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Even when she had disliked him the most, the one thing she could always admire about Young Broderick was that he was the best archer she knew. Now, as he stood there with an arrow nocked and pointed at Sir Robert Tynsdale, it occurred to Elwyn that he could kill them all. It wouldn’t matter if they all rushed him at the same time. He was so quick, his aim so accurate.
The only option would be trying to run down the steep cliff-side path, which was as good as suicide. And yet, it looked like Rohesia was contemplating it. The queen had Alice and Edwin by their hands and was backing away toward the edge, nervously looking over her shoulder.
“Stop that,” said Young Broderick. “You’ll fall over the side.” He lowered his bow and frowned, looking Elwyn up and down, and then Rohesia, taking in their trousers and men’s tunics. “Why are you dressed that way?”
“We’re escaping,” said Rohesia. “Don’t try to stop us. If you want to kill my children, you’ll have to kill me first.”
He looked hurt. “I hope you know me better than that.” Looking at Lily, he said, “Are you the one who arranged this?”
“It’s been a group effort,” said Lily.
“And yet,” he said, “people say the Immani tried to kill Cousin Edwin. It looks like you’ve had a pretty dramatic change of heart.”
In a soft, sympathetic tone, Lily said, “We didn’t try to kill him.”
Young Broderick’s shoulders hunched, and his head drooped. “I know. I’m sorry.”
For the first time in her life, Elwyn wanted to give him a hug. She managed to refrain, though she did say, “It’s alright. We know you weren’t the one who did it. It’s not your fault.”
“Thank you,” he said. “It means a lot to me that you all know that.”
“So are you going to let us go or not?” demanded Rohesia.
“I can’t let you go down that path,” he said. “You’d probably fall, and even if you didn’t, every soldier in the city is on alert today. They’ll be marching everywhere. Look.” He pointed past them, and when Elwyn turned, she saw he was right. In the growing light, she could see lines of troops in Hafoc Street and Ermine Street and in the cathedral square.
“Oh, shit,” she whispered.
“You’d be spotted in a second,” he said. Clearing his throat, he added, “Some of your disguises, um...work better than others.”
Presumably his criticism was aimed at Rohesia, whose figure defied the masculine lines of her clothing.
“We’re not going back,” Elwyn told him.
“I know. But don’t be stupid about this.” He frowned thoughtfully, and then his face brightened again. “Come with me. I know how to get you out of here.”
“You honestly think we’re going to trust you?” said Rohesia.
Elwyn caught his eye—only for a second, but that was long enough.
“Yes, we are,” she said firmly. “Go ahead, Broderick. I trust you.”
“We only need to get as far as the south steps of the cathedral,” Lily said.
“Then I’ll take you there,” he said.
He took them over to the stable, and they sat nervously in the shadows, listening to guardsmen mustering on the parade ground a few yards away. But soon enough, Young Broderick returned with his own father’s carriage, drawn by four magnificent Immani horses.
“I’ll drive you myself,” he said. “It’s safer that way.”
They all piled quickly in, except for Sir Robert Tynsdale, who said that now they were safe, or at least safer, he had “other business” to attend to. He gave Rohesia a bow and a significant glance before running off.
The sun was almost up as they headed down the winding road into the city. From that vantage point, Elwyn could see huge columns of men and horses across the River Trahern, on the west bank. Those were the Duke of Newshire’s men, presumably. They were headed south, perhaps to cross the river there and attack the southern end of the city. She could see hundreds of the city troops heading to the southern walls, too, and big catapults going up on the towers there. Beyond the city wall, hundreds of cavalrymen were mustering in the little hilltop suburb of Osricksburg.
How astonishing to think there would be a battle here in a few hours. Right here in Formacaster, the city where she’d been born. She felt helpless and sad, and she felt like it was her fault, because she hadn’t wanted to marry the man who was now risking his own neck to save them all.
Lily, perhaps understanding the source of her anxiety, or perhaps wanting to touch her one last time, reached under her cloak and held her hand. It didn’t change anything, but it did make Elwyn feel a little bit better.
Down on Hafoc Street, it became clear how hopeless their original plan had been. Twice their carriage was stopped, though the soldiers let them drive on when they saw Young Broderick on the driver’s seat. When asked, he said that he was “taking some castle servants home to get them out of the way.” That didn’t make much sense, but no one seemed willing to question him.
Elwyn risked a peek out the window, and she saw noblemen coming out of their mansions, dressed in armor, kissing their wives and children goodbye and mounting up, like tradesmen going to work for the day. Many of these people were friends of hers, or at least acquaintances. She’d been to parties all her life with them. She’d been to school with their sons and daughters.
In a few minutes, they arrived in the square and rolled to a stop at the southern steps of the cathedral. The Immani legate’s carriage was waiting there, exactly as Lily had arranged, but the driver was arguing with a squad of Myrcian soldiers. The local troops insisted that no one was allowed to park their carriage on that spot, and it sounded as if punches might be thrown soon. But Young Broderick and Lily managed to smooth things over, and the Myrcian soldiers went away with a silver penny apiece “for their trouble.”
Rohesia wisely bustled Edwin and Alice from one carriage to the next so quickly their shoes barely touched the cobblestones. There were plenty of other soldiers in the square, and in the streets surrounding it, and Lily didn’t have enough pennies to make them all go away. All it would take was one clever fellow getting curious, and the whole plot would come unraveled. They had to move fast now.
And yet, Elwyn still took a moment to say goodbye to her former fiancé. “Thank you so much,” she said, as she shook his hand. “You’ve been so kind, and I’ve always been so horrible to you.”
“You haven’t been that bad,” he said. “But it’s just as well that we’re not getting married.”
Little Alice poked her head out the window and said, “But Broderick, you can still marry her. You could come with us!”
“Not today,” he said cheerfully. “But hopefully we’ll all see each other again soon.”
Now Edwin joined his little sister and said, “If I see you on the field of battle, Cousin Broderick, I shall have to kill you.”
Broderick bowed. “I understand.”
Then Rohesia pulled the children inside, and Broderick’s smile faded as he turned back to Elwyn. She knew he must be thinking the same thing she was—that this was probably the last time they would ever see each other.
“Good luck,” he said.
“You, too. I hope you don’t get in too much trouble for this.”
He laughed. “Oh, I will. But I’ve been in plenty of trouble with my father before. It’s nothing I can’t handle.”
He helped her into the carriage. The door shut, the Immani driver cracked his whip, and they rumbled off down Monk Street toward the southeastern gate of the city.
“Don’t think I’m jealous,” whispered Lily, “but you almost seemed sorry to see him go.”
Elwyn thought about that. “You know, in a way I am.”
It was strange—she had never really had a reason to dislike him. She had simply resented the fact that people thought she should marry him.
Rohesia, who was listening from the opposite seat, leaned forward and said, “You picked a fine time to decide you actually like the boy.”
“No, I’m still glad I’m not marrying him,” Elwyn said. “But I do feel like, if we’d been two normal people—if I’d been a merchant’s daughter, and he’d been the apprentice across the street, or something like that—then we might have been happy.”
The queen rolled her eyes and settled back in her seat, muttering something under her breath like, “Of all the ridiculous notions.”
Lily reached under her cloak and held Elwyn’s hand again. “I know what you mean,” she whispered, “even if she doesn’t.”