"Come hither."
He nodded and raised a forestalling hand to wave off the nearest guard,
who had automatically raised a spear to point it at her as the slender
woman stepped forward.
Abruptly, Borla suddenly thundered, "Silence!" as he spotted the first
woman whispering to Sorpiala urgently and confidentially.
The woman let out a tiny, terrified "Eeep!" and gulped as she fell
silent with anguished, desperate eyes. Sorpiala merely held her peace,
and looked straight ahead in a penetrating look of ruthlessness,
evidently determined to stand her ground and see this vile thing
through to the bitter end, no matter what.
The woman initially called forth had also frozen at Borla's sudden bark
to be silent, and Emperor Euphrates repeated his command that she
approach the throne. Now she, the third-in-line of Si'Wren's accusers,
who had not dared to volunteer herself, but only had spoken up at
Sorpiala's initial bidding, hastened forward to fall flat at the very
feet of Emperor Euphrates under the watchful eagle eyes of a dozen
nearby guards, who automatically leaned ever so slightly forward on the
staves of their upright spears in poised and menacing vigilance.
Emperor Euphrates leaned forward over the prostrate woman and could be
seen whispering to her in a low indistinct voice, to which she answered
fearfully now and again.
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