One battalion each of Vorgrebergers and King's Own swung out of the parade and returned to barracks. Ragnarson didn't expect trouble during his absence, but Vorgreberg could be volatile. He couldn't deny Credence the tools needed to control it.
He didn't look back. He didn't want to see the palace till he returned. He was tempted to stretch the maneuvers just as an excuse to stay away.
Sherilee drifted across his mind. One good reason for hurrying back. Maybe he could bring her home by then. „Miss you, little girl," he whispered.
Inger jerked back from the window. He had seen her. And he hadn't made a sign. He hadn't come all week, and now he hadn't bothered to say good-bye. She could no longer doubt the estrangement.
For a while she'd hoped he would come see her and they could talk it out. The mess wasn't insoluble. With Josiah gone she felt less constrained to stay with the program. But he hadn't come. He hadn't even inquired about the poison ing attempt.
She was sure he'd had no part in it. It wasn't his style. If he had wanted her out of the way, he would have done something very direct. No, someone else was responsible. He probably didn't know.
She could think of only two candidates. Michael Trebilcock and Bragi's daughter-in-law. She was inclined to suspect the girl. The grasping little witch was determined to have her son installed as crown prince.
She looked out the window again. She saw pennons dip and sway as troops passed in review outside the wall.
He was leaving, they said. Going up to Baxendala with the troops. He would be gone for a month.
For a month there would be no one between her and the person who wanted her dead. Fear clawed at her guts. Again she told herself, „I was a fool to let Dane get me into this." She was living like she was besieged, making friends taste everything before she touched it herself, sweating whenever there was a knock. The fact that none of Bragi's people knocked didn't soothe her nerves. She had this paranoid certainty that they were biding their time, drawing the noose tighter, before they kicked her feet from beneath her.
She was getting cabin fever. And there was no end in sight. Unless they were starved out. Just like a regular siege.
Maybe they hadn't thought of that yet. „Sally. Janey. I need men for a bodyguard. We're going out to market."
„My Lady? Do you think that's wise?"
„No. I don't, really. But with the King gone we're going to be in worse danger. We won't dare go out. But if we don't, we'll starve. So before it occurs to our enemies to watch for it, we're going to stock up on provisions."
The response to her coming forth was baffling. No one seemed to notice, care, or react. The palace people, all devoted to Bragi, ignored her, but did nothing to hamper her. The guards at the gate let her go without comment. „Hunsicker."
„My Lady?"
„I thought they wanted us to stay locked up."
The soldier shrugged. „Maybe they changed their minds."
It was a bright, warm, windy day. Birds sang in the park. Some of the trees bent their shoulders under the weight of early-ripening fruit. It was not a day belonging to Inger's troubled world. She wanted clouds and gloom and drizzling, chilly rain.
Should she run for it now? Ride right through the city to the estate of one of her friends? She liked the notion... .
„We have company, My Lady," Hunsicker said. Inger glanced over her shoulder. Three riders were following them. „Shall we try to lose them?" Hunsicker asked.
„No. We don't want any more trouble than we have." Her heart sank. So much for running away.
All day long she sensed the presence of watchers. She recognized only one man. In the market she once found Michael Trebilcock staring at her through the crowd. The cold pallor of him sent tremors up her spine.
She was glad when it was over and she could retreat to her apartment.
„I've been studying it for three days," Michael told Prataxis. „There's no way in except by force. And her people are loyal enough to fight."
„Why?" Derel asked. „She wasn't that important before she came here. She shouldn't command that much devo tion."
„Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe Haas will find the answer."
Dahl Haas had driven himself to exhaustion. His quarry was older than he, and more easily wearied, but he had ridden hard too. It had taken Dahl a long time to overtake
Gales. They were in northern Ruderin at the time. Dahl was satisfied that Gales was headed home. To reach Itaskia the man would have to cross the Great Bridge over the River Silverbind at the City. He decided to race ahead, rest, and be fresh when Gales hit town.
Baxendala was refreshingly friendly after Vorgreberg. The townspeople came out cheering when the troops marched in. They lined the road up to Karak Strabger, the castle overlooking the town, and cheered their King as he passed.
Sir Gjerdrum said, „They figure we'll spend a lot of money."
„Cynic."
„I can't argue that. This damned country makes you cynical. I should have listened to my father. He never wanted me to come back." Sir Gjerdrum's father, Eanred Tarlson, had been Marshall when Ragnarson had arrived in Kavelin. He had died during the civil war. Ragnarson had replaced him.
Bragi stopped the column. „Gjerdrum, look out there." He pointed west. It was a fine, clear day. They could see all the way down the Gap to the more level lands. The view was tremendous. Snowcapped peaks framed it.
Gjerdrum looked for more than a minute. Finally, he said, „All right. I can't say it isn't worth it. If you can go on after all you've lost, so can I."
An hour later, looking at the same view from the higher vantage of Karak Strabger's watchtower, Sir Gjerdrum said, „Sire... Bragi ... I need a big favor."
„Anything within reason."
„It's Julie."
„Julie? What happened to Gwendolyn?"
„She's ancient history. Anyway, Julie's whole family died during the wars. She's all alone."
„So I've heard. Wasn't her father with the Damhorsters?"
„She had brothers and uncles and cousins in the South Bows, the Sedlmayr Light, and the Damhorsters. But yes, her father was with the Damhorsters. He's buried over there." Gjerdrum indicated a sprawling memorial cemetery filled with the dead of the battles fought here. „She wants me to lay a wreath."
For a moment Ragnarson stared up the quiet, bright pass and recalled the sound and fury and gloom and fear of days gone by. He pictured the air aswarm with dragons, the slopes dark with the eastern hordes, the earth trembling under the thundering contest of rival sorceries. This soil was rich with the blood of good men. Of too many good men, on both sides, driven by the ambitions of their captains. „We'll lay wreaths for them all, Gjerdrum. For them all. What was it you wanted?"
„For you to stand up for Julie. She doesn't have anyone to do it."
They're all dead, and they died for me, Bragi thought. „All right. Getting married, eh?"
Shyly, Gjerdrum said, „Once winter sets in and the pressure is off us for this year." During winter Kavelin was safe from her enemies. The little kingdom's people dared get domestic then.
„Yeah," Ragnarson said. „All right."
„What's the matter? You sound a little strange."
„Nothing." Bragi smiled. „Just never thought of you as the marrying kind."
„I'm getting older. And I found the right woman."
„Can't argue with that. They ought to be about ready downstairs. What say we go get this thing rolling? Those people from Maisak here yet?"
„No. But they should be in before sundown." Two flights downward, Gjerdrum asked, „You think Hsung really is pulling the garrison out of Gog-Ahlan?"
Bragi shrugged. „It'll be interesting to find out. That's all I can say. Interesting to find out."
Aral Dantice eased up out of a sleep haunted by dreams of a woman he would never again see. „Damn," he said. „Why won't she go away? How is she different from any other woman?"