Return to Canifis

village, and I had a memory of being taken there to be blessed by Saradomin when I was very young.” Kara splashed water in her face to hide her tears. “I don’t remember the time before Sulla. Or very little of it. I cannot remember my parents’ faces, nor do I know my mother’s name.”

Suddenly she grew angry, and grabbed the sponge from behind her head.

“I don’t even know my name!” she gritted. “Sulla prevented me from learning it by burning the monastery’s records when he held me prisoner. Unless the great library on Entrana ever received a copy of the monastery’s books then I will never know.” She twisted the sponge in frustration.

Then she noticed how Caroline shied away from her anger.

“I am sorry, Caroline,” she said. “I have lost so much that in all honesty, I envy the milkmaid her life or the seamstress hers. Death and war are not subjects for great songs or tales. Everyone expects so much of me now. I just don’t know what to expect for myself.”

A moment of silence fell between them. Kara stirred the water idly below her chin.

“I am sorry, Kara,” Caroline said. “I didn’t know you had lost so much, though I know what it is like to live a life governed by the expectations of others. My parents are looking to marry me off to some young man of an appropriate family, to the scions of great households, a match made for economy rather than love.” She looked at the floor. “At least for you there is an escape. I am trapped here.”

“But what of this Lord William?”

Caroline dared to smile briefly before a sharp voice called out from behind the screen.

“Lady Caroline! Come here please.” It was Anne calling.

“Do you see what I mean?” Caroline said as she stood and wiped her hand over her dark eyes.

Was that a tear?

Kara said nothing as she was left alone again.

Kara left the bath with some reluctance as a small clock chimed. She dried herself with a woollen towel and made her way slowly around the screen, silently delighting in Anne’s commands for her to hurry.

“Try this on,” the noblewoman instructed. “We all think it is best for you.”

Kara saw the gown on offer. The dress reminded her of a plum, its bulbous bottom ballooning out about her feet, far wider below the waist than above.

I won’t know how to walk in such a thing!

“Come along,” Anne said impatiently. “There is no time left for delay.”

Kara cast her eye to the stool to where her old clothes had been folded neatly.

Did they search my satchel? I have no way of knowing if she saw Theodore’s letter.

Anne followed her gaze and then looked back at her face.

She is unreadable. She considered for a moment. Time to bait the trap.

“Have you seen much of my friend Theodore, Lady Anne?” she asked. “Lady Caroline and I were just talking about him. You and he seem to have grown very close.” Caroline let out a little gasp, but said nothing.

Kara allowed herself to be helped into the gown as she spoke. Madame Thessalia tightened the garment at her back and Kara lost her breath.

Anne remained silent for a full minute as she watched Kara being dressed. Finally she spoke.

“He is a very fine knight, Kara,” she said coldly. “Today he bested Varrock’s most accomplished warrior, Lord Hyett, the Black Boar. It has saved me from any more of the man’s advances, and Theodore knows how grateful I am.”

Kara struggled to answer as both Thessalias fussed about her, forcing her to stand straight to better shape the gown. It was very low-cut in the front, she thought.

“Are you sure this is acceptable?” Kara asked Caroline, who nodded shyly before looking to Anne, perhaps to seek her permission. “It has a yellow ribbon on. Isn’t that the King’s colour?”

“Not exclusively so,” Anne said.

“And you don’t think it too… revealing?” Kara asked.

“It is the only dress left that suits your figure,” Madame Thessalia replied. After a moment she and her daughter finished their efforts, and stood back to assess the results.

“Well, that fits at least,” Anne said as she approached the older Thessalia. “Take it off, Kara, and we will return to the palace to prepare together.” She took her purse and dropped five coins into the old woman’s hand.

“My lady?” Madame Thessalia asked.

Anne looked at Kara, her eyes narrowing.

“That is a bonus,” she said. “I am very happy with my dress for this evening, and if things go as well as I expect, then I will pay you some more.”

I have missed something here.

Madame Thessalia bowed her head in respect.

“You are our very best and most generous patron, my lady.”

“But as I was saying Kara-Meir-” Anne spoke with a sudden relish, and Kara prepared herself. “-Theodore may be a knight, but he is also a man. A very good man in fact. Very good. And ever so eager to please.”

Kara went cold inside as Anne gazed at her in triumph. She forgot the dress in an instant.

Oh, Theodore.

The atmosphere in the carriage was tense as they journeyed back to the palace. Occasionally Kara would see Anne look at her with a superior smile. Caroline, for her part, stared always out of the window. When they arrived, Anne gestured to a man who was waiting for them.

“This servant will guide you to your room, Kara-Meir,” she said. “A chamber has been put aside for you in the palace’s guest wing, and your packs from your horses have already been sent up. You will be expected back down here in the Great Hall for nine. It would be most embarrassing if you were late, for you are a guest of honour.”

Kara followed the servant up the great staircase, while another came behind, carrying the dress that Anne had picked out for her.

I wouldn’t be surprised if she has found me room in the stables.

Her thoughts were so turbulent that when the servant stopped outside of a closed door, she nearly walked straight into his back.

“These are the very best guest quarters, my lady.” The man swung the door inward. A cosy anteroom led off through an arch to a larger space. “Three rooms-a bedroom, living room, and a dressing room.” He hesitated suddenly. “I was asked to find a servant for you. I know your friends have been appointed valets to help them, but apparently you have your own? Lord William de Adlard told me so. In fact, he asked me to tell you that he will be coming to see you shortly.”

“Who is Lord William?” Kara said, thinking quickly of the many faces she had seen in the royal box. She couldn’t recall being introduced to him, yet she knew his name from Anne’s scathing assessment in the carriage.

“He is a friend of Squire-” The servant coughed. “Forgive me, my lady. Of Sir Theodore’s.”

“Is he an honest man?”

“I really shouldn’t comment, my lady. But I do believe so.”

The second servant left her dress in the cupboard as the first man bowed.

“If you need anything else, my lady, the bell rope will call us.”

Once they had left, Kara lay down on her bed, dropping the satchel beside her.

Don’t let yourself get lazy, she told herself. Weapons first. Always they come first. With a sigh she got up and dug through her saddlebag to find a whetstone. Then she took her satchel off the bed and examined the daggers she had taken from the barn.

Could they really have cut Jerrod?

But her questions died when she saw Theodore’s letter, the paper’s edge protruding from inside the leather satchel.

She read it again. There could be no mistaking what the knight had said.