Chapter 1: In the Slave MarketJaelle’n walked erect, keeping her spine very straight. She stared rigidly ahead, but saw little. She refused to reveal her fear, her growing sense of dejection. Gazing into the distance with an unseeing stare, she pretended she wore one of her beautiful gossamer robes of arachensilk instead of a skimpy tunic of dingy gauze. Instead of the collar and wristlets of dull iron linking her to the coffle, she imagined she wore the massive gold toque and bracelets that she’d been allowed to wear for state occasions as Princess Royale of Cymrydda.
The women on the chain stumbled to a halt. Third back, Jaelle’n glanced around to discover they had come to an open square in the city. So this is the infamous Challabah, the slave market of Challabadur where once a ten-day
