‘A hunch.’
‘A hunch, he says?’ Callimar chuckled to Leana. ‘Where do you think she is hiding?’
‘Destos,’ I declared, and added, ‘possibly.’
‘Has she gone on holiday?’
‘Something like that.’ I described my discussions with Lillus, and produced the map. ‘Admittedly it’s not much to go on, but Destos is near enough to Tryum that, if she is working with Licintius, he can see that she is well looked after. But it’s far enough that she might never be found. Destos is also where the wealthy go to escape Tryum – she may have a fondness for it from her childhood, and know it reasonably well. More importantly, it’s safe.’
He scrutinized the map and didn’t seem much impressed by it. ‘This map is useless, as far as maps go. You think she’ll be in a safe house?’
‘I suspect it will be large enough to house her and some form of protection,’ I replied. ‘I can’t imagine she’d hide out in a cave, not after she’s spent her life in Optryx. We must examine all the major properties in the region.’
‘In that case, we might need more than my men. I can arrange that – auxiliaries in Maristan can do the grunt work, and those on the border can be here by nightfall.’
‘If it can be done quietly, all the better. Military movements on the border could cause all sorts of problems. We’ll need scouts and agents, lots of them.’
‘All easily arranged. Sixty miles to the border, which is a day’s ride for the best of our riders. It could be two or three days before we start to see some real military presence. We’re not restricted by time are we?’
‘I don’t know. The king will probably think I’m still in the city but, even so, he might see more assistance is sent to wherever Lacanta is hiding. And if we find her, we’ll need her to remain alive. She must be prevented from killing herself or from being put to the sword. Only then can the picture become complete. We need a confession and there’s still so much that I do not know.’
Callimar reflected on the subject for a moment, rubbing his jaw. ‘I’m guessing this wasn’t the homecoming you had in mind.’
‘You could say that.’
‘Then you’ll need a stronger drink than water,’ he replied, standing up. ‘I’ll fetch some wine.’
That night, while messengers and riders were moving across the countryside, quietly altering the destiny of nations, I bedded down in the barn in the company of two veterans. We talked for a while about politics and joked about Sun Chamber administration. Stories were exchanged and there was a light-hearted effort at one-upmanship. Because I was well educated, one of them then asked me if I believed it was possible for one of his former lovers to have successfully placed a curse upon him, and I said honestly that I had never yet seen evidence of a curse working. It seemed to ease his concerns, though I did not want to ask him what he had done to receive one in the first place.
Eventually, Leana and I were left alone. As we rested there were other soldiers patrolling the local terrain to make sure we were kept safe, and it was the first time in a long while I had felt relaxed enough to think clearly. Exhaustion overwhelmed me, so much so that once I had laid down with Leana watching over me, my head wouldn’t come back up. For a moment I thought another seizure was coming, but I remained quite awake and mentally alert. Meat was being cooked on a nearby fire sheltered by the ruined door of the barn. A few more of the veterans returned to tell jokes.
I wanted to join them. To be in better spirits.
It must have been my new-found freedom that made me think obsessively of Titiana that night. Given the pace of my exit from Tryum, I had not really had time to come to terms with what had happened. I had not shed a single tear at my father’s demise and yet the short intensity of my relationship with Titiana – something born of passion – combined with this sudden calm, all seemed to drag me into a deep misery. All my frustrations and rage were focused onto King Licintius.
The Search
The morning passed uneventfully and so Leana took the opportunity to work with me on my sword skills. There were no wooden practice swords so I kept alert and impressed myself by managing to deflect the majority of her blows.
‘I could have killed you twice,’ she declared afterwards.
‘I coped better than usual in that case.’
She grunted either satisfaction or dissatisfaction – I could never quite tell, even after all these years together.
A little before noon, another rider returned, on a fresh horse, having ridden through the night. While the horse was rubbed down, the messenger, showing no signs of struggling after a lack of sleep, revealed that our requests were being put into action. Our superior officers were discreetly journeying to the region. Auxiliaries were being smuggled across the border and into Detrata. The wheels of the Sun Chamber moved quickly, subtly, but to a startlingly efficient degree.
The makeshift camp was packed away leaving no trace of anyone having being there, and that afternoon we set off in a north-westerly direction, through the rolling hills. Three other groups headed along different roads, mainly to keep our numbers down to a minimum so as not to attract too much attention.
Our group followed a trail near an aqueduct supplying Tryum, but at a distance – keeping the structure in sight at all times as a navigational aid.
The following days were among the most frustrating and dull I had ever experienced. Time seemed to stretch out due to my impatience, and the vast and sun-bleached landscape expanded to the horizon without varying, rarely promising anything to break up the day.
Our journey took us through farmland first, then wilder grasslands and forests that banked up steep inclines. I hadn’t noticed it in the city, but here were the subtle changes of nature that indicated the turn towards colder weather. Certain plants were flowering, other kinds had died, and the leaves were becoming speckled with brown, as if autumn was some disease.
Our days were long and uneventful. During this time, Leana had made something of a friend in Callimar. They talked of combat technique and weapons, topics for which I could muster little interest. He was keen to learn the arts of Atrewen killing and Leana grew very talkative, to a surprising extent. Killing was something that was occasionally necessary, but I preferred it that people remained alive – these two, however, talked with nonchalance, perhaps with little regard for the shattered families or ruined futures that death could bring to the living. It was the way of a warrior and I accepted that.
I accepted, also, that I was no warrior.
‘You two seem to get on well,’ I said to Leana, lingering at the back of the train of horses.
‘We do. He will share wine with me and treat me as an equal. A nice change from Tryum.’
‘Tryum had citizens from all over the known world,’ I protested. ‘You could share wine with all sorts of people.’
‘Your idea of “all over” is very different from mine,’ Leana grunted. ‘Some people would share wine with me down-city. Up-city they treated me like a trinket. They just stared. In Venyn there were plenty of people from the south, from Atrewe and beyond, many different cultures, and many of them were successful people also. Here it is less so – the only people who hold power in Detrata are from Detrata. I grew tired of the comments, Lucan. I grew tired of the staring. Tryum is not the marvel you think it is.’
As for my own relationship with Callimar, I had grown up significantly from my days in the academy. Back then he had much to teach me, both officially and unofficially, and our friendship was one of those best left in a certain time and place, but nothing could be achieved by revealing such sentiments. I was polite and courteous to him, but found our conversations strangely lacking in substance. Memory might also have exaggerated those more innocent times back then. It seemed to me that, if not careful, one could romanticize the past beyond all recognition.