“Your sister is well, and is a bold warrior.”
“A bit headstrong, but likewise heartstrong.” Ryme’s comment was made with some affection, but more annoyance. “The Aurolani have advanced on a broad front so you will never be truly safe until you reach Caledo.”
“Thank you.” Alyx frowned. Because she had learned about the Aurolani advance in the Communion, she would not be able to share that information with anyone outside. She would not be prevented from acting on it, however, and could direct things so that their guard would be up when they left the mountains.
She looked at the Black. “Anything from Fortress Draconis or Okrannel?”
He shook his head. “I fear the worst for our Communicants at Fortress Draconis. In Okrannel there is much secrecy, but Adrogans does appear to be moving against Aurolani probes in the Guranin Highlands. Beyond that I know nothing, though I do hope for the best.”
“As do I.” Alyx smiled. “I’d best be back to Bokagul. Until we meet again.”
The Unseen Man raised his goblet in a salute. “Till we meet again.”
His words echoed in her head as she blinked her eyes and returned to the cork. Crow offered her a tankard of mulled wine. “Anything wrong, Highness?”
She accepted the wine from him, letting her left hand surreptitiously stroke the back of his right. “No, nothing.”
“You seemed far away.”
“I was, but I am back now. Come, sit beside me.”
He eyed the choir. “Misery loves company?”
She winked. “No, lover, temptation demands it.”
Will hunched his shoulders and pulled his cloak tighter about himself as the massive urZrethi portal rolled back. He squinted as light reflected brightly from the virgin snow. The company rode from a warm mountain fastness out to the shore of a huge lake in the northern reaches of Bokagul. Breath steamed, and ice began to form almost immediately on the muzzle of his horse.
Silide-tse Jynyn came striding up on his left, keeping pace with him and Princess Sayce. “The lake is Osemyr, which means lake of the stars. In the summer, on a moonless night, one can come here and peer at the lake. Its dark waters perfectly reflect the night sky. Constellations twinkle and stars streak to their death.”
Will looked past her at a vast snowfield. “I’m sure it’s beautiful. As beautiful as it is cold.”
The urZrethi sighed. “My apologies. But our journey outside could not be helped.”
For four days they had traveled through the halls of the urZrethi, passing from realm to realm. The whole of Bokagul was divided into duchies, baronies, and counties; cities, towns, and villages—which struck Will as incredibly odd because it was all underground. The routes they traveled were the equivalent of the kings’ roads, save that a village might be above or below it, and therefore entirely unseen. The corks in which they stayed were guest lodgings, and delegations from the local nobility would come out to fete them. The idea, though, that someone could ride through a hallway and move from one realm to another just boggled Will’s mind.
The reason they had been forced outside was Kerrigan’s servant, Bok. His family name was Jex, and the next realm on the route was his home. Word of his presence had traveled quickly through Bokagul. Whereas most urZrethi just ignored his presence in deference to their visitors, the Baroness of Yreeu refused to grant them passage. That forced a detour out to the lakeshore and the biting cold.
Sayce looked over at Silide-tse. “It is not your fault. It is understandable that he would not be welcome there.”
Will arched an eyebrow. “It is? What did he do wrong?”
The urZrethi kept her voice even. “He is a rebel against our society, Lord Norrington. He chose to live apart, so his return is not permitted.”
“Urn, you said he chose to live apart, but I thought he just decided not to be a slave. I mean, that’s what I was told it meant to be branded a bok.”
Sayce shook her head. “It is more complicated than that. Society has rules so that everyone can play their part. In Muroso, people are bound to the land, to work it for their liege lords. They produce food and livestock and generate income for their master and he, in turn, protects them. Your Freemen, when the war is done, will go with you to Eori and will begin farming until the time for them to rise and serve you as warriors comes again.”
“But what if they don’t want to?”
The Murosan Princess looked hard at him.“ ‘Don’t want to’?”
Silide-tse cleared her throat. “I believe, Lord Norrington, human society might be different than ours. We have roles for our males. There are things that need to be done. When they do these things, they are fed and clothed and housed. They are well treated, but they are also delicate of mind and spirit. For one to rebel as the bok did is clearly a sign of abnormality.”
Will twisted in the saddle and wanted to argue the point, but Bok took that moment to open his mouth wide and let out a belch that echoed from the mountains and might have triggered a small avalanche on the far side of the lake.
“Well, maybe that is the urZrethi way, but it’s not the same for men.” He glanced at Sayce. “Are you going to tell me that Muroso is different, too, or that being as how I was a thief, I’m an outlaw?”
She frowned. “I didn’t mean to anger you.”
“I’m not angry.”
“The edge in your voice…”
“What edge?”
Sayce shook her head. “My mistake. No, Lord Norrington, I would not accuse you of being an outlaw, at least not in the sense we were speaking. Yes, as a thief you did work outside the law, but in accepting the mantle you have, you are preserving the very society you once defied. And it may be that you or your Freemen are not suited to being peasants, but not everyone else is capable of handling the responsibilities of danger and destiny.”
“I can see that, but what is expected of normal folks, and what is permitted nobility are two different things, aren’t they? Nobles are given the most responsibility, yet they don’t acquit it.”
Sayce shifted her shoulders. “I’m not sure I follow you.”
Will sighed. “The crowns ruined Crow’s life because they didn’t want to take responsibility. King Scrainwood engineered things so that if Crow ever comes back to Oriosa, he’ll find himself back on trial. There’s so much deception, and it’s not right.”
The Murosan Princess smiled slyly. “You, a thief, complaining about deception?”
Will frowned. “Well, when I did it, it was honest deception.”
“Honest deception.”
He’d have taken offense at her comment, but mirth underscored her words, and he saw no malice in her eyes. “Thieves are supposed to deceive people. Leaders are not.”
“Very true, but the complexities of the truth sometimes make it difficult for people to see what needs to be done.” Sayce sighed. “While some people see that and can be shepherds, others can never be anything more than sheep.”
He wanted to argue that point, but he stopped himself. Even in Yslin he’d seen sheep—human sheep, Vork sheep—and he’d seen the frostclaw that preyed on them. He liked to think of himself as a frostclaw. Which means I accept what she’s saying as true, as much as I hate it.
Will sighed. “You might be right, Princess, but then I have a question.”
“Yes?”
“How do you know who was truly meant to be a sheep? By your way of reckoning, I’d have been counted as a sheep, or something worse, but here I am leading men who aren’t sheep, on a very unsheepy adventure. You might be right, but it could be that in every village of sheep there’s one or two shepherds who never get the chance to be a shepherd.”
She opened her mouth to reply, then closed it and frowned. Finally, she glanced at him. A wisp of her red hair lashed her cheek as she did so. “I need to think about that.”
“Yeah, me too.”