With loving care to the deep,

May the guardians of waters attend you,

In silent depths of sleep,

Knowing that I, who rule in your place,

Draw all of my wisdom from you,

May show to all, a merciful face,

To your memory, always true!”

Ullig the former Slave Captain took three paces forward, signaling with his spearpoint to the bearers standing immediately behind the palanquin. They lifted the rear carrying poles slowly as the music started again. Tilting at a forward angle, the palanquin was raised above the bearers’ heads. White silk hangings at the palanquin’s front blossomed out, and Silth’s wrapped body slid with a dull splosh into the lake. The body had been weighted with stones, and sank down into the dark waters. All was calm for a brief moment, then the long sleek glint of pike flashed in the torchlight as the ever-ravenous predators rushed to the spot and shot down into the deeps, pursuing the grisly object. Lantur removed her mask, and spreading both paws wide over the waters she called out in a high-pitched whine, “High Queen Silth is dead!”

Immediately, Wilce and Ullig shouted aloud, “Long live High Queen Lantur! Long live High Queen Lantur!”

The cry was taken up by the attendant crowd of water rats until it became a chant. Lantur inclined her head to one side, smiling shyly as Ullig gestured for silence. “What can I say to you, my loyal subjects? I accept!”

Ullig and Wilce were about to lead the cheering when the logboat nosed up to the plateau and Mokkan leapt ashore.

Mokkan had been watching, as usual. He never made a move without first studying the situation shrewdly. From out on the lake he had seen his mother’s body being committed to the deep. Making for those he knew to be the two main conspirators, Mokkan seized Ullig and Wilce by their throats. They blanched in fear. Mokkan spoke in a low grating tone, so none but the two water rats could hear. “So this is how you sell out behind my back. Shut up and listen hard. When I give you the nod, both of you get everybeast shouting. And here’s what you’ll shout . . .”

Lantur was beginning to feel uneasy. Of all her brothers and sisters, Mokkan was the slyest of Marlfoxes. She watched him carefully. He came to her, his face wreathed in smiles, and clasping her paws he shook them joyfully. “My little sister, High Queen Lantur, what a happy homecoming for me!”

Lantur tried to break Mokkan’s grip on her paws, but he was far too strong. He clasped her more tightly.