Byrne and Averill stared at her, questions in their eyes, but before they could speak, the rattle of chains drew Raisa’s attention back to the castle. “Bloody bones!” she said. “They’re raising the drawbridge. We’ve got to go on before they finish searching the castle and realize I’m gone.”

“What is going on?” Captain Byrne demanded. “What’s happened?”

In a few terse sentences, Amon explained the situation.

Byrne shouted for the stable boy, who reemerged from the tack room, blinking away sleep and confusion.

“Ready four fresh mounts,” Byrne said. “Two saddled, two on lead lines. Pack bedrolls and provisions. Not next week! Now!” he roared when the boy didn’t move immediately. The boy scurried away.

“Will you go to Marisa Pines?” Averill asked. “That’s closest.”

Raisa shrugged. “We could go there tonight. But we can’t stay there long. It’s still within the realm. If the queen demands my return, the clan will refuse, but she won’t let that stand. She cannot. I’ll have to leave the Fells until things settle.”

“I don’t like it,” Captain Byrne growled. “There’s no place safe. Arden’s in chaos, Bruinswallow and We’enhaven are likely to be drawn in, even if you could get there. And Tamron’s no fit place for the princess, even if it wasn’t three days’ hard march from Arden. There’s pirates on the Indio who would hold you to ransom if you went that way, and—”

“Sir? What about Oden’s Ford?” Amon broke in. “No one would dare bother her there. Especially if no one knows who she is.”

The two men stared at Amon for a long moment.

“The boy makes sense,” Averill said finally, nodding.

“How would she get there?” Captain Byrne said, looking less enthusiastic. “They’ll be waiting to intercept her at Marisa Pines Pass.”

Amon nodded. “That’s what they’d expect because it’s closest. She could go west to Demonai and pick up provisions, clothing, and fresh horses.” He looked at Averill, who nodded assent. “Then she’d cross at Westgate and travel down through the Shivering Fens to Tamron and east to Oden’s Ford.”

“The Fens?” Captain Byrne frowned. “That’d be rough traveling. They’re nearly impassable this time of year. And I’ve been hearing rumors of trouble with the Waterwalkers.”

“There’s a way,” Amon said. “The road’s not bad now, if you know where you’re going.”

Averill nodded agreement. “It’s better that Raisa stays out of Arden—there’s too much bloodshed there at present. Too much chance she’ll be captured or killed. At least the Waterwalkers respect Hanalea’s line. In Arden, they refer to our queens as witches.”

Who are the Waterwalkers? Raisa thought, looking from Averill to Byrne. I am Hanalea’s line, and I’m still the last to know anything.