Maura threw her arms around his neck and squeezed with all her might. “No one could have taken better care of me, aira! Do you suppose Idrygon would be scandalized if I kissed you now, in plain sight of your troops?”

  When might she get another chance to kiss him? After their sudden separation when she’d been whisked away from the Islands, Maura had vowed to miss no opportunity to show her husband how much she loved him.

  “Scandalized?” A deep chuckle rumbled through Rath’s massive chest as he angled his lips toward hers. “I reckon he might be, but I don’t care. This is one of those times when clever Lord Idrygon would be dead wrong!”

  “I can’t get over it, mistress... that is... Highness,” said Anulf a while later as he rode by Maura’s side toward Windleford, with young Snake perched behind him. Three men had fanned out ahead to watch for trouble, while two more brought up the rear. “The last time I saw you, I wasn’t certain you’d last another hour, let alone weeks and months.”

  For a moment Maura wasn’t certain what he meant. Then it dawned on her. “At the mine, you mean? It was a very near thing. I almost didn’t survive.”

  “I never saw the beat of it.” Anulf shook his head. “A slip of a lass standing her ground against a death-mage and turning his power back on him. The air was fairly crackling with it. Why the hairs on my arms stood straight up.”

  Snake stared at Maura with wide eyes.

  “From that day on,” said Anulf, “I never doubted you were the Destined Queen, like Wolf claimed. So when I heard the Waiting King was on the march, I had to join him. When the other lads from Beastmount got wind of it, nothing would keep them from coming too.”

  Maura’s throat tightened. “You honor us with your service.”

  Anulf’s face reddened. “If it ain’t too forward to ask, Highness, whatever became of old Wolf? Last I saw, he was heading down the river with you in an ore barge. Half the reason me and the others joined the king’s army was hoping we’d find him here. But we’ve seen no sign of him.”

  “Were you not told?” Maura wished she could share the truth with Rath’s comrades, but she dared not antagonize Idrygon. “Your friend is very much alive. I saw and spoke with him not long ago.”

  She flashed Snake a look that bid him keep quiet about what he might know or guess.

  “Did you?” cried Anulf. “It does me good to hear news of him. What is he up to that keeps him away from your lord’s army? We could use a few more like him.”

  “He is doing his part for the liberation of Embria, of that you may be sure,” said Maura. “He is... carrying out a very important mission for the king.”

  It would do Rath good to see his old mates again, especially now, with the pressure mounting. Was there some way she could arrange it without Idrygon being the wiser? Maura was mulling the problem over when one of the advance party came galloping back toward them.

  He reined to a halt in front of Maura and Anulf. “The village is just beyond those trees, Highness. There’s a crowd of folk holding the bridge. They don’t look like Han—just villagers with hay forks and flails. Should we turn back or try to fight our way across?”

  “No fighting,” Maura insisted. “There has been too much blood shed in this land for too long. Bad enough we must battle the Han. I will not see Embrians fighting one another.”

  “Go around then, my lady?” asked Anulf. “Look for a spot to ford the river?”

  Maura shook her head. “It would take us too far out of our way. I promised we would rejoin the army by nightfall.”

  She thought for a moment, imagining herself still living in Langbard’s little cottage on the edge of the village while the events of the past weeks played out. “If the garrison has left, the villagers may fear an attack by outlaws. Let me go and speak to them, show them we mean no harm.”

  “Are you sure, my lady?” Anulf looked doubtful. “If any ill befalls you on our watch, we might be sorry we weren’t back in the mines.”

  “No harm will come to me. This is the village where I grew up. Just keep your men back until I have had a chance to speak with someone in charge.”

  Urging her mare forward, she called, “And while we are here no one is to call me Highness!”

  She rode ahead, following the track through a bit of woodland. Her heart grew heavy in her chest as she caught sight of Windleford Bridge for the first time in many months. During all the years she’d lived here, the village had never felt quite like home. But returning to it for the first time after a long absence, a warm sense of familiarity and belonging enfolded her.

  Waving back two of the advance party, she slowed her mare to a walk and held her hands out to show that she came unarmed.

