“Well, I suspect you’ll find out soon enough. These men have come to take you to the great city of Mahanaim to apprentice for the Council of Seven.”
Vrell could only gasp and sputter.
“You’ll train under Master Macoun Hadar,” Khai said in a nasally voice.
“Hadar is a royal name,” Lord Orthrop said. “An amazing privilege for anyone — but of course even you must know this.”
Indeed, Hadar was a royal name, but not one she trusted much. Besides, Vrell could not travel to Mahanaim with two men! She would not. She needed to stay here to hide until she could marry Bran. Plus, such a thing was unheard of. Noblewomen did not travel without a companion. It had taken her months just to get used to walking to the apothecary by herself. Of course, she couldn’t say any of this without revealing her identity, or at least her gender.
Her heart rattled under her padded prison. “Forgive me, my lord, but Lady Coraline promised I could stay until my training with Master Masen was complete.”
Lord Orthrop waved his hand around. “I’ve indulged my wife long enough in this matter. You must trust me, Vrell. A man knows what’s best for a man. Serving a Hadar is a much loftier goal than apothecary in any city, especially Walden’s Watch. We’re at the edge of the world here, boy. No one much cares about this place.”
“I do.”
Lord Orthrop gave a small smile. “You’re a stray. You could do no better if you worked hard your whole life.”
All this would make perfect sense if Vrell were truly a boy and truly a stray. Lord Orthrop would never send a woman off with two men. Except he did not know she was a woman. He could not find out either — he might side against her. Vrell’s heart was a lump in her throat, choking back her words, and thankfully, tears.
If only she knew how to bloodvoice Mother.
“We will leave the moment the boy is ready,” the giant said in a booming voice.
Lord Orthrop’s eyes met Vrell’s. “Off you go then. Pack your things.”
She bowed. “Yes, my lord.”
After that, everything happened fast. Gil gave her a small leather satchel to stow her healing herbs and salves. She’d clipped a leather water skin to it. Vrell realized with a pang of loneliness that this was all she would leave here with. She had brought no personal belongings from home, so she had nothing more to pack.
When she came downstairs — with a sniffling Gil at her side — Lord Orthrop, Aljee, and the knights were waiting in the foyer. Lord Orthrop handed her a small velvet bag of coins.
“My lord, I couldn’t possibly—”
“You must, boy. And you’ll take a horse too. I’ll be in trouble enough when Coraline returns to find you gone. Accept this as a token of my apologies for rushing you off. You must understand: even if I wanted you to stay, the Council is law. I cannot speak against them. May the gods be with you.”
Aljee rushed up and grabbed Vrell around the waist. “Oh, Vrell, I wish you didn’t have to go. You’ve never teased me as much as my brothers.”
“And you never beat me as much,” Gil said, his posture slumped.
“It won’t be much longer, son, before you’ll be as skilled as your brothers,” Lord Orthrop said.
“My lord?” Vrell asked. “Might I bid good-bye to Master Masen and Mitt?”
Lord Orthrop shook his head. “I’ll send word. These knights have instructions to bring you back with haste, isn’t that right, Sir Jax?”
The giant nodded. “We must leave at once.”
Vrell hugged Aljee one more time. She longed to hug them all and beg them to let her stay, but it was too risky. Arman would protect her, would he not?
“I’ll tell Mitt for you, Vrell,” Gil promised.
Tears blurred Vrell’s vision. She followed the massive form blocking out the sun and his tiny partner to the stables. It would be a very long journey to Mahanaim — at least a fortnight. What would happen if these Kingsguard knights discovered her secret?
Fear scuttled over her like a thousand beetles. She concentrated on closing her mind and putting one foot in front of the other.
5
Vrell’s steps slowed at the sight of the giant’s horse. It stood before the stables, saddled and ready to go with the other two horses, but its back was as high as the others’ heads. Vrell had seen festriers at tournaments when she was younger, but none quite as large as this one.
Jax swung up onto the beast in a swift motion, his axes clanking against each other. The stirrup holding his massive boot dangled at the level of Vrell’s chin. How thrilling it must feel to ride such a horse. She wondered how her horse back home, Kopay, would react to the sight of one.
Vrell mounted Nickel, the withered grey palfrey Lord Orthrop had given her, and followed the knights out of Walden’s Watch.
The dirt road stretched out across the NaharPeninsula with nothing but sagebrush, chaparral, cactus, and the occasional juniper tree for miles on either side. She wondered if the scenery would change on their way to Mahanaim. She had been to the stronghold several times but never by this route.
Jax stopped his horse and waited until Vrell came alongside. He looked down on her with his oversized eyes. “Have you ridden much?”
“Some, sir.”
“What kind of horse?”
“Um…a…” Vrell faltered as she tried to decide how to answer. Kopay was a sleek courser. But a stray would have no business on such a fine animal. She feigned ignorance. “I don’t know, sir.”
Jax looked straight ahead. “It will be a hot afternoon. It’s best we move mostly at night to avoid the sun. Have you traveled this road before?”
“No, sir.”
“Where you from?”
Jax’s deep, rumbling voice shook Vrell’s already frazzled nerves. She would need to keep her answers short, as Lady Coraline had suggested. Since she had a tendency to forget her role and speak like a noblewoman, the less she said the better.
She decided to name the city her boy persona was supposedly from. “Zerah Rock.”
Jax nodded. His red head scarf made his skin look darker. She knew from her lessons with Sangio, her tutor back home, that Jax was a yâtsaq giant. Since Darkness came, the giants had divided into two tribes: eben and yâtsaq. The ebens were said to be pale and fair-haired. Yâtsaq, the opposite. Jax’s black braids were as thick as Vrell’s wrists.
She hoped he would not try to make idle conversation the entire journey. She did not think she could handle the stress of coming up with the right answers. She allowed Nickel to slowly fall behind Jax’s mount. Eventually, Jax spurred his festrier to Khai’s side.
Vrell’s every nerve was on edge. Her body ached more from tension than from the miles they had covered since leaving Walden’s Watch that morning. She feared making a move that might give her secret away. Staying behind the two knights gave them less opportunity to wonder, but doomed Vrell to witnessing hour upon endless hour of their crude behavior.
Khai craned his long neck around, his dark eyes plowing over Vrell as if to dig up her secret and anything else she held dear. He was probably only making sure she had not ridden off — as if there were any place to go. She focused hard on keeping her mind closed. Khai turned back and let out a loud, horse-like laugh.
Vrell cringed.
These knights were far from noble. They were soldiers who scratched and spat and smelled and swore — though Vrell doubted that even noble knights would behave chivalrously around a stray boy. Did Bran do such things when no ladies were present?
She should have told him the truth about the prince’s proposal. By now, Mother would have done so. She hoped he did not do anything foolish when he heard.