A Posse of Princesses (19 page)

Rhis said, “Jarvas? He’s missing?”

Taniva nodded once, and crossed her arms, a
martial movement that brought Jarvas very much to mind.

“And—” Rhis prompted.

“Pah. You did not know? I thought you saw
everything! Jarvas has carried off Iardith.”

“Carried—” Rhis tried to make sense of the
words, and couldn’t. “You mean . . . abducted?”

Taniva jerked her chin up. “Gone.”

“Gone?” Rhis repeated. “Jarvas? And
Iardith?”

“Yes. Yes. Yes,” Taniva said, jerking her
chin up and down each time.

“Gone.” Rhis drew in a breath. “I’m sorry,
but I’m very wet, and cold, and I think I’m dizzy.”

She plumped down onto a hassock.

Taniva scowled at the door leading to Shera’s
rooms, which had opened. Shera’s maid whisked back and forth inside
the room. How much had she heard? Taniva strode over in two long
steps and slammed the door, then she stood with her back to it.

“If I am home, I know what to do. I ride and
bring her back. But here, I do not know what to do. If I go to
Lios, will I start trouble? Rhis! You always know what to say, I
see this in the few days we are here. So I ask you. What shall we
do?”

Shera let out a long sigh. “If the King of
Arpalon finds out, he’ll have a perfect excuse for war. Not that
that is our affair.”

“Is. Mine. War against Damatras will mean
Arpalon’s army marches through my lands,” Taniva stated. “I do not
care who wants what. When armies march, their trail leaves broken
land. Especially if Damatras tries to meet them outside his border,
as any smart king will do. It will be in High Plains he does
it.”

“Jarvas’s father is smart,” Shera added in a
sour voice. “At least, when it comes to fighting. Anything else is
arguable, from what I overheard at my mother’s court.”

Taniva gave her a look of mild appraisal.
“You speak right, you.”

Before she could go on someone new banged on
the door.

“Reez! Reez!”

“That’s Yuzhyu,” Rhis said, looking at the
other two. They just stared back at her, so she went to the door
herself. “Yes?”

“I must see you. Trouble! Zat pest from
Arpalon—”

Rhis opened the door.

Yuzhyu almost tumbled in, her frizzy blond
hair wild. “Ah!” She pointed at Taniva. “I am in stable. I want to
ride. Before ze boomer-in-sky. I hear him. He see me once. I zink.
He zink I not . . . om! Um! Conceive? Follow?”

“Understand?”

Yuzhyu nodded in relief. “Jarvas zink I not
understand so much. But I do. I know he want zat princess. Iss
angry wid my—my cousin . . .” Yuzhyu looked away, and Rhis knew she
was referring to Iardith’s determined courtship of the false
Lios.

Before Rhis could draw another breath, Yuzhyu
pulled from her clothing not one but two long, wicked looking
knives. For a moment she held them along her forearm, blades out,
then with a complicated whirl she flipped the knives up, caught
their handles, and held them points out.

Taniva whistled, her approval
unmistakable.

“He like trouble,” Yuzhyu said. “Make trouble
for my cousin.” She moved her hands in a quick blur, and the blades
vanished in her clothing again. “I zee you come here. I sit and
zink. Do I tell my cousin? Or do I follow Jarvas, make him come
back wiss princess? No, I first zee why you are here.” On the word
‘cousin’ Yuzhyu sent a questioning look Rhis’s way.

Rhis shook her head.

Yuzhyu’s expressive brows arched in
relief.

“I do not want war,” Taniva said. “I have
said nothing to anyone yet, except here.” An emphatic thumb toward
the floor of Rhis’s room.

All three of the others looked at Rhis.

And Rhis stared back, wondering why they
expected her to decide.

Should they all troop off and find Lios? No.
Not the pretend Lios.

She slid her hands over her face.
War—Dandiar—Lios—

The whirling thoughts, each carrying its own
load of emotions, seemed to turn her brain into stone.

Then something Yuzhyu had said recurred, and
she said, “
We
can go after them, and bring Iardith
back.”

Taniva’s dark brows lifted, and she whistled
soundlessly. “Yes. Then there is no war.”

Yuzhyu nodded slowly. “And no skittle?
Scattle?”

“Scandal,” Shera said dryly. “Get her back?
How? We don’t have armies. We don’t even have guides!”

