The dagger held aloft, she advanced upon Delia.
Tandu roared at her. His magnificent Djang head lifted and he told her something that brought the breath short between her teeth.
“Your tongue will be cut out, rast, I promise you!”
Dalki shouted across, adding to what his father had said, amplifying, going into graphic details. His description of Nyleen drove the color from her face. Her body shook in its panoply of gems and gold and silks. She looked like an Ice Queen of Myth, a Queen of Pain of Loh. The dagger trembled violently.
Delia heard Jilian say: “Once we get out of these chains we will make a bonny fight of it. Delia — I knew nothing—”
“Yes, Jilian. I know.”
“How can you know? How can you trust me—?”
“I thought I knew my Jilian Sweet-Tooth. And I was right. I did. Fiacola th
