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Aye. She gave all two thousand of dy Jironal s men the slip, she did. Well,
first of all, before that, her uncle dy Baocia pulled his men out and went
home. The fools let him go; thought it was a danger removed from their midst.
Yes, and made free to move at will! Then Iselle rode out five days running,
always with a troop of dy Jironal s cavalry for escort, and gave them more
exercise than they cared for.
Had em absolutely convinced she meant to escape while riding. So when she and
Lady Betriz went walking out one day with old Lady dy Hueltar, they let her go
by. I was waiting with two saddled horses, and two women to change cloaks with
em and go back with the old lady. We were gone down that ravine so fast . . .
The old Provincara undertook to conceal she d flown for as long as possible,
pass it off that she was ill in her mother s chambers. They ve doubtless
tumbled to it by now, but I ll wager she was safe with her uncle in Taryoon
before Valenda knew she was gone. Five gods, those girls can ride! Sixty miles
cross-country between dusk and dawn under a full moon, and only one change of
horses.
Girls? said Cazaril. Is Lady Betriz safe, too?
Oh, aye. Both of em chipper as songbirds, when I left em. Made me feel
old.
Cazaril squinted up at Palli, five years his junior, but let this pass. Ser
dy Ferrej . . . the Provincara, Lady Ista?
Palli s face sobered. Still hostages in Valenda. They all told the girls to
go on, you know.
Ah.
Foix brought him a bowl of bean porridge, hot and aromatic, on a tray, and
Bergon himself arranged his pillows and helped him sit up to eat it. Cazaril
had thought he was ravenous, yet found himself unable to force down more than
a few bites. Palli was keen to get away while the darkness still cloaked their
numbers. Cazaril struggled to oblige, letting Foix help him back into his
clothes. He dreaded the attempt to ride again.
In the post s stable yard, he found that their escort, a dozen men of the
Daughter s Order who d followed Palli from Taryoon, waited with a horse litter
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slung between two mounts. Indignant at first, he let Bergon persuade him into
it, and the cavalcade swung away into the graying dark. The rough back roads
and trails they took made the litter jounce and sway nauseatingly. After half
an hour of this, he cried for mercy, and undertook to climb on a horse.
Someone had thought to bring along a smooth-paced ambler for this very
purpose, and he clung to the saddle and endured its rippling gait while they
swung wide around Valenda and its occupiers patrols.
In the afternoon, they dropped down from some wooded slopes onto a wider road,
and Palli rode alongside him. Palli eyed him curiously, a little sideways.
I hear you do miracles with mules.
Not me. The goddess. Cazaril s smile twisted. She has a way with mules, it
seems.
I m also told you re strangely hard on brigands.
We were a strong company, well armed. If the brigands hadn t been set onto us
by dy Joal, they would never have attempted us.
Dy Joal was one of dy Jironal s best swords. Foix says you took him down in
seconds.
That was a mistake. Besides, his foot slipped.
Palli s lips twitched. You don t have to go around telling people that, you
know. He stared ahead between his horse s bobbing ears for a time. So, the
boy you defended on the Roknari galley was
Bergon himself.
Yes. Kidnapped by his brother s bravos, it turned out. Now I know why the
Ibran fleet rowed so hard after us.
Did you never guess who he really was? Then or later?
No. He had . . . he had a deal more self-control than even I realized at the
time.
That one will make a roya worth following, when he comes into his own.
Palli glanced ahead to where Bergon rode with dy Sould, and signed himself in
wonder. The gods are on our side, right enough. Can we fail?
Cazaril snorted bitterly. Yes. He thought of Ista, Umegat, the tongueless
groom. Of the deathly straits he was in. And when we fail, the gods do, too.
He didn t think he d ever quite realized that before, not in those terms.
At least Iselle was safe for now behind the shield of her uncle; as Heiress,
she would attract other ambitious men to her side. She would have many, not
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