“I guide.” Taniva smacked herself in the
front. “This, I know what to do. How to tell Lios, how to avoid war
when I am in another land, that I do not know. I act in my land.
Here I listen only.”

Yuzhyu concentrated on Taniva, her mouth
moving, but at the end she gave an emphatic nod of agreement.

Shera sighed, long and shuddering. “It—well,
it makes sense. If it wasn’t us. I mean, if no one finds out about
the abduction, then there can’t be any war, right? Only how can
we
save her?”

“It is for you to talk,” Taniva said to Rhis
“You talk good. You get her out without war.”

Shera sighed again. “I’d offer to come, but I
don’t know that I could do anything.”

Rhis said, “You know all the local politics,
and I sure don’t. I never needed it before!”

All four looked at one another.

Rhis shook her head. An abduction? War? None
of it yet seemed real.

Her inner eye offered her a memory of
Dandiar’s face, but she thrust it away in anger. His masquerade was
real enough, and so was the anger and hurt she felt.

Even so, she did not want there to be a war.
And if she could prevent it, why not do so? And, oh, if she could
make some kind of . . . grand gesture, show that Dandiar—

Show him what?

“If we ride fast, we catch up,” Taniva said.
She gave a grim smile. “Jarvas will not find it so fast, traveling
with female not want to travel. Maybe this Arpalon pest makes
journey heavy for Jarvas. We catch up, Rhis talk Jarvas out of it.
If he acts like fool, we steal princess back. I know how to do
that.” She grinned, a challenging grin, and smacked her hand
against the jeweled blade hilt at her waist. “It’s a game for us,
in High Plains. We ride back with her. Pretend we make long journey
together. No war.”

“Ride fast?” Shera repeated faintly. “How
long
a fast ride?”

“Week.” Taniva shrugged. “Maybe two.”

Rhis and Shera exchanged grimaces. Two
weeks?
They’d never ridden longer than an afternoon. If
that.

“Put must pe now.” Yuzhyu pointed up at the
sky. “Rain goink.” Her expression changed. “I get horses.” She
whirled around. “You ride?”

“Ponies,” Rhis admitted.

“On bridle paths,” Shera said slowly.

Yuzhyu grinned. “Is enough. You learn on
ride.”

Taniva said, “I go with you. Give commands to
my people. They say nothing to anyone. No one knows.” She turned
around. “You two come to stable with things. I will make
ready.”

And the two princesses whisked out the
door.

“Two
weeks?
” Shera squeaked.

Rhis thought about Dandiar—no. “If they can
do it, I can do it,” she said firmly. Adding in a lower voice, “Two
weeks away sounds fine to me.”

“They might be able to disappear without
causing comment, but what about us?” Shera said.

“Well, I happen to have declared that I’m
leaving today,” Rhis said, feeling that horrible heat in her face
again.

But Shera was too preoccupied to notice. “I
did as well. It’s really our maids, then. What do we tell them? I
know mine will send messages back to my mother.”

“Then don’t tell her anything,” Rhis said.
“She’s already packing—have her unpack, except for a riding
journey. She needn’t know any more than that.”

Shera stood up, then plopped down again.
“What do I need?”

Rhis rubbed her thumb against her lip. She
remembered a few of her childhood journeys, before Elda had
declared that it was time to become a young lady. “Riding clothes.
A waterproofed cloak, if you have one. Money, if you have it. We’ll
probably find cleaning frames, or maybe we’ll use streams, but this
much I remember: you can’t overburden horses with a lot of
stuff.”

Shera stared down at her hands, then nodded.
“Yes. That makes sense. All right, then, two riding outfits, one to
wear, and one to keep as a spare . . .”

She went out, muttering.

Rhis opened the door to the little side room
that served as her wardrobe. There she found Keris busy. The woman
curtseyed, then went back to her work sewing beads back onto Rhis’s
masquerade gown. When had she torn it? A pang of guilt squeezed her
heart. She sighed.

Keris had been selected by Rhis’s own mother.
Where did trust begin?

It has to begin here
, Rhis
thought.

“Keris, there’s trouble,” she said.

Keris looked up, her face kind, but aware.
And not surprised.

“How much did you hear?” Rhis asked, pointing
back to her room.

“Very little from you and your guests,” Keris
said. “But I am afraid that Princess Iardith’s maids are
hysterical. His highness’s own people are keeping them
sequestered—and protected.”

