Free Dragonfly by Julia Golding

picked up her bowl and thrust it at her. "Here, eat. You have to go back in with the other one in a moment so you'd better get that down you."
    Tashi ate quickly, trying to hide her movements by letting her veil of hair flop forwards, but Gordoc brushed it back, out of her way. He then led her to a tent so she could wash and use the privy, then guided her back to the wagon. Orboyd was waiting, holding a rope and scarf.
    "I'll do that," said Gordoc. "There now, that's not too tight?" Once Tashi was bound and gagged, he scooped her up in his arms, climbed the steps back into the cage, and placed her gently on the floor next to Ramil. "Make not a sound now and I'll let you out of here as soon as we've got to safety." He scattered the straw over her like a blessing.
    The night seemed endless to Tashi. Lying on the wooden floor, pricked and near suffocated by straw, she tried to come to terms with what she was experiencing. None of her training had prepared her for this. No one here saw any of the things in her that her own
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    people believed; she was not respected, listened to, or loved. So what did that make her? A demon, according to Orboyd. But she knew she was loved by the Mother; she couldn't be evil, even if other people fixed such labels to her. A pretty pet to the big man who had sensed her fear? But Tashi, raised in a land of matriarchs, revolted at the idea.
    I suppose I'm left with me, whoever that is these days, she thought bleakly.
    Ramil could hear the Princess breathing next to him but was tortured by the fact that he could not speak to her, not even to ask if she was unharmed. He owed it to her at least to think of some way of escaping. They were still in Gerfal, heading down to the mountains that formed the border with Brigard.
    The alarm must have been raised by now and his people would be combing the land for them. It was inconceivable that a caravan such as this would be missed before it reached the border.
    At dawn he heard the sound he had been expecting all night: the approach of horsemen.
    "Ho there, travellers!" called a Gerfalian soldier. "We have orders from the King to search all vehicles on the roads this day."
    "But of course," said Orboyd at his most generous. "We are a peaceful group with nothing to hide. Conduct your search and welcome."
    Ramil writhed in his bonds but he was so tightly bound and gagged he could do nothing to alert them to
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    his presence. He heard the tramp of feet and good natured banter as the soldiers passed the time with the circus people.
    "Found anything?" asked Orboyd casually from outside the wagon.
    "No," replied the soldier. "What's in there?" He thumped the side of the wagon.
    "Our tiger, Kosind. You're welcome to go in." Orboyd lifted the canvas on the front of the wagon, letting in the daylight. The tiger rose on its haunches, stretched and yawned.
    The soldier peered into the cage. "It stinks in there!"
    "That's wild animals for you. Shall I fetch the key?"
    The soldier shook his head. "No, that wil do."
    Orboyd dropped the canvas back down.
    Ramil cursed the soldier. Sweat was running off him as he pulled on his ropes. This was their last chance!
    Then he heard a thud. Tied less tightly, the girl beside him had enough freedom of movement to hit her head and heels on the floor in a regular beat-- Thud-thud-thud! Thud-thud-thud!
    "What's that?" asked the soldier suspiciously.
    "Tiger's tail thumping. Means he's hungry," replied Orboyd coolly.
    The girl changed the rhythm-- Thud-thud! Thud-thud!
    "I think perhaps we had better take another look at that hungry cat of yours."
    The soldier took a firm grip on the canvas.
    "That is a shame." There was a hiss of breath and the
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    sound of a body falling to the ground. "I do so hate shedding blood this early in the day," said Orboyd.
    Further away, another man shouted but his scream broke off abruptly.
    A short while later, the door to the wagon flew open. Ramil's bindings were yanked free and he was dragged, still