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Lauren was working on a new little romance story when the chamberlain burst into her room, red-faced and out of breath. “My lady, come quick! A Gramiren herald has arrived, and he has most grave news.”
When Lauren saw that black and silver livery in the Court of Honor in broad daylight, she knew something awful must have happened. Sure enough, the man announced that King Broderick had smashed the combined Sigor and Byrne armies in a great battle near Erstenwell Abbey.
Other ladies emerged from the great hall now, in ones and twos. Lauren looked around, hoping there would be someone older and more experienced to take charge. But everyone was looking at her, as if she had any notion of what she was doing.
“Have you...is there any news of Duchess Flora and Duke Hugh?” she asked.
The herald bowed. “They have not been found or captured yet, my lady.” From a worn leather satchel, he produced a thick parchment scroll. “This is a list of those known to be killed or captured so far.”
Lauren held the scroll in her hand, afraid to look. But whether she looked or not, it wouldn’t really change anything. “Better to know,” she thought.
Her throat was tight and her breath was coming quick and shallow. She was feeling dizzy and more than a little sick. She needed to sit down, so she took the scroll into the tapestry hall. “Open it,” she whispered to the herald, handing the scroll to him as she sank into a chair. “I can’t do it.”
He gave her a sympathetic look and unrolled the parchment along the glossy smooth table. The ladies of the court surged forward to see, and the herald excused himself. In seconds, there were cries of dismay and tears. One woman fainted completely, and the servants had to carry her upstairs. Lauren watched, trying to steel herself to check the list. But every time someone screamed in horror or collapsed in sobs, she felt less able to move.
Finally, she forced herself to stand up and look. There were an awful lot of names, and the herald had said this wasn’t even a complete list. Earstien, what had happened? It must have been a colossal, crushing defeat. But Lauren couldn’t think about that now. All she could think about was her own tiny circle of friends and family. “Oh, please let them be safe,” she prayed.
A deep breath, and she checked the list of those who were dead. A lot of names she knew—men she had grown up with, men who had known her all her life. But she saw no Byrnes listed, and no Urcard, either. Her heart surged, and she had to remind herself again that the list wasn’t complete. Still, this was a good sign.
Now the list of those captured. No Byrnes listed there, either. But...oh, Earstien. There was Wallace’s name, right down at the bottom. Captured, but not dead. At least he was alive, thank Earstien. She would have to sell some of their estates and raise the money to pay his ransom. They could always make do with less money and less land, but she couldn’t imagine living without him.
Then she noticed an asterisk next to his name. A quick check of the legend revealed that this signified that Wallace was “attainted,” whatever that might mean. She found the chamberlain and asked him.
His face turned pale. “Attainted, my lady, means that he has been declared a traitor. I would not wish to alarm you, but the traditional punishment for treason is...most severe.”
Lauren let out a wail of despair. She knew damn well what the traditional punishment was for treason. Wallace would be horribly executed, and all his lands would be forfeit to the crown.
“My lady,” said the chamberlain, “we should consult your parents’ attorneys. There might be some accommodation we could reach with the Gramirens.”
“Yes, you do that,” said Lauren. “Meanwhile, I’m going up there to see my husband.” There was no way she would sit in Dunharvin Castle while he went on trial for his life. She wouldn’t leave him to face this alone.
“It’s far too dangerous, my lady,” said the chamberlain, wringing his hands. “You simply can’t go.”
“Who’s going to stop me?” Lauren shot back.
She went straight to her room, packed a bag, and in minutes she was on the north road, heading for Erstenwell. Along the way, she stopped at some of the religious hostels she had visited before with Brother Irving, during her last trip to the abbey. She got maddeningly conflicting accounts of what had happened to the remnant of the Byrne army. Some people said her parents had fled to Leornian; some said they had gone to Pinburg. A few people even thought the wily Duchess Flora had gotten around the Gramirens somehow and would soon be laying siege to Formacaster.
Lauren also made stops for new horses at some of her parents’ estates. The servants and tenants were all terrified that Gramiren soldiers would be arriving any day to evict them. Lauren told them that probably wouldn’t happen, although she had no way of knowing if it would or not. If Wallace was attainted, what would stop King Broderick from doing the same thing to her parents and brothers?
At last, she arrived in the valley, and even from her first glance she could see the battle must have been utterly horrific. There were burial parties still working in the fields, and fresh graves along all the roads. All the wheat and barley had been churned into a muddy bog, filled with broken wagons and dead horses. Hundreds of vultures and ravens circled overhead, settling here and there to feast. The smell was so ghastly that Lauren had to put a handkerchief over her mouth and nose.
The abbey itself was now surrounded by hundreds of tents. These were the army camps of the Gramiren and Ostensen men, along with those thousands of Odelanders that Lauren had seen cross the Trahern at Formacaster. She had tried to warn everyone about those men. Would it have made any difference if her parents and the Earl of Hyrne had paid more attention to her warning? Or was this inevitable?
She found Morwen at the well in the courtyard, working to fill bucket after bucket. “Need some help?” Lauren asked.
Morwen dropped the bucket she was holding and ran to embrace her. “I’m so glad you’re here!” Lauren had never seen her sister quite so pleased to see her.
Two other women were helping Morwen with the buckets. One was Sister Lillian, whom Lauren remembered well from her previous visit. And the other, astonishingly enough, was Penny Ostensen. Lauren was a few years older than Penny, so they hadn’t been at school together. But they knew each other slightly from court events in the old days. Apparently, Penny’s parents had given her permission to stay and help at the hospital for a while.
