'And what now?' she asked. 'To Afghulistan?'
'Not just now!' He grinned hardly. 'Somebody—maybe the governor—killed my seven headmen. My idiotic followers think I had something to do with it, and unless I am able to convince them otherwise, they'll hunt me like a wounded jackal.'
'Then what of me? If the headmen are dead, I am useless to you as a hostage. Will you slay me, to avenge them?'
He looked down at her, with eyes fiercely aglow, and laughed at the suggestion.
'Then let us ride to the border,' she said. 'You'll be safe from the Afghulis there—'
'Yes, on a Vendhyan gibbet.'
'I am Queen of Vendhya,' she reminded him with a touch of her old imperiousness. 'You have saved my life. You shall be rewarded.'
She did not intend it as it sounded, but he growled in his throat, ill pleased.
'Keep your bounty for your city-bred dogs, princess! If you're a queen of the plains, I'm a chief of the hills, and not one foot toward the border will I take you!'
'But you would be safe—' she began bewilderedly.