Again Andor’s smile warmed the whole carriage. “Of course, ma’am! Remember that it will be stale, though—I left at Winterfest. But, apart from your brother, everyone in the castle seemed to be well. Chancellor Yaltauri’s lumbago was troubling him. Doctor Sagorn prescribed a linament with a powerful odor of cheese . . .”
In moments he had the three of them in stitches, even Isha, who was not supposed to show that she was listening, and who knew none of the people being discussed. He ran through the foibles of the whole palace hierarchy and moved on to the notables of the town. Apparently he was already acquainted with everyone in Krasnegar and that was a surprising thought, one that would need a little time to absorb. Yet under her laughter Inos wondered about Ido. And Lin. What news of the friends of her childhood? A transient cloud shadowed her happiness. They would be friends no longer. An abyss of rank would cut them off now from the princess they had once accepted as one of themselves. What use to tell Ido of the latest dance craze from Hub? What need to play the spinnet for Rap? Chatterbox Lin would not care about Kinvale scandal, nor share what local gossip he had with his queen. Yet she felt an irrational nostalgic longing to know how the old gang was faring. Who was married, who was courting? Those things would interest her more than details of Chancellor Yaltauri’s lumbago.
But she could not ask. A gentleman like Andor would not have troubled himself over chambermaids or scullions. Or stableboys.
Inos and Kade picked their way carefully down the hazardous staircase, to find Andor waiting for them, morning-fresh and resplendent in tan suede riding habit. He swept as deep a bow as was possible in the cramped confines of the hostelry. Despite the early hour, the inn was packed with people, most of them soldiers, apparently—noisy, bustling, a noticeably rough and unwashed collection.
“Highnesses, you slept well?”
Kade chirruped something much more cheerful than Inos could manage. A rank stench of men and beer was not a welcome greeting so early in the morning. Andor started clearing a path; leading them through the melee to one of the tiny tables in a corner by a window.
The inn had been a great shock to Inos. Somehow she had come to imagine that the whole of the Impire was as comfortable and luxurious as Kinvale, a very stupid assumption. The tiny bed she had shared with Kade had obviously been stuffed by stonemasons; the leaky thatch had been dug out of a silo, and there had been things living in that thatch. Just after she had retired, a great clamor of voices and horses had arisen outside and continued for hours. That must have been all these soldiers arriving, and now they completely filled the lower room.
The sun had not yet risen. Barely enough light spilled through the tiny, grubby window to show Corporal Oopari and one of his men sitting at the table. They sprang up, yielding their stools to the princesses. She wondered if this had been more of Andor’s foresight. Isha would have to eat on her feet, as many of the soldiers were doing.
“For breakfast, honored ladies,” Andor said in the unctuous whine of a waiter, “we offer a selection of either porridge or porridge. However, you may choose whether to eat the lumps or leave them. Our hot tea is cold and unloved. The chocolate is passable.”
Inos suppressed a lurching feeling inside her, a yearning for the fresh rolls and sweet preserves of Kinvale. Porridge? Ugh! “I should love some porridge,” Aunt Kade said brightly. “After all that rich food at Kinvale, it will be a pleasure to return to a simpler diet. You, my dear?”
“Just the chocolate, I think.”
The man-at-arms was dispatched into the throng. Apparently the hostelry staff had been immobilized by this military invasion. The table was small, splintery, and filthy.
“Your Highness!” Corporal Oopari was addressing Kade, and his tone snapped Inos out of her engrossing self-pity. He was an earnest young man, Oopari, but too old to have been one of her childhood friends, and too stolid to be good company anyway—dull, but dependable as winter. His family had served hers for generations. He had the dark coloring of an imp, with enough jotunn in him to make him taller and bonier than most men in the Impire. Someone jostled him at that moment, and he almost fell over the table. He straightened up without turning around to seek retribution or apology. That alone showed that he was upset over something, and his face was deeply red.
“Yes, Corporal?”
“I take orders from you only, do I not, Highness? That was what the king told me.”
Aunt Kade looked up at Andor, who was standing at the corporal’s side, likewise squeezed against the table.
“Proconsul Yggingi has joined us, ma’am.”
“Oh!” Aunt Kade seemed to read something from Andor’s tone or expression. She glanced around, and suddenly her smile seemed strangely forced. ”All these men are here to escort us, you mean?”
Andor nodded solemnly. “A whole cohort. You will be well guarded.”
Yggingi himself? Inos felt a strong upsurge of distaste, and then saw that something more was bothering the others.
“We don’t need guarding yet, do we?” she asked. This was only the second day of the journey, and they were still well within the Impire. She had caught a glimpse of the mountains from upstairs, but still a long way off. The real adventure would begin on the far side of the pass, Andor had said, and he estimated at least four more days to Pondague.
“Apparently you are going to have an escort, whether you need it or not. ” Andor returned his gaze to her aunt. “Corporal Oopari has been informed that he is now under the proconsul’s orders.”
Kade looked flustered, while the angry, stubborn expression on Oopari’s homely face reminded Inos momentarily of someone, but she could not think of whom.
“What is your advice, Sir Andor?” Why was Kade so concerned?
“I fear that the proconsul is correct, Highness. Private armies are not permitted within the Impire. Once we are past Pondague, then things will be different, at least in theory; but I understand that the proconsul is planning to increase the escort then.”
“More than one cohort?”
“Four.”
Kade actually wrung her hands. Inos had never seen anyone do that before, certainly not Aunt Kade. The roses in her cheeks had been stricken by a sudden frost.
“I erred?” she murmured, as if to herself.
“I did, certainly,” Andor said. “But there is no other road, and we could hardly have slipped away unseen.”
Inos did not understand, and she was staying quiet. Surely a large escort would be good protection against the goblins and, therefore, welcome news? She noticed that Isha was standing very close to the corporal, closer even than the press of the crowd required. So that was in the wind, was it? Inos had been wondering why the girl had agreed to enter the service of ladies who lived in a far country.
Aunt Kade restored her smile and directed it up at Oopari. “I think you had better agree to what the proconsul wants, Corporal. We can hardly have a divided command, and a proconsul is one of the Impire’s most senior officials.”
The honest, stubborn face flushed very red. “Then my services are not truly necessary, your Highness?”
Kade glanced again at Andor, as if seeking support, or hearing a message. ”We do not question your loyalty or courage, Corporal, but your small band can hardly compare with an entire cohort. As Sir Andor says, we are to be well guarded. Do any more of your men wish to remain at Kinvale?”
Through clenched teeth, Oopari said, “All of them, ma’am. But we thought you had need of us.”
Now it was Aunt Kade who turned red. “I quite understand, and if you wish to be released, then now is certainly the time. Sir Andor? If you would accompany the corporal . . . He has our money. Four imperials for him and two for each of the others? And would you be so kind as to take the rest of it into your own care?”
Obviously wrenched in several directions at once, Oopari looked down at Isha, and she was staring up at him in dismay. Aunt Kade noticed and sighed.
A few minutes later, Inos found herself alone with her aunt, clutching a large and clumsy earthenware mug of watery lukewarm chocolate. Andor and Oopari and the man-at-arms had gone, and so had Isha. Inos would have to brush her own hair now, and Aunt Kade’s, also. Who would lay out and repack clothes? Perhaps they could hire someone else at Pondague. Anonymous Imperial troops still hemmed in the table, making her feel claustrophobic.