A Posse Of Princesses Part 9

"We wait here," Taniva said.

"Why?" Rhis asked.

"Because they patrol all time. Beyond here, we do not go as us. They know we are here before we see any of them. We change," she said, dismounting.

"Change?" Shera asked, hands on hips. "Back into civilized people, I hope."

Rhis studied her sister-by-marriage, who stood there in grubby riding clothes without a hint of ornament, her face smudged, her hair skinned back into a tight braid. Shera didn't look like a princess any more. She looked more like a weathered, practical courier or caravan rider. Rhis wondered if she herself looked like a cook. Not a very successful one, she thought with an inward laugh. I'm too skinny.

Taniva smacked her hands together. "We change into players. Music players." She pretended to strum a stringed instrument. "We practice when we stop."

Shera crowed in delight. "A masquerade! Oh, how fun!"

"Wait. Wait," Rhis said. "We won't fool anybody who really knows music like court musicians play."

Taniva waggled her hands. "No matter. It gets us in castle gates. You perform. If they like you, you play for king. If not, they say go away next day. Gates close at night. No one goes in or out."

"Buta"" Rhis faltered as Taniva glanced at her impatiently.

She studied the others, finding similar expressions. They thought she was being too fussy. She struggled for the right words. "I just do not want them suspicious. I mean, if we arrive right behind Jarvas and the Perfect Princess, and they lock gates at night. Doesn't that mean these are people who really don't like strangers?"

Yuzhyu poked her chin out in her definitive nod. "Iss true."

"That's why we practice. You two sing and play. Yuzhyu plays hand drum. Dartha dances."

"Looking like we do now?" Rhis asked.

Taniva laughed. "Where you think Arnava goes? To get disguises, and find a Damatran hand drum! We get in. You perform while I find pest. Then it is up to you, for they can never see me, as High Plains and Damatras are old enemies," Taniva said. Her lips curled deeply. "And I have been here before." Her smile vanished. "So you have three days. We travel. You practice. We act when we get inside."

Shera turned to Rhis, hands on her hips again. "Taniva has gotten us safely there. So now it's our turn . . ." She looked uncertain.

Rhis said in her brightest voice, "All right."

Taniva laughed. "We are girls. Musicians. What can go wrong?"

In a castle full of enemies? When Rhis had never held a weapon in her life?

"What can go wrong?" Rhis echoed with completely false confidence.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

The capital of Damatras was a long, narrow walled city, built along a high ridge above a slow river. The king's castle commanded the view from the center of the city, with its own towers and high wallsa"higher than the city walls. There were four towers connecting these walls, and a central one that was the highest of all. It made the various towers to the sides look kind of like a crown, all coming to that central point, silvery in the watery sunlight.

All the castle windows were arches, widened from the old-fas.h.i.+oned arrow slits. Rhis wondered if, like in Nym, there were wards against arrows pa.s.sing through windowsa"or if the people had st.u.r.dy iron-reinforced shutters to be put up in bad times, like many who didn't trust magic, high on Nym's more distant peaks.

Behind the city rose sheer cliffs blasted by powerful magic a couple of centuries ago. Long striated layers of rock glittered in the sun. At one end the mountain sloped away, impossible for any enemy to climb without being seen; the other end was marked by a spectacular series of waterfalls that fed into the great river.

A single bridge of awe-inspiring beauty crossed from the main road to the ridge above the river. There was no other approach to the bridge but the main roada"full of armed people riding back and forth as they scanned the market and city traffic.

After Taniva's guards had done a scouting foraya"looking for sign of Dandiar and his groupa"the girls had proceeded in a sedate ride along the main road, Rhis with her tiranthe worn over her back in the style of a traveling harper. They were all dressed alike now, in high-waisted cotton-linen blouses, worn over split skirts of a brown or blue so dark it seemed black. The sleeves were loose in the Damatran style. The clothes were pretty much like what they saw girls and women around them wearing. At night, while Rhis and Shera practiced singing, Shera making up tricky harmonies that actually sounded pretty gooda"if not (she was the first to admit) up to court standards. Yuzhyu tried complicated rhythms on her little hand drum. Dartha danced, and one woman sewed a Damatran headdress for Taniva, who had taken off her distinctive riding boots. They were instantly recognizable to anyone who had met Taniva. Instead she went barefoot, something Rhis both admired and envied. Elda had never permitted her to step outside without proper princess shoes.

The last day, Dartha, who had nimble fingers, braided crimson piping into all their hair, creating multiple braids. She made them extra tight so they wouldn't have to trouble about their hair for a few days. Then they all bathed in a cold stream (which was very unpleasant, but certainly woke one up) and folded away their dirty clothes into their saddlebags.

Rhis's scalp pulled and she kept wanting to touch the parts in her hair and the tight braiding outlining her skull. But she couldn't. Taniva had warned them that fingers in their hair would signal to anyone who looked that they weren't used to wearing their hair like local girls.

Rhis's new clothes were loose and a little scratchy, made with a rough linen blended with cotton, instead of the silks and polished cotton fine-cloth she was used to wearing next to her skin. But she liked the outfita"it moved freely.

