'Don't worry. I can pretend to be a goatherd for a day or two. Then you can get Lady Unace to gift the unistag to Rolencia and I'll escort it home. No one but you and Temor will know.'
Byren looked grim. 'A fine plan, but things never go according to plan. I learnt that on my first raid.'
Piro ignored his gloom. She was out of the castle and having fun for a change. And she didn't intend to go back to the restrictions of her old life. Knowing that she could get away like this would make the days when she had to do the castle accounts bearable!
Chapter Eighteen
Byren straightened up, flexing his shoulders and looking around the camp. It was mid-afternoon and he'd told the men he was giving Lady Unace time to reconsider. He intended to stay at the Lower Portals so Unace could send him a message when she retook the stronghold. Then she would welcome him into Unistag Castle and give the oath of fealty as arranged. That meant Piro would be on her own for only a few days. He would have to let Unace into the secret of her identity. He only hoped nothing went wrong while Piro was out of his sight. He checked the angle of the sun. Unace would arrive at the cave soon. He wanted to be there when she did.
'Ho, Orrie,' Byren called. 'Think I'll go see if that goatherd's got any more cheese for sale.'
Without waiting for a reply he set off down the path then stepped off it, following an almost invisible path to the cave itself.
Piro gave him a wave and continued to groom the unistag.
'You'll spoil the beastie,' Byren told her.
'We want him looking his best,' she said.
'Where's Temor?'
'Looking out for Lacy Unace.'
'As I live and breathe I don't believe it,' Orrie muttered coming up the path to the clearing in front of the cave. He held back, turning to his brother. 'Would you look at that, Garza, a tame unistag. The only other one I've seen was in Rolenhold.'
Byren cursed softly. He had hoped to keep this from Orrade. Not that he could see a way for Cobalt to discredit him with it. 'What are you two doing here?'
'Watching your back,' Garzik said. 'We wouldn't be true honour guards if we didn't.' His gaze wandered past Byren to the unistag. 'You weren't after goat cheese at all.'
Byren was struck by the similarity between the brothers. Garzik's injury and fever had left him thinner of face, more like Orrade.
Across the far side of the clearing Piro continued to brush the unistag's coat, humming a song that Seela used to sing to them as children.
'That goatherd,' Orrie whispered, 'there's something odd… why, it's — '
'Piro!' Garzik gasped.
Piro's face fell and she crossed to join them. 'How did you guess?'
'And that is the Rolenhold unistag.' Orrade turned to Byren. 'What are you up to?'
'Lacy Unace needs to break the siege. Only a sign from the gods will do that, so I've arranged for one.' Byren smiled at their surprise, then noticed Piro's frustrated expression. 'You were humming one of Seela's songs. That's what gave you away.'
Her eyes widened. 'I'll have to be more careful.'
Byren's conscience stabbed him. He was mad to send Piro into danger. But Rolencia needed the Unistag warlord's loyalty and he needed the Unistag's support of Unace, so he needed Piro.
'What's she doing here in this disguise?' Orrade asked.
'Piro was the only one who could get the unistag to behave.' Byren heard his own voice, a mixture of pride and annoyance.
Orrade swore under his breath. 'You'd never catch Elina dressed in rags with dirt under her nails, grooming an Affinity beast!'
'That's for sure,' Garzik muttered, but he sounded admiring rather than amazed.
Temor's deep voice could be heard, answered by a higher one.
'Lady Unace is coming,' Byren warned. 'Bring the unistag over here, Depiro.' He added for Orrade and Garzik's benefit. 'That's what we're calling Piro. Don't forget. It's the spar version of her name.'
She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth and the unistag picked its way over to join her. When it did she wound her fingers through the unistag's mane and whispered to him.
Within a few moments Unace and the healer entered the clearing. Both of them stared at the white unistag. Nimble as a mountain goat but twice the size, fiercely shy and independent, unistags were rarely sighted. To see one calmly standing with several people was enough to make anyone stare.
'Lady Unace, Monk Seagrass,' Byren greeted them.
Unace laughed softly and approached him cautiously. 'You said you'd do it, and you did. I shall never doubt you again, Byren.'
'Indeed,' Seagrass marvelled. 'When Unace rides into camp on this unistag no one will doubt the gods are with her!'
'No.' Byren's lips twitched. 'But there is one small hitch. You'll have to take this disreputable goatherd with you.' He nodded to Piro, who beamed through her dirt.
Piro brought the unistag to a halt in a hollow just before the first camp lookout. She patted the beast's neck as Unace climbed onto the healer's cupped hands and gently swung onto the unistag's back. The beast shuffled, made uneasy by the sudden weight. Piro had accustomed him to carrying her on the journey to the spar. Luckily, he was sturdy despite his forty years. Piro suspected the unistag would never have lived so long in the wild.
'I feel strange with no reins to hold,' Unace muttered. Piro could tell she was still awed by the beast, which had walked beside them all afternoon on their way back to camp.
'Use your knees to guide him,' Piro explained. 'He's gentle really, but if he gets frightened he'll try to gore his attacker.'
Both the healer and Unace looked worried.
'That's why I'll be just to one side, in front of you,' Piro reassured them. 'He knows me. If he can see me he'll stay calm, and I can help if he gives you trouble.'
Unace nodded. 'Very well, Pi — Depiro.'
It was one of those sunny winter afternoons when the snow seems sprinkled with sparkling diamonds and shadows are so rich a blue it made your eyes hurt to look at them. Piro never felt happier.
Unace wore her woolen cloak of emerald-green, and carried a hastily embroidered emblem, the white unistag on the green background. She had confessed to Piro that the white material was made from Ostronite silk and had been cut from her best chemise.
'Ready?' the healer asked.
Unace met Piro's eyes. 'I am, if you are.'
Piro nodded, repressing her uneasiness, for if the unistag panicked, she would have to call on her Affinity to soothe it and she feared the healer would notice. As one of Halcyon's monks, he had been trained to recognise and deal with untamed power.
Piro pressed her forehead to the unistag's cheek, to whisper soothingly. While she spoke, she concentrated on warm, safe images. 'It is a beautiful afternoon, King Unistag, and after so many years you are coming home. Stand tall and proud. No harm will come to you.'
Then she pulled back and smiled up at Unace. 'Ready.'
Piro and the healer fell into step ahead of the unistag. As they rounded the bend a greeting cry echoed across the rocks, followed by a startled exclamation when the lookout spotted the unistag.
Piro straightened her shoulders and inhaled deeply, smelling the camp's cooking fires: roast lamb with sage tonight. Her stomach rumbled. She was hungry, but first they had to get through this.
The lookout had been waving madly and, when they breasted the crest, people already lined the path. Beyond them, she saw the camp spread across the steep slope. It was hard to pick because their shelters were snow-caves, only the smoke of cooking fires giving them away.
The healer began to hum under his breath. Piro recognised the tune, a spar song of praise for their icon, the unistag. She took up the words, thankful for her mother's tutoring.