PARADOX II

by Rosemary Laurey

  She was tempted to wait until light when she could see more clearly, but she didn't have time to delay. Unfortunately, if she drew closer, she would risk being seen. She retraced her steps to Pait. "I need your help and your young eyes. There is a party camped nearby. Can you tell from a distance if they are soldiers?"

  "I can try, lady."

  Hareth made more noise than she did alone, but Pait's crutches would be useless on the soft ground, and she could hardly ask him to crawl. She stopped as close as she dared, but not as near as before, and Pait leaned forward from his perch, peering into the dark, his face intent on the shadowy figures by the fire. As they watched, one of the sleeping figures stirred, sat up and stood. He shook out his cloak and threw it over his shoulders. The lad seated by the fire turned and the taller figure said, "I'll take the watch, Allat. Get what sleep you can before..."

  "Allat!" Pait's cry carried in the still of the night.

  Horrified, Adriana reached out for Hareth's halter to pull him and Pait back into the safety of the forest, but the goat moved faster. Scared, perhaps, by the cry so close to his ear, he charged forward through the last of the trees and into the open, Pait clinging onto his back and crying out in terror.

  Both men were awake and drawing swords.

  "Pait!" Adriana raced after him. Hareth, seemingly intent on creating as much mayhem as one goat could contrive, raced toward the group, then veered sharply to the right. As he turned, Pait fell off with a cry. Adriana let Hareth go, he would return soon enough or at least head home, but Pait...

  She rushed forward to be stopped by a tall dark-garbed man with a drawn sword.

  "Lady, why go you here?"

  "Would you stop me aiding my companion?"

  "Yes, if you both mean harm." The second had come to stand at her side after calling a sharp order to the lad to "Watch the other one!"

  Adriana looked at their hard faces, seeing deep anxiety in the frowns and set chins. "Sirs, I know not your business here but I and my apprentice were gathering herbs." She made a point of glancing at both blades winking in the moonlight. "Unarmed as I am, I cannot do you much harm."

  They looked almost ready to agree. One even lowered his sword when the lad called, "Sirs! It is Pait! Pait sworn to Lord Mark! And he is badly hurt!"

  That one sheathed his blade, but only to grab her by the arm. "Who are you, woman, that you've injured one of our own?"

  She'd been right in her guess, but hoped she'd live long enough to explain. By the way he shook her and dragged her toward the fire she wondered. The other kept his sword ready, his face harsher than the first--if that were possible.

  But they were dragging her toward Pait. "You are sure 'tis him?" the second one asked the lad.

  "Indeed sir...but he is grievously wounded."

  "Woman," the first one said, dragging her further, "you deserve to die for this!"

  "First make sure you know what 'this' is!" she said, looking him in the eye. "Pait is wounded, yes. He was tortured by Astrian soldiers. The clean bandages and salves he needs are on the goat you allowed to run away!"

  They hesitated, eying each other and then her, as if judging the possible truth in her words.

  "He's bleeding, sirs!" the lad called, his voice tight with panic.

  "Is no matter." Pait's voice was weak and tired. Adriana broke from the man's grip and ran to Pait's side. He was sitting up. Just. His face pale in the firelight, and yes, he was bleeding. The fall had opened one of the abrasions on his face. Blood was trickling down his cheek. "Is nothing," he insisted. True, compared with his other injuries it was trivial. "It still needs care, Pait, and..."

  "Indeed, it is Pait!" one of the men exclaimed. "But why is he garbed as a girl, woman?"

  Adriana permitted herself to glare. "I had no boy's clothes at hand. He was naked when I found him and I dressed him as best I could!" Dear Goddess, protect her!

  "Lord Drave," Pait said, looking at the one who'd grabbed her arm and still looked ready to bodily throw her back into the woods. "This lady indeed rescued me. We were on our way to Merridale to warn my lord."

  "Is that so."

  His bearing and dress reminded her of Mark, and the party of three matched his description. "You are an auditor from the emperor too, sir?"

  "What know you of auditors, woman!" the other one demanded.

