Sergeant Barlow pondered that a moment. “You know, I don’t think he would.” He took in Hallie’s straw-colored braid, Talia’s lanky build, and Raisa’s ragged cap of hair. “None of you favor the princess anyways.”

He looked over his shoulder at the garrison house. “But mayhap you’d better move along before them wizardlings haul theirselfs out of bed.”

Wasting no time in taking the sergeant’s advice, they clattered over the stone pavers surrounding the garrison house and between two great statues of carved stone: Queen Hanalea and her daughter, Alyssa, founders of the new line of queens. The ancient queens faced each other across the road, their long shadows pointing the way. Raisa resisted the temptation to look back over her shoulder. They kept moving until they had rounded the shoulder of the mountain and were well out of sight.

“That was close,” Raisa said, reining in and speaking low in Amon’s ear. “If Micah had been down at the gate…” She didn’t finish.

Amon nodded. “Thank the Maker that Barlow has no love of wizards.”

“What about the Waterwalkers?” Raisa asked. “Was he just trying to scare us?”

Amon shook his head. “I don’t know. It doesn’t make sense, what he said.” He turned away from Raisa and called, “Hey, Garret, ride ahead and check out the road, see if what Sergeant Barlow says is true.”

“Aye, Corporal Byrne,” Garret said, touching his heels to his pony’s sides.

“When can a soldier disobey an order?” Raisa asked.

Amon drew his dark brows together and tilted his head back, looking down his nose at her. “Why do you want to know?”

“I want to know what to expect from my guard in the future.”

“Well, soldiers are taught two important rules. One is that you obey orders, even those you don’t like, even those you disagree with. If you don’t, it’s insubordination. The other is that following orders is no excuse for doing wrong or wasting soldiers’ lives needlessly. A good soldier is a thinking person.”

Raisa blinked at him. “But…isn’t that contradictory?”

Amon nodded. “It’s the soldier’s dilemma. Most of the time it’s simple enough. If your commander tells you to clean the latrine, you do it, even though you don’t want to. If your commander tells you and your salvo to lead the charge, you do it, even though you’re afraid. If she tells you to retreat, you leave the field, even if your blood’s up.”

Raisa nodded, nudging Switcher in close. “When can you say no?”

“If you disobey an order, you’d better have a good reason. Lots of times you have to make that decision in a heartbeat. That’s the problem with the guard these days. Too many soldiers don’t know the difference between right and wrong.”