He bowed and said, “Highness.”
Carline acknowledged the greeting with a nod and gestured that Lady Glynis should leave them alone. Glynis fled down the stairway into the tower.
Softly Carline said, “You did not ride to the beach with Lyam?”
“No, Highness.”
“You spoke with him before he left?”
Roland turned his gaze to the far horizon. “Yes, Highness, though I must confess to a foul humor at his going.”
Carline nodded understanding. “Because you have to stay.”
He spoke with bitterness, “Yes, Highness.”
Carline said gently, “Why so formal, Roland?”
Roland looked at the Princess, seventeen years old just this last Midsummer’s Day. No longer a petulant little girl given to outbursts of temper, she was changing into a beautiful young woman of thoughtful introspection. Few in the castle were unaware of the many nights’ sobbing that issued from Carline’s suite after news of Pug had reached the castle. After nearly a week of solitude, Carline had emerged a changed person, more subdued, less willful. There was little outward to show how Carline felt, but Roland knew she carried a scar.
After a moment of silence, Roland said, “Highness, when . . .” He halted, then said, “It is of no consequence.”
Carline placed her hand upon his arm. “Roland, whatever else, we have always been friends.”
“It pleases me to think that is true.”
“Then tell me, why has a wall grown between us?”
Roland sighed, and there was none of his usual roguish humor in his answer. “If there has, Carline, it is not of my fashioning.”
A spark of the girl’s former self sprang into being, and with a temperamental edge to her voice she said, “Am I, then, the architect of this estrangement?”
Anger erupted in Roland’s voice. “Aye, Carline!” He ran his hand through his wavy brown hair and said, “Do you remember the day I fought with Pug? The very day before he left.”
At the mention of Pug’s name she tensed. Stiffly she said, “Yes, I remember.”
“Well, it was a silly thing, a boys’ thing, that fight. I told him should he ever cause you any hurt, I’d thrash him. Did he tell you that?”
Moisture came unbidden to her eyes. Softly she said, “No, he never mentioned it.”
Roland looked at the beautiful face he had loved for years and said, “At least then I knew my rival.” He lowered his voice, the anger slipping away. “I like to think then, near the end, he and I were fast friends. Still, I vowed I’d never stop my attempts to change your heart.”
Shivering, Carline drew her cloak about her, though the day was not that cool She felt conflicting emotions within, confusing emotions. Trembling, she said, “Why did you stop, Roland?”
Sudden harsh anger burst within Roland. For the first time he lost his mask of wit and manners before the Princess. “Because I can’t contend with a memory, Carline.” Her eyes opened wide, and tears welled up and ran down her cheeks. “Another man of flesh I can face, but this shade from the past I cannot grapple with.” Hot anger exploded into words “He’s dead, Carline. I wish it were not so; he was my friend and I miss him, but I’ve let him go. Pug is dead. Until you grant that this is true, you are living with a false hope.”
She put her hand to her mouth, palm outward, her eyes regarding him in wordless denial. Abruptly she turned and fled down the stairs.
Alone, Roland leaned his elbows on the cold stones of the tower wall. Holding his head in his hands, he said, “Oh, what a fool I have become!”
“Patrol!” shouted the guard from the wall of the castle. Arutha and Roland turned from where they watched soldiers giving instructions to levies from the outlying villages.
They reached the gate, and the patrol came riding slowly in, a dozen dirty, weary riders, with Martin Longbow and two other trackers walking beside. Arutha greeted the Huntmaster and then said, “What have you there?”
He indicated the three men in short grey robes who stood between the line of horsemen. “Prisoners, Highness,” answered the hunter, leaning on his bow.
Arutha dismissed the tired riders as other guards came to take position around the prisoners. Arutha walked to where they waited, and when he came within touching distance, all three fell to their knees, putting their foreheads to the dirt.
Arutha raised his eyebrows in surprise at the display. “I have never seen such as these.”
Longbow nodded in agreement. “They wear no armor, and they didn’t give fight or run when we found them in the woods. They did as you see now, only then they babbled like fishwives.”