"What a coincidence," the skinny man told him. "My pupil and I are bound for Tol Borune ourselves."
"Yes," Silk admitted. "Quite a coincidence."
"Perhaps we could ride along together."
Silk looked doubtful.
"I don"t see any reason why not," Aunt Pol decided before he could refuse.
"You"re most kind, gracious lady," the stranger said. "I am Master Jeebers, Fellow of the Imperial Society, a tutor by profession. Perhaps you"ve heard of me."
"I can"t really say so," Silk told him, "although that"s not too remarkable, since we"re strangers here in Tolnedra."
Jeebers looked a bit disappointed. "I suppose that"s true," he said. "This is my pupil, Lady Sharell. Her father"s a grand master merchant, the Baron Reldon. I"m accompanying her to Tol Borune where she"s to visit relatives."
Garion knew that was not true. The tutor"s name had confirmed his suspicions.
They rode several miles further, with Jeebers babbling animatedly at Silk. He spoke endlessly about his learning and continually prefaced his remarks with references to important people who seemed to rely on his judgment. Although he was tiresome, he appeared to be quite harmless. His pupil rode beside Aunt Pol, saying very little.
"I think it"s time we stopped for a bite to eat," Aunt Pol announced. "Would you and your pupil care to join us, Master Jeebers? We have plenty."
"I"m quite overcome by your generosity," the tutor said. "We"d be delighted."
They stopped the horses near a small bridge that crossed a brook and led them into the shade of a thick clump of willows not far from the road. Durnik built a fire, and Aunt Pol began to unload her pots and kettles.
Master Jeebers" pupil sat in her saddle until the tutor quickly stepped over to help her down. She looked at the slightly marshy ground near the brook unenthusiastically. Then she glanced imperiously at Garion. "You-boy," she called. "Fetch me a cup of fresh water."
"The brook"s right there," he told her, pointing.
She stared at him in amazement. "But the ground"s all muddy," she objected.
"It does seem that way, doesn"t it?" he admitted and then quite deliberately turned his back on her and went over to help his Aunt.
"Aunt Pol," he said after several moments of debating with himself.
"Yes, dear?"
"I don"t think the Lady Sharell"s who she says she is."
"Oh?"
"I"m not completely positive, but I think she"s the Princess Ce"Nedra -the one who came into the garden when we were at the palace."
"Yes, dear. I know."
"You know?"
"Of course. Would you hand me the salt, please?"
"Isn"t it dangerous to have her with us?"
"Not really," she said. "I think we can manage it."
"Won"t she be a lot of bother?"
"An Imperial Princess is supposed to be a lot of bother, dear." After they had eaten a savory stew which seemed to Garion quite good but which their little guest appeared to find distasteful, Jeebers began to approach a subject which had obviously been on his mind since they had first met. "Despite the best efforts of the legions, the roads are never entirely safe," the fussy man said. "It"s imprudent to travel alone, and the Lady Sharell"s been entrusted to my care. Since I"m responsible for her safety, I was wondering if we might travel along with you. We wouldn"t be any bother, and I"d be more than happy to pay for whatever food we eat."
Silk glanced quickly at Aunt Pol.
"Of course," she said.
Silk looked surprised.
"There"s no reason we can"t travel together," she went on. "We"re all going to the same place, after all."
Silk shrugged. "Anything you say."
Garion knew the idea was a mistake so serious that it bordered on disaster. Jeebers would not be a good traveling companion, and his pupil showed every sign of quickly becoming intolerable. She was obviously accustomed to extensive personal service, and her demands were probably made without thought. They were still demands, however, and Garion knew immediately who was most likely to be expected to attend to them. He got up and walked around to the far side of the clump of willows.
The fields beyond the trees were pale green in the spring sunshine, and small white clouds drifted lazily across the sky. Garion leaned against a tree and gazed out at the fields without actually seeing them. He would not become a servant - no matter who their little guest might be. He wished there were some way he could get that firmly established right at the outset - before things got out of hand.
"Have you lost your senses, Pol?" he heard Mister Wolf say somewhere behind him among the trees. "Ran Borune"s probably got every legion in Tolnedra looking for her by now."
