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"Yes," Laurence said, gri back the sleeves of his robes "I recall"

Their introduction took place at a hall which faced upon another great plaza called the Cusipata: Iskierka led the courtyard so their approach ht have the best effect, in defiance of Hareat dais stood awaiting them: a stepped platforold affixed to every side all around

Maila Yupanqui and three other great beasts were disposed about the dais in heavy coils, the burnished shine of theout only here and there between their bodies; they shifted in restless anxiety, and all their heads weaved in the air Laurence ht alons watching himself and Granby with so much cold anxiety, and with not half so estion of waiting violence leached any quality of huuards stood also to either side of the dais, aruese ed, and likely traded for at the coast, or fro a sort of arht have been merely intended to add to the imperial state, but the atmosphere conveyed was not one of formality but of an armed camp, and the unfriendly looks bent upon theuests

The Empress sat upon the stool on the dais: a tall and slender woruously broad shoulders, she wore a deep scarlet turban with feathers thrust into it, bound in gold, and her very long black hair hung down in plaits clasped with gold and earments were of wool of extraordinary fineness, splendidly woven in sht colors, and ornamented with jewels As they neared, Laurence saw she had also a scattering of pox-old dust and shone in the sunlight that spilled down froreat shafts

"Laurence, only look at the fountain," Te construction, the basin all of solid gold catching sunlight, so the water as it leapt seeems: and to either side of theold

Temeraire and Iskierka seated theh Maila and the other Inca dragons, six in number, remained on their haunches, and there was a tension in their li "We shan’trudely," Temeraire said to Laurence, in as likely intended to have been a whispered aside, "because they are so very nervous; but pray do not be the least worried, Laurence, for if they should attack us I shall certainly not allow any harm to come to you; if I had the least doubt on that subject we should not have cohed: there was a firm insistence on this final point which he did not think boded well for Temeraire’s coer He halted where they stood and bowed to the Inca, who looked at thehtful expression: not a particularly handso, but her eyes were exceptionally dark, and a shrewd calculation looked out of them

"I am Anahuarque Inca, and I welcohtly accented, and then changed to surprisingly excellent French to invite theht and laid out on the floor for theh how near to approach," Granbyhimself onto one of the blankets; and then started: the Empress rose from her throne and descended to the floor of the hall, and even as her warriors and her dragons stirred uneasily, she seated herself on another woven cloth not five paces distant

"Are you co at him with an attitude of curiosity "This is the custom of your people: to sit while you talk?"

"Oh, er," Granby said "Well--thank you, yes, most comfortable--"

"And the conditions of your journey? The roads were in good repair, and the storehouses full?" she inquired

Granby threw Laurence a desperate look, but she was too clearly addressing hiladly have stopped there, but Iskierka put down her head and nudged hi so stupid? She will think you are not clever"

"I am not in the least clever, in conversation, and less so in French!" Granby answered her with so to say "The storehouses are remarkable, Your Majesty," he added "We scarcely had to hunt along the way--oh, hell," he said, reverting to English andfrolad to hear it," Anahuarque said, however, without any sign of objecting to their pillaging "The harvest has been good in the south, so I hear; I believe you have said it was so, Ninan?"

She repeated this question, directed to one of the hovering warriors, in Quechua: the gentle man, whose hand rested on the butt of a pistol thrust into a sash at his waist, started and answered her after a moment She turned back to French and asked Granby about his satisfaction with their quarters; then discussed the weather and the approaching change of season, in each case weaving her own attendant men into the conversation

Laurence, who had been used fro his h to join the table, realized in short order there was no accident in the seeree ofhaue other than her own, but this would haveand pauses; of which there were none

As the conversation continued, and poor Granby bore the brunt of it, Laurence looked closer and saw the warriors around her throne were plainly not uards Several of them were older men, others visibly battle-hardened; and all of theold eed turbans which he began to think denoted perhaps nobility, or military rank And the suspicious looks these men cast were not confined to Granby and to Laurence: they scowled at one another with equal fervor

"She is playing Penelope’s game, I think," Laurence said to Granby, when they had at last been disain "She is being pressed to take a consort, who surely would seek to assert his authority direct; and she is playing her rivals off one against another"

"And we are as good as a circus for distraction," Granby said "She can’t have had the least wish to speak to us for any other reason, when all she did was ask land, and I can scarcely tell you if it is summer or winter there at present Laurence, she will keep us all here dancing attendance endlessly, along with the rest of those fellows, if only we give her a chance"

"Yes," Laurence said, and added to Ha to ive you this assurance, sir: I do not think she can intend any serious alliance with France, at least not one which would engage her to commit any portion of her forces She cannot afford to raise one of those eneral, or allows any one of them to build repute as the foremost warrior of her realm, she at once puts herself in that man’s power"

"Unless," Hammond said bitterly, "she puts into place a counterbalance," beckoning them inside the inner chamber