As they got into line to ride over that vast bridge, after Taniva had been giving them details on what to expect, Shera finally asked, "How do you know so much about Damatras? I mean, you said you were here before, but aren't these folk your enemies?"

Taniva told them cheerily how it was a requirement for chieftains' sons and daughters to make one raid before they could ride the plains as heirs. "I am king's daughter. I must make mine a raid for kings and queens, do you see? So I lie up in the mountain above the waterfall, over there, and watch for a week. They never see me because I move around at night. Then I find my way in." She smacked her hands together. "And when I am in, it is easy enough to find where king and family have rooms. Not so easy to get past guard, but I found good disguise. So snick-snack! I take Jarvas's ceremony knife. Very old. He does not take it on training rides."

Rhis gasped. "That knife with the blue jewels on the handle?"

"Yes! He sees me wearing it at Eskanda. He knows I took it," she said with cheer.

Rhis listened in dismay. "You stole it from him?"

"Oh, from his room. He is not there. If I fight him for it, and win, then there is a feud from his father. If he win, a feud from mine. Many people die. Used to be, in the bad days of old, you fight to the death for your heir raid. Too many died that way." Her eyes crinkled as she brandished the elegant, lethal-looking silver and black handled knife with the blue gemstones. They flashed blue sparks in the sunlight. "Now, we just make the raid when they are not there. So they do not lose honor." She smacked her chest. "Jarvas takes two years ago my father's favorite bridle, the one for parade. But we are not at our tents, we are away on a scout run. But everyone else is there. When we return and Father find it gone, and nothing else gone, how Father cursed and cursed!" She shook with laughter.

Shera cast a glance at Rhis, then said, "You look funny. What are you thinking?"

Rhis said. "I just realized I'm grateful."

"For?"

"I didn't think anything could make me glad to go home to Elda's lectures again. But hearing about this custom just did it."

Shera smothered a nervous giggle.

Taniva finished tucking the blue-gemmed blade back into her waistband under her smock, where it stayed out of sight. "So this is why I am only stable girl when we go inside, and why I hide my face when you speak. And why I will be one to find pest-princess. I already know my way around."

Then she kneed her horse and dropped back in line.

"I wish she'd told us that before," Shera muttered. "I hope they don't have posted signs about royal thieves all over the place, with her face painted on, and her name in big letters."

"Shh," Rhis whispered, trying hard not to laugh.

When they reached the foot of the bridge, suspicious guards eyed them, one even poking through their saddlebags in a cursory way as Dartha did the speaking. All the High Plains people knew Damatran speech, as they were taught to know their enemy. A few words seemed familiar to Rhis.

They were waved on.

Rhis had thought the subliminal rumble she heard was her heartbeat, but as they slowly moved to the middle of the bridge, the mighty waterfall came into view, white spray reaching as high as the ridge. Above rose the enormous mountain, and behind it, ranges of even higher mountains, their ever-snowy tops gleaming coldly in the sun. Just like in Nym.

She did not find the sight comforting: There aren't a whole lot of possibilities for escape, she thought.

Despite Rhis's worries and tension, at first everything went pretty much as Taniva had outlined. They rode in without more than a glance from the many guards. Not all of them had yellow hair and pale skin, as Rhis had feareda"she did not want to stand out and be considered suspicious. There were dark-haired Damatrans as well as light, and a variety of skin colors, though mostly on the pale side. There were plenty with the golden skin of the High Plains, which made Rhis suspect that, even though the two kingdoms were enemies, people had probably been mixing over time, so it wasn't so unusual to have a mother from one kingdom and a father from the other.

Anyway, no one seemed the least interested in Shera and Rhis's browner skin, or their round eyes, so unlike the slanty ones and broad faces to be seen in infinite variety around them. Still, Rhis was glad of the unusual clothes and braids. She suspected that her own clothes might have caused some second looks.

They followed the traffic down the broad street between slate-roofed stone buildings (shops below, living quarters above) that led to the castle, and at those gates, again Dartha did the speaking for them. Rhis, this time stepping close enough to hear all the words, was interested to discover that the Damatran and the High Plain languages did sound a lot alike.

They were shunted off into what appeared to be a servants' area inside the huge stone castle, again reminding Rhis of home. Only this one was enormous, with far more people lining in it than in her own home castle.

Rhis looked arounda"smelled the familiar tang of slightly moldy stonea"and discovered for the first time in her life that she really didn't much like stone castles.

The horses were left with Taniva at the stable, and they followed a group of people whose clothes were a lot like theirsa"in a variety of colorsa"to an entry-way lined with doors. The people in front, all laden with enormous bags of foodstuffs, were waved off in one direction. The guard looked them over with a slightly puzzled frown, his brow clearing when he saw the tiranthe and hand drum. The girls were waved another way.

Eventually they ended up in a room with a miscellany of people, all of whom shared only one characteristic, they were to be interviewed before being sent along to whatever they'd come for.

Rhis was again reminded of home. Nym had had too many troubles in its past for wandering players to be admitted to the king's or queen's presence without an interview first. There had been more than one a.s.sa.s.sination attempt by pretend entertainers.