“Then Lios knows,” Rhis murmured—and
Dandiar’s image came to mind. Lios’s image. Odd, how the right face
flickered before her inner eye, but the names were still backward.
That handsome fellow has his own name. Andos
.

Rhis shook her head. “We’re going to bring
her back. But I don’t want anyone to know. Including Shera’s maid,
if you can. The idea is to prevent war, not cause it. I do have my
sister’s ring, in case there’s danger, so we ought to be all
right.”

A crease appeared in Keris’s brow, but she
merely bowed her head.

Rhis looked away, fighting that detestable
blush that always betrayed her. “This morning I, ah, made it clear
to, ah, the prince of Vesarja that I was going home. I’m not sure
what to say now. I don’t really want to say anything, I just want
to go, get Iardith, and think.”

“I can put it about that you decided to take
a little trip instead,” Keris offered. “Some time for
reflection.”

Rhis said hesitantly, “Shera is going to
come. I don’t think she is telling anyone. She doesn’t want trouble
at home.”

“Leave it to me,” Keris said. “I know your
mother would be pleased that you’re trying to take action to help
another. And as you say, you have Princess Sidal’s ring. I will get
your things together.”

Rhis sighed with relief, her face warming at
the compliment.

Each turned to her task. Rhis was glad to get
out of her wet clothes at last, and into her riding outfit. While
Keris was busy packing a satchel, Rhis stuffed a goodly portion of
her jewels into a pocket in her tunic. She did not know how the
other three would fare for money, but Rhis knew that gems were
easily replaced in Nym, and they would have to get food
somehow.

Shera reappeared just about the time Rhis was
done. Each hefted up a fairly heavy satchel; by the time she
reached the end of the hallway, Rhis was sorry that she’d included
her tiranthe. What had seemed a scarce selection of essentials
while the satchel was lying on the dressing table now seemed like a
year’s worth.

“Ugh,” Shera muttered, shifting hers to her
other shoulder. “If we have to carry these the entire way, I’m not
going to make it.”

“Horses,” Rhis said.

“Then the horses get the weight—including
us.”

Rhis grimaced. Her insides had tied into
knots of apprehension, lest someone see her. Someone like Dandiar.
Er, Lios.

But the hallways were empty; either something
had been planned to draw the guests, or everyone was still tired
from the masquerade.

Whatever the reason, she and Shera made it
down to the stables without seeing anyone they knew, and there they
found the other two waiting.

Rhis was surprised to see three young
women—one of them a girl, on closer look—waiting with Taniva, all
armed with swords, knives, bows, and spears. These spears they
carried in the crooks of their arms, pointing at a slant forward,
horsehair decorations below the blades streaming. They each led a
couple of riderless horses on long ropes. Satchels and travel gear
had been strapped to their backs.

Taniva saw everyone mounted up. Rhis got a
shaggy horse with yellow hair. Shera’s was a roan beast who showed
teeth at Rhis’s, sidling and rolling its eyes.

Rhis looked around with apprehension, but the
few stablehands in sight were busy elsewhere. No one seemed
particularly interested in Taniva’s prospective riding party.

In silence they rode out into the misting
rain. The silence stretched as they cantered easily down the
stone-paved road, first south through the gates, and then west, to
catch up with the north road. Rhis discovered that riding a horse
wasn’t all that different than riding a pony, except the animal was
much taller.

Rhis pulled her waterproof cloak around her
like a tent. This cloak had been a gift from Sidal, the magic
spells that kept the water running down it performed by her. Shera
also had a magic-protected cloak. Neither of the others did;
Taniva’s hooded jacket was made of long white yeath-fur, naturally
water-repellent, and hideously expensive anywhere but in the
highlands, where the yeath shed their coats every spring,
scratching the strands off in clumps against bristly shrubs. It
then had to be picked off by hand.

Yuzhyu wore a layered cape of wool that
seemed to keep her warm, if not as dry as the others. Her yellow
hair was damp, but her face, glowing pink from the cool wind, was
expressive of good-natured enjoyment.

The sight of Taniva’s silent guards, who had
put their spears into rests hanging from their saddles, made her
mind range back to what Keris had said. Then she considered what
Keris had not said.

Rhis knew there were two worlds in any given
castle, palace, or home big enough to function as a little kingdom
inside itself. There were the servers and the served. If people had
lots of money and power, they could be served and do nothing.