  When she drew near enough that she could recognize several of the men guarding the bridge, she called out, “Master Starbow, how is business at your shop these days? Master Howen, did Noll’s hand heal from the burn of that pain spike he got last spring?”

  “Well, I’ll be blessed!” the shopkeeper dropped the staff he’d been holding in a rather menacing posture. “Is that Mistress Woodbury who used to live with old Langbard?”

  “It is.” Maura pulled the hood back from her hair. “I’ve come to visit my friend Sorsha Swinley for the day, if you will give leave for me and my friends to pass. Has it been long since the garrison departed?”

  “Five days, lass.” Master Starbow stooped to retrieve his fallen staff. “At first everyone was so glad to be rid of them, we were beside ourselves. Then we got to thinking how the Han always kept order, at least. Before they pulled out, there were rumors going ’round of an outlaw uprising. Some of us reckoned that might be worse than what we had before.”

  “There is an uprising,” said Maura, “led by the Waiting King as the legends have foretold. The Hitherland and the Long Vale are free of the Han and the mines have been liberated. If this rebellion succeeds, you will be better off. When the cost of order is freedom, is that not too dear a price?”

  Her question seemed to puzzle the villagers, for they grew quiet and thoughtful, muttering to one another. Then Noll Howen’s father spoke up. “If you’ve only come for a visit, why have you brought all those men with you?”

  Maura glanced back to see Anulf and the others clustered along the edge of the wood. One held a bow, ready to fire if she were attacked.

  “Those men mean you no harm. They have only come to protect me on my visit. These are uncertain times and I feared there might be Han still lurking hereabouts. Now that you have assured me I will be safe in Windleford, I can bid my escort wait here until I return. If I do that, will you let me pass?”

  The bridge defenders whispered among themselves and quickly came back with their answer, which the shopkeeper delivered, “You may come ahead, lass, and welcome home. If that young nephew of Langbard’s is among your escort, you could bring him with you.”

  For an instant, Maura puzzled what he meant. Then she recalled Rath posing as Simple Ralf from Tarsh. “He... is not with me today, but he will be pleased to hear you remember him with trust. Give me a moment to tell my friends what I mean to do then I will return.”

  Anulf shook his head when Maura informed him. “No you don’t, my lady. The river may keep trouble at bay on this side of town, but who’s to know what might strike from out of the north? If anything happened while you were over there, and us cooling our heels on this side of the river, I’d have a Wolf hunting me the length of the kingdom.”

  Before she could protest, he handed his weapon and Snake off to one of the others then rode toward the bridge with his arms in the air.

  After a brief exchange he returned, looking much better pleased. “They’re willing to let four of us across with the lady provided the rest stay here and give no trouble.” He nodded at the largest of his companions. “Odger, Tobryn, you and the lad are with us. The rest of you keep your eyes open and stay out of trouble till we get back.”

  As she rode across the bridge into Windleford, Maura called her thanks to Master Starbow and the others.

  “This way.” She pointed down a wide street that would take them through the village and out to Hoghill.

  They rode slowly to avoid children and chickens scurrying about. An echo of her old dread seized Maura when they passed the garrison compound. Though the buildings were deserted, the place did not look as if any of the villagers had gone near it. Likely they feared the Han would return.

  Maura’s hand tightened around the reins. She must make certain that did not happen.

  “Mistress Woodbury?” a young woman called from her doorway. “I heard you’d come back to town. Can you stop in later to take a look at my youngest? She had a cough that won’t go away.”

  “I’ll try,” said Maura. She had nothing in her sash to help the child, but there might be some starslip growing untended in her old garden... if she could bring herself to go there.

  As word spread of her return, more and more villagers turned out to greet her. Some came to ask her services as a healer, but more only wanted to wish her well. It moved her to see that they appreciated all she’d done for them. Perhaps the people of Windleford had not realized how much they’d relied on her and Langbard until they were gone.

  “Well, well!” Anulf chuckled. “A popular lass you are in there parts, High—... er, mistress.”

