His small face was as serious as when he had sung in the chapel at Nevarsin. “I am, mestra Jandria.”
“Well, then, it is simple. Shall I treat you as a prisoner and have you guarded – and, make no mistake, we are women, but we shall not be careless with you and allow you to escape.”
“I know that mestra,” he said politely, “I had a governess once who was much harsher with me than any of the masters and brothers in the monastery.”
“Well, then,” said Janni, “Will you be our prisoner, or will you give us your parole, not to attempt to escape our hands, so that you may ride beside us and take such pleasure in the trip as you can? It will not be an easy journey, and it will be simpler if we can allow you to ride without watching you every moment of the night and day, nor have you tied up at night. I will have no hesitation in taking the word of a Hastur, if you give me your parole of honor.”
He did not answer at once. He asked, “Are you my father’s enemies?”
“Not particularly,” said Janni, “Of your father, my lad, I know only what I have been told; but I am Rakhal’s enemy, and your father is his friend, so I trust him not. But then, I have not asked for his word of honor, either. I am dealing with you, Dom Carolin, not with him.”
He said, “Is Romilly coming with us?”
“I thought to put you in her charge, since she has travelled with you before, if that is agreeable to you, young sir.”
He smiled then, and said, “I would like to travel with Romilly. And I will gladly give you my word of honor not to try and escape. I could not travel through the Hellers alone, whatever happened. I promise you, then, mestra, to be at your orders until I am returned to my father’s hands.”
“Very well,” Janni said, “I accept your word, as you may accept mine, that I will treat you as I would one of my own sisters, and offer you no indignity. Will you give me your hand on it, Dom Carolin?”
He held out his hand and took hers. Then he said, “You need not call me Dom Carolin, mestra. That is the name of the former king, who is my father’s enemy, though he is not really mine. I am called Caryl.”
“Then you shall call me Janni, Caryl,” she said, smiling at last, “and you shall be our guest, not our prisoner. Romy, take him to the guest-room and make him comfortable. Orain-” she raised her eyes to her cousin, “we shall set out tomorrow, if the weather allows.”
“I thank you, cousin. And you,” he added, turning to Romilly, bending ceremoniously – like a courtier, she thought – over her hand. She thought, heart-sore, that a few days before, he would have taken leave of her with a rough hug. She hoped, suddenly and passionately, that she and Orain would never meet again.
They rode out of Caer Donn very early in the morning, and had been more than an hour on the road before the red sun rose, huge and dripping with mist. Caryl rode on the pony Jandria had found for him, side by side with Romilly’s horse; behind them were six women of the Sisterhood, leading, on long pack-reins, a dozen good horses which, they said, were for the armies in the South. They did not say which armies, and Romilly carefully did not ask.
It was good to be riding free again in the sunlight, without the cold and storms of her earlier journey through the Hellers. They stopped at noon to feed the horses and rest them for a little, then rode on. In late afternoon they made camp, and at Jandria’s command, one of the pack-horses was offloaded, and as two women sat about making fire, Janni called to Romilly.
“Come here and help me, Romy, with this tent.”
Romilly had no notion of how to set up a tent, but she obediently hauled ropes and drove in pegs where Janni ordered, and within a minute or two a large and roomy shelter of waterproof canvas was ready for them. Blanket-rolls were spread out within it, and under its hanging flap the evening drizzle could not dampen their fire or their supper. Very soon porridge was cooked, hot and savory with sliced onions frizzled in the fat of a roast fowl, and the women sat cross-legged on their bed-rolls, eating their food out of wooden bowls which had come out of the same pack.