age! I risked all kinds of perils to come here into the enemy camp and tell you not to lose hope!”
“What is the use of hoping? Hope won’t break these chains.”
“But my father will remove them!”
“Oh, your father! So he tells me, that he’s ready to do it, but first he asks me to do him a service which is impossible for me to perform.”
“What kind of a service?”
“He wants to go to the Tukholians and arrange with them for a clear passage for the Mongols through this valley in exchange for my freedom and asks me to tell him the magic words which would induce the Tukholians to favor his plan.”
Peace-Renown glanced at her father for the first time and her amazement increased with each moment to one of joy.
“Father,” she said, “is this true?”
“Yes,” replied Tuhar Wolf.
“Do you believe Maxim knows the magic words?”
“He must know them. How else, from the very first, could he have bound you to him. Without the use of charms this could not possibly have happened.”
Peace-Renown smiled, throwing Maxim a glance of infinitely tender love and then turning to her father, she said, “Have you obtained permission from your commander for such a parley?”
“Not yet, but it will take only a moment. His tent is not far from mine.”
“Then go now. In the meantime I’ll persuade Maxim to reveal those magic words to you.”
“You will persuade him?”
“You will see! Just go!”
“Bewitched girl!” the boyar grumbled to himself, leaving the tent. “Enchanted and no doubt about it! She actually forces herself upon him!”
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