“Methinks you protest too much. But get that idea out of your head right now. Marriage is not on offer for you.”
“Aaarrgh! As if I would accept!”
“Women always say ‘Aaarrgh!’ when they are losing an argument.”
“This is not an argument.”
“You could have fooled me. Just to be clear, I meant a female companion for the girling, not a wife.”
“Do you know anything about things a little girl likes to do?”
He thought of his own boyhood ... those times when he’d been able to escape his father’s heavy hand and just be a child. He had to grin. “I could teach her how to spit long distances, or sing bawdy songs.”
Instead of making her usual tsking noises at him, Drifa grinned and said, “I’ll wager I can spit farther than you, or skim pebbles farther on a fjord. My father taught me.”
“Come to think on it, you and your sisters were raised by your father, no mothers around, and you seem to have survived just fine.”
“Humph!” Another of her usual retorts when she was bested in an argument. She stomped off to say her final good-byes to Lucy.
They’d traveled for three days by camel, and were now out of the desert and within the borders of Byzantium. That did not mean they were safe. At the moment, they were trading the camels forhorses to be used for the remainder of the journey.
“Ivar, can we speak in private?” he asked.
Ivar nodded and walked over to the side of the stable in the village where they’d stopped.
“I am concerned about Princess Drifa reentering Miklagard. There are those within the city who aided in her being taken captive.”
Ivar nodded. “I have the selfsame concern.”
“I think you should ride ahead. We have made good time, and I don’t think there is any way ad-Dawlah’s men could have gotten word of her escape to those in the city so soon.”
“How much time do you think we have before that happens?”
“Two days’ lead time, at most. Hopefully Finn and all the others will have arrived by then, too.”
“What is your plan?”
“I will keep Drifa with me, and I will prolong our journey long enough that you can gather together all of her belongings from the palace and from Ianthe’s. You can make her longship ready to sail, but take it to the harbor near the Gate of St. Barbara. That way, once we arrive, I will take Drifa directly to her longship, and you can set sail immediately north up the Bosphorus. Quickest way to leave the city behind.”
“The princess will not like being denied a last visit to Miklagard. She will say there are more gardens to study. More people to say her farewells to. More sights to see.”
“I know, but this is a decision we must make for her.”
Ivar nodded. “Her father would want it so.” Ivar smiled then, “I do not envy you. When the princess finds out what you plan, she shall be furious.”
“I can handle her,” he said.
But Drifa walked up then and remarked, “I hope it is not me that you are referring to.”
“Of course not,” he lied. “I was referring to that mare over there that I am thinking of purchasing. She is skittish, but I can handle her, don’t you think?”
Drifa looked dubious.
Ivar made excuses to go purchase some food supplies, and Sidroc knew he would take this opportunity to leave. Sidroc must occupy Drifa so that she would not suspect. Yet. “I have a surprise for you, Drifa,” he said.
She eyed him cautiously.
“How would you like a bath and a soft bed for tonight?”