"But we don't have the time to go so far out of our way," argued Tashi.
"We'll have even less time if we end up in one of Fergox's prisons," Ramil countered.
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"But what good is my country's aid if it arrives too late? It's already February and we still have weeks of travelling ahead of us. The thaw will come in late March or April and it will take my
navy at least a month to sail to Gerfal."
"You speak, Tashi, as if Gerfal will not last beyond that time. We will put up a stiff fight if I know my father. I would not expect the battle to be over in a few weeks--we might even last the
summer."
"And then there's the resistance harassing Fergox from the rear--he'll be made to regret he's
stretched his supply lines so far," added Melletin.
"So you both favor the longer route," Tashi said, her arms folded across her chest.
"Yes, I do," said Melletin, rolling up the map.
"I do too, Your Highness," seconded Ramil, his hands on his hips.
But would it give them enough time? Tashi fretted. She closed her eyes for a moment, seeking
wisdom in a silent prayer. Their mission was in the Goddess's hands. If She wanted them to
succeed, the Mother would make it happen by Her own means.
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"I will follow your advice unless we see a clear sign that we have chosen ill,"
she said. "Then all I ask is that you be open to a change of plan."
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"Of course," said Ramil, rather pleased to have won this first battle of wills.
"I'm open to any suggestion of yours."
Tashi pelted him with a twig. "Don't: you sound like Merl when you talk like that."
Ramil put his hand over his mouth, feigning horror. "I will not speak another word."
"Good." Tashi smiled.
Melletin proposed that they reorganize their party so that they no longer resembled the same
group that passed the border a week ago.
"In case the alarm has been raised since and they are on the lookout for us,"
he explained.
He suggested they fall into pairs: the girls together, posing as two servants off to find work;
Ramil and the professor on their errand to the south; he and Gordoc as slave overseers, heading
to the plantations around the shores of the Inland Sea.
"We'll stick close together, but make no sign we are acquainted. The girls should go ahead so
that they get through first. We'll follow close behind to be there for any trouble."
"Don't worry, my dears," said the professor gallantly, "I'll rescue you from any difficulties."
Yelena laughed and kissed the old man on the cheek. "Of course you will. I don't know why we
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bother with these other men, do you, Tashi?"
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"But they are decorative, aren't they?" the Princess replied archly. It was fun to have a girl with whom she could gang up against the boys--she'd never had a friend like that before. "They give
us something to look at on the boring stretches of the road." She let her eyes linger on Ramil,
who appeared very warm all of a sudden.
Yelena swung herself into the saddle. "My, my, Princess, I didn't know you could flirt."
"I'm learning from a master--or should I say mistress--of that art," Tashi said with a bow.
The girls trotted off, their joking tone replaced by seriousness once they were out of sight and
had rejoined the road.
"Do I look all right?" Tashi asked, touching her hair nervously. She felt exposed after the days spent looking at the world from behind a veil.
"I suppose you don't mean 'How do I look in this?' You're wondering if they'll recognize you. No, sister, they won't think you're a princess, not dressed like a peasant and with hair that cries out
your Brigardian ancestry."
"Good. So will they let us through?" Tashi checked she still had her new set of forged documents safe in her saddlebags.
"Let me do the talking and be prepared to bat your eyelashes at them. I don't think they'll see us as a threat--light relief maybe from their boredom, but not a threat. You can be thankful that
men always underestimate us women."
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The two girls arrived at the checkpoint and joined
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the queue moving slowly forward. There were plenty of other refugees from Kandar, all hoping
for a better life in the big cities of Holt.
The border guard peered out from his box at Yelena and Tashi when they reached the front of
their line. He brightened up and smoothed his moustache.
"Well, ladies, what brings you here?" he asked, unrolling their documents.
"Off to Tigral, sir," Yelena said, bathing him in the full glow of her widest smile. "We hear there's work to be had for a pair of willing girls in the big houses."
"I'm sure you'll have no difficulty finding a place," he said, stamping their papers with a flourish.
"But you'd best find some company for the road." He leant forward and said conspiratorially,
"All sorts of bad types on the move--
soldiers, slavers, and now there's a rumor there's a witch of some sort on the loose."
"Save us, sir!" Tashi gasped, touching her forehead in the sign she had so often seen in her vicinity. "I hope we don't run into her!"
"So do I, my dears, so do I. Travel well!"
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Keeping a straight face, the two girls prodded their horses forward. Yelena allowed herself to
laugh only when they had ridden through the border village. She then aped Tashi's expression of
horror. "Oh, save us, sir, save us!" she said in a high voice. "You should have joined the players, Tashi; you're a natural."
The girls found a secluded corner not far off the road and passed the time practicing the combat
techniques Yelena had been teaching Tashi over the past week.
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The men seemed to be taking a long time to catch up. The girls were just beginning to get
anxious when they heard the sounds of heavy horses. They ran to the edge of the road and
waved down their friends. Professor Norling was in a high dudgeon, his protests already vocal
before he reached them.
"They strip-searched me!" he burst out. "Me! Old enough to be their grandfather and they made me stand naked in the road, my things all unpacked in the mud!"
"They were only doing their job," said Ramil wearily. He had evidently had much of this
complaint to endure since leaving the border. "They're looking for enemies-- you must admit
they had a point."
"Point! To make the four of us--and those other men--stand in our birthday suits for all to see!"
"Shame we rode on so quickly," Yelena murmured to Tashi.
"I trust they did not subject you to the same indignity?" Ramil asked the girls delicately.
"No, the guard was most helpful. Told us to beware of bad sorts on the road and waved us on
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our way," Tashi replied.
"I'm pleased for your sake, my dears," said Professor Norling, "though I still think it very unfair."
"Very stupid, you mean," Melletin muttered to Ramil. "I mean, who would you prefer to
search?"
Ramil did not have to think very long about his answer.
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Riding through eastern Holt, Tashi was surprised to find it a beautiful country. Having met
Fergox, she had expected it to reflect his character: harsh, warlike, and uncompromising, but
instead it was a gentle landscape of meadows just awakening to the early southern spring; flocks
of sheep and goats out to pasture, well tended vines and olive trees. The villages looked