  "My name is Adriana. I know little of auditors, sir, but know one who traveled this way, and from what I learned from Pait, I fear treachery is at work." She drew herself up straight. "You, sir, know my name, but I lack that advantage."

  "That is Lord Drave of Bendholt," Pait said, looking at the first one, "and Lord Carne of Carne. I am remiss, lady, in my presentation. And they are one of the emperor's audit parties."

  "Pait, you are remiss in nothing! And your cut needs cleaning. After all your hurts, to have a small cut fester..." But first she needed her packs.

  "Allat will find Hareth, lady. He can run faster than ever I could, even with good feet." Pait was trying to reassure her! He was the one hurt.

  "Aye." The one called Carne of Carne still loomed over her, looking very ready to draw his sword again. "And I would like to know how you came by those injuries, lad."

  Now she did glare at him. "I told you! It was your soldiers!"

  Pait obviously disapproved of snarling at lords. "It was at Fort Antin, Lord Carne. My Lord Mark sent me there to ask for fresh horses, but Captain Quel took the sigil and demanded where Lord Mark was going. When I refused to tell, he--" Pait broke off, but only momentarily. "They forced me to tell them." He hung his head as if in shame.

  "Ye Gods!" Drave of Bendholt roared. "Villainy among the trusted!" He looked at Adriana, his expression just a little less harsh. "And how, lady, do you come into this?"

  "She saved my life!"

  That rendered them both speechless for several seconds. Allat returned just then, red-faced from running, but with Hareth and his load intact. Adriana therefore chose to ignore the question in favor of fetching a waterleather, a linen cloth and salve.

  Tending Pait's cut took just minutes. All three were waiting now. The men were looming over her and Allat squatted on his haunches, staring in ill-disguised horror at the bandages on Pait's feet.

  "Fetch ham and bread, Allat," Drave said. "We might as well breakfast since sleep seems done for the night."

  So, once again, Adriana ate Astrian food and, in return, she and Pait told their parts of the story. They were halfway through when the brightening light gave everyone a clear sight of Pait's injures.

  "Dear Gods!" Carne muttered. "How could they do that--and to a boy!"

  "He survived. Is that not what matters?" Drave said. "Our concerns are confirmed."

  "Yes, my lords." Pait then asked, "Why are you here and not on the seaboard side?"

  "By chance," Drave replied. "We paused by the Inn at Four Cross and heard that just a day before a traveler had died there. The sheriff was fussing over who would pay for the burial. Seemed he died a pauper, but his board had been paid in advance for eight weeks. We were ready to ignore it and pass on, but the sheriff enlisted us to arbitrate. Carne went up to look at the body for valuables or clothes to be sold to pay the costs, and found Karrel.

  "We arranged for his funeral and learned from the host that Lord Mark had paid for his board and care. We also found that Karrel had had visitors--the same afternoon he had been found dead. We resolved to find Lord Mark and ascertain the truth. We knew he was headed for Merridale so we altered course. We feared you, Pait, and Lord Mark may have been waylaid too. We know what happened to you. It is treachery indeed, but is Lord Mark safe?"

  "Three days ago he was," Adriana said. Anything could occur in three days.

  "Aye." Carne gave her an appraising look. "And what is Lord Mark to you, lady?"

  The man I love. The one I can never have. "He was lost in the mist. I directed him back on the path."

  "Indeed."

  She would not have believed it either. "He rode
away after the mist lifted." Long after. How she wished he'd never gone now...

  "Lady, you live in the forest?" Carne seemed unable to credit it, but she had emerged from it, and Pait corroborated most of her story.

  "Lady," Drave said, "if we take your word, Mark will be in Merridale by now, facing mayhap treachery and treason, and we are still two days' hard ride away.

  "Maybe not." But could she...

  "Lady, we know the distance," Carne said.

  "Over the road, it takes two days. Pait and I were traveling another way."

  It took both men a long minute to catch her meaning. Allat caught it in seconds. "Through the forest, Pait?"

  "Ye Gods!" Carne gasped.

  Drave stared in silence but his eyes showed clearly what he thought of the possibility.

  "One hears tales of men wandering in the forest and coming out not knowing their names or past," Carne went on.

