“It’s sounding more and more like a plan to me,” the Knight-Commander said. “It lacks only the way you will keep the king alive until he has told his tale. If his brother indeed intends to seize the throne, then he will surely be ready to silence and kill the man the moment he comes within reach.” He looked at the Pargunese king. “Have you any trusted person to whom you can send a message? Any way to communicate other than by putting your skin at risk?”

“I thought I had brothers I could trust,” the king said. “Until this.” He scowled at the table.

“Iolin?” Elis asked.

“Perhaps,” the king said. “One of my sons,” he said to the others. “Elis’s favorite brother.”

“Why do you think him reliable?” Kieri asked Elis.

“He never liked my uncle Einar. He even thought—he thought Einar wanted my father’s place. He had been friends with Einar’s son Ailin, but they quarreled over that, last winter, and he said he dared not tell our father, for he thought Einar would hear and do worse.”

“I will have to risk my skin somewhat,” the king said, “because it is not kingly to risk others in my stead. My people think a king is like the captain of a ship—the king must care more for the others than himself. He must risk himself, when risk is inevitable.” He smiled, a grim smile. “We do not have many aged kings.”

“Iolin and my brothers will not live long if Einar is king,” Elis said. “Indeed, he might contrive accidents for them now.”

“We are able to think, Elis,” the Knight-Commander said. “But you are right.” He smiled at the king, and Kieri noticed it was a much friendlier smile. “Sir King, your daughter is more than just headstrong and hasty—she has a head apt for both diplomacy and command, should she submit to training.” His smile widened. “Youngsters like these, once they start gaining their teeth, bite into life with gusto.”

“So she did,” the king said. “Had she been a boy—”

“We would not be sitting here trying to create a peace,” Kieri said. “ ‘If only’ will not serve us. She is what she is, what the gods made her. And we still need to get Pargun’s king back to Pargun.”

“I can see how you led a company all those years,” the king said. “But I cannot see how I will have a chance to speak to my people.”

“If you know someone trustworthy, to whom you could send a message, that one might arrange a meeting with you and some of your nobles. And Elis and the Knight-Commander, and me.”

“In Pargun?”

“No, not in Pargun. I will not cross the river. But here, in one of the river towns.”

A cold wind blew through the trees; the last leaves were falling fast, carpeting the track with crimson, scarlet, orange, and gold, the colors still brilliant even under the clouds.