TWENTY-EIGHT

BY THE TIME Roshi woke again, I’d had hours of silence in which to think.

She looked from me to Sepp, then said, ‘Breakfast for the squabbling children?’

My stomach grumbled and my mouth watered in anticipation as Roshi dug through the baggage, emerging with a heel of bread and a winter apple. Such was my hunger that stale bread and a withered apple looked appetising.

‘You’ll have to eat on the march, because there isn’t time for fineries,’ said Roshi, hooking her hand through my elbow and hauling me upright. ‘On your feet. The pony is carrying the bags today,’ she added firmly.

Sepp rolled up the groundsheets and loaded the pony’s panniers. Meanwhile, I’d gobbled down the bread before he’d tightened the last strap.

‘Where are we heading, then, if not to your people?’ I asked Roshi as we set off.

Marching ahead of me, neither Roshi nor Sepp answered. The forest canopy still filtered the light in such a way that I couldn’t judge the sun’s position.

‘Seems to me we have nowhere to go,’ I said, a hard edge in my voice. ‘The Iltheans block the south and the west. None in the north will shelter us, for they’re loyal to the Somners, or to Dieter directly. You’ve already said not east, to your people. Where else can we flee?’

‘It’s always politics and lectures with you,’ said Roshi, not bothering to glance back. But Sepp cast her an anxious look. He at least saw my point.

‘I am Duethin,’ I said.

‘You were,’ Roshi retorted, then tugged on the rope tied to my bound wrists. ‘Lately you’ve been a captive. Right now you’re exactly what you’ve wanted to be for the past month: free.’

I tugged back on the rope and had the satisfaction of causing her to stagger. After that I let silence shroud us while we walked, the impossibility of our position seeping in. Or Roshi and Sepp’s position; I was innocent in this flight. They wanted to put as much distance between Dieter and us as possible, but my aim was the opposite – and my best chance, I reasoned, lay with the Ilthean army.

Xaver had claimed the Ilthean general was Dieter’s brother. It was too ridiculous and fanciful a claim to be untrue. I have one myself, you know. In my case, it’s a brother.

Perhaps Dieter already had an agreement with the Ilthean army. After all, he had Renatas in his care, accomplice and hostage as the need arose. An alliance with Ilthea would also explain the daring of his coup: the attack staged while an army gathered on the southern marches; the small number of troops he’d used; the army’s arrival in time to ensure his ratification. If I found the army, and talked my way through the guards to this Sidonius, I might be able to make my way home. To my husband.

First, though, I’d have to talk my way past Roshi. When I judged the silence had stretched long enough for doubt to squirm through her mind, I spoke.

‘Free, you say?’ I called, my voice startling Sepp after the tramp of our feet and the calls and whispers of the forest. ‘I suppose you mean to turn me into a farmer, then. Not with your people, because you’ve slept beneath a stone roof and you can’t return.’

Guilt pricked me at this – she’d given up her home for me, after all. But guilt wasn’t enough to stop me.

‘I can’t imagine you have a good sense for the Turasi landscape. It must be Sepp setting the direction.’

‘Do you think she’ll shut up if we tell her?’ Roshi asked Sepp.

‘Not a chance,’ he said.

She sighed, then answered me. ‘We’re not heading to my people because that’s the first place Dieter will look for you, and my people will not stand between the two of you while you remain bound. We’re heading south, to the Ayrholm, House Falkere’s stronghold.’

Her political acumen surprised me. Of the three southern tribes, Falkere was in the strongest position to aid me simply by virtue of not sharing a border with the Ilthean empire. Their previous alliance with my House also made them a sound choice. I had picked Falkere myself, when I first thought to flee, but I hadn’t told Roshi that.

I looked at Sepp. Had he suggested our destination? Or had Roshi garnered the political knowledge on her own?

‘And does Rein know of his part in all this?’ I asked, naming the drighten of House Falkere.

Roshi let out a breath of laughter. ‘Of course.’

She didn’t elaborate any further, leaving me to wonder at the extent of her collusion with Rein – had it been he who arranged for my rooms to be unguarded when I’d been abducted?

Unable to find fault in her plan, I took a deep breath and plunged in. ‘We’d be better off aiming southwest.’

Roshi stopped in her tracks and was nudged into a stagger by the inattentive pony.

‘Southwest?’ Sepp cried, his eyes wide.

