Below the palace, the courtyard was filled with visiting nobles, waiting for the traditional noon start of the Festival of Banapis, Midsummer’s Day. Erik glanced around and felt conflicting emotions; Banapis was traditionally the happiest day of the year, the day when everyone in the Kingdom was counted one year older, a day dedicated to drinking, gambling, making love, dancing, and anything else people could traditionally think of as pleasure. Servants were free to roam after noon and, once the tables were laid out for the nobles, were free to mingle with them or to head into the city to partake of the merriment there.
Back in Ravensburg, things were considerably less formal. The servants worked through the night and morning to prepare the meals, then the town burghers, the members of the local guild, the Growers’ and Vintners’, would leave their hall to signal the beginning of festivities. Everything in Ravensburg was free that day, with those of great and lesser means sharing. Whatever could be was brought to the community table, and at noon the feasting began.
Here there were servants whose part in the festivities wouldn’t commence until the Prince and his family had retired for the night. Some of them would be permitted to leave early, then forced to return to take the place of others, for no matter what the tradition in other parts of the Kingdom, the royal family could never be without servants.
Erik knew from having been involved in the passing of orders that soldiers were warned to limit their imbibing and that any man returning to quarters obviously drunk would be called out for punishment duty the next day. Normally that would have been insufficient to deter some of the younger soldiers, but word had been passed that punishment would consist of a full day beside the convict labor building the new jetty in the harbor.
And that was the reason for the dark shadow that hung over Erik’s otherwise jovial mood. In the back of his mind he couldn’t forget the coming battle, and he fretted over Kitty’s planned escape from the city.
He wrestled with his conscience. He should have gone directly to Lord James and asked him to send Kitty away, but fear of the Duke saying no had led Erik to this implicit defiance of orders. He could claim that because James had not overtly forbidden Kitty to leave Krondor, no one was being treasonable, but Erik knew it to be a petty legalism, and that he was violating the spirit of Kitty’s conditions of service to Lord James, if not the word.
Yet a part of him didn’t care. Her safety was paramount to him, matched only by his fear for his mother and Nathan, her husband. Kitty would carry a letter drafted by Erik to Ravensburg, after Roo gave her shelter. The letter would tell Nathan to take Freida to the east.
Erik understood that should the Kingdom fall, nowhere on Midkemia would prove safe, but he knew that the fighting would eventually reach Darkmoar, and even should the Kingdom prevail, Ravensburg was on the wrong side of the mountains. It would surely be overrun by the invaders.
Roo asked, ‘What’s the matter?’
Lowering his voice, Erik said, ‘Come with me a moment.’
Roo signaled to Karli that he would be with Erik, and she nodded. The children were freshly scrubbed and on their best behavior, as Roo and a score of the most important merchants mingled with the assembled nobles as guests of the Prince, at a private reception of his prior to the general festivities.
Duncan Avery was deep in conversation with Sylvia Esterbrook, and Erik absently wondered if Roo had intentionally inflicted his boorish cousin on the girl to keep Karli free of suspicion.
Roo asked, ‘What is it?’
‘Ah,’ Erik began, then he said, ‘I see you brought Helen Jacoby and her children.’
‘Yes,’ answered Roo. ‘They’re quickly becoming a fixture in my life.’ He grinned. ‘Actually, Helen is a wonderful woman, and she and Karli hit it off. And the children get along like kittens in a litter.
‘Now, tell me what’s really on your mind. You didn’t ask me over here to talk about Helen Jacoby, and you’ve got something stuck in your craw. I know you too well, Erik von Darkmoor; I’m your best friend, remember? You want a favor. You’ve never known how to ask for one, so just say it.’
‘I want you to hide Kitty,’ he said softly.
Roo’s eyes widened. Of those not members of the Prince’s court he knew more of what was going on in the Kingdom than any man. He had served with Calis’s forces and had seen the ravages of the Emerald Queen. He knew about the preparations for the coming war, as his various companies were doing more business with the Crown than any other like concerns. He could judge to a fairly accurate degree just what sort of defense was being mounted and where, because it was his wagons that were carrying arms and provisions throughout the Principality.
He also knew Kitty’s status and who she had been before being captured by Lord James, and he knew what it meant to run afoul of the Duke of Krondor. He hesitated an instant, then said, ‘Done.’
Erik’s relief was almost too much. Tears began to gather in his eyes. Getting his emotions under control, he whispered, ‘Thank you.’
‘When do you plan to sneak her out of the city?’