Law of the Broken Earth(126)

Mienthe nodded again and found her voice. “He is, and he will be—I was afraid to come back, afraid I would find Linularinan soldiers in Tiefenauer and Linularinan officers in the great house—”

“So you will, and so we came up to warn you, seeing as you might want recent word of the town and the river,” said the glazier. He’d brought his gaze back to her face. “We’ve not known what to do, what with your lord cousin gone to Tihannad. Earth and stone, even if Lord Bertaud’s trying to get back here right this minute, who knows what he might have run into? We’ve no word from him and none from the king, and every one of your uncles pulling in a different direction. Arguing like a pack of fighting dogs with one bone, they are, and not one as will give way to the rest. And now here you are, lady, cutting straight past that whole lot and bringing a Casmantian lord home with you! That’ll make those Linularinan bastards sit up on their hind legs and take notice, and at the same time save a great lot of arguing among our Delta lords.” He gave Mienthe an approving nod.

“That’s Brechen Glansent Arobern himself,” Mienthe said. She raised her voice and said to all the silent little group of listening men, “This is the Arobern himself, come as a friend to our king and to my cousin and to the Delta. He’ll push all those Linularinan troops back across the river, whether they’ve got the bridge decked or have to swim, and too bad for them if all this rain’s got the river up!”

The men cheered and laughed, nodding approvingly. One farmer called out, “The bridge isn’t decked even yet, and let the lot of them be swept right out to sea on the salt tide!” and they cheered again.

Mienthe nodded and smiled, but she also said, “Well, all the Delta will have to help. Neither the Arobern nor his men know the marshes or our town, and assuredly we want to clear out the Linularinan troops as quick as we may, so we can polish up Tiefenauer and present it properly to my lord cousin when he comes back!”

“That’s right!” said one man, and another, “Hear the lady!”

“So tell our ally your news, and we’ll see what we have to do,” Mienthe concluded, and waved up the Arobern, who gave her an approving nod, swung down from his horse, and strode up on foot to speak to the men. He was bareheaded and informal, speaking quickly in his rough, accented Terheien, making farmers and townsmen alike forget he was a king and nodding now and then, respectfully, toward Mienthe.

All along the column there was a general easing, men passing along flasks of watered wine and pieces of hard cracker. “We can do better than that by you,” one of the Delta farmers broke off to say, and spoke to one of the Arobern’s officers, after which a half dozen Casmantian soldiers and a good many Delta men went off down the farm lane.

Soon after that there were loaves of good bread, and cold roasted mutton, and baskets of fried chicken and hot buttered muffins, brought by the farmers’ wives and by boys too young for the militia but eager to touch the vicious heads of real Casmantian spears. “Which we had word of your banners long since,” said one woman cheerfully. “And then my Tamed brought word of yourself, lady, and glad we were to hear that word! You’ll teach those Linularinan bastards they can’t take us so light, begging your pardon, lady.”

Mienthe smiled and nodded and murmured whatever seemed appropriate and cast longing glances down the road. “Can’t we get on?” she begged the Arobern at last. The sun stood nearly directly overhead, and she found herself fretting like a caged bird with all the bright sky above calling out to her to fly.

“We don’t want to rush the Arobern past what he thinks is wise,” murmured Tan, which sentiment collected approving nods from the Casmantian officers.

“We might wish to heed the lady’s sense of urgency,” said Gereint Enseichen, winning a grateful smile from Mienthe.

“I think we can,” said the Arobern. He looked sternly at Tan and then transferred that heavy frown to Mienthe. “We shall expect some resistance; we shall expect some fighting. You will both assure me that you will stay close by the honored mage, do you hear? You will not ride ahead, no matter this sense of urgency. You will not fall behind no matter that you feel you have cause for alarm. Yes?”

“Yes!” declared Mienthe, trying to press the king and the whole company into motion with sheer willpower. Her grip tightened on her reins; her horse jigged sideways and spun in an impatient circle when she checked him. She longed to let the animal go, kick him into a gallop, fling him straight ahead at the town that lay so quietly before them.