'Please tell me you've figured out a way to transport those,' Raoden said, joining his friends. The last few times, they had ended up carrying the boxes back to New Elantris one at a time, their weakened Elantrian muscles straining at the effort.

'Of course, I have.' Mareshe said with a sniff. 'At least, it should work.'

The small man retrieved a slim metal sheet from behind a pile of rubble. All four sides curved up slightly, and there were three ropes connected to the front.

'A sled?' Galladon asked.

'Coated with grease on the bottom,' Mareshe explained. 'I couldn't find any wheels in Elantris that weren't rusted or rotted. but this should work-the slime on these streets will provide lubrication to keep it moving.'

Galladon grunted, obviously biting off some sarcastic comment. No matter how poorly Mareshe's sled worked, it couldn't be any worse than walking back and forth between the gate and the chapel a dozen times.

In fact, the sled functioned fairly well. Eventually, the grease rubbed away and the streets grew too narrow to avoid the patches of torn-up cobblestones-and, of course, dragging it along the slime-free streets of New Elantris was even more difficult. On the whole, however, even Galladon had to admit that the sled saved them quite a bit of time.

'He finally did something useful,' the Dula grunted after they had pulled up in front of the chapel.

Mareshe snorted indifferently, but Raoden could see the pleasure in his eyes. Galladon stubbornly refused to acknowledge the little man's ingenuity; the Dula complained that he didn't want to further inflate Mareshe's ego. something Rao-den figured was just about impossible.

'Let's see what the princess decided to send us this time,' Raoden said, prying open the first box.

'Watch our for snakes,' Galladon warned.

Raoden chuckled. dropping the lid to the cobblestones. The box contained several bales of cloth-all of which were a sickeningly bright orange.

Galladon scowled. 'Sule, that has to be the most vile color I have ever seen in my life.'

'Agreed.' Raoden said with a smile.

'You don't seem very disappointed.'

'Oh, I'm thoroughly revolted,' Raoden said. '1 just enjoy seeing the ways she finds to spite us.'

Galladon grunted, moving to the second box as Raoden held up an edge of the cloth, studying it with a speculative eye. Galladon was right; it was a particularly garish color. The exchange of demands and goods between Sarene and the 'gang leaders' had become something of a game: Mareshe and Karata spent hours deciding how to word their demands, but Sarene always seemed to find a way to turn the orders against them.

'Oh, you're going to love this,' Galladon said, peering into the second box with a shake of his head.

'What?'

'It's our steel,' the Dula explained. Last time they had asked for twenty sheets of steel. and Sarene had promptly delivered twenty plates of the metal pounded so thin they almost floated when dropped. This time they had asked for their steel by weight.

Galladon reached into the box and pulled out a handful of nails. Bent nails. 'There must be thousands of them in here.'

Raoden laughed. 'Well. I'm sure we can find something to do with them.' Fortunately, Eonic the blacksmith had been one of the few Elantrians to remain true to Raoden.

Galladon dropped the nails back into their box with a skeptical shrug. The rest of the supplies weren't quite as bad. The food was stale. but Karata had stipulated that it had to be edible. The oil gave off a pungent smell when it was burned-Raoden had no idea where the princess had found that particular item-and the knives were sharp. bur they had no handles.

'At least she hasn't figured out why we demand wooden boxes.' Raoden said. inspecting the vessels themselves. The grain was good and strong. They would be able to pry the boxes apart and use the wood for a multitude of purposes.

'I wouldn't be surprised if she left them unsanded just to give us splinters,' Galladon said, sorting through a pile of rope, looking for an end to begin unraveling the mess. 'If that woman was your fate, stile, then your Domi blessed you by sending you to this place.'

'She's not that bad,' Raoden said. standing as Mareshe began to catalogue the acquisitions.

'I think it's odd, my lord,' Mareshe said. 'Why is she going to such lengths to aggravate us? Isn't she afraid of spoiling our deal?'

'1 think she suspects how powerless we really are, Mareshe,' Raoden said with a shake of his head. 'She fulfills our demands because she doesn't want to back out of her promise. but she doesn't feel the need to keep us happy. She knows we can't stop the people from accepting her food.'

Mareshe nodded, turning back to his list.

'Come on, Galladon.' Raoden said, picking up the bags of food for the Hoed. 'Let's find Karata.'

NEW Elantris seemed hollow now. Once, right before Sarene's arrival, they had collected over a hundred people. Now barely twenty remained, not counting children and Hoed. Most of those who had stayed were newcomers to Elantris, people like Saolin and Mareshe that Raoden had 'rescued.' They didn't know any other life beyond New Elantris, and were hesitant to leave it behind. The others-those who had wandered into New Elantris on their own-had felt only faintly loyalty to Raoden's cause. They had left as soon as Sarene offered them something 'better': most now lined the streets surrounding the gate, waiting for their next handout.

'Sad. Kolo?' Galladon regarded the now clean, but empty, houses.

'Yes.' Raoden said. 'It had potential, if only for a week.'

'We'll get there again, sule.' Galladon said.

'We worked so hard to help them become human again, and now they've abandoned what they learned. They wait with open mouths-I wonder if Sarene realizes that her three-meal bags usually last only a few minutes. The princess is trying to stop hunger. but the people devour her food so fast that they end up feeling sick for a few hours, then starve for the rest of the day. An Elantrian's body doesn't work the same way as a regular person's.'

'You were the one who said it, sule,' Galladon said. 'The hunger is psychological. Our bodies don't need food; the Dor sustains us.'

Raoden nodded. 'Well, at least it doesn't make them explode.' He had worried that eating too much would cause the Elantrians' stomachs to burst. Fortunately, once an Elantrian's belly was filled, the digestive system started to work. Like Elantrian muscles, it still responded to stimulus.

They continued to walk, eventually passing Kollar scrubbing complacently at

a wall with a brush they had gotten him in the last shipment. His face was peaceful and unperturbed; he hardly seemed to have noticed that his assistants had left. He did, however, look up at Raoden and Galladon with critical eyes.

'Why hasn't my lord changed?' he asked pointedly.

Raoden looked down at his Elantris rags. 'I haven't had time yet, Kahar.' 'After all the work Mistress Maare went to sew you a proper outfit. my lord?' Kahar asked critically.

'All right,' Raoden said, smiling. 'Have you seen Karata?'

'She's in the Hall of the Fallen, my lord, with the Hoed.'

Following the elderly cleaner's direction, Raoden and Galladon changed before continuing on to find Karata. Raoden was instantly glad that they had done so. He had nearly forgotten what it was like to put on fresh, clean clothing-cloth that didn't smell of muck and refuse, and that wasn't coated in a layer of brown slime. Of course. the colors left something to be desired-Sarene was rather clever with her selections.

Raoden regarded himself in a small piece of polished steel. His shirt was yellow dyed with blue stripes, his trousers were bright red, and his vest a sickly green. Over all, he looked like some kind of confused tropical bird. His only consolation was that as silly he looked, Galladon was much worse.

The large, dark-skinned Dula looked down at his pink and light green clothing with a resigned expression.

'Don't look so sour, Galladon.' Raoden said with a laugh. 'Aren't you Dulas supposed to be fond of garish clothing?“

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