Homage and Honour (40 page)

* * * * *

Tana remained
in Philip Ross’s quarters for what was left of the day while her
host came to a decision. He spoke to his Sergeant, an old friend of
his and one whom he could trust.

The two gate
guards who had been on duty when Tana arrived found themselves out
of the palace grounds and on a trip to Smithstown. Philip was in no
mind to advertise his guest’s presence in his quarters. The guards
were more than happy with this unexpected holiday especially since
the Sergeant indicated there was no hurry to return.

He returned to
Tana.

“It will not
seem strange to my men that you remain here. They know I am
friendly with the Graham cousins. I often spend time with their
messengers and get news of the family. They also know, or think
they know, from your attire that you are a close family retainer, a
relative even.”

“How so?” asked
Tana.

“You are
wearing the livery of Duke Graham, you know this?”

Tana
nodded.

“You wear the
badge of not just an ordinary retainer, but one of the bloodline.
Jeremy Graham has many offspring begat on the wrong side of the
blanket, at least fifteen at the last count. I wish to encourage
their assumption that you are yet another of the Duke’s by-blows. I
also think it best that you have no need to beg a cot in the
barracks. It would be impossible to hide your sex there. You have
rested?”

“Well
enough.”

“Then I’ll
leave you here. Don’t go out. I’ll be back within the candlemark,
two at most.”

When Philip
returned he told Tana that his meeting with the family, who she
still thought of as the Crawfords, had been successful.

“I have spoken
to the Prince Consort. He has agreed to meet you after his evening
meal. He often strolls in the gardens alone, to collect his
thoughts and to feel the air on his face. He did so before his
illness and more so now.”

“We will wait
for him there? He will definitely be on his own?”

“He insists
upon it, always has.”

“How much have
you told him?”

“That one has
come from the North with news of his daughter.”

The gardens to
where Philip took her were large and extensive. They were very like
the formal gardens situated on the outskirts of Settlement.
Full-grown trees swayed gently in the balmy breeze and paths
meandered through them. Tana and Philip waited on a wooden bench at
the edge of the garden but far enough from the outer walls so that
no-one could overhear.

David walked
with a slow gait towards them and Tana rose to her feet, alarmed at
the change she saw in the man. She had expected that Jess’s father
would be older, it had been over a decade since her visit to the
farm but then he had been vigorous, brown-haired and with energy
enough for two. He was now grey-haired and walked stooped over as
if even the action of walking gave him pain.

He recognised
Tana, despite her disguise and travel-stained clothes.

“It
is
Tana! By the Lai, how did you get here undetected?”

“I rode,” she
replied with a grin.

“Tavei?”

David had no
trouble remembering her life-mate’s name and Tana realised that
although he looked frail, there was nothing the matter with his
mind.

“He’s well
hidden.”

David sat down
on the bench beside her and Philip left them to act as lookout just
in case someone thought to brave the Prince Consort’s displeasure
and follow him into the gardens.

“I am amazed
that you of all people are here.”

Tana told him
of her journey trying to put off the moment when she would have to
tell him about the details of Jess and Mlei’s deaths but he guessed
she felt diffident about bringing up the subject.

“Jess is
definitely dead then? Mlei too?”

“Yes,” she
said.

“How? How much
do you know? We have heard little more than the official
announcement.”

Tana told him.
“The gtran are very vicious. Three died in her Vadryz that day. As
to why I am here, well, I promised her that I would tell you if
anything happened to her.”

“She would not
have expected that you come in person Tana, much as I appreciate
it.”

“There is
more,” admitted Tana.

“Tell me the
more.”

Tana did. She
told him of Andrei’s arrival at Vada and of how he had always
thought of Ruth as his future; how they had played together; that
he had come to her and Tavei for help when he had learned that Jess
and Mlei had died; of how Jess had been planning to come south to
get Ruth. “I spoke to Jess before her Ryzck had left for the
mountains, if they hadn’t died, then ...”

