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then, not ever, is to break faith with those who today swear on their honor to stand with me against the evil that the Empress and her family have brought to this, our beloved Greenfeld. I will fight them until their evil is banished from our lands or until I am dead. This I swear. This faith I will not break.”
    “Will we swear this with her?” Mannie asked.
    “I will swear it,” Kiev’s mayor said, shooting to his feet.
    “I will swear it,” said the Kiev delegation as they followed him to his feet.
    Even as they pushed their chairs back, others from other city delegations were shouting, “I swear it,” and standing with them.
    Around the room, the collection of serious men were eyeing their enthusiastic brothers and sisters towering above them, and polling themselves. Then, the two who had questioned Vicky got slowly to their feet. The others followed their lead.
    “This we swear,” they said, and someone began a cheer, and soon the entire room was cheering.
    Vicky slowly came to her feet as the room quieted.
    She let her eyes rove the room, blinking back moisture that threatened to fog her vision. “You have sworn with me, and now I swear with you. I will see a new dawn for Greenfeld, or I will die in its attempt.”

CHAPTER 4
 
    “D ADDY, I just got your message. I can’t believe anyone would tell you I am not your most loyal subject,” were the first words Vicky spoke to the message recorder.
    It had taken three hours to get her ready for the camera.
    The hospital where Doc Maggie had worked was only a short drive from the conference room. The rest of the time had been spent getting her camera-ready.
    Her left leg, the one closest to the camera, was in an open sling. The foot dangling from the sling was about twice as big as normal and purple, with yellow pus draining down. That had been thanks to a makeup artist that Mannie just happened to know.
    This rather lovely makeup artist reminded Mannie that it had been a while since he dropped by the studio, and the other girls missed him.
    Maybe Mannie’s not the monk I took him for.
    After spraying on an underlayer of sunburn, the artist helped Kit and Kat get the scratches and bug bites back onto every inch of her exposed skin . . . quite a bit of exposed skin that Daddy would, no doubt, enjoy looking at once more.
    Two young doctors, obviously attracted by all the lovelywomen, turned up and added medical advice on just how bad infected bites and other insect activity could get.
    They produced horrible pictures in vivid color.
    Vicky ended up looking horrid.
    The girls loved it.
    Mannie looked on, grinning. “I have never seen a woman quite as ugly as you.”
    “Is that an offer to take me to dinner?” Vicky cooed.
    “After you wash all that off, maybe,” he answered.
    “Oh, but shouldn’t I be seen in public to strengthen my story?”
    “We need to do something about her vocal cords,” the makeup artist observed professionally. “If she’s supposed to be dehydrated and sick, we can’t have her sounding like she’s ready to seduce the mayor, now can we?”
    “Definitely not,” Mr. Smith agreed, though Kit and Kat were clearly undecided.
    As the scribe arrived with the camera, the movie magician had Vicky breathe in something from a can.
    “That tastes horrible,” Vicky growled, but her voice came out cracking and just as horrible to hear as she was to look at.
    “Now it’s showtime,” the makeup artist said, and stepped back, out of sight.
    Vicky adjusted her body in bed and her mind to corkscrew. “Daddy, I just got your message. I can’t believe anyone would tell you I am not your most loyal subject,”
    She paused to fall back in her bed, gasping for breath. The scribe took the time to play the camera over her body, moving slowly over every ugly cut, bruise, and bite before ending at her pus-oozing toes.
    “I will come as soon as I can,” Vicky got out as she struggled up a bit on one elbow. “I will answer every