But when Tom wished to tell me something, there was no escaping him. While Jee, huddled in Tom's fur cloak against the cold, watched us across the fire, Tom burbled on. ‘That savage bastard – the guard who watches me when you're gone – allows me much more freedom now. Well, I'm tied, ain't I? And he probably thinks The Queendom is too far now to go back to all alone, and he might be right at that if ... Anyway, he was casting dice with two other soldiers – I wish they would let me play! Ten to six odds I could beat them all. But I watched yesterday for an hour and the rules—' ‘Tom, I'm very tired.' ‘Well, all right, I'll make my tale short. I took a walk in the woods by that creek and she was there and I bedded her. Oh, I feel so much better now. A man needs a woman.' He winked. ‘Fine,' I said. ‘Goodnight.' ‘Her name is Alysse.' ‘Very pretty.' ‘I will meet her again tomorrow.' ‘Good.' ‘She has red-gold curls and breasts like—' ‘ Goodnight, Tom.' ‘You need to have a woman, Peter.
