by Sharon Green
“No, you would have been captured,” Elissia assured him before the savage could add to what he’d said earlier. “It was certainly one of Waysten’s traps, trying to lure in anyone who happened to be looking for my brother. You would have found it easy to get in, but they would have taken you before you were able to get out again. And then they would have questioned you about why you were there, and the pain they gave would have eventually made you talk – or die.”
“And if you did talk, they would have known what my plans were,” the savage added with a solemn nod. “You don’t know them in detail yourselves, but you know what you were sent to get and that would have given them the necessary clues as to what to look for. Are you absolutely certain that no one knows about what you bought?”
“We made certain,” the second man agreed with a nod. “Listore here did some very obvious sneaking around to draw off anyone who might be watching us, and that’s when I bought the items. When I had it all we both did some sneaking around, and then tried to sell the jewels we had with us. Once they knew our intentions were dishonest, they stopped watching us.”
“And we even got a decent price for the jewels,” the man Listore said with a grin. “Amis was sure they would try to skin us because we were strangers to the city, but they seem to believe in encouraging new business. They told us to come back again the next time we ‘found’ something worth selling.”
“That’s an in we’ll be able to use later, once I’m established in the city,” the savage said with an approving nod. “We’re fairly certain that the criminal element in the city is involved in the kidnapping, and they’re also probably holding the prince somewhere. We’ll pull all the strings together at the right time, but at the moment we have to get started with the first part of the plan. If you’ll bring in your purchases, you can go back to camp for breakfast before we leave this area.”
The two men rose to their feet at once, bowed to their king, then went out to comply with his orders. Ten heartbeats later they were back with a number of paper-wrapped bundles, which they put on the floor next to Elissia’s saddlebags. After another bow they left again, this time closing the door behind themselves.
“Our breakfast should be brought in just a few minutes,” the savage said as he rose and walked to the bundles. “After that I’ll get into my disguise, and we can go to inspect our new house. One of the things those two bought was a house in the city.”
“You’ve decided to settle down in Ramsond?” Elissia asked with brows high. “And where did you get the gold to do all that buying?”
“I borrowed it from your father before I left,” he answered, standing over the bundles without making any effort to look inside them. “The same goes for the jewels those two sold in the city, and happily we have more for them to do the same again. As for the house, it took no effort to realize that every inn and hostel in the city would be carefully watched by Waysten’s people. My buying a house ought to catch them off guard, which in turn ought to let us do what we have to before they find out we’re anywhere around.”
“Aren’t you going to open those things up to see if everything’s there?” Elissia asked when he simply turned back to the table. “And what about my own disguise? Did you have them get anything for me as well?”
“Your disguise as a boy will do really well along with what my own will be,” he answered, making no effort to go back to the bundles or even to look at them again. “As for checking to see that everything’s there, I don’t have to. If they hadn’t been able to get one or more of the things I needed, they would have said so.”
Elissia tried to think of a reason other than her burning curiosity as to why the bundles should be opened right now, but before any ideas came there was a knock at the door.
“That should be our breakfast along with fresh tea,” the savage said after calling out permission to come in. An instant later his guess proved true, and two bowls of porridge along with a skin of tea were brought in by two men who were dressed in black leather and armor. They glanced at Elissia as they delivered their burdens to the table, bowed to the savage and herself, then left as silently as they’d arrived.
“You can finish brushing your hair while the porridge cools off a bit,” the savage said once they were alone again. “And I’m glad to see you had the sense to bring a plain hairbrush. If it had been covered with jewels or precious metal, it would have had to go in with the ‘loot’ my men will bring into the city.”
“If I left the palace as a ‘boy,’ why would I bring things with me that told anyone looking that I was a girl?” Elissia asked with a sound of scorn after glancing at the plain wooden hairbrush. “At least I know how to think, unlike those two you sent to the city. You do know how close they came to being taken, don’t you?”
“But they weren’t taken, because they obeyed orders,” the savage pointed out as he watched her finally finish up with her hair. “If they’d decided they knew better than the man giving them their orders, they would have regretted the decision for as long as they lived – which probably wouldn’t have been very long at all. There’s a lesson in that that everyone can benefit from.”
“Only if you happen to be male,” Elissia disagreed as she put the hairbrush aside and reached for the skin of tea. “Most men aren’t capable of thinking for themselves, but that doesn’t apply to certain women. Since I’ll be seeing your disguise for myself in a just a little while, why don’t you take a chance and tell me about it now? I’ll even promise not to pass the information on to Waysten if you like.”
If Elissia hadn’t been watching the savage even as she lifted the skin to drink, she probably would have missed the flush of embarrassment briefly coloring his skin. He also stayed silent for a time, then he shook his head with a sigh.
