If anyone can be bothered hunting down a gang of bandits when civil war is looming, she thought, keeping a wary eye on the trees. They were growing far too close to the road for comfort. Things seemed to be moving in the undergrowth, but…were they small animals, disturbed by the convoy, or bandits? They wouldn’t know until they jumped out and attacked. The bastards have been left alone for far too long.
She forced herself to concentrate as her thoughts started to run in circles. She’d never thought of herself as a swordswoman, let alone a good swordswoman. Jade could hold his sword in his left hand and still beat her in a fencing match. But the bandits hadn’t had a chance against her, not as long as she’d carried a sword. It was…odd. She knew she was good at magic, but swordfighting?
Don’t get cocky, she reminded herself, sharply. You killed a handful of untrained men. The next people you have to fight may actually know what they’re doing.
It was nearly two hours later before the convoy came to a halt beside a river. Emily noted the shallowness of the water–it was clearly a ford, even though it was half-hidden–and then returned her gaze to the trees. They were some distance away now, but she kept a hand on her dagger anyway. This time, no one was singing or running to the woods to search for mushrooms or herbs. The men carried weapons everywhere, while the women stayed close to the convoy.
Jade strolled back to the wagon, his face grim. “They want to carry the body back to his family in Chatham,” he said. “Otherwise…they seem to have come through it all right.”
“Good,” Emily said. She wondered if she’d come through it all right. Her hands were still threatening to shake. The bandits had wanted to kill the men, rape the women and loot the convoy of everything they could carry and she still felt guilty. “When are we moving again?”
Jade looked at the sun. “Probably in an hour or two. We need to put some distance between ourselves and the bandits. If they were bandits.”
“They were,” Cat said. “They weren’t prepared for trained swordsmen, Jade, let alone magicians. I think they had enough weapons to kill or intimidate the average set of merchants, but not soldiers. They probably didn’t know who we were.”
“And they have no reason to think that we’re anyone worth betraying,” Emily added. It was unlikely the bandits would risk reporting them, even if they knew exactly who Jade and Emily really were. That would probably get them a hearty thank you, then a short trip to the gallows. Bandits were regarded as vermin. “They won’t see anything odd in me being there, will they?”
“They might not have realized you were a girl,” Jade said. “A flashing sword does tend to concentrate the mind.”
Emily snorted. Her clothes were loose, and her hair tied up in a headscarf, but someone would have to be blind to mistake her for a man. She just didn’t move like a man. Lady Barb and Frieda could pose as men, and do it quite effectively, but Emily couldn’t. It simply wasn’t one of her skills.
And it would be worse if my chest was bigger, she thought, sourly. Alassa couldn’t hope to pass as a man.
“They may just think I was a desperate woman,” she said. The bandits might not be able to tell the difference between training and desperation. They’d certainly been too ignorant to realize just how ignorant they were. “And they’re not going to confess to robbing convoys, are they?”
“Let us hope so,” Cat agreed. He stood and jumped to the ground. “I need to find a tree.”
Jade laughed. “You’re spoilt for choice.”
Emily took a breath as Cat strode off. “What now?”
“We keep going, of course,” Jade said. “And we try to make it to the next town before dark.”
“I suppose,” Emily said. If the bandits were shadowing them, they might risk attacking a campsite. Attacking a town, on the other hand, would be far too dangerous. “Do they have an idea where to go?”
“There’s a couple of towns,” Jade said. “We should be able to reach the first one before nightfall.”
He looked back up the road. “Were they really bandits?”
“I think so,” Emily said, choosing not to point out that Cat had already drawn the same conclusion. “We just had a stroke of bad luck.”
“The convoy offers protection and anonymity, but it also offers risk,” Jade said. “We could have been forced to reveal ourselves.”
Emily met his eyes. “But we didn’t have to reveal our magic. And if they’d had the slightest idea of who we are, they would have brought trained soldiers and magicians to the party, not a handful of bandits who barely knew which end of a sword to use.”
She winced at the thought. It was unlikely, vanishingly unlikely, that anyone would connect the mercenaries they claimed to be with Baroness Emily and Prince Consort Jade. She was hardly the only girl calling herself Emily now, although most of them were babies; Jade was a fairly common name, even in Zangaria. And there was no reason to think that anyone was watching for a man called Cat. But the slightest slip could reveal their presence and then…
Randor will send sorcerers after us, she thought. The king wasn’t a strong magician, but he had plenty to offer any sorcerer willing to enter his employment. Jade had been the Court Wizard, but he’d hardly been the only magic-user in Zangaria. And even if we won, we’d confirm our presence to everyone’s satisfaction.
“I hope you’re right,” Jade said. “I’ll see you at the inn.”
He strolled off, one hand resting on his sword. Emily watched him go, feeling uneasy. Jade didn’t normally second-guess himself so badly, but now…now his wife and unborn child were in jail, while one of his friends was under sentence of death. Imaiqah might be dead by now–a treacherous little voice at the back of Emily’s mind reminded her that Randor had no reason to keep Imaiqah alive–and Emily wouldn’t know about it until it was far too late. Or at all. Randor could have had Imaiqah executed, cremated the body, scattered the ashes in the river and then had everyone involved silenced. Jade had plenty of reason to be worried…
…And he might do something stupid.
She rubbed her forehead as Cat came back, buckling his fly. He looked calmer, at least, although there was a nasty cut on his face and blood on his leathers. But then, he had more reason to be calm. He’d come on the trip out of personal loyalty to Jade, not out of any desire to rescue the princess or overthrow the king. He wouldn’t do anything stupid just because he wanted to get his wife out of prison before it was too late.
And I can’t even argue with Jade’s motives, she told herself, wryly. I just need to watch him.
Cat scrambled up to join her, taking the reins as the trumpet blared again. “Are you feeling better?”
Emily shrugged. “The sooner this part of the trip is over, the better,” she said. She understood Jade’s frustration. They were inching closer to Alexis when they could have proceeded in leaps and bounds. “Of course, the next part will be even more hazardous.”
“Very true,” Cat agreed. He cracked the whip. The horses started to move, splashing through the water as they crossed the ford. “I’m quite looking forward to it.”
He grinned. “If you want something mindless to do, go clean the weapons before Sergeant Miles catches us,” he added. “Or we’ll be in real trouble.”
Emily had to smile. Sergeant Miles had lectured them, time and time again, on the importance of keeping their personal weapons clean at all times. The punishments for anyone who allowed their weapons to get dirty, when they had ample opportunities for cleaning them, were severe, but better than being killed because their weapons weren’t fit for purpose. Sergeant Miles was back at Whitehall, she assumed, yet the lesson had stuck. It was a poor soldier–or magician–who let his tools get out of shape.
“Good idea.” She stood, carefully. “Should we have kept the weapons from the bandits?”