The cursed towers 167
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as I thought."
Maya found fear was creeping down her spine like a trickle of icy water. Margrit's smile was as
frightening as her Fairgean father's angriest bellow. She drew herself up, staring at the banprionnsa
haughtily. "I am sorry if ye think my interest invasive," she said coolly. "The safety and wellbeing o' my
daughter, the Banrigh o' all 0' Eileanan and the Far Islands, is naturally my greatest concern."
"Naturally," Margrit replied silkily, once again tapping her long fingernails slowly against the gilded wood
of her throne. "And naturally ye will wish to see her." She rose and descended from the throne, her black
velvet skirts trailing behind her. "Come, my dear. I ken ye must be longing to be reunited with the wee
lassie, so many months it has been since ye last embraced her."
There was such subtle mockery in her tone that Maya flushed and clenched her fingers together. She
followed the banprionnsa out of the throne-room and up the stairs, Margrit suavely describing the history
of many of the treasures displayed on the walls.
Maya murmured politely in response and then nodded at the chamberlain preceding them up the stairs.
"Tell me, my lady, how is it that ye have one o' the horned mountains faeries as your servant? Are they
no' a wild, independent people? What is one doing here in the depths o' the marshes?"
Margrit frowned in pleasurable remembrance. "I saved his life and under the Khan'cohbans' strict code o'
honor that means he is in debt to me and must serve me as I demand, for as long as I demand. It was
quite a few years ago, but I refuse to release him from his geas for indeed he is one o' the best servants I
have ever had, fearless, intelligent and utterly faithful."
"But how did ye come to save his life?"
"I was traveling to Tirsoilleir in my swan-carriage when we were caught in a freakish hurricane. The
swans could not fly against such a strong wind and so I managed to surround us with the calm eye o' the
storm. Storm-magic is no' my strength though, so we had to travel with the wind. We were carried high
into the mountains and thrown at last onto a high field o' snow. My swans were exhausted and some
were injured and I myself was worn out with controlling such a tremendous, elemental force.
"We rested there until our strength returned, and I became aware of birds o' prey circling a high plateau
o' rock. With nothing better to do while I waited for my swans to recover, I climbed the ridge and found
Khan'tir-ell there, naked and staked out to die. He had killed someone in a fit o' jealousy over some
lover and they had condemned him to death. That is how they execute their criminals on the Spine o' the
World. Barbaric, is it no'? Somehow he had survived the bitter cold, though I think the wildness o' the
storm must have kept the wolves and snow lions away long enough for me to find him. I knew o' the
fighting skills o' the mountain faeries because o' that savage young warrior that was at the Tower o' Two
Moons for a while, do ye remember?"
Maya nodded and the banprionnsa continued, "So I freed him and bound him to me with his ridiculous
code o' honor and he has served me ever since. He has been useful indeed and has told me much about
the lost land o' Thiethan that had been forgotten."
At last they reached the nursery wing of the palace, and Maya could hear a child's soft babbling. She
tensed in anticipation, wondering how her daughter had changed since she had last seen her. She knew
there was no chance Bronwen would recognize her, for the little girl had been only a month old when
Maya had fled the Pool of Two Moons, and she was now almost two years old.
Margrit opened the door and ushered Maya through. Within was a long room furnished with a cot all
hung with cream and gold satin, delicate gilded cupboards and chests, and a tall rocking horse with wild
