Darkness had fallen and the oil flares within the palace
had been lighted long before two messengers appeared with instructions
that Herog demanded her immediate presence and that the old woman,
whom they called Xanila, was to accompany her. The girl felt some
slight relief when she discovered that she was to have at least
one friend with her, however powerless to assist her the old woman
might be.
The messengers conducted the two to a small apartment on the floor
below. Xanila explained that this was one of the anterooms off
the main throneroom in which the king was accustomed to hold court
with his entire retinue. A number of yellow-tunicked warriors sat
about upon the benches within the room. For the most part their
eyes were bent upon the floor and their attitudes that of moody
dejection. As the two women entered several glanced indifferently
at them, but for the most part no attention was paid to them.
While they were waiting in the anteroom there entered from another
apartment a young man uniformed similarly to the others with the
exception that upon his head was a fillet of gold, in the front of
which a single parrot feather rose erectly above his forehead. As
he entered, the other soldiers in the room rose to their feet.
"That is Metak, one of the king's sons," Xanila whispered to the
girl.
The prince was crossing the room toward the audience chamber when
his glance happened to fall upon Bertha Kircher.
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