Page 130 of The Priory of the Orange Tree

“A sprain,” Tané said. “Nothing more.”

“We will bring you something for your pain,” the youngest attendant said. “Wait here, honored Miduchi.” The three of them retreated.

Distant, confused shouts drifted through the open window. Earthshakes did happen in Seiiki, but there had not been one in a long time.

The attendants brought her a bowl of ice. Tané wrapped some in cloth and pressed it to her tender ankle. The fall had kindled the pain in her shoulder, and in her left side, where her old scar was.

When the ice was almost melted, she blew out the lantern and lay down, trying to find a comfortable position. Her side ached as if a horse had kicked it. Even as she succumbed to sleep, it was throbbing, like a second heart.

A knock jolted her awake. For a moment, she thought she was back in the South House, late for her class.

“Lady Tané.”

It was not the voice of any of her attendants.

The pain in her side was raging now. Blear-eyed, she rose, trying not to jar her ankle.

Six masked foot soldiers waited outside her room. All wore the green tunics of the land army.

“Lady Tané,” one of them said with a bow, “forgive us for disturbing you, but you must come with us at once.”

It was unusual for any soldier of the land army to set foot in Salt Flower Castle. “It is the middle of the night.” Tané tried to sound imperious. “Who summons me, honorable soldier?”

“The honored Governor of Ginura.”

The most powerful official in the region. Chief magistrate of Seiiki, responsible for administering justice to those of high rank.

Tané was suddenly aware of every drop of blood in her veins. Her body felt untethered from the ground, and her mind gleamed with terrible possibilities, the foremost being that Roos had already gone to the authorities. Perhaps it was best to go softly, to play innocent. If she ran now, they would consider it an admission of her guilt.

Nayimathun would be back soon. Whatever happened, wherever she was taken, her dragon would come for her.

“Very well.”

The soldier relaxed his stance. “Thank you, Lady Tané. We will send your servants to help you dress.”

Her attendants brought her uniform. They lifted the surcoat on to her shoulders and tied a blue sash around her waist. As soon as she was dressed and they turned their backs to leave, she took a blade from under her pillow and slipped it into her sleeve.

The soldiers escorted her down the corridor. Every time her left foot touched the floor, pain arrowed up her calf. They took her through the near-deserted castle, into the night.

A palanquin awaited her at the gateway. She stopped. Every instinct was telling her not to get inside.

“Lady Tané,” one of the soldiers said, “you cannot refuse this summons from the honored Governor.”

Movement caught her eye. Onren was returning to the castle with Kanperu. Seeing Tané, they strode toward her.

“As a member of Clan Miduchi,” Tané said to the soldier, emboldened, “I believe I can do as I choose.”

Deep in the eyeholes of his mask, his gaze flickered.

Onren and Kanperu had reached her now. “Honorable Tané,” the latter said, “is something wrong?”

His voice was a rasp and a ring. A sword eased from its scabbard. Faced with two more riders, the soldiers shifted their weight.

“These soldiers wish to take me to White River Castle, honorable Kanperu,” Tané said. “They cannot tell me why I am summoned.”

Kanperu looked at the captain with a rimple in his brow. He was almost a head taller than all the soldiers. “By what right do you summon a dragonrider without warning?” he asked. “Lady Tané is god-chosen, yet you take her from this castle as though she were a thief.”

“The honored Sea General has been informed, Lord Kanperu.”

---