“I’ve… never been outside of Lucien before.”
The girl’s eyes widened ever so slightly and then narrowed; her hands balled into fists. What was that? Why was she angry atthat? Shadows and light, even Symanta would have trouble understanding what went on in this girl’s twisted head!
“And I want to see the world,” he finished lamely. It was true. Of everything he was saying, this was true and always had been. “Until I woke up in that shack… uh… wooden cabin, I’d never seen the sun. Never smelled grass or… never mind. That’s not important.”
This time it was Tomaz who reacted: the big man stood up and turned away, slowly sheathing his sword and stowing away the whetstone he’d been using to sharpen it. He stood there silently for a moment, then turned back toward the Prince, who felt a moment of panic. What was the big man thinking?
“What’s the deal you wish to make?” the girl asked. Her voice sounded harsh and distant, but the Prince was familiar enough with her now to know that shewas interested, or else she wouldn’t have spoken. It seemed that harsh and distant was just the way she sounded on basic principle.
Details. It was all about the details.
“I would like to travel without the hood.”
There was a long moment of silence, in which the Prince waited for one of them to speak. He hoped that he had phrased his request correctly. He was not, as a general rule, familiar with how one asks for permission.
“That’s all?”
The Prince looked at the Exile girl.
“Yes,” he said earnestly.
“How can we trust you?” she replied.
“What do you expect me to do, look my way out of captivity?” the Prince asked, letting some of his annoyance show; the girl was infuriating, there was no need to feign that.
Tomaz chuckled, and the Prince’s heart gave a sideways lurch, half out of excitement that his plan was working and half out of disgust that he was repaying the big man by betraying him.
They have betrayed all that I stand for, all that is good in this world: the Empire, the Princes of the Realm, my Mother. They deserve no special treatment.
The Exile girl continued to watch him, her emerald gaze unyielding.
“You said it was to be a deal. What is your part of the bargain?”
“I promise that as long as I am in your captivity, I will not attempt to contact the Empire, and I will warn you should we come upon another ambush, or if we are being followed. This I swear by my Mother’s name, by the Children, and the Light that they serve.”
They both watched him for a long moment, and then Tomaz looked to the girl, deferring to her judgment. It was a long time before she spoke, and when she finally did it was with the same harsh directness as before.
“This changes nothing,” she said. “You are still our prisoner, you are still a captive of the Exiled Kindred, and you are still coming with us wherever we choose to take you. Should you break your promise, I will end you, Prince of Ravens or not, before you can take your next breath. I want it to be very clear to you that, as you’ve seen, you are extremely valuable to us alive. But should it come down to it, you are much more valuable as a dead Prince than an escaped one. If there is the slightest chance that you are about to become the latter, then I shall make you the former.”
The Prince waited for Tomaz to say something, but the big man only stood in stoic silence. It was then that the Prince realized that the girl was the true leader of the two; despite being the younger, she was in command, and the big man would advise her only. The final decision, after debate was done, would always be hers.
“I can accept that,” the Prince said. In truth, it was no less than what he had expected, if far less than he had hoped. “But with one more request.”
She stiffened, and her face grew thunderous. The Prince continued quickly.
“Every day that I keep this deal, I would ask that I be allowed to earn your trust, as much as I can. You, both of you, saved me from death. Tomaz has, if he speaks true, done so twice. Should I go back on our deal in any way, then you can hood me, cloak me, and tie me to that thrice-damned horse, if you don’t choose to kill me outright.”
“How will you earn our trust?” Tomaz asked slowly.
“Responsibility. Perhaps something as simple as making the fire. You can supervise me, or you can tie me to a tree with only enough slack to perform the task. But give me something to do, and you’ll see that I can be counted on. And then perhaps you might come to view me as—”
“And then time passes,” the girl broke in, “we come to trust you, the tasks get more complex, you manage to convince us to let our guard down and yourun right back to the Empire. You sell us out, then they kill you anyway, and they come after us. Sound about right?”
“I just learned that my Mother sent the Death Watch to assassinate me,” he said quietly, letting some of his inner turmoil show. “Why would I run to them? I think it has been just irrevocably proven to all of us that there is no place for me to run to even should I wish to leave your company. Which, to tell you what I think you may soon guess, I do not want to do, because I know nothing of this world and it appears the two of you know much. You have food and transportation, whereas I have nothing but borrowed clothes and a price on my head. Not to mention that should the Death Watchmen come again, as we know they may, I would feel more secure with those daggers and that greatsword nearby. Why would I run, knowing all of that?”
There was a long silence as Tomaz and the girl watched him, the first with interest, the second with something akin to loathing.
“You’re lying,” the girl said.