  Adriana hoped it was not yet light enough to show her reddened face.

  "There are many tales," she said carefully. "But I live there and have since I was a girl. Lord Mark of Windhaw entered the forest and left unharmed."

  "I traveled through it twice," Pait added. "I've taken no hurt there. My harm was at Fort Antin where I went for help!"

  "Is there truly a faster way?" Carne asked. He seemed to be the leader.

  Adriana nodded. "Much faster--we would have been though the forest by now if I had not turned off the path when I smelled your fire."

  They were torn. That was as clear as the brightening sky. If only they would agree to let her guide them, it would save a day. What was she doing? Proposing to show Astrians a path through the forest! Sweet Rache! What next? But if they were men such as Mark... They were certainly his comrades... And if they were to combine their swords and her magick...

  "Lady," Carne spoke (she had been right, he was the leader), "I will follow you though the forest, but I will not command my recorder or my page to come."

  "I'll come! If Pait isn't afraid then I am not!" Allat sprung to his feet in indignation.

  "You think I have less courage than you, coz?" Drave asked. "Mark is in danger. We cannot hold back."

  Belongings packed and fire buried, they set off. Pait rode the horse that Carne led, the others led their own mounts, and all followed Adriana and Hareth, who seemed almost as relieved as Pait that he had another mount.

  No one spoke. The magick of the woods around them impressed even the tall Astrians. Allat, Adriana was sure, would have run the other way if he had not committed to being as brave as Pait. But follow her they did, and, by late afternoon, they emerged from the fringes of the great forest and saw the town of Merridale surrounded by rich farmland.

  "Ye Gods!" Carne muttered. "Indeed it is a far swifter way." He looked back at the dark woods they'd crossed. "If we had a road this way, would save many days' travel."

  "No!" she all but shouted. "The forest is sacred to our Goddesses. You Astrians killed us and took our land, for mercy's sake leave us our forest!"

  Dear Rache, she had spoken too sharply! They all stared at her. Fear and something else deep in their eyes. "Lady Adriana," Carne said, "if you so resent us, why feign aid?"

  Curse her too-ready tongue! It was only fatigue and worry that had caused her outburst. "I do not feign aid. I offered to guide you through the forest, and guide you I did. I helped Pait because, unlike your compatriots, I would not abandon an injured child."

  "And why this concern to find Lord Mark?"

  Sweet Rache! An Astrian inquisition! "I go at Pait's behest. He is anxious about his master. He feared he had betrayed him and I knew, by chance, where Mark of Windhaw was headed. Did we not tell you this before?"

  "Aye," Drave agreed. "But how Mark came to be deep in the forest...?" He shook his head.

  This line of questioning had to stop. "Best ask him when you find him."

  "And we won't find him by debating here," Carne said. He looked across to the town. "If we rode hard, we could reach the gates before sundown. Pait could ride with me, but lady..." He looked at Adriana. "Would you ride with Lord Drave?"

  She shook her head. "And who would Hareth ride with? No, that will not work."

  "You have a better plan, lady?" Carne sounded skeptical.

  "Mayhap." Dear Rache, let them listen. "If we enter the town together, we will get noticed. Astrian auditors do not travel with the likes of me. But if we enter separately, who would notice?"

  "So, lady...?"

  She pointed toward the curving road. "You could join the road, the way anyone would expect you to come. You can enter the town freely and with little notice. Pait and I will follow. It will be late dusk by the time we get there, but I am known at the gates, and no one remarks on a woman and a goat."

  They were both silent, considering her suggestion. "What," Drave asked, "happens after we are in Merridale?"

  "Does that not depend on what we find? If we are there ahead of Quel's men, you find Lord Mark and warn him..." She would not consider the possibility that they were too late.

  "Aye, but best we not announce ourselves to the master. If there is treachery, it will not help if we are seized, too. We cannot ask for official lodging." Drave shook his head.

  "There is an inn at the lower end of the town called the Demented Hare. Host Martten is an honest decent man. Why not hire rooms from him? I always lodge there, and planned to stop there with Pait."

