“Would be in danger?” Tam asked with a short, bitter laugh. “I’d say they’ll be in danger anyway, traipsing through Medalon in the middle of a war.”
Adrina rolled her eyes. She would never convince Mikel if Tam did not support her. “I do this for my prince,” she declared. “I know there is danger, but who else can convince my father to send the cannon? Cratyn needs my help. How can I refuse my husband?”
Mikel laid a comforting hand on hers. “You are so brave, your Highness. But the Overlord will be with us.”
“That gives me such strength,” she agreed sincerely. “Now you must listen to me carefully, Mikel. Prince Cratyn and I have worked out a plan to see us safely over the border, but it needs your assistance. Will you help me?”
“Of course!”
“And you must guard this secret with your life,” she warned. “We do not want the spy to learn of Prince Cratyn’s plans.”
“I cannot believe that any Karien would betray his countrymen,” Mikel protested.
“You have been among the enemy, Mikel. You have seen how they can eat away at a man’s faith. Not all the Overlord’s subjects are as loyal as you.” She ruffled the child’s head fondly. “Now listen carefully. Prince Cratyn pretended to place me under guard, so that the spy will not note my absence. I need you to seek out a Fardohnyan Lanceman named Filip and give him a note from me. He will see that we have horses. The battlefield will be a busy place tonight, with both sides looking for wounded and the camp followers picking over the dead. We should be able to slip through unnoticed. Once we are past the battlefield, Tam and I will pose as Hythrun court’esa returning home. Nobody will question us if we are careful.”
“What’s a court’esa, your Highness?”
“An entertainer,” Adrina told him blandly. “They are very popular in Hythria and Fardohnya, so nobody should think it odd.”
“I will protect you, anyway,” Mikel assured her. “I’ll not let any harm come to you, your Highness.”
“I know, Mikel. That’s why I insisted Prince Cratyn allow you to accompany me. You have been in the enemy camp and you speak their language. I cannot think of a better protector.” No need to disillusion the child and tell him she spoke Medalonian fluently.
Mikel swelled with pride. “The Overlord will protect us all!”
“I certainly hope so,” she agreed. “Now go and find some warm clothes. It will be cold tonight. I will write the message for Filip. We must leave as soon as it’s dark.”
As soon as the boy had left the tent, Tam turned on Adrina. “Are you mad!”
“Probably, but it’s preferable to the alternative. Did you pack any of my clothes from home?”
“I packed every stitch you own,” she grumbled unhappily.
“Good. Find us something to wear that would pass as a court’esa’s costume. The more bare flesh the better. Once we reach the border, we’ll need to look the part if we are stopped by the Hythrun.”
“And if the Defenders stop us?”
“Then we shall distract them with our feminine wiles,” she said impatiently. “Men are men, Tam. Oh! Make sure you pack my jewellery, too. I’m not leaving it so Cretin can sell it to finance his damned war.”
“How do you intend to get out of here?”
“I’ll wear your clothes and leave the tent on an urgent errand for the princess before the guard changes,” she said. “Once the new guards are on duty, you do the same, making sure they have instructions not to disturb me. We’ll meet Filip and Mikel on the edge of the camp.”
“Do we have to take the boy?”
“I need him to get a message to Filip and he’s been in the Defenders’ camp. We can leave him once we find a boat on the Glass River.”
Tam still looked miserable, but Adrina thought her grief was still too raw for her to object much. She wanted out of here as much as Adrina did.
“We’ll never pass as court’esa, your Highness. Even if you could act humble enough to convince anybody you weren’t a princess born and bred. We have no collars. The Defenders might accept the ruse, but no Hythrun would.”
“We have collars,” she said. “Fetch my jewellery box.”
Tam did as she asked and watched curiously as Adrina unlocked the small, beautifully carved chest. She lifted out the top tray, ignoring the wealth that lay scattered on its velvet surface and reached into the bottom. She lifted out two exquisitely worked necklets, one silver, the other gold. Both were in the shape of snarling wolves, with emerald-set eyes and a fiery line of rubies tracing their twisted spines.
“Where did you get these?” Tam breathed in astonishment.
“In Hythria. You remember when I visited Greenharbour? High Prince Lernen attended a slave auction while we were there and invited me along for the sport. It was an awful day. He spent the whole time complaining about the poor quality of Hythrun slaves these days, not even bidding on them, when two of the most beautiful young men I have ever seen were brought to the block. They were identical twins, not more than fifteen, I suppose. Lernen took one look at them and just had to own them. He paid a fortune for them – said he wanted to make a gift of them to someone, probably his nephew.
“But I knew he planned to taste the fruit before he shared it around. Gods, but the Wolfblades are a degenerate lot.
“Anyway, Lernen insisted they ride back to the palace with us in his carriage. He couldn’t take his eyes off them. As we were climbing out of the carriage back at the palace, one of the boys grabbed my sleeve and begged me for help. They looked innocent enough, but they knew what was in store for them.” Adrina hesitated for a moment, not at all certain she wanted to relate the rest of the tale.
“What did you do?” Tam asked.
“I gave him my knife.”
“Gods! Did Lernen find out?”
Adrina shook her head. “I saw them later that night at dinner, all powdered and primped and ripe for the plucking. They were wearing these collars – and not much else – and Lernen was crowing over them like a child with a couple of new dolls to play with. The next morning they found the boys dead in Lernen’s bed. They slit their wrists and bled to death beside him while he slept.”
“That’s dreadful! Adrina, why didn’t you tell me about this before? If the Hythrun realised it was your knife the boys took to Lernen’s bed, you could have been hanged.”
“I thought of that. I claimed I lost it before dinner.”
“But how did you get the collars?”
“Lernen gave them to me. Once he’d stopped screaming and they’d cleaned the blood off him, he sent for me. I found him sitting in his private courtyard just staring at the collars. They were laying there on the edge of the fountain, still stained with the blood of the boys. Lernen asked me to get rid of them. Told me he never wanted to see them again. I’m not sure why I’ve kept them. Maybe to remind me why I agree with father when he says Hythria should be invaded and the Wolfblade line destroyed.”
“What about his nephew? What was his reaction?”
“I’ve no idea,” she shrugged, fingering the gold collar idly. “I never met him. He probably wasn’t sober enough in the entire month I was there to present himself to me. I was never so glad to leave a place as I was when I left Greenharbour. Until now. Leaving here is going to feel even better.”
Tam picked up the open silver collar and studied it thoughtfully. “Where are the keys?”
“I don’t have them. Once we put them on they’ll have to stay there until we get home and can have them cut off. If I can put up with it, so can you, Tam. I’d happily cross Medalon in chains if it means I never have to lay eyes on Cretin again.”