Tangle in the Dark - Kassidor

very fortunate that she had been treated as well as she had. Ifthis was real life made perfect, and she was in a bronze ageheaven, the letter from the captain’s mother was probablyreal. The soldiers could have all used her every night andthere was nothing she could have done about it. Instead theyhad put a sail across the stern so she could bathe, use the railand wash out her underwear in privacy.She allowed herself to believe this woman meant her noharm and that she would be given some menial job in thepalace convent or whatever it was until she learned thelanguage and began to teach them about such things asmotors and electronics. She was lead back to the hallway. Shecould hear the thick sandals of the troops on the floor belowalready. The woman looked both ways on the hallway andthen lead her down another narrow flight of stairs. On thesecond or third floor they traversed another long hallway,much wider than the other with fewer zigs and zags. Wideand ornate stairways lead down to great halls on the mainfloor. Windows and light wells brought light to the deepestrecesses and highlighted the grandest artworks andarchitectural details. The ornamentation and artwork werebreathtaking, the detailing much more refined than thereproductions made for tourists in the 20 th century. If this wasa faithful reproduction of the era, the splendor was beyondanything she knew of til Imperial Russia.She noticed some porters in these hallways spoke anotherlanguage that sounded like ancient Egyptian. They were407