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It was barely seventy-five miles from Keelweard to Leornian, but it was slow going at first. Elwyn had ridden between the two cities many times, but only ever on the main river road. Unlike Caedmon, she didn’t know every farm lane and cow path, so they sometimes got lost or had to turn around and come back for a second try. Rada was even more of an outdoorswoman than Elwyn, but she had never been in this part of Myrcia before in her life and couldn’t really help guide them. Sir Walter, sadly, was from Wislicshire on the other side of the mountains.
The Upper Trahern Valley was a gentle land full of rolling hills and little farms, and for people who had only ever seen it from the river road or from a boat, it seemed as if it would be the easiest thing in the world to go northeast by way of the back roads, following the hills. But there were all sorts of little valleys and hollows to get lost in, and all sorts of sharp little ridgelines sticking suddenly out from the hills to block their way.
Hildred again proved unexpectedly helpful, though. She knew almost all the great estates in eastern Keelshire, so she often had a better sense of where they were and where they ought to go than any of the others. By lunchtime on the third day, the other three had, to one degree or another, accepted Hildred as their leader, though Rada was still suspicious of the girl.
Not long after lunchtime, they passed the little village of Allenford. It seemed like a nice enough spot, like many of the villages they had passed, with a gray stone church, a little inn with a thatched roof, and a couple dozen snug little cottages. It looked like a good place to stop for a while, but of course they had to press on, and they gave the place a wide berth through the narrow lanes of the surrounding farms. Elwyn remembered that Edmund Dryhten, first King of Myrcia, had fought a famous battle in the fields outside town, and they all speculated for a few minutes about which fields exactly those had been.
As Sir Walter talked about some famous cavalry charge, they all looked where he was pointing, and then looked again. Like some specters from the past, a troop of armed horsemen was riding along the lane there. They all chuckled about that, but their laughter died away pretty quickly when they realized their own path intersected with that one, and the horsemen were therefore heading in their direction.
“Bugger it all,” said Elwyn. “We’ve got to turn around. Now!”
But no sooner were the words out of her mouth, than they all heard hoof beats coming toward them from the village, too. They were surrounded. Five soldiers reined in up the road to the east, and another four halted down the road to the west.
“And where might you be going?” their leader asked, spurring his horse forward a few paces. His surcoat was a mottled, faded gray. It might have been black at one time. Or possibly blue.
Elwyn glanced at her companions and found they were all looking at her. “Well, I suppose I am the princess,” she thought. Turning to the gray knight, she said, “We are riding to visit friends in Leornian. Where are you headed today, sir?” She tried a girlish simper. “Perhaps we could all ride together.”
The knight laughed. “My men are weary of riding. Perhaps you might like to stop a while, and we can talk.” He rested a hand on the hilt of his sword. “But I do apologize. I’m Sir Thomas Yarborne of Vinsborough. And who might you be?”
Elwyn gave him a fake name, of course. She and Rada and Sir Walter had worked that out days earlier. She was pretending to be Walter’s sister, so she introduced herself as “Leofled Davies,” using her late mother’s first name. They had forgotten to give Hildred a pseudonym, though, and the girl was so petrified by fright that she couldn’t even speak.
“This is Hildred,” said Elwyn, deciding that simpler was better. “Hildred Davies. Our little sister.”
Sir Thomas studied them, then shook his head. “I’m very sorry, but I do believe we’re going to need to talk about this a little more. If you would come with us for a few minutes, I would appreciate it. Oh, and I hope you won’t take it the wrong way if I ask you to hand over your weapons. It’s purely for your own protection, you see.”
There wasn’t really anything they could do. They were outnumbered, and they didn’t know if these men were the enemy or not. No point in getting into a fight that might not even be necessary. Elwyn handed over her sword, though she kept the hunting knives that were hidden in her saddlebags and under her cloak.
The soldiers led them back to Allenford and up the steps into the little stone church. A preost in black vestments rushed over to see what they needed, but Sir Thomas drew his sword and shouted at the poor man to go away if he valued his life. The sudden violence of the knight’s temper made Elwyn deeply uneasy. And she was even more disturbed when Sir Thomas became abruptly calm and genteel again as he turned back to her.
“I do apologize for that,” he said, with a slight bow.
“Think nothing of it,” she said weakly.
The other soldiers crowded around, and Elwyn and her friends soon found themselves forced into a single pew.
Sir Thomas, standing in the aisle next to them, drew Elwyn’s sword from its sheath and looked it over. “Very fine weapon,” he said. “I see it has the royal arms on the blade.”
“A gift to our father. He fought in the Loshadnarodski War,” Elwyn said. It really was her father’s sword, cut down to suit her better, in the fashion of an Immani gladius. “If you don’t mind my asking, Sir Thomas, are you in the service of a lord in this area?”
He grinned. “I assume you mean to ask what side I’m on. My men and I are between lords at the moment. But we serve the true king.”
“Oh, good. So do we,” said Elwyn. “But which true king do you mean, exactly?”
“The one who got his throne through his own valor: Broderick Gramiren.” The knight tapped the tip of her sword against the back of the pew. “Now maybe you can tell me who you really are, my lady.”
“Leofled Davies,” Elwyn insisted. “I’m from Keelweard, and we’re on our way to visit friends in Leornian.”
Rada and Sir Walter nodded. Poor Hildred was frozen in place, her eyes wide and following the movements of Elwyn’s sword in Sir Thomas’s hand.
The knight tried to trip up Elwyn, asking her questions about Keelweard. But she had visited the city many times as a girl, and she evaded all his traps.
