“The Arobern is on good terms with my cousin,” she had pointed out. “And however bold your Istierinan is here, he won’t lightly try his hand in Casmantium, do you think? You can take shelter with the Arobern, I’m sure he’ll have no objection, and then once you’re out of Linularinum’s reach, surely Istierinan will pull his people back. Kohorrian will probably even apologize to Iaor for any misunderstandings.”
Tan had stared at her. “There are times, Mie,” he had said at last, “when your utterances blossom out with a most peculiar complexity, as the flowers of some wondrous country. Some might consider a confidential agent who delivers himself over to a foreign king not merely foolish, but actually treasonous, you know.”
“The Arobern won’t do anything like that!” Mienthe had protested, shocked.
“Anyway, isn’t the information you carry nearly all about Linularinum? What does it matter if Casmantium has it, too?”
Tan had had to admit that this was a point.
Mienthe had argued, “We don’t know I can protect you from Linularinan mages, but we know I have. I’m afraid to ask you to stay here and afraid to see you go north alone. But I think if we can get through the pass into Casmantium, we’ll both be safe.”
“We?” said Tan, sounding both startled and for once quite serious. “Out of the question, Mie—”
“I’m not leaving you for Istierinan!” Mienthe had insisted, thoroughly exasperated. “Nor staying here to wait for him myself. You could even be right about being in danger from a foreign king! But I’m Bertaud’s cousin and the Arobern’s friend, and that changes everything. I’m going.”
“Well,” Tan had said after a moment, “I know how stubborn you are, and—” He had paused and then added, his manner suddenly almost serious, “I admit, Mie, I would find your company a welcome reassurance, under the circumstances. But your cousin is probably going to kill me for putting you in such danger.”
The thought occurred to Mienthe that, though plenty of people might find her company welcome, no one, not even her cousin, had ever said he found her company reassuring. She did not know what to say to that. But in the end, she and Tan, and a handful of guardsmen, and the maid from Kames whom her steward had demanded she take with her for propriety’s sake, had all headed east and not north.
Mienthe had not even known she’d had a steward, though she supposed she’d have guessed if she’d ever thought about it. She had never wanted to hear about anything to do with her father’s house or her inheritance. But, after all, someone had to look after her father’s house and see that it remained in good repair, and keep an eye on the land to prevent too much clandestine woodcutting or poaching or grazing. She supposed Bertaud had approved the man; at least he seemed competent and reliable. A little too forceful, perhaps, when insisting that Mienthe have a female companion.
Not that the maid was with her now, which Mienthe actually did regret. But they had lost two of the guardsmen finding out just how swiftly the Linularinan agents had moved to surround Kames. After that, Tan had given up any idea of heading north, and Mienthe had insisted that the maid be left in a little village along their way, with the other guardsman to keep the woman safe and eventually see her back to the house at Kames. Propriety and appearances were all very well, but the maid had been rather too old for a fast journey, and frightened by the close pursuit they’d encountered.
After that, by common accord, Mienthe and Tan had skirted any larger village or small town they’d passed and slipped right by the rebuilt Minas Ford in the fading light of evening, camping in one of the recently deserted engineer’s camps right in the pass itself. And now they were here, entirely out of Feierabiand, in these mountains that belonged to no country at all. And they did not even have any clear certainty about whether they were truly riding toward shelter in Casmantium, far less whether they were riding toward allies.
But, though Mienthe did not know how likely they were to find friends in Ehre, she knew that if they turned back, they would find enemies behind them. And she was certain that the King of Casmantium, once he knew she was Bertaud’s cousin and Erich’s friend, would be very polite. She was certain he would offer the hospitality of his court and that he would not harass Tan at all, even if he learned that Tan had been one of King Iaor’s important confidential agents, which she supposed they would have to tell him. At least, they would have to explain their presence somehow.
No, she was confident of the Arobern’s courtesy and hopeful of his goodwill. She even wondered whether he might lend her a few men… say, a company… to see them safe back through the pass and north to Tihannad. Even this did not seem unlikely.