“It would have
been Jess sitting here beside me,” David finished for her. “How
could Jess have been so sure that Ruth would want to return to the
North?”

“During your
visit to Vadath they talked. Jess promised Ruth. Jess was my
oath-sister. Her promises are my promises.”

David thought
about Ruth, still, he had to admit, not reconciled to her life as a
princess. She was always asking him to tell her stories about the
North, about Jess, about the Vada. She looked set to remain the
hoyden princess, always skipping away from the confines of her
rooms to visit the stables, always demanding more freedom. Now
Conclave was pressing for marriage. Of course, if given the chance,
Ruth would go back to Vadath and he felt he had no right to try to
stop her. If he thought about it, he had a moral obligation to help
her do so. Ruth had not agreed to stay in Murdoch as a princess all
those years ago when they had been kidnapped. Anne and he had made
the decision. They had sacrificed their own lives and happiness for
Murdoch. To his shame, they had also sacrificed the children, one
to the crown and one to an arranged marriage. Did David want
another arranged marriage for Ruth? No, he did not. He made his
decision and turned to Tana. “We must make plans. Can you leave
tomorrow night?”

“It should be
soon,” Tana agreed. She was surprised at the quickness of his
answer and even more surprised at the speed with which David wanted
to move on this. “The longer I am here the more likely it is that I
will be found out.”

“Leave the
details to me,” David instructed her. “I will speak to Anne and
Ruth. Now I must return, if I am away much longer someone will
notice and begin asking questions.”

“Before you
go,” said Tana, struggling to reach her belt-pouch, “it isn’t much,
but it’s all I could manage with safety. It is Jess’s Vada badge.
She was wearing it when she died and was given to me by her
commanding officer who knew of our closeness.”

“Thank you,”
was all David said as he took it with trembling fingers, then he
left her, passing Philip with a few words and making his slow way
back to the palace.

Philip took
Tana back to his quarters.

In the quiet of
their bedchamber, he and Anne opened the soft package Tana had
given him and took out the silver badge within. They fingered it
and remembered Jess. The corner was torn and dried blood stained
the stitching but this made it all the more precious; Jess had worn
this at the end and it was the only physical memento they had, this
and memories; that of a laughing young girl, her curls blowing in
the wind as she mounted Mlei at the end of that last leave at the
farm, then later, a year ago, during their visit to the North, a
tall serious young woman but still full of fun, of plans for the
future, of joy at meeting her parents and little sister again.

“I am to report
to the Prince Consort first thing in the morning,” Philip told
Tana. “He did not have time to say more except that you would
explain all.”

I could not
tell you before,” began Tana.

“You did not
trust me?” Philip queried.

“Not altogether
… no.”

“Do you trust
me now?”

“Jess’s father
said I must. I think he intends that you will have a part to play.
There is … there is … another reason, apart from the deaths of Jess
and Mlei that is, why I came here. It is not merely my Lind Tavei
who waits for me in the lian, the forest. Another is with him.”

Philip was
leaning forward, the better to hear Tana’s low voice.

“The other is
the future life-mate of Jess’s sister Ruth.”

“Princess
Ruth?” Philip sounded incredulous.

Tana
explained.

“He is newly
adult. He and Ruth met when they were very young and played
together. Andrei tells me that they promised each to the other at
that time, but they were too young. He told Ruth that he would
return when he was older but when he did the family had
disappeared, no-one knew where at first. He never forgot her. When
he reached adulthood he began to look for her and he found out that
Jess and Mlei were at Vada. He went to Jess and she promised to
help. Then she died and now the task is mine. It is my right and
duty. It is Ruth’s right to choose her own life.”

“She is a
Princess of Murdoch,” retorted Philip, “and a female. Her duty is
to stay here.”

“She wasn’t
born so. She is of the North first.”

“Will you tell
me about the North Tana?” he asked, “my brother and father have
been to Argyll but I have not.”

