Chapter Twenty-ThreeGeneral Vard opened his eyes. The jungle was ablaze with light. At the far end of the huge arena he saw the young queen Taranta, playing on a field of white flowers, nectar dripping from her jaws, attended by a group of laughing nurses. General Vard rose, whole again, his body aglow with light and energy. All wicked feelings poured like a singing stream away from his mind and spirit.
He strode toward the field of daisies. He knew they were daisies from the new world. He melted into the arms of his beloved queen Taranta. Old queen Selera lay there, too, in the distance, attended by her nurses, whom General Vard remembered from childhood.
It was true, then. This was paradise. No longer did he strut before his Black Watch. The Black Watch looked at him from a distance an
