has seen a small group, consisting of a shortish man and two women, one of them very pregnant. And it is rare for women in your advanced state of pregnancy to travel from their homes at all, save perhaps to the market, for it is know to be ill for the infant to be born under the open sky. That said, I think that we could chance a short rest now, and some food which will, hopefully, provide more energy for you than the incessant bread and water you were given in the dungeon. And perhaps, while we rest, I can begin to tell you the story of my search for King Rafe, and what conspired when I spoke with him."

"Let us travel a little further now," said Lingqui, "for it seems to me that we should make full use of the darkness, and it will be light soon. Then we can find a place where the trees and bushes grow closer together, and rest there, where we are less likely to be seen."

Ashanta nodded weakly, "I can see that you are right, and so we will press onward for some time yet, though I wish that it were not necessary."

It was not long before the light was more than a faint glimmer in the east, and Lingqui and Sharra began to scout for a place where they could be concealed for a few hours. It was Ashanta who spotted the cave along the bank of the river that they had been following for the last twenty minutes. Indicating it with a wave of her hand, she asked, "Would that cave work?"

Lingqui grinned in replay, "I will go and look at it, but I think that it will do very well for a few hours. Afterward we must walk in the water of the river for some miles to hide our scent from any hounds that the king may send after us." Grabbing the lantern from Sharra, he splashed into the river and emerged, moments later, at the mouth of the cave. Minutes later he came out, "It's perfect," he called, "and big enough so that the pony may come inside with us."

In short order, Ashanta and Sharra had also crossed the river and were snug inside the cave. "Now," said Sharra, "some food, and while we eat, I will tell my story. Then, perhaps, we might risk a couple of hours of sleep before we press on."

PART II Chapter 3

She must have drifted off, though she was not aware of it, for she was awakened by the sound of the lock on the door snicking open and of a tray of food being set down inside the door. There was, she noted, no candle this time. She stayed where she was until the door was closed again. Rushing the guard bringing food would surely result in increasing her discomfort, and it was hardly likely to lead to her escape. Even should she mange to get out of her cell, where would she go? No, better to stay where she was and wait.


Once the cell door was closed and locked again, Ashanta stood up and carefully made her way across the floor of her cell to the door where the tray of food stood. By the faint light coming in from under the door, she saw that she had again a large hunk of bread, a pitcher of water. There was also, she noticed, standing next to the tray of food, a wooden bucket. Looking into it to see what it might contain, she was almost overcome by the stench of human excrement. Well, she thought ruefully, at least I know what it is for, and 'tis true that I need it. Gratefully, she used the bucket, and then, picking up the tray, carried it over to the table to eat.

There needs to be more to this chapter, but I'm not certain how it's going to go yet, so, I'm going to jump to the next chapter. Stay tuned for more.