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for.
                She felt nervous asking, but had to know by around midday. “Who were those men?”
                “ Lenn assassins. The best ones. The one with the sword knew me. We’d met before.” That’s all he said about it.
                Around dusk, Jass gestured for her to stop walking. In a low voice, he said, “We are close to the haven. I’m worried because we hear nothing. Usually, that trail there,” he pointed at what looked like nothing to Mandia , “would take us within, but we’re going up and around, just in case.”
                Fear shot through Mandia . What if Lenn had already been here, killed everyone, including her mother?
                They silently made their way up a rock cliff covered in red flowering vines until at a vantage point over what Jass had called the haven. They looked down and the things Mandia saw scared her more than anything she’d experienced yet.
                The haven was blocked on three sides by somewhat high, gray cliffs. Vines covered everything, and exotic plants filled the ground. There was a shallow pool in the middle, but it was filled with bodies. The dead of Farna .
                All around the walls, Lenn soldiers guarded terrified men, women and children. As they watched, one brave, yet foolhardy man made a rush at a soldier, and the soldier stabbed him through the stomach, then dragged and tossed his body in the pool. The man’s family cried horrible sobs.
                Mandia turned away. She could barely breathe. “Why are they keeping them alive?”
                “They’re waiting for me. They know I’ll come, and I have. They want to assassinate me for killing King Herean.”
                Mandia couldn’t look again. “Do you see my…my mother?”
                A moment later, Jass said, “Yes. She is with the butcher’s wife.”
                “How does she look? Is she hurt?”
                “She is afraid, but unhurt.”
                “Oh, what are we going to do?”
            He looked pensive. “But I’d need   distraction ,” he mumbled, then looked at her.
                “What are you thinking?” Her heart pounded.
                “I need you to walk in through the front way. The rest, I’ll take care of.”
                “But Jass , you can’t possibly…I mean, there are a dozen men down there. Maybe more.”
                “Do you have the strength to be my distraction? If you are too afraid, I understand.”
                Mandia couldn’t see how this would work, but her fear had formed more into an anger , a deep hatred for Lenn and what they did to every society they came across. How could they treat human beings like this?
                She gave Jass a steely look. “Yes. I can do this.”
                One side of his lips curved up. “I know we’ll make a good team. Now, take off your clothes.”
     
    ~~~
     
                Mandia felt the thick brush against her soft, naked flesh. She took three deep breaths before entering the haven, which was blocked by poorly stacked palm fronds.
                She pushed them aside and walked in.
                Everyone stared, and several of the soldiers laughed.
                “ Mandia !” she heard her mother cry, but she kept her gaze straight ahead.
                One of the soldiers approached her and looked her body carefully over. Then he reached for the red ribbon in her hair, fingered it. “You are his concubine. Only an assassin’s concubine wears the red ribbon.” He turned to the rest of the gawking soldiers. “ Assa Jass , weak man, is offering her to us in his place.” He turned back to her. “Pitiful.”
                He continued in a booming voice, “But if this