“There’s no reason we shouldn't try to be civil with each other,” said Soonia Darniss. “We are here with a common purpose, after all.”

Princess Ardria nodded her reluctant agreement. Although she would have liked nothing better than to give her a severe tonguelashing, tell her exactly what she thought of her, the fact was that she needed this woman. All humanity needed her, to add her voice to hers when they came to speak to King Nilon. She couldn't take the risk that she might change her mind in a fit of pique and deny any knowledge of what the Princess was saying just to punish her for being uncivil during the journey. She hoped that she would never do such a dangerous thing for such a trivial reason, but with the fate of all humanity riding on them it wasn't a chance she dared to take.

“You're right,” she reluctantly said, therefore, and made herself smile at the woman sitting beside her. “What happened between us is in the past. We have to rise above it and work together for the common good.”

They had stopped for their midday meal at a carriage house about halfway between Tibre and Charnox and were sitting at the same table in the common room, along with Captain Silva, the man in charge of getting her to the King in one piece. The other tables were occupied by half a dozen of his men, watching her carefully while they ate their bread and bloodcakes, as if they thought she might try to escape. The rest of the men were outside, holding back the people of the small town who were eager to get a glimpse of the enemy Princess and perhaps throw a few lumps of horse dung at her, more to prove their loyalty to their king than out of any real animosity towards her. It had come of something of a surprise to the Princess to find that she was almost as highly regarded in Carrow as she was in her own country.

She had expected to have her hands bound for the long ride across Carrow, to stop her breaking free from the soldier riding besides her, holding her horse’s reins, and galloping to freedom, but the Captain had decided that it wasn't necessary. The Princess had entered Carrow voluntarily, after all. She clearly wanted to be taken to Charnox, and so any measures to prevent her from escaping were unnecessary. It enabled her to ride with dignity among the soldiers, with only the memory of her murdered escort marring what was otherwise a rather pleasant ride. The murder of Teena, in particular, sat hard with her, but they had all known that it might happen and the young woman had insisted on taking the risk. If she survived this mission and somehow managed to return to Helberion one day, she intended to give her a posthumous award of some kind, a high one. The Master of Titles and Ceremonies would adviser her which one would be most suitable, and it would include a large cash payment for her surviving family, which she knew included a half raised sister.

They had been angling north, rather than making a beeline for Charnox. The Captain had told her that they were going to Finchingfield, where they would be taking a train the rest of the way, arriving two days earlier than if they'd taken the more direct route. Ardria was looking forward to it. She liked a horse ride. Back in Helberion, during their frequent stays at their palace in Mildenhall, she'd liked nothing better than to ride Dancer, her favourite horse. She rode her so much, in fact, that she'd been warned that she and her groom ran the risk of becoming parent bonded to her. Riding as part of a column of cavalry was no fun, though. If she'd been able to ride at the head of the column, as she was accustomed to doing, it wouldn't have been so bad, but she was kept in the middle of the column, where she was constantly eating the dust of the riders ahead of her. A train would be much better, and would be a relief to her aching back as well.

She took another bite from the large slab of blood cake that took up half her plate. Hard and dry, she had to keep taking sips of watered down wine to wash it down, but it had a savoury taste she was rather enjoying. She’d asked the serving girl what type of cake it was, and had been told it was Dexwell, a name that meant nothing to her. It would have been nothing more than mousetrap bait back in her own palace, but now she found herself wondering if they could obtain a supply for the palace larder, for when she fancied a change from the much finer bloodcakes she was more accustomed to eating. She was particularly determined to enjoy it after seeing how scarce and expensive food was for the common people of this country.

Darniss had been even more shocked than the Princess by the state of her native country. Riding alongside the Princess, her earlier attempts to make conversation had fallen silent as mile after mile of arid, brown farmland passed by. Shrivelled crops and starving cattle, lakes and rivers at a desperately low level, the water green and scummy and surrounded by bare, cracked earth which testified to its normal level, three or four yards higher. The country was dying. It became more obvious the more they saw, and from the number of abandoned farmhouses they saw, it was clear that the people knew it as well. Carrow was being abandoned like a sinking ship, and Helberion was being treated as a lifeboat, one whose current occupants would have to be removed to make room.

“Did your ancestors have other properties, besides Paisley Palace?” asked Ardria, just for something to say.

“A great many,” replied Darniss. “In our day, the Pardew family was one of the wealthiest, most powerful families in the Kingdom! At one point, my great grandfather, Duke Parkley, even made a bid for the throne itself following the death of King Weldorf. I expect you know all this already, though. How the Pardews almost lost everything in the power struggle between Parkley and Vordan the First, how we only survived because Parkley was murdered by his son, Korell, who then swore allegiance to Vordan.”

