Unless He had to

Manueline was tired. They had ridden like the wind to get to the upriver ferry; being careful to stay on the roads, leaving no tracks except those mixed up with the other users of the road. After an anxious delay, the ferry had taken them across the river. On the other side, they had ridden off into the countryside beyond, getting as far away from the river as they could. It was late afternoon before they were finally across and they decided to travel all night. There was a trail so they followed it, trusting it would lead them to water and an Eaton village.

Ivo was nervous about it. The east was largely desert and they could easily become lost in it and die of thirst. Manueline was relentless. She would not let them rest and they rode through the night coming at dawn to a small cluster of tents that folded even as they came over the rise of a hill, bringing the camp into sight.

The people of the tents were deeply suspicious of them to begin with. Manueline and the others were reluctant to give too many details of who they were or where they came from. The wolf had been off hunting in the night and returned in the middle of the confrontation. He walked quietly up to the group of people, approaching them from behind the horses, keeping out of sight as long as he could. Manueline had noticed him doing this before. How he would suddenly appear, as if coming out of nowhere, in fact it was just his hunting instincts, not exposing himself unless he had to. He suddenly, magically appeared at Manueline's side. She unconsciously reached down, putting a hand on his shoulder, though now he was so tall she barely had to reach down at all. She looked up and realized the wolf's appearance had completely silenced the conversation. No one was saying a word.

One of the older men from the camp asked with a terrified expression on his face, "What do you want of us?"

Manueline looked at him, realizing what he thought. Seeing her, the Prince and the wolf, he believed he was conf'ronting the personification of death. "It's all right. We mean you no harm. We need a guide to take us to Eaton. We wish to speak to the Lord of the East."

A young man from the camp came with them as a guide. He, if anything, was more afraid of them than the old man was. They mentioned the South Lord might pursue them. He told them they should move quickly then, as the country near to the river was well known to the southerners. They set off with hardly a pause to water the animals from a nearby spring and find a bite to eat for themselves.

Manueline was tired, riding next to Libby, behind the guide. They had been riding over rocky, stony countryside with almost no sign of life in it at all. The guide explained, the southerners could not track them over the stones. Manueline asked, "What if they bring dogs?" The guide looked surprised, saying no dog could ever be persuaded to track the great wolf. Manueline had her doubts about that but kept them to herself. The guide would not allow them to stop. They had to get beyond the rocky stretch of countryside to where there was grass and water or the horses would suffer.

They rode on over softer ground now. Everything became quiet. Manueline could hear the breath of the other people and animals up and down the line. She followed the line back down the path they had followed, going back a long way. Someone was looking at the drawings she did in the dust when they stopped outside Sutton. She could not see his face but she could hear what he was saying. He was squatting down looking intently at the drawings and he looked up, still looking away from her, speaking to someone who had just come from the direction of the road.

"We know where they went. They took the upriver ferry, yesterday, a little after noon. The ferryman saw them riding hard away from the river."

The man looked down at the drawing again and banged his fist on his thigh. "They've gone then, gone to Eaton. Ivo must have met them and warned them."

"I knew we should have kept him, locked him up if necessary."

"And have the Margrave after us? No, it's not that easy. The rumors must be true. The old North Lord is dead and the new one is a puppet for the Margrave's daughter."

"What shall we do, pursue them?"

The man looking at the drawing and shook his head. "No, yesterday maybe, today is too late. They will be long gone into the desert by now, either dead or run in with some of the tribesmen. Either way they are beyond our reach." Then he lowered his voice as though talking to himself, though the other man came closer so he could hear. "What is the drawing telling us?"

"I don't understand it."

"A man's face, a woman's face, presumably the King and the Queen. An arrow pointing down, south, that is us; this is east, Eaton; north, Norton and west is for Loro. She is even precise about sizes; in this, Norton, Eaton and Loro are all about the same, Sutton and the city are twice the size of the others. In this one, Norton is the same size as us. They now have the people from the death march. The lines and arrows hold the real message. This connecting Norton, Eaton, the city and the Queen must mean antipathy; these are the ones working against her. Loro and Sutton support her. Eaton, Loro and the Queen support the King. No one openly works against him, though the city at least, does so by proxy by working against the Queen." He pointed to the second drawing, "In this they have us surrounded, Eaton on one side and beyond our reach, Loro on the other side and protected by their mountains, Norton to the north and too big now for us to threaten. The city isolated and cut off from the countryside."

He laughed and asked ironically, "What shall we do? We will do exactly what she expects us to do, we have no other choice. We must isolate the Queen; make sure that no one sees her, not in private anyway. We must let the city know, the Queen is their only hope. If she dies the Margrave's proxy will rule and the city will be crushed."

He stood up still with his back to her and put his hand to his head, brushing his hair back. "Did she know all this? They wanted to protect the Queen and they have done it by going to the very people most likely to destroy her."

Manueline smiled, recognizing it as a true vision. The Queen was safe. Even the King had a measure of protection from it all. She looked across at Libby riding beside her. "You must be careful when we get to the city. The South Lord and the people of the city will see you as a threat, bringing Loro, Eaton and Norton united behind you."

Libby laughed at her serious tone, "You know this?"

"Yes I do. It was written in the dust." She told him what she thought the South Lord would do. "There is a line I am unsure about, it may be that Eaton and Norton will not support each other. They may. Illumina will do it, Eaton may choose not too. I have no doubt they will accept whatever they can get from Norton and Loro, whether they will reciprocate is another matter."

The journey to Eaton took five days. It was long and they took a roundabout route. They headed east and south away from the river for the first two days until they came to the escarpment that led up to the high desert where Eaton lay, then they turned north and followed the line of the escarpment. Manueline asked the guide on the third day why they were now heading north. He told her "The path in the desert is dictated by water. We follow the escarpment because there are springs all along it. We went southeast from the river because of the two springs we used in the desert." She thanked him and they continued, typically finding a spring in the middle of the day where they would rest through the midday heat. They traveled until late in the night, resting for a while before dawn.

The escarpment turned slowly east until, by the fourth day, they were traveling southeast again down a steep sided valley cut into the escarpment. Manueline understood that Eaton was at the head of the valley, looking down on the only practical way to get to the town. The East Lord could defy the City, the north, the south and the west so long as he was willing to stay out in the desert. Manueline rode up the valley thinking of how they could play to his weakness, his isolation. She knew it would not be easy but she could see a way through and knew how to follow it.

To follow this thread in the story go to: Matching His Steps

The next section to read is: Live with Every Day

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