Selena found  Zoltan almost precisely on the spot where she had left.  She strode up to him and stopped, looking down at him with her hands on her hips.  "Are you happy to see me?" she said, peering down at Zoltan.

"You came back," said Zoltan, his voice nearly breaking.   "I thought you had abandoned me.  But you would not do that, would you?  It is not in you."

"Of course not," said Selena.  "Here, I have brought you something to eat."  She extended the basket of food on her forefinger and knelt down so Zoltan could reach it.

"What is that?" he said, eying the basket.

"Many good things," said Selena.  "Eat now, you must be starving."

"It smells like sewage," said Zoltan, ungraciously.  "But I am hungry enough to eat even that."  He took the basket, sat down on the ground and began to eat.  Selena seated herself near without removing the boots and watched him eat with a patronizing smile on her face.  After a moment, Zoltan looked up at her and barked, "I don't like you towering over me like that.  If you want to sit with me, then take off the boots.  Otherwise, get away from me until I am done."

Selena  leaned forward and shook her finger at  Zoltan.  "You have used your power in cruel ways," she said, assuming a stern expression.   "You murdered my grandfather in addition to all of the countless others who have incurred your wrath.  You have sown terror and destruction with these boots and you have gloried in the suffering of thousands."

Zoltan's tiny face twisted into a hateful expression.  "So now you show your true colors!  You are no better than me!  You are a sneaking thief and a liar!  You only wanted the boots for yourself.  You are planning some hideous revenge.  You are going to kill me so no one will know what a low, sneaking scum you are!  All this talk of loyalty and protecting me from my enemies was just a ruse to get your feet into my boots!"

"You are wrong," said Selena.  "You judge others by your own low standards.  Believe what you will, but you will see that my word is true.  Everything I do is for your good."

"You call it serving me to abandon me in the wilderness?  To humiliate me and hold power over me?" said Zoltan with squeaky sarcasm.  

"I know what kind of man you are," said Selena.  "I know that you can trust no one because you cannot be trusted yourself.  I saw it as my duty to you to protect you from the consequences of your evil nature.  You are the ruler of this empire and you will continue to rule it with my help, but I intend to help you to overcome this evil inside you.  You are going to become good, Zoltan.  I promise you that you will one day be honored and beloved by your subjects."

"What if I do not wish to be good?" said Zoltan.  "What if I refuse to change my nature?  Are you going to crush me to death or burn me or drown me or feed me to the beasts.  Do you think I will change because I am afraid of you?  You do not know Zoltan.  I am not a coward.  You can take my boots, but you cannot make me a coward.  You can kill me, but you cannot make me a coward!"

"You are a coward," said Selena.  "That is why you take so much pleasure in the fear you inspired in others when you wore these boots.   That is why you hunger so much for power.  That is why you are so desperate to get me to remove these boots."

"You call me coward?" scoffed Zoltan.  "Remove the boots, and then call me a coward, if you are so brave.  I will show you who is a coward."

"Do you think I am a coward?" asked Selena.

"You ask me if you are a coward?" Zoltan said.  "You know the answer to that question."

"I want to know what you think," Selena said.  "Will you consider your answer and tell me honestly?"

"Of course you are a coward," he said without any hesitation.   "You are afraid to be in my presence without the boots on your feet.  If you are not a coward, then remove the boots and sit beside me.  If you are not a coward, remove the boots and lie with me in the shade of that tree."  

"No," said Selena.  "It is not time.  When you are ready, I will take off the boots and give them to you.  But not now."

"Not ever," snarled Zoltan.  "I know your game."

Selena's voice grew irritable.  "I think you have eaten enough.   Let us resume our journey.  We have a long way to go and it would be wise to cover as much ground as we can before dark."

"I am not finished," said Zoltan.

"You have had enough," said Selena.  She reached out and scooped up the basket and the meal he had laid out on the grass before him, along with several inches of the sod.  Selena squeezed the contents of her hand several times, rolling it around it her grasp, then flung it away.  She then picked up Zoltan most ungently and shoved him into her jacket pocket.