“I have a vague memory of one of my teachers mentioning it,” admitted the Princess, “but I was always more interested in music I'm afraid. Father was always telling me that I should have a basic grasp of history if I was going to be Queen one day, but I was too young. Not yet declared human. He didn't press it. I suppose he thought I would take an interest of my own accord when I was older and more mature, and he was right, but the history of the palace wasn't one of the things I studied. I just didn’t think it was important! The idea that there might be a descendant of the Pardews still alive, out there somewhere, just never occurred to me! The idea that she might be the mistress of the palace staff, that she might be... I'm sorry. We agreed to put all that behind us.”

“We can talk about it,” said Darniss, “so long as we don't allow it to affect our judgement. I sometimes wonder where I might be today if my grandmother had sworn an oath of fealty to Bengoll Strake instead of reaffirming the family's loyalty to Carrow. I assume Strake would have allowed her to keep the palace and most of her holdings, in which case I would probably have inherited it and I'd be mistress of the palace today. Fabulously wealthy, one of the Helberion elite. But then I'd be facing death at the hands of invading Carrow troops instead of on my way to safe refuge with King Nilon, so I probably wouldn’t change anything even if I could.”

“Do you really have a daughter, or did you just make her up as part of your cover?”

“No, I really do have a daughter. Louisa, raised from a magpie. She was declared human two years before I took a position in the palace staff, thirty years ago, shortly after my husband died from the typhus. I wasn't able to see her much, Lord Krell kept her in his mansion in Sopron, three days travel away. Leothan only gave me a week’s leave twice a year, so with all the travelling I only saw her for two days a year.”

“I'm sorry,” said Ardria with genuine sympathy. “If we'd known...”

“Then you'd have known I was a Carrow agent. Certain sacrifices had to be made.”

She sees herself as heroic, Ardria realised. In her mind, she’s not a traitor, she’s a daring undercover agent who risked death every day in service of her true masters. She's probably conveniently forgotten that her primary motive was to regain her wealth and titles, and that she was prepared to commit murder to do it. I have to let her hold onto her delusions, though. Treat her as a respected former enemy, not as a traitorous bitch who deserves the scaffold. The good of the Kingdom comes first. There may come a day when I can pay here back for her crimes, but it’s not this day!

“You could have brought her to Marboll,” she said. “Seen her everyday, educated her yourself. Plenty of other members of the palace staff have children. You could even have shared a room with her in the palace!”

“Lord Krell thought it would be better for her to remain in Carrow. He was afraid that, in her youthful innocence, she might say something that would incriminate me.”

More likely he wanted to keep her as a hostage, thought the Princess. He was afraid you might forget your loyalty to Carrow and go native. “That's a reason for her not to live in the palace with you,” she said, wanting to test now much Darniss had figured out for herself. “She could still have lived in the city, just a few minutes walk away from the palace. You could have applied for an allowance to pay for a nanny.” She watched Darniss’ face, looking for any clue to what she was thinking, but the former Matron simply spread some honey on her bread and took a bite, chewing slowly. Across the table from them, Captain Silva watched them both, following the conversation without interrupting. Ardria tried to ignore him. She would have much preferred to have had this conversation in private, but there was nothing she could do about it.

“Even if Krell felt, for some reason, that your daughter had to remain in Carrow,” she continued, “the border is less than two days carriage ride from Marboll. You could have had three days with her every visit, instead of just one.”

“Lord Krell had his reasons,” Darniss said at last, not looking up at her.

I know he did, thought Ardria, and I think you’re beginning to realise what they were. “So, what's she like?” she asked. “Your daughter?”

Darniss brightened immediately. “She's wonderful!” she said. “Black hair, skin as white as marble! The most beautiful woman in Charnox! Ten years ago she took a position in Krell's mansion and now she’s the Matron there! The same position as I had in Marboll!” She grinned at the Princess to share the joke with her. “He said he would have much preferred to have given her titles and properties of her own, to befit the status of our family, but he knows your country has spies everywhere. If she was too conspicuous in Carrow society, your people would have wondered who she was and that might have put me in danger. Louisa was more than willing to play the part of servant in order to help me regain everything our family had once possessed.”

Or perhaps Krell thought she wasn't fit to be anything other than a servant, thought Ardria. “You must be looking forward to seeing her again,” she said. “Spending some real time with her. Actually living with her!”

“It's what I've dreamed of all these years!” admitted Darniss. “All these years, seeing other families living happily together while we're so far apart!”

“Does she have a family of her own?”

“Yes! She married an dashing young officer a few years back, Captain Kriss Barlann. He took a few years out of service while they raised their children...”

“Children!” said Ardria, in delight despite herself. “You have grandchildren?”

