Magic Casement (36 page)

Bracing
up his courage, Rap felt for the herd, and it had vanished. Fleabag was heading
home again. Supper had fled, therefore, and he remembered that he had been
hungry the first time he had met this strange sorceress. Even as he watched,
she began to shimmer and fade, and his farsight had already lost her. “I’m
hungry!” he said. “I mean, Death Bird is hungry!”

She
seemed to solidify for a moment and study him, head on one side, leering. “Fauns!”
she sneered. Then she uttered a shrill, childish snigger and clapped her hands.

Simultaneously
she vanished and a curly-horned, black-woolled sheep thudded to the floor just
before Rap’s toes. The impact shook the cabin, and a great cloud of dust
and snow shot out from beneath the animal. With a scream of alarm, it scrabbled
to its feet. There was no doubt at all that the sheep was real.

After
her warning, Rap dared not try his mastery on the animal, and his limbs were
still shaking so much that he took longer than he should have done to corner
it. Cutting a sheep’s throat with a stone knife was harder than he had
expected. He splashed a lot of blood on himself and was butted a few times. But
why a black sheep? Had that been easiest for the mad old sorceress to see in
the snowy bush, or was she making fun of a faun with goblin tattoos? Rap was
too hungry to care.

He
was eating roast mutton when Little Chicken returned, empty-handed, exhausted,
and furious. But for the first time, the goblin seemed to be impressed by Rap’s
occult powers.

With
a louder crack than usual, the rear of the carriage dropped, twisting to the
left. It came to a shuddering halt.

“Are
you all right, your Highness?” Andor inquired solicitously. He and Inos
were crushed pleasantly together, holding hands under the lap rug, but Aunt
Kade was now suspended above them, grimly hanging onto a strap.

“Quite
all right, thank you, except that perhaps my highness is now a little more
noticeable than usual. “

Andor
laughed appreciatively. “I shall see what has happened this time, “
he said, unlinking his fingers from Inos’ and preparing to disembark.
There were loud shoutings and nervous horse noises outside. Water splattered on
the roof, although the rain had been showing signs of turning to snow. Andor
opened the door and stepped out gracefully, managing both rapier and cloak with
apparent ease. Kade clambered across to sit next to her niece on the lower side
of the canted vehicle. She took up a lot more room on the bench than Andor had.

The
fast progress they had made at first had now ended. On the straight and smooth
highways of the Impire, the carriage had thundered along almost as fast as a
rider could have done, but now they were in the mountains. The weather had
turned sulky and the road upward, soon degenerating into a track. Farmland and
pasture had given way to forest, and the way had become difficult, with tree
branches often reaching out to finger the carriage as it passed.

Since
the loathsome Yggingi had appeared with his men, a deep dread had fallen over
Inos. The thought of two thousand Imperial soldiers invading Krasnegar was
terrifying-especially these troops. She could recall being told in Kinvale that
the local military were a despicable lot, not to be compared with the elite
corps found near Hub, and that to be posted to a remote frontier station like
Pondague was a humiliation, or even a punishment, inflicted only on the rabble
and scum of the army. Proconsul Yggingi was rabble and scum, also, in Inos’
opinion, but she had not said so.

In
fact she had not dared discuss the matter at all, with either Andor or Aunt
Kade, and they, too, were confining their talk to trivialities. Partly this
common discretion came from fear of being overheard, for now the coachman and
the footmen who clung to the carriage were all Yggingi’s men, and their
ears were close to the windows. Far more worrisome to Inos, though, was the
horrifying certainty that she had been betrayed.

Somehow
the Imperial government had learned of her father’s bad health and had
decided to seize Krasnegar before the thanes of Nordland did. Only Hub itself
could have mobilized the army. That meant time-time for reports and orders to
flow back and forth, time for consultations and decisions.

But
how had the Imperial officials known? Andor must have passed through Pondague
on his way south. He could have alerted the odious Yggingi to the opportunity.
Yggingi might then have headed for Kinvale, while Andor reported to some more
senior officer before continuing on to inform Inos.

