“Your men will have a better eye for judging our defenses,” Andros said. “And they’ve been training with us as well. I doubt you’ll see any weaknesses they haven’t already uncovered.”
“So thereareweaknesses? The mighty Torians aren’t invulnerable?”
Andros shrugged. “No one’s successfully attacked a Torian valley in the history of the empire. I sincerely doubt that’s going to change anytime soon. Your people are on the defensive, here; you won’t be attacking Windthorn.”
No, Finnvid thought. They wouldn’t be. He didn’t need to be a military strategist to realize there’d be no chance of success. “We want peace,” he said firmly.
Andros snorted. “The weak always do.”
“You sound like Theos.”
“There are worse things.”
Finnvid frowned. “When you’re with him, you disagree with practically every word he says. But now that you’renotwith him, he’s a source of wisdom?”
“Whenyou’rewith him, you frown and sulk and try to escape. But now that you’re not with him, you’re staring over the battlements, clearly looking for someone.”
“No. I’m not looking for anyone.”
“Oh, there he is,” Andros said, pointing to a spot quite near the wall on which they stood.
Finnvid spun to see, squinted . . . and turned more slowly back to Andros, who was smirking in satisfaction.
“Childish games,” Finnvid scolded. “These are serious times. Do you really have nothing else with which to occupy yourself?”
“I’m babysitting a spy,” Andros said. “It doesn’t take a great deal of my attention.” He stepped in a little closer. “Theos spent the night at the drilling yards, and now he’s gone to ground somewhere. Sacrati train on their own initiative and schedules, so no one’s going to worry about him too much. I expect he’ll be avoiding us both. But if he does comes near you? Be . . .” Andros frowned. “Be gentle,” he finally said. “He tried to do the right thing. And if you’d been who you claimed to be, you would have been grateful for his kindness.”
That was true enough. Theos had been more generous than Finnvid could have ever expected. And he’d repaid him with lies and betrayal. “I think I can do him the greatest kindness by staying away from him.”
Andros nodded. “That’s probably true.”
They climbed down off the walls shortly after and were escorted to the reeve’s office. The soldiers all stayed in the antechamber, leaving Finnvid alone with the warlord, the Sacrati captain, and the reeve. He felt young and untried in their company, but reminded himself that he was a prince, and deserved their respect. “My first priority is the freedom of my men,” he said as soon as greetings were complete.
The warlord smiled. “I don’t see a problem with that. Things are still up in the air, of course . . . as I told you at our earlier meeting, there are some discipline issues in our military and I can’t guarantee your safety; that’s why I encouraged you to keep your identity secret until you could leave the city.” He glanced over at the captain and continued, “But now that your presence is being announced from the rooftops, I see no reason to maintain the illusion. I’ll order your men released at once.”
“And where will they stay?” the captain asked dryly.
With an expansive if somewhat unfocused wave, the warlord said, “We have room for them.”
“Do we? The barracks are full . . . it’s been too long since we had a war. Behind the walls, then?” The captain frowned at the reeve. “It wouldn’t be my decision, of course. However, we all know the Elkati are . . . different . . . in their treatment of women. I don’t think we could expect them to behave with proper respect and decorum.”
Finnvid wanted to argue with that, but he wasn’t sure he could. He didn’t absolutely understand the Torian system himself, and he could only imagine what a common Elkati soldier would do if he discovered the city of Windthorn was full of unprotected and unmarried women. “They could camp out,” Finnvid offered.
The captain shrugged. “If you think your men would be more comfortable camping in the snow than sleeping in the prisoner pens, I suppose that’s your choice.”
The warlord said, “If they’re camping anyway, perhaps they’d like to try returning to Elkat. They’re good men. Strong. And we could equip them properly.”
“And I could accompany them,” Finnvid said. That had been the idea behind his latest escape attempt, after all. Things were less desperate now, but spending the winter trapped behind the Windthorn walls would make him as much of a prisoner as he’d been before. “If we were careful and well provisioned, we could make it, surely.”
The captain shook his head at Finnvid. “I realize you’re new to Windthorn, but surely you’re not new to theworld? Do Elkati cross the mountains in winter for anything but the direst emergencies?”
“Isn’t spending an entire winter in the mountains,alone, one of the initiation rites for Sacrati?” Finnvid demanded. “That’s not a dire emergency, is it?”
“ForSacrati,” the captain replied. “And when we do it, we’re staying still. We make a camp, collect food and fuel when the weather allows, and when the weather is bad we hide in our camp and fight to survive.Sacratihave to work that hard.” His expression made it clear that if a task was difficult for a Sacrati, it would be impossible for Finnvid.
“It hasn’t been a bad winter,” Finnvid argued. “If we took our time—”
“It hasn’t been a bad winterhere,” the captain objected. “We have no idea what conditions are like in the peaks.”