“Two. Joran, raised from a raven, and Kethlan, raised from an osprey. Both declared human five years ago. Kriss and Joran area both back in the army now, somewhere in Helberion I presume. Joran’s a lieutenant, on the officer fast track. Kriss says he has a wonderful future ahead of him! There's no reason they won't both rise all the way to the top!”

“Do they know about their aristocratic heritage?”

“No!” Darniss giggled like a girl. “They think I'm the dotty, unsocial grandmother who lives far away by choice! Imagine Kriss's surprise when he finds out he's going to be a Duchess Consort!”

Or perhaps a Duke, thought Ardria. She could imagine Nilon far preferring a Captain of the army in charge of Paisley Palace than a serving woman, no matter how grand her heritage. “Paisley Palace was badly damaged by the earthquake,” she said, however. “It may be that it can't be saved, that the safest thing is for it to be demolished. Will there still be a Dukedom without a Palace?”

“The family has other historic holdings and properties in Helberion, all of which King Nilon has promised will be restored to us. It won’t be quite the same as it was before, the palace was the jewel in the crown, but we'll still be wealthy and powerful, and we'll still own the ground on which the palace stands. Maybe, one day, we'll be able to afford to have the palace rebuilt, or perhaps the surveyors are being over pessimistic and the existing palace can be saved. We'll know more when we have our own surveyors have a look at the place.”

Nilon's surveyors will say whatever he wants them to say, thought Ardria. He won't care if the palace collapses and buries her a week after she moves in! Dammit, she’s an intelligent woman! She must know all this! She had known it, she remembered. Just after the Radiant attack, just after she’d been rescued from the flooding dungeons, she’d been almost in despair at the knowledge of how her heritage had been destroyed, all her dreams shattered. Since leaving, though, She was fooling herself into thinking it hadn't been as bad as she’d thought after all. Was that a good thing for her or a bad thing? Should she try to make her see the truth, or leave her to her delusions? No, she thought. I need her as an ally! I need her on my side! If that means letting her think she'll still be a Duchess one day, and her daughter and granddaughter after her, then so be it!

Tell me about Kethlan,” she said. “What's she like?”

“Beautiful! Tall, hair as white as snow, slender and graceful! Already as sharp as a razor, bright as an electric candle! She'll be a force to be reckoned with one day, able to play the game of politics with the best in the world! She works as a maid in Krell’s mansion at the moment... What is it?”

Ardria struggled hard to keep the amusement from her face. She worked as a maid at the moment, and she was pretty sure that a maid was all she would ever be, at least until she found herself married off to some minor aristocrat for political reasons, and that was almost certainly the very best she could hope for! If the Dukedom did survive, under Carrow rule, it would be Kriss Barlann, first of the newly formed House of Barlann, who would inherit it, with Joran Barlann as his heir, and the Pardews would fade away into history.

She stared at the woman sitting across at her, spreading more honey on her bread and taking another sip from her wine. If she did really believe that the glory of the Pardews would be restored, then she was in for a very rude awakening the moment the King no longer had a use for her, and the fact was that her real usefulness had ended the moment she’d been uncovered as the traitor in the palace. So why was Nilon still indulging her, letting her continue to dream? Was it simply that none of his underlings wanted to take the responsibility for telling her the truth? That suddenly felt right to her. Carrow was a country ruled from above by fear of punishment, in which no-one dared to take the initiative and think for themselves. That was the real reason they'd managed to cross the border with a column of Helberion and Kelvon soldiers. It wasn't that Captain Leese had been unusually sensible and intelligent. It was that he’d been terrified of taking any responsibility for himself, and so had passed the buck to Colonel Hemdall. It had taken a man of his seniority to dare risk Nilon’s wrath. If that was true, then Nilon would disabuse her of her delusions the moment they arrived at the palace!

The effect on Darniss was likely to be dramatic, and the effect on her mission equally dramatic! Nilon would simply dismiss anything Ardria said as a last, desperate attempt to save Helberion from Carrow conquest, she’d been depending on Darniss lending her voice to the effort. The voice of a woman of influence in Carrow, who had nothing to gain and everything to lose by saving Helberion. If Darniss no longer had that influence, what hope was there? Maybe she had to hope that she was wrong to be so cynical, that Nilon really did intend to keep his promises. Was her pessimism being fuelled by her hatred for the woman, for the horror she’d subjected her to? Even now it was hard to think back on it. How she’d woken up each morning to find that her body had changed a little bit more, grown less human, more horrific. Feeling things shifting inside her as her internal organs moved and changed. Her very mind changing...

