Ruha pulled a foot away from the wall and thrust it at the princess's head.

Wei Dao continued to squint until the approaching kick had nearly reached her face… then she calmly slipped the blow by looking away and allowing the witch's heel to glance off her brow. Instantly, the

princess's hand snapped back, smashing the hard bone of her wrist into the tendons of Ruha's ankle. A sharp, tingling pain shot up the witch's shin, and her leg went numb below the knee.

As Ruha tried to pull her foot back, Wei Dao trapped the witch's ankle in the crook of her elbow, then locked it in place by clasping her hand against the back of her neck. She pulled her legs away from the walls and dropped, already raising her free hand toward thejam- biya between her teeth.

The witch pushed against the walls with all her might, barely keeping herself from falling to the floor when Wei

Dao's weight hit the end other dangling leg. From behind

Ruha, barely audible over the ebbing roar inside her head, came the muted clamor of the guards gathering themselves up to help the princess.

Wei Dao took thejambiya from between her teeth.

Ruha swung her second leg away from the wall and smashed her heel into the back other foe's skull. Wei

Dao's head snapped forward; then the knife slipped from her hand and her body went limp. The princess dropped a man's height to the floor, landing in the semi-rigid heap of someone caught halfway between consciousness and unconsciousness. A pair of guards appeared beside her immediately.

Ruha looked up and saw light shining through the grooved planks above her head. The pebbles were gone, having eaten all the way through the wood. The witch did not wait to see if the soldiers below would attack her or tend to their mistress. She braced her good foot against the wall-the leg that Wei Dao had struck was too numb to trust-then made a fist and punched it through the boards above her head. The wood fell apart easily, and she had no trouble widening the hole until she came to a solid edge. The witch grabbed hold and glanced down to see several guards climbing after her.

Although Ruha did not know any wood magic, she sprinkled a handful of decaying wood on their heads and

muttered a few mystic-sounding syllables. That was enough to make them drop back into the corridor and scurry for cover. Having bought herself more time, the witch pushed her second hand through the hole-then gasped as her wrists were seized from above by a pair of small, callused hands. Without bothering to tear away what remained of the weakened planks, her unseen cap- tor pulled her up through the floor.

Ruha found herself standing before a blank-faced sol- dier dressed in Minister Hsieh's yellow, silk-jacketed armor. She was in a fair-sized room furnished only with kneeling mats, several low tables, and bookshelves, sur- rounded by a dozen more of the mandarin's guards, all with long, square-tipped swords in their hands. Along with Yu Po, Hsieh himself stood a half-dozen paces behind his guards.

"When strange events occur, it seems you are always near." Although Hsieh did not speak loudly, the ringing in Ruha's ears had faded to the point where, with a little effort, she could understand his words. The mandarin pointed overhead, where the witch's pebbles were scour- ing a fresh set of grooves into the coffered ceiling.

"Please to stop magic before it ruins Princess Wei Dao's apartment."

The man who had pulled Ruha out of the floor released her hands and stepped back, but the witch did not even consider casting a spell at the mandarin or any of his men. Although Tang had ordered his guards not to harm her, Hsieh's soldiers had received no such instructions and would undoubtedly strike her down at the first sign of danger to their master. Ruha gestured at the ceiling and spoke a single sibilant syllable. The pebbles fell out of the air, dropping through the hole to clatter off the dungeon's brick floor.

"So much better." Hsieh kneeled at one of the room's low tables and waved Ruha to the other side. "Please."

Ruha allowed herself to be escorted to the table, then sat cross-legged on one of the reed mats. Although she

was not overly fond of the chairs that Heartland hosts always thrust at their visitors, she found the Shou habit of kneeling even less comfortable.

Hsieh waited for her to arrange her aba and veil, and then said, "Please to explain your return to Ginger

Palace. I am under impression that Vaerana Hawklyn takes me hostage to get you out."

"She came too soon." As the witch spoke, she was fran- tically trying to calculate how much she should tell Hsieh about events in Elversult. Though he lacked the same reasons as Prince Tang and Wei Dao to conceal Lady

Feng's abduction, he might easily conclude that the best way to recover her was to let Cypress have what he wanted. "I had not concluded my business."

Hsieh nodded thoughtfully. "And this business-what- ever it is-do you finish it now?"

Ruha shook her head. "No, I was… interrupted."

Hsieh allowed himself a tiny smile, but made no remark about the interruption involving a trip to the dungeon. "Perhaps this business is something I can help you conclude."

Ruha lifted her brow. "Do you not wish to know what I

am doing?"

"You are spying," Hsieh replied simply. "I have need of

spy."

After a moment's consideration, Ruha asked, "And who am I to spy upon?"

"I come to speak to Lady Feng, but she is not here." He leaned forward and spoke so quietly that Ruha could barely make out the words. "I understand she is in Elver- suit. Perhaps she dishonors Peerless Emperor of Civi- lized World."

Ruha frowned, confused by the mandarin's implication and uncertain what he wanted from her. "What do you think she has done to dishonor your emperor?"

The mandarin flushed and looked at the tabletop. "Per- haps she takes lover."

"A lover?" Ruha scoffed.

Hsieh frowned and glanced toward his guards. "For spy, you are most imprudent."

"She is more than spy!" accused Wei Dao's voice.

The witch turned to see the princess pushing her head out of the hole in the floor. Her hair was disheveled and there was a red mark on her brow where Ruha's heel had glanced off, but otherwise she showed little sign of their battle.

Wei Dao allowed two of Hsieh's men to help her into the room, then pulled Ruha's jambiya from her sash and pointed the curved blade at the witch. "Lady Ruha is insidious assassin!"

The accusation caused several of the guards to reach for the witch, but Hsieh raised a finger and waved them off. "If Lady Ruha wishes me dead, she has many chances better than this to attack."

Ruha inclined her head to the minister. "I am grateful-"