When they were done carrying the buckets, Morwen declared that she was going to find out where Wallace was being held captive. It took several hours, because there were so many prisoners that they couldn’t all fit in the abbey. No one had a single, complete list of all the captives—something that Morwen kept bemoaning as they made their way from one headquarters tent to another.
Finally, they found a knight from Dunkelshire who knew a man whose squire had seen Wallace. They traced the rumor, tracked down the squire, and discovered Wallace was being held at a manor house down the valley by a Dunkelshire baron named Lucowitz. Lauren would have run there immediately, but Morwen got a cart and drove her. And Lillian and Penny came along, too, caught up in the excitement of it all.
Baron Lucowitz was surprised to see them, of course, but he had no objection to Lauren visiting. He seemed like a nice enough fellow, and the house was lovely inside, but Lauren didn’t care about anything except her husband. When Lucowitz unlocked the room he was using as a prison, Lauren shouldered him aside and burst in.
Wallace was there, seated on a very comfortable settee and looking out the window. He barely had time to look around and realize who was there before Lauren had pounced on him, throwing herself in his lap and kissing him over and over. Lauren was so thrilled, she hardly even noticed that Morwen was ushering everyone out of the room until the door shut again.
Lauren took Wallace’s face in her hands. “Are you hurt at all?”
“No. Well, some bruises, but nothing bad. I’ll be in fine shape when they draw and quarter me.”
“That’s not going to happen!” she said. She tried to be brave, but she started crying, and he got a little weepy, too.
“It’s alright. Really. I don’t mind dying for the true king.”
“Fuck that!” said Lauren. “I don’t care about Edwin. I need you alive. I love you. We have to figure out how to get you pardoned.”
They cried a little more, and then they kissed. And the kissing proceeded to other things, for which the settee turned out to be perfectly designed.
Afterward, when they had their clothes straight again, they summoned Morwen, Lillian, and Penny. Together, they tried to figure out how to save Wallace.
“I could ask my father,” said Penny, “but I wouldn’t put too much hope in that. He’s never really paid much attention to me.”
As suppertime approached, Lucowitz came up and politely informed them the visit was over. Lauren kissed Wallace and promised him she’d be back as often as she was allowed. Then she rode with Penny, Lillian, and Morwen back to the abbey.
“I wonder if we could work out something with Baron Lucowitz,” mused Penny. “He must be annoyed that his captive is going to be executed instead of ransomed.”
“That’s a good point,” said Lillian. “Maybe we could pay him to look the other way while Lord Urcard escapes.”
Morwen gave her a look in which admiration mingled with alarm. “That’s a...very bold plan, Sister Lillian.”
Lauren joined the other women in their hospital work for something to do, but after that, as night was falling, they met up again by the fountain in the garden.
“If we’re really going to help Wallace escape,” said Morwen, “then we need a proper plan.”
They only got as far as finding a map to help plot out a route before word came that the abbess needed to see Morwen urgently. Five minutes later, she was back, grinning broadly. “Come on. All of you. I think Earstien has answered our prayers.”
In the big formal parlor of the abbess’s residence, Lauren found her best friend, Donella Gramiren, chatting pleasantly with the abbess. “The one good thing to come out of all this,” said the princess, “is that I can come here openly now.”
Donella gave Lauren a long hug. Then she had hugs for everyone else, too. Especially Penny, who was Donella’s cousin, after all.
Lauren explained why she had come back to the abbey, and of course Donella instantly said that she would have a word with her father and brother about the treason charge against Wallace.
“In fact,” she said, “I’m here on a similar mission.” Her smile faded, and she twisted a button on her riding dress anxiously. “I’m trying to find Andras.”
Lauren was very sorry to tell Donella that none of them had any idea where Andras was, or even if he was still alive.
But Morwen promised she would go check around with the various army commanders, just to be on the safe side. “I can go right now, in fact,” she said, even though it was nearly dark.
“Yes, please,” said Donella. “And while you’re doing that, I’ll go see my brother. You come with me, Lauren—Broderick has always liked you.”
The prince was very kind and instantly agreed that Wallace shouldn’t be executed. “I can’t promise anything, but let me go see if my father is busy. And if he’s in a good mood. His mood makes a big difference.”
Half an hour passed, and then the prince returned with his father in tow. The Gramiren king was all smiles and graciousness—they had been lucky in his mood, apparently.
“Now, what sort of father would I be if I executed my daughter’s best friend’s husband?” he chuckled. “What good are family connections if not for things like this?”
And just like that, Wallace was saved. Lauren curtsied to the king and thanked him over and over.
He patted her on the shoulder and said, “Promise me that if your husband ever gets a notion to support the Sigors again, you’ll remind him of this.”
Lauren promised, and she went back down to the garden with Donella, hardly able to believe her good fortune.
They didn’t find Andras that night, but the following day, Morwen finally discovered someone who had seen him captured. He was being held by an Odelandic mercenary captain who didn’t even realize who Andras was. Morwen managed to stop Sister Lillian from blurting it out, and then Donella paid a shockingly low ransom to redeem the man she loved, although he was still on parole until he could be formally judged and make his obeisance to the Gramirens.
Two days after the Solstice, a bedraggled herald rode into the abbey wearing the mud-splattered livery of Lauren’s family. Her parents and her brother Pedr had given up, and they wanted to negotiate the terms of their surrender. There was a sense of gloom and despair among the Sigor wounded. Even Wallace seemed depressed about it. But Lauren was simply happy that, by some miracle, her whole family had survived unharmed.