Chapter 10 Summary

Experience having taught him to accept what cannot be changed, Flashy trains the army, perfecting their drill, oppressing subordinates, and kissing up to influential senior officers. Fear and intrigue naturally characterize a court where civilization is a veneer over savagery. Flashy has seen death sentences decreed after dinner and a nobleman killed when he cannot retrieve coins from a coiling cauldron. Courtiers assume that Flashy has influence, but he romps only to avoid death. At times he feels affection for Ranavalona—when her eyes are closed. Her idol keepers' advise keeps the blood flowing.

Madagascar seems eager for Prince Rakota to rule. Kind and cheerful, he tries to restrain his mother's bloodthirstiness. No altruist, Flashy wonders why Laborde and Rakota help him and Elspeth, with whom he is reunited briefly at the suburban garden party while Ranavalona is enjoying a bullfight. Fankanonikaka...