Dragonfly (25 page)

"Oh, I see." Yelena hid her amusement. "In that case, we'll start tomorrow as soon as we're clear of here. I think I'll enjoy that--my first pupil and she's a princess."

"Goat-girl turned princess," Tashi amended. "That sounds a bit less exalted."

Yelena poked her in the ribs. "Don't spoil it. I want my friends to be jealous."

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Early the next morning, the travellers arrived at the crossing point into Kandar. Melletin advised that this was the best time: the soldiers would be tired and hungry after a night's watch, not wanting to stand about in the grey morning questioning strangers. To add further to the distraction, Yelena wore her skirts tucked over her knee and carried a pannier of bread purchased from the inn's kitchens, her job to engage the men in flirtatious conversation while her "husband" looked on resentfully.

Ramil, Tashi, Gordoc, and Professor Norling crossed the bridge without incident, leaving Melletin and Yelena to their noisy argument in front of the fascinated guards. Hearing a bird call beneath her, Tashi looked over the parapet to see a white gull fishing in the river. The waters rushed beneath the stone arches seeming to drag the bridge with them as they hurried on to the ocean. The River Kand was deep, swift, and strong here. She

remembered from her geography lessons on

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Rama that it flowed out of the heart of Kandar, from a land of hills and forests. Wild animals abounded in this difficult terrain--wolves, bears, and great shaggy bison making their home in the densely wooded interior. The Inkar's people were not so flourishing. They lived a marginal existence: the nobles clinging to their castles on the crags, the peasants scratching what crops could be coaxed from the reluctant soil, fearful of the forests at their door. Only the flood plains to the east with their rich alluvial deposits offered any hope to the farmer, but these lands had been sequestered by the Inkar and turned into slave plantations, displacing the original inhabitants.

"It's a sad place now," said Professor Norling to Tashi as they passed through the first sorry-looking settlement, children in inadequate clothes running along at their stirrups to beg. He threw them some coppers. "The Inkar's grasp of land management and social rights is weak to say the least.

She's running a poor land into destitution, battening a huge army upon it like a parasite upon a frail host."

On hearing the jingle of harness behind them, they turned. Melletin and Yelena were fast catching up, both grinning broadly.

"How did it go?" Ramil called.

"Would you believe it: he threatened to lock me up in his mother's house if I didn't behave!" exclaimed Yelena, sticking her tongue out at Melletin. "I threw a roll at him and he clipped me around the ear. The soldiers were all about to beat him up when I burst into tears and begged his forgiveness. We had a passionate

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reconciliation and went on our way with their good wishes for our marital harmony."

Melletin rubbed his lips. "Where's the next checkpoint, Yelena? I can't wait to do that again."

"Watch it, sir: I'll report you," Yelena threatened, but she looked very pleased all the same.

Melletin estimated that it would take them at least a week to cross Kandar.

They rose early each day to make the most of the short winter daylight, taking the road that cut through the thick forest. Riding was uncomfortable as they trudged in sleety showers and gritted their teeth against the cold winds.

There were few people on the road, apart from convoys of soldiers.

Whenever these were spotted, the travellers left the highway and sheltered in the trees until they had passed. Ramil was thankful they had a guide who knew the country so well. Melletin seemed to have a sixth sense for anticipating trouble and unerringly led them to shelter at the end of each day.

None of them fancied spending a freezing night outside with the wolves and roving soldiers for company.

Five days into their journey, Mel etin cal ed a halt on a ridge looking down upon a forest valley. Outcrops of rock reared above trees like islands in a green ocean.

"We've reached the wild zone," he explained.

"You mean what we've passed through wasn't the wild zone?" Tashi asked.

The forest pressing on either side of the road had looked very savage to her.

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"I mean the ungoverned part--the resort of bandits and other desperate folk.

Some of them are friendly to the resistance, but some, I regret to say, are friendly to no one."

"And how will we find out?" Ramil asked. "Before or after they've attacked us?"

