Cloth

Then the princess picked up the other article she’d brought, and shook it out. It was a lengthy piece of hand-woven fabric, white with narrow magenta stripes running through the weave. “I made this for you while we were on the voyage,” she said, “on my little hand loom. I think it’s probably too long, but you can double it, like this.” Stepping close to him, she wrapped the fabric around his waist twice, then tied it so the extra hung in short loops. “If you tuck it up like this, it won’t show under your waistcoat, Jack.”

He looked down at the homespun, then rubbed it between his fingers. “Does this have magical properties too, love?”

She smiled at him. “I cannot guarantee that it will stop a weapon, Jack, but as I wove it, I chanted, and what I chanted were spells of protection. When you wear it, think of me. I will pray to Apedemak each day that my weaving will be strong enough to protect you from injury, or sickness, or harm.”

***

The Price of Freedom, Chapter 17