Chapter Thirteen The Most Loyal Friend
Dawn found the three companions riding south at breakneck speed, the Prince on Trudger and Tomaz and Leah doubled up on the black charger, Malial.
After they had gone far and long and seen no sign of pursuit, Tomaz began to circle back to check their trail, and it became clear that they were far ahead of anyone who might be following them.
When it rained again the day after, hard enough to wash away any but the most obvious tracks they might have left, they were all confident that they were temporarily safe.
To be certain, the Prince reached through the Raven Talisman and confirmed that they were very much alone in the wilderness.
After that, they slowed their pace, and the Prince lost track of time.
They traveled through the heavily forested lands south of Banelyn and west of Formaux, moving farther south toward Lake Chartain, the largest inland body of water in the Empire of Lucia.
The Prince knew, vaguely, how long it would take to make the journey via the main roads, but they weren’t taking the main roads because those were sure to be patrolled by soldiers of the Empire.
So, the usual number of weeks was bound to double or even triple, possibly stretching into months.
The Prince knew that there were small towns up and down the roads, some large enough to hold as many as twenty or thirty families.
Each town that size had a garrison of Defenders, the common foot soldiers of the Empire known throughout Lucia for their zealotry, and it was the responsibility of each garrison to patrol the roads a full day’s ride in all directions.
And, as both the Exiles and the Prince were aware, there were enough towns between Banelyn and Roarke that this meant, generally speaking, that there would be a patrol every few miles, and after their escape from Banelyn they had little doubt that all such garrisons would be looking for them.
“I doubt the Empress would want everyone to know that one of the Children is being hunted,” Tomaz said as they discussed the topic.
“Agreed,” Leah said. “I think it’s most likely that they are calling him a renegade Bloodmage. It’s easy to mistake the marks on his back, and it would still be taken very seriously. What do you think?”
After a long span of silence, the Prince, currently walking beside Trudger, looked up over the horse’s back and saw her looking at him expectantly.
“Oh,” he said. “I think they’d see right through that.”
He said it so bluntly that for a moment they both stared at him. And then Tomaz threw his head back and roared with laughter.
“Be quiet!” Leah told him, cheeks burning. “What if someone hears you?”
The big man continued to laugh, but he did quiet down. Well, as much as the huge bear of a man could quiet down.
“I’m sorry,” the Prince said, the words still foreign to him, but persistently giving them a try. “I didn’t intend to be so frank. I didn’t realize you were speaking to me.”
“It’s fine,” the Exile girl said hotly, but clearly trying to let the moment go. “What do you think they’ll say?”
The Prince considered for a moment.
“I think they’ll keep as much of the truth as possible,” he said.
“I should think they will describe me as… an Exile. One who has impersonated a member of the Most High. Perhaps even a renegade house player who has committed treason. Such things are taken very seriously. A reward would be attached that would inspire all Most High houses to pursue me arduously in the hopes that I end up being the son of an enemy house that they could...”
He trailed off as he saw that Leah and Tomaz were only understanding half of the finer details he was laying out.
“Anyway. Likely I will be a treasonous member of a Most High house, in league with two Exiles taking me south. Both of your descriptions will no doubt be circulated along with mine.”
“None of them got a good enough look at us to describe us perfectly,” Leah said. “Besides, we were in those Searcher robes….”
She trailed off as the Prince shook his head.
“We ran into the Lord Seeker,” he said. When he saw that they didn’t understand, he realized that he sometimes gave them too much credit.
They seemed to know so much about the inner workings of the Empire that when they didn’t know something that seemed like an obvious piece of information, it took him by surprise.
“Full Seekers of Truth are trained to have perfect recall,” he explained.
“They’re trained to remember everything they see and hear, as their job is such that they need to be able to remember every little detail.
It’s not something that is widely discussed, and it’s largely considered a secret.
But it’s why they are so good at what they do. And the Lord Seeker saw us.”
The Prince had to give the Exiles credit— they absorbed this piece of information with admirable stoicism. Anyone else who had just heard that one of the leaders of the most feared clandestine organization in the entire Empire would know them on sight would probably have reacted more strongly.
