could from Inanna’s quarters. And the silence and emptiness of the early-morning palace were her allies.
Her terror mounting, she turned another corner, and now she slowed her pace, her heart pounding, her nakedness all the more humiliating as she glimpsed for the first time the eyes of those on either side of her.
She bowed her head. If only she knew where to go. She would throw herself on the mercy of the grooms immediately. And surely they would understand she had not freed herself from her bonds. Someone had done it to her. And why wouldn’t they assume the obvious: that it had been some masculine brute who had carried her off? Who would ever even suspect Inanna?
0, if only she would come upon the grooms, and then it would be over. She dreaded the sight of anger in their young faces, but let it come to pass if it must. Whatever Lexius did, she would remain silent.
All these thoughts were revolving in her head, her body constantly reminding her of Inanna’s warmth, embraces, when suddenly she saw several Lords appear at the end of the corridor ahead of her.
This was her worst fear come true: that she would be discovered by others before the grooms found her. And when she saw the men pause for a moment and then advance towards her with great and deliberate speed, she panicked. She turned and ran as fast as she could, dreading a humiliating encounter, hoping against hope the grooms would appear to restore order.
And to her horror, the men came thudding after her.
“But why?” she thought desperately. “Why do they not merely send for the grooms? Why do they themselves chase me?”
And she almost screamed as she felt herself being picked up, the robes of the men suddenly closing her in, a heavy cloth being thrown around her. She was wound in the cloth as if it were a shroud and to her terror, she was lifted and thrown over a strong shoulder.
“But what is happening!” she screamed, only to have the sound muffled by the tight cloth. Surely this was not the way runaway slaves were apprehended. Something was wrong, very wrong.
And when the men continued to run, her body bouncing helplessly against her captor, she knew real fear as she had the night the Sultan’s soldiers had raided the village to bring her here. They were stealing her, as she’d been stolen then. And she kicked and struggled and shrieked, only to have the tight wrapping hold her helpless.
Within moments, they were out of the palace. She heard the crunch of feet on sand, then on stones, echoing as if in a street. And then the unmistakable noises of the city surrounded her. Even the old smells reached her. They were actually moving through the marketplace!
And again, she shrieked and struggled, only to hear her own muffled cries closed inside the tight wrapping with her. Why, probably nobody even noticed these robed men moving through the crowd with a bolt of goods thrown over a shoulder. And, even if they did know there was a helpless being inside, what did they care? Mightn’t it be a slave being taken to market?
She was weeping unstintingly when she heard their feet hit hollow wood, when she smelled the salt sea. They were taking her aboard a ship! Her thoughts raced desperately from Inanna to Tristan and Laurent, and Elena, and even the poor, forgotten Dmitri and Rosalynd. They would never even know what had happened to her!
“0, please, help me, help me!” she wailed. But the steps went on. She was being carried down a ladder, yes, she was sure of it. And into the hold of the ship. And the ship was alive with shouts and running feet. It was moving out of the harbor!
LAURENT: DECISION FOR LEXIUS
But what do you mean, you are rescuing us!” Tristan cried out. “I won’t go, I tell you! I don’t want to be rescued!”
The man’s face went white with rage. He had thrown down two carpets on the floor of the corridor. He had ordered us to lie down on these carpets so that we might be rolled up in them and carried out of the palace.
“How dare you!” He spit his words at Tristan now, while Lexius was held helpless by the others, a hand clamped over his mouth so that he couldn’t sound an alarm for those unsuspecting servants who moved beyond in the garden.
I did not move to obey or