In
the clear light of day such fancies seemed quite absurd. One glance at Andor’s
honest face, one smile from those steady eyes, and all her doubts blew away
like dust. But in the long hours of night, as she tossed in unfamiliar beds in
dank, smelly hostelries, they became all too terrifyingly real. Inos had
invented stories where Andor had been an Imperial spy all along. She had
frightened herself half to death with doubts about his background, his
parentage, his childhood. She knew so little about all of those, and they
seemed so very important when she was alone... yet they seemed so trivial when
she was with him that she never seemed to remember to bring them up in
conversation, as she had so often promised herself she would. When he was with
her, she could face the future with courage-she would face the whole Impire, if
necessary, and the jotnar, as well! Away from him, she felt like a lost child.

There
was only Andor... and Kade. But someone had betrayed Inos.

It
had been her aunt who had made the decision to journey north--a sudden and very
improbable venture for a woman of her years. Kade had at least suspected that
Holindarn’s health was failing even before she left Krasnegar. She would
certainly champion an Imperial claim over Nordland’s. To believe that
Princess Kadolan would betray her brother and niece was quite impossible... and
yet somehow it seemed no more incredible than doubting Andor. One of the two
must be a traitor and Inos did not know which.

She
felt very small, and alone, and vulnerable. She felt like a hunted animal,
fleeing home to its lair with a dangerous predator in close pursuit. She had
nowhere else to go and yet her lair would be no safe refuge, for the monster
would follow her in.

Obviously
she was on her way to Krasnegar whether she wanted to go there or not. If she
tried to balk now, then her honor escort of five hundred men would at once
become an armed guard, and she a captive. Yggingi had all but told her as much.
Nominally she was returning to her home under his protection, but in fact she
was only his puppet. The odious man had not revealed his plans, but it was a
fair guess that he would try to force her to sign over the kingdom to the
imperor as soon as her father died. She could only hope that Father was still
alive, and still well enough to advise her. She had no one else she could trust
now.

So
Inos sat in silent fear and misery, while making polite conversation about the
scenery.

Andor
reappeared at the carriage door. “I am afraid you will have to disembark,
ladies. Another broken axle. “

He
handed Aunt Kade down, then Inos. The trail was a narrow wreckage of mud,
roots, and rocks, curving off out of sight in both directions around a
hillside. Rain dribbled down from a canopy of heavy branches that shut off all
but a few glimpses of low gray sky, while enclosing walls of ferns and bracken
pressed in tightly on both sides. This was the third axle to snap in the last
two days. It meant a long delay.

Inos
looked around hopefully for somewhere dry to sit, pulling up the hood of her
traveling cloak.

“What
enormous trees! “ Aunt Kade exclaimed. “They cannot be sequoias,
though?”

“Hemlocks,
I think,” Andor said. “Or perhaps cedars. You! Trooper! Hand me
down that chest. “

The
shadows were very deep and menacing. Inos felt uneasy, shut in by this dark
primeval jungle. Even the air was full of damp woodsy scent, as if it never
went anywhere and was a special local air. The small area of road that she
could see was full of soldiers dismounting or jingling around, horses stamping,
splashing, fretting, and tugging their reins, men grumbling and discussing the
problem in rough, angry tones. From farther up the hill came rougher shouts
yet, as the advance guard was informed of the holdup. Equally invisible
downhill, the rear was clattering into silence, also.

The
dense woods concealed the mountains completely. Inos had not seen a single
large hill, only trees and a steeply climbing, winding road. She took Aunt Kade’s
hand, and the two of them stepped carefully over mud and puddles to the verge,
seeking shelter and getting out of the men’s way. Andor followed,
carrying a chest to serve as a bench. Halfhearted smears of snow flanked the
trail, dirty and woebegone in the dingy gloom.

Proconsul
Yggingi came cantering back down from the front to see what the delay was. He dismounted
with a splash and handed his reins to a legionary, then bellowed for silence
and started shooting orders. Inos was pleased to see that he looked very
uncomfortable in his uniform, as if the rain were running off his helmet and
down his neck. Andor was wearing a big floppy suede hat at a rakish angle,
handsome and debonair as ever. Aunt Kade shivered slightly.

“I
can fetch a rug, Highness?” he asked helpfully.

