“Yes, lord prince. As I told Tsaia’s king, not this coming summer but later. The king assures me the other regalia are secure, but I believe this means Alured will come with force to take the crown, as soon as he has enough troops and control of the south.”

“Foreign mercenaries stopped Siniava—why not Alured?” The prince turned to Selfer.

“My lord prince, I lack the experience of senior captains, but the south is still recovering from the former war, and if Alured has already suborned some of the Guild League cities, such an alliance as faced Siniava may not be possible.”

“And yet you go south …”

“Under orders, lord prince. Nor do I know who might contract with us this coming year.”

“Well.” The prince turned to their guide and spoke a time in gnomish. Their guide bowed. He spoke again to them in Common. “It is that it was a good thing you brought this word of warning to me. Value was received; value will be given. If it please you, we will grant you and your companions swift travel to the pass, through our ways.”

Andressat was not sure what this meant, but Selfer answered for them. “It is most gracious, lord prince, and if it suits Count Andressat, I accept.”

“He rules you?”

“No, lord prince, but as I said, I am bound by my king’s orders to accompany him as far as Valdaire.”

“It is a boon rarely offered,” the prince said; he looked at Andressat.

“I—I accept,” Andressat said, hoping he was not making a mistake.

“Their companions have already made camp, lord prince,” their guide said.

“In the outer day, then,” the prince said. His companions on the dais picked up the throne—with him in it—and turned it around so he faced away from them.

“Come now,” their guide said, and led them back outside into the raw dank wind that penetrated even the thick woolen clothes Dorrin had given Andressat. He shivered. As before, he shared the young captain’s tent that night.

He woke at dawn; the camp was already astir, and Selfer gone from his pallet. Andressat hurried to ready himself for travel. All but the captain’s tent had been struck and packed; as soon as he was out, that, too, came down.

As before, Andressat was impressed by how fast and completely these soldiers cleaned up the campsite, pushing sod back into the tent-peg holes, covering over the jacks after the last had used it. Selfer, he saw, was asking the gnomes who had come out to lead them away how they wanted the fire-pit cleaned.

To his surprise, these gnomes—not the same as the day before—led them away from the arched entrance he’d used before, more westward, along a narrow trail where they could ride only single file. Half the gnomes led; the other half followed. Andressat followed Selfer, chewing on a strip of dried meat that served instead of the hot sib and porridge he’d had so often on this trip. The trail trended upward and west, into rougher country than the trade road. Andressat caught but one glimpse of it between the tall rocks that now hedged them in, a little curve of beaten earth on the slope far below.