A general gasp of horror rose up from the crowd, with many individual
exclamations of outright shock and disbelief.
"You so bear witness?" formally asked Emperor Euphrates.
"Aye!" the woman said with ill-disguised spite, looking up from the
floor. She was obviously relishing the opportunity to inform everyone
of the horrible crime and subsequent vow. "If the evil girl should
speak but once in a lifetime, her disloyalty to her own vow shall
constitute faithful witness against her and her forbidden god, the
Invisible One, that they are both false, and she is to be immediately
executed! So sward she herself in front of her former owner; one called
Master Rababull."
Emperor Euphrates digested this new bit of information in ruminative
silence for a moment without showing the slightest sign of what his
personal opinion might be of it.
"Very well," said Emperor Euphrates finally. "It is most unusual, but a
vow is a vow."
Then, looking around the court, he said, "Who else bears witness?"
Sorpiala unthinkingly raised her hand and responded, "Aye!" as she
stepped forth and -bowing low- remembered too late that it was
dangerous to fool with the truth so, when her own consorts were so well
aware that both Si'Wren and the other one, Nelatha, had actually been
falsely accused by Sorpiala's own scheming manipulations.
Pages:
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233