  "Would serve," Drave agreed. "We could make enquiries and see what, if anything, has transpired."

  "It means leaving Pait behind," Carne said.

  "Aye, but Lady Adriana is right. If he is with her it will not awaken interest, but if we rode in with him dressed as he is now, the sentries would think we'd abducted a village lass."

  Carne's look of shock could not have been feigned. Astrians surprised her more and more. "Seems best," he said, "that we follow your suggestions, lady. But I will not rest easy until I see you both again."

  And she would not rest easy until she knew Mark was safe and she had returned to her haven. It would weigh heavy to lose Pait, but there was no question in her heart that he would return to Mark. Carne lifted Pait down from the horse and set him on Hareth's back. Neither were pleased at the change. Minutes later, they cantered off toward the road. Adriana had never thought she would miss Astrians, but miss them she did.

  "Lady, how long till we reach this inn?" Pait asked. He'd scarce said a word for hours. Adriana hoped that he'd slept as they'd crossed the forest.

  "We'll be there before dark. There are narrow paths across the farms that we can take. Tonight you'll sleep in a warm attic. Host Martten's wife keeps a good kitchen, and they are always generous."

  * * *

  Tonight was no different.

  Tam the Hostler met her at the stable gate. "Early this year, Mistress Adriana."

  "Yes, a change is good for all. You have space for Hareth?"

  "Always! And you have the herbs and salves for my rheumatism?"

  "As always!"

  Adriana had planned to ask for news once Pait was asleep, but before then Host Martten himself climbed to her attic, a frown between his bushy eyebrows. "Mistress, I don't know what brought you here out of season--my wife thanks the Goddess you did for replenishing her stores--but I must warn you something has left me uneasy."

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Adriana's throat tightened. "What?"

  Host Martten shook his head, grasping his fleshy jowls with a large hand. "I dunno rightly, but these two men are staying here. They have good horses and a page with them, and they look like officials, or at least men of stature." She exhaled. They had to be here--and safe. "After they dined, they lingered in the taproom and started asking young Jinny about a peddler herbalist, traveling with a young lass."

  So that was how they pegged her--a peddler! "Two men in dark capes, riding a tall roan and a gray, the boy on a dappled pony?" she asked.

  "Aye!" He looked even more dubious.

  "N
o call for uneasiness, Host. They are travelers we met on the way. They were lost and I directed them to the road."

  Relief softened his face. "Ah! I'm right glad to hear that, what with the trouble we've had in town. I don't want any more."

  "What trouble?"

  The crease reappeared between Martten's eyes. His eyebrows all but met this time. "You missed a few rough days, mistress--be thankful. A band of soldiers arrived two days ago." Her throat went tight. "They delivered a proclamation from the emperor. Seems illegal auditors are operating in his name."

  Now she almost stopped breathing. She made herself inhale and exhale. "Indeed."

  "Aye! And then it turns out one is already here! He was tried yesterday. Swift justice, praise to the heavens."

  "He was found guilty?"

  "Of course! No doubt about it. Why, I left the taproom to Jenny and sat in the council chamber myself. Oh, he protested his innocence he did, claimed he was sent by the emperor, even produced a sigil. That dammed him further. They then accused him of high treason and he will be hanged at sunset tomorrow."

  She heard Pait's gasp, but dared not look sideways at him. Best treat this as casual news. "Any other happenings?"

  "Not much. Still talk of a new bridge and schools, but I doubt the emperor has time for outposts like this. My lass Hanny is to be married come Michaelmas. She's pledged to Gram, the butcher's son..." Adriana let him continue, although impatient to meet with Carne and Drave.

  Finally, Martten paused, then suggested, "Well, mistress, if you and the lass would care to sup, my wife has a good mutton stew..."

  "Oh, please," Pait interrupted. They had not stopped to eat all day.

  "Yes, little missy." Host Martten smiled. "We'll send a bowl up here, and not forget you."

  It was how he always served Adriana, saving her from the stares in the taproom. "After supping, I would talk awhile with the other travelers. They were courteous, and..."

  "Mistress, they cannot come up here!" Martten objected.