She wore no veil and had a lovely, slim face with piercing blue eyes and a thin, straight nose. Her most startling feature, though, was her hair—blond and long enough to reach well below her shoulders, had she not arranged it in an upswept fashion. None of the three men had ever seen hair that color, though Umar had heard there were people with yellow hair in the frozen regions of Norgeland. Punjar was as far from Norgeland as it was possible to get, however, and all three men stared at the woman as though she were some fascinating jewel in her own right.
It was the woman, rather than King Zargov, who spoke first. “Do come in,” she bade the visitors as they stood gawking on the threshold. “It may be nothing but a jewel-covered quarry, but we call it home.”
“Quiet, Leila!” said the king i
