Robin Hobb - Renegade's Magic

“Then I’ll go,” Epiny said decisively.

“That would be useless, and you know it,” Spink told her firmly. “His sergeant has had orders to refuse you admission for weeks.”

“I could raise enough of a fuss in that outer office that he’d have to come out.”

“No, my dear. I won’t risk you. The good god knows what Thayer would decide was a just punishment for a shrew in his office. Possibly the stocks.”

Kara came to the door of the parlor. “Sir, your meal is on the table. I wouldn’t interrupt, but we wouldn’t want it to get cold, would we?”

“No, we wouldn’t,” Spink replied so meekly to her motherly tone that Epiny had to smile. Spink rose. “Come with me, both of you, and have a cup of tea. Our discussion might have to wait for a time, but—”

“I’ll go,” I said suddenly. They both looked at me, confused.

“What could be more natural? I’ve come all this way to see if I’d like a career with this regiment. If we can make me presentable, it would only be natural that I’d immediately call on the commanding officer. In fact, it’s only courteous. And unless he has completely lost touch with reality, he can’t politely turn me away.”

“And?” Spink asked.

“And once I’m inside, with the door shut, I’ll do whatever I must to get the keys. And after that, whatever I must to have her out of there.”

Spink looked aghast. Epiny replied only, “There, you see? Flee or hide. I told you that was what had to be decided immediately.”

“I am not stealing a horse,” Spink announced and then, as Epiny opened her mouth to speak, he said more loudly, “And neither are you. Or Nevare. Come, now. Let’s have a cup of tea together. And let us remember that the children are listening.”

And indeed, as we entered the dining room where Kara had laboriously set out Spink’s food, Kara observed severely, “Stealing is wrong.”

All the adults exchanged glances, wondering how much else she had overheard, but as she did not seem overly distressed, we let the topic go. Epiny went to the kitchen with Kara, promising to return soon with a pot of hot tea and cups for the rest of us.

As soon as she left the room, I leaned across the table to Spink and asked him, “Do we have a chance, do you think?”

He looked tired. “Impossible to say. How would you get the key? By stealth or deceit? Violence? Even if you get them, how do we overcome her guards? Do they go down quietly or flee shouting for help? Are we willing to kill them to have her free? How quickly can we get Amzil out of there? And, as Epiny keeps coming back to, does she flee or do we hide her? If she is missing, they are certain to search here first. And if the children are still here, well, then I think they will know she has not gone far. Irregardless of her other reputations, she is known in town as a fierce mother.”

My mind had leapt ahead. “If the children are gone, they will accuse you of helping her escape.”

“Or of not preventing her from doing so. To Captain Thayer, it will be one and the same thing.”

“So. You are saying that perhaps we can do it, if you are willing to sacrifice your career. For if she hides, they’ll know all they have to do is wait. And if she flees, with or without the children, you’ll be implicated.”

He nodded.

“Do you think Epiny understands what she is asking of you?”

He gave me a long, slow look. “And what are you asking of me if I don’t act, Nevare? To live as a coward? To witness an innocent woman shamefully executed, and then raise her children, looking into their faces every day? Sooner or later, they will know what became of their mother. Sooner, if I know Kara. I suspect she already knows more than she is letting on to us or the other children. Eventually, they’d all know I stood by and did nothing while their mother was executed for defending them.” He glanced aside and gave a short, contemptuous sigh for my quibbling. “What’s a lost career compared to that?”

I spoke after a long silence. “Spink, I’m so sorry.”

“You didn’t do it, Nevare.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” I muttered, just as Epiny reentered with the teapot and cups. She poured for us and sat down, but then had to leap up when the baby awoke and cried. A moment later, Dia entered, looking wide-awake but tousle-headed after her nap. Spink put her up at the table and gave her a cup of weak tea with sugar in it. Kara and Sem came to join us. When Epiny returned and I looked around at the table crowded with children, the full hopelessness of the situation descended on me. The afternoon was already waning. Could I spirit three children out of the town, hide them in a safe place, and return to break Amzil out of jail and escape with her and the children before dawn? And afterward, could we remain free?

I considered taking them to Kesey and begging him to watch over them. I shook my head. No. I couldn’t involve him, and if we had to flee from there, there was no place to go. I looked across the table at Spink. His grave face echoed my own thoughts. It was impossible. Yet it was what must be done. To succeed, I’d have to get Amzil out of her cell and escape from the town with her and all three of her children. And it would have to be done in such a way that Epiny and Spink did not seem to be involved. I took a breath and spoke through the prattle of the children at the table. “I don’t think I’ll be able to stay long. Tonight, after I visit two old friends, I’ll probably be leaving.” I looked at Epiny, and when I had her attention, I let my eyes wander over the children. Then I looked back at her. “I’d like to get the earliest possible start. Would you pack the essentials for me?”

She looked at the three children that were not her own, and yet were. Her eyes suddenly brightened with tears. “Yes,” she said quietly. “I suppose the sooner that is done, the better.”

The afternoon passed in a strange display of false normalcy. Spink had to return to his duties and feign disinterest in the fate of his housemaid, and even annoyance at the thought of being left with the care of her children. Epiny, on pretense of gathering mending and washing for “spring cleaning,” was going through the children’s clothing and bedding. I went out to look once more at the rickety cart and the ancient horse. I did what little I could to tighten the wheels and gave the old beast a feed of oats. As I did so, I tried frantically to make some real plans, but knew there were too many variables.

The day both dragged and sped by me. The children’s questions about their mother multiplied and increased in frequency. Epiny’s promises of “soon she’ll be back” began to wear thin for them. Dia became fretful, but Sem was angry and Kara downright suspicious. My efforts to make firm plans with Epiny were frustrating, for every time I sought a quiet moment with her, it seemed a little head was popping in, demanding attention or asking yet another question.

Epiny put Kara to kneading bread dough and entrusted Sem with a knife to cut up potatoes for the evening repast. While they were thus busy, we hastily loaded the wagon with the children’s things, some clothing for Amzil, and a supply of food. Epiny kept adding things. A cooking pot and a kettle. Cups and plates. When she started to take their few toys and books from the shelves, I stopped her. “We’re going to have to travel light.”

“For a child, these are essentials,” she said, but sighed and put some of the items back. We carried them out to the cart and loaded them. Over all, I tossed a blanket, and could only pray that no one would give it a second glance.

Epiny left me with the children while she hurried off to “visit” one of her whistle brigade who lived close to the edge of Gettys. In a town like Gettys, she knew the news of Amzil’s hanging would have flown far and wide. To Agna, she would confide that she wished Amzil’s children to be as far from the gallows as possible when their mother met her fate tomorrow. Epiny would ask if she would take them in for the night.