28
IAHIR DID NOT know what to think.
She was gone, and she had left no note. She had taken most of her things, but she hadn’t seemed to have taken the rest of the food she’d been eating, which seemed odd.
She had also left the book she was reading turned over on a table in the upstairs sitting room, as if she thought she’d come right back to it.
If she was reading it, why not take it along?
If she was done with it, why not close it and put it back on the shelf?
He asked questions. No one had seen anything.
Of course, no one would have been looking or have cared if someone had hurt her, he knew. And it was likely that no one had hurt her, that she had simply left on her own.
Oh, but was it likely?
She would not have gone, would she? Not without telling him that she was leaving?
On the other hand, had they not both agreed that everything between them was impossible, that she could not stay there, that it was no place for her? So, perhaps she would have simply gone, and perhaps she would not have known what to say, so simply found it easier to go.
He did not know.
He spent the entire afternoon trying to unravel everything, and then, later that evening, one of the captains from the forces who were stationed here in the city, who usually would have been working the gates, came to him at his town house.
“I heard you had returned,” said the man.
“I have spoken to your father about this more than once, and I know you are…” He looked Iahir up and down.
“Well, you may be some sort of elf traitor for all I know, but there is an entire city here in danger, and I cannot but try to do what I can to save it.”
“What are you on about?” said Iahir.
“We have had communication from the orcs,” said the captain. “They say they are coming to take Cirlahir and this is a courtesy, telling us to leave while we can.”
Iahir shook his head. “They are attacking other cities?”
“Your father says no,” said the captain.
“He says it’s a tactic to try to make us run, that they will not come.
He says the walls will hold. He says that we do not respond.
But I… I fear his judgment is not sound.
And I have sent scouts out to look, and there is an army approaching.
They will likely arrive by tomorrow morning. ”
“So, it is your opinion we should all evacuate the city,” said Iahir softly.
“My opinion?” said the captain. “Am I to solve this problem, my lord? Is that my job as the captain of the force in this city? Am I the strategist here? Or is that your place?”
Iahir nodded slowly. “Right. Well, leave this with me, and I will get word back to you when I have decided whether or not I side with my father. And we must decide by evening, I should think, if we are considering an evacuation. We could, of course, go by boat.”
“We could,” said the captain. “That might be the best way out.”
Iahir was now quite, quite worried. He felt torn. His priority should be this city and all its subjects, but truthfully, all he cared about was Gathren, and for all he knew, she’d simply abandoned him.
He went to seek his father, but he was intercepted by his brother Adalir.
“Grann,” he greeted him.
“Not Grann,” said Adalir.
“Right,” said Iahir. “Well, I don’t see how I’m supposed to tell you all apart. You look the same to me.”
Adalir laughed as if he’d just made a very funny joke. “I know you’re worried about the orc army, but don’t be. I’ve taken care of it.”
“What does that mean?” said Iahir.
“I traded,” said Adalir. “The orc princess for the safety of our city. They are collecting her even now.”
Iahir’s throat tightened. “You… you overheard what I was saying to our father. What did you do with her?”
“She’s with her own people,” said Adalir. “She’ll be all right. She’s a princess.”
“She’s a deserter,” said Iahir. “And certainly you heard that her father barely knows she exists.”
“They agreed,” said Adalir. “I did this.” He touched his chest. “No one thinks I’m capable of doing anything, but I have found ways to adapt, you see.”
“Where is she?” said Iahir. “Where is she?”
Adalir shook his head. “They were to come for her as the tide went out. They will have taken her already.”
“The caves,” said Iahir, because he and his brother used to play there, and once they’d gotten cut off and been stuck there for a long time, for hours and hours.
Adalir had been so frightened. And then, one of his altering personas had come over him and he had kept them both calm, saying that they’d be rescued, saying that someone would be looking for them, and it had all come to pass.
Adalir shrugged. “I tell you, they will have already taken her.”
But Iahir went there anyway.
And when he got there, there was a squadron of several orcs who were cutting the bonds on her feet and hands.
They seemed to be concerned for her, speaking to her in the orc language, which he didn’t understand.
She spoke it back to them with an accent, he noticed, and she seemed to pause a lot, looking for words. It was not her first language.
However, when she went off with them, it was clear she was not a prisoner. She was not being mistreated.
He followed them as they went off, followed them until they came to the larger army, the one who was, indeed, only a few hours march away from the city walls. She was given food and she was not molested. She was free and she seemed all right.
Still, he waited.
He waited because he was going to speak to her.
This was going to be a goodbye, but they must have known that was coming, anyway.
They were both better off with their own kind, in the end.
If she was not in danger, if they were as welcoming to her as it seemed they were, then he would leave her be. He would go his way. She could go hers.