The Pagan's Prize Read Free Page A

that was drawn right up to the tent.
    "The journey from Tmutorokan has been a long and
taxing one, Princess," he said smoothly, closing the heavy curtains to
leave her in darkness. "Do not trouble yourself. Rest."
    Zora obliged him by sinking gratefully against the
plush cushions, but when the litter was hoisted into the air she was assailed
by a wave of nauseating dizziness.
    "Phineas?"
    Her weak cry went unanswered. Outside she heard the
bearers' sandals squelching in the mud and rain beating upon the litter's
canvas roof, but not a sound from the chief eunuch.
    Mother of Christ,
what could be wrong with her? she wondered dazedly. Every pitch and sway of
the litter heightened her sense of light-headedness. Her tongue felt thick and
as dry as wool, and try as she might, she could barely open her eyes.
    Overwhelmed by a terrible drowning sensation as her
body sank deeper into the cushions, Zora could swear that they should have
arrived at her tent by now, but the slaves kept on walking. Where were they
taking her? Was it possible she had lost track of time and they had not yet
reached the camp's outskirts?
    Suddenly the litter pitched to one side as if a slave
had tripped and lost his footing, then it felt like the world dropped from
beneath her. The conveyance hit the ground with a jarring thud. Through the
cold numbness enveloping her body she heard sounds of struggle—and muted
screams?—then Phineas's ragged whisper.
    "Grab her and be gone! And I warn you, tell your
master Gleb not to forget his sworn agreement. This concubine's tongue is to be
cut out, and she's not to be sold until you reach Constantinople! My mistress
has paid much gold to ensure that her wishes are met. Tell Gleb if they are
not, she will gladly spend a thousand times more to have him found and
punished."
    Zora moaned in horrified disbelief. She'd been caught
in a treacherous web. She gasped as the curtains were torn aside and rough
hands wrenched her from the litter. But it was so dark she could not see her
assailants' faces. Nor could she move her limbs to escape them.
    "No, please . . . my wedding gown," she
whimpered almost incoherently, glimpsing the cream silk lying like a bright
beacon upon the muddy ground.
    In the next instant a dank, fetid cloth was stuffed in
her mouth, and limp as a rag, she was flung over a broad shoulder, the wind
knocked painfully from her lungs. She felt her captor running, his breathing
hard and labored, and when he abruptly stopped, she heard as if from a great
distance the rush of water and oars scraping. Then all consciousness receded
and pitch-blackness engulfed her.
     
    ***

     
    Hermione waited several hours—enjoying a leisurely bath
and the ministrations of her slave women as they massaged her with fragrant
oils and dressed her for bed—before she sent all of her attendants away and
summoned a rain-soaked guard. Reclining comfortably upon a divan, she didn't
deign to look at him, but toyed with a filigree gold and glass perfume bottle.
    "Go to Phineas's tent and wake him. I wish to
speak with him at once."
    As she expected, the guard returned to inform her that
Phineas had not yet been to his quarters.
    "Then search the camp and find him!"
    And, as she expected, a short while later a great hue
and cry of alarm was raised, echoing throughout the camp. Within moments a grim
chief of the guards came rushing into the tent. Feigning panic, Hermione rose
to meet him.
    "What has happened?" she demanded shrilly. "Why
all the shouting?"
    "Princess Zora has been abducted, my lady! We
found the empty litter near her tent and Phineas lying senseless beside it.
Three of the bearers were strangled, while the fourth hovers near death."
    "No, this can't be true," Hermione objected
with suitable disbelief while inwardly she fought the urge to laugh aloud in
triumph. "It can't be! How could such a thing have happened? Where were
the guards?"
    "Those assigned to your sister's tent were
murdered, their throats cut. The rest