When Selena rose to her feet, and started walking, she immediately felt sorry for losing her temper with Zoltan.  It was his game to provoke her and thereby maintain some semblance of control over her.  It was not true power Zoltan desired, not the power to build, to change, or to create, but simply the power to give pain.  When she showed her anger toward him, when she lost control of her emotions, she was giving him exactly what he wanted.  That must not happen again.

Then it occurred to Selena that Zoltan's attempts to provoke her proved that Zoltan was gradually coming to trust her in a peculiar way.  He was beginning to believe that she would not kill him or harm him, even in anger.  Regrettably, however, he mistook her forbearance not for resolve, which is what it was, but for weakness.  Selena began to sing a happy little song as she walked across the land, covering twenty-five feet with each step.  The education of Lord Zoltan, she thought happily, has just begun.  Poor, fearful little Zoltan, she thought.  Without his boots, he was defenseless against the ordinary terrors that others have grown accustomed to.   When he wielded the colossal power of the boots, he could find no use for it but revenge and cruelty.

Selena touched the lump beneath her breast that was Zoltan, riding helplessly in the pocket of her jacket.  It was easy for Selena to imagine Zoltan's terror and she wanted to console him.  Something inside her made her want to wipe away the fear that made him evil.  If she took off the boots and became an ordinary woman, that would make him feel powerful, however he would probably kill her and that would be as bad for her as it was for Zoltan.  How, she wondered, could Zoltan derive pleasure from the suffering of others?  Was he so miserable in his cowardice that he could only be consoled by witnessing  the terror of others?  Did the knowledge that someone might be more afraid than he make him feel less afraid?

Selena walked, until late afternoon, she came to the edge of a desert.  The land was dry in this region, but the vegetation had somehow hung on until she came to a place when the sparse grass and bush seemed to fade an disappear, leaving nothing but sand dunes, blown by the winds.  There seemed to be no good place to camp, for there was no sign of water in sight.  Selena took Zoltan from her pocket and held him on her hand so that he could see the desrert.  "Is this the way you came?  It looks impassable."

"It is not impassable," said Zoltan, "for I have walked across it.  But I was wearing the boots, then."

"Does the way to your castle lie across this desert?" asked Selena.

"It is the shortest way," he said.  "But it is too hard for you, even wearing the boots."

"If you made it, I can," said Selena.  "We will cross tomorrow."

"No, you cannot cross in the daylight," said Zoltan.  "You must cross at night."

Selena gazed east across the desert, then north and south along the edge of the desert.  "I see a caravan!" she said, pointing north.  "They are camping for the night before starting their crossing."

"Their crossing will require days," said Zoltan.   "They will spend the days in tents and travel at night.  They  may wait days before they begin the crossing."

"Let us go speak with them," said Selena.

"They will flee at your approach," said Zoltan.  "It will be amusing to see."

"Perhaps," said Selena and started walking toward the distant camp, carrying Zoltan in her hand.  After a moment, she looked down at her jacket and said, "I feel uneasy carrying you like this.  I am afraid I might drop you or squeeze you by accident.  I think you had best go back into my pocket."

"I want to see," protested Zoltan.  "Put me in the outside pocket so I may look out."

Selena complied and continued walking with Zoltan's tiny head (in her perspective) peering from the outside pocket of her jacket.  After awhile, Selena said, "I am beginning to think that this is not a caravan, Zoltan."

"It is too far away yet," said Zoltan.  "Let us go closer."

After awhile, Selena said, "I do not know what that is, but I am sure that it is not a caravan."

"I know what it is," said Zoltan.  "It is an army."

"An army?  Why are they here?" asked Selena.

"They are looking for me," said Zoltan.  "But they are expecting a giant.  They will think you are me, until you draw close enough that your face may be seen."

"Who would send an army against you?" asked Selena.

"Farrara," Zoltan replied.  "I was there a few weeks ago."