  “Not always,” Maura murmured. She longed to set her horse galloping to match her heart, bearing her that much quicker to Hoghill Farm and Sorsha—the one friend who had stood by her always.

  A few moments later, her horse had scarcely slowed when Maura scrambled from its back and ran into the Swinleys’ house.

  “Sorsha?” she called. But no one answered.

  Maura ran from room to room in mounting alarm, but Hoghill appeared as deserted as the Hanish garrison. A cold knot of fear tightened in her belly. Then she spied Sorsha’s basket sitting on the table, filled to the brim with fine brown eggs.

  She sniffed the air. A thick mutton stew was bubbling in a kettle on the hearth, a low fire still burning beneath it.

  Maura darted back outside. Cupping her hands around her mouth, she shouted, “Sorsha! It’s all right. It’s only me and some friends. You can come out!”

  The barn door flew open and Sorsha raced toward her, ruddy brown curls rippling as she ran. “Maura Woodbury,” she gasped between bursts of frenzied laughter. “Don’t you ever... give me... a turn like that again... you hear?”

  Maura opened her arms and the two friends collided in a laughing, weeping, grappling rush of joy at being together again.

  “I near swooned—” Sorsha wiped her warm hazel eyes with the corner of her apron “—when young Bard ran in saying he’d seen riders coming up the lane. I thought sure it must be the Han come back... as if they didn’t take enough with them when they left.”

  “I’m sorry we gave you a fright.” Maura introduced Anulf, Snake and the others. “I was so anxious to see you again, I didn’t think.”

  A loud wailing erupted from the barn. “Is it all right, Ma?” Sorsha’s oldest boy peeked out. “Can we come out now?”

  “So you can, my good, clever boy,” Sorsha beckoned him. “Bring the little ones then go fetch Papa. Tell him Auntie Maura has come for a visit!”

  “Look at them!” Maura hoisted young Lael into her arms while Sorsha took Baby Vela and jiggled her into a happier mood. “They’ve all grown so. Have I been away that long?”

  “Half a year,” said Sorsha. “Younglings can change a good deal in that time. Until now you’ve never gone more than a day or two without seeing them. This little one’s walking, if you please. And Lael can talk up a storm once he gets over his shyness. You remember Auntie Maura, don’t you, pet?”

  The child gazed at Maura with a grave expression for his young years. His thick, dark brows, so much like his father’s, knit together as he pondered his mother’s question. At last he replied with a silent but definite nod. How much longer could she have stayed away before the child forgot her altogether?

  A tempting picture rose in Maura’s mind of her and Rath living across the way in a cottage rebuilt on the foundation of Langbard’s. Seeing Sorsha and the children every day as she’d once done. Providing healing for the village folk while Rath planted crops and raised a few animals.

  It was no sense trying to fool herself that they could return to such a life if the rebellion failed. They would be lucky to escape with their lives back to the Islands. If the rebellion succeeded, there would be no quiet life in Windleford for them either. Rath would be a prisoner of his position, trapped in that elegant palace that held so many troubling memories for Maura.

  And her? Maura dared not guess what the future would hold for her once her secret became known.

  “How far have you ridden this morning?” asked Sorsha. “How long can you stay? Why don’t you all come in and have something to eat.”

  Stirred from her haunted thoughts by her friend’s practical, hospitable questions, Maura laughed. “Sorsha Swinley, you sound just like your mother—always wanting to feed folks. We only came from the other side of the river and we’ve all broken our fast. We will have to be on our way back before nightfall.”

  “So soon?” cried Sorsha. “We’ll have to make the most of our time together then, won’t we?”

  “Aye, Mistress.” Anulf turned toward the women. He had been showing Snake how to make the baby chuckle by hiding his face behind his hands then peeping out at her. “The pair of you go off and do as you please. Don’t fret about us. We’ll just park ourselves out here and keep watch. If you need us to entertain the younglings while you visit, it would be more a treat than a chore.”

  Sorsha handed the baby to him before he had a chance to change his mind. “Could I bribe you to stay when Maura leaves?”

