swords raised. "Katerina!" they cried. And again, and again. "Katerina!" Ivan could hear the chant being taken up by the people outside. He sauntered to the gate and passed through it, with only a few flames on the wooden posts to frame him. "Katerina," he shouted, out of the rhythm of the chant, so she could hear him. He raised his hands for silence, and the chant subsided. "Katerina, princess of Taina, I give this fort to you!"
The soldiers and the people erupted in cheers.
The action had played out the way Katerina and Ivan had hoped. Ivan now stood as the man who had taken the fort away from Dimitri, who had helplessly watched him do it.
But Dimitri still had his sword, and Katerina's father, and the two soldiers who held the king between them. It was Katerina, now, who had to control the final scene of this dangerous play.
She stepped forward, putting herself almost within reach of a lunge from Dimitri's sword. "This is your last chance," said Katerina. "I only offer it to you because Ivan pleaded with me that we needed you beside us in the war against the witch. Command these last two soldiers to release my father, and then all three of you lay down your swords and pledge yourselves again to his service. Do this, and I will plead with my father to pardon you."
Before Dimitri could begin to obey, the two soldiers, who were not fools, let go of Matfei, knelt, and laid down their swords at the king's feet.
Dimitri was absolutely alone. He had his sword, and no doubt he could kill several, could kill the king himself, and Katerina, before other swords brought him down. But he would die if he did such a thing, for no one was likely to follow him now, still less if he had the blood of Matfei and Katerina on his hands.
He knelt. He laid his sword at Matfei's feet.
Ivan walked around this tableau of kneeling men and took his place at Katerina's side.
The face of King Matfei was filled with rage when he looked down at Dimitri kneeling at his feet. The king bent down and picked up Dimitri's own sword. He raised it over his head.
"Father," said Katerina. "I beseech you to spare the life of this man. His crime was grave indeed, and no one here has the power to restore the power of speech that he took away from you. He diminished you at a time when we needed you whole. And yet I plead with you - do not weaken Taina by one sword arm, not even his. Accept his vow of loyalty again, though he has broken that selfsame vow before. I beg you, Father, for the sake of your daughter, and of the grandchild that grows in your daughter's womb."
It was the first that Ivan had heard that Katerina might be pregnant. And even now he wasn't sure, for she hadn't actually said that she had conceived a child - she might have been speaking of a child that would someday grow within her.
But her words had the desired effect. Matfei's rage turned to thoughts of his daughter, of his grandchild. What she asked for, he would give her.
For a moment Ivan felt a stab of regret. Things would be much simpler if Dimitri died right now.
Then, ashamed of the bloodthirsty thought, he stepped forward. "Matfei, my father, my king, and my lord," said Ivan, "may I have Dimitri's sword?"
Matfei lowered the sword, then laid it across Ivan's hands. Ivan made no effort to put his hand on the hilt. Rather he kept the sword as he had received it, lying across his hands. Ivan turned back to face Katerina. "May I give this sword to the king's true servant?"
"You may," said Katerina. "When we hear his oath and his plea for pardon."
Dimitri did not hesitate. Weeping, he gave his fervent oath of loyalty to King Matfei, and to Katerina and Ivan too, for good measure. Then he begged for pardon for his dire offenses, and swore to be true to Christ as well, whose atoning sacrifice would make him clean again, if only the king would pardon him. King Matfei, speechless still, nodded gravely. "Let my husband, Ivan, return the sword of a true knight to you," said Katerina.
Ivan knelt before Dimitri, so their eyes were nearly level, though Ivan had the advantage of height, even kneeling. He held out the sword.
Dimitri took it from him. Tears