“Love can do many impossible things,” she answered.
All around her, her unit members scoffed and laughed.
“That’s the most poetic I’ve ever heard you,” Sybyl said. “And word from on high tells me that you are not some poor little herder girl from the highlands, but in fact a spy for General Ru, who got herself captured with the Commander of the Rising Wave.”
Ava looked up at her, unable to hide her surprise. Sybyl was helping her. Telling the story as her superior officer. Making it easier.
“And fell deeply in love with him,” she said, and tapped her heart with two fingers and then brushed her hand downward.
“It seems the feeling was returned.” Deni got into the teasing game, too. “The way he pushed Kikir here aside and carried you off.”
“I know.” Carrie, one of the members of her unit, pretended to fan herself. “That was not something I expected to see in a sparring match.”
“He broke my good stick.” Kikir sounded affronted, but Ava thought there was a thread of laughter in his tone now.
She had not worked any magic into his scarf, but she had hoped he would forgive her as she finished it off this morning. Was that enough to create a working and influence this change of attitude since he put it on?
Then she realized what language he’d just used. “I thought you needed a translator. Your Venyatux is completely understandable.”
Kikir shrugged, his eyes gleaming. “I might speak a word or two.”
“This is a day for uncovering secrets, it seems,” Carrie said, and Kikir winked at her.
Ava ate her meal and wondered whether Luc and Dak had reached the Rising Wave already.
The Venyatu would reach the column by tonight, and she would finally be among his people.
Carrying her secrets and her lies.
As she called goodbye to her friends and mounted up for the second half of her shift, she wrestled with the right thing to do.
And came no closer to an answer.
Chapter 8
“Here they come.” Revek shielded his eyes against the setting sun as he looked at the dust cloud headed toward them.
They would be here within the hour, Luc thought with satisfaction.
Ava would be here within the hour.
He had arranged his tent so that they would have privacy, rather than the open plan space he’d had before, where he’d meet with his lieutenants to plot and plan, with no screen separating his bed from the strategy table.
Two Venyatux scouts appeared out of the murky brown of the dust, riding without too much urgency.
“Welcome to the Rising Wave,” Massi called to them, and they pulled up with a smile, their gaze going to Luc.
“Commander.” They both thumped their chest and bowed their head in a formal greeting.
“Welcome.” Luc inclined his head in response. “I didn’t lose you any money last night, did I?”
One of them laughed. “It’s been declared a draw. Everyone walked away none the worse for it, and we got the entertainment of your arrival, so we are all considering it a win.”
“What’s he talking about?” Massi asked, and Dak barked out a laugh.
“Luc made an entrance last night. He carried his girl off while she was in the middle of a sparring match.”
“We were wondering who had stolen Avasu’s heart,” the other scout said. “We couldn’t think who could have won someone so fierce, but the Commander of the Rising Wave certainly was not on our list.”
“You have word from the general?” Luc asked, because he could see Massi was about to ask more questions about Ava, and he had not seen his lieutenant all day, and hadn’t had a chance to update her on anything, other than to let her know Ava was in the Venyatux column.
“We’ll draw up parallel to you, and set up for the night, if that suits you?”
Luc agreed it did, and Dak rode back with them to show them the best place to settle in.
“Well?” Massi asked when they were gone. “You made an entrance?”
“I’m most interested to hear this as well.” Revek turned on his saddle, his face alight with mischief.
“Dak and I were going to meet with a Skäddar warrior who’d come to talk terms about spying on the Jatan for General Ru, and it happened he was sparring with Ava.”
“Avasu, you mean,” Massi said.
“The Venyatux call her Avasu.” Luc shrugged.
“So she was sparring with the Skäddar, and you came upon her, and . . . ?”
“And she saw me, and abandoned the fight, and I took her off to be somewhere private.” He smiled at the memory.
“You grabbed their girl, and carried her off into the night?” Massi asked.
“I grabbed my girl,” Luc corrected. “And carried her off into the night.”
“And there was money on this fight, for some reason?” Revek asked.
“The Venyatux like a wager.” He hesitated, but he had to tell them the lies the general had agreed to last night, so the story was not muddled. “You will hear that Ava is Venyatux, from the highland border with Skäddar, and that she is a spy for General Ru.”
Massi’s mouth dropped open. “Is that true?”
He shook his head. “But she was in danger, someone was following her out of Grimwalt, hunting her, and she pretended to be Venyatux to get into the safety of the column. The general knows the full story, and has agreed to pretend Ava was her spy and met me when we were both captured by the Kassian.”
“Why would General Ru agree to that?” Revek asked.
“Because Ava can help her with the Skäddar. Her parents were trade emissaries for Grimwalt, and she has some influence there. The Skäddar have agreed to spy on the border with Jatan and pass on information to the Venyatux in exchange for help with a northern trade alliance which includes Grimwalt. Ava will advocate for it with the people she knows.”
“You were busy last night.” Massi’s tone was neutral.
“I was.” He kept his tone just as neutral. “I’m looking forward to introducing you to Ava.”
“Who we have to pretend is Venyatux.” Revek lifted an eyebrow.
“Who you have to pretend is Venyatux. It will keep her safe in the Rising Wave, as much as it helps her with the Venyatux.”
“And what if others have heard us talking about her being Grimwaldian?” Revek asked.
“Who would have heard? We’ve only ever discussed her in private.”
Revek shrugged. “You never know.”
“Well, then say it was the story Ava gave to the Kassian in the hopes they would go easier on her, thinking her from a neutral country, rather than their enemies, the Venyatux.”
“That will work.” But Massi was looking at Revek strangely. “I doubt it will be necessary. I haven’t spoken of her to anyone but the four of us.”
Revek nodded. “Just covering all possibilities.”
The first line of the column appeared, the yakkuna pulling wagons containing tents and supplies, the soldiers ranged on either side of them.
The Rising Wave was almost doubling its numbers, and Luc felt a surge in pride and optimism. “We did it, Mass. We pulled it off.”