There were hundreds of people on the shore and seawall, more ever than the hamlet had seen at the busiest Sheep Fair. The trireme's arrival had been a surprise, but its launching was scheduled and had drawn the whole borough to watch it.
Sharina had never felt so completely alone.
"I apologize that there's so little space on the ship," Meder chattered happily, "but really, Sharina, none of the clothing available in this backwater was worthy of you. When we reach Valles the king will outfit you like the great lady you are."
Sailors were carrying the last of the supplies across the gangplank and down into the bowels of the ship. At Asera's order, one of them had taken aboard the wicker hamper holding Sharina's blanket and an extra shift. It was a clear, sunny day, but she huddled within her cape because she felt cold nonetheless.
"You're lucky that we found you in time," Meder said. "The queen's agents are looking for you too, you know. They'd have killed you without hesitation if they'd found you first."
Sharina had avoided Meder ever since the summoning ceremony, but now that they were to be together on the ship she had no choice. He was a good-looking young man; wealthy, noble, and a powerful wizard besides. He just made her feel uncomfortable.
"Why would the queen want to kill me?" Sharina asked with a frown. The warning puzzled rather than frightened her; it simply had no place in her world. "Why would anyone want to kill me?"
Asera sat nearby on a folding stool, writing with a stylus on a tablet made by laying wax over thin wooden boards. Noble officials would normally have an entourage of servants, secretaries included. These must have traveled on the other triremes, the pair the sea had swallowed.
None of Sharina's friends from Barca's Hamlet came up to her. Even her family stood a few paces away: Lora was crying, Reise stood stone-faced; even Garric held himself stiff with his hands crossed at the small of his back, and the smiles he offered when Sharina's eyes brushed him were forced. It was as though she'd already died.
"Oh, the queen's evil, utter evil, Sharina," Meder explained in a tone of surprise. "I suppose growing up out here you don't see that as much as we do on Ornifal, but there's no depth to which she and her minions wouldn't stoop to destroy the old royal line of Haft. She's not from Ornifal, you know. And she's a wizard herself who bewitched the king into marrying her."
"We don't see anything of the queen or the king in Barca's Hamlet," Sharina said with a touch of irritation. Did Meder think his artificial world of politics and treachery was the way everyone lived? Maybe he did think that; probably he did. "We don't see anything of Carcosa except tax collectors. And once a year the priests parade their images and collect portions for the Lady and the Shepherd."
Most of the crew was gathered to either side of the trireme's stern, preparing to shove her off the beach. The waves were already lapping their ankles; the tide was near full. A few oarsmen were aboard to steady the vessel when it began to float.
The Blood Eagles formed a gleaming circle around the nobles and Sharina. Their black presence was at least part of the reason no villagers approached Sharina now, though she supposed people could have gotten through if they'd been willing to try.
"Well, trust me," Meder said. "The queen would stop at nothing to destroy you. She knows that you'll provide legitimacy for King Valence. All but the most depraved people will join his party."
Sharina didn't trust Meder. She didn't think the wizard would lie to her—he seemed to like her, to respect her even—but his view of the world was so different from hers that she couldn't assume any of his assessments would be the same as she would make.
"I don't see how my being in Valles legitimizes the king," she said. "What am I supposed to do?"
"What?" Meder said. For an instant he looked surprised; then his face closed in fright or embarrassment. Drawing back a little, he resumed, "Of course, I'm only the king's agent. What he....what his plans—"
The procurator looked up from her notebook with a grim expression. "Meder," she said. "Your business is to carry out the duties I assign you. Yammering like a monkey is not one of those duties. Do you understand?"
The younger noble's face clouded with a furious scowl. "How dare—" he began.
His voice choked off as he saw, really saw, the look Asera was giving him. The troops' commander, Wainer, tapped the shoulders of the three men nearest him. The soldiers turned around, watching the folk within their circle. Meder was a noble in his own right, but the detachment of Blood Eagles guarded the king's procurator—from any threat.
Meder grimaced and bowed. "Sorry," he said in a tone of honest apology. "You're right, of course." He was a young man, perhaps too young for the power he wielded, but decent enough underneath the arrogance.
The trireme's captain walked toward them from the base of the gangplank and halted just outside the line of soldiers. "Mistress?" he called. "The tide's full. We need to be under way before it turns or we'll be here till dark."
"Yes, all right, Lichnau," the procurator said. She folded the leather hinges of her notebook closed and stood up. "Come along, girl," she said to Sharina as she strode toward the gangplank.
A soldier caught Captain Lichnau by the arm and muttered something. Lichnau looked startled and angry, but he picked up the stool Asera had left and carried it after her. The troops followed.
Sharina ran to Garric and hugged him. He patted her back awkwardly. They'd gotten on the way siblings do—badly; but now that she was leaving, her heart ached at the thought of not seeing him at supper tonight.
"Remember, you're all anybody in Valles sees of Barca's Hamlet, sis," he muttered. "Make us proud of you."
Garric stepped away. Reise offered her his hand to shake. She took it, then stepped closer and hugged him as well. "Stay well, Father," she said.
Reise's smile was as slight and cold as his smiles always were. "Stay well, Sharina," he said. "I'll aid you as circumstances permit."
"Come along, girl!" Asera repeated from the gangplank. Meder hovered nearby, wringing his hands but unwilling to pull Sharina away from her family.
"Mother?" Sharina said.
Lora glared at her with tear-wet eyes. "Oh, you don't have to pretend I'm your mother!" she said. "I treated you like my own daughter, but now that you're going off to the king's palace you can just leave me behind. I'm only the maid, after all!"
Sharina opened her mouth to plead; then closed it again. The only way she could make Lora happy was to bring her along to Valles. Sharina wasn't willing to do that, even if Asera would have permitted it to happen.
She squeezed Lora's arm and said, "Stay well, Mother."
She turned toward the gangplank. Behind her Lora wept with rising hysteria, an act that was taking on as much reality as emotion ever has.
The crowd nearest the gangplank parted. Nonnus stepped through, carrying his spear reversed on his shoulder. A bindle of personal effects dangled from its butt end. His big knife hung on the rope belt.
Two soldiers stepped to block him, shoulder to shoulder. Nonnus stopped short of them. His posture changed in a way Sharina couldn't have specified, but her instincts screamed a warning to her.
"He's with me!" she cried, running a few steps to the hermit's side. "You have to let him on!"
The procurator was already aboard the vessel. "Don't be absurd!" she called from the stern.
The soldiers stiffened. Nonnus smiled faintly; one of the soldiers touched his sword hilt, then took his hand away.
"Nonnus goes or I stay!" Sharina said in a voice that rang like steel. "I mean it! You've no one with you who can catch me if I run!"
"I've known her longer than you have, mistress," Nonnus said, speaking easily over the crowd noise. "I'd take her word for it."
Asera gripped the rail. It was a replacement piece. Sun and salt spray hadn't yet bleached the wood gray-white. "All right, get aboard!" she ordered. "Now!"
Sharina trotted up the gangplank, her arm stretched behind her gripping a fold of the hermit's sleeve. Meder and the two Blood Eagles, the last of the ship's passengers still on shore, followed.
"What a bizarre outfit!" she heard the wizard say. "Where do you come from, peasant?"
And she heard Nonnus answer, "From many different places, friend. And if you're lucky, you won't have to visit any of them yourself."