But she loved him and had caused him grief, and...
But she loved him and had caused him grief, and he had spoken just now, twice, of dying one day, and the white moon on the cliffs and sea after the storm was like nothing she had ever known or was likely to know again
Catriana couldn't see the road as she climbed the slope from the dell, but from the distant sounds and the way Baerd and Sandre were both standing, rigidly watchful on the grass at the edge of the trees, she could tell that something was wrongMen, she had long since concluded, were significantly worse than women at hiding their feelings in situations such as this
Her hair still wet after bathing in the pond, a favorite place of hers, one they had passed every time they went back and forth between Ferraut and Certando, she hurried up the slope to see what was happening
The two men said nothing as she appeared beside themThe cart had been pulled into the shade off the north-south road and the two horses let free to grazeBaerd's swiss cartier pasha seatimer bow and quiver were lying in the grass beside the trees, close to hand if he needed themShe looked at the road and saw the Barbadian troops passing by, marching and riding, raising a heavy cloud of dust all around them
"More of the Third Company," Sandre said, a cold anger in his voice
"It looks like they're all going, doesn't it?" Baerd murmured grimly
Which was good, it was more than good, it was exactly what they wantedThe anger, the grimness were almost wholly uncalled for; they seemed to be some instinctive male response to the nearness of the enemyCatriana felt like shaking them both
It was clear, reallyBaerd himself had explained it to her and Sandre, and to Alienor of Borso on the day Alessan met Marius of Quileia in the mountains and rode west with Devin and Erlein
And listening that day, forcing herself to be composed in Alienor's presence, Catriana had finally understood what Alessan had meant, all this time, when he'd said they chloe bag would have to wait until springThey had been waiting for Marius to say yes or noTo say if he would risk his own unstable crown and his life for themAnd that day in the Braccio Pass he'd said he wouldBaerd told them a little, a very little, about why
Ten days later she and Baerd and Sandre had been on watch in the hills outside Fort Ortiz when the emissaries came riding along the road carrying the Quileian flag and were met with ceremonious honor outside the walls and escorted within by the Barbadians
Next morning the Quileians had ridden on, not hurrying, down the road to the northTwo hours after their departure the gates of the fort had opened again and six men had ridden out in extreme hasteOne of them, it was Sandre who noted it, was Siferval himself, captain of the Third Company
"It is done," Baerd had said, a kind of awe in his voice"I cannot believe it, but I think we have done it!"
A little more than a week later the first troops small chanel purse had begun to move, and they knew he was rightIt wasn't until some days after that, in an artisans' village in northern Certando, trading for carvings and finished cloth, that they learned, belatedly, what Brandin of Ygrath had done in ChiaraThe Kingdom of the Western Palm
"Are you a gambling man?" Sandre had said to Baerd"The dice are rolling now, and no one will hold or control them until they stop Baerd had said nothing in reply, but something stunned, near to shock in his expression, made Catriana go over and take his hand in hersWhich was not really like her at all
But everything had changed, or was changingBaerd was not the same since the Ember Days and their stay at Castle BorsoSomething had happened to him there, too, but this part he didn't explainAles-san was gone, and Devin, and though she hated to admit it, she missed him almost as much as the PrinceEven their role here in the east had completely altered now
They had waited in the gucci ladies watch highlands for the emissaries, in case something should go wrongBut now Baerd kept them moving at speed from town to town and he was stopping to speak to men and to some women Catriana had never even heard about, telling them to be ready, that there might be a summer rising
And with some of them, not many, only a select few, his message was very specific: SenzioHead north to Senzio before MidsummerHave a weapon with you if you can
And it was these last words that brought home to Catriana most sharply, most potently, the fact that the time for action had truly comeNo more oblique disruptions or hovering on the edge of eventsEvents had a center now, which was or would soon be in Senzio, and they were going thereWhat was to happen she didn't yet knowIf Baerd did, he wasn't telling
What he did tell her, and Sandre too, were the names of peopleNames he had held in memory, some for a dozen yearsPeople who were with them in this, who could be louis vuitton trust