I must see things clearly! she told herself. I need to talk to someone... She looked across at Tamwell and Brailsford, sitting at a table on the other side of the room with two Carrow soldiers keeping a close eye on them. Did either of them know enough about Carrow politics to be able to help? Tamwell had been nothing but a common soldier before being chosen for this mission, but Brailsford had been a member of the Kelvon embassy staff. He would have been primarily interested in Helberion politics, of course, but with the international situation as it was it was quite possible that he'd taken an interest in Carrow as well. The Carrowmen had been keeping them well separated until now, but maybe she could arrange something later, when they stopped for the night.

Until then, there was Captain Silva, sitting right there, at their table with them. Could she somehow mine him for information without Darniss realising what she was doing? She decided to give it a try.

She looked up at him. “You must forgive us, Captain,” she said. “We two women sitting here, chatting about family and completely ignoring you! Do you have family, Captain?”

“I'm unmarried,” he replied. “I have a brother, though, who is normally based in Fastyke. Fortunately, he was on assignment when your army attacked the city, and missed being taken prisoner. Like the Duchess' grandson, he is currently in Helberion, doing to Marboll what your people did to Fastyke.”

“I pray to Those Above that this war comes to an end before any harm comes to him,” said Ardria. “My mission to your country is to negotiate an end to this war. Let us hope your King and I come to an agreement before too many more lives are senselessly lost.”

“If you want to surrender, you could have done that from Marboll and prevented any more deaths there and then.”

“Unconditional surrender is not an option. There have to be terms, to ensure the safety of our citizens. I assume King Nilon will honour the terms of any agreement we reach?”

“Are you questioning his honour, Your Highness?”

“Of course not, but circumstances change. An arrangement that seems good to him one day may seem less favourable the next. If that happens, I have to be sure that he will abide by the terms of our agreement.”

“I'm sure he would never put his name to an agreement unless he intended to honour it. Even if it weren't a matter of honour and integrity, he has his international reputation to consider. He has treaties and arrangements with many other countries. If he breaks one, how do they know he won't break others?”

If he's a willing participant in the destruction of all human civilisation, he might not care, thought Ardria. And, of course, Silva couldn't have said anything else with his men close enough to overhear. This is pointless. What did I think I was going to learn? She had to keep trying, though. What else was she going to do?

“Tell me about your brother,” she said. “What's he like? What's his name?”

“His name is Jame, and he was raised from a mountain goat, as was I. They roam wild in the Tennern Hills, where I come from. Everyone in that part of the country adopts them. It’s probably why we’re so good at climbing, and why we're willing to eat anything, which is a definite advantage these days.” He prodded the lump of hard bloodcake on his plate with the tip of his knife. “They say this type of cake is made from goat blood. My parents say that my brother and I were both blooded regularly before we were adopted, and that they sold the cakes they made in the market. Maybe someone, somewhere, still has a supply of bloodcake made from blood I supplied while still a goat. Maybe this very pudding that I'm eating now!”

“What a strange thought,” replied the Princess, looking down at the remaining cake on her plate and finding that her appetite had suddenly left her. But why should it? she asked herself. I've had bloodcake hundreds of times! The finest Dales and Blackburns in the Kingdom! I've always known, intellectually, that the animal that supplied the blood might have been adopted and become human. Why should it make a difference to meet a man who was once a goat and blooded? She made herself cut off another piece and raise it to her mouth. It tasted just the same as it had before, and she chewed and swallowed it.

“I hope your brother is alright,” she said. “I hope he comes safely home from the war.”

“As a loyal Helberion who is at war with us, you should be hoping that one of your soldiers kills him,” said the Captain dryly.

“Well, I don't. What I hope and pray for is an end to the war. An end agreeable to both our countries.”

“It was you who started the war! You attacked us!”

“Because you were...” She cut herself off. No good would be done by playing the blame game. “Who started the war is not important. What matters is that we have a chance to stop it. You probably think you can defeat us on the battlefield and that diplomacy is, therefore, unnecessary, but how many of your countrymen will die while crushing the last remnants of our army? Maybe your brother. He, and Soonia's grandson, both have a better chance of coming home safely if we reach a negotiated settlement. You must agree with that.”

“Although all soldiers must always be ready for war, no soldier wants war,” agreed the Captain. “If you and the King manage to come to mutually agreeable terms of surrender, then I would welcome that.”

“Let's drink to that,” said the Princess, raising her glass. “An end to war. The return of peace.”

“An end to the war,” agreed Captain Silva, raising his own glass. Soonia Darniss did the same. They all took a sip of the watered down wine together, and then they returned to their meal, eating in silence.

Fifteen minutes later, they left the carriage stop, and a pair of grooms brought their horses back from where they'd been having their own midday meal. As always, they climbed up into the saddles of different horses from the ones they'd ridden in on, as a precaution against parent bonds forming, and then the Captain led the way out of town, continuing on their way to Charnox.