The Exiles, however, just seemed annoyed.
“Well, that explains a lot,” Tomaz rumbled. “Elder Ishmael will be interested in that.”
Leah sighed and rubbed her forehead. “So he knows exactly what we look like and you think he’s—what—made sketches and sent them to the garrisons of Defenders?”
“That is probably most likely,” the Prince said.
“Well that’s damned inconvenient.”
“There will also very likely be a bounty attached to our heads,” he continued, watching them carefully for their reactions.
“I agree that the specific details of my identity will be kept a secret, but I think that it will be alluded to heavily that I’m an Exile spy.
That will certainly get the Defenders riled up.
As for the bounties, I assume mine will be significant, because, as the Seeker mentioned, I’m now wanted alive.
For you two, the price will be high as well. ”
“Unless that Seeker can connect us with our former lives,” Tomaz mused idly. “I suppose the price would be higher then.”
“Yes,” the Prince said, unsure what else to say.
“Shadows and fire,” Leah cursed suddenly, and the Prince felt somehow more comfortable knowing that she was showing some stronger emotion about the situation, which was indeed very serious. “That means we probably won’t be able to get any supplies, will we?”
The Prince found himself utterly flabbergasted. She was worried about supplies?
“We’ll have to go the long way around too,” Tomaz said, looking terribly glum. “Swamps… gaaah I hate swamps. Pesky little bugs all over the place… fuegh….”
“Don’t you two understand?”
Both Exiles looked at him in surprise. He cleared his throat and looked down, trying to contain an outburst.
“I apologize,” the word caught in his throat again, but he persevered, “but don’t you understand that this is one of the deadliest men in the entire Empire?
That now he has a personal vendetta against the two of you?
He will no doubt command Seeker cells from here to Roarke to actively search for you.
Bounty hunters and even common Defenders will have your images branded into their minds by the amount of money that is being offered for the three of us taken together.
There will be no place for you to go to ground.
No matter where you go, no matter what town, what city, you will be recognized, and, given half the chance, killed in your sleep.
This is not a matter to be taken lightly! ”
Tomaz and Leah exchanged a look. The Prince felt his ire rise. Here he was, trying to be helpful and concerned for their well-being, and all they did was treat him like a child scared of a monster under his bed!
But before he could speak and vent his spleen at them, Tomaz held up a hand. “Before you start, let me explain. Twenty years ago, I was a member of the Guardians. A Blade Master.”
Leah looked at him, alarmed, but he forestalled her.
“No no, it’s okay, I told him when we were camped outside Banelyn.”
She relaxed about half an inch, still watching the Prince and Tomaz intensely, but Tomaz paid it no mind and continued speaking.
“I’m nearly eight feet tall,” he said with bluff candor.
“I think in these boots I might actually be that and a little more. In any case, I’m not easy to miss.
There have been pictures of me in every town, village, city, and hamlet, for nearly two decades.
Hell, there’s even a legend about me up in the Port of Valour.
It’s a good one, too. Someday we’ll have to go, just so you can hear it from one of the fisherfolk yourself. ”
He grinned from ear to ear, but then he looked at Leah, who was frowning at him, and he gruffly cleared his throat and rumbled on.
“The point is that all of the Exiled Kindred who serve as Rogues or Rangers have bounties on their heads and sketches made of them to be put on garrison walls. This may be Leah’s first, but I doubt it. She made a bit of a name for herself up north when we were in Tyne last year.”
He smiled wickedly at her, and for some reason she blushed furiously.
“What do you mean?” the Prince asked.
“Well, it involved a very fashionable dress and two or three young men—”
“Well, that’s enough talk,” the girl said. “Let’s keep moving.”
And with that, she jumped up on the stallion’s back and spurred Malial on ahead, and, though he seemed rather annoyed to have anyone but Tomaz giving him orders, the warhorse obliged, and she was soon lost in the trees.
The next few weeks passed just like that. They would talk from time to time, about this or that, and the Exiles continued to dismiss the Prince’s fears as irrelevant, and as time passed and they saw not a single soul, the Prince fell silent and let it rest.