Over the next few weeks the feud between the two sisters-in-law simmered dangerously. Fyre began to pay more attention to Chaldez than she had done previously, smiling at him and bringing him food. She would come into Kadz's compound on any slight pretext with the clear intention of signalling to Venna that she was keeping an eye on her.
Both women complained about the other to their husbands, whose own relationship was consequently strained. They no longer chatted away to each other. Kadz remained as harsh in his treatment of Chaldez as ever, but Hagrig, who had been the more sympathetic of the two, changed. It was as though, for him, Chaldez no longer existed. He would not even look at him, unless by accident, and then he would quickly avert his eyes.
Despite the brutality and indifference which surrounded him during daylight, Chaldez's worst hours were those he spent alone in the darkened hut at night. He was then overtaken by despair and self-pity, retreating more often than not into sobs and tears. There was no one to hear him and he wept shamelessly. It brought a kind of comfort.
It was while he was moaning and crying one night that he became aware of someone's presence immediately outside the hut. He was at once silent, his heart thumping, and presently he heard receding footsteps.
Several nights later, after a particularly brutal day, he once more abandoned himself to tears, but this time he was interrupted by the sound of the retaining bar against the door being lifted out of its slots. The door was dragged open, and he held his breath. The girl Doo stood in the doorway. She paused there, then stooping, came in and sat down on the straw next to where Chaldez lay defensively. She put out her hand and touched his head, and his cheek. Chaldez was astonished at how small and soft and warm if felt against his skin. He lay perfectly still. Doo began to make gentle clicking noises with her tongue, like a mother calming a fractious baby.
She remained there. saying nothing and doing nothing else until Chaldez, physically and emotionally drained, fell asleep.
The next morning he wondered if the visit had been a dream; certainly Doo gave no hint of it when she came with his meal of dry bread and water. He studied her face, but she avoided looking him in the eyes.
That night she returned to the hut. For a long time they sat next to each other on the straw, not speaking. Then she got up and left. Chaldez's heart leapt when he thought that she might not put the bar across the door. The dull thud as it fell into its slots murdered his hopes. They were, anyway, absurd. Even if he could escape where might he go? His chances of finding Dan before the potters found him were practically non-existent.
As the hopelessness of his situation bore down on him he almost began to cry again, but the sting of tears in his eyes reminded him of Doo's visit, and he held them back. He supposed she would be half killed if her mother found out about her visits, and he wondered why she was prepared to take that risk. Had she guessed that he was high born? He would have liked to think there was something about his bearing which had betrayed his royal rank, but he could think of nothing he had done to give it away. No, Doo had taken pity on him because she was kind-hearted; she could expect nothing for her actions but trouble, and Chaldez began to feel ashamed; he had been behaving like a baby!
Eventually shame gave way to resolve; in future he would bare himself like a prince and a man, and if he lived until he reached 16 and manhood he would show the world he had already left childhood behind him. But where would he be at 16 - still a slave of the potters? It was an appalling thought and he almost gave way to self pity. But the moment passed; instead of blubbering, he promised himself that however badly his captors might treat him they would never drag him down to their own mean level. And when he escaped they would never recapture him. He had, he reminded himself, two allies: Doo and Fyre; they might help him when the time came.
The next morning, as he waited at the door for Venna, he felt strong and proud. Whatever she did to him, whatever menial tasks she made him do could not alter the fact that he was of royal blood - and that she was but filth.
When later she launched into the inevitable beating - he was not even sure what he had done wrong - he looked her in the eye, not deigning to raise his arms in self defence. It was a display of insolent arrogance which drove her into a frenzy. She screamed for her husband, who came reluctantly out of the house, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand. He grasped Chaldez by the hair, forcing his head backwards, but seemed uncertain what to do next. Venna stood next to him, stamping her feet with rage. On the ground beside her was the hand axe used for chopping wood for the kiln, and in another instant she had picked it up and was pressing it upon Kadz. He took it with his free hand, and seemed to be about to strike Chaldez with it when Fyre burst into the compound and seized his arm. She was shouting and weeping; Venna was screaming, and Kadz was thoroughly confused. Venna tried to drag Fyre away from her husband, and Fyre, perhaps to prevent it, groped wildly at the man's head and face. Her finger went into his eye. With a great bellow, he flung up his arm and brought it down hard. There was a sharp crack of splitting bone, and Fyre wheeled away, clasping the top of her head. Kadz, Venna and Chaldez stood as though turned into stone while she staggered and fell, sending a stack of earthenware pots rolling in all directions. Kadz looked down at the bloody axe in his hand, and dropped it. Venna's shouts of fury turned into wails as she ran to her sister-in-law. Chaldez had still not moved when Hagrig entered the compound. He stared, white-faced, at Kadz, then shifted his gaze slowly to where Venna was cradling his wife among the broken pots. Blood was everywhere. It had been spurting out from the wound in Fyre's head, but had now stopped. The ground, the pots and Venna were streaked and spattered with it.
Hagrig thrust Venna to one side, picked up his wife's limp body and strode out of the compound with it.
Chaldez was paralysed by what he had seen. Kadz and Venna left him standing where he was; when he realised he was alone he went into the hut, where he lay on the straw, trembling.
No one bothered him. Later in the day an official with a military escort came and took Kadz away, watched in silence by Venna and the children, and observed by Chaldez from the door of the hut. Later still Hagrig returned to the compound. He looked into the hut, saw Chaldez and began gesticulating. Chaldez looked at him without comprehension. Hagrig pulled him to his feet. Saying nothing, and occasionally looking over his shoulder, he pushed him towards the open gate in the compound fence, and at last his meaning was clear to the boy; he intended him to leave. Chaldez walked down the narrow path, devoid of sensations. At the road he turned towards the distant town; he had gone about 20 paces when he heard footsteps behind him and turning, saw Doo hurrying after him. She stopped, her small face pale and thin. She remained motionless, as though she had forgotten what she had come out for, then turned and walked back towards her house.
As Chaldez continued along the uneven track, in his mind's eye he kept seeing Fyre wheeling away from Kadz, her hands clutching her head.
He walked on, aware of a chill in the air against which his thin, ragged clothes provided little protection; he supposed autumn was not far off, and began to wonder about finding shelter for the night. And food. He had not eaten all day.