Tana talked
about her youth in Argyll, her training at Vada and serving with
her Ryzck in both Vadath and Argyll. As she talked Philip grew more
and more interested, began to wish he might have been born a
northerner. He told her about Murdoch, about his own
upbringing.

As they talked
an indefinable something began to pass between them, an
electricity, a something that both took great pains to suppress.
When they eventually went to their beds (Tana was given a truckle
in the front room), Tana fell asleep immediately, but Philip lay
awake a long time, thinking hard.

Philip had been
brought up in a hard school, both he and his younger brother Mark,
after a short time spent at court in their middle teens, had gone
on to officer training. He knew little of Argyll, less about Vadath
and was almost completely ignorant about the rtathlians of the
Lind. The Queen and her family had originated in Vadath but seldom
spoke about it. The Prince Consort had been the most forthcoming
but even he had said little, only some details about his own small
corner. Until Tana began to talk Philip had had little idea of what
life was like there. He also learned that the bonds between human
and Lind had, at their root, love and mutual respect. Philip had
been taught that Vadath was an enemy of Murdoch. Tana had said that
the North had no intention of threatening Murdoch.
What have you
got that we could possibly want?
had been her exact words.
Well, he had never thought of it like that before, they merely
defended what was theirs, same as his own people.

So why are we
taught that they are our enemies?

From what Tana
said, pirates apart, the real threat to both their countries was
not each other but the Larg. He suspected his father believed this
already and perhaps his brother too. Philip himself had never been
as deep a thinker as the two of them.

He had to know
more about all this. If the Prince Consort asked him on the morrow
to help Princess Ruth set out on her journey to meet the boat that
Tana was sure would be waiting to take them north, he rather
thought he would accept. He might even go a bit further than the
palace environs.

The private
apartments of the royal family were situated in the only tower the
palace possessed. It dated from the time of King Elliot the First,
a time when the young king had fought for the right to govern on
his own. The palace had grown over the years and was now a
sprawling stone edifice with the tower at its centre.

That morning
both the Queen and her husband waited for Philip. As he bowed he
noticed that Queen Anne looked pale and drawn. Obviously she had
not slept well, hardly surprising with the double shock of hearing
the details about the death of her eldest and the fact that she was
soon to lose Ruth. Their conversation was rapid. They had been
awake for most of the night David informed Philip, deciding on the
best move. That Ruth should leave with Tana was a yes. Ruth, when
told, had leapt at the chance of escape from a life abhorrent to
her.

“We did not
know of her friendship with Andrei,” Anne informed Philip with
distress. “She has held this secret all this time, too frightened
to tell us of it. You will not understand, but a vadeln-pairing is
considered sacrosanct in Vadath, there is no way a true Vadathian
would come between them. We have no wish to see her forced into
marriage but that is not what drives us. It is our duty to see that
Ruth gets the chance to do what Annette, Xavier and even little
David cannot.”

David and Anne
looked at each other for a long moment before Anne continued, “we
are going to ask a great thing of you,” she began.

Philip tensed.
So they were going to ask him.

“You wish me to
escort them to the woods where their Lind wait?” he asked.

“Yes, we do,
but it could be construed as treason.”

“Yes, but I
have spoken to Tana. I have been thinking, I feel the need to see
more of this world of ours. I have never, in my entire life
journeyed far. This is my chance.”

“Something else
has affected you,” said the astute David. “Tana is an attractive
young lady underneath the disguise.”

“I have met
none like her,” Philip admitted.

“She was a
pretty child that time Jess brought her to stay,” said Anne. “She
showed promise of beauty. Jess was like an untamed colt beside her,
so tall and ungainly.”

“A brave young
lady,” added David, “I am proud that Jessica found in her such a
staunch friend.”

“I will do it,”
Philip said, dropping to one knee. “I have spoken to Tana. We think
we can manage a subterfuge to make it seem like I had nothing to do
with it and thus make it look as if you both knew nothing
also.”