Chapter eighteen
The queen calls: “Hai, Jikai!”“I,” said Skort the Clawsang, “was told you were dead, majestrix, in that confounded Coup Blag.” He used the teeth that appeared to be decomposing to bite firmly into a slice of succulent roast vosk. They were sitting around the camp fire and they were eating and drinking until they burst.
“It was poor Milsi who died. She had the same name as me, as you know, and I grieve for her.”
“Aye.” Skort wiped his lipless mouth, daintily. “But, majestrix, it is not all good news. That foul cramph Muryan has not released your daughter, the divine Princess Mishti—”
“What!” The regal anger that blazed from Milsi made Seg realize that, by Vox, she was a queen.
“He would not release her into our care, as was ordered. We rode to seek a ruling on this, an