“No, the Ploughman Inn isn’t on Edgewater Street,” she said. And, “No, the park is to the west of the cathedral, not to the east.” And, “Actually, everyone calls it the West Gate, but it’s technically the Oldmarket Gate.”
Sir Thomas heaved an angry sigh and paced up and down the aisle. Then he came back, waving the point of the sword at Elwyn. “How about this? How about I take you people up there to the altar, one at a time, and cut pieces off you until you tell me the truth?”
“That’s...that’s not necessary,” said Elwyn, shrinking from the sword tip moving ever closer to her face.
“No, I’m afraid it is,” said the knight. He swung the sword around and pointed it at Hildred. “Let’s start with you, my dear.”
Two of his men seized the girl by her arms and hauled her to her feet. She screamed and cried, but they dragged her over the back of the pew and out to the aisle. Sir Walter and Rada and Elwyn all tried to reach her, but the other soldiers pulled them back and forced them down again.
“Now where shall we start?” said Sir Thomas, grinning at Hildred as his men pulled her over to the altar. “Your nose, perhaps? Your ears? Maybe your fingers?”
Elwyn looked at Rada, and they knew there was no choice. “Wait, stop!” shouted Elwyn.
“Too late,” said Sir Thomas.
Hildred twisted and pulled so violently that she tore herself free from the grip of the soldiers holding her. But then, instead of running away, she lunged forward. She pulled a knife from Sir Thomas’s belt and plunged it into his neck.
He fell to his knees, gagging and choking as the blood gushed from the wound and up through his mouth. As he fell forward, Hildred grabbed Elwyn’s sword from his hands and brought it around in a wild, frantic stroke that caught one of the other soldiers right across the face.
The only option now was to follow the girl’s lead. Elwyn, Rada, and Sir Walter jumped up and, turning as one, threw themselves on the soldiers guarding them, punching and kicking and flailing. Elwyn killed one with her own knife, and then used his sword to disembowel a second. Walter got a spear away from another, and skewered two men with it. Rada used her ring to levitate a soldier and smash his head against a pillar.
In only moments, they were all armed again, and the surviving pair of soldiers ran away, wide-eyed with terror.
“That went better than I expected,” said Sir Walter.
Poor Hildred was a mess in every sense. She was covered in blood and weeping hysterically. She was shaking so badly that she dropped the sword she was holding. “I...I killed them,” she wailed.
“Well done,” said Elwyn, coming over to put an arm around the girl. “Oh, sweetheart, don’t cry. You saved us all. Now let’s get out of here, and we’ll get you some clean clothes in a few minutes.”
They found their horses and left Allenford at a gallop, not slackening their pace until they were in the woods again and out of sight of the town. Elwyn and Rada and Sir Walter all took turns praising Hildred’s bravery, and telling her she’d done nothing wrong, until the girl calmed down and seemed to recover a portion of her usual good spirits.
“I’ll have to tell Rodger about that,” she said, with a weak little smile. “He always said I was hopeless with a sword.”
“Rodger couldn’t have done any better than you did,” said Elwyn. “You were brilliant.”
After a few more miles, Hildred was laughing and smiling again, and Elwyn breathed a sigh of relief. Earstien only knew what sort of nightmares the girl would have in years to come. But for now, she seemed alright.
They were making such good time that they considered riding after dark and going all the way to Leornian that night. But the sky turned gray and it started snowing. First it was a few flakes, then a steady flurry. And then the sleet and hail started.
“We’d better camp for the night,” said Elwyn.
Unfortunately, they had somehow lost the tent in the adventure at Allenford—one of the soldiers must have stolen it. So they had to search for somewhere sheltered, and all the while, the ice and snow poured down, clinging to their cloaks until they were hard as armor.
At last, they found a little gully, and at the far side, there was a rocky overhang that provided barely enough room for the horses. A little exploration proved that at either end of the overhang, separated by a dozen yards, there were two little caves, each large enough for one or two people.
“Obviously you two should take this one,” Hildred said, gesturing toward Rada and Walter. “The princess and I can take the other.”
Rada looked a bit uncertain, and perhaps a little alarmed. “Um...maybe all four of us could fit here.” She glanced at Elwyn. “It might be...safer.”
“Oh, don’t be silly,” said Hildred. “We’ll never get four people in here. And you two are married, so it makes sense for you to stay together.”
She was right; there was no denying it. In a few minutes, Elwyn and Hildred settled down and arranged their blankets in the other little cave. In the cold, it made sense to sit as close together as they could, under the same blankets, sharing their warmth. Elwyn could feel the girl’s breath on her cheek, and the curve of her little breast against her arm. She squirmed and tried to move apart.
“I’m sorry about this,” said Hildred, looking downcast. “I’m just a burden, aren’t I?”
“No, you’re fine,” said Elwyn. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“So am I,” said the girl. Smiling again, she slipped a leg over one of Elwyn’s and rolled closer to embrace her.
“We’d really better get some sleep,” said Elwyn.
“I’m still cold. So are you.”
The girl fiddled with the toggles of Elwyn’s riding dress. And then her hand was inside, reaching down the front of Elwyn’s underdress, and into her chest cloth. Those cool, slim fingers kneaded and tugged, and then, with a single fingernail, traced around and around Elwyn’s nipple.
“Oh, Hildred,” moaned Elwyn. “I’m trying to be good.”
“You can always try again tomorrow,” the girl said, as she leaned in to nuzzle against Elwyn’s neck.
“Good point,” said Elwyn, as she started undoing the toggles of Hildred’s dress.