"What were you doing in Farrara?"  Selena stopped walking, drew Zoltan from her packet and held him her fist.

"Nothing," said Zoltan.

"Do not lie to me, Zoltan," said Selena.  "They sent an army in persuit of you for nothing?  Tell me what you did to them."

"You are hurting me," said Zoltan.  "Don't squeeze me!"

"I'll try to be gentle," said Selena.  "But tell me what you did to them."

"I wanted to scare them," said Zoltan.  "They have been growing more and more belligerent of late.  They tell lies about me and try to unite the other nations to overthrow me.  They say that I am an ogre."

"What did you expect, Zoltan?" said Selena.  "You are a coward and a bully.   So you wanted to scare them.  How did you go about it?"

"Stop squeezing me and I will tell you," said Zoltan in a strained voice.  His face was very red and his eyes seemed to bulge from his head.

"Tell me and I will stop squeezing you," Selena replied.

"You promise?" wheezed Zoltan.

"You insult me, Zoltan," said Selena.  "You will tell me the truth without further delay.  Otherwise…"

"Otherwise?"

Selena said nothing, but perhaps she tightened the pressure of her fingers just a tiny bit.

"I abducted a royal princess!" said Zoltan.  "But she is allright now! She was not hurt."

Selena was so overcome with anger that she had to put Zoltan down before she killed him.  She set him on the ground before and put her hands on her hips.  "What did you do with her?" Selena said.

Zoltan did not meet her eyes, but with a brief glance upward, he said, "What do you think?"

"Was she a virgin?" said Selena.

"Who knows," said Zoltan.  "I doubt it.  I hope she has my bastard."

"You are a fool," said Selena.  "They are determined to destroy you what ever the cost to them.  And if you cannot be found, they will wreak their vengeance upon your loyal subjects."

"Loyal subjects!" sneered Zoltan.  "My loyal subjects hate my guts, but they obeyed me because they feared me.  They are my subjects no longer.  They belong to the one who wears the boots."  He pointed at her toes.

"I am not you," said Selena.  "But I wear these boots on your behalf.  These invaders must be placated in someway.  I don't suppose you would give yourself up and accept punishment at their hands."

"Are you insane?" blurted Zoltan.  "You must not give me up to them!  Do you have any notion how they would misuse me?  You must not give me up to them."

"It would be no more than you deserve," said Selena.  "But it would be useless to hope that you would perform a noble deed.  As disgusting as you are, you are my liege lord, and I am stuck with you.  Now I must try to placate these foreigners before they cross the desert and fall upon the hapless subjects in the interior of the empire.  You had better get back into my pocket, wicked Master."  She knelt and laid her hand on the ground before him, but he backed away.

"You want to turn me over to those murderers!" cried Zoltan.

"You are right," confessed Selena.  "I would love to do it, but I cannot.  Get into my hand or wait for me here.  It is your choice."

"I will wait here," said Zoltan, looking nervously up at her.

"As you wish, Master," said Selena.  She straightened up and stared down at him.  "I hope that I can find you when this is all over."  She then turned and started walking away.

"Wait!" cried Zoltan, and came running after her.  She zoomed away from him with giant strides that he could not hope to match and he called out to her.  "Selena!  Wait!  Take me with you!"

But Selena kept going until she was very far away.  So far that she could not see him.  But she knew that he could still see her.  She stopped and turned to look in his direction.  "Come along, Zoltan," she said in a voice that echoed across the mile and a half that separated them.  "But hurry.  I am not going to wait all day."

Zoltan ran as fast as he could, and after about ten minutes arrived at her feet, completely out of breath.  He stopped and extended his arms up to her.

Selena rewarded him with a smile.  "Good for you, Zoltan," she said.  "But I think you should let me carry you now.  You appear to be exhausted."  She scooped him up and put him into her inside jacket pocket.

"I want to see!" protested Zoltan.

"It would not be prudent for you to be seen, Master," said Selena and pushed him deep into the pocket until she could feel the little lump that was Zoltan pressed against her left breast.