“The border of Carrow,” said Captain Tamwell.
Ardria felt fear that she struggled not to show. They were all looking to her. If she gave a show of confidence, no matter how false the others knew it was, they would do their best to match her. Only the Kelvon troopers felt real confidence, she knew. Looking at them, she saw the arrogant superiority in their bearing. Let the Carrow dogs try something, that bearing said, and they will feel the wrath of the Empire. All well and good, but the wrath of the Empire wouldn’t do her or the Helberion rangers any good. They would be dead, and she would be a prisoner of King Nilon, and likely to remain so no matter how much noise Emperor Tyron made.
She looked across at Teena, sitting behind Ranger Geoffham on his large, grey horse. Seeing her looking, the handmaid gave her a cheery smile and an optimistic thumbs up. Ardria felt a smile creeping across her face. Good old Teena. Irrepressible Teena. What would she do without her?
Ahead were two lines of concrete fortifications. One Helberion, the other Carrow, linked together by lines of barbed wire and with a hundred yard strip of no man's land between them. All pristine and perfect, as if they'd been built only yesterday. The Helberion bunkers had recently contained men and guns. Horses and provisions. Ammunition and pigeon lofts. Now they were all empty, abandoned as Carrow had broken through the Steel Curtain to the north and everything had been pulled back to the next defensible position. Carrow soldiers had probably been all through them, looking for anything valuable that had been left behind, and there might still be men there now, keeping a watch for any Helberion forces that might try to sneak back in as part of some mysterious military operation.
Ardria looked around at the men surrounding her. Everyone was holding a white flag in their upraised right hands, even the Kelvons, although they were ready to drop them in an instant and draw the pistols at their waists if trouble broke out. They wore the bulls head emblem of the Empire proudly on their chests, newly cleaned to make them as visible as possible. They wanted the Carrowmen fully aware of who was approaching them, and of what would happen if they were molested.
“We're hundreds of miles from the spot where we originally intended to enter Carrow,” said the Princess. “Will they be expecting us?”
“Probably not,” replied the Captain, “but they'll probably be curious enough not to open fire until they know who we are and what we're doing here.”
“Probably?”
“Not too late to turn back, Your Highness.”
“Yes, it is. Lead the way, Captain.”
Tamwell nodded and geed his horse into a gentle walk. The Princess rode beside him, and the others followed in single file.
They were a hundred yards from the nearest Helberian bunker when they were challenged. “Halt!” cried a voice. “Identify yourselves!”
“I am Princess Ardria, daughter of King Leothan of Helberion. I am on my way to Charnox to meet with King Nilon in order to negotiate an end to hostilities. I request safe passage into Carrow for myself, my men and the representatives of the Kelvon Empire who are accompanying us.”
There was a pause. Ardria felt a moment of amusement as she imagined the shock and astonishment being felt by the soldiers up ahead. Could this be a trick? An attempt by the Helberians to lead an assault into Carrow? She saw sunlight reflected from the lens of a telescope as someone studied them, trying to decide if their extraordinary claim could possibly be true, and she sat upright in the saddle to give as good a view of herself as possible.
Her face was well known in Helberion, but what about in Carrow? Would her expensive silken clothes be enough in themselves to convince them she was telling the truth? There was vast scope for disaster whichever decision the Carrow Captain made, and if there was a more senior officer anywhere in the vicinity he would be desperate to pass the problem onto him as soon as possible.
“Wait there a moment!” The voice eventually said again. “If you make any move, any move at all, you will be fired upon!”
“So, now we wait,” said Ardria, and Tamwell nodded. Several rifles were no doubt aimed right at her heart, and she thought she could see one or two of them. There was the faintest of movement visible through a narrow window in the bunker, and something small and round that might have been the barrel of a gun aimed in her direction. “Everyone take it easy,” she said, for the benefit of the rangers tasked with keeping her safe. This situation couldn't be easy for them. “If they were going to attack, they would have done it by now.” She hoped it was true.
A gust of wind ruffled the silken gown she was wearing and sent a shiver of goosebumps up her bare arms. She was cold, but it was important that the Carrowmen see clearly that she was a woman. Anyone could wear a dress, of course. The sight of her in a skimpy dress would be a lot more convincing if this scene was being played out by the Hetin folk, for whom the sexes were visibly anatomically different. Those lumps their women had on their chests would have been really useful in a situation like this, she thought. Displaying them prominently would leave absolutely no doubt as to the gender of the person facing them. Of course, for all she knew, their woman might have been just as capable in warfare as their men... She realised that her mind was trying to distract her from the peril she was in. All it would take was for one of the Carrow soldiers currently aiming a gun at her to forget how much pressure he was putting on the trigger...
“They haven't sent a horseman yet,” she said. “If there were a more senior officer anywhere nearby...”
Tamwell nodded. “That means it’s all on the Captain. His biggest concern will be to not find himself facing a firing squad for making the wrong choice. Apparently, the Carrowmen are really fond of firing squads.”
“I can believe that. I imagine he's asking himself what’s the very worst that can happen to him if he lets us pass.”
“He gets the firing squad for letting enemy soldiers into his country during a time of war.”
“...and what’s the very worst that can happen if he take us prisoner and keeps us here.”
