The White Road - Lynn Flewelling [56]
Fair enough, he thought, given past history. And it wasn't as if he hadn't already considered just slipping away. Leaning over in the saddle, Seregil clasped hands with Micum and gave him the pledge even he would never break. "Rei phoril tos tokun meh brithir, vri sh'ruit'ya." Though you thrust your dagger at my eyes, I will not flinch. "There, are you satisfied?"
"I am. Now, what route?"
"It will be a hard trip to the coast this time of year. The road we took here will be impassable now. But if we stick to the main roads where there are way stations, we should be able to get through to Chillian in three weeks or so, and take a ship from there."
"To where?" Alec asked.
"Silver Bay?" suggested Micum. "It's a few days' ride north of Rhiminee. A lot of travelers go through there. I doubt anyone will pay us much mind. That way we can avoid the city altogether. There's not much out there but a few farms and inns. We can meet up with Thero somewhere. We'll need him to find Rhal for us, assuming the Plenimarans haven't captured him yet."
Alec and Seregil had been traveling in disguise when they'd first met Rhal, who'd been a Folcwine River captain then. Seregil was passing as a gentlewoman named Lady Gwethelyn, with Alec playing the role of her too-young protector. Seregil was very convincing as a woman, and had attracted the swarthy captain's unwanted attention, much to Alec's alarm and Seregil's amusement. Seregil had previous experience with that sort of thing, but the ship was a small one and Rhal had been quite persistent, to his own chagrin. Later, when Seregil had funded a privateering vessel for Rhal with a pair of emeralds, the man had the joke back on him, christening the ship the Green Lady and fitting her with a carved figurehead of a green-clad woman who bore a remarkable resemblance to Seregil. Out of pique over Rhal's joke, Seregil never spoke the ship's real name.
"It's not far to Watermead from Silver Bay. We can stop there for supplies," said Micum.
"Are you sure you want Sebrahn there?" asked Seregil.
"What safer place could there be, eh?"
"Safe for Sebrahn, maybe," Seregil reminded him.
"That may be so, but we won't stay long, and if we're really headed for Plenimar then I want a chance to see my family."
Seregil made a quick sign against ill luck. "Don't talk like that if you still want to go."
"I just meant we'd be away longer. Once we're properly equipped, we'll call for Rhal. He can meet us back at Silver Bay and take us across."
"You make it sound easy," Seregil said with wry grin. "It would be easier if either of us knew how to find Yhakobin's house. Neither Alec nor I was in any position to mark the way."
"There's that farm, where the tunnel from the workshop ends," Alec mused. "But I'm not sure I could find that again, either. We just sort of ran away and got lost."
"No, we'll have to start at Riga, and ask the way however we can," said Seregil.
"Could we use that tunnel you told me about to get back into the place?" asked Micum. Seregil could tell his old friend was enjoying this. Micum had always liked the planning stage of a job.
"I don't think we could lift the trapdoor from underneath," Alec told him. The door was hidden under a heavy anvil in Yhakobin's workshop. Pulling it up with leverage from above had been hard enough; trying to balance on a rickety wooden ladder and push up from below was probably impossible.
"We could get back out that way, though, if we have to," Seregil said. "I think we'll have to figure out the rest once we get there."
"And hope Illior's on our side," added Micum.
"What about Sebrahn?" asked Alec. "It's not like I can just leave him anywhere. And you're not going without me!"
"No, it's probably going to be a two-man job, at least," said Seregil. "And here we are, at the crux of the Sebrahn problem."
"Yhakobin is dead. As far as we know, he was the only one in Plenimar who knew what Sebrahn is, right?" Alec pointed out.
Seregil shook his head, frowning. "We're definitely going to need to talk to Thero