“No,
no!” Kade said. “Silly of me. I was looking at these dark woods and
thinking of goblins.”

He
chuckled reassuringly. “Rugs will not protect you from goblins! But don’t
worry-there are none this side of the pass. Correct, Proconsul?”

Yggingi
was clearly furious at this latest delay. “None this side of Pondague.
And I have been cleaning them out beyond, also.”

“Are
they so dangerous, then?” Inos asked, thinking that a herd of hippogryffs
could sneak up on her through that deep darkness.

“Not
really. Just vermin.”

Andor
said quietly, “Goblins are actually a very peaceful people. “

“Peaceful?”
Yggingi echoed. “They are monsters.”

“But
not warlike.”

“No,
not warlike! They have other means of disposing of their surplus men.” An
expression of distaste appeared on his flat, square face.

“Whatever
do you mean, Excellency?” Inos asked, surprised that anything could
disgust so coarse a man as Yggingi.

He
hesitated and then said, “Many races weed out their young men. Most do it
by warfare. Goblins use nastier methods, but the principle is the same, I
suppose. “

She
had never thought of warfare in that horrible way. “Why? To leave more
women for the others? “

“Inos!
“ Kade protested.

“Sometimes
that is the motive,” Andor said. “Or extra land, or just to keep
the place peaceful. We are not making very good time, I fear, Proconsul.”

Yggingi
growled an agreement. “We shall probably not see the top of the pass by
nightfall. There is a guardhouse there, but now you will probably have to
bivouac, ma’am.”

“Perhaps
my niece and I should ride, then?” Kade suggested calmly.

The
men looked down at her in astonishment. “Could-would you?” Yggingi
asked.

“I
should love to! I find that carriage very bumpy. How about you, Inos, dear?”

“Of
course! “ Inos agreed, amused at the expression on Yggingi’s face,
and Andor’s. They did not know of Aunt Kade’s unlimited ability to
astonish.

Kade
rose, determined. “Then we shall ride. Our habits are in that green box,
Proconsul. If you would be so kind as to have it lifted down, we can change in
the carriage. “

Yggingi
actually smiled-a gruesome sight. “And we can leave this wreck where it
is. We should reach Pondague tomorrow, and after that you can travel by sled. “

Aunt
Kade beamed up at him innocently. “Oh, I think we can ride in the forest
if we have to. I am a little out of practice, I admit, but I used to be a very
keen horsewoman. “

It
would do her figure no harm, Inos thought, and a horse could be no more tiring
than that bone-shaking carriage.

Yggingi,
about to speak, stopped suddenly and peered into the trees. “What was
that?”

Andor
frowned. “I thought I heard something, too. “

Inos
had heard nothing, but her skin tingled-all the horses had pricked their ears
in that way, also. The proconsul bellowed for silence in the ranks. The shout
ran out along the line in both directions, and then there was only a steady
dripping, and restless splashings of hooves.

“There
it is again,” Yggingi said, and this time Inos had heard something, also.

“Goblins?”
she asked nervously.

“They
don’t shout. They keep quiet and ran. If I’d thought there was the
slightest chance of goblin sport, I’d have brought the dogs.”

A
distant voice. “Princess Inosolan!”

Inos
jumped. Her heart continued jumping.

Faint
though it was, they had all heard it this time-Inos, her aunt, Andor, Yggingi,
and the dozens of mud-splattered legionaries.

“It’s
a long way off!” Andor’s face had gone very stem. He pushed back
his cloak to free his sword hilt.

Yggingi
clicked his sword up and down in its scabbard, once, then again. “Maybe
not so far. The trees deaden sound.”

“Princess
Inosolan!” No mistake this time...

They
were all staring at the woods now. Aunt Kade stepped close to Inos and gripped
her wrist, as if fearing she might run off into the forest to investigate.
Nothing was less likely. Inos shivered. Yggingi’s sword hissed as he
drew.

“You
had better go back to the coach, ladies! “ He shouted an order and swords
flashed out, while other men pulled bowstrings from waterproof pouches. Work on
the axle had stopped.

“No,
wait!” Inos said as her aunt began to move. That voice? “Princess
Inosolan!” Closer yet.