“He gets the firing squad for delaying the Helberion surrender, during which thousands more Carrow soldiers die.”
“Will he be discussing it with his men, do you think?”
“I doubt it. Carrow officers are arrogant and stupid. Far too proud to ask for advice. “
“What would you do if you were in his position?”
“Allow you to pass through. You'd hardly announce yourselves openly if you were bent on mischief. We just have to hope that... Ah, something's happening.”
Ardria couldn’t see what the Captain had seen, but a moment later the voice came again. “You two in front! Disarm yourselves and come forward so we can talk!”
“I’d like to request that Captain Brailsford of the Kelvon Empire come with us!" The Princess shouted back. "So that he can explain the Empire's interest in this matter!”
“No, Highness!” said someone behind them, and Tamwell turned his head to hiss back at him. “Silence back there!”
“Agreed!” said the voice from up ahead. “Just the three of you, and no weapons!”
Tamwell and the Princess dismounted, and Brailsford came forward to join them. They made a big show of unstrapping their pistols and swords and laying them down on the ground, and then the three of them walked slowly forward, the Princess in the middle. The ground was hummocky pasture and they stepped around some dried out cowpats as they advanced. There were no cows left in sight, though. Either the Helberian farmer who'd once owned this land had taken them with him when he'd fled the border territory, or the Carrowmen had rounded them all up. Ardria hoped it was the former. There was nothing they could do about the crops they had to abandon, but they could at least keep the cattle from feeding the advancing enemy army.
As they got closer to the bunkers, they got their first sight of the Carrowmen themselves. They wore coarse brown uniforms with grey trim and had rounded steel helmets. They were ordinary army soldiers, then, the Princess thought. Not rangers, like the Helberians behind them, or troopers like the Kelvons. Just grunts with the very minimum of training. They'd have been tought the penalties for disobeying orders and how to fire a gun. Not much else. Most of them were probably criminals, serving time in the army in lieu of a prison sentence. Many of them would probably be thinking of the ransom they could get for a Princess, and she desperately hoped that the Captain had good control over them.
“This way, please,” one of them said. A man with a peaked cap instead of a helmet and with pips on his shoulders. He gestured towards the bunker and Tamwell ducked his head to go in through the low concrete entrance. Ardria followed, then Brailsford and the Carrow Captain last of all. Inside were three more soldiers with rifles pointing out through the narrow windows. The Carrow Captain gestured for them to leave.
“My name is Captain Leese,” he said. “Stewart Leese.”
“I am Princess Ardria Regis. Daughter of Leothan Regis. Heir to the Kingdom of Helberion. This is Captain Philip Tamwell of the Helberion Rangers and this is Captain Edward Brailsford of the Kelvon Troopers.”
Leese stared at her. “I never expected to meet a Princess,” he said. “I am in charge of the stretch of the border between Cleggsford and Gowen. My job is supposed to be to see that nothing and no-one crosses the border. My orders were very clear on that point, so you can see the dilemma you put me in.”
“Then allow me to make it a little easier for you,” said Brailsford. “I represent the Kelvon Empire. My job is to ensure that Princess Ardria gets to Charnox safe and unmolested. Anyone who wants to detain her will have to go through me and my men, and that will be taken as a declaration of war with the Empire.”
He stared at the Carrowmen, locked eyes with him, and the Carrowmen swallowed and looked away. “Thank you,” he said with a nervous smile. “That does indeed make it easier for me. If you can convince me that you are indeed who you say you are, I'll have to let you pass.”
Ardria reached inside her gown and produced a letter bearing the seal of the King of Helberion. “This was written by King Leothan explaining our reasons for going to Charnox. In it, he explains that we wish to negotiate an end to the war.” She handed it across.
Leese took it but made no move to open it. It was addressed to King Nilon and, besides, the seal itself was of far greater importance than anything that might be written inside. “Terms of surrender, you mean. How do I know this is genuine?”
“It bears the Royal Seal.”
“Which can be easily forged, I'm sure. Or it may be a genuine seal, used by the King himself, to make me think you're the Princess. You could be anyone in a pretty dress. Your friend here could be a Helberion soldier in a Kelvon uniform.”
“And what would be our motive?” asked Tamwell. “We know as well as you do that there are no high value targets within a hundred miles of here. If we only wanted to sneak a handful of men across the border, we could do that without all this subterfuge.”
“Why didn't you take one of the main roads? Why go cross country?”
“We were originally planning to go north, to Erestin, then enter Carrow from that country, but we came across a battle blocking our way. We thought it best to stay clear in case your countrymen, in the heat of battle, attacked us before we could explain ourselves.”
Leese nodded. “Simple common sense tells me that you're telling the truth, but still, the magnitude of what you're asking me to do... If I could dispatch a squad of men to go with you, see that you went straight to Charnox without getting up to any mischief along the way...”
“But you have orders to guard the border,” said Tamwell. “You have no authority to pull men away from that duty.”
The Carrow Captain nodded. He scratched his head. “I must give this some careful thought,” he said. “Give me the rest of the day and tonight. There is an empty barracks house fifty yards to the north. You and your people can spend the night there. I'll deploy some men to guard the building. Please make sure no-one leaves it for any reason. I'll give you my decision in the morning.”
“That will do very nicely,” said Ardria. “Thank you.”