  Anulf pulled some silly faces that made the baby crow with glee and even coaxed a smile from shy Lael. “If whatever I smell from your kitchen tastes half as good, mistress, you might be hard-pressed to get rid of me!”

  “Does that mean I could coax you to take a honey biscuit and a cup of ice-mint tea?”

  The men tried to decline politely, but Snake cried, “I’ll have theirs, then! Have you got any cider?”

  “Plenty.” Sorsha laughed. “And there are biscuits enough for everyone. Come on, Maura. You and I always had our best talks over kitchen chores.”

  Leaving the children with Maura’s escort, they went inside.

  Sorsha put water on to boil for tea then turned to her friend. “Let me look you over properly. You’re a bit thinner than when you left, but well enough apart from that.”

  Maura lifted the hem of her gown. “I still have the walking shoes you gave me. They’ve taken me a good many miles since that night.”

  “Many miles where, though?” Sorsha sat down in her accustomed place at the table opposite Maura. “A great many strange things have happened since you left. Did you have a hand in bringing them about?”

  Maura nodded.

  “I knew it,” said Sorsha. “And what became of that Rath fellow you left here with? I had a few bad nights worrying about him, I can tell you.”

  “I can vouch for that.” Newlyn Swinley appeared in the kitchen doorway. “I told her the fellow couldn’t be any worse than me, but that didn’t seem to ease her mind. Dunno why.”

  Maura chuckled. “Sorsha knew she could handle you, that’s why!” She turned to her friend. “Now you know how I felt when you came home with this mysterious stranger. But we both fretted ourselves for nothing. Remember at your wedding when you gave me your whole bride’s wreath and told me you hoped I’d find a man who would make me as happy as Newlyn’s made you?”

  Sorsha looked dubious. “Rath the Wolf?”

  Maura nodded. “We were married this summer on Galene.”

  “The island?” Sorsha motioned Newlyn to have a seat then moved to the hearth to brew the tea. “How did the two of you end up there? And how did you end up wed? When you left here, you didn’t look as if you trusted him much more than I did. What have you been doing since you left here?”

  “Having the kinds of adventures you used to hanker for when we were young.” Maura ticked some of them off on her fingers. “I was kidnapped by outlaws, then escaped and rode through the Long Vale on a stolen horse. I rescued an old woman from the Xenoth and found a hidden map to the Secret Glade. I was attacked by lankwolves in the Waste, chased by a death-mage and crossed Raynor’s Rift. I sailed to the Vestan Islands on a smuggler’s ship, watched the Hanish Ore Fleet sink in the warding waters and met the Oracle of Margyle.”

  Sorsha’s eyes grew wider and wider.

  “Careful, love,” said Newlyn, “the teapot’s overflowing!”

  Sorsha lowered the kettle back onto the hob in a daze. “By any chance did you find the Waiting King and wake him up while you were at it?”

  “It didn’t happen quite that way,” said Maura.

  “Oh my!” Sorsha staggered back to the table and sank onto a chair her husband pulled out for her. “I said... didn’t I say, Newlyn? I said all the upheaval in the kingdom lately must have something to do with you and Langbard and what went on here in the spring.”

  Newlyn nodded. “So she did. Almost as often as she said you’d come to a bad end on account of that Rath fellow.”

  Over many cups of ice-mint tea, Maura told them the whole story—or as much of it as she could bear to tell just then.

  “Think of it,” Sorsha murmured at last. “My timid little friend turned out to be the Destined... Oh my!”

  She scrambled to her feet and made a curtsy so low Maura feared her friend would topple onto the floor. “Highness!”

  “Sorsha Swinley, don’t talk nonsense!” Maura caught her friend in a swift, fierce embrace. “Part of the reason I came here today was to get away from folks calling me Highness. Now, I want to hear all about what’s been happening in Windleford and Hoghill while I’ve been away.”

  “Near as nothing compared to all that’s gone on with you,” Sorsha insisted.

  But once Maura asked about the children and one or two of the village folk, six months of family doings and local gossip soon came trickling out. Now and then as she sipped her tea, Maura could almost imagine the months turning back and her old, uneventful life within her grasp.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26