Emperor Euphrates peered narrowly at the stubborn girl.
"Do you not know that it is death to disobey your Emperor? Speak, I command you."
But Si'Wren could not break her vow again, as she had done that terrible night when Habrunt came to rescue her. She must never speak again, no matter what, lest she dishonor her Invisible God.
Raising his eyebrows in frustration, Emperor Euphrates looked up at the throng and proclaimed, "Is this child a deaf and dumb mute? Is there any present who knows why this child refuses to obey her Emperor?"
Off to the left, one of Sorpiala's consorts stepped several quick steps forward and fell down prostrate on her face with the muffled cry, "Aye, Highness!"
"Ah," nodded Emperor Euphrates approvingly. "What say you?"
"She is neither deaf, nor dumb, nor mute, but has been sworn to a vow of silence by her former master, on her very life, as fitting punishment for being a filthy idol-breaker!" declared the young woman, turning her head about quickly as she swept the royal court with her flashing eyes.
A general gasp of horror rose up from the crowd, with many individual exclamations of outright shock and disbelief.
"You so bear witness?" formally asked Emperor Euphrates.
"Aye!" the woman said with ill-disguised spite, looking up from the floor. She was obviously relishing the opportunity to inform everyone of the horrible crime and subsequent vow. "If the evil girl should speak but once in a lifetime, her disloyalty to her own vow shall constitute faithful witness against her and her forbidden god, the Invisible One, that they are both false, and she is to be immediately executed! So sward she herself in front of her former owner; one called Master Rababull."