Simo followed the wordless exchange with a frown. “Your Highness, I will escort you to the campsite. Qari will wait here for the others.”

“I can wait,” said Elen, hoping for a chance to speak to Kem.

“Qari will wait for the others,” said Simo. “As for you, Deputy Courier, this break will be a good time for you to show us your map.”

“My apologies, Warden. I’m not a surveyor, to carry a map. The route is all in my head.”

“I see.” He bowed to the prince. “Your Highness, if you will allow me to accompany you.”

The prince cast one look back toward the stragglers, then descended to Xilsi. The cypress grew where the ground leveled out in a kind of terrace. Twelve slender cypresses surrounded a travelers’ campsite with a brick hearth, stone blocks laid as benches, and a lean-to set to give shelter from wind, rain, or snow. Elen had wondered who would serve the prince in the absence of any menials besides the hulking Fulmo, but the big gagast had a deft and delicate hand, despite his size. He unpacked a sealed pot of hot tea, beautifully carved ebony-wood cups, and lacquered food boxes decoratively packed with halved cooked eggs, cold fried chicken, burdock root, bean curd, pickled vegetables, and cold noodles.

Elen sat off to one side with a round of flatbread and a wedge of salty cheese. The group ate in silence, with first Xilsi and then Jirvy standing watch. After the prince had finished, and Fulmo had wiped clean His Exalted Highness’s hands, Simo called Elen over. She pressed her hands to her chest respectfully as the prince, seated on a stone slab, regarded her almost slyly, as if wondering how she would handle whatever came next.

“What can you tell us about the route ahead?” Luviara asked.

“Worthy Interlocutor, my thanks. May I ask if the wardens carry any surveyors’ maps of this region?”

“We do not,” said Simo curtly. “Our business is the roads, not the countryside.”

“So be it. Fortunately, I know these hills well. It will be possible to reach Grinder’s Cut in six days, if we can keep to the pace I have set so far.”

She had been thinking about Hemerlin’s suspicious nature all morning. This was her chance to get rid of him.