"This is my province, Old Wolf," Aunt Pol told him. "Don"t interfere. I can manage things so that we won"t be bothered by the legions."
"We don"t have the time to coddle her," the old man said. "I"m sorry, Pol, but the child"s going to be an absolute little monster. You saw the way she acted toward her father."
"It"s no great ch.o.r.e to break bad habits," she said, unconcerned.
"Wouldn"t it be simpler just to arrange to have her taken back to Tol Honeth?"
"She"s already run away once," Aunt Pol answered. "If we send her back, she"ll just run away again. I"ll feel much more comfortable having her Imperial little Highness where I can put my hands on her when I need her. When the proper time comes, I don"t want to have to take the world apart looking for her."
Wolf sighed. "Have it your way, Pol."
"Naturally."
"Just keep the brat away from me," he said. "She sets my teeth on edge. Do any of the others know who she is?"
"Garion does."
"Garion? That"s surprising."
"Not really," Aunt Pol said. "He"s brighter than he looks."
A new emotion began to grow in Garion"s already confused mind. Aunt Pol"s obvious interest in Ce"Nedra sent a sharp pang through him. With a certain amount of shame, he realized that he was jealous of the attention the girl was receiving.
In the days that followed, Garion"s fears quickly proved to be wellfounded. An inadvertant remark about Faldor"s farm had revealed quite early to the princess his former status as a scullery-boy, and she used the knowledge heartlessly to browbeat him into a hundred stupid little errands every day. To make it all worse, each time he tried to resist, Aunt Pol would firmly remind him to pay more attention to his manners. Inevitably, he became quite surly about the whole business.
The princess developed a story about the reason for her departure from Tol Honeth as they rode south. The story changed daily, growing more wildly implausible with every pa.s.sing league. At first she seemed content to be on a simple excursion to visit relatives; then she dropped dark hints about flight from a marriage to an ugly old merchant. Next, there were even darker hints about a plot to capture her and hold her for ransom. Finally, in a crowning effort, she confided to them that the proposed kidnapping was politically motivated - a part of some vast scheme to gain power in Tolnedra.
"She"s an awful liar, isn"t she?" Garion asked Aunt Pol when they were alone one evening.
"Yes, dear," Aunt Pol agreed. "Lying is an art. A good lie shouldn"t be embellished so much. She"ll need a lot more practice if she plans to make a career of it."
Finally, about ten days after they had left Tol Honeth, the city of Tol Borune came into sight in the afternoon sun.
"It looks like this is where we part company," Silk said to Jeebers with a certain amount of relief.
"Aren"t you going into the city?" Jeebers asked.
"I don"t think so," Silk answered. "We don"t really have any business to take care of there, and the usual explanations and searches just waste time-not to mention the expense of the bribes. We"ll go around Tol Borune and pick up the road to Tol Rane on the other side."
"We can ride a bit farther with you then," Ce"Nedra said quickly. "My relatives live on an estate to the south of the city."
Jeebers stared at her in amazement.
Aunt Pol drew in her horse and looked at the small girl with a raised eyebrow. "This seems like as good a place as any for us to have a little talk," she said.
Silk looked quickly at her and then nodded.
"I believe, little lady," Aunt Pol told the girl when they had all dismounted, "that the time has come for you to tell us the truth."
"But I have," Ce"Nedra protested.
"Oh, come now, child," Aunt Pol said. "Those stories of yours have been very entertaining, but you don"t actually think anyone believed them, do you? Some of us already know who you are, but I really think we should get it out in the open."
"You know?" Ce"Nedra faltered.
"Of course, dear," Aunt Pol said. "Would you like to tell them, or shall I?"
Ce"Nedra"s little shoulders drooped. "Tell them who I am, Master Jeebers," she ordered quietly.
"Do you really think that"s wise, your Ladyship?" Jeebers asked nervously.
"They already know anyway," she said. "If they were going to do anything to us, they"d have done it a long time ago. We can trust them."
Jeebers drew in a deep breath and then spoke rather formally. "I have the honor to introduce her Imperial Highness, the Princess Ce"Nedra, daughter to his Imperial Majesty, Ran Borune XXIII, and the jewel of the House of Borune."
Silk whistled, and his eyes widened momentarily. The others showed similar signs of amazement.
