"This is the time, Ella," Shani said. "I left, and now I've returned. I promised myself that when I returned to Tlaxor, the tiered city, it would be to bring about the demise of High Lord Haptut Alwar. Pray that this is that time."

"Prince Ilathor is an honourable man," Ella said. "I'll speak with him. I'm sure he'll be pleased to liberate your people and treat them well."

Ella had her own memories of Petrya. She had travelled this land with Killian, and it was here she had finally seen through his façade. She had slept with the warmth of his body close to hers as they camped at night, hunted by a strange creature, and for a time they had shared a room in the trade town of Torlac.

"You're thinking about him," Shani said, indicating the pendant at Ella's neck with her eyes.

Ella looked at Jehral to see if he was listening, but the desert warrior was still, his eyes closed and his expression pained.

"It was in Petrya that I last saw him," she said.

Suddenly Ella craved the warmth of a man with a savage intensity. She imagined Killian's strong arms and his lean body, her hands running through the fiery hair that curled down to his neck.

"And this desert prince, Ilathor. You still don't know why he summoned you?"

Ella remembered another night. Another man. She remembered a night in the desert when Prince Ilathor Shanti of Tarn Teharan, now leader of the army of the desert tribes, had declared his love for her.

A love she had spurned, the very last time she and Ilathor had spoken, before Ella stole Jehral's horse and left.

~

"STOP," Shani said. "Don't move. We're being watched."

Ella reined in her horse; soon all three riders had drawn to a halt. She looked with concern at Jehral. He couldn't survive a battle.

"How do you know?"

"There are men in those trees there. It was only for the shortest instant, but I saw them. In fact, I don't think those trees are even real. I know the trees that grow in my land."

"They aren't Petryans, then," Ella said. She called out, projecting her voice, "Warriors of Raj Hazara, what tarn are you?"

The copse of trees wavered, and in its place there was suddenly a band of mounted warriors, their black clothing and scimitars betraying their origin. Their leader kicked his horse forward, his men following suit.

They halted some distance away. "I am Ashnar of Tarn Bohta," the leader called. "We know what the woman in red is capable of. Tell her to remove her robe and the red devices at her wrists and surrender herself to us."

Shani bristled. "There is no way I will…"