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his life for hers. Star’s eyes stung, and fat tears washed runnels through the dust and smoke that darkened her cheeks.
    Star pointed out the assassins who’d initiated the attack, and Captain Anhur had them bound hand and foot and gagged. The captain said, “The bakkal’s chancellor will wish to know your motives, and our dark vizars will be glad to torture out your truths.”
    The captain summoned neighbors to identify the other suspects and so dismissed a few terrified civilians caught in the sweep. Left cowering on their knees were four men and a mere girl in dark rags who couldn’t account for themselves. Three were tattooed with the crocodile teeth bracelets of hatori.
    “Condemned, all,” the captain pronounced. “Roll up that wine barrel. Ges, Rhu, bring up a prisoner. M’saba, do the honors.”
    Pinned by the arms, the first hatori was draped across a wine barrel. M’saba’s four feet, each as big as the barrel, drummed forward. The rhinaur hefted a halberd long as a flagpole with a steel axe head big as a tabletop, raised it toward the sky, and swept it earthward.
    The massive axe lopped off the thief’s head like a chicken’s, shattered the oak barrel into splinters, and buried itself in the street three feet deep. M’saba loved her mistress Amenstar and hated her attackers. Her frustration showed.
    Captain Anhur snickered. “Roll out another barrel. Not so hard this time, ‘Saba.”
    In a trice, the thieves’ bloody carcasses were stacked in the street with the heads plunked atop as a warning.
    Captain Anhur detailed six guards to watch the house until the palace chancellor could search it.
    “A lucky rescue, your highness,” concluded the captain. “Only three soldiers and two innocents were killed, and you were only grazed. We’ll return you home now.”
    It was not a request. Surrounded by guards, Amenstar went meekly.

    “… you could have been killed, darling, or held for ransom. That, you must understand, would upset your father’s plans terribly. With you prisoner, those hatori criminals could make outrageous demands, such as the release of their cronies from prison. These kidnappers don’t work alone, but they conspire with our enemies. Even some noble houses in this city plot against us. Their demands are more plebian, centering on money, of course. They scheme for lower tariffs, or trading favors against rivals, or that we install some vagabond to a high office…. Are you listening?”
    “Yes, Mother.”
    Amenstar resisted the urge to roll her eyes and sigh deeply. Her mother was cranky enough, awakened early: that is, just at sunset. Star slouched and stared through the tall windows at her courtyard. A fountain danced above a glittering pool laced with fading shadows. A servant fed tidbits to bug-eyed carp. On a perch near the window, two scarlet and blue macaws nuzzled. An ocelot rolled in its sleep, brass chain chinking. One of her saluqis, a slate-blue greyhound, yawned so widely that Star had to clamp her own jaw shut. Four maids, identical in simple linen shifts, square-cut black hair, and eyes lined with kohl in tribute to their mistress, waited along the wall like painted effigies—punished along with their mistress. Four personal maids comprised the day shift, and eight more attended Star by night, when the royal compound became active.
    Bored, Amenstar let her eyes roam over her quarters. Everything in sight was hers. One entire wing of the family compound, nine opulent rooms surrounding a courtyard with a pool, gardens, and fruit trees. Her father, the bakkal, or priest-king of Cursrah, had four wives, of which Star’s mother was sama, the first, or senior queen. Star had two elder brothers and twelve younger, and nine younger sisters, with more siblings on the way. Luckily, as eldest princess she enjoyed great privileges, as well as grating pains, such as her mother’s incessant harping. The daughter tuned in momentarily to see if the tirade covered anything