“Yes, telling you about it now is probably the best thing I can do,” he granted her, still looking extremely unhappy. “That way you might survive actually seeing me in the disguise, which isn’t guaranteed to happen if you let your sense of humor run away with you. If Gardal’s life weren’t at stake I’d never do anything like this, but as it is ”
Elissia put the skin of tea aside and pulled her bowl of porridge closer, making no effort to prod the savage into adding to what he’d already said. He really did seem to hate what he was about to do, which made Elissia burn to know what it was. But she’d learned better than to push at someone who was reluctant to speak of a certain something. Listening quietly instead usually brought positive results more quickly.
“All right, as I said I might as well tell you,” the savage finally continued, obviously forcing himself to speak. “You’ll be going into the city as a boy, and I’ll be going in as your mother.”
“As my what?” Elissia couldn’t help demanding, having almost choked on the taste of porridge she’d taken. “You didn’t really say as my mother?”
“There’s nothing else I can do to disguise myself,” the savage said, the flush on his tanned cheeks now more obvious. “The gate guards will be watching for a big man with or without leather and armor, but not for a big woman who’s no longer young. My men also found an old buggy at one of the farms and bought it, and that’s what we’ll enter the city in. You, of course, will be driving.”
“Because I’ll be your son,” Elissia said with a nod before stuffing her mouth with porridge. It was the only way to keep herself from laughing out loud, a reaction which would certainly get her killed. The savage, dressed like a woman
Elissia shook her head as she concentrated on her food. She’d wanted something to stop the savage from pitying her, and now he was the one who had provided that something. Talking about what he’d be wearing would not be the same as seeing it, and there were any number of ways to let someone know what you happen to be thinking besides laughing out loud
Breakfast seemed to take a very long time to be over, and Elissia couldn’t help but notice that for once she finished first. But when she sat back with the tea the savage noticed the same, an
d quickly finished what was in his bowl.
“I never thought that getting dressed would ever take more courage than riding into battle,” the man muttered as he got to his feet. “But putting it off any longer is stupid, so I’m getting to it right now. Don’t forget to put on your cap when we’re ready to leave.”
Elissia raised her brows at the reminder, and once the savage had taken the bundles into the bedchamber and closed the door, she went searching for the cap. She hadn’t seen it since she’d been made to take it off, but it turned up tucked into one of her saddlebags beneath the cushion. She pulled it out and then put the hairbrush away in the other bag where it belonged, along with the rest of her clean clothing. The worn outfit had also been put in the other bag, so she had nothing else to do but wait. The savage had done her packing for her, and now she was ready to leave.
Despite the brave words he’d spoken, it took a very long time before the savage opened the door to the bedchamber and came out. Elissia had thought she was braced against anything she might see, but one look made her turn away to keep from choking out where it would be noticed. The man now wore a dress in godawful green, one that clearly had had padding added underneath. The “woman” in the dress was fat as well as tall, and her “bosom” matched the rest of her. Beneath the hem of the long dress it was possible to see a pair of brown work boots, old and scuffed but extremely stylish when considered along with the dress.
And one of the things adding to the length of time dressing had taken was that the savage had shaved. He’d had a night’s worth of stubble on his cheeks and chin when he’d walked out of the room, but now he had heavy face makeup and eye coloring and lining instead. Above what made the man look like an aged lady of the night was a graying wig, one that had probably been bought from some troupe of traveling actors. The total result really was a remarkable change, and as soon as Elissia had control of herself she turned back to him to say so.
“As long as Waysten’s people think the same, the effort will have been worth it,” he growled when he heard her out. “Let’s get going before I lose my nerve and tear all this stuff off.”
He bent then to pick up a hand grip she hadn’t noticed sooner, a beat-up old thing that matched the “woman” who carried it. He then walked over to her saddlebags, and picked them up as well.
“There’s another grip already on the buggy for your things,” the savage said as he led the way to the door. “You’ll transfer them over and leave the saddlebags here, and my people will take them along with our horses. Your horse might pass muster assuming it was willing to be put in traces, but mine never would.”
When Elissia followed him outside, she understood what he meant. The two horses hitched to the small buggy were plain brown and tired-looking, considerably less than even her horse. Next to them her mount looked to be top quality, and the savage’s stallion would have been the equivalent of carrying a sign with them announcing who they really were.
It didn’t take Elissia long to transfer her belongings to the grip on the luggage rail of the buggy, and the thing was big enough to take everything she had with her. The only part she disliked was that her worn clothing now lay much too close to the fresh, but there was nothing to be done about that. Saddlebags would suggest saddle mounts to anyone with enough intelligence to notice, so the saddlebags had to go.
The dusty seat of the buggy was actually padded with faded and torn red velvet, and could have been a good deal worse. She settled herself comfortably on the left-hand side while the savage made a production of climbing in on the right, and once he got himself and his skirts arranged properly Elissia got them going on their way. Her hair was once again hidden by her cap, and the savage had looked her over carefully to make sure that none of it showed in a way it shouldn’t.
The savage directed her back toward the main road, and it didn’t take them long to reach it despite the almost-plodding gait of the horses. Elissia had no trouble holding them, so she glanced over at the savage.
