Montray shook his head. “In the Hellers, with winter coming on? Impossible. I’m afraid you’re right; he knew the risks he was taking, he knew what would happen if he got caught. I’m afraid he’ll have to take whatever he brought on himself.”
Magda said in horror, “You’re not going to-to abandon him, just write him off?”
Montray sighed heavily. “I don’t like it either, Magda. But what else can we do? He knew the risks; you all do.”
Magda felt her spine prickle, as if the small hairs on her body were all standing on end. Yes, that was the rule of the Intelligence service. The first law and the last is secrecy. Get into trouble, and there’s no way to pull you out again.
“We can ransom him,” Magda flared. “I’ll stand surety for the ransom myself, if you begrudge it!”
“Magda, it’s not that. We’d gladly pay to get him loose, but-”
“Impossible,” Lorill Hastur said. “Rumal di Scarp would never negotiate with the Terrans; the moment he knew his prisoner was a Terran he would take pleasure in killing him out of hand-by means I would prefer not to describe before women’s ears. Your man’s only hope is to conceal his origin.” He turned to Magda and said, courteously not looking at her (a gesture which spoke a great deal about the quality of Magda’s Darkovan dress and manners), “Not knowing otherwise, I would have taken you for a woman of the Hellers. Does your friend speak the language, and know our customs, as well as you?”
“Better,” Magda said truthfully. Her mind was racing. We must think of something! We must! “Lady Rohana, they evidently still believe he is your son. Can you negotiate with them for his ransom?”
“It was my first thought. I would gladly do this to save a life. But my husband has forbidden me, once and for all, to go near Sain Scarp on any such mission. It was only with difficulty that I won his consent to come and tell you this much.”
“Magda, it’s no use. The only hope would be for Peter to escape on his own,” Montray said. “If we go, and try to ransom him, as a Terran, we are only hastening his death-sentence.”
She said fiercely, “If I were a man, I would go myself and negotiate for his ransom! There is no man alive in the Hellers who would know me for a Terran! If I could use the lady’s name, and negotiate as if for a kinsman…” She turned, appealing directly to Rohana.
“Help me think of a way!”
I know she can do it, if she will. She is a law to herself, this lady of the Comyn, she will do what she thinks right and no one will forbid her….
Rohana said to Hastur, “I told you this girl had spirit and strength. I will not disobey Gabriel-it is not worth the argument-but I will help her, if I can.” She turned to Magda, and said, “You would be willing to go yourself into the Hellers? With winter coming on? Many men might shrink from such a journey, my girl.” Again she spoke as if to a younger woman of her own caste. Magda set her chin, and said, “Lady, I was born near Caer Donn; I am not afraid of the mountains, nor of their worst weather.”
Montray said harshly, “Don’t be a damned fool, Magda! You’re supposed to be the expert on women’s customs on Darkover; but even / know that no woman can travel alone and unprotected! You may have guts enough-or damnfoolishness enough-but it’s impossible for you to travel alone, here on this planet You tell her, my Lady,” he appealed to Rohana “It would be impossible! Damn it, I admire her spirit, too, but there are things women just can’t do here!”
“You are right,” Rohana said. “Our customs make it impossible for a woman. An ordinary woman, that is. But there is one way, and only one, in which a woman can travel alone without danger and scandal. The Free Amazons alone do not accept the customs that bind other women.”
Magda said, “I don’t know much about the Free Amazons. I’ve heard the name.” She looked straight into Rohana’s eyes, and said, “If you think I can do it . . .”