“Leave me alone!” Nira shouted. “I don’t want to go back to your lousy gang.”
“But Nira!” Pannen said.
“I’m going to get gold and silks and everything in Cerea,” Nira said.
“It’s a lie, they’re all liars,” Pannen said.
“So are you! They say the king wants me! A king’s even better than some lousy governor, let alone a beggar boy.”
Darna heard a thud and Pannen cursed, then there was more scrambling across the deck. Darna didn’t have time to think about Nira. More shouts came and then there was a flash of torchlight bouncing off a polished mirror. The Cereans were signaling to their fellows on the shore.
Darna grabbed the box and wormed her knife into the crack. It didn’t budge. She put it down on the bed. There had to be something heavy, but if she made noise they would find her. Some
