Gheqet said, 'You're a princess. You, uh, marry a prince and become a queen, don't you?'
'Marry someone I don't love?' the eldest daughter carped. 'Go live in a foreign land, amidst strangers who know I'm nothing but a pawn, a royal asset doled out by my parents to promote trade? No, thank you. We'll journey to the coast and take passage. I have jewels. We can exchange them for money.'
Boggled, the commoners gawked at the fistful of shining gems Amenstar dragged from the heavy leather bag.
Tafir choked, 'That's a king's ransom! You could buy a ship… a whole town.'
'Perhaps I shall,' said Star primly. 'I'm of royal blood. Why not establish myself in some lucky town and guide it by royal decree? I'll tell you this, no woman or man in that town would ever be forced to marry anyone. Now, let's be off.'
'Wait!'
Gheqet and Tafir blocked Star's path.
The blond cadet asked, 'Star, uh, have you thought this through? If you're robbed in some foreign port, you'd be just a commoner-'
'If I stay here, I may be drowned,' Star said, ignoring their puzzled looks, 'or married off, and I won't let either happen. So let's go!'
When they again hesitated she punched Tafir playfully, as she'd seen Gheqet do, and said, 'Come, you sluggards! It'll be fun… high adventure, and who knows, maybe I'll marry one of you. Or both. How would you like that?'
The commoners stared at one another. Star was their friend, but she was also a charming and pretty young woman. While each man had surreptitiously studied her face and body when she was unaware, never had either considered marrying a princess any more than they'd consider wedding a ghost or an angel. It simply wasn't in the stars.
'This is… reckless,' Gheqet breathed.
'And dangerous,' Tafir added. 'Three's a crowd in romance, not that romance has a chance.'
'Pooh to all your objections.' Star shouldered her leather bag of fabulous wealth and said, 'Hear this. I must leave the city, and quickly. Once my bodyguards report I've fled the library, there'll be nine hells to pay. All of us may be punished.'
'You said we couldn't be punished,' objected Tafir.
'Was that a-lie?' added Gheqet.
'It was-' Amenstar huffed. What was left if a royal order didn't fulfill your wish? 'I truly don't know what my parents might do, but they will be furious.'
The commoners blanched at the thought of the bakkal of Cursrah, genie-kin and demigod, being personally perturbed at them. Anything could result, from a simple whipping to the fury of dead ancestors and punishing gods.
'We must go,' insisted Star in the silence. 'Shall I issue a royal command?'
'No,' said the two.
'Pick up your feet and march.'
Amenstar was only half kidding, but the citizens didn't dare quibble. Bracketing the princess, the trio tramped through the tunnels toward the stables and freedom.
In the semi-gloom, Tafir muttered so both heard, 'Just because a command is royal doesn't mean it's wise…'
'Figure however you want, we're lost.'
The three adventurers hunched over a tiny fire to warm their hands. Juniper wood, wrenched from a small copse in this low rill, crackled and spat as if annoyed. On this second morning out they were cold, achy from unaccustomed exercise, and saddle sore. Princess Amenstar shivered and wished, just briefly, for her recliner, iron brazier, quilted robe, and a cup of mint tea dripping with honey.
'I told you, I can only navigate by night,' Tafir said. His eyes were red from lack of sleep. 'If you line up Aken's Axe with the Tiger, the stars point north, but by day…'
'That'll teach you to skip classes,' grumbled Gheqet. 'If I miss a day without permission, my master makes me break rocks for eight hours.'
The horses tossed their heads and nickered, but the tired travelers ignored them. From burrows in the rill's wall, hedgehogs peeked out, then ducked from sight.
At least this time they were prepared for extended riding. Amenstar had demanded horses from the stable master, food, and water bags. For a night and day, they'd ridden due north, the shortest route to the River Agis. Star planned to find a fishing village and hire passage to a seaport so only a few unimportant people would know their whereabouts. Unfortunately, they'd circled for hours. They'd seen groves of acacia, stands of scrub pine, and much coarse grass and sand, a flock of ostriches, wild camels and antelope, a golden eagle, and a mother bear and her sand-brown cubs feasting on a dead gazelle. Finally a goatherd pointed them north again, but they still didn't find the river. Tired as their horses, they'd made camp early in this rill. Already cranky, they didn't look forward to another day of aimless wandering.
One of their horses whinnied. A distant snort echoed.
'Uh oh,' said Tafir.
'Could be bandits,' Gheqet said. 'I told you we shouldn't light a fire.'
Normally levelheaded, Gheqet imagined that Star's opulent jewelry shone across both horizons. He kicked at the fire, then fumbled to untie his reins.
'Wait!' said Taf. 'If we lay low, they won't spot us.'
'I order the two of you to remain here,' Star said as she struggled to quiet her horse. 'No one will dare harm a princess-'
Hoof beats drummed, and suddenly they were hemmed by blowing horses and stern-faced soldiers.
The soldiers' captain hollered, 'Stand and identify!'
'Murdering Memnon,' carped Tafir. 'It's the ox heads of Samir Wolfbreath.'
'Pallaton of Oxonsis,' gasped Gheqet.
Six cavalry riders wore undyed linen tunics painted with red ox heads. Red headscarves fluttered, as did white and red ribbons topping their tall riding bows. The officer was a lithe, dark woman marked by two ostrich plumes, and a leather kurbash hung on her left wrist.
The captain, hardly older than Star, glared from her great height and repeated, 'Intruders, identify yourselves!'
'We will not,' Amenstar retorted. Turning her back, she kicked her foot for a leather stirrup. 'Now begone. We've a journey to complete-'
Quick as an eye blink, the officer spurred her horse so it reared and almost took wing like an eagle. The great beast galloped headlong into the rill, straight for the three Cursrahns, then slammed to a halt beside Amenstar. The captain flipped up her kurbash and slashed the princess across the head. Taken by surprise, the samira was knocked against her mount. Nudging the horse in a tight circle, the officer slapped Tafir and Gheqet, who prudently took the blows and kept still.
The officer snapped, 'You'll obey orders when visiting Oxonsis!'
'This is not Oxonsis's sphere,' the princess said. In fact, Amenstar hadn't a clue where they stood on a map. Clinging to her saddle, she felt her neck, and discovered blood from a sliced ear. Fury overtook reason. 'You stinking scut-I can scarce believe it. You struck me!'
Possessed by her own temper, the officer vaulted from the saddle, kilt flapping, and stormed toward Amenstar. 'You smart-mouthed slattern. Show respect for the prince's army.'
Spanking Star's mount aside, the amazon hoisted her kurbash and swatted Amenstar with the full of her knotty arm. Stunned, spun by the blows, Star tumbled to her knees. Whistling leather punished her back, butt, thigh, shoulder, and the back of her head. Gheqet stared in astonishment. Tafir set his feet to jump to Star's defense, but a cavalry lance tapped his shoulder, freezing him.
Timed to blows, the officer snarled, 'You brainless bitch! Think you can violate our borders with impunity? We lost half a night's patrol tracking you down!'
Cowering, Amenstar covered her head, thinking this was the second time in three days she'd been punished.