"The political situation in Tol Honeth had become far to volatile, too menacing, for her Highness to remain safely in the capital," Jeebers went on. "The Emperor commissioned me to convey his daughter secretly here to Tol Borune where the members of the Borune family can protect her from the plots and machinations of the Vordues, the Honeths, and the Horbites. I"m proud to say that I"ve managed to execute my commission rather brilliantly - with your help, of course. I"ll mention your a.s.sistance in my report - a footnote, perhaps, or maybe even an appendix."
Barak pulled at his beard, his eyes thoughtful. "An Imperial Princess travels across half of Tolnedra with only a schoolmaster for protection?" he questioned. "At a time when they"re knifing and poisoning each other in the streets?"
"It does seem a trifle risky, doesn"t it?" Hettar agreed.
"Did throe Emperor charge thee with this task in person?" Mandorallen asked Jeebers.
"It wasn"t necessary," Jeebers said stiffly, "His Highness has a great deal of respect for my judgment and discretion. He knew that I"d be able to devise a safe disguise and a secure mode of travel. The princess a.s.sured me of his absolute confidence in me. It all had to be done in utmost secrecy, of course. That"s why she came to my chambers in the middle of the night to advise me of his instructions and why we left the palace without telling anyone what we were-" His voice trailed off, and he stared at Ce"Nedra in horror.
"You might as well tell him the truth, dear," Aunt Pol advised the little princess. "I think he"s guessed already."
Ce"Nedra"s chin lifted arrogantly. "The orders came from me, Jeebers," she told him. "My father had nothing to do with it." Jeebers went deathly pale and he nearly collapsed.
"What idiocy made you decide to run away from your father"s palace?" Barak demanded of the tiny girl. "All Tolnedra"s probably looking for you, and we"re caught right in the middle."
"Gently," Wolf said to the hulking Cherek. "She may be a princess, but she"s still a little girl. Don"t frighten her."
"The question"s to the point, though," Hettar observed. "If we"re caught with an Imperial Princess in our company, we"ll all see the inside of a Tolnedran dungeon." He turned to Ce"Nedra. "Do you have an answer, or were you just playing games?"
She drew herself up haughtily. "I"m not accustomed to explaining my actions to servants."
"We"re going to have to clear up a few misconceptions before long, I see," Wolf said.
"Just answer the question, dear," Aunt Pol told the girl. "Never mind who asked it."
"My father had imprisoned me in the palace," Ce"Nedra said in a rather offhand way, as if that explained everything. "It was intolerable, so I left. There"s another matter, too, but that"s a matter of politics. You wouldn"t understand."
"You"d probably be surprised at what we"d understand, Ce"Nedra," Mister Wolf told her.
"I"m accustomed to being addressed as my Lady," she said tartly, "or as your Highness."
"And I"m accustomed to being told the truth."
"I thought you were in charge," Ce"Nedra said to Silk.
"Appearances are deceiving," Silk observed blandly. "I"d answer the question."
"It"s an old treaty," she said. "I didn"t sign it, so I don"t see why I should be bound by it. I"m supposed to present myself in the throne room at Riva on my sixteenth birthday."
"We know that," Barak said impatiently. "What"s the problem?"
"I"m not going, that"s all," Ce"Nedra announced. "I won"t go to Riva, and no one can make me go. The queen in the Wood of the Dryads is my kinswoman and she"ll give me sanctuary."
Jeebers had partially recovered. "What have you done?" he demanded, aghast. "I undertook this with the clear understanding that I"d be rewarded - even promoted. You"ve put my head on the block, you little idiot!"
"Jeebers!" she cried, shocked at his words.
"Let"s get off the road a ways," Silk suggested. "We"ve obviously got quite a bit to discuss, and we"re likely to be interrupted here on the main highway."
"Probably a good idea," Wolf agreed. "Let"s find some quiet place and set up for the night. We"ll decide what we"re going to do and then we can start out fresh in the morning."
They remounted and rode across the rolling fields toward a line of trees that marked the course of a winding country lane about a mile away.
"How about there?" Durnik suggested, pointing at a broad oak which stood beside the lane, its branches beginning to leaf out in the late afternoon sunlight.
"That should do," Wolf said.