"If that's what you want," a voice to Ella's side spoke, and turning, she saw Prince Ilathor beside her.

"No," the Petryan said, his words tinged with venom. "Trial would be too good for the man whose favourite method of execution was to boil a man in the lake."

"Or a child," said another Petryan.

"Or a woman," said another.

"You might have your wish granted," Prince Ilathor said.

Ella looked at the lake, and realised what she had been staring at but was too dazed to realise.

Steam rose from the ice.

"I thought you said a full day, Ella?" said the prince.

Ella looked out in the direction of Torlac. A thin trail of smoke curled up from the area of the town. She hoped no one had been hurt. The cellars under the barracks were far from the homes of the locals.

"It looks like I was wrong," Ella said.

"It's good to know that's possible." Ilathor smiled.

When Haptut Alwar, the tyrant High Lord of Petrya, was half-way across the ice, he suddenly stopped.

"How long will it take to change?" Prince Ilathor asked.

"At a guess? The sheet on top is the last of it. Underneath, it's already boiling hot."

The richly-robed figure took one more hesitant step. By now, a large crowd of Petryans had gathered, all watching the drama unfold, everything else forgotten.

On the shore, close to where the crowd stood, Ella could see the water bubbling and boiling as Lake Halapusa returned to its natural state.

High Lord Haptut Alwar took three more steps.

Then, with a blood-curdling scream, the Petryan High Lord fell through the ice.

~

ELLA left when the Petryans and Hazarans started to take bets on how long he would take to die. Haptut Alwar thrashed and cried, moans of anguish coming from his throat as he tried to swim through water that grew hotter with every passing second.

It was even better than it would have been before, the Petryans said, with the water slowly heating up. The longer he lasted, the better.

Ella returned to the Poltoi Palace as singing and dancing started in the streets. The High Lord's most fervent supporters were rounded up, and she tried to ignore their screams as they, too, were thrown in the lake. Ella was glad the Petryans saw it as liberation, rather than conquest. She hoped the future would now be brighter for these passionate people.

"Salute, enchantress," the Hazaran guard said when Ella approached the chamber where the healers had taken Shani and Bartolo. The man rose, a strangely bashful expression on his face. "I'm sorry, but you cannot go in there."

"Why not?" Ella demanded. "Are they all right? I want to see my friends."

"They are fine," the guard soothed. "Please, come back another time."

"What's wrong?" Ella said. "Are they badly hurt?"