Someone Else's Kingdom, BOOK II - Scene LXXIX
Coulema Galina lay there in a pool of blood. The rain on the wet stone intermingling with the washed out gore. It pained Drua Maleeva to see the tall sturdy Tunidan lying dead on the ground, but she put it beyond her mind as she calmly walked past his body. Instead, she looked up at the greying sky, and out at the dampened castle courtyard. "Even from a dungeon cell her malevolent powers spew forth," she said aloud, as she appraised the dour scene. As she entered the courtyard proper she found King Mizmeam and his array of aides standing impatiently in the cold. Mizmeam too felt an uncomfortable ache that Galina had had to pay the price for his treason. With no heart to prolong the torture, the king had ordered that he be dispatched quickly and unceremoniously on his way to the execution. A sharp knife in the back; the dark crimson of his clothing darkened further with the wine-coloured effusion; the whites of the Tunidan's eyes unseen and unmet. The king spared no heart ...