The two stood for several breaths in silence and darkness. Even as kindly as he treated her, even now that the air of secrecy was partially broken, Elen hesitated to initiate speech without the intendant’s permission while lacking the presence of an interlocutor. So she waited.

He returned to the cell, gripping one of the bars. She braced herself, expecting him to ask again about the viper, but he was a man of action who knew to face the most pressing problem first.

“Neither of us know the prince. I cannot judge from our brief acquaintance whether he is the sort of person who is likely to welcome a freely given offer of help as his due, or one who will be more likely to act if he thinks people are trying to keep something from him. He may well wish to blame me, since he can’t get his hands on his rival. But we must hope he has realized he was sent on an errand meant to make him look like the fool. If he sees the overland route as a way to thwart his rival, that should attract his interest.”

“Why bring Lord Duenn into contact with the prince? You telling his lordship to stay away will surely spur him to barge in.”

His hand tightened on the bar. “Yes, I’m counting on it. I have a hunch. I don’t know the factions inside the palace. But Lord Duenn was escorting supplies for the engineers.”

“I see. Prince Astaylin is the Exalted General of the Corps of Imperial Engineers.”

“We must ask ourselves why the lord of Duenn Manor is escorting crucial supplies for the imperial engineers. Why involve a Manor at all, much less its lord? The obvious answer is that Woodfall Province benefits from this road being reopened. But what if there is another reason? What if Prince Astaylin saw an opportunity to spy on her brother, or impede him somehow, with the aid of Duenn Manor? We have to consider the possibility of palace intrigue being part of this entire venture.”

He turned at the sound of rapid footfalls, multiple people approaching in a hurry. Elen grabbed her pack. Swinging open the door, the intendant ushered her out. They hastened through the guardroom and got out the door, into the blockhouse’s forecourt, just as the prince and his retinue arrived, on foot.

The prince wore a blistering scowl. “Are you in on the conspiracy?”

He charged up to the intendant, and with a riding whip, struck the old man so hard across the face that the sound reverberated amid the forecourt’s high walls.

Elen jumped, startled by the speed and the sound and the suddenness. Captain Jinyan’s hand darted to her sword, before she caught herself as two imperial wardens shifted to glare at her. To draw a weapon on a prince was to invite immediate death. To display a naked blade in the imperial presence was treason.