Roshi was calmer. ‘The Iltheans infest the Majkan tribelands now. Even if we could avoid the army, which I doubt, there’s no land beyond the pass which doesn’t belong to the empire. There’s nothing but death in the southwest for you.’

‘Actually, it’s probably my only hope of surviving,’ I said, taking advantage of the halt to rest. My illness had left me weak, unfit for so long a walk.

‘Think about it,’ I said. ‘Dieter will assume I ran away. So what will he do?’

‘Shrug and switch to worrying about the army,’ said Roshi. ‘Which, I might add, we need to worry about as well.’

‘He may forget you two. Not me.’

‘Because you’re his beloved wife?’ sneered Sepp.

‘Because I was Duethin, or due to be. Because he killed my family and took my throne. Whether I seek power to wrest the throne back or provide a rallying point for dissatisfied drightens to do the same, I’m a threat. He will have to hunt me down.’

A retort rose to Sepp’s lips but then he dropped his gaze, acknowledging my point. Roshi took longer, staring at me with thinned lips.

‘How does heading southwest keep you safe?’

It was Sepp who answered. ‘Even Dieter can’t reach her in the depths of an army.’

‘The Iltheans will kill her before he can,’ said Roshi.

‘Not if I tell them who I am,’ I said.

Sepp’s head snapped up. Roshi was slower to understand. ‘The southern snakes invade and conquer,’ she said. ‘They’ll put this Sidonius on the throne, not restore you.’

‘As Dieter’s wife, I’m a bargaining chip. They can offer to ransom me back, and win without bloodshed.’

Suspicion hardened Roshi’s face. ‘You’d march us to our deaths to get back to him.’

I fought to slow my breathing. If there was one thing living with Dieter had taught me, it was how to bury a lie among the truth so it went unchallenged. ‘None of us will die. The ransom is the bait I’ll give the Iltheans, that’s all.’

‘If they agree and march you back to him, Dieter will kill us for helping you escape,’ she pointed out. ‘If they don’t, the Iltheans will kill us on the spot. Doesn’t sound like a great idea to me.’

She was a heartbeat away from a flat refusal, I could see it forming on her lips. So I sat down. ‘I walk southwest, or I don’t walk at all.’

Roshi crossed her arms, her mouth set and eyes narrowed. ‘We can carry you.’

‘For how long?’ I countered.

She hitched her shoulders in a shrug.

Sepp didn’t have her talent for a straight face. He stood, chewing his lower lip, watching Roshi for her decision.

‘Don’t you understand?’ I said. ‘If I can sway the Iltheans, it might not come to fighting, and lives lost – the lives of those in the Turholm. They’re my friends, Roshi, my only family now. I don’t want to see them slaughtered. And the Iltheans are treacherous – they won’t honour the ransom.’ A truth if ever I’d spoken one. I’d have to watch for their deceit. ‘It’s our best chance to walk out of all this alive,’ I finished.

Roshi shifted her weight from one foot to the other and looked at Sepp, who shook his head and, casting an apologetic glance at me, said, ‘It’s a bad idea. Sidonius is Dieter’s brother –’

‘Dieter said he doesn’t have a brother,’ I interrupted.

‘Forgive me if I don’t believe every word that comes out of Dieter’s mouth,’ Sepp snapped, then, turning back to Roshi, he went on, ‘Brother or not, Sidonius has a reputation for brutality which wasn’t earned lightly. He can’t be trusted. He claimed an alliance with Dieter already, and if he spoke true then seeking his aid is no different to turning around and walking straight back to the Turholm. And if he spoke false …’ He trailed off with a shudder, his gaze dark with memory.

‘We can’t take the risk,’ Roshi decided, cutting me off before I could protest. ‘I’ll think about your idea, but no more. In the meantime, we continue on towards the Ayrholm.’

I didn’t fight any further, not yet. The idea was planted, and time would see it bear fruit. Besides which, the shattered mountains known as the Dragonstail stood directly between us and the Ayrholm – and west was the quickest way around.

Getting to my feet was an awkward procedure, and neither of them helped. I had to lean forward until I rested on my hands and knees, then lever my feet under me and wobble upright. I held my wrists out, but refused to actually voice the request.

‘Not until you’ve proved you can behave,’ Roshi said, starting off again. ‘You’d better convince me before we reach the Falkere lands, otherwise you’ll meet the Falkere lordling bound and gagged.’