“Yours,” Cat said. “But if you expect unthinking devotion, you’re going to be disappointed.”
He tapped his chin, meaningfully. “Emily made the best of a set of bad choices,” he added, after a moment. “I don’t blame you for being angry, but I don’t blame Emily for making the choice either. And now, yes we are committed to putting Alassa on the throne. I can’t see her deciding to run off to the other side of the world, can you?”
“No,” Jade said.
“Quite,” Cat agreed. “Now, you’re supposed to be the reasonable one of our duo. Start being reasonable again, please. My head is already starting to ache from being too reasonable for my own good.”
Emily had to smile. “Alassa won’t want to run.”
“Even if she did,” Jade added, “her father won’t let her go into peaceful exile.”
“No,” Cat agreed. He leaned forward. “Right now, we simply don’t know enough to make any long-term plans. The only thing we have to go on are a collection of rumors, half of which contradict the other half. We wait until we get into the city, then we gather intelligence and start making proper plans. Until then…we’re just a pair of sellswords who have been hired to serve the king, may the gods bless him.”
“And me,” Emily said.
“No one will pay any attention to you,” Cat said. “That’s what we’re counting on.”
Just in case this is a trap for us, Emily thought. Nanette’s involvement–Nanette’s possible involvement, she reminded herself–suggested that Alassa and Imaiqah might be nothing more than bait in a trap. Randor would certainly want to get his hands on Jade, if not Emily herself. And if Nanette’s involved, she’ll want to get me too.
She looked down at her hands. King Randor might not take the risk of executing his daughter, before or after she gave birth, but Imaiqah had no such protection. She might already be dead. Hell, executing her at once would be the safest course of action. Imaiqah wasn’t the most powerful sorceress in the world, but she was certainly one of the most capable. Given time, she might break out of captivity and set out to wreak revenge. The thought nagged at Emily’s mind. Imaiqah might already be dead.
“I still don’t like it,” Jade said. He shot Emily a look that promised trouble, later. “But we have no choice.”
Emily nodded. She didn’t want to kick Randor off his throne, but the king had been growing increasingly erratic–and paranoid–even before he’d arrested Alassa and Imaiqah. She’d heard reports about his inspectors harassing peasants, merchants, even noblemen…while he’d been building up his army with desperate haste. It was only a matter of time before he had a showdown with the remaining barons, even the ones who supported him. Emily knew who’d bear the brunt of any civil war and it wouldn’t be the nobility. It was the commoners who’d suffer.
And yet, fixing the kingdom’s problems might take longer than they have, she thought. Alassa might not have enough time to deal with them before the revolution begins.
“We’ll do whatever we have to do when the time comes.” She made a show of looking at the window. “Shall we get some sleep now?”
“I’ll take the first watch,” Jade said. “Cat, do you want the second?”
“Yeah,” Cat said. “I’ll see you in a few hours.”
Emily leaned back in her bed, pulled the blanket over her head and closed her eyes. Sleeping in her clothes felt uncomfortable, but she had a feeling she’d be a great deal less comfortable if she slept in her nightwear. The bed was uncomfortable and she was certain the blankets hadn’t been washed before the room had been rented out again. Her skin itched unpleasantly as she tried to empty her mind. But the thought of insects crawling over the sheets was one that refused to go away in a hurry.
There are already signs of trouble, she thought, remembering the dead bodies. The peasants wouldn’t take the risk of killing taxmen and inspectors if they weren’t on the verge of revolt.
She shuddered at the thought. Peasant revolts rarely succeeded, at least on Earth, but they tended to be savage. The peasants had generations of pent-up hatred that demanded release, while the aristocratic conventions of fair play never applied to peasants who dared to lift a hand against their betters. There would be a bloody slaughter if the peasants lost, but how could they win? Typically, peasant revolutionaries had never had a long-term plan to take power and rule the country themselves. They’d always accepted the aristocracy’s short-term concessions, never realizing that the king and his nobility were just buying time to ready the counteroffensive. And there were no alternate power structures, not on a national scale.
Randor saw to that, when he weakened the Assembly, she reminded herself. No wonder Paren chose to revolt.
Her mind raced. Jade was angry at her, with reason. Alassa wouldn’t be pleased either, when she found out. And Jade wouldn’t keep it from his wife, no matter what happened. She might have lost their friendship, just because she’d wanted to save her friend’s life…
She pushed the thought out of her head and forced herself to concentrate on the future. They would need an army, if they wanted to take on the king. It wasn’t going to be easy to get one, not when Randor had a head start on everyone else. They didn’t have enough money to hire mercenaries, even if using mercenaries wouldn’t discredit their claims to be acting in the interests of the commoners. And yet, an untrained and inexperienced army would be cut to ribbons if pitted against trained and disciplined opposition. And yet…
Someone shook her, gently. Emily jerked awake, throwing the blanket aside. It was dark, so dark that it took her several seconds for her eyes to become accustomed to the dim glow from the lantern. Cat was standing beside the bed, looking down at her. Emily hesitated, then forced herself to sit up. She was sure, logically, that she’d been asleep, but…it didn’t feel like it.
“Wake us if you hear anything,” Cat whispered. “We’ll be up at cock-crow.”
Emily nodded, silently grateful that he’d taken her side. She hadn’t really expected it. Jade and Cat had known each other for five years before they’d met Emily. Or had it really been that long? Jade was a year older and it was unusual for an older student to socialize with a younger one, outside class. God knew Emily had managed to put her foot in it when she’d stayed friends with Frieda.
Men normally side with other men, she thought, as she swung her legs over the bedside and stood. It was a backhanded compliment, of sorts. I guess I should be flattered.
She made her way over to the chair and sat down. She’d managed to sleep for at least five hours, but it didn’t feel anything like enough. She wished, savagely, for some Kava–or something else to help her stay awake. Falling asleep on watch was a capital crime, as far as the sergeants had been concerned. They wouldn’t kill the unlucky watchman, she thought, but they’d certainly make him wish he were dead.
Cat clambered into bed and vanished under the sheets. Emily smiled, rather thinly, then forced herself to listen. Jade was breathing in and out quietly–she couldn’t hear Cat at all–but there were no other sounds in the room. Outside, she heard someone moving down the corridor just enough to be conspicuous; outside the inn, she heard owls hooting as they glided through the darkness, hunting for mice before the sun rose and they had to return to their nests. She checked her weapons, just in case she needed them, as the footsteps came closer. It was a relief when they hurried past the door and continued down the corridor without stopping.