“My lord Duke!” came Selfer’s call from beyond the barton wall. Dorrin felt better than she had the half-glass before, and left the barton, grinning. Marshal Berris shooed the boys back inside, then followed.
When he saw her horse in its finery, he raised his eyebrow again, but offered Dorrin his hands. She mounted, and while her escort held the horse, she stretched out one leg and then the other to buckle on her leg armor and fasten her helmet. Then, when her two escorts had mounted, she nodded to Sir Valthan and the column moved on.
For the first half of the morning, they rode along a track that became steadily rougher and less used. Dorrin had never been on this road as a child; she could feel the location of the Verrakai home, but did not know every twist and turn of the road. She had scouts out, forward and flank, as usual; they had nothing to report. As the road worsened, and the last farmland came in view, she turned to Sir Valthan.
“It may be too rough ahead for your supply wagons.”
“The story is, the Verrakai could make the road disappear and reappear. Do you have that power?”
“Not that I know of,” Dorrin said. Ahead, as the last fields petered out, thick brushy growth clothed the land from ground level to the height of two men. One of the scouts rode over to meet them.
“The track ahead is just wide enough for a team; it’s rough, muddy, potholed, and perfect for an ambush. And on flank, we’ll be crashing through that brush, if we can even ride at all.”
Far in the distance, behind them, cattle mooed and a cock crowed. Close at hand, the land was silent. Dorrin looked at the open land to either side of the track, rumpled and pocked with burrows. Natural? It didn’t have the look of a rabbit warren—it looked like a trap for outriders who tried to outflank an attack on the road.
“If they intend ambushes from the flank, they will have ways to travel parallel to the road. We’ll pull the forward scouts back a little—stay in sight—and the flankers find their trails. If it’s a force smaller than ours, do nothing to alarm them; if you can get past, block the trail beyond them and be ready to take them in the rear or flank.”
The brush thickened into unkempt forest. Suddenly, a group of men on horseback rushed out from the bushes to bar the road. They wore Verrakai-blue tunics and steel breastplates and helmets, and carried crossbows and swords. “You’re trespassing,” said their leader. “Turn back, or die …” His voice trailed away as the rest of the column came into view. “Who—who are you?”
Dorrin would have laughed at his expression, but this man—these men—were her people now. “I’m Duke Verrakai,” she said.
“You’re—? No! You’re not the Duke … you have a look of his family, but—”
“By order of the crown prince and Council of Tsaia, I am now Duke Verrakai. You see my escort from the Royal Guard.”
“But—but where is he? Duke—the real duke?”
“He’s dead,” Dorrin said. “High treason against the person of the crown prince. These—” She gestured at the Royal Guard. “—are my escort from the crown prince, evidence of the legitimacy of my claim.”
“That can’t be right,” the man said. “Our duke a traitor? I don’t believe it! And even if it were so, the prince wouldn’t appoint a woman duke. Women aren’t dukes. And the others—that’s a troop of Phelan’s, the Red Fox.”
“They’re in my hire,” Dorrin said. “You see that by the blue armbands and saddlecloths I told them to put on. As for the other—I am Duke Verrakai, by his and the Council’s order.” She pulled the ducal chain out from under her cloak and swung the medallion so it caught the light. His jaw dropped and he stared. “Now—who are you and by what orders do you challenge travelers?”
“We’re … we’re Verrakai militia,” the man said. “The Duke told us what he always does, when he went to Vérella just after Midwinter Feast. Guard the borders well, he said, keep the rabble out and the domain safe and unsullied until my return, he said. There was bad trouble over across the other side, maybe seven hands of days ago. But we’d been told to stay this side, so we did.”
“Well, Verrakai militia,” Dorrin said. “You have seen my ducal chain, and the Royal Guard of Tsaia to declare my claim. You have my orders now to let me and my escort pass without hindrance. Will you obey?” The temptation to put a glamour on him, now that she knew how, was strong, but she would not start her rule with falsehood.
He glanced from side to side at his companions, none of whom had taken up anything like a useful position. “I—I need to be sure,” he said.
“What proofs would convince you?” Dorrin said. “If the ducal chain will not?”
The man’s gaze wavered, then steadied as he nodded to Sir Valthan. “If that one’s really commanding the Royal Guard, let him explain himself—let him confirm what you say.”
Dorrin realized he might never have seen the Royal Guard or its standard in his life. Without taking her eyes off the man, she said, “Sir Valthan, if you please: Tell this man what you know.”
Valthan introduced himself first; Dorrin could see that his name alone impressed the man. Then he went on. “Your former duke tried to assassinate the prince. For that high treason his life was forfeit. The entire family is now under Order of Attainder. The prince and Council discussed dissolving Verrakai as a domain, and wiping that name from the rolls of Tsaian nobles, but chose instead the one unsullied member of the family, this lady, as the new duke, in the hope that she can redeem the Verrakai name. If she cannot, the Crown will expunge it and divide the land among those lords deemed best able to rule it, and most loyal to the Crown. Is that clear?”
“Yes.” The man looked down. His troop continued to stare, wide-eyed, as if spelled. “I—I’m afraid,” he said finally. “If … if I do let you pass, the duchess … she has the … the power …”
“So do I,” Dorrin said. “Make your choice. I am here, in front of you; she is not. She will soon be on her way to Vérella, on trial for high treason, along with the rest of the family and all who support her. Which would you? A chance at a life with me, or trial for treason and a traitor’s death?”
“What must I do?” Surrender was in every line of his body, but Dorrin did not trust that. Not with someone who had been loyal to her uncle.
“Lay down your arms,” Dorrin said. “Then you may ride with us.”
“Don’t do it!” One of the men behind the leader started to rein his horse away. “They’ll kill us, you know they will.”
“HALT!” Dorrin’s command voice, capable of carrying to a cohort in combat, stopped the man; his horse tossed its head against a tight rein. “I do not kill my people but for treason. If you disarm yourself, swear fealty, and obey, you will be safe.”
The leader did not turn, but said, “Do it, Sim. There’s too many, we’ll all die else.” He fished the crossbow over his shoulder one-handed and dropped it to the ground, unbuckled his sword belt and held it out. Those behind him did the same. Dorrin half expected the panicky Sim to bolt, but after a last frantic look around, he gave in.
“Captain,” Dorrin said to Selfer. “Collect the weapons, stow them. Sir Valthan, attend me.” She rode forward a few steps; Selfer and ten of the Phelani approached the little troop cautiously, but the Verrakai militia offered no resistance as their bows and sword belts were collected. “Dismount,” Dorrin said to the Verrakai militia, “and stand before me.”
They did so, clearly afraid; two of the Phelani took the horses’ reins and tied them together. Dorrin and Sir Valthan dismounted then.
“Sir Valthan will witness your oath of fealty,” she said. “He is a Knight of Gird, a Knight of the Bells, a noble of Tsaia and known to the prince himself. I am a Knight of Falk as well as your Duke.” She touched the ruby of her order. “Understand that these oaths are binding, and that the gods themselves will know and punish disloyalty.”