He frowned for a moment, then called on the system again. 'Generate an estimate on how long players would have to be absent from Latvinia.'
'Minimum journey and stay, seven to ten days,' the computer replied.
David turned to Leif, one eyebrow raised, a lopsided smile on his lips.
What did he say? Leif thought. Not as obvious as a lightning bolt?
Still, Leif got the message.
'Well,' he finally said. 'When is the earliest we could set off?'
Chapter 12
Megan felt her mouth drop open in a very un-princesslike gawk when she heard Leif's suggestion. It only got worse when David announced that he was ready to leave at once.
'What are you talking about?' she demanded. 'I only showed you the false gems so we could discuss what to do about them!'
'I fear you were too dramatic, ma'am,' Leif replied in his best turn-of-the-century style. 'This is a development that should be investigated posthaste.'
'You can't really be talking about leaving Latvinia!' Megan cried. 'I won't have it! I won't allow it!'
'Won't allow it?' Leif repeated, slipping into a more modern idiom. 'I think that wearing that crown may have cut off the flow of blood to your brain… Miss O'Malley.'David nodded. 'This is the inner circle, remember? It's not a monarchy-just four people who happened to cross this border together. We'll put it up to a vote-if you get a majority, we'll stay.'
Leif could only shrug helplessly. 'At a quick count I'd say the numbers aren't on our side.'
'Don't be ridiculous!' Megan cried. What was wrong with these people? 'You can't desert me now! Especially to run off after some bare… possibility!'
Leif shrugged. 'You're the one who showed us the fake gem. I think it needs to be followed up.'
'All right, then-if that's how you feel, the Graf here or Colonel Vojak can pick somebody dependable to go to Vienna.'
Some nonrole-playing character, she thought. Or maybe-
'How about Sergei Chernevsky? We know he's loyal.'
'You'd cheat him out of his chance to be a Hussar?' David asked with mock horror. 'For shame!'
'Look,' Megan snapped. 'I think this Vienna thing is just a wild-goose chase. The real action is here in Latvinia!'
She tried appealing to Leif. 'You threw the fact that I'm not the real princess in my face. But what about her? We still have a rescue to stage.'
'So far, we haven't gotten much closer to that,' Leif pointed out. He turned to von Esbach. 'You and Colonel Vojak have had people out searching for some sign of Princess Gwenda. How much longer will it take to sweep the area of Grauheim?'
Von Esbach spread his hands. 'It is very wild, desolate country-'
'What would you say? A week? Ten days?'
The prime minister nodded unhappily. 'It could take as long as that.' He pulled out his pocket watch and consulted it. 'The afternoon train for Vienna departs in an hour and a half. Otherwise you must put off your journey until tomorrow.'
Megan rounded on him. 'You, too?'
'Their minds are made up, Your Majesty,' Esbach replied gently. 'I will have a closed carriage-without the royal coat of arms-ready for you within the hour. Do you gentlemen need help in packing?
'No,' Leif replied. 'I always keep a small portmanteau ready.'
Sure, Megan thought. Given the Baron von Hengist's slightly shady past, he'd always have a bag ready to skip out on hotels or make other hasty departures.
'I, too, am prepared to travel light,' David spoke up.
'Do you wish to accompany them, ma'am?' von Esbach asked Megan.
'Yes,' she replied, 'preferably without a brass band. Let's try to be inconspicuous.'
I'll still have the ride to the station to try to change their minds, Megan thought, hiding a frown.
Even though the carriage was large, it was fairly crowded inside. Besides Megan, Leif, and David, P. J. had insisted on coming along. And then there was the beefy young soldier in the ill-fitting suit-the bodyguard that von Esbach insisted should accompany her. 'The assistant coachman will also accompany you on the station platform,' the prime minister told her.
Megan's fingers twitched the long skirt of the black riding costume she wore. So much for inconspicuous. They'd still be a parade, even if the brass band was missing.
Whether it was the cramped quarters, the extra witness, or just her own annoyance, Megan's attempts at persuading the boys to stay crashed and burned miserably.
David and Leif would barely discuss their decision, or any plans they might have on their fictitious trip. The more they evaded her attempts to talk, the more a nagging suspicion grew in her mind.
These guys know something they're not telling me, Megan thought.
But she wasn't going to get it out of them here and now, standing on the platform of the Herzen train station. There were two trains on the tracks, pointed in opposite directions. One had boxcars, several coaches, and a crowd bustling around it. That was the Vienna Limited. The other was a single coach with a locomotive.
Megan turned to her bodyguard, indicating the quieter train. 'Where is that going?'
He replied with a shrug of his heavy shoulders. 'Your Majesty, I do not know. It is someone's private train.'
The equivalent of a personal jet, Megan thought, now noticing that the single car on the private train looked considerably more impressive than even the first-class coach on the Vienna Limited. Heavy velvet curtains hung in the windows, cutting off the view of an undoubtedly opulent interior.
I wonder if we royals have a train of our own? Megan wondered. Then she realized she'd probably seen it- the derailed wreck from which the real Princess Gwenda had been kidnapped.
With a little shudder, she gripped Leif and David's hands. 'Be careful,' she told them. A second later she felt like a fool. They weren't traveling to far-off Vienna, after all. Most likely, they'd be synching out of Latvinia as soon as the train was out of the station.
'You fellas bring us something purty from Vienna,' P. J. said with a grin, shaking hands with David and Leif. Both boys bowed and kissed Megan's hand, which only made her feel more conspicuous. They boarded the Vienna Limited, to appear a moment later in the one of the windows of the first-class coach. Steam wafted along the platform as the locomotive began chuffing, getting ready to leave. The conductor cried out the Latvinian equivalent of 'All aboard!' The bustle around them intensified.
Megan raised a hand to wave at the smiling faces in the window, a strange feeling in her heart. They'd told her that they'd be gone for only a week, but this felt like a permanent goodbye.
Then the train lurched into motion. P. J., ever the boisterous cowboy, ran along the platform, keeping beside the first-class carriage, waving. Megan crushed the lacy little handkerchief she'd intended to flutter in her hand.
She couldn't tell if it came from the program or from the recesses of her own brain. But she had the strangest premonition that she'd never see her friends in Latvinia again.
Aboard the train, Leif waved his farewell to Princess Megan, then laughingly waved to P. J. until the train finally outpaced him. He turned to David, who was laughing and waving as well.
David's expression became a little more serious as they sat down on plushly upholstered seats. But he still had the look of a little kid who's unexpectedly gotten out of school.
'I wonder,' David said mischievously. 'What do you think would happen if I came back here as a proxy and began preaching socialist revolution?'
'Going by Roberta's track record, I expect you'd probably get run over by a garbage truck in the real world,' Leif retorted. 'I don't know if Latvinia is bad news, but it sure as heck feels like bad luck.'
