Part 22 (1/2)

Elis looked at him. ”With the men I knew in Pargun? Never. And Ganlin feels the same, I know.”

Kieri had his doubts. Elis had never given anyone a flirtatious look, but even at that first banquet, Kieri had noticed Ganlin watching one after another of the young men in the room. One of Ganlin's attendant Squires reported that Ganlin had asked repeatedly after Berne. Elis had better find another partner. With that thought, he had an idea.

”Elis, it's possible I can help you, but you will need to be discreet. It cannot be done in a day-”

”You will let me be a Squire? You will send my guardians away?”

”Do you know the Knights of Falk?” he asked.

She frowned. ”No...”

”The Falkians train both men and women of n.o.ble birth to be knights; some then become soldiers-one of my captains was a Knight of Falk, and I trained there myself. My Squires are all Knights. You would have the best training in all kinds of weapons, in management of military units.”

She was glowing again, thinking of it. ”Is it possible? Please!”

”If I spoke to your guardians, what would they say?”

”They would refuse,” Elis said, ”and then punish me for having let you know I wanted it.”

”Then we must plot in secret. And that means, Elis, you must be like a soldier in enemy territory, pretending to be what you are not, and hiding the glee that even now covers your face. Think how miserable you are-think of being married not to me, but to an old drunk at home-never to ride again, never to be free. Sulk. Frown. I will need time to organize this.”

”You must rescue Ganlin, too,” Elis said. ”I know she'll want to come-”

”I will talk to Ganlin tomorrow,” Kieri said. ”In the meantime, tell your guardians you tried to charm me, but I was cool. Can you do that?”

”Yes!” she said with far too much enthusiasm. He gave her a quelling look, and she reverted to the sulky Elis he had seen before.

They walked back across the garden, chatting only of flowers and inconsequentials. Her guardians waited at the garden door, glowering because the two King's Squires would not let them out.

”We had a pleasant walk,” Kieri said. ”Princess, thank you for your time.” He bowed; she curtsied, eyes downcast.

The next day, Kieri escorted Ganlin around the rose garden at the same hour. ”Did Elis pa.s.s you word about our talk yesterday?” he asked. He already knew, from the Squires, that notes had gone back and forth.

”She said not to be afraid of you,” Ganlin said. She gave him a glance under long lashes. ”She said there was hope.”

”I know what her hopes are,” Kieri said. ”But not yours. You are friends of old, I understand.”

Ganlin flushed. ”We are. She is what I wish I were.”

”You are very like,” Kieri said.

”She is stronger and braver,” Ganlin said.

”You were limping the night you arrived,” Kieri said. ”Were you injured on the way?”

”No, Sir King. I fell from a horse years ago-they said I might not walk again, but now it's only when I'm tired that I limp. And I love to ride, like Elis.”

”That sounds like bravery to me...to ride again after a bad fall.”

”Outside is always better,” Ganlin said. ”Well-except when it rains.”

”You were going to go to her when she had her horse farm?”

Ganlin hesitated, then nodded. ”I would try, at least. She was going to be in the north of Pargun, next to the gra.s.slands, but in the forest so there would be wood for the barns and house. But to get there from home-alone-I said I would, somehow, but-but I wasn't ever sure.”

”It would be a difficult journey,” Kieri agreed. ”Tell me, Ganlin, if I told your guardians I did not want to marry you, what would happen to you?”

She scowled. ”They would take me home. No one there suits me, or wants me, really. I have a horse-a real horse, a big gray-and I can ride. But Elis said if she's sent home they'll lock her up, and without her I don't know what I'd do. Where could I go?”

”Would you want to stay here if you did become my queen?”

”Here in the palace or here in Lyonya? I do not want to be mured inside walls forever, even with a garden as lovely as this.” She waved an arm at the roses. ”I want to ride, to walk in the woods-”

”To practice swordcraft?”

”That, too. I liked it, learning-but it's-I don't think I could be a soldier, the way Elis wanted to be. It's not just my hip and leg-it's the thought of killing people.”

Kieri nodded. ”And yet, Ganlin...not all who train as knights become soldiers.”

”No?”

”No, not here in Lyonya. I told Elis, and I tell you, that if you wish to learn knightly skills and manners, as would suit men and women of high birth, I know where you can get such training: in Falk's Hall.”

”Men and and women?” women?”

”Yes. I was sent there, as Lord Halveric's squire; one of my captains was a Knight of Falk, who is now a duke in Tsaia. And the King's Squires are Knights of Falk as well.”

”Do-do women who become Knights ever...ever marry?”

”As they choose,” Kieri said. ”One of the peers of this realm, a widow with children and grandchildren, is a Knight of Falk.”

”I would like that,” Ganlin said. Unlike Elis, her color did not come and go as readily; Kieri suspected that the pain of her injury had taught her a control Elis had yet to learn. ”If you send Elis there, can you send me?” Then she frowned. ”But how? Our guardians will not allow it, I'm sure.”

”I'm thinking,” Kieri said. ”And I will ask the Knight-Commander's advice. In the meantime, you and Elis must both be discreet. Don't pa.s.s too many notes.” Ganlin flushed and started to speak, but he held up a finger. ”If your guardians suspect you have a great secret, it will become much harder. Be a little difficult; act as if you were serious rivals for me. I would rather not start a war with either of your fathers.” They walked awhile longer, to equal the time he had spent with Elis, and then he took her back to the garden door. Her guardians were not scowling but chatting pleasantly with the Squires.

Later, alone with that day's a.s.signed Squires, Kieri laid out the plan he'd thought of. ”If the Knight-Commander agrees, it is an honorable place for them that does not insult their rank. They will be happier-at best, at home, they would become troublemakers in their realms. This way, they have a chance to become what they want-whatever that is-”

”Do you think they'll stay together?” Aulin asked.

”No,” Kieri said. ”I think Ganlin saw Elis as a way to escape the role laid out for her, but she is not like her in anything but a desire for freedom. But at Falk's Hall Elis will find others like herself, and so will Ganlin. And the mistress of the barracks is wise enough to recognize and deal with any problems.”

”She did with me,” Suriya said with a grin. ”How many of us, I wonder, think girls who want to ride and hunt and fight must be sisli? Did you have that problem in your Company, Sir King?”

”A little,” Kieri said. ”But again-we knew what to look for, and I'd seen how Falk's Hall handled it. Also, in some parts of Tsaia and in eastern Fintha, there's more general knowledge. They don't think boys with harps are all gemsul or girls with swords are all sisli. And I'm not even sure Elis is sisli-she's mostly angry and frustrated, I'd say.”