But by the time the hara.s.sed woman in charge of such things got to them, the lamps had all been lit, or glowglobes clapped on, and the wafting smells of spiced rice and braised fish made it clear the castle workers were all going in to supper.

"We will see your offering tomorrow," the woman said slowly in two or three languages, adding grimly, "We are now in need of such." She made a warding sign at the windowa"which afforded a view of that enormous tower.

Rhis was surprised at her tone, and the gesture, as they were shooed off to a long barracks room with narrow wooden beds and b.u.mpy hay mattresses. They were offered blankets, which looked too thick and scratchy (they were wool) for summer, even the cool summer of the mountains. So, after each of them had gratefully stepped through the cleaning frame and felt grit and grime snap away from their bodies and clothes, and after they'd pa.s.sed all their travel clothes through, they curled up in now-clean cloaks and lay down beneath the wide-open arched windows. The Damatrans seemed to believe in plenty of fresh air, and the summer's heat evaporated rapidly so high in the mountains.

Rhis tried to compose herself to sleep, but she was far too nervous and excited. Also the room was full of noise. Not loud noise. But here a wooden bed frame creaked as someone tried to find a comfortable position on what had to be an extra-b.u.mpy mattress, and there someone snored; farther down the long rows of beds someone else coughed, and at the other end a pair of girls whispereda"and everyone around uttered sharp "s.h.!.+"s which were much louder than the whispers.

Rhis finally realized what made it impossible to sleep: though the three High Plains guards were with the other two princesses and her, Taniva still had not joined them.

She was worrying about Taniva's saddlebag and dreaming about searching for it without realizing she'd dropped into a restless sort of slumber when a hand on her shoulder jerked her awake.

The dormitory was silent, except for the sounds of deep, heavy breathing. Weak silvery light in the high windows barely outlined a face with looped braids.

"Huh?" Rhis mumbled.

The shadow bent close. "It be me," Taniva whispered, her breath warm on Rhis's forehead. "You come. Now."

Rhis rose, reached for her saddle-bag. Sleepiness vanished as she joined the others, all carrying their gear. No one spoke. With soundless steps they made their way out of the dormitory.

Taniva led them down a couple of twisting, turning halls, past an area that smelled of baking bread. Light leaked from below closed doors, behind them came sounds of people moving about.

Twice they stopped, each time to wait for slow-walking sentries to wander past. Taniva kept them pressed still and flat against the cold stone walls until the sentries rounded corners, then she sped off in the other direction, followed by the rest of them, Rhis and Shera laboring under their saddlebags. Yuzhyu and the High Plains people did not seem to notice the extra weight.

Though Rhis's mind bloomed with questions, Taniva did not speak until they'd traversed what seemed to be an entire city's worth of plain stone hallway. Again they waited for sentries to pa.s.s, and then started up the narrow stone steps of a tower.

On a landing, Taniva stopped.

"Guards outside now. She is up here." A jerk of the thumb toward the top of the tower.

Rhis understood at once. Iardith was imprisoned at the top of the tower. They'd get her out, take their stuff to the stable, and as soon as the gate opened, they'd ride out. n.o.body, she hoped, would care whether or not a bunch of girls had had their auditiona"not if they could get away before the princess was discovered to be gone, and the alarm went up.

"Hurry," she said, and Taniva whirled around and started up the stairs three at a time.

The others trundled after, soon breathing hard and sweating under their loads.

But at last they reached the top landing, which was just a narrow s.p.a.ce before a st.u.r.dy wooden door. Taniva gestured to one of her guards, who brought something out of a pocket, edged past Yuzhyu, knelt, and inserted something into the lock. In the faint moonslight lancing down from the slit window above, Rhis couldn't make out what she was doinga"but a few heartbeats later the guard gave a grunt of satisfaction and the big door swung open.

The tower room had windows all around, flooding it with silvery-blue light.

Iardith sat up in bed, her long black hair braided for the night.

She clapped.

"Noa"too late at night for lighta"guards get suspicia"" Taniva began, but it was too late.

The light from the wall-mounted glowglobe was blinding to their dark-adjusted eyes. And of course the light would be visible to anyone outside who cared to look up at that broad arched window.

But that was only a fleeting thought. Because though Rhis had from time to time imagined Iardith's reaction to their appearances as rescuers, she'd always thought the princess from Arpalon would welcome them with relief . . . fear . . . joy . . . all expressions difficult to imagine on that beautiful face.

What they got was sardonic disgust, as Iardith said with cordial sarcasm, "You idiots!"

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

"We're here to rescue you," Shera exclaimed.

Iardith flung back a s.h.i.+ning loop of braid. "Do you really think that I am stupid enough to need rescue?"

The group stood there aghasta"except for the guards, who didn't follow the rapid conversation. One stood at the door, the other two outside on the landing.

Then Taniva burst into laughter, slapping her knee. "You abduct him!"

Iardith gave a kind of sour laugh. "Let's just say that I let him take me away."

The Damatran guards outside were definitely efficient enough to care to look up: Dartha entered, saying, "They come up stairs." And gripped something inside her clothes, her face grim.

There was no way out; would the women really fight?

Rhis felt dazed and sick as she looked down at hera"