“You’d better bring your knees a bit closer together, Mother dear,” she said in a low voice even though no one else shared the road with them. “Women don’t sit the way men do, even a woman like you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he demanded, even though he immediately did as she’d suggested.
“I’m supposed to be a perfectly respectable woman despite being a bit long in the tooth.”
“Lower-class women don’t wear so much makeup unless they’re street-strollers,” Elissia told him, making no effort to break the news gently. “If you like you can pretend to be an ex-street-stroller, but no one will believe you never had a career.”
“You’re not suggesting I might actually get hit on?” he asked, now sounding downright nervous.
“Something like that just isn’t possible.”
“Don’t worry, sweetie, it won’t hurt much after the first time,” Elissia commented, paying a lot of attention to the road ahead of them. “Of course, the man involved will be disappointed that you don’t have all sorts of experience, but I’m sure you’ll find a way to help him get over it.”
“How would you like help in getting over my knee again?” the savage asked with a growl. “I warned you about having fun at my expense.”
“I think we’re a little too close to the city for that to be a very good idea,” Elissia took a lot of pleasure in telling him. Then she gestured with her chin toward the group of people coming from the opposite direction. “There are too many potential witnesses around for it to go unnoticed, and the closer we get the more witnesses we’ll have. Do you really want one of them to earn silver or gold talking about the odd woman and boy they saw?”
His only answer was a wordless growl, the exact answer Elissia had been expecting. But that brought up another matter that needed to be discussed.
“And you’d better do something about your voice,” she said, still not looking at him. “A woman’s voice can be deep, especially if she’s built big, but not that deep. Or hadn’t you considered that part of the problem?”
“I considered every part of the problem,” he countered – surprisingly in a still-deep but much mellower tone. “This should take care of the current aspect of the problem, and I’ll take care of the rest of it later.”
“What are you considering the rest of it?” Elissia asked, sincerely curious, but he didn’t answer. There were even more people on the road now, thanks to a fork they’d passed, so idle conversation wasn’t the wisest thing to indulge in. They were getting enough startled glances as it was; adding to that would have been foolish.
It took almost another hour of traveling, but then the woods gave way to open farm country. Beyond the fields of wheat and corn to either side of the road, Elissia was able to see the walls of Ramsond. They still had a good distance to go, but at least their destination was in sight. And Gardal was that much closer to being set free. Elissia believed that with every fiber of her being, as any other possibility was completely unacceptable.
“We seem to be almost there, Lodris, and about time too, I say,” the savage commented pettishly in that mellow tone of his. “I’m looking forward to seeing the house your father bought for us, and to lying down for a while. I’m not as young as I used to be, you know.”
“You’re still a flower among women, Mother,” Elissia said in her version of a boy’s attempt to sound older, her lips curling just a little in a swallowed smile. “I’m sure Father hasn’t even glanced at another woman since we’ve been away from him. But something seems to be wrong with my memory. I can’t remember your name or his, or even our family name.”
“Your father and I are Dosson and Inesta om Faril,” the answer came in a softer voice. “You, of course, are Lodris om Faril, and we’ve come from Hergesond to live here in Ramsond. Your father is an experienced farm agent, so we’re certain he’ll find a position really soon.”
“And he brought the rest of our things ahead with him, rather than leaving it for us to bring when we
came after him?” Elissia put, her tone telling the savage what she thought of that part of the story. “What were we using until he sent for us?”
“We took shelter with family until he sent for us,” the savage provided after a moment’s thought. “We lost almost everything to a terrible fire, so your father didn’t have anything to bring ahead with him. That’s also why we don’t have anything with us.”
“Except for the few odds and ends we managed to save,” Elissia agreed with a nod. “Yes, now I remember. I just wonder what people will say when Father doesn’t join us as soon as we get there.”
“But he will join us as soon as we get there,” Elissia was corrected gently. “He and your sister Omira will be seen at least as often as you and I are.”
“I see,” Elissia acknowledged. “And Omira traveled with him just as I’m traveling with you. That way neither of the women in our family had to be without male protection, and only two of us had to be sheltered with our family. It makes sense, I suppose.”
“More sense than expecting a young boy to be able to protect his sister as well as his mother,” the savage pointed out. “Anyone who asks will understand perfectly, because anyone who asks will probably be male.”
“Oh, yes, I almost forgot that men can usually be told any old story and they’ll believe it,” Elissia murmured. “I withdraw my objections.”
Once again Elissia wasn’t answered in words, but there was no doubt about the way the savage had taken her comments. He wasn’t happy with her at all, but playtime was over and they had serious things ahead of them to do. And there would certainly be little or nothing of pity dragging everyone down.
The closer they got to the city gates the more their progress slowed, until the buggy was in the midst of a crowd of other vehicles and horses and was barely moving at all. The air around them was dusty and hot, and sweat covered Elissia’s face. The same sweat turned the savage’s face makeup into a caked and matted mess, but that was all to the good. He looked more than ever like an old woman trying to maintain a death grip on her lost youth, and hopefully the gate guards would spare him no more than a glance.