"There's a secret sign. If they approach us, we'll find out soon enough if they recognize it. Look to your weapons and keep alert. I would bet my sword on someone waylaying us before the end of the day: we are too tempting a target to be neglected."

Before mounting again, Tashi collected a pouch full of stones and prepared a sling. She stayed close to Gordoc as the horses took to the road.

"Don't worry, my pretty, I'll make sure no bandit touches you," he said cheerfully.

They trotted on for hours, seeing no sign of man or beast. By noon they had entered a particularly dark, dense region of the forest. Ramil watched the trees nervously. The road surface was broken up, tree roots creating havoc with the stones that had once been set smooth in the ground. Ramil decided that if he was commanding a band of robbers, he would think this an excellent place for an ambush because the riders would have to mind where they were going and be unable to keep a constant watch.

As if obeying Ramil's thoughts, a man dropped out of the trees ahead of Melletin and held up a hand. He had a coarse lined face with a rough black beard and moustache; his clothes were ragged and patched.

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"Good people, you have neglected to pay the toll!" he called.

Six more men dropped from the trees around them and three emerged from the bushes at the rear. One threw the leader a stout staff, which he caught and held out, blocking the way forward.

Melletin raised his fist to his chest, fingers circled in an O.

"We are friends, sir, and only wish to pass in peace."

The man took no notice of the sign. Ramil's hand moved to his sword.

"There is no peace to be had in Kandar. You must pay the toll."

Melletin dropped his hand casually to rest on his hilt. "And what may that be?"

The bandit scratched his chin, looking the party over. "Your horses, goods, and weapons." He caught sight of Yelena. "And perhaps the girl too."

Yekna gave a disgusted snort. "Just you try," she muttered.

"If you want that much, then you'll have to fight us for them," said Melletin, swiftly drawing his sword.

The bandit leader raised his staff to meet the blow. A man swung from the trees to knock Melletin from the saddle. Like a squall blowing up out of nowhere, the skirmish became intense and confused: swords meeting staffs, men swarming from the trees. Gordoc and Yelena flanked the Princess in the rear while Ramil and Melletin took on the main attack. Tashi felled one man with a slingshot as he was about to stab Melletin

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in the back. One bandit already lay in the dust, killed by a kick from Thunder.

"Keep away from the horses!" yelled the leader, realizing too late that these were trained for combat.

Professor Norling had drawn a cane from his waistband and was belaboring a bandit around the head as he tried to make off with the baggage horse.

"Not my instruments!" he shouted in outrage.

Tashi didn't see what happened to him next because Gordoc barged in front of her, cutting off an attack by three staff-wielding men. She heard a shriek from behind and turned to find Yelena being pulled from the saddle by two assailants. One Tashi struck with a stone but she had no time for a second as a man dropped from the trees, knocking her to the ground with him on top of her.

"Let's see what we've got under here!" He reached for her veil and pulled it off. "Another pretty wench!"

He got no further--a foot kicked him in the jaw, catapulting him backwards.

Yelena stood over Tashi, crouching in combat stance, her own attacker a crumpled heap on the road. Tashi scrambled to her feet and positioned herself behind Yelena, swinging her sling, searching for the next mark.

Ramil was fighting two men--one fell to a stone, the other he ran through with an efficient swipe.

"Retreat! Retreat!" shouted the leader.

The bandits who could still walk stumbled off into the trees, dragging their wounded with them. That left four on the ground: one killed by Thunder, one by Ramil, and two crushed by Gordoc's bare hands.

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Ramil limped over to the girls, sword still bloody.

"Are you all right?" he asked anxiously, stabbing his blade into the ground so he could hug Tashi.

"Yes, thank you, sir," Yelena said with a grin. "Thank you for being so concerned about me."

She did not stand uncared for long as Melletin was soon at her side asking the same question. Professor Norl-ing and Gordoc swiftly caught the horses and brought them to the girls.

"We'd better get going before they come back," said Melletin. He grimaced at the bodies lying in the road. "What a waste--half-starved, desperate, now dead. The Inkar has a lot to answer for to her people."

