Free Dragonfly by Julia Golding Page B

and hinted that Ramil would be seeing him soon.
    "Who is your master?" Ramil asked frequently. "A Brigardian noble with a grudge against Gerfal?"
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    Orboyd refused to be drawn. "I'm under orders not to say. But I assure you he will treat you as befits a royal prince of noblest lineage. And one day, when you are King, I will be able to point to you and say 'that man rode on my wagon.'"
    Ramil thought it best not to mention that if he lived to be King he'd make sure that Orboyd was caught and tried for his crime against the royal person, so he was unlikely to live to enjoy his association.
    "And the Princess? What does your master want with her?"
    Orboyd shrugged, not very interested in that question. "Don't know. Hostage perhaps? He doesn't like the Blue Crescent Islanders, but then who does, except perhaps their mothers?"
    "Gordoc appears to like the Princess," Ramil suggested quietly. He was sick of hearing such derogatory remarks about the Islanders from Orboyd, not least because they were uncomfortably like his own comments made back in the palace.
    "Oh, Gordoc." Orboyd snorted. "He's soft-hearted. Nursed an abandoned leveret this spring only to cry buckets when he stood on it. I wouldn't pay much attention to him."
    Tashi, meanwhile, sat beside the giant, letting his friendly talk wash over her. He let her mumble her prayers at the appointed time, did not mock or try to startle her. He just occasionally stroked her hair as if he could not believe its color and had to test that it was real.
    She spent the time meditating on her anger. The
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    murder of those two men in the forest had shocked her deeply. She was angry with her abductors, but most of her rage was directed at all Gerfalians, and one in particular. No one need have died if they had done their job of guarding her properly. How like Prince Ramil's people to let the caravan over the border without even a proper search! The prince had been useless as she anticipated and now seemed quite content to sit fraternizing with Orboyd when he should be doing something before they got too far from Gerfal. What it was exactly she expected him to do, she didn't know, but something, anything!
    "Gordoc, do you know where we are going?" she asked hours later.
    The giant almost dropped his reins, so surprised was he to hear his little travelling companion speak. She had a nice voice too--soft and gentle.
    "We're going to meet him," he replied. "That's all I know."
    "Who's him?"
    "The master."
    "Do you know his name?"
    "Aw, little one, I can't tell you that." Gordoc passed her an apple.
    Tashi twisted it in her fingers. "Can you tell me if he is a big master, like King Lagan, or a little master, like Orboyd?"
    Gordoc chuckled. "You're trying to catch me out, aren't you? Well, he's nothing like Orboyd. Much, much bigger. But never you mind, you'll meet him soon enough."
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    Ramil persuaded Orboyd to let him join the Princess for a short time that evening as they made camp. When he approached her spot by the tiger wagon, he found she no longer ate alone. Tighe, Pashvin, and Gordoc sat around her with their bowls, watching her like an audience, even
    exchanging critical observations about her performance of the ritual.
    "She did that one beautifully," remarked Tighe as Tashi made a sinuous gesture with her hands.
    "I thought yesterday's was a little more pronounced," Pashvin noted with the air of an expert. "Today's is more subtle."
    "She does everything beautifully," breathed an enraptured Gordoc.
    Ramil sat down quietly and waited for her to finish. He admired her concentration with all these onlookers. Finally, he recognized the Crescent words of completion, having heard them often enough from the delegation.
    "As the Goddess wills," he muttered in Common.
    Tashi folded her hands in her lap.
    "Do you mock me for praying, Prince Ramil?" she asked.
    "No, I thought I was being polite." Did she have to be so hostile? he wondered.
    "I was told by your prime minister that you say