Refugees

Many of the refugees stopped being a problem when Good King Razz conquered their villages. Then it was just a manner of putting walls up in the right places. The palace had several layers 

Refugees would come when there were rains in the north, through the villages of Lek.

Good King Razz had sent an invitation to Lek to the feast for the infant prince, but the old man did not respond. The villages he had handed over had been so quiet.

Nevertheless he sent two of his cousins in a small caravan, who found themselves on their voyage to the palace with the refugees from the northern rains. 

Lek had given to the caravan gifts for the infant son and for Ryheza, and food and drink for the feasts, along with a handmaiden and handiman for the two cousins, Pala and Lapa. 

The rain came on the caravan fast, and the horses were slowed down in the mud. The refugees came following the rain.

Pala had travelled much through the realm of King Razzasbel and the realms to the other side of the villages of Lek.

Her younger sister Lapa, on the other hand, had never left Lek's household before.

Pala had returned to visit Lek, her mother's older brother, and he asked her to go to the feast in his place. Pala had not seen Lapa since she was a young maiden, but Lek got the idea she would be able to read Ryheza when she got there. 

When the refugees came upon them Pala asked the handiman to count the lot. There were three dozen and a half, and Pala helped the handiman to distribute some of the food and drink to the refugees as the rain poured on them.

There was a village not too far off from their route that Pala knew had come to be abandoned because the soil was no longer good.

Perhaps, Lapa told her, the refugees could bring the rain with them to the place and settle there. 

A new village would be a befitting gift for Good King Razz. 

So Pala and Lapa took the refugees to the old abandoned village, and left some more of their food and drink.

They returned on their own, with the handmaiden and the handiman, but the rain never let up.

They could see the outer walls of the palace when they were come upon by bandits.

Pala and the handiman fought while Lapa and the handmaiden hid. The bandits were able to injure the handiman and Pala and steal most of the gifts and the horses but they did not find Lapa and the handmaiden, who had escaped to the outer walls.