"Sasha, don't blame Teriyan. He wasn't spying on you, he never told any personal details or anything…"
"Little enough he knows of my personal life," Sasha snorted.
"Aye, well…" Andreyis fidgeted with a handful of rein. "But someone had to talk to them. Goeren-yai from all over Lenayin were fascinated, Sasha. They'd all have turned up on your doorstep if Teriyan and Jaegar hadn't done some talking. It's not easy for them sometimes, you know, having you and Kessligh in town. I mean… I get told all the time, how Baerlyn ceased to be a normal town when you two arrived. Most are pleased, don't get me wrong… but it's just different, that's all."
"You didn't talk to any gossip-mongers?" Sasha asked him with a firm gaze.
Andreyis blinked. "And tell them what? That you shave your legs with a hunting knife and candle wax?" Sasha bit back a grin and tried hard to look annoyed. Unsuccessfully, because Andreyis saw and smiled, exasperatedly. "I don't know what these idiots want, Sasha. Teriyan does. They want to know signs, you know… that you can quote some Tullamayne, that you make the spirit sign, that you wear the tri-braid and prefer wine to ale. Some holy folks think they can read the spirits' will in little things… I don't know, what colour socks you wear. Stupid stuff. Teriyan doesn't like it either, but they tell folks this stuff so Baerlyn doesn't become some damn pilgrimage town for crazy Goeren-yai hoping to catch a glimpse. It keeps them satisfied so they don't have to come and find out for themselves. Which wouldn't have made Prince Koenyg real happy, I'd guess."
Sasha breathed a deep, dark breath. "It's honeycomb wax," she said on an impulse. "Candle wax hurts too much."
Andreyis gave a snort of laughter. "Some people think you're a tomboy, but I know better. You're still just a pampered princess underneath, with all your girlie things in your washing stall..
"I happen to dislike body hair in the wrong places!" Sasha retorted. "What's wrong with that?"
"I counted nine different soaps and oils," Andreyis countered accusingly.
"I take my luxuries where I can get them."
"Exactly."
"Did Teriyan tell them that too?" Sasha asked, with a lingering sideways look.
"How could he have? I didn't tell him. Besides, he was trying to protect you from that kind of prying, Sasha. People were going to pry anyway, you being who you are. Teriyan and Jaegar just tried to manage it, that's all."
Sasha sighed, heavily. Ahead, the vanguard's torches lit a wavering, ghostly line across the paddocks-a treeline, where the forest closed in once more. "Alythia accused me of trying desperately to fit in where none would willingly accept me," she said sombrely. And laughed bitterly. "Isn't that just like a sister, to know just where to stick the needle so it hurts the most? I just wanted to fit in, Andrey. I wanted friends and a place to belong. I didn't want to be a burden, or a… a pilgrimage attraction. Just a person, you know?"
Andreyis smiled at her, with friendly exasperation. "Sasha… you don't understand, do you? Look behind you." She looked over her shoulder. A vast column of horses, torchlit across the dark, rolling fields. Cloaked and armoured men in their hundreds. "You did fit in. The Goeren-yai are following you, Sasha. Teriyan spread word about you and men liked what they heard. They always have, even in Baerlyn folks think you can walk on clouds…"
"Don't be ridiculous!" Sasha said incredulously. Thinking of all the rib bings she'd received at the hands of Baerlyn men and women alike, the goodhumoured slander, the teasing about her hair and how she showered far more affection on horses than young men, and how all those same young men were too frightened to flirt with her…
"I'm not being ridiculous!" Andreyis protested. "We don't do hero worship real well, Sasha… Goeren-yai men are proud, they don't bow at the feet of others easily. I'm your friend, Sasha. I've wrestled you down the hillside and rubbed dirt in your hair. But I'm not riding here tonight just because you're my friend. I'm riding here because I'm Goeren-yai and the Goeren-yai need a leader. They've chosen that leader to be you. And I couldn't think of anyone I'd rather follow."
Sasha gazed at him, a cold gust of wind threatening to remove the hood from her head. Tears prickled her eyes, and she reached and grasped Andreyis's hand with her own. "I don't know if I deserve that trust, Andrey," she said quietly. "I'm a spoilt, self-centred brat."
Andreyis grinned. "Aye, you are." Sasha laughed. Silly of her to have expected any other reply. "But you care for people. And you don't think yourself better than others, despite your talents. Lord Krayliss did neither. Which is why they follow you, and not him."
Sixteen
At dawn they came to the Varysh River, which marked the boundary between Baen-Tar and Valhanan. Water levels were low, typical of late summer, and Sasha rode to the far bank with barely a splash to wet her boots. Soldiers dismounted along both banks to lead their horses over the rocks and gravel of the exposed riverbed to drink.
Sasha was relieved to find that men had rations, for she had none. Her vanguard shared some bread and fruit with her as she stood and flexed her legs, watching Peg graze amidst the thick bushes that overgrew the riverbank. Birds chorused against the pale overcast sky, as hooves clattered on rock and men conversed in various tongues, weapons and armour clinking as they sat and ate, or briefly washed.
Finishing her breakfast, Sasha walked to a better vantage on the water's edge. So many men and horses. They lined the river as far as she could see to the upstream and downstream bends. Line company men, Lenayin's best equipped and most fearsome warriors. Not necessarily the best trained, nor even the highest standard, given the lifelong training that even simple farmers received. But these were the men she needed, more than common villagers. These men had horses.
Still, she reflected, she would have to get someone to count heads, just for certainty, and see if the number came anywhere near the two thousand of her earlier estimation. Lieutenant Alyn and the vanguard had followed her to the water's edge, she saw. They made a rough, informal line, separating her from the surrounding men and horses. It made her uncomfortable, as did many of the looks that came her way from the surrounding, mostly Goerenyai soldiers. Some gazed in amazement, others in simple curiosity. Yet others were unreadable. Men of Lenayin were not easily impressed, she knew. And Kessligh had told her often that respect, in Lenayin, was no one's birthright. She took some comfort in Andreyis's words the previous night and yet she remained unconvinced. Many of these men needed no convincing of the rightness of their cause, but it would take plenty more than a pretty speech to convince many of them of her, no matter who her uman.
Some men performed taka-dans-as all soldiers would try to do them at least once a day, under any circumstances. Sasha settled for her stretching regimen-taka-dans could wait for a little more privacy. A soldier in Falcon Guard uniform approached, hair braided and ears ringed. He gained permission from Lieutenant Alyn, then squatted before Sasha, who sat upon a flattish rock with legs splayed, grasping one boot with both hands.
"Another thirty-five have joined from neighbouring villages, M'Lady," he told her. "Others are spreading the word, there is talk of hundreds more arriving shortly. It would be many more, but for the shortage of horses. Some are saying they will walk to the valley."
"And arrive ten days late," Sasha replied. "If they can find us, so can our enemies. It calls for watchful scouts, we don't want to mistake one for the other."
"Aye, M'Lady, we have men who know the region well. They are watchful."
He left, replaced by Tyrun and Lieutenant Alyn as she finished her stretching. "Advice," she asked the sharp-featured captain as they stood by the flowing water. "How do we stop this formation from turning into a rabble? Already we're becoming strung out across entire folds. If we simply keep adding new arrivals to the rear, they'll become easy pickings for ambush or charge from behind. These new arrivals are just villagers, they may be formidable warriors alone, but their equipment is not so good and their understanding of mass tactics even less."