They reached the border between Kandar and Holt three days later. All were heartily sick of forests and looked forward to the open plains of Fergox's land, though they knew they would soon miss the cover the trees had provided. Melletin showed Tashi and Ramil a map, rolling it out on a log at their final stopping place before the checkpoint.

"Tigral is way down to the southwest," he said, pointing to the capital on the shores of the Inland Sea. "We have a choice, risk going straight for it--it is the most direct route but it's also the most dangerous. The lands between are rich. There are plantations, vineyards, big towns and cities: in short, lots of people on the road. If we go south we can skirt round to the sea by the desert region, not going into the sand zone, but

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keeping to the edge. It's a longer, tougher road but perhaps safer."

"Longer, tougher, and safer sounds good to me," said Ramil.

"But we don't have the time to go so far out of our way," argued Tashi.

"We'll have even less time if we end up in one of Fergox's prisons," Ramil countered.

"But what good is my country's aid if it arrives too late? It's already February and we still have weeks of travelling ahead of us. The thaw will come in late March or April and it will take my navy at least a month to sail to Gerfal."

"You speak, Tashi, as if Gerfal will not last beyond that time. We will put up a stiff fight if I know my father. I would not expect the battle to be over in a few weeks--we might even last the summer."

"And then there's the resistance harassing Fergox from the rear--he'll be made to regret he's stretched his supply lines so far," added Melletin.

"So you both favor the longer route," Tashi said, her arms folded across her chest.

"Yes, I do," said Melletin, rolling up the map.

"I do too, Your Highness," seconded Ramil, his hands on his hips.

But would it give them enough time? Tashi fretted. She closed her eyes for a moment, seeking wisdom in a silent prayer. Their mission was in the Goddess's hands. If She wanted them to succeed, the Mother would make it happen by Her own means.

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"I will follow your advice unless we see a clear sign that we have chosen ill,"

she said. "Then all I ask is that you be open to a change of plan."

"Of course," said Ramil, rather pleased to have won this first battle of wills.

"I'm open to any suggestion of yours."

Tashi pelted him with a twig. "Don't: you sound like Merl when you talk like that."

Ramil put his hand over his mouth, feigning horror. "I will not speak another word."

"Good." Tashi smiled.

Melletin proposed that they reorganize their party so that they no longer resembled the same group that passed the border a week ago.

"In case the alarm has been raised since and they are on the lookout for us,"

he explained.

He suggested they fall into pairs: the girls together, posing as two servants off to find work; Ramil and the professor on their errand to the south; he and Gordoc as slave overseers, heading to the plantations around the shores of the Inland Sea.

"We'll stick close together, but make no sign we are acquainted. The girls should go ahead so that they get through first. We'll follow close behind to be there for any trouble."

"Don't worry, my dears," said the professor gallantly, "I'll rescue you from any difficulties."

Yelena laughed and kissed the old man on the cheek. "Of course you will. I don't know why we bother with these other men, do you, Tashi?"

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"But they are decorative, aren't they?" the Princess replied archly. It was fun to have a girl with whom she could gang up against the boys--she'd never had a friend like that before. "They give us something to look at on the boring stretches of the road." She let her eyes linger on Ramil, who appeared very warm all of a sudden.

Yelena swung herself into the saddle. "My, my, Princess, I didn't know you could flirt."

"I'm learning from a master--or should I say mistress--of that art," Tashi said with a bow.

The girls trotted off, their joking tone replaced by seriousness once they were out of sight and had rejoined the road.

"Do I look all right?" Tashi asked, touching her hair nervously. She felt exposed after the days spent looking at the world from behind a veil.

"I suppose you don't mean 'How do I look in this?' You're wondering if they'll recognize you. No, sister, they won't think you're a princess, not dressed like a peasant and with hair that cries out your Brigardian ancestry."

"Good. So will they let us through?" Tashi checked she still had her new set of forged documents safe in her saddlebags.

"Let me do the talking and be prepared to bat your eyelashes at them. I don't think they'll see us as a threat--light relief maybe from their boredom, but not a threat. You can be thankful that men always underestimate us women."