Erik smiled. ‘I don’t have to be there until noon tomorrow.’
Kitty almost squealed in delight. ‘I opened today, so I get off in two hours. Have something to eat and don’t drink too much with your low-life barracks mates, because I have plans for you.’
Erik blushed, and several of those within hearing range laughed at Kitty’s remarks.
Erik crossed to the corner of the inn, where Sergeant Alfred sat with other men from Erik’s unit. Erik pulled up a chair, and one of the other serving girls came over with a pitcher of ale and a fresh mug for him. She topped off the other mugs and left the men to themselves.
‘Why so somber?’ asked Erik.
‘Orders,’ said Alfred.
Another soldier, a Rodezian corporal named Miguel, said, ‘We leave at sundown tomorrow.’
Erik took a long pull of his ale. ‘So.’
Alfred said, ‘It’s beginning.’
The other soldiers nodded.
Erik, the only man in the room who had served with Calis on his voyages to Novindus, said, ‘No, it began a long time ago.’ He looked off into the distance, then at his companions, and said, ‘But now it’s here.’
Kitty snuggled into the crook of Erik’s shoulder. ‘I hate that you have to leave tomorrow.’
‘I know,’ said Erik.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘What makes you think anything is wrong?’
They lay in the relative solitude of her room. Erik could afford to take a room had he wished, but having spent his childhood in a similar loft he found the odor of hay and animals, leather and iron familiar and reassuring.
Kitty said, ‘I know you, Erik. You’re worried.’
Erik weighed his words. Finally he said, ‘Do you know a way out of the city?’
‘You mean where the gate is?’ she said in a joking fashion.
‘No, I mean if the city was sealed, do you think you could find a way out?’
Kitty raised herself up and leaned on an elbow, looking down at her lover. ‘Why?’
‘Just answer: could you?’
‘Without running into the Mockers, probably not.’
Erik considered his next words, for what he was going to say bordered on treason, and at the very least was a direct circumvention of orders. ‘I have a favor to ask.’
‘Anything.’
‘When the festival winds down next week, just before sundown . . .’
‘Yes?’ she prompted.
‘Find your way out of the city; leave with some farmers heading back to the nearby villages.’
‘What?’ she asked, her expression one of open surprise.
‘I can’t tell you exactly why, but I don’t want you in Krondor after Banapis.’
‘You mean you won’t tell me. What is this all about?’
‘Duke James has agents at every gate of the city, without question, and besides looking for enemy agents, my guess is they also have orders to stop you, or anyone else he’s forced to serve, from fleeing. Banapis is the best chance you have of getting out of the city without being stopped.’
‘Why do I need to leave Krondor?’ said Kitty.
‘Because if you stay, I don’t know if you’ll survive. I can’t say more.’
‘You’re frightening me,’ she said. Erik had never heard Kitty admit to being afraid of anything, so the words carried weight.
‘Good. You have to fear what I can’t talk about more than Duke James’s long reach. Get out of the city and make your way to Roo’s estate and hide there. I’ll make arrangements for him to get you out of the West. And say nothing to anyone.’
‘Where are you going to be while I’m hiding in the East?’
‘Fighting a war.’
Erik felt her melt into his arms, and her hot tears fell on his chest. ‘We’re not going to see each other again, are we?’
Holding her close, he stroked her hair and kissed her cheek. ‘I don’t know, but it won’t be for the lack of trying, my love.’
She kissed him back. ‘I want to forget what you said.’
‘You can forget until Banapis,’ said Erik.
‘Until Banapis.’
TWELVE - Midsummer
Roo pointed.
‘Nothing like that in Ravensburg, is there?’
Erik said, ‘You’ve got the right of it.’